ABUSE TRACKER

NEW YORK (NY)
NBC News / Telemundo

November 25, 2020

By Belisa Morillo and Luis Antonio Hernández

One accuser said Manuel La Rosa-Lopez’ upcoming sentence gives him a sense of justice, as well as hope that the Catholic Church “will change the way it does things.”

A Houston-area priest has pleaded guilty to child indecency charges in a case that has put a focus on the archdiocese of Galveston-Houston and its failures over the handling of sexual abuse cases.

The Rev. Manuel La Rosa-Lopez, 62, pleaded guilty to two out of five charges of indecency with a child Nov. 17, as part of an agreement with the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office. He faces 10 years in prison in the case which deals with allegations that he molested two teens more than 20 years ago after gaining the trust of their families; his sentencing is Dec. 16.

La Rosa-Lopez avoided a possible 20-year sentence with the guilty plea.

“We offered him to plead guilty on two of the greater charges, which were second-degree felonies, indecency with a child,” Montgomery County chief prosecutor Nancy Hebert told Noticias Telemundo Investiga. “In exchange for that plea, we’re dismissing the other three charges.”

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

DENVER (CO)
Catholic News Agency

November 25, 2020

By JD Flynn

A South Dakota priest has been sentenced to almost eight years in federal prison, after he was convicted of 65 felonies related to stealing donations from Catholic parishes. Ordered to pay more than $300,000 in restitution, the priest said he stole in part because he disagrees with Catholic doctrine on homosexuality.

The priest is also facing federal criminal charges related to child sexual abuse and possession of child pornography.

Fr. Marcin Garbacz, 42, was convicted in March of wire fraud, money laundering, and tax fraud — crimes he committed while serving as a chaplain and Catholic school teacher in the Diocese of Rapid City, between 2012 and 2018. Garbacz was ordained a priest in 2004.

Prosecutors said the priest stole more than $250,000 from parishes, spending some money on artwork, a piano, a Cadillac, liturgical items, and a $10,000 diamond ring.

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

PITTSBURGH (PA)
WPXI

November 25, 2020

By Rick Earle

After a Target 11 Investigation into the independent compensation fund established by the Pittsburgh Catholic Diocese to pay victims of clergy sex abuse, Investigator Rick Earle received more complaints about the diocese.

Several victims of clergy sex abuse reached out to Target 11 and expressed concern about a lack of response by the diocese. Three victims said they reached out to the diocese after the grand jury report on clergy sex abuse was released and they said they never got any response. The men, all of whom are in their 50′s and 60′s now, said there were abused by the same priest at a church in Lawrenceville. All three said they left their contact information with the diocese but never got a response.

Two of the victims did not want their names used, but both expressed frustration and concern with the process. A third victim decided to speak publicly about the alleged abuse and his efforts to contact the diocese.

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

BONN (GERMANY)
Deutsche Welle

November 25, 2020

By Melina Grundmann

Karl Haucke was sexually abused by a priest for years. He and other survivors were promised an investigation. But the Catholic Church has decided not to publish the findings. To Haucke, this is a repeat of the abuse.

Standing on the banks of the Rhine river, practically in the shadows of Cologne’s cathedral, Karl Haucke says he has lost faith in the Catholic Church. His story begins in the early 1960s, when he was sent to boarding school in the West German capital at the time, Bonn. From the age of eleven, he was regularly abused by a priest for four years — at least once a week.

But the abuse was not just of a physical, sexual nature. The priest made him relate the stories during the weekly confession. “Confession includes penance. Depending on the abuser’s mood, he might say ‘I’ll come around to your bed tonight or tomorrow.’ Then it would start all over again.”

Back then, Haucke had no one to talk to about it and no way of figuring out what was being done to him. He was unaware that the same thing was happening to many of his fellow pupils. “We had no words to describe what was being done to us. Nor did we know what it meant. And it did not stop at physical pain. We had a clear sense of humiliation and being used,” says Karl Haucke.

As an adult, he had no concrete memory of the abuse. He turned into a workaholic, toiling for as many as fourteen hours a day without even knowing why. A racing heart and other symptoms of trauma had long since become familiar companions.

Then, Haucke suddenly realized what was going on. It was in 2010 when the news of the biggest sexual abuse scandal in the history of the Catholic Church broke in Germany and thousands of abuse cases in church institutions were gradually revealed.

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

KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter

November 25, 2020

by Jason Berry

When Pope John Paul II made Theodore McCarrick a cardinal in 2001, the archbishop of Washington, D.C., was a silk-between-the-fingers fundraiser. A year later, when the pope summoned the U.S. cardinals to Rome to confront the abuse crisis, McCarrick took the lead at press conferences — a bold move, given his revelation to The Washington Post and CNN that accusations against him had been investigated and found false.

In the ensuing years, McCarrick traveled the globe as an unofficial church diplomat, and rumors spread that he had slept with seminarians while a bishop in Metuchen and Newark, New Jersey, using a beach house on the Jersey Shore. Rumors no journalist could pin down.

As the genial, glad-handing cardinal gained a high media profile, he seemed to be almost everywhere, even leading graveside prayers on TV at the funeral for Sen. Edward Kennedy.

And yet, as we now know from the 449-page Vatican report on McCarrick, two New Jersey dioceses had quietly paid settlements to victims by 2007. In 2018, after more lawsuits and survivors spoke out, a Vatican tribunal at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith found him guilty of moral crimes. Pope Francis approved McCarrick’s laicization, stripping him of priestly status, and ordered an investigation on how McCarrick had avoided detection for so long.

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

KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter

November 25, 2020

By Mark Nacinovich

As U.S. dioceses continue to pay out big settlements for lawsuits, the church is facing another nettlesome problem stemming from the abuse scandal: Priests who say they were falsely accused are suing for defamation.

In August 2018, shortly after a Pennsylvania grand jury report listed more than 300 priests in six dioceses in the state who had been credibly accused of abusing more than 1,000 minors since 1947, Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson asked the three dioceses in his state to turn over files on church personnel credibly accused of sexual abuse since 1978.

Archbishop George Lucas of Omaha complied with that request, and in November 2018, the Omaha Archdiocese published a list of the names of 38 priests and deacons who had faced “substantiated claims” of abuse in the archdiocese.

The fallout from that list reverberates today. One of the priests whose name was on it — Fr. Andrew Syring — is suing the Omaha Archdiocese for defamation, counted among those priests who say they have been unfairly swept up in the church’s effort to repair its reputation and put the crisis behind it.

Lyle Koenig, Syring’s lawyer, said his client’s defamation suit is one of 20 to 25 similar cases in the country. By comparison, 7,002 priests were “credibly” or “not implausibly” accused of abuse in the U.S. between 1950 and June 30, 2018, according to BishopAccountability.org, which cited published information from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

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

ALLENTOWN (PA)
Morning Call

November 24, 2020

By Peter Hall

The Allentown Diocese has paid nearly $16 million to victims of sexual abuse by members of the clergy, it reported Tuesday, as the program to compensate victims draws to a close.

The payments, totaling $15.85 million, were made to 96 abuse victims through the diocese’s Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Program, according to a final report by an independent committee appointed to oversee the program.

Allentown was among seven Pennsylvania Catholic dioceses to establish compensation funds in the wake of a 2018 Pennsylvania grand jury report that revealed efforts to hide decades of sexual abuse by hundreds of priests.

Administered by Washington, D.C., attorney Kenneth Feinberg, who is also overseeing compensation programs for abuse victims in other dioceses, Allentown’s program accepted applications from April to September 2019, receiving 106, the diocese reported.

Six of those applicants rejected offers totaling $1.18 million, three were deemed ineligible and one offer remains outstanding, the report says. The payments averaged about $165,000 per victim and came with a stipulation that those accepting them would not sue.

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

LOS ANGELES (CA)
Los Angeles Times

November 25, 2020

By Tracy Wilkinson

Washington DC – Few of his parishioners were surprised when Washington, D.C., Archbishop Wilton Gregory took on President Trump.

Gregory isn’t known to speak out often about issues specifically facing Black Americans. But when he does, it is unambiguous and forceful — in words unusually strong for a man of the cloth.

*
In selecting Gregory, 72, Francis is rewarding a man who over the decades took courageous stands to end sexual abuse by clergy. They were positions that at times seemed to sideline his career, but that put him, his supporters say, on the right side of history and on a firm moral footing.

Like most Black people in the United States, Gregory was not born into the Catholic faith, growing up in a Protestant denomination. It was largely with the great migration of Black Americans from the South to the North in the first half of the 20th century that many turned to Catholicism, drawn partly by its educational opportunities and social work in urban areas.

As a child on the South Side of Chicago, the young Gregory so admired the nuns who taught him in the grade at his Catholic school that he decided he wanted to become a priest. He informed the school’s head father of this ambition, according to a story Gregory often relates. He was told: Well, maybe you should become a Catholic first.

And so he did, taking his first communion while in elementary school.

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

DETROIT (MI)
Detroit News

November 24, 2020

By Mark Hicks

A priest recently removed from leading an Archdiocese of Detroit parish after church leaders said he was “overwhelmed with the responsibilities” is challenging the decision, claiming it was retaliation for his objections to another leader’s alleged sexual harassment and abuse

The Rev. Michael Suhy, who had been pastor at Our Lady of Good Counsel in Plymouth, was targeted because he “refused to be quiet,” his lawyer, Ron Thompson, told The Detroit News. “This is a cover-up. This is once again the Catholic Church trying to hide their misconduct.”

The Rev. Michael Suhy was pastor at Our Lady of Good Counsel Catholic Church in Plymouth.
Archdiocese officials dispute the claim, saying Suhy could no longer handle his duties.

“The discussions aimed at getting Fr. Suhy to step aside voluntarily for his good and the good of the parish started — with him — this past spring,” said Ned McGrath, a spokesman for the archdiocese, in an email Tuesday. “Ultimately and unfortunately, his intransigence triggered a canonical process for his removal.”

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

WASHINGTON (DC)
Catholic News Service via Hawaii Catholic Herald

November 25, 2020

By Carol Glatz

Vatican City – The Vatican Secretariat of State’s report on Theodore E. McCarrick provides a glimpse into how a number of witnesses and victims of the former cardinal’s abuse sought numerous ways to alert church officials and were disturbingly aware their allegations might trigger repercussions.

Over its 460 pages, the report also reveals how much difference 30 years can make when it comes to flagging misconduct and abuse.

The report begins with a New York mother’s account of writing to every U.S. cardinal and the papal representative in the mid-1980s detailing McCarrick’s “dangerous” behavior toward her underage sons. Having left no address or legible name, her red-flag warnings went unheeded.

Decades later, in 2017, when the Archdiocese of New York received an allegation of the sexual abuse of minor by McCarrick in the early 1970s, the report showed how the archdiocese’s now mandatory reporting system and procedures resulted in McCarrick’s eventual dismissal first from the College of Cardinals and, later, from the priesthood.

But for decades in between, the victims and witnesses described in the report recount how they struggled to figure out if and how they should or could make their claims in essentially a no-man’s land for accusations.

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

TORONTO (ONTARIO, CANADA)
Canadian Press via Global News

November 25, 2020

A review of the Catholic archdiocese of Montreal’s handling of complaints against a pedophile priest is to be released today.

The archdiocese enlisted former Quebec Superior Court justice Pepita Capriolo to examine the church’s response to complaints against former priest Brian Boucher.

Archbishop Christian Lépine is expected to speak about the report, tabled in September, at a news conference Wednesday.

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

NEW YORK (NY)
America Magazine

November 24, 2020

By Michael J. O’Loughlin

Theodore E. McCarrick, middle row center, is seen with fellow seminarians in a close-up of the official portrait of the class of 1958 of St. Joseph’s Seminary in Yonkers, N.Y. (CNS photo/Gregory A. Shemitz)
When the former cardinal Theodore McCarrick was bishop of the diocese of Metuchen, N.J., he routinely asked seminarians to join him at his vacation home, visits that regularly included the bishop sharing a bed with young men. Any reasonable standards would characterize those episodes, in which a powerful authority figure even suggested sharing a bed with students, as instances of sexual harassment. Stories like these led to Mr. McCarrick’s downfall, as was laid out in a recent Vatican investigation into allegations of harassment and abuse.

But a group of theologians, bishops and administrative professionals say that, even decades after Mr. McCarrick’s abuse, seminaries and formation houses are still learning how best to equip their students to recognize and report inappropriate behavior. According to the working group, assembled by the University of Notre Dame theologian John Cavadini, seminary and formation house leaders should strive to implement five benchmarks when it comes to protecting faculty, staff and students. There is a need, the group agreed, for regular training on harassment policies, clarity around reporting and investigating, support for victims, periodic review of policies, and the ability to apply guidelines to specific conditions. Meeting these benchmarks would not only protect seminarians from abuse and harassment but could also shape the culture in parishes.

“It’s not just policy training but part of the seminarian’s human and pastoral formation. These seminarians are going to be priests, and we want them to go away from the seminary formed in the kind of culture that takes this seriously,” Mr. Cavadini, who directs the McGrath Institute for Church Life, told America.

According to research released last year from the McGrath Institute and the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University, 6 percent of active Catholic seminarians surveyed in 2019 said they had been subject to sexual harassment, abuse or misconduct. Nine in 10 seminarians said they had not been subjected to sexual harassment, abuse or misconduct.

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

KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter

November 23, 2020

By Thomas Reese

The discussion of the Vatican report on ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick by the U.S. bishops at their annual fall meeting was sad but predictable — sad because the bishops failed to communicate that they understood the report’s implications; predictable in that some bishops defended John Paul II against the report’s finding that the pontiff shared culpability in the McCarrick case.

The report, released Nov. 10, acknowledged that despite it being known that McCarrick was sleeping with seminarians, he was promoted to the Archdiocese of Washington and made a cardinal by Pope John Paul II.

It would have been better for the bishops to acknowledge the pope’s failure and argue that if he were alive today, he would be apologizing for his mistakes. In their 45-minute public discussion of the report, followed by 90 minutes of talking privately about it, they did neither.

Bishops are reluctant to criticize John Paul’s record of appointing and promoting bishops because most of them were appointed the same way by the same pope. To acknowledge his failures would open the possibility that they, too, were selected through a defective process that stressed loyalty over other factors.

“It can’t be a bad system; it selected me,” would be the attitude of most bishops.

Only Bishop Mark Brennan of Wheeling-Charleston suggested that the process should be improved. He proposed giving 30 to 60 days at the end of the process for people to comment on a candidate before his appointment was finalized. That way, he said, “We might avoid appointing someone to the episcopacy who did not deserve it.”

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

BUFFALO (NY)
WBEN

November 24, 2020

“We are free at last because government officials have stepped in.”

Just one day after New York State Attorney General Letitia James announced a lawsuit against the Buffalo Diocese, alleging that diocesan leadership covered up credible claims of improper sexual conduct by priests, sex abuse victims advocate Robert Hoatson stood in front of the diocese proclaiming a victory for survivors.

“We victims, we advocates, we are free at last because government officials have stepped in and have investigated and concluded that what occurred here was absolutely outrageous,” said Hoatson. “This report from Attorney General Letitia James outlines what we have known for decades: that the church refuses to take accountability for its actions and to reform its actions because we’re still experiencing the same kind of behaviors.

“If you look at the statement that came out of Mr. Tucker last night, that came out of the diocese, they continue to use the same words,” Hoatson continued. “‘Oh, we have zero tolerance for anybody who sexually abuses a child here in the Diocese of Buffalo,’ but we know that is not true.”

Read the full diocese statement below:

“We will be reviewing this lawsuit just announced by the New York Attorney General and weighing the Diocese’s response. In the meantime, we wish to reiterate that there is zero tolerance for sexual abuse of a minor or of sexual harassment of an adult in the Diocese of Buffalo by any member of the clergy, employee or volunteer. The Diocese has put in place rigorous policies and protocols governing required behavior as well as a code of conduct which all clergy are expected to abide by. Moreover, the Diocese has committed to full cooperation with all civil authorities in both the reporting and investigation of alleged crimes and complaints.”

Attorney Mitchell Garabedian, who was made famous for representing victims and helping to expose the Boston Diocese in the early 2000’s, joined Hoatson’s press conference via phone, and he praised James for filing the lawsuit, saying steps like that are part of the healing process for victims.

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

BUFFALO (NY)
WKBW

November 23, 2020

By Charlie Specht

AG says diocese ‘engaged in cover-up’ of priests

New York State Attorney General Letitia James on Monday sued the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo and former bishops Richard J. Malone and Edward M. Grosz for failing to protect children and for engaging in a decades-long cover-up of sexual abuse by diocesan priests.

New York’s top prosecutor also filed a motion that seeks to force a full public disclosure of predatory priests and their actions against those whom they were entrusted with spiritual care, and is seeking a court-appointed monitor that would ensure that interim Bishop Edward B. Scharfenberger complies with sexual abuse policies and procedures.

The state is also seeking to bar both Malone and Grosz — who resigned their positions last year after a Vatican investigation — from serving in secular fiduciary roles in any nonprofits or charitable organizations in New York State.

“When trust is broken with spiritual leaders, it can lead to a crisis of faith,” James said in a news release. “For years, the Diocese of Buffalo and its leadership failed to protect children from sexual abuse. Instead, they chose to protect the very priests who were credibly accused of these atrocious acts. Individuals who are victims of abuse deserve to have their claims timely investigated and determined, and the Buffalo Diocese refused to give them that chance.”

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

TORONTO (ONTARIO, CANADA)
CBC News

November 24, 2020

By Julia Page

A class-action lawsuit launched against a Catholic religious order in 2018 has grown from the initial 30 Innu claimants on Quebec’s Lower North Shore to 190 Indigenous and non-Indigenous people from across Quebec.

Allegations of sexual abuse by priests with the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate initially surfaced during the federal inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls (MMIWG).

Those allegations have now multiplied across several First Nations, where the clergy tried to “silence repeated sexual assaults it was well aware of,” according to court documents submitted to Quebec Superior Court, in the request for authorization for the class action.

[Photo caption: Several priests in this photo, taken in the 1980s in the Sept-Îles region, have been named in the class action suit against the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate. (Submitted by Institut Tshakapesh)]

The inquiry’s stop in Mani-Utenam in November 2017, an Innu community near Sept-Îles, on Quebec’s North Shore, revealed decades of alleged abuse against Innu children and women living in Unamen Shipu and Pakua Shipu, on the province’s Lower North Shore.

Alexis Joveneau, a Belgian priest who arrived in the region in the 1950s, held a tight grip on the Innu communities where he worked, until his death in 1992.

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

DETROIT (MI)
Detroit Free Press

November 24, 2020

By Niraj Warikoo

The Catholic Archdiocese of Detroit has removed the pastor of a large church in Plymouth, alleging he was not able to handle the responsibilities of the parish. But the pastor is claiming he was unfairly targeted for speaking out on what he says was a harassment case involving an employee of the Archdiocese.

The Rev. Michael Suhy, pastor at Our Lady of Good Counsel parish, was told last week that he was being removed from the church he led.

Auxiliary Bishop Gerard Battersby said in a statement: “One of Archbishop Vigneron’s conclusions was that Father Suhy has become overwhelmed with the responsibilities, burdens, and challenges of administrating a large and complex parish like Our Lady of Good Counsel Parish with its added dimension of having a school. Following the required consultations and fact-finding, the action taken on Nov. 17 was believed necessary for Father Suhy’s well-being, and also for the well-being of the parish, parishioners, and school.”

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

LONDON (ENGLAND)
BBC

November 23, 2020

New York’s Attorney General has filed a lawsuit against the Buffalo Catholic Diocese, alleging its leaders protected priests accused of child sex abuse.

Attorney General Letita James said the diocese and two now-retired leaders failed to refer over two dozen accused priests to the Vatican for removal.

In response, the diocese pledged “full cooperation” with authorities.

It is the first suit to come from a state inquiry that began in 2018. Seven other dioceses are under investigation.

Announcing the lawsuit on Twitter, Ms James promised to bring those responsible to justice.

“While we will never be able to undo these horrific acts, we will do everything in our power to hold the Buffalo Diocese and its leadership accountable and ensure this never happens again.”

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

ALBANY (NY)
Attorney General of the State of New York

November 23, 2020

https://ag.ny.gov/press-release/2020/attorney-general-james-takes-action-against-catholic-diocese-buffalo-failing

Church Leadership Failed to Respond to Sexual Abuse Allegations,
Engaged in Cover-Up of Credible Claims of Improper Sexual Conduct by Priests

Buffalo – New York Attorney General Letitia James today filed a lawsuit against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Buffalo and former senior leaders, Bishop Emeritus Richard J. Malone and former Auxiliary Bishop Edward M. Grosz, for failing to follow mandated policies and procedures that would help to prevent the rampant sexual abuse of minors by priests within the Catholic Church. The Office of the Attorney General’s (OAG) two year-long investigation into the sexual abuse of children and vulnerable adults within the New York dioceses of the Catholic Church found that allegations of improper sexual conduct against diocesan priests in Buffalo were inadequately investigated, if at all, and were covered-up for years. Even though the diocese’s leadership found sexual abuse complaints to be credible, they sheltered the accused priests from public disclosure by deeming them as “unassignable,” and permitted them to retire or go on purported medical leave, rather than face referral to the Vatican for possible removal from the priesthood.

“When trust is broken with spiritual leaders, it can lead to a crisis of faith. For years, the Diocese of Buffalo and its leadership failed to protect children from sexual abuse,” said Attorney General James. “Instead, they chose to protect the very priests who were credibly accused of these atrocious acts. Individuals who are victims of abuse deserve to have their claims timely investigated and determined, and the Buffalo Diocese refused to give them that chance. While we will never be able to undo the wrongs of the past, I can guarantee that my office will do everything in its power to ensure trust, transparency, and accountability moving forward.”

*
In addition to today’s suit, Attorney General James filed a motion to allow for the disclosure of the accused priests’ names and alleged conduct outlined in the complaint. [See also the memorandum supporting the motion.]

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

ALBANY (NY)
Attorney General of the State of New York

November 23, 2020

By Letitia James et al.

The Attorney General brings this lawsuit to obtain remedial and injunctive relief for the persistent violation of New York nonprofit law by the Diocese of Buffalo (the “Diocesan Corporation” or the “Diocese”). For nearly two decades, the Diocesan Corporation ignored standards established by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (“USCCB”) in June 2002 to address and prevent the sexual abuse of minors by U.S. clergy. In direct defiance of the USCCB’s public commitment to reform, the Diocesan Corporation, through the conduct of its senior leadership, evaded key provisions of these standards, ignoring requirements for the investigation and review of alleged clergy sexual abuse.

2. Complaints of sexual abuse against priests continued unabated at the Diocesan Corporation from 2002 forward. Rather than adequately investigate and formally review the allegations to determine if priests were qualified to maintain their clerical status, the Diocesan Corporation privately designated priests that it considered to have abused minors as “unassignable.” Some of these unassignable priests were removed from ministry or allowed to retire in anticipation or shortly after the adoption of the USCCB’s 2002 standards. The Diocese permitted these unassignable priests to remain incardinated without any meaningful supervision or monitoring. These tactics together amounted to a practice of non-compliance with the USCCB’s principles and procedures, and they operated to conceal the actual nature and scope of sexual abuse allegations in the Diocesan Corporation.

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

BUFFALO (NY)
Buffalo News

November 23, 2020

By Jay Tokasz

https://buffalonews.com/news/local/ag-sues-buffalo-diocese-alleging-misuse-of-funds-in-covering-up-sex-abuse-cases/article_9c323614-2da9-11eb-aad2-7fc022a2ecae.html

New York Attorney General Letitia James on Monday sued the Buffalo Diocese, along with retired Bishop Richard J. Malone and retired Auxiliary Bishop Edward M. Grosz, alleging that diocese leaders protected more than two dozen priests accused of child sexual abuse by not referring their cases to the Vatican for potential removal from the priesthood.

The civil lawsuit filed in State Supreme Court in New York County accused Malone and Grosz of misusing charitable assets by supporting priests the diocese considered to have committed sexual abuse.

The lawsuit was accompanied by the release of a 218-page report on the attorney general’s two-year investigation into Catholic dioceses across the state, with a focus on allegations of a coverup of improper sexual conduct by diocesan priests in the Buffalo Diocese.

The investigation found that Buffalo Diocese leaders determined sex abuse complaints to be credible, but sheltered the accused priests from public disclosure by deeming them “unassignable” and allowed them to retire or go on medical leave, rather than face referral to the Vatican for laicization.

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

NEW YORK (NY)
New York Times

November 23, 2020

By Liam Stack

The state Attorney General said in a lawsuit that two former top leaders helped shelter more than two dozen priests accused of harming children.

The New York attorney general’s office on Monday accused the Roman Catholic Diocese of Buffalo and three bishops connected to it of violating church policy and state law with their involvement in a yearslong cover-up of sexual abuse by priests.

The lawsuit is the first state legal action against the Catholic Church in New York since a new wave of abuse investigations began in 2018, and it is the culmination of just one of eight inquiries, one for each Catholic diocese in the state. The other seven inquiries are ongoing.

The lawsuit represents what prosecutors believe is a novel legal strategy: The state will attempt to use civil laws, in particular those governing religious charities and their fiduciaries, to sue a Catholic diocese for failing to follow church policies enacted in 2002, after a series of investigative reports by The Boston Globe thrust the sex abuse scandal into public view.

It also may also raise questions about religious liberty: in addition to restitution and changes in the way the diocese handles sexual abuse claims, the lawsuit seeks to ban two bishops from management roles in any charitable organization, which may draw pushback from those who believe this encroaches into church autonomy.

The office of the attorney general, Letitia James, said its investigation found that the diocese and its two former top leaders, Bishop Richard J. Malone and Auxiliary Bishop Edward M. Grosz, used bureaucratic maneuvers to shelter more than two dozen priests accused of harming children.

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

GREENWOOD (MS)
Associated Press

November 21, 2020

The trial for a former Catholic Church friar accused of sex abuse at a Mississippi school has been postponed.

Paul West, a former member of the Franciscan religious order, was supposed to face trial on Tuesday for allegations that he sexually molested students in the 1990s at Greenwood’s St. Francis of Assisi School.

No new trial date was immediately set, Kelly Roberts, senior deputy clerk of the Leflore County Circuit Court, told The Greenwood Commonwealth.

West’s court-appointed lawyer, Wallie Stuckey, sought the continuance that was granted. Stuckey said he filed the request because he hadn’t received all the information he’s legally due from the state about the witnesses and evidence that will be presented to the jury.

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

SAN ĠWANN (MALTA)
Malta Today

November 23, 2020

By Josanne Cassar

When it comes to young children who have been exposed to sex, we must also be concerned about what happens next and how this emotional trauma will colour their future

Two headlines this week have perturbed me considerably, not only because of the stories they refer to, but because it points to an alarming inability by some fellow members of the press to comprehend how important it is to report sex abuse stories using the right terminology.

This is not about being ‘politically correct’, which has become a hackneyed phrase, and is often being used with negative connotations, much in the same way we sneer at people for being ‘snowflakes’, i.e. overly sensitive and easily offended.

No, the issue here is that the way certain headlines are phrased, and the choice of language in the reporting, filters down to the public which is all too ready to blame the victims instead of the culprits.

iNewsmalta.com came out with this gem: “Raġel jistenna li jgħaddi ġuri dwar sess ma’ tifla ta’ 11-il sena” (Man expected to stand trial for having sex with 11-year-old girl”.

LovinMalta, not to be outdone, wrote this headline about the same story: “Preteen Rabat Girl Sexually Abused By 31-Year-Old ‘Family Friend’ She Met At A Party”.

An 11-year-old cannot “have sex” with a man because this is not some romance novel we are talking about here. How many times does it need to be emphasised that a minor cannot consent to sex and, without consent, it is statutory rape? When this government lowered the age of consent from 18 to 16, a decision I strongly disagreed with, I knew that it would only give licence to all sorts of predators to feel that they could get away with abusing children even more. At 16 we are not adults, and although physically our bodies tell us we are ready to have sex, emotionally and psychologically most cannot handle it, and it often leads to dysfunctional sexual relationships for life in girls who confuse lust and physical gratification for the need to be loved.

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

MALAGA (SPAIN)
EuroWeekly News

November 23, 2020

By Matthew Roscoe

50-year-old Fr Donald Bellizzi was convicted on appeal of sexually abusing the then-teenage boy who had been entrusted into his care and the pope was given the recommendation by the Rome-based Conventual Franciscans Order, of which Bellizzi still belongs while in prison, to dismiss him.

Bellizzi, who was jailed for three-years, abused the poor boy from 2010, when he attended meetings to find out if he had the vocation to become a priest, in abuse that lasted until he was 16-years-old, when he was eventually able the stand up to the priest and report the abuse.

The Secretary-General of the Conventual Franciscans, Tomasz Szymczak, told Times of Malta when contacted that the matter was investigated and that the pope had been asked to dismiss the guilty friar.

“The General Curia is now presenting a request to the Holy Father to dismiss Friar Donald from the clerical state and from the religious order, in accordance with the regulations in force,” Szymczak said.

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

ROCHESTER (NY)
WXXI

November 22, 2020

Leila Fadel, Host: In 2017, in the midst of the #MeToo movement, a rigidly conservative celebrity American Muslim preacher was caught in a sexting scandal. Nouman Ali Khan was accused of using his position to lure and groom women into sexual relationships under the guise of secret marriages, all while he was legally married to someone else. The scandal divided Muslim communities as some came to his defense and others called for him to be held accountable. He largely disappeared from public life.

Now, like a few other men accused of being sexual predators at the height of #MeToo, he appears to be attempting a comeback. Last week, Nouman Ali Khan was invited to speak on an all male-hosted podcast called “The Mad Mamluks,” and that was met with outrage from largely young Muslims questioning why anyone would give him a platform.

We called Alia Salem to hear her reaction. She’s the founder of FACE, which stands for Facing Abuse in Community Environments, a Dallas-based organization that investigates spiritual, sexual and financial abuse by Muslim leaders.

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

AUCKLAND (NEW ZEALAND)
Radio New Zealand

November 22, 2020

By Jean Bell

Efforts by church organisations to temporarily keep the names of deceased perpetrators secret ahead of an Abuse in Care inquiry is hugely upsetting for survivors, an advocate for abuse survivors says.

Lawyers acting for the Catholic Church, the Salvation Army and the Anglican Church have asked the Royal Commission to temporarily keep the names of deceased perpetrators of abuse hidden from the public eye through an interim non-publication order.

The faith-based hearings start at the end of the month, following a lengthy hearing into redress for survivors of abuse while in state care between 1950 and 1999.

A central argument for the non-publication order is that there has not been sufficient time for natural justice and preparation before the hearing starts.

Murray Heasley, an advocate for Catholic Church abuse survivors, who was at the procedural hearing today, said it has caused massive disquiet among victims.

“For many of them it is between 20 and 60 years since this happened and this is for many of them, perhaps their last chance to seek some redress and some justice.”

He said it is incredible so many people had come forward.

“There is massive cultural reasons not to step up. Most people don’t – they remain silent. Now they’ve heard about these questions of redactions … and now this talk about dead people not being able to be mentioned is deeply alarming.”

The Catholic Church’s lawyer Sally McKenzie told chair Judge Coral Shaw the church was not seeking to cover up evidence.

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

WASHINGTON (DC)
Sojourners

November 18, 2020

By Rose Marie Berger

On the same day last week, two reports on sexual abuse in the Catholic Church made headlines.

The first report, released by the Vatican, is the so-called “McCarrick report.” It documents the rise of former (now-laicized, or removed from priestly office) Cardinal Theodore McCarrick to the highest levels of the Catholic Church, despite persistent warnings that he had sexually entrapped seminarians for decades and then abused his significant power and finances to buy silence. (The now-90-year-old McCarrick, the most senior church official ever laicized for sexual abuse, lives in an undisclosed location in the U.S.)

The second report was released by an independent commission in the U.K. It documents nearly 50 years of sexual abuse of minors by Catholic institutions in England and Wales and how Cardinal Vincent Nichols, current president of Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, consistently elevated protection of his own reputation over that of the children in the care of church workers — priests, brothers, and lay leaders.

What the reports have in common is long lists of sexual abuse victims and their broken families. The testimonies of survivors are instructive for the quality of their demand for justice and yet, to paraphrase Tolstoy, each unhappy survivor story “is unhappy in its own way.” Each story is unbearable in its details of the physical and psycho-spiritual torture and the chronic wounds that remain.

But in other respects, the two reports could not be more different.

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

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
WHYY / PBS

November 18, 2020

Two area Catholic high schools will close at the end of this academic year, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia announced Wednesday.

The decision to shut John W. Hallahan Catholic Girls High School in Philadelphia and Bishop McDevitt High School in Wyncote, Montgomery County, comes as a result of their declining enrollment. The schools are operating at 36% and 40% of enrollment capacity, respectively.

*
The ongoing pandemic has taken a toll on Catholic school systems and dioceses across the country. In October, the Diocese of Camden became one of the latest to file for bankruptcy, citing revenue losses resulting from the pandemic as well as millions of dollars it paid out to clergy abuse victims.

In April, the Diocese of Camden also announced it was closing five South Jersey Catholic schools at the end of the academic year due to financial issues made worse by the pandemic.

The Philadelphia Archdiocese is no stranger to school closures as a cost-cutting measure. In 2012, four high schools and 49 elementary schools were shuttered due to widening budget deficits and dwindling student populations.

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

LONDON (ENGLAND)
Tablet

November 20, 2020

By Catherine Pepinster

Catholic bishops of England and Wales have admitted that their safeguarding work must change and have outlined how this will happen.

Their admission comes just days after a damning report from the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse which lambasted its safeguarding structures and poor treatment of survivors and singled out Archbishop of Westminster Cardinal Vincent Nichols for criticism.

At a press conference today, when the bishops unveiled their new safeguarding set-up, Cardinal Nichols said he had no intention of quitting.

Survivors had called for his immediate departure following the IICSA report but the cardinal said he would be staying put while the Church reorganises its safeguarding.

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

DENVER (CO)
Catholic News Agency

November 20, 2020

Cardinal Vincent Nichols said Friday that he was committed to overseeing a major overhaul of safeguarding procedures in England and Wales following an independent report that sharply criticized his handling of abuse cases.

The Catholic Church in England and Wales announced sweeping changes to its child protection system Nov. 20, 10 days after the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) issued a scathing report on the Church.

In a personal statement shared with journalists at a press conference Friday, the cardinal said that the report had “brought together a picture of abuse inflicted in the Catholic Church over a period of 50 years.”

“It is a terrible picture,” he said. “I remain shocked and ashamed. It is a reality that hangs like a dark cloud over my heart and mind.”

He continued: “I say again: I am so sorry. I say this for many bishops who have gone before me over these 50 years. Many hearing this will feel that we let you down. Yes, we did let you down in many ways, in different times, in different places, for different reasons. I apologize again. I am so sorry for all that has happened over these years.”

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

LONDON (ENGLAND)
Tablet

November 17, 2020

By Catherine Pepinster

An abuse survivor is to sue the Diocese of Westminster, including its archbishop, Cardinal Vincent Nichols, for personal injury because of the way she was treated when she asked to have access to her own safeguarding files. The claim is believed to be a highly unusual action.

The decision by A711 came as the bishops of England and Wales were due to meet on Wednesday for an all-day discussion on the highly critical report by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) on the Catholic Church, published last week. It said the Catholic Church had betrayed its moral purpose in its neglectful handling of abuse cases and the way it treated survivors. It singled out Cardinal Nichols in its report, saying that he showed “no acknowledgement of any personal responsibility to lead or influence change” and failed to be compassionate to victims.

Cardinal Nichols said in television news reports that he had tendered his resignation to Pope Francis who had asked him to stay on. But the resignation was caused by him reaching 75, the date for episcopal retirements, rather than the comments made about his handling of the abuse crisis.

According to A711, it was Cardinal Nichols’ response to the report that was “the last straw” for her and led to her decision to press for damages. “The fact that he resigned because he is 75 not because of the report has made me think there must be some sort of accountability, and I hope that’s what this action will bring about,” she said.

When A711 asked to see documents relating to her case of abuse, disparaging emails from Westminster diocesan staff were discovered and efforts to see further documents were blocked until recently. Requests to speak to the cardinal went unheeded until a newspaper reported on her case.

“I have catalogued a long list of problems about the way they have treated me over the last four years”, she said. “They retraumatised me. They can’t keep treating survivors like this”.

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

LONDON (ENGLAND)
The Times

November 21, 2020

By Peter MacDiarmid

An independent inquiry has criticised the Catholic leader’s handling of sexual allegations. Those who have suffered for years say he must go

In October 2016 a woman approached the Catholic Church to report the sexual abuse and rape she had suffered at the hands of a priest from the age of 15.

She knew it would take all her strength to relive what had happened. What she did not expect was to be “retraumatised” by the church.

Safeguarding officers for the diocese of Westminster, which handled her case, described the woman, now in her fifties, as “needy” and “manipulative” in internal emails.

She pleaded with Cardinal Vincent Nichols, the head of the diocese and the leader of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, to help her with her case. She was ignored. Requests for meetings fell on deaf ears for months. After submitting a formal request…

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

KENOSHA (WI)
Kenosha News

November 22, 2020

By Arthur I. Cyr

https://www.kenoshanews.com/opinion/local_columnists/dr-art-cyr-pope-francis-leadership-underscores-global-influence-of-roman-catholic-church/article_51baa72c-9cff-5533-b9cb-be585accfc7f.html

“An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth …,” is a useful starting place for discussion of the influence of Pope Francis, who is proving to be a remarkably active and activist leader of the Roman Catholic Church. To modern readers, the Biblical quote (Exodus 21:24) may seem brutal, but the Old Testament sentiment actually represented revolutionary progress.

Ancient warfare involved unrestrained killing and pillaging. By contrast, this Hebrew law codified proportionality and limits. Historically and currently, the Vatican has played an important role in restraining and restricting warfare, building on this fundamental insight.

*
Shocking criminal sexual abuse by priests is a principal contemporary challenge. In 2015, a Vatican tribunal was established to review and judge cases of sexual abuse. Francis’ predecessor Pope Benedict XVI publicly acknowledged the criminal behavior, met with victims and apologized.

The world wars of the past century reconfirmed the Catholic Church’s emphasis on restraint in war. Contemporary Catholic analysis of ethics and military strategy is spearheaded by influential scholars such as J. Bryan Hehir, a senior priest and faculty member at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

During the Cold War, Fr. Hehir guided the U.S. Catholic Bishops’ influential report on use of nuclear weapons. Hehir also bluntly criticized his church for mishandling sex abuse crimes by priests.

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

PITTSBURGH (PA)
WPXI-TV

November 20, 2020

By: Rick Earle

The special fund created by the Pittsburgh Catholic Diocese to compensate victims of clergy sex abuse closed down in October, but some victims say the fund fell far short of what they expected.

Target 11′s Rick Earle spoke to several victims who said they feel like they’ve become victims again, not at the hands of priest, but the diocese. They believe that some of the settlement offers were “a slap in the face.”

“Quite frankly the program that Pittsburgh ran, of all the programs, was the most poorly funded,” said Ben Andreozzi, an attorney who represents approximately 30 victims from the Pittsburgh Catholic Diocese.

Andreozzi said about half of the victims he represents accepted settlements from the diocese. The other half declined the offers.

“We’re not talking about them thumbing their nose at millions of dollars. We’re talking about situations where people who have been raped are offered less than $20,000. I’m not suggesting that $20,000 isn’t a lot of money, but for somebody who has extensive needs for therapy, they lost out on job opportunities, they lost out on their education, the needs far exceed that of what they were offered, ” he said.

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

NEW BEDFORD (MA)
Standard-Times / SouthCoastToday

November 21, 2020

By Kiernan Dunlop

A Ministerial Review Board has determined that allegations of sexual abuse of minors brought against a New Bedford Roman Catholic priest are credible and recommended he be permanently removed from priestly ministry, according to the Diocese of Fall River.

“Based upon my own review of the evidence and the thoughtful work of the Review Board, I have accepted the recommendations and met this week with Father [Daniel] Lacroix to inform him of this decision,” Bishop Edgar. M da Cunha said in a letter that was read to parishioners of Lacroix’s the weekend of November 14 – 15.

In 2019, Lacroix was named co-pastor at three North End Churches – St. Joseph-St. Therese, St. Mary, and Our Lady of Fatima Parishes. St. Mary, where Lacroix had been serving as a pastor since 2017, has an associated school, All Saints Catholic School, which serves preschool through Grade 8 students. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic St. Mary is the only church where Mass is currently being held out of the three parishes and the announcement about the diocese’s decision was made there, according to Director of Communications John Kearns.

A priest removed from ministry may not publicly celebrate a Mass or sacrament, preach, present himself as a priest or wear clerical clothing, participate in any meeting or gathering or engage in any form of ministry, and he may not reside in a rectory or any other parish or diocesan facility, according to Kearns.

Kearns did not say if Lacroix would receive any retirement benefits or a severance.

In November 2019, Lacroix was placed on administrative leave after an external review of the diocese’s personnel files revealed information related to alleged misconduct that is said to have occurred decades ago.

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

ALBANY (DC)
WRGB 6 CBS

November 20, 2020

The Diocese of Albany has added a name to its list of offenders who have been accused of sex abuse.

The late Rev. Lawrence McTavey passed away nearly a year ago.

The diocesan review board hired an investigator to look into a long history of allegations against McTavey.

MORE: 33 new lawsuits filed against Albany Diocese, law firm now reports over 100 survivors

He was ordained in 1955 and served at churches in Stillwater, Troy, and Albany.

He retired in 2007 from St. Bernard’s in Cohoes.

Multiple abuse claims were filed against McTavey between 2002 and 2019 before his death.

The diocese asks anyone who may have been abused by McTavey to contact law enforcement or the diocese.

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

WASHINGTON (DC)
Catholic News Service via Crux

November 20, 2020

By Junno Arocho Esteves

At Vatican trial, seminary rector accuses victim of seeking payout

Rome – The former rector of a minor seminary located in the Vatican denied knowing about the alleged sexual abuse of a student, but instead alleged that the victim and his friend, who claimed he witnessed the abuse, were motivated by money.

Msgr. Enrico Radice, the former rector of the St. Pius X Pre-Seminary, took the stand Nov. 19, the third day of the Vatican criminal trial against him and Father Gabriele Martinelli.

Martinelli, 28, is accused of abusing a younger student from 2007 to 2012. Although he and his alleged victim were under the age of 18 when the abuse allegedly began, the court accused him of continuing to abuse the younger student when Martinelli was already 20.

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

ROME (ITALY)
Associated Press

November 19, 2020

By Nicole Winfield

The Vatican cardinal sacked by Pope Francis amid a corruption investigation is suing an Italian news magazine, claiming that his ruined reputation has eliminated his chances of becoming pope and will undermine the legitimacy of any future papal election.

Cardinal Angelo Becciu is seeking 10 million euros ($11.9 million) in damages, to be given to charity, in a lawsuit filed Wednesday in the Sassari, Sardinia tribunal against L’Espresso magazine, the weekly affiliated with Italian daily newspaper La Repubblica.

The 74-page complaint raises questions about the conduct of Vatican criminal prosecutors, suggesting they leaked information to L’Espresso as they sought to build a corruption case around the Holy See’s 350 million-euro ($416 million) investment in a London real estate venture.

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

BANGALORE (INDIA)
TheNewsMinute

November 21, 2020

By Sreedevi Jayarajan

The incident is said to have taken place in Kilimanoor back in 2018.

The Kerala police on Thursday arrested a man who allegedly disguised himself as a temple priest and sexually abused an 11-year-old girl in Thiruvananthapuram. The incident is said to have taken place in Kilimanoor back in 2018. The accused, 37-year-old Shyam is a native of Allapad panchayat in Kollam district. According to the police, the girl’s mother had knowledge of the abuse.

Speaking to TNM, officers at the Kilimanoor police station said that the accused had been working in a local temple in the area, under his fake name – Shan. He reportedly got acquainted with a woman in the neighbourhood and visited her regularly. The woman is the 11-year-old girl’s mother. “The accused and the mother also threatened the girl to not reveal the abuse to anybody. This is how reporting of the incident got delayed by two years,” an officer at the Kilimanoor Police Station told TNM.

The accused was finally arrested when the minor revealed the abuse to her father and the two filed a complaint in the station. The arrest was recorded on Thursday after he was charged under relevant sections of the POCSO Act (Protection of Children Against Sexual Offences). The accused has been remanded to judicial custody.

Reports also add that the accused had been duping people for years by working in Kerala temples under a fake name. He had also created fake identity cards and documents to make it more convincing. He also made fake documents in the name of a famous Namboothiri family in Edakulangara, according to reports. Several documents and multiple mobile SIM cards were seized from the accused. He was arrested by a team of officers from the Kilimanoor police station headed by Station House Officer (SHO) KB Manoj Kumar. He has remanded by the Attingal POCSO court.

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

TRIQ I-INTORNJATUR (MALTA)
Times of Malta

November 20, 2020

By Matthew Xuereb

The decision needs to be taken by the Franciscan Order
.
The Vatican is yet to order the defrocking of a priest convicted of sexually abusing a 13-year-old boy who had been entrusted into his care.

The decision needs to be taken by the Franciscan Order which is based in Rome and which receives its orders from the Vatican. Meanwhile, Fr Donald Bellizzi is serving time in jail as a priest.

Bellizzi was convicted on appeal of sexually abusing the then teenage boy, who used to attend a special group for those who were keen on becoming priests.

The offences began in 2010 when the boy attended meetings to find out if he had the vocation to become a priest and lasted until he was 16 years old when he stood up to the priest and stopped the abuse.

Bellizzi, who is now almost 50 years old, had his three-year jail sentence confirmed on appeal.

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

DENVER (CO)
Catholic News Agency

November 20, 2020

By Hannah Brockhaus

The Vatican court heard Thursday the questioning of one of the defendants in an ongoing trial of two Italian priests for abuse and cover-up allegedly committed in Vatican City from 2007 to 2012.

Fr. Enrico Radice, 72, has been charged with impeding investigations into an abuse allegation against Fr. Gabriele Martinelli, 28.

The abuse is alleged to have taken place at the St. Pius X pre-seminary located in the Vatican. The abuse allegations were first made public by the media in 2017.

Radice stated at the Nov. 19 hearing that he was never told about abuse by Martinelli by anyone, accusing the alleged victim and another alleged witness of making up the story for “economic interests.”

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

NEW ORLEANS (LA)
WWL 4 CBS

November 19, 2020

By David Hammer

https://www.wwltv.com/article/news/investigations/david-hammer/suspended-metairie-deacon-focus-of-criminal-child-rape-investigation-jpso-confirms/289-00f7b2a0-a4dc-450f-8fc0-39fcfea21a14

Deputies have not booked the deacon with any crime, and prosecutors have not filed charges.

A Catholic deacon from Metairie who was suspended from public ministry this summer is now under criminal investigation over accusations that he raped a pre-teen boy 20 years ago, according to a Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office report released this week.

The initial report on the case shows an unidentified man met with a personal violence investigator at the Sheriff’s Office detectives’ bureau on Oct. 21 and recounted how he had been sexually abused between January 2000 and December 2001, when he was less than 13 years old. He said the abuse occurred at a home on Hector Avenue in Metairie, at the hands of a man who is now 62.

Land records show that the home in question was owned at the time by Virgil Maxey “V.M.” Wheeler III, 62, a prominent New Orleans lawyer who was ordained a deacon in 2018 but was removed from ministry in August over unspecified abuse allegations dating back two decades.

The property on Hector, which Wheeler sold in 2019, is just two blocks from St. Francis Xavier Parish on Metairie Road, where Wheeler served as a deacon.

The police report doesn’t name Wheeler, but Sheriff’s Office Capt. Jason Rivarde on Thursday confirmed that Wheeler is the suspect referenced in the report.

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

PASADENA (CA)
Courthouse News Service

November 19, 2020

By Amanda Pampuro

A former Catholic priest convicted of sexually abusing minors in the 1990s told a 10th Circuit panel Thursday that the jury that found him guilty was clearly predisposed to distrust him after listening to several other witnesses who said they saw him commit similar acts of abuse.

In October 2019, a jury convicted Arthur Perrault, then 81, of sexually abusing children at Santa Fe National Cemetery and Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque, where he served as a chaplain in the 1990s.

Throughout the trial, several other victims came forward to testify that Perrault had abused them hundreds of times as young boys under the age of 12, while he served as a Catholic priest at St. Bernadette’s parish and Our Lady of Assumption in Albuquerque. The tales of abuse went back as far as 1966, when Perrault was teaching at St. Pius Catholic High School.

Perrault fled the country in 1992, as a New Mexico state attorney was preparing lawsuits against the Archdiocese of Santa Fe over the priest’s alleged crimes. Perrault was finally extradited from Morocco in 2018 to stand trial.

Following the trial, U.S. District judge Martha Vazquez, appointed by Bill Clinton, sentenced Perrault to 30 years in prison.

On Thursday, public defender Aric Grant Elsenheimer told a 10th Circuit panel Vazquez had erred in letting seven propensity witnesses testify.

“What if the court allowed five?” asked U.S. Circuit Judge Gregory Phillips, a Barack Obama appointee.

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

LOUISVILLE (KY)
Courier Journal

November 19, 2020

By Jim Wayne

The astonishing news that the Louisville Metro Police Department and the Jefferson County Attorney’s Office concealed at least 738,000 records dealing with child sexual abuses in the Explorer Scouts program should raise the collective ire of everyone in our community.

The cover-up by public servants of any information about the incidents is, in effect, a collusion in crimes against our most precious, innocent citizens — our children.

As a licensed clinical social worker who treats victims of childhood sexual abuse, I can attest to the serious, long-term psychological impact of this horrendous trauma. The pain that for years finds its way into every crevice of a person’s life is indescribable.

In 2008, following the devastating news of abuse of thousands of children by Catholic priests, I worked with the adult victims of these crimes to successfully sponsor legislation to tighten reporting requirements, raise age limits, stiffen penalties and extend the statute limitation on child sexual abuse cases in Kentucky. Since the passage of the law, the number of prosecutions has grown and the level of awareness about transparency in these cases has increased.

This awareness, evidently, never penetrated the walls of our city administrations or the Jefferson County attorney’s office.

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

WASHINGTON (DC)
Catholic News Service

November 19, 2020

Munich – The two abuse survivors who resigned as spokesmen of the victims’ advisory board in the Cologne Archdiocese have accused Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki of a “renewed abuse of abuse victims.”

The board had been “completely overrun” by Cardinal Woelki’s treatment of the Cologne abuse studies, Patrick Bauer told the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper in comments published Nov. 19.

“We were meant to deliver the certificate: approved by the advisory board,” said Karl Haucke.

The German Catholic news agency KNA reported that at the end of October, the archdiocese had announced in a joint statement with the victims’ advisory board that the abuse report compiled by a Munich law firm would not be published due to alleged deficiencies, and that Cologne-based criminal law expert Björn Gercke would conduct a new investigation.

The Christ & World supplement of the newspaper Die Zeit cited the unpublished abuse report and said it accused former Cologne cardinals Joseph Höffner and Joachim Meisner of mistakes in handling an abuse case. There is also renewed public debate about the behavior of the Archbishop Stefan Hesse of Hamburg, former head of personnel of the Cologne Archdiocese.

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

ALBUQUERQUE(NM)
KNUM

November 11, 2020

By Marisa DeMarco

[Note: Hannah Colton and her colleagues Ellen Berkovitch and Rita Daniels reported the 2018 series Dark Canyon: Sexual Abuse and Secrecy in the Archdiocese of Santa Fe.]

The KUNM community is heartbroken to say that News Director Hannah Colton died earlier this week at age 29.

She has been a brilliant news leader during the pandemic, guiding the team and editing stories about the virus, the calls to stop racist policing and the 2020 election.

She was passionate about equity and racial justice. She fought those fights in the field, in news content and on behalf of her staff.

Hannah loved being a reporter. She was a gifted storyteller. She was great at meeting people and talking with them, asking good questions and really listening to the answers.

She well-understood the urgency of this moment, and she gave it her whole heart, working around the clock to cover equity and education, the dangers of the virus for people who are incarcerated, protests and the pandemic’s impacts on people without shelter.

Hannah was originally from Cedar Rapids, Iowa. She was committed to this region and told me she wanted to stay here, doing this work— even though after this pandemic is over, she could have gone anywhere she wanted as a reporter or newsroom leader.

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

BALTIMORE (MD)
Baltimore Sun

November 18, 2020

By Phillip J. Brown

The McCarrick Report investigating sexual abuse by disgraced former Washington, D.C., cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, released this month by the Vatican, catalogs facts that cannot be ignored, denied or explained away. The harm inflicted by Mr. McCarrick over decades is a source of deep remorse and shame for the Catholic Church. Like most, I am bewildered that he was able to advance in the ranks while preying on victims even while serious accusations about him were known or credibly rumored.

Before priesthood, I served as assistant attorney general for Pardons, Parole and Probation in North Dakota. I reviewed the files of every inmate in the corrections system, which included every kind of sex crime. Later I served as guardian ad litem for the juvenile court, representing the interests of children, including those who had been sexually abused. As a priest and canon lawyer, I have been deeply involved in cases of clerical sexual abuse of children and young people. I have had a life-long commitment to the welfare and well-being of children and young adults — that they be protected from sexual predators especially. That life experience has informed my work as a canonist and now as a seminary official.

The greatest value of the McCarrick Report will be what we learn from it to ensure that nothing like this is able to happen again.

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

EL PASO (TX)
KFOX

November 18, 2020

Las Cruces NM – Catholic officials in Rome have ordered an investigation into former Las Cruces Bishop, Oscar Cantu, over his handling of cases of clergy sexual abuse, according to the Catholic News Agency.

The investigation is being carried out under the provisions of Vos estis lux mundi, Pope Francis’ 2019 law for holding bishops accountable in the handling of sexual abuse cases.

Senior sources in the Vatican told CNA that the investigation was ordered by Cardinal Marc Ouellet, prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, in October and that the allegations concern Cantu’s handling of abuse and misconduct cases in his former diocese of Las Cruces, New Mexico. Cantu is now Bishop of San Jose, California.

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

BOSTON (MA)
GBH

November 19, 2020

By Isaiah Thompson

More than a dozen Massachusetts Boy Scouts troops have been implicated among a flood of tens of thousands sexual abuse lawsuits filed nationwide against the Boy Scouts of America, according to a lawyer representing some of the alleged victims.

Boston Attorney Mitchell Garabedian, who prominently represented victims of abuse by Catholic clergy, tells GBH News that he is currently representing about 100 clients accusing the Boy Scouts of sexual abuse. Most of those clients, he says, are from Massachusetts; their allegations implicate an estimated dozen or more Boy Scouts troops from around the state.

“From Boston, to Springfield, to western Massachusetts … it’s spread out almost everywhere,” Garabedian said. “It was the culture, of abuse.”

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

SAN JOSE (CA)
Mercury News

November 18, 2020

By John Woolfolk

Oscar Cantu became Bishop of San Jose in 2018

San Jose’s recently seated Bishop Oscar Cantú is under investigation by the Vatican for his handling of clerical sex abuse cases in his former Diocese of Las Cruces, New Mexico, according to a Catholic news agency report.

The Catholic News Agency reported Tuesday that the investigation was ordered in October under a zero-tolerance policy Pope Francis implemented last year to hold bishops accountable for their handling of past sexual abuse cases, particularly for actions or omissions intended to avoid or interfere with investigations.

The Catholic News Agency quoted two unnamed Vatican sources who confirmed the investigation but declined to comment on the specific accusations or whether they concern any clergy still in ministry. One of those officials stressed that the investigation is not a trial and that Cantú “has every presumption of innocence and remains in office.”

Cantú in a statement Wednesday morning acknowledged the reported investigation and said he supports the Vatican’s protocols “to ensure the accountability of bishops and to bring justice and healing to victims/survivors.”

“I intend to cooperate fully with any inquiry,” Cantú said in the statement.

The Diocese of Las Cruces, where Cantu was bishop from 2013 to 2018, and its current Bishop Peter Baldacchino had no comment on the allegations, said spokesman Christopher Velasquez.

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

LANSING (MI)
Veracity

November 16, 2020

On November 4, 2020, Lansing Bishop Earl Boyea signed policies into law written by the St. Mary MacKillop Coalition for the Protection of Children and Vulnerable Adults (Fenton, Michigan). These policies were promulgated to the priests of the Diocese of Lansing by email on Friday, November 13, 2020, and thereby became local law consistent with Canon Law 7.

However, these previous policies and current policies have been rescinded from public view.

The newly promulgated law protects adults and children in the following ways:

– Priests will no longer be able to sleep with children or be alone with them in general (see new policy 2.1.3.1).

– Sex abuse documents regarding abuse of adults will no longer be able to be destroyed by attorneys (see new policy 2.1.5.4).

– Adults will now be included in the protections afforded by the Charter for the Protection of Children included in policy 2.1.9.

– Victims will be given access to records regarding their case so they can verify that what has been documented is what they reported (policy 2.1.9-14).

– Victim’s statements will now be verified with them in writing to prevent misstatement (policy 2.1.9-17).

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

LANSING (MI)
Veracity

November 16, 2020

On November 4, 2020, Lansing Bishop Earl Boyea signed policies into law written by the St. Mary MacKillop Coalition for the Protection of Children and Vulnerable Adults (Fenton, Michigan). These policies were promulgated to the priests of the Diocese of Lansing by email on Friday, November 13, 2020, and thereby became local law consistent with Canon Law 7.

However, these previous policies and current policies have been rescinded from public view.

The newly promulgated law protects adults and children in the following ways:

– Priests will no longer be able to sleep with children or be alone with them in general (see new policy 2.1.3.1).

– Sex abuse documents regarding abuse of adults will no longer be able to be destroyed by attorneys (see new policy 2.1.5.4).

– Adults will now be included in the protections afforded by the Charter for the Protection of Children included in policy 2.1.9.

– Victims will be given access to records regarding their case so they can verify that what has been documented is what they reported (policy 2.1.9-14).

– Victim’s statements will now be verified with them in writing to prevent misstatement (policy 2.1.9-17).

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

WASHINGTON (DC)
Catholic News Service

November 17, 2020

By Carol Zimmermann

Two women who lead groups that advise the U.S. bishops on key issues, encouraged them Nov. 16 to continue holding dialogues on racism, reaching out to Catholics during the pandemic and letting Catholics know about their efforts to prevent abuse in the church.

In prerecorded remarks, Deborah Amato, chair of the National Advisory Council, and Suzanne Healy, chair of the National Review Board, spoke to the bishops on the first day of their annual fall meeting, held virtually this year due to the pandemic.

Amato’s remarks were taped prior to the Nov. 10 release of the Vatican report on former cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, so she did not address this investigation except to say that a council member had recently been asking about the report’s status.

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

WASHINGTON (DC)
Catholic News Service

November 17, 2020

By Carol Zimmermann

Two women who lead groups that advise the U.S. bishops on key issues, encouraged them Nov. 16 to continue holding dialogues on racism, reaching out to Catholics during the pandemic and letting Catholics know about their efforts to prevent abuse in the church.

In prerecorded remarks, Deborah Amato, chair of the National Advisory Council, and Suzanne Healy, chair of the National Review Board, spoke to the bishops on the first day of their annual fall meeting, held virtually this year due to the pandemic.

Amato’s remarks were taped prior to the Nov. 10 release of the Vatican report on former cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, so she did not address this investigation except to say that a council member had recently been asking about the report’s status.

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

EUGENE (OR)
KVAL

November 17, 2020

A former music ministry leader at a Eugene church – who has been in custody since 2018 on accusations of raping a child under the age of 12 – will spend the rest of his life behind bars.

A jury found Edward Samuel Thompson of Eugene guilty after a week-long trial earlier this month.

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

EUGENE (OR)
KVAL

November 17, 2020

A former music ministry leader at a Eugene church – who has been in custody since 2018 on accusations of raping a child under the age of 12 – will spend the rest of his life behind bars.

A jury found Edward Samuel Thompson of Eugene guilty after a week-long trial earlier this month.

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

HUNTINGTON (WV)
Herald-Dispatch

November 18, 2020

By Lacie Pierson

CHARLESTON — Schools and camps operated by the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston aren’t subject to the West Virginia Consumer Credit and Protection Act, the West Virginia Supreme Court ruled Monday.

The ruling is a blow to a lawsuit launched by Attorney General Patrick Morrisey in March 2019, when he sued the diocese, alleging the diocese didn’t conduct background checks, despite advertising that it did so, and knowingly employed priests who had been credibly accused of sexual abuse at Catholic schools and a camp owned and managed by the diocese.

In the broader ruling, the Supreme Court ruled that no part of the West Virginia Consumer Credit and Protection Act could apply to religious schools or camps. The court ruled 4-1, with Justice Margaret Workman being the dissenting vote.

In its ruling, the court said the Consumer Credit and Protection Act is in conflict with a 1983 law that establishes operational parameters for religious schools. That law includes language that says as long as religious schools meet those standards, then they aren’t subject to any other laws, with the exception of laws pertaining to fire, safety, sanitation and immunization.

In the majority’s opinion, Justice Beth Walker noted that the attorney general’s allegations against the diocese were “deeply troubling” and noted that teachers, youth camp administrators and counselors, and members of the clergy are required by law to report incidents of sexual abuse to police.

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

HUNTINGTON (WV)
Herald-Dispatch

November 18, 2020

By Lacie Pierson

CHARLESTON — Schools and camps operated by the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston aren’t subject to the West Virginia Consumer Credit and Protection Act, the West Virginia Supreme Court ruled Monday.

The ruling is a blow to a lawsuit launched by Attorney General Patrick Morrisey in March 2019, when he sued the diocese, alleging the diocese didn’t conduct background checks, despite advertising that it did so, and knowingly employed priests who had been credibly accused of sexual abuse at Catholic schools and a camp owned and managed by the diocese.

In the broader ruling, the Supreme Court ruled that no part of the West Virginia Consumer Credit and Protection Act could apply to religious schools or camps. The court ruled 4-1, with Justice Margaret Workman being the dissenting vote.

In its ruling, the court said the Consumer Credit and Protection Act is in conflict with a 1983 law that establishes operational parameters for religious schools. That law includes language that says as long as religious schools meet those standards, then they aren’t subject to any other laws, with the exception of laws pertaining to fire, safety, sanitation and immunization.

In the majority’s opinion, Justice Beth Walker noted that the attorney general’s allegations against the diocese were “deeply troubling” and noted that teachers, youth camp administrators and counselors, and members of the clergy are required by law to report incidents of sexual abuse to police.

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

NEW JERSEY
NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

November 18, 2020

By Ted Sherman

In one of the most graphic accusations yet against Theodore McCarrick, the disgraced and defrocked former Catholic cardinal accused of sex abuse, attorneys for a 47-year-old man claim he was sexually assaulted for years by the former cleric — beginning when he was just 12 years old.

The new allegations against McCarrick, 90, were made in a federal lawsuit filed in New Jersey on behalf of the unnamed “John Doe,” who said he was raped and sexually abused as a child by McCarrick on dozens of occasions from 1985 through 1990.

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

NEW JERSEY
NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

November 18, 2020

By Ted Sherman

In one of the most graphic accusations yet against Theodore McCarrick, the disgraced and defrocked former Catholic cardinal accused of sex abuse, attorneys for a 47-year-old man claim he was sexually assaulted for years by the former cleric — beginning when he was just 12 years old.

The new allegations against McCarrick, 90, were made in a federal lawsuit filed in New Jersey on behalf of the unnamed “John Doe,” who said he was raped and sexually abused as a child by McCarrick on dozens of occasions from 1985 through 1990.

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

DALLAS (TX)
The Dallas Morning News

November 18, 2020

By David Tarrant

Lawsuit reveals new allegations of sexual abuse of minors by Jesuit priests in the late 1970s and early 1980s, including a former principal and president of the school.

Six more former students at Jesuit College Preparatory School of Dallas have joined a lawsuit saying they were abused by priests when they were enrolled in school there.

The latest plaintiffs bring to eight the number of former students in the lawsuit, first filed in Dallas County civil court in August 2019, against the school and the Catholic Diocese of Dallas, among others, alleging that they were sexually abused in the early 1980s by five Jesuit Prep priests.

Six of the eight plaintiffs are using pseudonyms in the lawsuit. All eight men say the were abused during a time in the late 1970s and 1980s, when a cluster of priests that have since been found credibly accused of sexual assault, taught, counseled or coached students at the exclusive Jesuit Prep, according to records.

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

DALLAS (TX)
The Dallas Morning News

November 18, 2020

By David Tarrant

Lawsuit reveals new allegations of sexual abuse of minors by Jesuit priests in the late 1970s and early 1980s, including a former principal and president of the school.

Six more former students at Jesuit College Preparatory School of Dallas have joined a lawsuit saying they were abused by priests when they were enrolled in school there.

The latest plaintiffs bring to eight the number of former students in the lawsuit, first filed in Dallas County civil court in August 2019, against the school and the Catholic Diocese of Dallas, among others, alleging that they were sexually abused in the early 1980s by five Jesuit Prep priests.

Six of the eight plaintiffs are using pseudonyms in the lawsuit. All eight men say the were abused during a time in the late 1970s and 1980s, when a cluster of priests that have since been found credibly accused of sexual assault, taught, counseled or coached students at the exclusive Jesuit Prep, according to records.

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

HOUSTON (TX)
Houston Chronicle

November 17, 2020

By Nicole Hensley

Former priest Manuel La Rosa-Lopez, whose case surfaced amid a revitalized look at how the Catholic Church handled decades of child sex abuse, on Tuesday accepted a plea deal after facing five counts of indecency with a child, officials said.

The Houston-area cleric, charged in 2018, was accused of molesting three children at a Conroe church from 1998 to 2000. He pleaded guilty to two of the charges involving one male and female victim and will be sentenced in December to a decade in prison, said Nancy Hebert, a Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office prosecutor.

Lesser felony charges stemming from a second male accuser — who said La Rosa-Lopez exposed his genitals in a confessional booth — would be dismissed, she said.

La Rosa-Lopez, who was slated to go to trial in January and had recently been considering the plea deal, Hebert said. He decided this week to accept the offer.

“It wasn’t an easy thing for him to do,” La Rosa-Lopez’s lawyer, Wendell Odom, said. “He didn’t deny kissing one of the complainants and embracing the other. The question in his mind was if it was done with pure intentions .”

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

HOUSTON (TX)
Houston Chronicle

November 17, 2020

By Nicole Hensley

Former priest Manuel La Rosa-Lopez, whose case surfaced amid a revitalized look at how the Catholic Church handled decades of child sex abuse, on Tuesday accepted a plea deal after facing five counts of indecency with a child, officials said.

The Houston-area cleric, charged in 2018, was accused of molesting three children at a Conroe church from 1998 to 2000. He pleaded guilty to two of the charges involving one male and female victim and will be sentenced in December to a decade in prison, said Nancy Hebert, a Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office prosecutor.

Lesser felony charges stemming from a second male accuser — who said La Rosa-Lopez exposed his genitals in a confessional booth — would be dismissed, she said.

La Rosa-Lopez, who was slated to go to trial in January and had recently been considering the plea deal, Hebert said. He decided this week to accept the offer.

“It wasn’t an easy thing for him to do,” La Rosa-Lopez’s lawyer, Wendell Odom, said. “He didn’t deny kissing one of the complainants and embracing the other. The question in his mind was if it was done with pure intentions .”

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

HOUSTON (TX)
KHOU

November 17, 2020

By Jeremy Rogalski

Manuel LaRosa-Lopez is scheduled for a formal sentencing on Dec. 16.

Conroe TX – A former Conroe priest at the center of a sex abuse scandal involving children is headed to prison.

Manuel LaRosa-Lopez has pled guilty to two counts of indecency with a child, and according to prosecutors Tuesday, has agreed to serve 10 years in prison.

He is scheduled for a formal sentencing on Dec. 16.

LaRosa-Lopez was charged back in May 2019. He is accused of abusing children while he was a priest at the Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Conroe.

“It is incredibly rare for clergy abusers to see jail time for their crimes and we applaud the brave victims who came forward to ensure that this dangerous man would face justice,” Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP) said in a statement. “We believe that these survivors have surely saved other children from the lifelong scourge of sexual abuse and hope that they will now be able to focus on their own healing.”

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

HOUSTON (TX)
KHOU

November 17, 2020

By Jeremy Rogalski

Manuel LaRosa-Lopez is scheduled for a formal sentencing on Dec. 16.

Conroe TX – A former Conroe priest at the center of a sex abuse scandal involving children is headed to prison.

Manuel LaRosa-Lopez has pled guilty to two counts of indecency with a child, and according to prosecutors Tuesday, has agreed to serve 10 years in prison.

He is scheduled for a formal sentencing on Dec. 16.

LaRosa-Lopez was charged back in May 2019. He is accused of abusing children while he was a priest at the Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Conroe.

“It is incredibly rare for clergy abusers to see jail time for their crimes and we applaud the brave victims who came forward to ensure that this dangerous man would face justice,” Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP) said in a statement. “We believe that these survivors have surely saved other children from the lifelong scourge of sexual abuse and hope that they will now be able to focus on their own healing.”

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

HOUSTON (TX)
KPRC

November 17, 2020

By Phil Archer and Rose-Ann Aragon

A Houston-area priest who was accused of sexually abusing children has been sentenced to 10 years in prison.

KPRC 2 Investigates has learned, Father Manuel La Rosa-Lopez pleaded guilty to two counts of indecency with a child on early Tuesday morning. It was part of a plea deal that will send him to prison for a decade and make him a registered sex offender for the rest of his life, according to prosecutors.

He was charged with five counts of indecency with a child involving sexual contact. He was headed to trial in January but surprised prosecutors by agreeing to the plea deal, they said.

Investigators said La Rosa-Lopez abused a girl and a boy while he was a priest at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Conroe from the late ’90s to early 2000s. A third person came forward last year and said he was also abused by La Rosa-Lopez when he served as an altar boy in the mid-’90s.

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

HOUSTON (TX)
KPRC

November 17, 2020

By Phil Archer and Rose-Ann Aragon

A Houston-area priest who was accused of sexually abusing children has been sentenced to 10 years in prison.

KPRC 2 Investigates has learned, Father Manuel La Rosa-Lopez pleaded guilty to two counts of indecency with a child on early Tuesday morning. It was part of a plea deal that will send him to prison for a decade and make him a registered sex offender for the rest of his life, according to prosecutors.

He was charged with five counts of indecency with a child involving sexual contact. He was headed to trial in January but surprised prosecutors by agreeing to the plea deal, they said.

Investigators said La Rosa-Lopez abused a girl and a boy while he was a priest at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Conroe from the late ’90s to early 2000s. A third person came forward last year and said he was also abused by La Rosa-Lopez when he served as an altar boy in the mid-’90s.

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

SAVANNAH (GA)
WTOC

November 17, 2020

By Jessica Savage

The Catholic Diocese of Savannah responded to a new lawsuit about claims that it knew about the sexual abuse involving a priest and young boys; and conspired to cover it up.

This lawsuit is the third one involving Wayland Brown who was defrocked in 1988. Brown was convicted just two years ago for sexual crimes against boys who attended St James Catholic School in Savannah in 1987.

The Diocese claims it didn’t know or try to cover up any sexual abuse involving Brown and the young boys at St. James.

Much of the lawsuit filed against the Catholic Diocese of Savannah is based on this 1986 transcript. It describes a meeting called by then acting Bishop Raymond Lessard after he learned of a police investigation involving Priest Wayland Brown and allegations he molested boys in another Georgia county.

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

ROME (ITALY)
Associated Press via Star-Tribune

November 18, 2020

By Nicole Winfield

Pope Francis’ famous quip “Who am I to judge?” could go a long way toward explaining his initial attitude toward Theodore McCarrick, the defrocked and disgraced American cardinal who was the subject of a two-year Vatican investigation that was released last week.

Francis uttered the line on July 29, 2013, four months into his pontificate, when he was asked en route home from his first papal trip about reports of a sexually active gay priest whom he had just promoted. His point: If someone violated the church’s teaching on sexual morals in the past but had sought forgiveness from God, who was he to pass judgment?

The comment won plaudits from the LGBT community and landed Francis on the cover of The Advocate magazine. But Francis’ broader tendency to blindly trust his friends and resist judging them has created problems seven years later. A handful of priests, bishops and cardinals whom Francis has trusted over the years have turned out to be either accused of sexual misconduct or convicted of it, or of having covered it up.

In short, Francis’ loyalty to them cost him credibility.

The Vatican report spared Francis blame for McCarrick’s rise in the hierarchy, faulting instead his predecessors for having failed to recognize, investigate or effectively sanction McCarrick over consistent reports that he invited seminarians into his bed.

Francis ultimately defrocked McCarrick last year after a Vatican investigation determined he sexually abused children as well as adults. Francis commissioned the more in-depth probe after a former Vatican ambassador alleged in 2018 that some two dozen church officials were aware of McCarrick’s sexual misconduct with adult seminarians but covered it up for two decades.

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

DENVER (CO)
Catholic News Agency

November 17, 2020

By JD Flynn and Ed Condon

Washington DC – The Vatican’s Congregation for Bishops has ordered an investigation into Bishop Oscar Cantu’s handling of allegations of clerical sexual abuse and misconduct. The investigation is being carried out under the provisions of Vos estis lux mundi, Pope Francis’ 2019 law for holding bishops accountable in the handling of sexual abuse cases.

Senior sources in the Vatican told CNA that the investigation was ordered by Cardinal Marc Ouellet, prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, in October and that the allegations concern Cantu’s handling of abuse and misconduct cases in his former diocese of Las Cruces, New Mexico. Cantu is now Bishop of San Jose, California.

One senior official in the Vatican congregation, who spoke to CNA on condition of anonymity because the investigation is confidential, said that Pope Francis has adopted a “zero tolerance” policy with regard to American bishops’ handling of clerical sexual misconduct.

“The Holy Father is absolutely firm that cases of abuse will not be tolerated. He is also firm that bishops must treat all of these cases with complete seriousness,” the official said.

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

SAN ĠWANN (MALTA)
Malta Today

November 18, 2020

By Matthew Agius

Priest found guilty of corruption of minors has three-year prison sentence confirmed on appeal

A former parish priest convicted of sexually abusing a teenage boy has had his three-year jail sentence confirmed on appeal.

The erstwhile parish priest of Burmarrad, Fr Donald Bellizzi, had been found guilty in June 2020 of corrupting the boy, a crime for which he was sentenced to three years in prison.

He had been charged with corrupting the boy and another two minors, participating in sexual acts with them and producing or circulating child pornography. He was eventually cleared of the latter charge but found guilty of the first two.

Bellizzi had appealed, arguing amongst other things that the sexual contact had been consensual and that this had a bearing on the charges.

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

DENVER (CO)
KTVD 9 NBC

November 17, 2020

By Kevin Vaughan

{Includes video report.]

Bobby Bizup disappeared while attending a popular Catholic summer camp.

In the square, black-and-white snapshot, Bobby Bizup holds a toy pistol in his left hand, pointing it at the camera, a triangle of hair peeking from beneath his cap and pointing down his forehead.

There’s a mischievous grin sneaking across his face, just the barest hint of a gap in his teeth.

In another picture, Bobby cocks a bat above his left shoulder, ready to unleash a home-run swing on an imaginary pitch.

And the grin’s there again.

“He was always smiling,” said his cousin, Harriet Dudich.

Smiling, even though he was different in an era when that was a lot harder.

Born almost completely deaf, Bobby wore a hearing aid that didn’t do him much good. And when he spoke, few people besides his parents could understand him. He relied on sign language and lip-reading, and he seemed to shrug off the times that other kids teased him

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

AUCKLAND (NEW ZEALAND)
New Zealand Herald

November 17 2020

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/independent-inquiry-into-claims-dunedin-bishop-failed-to-act-on-abuse-claims-spanning-30-years/6GMIESBA5S2JPTSPJU2JKRDNRM/

An independent investigation is under way into the handling of sexual abuse complaints by a former Roman Catholic bishop of Dunedin.

The Catholic Church has appointed an independent investigator to look at whether Bishop John Kavanagh took proper action when he received complaints of sexual abuse during his tenure, between 1957 and 1985.

The news comes as survivors of abuse in faith-based settings, including the Catholic Church, prepare to give evidence as part of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care.

The investigation could also have ramifications for Kavanagh College, the Dunedin high school that bears his name.

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

SEATTLE (WA)
The Seattle Times

November 16, 2020

By Lewis Kamb

Before a Monday deadline, tens of thousands of men — including scores from Washington — already have filed sexual-abuse claims against the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) in a federal bankruptcy case the national organization hopes will help it emerge from the cloud of a decades-old scandal.

But the sheer flood of claims that already have rolled in has revealed the hidden horrors of pedophilia perpetuated in scouting programs at a level vastly more widespread than previously known, some claimants’ lawyers said.

Not only does the far-reaching bankruptcy case now jeopardize the national BSA’s existence, but it throws into question whether hundreds of local scouting councils in Washington and around the nation can survive unscathed, according to two Seattle attorneys involved in the case.

“It was a disastrous decision,” Michael Pfau, a Seattle attorney who co-represents more than 1,000 sexual-abuse claimants, said of the BSA’s bankruptcy filing.

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

LEAVENWORTH (KS)
The Leavenworth Times

November 17, 2020

By Arthur I. Cyr

Columns share an author’s personal perspective.
*****
“An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth …,” is a useful starting place for discussion of the influence of Pope Francis, who is proving to be a remarkably active and activist leader of the Roman Catholic Church. To modern readers, the Biblical quote (Exodus 21:24) may seem brutal, but the Old Testament sentiment actually represented revolutionary progress.

Ancient warfare involved unrestrained killing and pillaging. By contrast, this Hebrew law codified proportionality and limits. Historically and currently, the Vatican has played an important role in restraining and restricting warfare, building on this fundamental insight.

Pope Francis has just made an important statement supporting of civil unions of same-sex couples. His message is in the documentary “Francesco” which premiered Oct. 28 in Rome.

The essential Christian message emphasizes compassion, and the Catholic Church over centuries has played a vital role in relief of poverty and human misery, and in promotion of human rights. The cumulative positive impact is profound among the approximately one billion Roman Catholics currently on the planet, and well beyond.

Pope Francis’ April 2016 letter on marriage and the family should be viewed in this context. Media commentary emphasized Rome’s reiteration of commitment to traditional marriage, which is hardly news. The letter emphasizes tolerance for those who do not accept Catholic doctrine. That marks a change, important if overdue.

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

ROME
Politico

November 17, 2020

By Hannah Roberts

Accusations from conservative Catholics seem to have backfired.

In the civil war that is raging inside the Catholic church, Pope Francis has won an important battle.

In 2018, Monsignor Carlo Viganò, a former Vatican ambassador to the U.S., accused Francis of covering up clerical sex abuse at the highest level, alleging that he had ignored sexual misconduct allegations against former Cardinal and Archbishop of Washington Theodore McCarrick. Viganò then called for the Pope to resign.

But two years on, following the publication of a forensic and ground-breaking report into the case last week, the conservative assault seems to have backfired, with Francis emerging stronger than ever.

The Archbishop of Chicago, Cardinal Blase Cupich, who was also attacked by Viganò for having “a pro-gay ideology,” called Francis “fearless” in admitting church leaders’ failings. The report represented a “watershed moment” that demonstrated Francis’ “commitment to responsibility, accountability and transparency to all victim-survivors,” he said.

The attack by Viganò was widely seen as the latest skirmish in the conflict between progressives and mainly U.S.-based conservatives who oppose Francis for his more liberal stances on issues including homosexuality and migrants.

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

SPRINGFIELD (MA)
Daily Hampshire Gazette

November 17, 2020

By Michael Connors

A task force charged with improving the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield’s response to allegations of sexual abuse within the local church released preliminary results Tuesday from an online survey in which respondents were asked to provide input into how they perceive the diocese’s response to such allegations.

The survey was available on the diocese’s website from Oct. 8 to Oct. 19 and garnered 492 responses. It asked respondents to rate their perception of the diocese and to provide recommendations that the Independent Task Force on the Response to Sexual Abuse within the diocese should consider making, according to a statement released by the diocese.

“The results of the survey established a baseline for how people perceived the current and past response by the diocese,” said Jeffrey Trant, director of the diocesan Office of Safe Environment and Victim Assistance in a statement. “With the help of these responses, the task force is developing a strategic plan that we hope will significantly improve the response to these allegations while supporting healing and reconciliation for survivors and their families and the faith community.”

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

CONROE (TX)
KTRK

November 17, 2020

A possible sex abuse scandal involving a local priest is unfolding.

Prosecutors say multiple people have come forward, saying that Father Manuel La Rosa-Lopez sexually abused children in Conroe in the 1990s to early 2000s.

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

LOS ANGELES (CA)
Associated Press

November 16, 2020

University of California system agrees to proposed $73M settlement in lawsuit alleging sexual abuse by gynecologist.

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

HOUSTON(TX)
KPRC 2

November 17, 2020

By Debbie Strauss

A Houston-area priest who was accused of sexually abusing children has been sentenced to 10 years in prison.

KPRC 2 Investigates has learned, Father Manuel La Rosa-Lopez plead guilty early Tuesday morning.

He was charged with four counts of indecency with a child involving sexual contact.

Investigators said La Rosa-Lopez abused a girl and a boy while he was a priest at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Conroe from the late ’90s to early 2000s. A third person came forward last year and said he was also abused by La Rosa-Lopez when he served as an altar boy in the mid-’90s.

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

CHARLESTON (WV)
Associated Press

November 17, 2020

West Virginia’s attorney general cannot use a consumer protection law to sue a Roman Catholic diocese over sexual abuse allegations, the state’s high court said Monday.

The West Virginia Supreme Court issued its opinion in response to a lawsuit the state filed last year accusing the Wheeling-Charleston diocese of failing to publicly disclose the employment of sexual abusers in its schools and camps. The absence of such disclosure amounted to a violation of a consumer protection law, Attorney General Patrick Morrisey argued. Attorneys for the diocese asked the court to dismiss the suit.

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

UNITED STATES
SNAP Network

November 16, 2020

The United States is lagging behind the rest of the world when it comes to investigating and preventing cases of Catholic child sexual abuse. We need to catch up and we can start by launching a federal investigation into sexual crimes and cover-ups committed by clergy and staffers.

Australia, the UK, France, and Canada have all launched their own nationwide investigations into crimes committed against their children and the vulnerable by Catholic clergy. It is time that the US does the same. The McCarrick report is only the most recent example of the critical need for secular oversight and it is becoming clearer and clearer that we cannot trust the word of Church officials when they promise to investigate their own.

Revelations that multiple US bishops lied to protect their friend Ted McCarrick from a Vatican “investigation” illustrates that internal probes are fraught with bias and unlikely to be probative. But the McCarrick scandal is not the only situation that shows the need for external oversight.

Take, for example, the case of Nicholas DiMarzio, a bishop in Brooklyn. Bishop DiMarzio had been tasked by the Vatican to investigate wrongdoing in the neighboring Diocese of Buffalo, but he himself has been accused twice of child sexual abuse and a nearly-year-long investigation from Vatican officials has yet to reveal any findings to the public. For another example, look at that of Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore. Archbishop Lori was tasked with investigating the crimes of former West Virginia bishop Michael Bransfield, but when he released his final report, the Archbishop scrubbed any mention of the lavish financial gifts that Bishop Bransfield doled out to other prelates, including Archbishop Lori himself.

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

UNITED STATES
SNAP Network

November 16, 2020

As the true depth of sexual abuse and cover-up within the Boy Scouts of America continues to be revealed, it is impossible to ignore the similarities between the abuse scandal within the BSA and that of the Catholic Church.

According to the BSA’s own records, at least 7,800 scoutmasters abused boys under their care. We are sure that number will grow as this bankruptcy proceeds, given that more than 82,000 cases have been filed and more are likely to come. While these numbers are staggering, it is important to recognize that they are likely not even a full accounting. Due to the fact that many victims never come forward, there is no doubt that the number of children abused in the BSA system is in the hundreds of thousands and the number of abusive scoutmasters in the tens of thousands.

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

BOSTON (MA)
Boston Globe

November 16, 2020

By Joan Vennochi

Putting much of the blame on a dead pope is a convenient outcome for a living one.

Last week’s big headline about Pope Francis concerned the call he made to congratulate President-elect Joe Biden. A 449 page Vatican report, also released last week, presented a less pleasant revelation — that Francis knew of “allegations and rumors” of sexual abuse involving former cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick but didn’t pursue them because he believed others before him had properly vetted the matter.

The report holds Pope John Paul II — who died in 2005 — mostly accountable for McCarrick’s elevation to the top of the church hierarchy, despite decades of explicit warnings about sexual abuse. Francis — who canonized John Paul in 2014 and also launched the Vatican investigation into the McCarrick matter, in 2018 — is essentially let off the hook. In the wake of the findings, the sainthood of John Paul II is being questioned, while Francis is vowing to “eradicate” sexual abuse in the Catholic Church.

Putting much of the blame on a dead pope is a convenient outcome for a living one. But what about Francis’s role? Protecting him from shared responsibility, the report draws a line between gossip that he might have heard and confirmed knowledge. Yet the details suggest that he, too, was part of a deliberate blindness that allowed predators like McCarrick to flourish. As Anne Barrett Doyle, co-director of BishopAccountability, a group that gathers information on clergy abuse, told The Washington Post that Francis’s “lack of curiosity” about the allegations against McCarrick “was at best negligent, at worst corrupt.”

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

SPRINGFIELD (MA)
Diocese of Springfield

November 15, 2020

Father Francis “Frank” Lawlor, a priest of the Diocese of Springfield, has been placed on administrative leave effective immediately pending the outcome of a private legal matter.

Father Lawlor has most recently been serving as administrator of Sacred Heart Parish in Pittsfield. That parish community was informed of the action in a statement read at all Masses this weekend, Nov. 14-15.

The Diocese of Springfield’s apostolic administrator, Worcester Bishop Robert McManus, has placed the parish’s day-to-day pastoral and administrative care under the guidance of Msgr. Michael Shershanovich, pastor of neighboring St. Joseph Parish in Pittsfield.

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

WARSAW (POLAND)
Associated Press

November 16, 2020

By Vanessa Gera

Henryk Gulbinowicz, a prominent Polish cardinal who only days ago was sanctioned by the Vatican over accusations he had sexually abused a seminarian and covered up abuse in another case, has died. He was 97.

The Polish Bishops’ Conference said Gulbinowicz died Monday morning, adding in a brief statement: “Lord, give him eternal rest.”

Archbishop Stanislaw Gadecki, the head of the bishops’ conference, asked God to forgive Gulbinowicz.

“I am asking God in His mercy to forgive the deceased for causing suffering to those harmed, and pain to the community of believers,” Gadecki said in a statement.

“While unequivocally expressing disapproval of the sins committed, one must not forget about the good that many people shared through his life and ministry. May he rest in peace!”

Gulbinowicz was long viewed as a hero in Poland and was decorated with the nation’s highest honors. Under communism, he was considered one of the most important clerics helping the democratic opposition, hiding Solidarity activists in his church buildings in Wroclaw and helping to store its money.

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

DENVER (CO)
Crux

November 16, 2020

By Inés San Martín

Rosario, Argentina – Between the Vatican’s McCarrick report and the US presidential elections, much of what’s happened in the rest of the global Church over the past week has gone unnoticed.

Here’s a round-up, including the Argentine bishops accusing the president of being a pawn of the “abortion lobby;” Bolivians asking their newly elected president to respect the constitution; prelates in Peru applauding protests in the midst of a pandemic; and survivors of clerical abuse once again facing disappointment in Chile.

Chile
This past week, the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith found Father Jorge Laplagne, a renowned priest in Santiago, Chile’s capital, guilty of sexually abusing a minor 15 years ago.

Javier Molina, a former altar boy for Laplagne, had accused the priest of sexual abuse and abuse of power. He did so first in 2010, but Cardinal Francisco Javier Errazuriz, then Archbishop of Santiago, after hearing the allegations from Molina himself, accepted a report by the then-Promotor of Justice of the archdiocese concluding the accusations were “not true,” and decided not to investigate.

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

CAROL STREAM (IL)
Christianity Today

November 17, 2020

By Scott McKnight

Let’s begin with the cultural problem before we get to the recent revelations about McCarrick, what the popes knew, and before we get to comments by conservatives like Vigano and Barron. I begin with Frederic Martel’s blockbuster book published simultaneously in eight languages, based on more than 1500 people interviewed (some many times) from 30 countries, including 41 cardinals, 52 bishops and monsignors, 45 ambassadors and nuncios, all conducted by the author and some 80 researchers, etc.. In other words, lots of data accumulated in his book called In the Closet of the Vatican: Power, Homosexuality, Hypocrisy.

What I am about to describe is, yes, duplicity regarding same-sex relations, but our intent is to frame this description as something about the Vatican’s culture, a “Christian” culture corrupted to the core and all the way to the top. It is so pervasive no one in the Vatican, from the Popes down, could not have known what was going on.

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

KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter

November 17, 2020

By Peter Feuerherd

While some reacted with shock to a report released Nov. 10 by the Vatican detailing how church officials ignored former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick’s long history of sexual abuse, one group was not surprised.

Those who went through seminary for the Archdiocese of Newark, New Jersey, during McCarrick’s tenure as archbishop from 1986 to 2000 already knew the story, with the Vatican report a kind of “imprimatur” validating their experiences.

Bob Hoatson remembers that as summer weekends approached, “Uncle Ted,” as McCarrick called himself, would send out invitations to a select crew of students. They would number just beyond the number of beds available at McCarrick’s New Jersey beach house. McCarrick, according to the report, would then invite a seminarian to share a bed with him.

“Everybody knew about McCarrick, about Uncle Ted and the ‘nephews’ he had,” Hoatson told NCR.

Those selected for the beach house trips knew, said Hoatson, “you had to go,” or they would fear repercussions with the archbishop, who had ultimate authority over their future careers as priests.

Hoatson, then in his 40s, was never invited, he surmises because of his relatively advanced age. But before starting ordination studies for Newark, he asked if the archbishop was still sleeping with seminarians, and was assured by an archdiocesan official that the practice had stopped, even as the invites to the beach house continued. Hoatson had heard of McCarrick’s reputation while he worked as a teacher in New York’s Harlem as a Christian Brother.

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

BUFFALO (NY)
Buffalo News

November 17, 2020

By Jay Tokasz

Dozens of lawyers and other professionals have billed the Buffalo Diocese $1.9 million for their work so far on the diocese’s bankruptcy case.

More than 30 attorneys in five law firms that charge from $150 to $843 per hour have worked on behalf of the diocese since its Chapter 11 filing on Feb. 28.

In addition, the diocese is on the hook for U.S. trustee fees and for fees charged by two additional law firms that represent the committee of unsecured creditors, which consists of childhood victims of sex abuse.

The diocese also hired a financial firm, a public relations firm and a research firm, each of which has submitted a bill for work over the past eight months.

The charges revealed in court papers filed over the past few weeks are on top of the more than $2 million the diocese spent on attorneys in the 12 months prior to the bankruptcy filing, primarily defending against more than 200 lawsuits alleging childhood sex abuse by priests and other employees.

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

ROME
Crux

November 15, 2020

By John L. Allen Jr.

Over the last three years, sexual abuse charges against two high-profile and massively influential cardinals have rocked the Catholic Church, and now, seemingly, both stories have reached their conclusions. George Pell is a free man, while Theodore McCarrick is defrocked and exposed as a cunning manipulator able to hoodwink three papacies until his string finally ran out.

The McCarrick and Pell sagas contain two unavoidable truths about the clerical abuse scandals, and they must always be held together: Every accusation of abuse has to be taken seriously, but the mere fact of an allegation doesn’t make it true.

To put the point differently, McCarrick illustrates the risks of clericalism in blinding an entire system to clear warning signs and sincere attempts to blow the whistle; Pell illustrates the risks of anti-clericalism in allowing implausible charges to go to trial and cost a man 400 days behind bars before being finally dismissed.

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

ROSARIO (ARGENTINA)
Crux

November 16, 2020

By Inés San Martín

Between the Vatican’s McCarrick report and the US presidential elections, much of what’s happened in the rest of the global Church over the past week has gone unnoticed.

Here’s a round-up, including the Argentine bishops accusing the president of being a pawn of the “abortion lobby;” Bolivians asking their newly elected president to respect the constitution; prelates in Peru applauding protests in the midst of a pandemic; and survivors of clerical abuse once again facing disappointment in Chile.

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