ABUSE TRACKER

NORTHHAMPTON (ENGLAND)
Northhampton Chronicle

Dec. 12, 2019

A disgraced Northamptonshire rector who downloaded pictures and movie clips of children and babies being raped and fantasised about having sex with a young girl has been jailed.

Christopher Goble had already pleaded guilty at Warwick Crown Court to three charges of making indecent images of children.

Between 2002 and 2008, he served as a priest in an area of the Diocese of Peterborough, as rector of Brington with Whilton, Norton, Church Brampton with Chapel Brampton, Harlestone and East Haddon and Holdenby.

When he returned to the court to be sentenced for those pictures on his phone, the court heard that more images had been discovered on other devices.

The disgraced cleric then pleaded guilty to three amended charges detailing larger numbers of images and to two further charges of possessing extreme pornography and prohibited images.

Goble, 44, of The Rectory, Valenders Lane, Ilmington, at the time, but recently living at The Brambles, Oswestry, was jailed for 20 months and ordered to register as a sex offender for ten 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.

BUFFALO (NY)
WBFO TV

Dec. 12, 2019

By Avery Schnider

The Director of Communications for the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo has stepped down after just over a year in the role.

In a written statement Tuesday, Rev. Peter J. Karalus, Vicar General and Moderator of the Curia for the Diocese, announced Kathy Spangler had departed her position as Director of Communications for the diocese “in order to pursue other interests in opportunities.”

Spangler became Communications Director in September 2018, amid a scandal over sexual abuse by clergy. Her departure comes just over a week since Bishop Richard J. Malone resigned his post as head of the diocese, and was replaced in the interim by Bishop Edward Scharfenberger as Apostolic Administrator. Scharfenberger, who is the current Bishop of the Diocese of Albany, will maintain the role until a new Bishop is installed in Buffalo.

Writing on behalf of Scharfenberger, Karalus said, “We are enormously grateful to Kathy for her many contributions and for her dedication to supporting the communications of the Diocese over these challenging months. We wish her much success in her future endeavors.”

In Spangler’s absence, Gregory Tucker will be the diocese’s primary contact for media. Karalus described Tucker as “a seasoned strategic communications advisor,” and said Tucker is now working with Scharfenberger and Chancery leadership.

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.

PARIS (FRANCE)
La Croix International

Dec. 10, 2019

By Massimo Faggioli

If you blinked, you probably missed it. But this past Sunday was the 150th anniversary of the opening of the First Vatican Council.It was on Dec. 8, 1869 that Pope Pius IX convened the council that would come to be known for its declarations on papal primacy and infallibility.

It would be the symbol of an assertive Catholicism that pushed back against liberal modernity.

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.

ST. PAUL (MN)
Catholic Spirit

Dec. 12, 2019

By Maria Wiering

Pope Francis has named Father Donald DeGrood bishop of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, the apostolic nuncio to the United States announced Dec. 12.

A priest of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, Bishop-elect DeGrood, 54, has served as pastor of St. John the Baptist in Savage since 2017.

He was ordained in 1997 by Archbishop Harry Flynn. He has ministered as parochial vicar of All Saints in Lakeville (1997-2000), spiritual director at St. John Vianney College Seminary (2000-2004), pastor of St. Peter in Forest Lake (2004-2013), pastor of Blessed Sacrament in St. Paul (2013-2015) and as the archdiocese’s Vicar for Clergy (2013-2017).

Born Feb. 14, 1965, in rural Faribault, Bishop-elect DeGrood is the fourth of Robert and Joanne DeGrood’s five sons. He grew up on a nearby farm. His father died in 2003, and his mother continues to live on the family farm. He has five nieces and four nephews.

He attended Catholic grade school in Faribault and graduated in 1983 from Bethlehem Academy High School, which is run by the Sinsinawa Dominicans. He attended the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul and spent two of his undergraduate years at St. John Vianney College Seminary discerning his vocation.

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

Dec. 11, 2019

By John Woolfolk

The California Attorney General has subpoenaed half of California’s Roman Catholic dioceses including San Jose and San Francisco, signaling what victims of sex abuse by priests say is an important step toward what they hope will be a comprehensive expose of child molestation and coverups in the church.

The archdioceses of San Francisco and Los Angeles and the dioceses of San Jose, Sacramento, Fresno and Orange all have received subpoenas to produce documents, said Kevin Eckery, a spokesman for the California Catholic Conference. Those dioceses already had been providing documents and, along with the other six dioceses, retaining records since the attorney general requested that they do so in May.

Eckery said the subpoenas make it easier for the dioceses to produce records for which privacy concerns pose a barrier to voluntary disclosure.

“In some ways, it can speed the process because sometimes files contain things like medical records or private information that without a subpoena you couldn’t legitimately give up,” Eckery 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.

ST. LOUIS (MO)
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests
Dec. 6, 2019

While still a child, he reported the crimes to nuns
A school staffer reportedly cried at the disclosure
But SF Catholic officials didn’t stop the predator
The cleric was just ‘outed’ for the first time in June
SNAP also urges church-goers to ‘boycott’ the archdiocese
It’s one of just 2 dioceses in CA that hasn’t released pedophiles’ names
And it’s one of the few in the US that’s “still dragging its feet”

What:
At a news conference, a local man is publicly revealing his name and face for the first time and disclosing his new child sexual abuse and cover up lawsuit against San Francisco Catholic officials. And an advocate and victim’s attorney will urge the Archdiocese of San Francisco to immediately release its list of clerics accused of sexually abusing children, as most US Catholic dioceses, including nine of the twelve in CA, have done.

When:
Thursday, Dec. 5 at 11:30 a.m.

Where:
Outside the San Francisco archdiocesan headquarters, One Peter Yorke Way in San Francisco

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.

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

Dec. 11, 2019

For years, priest held diocese-wide position
Group blasts relatively new northern California bishop
He held high posts in Fresno and Sacramento dioceses too
His ‘credibly accused predators’ lists is incomplete, SNAP says

WHAT
Holding signs and childhood photos at a sidewalk news conference, an attorney and abuse victim will
–reveal that a new civil case is being filed against the Diocese of Stockton and a religious order, thanks to a new state law that takes effect next month, and
They will also demand that the bishops of two northern California dioceses
–add more names to their ‘credibly accused clerics’ list,
–stop hiding abuse reports for months or years and instead, for the safety of kids, disclose them promptly, and
–start doing ‘aggressive outreach’ to find and help others who were victimized by clerics and are still ‘suffering in shame, silence and self-blame.

WHERE
On the sidewalk outside the Stockton diocese headquarters, 212 N. San Joaquin St. (corner of Channel) in Stockton, CA (209 466 0636)

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.

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

Dec. 11, 2019

An Ohio judge is forcing the Catholic Diocese of Columbus to turn over records about clerics who may have seen, suspected or hidden cases of sexual abuse. We applaud this ruling which we believe will lead to safer communities and more transparency about cases of sexual violence.

We are grateful to Judge Jaiza Page for ordering the release of records related to 15 clerics who may have known about sex abuse within the Diocese of Columbus. We believe that Catholic officials in Columbus should have been willing to release this information without a court order. Instead, the diocese remained committed to secrecy and silence about cases of abuse. Examples like this show that it is only through the secular justice system – and not through Church leaders themselves – that we can expect transparency.

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)
The Republican

Dec. 11, 2019

By Anne-Gerard Flynn

A New Jersey-born priest — ordained in 2002 and removed from ministry a year ago — is facing three separate counts of indecent assault and battery of a child under 14 that allegedly occurred in Hampden County more than 35 years ago.

The Rev. Patrick J. Kuffner was arrested in his home state on charges of child sexual abuse Nov. 20 on a fugitive warrant from the Office of Hampden District Attorney Anthony D. Gulluni, and is being held without bail in Toms River, N.J., DA spokesman James Leydon confirmed Wednesday.

“While the alleged crimes date back to the early 1980s, more than 35 years ago, and involve an incident from before Fr. Kuffner was a priest or even a seminarian, the charges are nevertheless shocking and are being taken seriously by the Diocese of Metuchen,” said Anthony P. Kearns III, spokesperson and chancellor of the Diocese of Metuchen in a statement. “Once we learned of the allegations, we immediately reported them to the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office, which then conducted an initial investigation and subsequently referred the matter to the Hampden County Prosecutor’s Office in MA.”

The Diocese of Metuchen, where Kuffner was ordained and raised, had removed the 72-year-old from ministry in February 2018 after three people accused him of sexual abusing them as minors more than three decades ago when Kuffner was a layman teaching in the Catholic school system on Staten Island, N.Y.

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 DIEGO (CA)
KGTV

Dec. 11, 2019

By Jermaine Ong

A lawsuit is being announced Wednesday against the Catholic Diocese of San Diego over a priest accused of sexually abuse more than 100 boys during his career.

The lawsuit names the Catholic Diocese of San Diego and Father Anthony Edward Rodrigue. The legal action is being filed on behalf of several people who claim they were victimized by Rodrigue “but were unable to file a civil lawsuit under California’s previous statute of limitation law.”

Rodrigue spent time at 10 different parishes in San Diego, Imperial and San Bernardino counties during his 29-year priesthood career. Attorneys, citing a 1997 San Bernardino County sheriff’s report, said Rodrigue “admitted to sexually abusing four or five boys each year” during his career.

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.

MEXICO CITY (MEXICO)
Catholic News Agency

Dec. 11, 2019

The apostolic nuncio in Mexico, Archbishop Franco Coppola, has said that anyone who wants to report sexual abuse by the country’s clergy is free to email him, and he will try to help.

Speaking with ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish language news partner, Archbishop Coppola explained that “many times the people who have appealed here were victims who hadn’t been listened to by those responsible for the Church and they come to the nunciature motivated by the commitment that Pope Francis has clearly expressed in favor of the victims.”

Archbishop Coppola said the doors of his office are open to receive complaints and accompany victims “in their search for justice.”

The nuncio said that while it is not within the competency of his office “to conduct an investigation or take measures, what I have tried to do is facilitate the victim’s access to the competent Church authority, whether on the level of the diocese, religious superior or the Holy See, accompanying the victim in his search for justice.”

Archbishop Coppola stressed that efforts to prevent and fight sexual abuse by the clergy are “key because abuse is a betrayal of the very mission of the Church.”

“The mission of the Church is to make present a God who saves and these kinds of acts by committed by members of the clergy instead of saving and healing, wound and destroy people’s lives,” 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.

ALBANY (NY)
Albany Times Union

December 11, 2019

By Cayla Harris

For years, two siblings have claimed that they were sexually abused by a former Greene County priest — but New York’s statute of limitations only allowed one of them to pursue legal action against their alleged abuser.

That changed Monday, when Ivan Morales Jr. sued 82-year-old Jeremiah Nunan under the state’s recently enacted Child Victims Act.

The case, filed in the state Supreme Court in Albany, alleges that Nunan abused Morales from 1989 to 1995, when he was 9 to 15 years old and an altar boy at Sacred Heart Church in Cairo. Morales, now a 39-year-old state trooper, first brought forth the accusations in 2011 after his sister confessed the abuse to their parents. Morales was too old to file either civil or criminal charges.

At the time, New York’s statute of limitations time-barred child sex abuse cases after the survivor reached age 23 — a window Morales had missed by several years. But in August, the Child Victims Act opened a one-year period for survivors of all ages to sue their alleged abusers. So far, more than 1,200 cases statewide have been filed under the law.

Morales’ lawsuit does not include specific allegations: “As a victim of Father Nunan’s sexual abuse, Plaintiff is unable at this time to fully describe all of the details of that abuse and the extent of the harm he suffered as a result,” the complaint reads. Mitchell Garabedian, a Boston attorney who is serving as co-counsel on the case, declined to elaborate on the accusations but said his client “has empowered himself” by coming forward.

“Given that my client was sexually abused from approximately 9 years old to 15 years old … over 100 times, it is difficult for victims of sexual abuse to believe that the supervisors of Father Nunan did not know that he was sexually abusing children in a wholesale fashion,” 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.

BERLIN (GERMANY)
Deutsche Welle

Dec. 10, 2019

In a Conflict Zone interview in Rome, Father Hans Zollner told DW’s Tim Sebastian: “There are factors that make it difficult to change.”

Zollner is the head of the Centre of Child Protection at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, and was appointed by Pope Francis as a founding member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors.

Why the Catholic Church had become a home “for deceivers, criminal priests or abusers,” Sebastian asked.

“They have not had a home … they have to be taken to accountability and this is what is going to happen.”

Sebastian pressed further asking Zollner if the church had given the predators an opportunity to continue to 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.

Get Religion blog

Dec. 10, 2019

By Clemente Lisi

It’s been 17 years since The Boston Globe published its groundbreaking series on clergy sex abuse.

Some two decades later, a political shift in state legislative bodies and fallout from the #MeToo movement have all collided to bring what many warn is a financial reckoning that could cripple the Catholic church in America.

It was more than a year ago — on November 28 to be exact — that I warned in a GetReligion post about how the church would be hit with a blizzard of lawsuits in 2019 and what a massive story it would be.

Here’s an excerpt from that post:

As the scandals — that mostly took place in past — continue to trickle out in the form of grand jury reports and other investigations, look for lawmakers to try and remedy the situation for victims through legislation on the state level.

With very blue New York State voting to put Democrats in control of both the state Assembly and Senate (the GOP had maintained a slight majority), look for lawmakers to pass (and Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Catholic, to sign) the Child Victims Act. The Empire State isn’t alone. Other legislatures in Illinois, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey and New Mexico are considering similar measures.

The New York legislation would allow victims of abuse suffered under the age of 18 to seek justice years later as adults. Removing the statute of limitations on cases involving private institutions, like the Boy Scouts and Jewish yeshivas, is at the heart of the battle.

New York did indeed pass the law — and may other states followed in its footsteps. In all, 15 states and the District of Columbia have changed their statute of limitations over the past two years in order to allow for lawsuits regarding rape and sexual assault allegations dating back many decades to be brought to court. In many cases, the offender is long dead.

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)
PR Newswire

Dec. 10, 2019

Two women who allege they were abused and assaulted as teens in homes run by Catholic nuns in the United States tell their stories in a documentary offering a rare look at our own country’s “Magdalene Laundries” premiering at 7:30 p.m., EST, Wednesday, December 11, 2019.

The 15-minute video will be followed by a live discussion on Facebook featuring the women in the documentary and their attorneys Richard M. Serbin and Andrew Janet, of Janet, Janet & Suggs Law Firm, LLC. Funding and support for the documentary was provided by Janet, Janet & Suggs, LLC., Howard A. Janet, Esq–Managing Partner. Viewers can ask questions and make comments via the live stream. The webinar will be recorded and posted on the page for later viewing.

Magdalene Laundries existed in the District of Columbia and the following U.S. cities: Denver, CO; Chicago, IL; Peoria, IL; Indianapolis, IN; Louisville, KY; Newport, KY; New Orleans, LA; Boston, MA; Springfield, MA; Baltimore, MD; Detroit, MI; St. Paul, MN; Kansas City, MO; St. Louis, MO; Helena, MT; Omaha, NE; Newark, NJ; Albany, NY; Brooklyn, NY; Buffalo, NY, New York City, NY; Troy, NY; Carthage, OH; Columbus, OH; Cincinnati, OH; Allegheny, PA; Norristown, PA; Philadelphia, PA; Reading, PA; Scranton, PA, Memphis, TN; Seattle, WA; Wheeling, WV; Green Bay, WI, and Milwaukee, WI.

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)
Wall Street Journal

Dec. 11, 2019

By Francis X. Rocca

Every year, Catholics around the world donate tens of millions of dollars to the pope. Bishops exhort the faithful to support the weak and suffering through the pope’s main charitable appeal, called Peter’s Pence.

What the church doesn’t advertise is that most of that collection, worth more than more than €50 million ($55 million) annually, goes toward plugging the hole in the Vatican’s own administrative budget, while as little as 10% is spent directly on charitable works, according to people familiar with the funds.

The little-publicized breakdown of how the Holy See spends Peter’s Pence, known only among senior Vatican officials, is raising concern among some Catholic Church leaders that the faithful are being misled about the use of their donations, which could further hurt the credibility of the Vatican’s financial management under Pope Francis.

The Vatican is currently embroiled in a scandal over opaque real-estate investments in London, which has triggered a power struggle within the Vatican’s bureaucracy and led to the dismissal of its chief financial regulator. Last month, the Vatican was suspended from an international network of anti-money-laundering watchdogs.

Meanwhile, the Holy See is struggling with a growing budget deficit, with the pope warning cardinals of the “grave impact” on the body’s economic future. The Vatican’s continuing financial problems reflect a lack of progress on improving its management and finances, which Pope Francis was elected in 2013 with a mandate to overhaul, following allegations of corruption, waste and incompetence there.

Under church law, Peter’s Pence is available to the pope to use at his discretion in any way that serves his ministry, including the support of his administration. The collection’s website says that, to support the pope’s charitable works, “Peter’s Pence also contributes to the support of the Apostolic See and the activities of the Holy See,” emphasizing activities that help “populations, individuals and families in precarious conditions.”

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.

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

Dec. 11, 2019

Another abusive priest has been recently added to the list of names for the Diocese of Santa Rosa. The name was apparently added after a reporter from another state pointed out that the cleric, who also worked in California, had been included on another list.

On January 31, 2019, Fr. Jose Luis Contreras was named on the list of abusive priests released by the Archdiocese of San Antonio. The Diocese of Santa Rosa had released their list prior to their Texas counterparts, but did not include Fr. Contreras. According to Bishop Robert Vasa, there were no allegations against the cleric in his diocese.

While it can never be too late to expose a perpetrator, it can also never be too soon. Ideally, Fr. Contreras should have been added to the Santa Rosa list as soon as he was identified by San Antonio. It should not be incumbent on reporters or groups like ours to inform a bishop when one of his own is included on another list.

Catholic bishops should either be sending their lists to their brother bishops, or notifying them when a priest who also worked in another diocese is included among their names. We call on the USCCB to take immediate action to address this gap, in the interest of complete transparency. To do anything less is to continue to cover up the transfer of abusive clerics from one diocese to another.

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)
Crux

Dec. 10, 2019

By John L. Allen Jr.

In the argot of sociology, some organizations are “high structure,” meaning they rely on rules and procedures to hold things together, and others are “high culture,” meaning it’s much more about informal relationships and personal trust.

The Vatican, both historically and today, is basically a “high culture” outfit disguised as “high structure.”

There’s a cavalcade of norms governing every aspect of the place’s operations, but everyone knows those are more guidelines than hard-and-fast rules, and that who ends up making what decision is usually a lot more about personal ties than flow charts.

For that reason, personnel is always policy in the Eternal City, which makes Pope Francis’s choice Sunday to name the 62-year-old Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle of Manila in the Philippines the new prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples a key move indeed.

Tagle replaces the 73-year-old Italian Cardinal Fernando Filoni, the Vatian’s former ambassador in Iraq who refused to vacate Baghdad in 2003 when American bombs began to fall, and who now moves on to become the grand master of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem.

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.

WINDSOR (CANADA)
Windsor Star

Dec. 6, 2019

By Trevor Wilhelm

The London diocese has paid out settlements in some sex abuse lawsuits for “practical reasons,” despite believing the accused priests were not guilty, Bishop Ronald Fabbro said Friday.

Some of those cases were included on the list of “credibly accused” priests published this week by Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), he said.

“It is important to note that reaching a settlement in a civil suit does not necessarily indicate the allegation is credible,” said Fabbro. “When there has been a credible allegation, the diocese has offered settlements to help the victims come to some resolution and continue the process of healing. In other cases, though, some settlements are reached for practical purposes, to avoid the protracted costs of a trial, or to give a pastoral response to a plaintiff who has had difficulties in life.”

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.

MENDHAM (NJ)
Observer-Tribune

Dec. 9, 2019

By Phil Garber

The first lawsuit alleging clergy sexual abuse under the state’s extended statute of limitations was filed by a former parishioner of St. Joseph Church against two former priests who have admitted to sexually abusing children for decades.

The unidentified victim claims he was a minor when he was sexually abused by the Rev. James Hanley and the Rev. Thomas Rainforth, both previously associated with St. Joseph Church, and by a third priest, the Rev. John Pisarcik.

Pisarcik, now 74, and Hanley, now 83, have previously admitted to sexually abusing many boys in New Jersey over three decades. Rainforth died in 2019.

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.

COLUMBUS (OH)
WOSU Radio

Dec. 10, 2019

By Steve Brown

A Franklin County judge says the Roman Catholic Diocese of Columbus must hand over documents on at least 15 clergy members to see if they knew about any alleged sexual abuse.

The order issued Friday comes as part of a 2018 lawsuit filed by a man who says he was molested during the 2002-2003 school year at St. Charles Preparatory Academy by Monsignor Thomas Bennett, who died in 2008.

Judge Jaiza Page granted the request related to 15 clergy members other than Bennett, ruling it was “reasonably likely to lead to the discovery of relevant evidence.”

The clergy members in question were not identified in the order.

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.

COLUMBUS (OH)
WOSU Radio

Dec. 10, 2019

By Steve Brown

A Franklin County judge says the Roman Catholic Diocese of Columbus must hand over documents on at least 15 clergy members to see if they knew about any alleged sexual abuse.

The order issued Friday comes as part of a 2018 lawsuit filed by a man who says he was molested during the 2002-2003 school year at St. Charles Preparatory Academy by Monsignor Thomas Bennett, who died in 2008.

Judge Jaiza Page granted the request related to 15 clergy members other than Bennett, ruling it was “reasonably likely to lead to the discovery of relevant evidence.”

The clergy members in question were not identified in the order.

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.

ERIE (PA)
Times News

Dec. 10, 2019

By Ed Palattella

Catholic Diocese of Erie’s compensation fund payouts reach $5.9 million, adding to previous costs of about $6 million.

The Catholic Diocese of Erie’s financial reckoning over the clergy sexual abuse crisis has reached nearly $12 million, rising by about $3 million over the past four months.

The diocese’s newly created victims’ compensation fund has paid out $5.9 million since the fund started accepting claims on Feb. 15.

The $5.9 million includes $3 million in payouts the fund has made since around the time the deadline for filing claims expired in mid-August, Bishop Lawrence Persico said in the most recent update.

The $5.9 million is in addition to more than $6 million that the diocese previously paid to cover abuse claims and associated expenses.

‒ The diocese spent $4 million in legal fees and related costs to investigate and publicize claims of abuse in advance of the release, in August 2018, of the groundbreaking Pennsylvania grand jury report on the abuse crisis in the Roman Catholic Church statewide.

‒ The diocese also paid about $750,000 to abuse victims, mainly for counseling, before the creation of the compensation fund, which is designed to cover claims in old cases.

‒ And the diocese in March paid $2 million to settle a claim with a victim of David L. Poulson, a former priest in the 13-county Catholic Diocese of Erie. The claim was not part of the compensation fund because the Poulson case was new enough to fall within the statute of limitations for filing civil suits.

Poulson pleaded guilty in October 2018 in Jefferson County to molesting the victim and another man when they were boys and Poulson was serving as a pastor in 2002 and 2010. Poulson, 66, was sentenced to 2½ to 14 years in state prison.

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.

ERIE (PA)
Times News

Dec. 10, 2019

By Ed Palattella

Catholic Diocese of Erie’s compensation fund payouts reach $5.9 million, adding to previous costs of about $6 million.

The Catholic Diocese of Erie’s financial reckoning over the clergy sexual abuse crisis has reached nearly $12 million, rising by about $3 million over the past four months.

The diocese’s newly created victims’ compensation fund has paid out $5.9 million since the fund started accepting claims on Feb. 15.

The $5.9 million includes $3 million in payouts the fund has made since around the time the deadline for filing claims expired in mid-August, Bishop Lawrence Persico said in the most recent update.

The $5.9 million is in addition to more than $6 million that the diocese previously paid to cover abuse claims and associated expenses.

‒ The diocese spent $4 million in legal fees and related costs to investigate and publicize claims of abuse in advance of the release, in August 2018, of the groundbreaking Pennsylvania grand jury report on the abuse crisis in the Roman Catholic Church statewide.

‒ The diocese also paid about $750,000 to abuse victims, mainly for counseling, before the creation of the compensation fund, which is designed to cover claims in old cases.

‒ And the diocese in March paid $2 million to settle a claim with a victim of David L. Poulson, a former priest in the 13-county Catholic Diocese of Erie. The claim was not part of the compensation fund because the Poulson case was new enough to fall within the statute of limitations for filing civil suits.

Poulson pleaded guilty in October 2018 in Jefferson County to molesting the victim and another man when they were boys and Poulson was serving as a pastor in 2002 and 2010. Poulson, 66, was sentenced to 2½ to 14 years in state prison.

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.

Church Militant blog

Dec. 4, 2019

By Kristine Christlieb

A Kentucky layman wants his bishop investigated for allegedly covering up clergy sex abuse.

Michael Montgomery, a life-long Catholic, is calling for Owensboro Bp. William Medley to be investigated for his role in reportedly covering up clerical abuse and moving problem priests to unsuspecting parishes.

Using new clergy accountability guidelines issued by Pope Francis in June, Montgomery is testing the Vatican’s commitment to holding Church administrators accountable for their role in the clergy abuse scandals.

The guidelines address both investigations of clerical abusers as well as administrators whose actions “interfere with or avoid civil investigations or canonical investigations.” In his former role as the director of the Office of Clergy Personnel for the archdiocese of Louisville, Medley was directly involved with all clergy personnel matters, including sex abuse cases.

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.

Church Militant blog

Dec. 4, 2019

By Kristine Christlieb

A Kentucky layman wants his bishop investigated for allegedly covering up clergy sex abuse.

Michael Montgomery, a life-long Catholic, is calling for Owensboro Bp. William Medley to be investigated for his role in reportedly covering up clerical abuse and moving problem priests to unsuspecting parishes.

Using new clergy accountability guidelines issued by Pope Francis in June, Montgomery is testing the Vatican’s commitment to holding Church administrators accountable for their role in the clergy abuse scandals.

The guidelines address both investigations of clerical abusers as well as administrators whose actions “interfere with or avoid civil investigations or canonical investigations.” In his former role as the director of the Office of Clergy Personnel for the archdiocese of Louisville, Medley was directly involved with all clergy personnel matters, including sex abuse cases.

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.

LITTLE ROCK (AR)
Bilgrimage blog

Dec. 10, 2019

By William Lindsay

As I have noted in previous postings (a bibliography is appended at the end of this posting, covering the past several years), the diocese of Charlotte, North Carolina, is one of the last dioceses in the nation to release a list of priests credibly accused of abusing minors in the diocese, though its sister diocese in Raleigh long since published its list. As I’ve also noted (again, please see the bibliography below), Charlotte Bishop Peter Jugis promised this year that he would release a list of credibly accused priests prior to the end of the year.

That list has yet to be released. As many people, survivors, notably, wait for Jugis’ list, Charlotte’s NPR state WFAE has been issuing very valuable pre-list commentary in a multi-part series of podcasts entitled “The List.” Reporter Sarah Delia is overseeing and producing this important project.

As the “About” statement at the link to which I have just pointed you states: The Charlotte Diocese has made a promise to release by the end of the year a list of clergy credibly accused of sexual abuse. It will be among the last in the country to do so. WFAE looks at what the list represents, the emotional weight and expectations it carries, the resolution it can bring for survivors.

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.

LITTLE ROCK (AR)
Bilgrimage blog

Dec. 10, 2019

By William Lindsay

As I have noted in previous postings (a bibliography is appended at the end of this posting, covering the past several years), the diocese of Charlotte, North Carolina, is one of the last dioceses in the nation to release a list of priests credibly accused of abusing minors in the diocese, though its sister diocese in Raleigh long since published its list. As I’ve also noted (again, please see the bibliography below), Charlotte Bishop Peter Jugis promised this year that he would release a list of credibly accused priests prior to the end of the year.

That list has yet to be released. As many people, survivors, notably, wait for Jugis’ list, Charlotte’s NPR state WFAE has been issuing very valuable pre-list commentary in a multi-part series of podcasts entitled “The List.” Reporter Sarah Delia is overseeing and producing this important project.

As the “About” statement at the link to which I have just pointed you states: The Charlotte Diocese has made a promise to release by the end of the year a list of clergy credibly accused of sexual abuse. It will be among the last in the country to do so. WFAE looks at what the list represents, the emotional weight and expectations it carries, the resolution it can bring for survivors.

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.

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

Dec. 10, 2019

The attorney general investigation into cases of clergy abuse in California has ratcheted up today as California’s top law enforcement official served the state’s 12 Catholic dioceses with subpoenas. We applaud this move and hope that other attorneys general around the country will look to do the same in their own states.

In subpoenaing all of the dioceses, A.G. Xavier Becerra is using the full power of his office in pursuit of the truth as it relates to the scope of clergy sexual abuse in Catholic California. This is a great step forward that will certainly lead to more transparency, and will also hopefully lead to more protections for children and more justice for survivors.

Data shows that when law enforcement tools are used, the resulting information that is gathered about abuse is more detailed, accurate and trusted.

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 TV

Dec. 10, 2019

By Charlie Specht

Bishop Edward B. Scharfenberger, apostolic administrator for the Diocese of Buffalo, has talked the talk when it comes to transparency on sexual abuse.

“We can’t be afraid of reality,” Scharfenberger said last week. “We have to be able to — with sober eyes — look at the damage that was done.”

The question on the minds of survivors like former priest James Faluszczak is whether the new interim bishop will now walk the walk — and turn those words about transparency into action.

“Will he finally give to the good people of the Diocese of Buffalo a full public account of the number, the nature and the location of clergy sexual abuse in Buffalo?” Faluszczak said at a news conference Tuesday. “And will Bishop Scharfenberger cough up that information that is so needed?”

Scharfenberger’s first big test on transparency involves the issue of personnel files of abusive priests, which former Bishop Richard J. Malone staunchly refused to make public.

“I’ve said before that I will not release personnel files,” Malone told reporters in 2018. “Those are confidential in any organization, including your organizations, I assume.”

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

Dec. 10, 2019

By Jay Tokasz

Readers posed many questions about Bishop Richard J. Malone after the Buffalo Diocese leader resigned under pressure for his handling of a clergy sexual abuse scandal in the diocese.

Buffalo News reporter Jay Tokasz has covered the crisis since it began 22 months ago, when a retired priest, the Rev. Norbert Orsolits, admitted to him that he had sexually abused “probably dozens” of boys during his career.

Below are some readers’ questions following Malone’s resignation on Dec. 4 and Tokasz’s answers to them.

Yvonne Haymes: Shouldn’t get any “retirement” benefits!

Bonnie Pauly Serwacki: He’s taking a early retirement. Big difference. A big retirement package coming his way.

What benefits can Malone expect to receive as bishop emeritus of Buffalo?

Answer: Bishop Emeritus Richard J. Malone will receive at least $1,900 per month in stipend and pension benefits, according to guidelines set forth in 2010 by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The actual stipend amount could be more in 2019, because $1,900 per month was to be adjusted annually according to local cost of living increases, the guidelines said. In addition to the stipend, the USCCB guidelines recommend that a bishop emeritus receive “appropriate housing and board” within the diocese where he last served. The housing should include the use of a private chapel and housekeeping assistance, the guidelines recommended. And if the bishop emeritus chooses to live outside of the diocese where he last served, that diocese is still obligated to pay for appropriate housing and board.

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)
NBC News

Dec. 10, 2019

By Corky Siemaszko

A popular North Carolina pastor who has spoken out against sexually abusive priests has been hit with an accusation that he sexually abused a minor 25 years ago before he entered the Catholic clergy.

Father Patrick T. Hoare sent a letter to his flock decrying “terrible crimes that were committed by some members of the clergy” shortly after the release of a scathing Pennsylvania grand jury report last year which detailed decades of child abuse by more than 300 “predator priests.”

But on Monday, Hoare was placed on administrative leave from his position at St. Matthew Catholic Church in Charlotte after he was accused of sexually abusing a minor 25 years ago, before he entered ministry.

The alleged incident happened in Pennsylvania, Bishop Peter Jugis of the Charlotte Diocese said in a statement.

“The alleged victim, now an adult, reported his allegations to the diocese yesterday and said he has been in touch with police and social services,” Jugis wrote. “The Charlotte diocese also has been in touch with police and will cooperate in any investigation.”

Jugis stressed that placing Hoare on administrative leave is “standard procedure” and “does not imply guilt.”

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.

SACRAMENTO (CA)
Sacramento Bee

Dec. 10, 2019

By Alexandra Yoon-Hendricks

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Sacramento, along with the other 11 dioceses in California, will be subpoenaed for additional records as the state attorney general continues to investigate whether dioceses complied with mandatory reporting requirements.

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra announced in May he would investigate all of California’s Roman Catholic dioceses to ensure that church officials followed state law and reported sexual misconduct allegations to law enforcement.

The announcement of that investigation came after Becerra’s office began requesting that victims of clergy sex abuse submit complaints to his office last year.

The Sacramento diocese, along with five other dioceses, began voluntarily turning over records to the state agency in May, according to Bishop Jaime Soto in a statement Friday.

“We share the attorney general’s desire to conduct a thorough examination of the practices and procedures that seek to protect the children entrusted to our schools, churches and programs,” Soto stated.

Last week, the attorney general’s office told the Sacramento diocese that it would issue subpoenas for additional records, according to Soto.

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.

DUNDEE (SCOTLAND)
Evening Telegraph

Dec. 10, 2019

A sexual predator who blamed his child victim after he subjected her to prolonged abuse was jailed for five years and three months.

Anthony Clark, 74, repeatedly preyed on the girl more than three decades ago at a house in Dundee.

A judge told the former Michelin tyre factory worker he had pleaded guilty to a sustained course of “disgusting sexual abuse” committed during a five-year period in the 1980s.

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.

HARTFORD (CT)
Courant

Dec. 9, 2019

By Zach Murdock

Another Catholic priest in Connecticut has been removed from his parish and prohibited from ministering publicly amid two investigations into allegations he abused a minor.

Reverend Jaime Marin-Cardona was placed on administrative leave from the Diocese of Bridgeport over the weekend after the state Department of Children and Families substantiated allegations of abuse after a months-long investigation, Bishop Frank Caggiano wrote in a letter to parishioners dated Saturday.

The Danbury Police Department also is investigating the reported abuse. The diocese did not specify the exact nature of the allegations but has “fully cooperated” with both agencies, Caggiano said.

Marin-Cardona has been a priest in Connecticut since 2010 and has spent time at Saint Joseph Parish in Norwalk, Saint Charles Borromeo Parish in Bridgeport, Our Lady of Guadalupe in Danbury and most recently at Saint Mary Parish in Bridgeport.

The investigations began when the diocese contacted DCF and Danbury police in September after receiving a letter “indicating that parents were concerned by Father Marin-Cardona’s contact with a family member who is a minor,” Caggiano 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.

LONDON (ENGLAND)
Irish Post

Dec. 10, 2019

By Jack Beresford

A Dublin priest described as a “popular and well-known figure in his diocese” has reportedly been accused of searching for “naked boy scouts” on Facebook.

A report from Dublin Live alleges that a retired cleric in his mid 80s searched for “naked boy scouts” and “boy scouts nude” on the social media website.

The accusations stem from a post, believed to be a status update, in which the unnamed suspect wrote “naked boy scouts” alongside a half photo of the suspect and the caption “boys scouts nude”.

Though yet unconfirmed, it is widely believed that the messages were posted in error by the priest who is thought to be unclear on the inner workings of Facebook.

A spokesman for his Religious Order has confirmed to Dublin Live that they are aware of the ongoing situation.

They also confirmed that the matter is being investigated by Gardai.

“As soon as we became aware of the situation our Designated Liaison Person for child safeguarding contacted TUSLA, the NBSCCCI and the Gardaí,” a spokesperson said.

“We followed the procedures for National child- safeguarding as indicated on NBSCCCI website.”

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.

MIDDLETOWN (NY)
Journal News

Dec. 9, 2019

By Frank Esposito

A nun is accused of sexually abusing a young girl at a Middletown school before moving on to higher positions at schools around Westchester County, according to court documents.

Sister Ann Peterson is accused of groping and molesting then-10-year-old Pamela Hayes at Saint Joseph School in Middletown throughout the mid-1960s, according to court documents.

The lawsuit accused Peterson of asking Hayes to stay after school and then abusing her by kissing and putting her hands under her clothes and fondling her, according to court documents filed under New York’s Child Victims Act.

The order Peterson belongs to — The Ursulines — worked with the now defunct College of New Rochelle, where Peterson was a board member until its closing earlier this year.

Her order also runs two other secondary education facilities in New York, The Ursuline School in New Rochelle — where Peterson served as principal in the 1970s — and the Academy of Mount St. Ursula in the Bronx.

The Ursuline School’s website currently lists Peterson as a member of the board of trustees at the school.

Peterson also served as advisory board member for Senior Care for the Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers, according to her biography page on the College of New Rochelle’s old website.

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.

ERIE (PA)
Times News

Dec. 10, 2019

By Ed Palattella

Catholic Diocese of Erie’s compensation fund payouts reach $5.9 million, adding to previous costs of about $6 million.

The Catholic Diocese of Erie’s financial reckoning over the clergy sexual abuse crisis has reached nearly $12 million, rising by about $3 million over the past four months.

The diocese’s newly created victims’ compensation fund has paid out $5.9 million since the fund started accepting claims on Feb. 15.

The $5.9 million includes $3 million in payouts the fund has made since around the time the deadline for filing claims expired in mid-August, Bishop Lawrence Persico said in the most recent update.

The $5.9 million is in addition to more than $6 million that the diocese previously paid to cover abuse claims and associated expenses.

‒ The diocese spent $4 million in legal fees and related costs to investigate and publicize claims of abuse in advance of the release, in August 2018, of the groundbreaking Pennsylvania grand jury report on the abuse crisis in the Roman Catholic Church statewide.

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.

CHARLOTTE (NC)
WFAE TV

Dec. 9, 2019

By Dashiell Coleman

The pastor of St. Matthew Parish has been placed on leave as the Catholic Diocese of Charlotte investigates a decades-old allegation of sexual abuse.

Bishop Peter Jugis announced Monday in a letter to parishioners that the Rev. Patrick Hoare had been placed on administrative leave after someone told the diocese on Sunday they’d been sexually abused by Hoare about 25 years ago in Pennsylvania.

The alleged abuse would have occurred when the accuser was a minor but before Hoare was a Catholic priest. The administrative leave is standard procedure, and Hoare has denied the accusation, Jugis said.

Jugis says the Charlotte Diocese has been in touch with police – as has the person who accused Hoare. The diocese’s internal lay review board will also investigate to determine if the accusation is credible, Jugis said.

“We do not yet know the facts and have no indication of any issues at St. Matthew Church,” Jugis wrote in his letter.

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 TV

Dec. 9, 2019

By Charlie Specht

Terry Connors is one of the few constants in the Diocese of Buffalo sex abuse crisis.

The influential criminal defense attorney has done legal work for four Catholic bishops stretching back three decades.

He was there in 1993, when notorious pedophile priests Bernard Mach and John Aurelio were first accused of sexually abusing boys under the tenure of Bishop Edward D. Head.

He represented the diocese in 2003 under Bishop Henry J. Mansell , when dozens of claims poured into the Buffalo chancery following the explosion of the worldwide sex abuse crisis in Boston. Most of those claims were hidden from the public until this year.

And he was the official attorney for the Catholic Diocese under bishops Edward U. Kmiec and Richard J. Malone , who according to confidants, would often utter of the abuse crisis, “Terry will get us through this.”

But Buffalo now has a new bishop — Edward B. Scharfenberger — and it’s unclear whether he will keep Connors on as diocesan attorney, especially since Connors could be facing legal troubles of his own.

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

Dec. 9, 2019

By Catherine R. Osborne

Since Pope Francis identified “clericalism” as a key factor in the sexual abuse crisis, it has been a topic of intense discussion among both laypeople and priests. Francis sees it as a sickness that associates ministry with power rather than service. A hierarchical attitude that separates clergy and elevates them above the laity, clericalism seems to permeate the institutional church. But while there has been much discussion of clericalism and sexual abuse, the overall sexual behavior and identity of clergy is relatively unexamined territory.

That may change with a three-year research project on “Clericalism and Sexuality” at the Von Hügel Institute for Critical Catholic Inquiry at St. Edmund’s College, University of Cambridge. In September, an international, interdisciplinary group of scholars gathered for a symposium to identify questions of interest. Luigi Gioia, the project’s originator, said he hopes to “collect reliable data and analyze it from an interdisciplinary viewpoint,” especially inviting sociologists and anthropologists to weigh in.

Symposium attendees came from the fields of psychology, sociology and history, as well as theology. Nearly all were Catholic and many were priests, vowed religious or lay members of movements ranging from Opus Dei to the Catholic Worker. To this deeply committed group, it seemed obvious that clericalism has been a disaster for the church. As the theologian M. Shawn Copeland argued, clericalism is based on the assumption that some human beings really are different than others in God’s eyes. It both resembles and overlaps with patriarchy, racism and colonialism, all systems that maintain hierarchical relationships among groups.

Midway through the symposium, the value of an interdisciplinary exchange came clearly into view when the anthropologist Maya Mayblin upended the conversation, which had been largely devoted to identifying the false theological and historical premises of clericalism. Ms. Mayblin observed that, from a more neutral point of view, clericalism seems to have worked quite well, for quite a long time, in the church. But its rewards do not seem to go only to the clergy who attain elevated positions; they also go to the many laypeople who support and even demand this system of hierarchical separation.

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.

PEORIA (IL)
Journal Star

Dec. 9, 2019

By Msgr. James Kruse

Member of Fulton Sheen Foundation

Dec. 7, 2019

I am Msgr. James Kruse and hold a degree in church law. For many years I have served as the Vicar General of the Diocese of Peoria. I have been intimately involved in the process for advancing the Cause for Beatification of Fulton Sheen almost from its inception. I had the privilege of being involved in the investigation of the miracle that was ultimately approved by the Pope. I was involved in every stage of the court proceedings in New York regarding the transfer of the mortal remains of Fulton Sheen. It was a great privilege and honor to be present in New York and Peoria on the day his remains were transferred from the cathedral in New York to the cathedral in Peoria. I was filled with joy to hear that Rome approved the miracle attributed to Fulton Sheen and that Pope Francis called for his Beatification. Then I became disappointed when a date for Beatification was not initially granted. I worked extensively in Peoria and at the Vatican offices in Rome examining documents presented by the Diocese of Rochester. Then, I was filled with joy, when recently the date of December 21, 2019, was announced for Sheen’s Beatification in Peoria. But, this week, I again became disappointed when Sheen’s Beatification was postponed. As various news articles were posted and even more when statements from the Diocese of Rochester were publicized, I decided to speak out earlier this week in order to defend Sheen and present the truth of this lengthy ordeal. And now I speak out again in the hopes of setting the record straight, hopefully, for the last time.

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.

WESTERN AUSTRALIA
Post Newspapers via PressReader.com

December 7, 2019

By Ben Dickinson

Two women who were teenage wards of the Home of the Good Shepherd in West Leederville in the 1970s say they were seriously neglected after they escaped sexual abuse elsewhere.

The women, Dallas Phillips and Cheryle Bandy, say they were often surrounded by unscrupulous male “visitors” to the house, and saw a relationship with a man as their only means of escape.

The home closed in 1979, and its main building in Ruislip Street is now occupied by the Catholic Education office.

Ms Phillips and Ms Bandy spoke after a rally outside the Supreme Court last week, where victims of child sex abuse called for compensation from the Catholic Church.

“Good Shepherd need to be exposed for what they did to girls like me,” Ms Phillips said.

“The nuns did nothing to protect us.”

Ms Phillips came to the West Leederville home at age 13, after she said she was sexually abused by monks in the Benedictine community of New Norcia.

“New Norcia was an evil, evil place,” Ms Phillips 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.

DANBURY (CT)
News Tiimes

Dec. 9, 2019

By Julia Perkins and Erin Kayata

A former priest at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church became the subject of an abuse investigation by police because he was seen driving a teenage boy alone in his car, Catholic officials said Monday.

The Rev. Jaime Marin-Cardona was stripped of his priestly duties and prohibited from engaging in public ministry after the state Department of Children and Families found “substantiated allegations of abuse” against the 51-year-old pastor, Bishop Frank J. Caggiano said in a letter to parishioners Friday.

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.

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

Dec. 9, 2019

A priest who had been placed on leave in January following allegations of sexual abuse has been found “unsuitable for ministry.” We call on Catholic officials in Philadelphia to do outreach to potential victims and to publicize complete information on this cleric so that local communities will be fully aware of the allegations.

In January of 2019, Msgr. Joseph Logrip was placed on administrative leave while Church leaders in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia investigated allegations of abuse against him. But this is not the first time that Msgr. Logrip was the subject of such an investigation. He had been investigated by Catholic officials on similar accusations in 2011. Howver, the clergyman was returned to ministry in 2014. The Archdiocese of Philadelphia owes the faithful and the public an explanation as to why the earlier allegation was found to be “not credible.”

To us this situation shows how Catholic officials in Philadelphia have not taken claims of abuse seriously nor done the right thing when allegations were received, especially since they refused to disclose publicly that Msgr. Logrip had been a volunteer at the K-8 school St. Aloysius Academy for decades.

Church leaders in Philadelphia owe it to their communities to be open and honest about Msgr. Logrip. They should not only disclose his removal, but also his full work history to all parishes in their community and to the public so that parents and parishioners know to look among their own for survivors. In addition, they should turn over all information to the police and to the Attorney General, if they have not already done so.

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)
Catholics 4 Change blog

Dec. 8, 2019

By Susan Mathews

The Archdiocese announced that Msgr. Joseph Logrip is unsuitable for ministry today. The announcement came as most do – on slow-news Sunday and lacking transparency.

The six-page media release buries the lead and fails to mention St. Aloysius Academy for Boys in Logrip’s history. His involvement there as a chaplain and Mass celebrant has been well documented. This isn’t the first time they’ve avoided the whole truth. They didn’t share this info in the 2011 press release when he was first removed or the January 2019 when he was removed again after being reinstated in 2014.

The archdiocese argued they didn’t assign him to St. Aloysius in a formal capacity. For God’s sake, this isn’t a resume. It’s an alert to the community. They knew about his time there and he is one of theirs – an archdiocesan priest. They have a moral duty to share the whole truth. If they are going to claim transparency and accountability, then this is what is required.

Why would they omit the info? Could it be they don’t want more victims to come forward? Just spitballing here. We hope no more children were abused in the decade that’s passed since they disregarded the seriousness of a complaint.

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.

VANCOUVER (CANADA)
Canadian Catholic News

Dec. 9, 2019

By Agnieszka Ruck

Whenever a group of people with different opinions gather at a table to discuss a controversial topic, sparks are bound to fly.

But Archdiocese of Vancouver lawyer Mary Margaret MacKinnon said the experience can be surprisingly instructive, too. That was her experience while chairing the Case Review Committee that studied 36 cases of sexual abuse by priests in Vancouver since the 1950s over 13 months. Its report was released Nov. 22.

“It was difficult in some ways because we had a bunch of divergent voices at the table, but it was also transformative because it let us hear from people who we haven’t heard from at the table before,” she told The B.C. Catholic.

These voices included four victims of abuse, lay people of various professions, a religious sister and two non-Catholics. All 13 members of the Case Review Committee gathered for seven long meetings to study abuse cases and come up with recommendations for the Archdiocese of Vancouver.

MacKinnon, a lawyer whose practice focuses on personal injury and sexual abuse claims, has been handling abuse cases for more than 30 years. The horrific stories don’t shock her anymore, but the willingness of this group to listen to those around the table did.

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.

COLLEGE STATION (TX)
KBTX TV

Dec. 9, 2019

By Rusty Surette

A Catholic priest with local ties is currently under investigation following reports of misconduct in which he is accused of breaching both physical and emotional boundaries with several adult women and at least one female youth.

Father Michael Sullivan, a member of the Legionaries of Christ, has admitted to violating the organization’s “Christ Code of Conduct” on more than one occasion beginning in 2013, according to an internal memo obtained by News 3’s Rusty Surette.

The Legionaries of Christ is a Roman Catholic congregation of priests and men studying for the priesthood.

Fr. Sullivan has worked with St. Mary’s Catholic Center in College Station since 2009 and participated in confessional, spiritual direction, and retreats, according to a social media post by the church.

It’s unclear if his accusers are members of the St. Mary’s congregation.

Sullivan left St. Mary’s on November 2 after being reassigned, but the organization says the move had nothing to do with the accusations and was planned prior to the most recent incident.

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.

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

Dec. 9, 2019

A Catholic priest in Cleveland has been arrested for possessing child pornography and today his bond was set at $50,000. We applaud law enforcement for their work in this case, but there is still much more to do. Child pornography is a crime with many victims, many predators and a tragically long shelf life.

Rev. Robert McWilliams was arrested on church property for possessing child pornography. Now Catholic officials in the Diocese of Cleveland must immediately call upon any victims, witnesses, or whistleblowers to come forward to law enforcement with information that will aid in the investigation. Rev. McWilliams’ complete work history must also be publicized and reviewed, with an eye to uncovering whether any children were victimized at any of his posts.

Catholic leadership often says that sex abuse in the Church is “in the past,” but cases like this prove otherwise. Over the past two years, law enforcement in at least 30 states have arrested or started criminal proceedings against living, working priests implicated in sex abuse, according to SNAP’s internal monitoring. This means that parishioners and the public must continue to be vigilant in order to protect children in their communities.

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.

MARTINSBURG (WV)
The Journal

Dec. 8, 2019

Sometimes it seems every pledge of reform by the Roman Catholic Church is matched by one — or more — reports of outrageous behavior.

A permissive policy toward predator priests who molested children appears to have characterized church policy for decades, not just in the United States but also in many other countries. Church officials say they will crack down on that. No longer will molesters be shielded, they vow.

But those pledges of turning over a new leaf have been coming forth for several years.

In 2017, reports surfaced that some church officials working with the Caritas International charity were engaged in pedophilia. The Rev. Luk Delft, a Belgian priest who had been working int the Central African Republic, was accused.

Officials in the Vatican had said they learned of allegations against Delft in 2017, but decided his Caritas International superiors should handle the matter. They did little; Delft remained as Central African Republic director of Caritas International until this year.

Recently, it was reported that Delft was appointed to the post even though he had been convicted in 2012 of child sexual abuse and possession of child pornography in Belgium.

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.

BERGEN (NJ)
Bergen Record

Dec. 9, 2019

By Abbott Koloff and Deena Yellin

A former New York Giants football team chaplain accused of sexual abuse more than 15 years ago and later reinstated by church officials — just in time to get a Super Bowl ring — was named in a lawsuit filed Monday by one of the two men who had come forward years ago.

The priest, the Rev. William Dowd, was returned to ministry in 2007 after a church tribunal made up of priests had acquitted him in a closed-door hearing. That decision came five years after a Newark Archdiocese review board, which included lay people, determined the allegations warranted further action by church officials.

Also on Monday, five women said in court papers that they were abused as young girls by a Bergen County priest while their families attended parishes in Hackensack and Glen Rock.

The priest, Augustine Giella, died more than 15 years ago while awaiting trial after being charged with the sexual assault of a child. He’s been accused of abusing five sisters from Pennsylvania after being transferred to that state from New Jersey. A Pennsylvania grand jury report listed him last year among 300 allegedly abusive clerics and called him an example of the Catholic Church’s “wholesale institutional failure that endangered the welfare of 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.

STRONGSVILLE (OH)
WOIO TV

Dec. 9, 2019

By Randy Buffington

Rev. Robert D. McWilliams, a Catholic priest working in Strongsville, appeared in court on Monday morning on chilld pornography-related crimes.

Bond was set at $50,000 for charges that include possessing, receiving, and distributing child pornography.

Bond set at $50,000 for Strongsville priest accused of receiving, possessing child pornography
McWilliams was placed on leave by the Cleveland Catholic Diocese after he was handcuffed at St. Joseph Church and charged on Dec. 5.

The Ohio Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (ICAC) arrived at St. Joseph Parish and searched McWilliams’ living and office spaces for evidence related to the crimes that were allegedly committed in Geauga 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.

BELFAST (NORTH IRELAND)
Belfast Telegraph

Dec. 9, 2019

By Helen Carson

Fermanagh-born cleric Father Brian D’Arcy says the time was right for his tell-all memoir which reveals how he was sexually abused in the church as a young boy, and again as a teen.

The 74-year-old priest, whose book It Has To Be Said is now on sale, tells how he suffered clerical sexual abuse but had to wait until the perpetrators had died before he could unmask them.

The 400-page book also documents how the veteran broadcaster and author, who is often dubbed ‘the showbiz priest’, influenced Father Ted actor Dermot Morgan’s portrayal of his most famous TV role as the hapless Craggy Island cleric.

The Crossgar-based priest also tells how he played a key role in the Northern Ireland peace process by smuggling letters to key loyalists from former Taoiseach Albert Reynolds, who he had been friends with during the showband era in Ireland.

And amid the most shocking revelations about clerical sexual abuse, Father D’Arcy admits struggling all his life to deal with the trauma of the assaults.

“Many of the stories in the book couldn’t have been written (previously) because many of the people were still alive,” he explains. “The story was worth telling. Now I can tell it with greater freedom.”

The importance of setting the record straight in his 70s was also an issue for the priest: “I’m getting to an age where I could wake up dead tomorrow, or my memory would go, so I had to sit down and do 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.

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

Dec. 9, 2019

The Diocese of London today acknowledged that the list put together by survivors from SNAP Ontario was not only correct, but that there were actually more names still hidden. We call on Catholic officials to release those names and work histories to the public in order to protect children and support survivors.

The fact is, researching abusers is difficult for survivors, but very easy for Church leaders: they could simply open up their personnel files and secret archives and come clean about the information they hold. Doing that would inform law enforcement and families, who in turn could better protect children. To us, it is a simple choice between secrecy and safety.

Bishop Ronald Fabbro is choosing secrecy, and worse yet, using survivors as his shield in doing so. The argument that survivors will be “revictimized” if their abuser’s name becomes public is an excuse that has been employed by other dioceses previously. But in our experience, most – if not all — survivors would prefer that children are protected and that the public is informed.

We believe there are hundreds, and perhaps thousands, of abusive clerics with ties to Canada. More importantly, we believe the best way to get to the full scope of the problem is for the Canadian government to undertake a national investigation akin to the Royal Commission in Australia. That group unearthed nearly 2,000 abusers in a country of only 5.5 million Catholics. In Canada, there are more than 12.5 million Catholics, as well as many native missions which have historically been epicenters of abuse. For these two reasons, we suspect there are likely many more perpetrators still hidden in Canadian files.

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)
Catholic Philly

Dec. 9, 2019

By Matthew Gambin

Msgr. Joseph L. Logrip, 74, a priest of the Philadelphia Archdiocese who had been cleared of an allegation of child sexual abuse in 2011, has been permanently suspended after another more recent allegation was found to be credible.

The archdiocese revealed the decision of Archbishop Charles Chaput on Sunday, Dec. 8 after he had accepted the recommendation of the Archdiocesan Professional Responsibilities Review Board (APRRB), a 12-member advisory panel of experts on child abuse.

The news was communicated to the community at Camilla Hall, the retirement facility in Immaculata for elderly and ill Sisters Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary where Msgr. Logrip had served as chaplain, and to St. Peter Parish in West Brandywine where he assisted with celebrating weekend Masses.

Msgr. Logrip was ordained a priest in 1972. He had been placed on leave in March 2011 due to an allegation that he had sexually abused a minor decades earlier, and following the second Philadelphia grand jury report on sexual abuse of minors by Catholic clergy.

After law enforcement declined to press charges on the allegation, the archdiocesan Office for Investigations — which looks into cases of sexual assault as well as “boundary violations,” which may not rise to the level of criminality but may be violations of the archdiocese’s Standards of Ministerial Behavior and Boundaries — probed the matter.

By 2014 the APRRB found the allegation not credible and deemed Msgr. Logrip suitable for ministry. At that time he was assigned to Camilla Hall with assistance at St. Peter’s.

In its Dec. 8 statement, the archdiocese said it received in late 2018 a new allegation of Msgr. Logrip sexually abusing a minor in the early 1980s. He was subsequently placed on leave with his public ministry restricted in January 2019.

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)
Associated Press

Dec. 9, 2019

By David Crary

More than a century ago, waves of Catholic immigrants from Ireland, Poland and Quebec settled in Chicopee and other western Massachusetts mill towns, helping build churches, rectories and schools to accommodate their faith. Today the priests leading those churches are under siege due to stresses, challenges and sex abuse scandals complicating their lives and those of their fellow priests across the United States.

The Rev. Mark Stelzer is among those trying to persevere. He’s a professor at a Roman Catholic college in Chicopee, and its chaplain. He travels frequently to out-of-state events organized by a Catholic addiction-treatment provider, recounting his own recovery from alcoholism.

Last year, his busy schedule got busier. Amid a worsening shortage of priests, the Diocese of Springfield named him administrator of a parish in Holyoke, Chicopee’s northern neighbor, where he lives alone in a mansion-sized rectory while serving as spiritual leader to the 500 families of St. Jerome’s Church.

“I’m at an age where I thought I’d be doing less rather than doing more,” said Stelzer, 62.

Stelzer loves being a priest, yet he’s frank about the ever-evolving stresses of his vocation that leave him nostalgic for the priesthood he entered in 1983.

“It was a lot simpler then,” he said. “There’s a real longing, a mourning for the church that was — when there was a greater fraternity among priests, and the church was not facing these scandals that are now emerging every day.”

Stelzer’s concerns echoed those of other priests, and some of their psychological caregivers, who were interviewed by The Associated Press.

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.

ST. LOUIS (MO)
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

December 7, 2019

By Nassim Benchaabane

The Archdiocese of St. Louis can’t estimate how much it has paid so far to people alleging sex abuse by clergy because records going back decades aren’t consistent or accurate in each case, church officials say.

“Over the last few decades, settlements were paid out in a number of ways … so there is not an accurate number that we would be comfortable sharing,” spokesman Peter Frangie said in an email last week.

While a 2013 archdiocesan report identified $10 million in costs related to sexual abuse since 2004, the full extent of the financial impact of abuse allegations is unknown. Public reports identify other cases that were settled out of court for tens of thousands of dollars to hundreds of thousands of dollars, but many settlements were confidential, sometimes at the plaintiff’s 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.

BUFFALO (NY)
Spectrum News

December 7, 2019

By Katherine Chloe

“I believe that our victim survivors, they are our family. They’re a part of us. And while we don’t want to burden them with yet one more burden, they have a tremendous invitation shall I say, to feel a part of the healing mission,” explains Bishop Edward Scharfenberger, Buffalo Diocese Apostolic Administrator.

Many Catholics expressed relief after Bishop Richard Malone resigned. This after months of Malone being accused of covering up for priests and mishandling the sex abuse crisis.

“I’m here to see how my family of survivors can start to trust the church again. How do we get to this place?” asks Michael Whalen, survivor and advocate.

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.

SANTA ROSA (CA)
The Press Democrat

December 7, 2019

A Roman Catholic priest who served on the North Coast after he was accused of sexual misconduct in Texas has been added to the Santa Rosa Diocese’s list of clergy credibly accused of child sex abuse on the basis of the 32-year-old molestation case from San Antonio.

Jose Luis Contreras, believed to be 78, is not known to have acted improperly while posted in California, where he served between 1995 and 2000 before returning to Mexico, Santa Rosa Bishop Robert F. Vasa said.

The Santa Rosa Diocese had no knowledge of the 1987 accusation against Contreras when he came to the region from Tepic, Mexico. He had left the United States for Mexico in the wake of the sex abuse allegation. After joining the Santa Rosa Diocese, Contreras served at Saint Elizabeth Seton in Philo, Mendocino County, Vasa said. He would later serve in Crescent City, as well.

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

HARRISBURG (PA)
Pennsylvania Capital-Star

December 8, 2019

By Tim Kearney and Katie Muth

It has been over a year since the release of the grand jury report that unveiled widespread sexual abuse by the Catholic Church in Pennsylvania. The report showed, in horrific detail, how 301 priests preyed upon more than 1,000 children over seven decades.

For generations, Pennsylvania’s statute of limitations barred many survivors from seeking legal recourse and shielded their predators.

For generations, powerful institutions, such as the Insurance Federation, and their lobbyists blocked reforms and escaped liability for their crimes. Survivors suffered under the weight of their abuse, silenced by the law, while their tormentors walked free. Last year, before our election to the Senate, the General Assembly was on the finish line of passing the grand jury’s recommendations when the Republican majority adjourned the session.

This year, the legislature finally approved a small but meaningful measure of justice. W

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.

OLEAN (NY)
Olean Herald

December 8, 2019

After resisting calls for him to resign for several months, Bishop Richard Malone took what he called “early retirement” Wednesday and stepped down as leader of the Diocese of Buffalo.

In his exit, Malone offered acknowledgement he made mistakes in his handling of the flood of sexual abuse claims against priests dating back decades, but he still pointed out that during his tenure no priest ordained in the past 30 years had an allegation of child sex abuse substantiated.

That assertion alone perhaps helps explain why the now former bishop, despite widespread calls from the Catholic community throughout Western New York for him to step down, held out for as long as he did. A “this wasn’t on my watch” justification simply wasn’t enough to appease abuse victims and their families, as well as an active and discerning Catholic community that has been looking for both justice and 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.

IRELAND
Irish Times

December 8, 2019

By Carl O’Brien

Religious congregations provide €110m in cash but owe twice that amount in property

Total cost of the State’s contribution to redress for survivors of residential institutions is likely to be in the region of €1.5bn.

The State has reached a milestone in securing church assets to cover the cost of abuse redress after the Christian Brothers fulfilled its pledge to complete its contribution of €30 million.

This largely completes cash pledges worth €110 million from religious organisations who offered in the aftermath of the publication of the Ryan report to part-fund redress and support for 15,000 former pupils.

However, religious congregations have yet to transfer more than twice this amount in the form of property which they pledged to hand over to the State about a decade 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.

BUFFALO (NY)
WBEN, 930 AM (Talk radio)

December 8, 2019

Michael Whalen: “The man truly is sincere”

When Bishop Edward Scharfenberger was introduced to the Buffalo catholic community as the newly appointed apostolic administrator for the Diocese of Buffalo, he said he wanted to meet with survivors of priest abuse. That didn’t take long as survivor Michael Whalen took to the stage at the Movement to Restore Trust symposium Saturday and offered an honest assessment of the crisis, from a survivor’s perspective.

As Whalen, who was seated next to Scharfenberger, walked across the stage inside the Montante Cultural Center at Canisius College, Bishop Scherfenberger was in the front row and stood to recognize Whalen as the crowd of 175 in attendance looked 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.

VATICAN CITY
Catholic News Service

By Carol Glatz

In Caravaggio’s painting of Matthew, the sinful tax collector being called by Jesus to “Follow me,” Pope Francis sees the same unexpected, grace-filled moment found in his own call to the priesthood.

A 17-year-old Argentine student headed to a school picnic on Sept. 21, 1953, the feast of St. Matthew, Jorge Bergoglio felt compelled to first stop by his parish of San Jose de Flores.

It was there, speaking with a priest he had never seen before and receiving the sacrament of reconciliation, he was suddenly struck by “the loving presence of God,” who, like his episcopal motto describes, saw him through eyes of mercy and chose him, despite his human imperfections and flaws.

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
CBS News

December 8, 2019

[VIDEO]

Last year, 60 Minutes’ Bill Whitaker reported on leaked records of the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo, New York. On Wednesday, Pope Francis accepted Bishop Malone’s resignation.

Last year, Bill Whitaker reported on leaked records of the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo, New York. They showed Bishop Richard Malone concealed allegations against dozens of priests accused of abuse and allowed some to remain in ministry.

The whistleblower was Bishop Malone’s own executive assistant Siobhan O’Connor.

“The reality of what I saw really left me with no other option because, at the end of my life, I`m not going to answer to Bishop Malone. I`m going to answer to God,” O’Connor said.

On Wednesday, Pope Francis accepted Bishop Malone’s resignation.

Watch the full report, “Inside the Secret Archive,” below.

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

INDIA
Reuters via the Huffington Global

December 6, 2019

Indian police shot dead four men on Friday who were suspected of raping and killing a 27-year-old veterinarian in the city of Hyderabad, a police official told Reuters, drawing applause from her family and citizens outraged over crimes against women.

More than 32,500 cases of rape were registered with the police in 2017, about 90 a day, according to the most recent government data.

Indian courts disposed of only about 18,300 cases related to rape that year, leaving more than 127,800 cases pending at the end of 2017.

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.

CLEVELAND (OH)
WOWK-TV

December 7, 2019

A Cleveland-area Roman Catholic priest who is accused of having child pornography is expected to make his first court appearance on Monday.

Authorities arrested the Rev. Robert McWilliams on Thursday at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Strongsville. He’s charged with possessing child pornography and possessing criminal tools.

The Cleveland diocese says investigators took a cellphone, iPad and laptop that belonged to McWilliams during a raid of the priest’s office and where he lived. McWilliams is being held in jail and hasn’t made any statements since his arrest.

Court records don’t indicate whether he has any attorney.

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

NEW YORK (NY)
Crux

December 8, 2019

By John L. Allen Jr.

Now that we know why the scheduled Dec. 21 beatification ceremony for the late Archbishop Fulton Sheen has been postponed, it raises broader questions about how we evaluate not only potential candidates for sainthood, but those who’ve already crossed the finish line, vis-à-vis the clerical sexual abuse scandals.

After being initially reported that the Vatican had postponed the beatification at the request of a “few U.S. bishops,” the Diocese of Rochester, where Sheen served as an auxiliary bishop from 1959 to 1966 and as the bishop until his retirement in 1969, acknowledged in a statement that it had requested the delay “to allow for further review of his role in priests’ assignments.”

To be clear, there’s no suggestion of any personal misconduct by Sheen. An official in Sheen’s home diocese of Peoria, Illinois, which spearheaded the beatification cause, told reporters the concerns focus on a particular Rochester priest accused of sexual misconduct during Sheen’s years as a bishop, but insisted that the case had been thoroughly investigated and no mishandling by Sheen was discovered.

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)
Archdiocese of Philadelphia

December 8, 2019

Reverend Monsignor Joseph L. Logrip was placed on administrative leave and his priestly faculties were restricted in January 2019 following an allegation that he sexually abused a minor in the early 1980s. That allegation has been substantiated and he has been found unsuitable for ministry.

Contextual Background Regarding Reverend Monsignor Joseph L. Logrip

Previous Administrative Leave Case (2011)

Reverend Monsignor Joseph L. Logrip was previously placed on administrative leave and his priestly faculties were restricted by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia following the March 2011 Philadelphia Grand Jury Report. That action was taken based on an allegation that he had sexually abused a minor over two decades before that time.

The allegation was referred to law enforcement and public announcements were made to the media as well as the parish communities where Monsignor Logrip had been serving at that time.

The required canonical (church) investigation of Monsignor Logrip was launched after law enforcement declined to press charges in that matter. The Archdiocesan Office of Investigations (AOI) undertook that canonical process.

The AOI is responsible for conducting internal and canonical investigations following the conclusion of work performed by civil authorities. At the time it investigated Monsignor Logrip the AOI was headed by a former Deputy District Attorney for the City and County of Philadelphia. Currently, the office is led by a former First Assistant District Attorney for the City and County of Philadelphia. The AOI also performs investigations in matters that center on alleged activity that is not illegal in nature, but that may violate The Standards of Ministerial Behavior and Boundaries established by the Archdiocese.

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

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Associated Press via PennLive.com

December 8, 2019

Catholic authorities in Philadelphia say a priest formerly returned to ministry following an allegation of sexual abuse has been found unsuitable for ministry following a new allegation.

Seventy-four-year-old Reverend Monsignor Joseph Logrip had been placed on administrative leave in January following the new allegation of abuse in the early 1980s.

The archdiocese of Philadelphia said Sunday that the new allegation “has been substantiated” and Logrip “has been found unsuitable for ministry.”

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)
Philadelphia Inquirer

December 8, 2019

by Mensah M. Dean

A Philadelphia Catholic priest who was placed on administrative leave in January after being accused of sexually abusing a minor in the 1980s, has been found to be “unsuitable for ministry,” the Archdiocese of Philadelphia announced Sunday.

Monsignor Joseph L. Logrip, 74, who had last worked as a chaplain at Camilla Hall, a retirement home for women in Malvern, Chester County, and as a weekend assistant at St. Peter Parish in West Brandywine, Chester County, was ruled to be unfit to serve as a priest after an investigation by the Archdiocesan Office of Investigation.

The results of the investigation were then forwarded to the Archdiocesan Professional Responsibilities Review Board, which recommended that Logrip be declared unsuitable, the church said in a statement. Archbishop Charles Chaput accepted that recommendation, and the case will now be sent to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith at the Vatican, the statement 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.

ROME (ITALY)
Crux

December 7, 2019

By Inés San Martín

[Editor’s note: This is part two of a Crux interview with Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore. Part one can be found here.]

Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore says the Church must “make darn sure” any bishop of the Catholic Church who served from the 1960s to 1980s, now understood to be the statistical peak of the clerical sexual abuse crisis, didn’t mishandle an abuse allegation – a test, he said, that must apply even “for someone as good as Fulton Sheen.”

Lori spoke one day after the diocese of Peoria announced the Vatican had decided to postpone the Dec. 21 beatification of the late American archbishop, who was once a nationally known figure and Emmy-award winning pioneer of radio and television evangelization.

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.

BRIDGEPORT (CT)
Diocese of Bridgeport

December 6, 2019

By Bishop Frank J. Caggiano

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I am writing to inform you that I have placed Reverend Jaime Marin-Cardona on Administrative Leave after being informed by state Department of Children and Families (DCF) that it has substantiated allegations of abuse after a lengthy investigation.

The Diocese of Bridgeport has fully cooperated with the investigation by DCF and with a parallel ongoing investigation underway by the Danbury Police Department.

The diocesan Sexual Misconduct Review Board has also met and accepted the determination of credibility reached by DCF. As a result, I have removed Father Marin-Cardona’s priestly faculties and prohibited him from engaging in public ministry.

Father Marin-Cardona has been a priest of the Diocese of Bridgeport since 2010, with assignments at Saint Joseph Parish in Norwalk, Saint Charles Borromeo Parish in Bridgeport, Our Lady of Guadalupe in Danbury and, most recently, at Saint Mary Parish in Bridgeport.

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.

STAMFORD (CT)
Stamford Advocate

December 8, 2019

By Peter Yankowski

The Diocese of Bridgeport has stripped a reverend of his job following allegations of abuse made to the state and as part of a parallel “ongoing investigation” by Danbury police.

The Reverend Jaime Marin-Cardona has been removed from his priestly duties and is prohibited from “engaging in public ministry,” Bishop Frank J. Caggiano said in a statement Friday, after the clergy’s Sexual Misconduct Review Board learned the state found the accusations credible.

The allegations against Marin-Cardona came to light in September, after the diocese received a letter indicating that “parents were concerned by Father Marin-Cardona’s contact with a family member who is a minor,” the bishop 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.

BUFFALO (NY)
Buffalo News

December 7, 2019

By Jay Tokasz

The news that Bishop Richard J. Malone resigned as leader of the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo, with Albany Bishop Edward B. Scharfenberger becoming the diocese’s temporary administrator, meant almost nothing to John A. Polvino.

About 18 months ago, Polvino publicly accused the Rev. Donald W. Becker of molesting him in 1975 when he was 13. Polvino became a vocal critic of how diocese leaders handled abuse cases, but he was so infuriated by the situation that he stopped paying any attention to them.

“I’ve had to, for my own safe mental health,” he said. “The new guy, quite frankly, I wasn’t even interested enough to read about. I honestly don’t believe this is going to change anything, whether (Malone) is here or not.”

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

PEORIA (IL)
Catholic News Agency

December 7, 2019

After the Diocese of Rochester last week confirmed it had requested that the beatification of Venerable Fulton Sheen be delayed, a longtime Peoria diocese official is accusing the Rochester diocese of repeatedly “sabotaging” Sheen’s sainthood cause.

“Under the veneer of the Rochester diocese’s call for caution, more than an overwhelming majority of people would conclude that it is an unexplainable act of sabotage — a sabotage that simply hurts the faithful,” Monsignor James Kruse, an official in the Diocese of Peoria involved in advancing Sheen’s cause, wrote in a lengthy Dec. 7 op-ed.

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.

NEWARK (NJ)
NorthJersey.com via Asbury Park Press

December 8, 2019

John Bellocchio was an altar boy at St. Francis of Assisi Roman Catholic Church in Hackensack when Cardinal Theodore McCarrick abused him during a visit to the parish, the businessman told reporters on Monday.

Bellocchio, a 14-year-old at the time, who had grown up in a devout Roman Catholic family, initially felt “honored” to be in the presence of the leader of the Newark Archdiocese, he said at a Newark news conference.

But then McCarrick, one of the most influential Catholic prelates in the U.S., assaulted him in the vestibule of the church, Bellocchio alleged in a lawsuit filed this weekend. Now 37, Bellocchio said he has suffered from anxiety ever since, including panic attacks that sometimes demand medical intervention.

His lawsuit was one of at least eight filed against the Newark Archdiocese or the neighboring Paterson Diocese as of Monday, the day after a new state law temporarily lifted New Jersey’s statute of limitations on sex abuse complaints. Hundreds more are expected against the state’s five Catholic dioceses, the Boy Scouts of America and other institutions long accused of covering up such cases.

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.

MONTREAL (QUEBEC, CANADA)
Montreal Gazette

December 5, 2019

By Damien Meyer

The suit names 26 FSC schools across Quebec and names 25 priests suspected of sexually assaulting children between the 1940s and 1980s

The Frères du Sacré-Cœur (FSC) will have to defend itself against a second class-action lawsuit in Quebec that claims its priests molested children in their care.

In a ruling published Thursday, Superior Court Judge Christian Immer wrote that claims of widespread abuse within the religious order were credible enough to warrant a class-action lawsuit. The suit names 26 FSC schools across Quebec and names 25 priests suspected of sexually assaulting children between the 1940s and 1980s.

One of the main plaintiffs — given the alias “F” in the lawsuit — claims that, as a teenager, he was repeatedly abused by Brother Léon Maurice Tremblay while attending an FSC summer camp. This would have taken place in 1978 or 1979.

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 AND DUBLIN
Irish Central

December 6, 2019

By Jean Farrell

There has been much written about how influential broadcaster Gay Byrne was in changing attitudes here in Ireland.

Indeed he was, as were other factors in the 1960s and 70s. We forget how very different things were in the 1950s and in the preceding decades.

What brought this to mind are old prayer books I came across lately. They give a great insight into the type of religion that was taught in the past.

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

ST. LOUIS (MO)
Associated Press via Alton Telegraph

December 5, 2019

A former priest has sued the Archdiocese of St. Louis, alleging it libeled and slandered him by including him on a list of clerics credibly accused of abusing children.

Michael Toohey, 77, of Creve Coeur, claims in the lawsuit filed last month in St. Louis County Circuit Court that the archdiocese intentionally damaged his reputation, refused to provide more details of any allegation against him and denied his challenge of the claim, reports the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

At issue is a list the archdiocese released this summer that included the names of 63 men with substantiated allegations of sexual abuse of a minor. Twenty-six of those men, including Toohey, had never been named publicly as facing such allegations.

In an interview with the Post-Dispatch in September, Toohey denied sexually abusing anyone and said the archdiocese never told him he had been accused of sex abuse of a minor until the list was released. He said he and an attorney met with the archdiocese after the list was released but that church officials refused to discuss information about his case.

Toohey, who served as a priest at three St. Louis-area parishes from 1967 until 1970, has said that he left left the priesthood of his own volition in 1970 because he felt the church had become too permissive on issues including contraception and divorce. He later worked for trade groups in St. Louis, including the Home Builders Association of St. Louis, and in Georgia.

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 (ONTARIO, CANADA)
Diocese of London

December 5, 2019

As a Diocese, we wish to express our utmost regret for the suffering that has been incurred as a result of clergy sexual abuse. As we review the list published by SNAP, we can confirm that it appears to be substantially correct. We cannot confirm its accuracy in its entirety. Certain cases, for instance, were resolved by the Religious Orders themselves. We can confirm, however, that there are four other priests against whom allegations involving minors have been made. None of the priests continues to work within the Diocese or elsewhere in the Church.

We are sorry for the pain that clergy sexual abuse has caused, and we are committed to vigilantly protecting those who are vulnerable, to supporting survivors, and to swiftly addressing allegations. Bishop Fabbro has met with many survivors and their families. As a result of lessons learned within these conversations, we believe that there is no one way for survivors to respond and to heal from abuse. Only survivors of abuse, therefore, have the right to determine whether to publicly disclose their stories or not. We work with survivors to respond to their individual needs.

As part of a commitment to supporting survivors and allowing them to determine whether or not to reveal information about their experiences, Bishop Fabbro waived confidentiality requirements from all settlements in our Diocese. That way, those who wish to tell their story may do so, and those who are concerned about being inadvertently identified can choose to remain protected by confidentiality.

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.

MONTREAL (QUEBEC, CANADA)
Radio Canada International

December 6, 2019

By Terry Haig

The Roman Catholic Diocese in London, Ontario says a list of known pedophile priests published Wednesday by an abuse survivors group “appears to be essentially correct.”

In a written statement Thursday, the diocese issued an apology to victims and added the names of four priests not on the original list.

“We wish to express our utmost regret for the suffering that has been incurred as a result of clergy sexual abuse,” the diocese said.

The apology came after the diocese initially refused to confirm the names of 36 priests published by the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), which said the abuse began 50 to 60 years ago.

The list included 20 priests who worked in the Windsor region, nine from the London area and others from towns across Southwestern Ontario, including Chatham and Sarnia.

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

December 7, 2019

London Bishop claims survivors don’t want priests named and fear revictimization

London, Ont. – A London lawyer says he has “a hard time stomaching” why the local diocese would keep the names of four priests facing sexual abuse allegations against minors a secret.

“The vast majority want the name of their perpetrator out there. They want to protect society. They want accountability,” said Rob Talach, who has represented more 1,000 survivors of sexual abuse at the hands of the clergy in more than 400 court battles against the Catholic Church.

Talach’s comments came on Friday, the same day London Bishop Ronald Fabbro appeared on CBC Radio One’s London Morning.

Fabbro told host Rebecca Zandbergen that the list of 36 clergy members accused of sexual abuse published Wednesday by the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) was “substantially correct.”

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.

TAMPA (FL)
Legal Examiner – Saunders and Walker

December 6, 2019

By Joseph H. Saunders

Five years ago, such a thing would have been unimaginable. I have been an abuse survivor advocate and attorney for the past twenty years and the rapid change in state laws and the public’s perception of childhood sexual abuse has forced the Catholic Church to offer compensation funds in all the dioceses of New York, some in Pennsylvania and California in order to stave off civil lawsuits.

New York was the first state this year to provide a “look back” window for a period of one year which ends August 15, 2020. The “look back” provision of the Child Victims Act allows all survivors to file a lawsuit against the offending institution such as the Catholic Church in spite of the statute of limitations. On December 1, 2019, New Jersey opened a “look back” period of two years while California will offer a three year “look back” beginning in January 2020. Vermont completely abolished the statute of limitations for childhood abuse cases.

In total, eight states have opened “look back” windows, which allow adult victims of sex abuse to come forward with allegations from their childhoods, even if they have passed the statute of limitations. Seven more states have significantly relaxed their statutes of limitations, allowing victims to come forward much later in life than previous laws had allowed.

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)
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle via Peoria Journal Star

December 6, 2019

By Steve Orr

The Rochester Catholic Diocese prompted a delay in the beatification of its former bishop, the Most Rev. Fulton J. Sheen, by raising questions with the Vatican about his administration of multiple priests who had been accused of misconduct.

The delay had nothing to do with any allegations of sexual abuse by Sheen himself — and nothing to do with the supposed animus that some claim the current leaders of the Rochester diocese harbor toward their late bishop.

Sheen, once a nationally known figure and Emmy-winner pioneer of radio and television evangelism, had been scheduled to be beatified by Pope Francis on Dec. 21. But the Vatican earlier this week said it was delaying the action, leading some to assert that current Rochester Bishop Salvatore Matano was behind the delay.

That assertion has some truth behind it, the diocese indicated to the Democrat and the Chronicle on Thursday: Matano and other bishops have argued that the church must investigate more fully to determine if Sheen helped cover up sexual abuse by priests in Rochester during his time here some 40 years 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.

CLEVELAND (OH)
WKYC

December 6, 2019

By Tyler Carey and Mark Naymik

https://www.wkyc.com/article/news/crime/devastating-and-heart-wrenching-cleveland-bishop-nelson-j-perez-releases-statement-after-strongsville-priests-arrest/95-14c900fa-6478-430e-b313-975806ccdc5c

The Rev. Bob McWilliams is facing charges related to child pornography.

One day after the arrest of a priest in the diocese, Roman Catholic Bishop of Cleveland Nelson J. Perez has released a statement on the matter.

Perez, who is currently in Rome meeting with Pope Francis, called the accusations against the Rev. Bob McWilliams “devastating and heart-wrenching for the entire Catholic community in Northeast Ohio.” The bishop also pledged to fully cooperate with investigators in the name of “the safety and well-being of our children.”

“All of us feel tremendous emotions of shock, disappointment and confusion,” Perez wrote. “I ask you to join me in prayerful solidarity for healing asking for God’s grace and guidance in this painful situation.”

McWilliams was taken into custody Thursday after authorities searched St. Joseph Catholic Church in Strongsville. He has currently been booked on a charge of pandering obscenity related to an accusation of inappropriately texting a teenager in Newbury, and sources tell 3News that multiple images of child pornography were found at the St. Joseph rectory where McWilliams lives.

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

WASHINGTON (PA)
Observer-Reporter

December 7, 2019

By Scott Beveridge

https://observer-reporter.com/news/localnews/north-franklin-township-man-files-sexual-abuse-lawsuit-against-pittsburgh/article_0afaaf32-1856-11ea-a6f0-37935fd6eaa2.html

A North Franklin Township man Friday sued the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh seeking damages from alleged sexual abuse by a priest assigned to a Washington church in the 1970s.

The six-count lawsuit filed in Washington County Court of Common Pleas accuses the diocese of fraud and negligence for allowing the abuse by Thomas McKenna when he served at Immaculate Conception, court records show.

The victim’s attorney, Paul A. Tershel of Washington, said in court documents the injuries the victim suffered were “so severe that no reasonable person could be expected to tolerate them.”

The victim claims he was first sexually assaulted by the priest when he was around the ages of 11 or 12 between 1973 and 1975 when he was an altar boy and worked at the church cemetery, the court record indicates.

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)
The Morning Call

December 6, 2019

By Emily Opilo

The Allentown Diocese has settled a lawsuit with an unnamed former altar boy who alleged he was sexually molested by a diocesan priest between the ages of 10 and 12.

The lawsuit, which was filed in 2018 and named as defendants the diocese, former Priest Bruno M. Tucci, former Bishop Edward Cullen, Bishop Alfred Schlert and Congregation of the Servants of the Paraclete, was settled last week, according to a motion to withdraw the suit filed in Lehigh County court.

The case was settled via mediation. The terms of the settlement were not outlined in the filing.

Matt Kerr, spokesman for the Allentown Diocese, said the terms of the deal will remain confidential at the request of the plaintiff. John Fioravanti Jr., attorney for the plaintiff, could not be reached for comment.

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.

COLONIA (NJ)
The Patch

December 6, 2019

By Carly Baldwin

The man says Romano Ferraro molested him when he was 11. The priest worked at Our Lady of Mount Virgin, St. John Vianney and St. James.

A defrocked Catholic priest who is currently in prison for raping a 7-year-old boy has now been hit this week with yet a new lawsuit, by a New Jersey man accusing the priest of sexually molesting him multiple times when he was an altar boy in Middlesex borough.

The accused priest is Romano Ferraro, and the alleged abuse started in 1984, according to the lawsuit, which was obtained by Patch. At the time, Ferraro was stationed at both St. James in Woodbridge and St. John Vianney in Colonia, as well as at Our Lady of Mount Virgin in Middlesex borough.

The victim said he was 11 to 14 at the time, and was an altar boy at Our Lady of Mount Virgin.

The man who filed it is now 46 and still lives in New Jersey. He says that Ferraro started molesting him when he was about 11 years old. In the suit, he is identified only by his initials, B.D.S. He said he was raised in a devout Catholic family and he attended Our Lady of Mount Virgin School in Middlesex.

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.

CHARLOTTE (NC)
WFAE

December 3, 2019

By Sarah Delia

[The first episode in this podcast was blogged previously in Abuse Tracker. See The List – Episode 1: The Who and the What. Also blogged previously were a conversation with the author, Sarah Delia, expert Tom Doyle, and the survivor “Anthony”; and an interview with Delia.]

In this episode of “The List,” we learn more about the child sexual abuse crisis in the Catholic Church and why dioceses across the country have been releasing lists of credibly accused clergy. We also learn more about the history of the Charlotte Diocese — which as of Dec. 1, 2019, still hadn’t released a list despite plans to do so by the end of the year. And we hear from a survivor of abuse at the hands of a former priest who once served in Charlotte — and the attorney who represented him in a lawsuit against the diocese.

The following includes descriptions about sexual violence. Please be advised.

SARAH DELIA: I told you I’ve been thinking a lot about lists. How do you decide what’s important to remember? And how do you decide what’s not? And when it comes to creating a list like the one the Charlotte Diocese has committed to release by the end of the year, one that includes the names of credibly accused clergy who at some point served at the Charlotte Diocese, how do you begin that process? How do you know when it’s complete?

TOM DOYLE: In our justice system, if you’re credibly accused of murder, people know about it. You know, your name is put in the newspaper. It’s not kept secret. The people in North Carolina have just as much a right as anybody else to know what priests who’ve been employed by that diocese have been known to have sexually violated children, minors or vulnerable adults.

DELIA: That’s Tom Doyle. Some describe him as one of the original whistleblowers of the child abuse scandal in the Catholic Church. Doyle is an expert in Catholic law and a former priest. He walked away from the Catholic Church and the priesthood about 15 years ago, largely in part because of the abuse and the coverup he saw.  

DOYLE: When the bishop assigns them to a parish as a pastor, as an assistant pastor, when he assigns them to work in a high school, he’s telling those people that this man is morally and spiritually fit for this position and you can trust him and you can count on the fact that he’s there for your spiritual and moral guidance.

DELIA: He’s dedicated the last 35 years of his career to helping hold the church accountable. He’s routinely used as a court expert in lawsuits. He also uses his skills in other ways. For example, the Capuchin Province of St. Joseph hired Doyle to audit personnel records. He dug through archives and documents to see what the organization’s response to sexual abuse accusations and inappropriate behavior was. The audit went all the way back to the 1880s. It was published in 2013. [A revised version of the report was published soon after.]

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.

CHARLOTTE (NC)
WFAE

December 4, 2019

By Sarah Delia

In this episode of “The List,” we learn about why survivors of abuse in the Catholic Church and proponents of accountability push for the release of lists of credibly accused clergy. We also hear some theories as to why certain people might push back against the release of such lists. And we hear from a local deacon about why he thinks the church should talk about the crisis openly. There’s another why we learn about, too — why some people in power abuse children in the first place.
The following includes descriptions about sexual violence. Please be advised.

SARAH DELIA: If you can remember something that happened to you, why is it important to have a written record? Why do you need other people to know? And why would you want them to? 

In the case of sexual abuse survivors who are waiting for the Charlotte Diocese to release a list of credibly accused clergy, it comes down to one word: acknowledgment.

ROBBY PRICE: One of the main things that we struggle with is feeling like this was an isolated incident, and we want to know that we’re validated, and we want to know that we’re heard. And, so, having a list that says, “OK, yes that man did something that he shouldn’t have done to me,“ it validates the survivors of sexual abuse to make them feel like they’re not the only one.

DELIA: That’s 35-year-old Robby Price. We heard his story in our last episode. Remember, when Price was 14 years old, he was sexually abused by Robert Yurgel, who served as a priest at St. Matthew in Charlotte. Price grew up in Charlotte and now lives in Florida. I reached him via Skype.

And Price has some theories as to why the list hasn’t been released yet. For one, he says, he believes there are more names on the list than the public realizes.

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.

CHARLOTTE (NC)
WFAE

December 5, 2019

By Sarah Delia

In Episode 4 of “The List,” we explore what might happen when the Catholic Diocese of Charlotte releases a list of clergy members credibly accused of sexual misconduct and abuse. The diocese says it plans to release names by the end of 2019. We hear from an advocate with personal experience who’s there to listen to other survivors of abuse and from North Carolina’s attorney general. And we hear how the crisis has shaped survivors’ views on not just the Catholic Church but faith in general.

The following includes descriptions about sexual violence. Please be advised.

SARAH DELIA: When the independent investigative firm U.S. ISS Agency has completed its historical review of files of the Charlotte Diocese, what will its findings say? When the review board for the diocese has looked at all the facts and findings presented to them, what will its recommendations to Bishop Peter Jugis be? And when Bishop Jugis reviews those recommendations, what will the result look like?

When the list of credibly accused clergy is released, what and who will be on it, and will it be complete?

Survivors of sexual abuse at the hands of Catholic priests hope the end result will be a comprehensive list with their abuser’s name printed on it for all to see — to acknowledge what happened to them, but also to warn others. One of those survivors is Robby Price, who was sexually abused by Robert Yurgel in 1999. Yurgel was a priest at St. Matthew in Charlotte. Price spoke to me via Skype.

ROBBY PRICE: You need to help abuse survivors. You need to ensure that all those that you’re supposedly looking out for that are part of your flock in Charlotte are safe. Release the list.

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 (CANADA)
CBC News

Dec. 9, 2019

For more than two decades, parishioners repeatedly warned Montreal church leaders about the troubling behaviour of Brian Boucher, a priest who was given an eight-year prison sentence last March for sexually abusing two young boys.

A months-long investigation by CBC Montreal has revealed the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Montreal was told on multiple occasions that Boucher was divisive, bullying and had worrisome relationships with young boys.

But the archdiocese took little action against Boucher until a police investigation in 2015.

CBC spoke to nearly 50 parishioners, church staff and priests who oversaw Boucher’s work.

Many of the parishioners still have deep ties to the church and were reluctant to criticize it publicly. Others feared Boucher would track them down after his release.

For this reason, CBC has agreed not to reveal the identity of a number of its sources.

In these interviews, parishioners expressed frustration and dismay at how church leaders dealt with Boucher.

“They heard, but they didn’t listen,” said a parishioner at the last church where Boucher served before his arrest.

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.

Catholics 4 Change blog

Dec. 5, 2019

By Kathy Kane

When the two year window opened in New Jersey on December 1st for residents who had been previously time barred from filing lawsuits for the sexual abuse they suffered, it also allowed for some Pennsylvania survivors to file suit because their abuse occurred in the state of New Jersey

Two cases that were filed against the Archdiocese of Philadelphia involved abuse of minors who were taken to popular New Jersey shore destinations. The shore destinations are less than a two hour drive from Philadelphia and in decades past when sex abuse crimes perpetrated by clergy were not known to most parents, it was considered almost an honor for a kid to be chosen to take trip with a priest. What could be safer?

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.

Whistleblowers blog

Dec. 6, 2019

By Tinker Ready

“I should really tackle that vacuum closet,” Siobhan O’Connor told herself when her boss, Buffalo Bishop Richard Malone, was out of town.

HIdden inside, she found a thick binder. It included documents from pending litigation charging priests with sexual assault. Many were still in their jobs. Last summer, she leaked the list to a local television station.

It took not one, but two whistleblowers to oust Malone, who resigned on Wednesday after evidence emerged that he was covering up for abusive priests.

O’Conner shared her story on NPR this morning.

I’ve been a Catholic all my life…I remember thinking that I was certain this was necessary. This truth had to come out for the good of our Catholic community. But I did struggle with the knowledge that I would be betraying my bishop.

She also knew her actions would impact her life.

But I remember thinking that, if I don’t do something, it will it change my life in a far graver way. I could never move past this if I were to be aware of this and walked away without doing something. I’m so grateful I did because I have had this lasting peace ever since then.

She has also shared her story with 60 Minutes.

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)
Crux

Dec 6, 2019

By Inés San Martín

Having met with the pontiff for three hours Tuesday, Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore came away convinced the perception that Pope Francis doesn’t really like Americans very much is not only untrue, but that it’s being used both by the extreme right and left to sow division.

Lori is currently in Rome taking part in his ad limina visit, an every-five-year pilgrimage by bishops from around the world to the Eternal City where they encounter the pontiff and visit different Vatican departments.

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.

MONTREAL (CANADA)
Canadian Press

Dec. 6, 2019

Quebec’s Superior Court has authorized a second class-action lawsuit against the Frères du Sacré-Cœur on behalf of all victims who claim they were sexually assaulted by a member of the religious order.

The lawsuit was granted this week by Superior Court Judge Christian Immer in a 22-page judgment. The application was first submitted to the courts last winter.

The class action alleges that sexual assaults were perpetrated for decades, across several institutions in Quebec, by 25 religious members of the Frères du Sacré-Cœur.

There are 26 institutions listed, most notably in Montreal, the Montérégie region, Quebec City, Bois-Francs, the Eastern Townships, Charlevoix, Bas-Saint-Laurent and Gaspésie.

Montreal law firm Kugler Kandestin, which represents the alleged victims, said it will claim compensatory damages for each of them, as well as punitive damages to the amount of $15 million.

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.

REGINA (CANADA)
Leader Post

Dec. 4, 2019

By Heather Polischuk

The Saskatchewan Court of Appeal has reserved its decision in an extradition case involving a Catholic priest facing physical and sexual abuse charges in Scotland.

Now 87, Father Robert MacKenzie used a walker to get into and out of court on Wednesday, when his lawyer Alan McIntyre and the lawyer for the federal government made representations on an application for judicial review of a government-issued surrender order under the Extradition Act. Details of evidence and submissions heard in court can’t be reported because of a court-imposed publication ban.

As is usual for the Court of Appeal, a date for the return of its decision has not been set.

According to previously reported information, MacKenzie faces allegations spanning 30 years — between the 1950s and 1980s — when he served as a Benedictine monk at two boys’ boarding schools.

McIntyre previously stated MacKenzie, “categorically denies now, and he has denied under oath to the minister of justice, that he was involved in any sexual impropriety.”

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.