ABUSE TRACKER

A digest of links to media coverage of clergy abuse. For recent coverage listed in this blog, read the full article in the newspaper or other media source by clicking “Read original article.” For earlier coverage, click the title to read the original article.

May 24, 2019

Mario Batali Pleads Not Guilty to Criminal Charges in Boston

BOSTON (MA)
Boston Magazine

May 23, 2019

By Jacqueline Cain

The celebrity chef has been disgraced by a slew of sexual assault allegations, but he wasn’t facing any charges—until now.

NOTE: This post was updated Friday, May 24, after Mario Batali was arraigned in Boston.

After floodgates opened in December 2017 that shed light on a pattern of alleged sexual misconduct by Mario Batali, the celebrity chef is no longer profiting from the restaurant empire that launched him to fame. But he wasn’t facing any criminal charges—until now. The Boston Globe reports that Batali has been charged with indecent assault and battery, and plead not guilty to the charges on Friday morning in Boston Municipal Court.

Boston Police launched an investigation into an incident with Batali in Boston in August 2018, after a local woman told Eater New York that the chef assaulted her at a former Back Bay restaurant in 2017. The woman also filed a lawsuit against Batali.

The victim’s name is redacted in the new criminal charges, but according to the Globe, the account aligns with that plaintiff’s story. Police say the woman told them she was eating dinner with a friend at Towne Stove and Spirits when she spotted the recognizable Batali at the bar. She asked the chef for a photo, and Batali invited her to pose for a selfie with him. The woman told police that an apparently intoxicated Batali took the opportunity to grope her chest and groin without her consent, kiss her, and aggressively pull her face. The woman left the restaurant shortly after the incident, she told police. In the civil complaint she filed last summer, the woman’s lawyers said the uncomfortable ordeal left her badly shaken.

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

Law firm: Southern Baptist missionary group must reform sex abuse reporting practices

HOUSTON (TX)
Houston Chronicle

May 23, 2019

By Sarah Smith

The Southern Baptist Convention’s missionary arm knew of sexual abuse allegations against one of its former top missionaries for over 10 years before his arrest — accusations that exploded last year and forced the organization to bring in a third party to investigate its handling of abuse.

Anne Marie Miller told the International Mission Board in 2007 that Mark Aderholt, then a missionary to Central Europe, had initiated sexual contact with her as a teenager. He resigned quietly from the IMB and went on to rise in the Southern Baptist ranks until Miller reported him to police and went public with her story in 2018. No one from the IMB contacted law enforcement during the course of its 2007 investigation.

The law firm retained by the IMB in the wake of the Aderholt scandal put out a release on Wednesday recommending sweeping changes to the organization’s policies for reporting abuse to law enforcement.

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

Paedophile priest who served in Hamilton and Dunedin defrocked by Catholic church

NEW ZEALAND
Stuff.co.nz

May 23, 2019

A Catholic priest has been defrocked of his title over historical sexual offending against boys.

The Bishop of Hamilton Steve Lowe said in a statement Magnus Murray has been removed from the priesthood after the conclusion of a formal church judicial process.

Murray, known as Max, was convicted in 2003 on four historic charges of sexual offending against four boys.

He previously served as a Catholic priest of the Dioceses of Dunedin and Hamilton, and was withdrawn from ministry when he retired in 1990.

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

WV AG Morrisey says his office made 3 criminal referrals for Catholic church investigation

CHARLESTON (WV)
WV News

May 24, 2019

By Jake Jarvis

Attorney General Patrick Morrisey said his office has made three criminal referrals to local prosecutors stemming from an investigation into the Roman Catholic Diocese of West Virginia.

Morrisey, who identified himself as a practicing member of the Catholic church, addressed the lawsuit during a press conference at his office Thursday afternoon. He said he is deeply disappointed that the church diocese continues to conceal documents and is not cooperating with full disclosure.

“Obviously they cooperated a little bit up front,” Morrisey said. “After we filed the original submission, they spent a lot of time talking about how old the allegations were. We thought about that a little bit. Some of them obviously go back in time, but it’s critical to note that the reason why they’re coming to light now is because of our office.”

Morrisey’s office first filed a lawsuit against the Wheeling-Charleston Diocese and Bishop Michael Bransfield earlier this year, alleging they violated the state’s consumer protection laws by not alerting parents the accused priests were staffing its schools and camps.

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

LIFEWAY STUDY SHOWS 1 IN 10 YOUNG PROTESTANTS HAVE LEFT THE CHURCH DUE TO SEXUAL ABUSE

UNITED STATES
World Religion News

May 23, 2019

By Alison Lesley

YOUNG ADULTS ARE MORE AT RISK

The Lifeway Research conducted a 2019 Sexual Misconduct and Churchgoers Study found that about 10 percent of all Protestant churchgoers below 35 years of age have abandoned their church as they harbored the perception of sexual misconduct not being taken seriously. This is twice as many as five percent of all the churchgoers who have previously done the same. When it comes to the younger demographic, about nine percent said that they have stopped attending their congregation due to feeling unsafe from misconduct.

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

Italian bishops decree ‘moral obligation’ to report abuse to police

ROME
Crux

May 24, 2019

By Claire Giangravè

Italian bishops are running late on several items on Pope Francis’s to-do list, from reducing the disproportionate number of dioceses on the peninsula to streamlining marriage annulments, but when it comes to the protection of minors they say they’re now getting up to speed.

During their general assembly May 20-23, the Italian Episcopal Conference (CEI) approved “Guidelines for the Protection of Minors and Vulnerable Persons,” which will focus on the prevention of abuse and will be added to their previously published 2014 guidelines.

The guidelines will be published in the coming days, but bishops already shared their main novelty, which is a “moral obligation” for clergy to report verified cases of sexual abuse to civil authorities.

“This was, I believe, the real step forward of these guidelines compared to the ones we had before,” said Archbishop Lorenzo Ghizzoni of Ravenna, who heads the commission for the protection of minors at CEI, during a news conference May 23.

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

Ohio State athlete-abuse scandal: How big will the financial impact be? Who will pay?

CINCINNATI (OH)
Cincinnati Enquirer

May 23, 2019

By James Pilcher

Two Big Ten schools have paid more than $700 million to victims of sex abuse scandals linked to their athletic programs.

Ohio State appears likely to join the group, with mediation sessions scheduled next month for athletes who have sued the university, with more lawsuits likely on the way.

So, how large could a settlement for the victims of Dr. Richard Strauss be? Who will ultimately foot the bill? Since the abuse occurred at the main campus, could there be a financial penalty for the Ohio State regional campuses in Mansfield, Marion, Newark, Lima and Wooster?

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

Catholic church opposes expansion of child sexual abuse reporting in WA

AUSTRALIA
Australian Associated Press

May 23, 2019

Archbishop urged minister not to broaden law that would oblige priests to report information heard in confession

Religious ministers in Western Australia will be compelled to reveal knowledge of child sexual abuse – even if it is gained through the confessional – but the Catholic church is resisting.

The WA Labor government plans to expand mandatory reporting laws to include all recognised religious leaders who are authorised to conduct worship, services and ceremonies.

This includes priests, ministers, imams, rabbis, pastors and Salvation Army officers.

The laws already apply in WA to doctors, teachers, nurses, midwives, police and school boarding supervisors.

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

Italy bishops adopt new measures on sexual abuse, victims skeptical

VATICAN CITY
Reuters

May 23, 2019

By Philip Pullella

Italy’s Roman Catholic bishops on Thursday enacted a new policy on reporting suspected cases of sexual abuse by priests, but they stopped short of making it mandatory to inform police at first instance.

Under the policy, church authorities would carry out a preliminary investigation then decide whether to refer it to police.

The measure drew a skeptical response from victims’ groups mindful of past Church cover-ups of abuses by clergymen.

The policy does however go further than that laid out by Pope Francis earlier this month which mandated the world’s one million priests and nuns to report all suspicion of sexual abuse by clerics of any level to their superiors.

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

Here’s some penance: The state wants to hear church confessions about abuse, let it

SACRAMENTO (CA)
The Sacramento Bee

May 24, 2019

By Marcos Breton

The state Senate passed a bill on Thursday that would require Catholic priests to rat out other Catholic priests for admitting that they molested a child – even if it were made during the sacrament of confession.

Authored by Democrat Jerry Hill of the Bay Area, Senate Bill 360 is like a TV drama “ripped from the headlines.” Catholic priests have been the molesting kids for decades and getting away with it some cases. The church has been all-too-slow in responding appropriately, or in fully atoning for unspeakable complicity in the abuse of children by members of clergy. The headlines have endless.

Hill’s bill is a direct response to the outrage over the abuse of children. The fact that Hill’s bill crosses the line supposedly separating church and state seemed of little concern to the 30 state senators – including Sacramento’s Democrat Richard Pan, and Republican Jim Nielsen, whose district includes Roseville and Yuba City.

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

Italian ‘Satanic panic’ case returns to court two decades later

ROME
The Guardian

May 23, 2019

By Angela Giuffrida

Book says officials manipulated children into making abuse claims, leading to convictions, family separations and deaths

In the early hours of 7 July 1997, Federico Scotta and his wife were woken by an incessant ringing of their doorbell. Police had arrived at their home in Mirandola, a town in Italy’s Emilia-Romagna region, with a search warrant.

Officers found nothing incriminating, but the couple and their three-year-old daughter and baby son were escorted to the police station. The children were taken away by social workers that day and a few months later a third child was taken from the delivery room. The couple never saw the children again.

The so-called “Satanic panic” phenomenon that had swept through the US and parts of the UK earlier that decade had reached Italy. Scotta and his wife were accused of belonging to a sprawling paedophile network that worshipped the devil and sacrificed children and animals in cemeteries at night.

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

VICTIMS OF PRIEST CHILD SEX ABUSE CALL FOR STRONGER MEASURES FROM LAWMAKERS

SIOUX CITY (IA)
KSCJ

May 22, 2019

By Woody Gottburg

A Sioux City man who says he was abused by priests joined the Iowa Senate’s Democratic leader today (Wednesday) in calling on Iowa lawmakers to do more for victims of child sex abuse.

Tim Lennon, who grew up in Sioux City, says he was 43 years old when he first remembered being molested by the priest in his childhood church.

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

Forgery case: Priest arraigned as fourth accused

KOCHI (INDIA)
Express News Service

May 22, 2019

Fr Tony Kallookaran, the vicar of Muringoor Sanjoe Nagar Church, was arraigned as fourth accused in the case.

The police investigation team on Monday arraigned a priest of the Ernakulam-Angamaly Archdiocese of the Syro-Malabar Church in the case related to defaming Cardinal George Alenchery using forged documents. Fr Tony Kallookaran, the vicar of Muringoor Sanjoe Nagar Church, was arraigned as fourth accused in the case.

The police had arrested a 24-year-old researcher with IIT Madras for forging the documents. According to the police, Adithya Valvi, a native of Konthuruthi, forged the document claiming that bishops, including Alenchery, have investments with a multinational company.

The police on Monday filed a petition at the Kakkanad Judicial First Class Magistrate court stating Fr Kallookaran has been arraigned as the fourth accused. According to the police, it was based on the directions of Fr Kallookaran, Adithya created fake documents. Later, following his directions, Adithya transferred documents to Fr Paul Thelakkat, the first accused in the case.

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

The wounded body of Christ: a response to Carroll’s critics

KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter

May 23, 2019

By Jason Steidl

Pundits criticized James Carroll’s Atlantic article, but did they try to understand him?

On May 17, The Atlantic published James Carroll’s “Abolish the Priesthood,” an overtly personal and lengthy critique of clericalism in the Roman Catholic Church. The author, a former priest, wrote of his anguished decision to take time away from the institutional Catholic Church after decades of disappointment with the hierarchy, including the last few years, which have leveled wave after wave of the sex abuse crisis.

Toward the end of the piece, which treats much more than its clickbait title suggests, Carroll proposes several ways that Catholics can reimagine their tradition to better meet their and the world’s spiritual needs. For Catholics exhausted by scandal after scandal in the church, Carroll offers hope that all is not lost. He argues that Catholic community, spirituality and service rooted in ancient tradition have much to offer the world today.

Sadly, this is not how most male Catholic pundits received Carroll’s thought. In fact, at a time when the internet-church is easily polarized through social media, the piece brought together condemnations from both the Catholic right and left. EWTN’s Raymond Arroyo immediately dismissed Carroll’s work as “unserious,” an “ahistorical, anti-biblical suggestion with zero constituency in Catholicism.” Carl Olson mocked the author as one especially unsuited to speak about the priesthood. Fordham University theologian Charles Camosy rhetorically asked, “What could be less provocative than this centuries’ old argument?”

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

Correspondence from 2004 sheds fresh light on early allegations against Harrison

BAKERSFIELD (CA)
Bakersfield.com

May 23, 2019

By John Cox

Newly disclosed letters and emails from the early 2000s detail allegations that Bakersfield priest Craig Harrison had sex with two high school students while serving as pastor of a church in Firebaugh.

In addition, an email from August 2004 alleged he would examine boys’ private parts every morning as a way of checking whether they had been using drugs.

The accusations surfaced as part of an unrelated investigation conducted in 2004 by a retired FBI agent in Merced. Summaries of his findings were contained in material provided to The Californian Thursday by Stephen Brady, a representative of Roman Catholic Faithful, an organization of church members including investigators and lawyers, whose self-professed goal is to rid the church of clerical corruption.

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

Former Rapid City priest indictment related to $150K theft of donations

RAPID CITY (SD)
KOTA TV

May 23, 2019

By Jack Caudill

A former Rapid City Catholic priest is hit with a federal indictment.

The federal grand jury charged Marcin Garbacz with wire fraud, money laundering and transportation of stolen money.

The indictment lays out what federal prosecutors say happened; starting with his time at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Faith where he was removed in July of 2012 in part because of his financial mismanagement of the parish. Garbacz was then assigned to parishes in Rapid City.

Beginning in July of 2012, and continuing until about April of 2018, Garbacz allegedly devised a scheme to steal from the parishes and deposit the money in his own account.

Garbacz is accused — starting in July of 2012 — of stealing cash donations before they were counted. He reportedly did this by entering the parish at night or in the morning when no one else where there or awake.

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

Michigan Priest Accused of Misconduct With a Minor

SAGINAW (MI)
9&10 News

May 22, 2019

By Ryan Cole

A priest in the Diocese of Saginaw has been put on administrative leave as the church looks into allegations of misconduct with a minor.

Father Dennis Kucharczyk was the pastor of St. John XXIII Parish and served churches in Hemlock, Merrill and Ryan.

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

Michigan priest on leave after allegation of misconduct with minor surfaces

SAGINAW (MI)
The Associated Press

May 22, 2019

A priest with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Saginaw is on administrative leave while church officials investigate an allegation of misconduct with a minor.

The decision regarding the Rev. Dennis Kucharczyk was announced Tuesday. The diocese says the alleged misconduct “occurred many years ago,” and he was placed on leave Sunday after church officials received information from law enforcement.

The Associated Press sent an email to Kucharczyk Wednesday seeking comment.
A release says Kucharczyk cannot have contact with anyone under 21 or serve in priestly capacities during the investigation.

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

Sexual misconduct allegation still looms over Evansville diocese priest | Webb

EVANSVILLE (IN)
Evansville Courier & Press

May 23, 2019

By Jon Webb

In September, the Evansville Catholic diocese put the Rev. David Fleck on administrative leave.

He’d been accused of sexual misconduct. That’s about all we knew. And eight months later, not much has changed.

Diocese spokesman Tim Lilley confirmed this week that Fleck is still barred from public 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.

Dinuba priest Father Raul Diaz faces accusations of inappropriate behavior with children

FRESNO (CA)
KFSN

May 22, 2019

By Jason Oliveira

A small, tight-knit community is reeling after news in Dinuba broke of a police investigation centered around Roman Catholic priest Father Raul Diaz.

The longtime pastor at Saint Catherine’s Catholic Church is on leave after being accused of inappropriate behavior.

The Diocese of Fresno released a statement from Bishop Joseph Brennan regarding Father Raul:

“It is my responsibility as your Bishop to inform you that I have placed Father Raul Diaz, Pastor of St. Catherine Siena, on “Paid Administrative Leave” effective as of May 17, 2019. This action follows notification that law enforcement has received a report alleging Father Diaz has engaged in inappropriate behavior that may include inappropriate contact with minors.

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

Former Rapid City priest accused of stealing over $150K from Rapid City Diocese indicted

RAPID CITY (SD)
NewsCenter1

May 23, 2019

A federal indictment was filed this week against a former Rapid City priest accused of stealing over $150,000 from the Diocese of Rapid City.

Marcin Garbacz is accused of wire fraud, money laundering and transportation of stolen money.

Court documents indicate that from around July 2012 and April 2018, Garbacz allegedly began stealing cash donations from the plate collections passed around during worship services.

At the time, the cash donated during plate collections wasn’t immediately counted after services. Garbacz had access to where the donations were stored and prosecutors say he would enter the parish at night or in the early morning hours to steal some of the cash.

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

Saginaw priest accused of sexual assault

SAGINAW (MI)
25 News

May 23, 2019

By Bria Brown

There are new details about an allegation of sexual abuse against Father Dennis Kucharczyk in the Saginaw Diocese.

Kucharczyk was removed from ministry this past weekend after the diocese learned of the allegations.

NBC25/FOX66 talked to Bishop Walter Hurley who told us the diocese first learned about the allegations against father Dennis Kucharczyk this past Saturday from law enforcement.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. 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 DC archbishop’s installation Mass features scandal-plagued Cdls Mahony, Wuerl

WASHINGTON (DC)
LifeSiteNews

May 22, 2019

By Lisa Bourne

The installation Tuesday of Archbishop Wilton Gregory as the seventh archbishop of Washington, D.C. Tuesday conveyed the status quo in clergy sex abuse mishandling by Church hierarchy in having a cardinal who personifies that mishandling on the altar with Gregory.

Cardinal Roger Mahony, the retired archbishop of Los Angeles, took part in the installation Mass despite his controversial history of cover-up in abuse cases and his having been pulled from public duties in his archdiocese several years ago by his successor.

Catholics remain angry over Church leaders’ handling of the abuse scandal, and family advocate groups and victim advocates consider public appearances by the cardinal a slap in the face for victims of clergy sex abuse.

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

VICTIMS RETAIN TOP SEX ABUSE LAW FIRM IN MAD ACADEMY SCANDAL

SANTA BARBARA (CA)
Newsmakers

May 23, 2019

By Jerry Roberts

A nationally prominent law firm that represents victims of sexual abuse confirmed on Wednesday they have been contracted in connection with allegations of improper conduct by leaders of Santa Barbara High School’s Multimedia Arts & Design Academy.

“We have been retained,” attorney Stu Mollrich told Newsmakers, speaking for the Irvine-based firm of Manly, Stewart and Finaldi. “We have not yet filed an action.”

Their entry into the local controversy now swirling around the acclaimed MAD Academy raises the stakes in the affair, which escalated last week,when parents of a former student publicly accused Pablo Sweeney, the program’s ousted operations director, of sexual “predation” towards their son, as another parent released a social media video showing Dan Williams, the soon-to-be-retired longtime director, partying with students.

In public comments to the school board, the parents charged that Santa Barbara Unified School District officials turned a blind eye to improprieties and failed to report them as required to law enforcement or child welfare agencies.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. 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 Christ The King President-Rector showed assault victim “lack of support”, lawsuit says

BUFFALO (NY)
WIVB [Buffalo NY]

May 22, 2019

By Daniel Telvock and Chris Horvatits

Read original article

LEWISTON (NY)
WIVB

May 22, 2019

By Daniel Telvock and Chris Horvatits

The priest who Bishop Richard Malone appointed to President-Rector of Christ the King Seminary on Tuesday is accused of leaving a woman “surprised and disillusioned” by his lack of support over a sexual assault complaint in June 2016.

Malone spoke highly of The Rev. Kevin G. Creagh in a press release to announce the appointment.

“I have come to know Father Creagh as a faithful, gifted and committed priest and educator,” Malone said when he appointed Creagh to the post.

“He will provide inspiring leadership as president-rector of Christ the King Seminary. Most importantly, he understands the heart and mind of Christ. We’re excited to have him guide us in forming missionary disciples with that same heart and mind, ready to proclaim the Good News.”

But News 4 Investigates has learned that Creagh is described much differently in a lawsuit filed [date redacted] by [name, profession, and affiliation redacted].

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

SNAP calls for Sioux City Diocese to amend list of credibly accused sexual abusive priests

SIOUX CITY (IA)
Sioux Land News

May 23, 2019

By Cynthia Monroy

More than 100 dioceses across the country have released lists of clergy members accused of sexual abuse including here in Sioux City.

“What happened to me is horrific and damaging,” said Tim Lennon, President of SNAP.

At 12-years-old, Tim Lennon was sexually abused by a priest in Sioux City.

He was one of more than 100 victims that Diocese of Sioux City determined to have a credible allegation.

“I was raped and abused when I was 12 now I’m 72 and every day that I wake up, it’s there,” said Lennon.

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

Harvey Weinstein Reaches $44 Million Settlement With Sexual Misconduct Accusers: Report

UNITED STATES
ENews

May. 24, 2019

By McKenna Aiello

Harvey Weinstein has tentatively reached a $44 million civil agreement with his sexual misconduct accusers, former business partners and other entities, according to a new report from The Wall Street Journal.

Attorney Adam Harris, who is representing his former film studio’s board members, was in bankruptcy court Thursday to discuss the matter with a judge presiding over the case. “For the first time, as of yesterday,” the WSJ reports he said, “we now have an economic agreement in principle that is supported by the plaintiffs, the [New York attorney general’s] office, the defendants and all of the insurers.”

The settlement, which is not yet finalized, would reportedly provide approximately $30 million to plaintiffs in the wide-ranging civil suit, which include Weinstein’s alleged victims, Weinstein Co. employees and creditors who loaned the film studio money before filing for bankruptcy. The remaining $14 million would cover the legal fees of Weinstein’s former business associates, according to the WSJ.

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

Former Questa priest named in new rape and abuse lawsuit

TAOS (NM)
The Taos News

May 23, 2019

By Cody Hooks

Two men who were parishioners of Questa’s St. Anthony Church in the late 1960s have named a former priest as a sexual abuser in a lawsuit filed last week, marking another instance of alleged abuse by clergy associated with the beleaguered Catholic Church in New Mexico.

The lawsuit alleges Leo Courcy sexually abused the two boys on an overnight stay at the church rectory in the summer of 1969. One boy was raped and the other molested, according to the lawsuit filed Thursday (May 16) in the 2nd Judicial District Court in Albuquerque.

The lawsuit was filed against the Servants of the Paraclete, a largely inactive religious order that was founded in New Mexico in the 1940s, and its private foundation.

Aside from the sexual abuse allegations, the lawsuit also lays blame on the higher-ups of the Servants of the Paraclete for negligently putting known abusers into positions of power in underserved parishes across rural New Mexico.

The Servants ran a facility in Jemez Springs that became known as a dumping ground for sexually abusive priests from other dioceses. The religious order would assign priests to ministerial work as part of a “graduated program of rehabilitation,” according to the lawsuit.

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

Advocates Say Monterey Diocese’s Accused Clerics List Is Incomplete

MONTEREY (CA)
90.3 KAZU

May 24, 2019

By Erika Mahoney

Advocates of those sexually abused by priests spoke out in Monterey this week. They want the Catholic Diocese of Monterey to expand its list of accused clerics.

Standing on Church Street in front of the Diocese of Monterey, advocate David Clohessy called for more transparency.

“If you’re going to claim to come clean, then for heaven’s sake, come fully clean and tell the flock. Tell the parents, the parishioners, the public, the police,” Clohessy said.

Clohessy is with the support group SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. He says as dioceses across the country have released lists of clerics accused of sexual abuse, many are incomplete.

“Tell them about each and every proven, admitted and credibly accused child molesting cleric. And that’s how kids will be safe,” said Clohessy.

Clohessy says at least three clerics have been left off the local list, but he says they found them on other lists of accused clerics.

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

Victims’ group finds the Diocese of Sioux Falls list of abusers short

SIOUX FALLS (SD)
Survivor’s Network for those Abused by Priests

May 23, 2019

Victims’ group finds the Diocese of Sioux Falls list of abusers short

They want to see an additional 25 names added

Native Americans survivors will also speak out about abuse in Catholic-run boarding schools

The group will also urge the state to reform the statute of limitations for child sexual abuse

SNAP says that victims in SD need a “Window to Justice”

WHAT

At a sidewalk news conference child sex abuse survivors will urge the Diocese of Sioux Falls to add 25 additional names to its list of clergy with “substantiated allegations” of abuse. The group will also call attention to the sexual abuse of Native Americans in Catholic boarding schools, as well as the need for statute of limitations reform in South Dakota.

WHEN

Friday, May 24th, 11 am

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

Former Flint-area priest facing multiple sex assault charges

GENESEE COUNTY (MI)
MLive

May 24, 2019

By Roberto Acosta

A former Flint-area Catholic priest is facing six felony charges dating back to his time in Genesee County.

Criminal charges were filed against Vincent DeLorenzo on Thursday, May 23, including three counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct and three counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct, according to 67th District Court records.

The Diocese of Lansing issued a statement Thursday evening in response to an inquiry about DeLorenzo. The statement says, in part, that DeLorenzo is in the process of being defrocked for sexual misconduct.

The 80-year-old is listed as a Lantana, Florida resident in the court records. He has not yet been arraigned, but the diocese spelled out the former priest’s past troubles in its statement.

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

May 23, 2019

New D.C. leader says Church’s ‘sorrow and shame’ don’t define it

WASHINGTON (DC)
Crux

May 21, 2019

By Christopher White

In his opening words as the new leader of Catholics in the nation’s capital, Archbishop Wilton Gregory acknowledged the tempests facing the Church, telling the 3,000 people on hand for his installation that faith in Christ, “not any single minister,” will calm the Church’s storms.

Although he never uttered the phrase “sexual abuse,” Gregory referenced the “waves of unsettling revelations” which he said has “caused even the hardiest among us to grow fearful and perhaps even, at times, to want to panic.”

“We have been tossed about by an unusually turbulent moment in our own faith journeys recently and for far too long,” he said during his homily on Tuesday, before noting that, “Our recent sorrow and shame do not define us; rather, they serve to chasten and strengthen us to face tomorrow with spirits undeterred.”

Gregory succeeds Cardinal Donald Wuerl as the seventh archbishop of Washington. Wuerl’s resignation was accepted by Pope Francis in October following scrutiny of his handling of sex abuse cases earlier in his career.

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Hierarchy and the need for a ‘culture of vulnerability’

KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter

May 22, 2019

By Tom Roberts

Hierarchy and vulnerability are seemingly incompatible ideas. Hierarchy (in the Catholic imagination) signals status, power, privilege and the ability to control. Vulnerability, on the other hand, signals weakness, a flaw of some sort. It is to be avoided.

But vulnerability, properly understood, is precisely what members of the Roman Catholic hierarchy need to embrace as a strength, argues Fr. James Keenan, a Jesuit theologian. If it is ever to understand an essential interior element at the core of our humanity, the absence of which lies at the core of the sex abuse crisis, the hierarchy must develop a culture of vulnerability.

Keenan, Canisius Professor and director of the Jesuit Institute at Boston College, is developing an important and fascinating insight into the abuse crisis, elevating the discussion about clerical and hierarchical culture well beyond the changes in law and protocols and institutional structure that the scandal has forced upon the church. So I’m going to stick to one subject this week, with connections to past columns on the same and a hope that the discussion continues in the future.

Two months ago, in a segment of this column, I made extended reference to an insightful piece by Fr. Mark Slatter, associate professor of theological ethics at St. Paul University, Ottawa, Ontario, on clerical culture. He generally described culture as “a network of personal meaning and valuing.” In the clerical world, that means a psychology that “engenders webs of kinship among priests, bishops and similarly disposed lay groups, bishops and cardinals, wealthy lay Catholics and think tanks.”

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One in 10 Young Christians Has Left a Church Over Sexual Abuse

UNITED STATES
Relevant Magazine

May 22, 2019

A new study finds that ten percent of young Christians say they’ve left a church because they felt it didn’t take sex abuse seriously enough, former megachurch pastor James MacDonald is being investigated for murder-for-hire allegations and a new movie that premiered at Cannes is being hailed as a “Christian movie classic.”

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Priest is 22nd in Saginaw Diocese ‘credibly accused’ of sexual misconduct

SAGINAW (MI)
MLive

May 23, 209

By Cole Waterman

Another priest in the Catholic Diocese of Saginaw is accused of sexual misconduct, adding to those previously named by the diocese.

The Rev. Dennis Kucharczyk is the 22nd clergyman the diocese has named as having had credible allegations of misconduct made against them. Many of those previously named are deceased.

Kucharczyk does not face any criminal charges and law enforcement officials have not said if they are specifically investigating him.

Representatives from both the Michigan State Police and Saginaw County Sheriff’s Office told MLive their agencies were not involved in the Kucharczyk matter. The Saginaw County Prosecutor’s Office referred all inquiries to the Michigan Attorney General’s Office, which is conducting a review of sex-abuse allegations dating back decades in all Michigan Catholic dioceses.

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Los Angeles Times updates Scouting abuse: Religion angles? What religion angles?

LOS ANGELES (CA)
Get Religion

May 22, 2019

By Terry Mattingly

Journalists who have covered decades worth of stories linked to the sexual abuse of children and teens by Catholic clergy know that there are church leaders and laity who believe all or most discussions of this topic are fueled by some form of anti-Catholicism.

Yes, these in-denial Catholics are out there. Editors will hear from them.

But, in my experience, most Catholics who complain about news coverage of this hellish subject do not attempt to deny the size or the severe nature of this crisis and, especially, they want more digging into topics linked to the sinful and illegal cover-ups of these crimes.

So what angers these Catholics?

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Former youth pastor acquitted on sex abuse charges

DOTHAN (AL)
WDHN

May 22, 2019

By Sarah Drake

A former youth pastor for Mt. Gilead Baptist Church accused of sexually abusing children has been acquitted after a jury deliberation Wednesday.

William Wesley Williamson disputed the four counts of sexual abuse of a child less than 12 charges against him Wednesday afternoon in a Houston County courtroom.

The allegations said the abuse took place in the summer of 2017, during a church function known as Wired and also during a summer church event known as Royal Ambassadors

When asked by the defense attorney, if he intentionally or specifically touched any child inappropriately, Williamson responded by saying “I did not intentionally or specifically touch any child inappropriately.”

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Relic of Catholic saint stops in Nashville; on tour to restore trust during clergy sex abuse scandal

NASHVILLE (TN)
WTVF

May 23, 2019

By Hannah McDonald

The actual heart of Catholic Saint John Vianney stopped in Nashville Wednesday.

In Catholic tradition, a relic, such as a heart, can be saved after a saint or holy person passes away for Catholics to view and pray with. The object is meant to draw a person closer to God and not for worshiping.

Saint Vianney lived in the 19th Century in France. He is the patron saint of priests. Many members of the clergy consider him to be a model for holiness.

“He was such a hero,” said Father Ed Steiner, pastor of the Cathedral of the Incarnation.

Fr. Steiner is hopeful that St. Vianney’s story can bring people back to the church.

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My Take: Sexual abuse forever stays with victims

HOLLAND (MI)
Holland Sentinel

May 23, 2019

By Mary Johnson

Steve Lenzo (“Letter: Unbelievably light sentence for sexual criminal assault,” Sentinel, May 21) was outraged that the sentence a child predator who served on the West Ottawa School Board was so light and for good reason. But it is more than just a breach of public trust. There is a victim involved. Any sexual crime against a child is abominable, and judges should mete out a sentence that will keep such a person out of society for a long time. It is a well known fact that child sexual predators are rarely rehabilitated and will abuse again.

What about the life sentence the victims suffer? It happened to me when I was a little girl, but nothing was done to the perpetrator because he was a member of my parents’ church and the council did not want to deal with the “embarrassment” since the man had apologized to the council and to my parents. (I learned that much later.)

I remember hating to go to church because I had to see him sitting there in the back seat. I was told to “just try to forget it,” that I should forgive him and never talk about it. Years later, I found out he had molested other girls as well and they were basically told the same thing. Forget it? Not possible. It ruins something deep inside a child, rewires the sexual part of the brain, and the consequences affect forever — even 50 years later.

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Polish bishops address clerical abuse crisis in letter to the faithful

VATICAN CITY
Vatican News

May 23, 2019

By Christopher Wells

The Permanent Council of the Polish Bishops’ Conference is meeting this week to confront the problem of the clerical abuse of minors.

In a letter to be read in churches throughout the country this coming weekend, Poland’s Bishops admit that “as shepherds of the Church, we did not do everything to prevent harm.”

“There are no words to express our shame at the sexual scandals involving priests”, the Bishops say. “They are a cause of great scandal and demand total condemnation, as well as severe consequences for the perpetrators, and for those who conceal such acts.”

The Permanent Council for the Polish Bishops’ Conference was convened this week by the President of the Conference, Archbishop Stanisław Gądecki in response to recent public revelations of the extent of abuse and cover-up in the Polish Church.

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Abolishing the priesthood will not save the Catholic Church

KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter

May 23, 2019

By Thomas Reese

In an article in The Atlantic’s June issue titled “Abolish the Priesthood,” James Carroll provides thought-provoking analysis of the state of the Catholic Church, recounting the history of the sex abuse crisis in the church with special focus on Boston, Ireland, the Pennsylvania grand jury report and Theodore McCarrick.

None of this is new, of course, but seeing it all together depresses and angers the reader that such things were possible in the church.

Also not new is the culprit, in Carroll’s eyes. He points to clericalism as “both the underlying cause and the ongoing enabler of the present Catholic catastrophe.”

“Clericalism, with its cult of secrecy, its theological misogyny, its sexual repressiveness, and its hierarchical power based on threats of a doom-laden afterlife, is at the root of Roman Catholic dysfunction,” according to Carroll. “The clerical system’s obsession with status thwarts even the merits of otherwise good priests and distorts the Gospels’ message of selfless love, which the Church was established to proclaim.”

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Argentine doctor faces prison for refusing abortion; Chilean Jesuit faces abuse accusations

ROME
CRUX

May 23, 2019

By Inés San Martín

A doctor has been condemned in Argentina for refusing to perform an abortion in the fifth month of a pregnancy causing uproar among Catholics, Evangelicals and pro-life groups; Pope Francis has appointed two new auxiliary bishops to the troubled Archdiocese of Santiago, Chile; and an apology from a Chilean Jesuit who “saw nothing and knew nothing,” but says he is now convinced his late friend Father Renato Poblete is guilty of abusing many women.

Here’s the rundown of Catholic news from Latin America this week.

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These Rape Victims Had to Sue to Get the Police to Investigate

NEW YORK (NY)
The New York Times

May 23, 2019

By Valeriya Safronova and Rebecca Halleck

As more women come forward to report sexual assault, some say law enforcement has failed them. ‘There was no collection of evidence,’ one victim said. ‘Except off my body.’

Evidence so neglected it grew mold. Calls to the authorities for help that went unanswered. Witnesses and victims who were never interviewed. These are just a handful of the claims that sexual assault survivors are making against law enforcement in courts around the country.

In at least seven places in recent years — Austin; San Francisco; Memphis; Houston; Baltimore; Greenwich, Conn.; and the Village of Robbins, Ill. — women have filed lawsuits in an attempt to force the police and prosecutors to improve their practices.

The unconnected lawsuits are adding a set of novel legal arguments to the search for solutions in the wake of the #MeToo movement, which exposed failures to recognize and pursue sex offenders. The lawsuits argue that sexual assault victims do not receive equal treatment compared with victims of other violent crimes, and that failure to test physical evidence collected from their bodies amounts to unreasonable search and seizure.

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Catholic priests in WA to be forced to report child sexual abuse revealed during confession

AUSTRALIA
Australian Broadcasting Corporation

May 23, 2019

Ministers of religion in Western Australia will soon have to report child sexual abuse — even if the information is gained under confession — under planned changes to the state’s laws.

Key points:
– Mandatory child sexual abuse reporting laws already apply to WA doctors, teachers and police
– The legislation will require religious leaders to report child sex abuse or face a $6,000 fine
-Child Protection Minister Simone McGurk said it’s reasonable to expect ministers of religion to report abuse

The WA Government said it expected to introduce the necessary amendments in the second half of this year.

Mandatory reporting laws in WA already apply to doctors, teachers, nurses, midwives, police and school boarding supervisors.

Anyone convicted of failing to report child sexual abuse faces a $6,000 fine.

The new requirements would apply to “recognised leaders within faith communities who are authorised to conduct, religious worship”, the WA Government said.

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Calls for investigation of Catholic Church, better laws for victims of child sex abuse

IOWA
Radio Iowa

May 22, 2019

By O. Kay Henderson

Two men who say they were abused by priests joined the Iowa Senate’s Democratic leader today in calling on Iowa lawmakers to do more for victims of child sex abuse.

Senator Janet Petersen, a Democrat from Des Moines, said the state’s attorney general should investigate the Catholic Church. Petersen also said Iowa’s criminal and civil laws for child sex abuse cases are the most restrictive in the nation.

“Our laws do not protect our communities from sexual predators and I think we cannot continue to ignore this,” Petersen said during a news conference at the Iowa capitol. “There is case after case across this country.”

The time frame for filing criminal charges for child sex abuse is too short, according to Petersen. Child sex abuse victims have until they’re 33 years old to file a civil lawsuit. Sixty-seven-year-old John Chambers of Des Moines said studies show 52 is the average age when a victim reveals they were abused as a child.

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Mario Batali Charged With Assault and Battery in 2017 Case, Report Says

NEW YORK (NY)
The New York Times

May 23, 2019

By Jacey Fortin

The celebrity chef Mario Batali, who built a formidable restaurant empire before retreating amid accusations of sexual harassment by several women, is now facing a criminal assault charge that he groped and kissed a woman at a Boston restaurant in 2017.

Mr. Batali, 58, has been charged with indecent assault and battery and is to be arraigned in Boston on Friday, The Associated Press reported.

The criminal complaint was filed last month, The Boston Globe reported, and it said that a woman had told the police that Mr. Batali kissed her and groped her chest and groin at a Boston restaurant two years ago.

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Former Newark priest, accused of abuse, defended by his bishop in Brazil

NEW JERSEY
North Jersey Record

May 23, 2019

By Deena Yellin

Weeks after NorthJersey.com/The Record detailed the alleged abuse of a former Newark altar boy in 1991 by a visiting priest, a Catholic bishop in Brazil is defending the priest, who is now serving in his diocese, according to a report.

Bishop Edmilson Amador Caetano implied that the priest, the Rev. Rene Cavalcanti de Lima, is no longer a threat.

“He is a 74-year-old man who is recovering from prostate cancer. What risk can he be for the children of Guarulhos?” Caetano said in a May 1 article in a Brazilian newspaper, Guarulhos HOJE.

He was responding to an April 4 article by NorthJersey.com about Lima’s alleged abuse of Newark native Johnrocco Sibilia when Sibilia was an altar boy at the Immaculate Conception Church in Newark in 1991.

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Dinuba priest on leave after allegations of sexual abuse, but there’s not much to go on, yet

VISALIA (CA)
Visalia Times-Delta

May 22, 2019

By James Ward

A Dinuba priest has been put on leave by The Roman Catholic Diocese of Fresno after the church learned of an investigation involving allegations of sexual abuse of minors.

But the case may not be so cut and dry.

On May 19, Bishop Joseph V. Brennan notified the parishioners of St. Catherine’s Catholic Church in Dinuba that Rev. Raul Diaz was put on paid administrative leave in a statement.

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Clergy Sex Abuse Survivors and Iowa Legislator Call for Changes to Child Sex Abuse Laws

DES MOINES (IA)
WHOtv

May 22, 2019

By Laura Barczewski

The Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests held a press conference at the Iowa Capitol with Iowa State Senate Minority Leader Janet Petersen on Wednesday to call on legislators and the attorney general to do more for victims of child sexual abuse.

SNAP President Tim Lennon shared his story of being sexually abused when he was 12-years-old by a Catholic priest.

“When I was about 43 I remembered some of the abuse. This priest would molest me in movies, at the park. He would pick me up at home. He was a friend of the family,” Lennon said.

Lennon said he suppressed the memories until they came up again when he was 43 and by then it was too late to pursue any type of justice.

“My viewpoint personally and from the viewpoint of my organization the survivors network of those abused by priests is there should be no statute of limitations.”

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Sex abuse by clergy, what if media lead the debate?

DENVER (CO)
Catholic News Agency

May 22, 2019

By Andrea Gagliarducci

No doubt that the scandal of sex abuse by clergy has shocked the Church. No doubt that the Church is called to put measures in action to eradicate the scandal because even one abuse is too much. There is no doubt, indeed, that the contrary is possible. That is, that media report on alleged abuse taking only the side of those who say have been abused.

There have been many stories of “character assassination” of this kind. The latest one is that of Fr. Herman Geissler. Fr. Geissler resigned by the position of head of office of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on Jan. 28, following allegations of harassment advanced against him by Mrs. Doris Wagner-Reisinger.

Mrs. Reisinger has been a nun, and from 2003 to 2011, she was a member of the Spiritual Family The Work. Also Fr. Geissler is a member of the same Congregation.

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James Carroll’s call to ‘Abolish the Priesthood’ is misguided and tiresome

KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter

May 22, 2019

By Michael Sean Winters

Every sentence of James Carroll’s recent article in The Atlantic, “Abolish the Priesthood,” is theologically inept, historically anachronistic, self-referential, or all three. None of it is a surprise.

Carroll’s embrace of theology is thoroughly opportunistic. At one point, he yearns for the pre-Constantinian church of Jesus’ early followers, but later he states, “When the Catholic imagination, swayed by Augustine, demonized the sexual restlessness built into the human condition, self-denial was put forward as the way to happiness. But sexual renunciation as an ethical standard has collapsed among Catholics, not because of pressures from a hedonistic ‘secular’ modernity but because of its inhumane and irrational weight.” But it is in the Gospels themselves that Jesus advocates self-denial, encourages the unmarried to remain celibate, and tells his followers to take up their cross and follow him. Following Jesus can lead down many different paths, but none of them have to do with sexual liberationism.

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What Benedict’s letter on sex abuse gets wrong

ROME
La Croix International

May 22, 2019

By Cathleen Kaveny

This implacable defender of the existence of intrinsically evil acts refuses to call these acts by their most basic moral name: child rape

The debate about Benedict XVI’s recent intervention on the sex abuse crisis has focused on his account of its root causes. To the delight of conservatives and the consternation of progressives, he blames the lax sexual morality of the 1960s rather than the enduring phenomenon of clericalism.

In my view, the problem with Benedict’s letter is far more fundamental. It also transcends the American progressive-conservative divide. He gets the basic moral description of the acts of sex abuse wrong. He frames them as acts of sacrilege rather than grave injustice.

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U.S. Protestants’ Views Mixed about Extent of Clergy Sexual Abuse

UNITES STATES
EthicsDaily

May 22, 2019

U.S. Protestants offered mixed views when LifeWay Research inquired about the extent of sexual abuse by clergy in local congregations.

When asked if they “believe many more Protestant pastors have sexually abused children or teens than we have heard about,” 37% somewhat or strongly disagreed, 32% somewhat or strongly agreed and 31% were unsure.

Similar numbers resulted when respondents were asked about clergy sexually abusing adults, with 41% somewhat or strongly disagreeing, 30% unsure and 29% somewhat or strongly agreeing that it happens more than they know about.

Respondents had high views of their church’s ability to respond appropriately to allegations and to help in the healing process of abuse victims.

When asked if church leaders would try to cover up abuse claims, only 7% agreed that they would do so, while 83% disagreed.

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La caída del clérigo

GUADALAJARA (MEXICO)
Reporte Indigo [Mexico City, Mexico]

May 23, 2019

By Luis Herrera

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La reciente detención de un sacerdote en el estado de Jalisco, luego de agredir sexualmente a un menor de 13 años, es la primera que se concreta en la entidad derivada de una denuncia presentada por la propia jerarquía católica ante la Fiscalía 

La detención el pasado 7 de mayo en Jalisco de un sacerdote que agredió sexualmente a un menor de 13 años, es la primera que se concreta en el estado a partir de una denuncia presentada por la propia jerarquía católica ante la Fiscalía local, de acuerdo con registros oficiales.

Luego de años de haber permanecido en silencio ante los abusos sexuales que cometían sus sacerdotes, la Iglesia Católica en Jalisco ha comenzado a notificar a las autoridades ministeriales de los casos de esta naturaleza que le son reportados por su feligresía.

Los archivos de la Fiscalía del Estado confirman que dicha aprehensión del sacerdote Leopoldo “N”, en el municipio de Ameca, se deriva de una de las cinco denuncias por agresiones sexuales de curas que han sido promovidas por la misma jerarquía católica de Jalisco en los años 2018 y 2019.

Sobre este caso, el arzobispo de Guadalajara, Francisco Robles Ortega ha dicho que al recibir denuncias han comenzado a actuar de manera inmediata.

“Nosotros tuvimos noticia directa y comenzamos inmediatamente un proceso interno, lo que está mandado al interior de la Iglesia, que fue tomar medidas precautorias en el sentido de retirarlo del ejercicio de su ministerio público, y comenzar una averiguación previa, pero al mismo tiempo dimos el aviso a la Fiscalía, como está ahora mandado (…) y nos manifestamos dispuestos a colaborar en toda la información que ellos requirieran de parte nuestra”

El sacerdote de Ameca que también había sido denunciado por los padres de la víctima, fue finalmente aprehendido por la Fiscalía por el delito de ultrajes a la moral y no por abuso sexual infantil, a pesar de que así figuraba originalmente en sus registros, dada la conducta del religioso.

“Los hechos se registraron en el mes de agosto del 2018 en la casa del sacerdote (…) Al lugar, el ahora detenido invitó al ofendido a ver películas de contenido sexual. Además en varias ocasiones agredió a la víctima haciéndole referencia de tener actos sexuales con él, por lo que el menor contó lo sucedido a sus padres”, describió la dependencia.

Según el arzobispo, la Arquidiócesis de Guadalajara ha denunciado tres casos de agresiones sexuales de sacerdotes, por lo que los otros dos que constan en los registros de la Fiscalía (folio de transparencia 01334319) provienen de las otras diócesis de Jalisco.

“Les había dicho yo de tres que habíamos reportado, y este es del primero por así decir que vemos una acción, una respuesta, no sé en qué paso por parte de las autoridades vayan en las investigaciones, estamos pendientes (…) Yo no las acuso (a las autoridades) de que no le den seguimiento, sino que entiendo que lleva su tiempo que ellos ubiquen a la persona, a la posible víctima, a los posibles testigos, o sea yo siento que lleva eso su tiempo”.

Golpe de timón

La detención del clérigo de Ameca derivada de una denuncia de la jerarquía católica representa un cambio relevante en la política que seguía esa institución ante las agresiones sexuales cometidas por sus sacerdotes, una caracterizada por la complicidad, la indolencia y la impunidad.

Como lo publicó antes Reporte Indigo, los obispos de Jalisco no comenzaron a denunciar a sus curas sino hasta el año 2018, a pesar de que entre 2007 y 2017 se reportaron 21 delitos sexuales perpetrados por sacerdotes con 25 personas victimizadas, incluyendo 20 menores y cinco adultos (

El arzobispo reveló incluso que su Arquidiócesis ha conformado ya un consejo para la atención de los abusos sexuales por clérigos.

“Nosotros ya iniciamos integrando un consejo de laicos y de sacerdotes para prestar atención a los posibles abusos de menores (…) son dos psicólogas -dos personas psicólogas-, un canonista -que conoce de ley canónica, ley interna de la Iglesia- y un sacerdote que hace de enlace con las autoridades civiles para dar parte”

Francisco Robles OrtegaArzobispo de Guadalajara

Sobre la reciente carta apostólica emitida por el Papa Francisco el 7 de mayo, titulada “VOS ESTIS LUX MUNDI”, con nuevas instrucciones a la estructura católica para investigar y sancionar estos hechos, dijo el arzobispo que les impone “exigencias puntuales”

“Facilitar a todos, a todo el pueblo de dios facilitar, el que puedan hacer llegar sus quejas, sus denuncias, cuando se da un tema como estos; que tengan por parte de la Iglesia local, por parte de la diócesis, toda la facilidad para hacerlo; que los que tengan conocimiento puedan denunciar con toda libertad”.

La carta, dijo, es producto “de la reunión que el Papa convocó con los presidentes de las conferencias episcopales de todo el mundo en el mes de febrero”.

La misión del arzobispo

Los obispos metropolitanos o arzobispos como lo es en el caso de Jalisco, José Francisco Robles Ortega, jugarán a partir de ahora un rol fundamental en la investigación y castigo de los abusos sexuales perpetrados por sacerdotes, luego de la emisión de la carta apostólica “VOS ESTIS LUX MUNDI”.

El documento expedido por el Papa pone al frente de las pesquisas de estos abusos sexuales a los arzobispos, con amplias facultades para ello, incluyendo la recolección de los testimonios de la víctima y del inculpado.

En su artículo 12 se señala que el obispo metropolitano es quien “recoge la informaciónrelevante sobre los hechos”, “accede a la información y a los documentos necesarios para la investigación guardados en los archivos de las oficinas eclesiásticas”, y “solicita información a las personas y a las instituciones, incluso civiles, que puedan proporcionar elementos útiles para la investigación”.

Las acciones de la Iglesia Católica en contra de los padres pederastas comenzaron después de que el Papa emitiera una carta con instrucciones a la estructura católica para investigar y sancionar estos hechos

Es también él quien podrá proceder con “la imposición al investigado de prescripciones o de medidas cautelares apropiadas (art. 15)”, si así lo autoriza la Congregación de la jerarquía católica que conozca del caso.

La indagatoria será expedita, pues por normalidad “debe concluirse dentro del plazo de noventa días”, salvo que haya instrucciones particulares del dicasterio a cargo (Art. 14).

El resultado de la investigación se turna por el arzobispo al dicasterio o Congregación competente para tomar una resolución.

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May 22, 2019

Se conocieron detalles del horror que padeció una víctima del Instituto Próvolo de La Plata

LA PLATA (ARGENTINA)
Clarín [Buenos Aires, Argentina]

May 22, 2019

By FABIÁN DEBESA

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Los revela la investigación de la fiscal, que pidió la prisión preventiva para un excelador.

Con el avance de la investigación de abusos contra chicos sordos en el instituto Próvolo de La Plata, asoman detalles escalofriantes de los vejámenes presuntamente cometidos por los responsables de ese centro educativo.

Relatos de situaciones de esclavitud, torturas y violaciones reiteradas contra un alumno de diez años figuran en el pedido de prisión preventiva para el profesor de Informática José Angel Britez, quien fue detenido el 29 de abril en Misiones. Este hombre era un celador que en los 90 estuvo en La Plata y trabajó en el establecimiento especializado en niños con hipoacusia, ubicado en 25 y 47, en el barrio La Loma de La Plata.

En el subsuelo de la iglesia que está a dos cuadras del Próvolo aún permanece un riel, entre dos paredes, que usaban los sacerdotes y los auxiliares para “castigar” al estudiante que estaba pupilo en el centro. El testimonio de esa víctima, expuesto hace tiempo ante la fiscal Cecilia Corfield, forma parte central del pedido de prisión contra el excelador.

La fiscalía obtuvo el aporte de un hombre que hace más de 25 años estuvo en este lugar y hace unos meses acompañó a Corfield para un reconocimiento de los sitios que describió en su testimonio. Es un adulto que ahora vive en el Chaco y que estuvo en el Próvolo entre 1989 y 1993.

Por supuesto, la mirada no está puesta sólo en el celador. Los curas Nicolás Corradi —preso en Mendoza por hechos parecidos— y el sacerdote Eliseo Primati —que permanece en un geriátrico de Verona, Italia, donde el Instituto Próvolo tiene su sede central— están procesados con pedido de detención por las revelaciones que se conocieron en la capital bonaerense.

Corfield quiere que Corradi sea trasladado para una indagatoria. Este religioso condujo el Próvolo de La Plata entre 1970 y 1997. La fiscal además planteó ante Cancillería el inicio de un proceso de extradición para que también se presente Primati, de 83 años.

La investigación judicial concluye que “Corradi, Primati y dos religiosas aun no identificadas, pero conocidas como Leticia y Juana, redujeron a la servidumbre [al chico], explotándolo a través de la limpieza del lugar, lavado de ropa de los internos, mantenimiento del jardín del lugar, pintura de las paredes del edificio, arado de la huerta, limpieza de los escalones de rodillas, entre otros trabajos que lo obligaban hacer mediante violencia física o psicológica so pena de prohibirle el acceso a los alimentos y privarlo de su libertad ambulatoria“, escribió Corfield.

La descripción de la Fiscalía aporta que el chico internado era víctima de abusos por parte de Primati, Corradi y Britez, en su habitación. “Entraban a su cama y lo sometían mediante penetración de los dedos en el ano”, se lee en el escrito. Una negativa o un conato de rebelión representaba mayores agresiones.

Según pudo reconstruir la investigadora, como forma de castigo, el chico era trasladado al subsuelo del edificio que está debajo de la cocina y lo obligaban a pararse en un cajón par atarlo de manos en un riel usado para el transporte de los alimentos. Al menor lo dejaban “colgado” durante extensos períodos de tiempo como “penitencia por su mal comportamiento”.

El pedido de prisión preventiva contra Britez fue elevado a la jueza de Garantías, Marcela Garmendia. La acusación es: abuso sexual agravado por la condición de guardador, abuso sexual con acceso carnal reiterado y corrupción de menores.

La fiscalía especializada en abusos y violencia de género a cargo de Corfield inició este proceso a fines de 2016, luego de que se conociera que los sacerdotes Corradi y Horacio Corbacho, detenidos en Mendoza acusados de abusar sexualmente de varios hipoacúsicos del Instituto Próvolo de esa provincia, también habían trabajado en el Próvolo de La Plata.

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Arrestan a cura por abuso de menores

ACAPULCO (MEXICO)
La República [Lima, Peru]

May 22, 2019

By Unknown

Read original article

Un sacerdote católico fue encarcelado el viernes por supuestamente haber abusado de una menor de edad hace tres años y cometer actos sexuales contra una decena más de jovencitas.

AP. Un sacerdote católico fue encarcelado el viernes por supuestamente haber abusado de una menor de edad hace tres años y cometer actos sexuales contra una decena más de jovencitas.

Hermilo Gerardo Solís Jaimes cometía los abusos en la misma iglesia en la que oficiaba misas en el estado de Guerrero. El sacerdote fue internado en una celda junto a otros dos curas, Ernesto García Rodríguez y Lorenzo Cuellar Vázquez, ambos relacionados con un delito de homicidio ocurrido en el 2006 en las sierras de Guerrero.

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New Guidelines In Clergy Sex Abuse Scandal

BISMARK (ND)
Kxnet

May 21, 2019

By Robert Suhr

In what’s being called a revolutionary and landmark announcement by some, Pope Francis recently announced sweeping changes that hold bishops accountable for sexual abuse or covering it up.

So how does the news impact us here in Bismarck?

With the Catholic Church sex abuse scandal a worldwide problem, reporting abuse claims was often a disorganized mess…now Pope Francis is hoping to change that.

“I’m stunned that any priest or anyone representing the church, would ever do this to a child,” said David Kagan, the Bishop of the Diocese of Bismarck.

Facing perhaps the largest scandal in the church’s history, Pope Francis recently issued what’s called a papal decree, forcing every diocese, worldwide, to create an office within the next year to handle the abuse claims confidentially.

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Brothers sexually assaulted by priest for 3 years sue Vatican because Church did nothing to stop it

ST. PAUL and MINNEAPOLIS (MN)
Brinkwire

May 22, 2019

Three brothers who were sexually abused by a priest from the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday against the Vatican.

They claim that the Holy See bears responsibility because the case was mishandled by former Archbishop John Nienstedt and the Vatican’s former ambassador to the United States.

The lawsuit, that includes two other accusers as plaintiffs, attempts to trace a direct line from clergy sex abuse victims to the Vatican, through Minnesota church officials.

Luke, Stephen and Ben Hoffman were abused by former priest Curtis Wehmeyer, roughly between 2009 and 2012. They want the names of agents involved in the cover-up, including priests, revealed and for the Vatican to stop internally reviewing cases.

The new lawsuit seeks monetary damages, but the plaintiffs said truth is the goal.

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More than 80 clergy members named in sexual abuse report

ALBANY (NY)
WRGB

May 21, 2019

By Lynzi DeLuccia

A trio of sexual abuse survivors took a stand on Tuesday as lawyers released a report with the names of more than 80 Albany Diocese clergy members accused of sexual abuse.

One woman her story about how she was raped and exploited by a man who was a teacher and a counselor at Notre Dame Bishop Gibbons High School in the 70s. One thing she and the other victims had in common was the feeling that they were alone in their experiences.

“Many of us were told when we were being abused that we were the only one,” Mark Lyman said.

This isn’t the first time Lyman has spoken out about the abuse he says he suffered as a child growing up at his church in Troy.

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Minnesota attorney sues Holy See for documentation on clergy offenders

ST. PAUL (MN)
Catholic News Service

May 21, 2019

By Maria Wiering

St. Paul attorney Jeff Anderson announced May 14 that he is representing five sexual abuse survivors suing the Holy See for names of clergy sexual abuse offenders worldwide and the names of church leaders who have been involved in abuse cover-up.

The lawsuit’s defendants include Ben, Luke and Stephen Hoffman, brothers abused by then-Fr. Curtis Wehmeyer while he was at Blessed Sacrament in St. Paul from 2006 to 2012. He was removed from ministry in 2012, when the abuse was first reported to civil and church authorities, and then laicized in 2015. He is serving a prison sentence in Wisconsin for his abuse of Ben Hoffman there in 2011.

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In the wake of its own child abuse scandal, Poland must break the Church’s grip ǀ View

IRELAND
Euronews

May 21, 2019

By Eoin Drea

I’m one of the Pope’s Children – a generation of Irish children born in the late 1970s and early 1980s – that have come to symbolise Ireland’s deep relationship with the Catholic Church. Pope John Paul’s II visit to Ireland in 1979 saw over 50% of the Irish population attend his events and reaffirm Ireland’s devotion to the Catholic cause. Ireland was poor then, with high unemployment, rampant emigration, a closed and rather isolated society unworried by the issues of immigration or race (we were all white with an excess of people, not jobs). For us, a ‘Protestant’ was exotic and reaching America (or at least England) was, for many, the ultimate objective. Ireland was, as The Economist noted in 1988, “the poorest of the rich.”

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Poland leader slams church pathology, backs sex abuse probe

WARSAW (POLAND)
The Associated Press

May 18, 2019

Poland’s ruling conservative party leader said Friday it does not tolerate “pathology” in the Catholic Church and will back a commission to investigate sex abuse of minors in church but also in other circles.

It was the first reaction by Jaroslaw Kaczynski, a practicing Catholic, to a documentary film, “Tell No One,” that contains testimony by men and women that they were molested or raped by priests when they were children. Aired Saturday, it has provoked a heated public debate and soul-searching in the Church, which traditionally enjoys respect in predominantly Catholic Poland.

Also, the pro-church ruling Law and Justice party has rushed through parliament a law toughening punishment for pedophilia.

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Archbishop says Indian Jesuit convicted of rape ‘totally innocent’

MUMBAI (INDIA)
CRUX

May 21, 2019

By Nirmala Carvalho

A Jesuit priest convicted of participating in a gang rape in India is “totally innocent,” according to the local archbishop.

Jesuit Father Alphonse Aind and five other people were sentenced to life imprisonment by a court in the eastern state of Jharkhand on May 17 for raping five women who were part of an NGO advocating for the rights of India’s marginalized Tribal community.

On June 19, 2018, the victims were performing a street play In the remote village of Kochang to spread awareness of human trafficking in the region.

They were from “Asha Kiran” (“Ray of Hope”), a rehabilitation center managed by the Ursuline Sisters, located about 10 miles south of Ranchi, the state capital.

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Brazilian bishop accused of theft, covering up abuse resigns

SAO PAULO (BRAZIL)
Catholic News Service

May 21, 2019

Pope Francis accepted the resignation of Bishop Vilson Dias de Oliveira of Limeira.

The bishop is being investigated by authorities for extortion of priests, mismanagement of the diocese’s funds and covering up alleged cases of abuse against minors by area priests. His resignation was announced May 17.

“I request my resignation for the sake of the church of Christ and for the good of this diocese,” said the bishop in a statement read to parishioners.

“I take with me in my heart this learning, in the confidence and assurance that this work is from God, and I place myself at the disposal of the Holy Mother church to serve her no matter the place and ministry entrusted to me by God from now on,” the bishop said.

According to the Sao Paulo state police, Oliveira took $975 from a local parish to build an artesian well in his beach house in Itanhaem. When faced with the accusation, the bishop confessed he obtained a “donation” from the parish and alleged he was facing financial problems.

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Letter alleging Colorado Catholic priest’s abuse found a decade after the author took his own life

DENVER (CO)
9News

May 21, 2019

By Kevin Vaughan

Neil Hewitt, a Catholic priest who was assigned to Leadville’s Church of Annunciation, is accused of sexually abusing at two teenage boys in the 1960s.

Donna Ballentine was sorting through a box of her late mother’s papers when she came upon a two-page, handwritten letter.

She recognized the handwriting immediately – it was that of a cousin, Stuart Saucke, who’d taken his own life a decade earlier.

“Dear Neil,” the letter began. “It’s been 24 years since you sexually molested me. I also have been an alcoholic for 24 years.”

The letter wasn’t dated or signed, but Donna immediately knew it was meant for Neil Hewitt, a Catholic priest who married her and baptized two of her children at Leadville’s Church of the Annunciation.

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.Internal investigation may yield greater sanctions against priests accused of sex abuse

BAKERSFIELD (CA)
The Californian

May 20, 2019

By Jose Gaspar

While separate criminal investigations are carried out by police in Firebaugh and Merced into allegations that Monsignor Craig Harrison sexually molested minors, there’s another internal investigation being done by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fresno. This one is based on a set of rules adopted by the nation’s Roman Catholic bishops in June 2002 aimed to “repair the breach” with those sexually abused by church ministers.

Article 2 of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People states that “Dioceses are to have policies and procedures in place to respond promptly to any allegations where there is reason to believe that sexual abuse of a minor occurred.” And perhaps the most controversial requirement states, “Any credible allegations (against a priest or deacon) of sexual misconduct with a minor will result in immediate administrative leave” while an internal investigation is completed. Some priests find a problem with that.

“It’s like martial law,” said Monsignor Stephen Frost of Christ the King Church in Oildale. Under this process, Frost says due process goes out the window and the accused is accorded none or very little information about the allegations or who the accuser might be. Further, by removing the priest from his parish leaves the perception the priest is guilty before an investigation is begun.

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Former Midland priest accused of misconduct

SAGINAW (MI)
Midland Daily News

May 21, 2019

By Lori Qualls

A Diocese of Saginaw priest who served several area parishes, including Blessed Sacrament in Midland, has been placed on administrative leave from priestly ministry because of an allegation of misconduct involving a minor that occurred years ago, the diocese announced late Tuesday afternoon.

The Rev. Father Kucharczyk was most recently pastor at St. John XXIII Parish, which includes St. Mary Church in Hemlock, Sacred Heart Church in Merrill and St. Patrick Church in Ryan, according to a diocese press release. He was removed from his post on Sunday by Bishop Walter A. Hurley, apostolic administrator.

The diocese received information from law enforcement regarding an allegation of misconduct involving a minor that allegedly occurred many years ago, the diocese stated in a press release. Based on this information, the diocese said it immediately removed Kucharczyk from active ministry.

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DC Priest Accused of Abusing Girls, Woman Wants Separate Trials

WASHINGTON (DC)
NBC

May 21, 2019

A Catholic priest accused of sexually abusing two children and a woman involved in his D.C. parish wants the cases to be tried separately.

The priest, Urbano Vazquez, was arrested in November and accused of second-degree child sexual abuse. Police say Vazquez was 42 when, in May 2015, he inappropriately touched a 13-year-old female member of his church on two occasions.

Vazquez was arrested again in December on new allegations. A police report and a release from the District’s U.S. Attorney’s Office said Vazquez was accused of sexually touching a 9-year-old and a woman.

A lawyer for Vazquez says a single trial would be unfair, WTOP-FM reports. Attorney Robert Bonsib says that if jurors hear about the alleged child abuse, they may assume his client is guilty of assaulting the woman.

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New D.C. Archbishop Wilton Gregory Addresses Abuse Scandal, Pledges Honesty

WASHINGTON (DC)
National Catholic Register

May 21, 2019

By Lauretta Brown

In his homily, the successor to Cardinal Donald Wuerl and former cardinal Theodore McCarrick acknowledged that ‘we clerics and hierarchs have irrefutably been the source of the current tempest.’

Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory was installed as the seventh archbishop of Washington Tuesday in a ceremony that comes at a turbulent time for the local Church under the cloud of his predecessors’ sexual abuse and cover-up scandals.

The newly-installed archbishop addressed the issue head-on in his homily, promising those gathered that he would be committed to transparency about his failings.

“I want to be a welcoming shepherd who laughs with you whenever we can, who cries with you whenever we must, and who honestly confesses his faults and failings before you when I commit them, not when they are revealed,” he said to loud applause from those gathered.

Archbishop Gregory’s appointment follows Cardinal Donald Wuerl’s resignation, which was accepted by Pope Francis last year after he came under scrutiny in the Pennsylvania Grand Jury report for his handling of sexual abuse allegations when he served as bishop of Pittsburgh from 1988 to 2006. Wuerl also faced criticism for initially denying that he knew of any sexual abuse claims against his predecessor Theodore McCarrick before later admitting that he had known of McCarrick’s sexual behavior with seminarians.

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True Reform Will Come — If You and I Remain Steadfast

UNITED STATES
National Catholic Register

May 21, 2019

By Msgr. Charles Pope

As the U.S. Bishops’ June meeting draws near, it’s time for faithful Catholics to regain our focus

Bishop Robert Barron recently published Letter to a Suffering Church: A Bishop Speaks on the Sexual Abuse Crisis. It is an excellent book — a meditation, really. It gives a sobering summary of the sexual-abuse crisis and a historical perspective and offers encouragement to believers in the aftermath of the recent and horrific events.

It also comes at an opportune time. I say this because my concerns that the issue would eventually fade from the focus of Catholics have largely come to pass. Mention of the topic is somewhat rare lately, and mentioned more often in passing. This is problematic for at least two reasons.

First, our diverted attention is precisely what the evil one desires and uses. True reform is going to happen only if we remain steadfast and insist upon it. Bishop Barron calls attention to something that I have also suspected — namely, that this crisis is more devious than clerical malfeasance, cover-up and mismanagement. It is far more: It is diabolical. Bishop Barron, an auxiliary of Los Angeles, writes:

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HOMOSEXUAL PREDATOR PRIEST IN ACTION

SAGINAW (MI)
ChurchMilitant.com

May 22, 2019

By Christine Niles, M.St. (Oxon.), J.D.

Fr. Robert DeLand: “To discover that you have some gay tendencies is a fine thing, because then you don’t have to be so confused.”

A predator priest in action.

Fr. Robert DeLand: “I love you so much. I mean what I say, I love you so much.”

The voice of Father Robert DeLand, now in prison, caught on tape grooming a victim for sex abuse.

Fr. Robert DeLand: “We’re gonna get you drunk and you’re gonna cry. Does that sound good?”

The victim, a 17-year-old male, secretly capturing audio of his encounters with the high-ranking Saginaw Michigan priest, who targeted the boy when he was grieving the death of his friend to suicide.

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German bishops’ plan on sex abuse crisis ‘crazy’, ‘false’: former Vatican doctrine chief

GERMANY
LifeSiteNews

May 21, 2019

By Matthew Cullinan Hoffman

A proposed approach to dealing with the sex abuse crisis outlined by the German bishops in March of this year, which would involve possibly eliminating priestly celibacy and changing Catholic doctrine on sexual morality, is a “crazy” and “absolutely false” one, according to Cardinal Gerhard Müller, Prefect Emeritus of the Vatican’s Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith.

Müller also defended Pope Emeritus Benedict’s recently-published analysis of the sex abuse crisis as an accurate one, and blasted its critics as “ideologues.”

Speaking in an interview with the Spanish news service InfoVaticana, Müller said that the German bishops have deeply misunderstood the source of the sex abuse crisis, which stems in part from “moral confusion” in the Church.

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Diocese reopens priest-abuse allegations first raised in 1998

BAKERSFIELD (CA)
Bakersfield.com

May 20, 2019

By John Cox

Decades after the allegations first came to light, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fresno is revisiting accusations Bakersfield priest Craig Harrison inappropriately touched a teenager while working at St. Joseph Church in Firebaugh in the 1990s.

“It is under review,” diocese spokeswoman Teresa Dominguez said Monday. She declined to elaborate other than to confirm the accuracy of a report by KQED Inc., a Northern California media group, about the case.

The allegations by an unnamed individual were initially reported to the Firebaugh Police Department in 1998. They were brought to the diocese in 2002 and dismissed as unsubstantiated.

Harrison’s attorney, Kyle J. Humphrey, rejected the allegations as opportunistic and false.

“No matter how many times that you try to pretend that the world is flat,” he said, “you’re wrong.”

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Abuse statistics undermine church’s credibility | Faith Matters

NEW JERSEY
Jersey Journal

May 19, 2019

By Rev. Alexander Santora

Eight days this month — May 6 to 13 — may turn out to be the most consequential in the state for the next phase of the long-running clerical sex abuse scandal.

First, Anderson & Associates released a list of 311 clergy and religious accused of abuse in New Jersey. Then, Pope Francis codified changes for the worldwide church to address sex abuse and hold people accountable. Lastly, Gov. Murphy signed into law legislation that ensures a longer period for victims of sexual abuse to sue and he made it retroactive, as well.

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REFILE-Poland’s pro-EU opposition takes big lead after Church abuse scandal – poll

WARSAW (POLAND)
Reuters

May 17, 2019

(Adds dropped word Poland in headline)

Poland’s pro-EU opposition has a 10-point lead over the ruling nationalists ahead of European Parliament elections, a survey showed on Friday, a sharp turnaround that some analysts linked to a film about sexual abuse scandals in the Catholic Church.

The documentary “Just don’t tell anyone”, which shows victims of child abuse confronting priests who had sexually abused them, has shocked Poles. The powerful Catholic Church has close ties with the governing Law and Justice party (PiS).

The European Coalition, which comprises pro-Europeans from across the political spectrum, would win 43.6% and PiS 32.9% in the May 26 election, according to the poll, conducted on May 14-16 by the Institute for Research into Public Affairs (IBSP) for Newsweek and Radio Zet.

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SBC churchgoers split on existence of more clergy sex abuse

NASHVILLE (TN)
Lifeway Research

May 21, 2019

About one-third of Southern Baptist churchgoers believe more revelations of sexual abuse and misconduct by Protestant ministers remain to be exposed. But few know of specific individuals in their church whose misconduct still is hidden, according to a new LifeWay Research study.

The 2019 Sexual Misconduct and Churchgoers Study by LifeWay Research explored the perceptions and experiences of Southern Baptist and Protestant churchgoers.

“Protecting people from abuse of any kind should be of utmost importance to churches and our convention,” said Brad Waggoner, acting CEO of LifeWay Christian Resources. “LifeWay decided to sponsor this research because it’s imperative we make our churches safe places for people to hear the gospel and grow in their walk with Jesus Christ.”

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The Investigator | Controversial Ohio Bishop reinstated following sex abuse allegations

COLUMBUS (OH)
WKYC3

May 21, 2019

By Tom Meyer

The Bishop’s reinstatement comes about 15 months after allegations of sexual misconduct that were first exposed in an exclusive Tom Meyer investigation.

Bishop Joseph White, the founder of a church with worldwide followers, has been reinstated as Bishop of the Church of the Living God International, which is headquartered in Columbus.

The Bishop’s reinstatement comes about 15 months after the church’s board of directors suspended him following allegations of sexual misconduct that were first exposed in an exclusive Tom Meyer investigation.

The board in its letter to church members said, “Through careful consideration and prayer, the CLGI Board of Directors has reinstated Dr. Joseph White.” The letter goes on to say that White established churches all over the world.

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The Catholic Church is tightening rules on reporting sexual abuse – but not swearing off its legal privilege to keep secrets

NEW YORK
University at Buffalo, The State University of New York

May 22, 2019

By Christine P. Bartholomew

(The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.)

Christine P. Bartholomew, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York

(THE CONVERSATION) Pope Francis recently changed the Catholic Church law, making it mandatory for clergy to report sexual abuse to church superiors. In the past, such reporting was left to the discretion of a priest or nun.

Pope Francis’ proposal is an effort to address gaps in the regulatory process of the church, which has been accused of shielding clergy sexual abuse. It provides a process to report allegations up the pipeline.

As a scholar of law I worry that it fails to address what the church will do with that information.

To date, religious organizations, such as the Catholic Church, have adopted inconsistent positions on whether, and to what degree, they should share information necessary for legal action.

Clergy across various religions, ranging from Christians to Catholics to Muslims to Jews, are willing to share evidence in cases of violent crimes, such as murders. But when the evidence pertains to clergy misconduct, namely sexual abuse, the tide changes.

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New sex abuse scandal rocks Catholic Church in Poland

POLAND
EuroNews

May 22, 2019

By Joao Vitor Da Silva Marques

A new documentary allegedly exposing child sex abuse by members of the Roman Catholic Church is forcing Poland’s Catholic Church bishops to meet in Warsaw today.

Released over the weekend, the film entitled ‘Tell No One’ reportedly shows how abusive priests ruined the lives of victims and faced no consequences in Poland.

The Catholic Church’s links to the political establishment in the country and its influence over the education system, culture and lawmaking means the scandal is quickly becoming a political issue.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said yesterday that a public inquiry on paedophilia is being launched: “A state committee to examine all paedophilia cases will be set up. I want to stress that Law and Justice government is a guard, a guarantor of physical security of children, of families” He added: “Our party has sought for many years to tighten the penalties for the most bestial, terrible crimes, also for the paedophilia crimes without excluding the Church, without excluding clergy, without excluding all the circles: teachers, artists, everywhere where there is contact with children, carers, coaches.”

But the links between the Law and Justice ruling party and the Roman Catholic Church run deep in Poland. The party has a tight alliance with the clergy and many priests, especially those in smaller towns and villages, often openly backing the party.

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Man entitled to names of others allegedly abused by priest, High Court rules

IRELAND
Irish Examiner

May 21, 2019

By Ann O’Loughlin

A man suing a priest and a religious order over alleged sexual abuse when he was a child is entitled to information about others who made similar allegations, the High Court has ruled.

The man is suing for damages over the alleged abuse by the priest who was his schoolteacher and a member of an order of priests and brothers whose members worked in education.

As part of the pre-trial process, he sought and obtained discovery of documents he said he needed to process his case. He got it, but certain details were blacked out and he then sought orders from the court that this information also be provided.

The information included the names of people who have made complaints to gardaí of personally experiencing or witnessing abuse by the priest or had brought their own civil actions over alleged abuse.

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Confession bill amended, but church leaders say it still targets priests

LOS ANGELES (CA)
Catholic News Service

May 21, 2019

By Pablo Kay

Church officials are urging Catholics to continue to oppose a California bill that would force priests to disclose information about child sexual abuse that they hear in the sacrament of confession.

The call came as the Senate measure, known as S.B. 360, advanced in the Legislature after lawmakers “accepted several of the church’s recommendations to strengthen mandated reporting requirements for clergy,” as Los Angeles Archbishop Jose Gomez noted in a May 20 statement.

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Defrocked Ottawa priest, 85, on trial for historic sex abuse

OTTAWA (CANADA)
Ottawa Citizen

May 22, 2019

By Andrew Duffy

Two men have told court that they were sexually assaulted by a Catholic priest as teenagers in the same bed at a church rectory in Richmond.

Barry McGrory, 85, a former Ottawa priest, faces four charges based on two historic sex abuse complaints dating to the late 1960s.

Charges in connection with a third complainant were withdrawn last year after the man died of cancer.

McGrory, who was officially removed from the priesthood last year by the Vatican, has pleaded not guilty.

Ontario Superior Court Justice Michelle O’Bonsawin ruled Tuesday that Crown attorney John Semenoff will be allowed to use similar fact evidence as part of the case against McGrory.

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Law Firms Accuse 83 Clerics Of Abuse In The Albany Diocese

ALBANY (NY)
WAMC

May 21, 2019

By Dave Lucas

Today in Albany, sexual abuse survivors joined representatives of two law firms in releasing the names and photographs of more than 80 clergymen in the Diocese of Albany accused of sexual misconduct. The Diocese disputes the report.

The law firms of Jeff Anderson & Associates of New York City and LaFave, Wein & Frament, PLLC, of Guilderland, produced a report they say reveals the identities, histories, photographs and information on the clerics, all accused of child sexual abuse. Jeff Anderson: “The Catholic Bishop in Albany has already released a list of some 47 under some pressure. The number of those we released here today is 83. A large number of names yet to be known are priests in the Diocese of Albany accused, but there’s also a number of priests who are members of religious orders, that have never been disclosed.”

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European elections: sex and religion dominate campaigning in Poland

WARSAW
The Guardian

May 22, 2019

By Christian Davies

War of words over LGBT rights, perceived threats to traditional values and clerical child abuse

Campaigning in Poland for the European elections has descended into a war of words over religion, sex and morality after a documentary on clerical abuse raised questions about the government’s ties to the Catholic church and the ruling party campaign sought to portray LGBT rights supporters as a threat to children.

The release on YouTube earlier this month of the documentary, viewed more than 20m times and featuring several victims confronting their sexual abusers, electrified what had already been a febrile debate over the role of the powerful Roman Catholic church in Polish politics and society, during which homosexuality has regularly been equated with paedophilia.

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Lawyers clash over revealing identity of the woman accusing Warren Jeffs and the FLDS Church of abuse

ST. GEORGE (UT)
FOX13

May 21, 2019

By Ben Winslow

Attorneys clashed in court over whether to publicly reveal the identity of a woman who has filed a multi-million dollar lawsuit against polygamist leader Warren Jeffs and the Fundamentalist LDS Church, accusing them of “ritualistic sex abuse.”

In a hearing on Tuesday, lawyers for ex-FLDS leader Wendell Nielsen and the court-controlled United Effort Plan Trust sought to have the alleged child rape victim’s name made public. They argued that it has been difficult to defend against her accusations when they have been bound by a non-disclosure agreement to even utter her name.

But attorneys for “R.H.,” as she’s known in court documents, told the judge that publicly disclosing her name presented significant security concerns.

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Church Volunteer in Rancho Cucamonga Accused of Sexually Abusing Child Over 5-Year Period: Police

LOS ANGELES (CA)
KTLA 5

May 21, 2019

A church volunteer has been arrested in the alleged yearslong sexual abuse of a girl in Rancho Cucamonga, and police on Tuesday said there may be other victims in the case.

Christopher Sjaarda, 38, was taken into custody last Saturday and booked on suspicion of sexual acts against a child, according to a news release from the Rancho Cucamonga Police Department.

An investigation began last month when detectives were notified about possible sexual acts against a child in Rancho Cucamonga, the release read.

Through extensive interviews with the girl, detectives learned she was sexually abused on a number of occasions over the past five years, allegedly by Sjaarda, police said.

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Sacramento Catholic diocese settles priest sex abuse lawsuit involving Woodland woman

SACRAMENTO (CA)
The Sacramento Bee

May 21, 2019

By Michael McGough

A Woodland woman has received a $200,000 settlement from the Sacramento Catholic Diocese and the current pastor of a Woodland church after filing a lawsuit in 2017 accusing a former priest of sexual assault and claiming church officials largely ignored her pleas for help.

Dorothy Small’s lawsuit alleged that she met the Rev. Renerio Sabuga Jr., the then-new assistant priest at Woodland’s Holy Rosary Catholic Church in 2014. Within months, the lawsuit claimed, Sabuga pursued Small romantically until he allegedly “cornered (Small) in her bedroom and sexually assaulted” her Feb. 17, 2015.

The allegations in Small’s lawsuit went on to say officials with the Sacramento diocese, and others at Holy Rosary, including current pastor the Rev. Jonathan Molina, did not do enough to address Small’s requests for help in the months after she took the complaints to church officials at the diocese – which was her preference over taking the matter to police.

Small, her attorney Joseph George and a coordinator with Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) discussed the case and provided a copy of the recent settlement during a Tuesday news conference at George’s office in Sacramento.

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Loud Fence ribbons cut off in ‘disrespectful’ vandalism

AUSTRALIA
The Courier

May 22, 2019

By Jolyon Attwooll

Ribbons were cut off the St Patrick’s Cathedral fence in an act of vandalism described as “disrespectful” and “selfish”.

Maureen Hatcher, who set up the Loud Fence movement in support of victims and survivors of sexual abuse, said the action was very disappointing.

“It seems to happen every so often,” she told The Courier.

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West Virginia AG Strengthens His Lawsuit against WV Catholic Diocese

WEST VIRGINIA
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests

May 21, 2019

We are grateful that West Virginia Attorney General Morrisey is keeping the pressure up on the Wheeling-Charleston diocese by bringing new counts and evidence to his lawsuit. Informed communities are safer communities, and the more that is investigated, the more truth gets exposed.

It is especially troubling to learn that church officials at the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston chose not to publicly disclose reports of child sexual abuse by one of their teachers in 2006. Given that this event happened years after the adoption of the “Dallas Charter,” there is no reasonable explanation church officials could use to explain why these allegations remained secret. The same is true for the diocese’s arrogant decision to allow individuals to volunteer at schools without background checks.

These are reckless and dangerous choices that church officials actively made. And until church officials are held accountable for their crimes of enabling and covering up child sex crimes, we fear that church officials will continue this pattern of irresponsible decision-making.

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Catholic monk joins Msgr. Craig Harrison accusers

BAKERSFIELD (CA)
KGET

May 21, 2019

By Olivia LaVoice

It’s been almost a month since Msgr. Craig Harrison was put on leave pending an investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct.

We’ve seen huge support for Msgr. Harrison, and we’ve seen support from victim advocacy groups for the men who’ve come forward.

In an exclusive interview, we hear from someone still part of the Catholic clergy.

Speaking out against another member of the church is something he says he never imagined he’d do, but after much prayer and many sleepless nights, he says he know this is the right thing.

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May 21, 2019

‘The Church of the abuse scandal is the only Church we know’

UNITED STATES
La Croix International

May 21, 2019

By Massimo Faggioli

University students in the United States offer fresh insights into the clergy sex abuse crisis

St. Augustine is quoted as saying that “one learns by teaching” — docendo discitur. This has never been more true for me than during this past semester when I taught an undergraduate university course on the sexual abuse crisis in the Catholic Church.

My class included 30 students aged 21-22, mostly from the United States. There was a mixture of males and females majoring in a variety of fields, from biology to political sciences. Most of them were Catholics, but there was a substantial minority of non-Catholics and even non-Christians. Almost all of them admitted to wrestling with the “God question” as well as the meaning of the Church.

I learned much while preparing my lectures, mainly from reading scholarly materials that integrated and systematized our knowledge of the various aspects of the abuse crisis from a historical and theological point of view.

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On eve of divorce referendum, Irish Church urges more support for marriage

LEICESTER (UK)
CRUX

May 21, 2019

By Charles Collins

Ireland should do more to support marriage, instead of making it easier to get a divorce, says Bishop Denis Nulty.

The bishop of Kildare and Leighlin was speaking ahead of a May 24 referendum in the Republic of Ireland to change the Irish constitution which requires couples to have lived apart for four of the past five years before being able to dissolve their marriage.

The referendum is supported by every major party in Ireland and is expected to pass easily.

For most of its history, divorce was prohibited in the Republic of Ireland. In 1995, the constitutional ban on marriage dissolution was repealed in a referendum with just 50.28 percent of the vote.

The new constitutional language required a waiting period before a divorce, and also regulated which foreign divorces would be recognized by the Irish state.

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Morrisey adds new allegations to sexual abuse lawsuit against diocese

WHEELING (WV)
Charleston-Gazette Mail

May 21, 2019

By Jake Zuckerman

West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey amended his lawsuit against the Wheeling-Charleston Diocese of the Catholic Church, submitting new allegations of sexual abuse and subsequent concealment.

Tuesday’s additions to his original suit, filed in Wood County Circuit Court in March, came after calling on victims or former employees of the diocese to come forward.

Among the new allegations:

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1 in 10 Young Protestants Have Left a Church Over Abuse

UNITED STATES
Christianity Today

May 21, 2019

By Kate Shellnutt

As the generation most likely to report experiencing misconduct and least likely to tolerate it, Christians under 35 stand to shape how congregations respond.

Surrounded by revelations of #MeToo and #ChurchToo, younger Christians are more keen to recognize sexual abuse—and less likely to put up with it.

According to a new study sponsored by LifeWay Christian Resources, 10 percent of Protestant churchgoers under 35 have previously left a church because they felt sexual misconduct was not taken seriously. That’s twice as many as the 5 percent of all churchgoers who have done the same.

Among the younger demographic, 9 percent said they have stopped attending a former congregation because they personally did not feel safe from misconduct.

Churchgoers ages 18 to 34 are more likely than older generations to report experiencing sexual harassment—ranging from sexual comments and prolonged glances—at church and to know others at their church who are victims (23%).

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Seeking Compensation After Abuse Allegations in Scranton Diocese

SCRANTON (PA)
WNEP

May 20, 2019

By Dave Bohman

Time may be running out for some victims of sexual abuse by Catholic priests because lawmakers are on the verge of killing a plan to give victims more time to sue for sex crimes.

Those men claim they were sexually abused in the 1970s by the same priest in Scranton, but that priest was not listed in a grand jury report released last year.

The three men we spoke with may not have their day in court, and they worry about pinning their hopes for justice on the diocese’s victim’s fund.

It is now Divine Mercy Parish in Scranton’s Minooka neighborhood. It was St. Joseph’s in the 1970s, and Fr. Michael Pulicare was its priest.

“When I was a little kid, he would kind of friend me. He would give me gifts and stuff like that,” said John Patchcoski.

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Poll: 89.3% of US Catholics say church was slow to take action on abuse

KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter

May 21, 2019

By Maria Benevento

A survey released May 20 by the St. Leo University Polling Institute reveals that 81.3% of Americans in general, and 89.3% of Catholics, believe the Catholic Church was slow to take action on clergy sexual abuse.

The poll also asked respondents how much they agreed that each of a series of reasons had contributed to “slow church action,” and asked them to select “contributing factors” for the abuse crisis.

It found that by far the most commonly identified cause of the church’s slow response — by 74% of Americans and almost 85% of Catholics — was a desire to “preserve and protect the Church’s influence and reputation at all cost.”

The second and third most popular options were “to avoid the financial ramifications” and “to protect the ‘good old boys’ network,’ ” with both statements earning agreement from between 40% and 42% of both Americans overall and Catholics.

On several other options, Americans in general and Catholics diverged by more than 10 percentage points. Americans overall more likely to indicate that church leadership “believed the clergy instead of victims” (37.6% versus 26.4% of Catholics) or believed “clergy were above the law” (34.1% versus 24%).

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Attorneys find no shortage of clients amid clergy abuse reports

PITTSBURGH (PA)
New Castle News

May 20, 2019

By Brent Addleman

Although the widespread impact of clergy sexual abuse in Pennsylvania Catholic churches came to light just last year, veteran Pittsburgh litigator Alan H. Perer has been representing victims for nearly two decades.

Perer, of SPK – the law firm of Swensen & Perer, located in downtown Pittsburgh, has been working cases against the Pittsburgh Diocese dating back to the early 2000s, long before an August 2018 Pennsylvania grand jury report detailed an extensive history of sexual abuse committed by clergy members within six dioceses, including Pittsburgh.

“I have been doing this for 17 years,” Perer said. “It has been very rough. A lot of cases earlier, we ran into the statute of limitations. We have been fighting this battle for a long time.

“I am hoping the compensation fund will be a compassionate fund. A lot of these people are really hurting and suffering from being abused as a child. I have many who were 10 to 12 years old, 13 years of age, some earlier in age and some that continued (suffering abuse) long after those ages.”

Perer said the abuse has taken a toll on his clients.

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Arizona House speaker’s bill on child rape is a total joke

AZCentral
Arizona Republic

May 21, 2019

By Laurie Roberts

Opinion: House Speaker Rusty Bowers has magically come up with a bill that does absolutely nothing to help child-rape victims hold their attackers accountable.

A clap of the hands, if you please, for this year’s legislative winner in that coveted category: Most Impressive Sounding Bill That Does Absolutely Nothing.

Naturally, there were a lot of entries in this highly competitive category at the Arizona Capitol. But a latecomer takes top honors – a last-minute bill that would give child victims of sexual assault more time to sue their rapists and the organizations that enable them.

Specifically, until they turn 30, up from 20.

Never mind that the average age that child victims of sexual assault come forward is 52, according to Child USA, a non-profit think tank that works on child abuse issues.

That is, after all, beside the point.

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