ABUSE TRACKER

UNITED KINGDOM
The Times

Sean O’Neill Chief Reporter
December 9 2015

A leading independent Roman Catholic school that was at the centre of a child protection investigation has been plunged into a new scandal after its deputy headmaster was charged with possessing extreme paedophile images.

Peter Allott, a former Tory councillor who is deputy head of St Benedict’s School, Ealing, west London, was charged with “possessing, showing and making indecent images of children” of the most explicit category and “possession of extreme pornography”.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Daily Star

By Margi Murphy / Published 9th December 2015

Peter Allot, a politics teacher at private St Benedict’s school, was arrested on Monday (7 December) by the National Crime Agency, which investigates the most serious crimes in the UK.

Allot, 39, was charged with possessing, showing and making indecent images of children as well as possessing extreme pornography yesterday (December 8).

The former Tory councillor has been a teacher at St Benedict’s since 2004.

He left for a year in 2011 to work as a research associate for a project on the Prime Minister’s “Big Society” initiative and Catholic social teaching at Cambridge University.

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AUSTRALIA
The Courier

By Melissa Cunningham
Dec. 8, 2015

A WIDESPREAD conspiracy to conceal child sex abuse by a disgraced priest was orchestrated by leaders of the Catholic Church and Victoria police, an inquiry has heard.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse heard Former Victorian police chief Reg Jackson was the “architect” of a secret plot to conceal child sex abuse by notorious paedophile Monsignor John Day.

Former Mildura detective Denis Ryan, 83, told the inquiry how his investigation into numerous child sex abuse allegations against Day was thwarted by senior police officers in the early 1970s.

He said the men were actively working for the church and against officers investigating rogue priests.

Mr Ryan told the inquiry the police officers were known as the “Catholic Mafia.”

A group of men who concealed crimes, tipped off offending priests and allowed them to continue to sexually abuse children in a disturbingly misguided attempt to protect the Catholic Church.

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UNITED STATES
South China Morning Post

Story based on the Boston Globe investigation that uncovered the facilitation of child abuse by the Catholic Church dissects the news media’s watchdog role, writes Roy J. Harris Jnr

The best lessons about how journalists work come from seeing them in action. And no film has ever done a better job than Spotlight of showing reporters and editors in their “watchdog” role: digging out important news that others want kept secret.

The film tells the story of four members of The Boston Globe’s investigative unit, the Spotlight team, and follows what happens after the newspaper’s editor, on his first day on the job, in 2001, tasks them with looking into the case of a defrocked Catholic priest who had been repeatedly accused of sexually abusing children in his care. This leads them to investigate whether church leaders in Boston, in the northeastern United States, knew about the abuse by that priest and by others – and protected them by quietly transferring them to new parishes, where they were free to harm other children.

Because the Globe did its job so well – eventually documenting shockingly widespread abuses by priests and the cover-up by the Boston Archdiocese of a pervasive problem – Spotlight offers many lessons about the way news organisations can have a positive impact in their communities and beyond. (The Globe won the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service in 2003 for this work.) It is also rich in news literacy teachable moments.

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TEXAS
American-Statesman

By Philip Jankowski – American-Statesman Staff

Round Rock police officers arrested an East Austin pastor accused of having a sexual relationship with a teenage parishioner.

Henry Lee McGee Sr., 68, is charged with continuous sexual abuse of a child after the victim told authorities of numerous sexual encounters with the pastor of First Baptist Church, 4805 Heflin Lane in East Austin. The abuse lasted more than a year, according to an arrest affidavit.

McGee was arrested Monday and released later that day after posting $80,000 bail, according to Williamson County Jail records.

Phone messages to the church and McGee were not immediately returned Tuesday.

McGee was listed as the lead pastor on the church’s website Tuesday afternoon. The church is the oldest African-American Baptist church in Travis County, according to its website.

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MICHIGAN
Chronicle Daily

by Dillon Hess on 09/12/2015

More than a decade after the death of a priest who worked in 17 Detroit-area communities over 40 years, the Archdiocese of Detroit has looked into a sexual abuse allegation against the clergyman and found it to be credible.

He died in 2004 at the age of 65. But church officials “put no time limits on the reporting of sexual abuse of minors” by members of the priesthood or any other personnel connected with churches and related institutions such as parochial schools and seminaries, said Joe Kohn, spokesman for the Archdiocese of Detroit.

Mr. Kohn declined to specify where or when it occurred. They released the information in order to find any other victims and offer them counseling services. West served in about 20 parishes across southeast MI.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

December 9, 2015

Jane Lee

A priest who was involved in decisions to move paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale between numerous parishes told a court Ridsdale was an “outstanding priest” without finding out what crimes he was to be sentenced for.

Father Frank Madden was a member of a group of senior priests called the College of Consultors, which advised Ballarat Bishop Ronald Mulkearns on various appointments of priests within the diocese between 1979 and 1982.

Father Madden was among those who provided a character reference for Ridsdale after he pleaded guilty to sexually abusing eight boys, saying he had worked “closely” with Ridsdale for 30 years in various roles in the Ballarat diocese.

“In my judgment Father Ridsdale has been quite an outstanding priest in almost every facet of his work … To the best of my knowledge, Father Ridsdale is held in high regard by the vast number of people he has ministered to throughout the diocese,” the reference to the court said.

Justice Peter McClellan, the chairman of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, asked Father Madden on Wednesday whether he had found out what Ridsdale’s crimes were before providing the reference.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Nick McLaren

A Catholic Priest has been found not-guilty of an alleged historical indecent assault at a Wollongong school in the 1980s.

58-year-old Father Patrick Kervin served as a school counsellor, chaplain and teacher at Holy Spirit in Bellambi where it was alleged the assault occurred on the then 15-year-old boy.

The case came to light as a result of the former student detailing his molestation to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

It was then referred the Department of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and concluded at Kiama District Court on Wednesday.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

December 9, 2015

Jane Lee

A priest has denied a survivor’s allegations that Cardinal George Pell joked to him about paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale sexually abusing children.

A survivor, known as BWE, told a royal commission on Monday that he overheard then-Father Pell speaking to parish priest Father Frank Madden in the sacristy at St Patrick’s Cathedral in Ballarat while he prepared to serve as an altar boy for a funeral mass in 1983. BWE said Father Madden had asked Father Pell ‘How’s everything your way?’ and that he responded by saying, ‘Ha ha I think Gerry’s been rooting boys again’.”

Father Madden rejected the account to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse on Wednesday, saying, “Absolutely not … I find that totally impossible. I didn’t co-celebrate a requiem mass with George Pell in the cathedral ever.”

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AUSTRALIA
news.com.au

Megan Palin and AAP

VICTORIA Police will apologise and pay compensation to a former detective whose investigation into child abuse allegations against a Catholic priest was stymied by senior officers.

The police and church protected paedophile Monsignor John Day, thwarting a 1971-1972 investigation by former Mildura policeman Denis Ryan, the child abuse royal commission has heard.

Victoria chief commissioner from 1977 to 1987, Mick Miller, told the inquiry he did not know of the existence of a “Catholic mafia”, as described by Mr Ryan, comprising Catholic police officers who protected priests. But he blames his immediate predecessor Reg Jackson for police putting a stop to Mr Ryan’s investigation into Day.

“It is my opinion that chief commissioner Reg Jackson was the architect of the Victoria Police’s response to Denis Ryan’s investigations into Monsignor Day,” Mr Miller told the commission on Tuesday.

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CANADA
Toronto Star

BY SAM PAZZANO, TORONTO SUN
FIRST POSTED: TUESDAY, DECEMBER 08, 2015

TORONTO – A Romanian orthodox priest who sexually assaulted eight women was sentenced Tuesday to seven months in prison and three years’ probation.

“These victims’ special relationship with the church is broken,” Judge Peter Hryn said as he sentenced Ioan Pop, 57.

“It’s a gross breach of trust. These women have suffered from anxiety, depression, fear and paranoia.”

The Scarborough priest threatened to curse one of his victims, as well as her family and “generation after generation,” if she divulged his sexual advances.

She had sought his help while her husband was in a coma after a devastating car crash in 1999.

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

AAP

December 9, 2015

A retired Victorian Catholic vicar-general says he should have challenged the appointment of an accused pedophile priest to another parish.

Monsignor John Day was accused in 1971 and 1972 of indecently assaulting children while the parish priest in Mildura, the Diocese of Ballarat’s northern-most parish, but he was not charged.

After a year off, Day was appointed parish priest of Timboon in the far south of the Ballarat diocese, which covers the western third of Victoria.

Then Ballarat diocese vicar-general Fr Frank Madden said he could not remember the January 1973 College of Consultors meeting approving the Timboon appointment.

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TEXAS
KEYE

Round Rock Police have arrested 68-year-old Henry Lee McGee of Round Rock for sexual abuse of a child.

According to police, the incident was initially reported to the Austin Police Department by the victim’s parents. APD referred the family to Round Rock Police as that is where the abuse occurred.

An investigation by RRPD revealed McGee had committed sexual acts with the victim since June of 2014.

According to an affidavit, the victim told her friends at a church meeting in October of 2015 that she had been in a sexual relationship with McGee for the past year.

Police say McGee had been in a sexual relationship with the girl since she was 13. McGee was her church pastor at First Baptist Church in East Austin.

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TEXAS
KXAN

By Sophia Beausoleil
Published: December 8, 2015

AUSTIN (KXAN) — The pastor of First Baptist Church in East Austin is accused of sexually assaulting a child from the church.

Court records state Rev. Dr. Henry McGee, 68, had a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old youth member for more than a year.

Williamson County records say the relationship was initially reported to the Austin Police Department, but later referred to Round Rock Police because McGee is accused of having sex with the minor at a Round Rock hotel in October.

Police said the teen was at a youth group church meeting when her friends asked her what was going on between Pastor McGee and her. The teen told her friends about the sexual relationship, leading to her parents finding out and calling police.

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UNITED STATES
The Worthy Adversary

Posted by Joelle Casteix on December 8, 2015

**Listen to the StoryCorps interview here**

A clergy abuse survivor, former nun, Catholic elementary school principal, lesbian, gay rights activist, competitive ballroom dancer, and author all walk into a bar …

The “crowd” is just one person: Mary Dispenza. Her story is compelling—rich and complex in the relationships between how our society views sexuality, the roles of women, organized religion, activism, and child sexual abuse.

I’ve known Mary for years, but I had the ultimate honor of interviewing her for StoryCorps in 2014. You can listen to the piece here. We talk about how sexuality—as defined by others—has been a recurrent theme in her life. We also talked about family, love and loss. We both cried.

A blog post can’t do justice to Mary’s intricacy. You can’t talk about her abuse without talking about why she became a nun. You can’t talk about why she left the convent unless you talk about her passion for education. You can’t talk about her life as an adult Catholic without talking about her sexuality. You can’t talk about her activism without talking about her huge and unconditional love for her family. And really, you can’t get to the loving and multi-faceted heart of who she is without seeing this juxtaposition:

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MICHIGAN
MLive

By Khalil AlHajal | kalhajal@mlive.com

DETROIT, MI — More than a decade after the death of a priest who worked in 17 Detroit-area communities over 40 years, the Archdiocese of Detroit has looked into a sexual abuse allegation against the clergyman and found it to be credible.

The accusation of abusing a minor came years after Rev. David West died in 2004, according to the Archdiocese of Detroit.

“The Archdiocese of Detroit places no deadlines or time limits on reporting the sexual abuse of minors by priests, deacons, and other personnel,” the regional representative of the Catholic Church announced.

The complaint was “brought forward to the Archdiocesan Board of Review, considered, and was found to be credible,” the archdiocese announced.

West was ordained in 1964 and served in various capacities in 17 different southeast Michigan communities.

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MINNESOTA
Find A Grave

Birth: Apr. 3, 1923
Death: Jun. 5, 2011

The Reverend Father John Golobich, 88, died on Sunday, June 5, 2011, in St. Ann’s Residence, Duluth.

Father Golobich was born in Ely on April 3, 1923. He was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Duluth by Bishop Thomas Welch in Sacred Heart Cathedral on June 5, 1948.

Father Golobich served as Pastor in Hibbing, Kerrick, Lakewood, Gnesen, Tower, Silver Bay and several parishes in Duluth.

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MICHIGAN
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2015

Statement by David Clohessy of St. Louis, director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those abused by Priests (314 566 9790, davidgclohessy@gmail.com)

Detroit Catholic officials must do aggressive outreach – to 20 parishes and across the entire archdiocese – to seek out and help others who were hurt by a just-accused predator priest.

[CBS Detroit]

Only the most ignorant and callous would assume that over decades, Fr. David West just molested one child. In fact, we strongly suspect that Fr. West’s frequent transfers stem, at least in part, from reports of his abuse to church officials.

We also call on Detroit Archbishop Allen Vigneron to disclose when the credible report was made. We suspect it took months, instead of days, for church staff to respond to, investigate, reach a decision and disclose that decision. If so, that’s wrong. Delays like this are hurtful to victims.

We urge anyone who may have seen, suspected or suffered crimes by Fr. West or cover ups by Catholic officials to speak up, protect others, expose wrongdoers, and start healing.

Fr. West has worked in these communities: Farmington, Troy, Harper Woods, Rochester, Royal Oak, St. Clair Shores, Detroit, Grosse Pointe Woods, Redford, Ferndale, Warren, Temperance, Livonia, Eastpointe, Maybee, Dearborn Heights, Livonia, and Rockwood.

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PHILIPPINES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Prests

For immediate release: Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2015

Statement by Joelle Casteix of California, SNAP Southern California director (949-322-7434, jcasteix@gmail.com)

A priest who abused in Los Angeles is now accused of molesting a Philippine presidential candidate.

[Coconuts Manila]

Fr. Mark Falvey, a Jesuit, was accused in 2002 & 2003 of sexually abusing at least three LA-area kids. But this week, Rodrigo Duterte disclosed that he too had been molested as a boy by Fr. Falvey in the Philippines, as had some of Duterte’s classmates. We commend Duterte for his courage.

We call on Catholic officials in LA and the Philippines – and China and Washington state, where Fr. Falvey also worked – to aggressive seek out and help others who were assaulted by this predator priest.

Fr. Falvey is deceased. But the pain of his victims remains. And some who he hurt, we believe, are still suffering in shame, isolation and self-blame. They deserve consolation. Catholic officials must use their vast resources to reach out to those who are in pain because of these horrific childhood assaults and betrayals.

We beg anyone who may have seen, suspected or suffered crimes by Fr. Falvey or cover ups by Catholic officials to speak up, protect others, expose wrongdoers, and start healing.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

AAP

A former Victorian bishop would only tell his advisers what he believed he needed to share, a retired priest says.

Fr William Melican has told an inquiry he has no memory of Ballarat bishop Ronald Mulkearns discussing the real reasons for a number of priests being moved around the diocese.

The child abuse royal commission has heard Bishop Mulkearns told a 1977 College of Consultors meeting that Fr Paul David Ryan was in Washington DC and would be for at least two years.

Fr Melican said he could not recall being told why Ryan was in the US, where he was receiving therapy, nor, in 1978, about a complaint about Ryan’s relationship with a teenager.

“He would share what he needed to share with us in his judgment, and that didn’t necessarily mean everything,” Fr Melican said of Bishop Mulkearns.

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MINNESOTA
Canonical Consultation

12/08/2015

Jennifer Haselberger

Yesterday, it was announced that the US Supreme Court had declined to hear the appeal of Father Christopher Wenthe, a priest of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis who in 2011 was convicted of third degree criminal sexual conduct under a Minnesota law that makes it a felony for a member of the clergy to engage in sexual conduct with a person to whom he or she is providing spiritual care. Wenthe has long admitted to the sexual relationship with the victim; the dispute is over whether that sexual relationship occurred simultaneous to his providing her with religious comfort or support.

None of this is news. The Wenthe case first appeared in the newspapers in February of 2011, when he was arrested from his offices at the Delano Catholic Community (the Churches of St. Joseph and St. Peter). The charges dated back to 2003, when Wenthe was the newly-ordained associate priest at the Church of the Nativity of Our Lord in Saint Paul. The Archdiocese first learned of the relationship shortly after it ended, and both Wenthe and the victim received counseling and other services from the Archdiocese. Then, Wenthe was returned to ministry, first as an associate priest in Stillwater and then as pastor in Delano. The female victim became an employee of the Archdiocese, working in the Office of Marriage and Family Life.

The victim only reported the matter to police in 2010, after learning that Wenthe had been appointed pastor and given spiritual charge of a parish community. According to the Star Tribune, Ramsey County prosecutors argued in court that ‘ the “final straw” for the victim was when the archdiocese appointed Wenthe as a pastor in Delano, and Archbishop John Nienstedt wrote a letter to her saying that she should trust the shepherds of the church.’ The paper also reported the victim as testifying, ‘I felt [then] the burden fell on me to ensure that all the details were known to the public.’

With the Supreme Court declining to hear the case, it seems that the long legal battle over the relationship between Wenthe and the victim is finally at an end. But, what about Father Wenthe’s status as a priest? Clearly, both the Church and the civil authorities investigated this matter years ago (the Church in the early 2000s, and the police for an extended period in 2010-2011). Wenthe was convicted of the criminal charges in 2011, served time until 2012, then was released and placed on probation. Canon law allows penalties to be applied against a priest who has violated his obligation of celibacy, but the canonical statute of limitations for those incidents (unlike for the crime of sexual abuse of a minor) is capped at five years following the occurrence of the behavior and (again unlike cases of sexual abuse of minors) penalties can’t be applied once that five year period has expired.

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MICHIGAN
Fox 2

(WJBK) – More than a decade after his death, authorities say they have a credible allegation of sexual abuse against a popular Roman Catholic priest.

Father David West was well known in the community and served at more than 20 parishes across southeast Michigan since he became ordained in 1964. He died in 2004 at the age of 65.

The allegation of sexual abuse of a minor was recently brought forward to the Archdiocesan Board of Review, and found to be credible. The Archdiocese of Detroit places no deadlines or time limits on reporting the sexual abuse of minors by priests, deacons, or other personnel.

Authorities are naming the parish assignments West received as they believe other victims may be out there.

Associate Pastor at Our Lady of Sorrows, Farmington; Our Lady Queen of Peace, Harper Woods; St. Anastasia, Troy; St. Andrew, Rochester; St. Dennis, Royal Oak; St. Joan of Arc, St. Clair Shores; St. Matthew, Detroit;

Pastor of Our Lady Star of the Sea, Grosse Pointe Woods; St. Agatha, Redford; St. James, Ferndale; St. Louise de Marillac, Warren;

Administrator at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, Temperance; St. Aidan, Livonia; St. Basil the Great, Eastpointe; St. Joseph, Maybee; St. Mel, Dearborn Heights; St. Michael, Livonia; St. Victor, Rockwood;

Served on the faculty of Sacred Heart Seminar; as a minister at Wayne State University; and as chaplain at Bishop Gallagher High School.

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MINNESOTA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, Dec. 7, 2015

Statement by Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, SNAP outreach director (314-503-0003 cell, bdorris@SNAPnetwork.org)

The US Supreme Court has rejected an appeal by a Minnesota predator priest. Now, Twin Cities Archbishop Bernard Hebda has no reason to sit back and do nothing. If he cares about healing the wounded and protecting the vulnerable, Hebda will work hard to find and help others who have been hurt by Fr. Christopher Wenthe.

Fr. Wenthe “was convicted in 2011 of third-degree criminal sexual conduct for having sex with (a) woman at a meeting in which she sought counseling in 2003. State law makes it a felony for clergy members to have sex with people they are spiritually advising,” according to the AP.

http://kstp.com/article/stories/s3984285.shtml

http://www.twincities.com/crime/ci_28373255/st-paul-priests-sex-misconduct-conviction-reinstated

http://www.mncourts.gov/opinions/sc/current/OPA120263-062415.pdf

Hebda’s not dumb. He knows that adults who are exploited by clerics are usually filled with shame, confusion and self-blame. He knows that they’ll likely stay silent unless he does aggressive outreach to them. But he’s unwilling to do so. He’s like virtually every other Catholic official who prefers to comfortably sit in offices rather than go out, like Jesus suggested (in the parable of the Good Shepherd), and help the lost and wounded sheep. Shame on him.

As Twin Cities SNAP leader Frank Meuers said earlier this year, “Fr. Wenthe preys on vulnerable, devout women who have been raised since birth to respect and revere allegedly celibate priests who posture as Christ’s representatives on earth. That’s why it’s illegal in Minnesota and other states for clerics to sexually exploit congregants. Bishop Bernard Hebda is essentially a ‘caretaker.’ He can’t initiate radical changes in the archdiocese. He can, however, use church resources to reach out to others who saw, suspected or suffered Fr. Wenthe’s crimes. And if he wants us to believe he’s a better shepherd than his predecessor, that’s precisely what he’ll do. Parish bulletins, pulpit announcements, church websites, news releases – these are a few of the many ways Hebda could prod others with information or suspicions about Fr. Wenthe’s crimes to step forward. We challenge Hebda to do this immediately and to personally go to each place where Fr. Wenthe worked spreading this message.”

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OHIO
WDTN

[with video]

By Tyler Utzka

HUBER HEIGHTS, Ohio (WDTN) – In February the Archdiocese of Cincinnati began tracing the finances of St Peter Church in Huber Heights after receiving an ethics complaint.

Huber Heights police have also been looking into the situation.

According to the Montgomery County Auditor’s website, Earl Simone is the owner of a condo in Huber Heights that went up for sale last month.

It’s one of several properties in the county that lists Simone as the owner.

Earlier this year, the Archdiocese of Cincinnati reported financial irregularities at the St. Peter Church where Simone was the Reverend from 1992 until his resignation in April. He cited his health, age and personal concerns for his departure.

2 NEWS also found that Simone filed paperwork back in 2003 to start the Huber Heights business: Flynn Realty, Inc.

The Archdiocese of Cincinnati has not released how much money is missing but says it’s conducting its own investigation to find out the exact dollar amount.

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MINNESOTA
Kathpress

Washington, 08.12.2015 (KAP/KNA) In den USA hat eine weitere katholische Diözese wegen Missbrauchs-Entschädigungen Insolvenz angemeldet. Die Diözese Duluth in Minnesota stellte am Montag einen entsprechenden Eilantrag, nachdem ihr im November eine Teilschuld an einem Missbrauchsfall von 1978 zugesprochen worden war. Demnach steht die Diözese nun vor einer Schadensersatzforderung von 4,9 Millionen Dollar (4,5 Millionen Euro). Der Gesamthaushalt betrug im vergangenen Jahr nach Diözesanangaben knapp 3,3 Millionen Dollar.

Generalvikar James Bissonette äußerte sich in einer Pressemitteilung am Montag betrübt, dass Versuche einer anderen Einigung gescheitert seien. Der Insolvenzantrag solle nun “sicherstellen, dass die Mittel der Diözese unter allen Opfern gerecht aufgeteilt werden können und zugleich die tägliche Arbeit der Kirche fortgesetzt werden kann”.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Publik Forum

[Everything done right?}

von Christoph Fleischmann 04.12.2015

Das Bistum Hildesheim will nichts falsch gemacht haben bei der Verfolgung eines Priesters, der des Missbrauchs beschuldigt wurde Eilig wurde am Dienstag, dem 1. Dezember, eine Pressekonferenz einberufen; es war mal wieder Zeit fürs Krisenmanagement in der katholischen Kirche. Und die Verteidigungsstrategie lautete: Alles abstreiten. »Die Vorwürfe sind in keiner Weise haltbar«, gab sich der Hildesheimer Weihbischof Heinz-Günter Bongartz empört. Von Selbstkritik keine Spur. Worum es ging? Darum, wie er und Diözesanbischof Norbert Trelle 2010 mit Missbrauchsvorwürfen gegen einen Priester des Bistums Hildesheim umgegangen waren.

Dieser Text stammt von der Webseite https://www.publik-forum.de/Religion-Kirchen/alles-richtig-gemacht# des Internetauftritts von Publik-Forum

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DEUTSCHLAND
Deutschlandfunk

[Bishop Stephan Ackermann told the German Press Agency that he does not believe the chapter of sexual abuse in the church will ever come to an end. People are still reporting past sexual assaults. So far about 1,600 victims have been awarded compensation.]

Die Aufarbeitung von Missbrauchsfällen in der katholischen Kirche ist nach Ansicht des Trierer Bischofs Ackermann noch nicht abgeschlossen.

Er sagte der Deutschen Presse-Agentur, er glaube nicht, dass das Kapitel jemals zu Ende sein werde. Es gebe immer noch Menschen, die sexuelle Übergriffe aus der Vergangenheit meldeten, auch wenn es weniger seien als vor ein paar Jahren. Bisher sind rund 1600 Opfern Entschädigungszahlungen zugesprochen worden. – Ackermann ist seit 2010 Missbrauchsbeauftragter der Deutschen Bischofskonferenz.

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UNITED STATES
The New Yorker

BY SARAH LARSON

Since seeing the movie “Spotlight,” about the Boston Globe investigation of sexual abuse and coverups in the Catholic Church, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it and the questions it raises—about how far institutions will go to protect themselves, about who we listen to and protect, about who and what we ignore, about the power of disclosure and even conversation. It begins with a portrait of institutionalized secrecy—at a police station in Boston in 1976, where cops, a bishop, and an A.D.A. are keeping a molestation accusation quiet—and shows us the process of how the truth came to be revealed. Spotlight, the Globe’s investigative team, published its first story in its series, “Church Allowed Abuse by Priest for Years,” on January 6, 2002; in the next year, it published over six hundred more, using the Church’s own documents to document extensive and almost systemic abuse by clergy.

Recently, I went to the Globe offices and talked to three of the team’s journalists, Walter (Robby) Robinson (Michael Keaton in “Spotlight”), Sacha Pfeiffer (Rachel McAdams), and Michael Rezendes (Mark Ruffalo), and I called their former editor, Martin (Marty) Baron, now the editor of the Washington Post, to ask about their experiences with the story. It begins with Baron’s arrival at the Globe from his previous job at the Miami Herald. He was an outsider—“an unmarried man of the Jewish faith who hates baseball,” as a character in the movie puts it—whose perspective helped him confront what others could not or would not.

Baron told me that before he got to the Globe, he knew little about the clergy sexual-abuse story. He also knew little about Boston. “I knew virtually nobody at the paper and virtually nobody in town,” he said. Copies of the Globe were shipped to him in Miami before his move. While reading them, he saw an article about Father John Geoghan, who had been accused of abusing as many as eighty-four kids. “That was in the Metro section,” he told me. “And I was struck that I hadn’t heard about the case.” The Sunday before his first day, Eileen McNamara published a column in which she noted that the plaintiffs’ attorney, Mitchell Garabedian, had accused Cardinal Bernard F. Law, of the Boston archdiocese, of knowing about Geoghan’s behavior, “and yet reassigning him, notwithstanding the serial abuse,” Baron said. The archdiocese’s lawyers denied it. “And at the end of the column, she said something to the effect of ‘The truth may never be known, because the documents are sealed.’ I was really struck by that.”

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INDIA
Times of India

Rajkot: A 70-year-old temple priest was arrested for allegedly raping a woman from Raiyadhar area in Rajkot city on Monday.

The accused identified as Magandas Nimavat is the mahant of Hanuman Temple in Raiyadhar.

He was arrested after a 30-year-old woman and a mother of three children, lodged a complaint against him with Gandhigram police station.

The woman told the police, “My husband is casual labourer. However, he has been unemployed since the last few weeks. We used to go to Hanuman Temple every week and meet Magandas.

On Saturday, he told me that because of some elements in my body, my husband was not getting work. He needed to perform black magic to get rid of the ill elements.”

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INDIA
Times of India

Wilson Thomas,TNN | Dec 8, 2015

KOCHI: On the run for nearly eight months, a catholic priest who was booked for raping a minor girl, surrendered before the police on Tuesday. Fr Edwin Figarez (41), surrendered before the Aluva DSP office around 1pm on Tuesday. Figarez was later arrested and handed over to the Vadakkekara police for interrogation. He went absconding in April this year following a complaint filed by a 14-year-old girl’s parent.

As per the complaint filed by the girl’s mother, the priest raped her daughter several times between January and March 28 this year. Figarez was the parish priest of Lourdes Matha Church,Puthenvelikkara in Ernakulam rural when he allegedly raped the girl.

Vadakkekara circle inspector T MVarghese said that the priest, in order to avoid arrest, had been shifting locations. He had fled to Dubai on April 2, a day after the complaint was lodged. Later, he returned to India and remained elusive, said the police.

A look-out circular was issued against the priest. Meantime, he moved Kerala High court for anticipatory bail through his counsel. However, the bail was denied and he remained absconding.

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CALIFORNIA
Daily Press

By Monica Solano
Staff Writer
By Paola Baker
Staff Writer

Posted Dec. 7, 2015

ADELANTO — A High Desert pastor was convicted last month of having sex with a minor in connection with an incident dating back to July, according to San Bernardino County court records.

Craig R. Lorick, 54, of Adelanto, head pastor of Down 2 Earth Christian Fellowship in Adelanto, was arrested on suspicion of lewd or lascivious acts with a child 14 to 15 years old and having unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor on July 13, court records show.

Lorick first pleaded not guilty during his original arraignment in September, but was offered a plea bargain on Nov. 19 and changed his plea to no contest, court records show.

Lorick’s plea of no contest found him guilty on one count of having unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor more than three years younger than him, while a count of lewd or lascivious acts with a child was dismissed. Lorick is not required to register as a sex offender as part of the plea bargain, court records show.

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AUSTRALIA
The Advertiser

NEIL KEENE
The Advertiser

THE “extraordinary” police case against Adelaide Archbishop Philip Wilson is both unprecedented and “foredoomed to fail”, a court heard this morning.

An application to grant a permanent stay on proceedings against Wilson got under way in the Newcastle Local Court in NSW on Tuesday, with Wilson’s barrister, Ian Temby QC, arguing there were no grounds for the case to proceed to trial.

Wilson is the highest ranking member of the Catholic Church to be charged with concealing child sex offences.

Police allege a teenage victim of paedophile priest Jim Fletcher told Wilson in 1976 about his abuse – five years after the incident took place in Newcastle.

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AUSTRALIA
news.com.au

A drunk Catholic priest caught in a car with two prostitutes and his pants around his ankles was a regular customer of the women, the child abuse royal commission heard.

“He was pissed to the eyeballs with his strides around his ankles,” former Victorian policeman Denis Ryan recalled.

Mr Ryan and two other officers had pulled over a car that kept bumping into the gutter in St Kilda in early 1956.

The driver was a well-known prostitute named Hazel, Mr Ryan told the commission.

“There was another prostitute and laying across, with his head on the driver and his feet on the other prostitute, was a man with his pants down around his ankles, his genitals showing,” Mr Ryan said.

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

Former Victorian police chief Reg Jackson was the architect of a conspiracy to conceal child sex abuse by a Catholic priest, his successor has told an inquiry.

The police and church protected pedophile Monsignor John Day, thwarting a 1971-1972 investigation by former Mildura policeman Denis Ryan, the child abuse royal commission has heard.

Mick Miller, chief commissioner from 1977 to 1987, says he did not know of the existence of a ‘Catholic mafia’, as described by Mr Ryan, comprising Catholic police officers who protected priests.

But he blames his immediate predecessor Mr Jackson for police putting a stop to Mr Ryan’s investigation into Day.

‘It is my opinion that chief commissioner Reg Jackson was the architect of the Victoria Police’s response to Denis Ryan’s investigations into Monsignor Day,’ Mr Miller told the commission on Tuesday.

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VATICAN CITY
Business Standard

Vatican City, Dec 8 (IANS/AKI) A Vatican court agreed to allow second-in-command and other top advisers to Pope Francis be witnesses in the trial of five people over the leaks of stolen confidential Vatican documents.

It remains to be seen if secretary of state Cardinal Pietro Parolin will actually testify, or Cardinal Santos Abril y Castello, the president of the Commission of Cardinals of the Vatican bank, another possible witness.

The court’s decision followed a request by defendant Francesca Chaouqui, a public relations expert who along with a senior clergyman and his assistant are accused of forming a criminal organisation and of stealing and leaking the confidential documents.

The trio faces up to 10 years in jail if found guilty.

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GERMANY
The Local

Germany’s branch of the Catholic Church will “never” be finished dealing with the fallout from decades of abuse against children by members of the clergy, a bishop said on Tuesday.

“I don’t believe that this chapter will ever come to an end,” said Bishop Stephan Ackermann, the man charged with investigating past abuse by the Conference of German Bishops (DBK).

At the beginning of 2010, it began to emerge that priests at an elite Jesuit school in Berlin had sexually assaulted dozens of students in the 1970s and 80s.

The Church admitted that it failed to properly investigate reports of abuse and in some cases even covered them up by sending accused priests elsewhere.

Hundreds of more cases came to light and the Church launched investigations and prevention measures.

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MICHIGAN
CBS Detroit

DETROIT (WWJ/AP) – The Archdiocese of Detroit says a child sex abuse allegation has been “found to be credible” against a late Roman Catholic priest and pastor who served in about 20 parishes across southeast Michigan.

The Rev. David West was ordained in 1964 and served in many high-profile positions, including on the faculty of Sacred Heart Seminary in Detroit, as a minister at Wayne State University and as chaplain at Bishop Gallagher High School in Harper Woods. He died in 2004 at age 65.

According to a recent news release from the Archdiocese of Detroit, the allegation against West was brought forward to a review board and found to be credible years after his death.

An archdiocese spokesman says church officials “put no deadlines or time limits on reporting the sexual abuse of minors by priests, deacons and other personnel.”

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Sarah Farnsworth

More than four decades after former Mildura police officer Denis Ryan was stopped from investigating allegations of child sexual abuse by a Catholic priest, Victoria Police has admitted a conspiracy to cover up the crimes went right to the top.

Mr Ryan detailed to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse how his attempt to investigate allegations against Monsignor John Day in the 1970s was thwarted by what he describes as a “Catholic mafia” within the force.

“The common law of the police force was not to charge a priest, short of murder,” Mr Ryan, 83, said.

“The Catholics looked after the Catholics and the Masons looked after the Masons.”

In 1971 while stationed in Mildura, Mr Ryan learnt of numerous allegations against the assistant priest of the parish, Monsignor Day.

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NEW YORK
Forward

Amos Kamil
December 8, 2015

As a former student at Horace Mann School in the Bronx’s Riverdale neighborhood, I was instrumental in breaking the silence around the prestigious prep school’s decades-long history of child sexual abuse.

Although I myself am not an abuse survivor, I saw many of my fellow alumni’s stories come to light when The New York Times Magazine published my article, “Prep School Predators,” in June 2012. The article caused a firestorm, and the tale of its aftermath — which includes scores more alumni coming forward and ultimately naming 22 predators — is recounted in my new book, “Great Is the Truth: Secrecy, Scandal, and the Quest for Justice at the Horace Mann School,” co-written by Sean Elder.

Though the two cases are different, I believe that it is worth drawing out the similarities between how Horace Mann handled its scandal and how another institution — Yeshiva University High School for Boys — dealt with its sexual abuse controversy. Both of these cases should spur New York to overhaul its abysmal statute of limitations laws as they relate to child sex abuse.

In the cases of both Horace Mann and Y.U. high school some students came forward to speak of their abuse. But New York’s current statute of limitations law prevents a victim of child sexual abuse from filing suit after he or she turns 23. In essence, the law makes it possible for schools and other institutions to escape legal accountability simply by remaining silent long enough.

Contrary to popular belief, most victims do not come forward to sue but rather to have the abuse acknowledged and to have someone from the institution where the abuse occurred say “Sorry.” In both the Horace Mann and Y.U. high school cases, the schools begrudgingly acknowledged their former students’ suffering but took little if any responsibility.

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INDIA
Hindustan Times

Police on Tuesday arrested a 41-year-old fugitive Catholic priest in Kochi on the charge of repeatedly raping a teenager for more than four months when he was attached with the Kottapuram diocese in north Kerala.

Police said Father Edwin Figarez was on the run for the past six months, since he was accused of paedophilia and sexually abusing a 15-year-old girl, who he had met at the church during prayers.

The crime was revealed when the girl’s school noticed behavioural changes in her and she told her parents about the traumatic ordeal. Her parents immediately approached police and a medical examination confirmed the sexual abuse.

An officer said the class 9 student was abused till March 28, four months since the torment began.
The priest ran away to Dubai in April after the police complaint was filed against him and appealed for bail at the Kerala high court, which initially granted his wish till May 5. He was questioned by police after he returned to India on May 2.

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PHILIPPINES
Coconuts Manila

On Tue, Dec 8, the Jesuit congregation confirmed that the priest who allegedly fondled Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte when he was a teenager was also accused of child abuse in the US.

In an interview with radio dzMM, Society of Jesus spokesperson Fr. Nono Alfonso, Jr. said they have verified the records of the late Fr. Mark Falvey, SJ, whom Duterte named as his abuser.

Duterte earlier disclosed that Falvey had been one of the Jesuit priests at the Ateneo de Davao University (AdDU).

The mayor said the abuse happened once when he was a high school freshman in 1956. He said other boys were also molested by the American priest.

Duterte said he did not file a case because he was afraid of the priest. He was later expelled from the AdDU due to misconduct, and was sent to a distant school in Digos City, the Holy Cross of Digos, where he eventually finished his secondary education.

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MICHIGAN
WXYZ

[with video]

(WXYZ) – The Archdiocese of Detroit says a priest who died in 2004 has been linked to an allegation of sexual abuse of a minor that has been deemed to be credible.

Father David West was ordained in 1964 and the allegations of abuse date to the 1970s. The victim came forward years after West’s death.

The Archdiocese is not releasing any information on where the abuse happened.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

December 8, 2015

Jane Lee

Victoria Police will apologise and pay compensation to a former detective more than 30 years after senior officers covered up his investigation into child abuse allegations against a Catholic priest.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse on Tuesday heard from Denis Ryan, who had doggedly investigated allegations of child sexual abuse against Monsignor John Day in Mildura under intense pressure to stop. His superiors later took over the investigation and cleared Day of any wrongdoing.

Police tried to force Mr Ryan to transfer to another station in 1972, and he ultimately resigned from the force.

Mr Ryan broke down as he told the commission he had had nightmares of children being abused by Day: “Those children were being mentally and physically destroyed by Day and the police protected him. Ballarat Bishop [Ronald] Mulkearns also protected him. I wonder how many kids would have been saved if Victoria Police had gone on with the inquiry into Day.”

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MICHIGAN
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Detroit

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Dec 3, 2015

For more information contact:
Joe Kohn, Director of Public Relations
Kohn.Joseph@aod.org
313-237-5943

Fr WestFather David F. West. (1938-2004). Ordained in 1964. Years after his death, an allegation of sexual abuse of a minor was brought forward to the Archdiocesan Board of Review, considered, and was found to be credible.

Parish assignments included serving as an associate pastor Our Lady of Sorrows, Farmington, Our Lady Queen of Peace, Harper Woods, St. Anastasia, Troy, St. Andrew, Rochester, St. Dennis, Royal Oak, St. Joan of Arc, St. Clair Shores, St. Matthew, Detroit; as pastor of Our Lady Star of the Sea, Grosse Pointe Woods, St. Agatha, Redford, St. James, Ferndale, St. Louise de Marillac, Warren; as administrator at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, Temperance, St. Aidan, Livonia, St. Basil the Great, Eastpointe, St. Joseph, Maybee, St. Mel, Dearborn Heights, St. Michael, Livonia, St. Victor, Rockwood; and, served on the faculty of Sacred Heart Seminary, as a minister at Wayne State University, and as chaplain at Bishop Gallagher High School.

The Archdiocese of Detroit places no deadlines or time limits on reporting the sexual abuse of minors by priests, deacons, and other personnel and/or to speak to the Victim Assistance Coordinator c/o (866) 343-8055 or vac@aod.org.

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MICHIGAN
Deadline Detroit

Popular Roman Catholic priest and pastor, Father David West, served in about 20 parishes in southeast Michigan. He died in 2004 at age 65.

Now, more than 10 years after his passing, the church has concluded that an allegation of sexual abuse involving a minor is “credible,” Bill Laitner of the Detroit Free Prss reports.

Laitner reports:

The Rev. David West died in 2004 at age 65, well before anyone came forward charging him with sexual abuse, according to the Archdiocese of Detroit.

But church officials “put no time limits on the reporting of sexual abuse of minors” by members of the priesthood or any other personnel connected with churches and related institutions such as parochial schools and seminaries, said Joe Kohn, spokesman for the Archdiocese of Detroit.

“It doesn’t matter when it happens or when it’s reported. We try to determine if it’s credible and, if it is, we notify every place” in which the perpetrator ever served because “that increases the likelihood that this might have occurred elsewhere,” Kohn said.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Giselle Wakatama

Adelaide’s Catholic Archbishop Philip Wilson paid off an abuse victim, demonstrating a tendency of trying to make abuse matters go away, Newcastle Local Court has heard.

The court has begun hearing a stay of proceedings application by Wilson, the most senior Catholic clergyman in the world charged with concealing child sexual abuse.

The court was told the child sexual abuse cover-up charge laid against Wilson was invalid as there was no evidence the offence he is accused of concealing ever happened.

Wilson has pleaded not guilty to concealing the serious indictable offence of the now-dead paedophile priest James Fletcher in the 1970s.

The crown asked to admit tendency evidence in a bid to show Wilson’s alleged actions were not isolated.

Prosecutor Gareth Harrison alleged Wilson was involved in paying a woman an amount of money so an allegation of indecent assault would go away.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC – PM

TIM PALMER: The chief commissioner of Victoria Police has promised a formal apology to a man driven out of the force for trying to bring a paedophile priest to justice.

The former officer Denis Ryan told the royal commission into child sex abuse today that his colleagues conspired to cover up the priest’s crimes in Mildura in the 1970s.

The commission was told a “Catholic mafia” operated in Victoria Police at the time and that the conspiracy went right to the top.

Samantha Donovan reports.

SAMANTHA DONOVAN: In 1956, when Denis Ryan was a young policeman on divvy van duty in the Melbourne suburb of St Kilda he came across Catholic priest Father John Day for the first time.

DENIS RYAN: We decided to pull the car over and noticed that the driver was a well-known prostitute Hazel Hanrahan and we then went around to the other side of the car and there was another prostitute. And laying across with their head on the driver and the feet on the other prostitute was a man with his pants down around his ankles, genitals showing. He was wearing a catholic priest collar and on the floor was an empty sherry bottle.

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AUSTRALIA
Chronicle Daily

by David Chambers on 08/12/2015

Further claims about Cardinal George Pell’s knowledge of child sex abuse by priests are expected to be aired at a royal commission.

“When you look at it with the abuse of justice, the aiding and abetting, conspiring… for a religious belief that’s got nothing to do with the teaching of Christ, it’s only the teaching of the priests”.

“We say to the victims of Monsignor Day Victoria Police made mistakes in the past”. “The reason I went to him was because I wasn’t being heard at school”, he said.

“I think what part of today is about [is] trying to say sorry, to try and make sure we go forward and make sure we don’t do these things in the future”.

Outside court, current police Commissioner Graham Ashton said he accepted the evidence given by both men and he would be making an apology to Mr Ryan. /

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AUSTRALIA
Examiner Post

More damning allegations about Cardinal George Pell’s intricate knowledge of the sexual abuse of boys have emerged.

Miller said he was horrified by what he read in a book written by Ryan, which documented serial sex offences against children, and misconduct by police. “It was corruption at its highest, an absolute conspiracy…when you look at the abuse of justice”. Hazel again said to us: ‘He allows us to drive the auto.

“What we have been doing, what today is about is is particularly hearing Mr Ryan’s evidence and the evidence of former chief commissioner Miller. It’s all about trying to say sorry and trying to make sure we go forward”.

He said in the last few decades there had been profound changes in the way police respond to allegations of sexual assault.

Outside court, current police Commissioner Graham Ashton said he accepted the evidence given by both men and he would be making an apology to Mr Ryan.

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AUSTRALIA
Telegraph Times

by Lorena Waters Tuesday, 08 December, 2015

More than four decades after former Mildura police officer Denis Ryan was stopped from investigating allegations of child sexual abuse by a Catholic priest, Victoria Police has admitted a conspiracy to cover up the crimes went right to the top.

“It is my opinion that chief commissioner Reg Jackson was the architect of the Victoria police’s response to Denis Ryan’s investigations into Monsignor Day”, Miller told the child abuse royal commission on Tuesday.

Mr Ryan told the inquiry he questioned the other police officer as to why they did not charge Day and was told by him: “You don’t charge priests or you will be in more trouble than enough”.

“The Catholics looked after the Catholics and the Masons looked after the Masons”. They had taken Day and his vehicle back to the police station, where he was later picked up by two priests.

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AUSTRALIA
Chronicle Daily

by David Chambers on 08/12/2015

Graeme Sleeman says he wrote to Cardinal Pell, then the Melbourne archbishop, about a decade after he resigned as principal of Doveton’s Holy Family Primary School in 1986 in frustration that nothing was done about parish priest Peter Searson.

“I put my career on the line”. In testimony for the Royal Commission’s investigation, witnesses have charged that the cardinal was aware of a widespread abuse and even that he attempted to secure a victim’s silence by offering a bribe.

Then the archbishop ended the call. Mr Sleeman agreed with Cardinal Pell’s barrister Sam Duggan that the archbishop first said “I can’t do that”. Graffiti calling for Cardinal George Pell to be jailed has appeared on a building in Melbourne.

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INDIA
UCA News

Christopher Joseph, Kochi
India
December 8, 2015

A Catholic priest has been arrested for allegedly sodomizing a 13-year old boy in India’s Mumbai Archdiocese.

Mumbai police arrested Father Lawrence Johnson, 51, accused of abusing the boy on Nov. 27 at Christ the King Church parish, archdiocesan spokesman Father Nigel Barret told ucanews.com Dec. 7.

The priest is “now under judicial custody,” Father Barret said adding that Father Johnson was arrested Dec. 1 following complaints from the alleged victim’s family.

“Representatives of the archdiocese have met with the victim and his family … All assistance is currently being rendered to the victim’s family,” Father Barret said.

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INDIA
Kaumudi Online

KOCHI: Police have arrested Father Edwin Figarez, a priest attached to the Lourdes Matha Church, Puthenvelikkara in Ernakulam district in connection with a case in which he allegedly raped a 14-yr-old girl at the church complex. The priest had gone into hiding after the incident.

Figarez’ brother and Chalakkudi native Sylvetser Figarez (58) and nephew and marine engineer Garvin Figarez (22) from Vellikkulangara were earlier arrested by the police in connection with the incident.

The case was filed by Puthenvelikkara police last April based on the complaint lodged by the girl’s mother. After this, with the help of certain local bar owners and members of Church Committee, the priest went into hiding. Later he slipped away to Dubai. On April 27 he appeared before Vadakkekkara Circle Inspector and recorded statement. But later when the high court rejected his bail petition, he again went into hiding.

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MINNESOTA
Duluth News Tribune

By Tom Olsen Today at 7:52 p.m.

Facing a nearly $5 million verdict, six lawsuits and a dozen additional claims stemming from child sexual abuse cases, the Diocese of Duluth on Monday filed for bankruptcy protection.

The Chapter 11 filing comes a month after a St. Paul jury handed down a landmark $8.1 million verdict against the diocese and a Catholic religious order in the first case to go to trial under the Minnesota Child Victims Act.

The Rev. James Bissonette, vicar general of the diocese, said bankruptcy was the only option in wake of a sizeable verdict and uncertainty over the number of lawsuits the diocese will face.

“Because of the size of the award and our limited resources, when we looked at it we needed to do this today in order to assure some measure of justice for all the victims and to make sure that the day-to-day operations of the diocese continue,” Bissonette told the News Tribune.

Bissonette noted that the diocese has been ordered to pay approximately $4.9 million in damages from the recent trial, while the organization’s annual budget is only about $3.3 million.

The diocese is the 15th in the nation to file for bankruptcy over sexual abuse claims, according to victims’ advocates.

Mike Finnegan, an attorney for St. Paul-based Jeff Anderson and Associates, the leading law firm representing abuse victims, said he’s confident that his clients will see a fair resolution to their cases.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

Tessa Akerman
Reporter
Melbourne

A witness has told the child sex abuse royal commission that he believes his family was paid off following him visiting Cardinal George Pell in 1973 to complain about his brother being molested by a Christian Brother in Ballarat.

BWF told the commission he was 14 and a boarder at St Patrick’s College in Ballarat when his younger brother, BWG, was beaten and molested by Brother Ted Dowlan.

He said went to complain to then Father George Pell at the presbytery after school because the principal refused to come and meet with him.

“Because I was nervous, I just blurted out to Pell that Dowlan had beaten and molested BWG and demanded to know what Pell was going to do about it,” he said.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

Padraic Murphy
Herald Sun

CARDINAL George Pell shunned a young boy who begged him to help protect his brother from a notorious church paedophile, the child abuse royal commission has heard.

Witness BWF said he went to see Cardinal Pell at a Ballarat presbytery in 1973 after learning Brother Edward Dowlan was beating and molesting his brother at St Patrick’s College in Ballarat.

BWF said he went to see Cardinal Pell out of desperation after the school refused to take action to protect his brother.

“I wanted someone in authority outside the school to know about what was happening,” BWF said.

“(Cardinal Pell said) ‘Young man how dare you knock on this door and make demands.’ We argued for a bit and he finally told me to go away and shut the door.”

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

Australian Associated Press
Monday 7 December 2015

Cardinal George Pell became angry at a boy who told him his brother had been beaten and sexually abused by a Christian Brother, an inquiry has heard.

Witness BWF went to see Pell, then a Ballarat priest, after finding out his brother BWG had been molested by Brother Edward Dowlan at Ballarat’s St Patrick’s College in 1973, the child abuse royal commission heard.

“I just blurted out to Pell that Dowlan had beaten and molested BWG and demanded to know what Pell was going to do about it. Pell became angry and yelled at me ‘young man, how dare you knock on this door and make demands’,” BWF told the commission.

“We argued for a bit and he finally told me to go away and shut the door on me.”

Pell’s barrister Sam Duggan said Pell was living at a different Ballarat presbytery at the time.

“I want to suggest to you that you are making this story up about visiting Father Pell at the cathedral presbytery and you never confronted him there,” Duggan said.

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

MINNESOTA
Washington Post

By David Gibson | Religion News Service December 7

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Duluth announced on Monday (Dec. 7) that it had filed for bankruptcy protection following a jury verdict last month that held the Minnesota diocese responsible for more than half of an $8.1 million judgment on behalf of a victim of sex abuse by a priest.

The Chapter 11 filing makes Duluth the 13th of nearly 200 U.S. Catholic dioceses to file for bankruptcy since 2004 because of the clergy sex abuse scandals. Regional organizations of two religious orders have also sought bankruptcy protection.

The Duluth award was one of the highest single monetary compensations for a survivor of clergy abuse, experts said. It was made possible thanks to a Minnesota law that lifted the statute of limitations on civil claims for sex abuse.

The plaintiff is a 52-year-old man who was a 15-year-old altar boy when the abuse happened in 1978.

The diocese has an annual operating budget of about $3 million and church officials said that even with insurance and savings it could not cover its $4.9 million share of the overall award.

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

MICHIGAN
Detroit Free Press

Bill Laitner, Detroit Free Press December 7, 2015

More than a decade after the death of the popular Roman Catholic priest and pastor known as Father West, church authorities said an allegation of sexual abuse of a minor has been “found to be credible” against West, who served in about 20 parishes across southeast Michigan.

The Rev. David West died in 2004 at age 65, well before anyone came forward charging him with sexual abuse, according to the Archdiocese of Detroit.

But church officials “put no time limits on the reporting of sexual abuse of minors” by members of the priesthood or any other personnel connected with churches and related institutions such as parochial schools and seminaries, said Joe Kohn, spokesman for the Archdiocese of Detroit.

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

MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press

Associated Press
POSTED: 12/07/2015

The U.S. Supreme Court has turned away an appeal from a St. Paul priest convicted of having sex with a woman who was seeking his spiritual advice.

The justices on Monday left in place the sexual misconduct conviction of the Rev. Christopher Wenthe. The priest was convicted in 2011 of third-degree criminal sexual conduct for having sex with the woman at a meeting in which she sought counseling in 2003.

State law makes it a felony for clergy members to have sex with people they are spiritually advising. Wenthe acknowledged that he and the woman had a 15-month sexual relationship, but he denied that he was providing spiritual aid in those months.

An intermediate appeals court threw out the conviction, but the Minnesota Supreme Court reinstated it in June.

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

MINNESOTA
Reuters

BY DAVID BAILEY

A Catholic diocese in northeastern Minnesota filed for bankruptcy protection on Monday following a jury’s decision in November that found it 60 percent responsible for a judgment involving a clergy sex abuse victim, the organization said.

A jury awarded the man more than $8 million, and reorganizing under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection became a necessity after failed efforts to reach a resolution to assist all abuse victims, the diocese said in a statement.

“Given the magnitude of the verdict, the diocese was left with no choice but to file for reorganization,” said diocese Vicar General James Bissonette.

The award stemmed from a case brought by a man who said he was abused in 1978 by a priest at a church in the diocese.

The diocese’s last fiscal year operating budget was less than $3.3 million. That was insufficient even if insurance and savings were used to cover the judgment, and would leave no resources for other victims who have brought claims, the diocese said.

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

VATICAN CITY
The Tablet (UK)

07 December 2015 by Christopher Lamb in Rome

The Vatican offers fair trials including the presumption of innocence and the right to a defence, a spokesman for the Holy See said today.

Five people, including two journalists, are currently standing trial in the small city state for the leaking and dissemination of documents revealing mismanagement of the Holy See’s finances.

Today the court ruled that Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Holy See’s Secretary of State, will be called as a witness during the trial, which has been dubbed Vatileaks 2 after the first Vatileaks saga which saw Benedict XVI’s butler reveal private documents from inside the papal appartments.

The Vatican has come under international criticism for proceeding with a prosecution against journalists, particularly given they are residents of a different country: Italy.

Questions have also been raised about the city state’s justice system with the five defendants assigned their own Vatican lawyer for the proceedings.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

AAP

Further claims about Cardinal George Pell’s knowledge of child sex abuse by priests are expected to be aired at a royal commission.

Witness BWF will testify on Tuesday at the child abuse royal commission’s inquiry into widespread abuse in Victoria’s Ballarat diocese.

Mr BWF is expected to give evidence about a conversation he had with Cardinal Pell in the 1970s while he was a student at St Patrick’s College in Ballarat, senior counsel assisting the commission Gail Furness SC said.

Cardinal Pell, now the Vatican’s financial chief, was a Ballarat East assistant priest and Episcopal Vicar for Education in the Ballarat diocese for a decade from 1973.

He has repeatedly denied claims he tried to bribe a victim to keep quiet, ignored complaints and was involved in moving pedophile priest Gerald Francis Ridsdale to another parish.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

CARDINAL George Pell is ­alleged to have told a fellow cleric that notorious paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale was “r–ting boys again”, according to contested evidence before the royal commission.

In 1983, the then rising priest in the Catholic Church was allegedly overheard making the comment to Father Frank Madden at St Patrick’s Cathedral in Ballarat a decade before Ridsdale was first charged.

A witness, identified only as BWE, yesterday told the commission he was an altar boy, aged about 12, when he overheard Fr Madden ask the visiting Fr Pell, “how’s everything down your way?”.

“George Pell responded by saying, ‘I think Gerry’s been r–ting boys again’,” BWE said.

But Cardinal Pell’s lawyer, Sam Duggan, put it to BWE the conversation 32 years ago was “pure fantasy” and was not supported because Ridsdale had been moved to NSW at the time — a claim denied by BWE.

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CANADA
CBC News

Lawyers for Aviva Insurance are arguing its policies do not cover sexual abuse by priests within the Catholic Diocese of Bathurst.

The diocese has filed a civil lawsuit against the insurer to help it recoup more than $7-million it paid out to victims of sexual abuse.

“Clearly there is no coverage,” said Aviva’s lawyer Charles LeBlond in his opening statement Monday in a Moncton courtroom. “There is no coverage for criminal activity.”

In his statement, LeBlond also said “there is a fair bit of documented evidence that the diocese and the bishops of the day were aware.”

Father Levi Noel and Father Charles Picot, both former priests in the diocese, have been criminally charged with numerous counts of sexual abuse, some dating back to the 1950s.

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MISSOURI
Lake News

Posted Dec. 7, 2015

The jury trial of Travis Ray Smith, 45, of California, Mo., the man accused of multiple counts related to child sexual abuse and rape has been declared a mistrial by Judge Kenneth Hayden at the request of the defense attorney, according to the Moniteau County Circuit Clerk’s office.

The reason for the mistrial is not immediately known.

Day one of the jury trial began Monday morning at roughly 9 am in Moniteau County. At some point in the afternoon a request for a mistrial was requested and granted. Smith was formerly scheduled to go to trial on June 2, 2014 after the first trial was continued in late 2013.

In September 2012, Smith was arrested by the Missouri State Highway Patrol on charged of forcible rape, sexual abuse and two counts of statutory rape in the second degree in incidents alleged to have taken place in 1998 and 1999. He was also then charged in Moniteau County Circuit Court with statutory rape in the second degree and statutory sodomy in the second degree related to incidents alleged to have occurred in 2005.

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

MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

By Jean Hopfensperger Star Tribune DECEMBER 7, 2015

The Duluth Diocese filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Monday, a month after a victim of priest sex abuse there was awarded $8 million in damages. The diocese was found responsible for $4.8 million.

The northern Minnesota diocese becomes the 15th diocese in the nation to file for bankruptcy protection following clergy abuse litigation, including the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, which declared bankruptcy last January.

Given the “magnitude” of the jury’s award, “the diocese was left with no choice but to file for reorganization,” wrote the Rev. James Bissonette, diocese vicar general, in a public statement.

“There is sadness in having to proceed in this fashion,” wrote Bissonette. “The decision to file today safeguards the limited assets of the Diocese and will ensure that the resources of the diocese can be shared justly with all victims, while allowing the day-to-day operation of the work of the church to continue.”

The diocese lists its number of creditors as fewer than 50, and its estimated assets — and liabilities — as $1 million to $10 million.

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MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

Martin Moylan Dec 7, 2015

The Diocese of Duluth on Monday filed for bankruptcy protection, saying that’s the path it must take if it’s to find a way to compensate clergy sexual abuse victims and continue the church’s mission.

Last month, a jury ordered the diocese and a Catholic religious order to pay more than $8 million in damages to a man who was sexually abused by a priest in 1978. The diocese says it can’t afford its nearly $5 million share of the settlement.

In a statement on the diocese website, the Rev. James Bissonette, vicar general of the diocese, said leaders were left with no choice but to file for reorganization.

The bankruptcy filing “safeguards the limited assets of the diocese and will ensure that the resources of the diocese can be shared justly with all (clergy abuse) victims” while letting the diocese continue its daily work, he added.

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MINNESOTA
Journal Obsever

The diocese says it can’t afford its almost $5 million share of the settlement.

Given the “magnitude” of the jury’s award, “the diocese was left with no choice but to file for reorganization“, wrote the Rev. James Bissonette, diocese vicar general, in a public statement. The Diocese says the bankruptcy is keeping with their approach at putting victims first.

“There is sadness in having to proceed in this fashion”, wrote Bissonette.

The diocese says the move was necessary after efforts to reach a resolution with all abuse victims were unsuccessful.

The Duluth Diocese filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Monday, a month after a victim of priest sex abuse there was awarded $8 million in damages.

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

MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

Associated Press DECEMBER 7, 2015

DULUTH, Minn. — A Roman Catholic diocese in northeastern Minnesota has filed for bankruptcy protection after a jury found it partially responsible in a clergy sex abuse case.

The Diocese of Duluth filed for Chapter 11 reorganization Monday.

The diocese says the move was necessary after efforts to reach a resolution with all abuse victims were unsuccessful.

In November, a Ramsey County jury awarded $8.1 million to a man who says he was molested by a priest in northern Minnesota in 1978 when he was a boy. The diocese was held responsible for $4.8 million.

The diocese’s vicar general, the Rev. James Bissonette, says the bankruptcy filing safeguards the diocese’s limited assets while allowing the church’s day-to-day operations to continue.

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MINNESOTA
KSTP

The United States Supreme Court has turned away an appeal from a Minnesota priest who was convicted of having sex with a woman who was seeking his spiritual advice.

The justices on Monday left in place the sexual misconduct conviction of the Rev. Christopher Wenthe. The priest was convicted in 2011 of third-degree criminal sexual conduct for having sex with the woman at a meeting in which she sought counseling in 2003.

State law makes it a felony for clergy members to have sex with people they are spiritually advising. Wenthe acknowledged that he and the woman had a 15-month sexual relationship, but he denied that he was providing spiritual aid in those months.

An intermediate appeals court threw out the conviction, but the Minnesota Supreme Court reinstated it in June.

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MINNESOTA
KDAL

Monday, December 07, 2015 by Dave Strandberg

DULUTH, MN (KDAL) – Following a court decision last month that held the Diocese of Duluth partially responsible in an abuse case from 1978, the Diocese has now filed for bankruptcy protection in order to reorganize under Chapter 11. The judgement on November 4th awarded an 8.4 million dollar judgement for the victim with the Diocese responsible for 60 percent of it or 4.8 million. Father James Bissonette, the vicar general of the Diocese, says after attempts at reaching a mutually agreeable resolution failed, they were left with no choice but to file for reorganization. The decision safeguards the limited assets of the Diocese, ensuring that the resources of the Diocese can be shared justly with the victims while allowing the day-to-day operation of the church to continue.

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

MINNESOTA
Northlands News Center

By Ramona Marozas

Duluth, MN (NNCNOW.com) — The Diocese of Duluth filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy following last month’s court decision ordering the Diocese to pay $8.4 million to abuse victims, and Duluth’s chapter was responsible to pay $4.8 million of that.

The Duluth Diocese says they have filed for an emergency basis for bankruptcy protection.

The Diocese will continue to operate during this bankruptcy process.

The Diocese shared this statement by Father James Bissonette, the vicar general of the Diocese, on behalf of the Organization:

“There is sadness in having to proceed in this fashion. After the recent trial, the Diocese again attempted to reach a mutually-agreeable resolution. Up to this point, the Diocese has not been able to reach such a settlement, and given the magnitude of the verdict, the Diocese was left with no choice but to file for reorganization.

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

MINNESOTA
Duluth News Tribune

By Tom Olsen Today

Facing a nearly $5 million jury verdict and numerous pending lawsuits over child sexual abuse committed by priests, the Diocese of Duluth turned to bankruptcy protection Monday.

The Rev. James Bissonette, vicar general of the diocese, announced the filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in a statement on the diocese’s website.

A St. Paul jury last month found the diocese negligent in the supervision of a priest who was accused of sexually abusing a teenage boy in Itasca County in the 1970s. The diocese was ordered to pay about $4.9 million in damages awarded by the jury.

Five other child sexual abuse claims also are pending in State District Court, according to online records.

The claims all were brought under the Minnesota Child Victims Act, an act of the state Legislature which opened a three-year window for abuse victims to file lawsuits that would otherwise be barred by statutes of limitation. The window is set to expire in May, and attorneys have said they expect a flurry of activity as the deadline nears.

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VATICAN CITY
Yahoo! News

By Angus MacKinnon

Vatican City (AFP) – Pietro Parolin, the most senior cardinal in the Vatican hierarchy, and two close associates of Pope Francis can be summoned to give evidence in a controversial trial of journalists and alleged whistleblowers, a judge ruled Monday.

Overruling objections from the Vatican prosecutor, the judge agreed to putting the Holy See’s Secretary of State, Pietro Parolin, on the stand, as well as Francis confidantes Cardinal Santo Abril y Castello and Archbishop Konrad Krajewski.

The decision raises the prospect of the church’s dirty linen being laundered in public, with Parolin in particular likely to be quizzed over the bitter internal battle that has erupted in the hierarchy as vested interests resist Francis’s drive to clean up Holy See finances.

The senior clerics are to be summoned to give evidence on behalf of Francesca Chaouqui, a former PR consultant to the Vatican who is one of the five people accused of conspiring to leak classified documents that exposed out-of-control spending at the top of the church.

Chaouqui’s lawyer told a hearing on Monday that she wanted the senior clerics to testify in order to demonstrate that she was working “only in the interests of the pope.”

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DULUTH (MN)
Jeff Anderson & Associates

[bankruptcy petition]

12/7/2015

WHAT: At a news conference today in Duluth, attorney Mike Finnegan will discuss today’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing by the Diocese of Duluth.

WHEN: Monday, December 7, 2015 at 3:15 PM CST

WHERE: Holiday Inn – Lyric Room 2
200 West First Street
Duluth, MN 55802

Contact Mike Finnegan: Office/651.964.3523 Cell/612.205.5531
Contact Jeff Anderson: Office/651.964.3523 Cell/612.817.8665

Duluth Bankruptcy Petition

(Duluth, MN) – Today, the Diocese of Duluth filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy protection. The Diocese of Duluth is the fifteenth Catholic Diocese or Religious Order to file for bankruptcy in the United States. Earlier this year, the Archdiocese of St. Paul & Minneapolis filed for bankruptcy protection as well. Each of the previous bankruptcies filed by Bishops has ended with a settlement with survivors of childhood sexual abuse.

“We are saddened by the Bishop’s choice to file bankruptcy today instead of releasing the Diocese’s secret documents on child sexual abuse,” said Attorney Mike Finnegan. “Despite the Bishop’s actions today, we will continue to fight for the release of these documents and survivors of child sexual abuse can still come forward confidentially to hold the Diocese of Duluth accountable.”

Efforts by survivors to unseal the secret documents regarding clergy sexual abuse in the Diocese of Duluth began with the first lawsuit filed in June 2013. Since then, survivors have taken numerous actions to make the files public. The Diocese of Duluth fought these efforts in court. A hearing was scheduled for December 17, 2015, to determine whether some of these secret documents would be released to the public but the bankruptcy filing prevents this hearing from moving forward.

Sexual abuse survivors in Minnesota have until May 25, 2016 to come forward confidentially and bring a claim under the Minnesota Child Victims Act.

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MINNESOTA
Roman Catholic Diocese of Duluth

Dec 7, 2015

In the wake of last month’s court decision and its $8.4 million judgment, of which the Diocese of Duluth has been found responsible for $4.8 million, we have today filed on an emergency basis for bankruptcy protection in order to reorganize under Chapter 11. The necessity of this decision became clear after other efforts to reach a resolution that would assist all abuse victims and protect the Church’s mission had proved, as yet, unsuccessful. The Diocese will continue those good faith efforts during the bankruptcy process.

Father James Bissonette, vicar general of the Diocese, issued the following statement on behalf of the Diocese:

“There is sadness in having to proceed in this fashion. After the recent trial, the Diocese again attempted to reach a mutually-agreeable resolution. Up to this point, the Diocese has not been able to reach such a settlement, and given the magnitude of the verdict, the Diocese was left with no choice but to file for reorganization. The decision to file today safeguards the limited assets of the Diocese and will ensure that the resources of the Diocese can be shared justly with all victims, while allowing the day-to-day operation of the work of the Church to continue. This decision is in keeping with our approach since the enactment of the Child Victims Act, which has been to put abuse victims first, to pursue the truth with transparency and to do the right thing in the right way.”

Background information

* The Child Victims Act in the State of Minnesota opened up the possibility of civil lawsuits against the Church for cases dating back decades, resulting in an as-yet-unknown number of those historical cases being brought to court.

* The Doe 30 case, decided Nov. 4, held the Diocese of Duluth partially responsible for abuse suffered by a victim in 1978 with an $8.4 million judgment, with the Diocese held responsible for 60 percent of that judgment.

* For more than two decades, since 1992, the Diocese has had safe environment policies in place and diligently followed them. These policies involve mandatory reporting, cooperation with law enforcement, background checks and other safety precautions for Diocesan personnel and safety training for children, and these policies are continually updated and improved.

* The Diocesan operating budget for the last fiscal year was $3,294,627. Although there is insurance coverage and some Diocesan savings available in this case, it is insufficient for such a large judgment, and no resources would be available for the remaining abuse victims who have brought claims.

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MINNESOTA
Wall Street Journal

By TOM CORRIGAN
Dec. 7, 2015

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Duluth, Minn., filed for bankruptcy Monday after being hit with an $8.4 million verdict in a clergy sex abuse case.

The diocese, which spans 10 counties in northeastern Minnesota, filed for chapter 11 protection in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Duluth, court papers show.

Last month, a jury awarded $8.4 million to a man who says he was sexually abused in the late 1970s by a priest serving in the Diocese of Duluth. The diocese, which has said it is considering an appeal, says it knew nothing about the abuse and couldn’t have prevented it.

In a statement on the jury verdict posted on the diocese’s website, it said it was contemplating bankruptcy as a way to compensate abuse victims while preserving the diocese’s pastoral and charitable mission.

“With other victims of clergy sexual abuse pursuing their cases in the courts and a finite pool of resources from which they might be compensated for their suffering, bankruptcy might ensure a more equitable distribution,” the diocese said.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) The Vatican tribunal hearing the criminal case in the leaking of confidential documents – the so-called “Vatileaks II” case – resumed work on Monday morning.

The defendants – three officials and two journalists – were at the trial, with their lawyers.
According to a statement released by the Holy See Press Office, the morning’s session dealt primarily with the requests submitted the previous week by the defense.

The Court refused a request by Francesca Immacolata Chaouqui for dismissal of charges based upon lack of jurisdiction – reaffirming the laws place the case “without uncertainty” in the jurisdiction of the Court of the Vatican City State, and noting she had previously acknowledged this fact.

The Court refused a request for a psychological expert for Msgr. Lucio Angel Vallejo Balda, since the court only admits “psychiatric” experts, not “psychological” ones – but adding any relevant personality and behaviour issues of the accused would be adequately ascertained from the trial.

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

VATICAN CITY
Christian Science Monitor

By Nick Squires, Correspondent DECEMBER 7, 2015

VATICAN CITY — The trial of three Vatican officials and two Italian journalists resumed Monday at a tribunal within the stone walls of this tiny city state in a case that uncomfortably pits the Holy See’s interests against Italian press freedoms.

One of the journalist defendants has decried the proceedings as Kafkaesque, and he and other commentators have even invoked the Inquisition.

The two journalists are accused of procuring leaked confidential documents they used as the basis for two bombshell books published last month.

The books, one titled “Avarice” and the other “Merchants in the Temple,” described Vatican financial mismanagement, greed, and the misuse of funds, including the use of money from a charitable foundation to renovate a lavish penthouse apartment for a former Vatican secretary of State.

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

VATICAN CITY
BBC News

A Vatican judge trying five people over the leaking of secret documents has agreed to let some of Pope Francis’s senior advisers be defence witnesses.

Officials who could be called include his Secretary of State, Pietro Parolin.

Those on trial include two journalists who published books detailing alleged financial mismanagement at the Vatican, and three members of a papal commission accused of leaking documents to them.

One of them, a priest, alleges a fellow defendant seduced him.

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VATICAN CITY
GMA News

By PHILIP PULLELLA, Reuters

VATICAN CITY – The “deputy pope” will be summoned to testify before a Vatican court hearing a trial over the theft of confidential papal documents, the first time such a high-ranking official will appear at a public trial inside the city-state.

The lawyer for Francesca Chaouqui, a former public relations consultant for a Vatican reform commission, asked that Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin and two other high-ranking Vatican prelates appear before the court.

Parolin, who is sometimes known as the deputy pope, is second only to Pope Francis in the hierarchy of the Vatican, which governs the worldwide Roman Catholic Church.

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AUSTRALIA
Religion Digital

Una comisión del gobierno australiano analizó la actuación del cardenal George Pell, que dirige la secretaría para la Economía del Vaticano, frente a una denuncia de pederastia en el seno de la Iglesia Católica.

David Ridsdale, quien es víctima y sobrino del sacerdote pederasta Gerald Francis Ridsdale, acusa a Pell de intentar sobornarle en 1993 cuando supuestamente le dijo: “Quiero saber que es lo que se debe hacer para mantenerte quieto”, según la agencia local de noticias AAP.

La Comisión gubernamental que investiga la respuesta institucional a los casos de abusos sexuales en el seno de las organizaciones religiosas, estatales y públicas ha centrado su sesión este lunes a contrastar las versiones de ambas partes.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
BBC News NI

By Kevin Sharkey
BBC News NI

Barnardo’s children’s charity has paid more than £180,000 in civil claims linked to alleged abuse at a former home in County Antrim, an inquiry has heard.

On Monday, the Historical Institutional Abuse inquiry opened public hearings.

Two former Barnardo’s homes, Macedon and Sharonmore, both in Newtownabbey, are under scrutiny.

The inquiry’s counsel said the hearings would expose “abusive activities and practices” not previously known about.

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CALIFORNIA
The Raw Story

TOM BOGGIONI
07 DEC 2015

A group representing victims of sexual abuse at the hands of Catholic priests has blasted the San Diego Catholic Diocese for appointing a priest who admitted to destroying documents detailing sexual assaults to oversee their sex abuse hotline.

Likening him to “an admitted embezzler [who] shouldn’t oversee bank accounts,” Melanie Sakoda of SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests) said Fr. Steven Callahan shouldn’t be allowed to “oversee abuse reports.”

Callahan is listed as the Victims’ Assistance Coordinator on the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego website — with a phone number to call the priest as well as an email address.

In a court deposition in 2007, after approximately 150 men and women filed suit against the San Diego diocese over sexual abuse claims, Callahan admitted to destroying documents in the early 90’s implicating a fellow priest.

According to the San Diego Union Tribune, Rev. Emmanuel Omemaga fled to his native Philippines in 1993 after admitting to Callahan that he had molested a 14-year-old girl.

Callahan claimed that he had urged Omemaga to turn himself in to the police before he left the country.

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UNITED STATES
Religion News Service – Rhymes with Religion

Boz Tchividjian | Dec 7, 2015

“If it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a village to abuse one.” – Mitch Garabedian

Last week, I had the privilege of finally seeing the much-anticipated “Spotlight”. This powerful film focuses on the true story of an amazing group of journalists from the Boston Globe who worked alongside brave and tireless abuse survivors and a relentless plaintiff’s attorney to expose the untold horrors of child sexual abuse and cover up in the Boston archdiocese in 2002. What finally surfaced was hundreds of offending clergy and over 1000 victims in Boston alone.

Though I think everyone should watch this film, I especially think that my fellow Protestants can learn much from seeing it. However, learning will require a humility that enables us to be slow in pointing the finger at others, and quick to the difficult and sobering task of self-examination.

Some may be tempted to watch this film with disgust for the Catholic Church and a sigh of relief for Protestant churches. Such relief would be unfounded and misplaced. A number of years ago, the three companies that insure most Protestant churches reported that receiving approximately 260 reports a year of minors being sexually abused by church leaders and members. This is compared to the approximately 228 “credible accusations” a year of child sexual abuse reported by the Catholic Church. (Both numbers are much higher due to underreporting and the manner in which such information is collected and determined – that is another blog for another day.) In reality, the likelihood is that more children are sexually abused in Protestant churches than in Catholic churches. Regardless, the abuse of one child is one child too many. Instead of pointing fingers, we should be learning from each other and working together to bring an end to this epidemic that permeates all of Christendom. In order to do this, Protestants are going to have to accept the fact that we have many more similarities than differences with our Catholic brothers and sisters when it comes to how we have failed to protect and serve God’s children. Here are just three that surfaced in “Spotlight”:

Clergy who abuse: “When you’re a poor kid from a poor family and when a priest pays attention to you, it’s a big deal. How do you say ‘no’ to God?”

These were the gut-wrenching words of Phil Saviano, a clergy abuse survivor (and member of SNAP) who was attempting to describe the dark dynamics of how his nightmare began. In a later scene, another survivor explains, “He offered to get me ice cream. It’s a priest. I’m a kid. So I go.”

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 7 December 2015 (VIS) – The Holy Father has appointed:

– Archbishop Luciano Suriani, delegate for papal diplomatic representations, as apostolic nuncio in Serbia.

– Archbishop Romeo Pawlowski, apostolic nuncio in Congo and Gabon, as delegate for papal diplomatic representations.

On Saturday 5 December the Holy Father appointed Archbishop Miguel Maury Buendia as apostolic nuncio in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 7 December 2015 (VIS) – The Council for the Economy, continuing the implementation of new financial management policies and practices in line with international standards, took an important step this week by appointing a new international auditing firm.

The Council accepted a recommendation from its Audit Committee and appointed PricewaterhouseCoopers “PwC”, one of the major international firms, as the external auditor for the consolidated financial statements.

PwC will work closely with the staff of the Secretariat for the Economy, and the 2015 audit will commence immediately.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 7 December 2015 (VIS) – The Holy See Press Office today issued the following communique:

“This morning at 9.30, in the Vatican City State Tribunal, a further hearing was held in the criminal trial for the dissemination of confidential news and documents.

The defendants were all present, accompanied by their respective lawyers (all five of whom are currently recognised as ‘private’ lawyers: E. Bellardini for Msgr. L.A. Vallejo Balda, L. Sgrò for F. I. Chaouqui, R.C. Baffioni for N. Maio, L. Musso for E. Fittipaldi and R. Palombi for G. Nuzzi).

The College of judges (President Prof. Giuseppe Dalla Torre, and the members Prof. Piero Antonio Bonnet, Prof. Paolo Papanti-Pellettier and Prof. Venerando Marano) heard the oral presentation from the defence, along with the objections and demands already submitted in writing prior to the established deadline (Saturday 5 December).

With regard to each objection and demand submitted, the opinion of the Promoter of Justice represented by Prof. Milano and Prof. Zannotti was heard.

The College therefore retired to the Counsel Chamber shortly before 10.30 for around one hour. Finally, it communicated its decisions, providing the proper detailed motivations. The hearing concluded before midday.

The objection presented by Chaouqui’s defence regarded the presumed lack of jurisdiction of the Tribunal given that the events took place in Italy and were carried out by a person declared a ‘political refugee’ in Italy. The objection was rejected, and the College clarified that the current law attributes without doubt the jurisdiction of the Vatican City State Tribunal, and observed that Chaouqui, by appearing before the investigators and the Tribunal, had in practice recognised such jurisdiction.

The demand presented by the Msgr. Vallejo Balda’s counsel for the defence for a psychological evaluation of the defendant was rejected. The Promoter of Justice explained that the Vatican legal system admits requests for a ‘psychiatric evaluation’ but not for a ‘psychological evaluation’, and that aspects of the personality and behaviour of the defendant can emerge adequately during the proceedings.

Practically all the other demands were admitted, in particular:

– A technical evaluation requested by Chaouqui’s counsel for the defence regarding the documentation available via PC and telephones, to be carried out by an expert designated by the Tribunal accompanied by an expert selected by the defence. The Promoter of Justice approved this request.

– The acquisition of various further elements of documentation and evidence required by various counsels for the defence (texts of email messages referenced in the investigation, text messages, articles published in various newspapers, and a ‘psychiatric evaluation’ of Msgr. Vallejo Balda previously carried out and conserved in his home). The Promoter of Justice was in favour of all the above.

– The College considered it suitable to admit the requests for further witnesses, presented by various counsels for the defence and for different reasons (including clergy such as Cardinals Santos Abril and Parolin, Archbishop Krajewski and Msgr. Abbondi, and figures from the worlds of journalism and communications, such as Mario Benotti, Paolo Mieli, Paolo Mondani, Paola Brazzale and Marco Bernardi), although the Promoter of Justice had expressed a contrary opinion in some cases”.

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UNITED STATES
Mediaite

by Joe Concha December 6th, 2015

If there was ever a weekend to escape the horrible reality our world and country has become in light of the mass killings in San Bernardino and Colorado Springs before it, this may be as good as any. And for me, that escape usual means a trip to the local movie theatre.

Those trips used to happen much more often as a single guy living in Hoboken, NJ. Wife, two kids and a dog in the suburbs? Not so much. So when that trek to the cinema does happen, the movie better damn well be worth the time. Painfully selective is how the wife deems the process. She’s not much of a buff, and it’s the one area she has 100 percent confidence in my ability to choose a winner, particularly films of the underrated variety (The Debt, Blood Diamond, The Pursuit of Happyness, Friends with Kids and The Prestige are my tops of the past decade). But if we’re talking about a movie that absolutely isn’t underrated but isn’t making much at the box office (only about $15 million despite a wide release over two weeks ago), Spotlight is the best journalism-themed movie since The Insider (Pacino, Crowe), arguably the best of all-time if removing All the President’s Men (Redford, Hoffman) from the equation, and easily, easily the best offering of any genre this year.

Spotlight takes place largely in 2001 Boston and centers on the meticulous, careful, tireless investigative efforts that went into the the Boston Globe’s exposé of clergy sex abuse in the Roman Catholic Church. Note: Director Tom McCarthy could have gone two ways in crafting the narrative: Focus on the investigative aspect and all the challenges the Globe’s “Spotlight” team had to overcome in being completely, unquestionably accurate before going to press, or use the investigation and its findings to pontificate some kind of bigger, darker message about the Catholic Church or religion in general.

And like The Insider (the mesmerizing true story of a 60 Minutes report–or modified report–about a big tobacco whistle-blower) and All the President’s Men (the must-see story behind Woodward and Bernstein blowing the lid off of Watergate), McCarthy avoids being self-righteous about the transgressions exposed and the entity that allowed it. Instead, it keeps the focus squarely on the behind the scenes battles and politics that are prevalent in newsrooms, along with the business aspect of journalism in general.

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UNITED STATES
WCF Courier

SCOTT CAWELTI

Why do we often miss what’s right in front of us? We have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear, as the Bible so memorably puts it.

Three instances worth pondering:

First, “Spotlight,” a disturbing new film about the Roman Catholic Church’s coverup of pedophile priests in Boston. It’s a horrific scandal that shook the church to its foundations worldwide.

Four smart and motivated Boston Globe investigative reporters — the “Spotlight” team, grew ever more amazed in 2001-02 when they uncovered church policies that enabled priests to continue abusing children for decades. The power of Boston Catholic church officials was all but absolute.

Yet the film reveals the scandal could have been exposed much sooner had these same reporters been paying attention. During their investigation, they learn they ignored hard evidence sent in by victims at least a decade earlier.

One of many victims, in frustration, tells the reporters flat-out: “I sent you all the facts years ago. But you buried it.”

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IRELAND
Sunday World

By Morgan Flanagan Creagh

A paedophile priest was housed at a Tipperary boarding school while on trial for abusing a student there.

77-year-old former priest Henry Moloney was staying at Rockwell College last week during a criminal case which was taken by a former student, reports the Irish Daily Mail.

In 2009 Maloney pleaded guilty in the Circuit Criminal Court to abusing pupils at St Marys College in Rathmines between 1969 and 1973.

He was handed a suspended sentence due to ill health and as he was already under strict supervision.

In 2000 he was caged for 15-months for sexually assaulting two other boys at St Mary’s in the early 1970s.

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VATICAN CITY
ABC News

By NICOLE WINFIELD, ASSOCIATED PRESS
VATICAN CITY — Dec 7, 2015

A Vatican tribunal agreed Monday to let the defense call some of Pope Francis’ top advisers, including his secretary of state, to testify in a trial over leaked documents, as the Holy See sought to quash criticism that the five accused weren’t getting a fair trial.

Judge Giuseppe Dalla Torre also agreed to defense requests to admit more complete text messages and emails, as well as letters of recommendation and the results of a monsignor’s psychiatric exam into evidence as the trial got underway in earnest.

Three people affiliated with a papal reform commission are accused of leaking documents to two reporters who published blockbuster books detailing waste, mismanagement and greed among some cardinals and bishops, and the resistance Francis is facing trying to clean it up.

The two reporters are also on trial, accused of having illegally acquired and published the material — accusations that have drawn criticism from media rights groups around the world.

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AUSTRALIA
J-Wire

December 7, 2015

In a release issued today the organisation stated: “The Yeshivah Centre condemns any form of abuse and acknowledges the serious harm it causes the victim. The Yeshivah Centre deeply regrets the failure to protect those who were victims of sexual abuse perpetrated by people in a position of trust in the Yeshivah Centre and its schools. The Yeshivah Redress Scheme has been established to ensure that the wrongs committed against children while involved in the Yeshivah Centre and its schools will not go unnoticed or unacknowledged.

The design of the Scheme has been guided by learnings from schemes across Australia and the Redress and Civil Litigation Report of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse released on 14 September 2015. The Report details the Commission’s ‘concluded views’ on its recommendations ‘to ensure justice for survivors’.

Yechiel Belfer, speaking on behalf of the recently appointed Yeshivah Centre Committee of Management said, “In establishing this scheme, our primary concern is for the welfare of anyone who may have experienced such abuse. We are offering to victims financial redress, access to specialist counselling, case management and support. And most importantly, we offer our sincere apology.”

“This support will not prejudice any individual’s rights to pursue further legal action,” Belfer added.

Mr Michael Debinski, will oversee the operation of the Scheme and is one of the case managers available to undertake reviews. Mr Debinski also draws on the experiences gained having recently overseen an abuse redress scheme at Jewish Care Victoria where he is President. Reviews will also be undertaken by Mr John Leatherland PSM, whose wealth of experience in child protection and youth justice services spanned over forty years. He was awarded a Public Service Medal for services to vulnerable families and children.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

Melbourne’s Yeshivah Centre has set up a redress scheme to help support victims of sexual abuse.

Michael Debinski, who will oversee the independent scheme, said victims would be offered counselling and redress payments, starting at $10,000 and going up to $80,000.

He said he did not know how many victims would come forward.

“We’ve got trained professional social workers who’ll then meet with them, assess their claim and may also assist them if they have other issues they need psychological care or support [with],” Mr Debinski said.

“Yeshiva funds the scheme, but in every other respect we’ve been very careful and diligent to establish it in a way that all of the contact points are independent of Yeshivah.”

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AUSTRALIA
SBS

[with video]

By SBS News
7 DEC 2015

Victims of child sexual abuse at the Yeshivah Centre in Melbourne will be eligible for up to $80,000 in compensation under a redress scheme launched today.

Accepting the compensation will not remove their right to take further legal action, nor will they be required to sign any confidentiality agreements.

Melbourne’s Yeshivah Centre appointed an independent panel to design the scheme.

The scheme’s co-ordinator, Michael Debinski, said victims will be encouraged to report sexual abuse allegations to police, but the decision to report will be up to them.

Former student and abuse victim Manny Waks, whose case sparked the Child Abuse Royal Commission’s investigation of Yeshivah College, came back from his new home in Israel to hear details of a landmark compensation package and an apology.

“There are few cases like Yeshivah where a community turned on its victims and where good people stood by and did nothing,” he said.

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AUSTRALIA
Manny Waks

​Redress Scheme Opening Remarks
Manny Waks
7 December 2015

Distinguished guests, friends,

From the very beginning of this journey, I said that one of my aims was to return to the Yeshivah Centre – to be welcomed back. This would indicate a certain level of comfort on my part – both in terms of my personal experience with Yeshivah, and more broadly in terms of how Yeshivah is addressing the issue of child sexual abuse.

It is in this context that I’m delighted and proud to be here to help launch Yeshivah’s Redress Scheme. My presence here today should be viewed both as a stark reminder of the past, and an optimistic reflection on the future. A desire from all of us to move forward.

The profound and long-term impacts of child sexual abuse have been well documented. Often it’s not only the sexual abuse itself that leads to trauma, but also the secondary abuse brought on by the institution’s response – the cover-ups and intimidation – which often is worse than the primary abuse.

There’s no doubt that many of us have been traumatised and re-traumatised by Yeshivah’s actions and inactions. Over many years. While the Royal Commission has heard many instances of abuse and cover-ups in institutional settings, there are few cases like Yeshivah, where a community turned on its victims and where good people stood by and did nothing.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

Mark Dunn
Herald Sun

CARDINAL George Pell is ­alleged to have told a fellow cleric that notorious paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale was “r–ting boys again”, according to contested evidence before the royal commission.

In 1983, the then rising priest in the Catholic Church was allegedly overheard making the comment to Father Frank Madden at St Patrick’s Cathedral in Ballarat a decade before Ridsdale was first charged.

A witness, identified only as BWE, yesterday told the commission he was an altar boy, aged about 12, when he overheard Fr Madden ask the visiting Fr Pell, “how’s everything down your way?”.

“George Pell responded by saying, ‘I think Gerry’s been r–ting boys again’,” BWE said.

But Cardinal Pell’s lawyer, Sam Duggan, put it to BWE the conversation 32 years ago was “pure fantasy” and was not supported because Ridsdale had been moved to NSW at the time — a claim denied by BWE.

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VATICAN CITY
Europe Online

Vatican City (dpa) – The Vatican on Monday defended its decision to put on trial two journalists who published embarrassing information about the Catholic Church‘s finances, rejecting suggestions it was trampling on the freedom of the press.

Gianluigi Nuzzi and Emiliano Fittipaldi, whose books were published last month in Italy, have been accused of maliciously soliciting leaks from Vatican officials and risk up to eight years imprisonment if found guilty.

“Many” comments about the trial, which has been dubbed VatiLeaks 2, “are inappropriate, or at times entirely unjustified,” Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said in a statement.

The legal system of the Vatican City State has “all the procedural guarantees characteristic of the most advanced contemporary legal systems,” and respects “all the fundamental principles” of a fair trial, Lombardi said.

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VATICAN CITY
ANSA

(ANSA) – Vatican City, December 7 – A Holy See court on Monday ruled that the Vatican Secretary of State Pietro Parolin should be called as a witness at the Vatileaks 2 trial. The court granted a request by the defense team of one of the accused, Francesca Chaouqui, to call as witnesses Parolin and Santos Abril y Castellò, the president of the Commission of Cardinals of the Vatican bank, IOR. The court rejected a petition by Chaouqui’s lawyers challenging the Vatican’s jurisdiction for the case on the grounds that the alleged crimes took place in Italy. The court agreed to the Chaouqui team’s request for an expert to analyze electronic communication via email, text and Whatsapp messages between her and Monsignor Lucio Angel Vallejo Balda, a senior Spanish clergyman who is also among the five people in the dock.

But it rejected a request from Vallejo Balda’s lawyers for evaluation of his psychological state. Vallejo Balda and PR expert Chaouqui were both members of the now-defunct COSEA commission set up to advise Pope Francis on reform of the Holy See’s economic-administrative structure.

The trial was then adjourned without a date being set for the next hearing.

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