ABUSE TRACKER

NEW YORK
WSYR

BINGHAMTON (WSYR-TV)

The Bishop of the Syracuse Diocese will sign an agreement with District Attorneys in counties throughout the diocese regarding sex abuse incidents.

According to the Broome County District Attorney’s office, Bishop Robert Cunningham will meet with prosecutors representing counties throughout the diocese on Wednesday.

They say the bishop will sign a “memorandum of understanding,” which will establish a process for sex abuse allegations regarding clergy and minors.

The Syracuse Diocese includes:

Onondaga County
Broome County
Oneida County
Chenango County
Cortland County
Oswego County
Madison County

The press conference is set for 2 p.m. in the Broome County District Attorney’s office.

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NEW YORK
CNY Central

BY MICHAEL BENNY TUESDAY, OCTOBER 27TH 2015

BINGHAMTON — There is a sweeping new agreement between the Roman Catholic Bishop of Syracuse and District Attorneys representing every jurisdiction in the Diocese. The new deal, to be announced by the Broome County District Attorney on Wednesday in Binghamton is a “memorandum of understanding.”

The language in the document will “formalize the procedures to be followed in all incidents involving alleged sexual misconduct and abuse of minors by all members of the clergy and religious in the Diocese of Syracuse. The Diocese spans an area of seven counties. The top prosecutors in each of those counties has signed the agreement. That includes Onondaga, Oswego, Oneida, Chenango, Cortland, Madison and Broome counties.

The document also states the Diocese will not conduct its own investigation into allegations and will do its part to preserve any evidence.

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

By Jean Hopfensperger Star Tribune OCTOBER 27, 2015

The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis will ask a bankruptcy judge Thursday for a second extension of its deadline to file its reorganization plan, arguing the extra time is needed to address the volume and complexity of sex abuse claims.

The church is now seeking an extension to May 31, 2016.

“There remains a number of difficult issues to be resolved before completion of the mediation process,” the archdiocese stated in its motion before U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Kressel. “As of the filing of this motion, 717 claims — including 416 claims alleging liability for sexual abuse — have been filed in this case.

“Each of these sexual abuse claims must be analyzed and negotiated by various constituencies … as part of the mediation process.”

Extending the deadline is not surprising, as the archdiocese has had less than three months to examine the full universe of abuse claims that poured in by the Aug. 3 filing deadline, said University of Minnesota law professor Christopher Soper. But it does have its drawbacks.

“The downside is it slows down the process and means more uncertainly for the creditors,” said Soper. “The whole point of this process is to figure out how much the church is going to pay to these 400 people. Until a plan is negotiated and approved, they don’t know how much they will be paid, or if they will be paid.”

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

AAP

The Labor party’s commitment to a national redress scheme for abuse survivors has been welcomed by the Uniting Church.

The church’s president in Australia, Stuart McMillan, said he “warmly welcomed” the promise made by federal Opposition Leader Bill Shorten to establish the $4.3 billon scheme for survivors of child sexual abuse in Australian institutions.

“The Uniting Church in Australia strongly supports this initial commitment by Labor, and we sincerely hope the Turnbull government will show similar leadership on this issue,” Mr McMillan said.

Mr McMillan has released a statement after Labor’s announcement on Tuesday, saying the United Church stands ready to play its part.

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KENTUCKY
WKYT

By: Phil Pendleton

DANVILLE, Ky. (WKYT) – A Boyle County man was charged Monday with sending inappropriate text messages and photographs to two teenage boys.

Bobby Cassady, 28, was arrested Monday evening and charged with promoting sexual performance by a minor, unlawful transaction with a minor and portraying a police officer.

Police say they were contacted by a 17-year-old Sunday night. Danville police say an investigation was launched after the 17-year-old boy told police about “suspicious activity.” That investigation led them to a 15-year-old boy.

Police say Cassady had a juvenile send him pictures over a period of several months. In a release, police said Cassady’s activity “centered around improper text messages and photographs.” Police did not provide any other details.

Cassady has worked as a volunteer with the Danville School system and was the youth director at Gethsemane Baptist Church. The pastor at Gethsemane Baptist says the allegations are troubling based on the man they hired two years ago to work with their young people.

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UNITED STATES
WBUR

Tue, Oct 27, 2015
by Eileen McNamara

One could hardly tell from the media’s preoccupation with all things papal that Islam, not Catholicism, is the fastest growing religion in the world.

In the 19 months since Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina became Pope Francis, an enchanted media has been dispensing a steady diet of “news” from Vatican City about everything from the pontiff’s preferred footwear to the birthday breakfast he shared with a few homeless men.

That the humble Jesuit from Buenos Aires has captured the public imagination is certain. Witness the throngs who greeted him in Washington, Philadelphia and New York during his U.S. visit last month. But the journalistic excess — more than 4,000 mentions in The New York Times alone — is matched by the breathless quality of the coverage.

One could hardly tell from the media’s preoccupation with all things papal that Islam, not Catholicism, is the fastest growing religion in the world.

The latest installment came over the weekend at the conclusion of a three-week meeting of the world’s Roman Catholic bishops at the Vatican to discuss family issues and Catholic doctrine. The final document produced by the synod was so ambiguous on so many points that it was hailed as a victory by conservative and liberal Catholics alike. The bishops proposed no doctrinal changes. It is still a sin to have sex outside of marriage. Homosexuals should be treated with respect but they are still “intrinsically disordered” and their legal unions are in no way comparable to heterosexual marriage.

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CANADA
CBC News

An ex-archbishop found guilty of sexually assaulting a pre-teen boy has been demoted to simple monk.

Seraphim Storheim, 68, was sentenced to eight months in jail last year for sexually assaulting a young boy who lived with him briefly in 1985 in Winnipeg.

The boy and his young brother both lived with Storheim when they worked as altar boys during that time.

Storheim was originally charged with sexually assaulting both boys but was only convicted of sexually assaulting one.

Now, he has been stripped of his title as archbishop and returned to rank of lay or “simple” monk.

The decision came from the Holy Synod of Bishops of the Orthodox Church in America late last week.

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PERU
Peru21

La Sala Penal Permanente de la Corte Suprema de Justicia confirmó, en última y definitiva instancia, la condena de 35 años de prisión impuesta al sacerdote Waldir Pérez Salias, por ser autor del delito de violación sexual en agravio de un menor de edad.

De igual manera, ratificó lo dispuesto en primera instancia por la Segunda Sala Penal para Reos en Cárcel de la Corte Superior de Lima a fin de que el sentenciado pague a la víctima un monto de S/.8 mil de reparación civil.

El Poder Judicial estableció que Waldir Pérez Salias aprovechó su condición de sacerdote y capellán del colegio parroquial San Alfonso de la Congregación de los Padres Redentoristas, ubicado en Ate, para abusar sexualmente del niño.

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PERU
Reuters

A Peruvian court sentenced a Catholic priest to 35 years in prison on Tuesday for repeatedly raping a boy in the school where he was chaplain – one of the few times Peru has jailed clergy accused of sex abuse.

The court found that Waldir Perez used his position as priest and chaplain at a private school in a poor district to abuse the boy between July 2010 and April 2012.

The boy was 10 years old when Perez first sexually assaulted him, the criminal chamber of Peru’s Supreme Court said in a statement.

Perez, who must also pay the victim 8,000 soles ($2,439) in reparations, confessed to the crimes, the court said. Medical and psychological tests also backed up the boy’s testimony.

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NEW YORK
Syracuse.com

By John O’Brien | jobrien@syracuse.com
on October 27, 2015

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — The Catholic Diocese of Syracuse has signed an agreement with the seven top prosecutors in Central New York to immediately report suspected child-molesting by priests.

Bishop Robert Cunningham signed a “memorandum of understanding,” along with the seven district attorneys in the diocese, that sets out how the diocese will respond to allegations against priests or other religious workers.

No one involved in the agreement is saying what prompted it.

A diocese official would not comment on the document, except to say Broome County District Attorney Gerald Mollen plans to hold a news conference on Wednesday about it.

None of the seven DAs who signed the document responded to requests for an interview.

Among the terms in the memorandum is that the diocese will immediately refer
child-molesting accusations to the local DA’s office for investigation “regardless of the age of the allegation or whether or not the clergy member or religious is active.”

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 27 October 2015 (VIS) – The Holy Father has written a letter to Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin regarding various issues that have arisen during the process of reforming the structures of the Roman Curia. The following is the full text of the letter:

“While the process of reform of various structures of the Roman Curia, to which the Council of Cardinals I instituted on 28 September 2013 is dedicating its attention, is continuing in accordance with the established programme, it is necessary to note that certain problems have emerged in the meantime, in relation to which I intend to take prompt action.

I wish first to state that the current period of transition is not a time of vacatio legis. Therefore, I confirm that the Apostolic Constitution “Pastor bonus” and subsequent amendments thereto remain in full force, along with the General Regulations of the Roman Curia.

Since compliance with the common rules is necessary both to guarantee the orderly conduct of work in the Roman Curia and in the institutions connected to the Holy See, and to ensure equitable treatment of employees and collaborators, also in economic terms, I order that the provisions in the aforementioned documents, as well as in the Regulations for lay staff of the Holy See and Vatican City State and the Regulations of the independent Commission for the evaluation of the recruitment of lay staff in the Apostolic See, be scrupulously observed.

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VATICAN CITY
Yahoo! News

Associated Press By NICOLE WINFIELD

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Just days after closing a contentious meeting of bishops from around the world, Pope Francis turned his attention Tuesday to more domestic but equally contentious affairs.

He issued a stern warning to Vatican bureaucrats to obey Vatican rules and laws as he goes about overhauling the Vatican administration — a sign that those charged with enacting the reforms perhaps need some reform themselves.

Francis penned an unusual letter to the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, asking him to remind Curia leaders that they must observe Vatican law about the structure and powers of the existing administration and follow existing rules on new hires, transfers and salary caps.

According to the current law, Parolin’s office is at the top of the Vatican hierarchy and is in charge of human resources. He imposed a hiring freeze last year.

One target of Francis’ letter could be the new Secretariat for the Economy, headed by the Australian Cardinal George Pell, who has moved aggressively to try to assert authority over other Vatican entities and their finances as he builds up a new office from scratch. The Vatican in June also named a new auditor general.

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CHICAGO (IL)
CBS – Chicago

By Lisa Fielding

CHICAGO (CBS) — Parishioners of a northwest suburban church have asked Archbishop Blase Cupich to reinstate a priest who was removed for having an inappropriate relationship with a man.

Supporters of Rev. Marco Mercado prayed outside the Archdiocese of Chicago on Tuesday, as they delivered petitions bearing 5,000 signatures, all in support of reinstating Mercado, the rector of the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Des Plaines.

Cupich removed Mercado earlier this month, because of an “inappropriate relationship with an adult man.”

Mercado has said he is cooperating with the archdiocese investigation. His supporters said they want Cupich to reconsider the decision to remove Mercado from his post.

“There has been no criminal act committed. Father Mercado has a fundamental right to seek counsel, and to defend himself as a person. One is presumed innocent until proven guilty,” said activist Raul Montes Jr.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

OCTOBER 28, 2015

Michael McKenna
Reporter
Brisbane

A victim of child abuse at a prestigious Queensland private school, who is about to be the subject of royal commission hearings, has called for the nationwide ­implementation of laws to prevent churches and schools escaping legal liability for covered-up cases of pedophilia.

The victim, “John’’ — who does not wish to be named — has been fighting for changes to statute of limitations laws. The changes were recently endorsed by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse but only Victoria has adopted the reforms. The royal commission will begin public hearings in Brisbane next week.

Brisbane Grammar School and St Paul’s Anglican School are being investigated over their ­response to the abuse of scores of students by two pedophiles; Kevin “Skippy’’ Lynch, at both schools, and Gregory Knight at the Anglican school.

Formal complaints had been made about Lynch more than a decade before he was eventually investigated, with the veteran teacher killing himself in 1997 just hours after being arrested.

A class action by 86 victims of Lynch was settled with the schools’ denying liability.

A victim of Lynch, John, has written a 75,000-word submission to the royal commission and has renewed a plea for legal changes to current Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk that he first made to her Labor predecessor, Anna Bligh, in 2009. A professional, John, is expected to be a star witness at the hearing.

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FLORIDA
Dignity – Oak Lawn Funeral Home

December 27, 1935 – May 21, 2013
Obituary

Gerard Thomas McMahon, 77, of Pensacola, died May 21, 2013. He was born on December 27, 1935, to Thomas and Helen (Martel) McMahon in Boston, MA. He had a Doctorate in Education and retired as a Navy Commander in 1990, after serving more than 20 years as a US Navy Chaplain. He was predeceased by brothers John and Leonard, both of Boston, MA; and is survived by cousins, Eileen T. McMahon, of Quincy, MA; Anne Marie Delacono, of Hanson, MA; and Raymond McMahon, of Atlanta, GA. Mass will be held at Holy Spirit Catholic Church, followed by burial with military honors at Barrancas National Cemetery, in Pensacola, FL. An additional memorial mass will be held in Boston, MA. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to St. Vincent De Paul at www.svdpusa.org. Oak Lawn Funeral Home in Pensacola, FL has been entrusted with arrangements.

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CHILE
Catholic Culture

October 27, 2015

Bishop Juan Barros of Osorno, Chile, has issued a statement repeating his insistence that he was not aware of sexual abuse by a priest who had been his friend.

In a statement read at Mass in all parishes of the Osorno diocese on October 26, Bishop Barros said that he has been unjustly accused of covering up misconduct by Father Fernando Karadima, a notorious abuser. At least three of Karadima’s victims have charged that the future bishop knew about the abuse at the time it occurred. Bishop Barros has consistently said that he was unaware of the abuse much alter.

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UNITED STATES
Variety

James Rainey
Senior Film Reporter
@RaineyTime

That doesn’t exactly make a newspaper an obvious backdrop for a movie — or a ripe setting for praiseworthy endeavors. Yet “Spotlight” places journalists and the printed word shamelessly front and center, celebrating a quiet kind of heroism. No wonder preview and festival audiences are chock-full of ink-stained wretches swelling with pride and affirmation.

But it’s not mere nostalgia that has put director Tom McCarthy’s fifth film prominently in the conversation for best picture and multiple other potential honors this awards season. What’s making “Spotlight” the “it” movie of the moment, even prior to its Nov. 6 theatrical debut, is that it has pre-release audiences talking not just about journalism and freedom of the press, but about the Catholic Church, Pope Francis’ stance on the plague of sexual abuse by priests and even about the bounds of faith.

With an ensemble cast led by Michael Keaton, Mark Ruffalo, Rachel McAdams and Liev Schreiber, the movie tells the real-life story of the Boston Globe’s four-member investigative reporting team (aka Spotlight) which uncovered the scandal and massive cover-up of child molestation within the local Catholic Archdiocese beginning in 2001.

A throwback in more than just its setting (the Globe newsroom), the production (backed by Open Road Films) evokes filmmaking of another era. The story is notable for eschewing the building blocks of today’s most popular movies — CGI pyrotechnics, comic-book superheroes, sex and violence.

Instead, the script, co-written by McCarthy and Josh Singer, advances character and plot gradually and assuredly. “Spotlight” is a slow burn. The investigation gets sidetracked. The journalists are flawed. But they are the only ones in a position to hold a powerful institution accountable for its greatest failing. With a monolithic adversary and children as the victims, the filmmakers establish a powerful rooting interest among the audience.

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ROME
National Catholic Reporter

Robert Mickens | Oct. 26, 2015 A Roman Observer

If you really want to know what happened inside the Synod of Bishops this past month, don’t obsess too much over its final report (relatio) on the church and the family.

Each of that document’s ninety-four articles or paragraphs was approved by at least two-thirds of the 264 prelates (and one layman) that showed up for the final vote. And the reason there was such overwhelming approval is because of a delicate compromise that took all of the most controversial issues off the table or treated them with open-ended language.

Nonetheless, Catholics of contrasting points of views (and even ideologies) have found ways to claim “victory” for their side through a favorable reading of one passage or another. But they are missing the point.

Pope Francis’ novel decision to call the synod into session twice in twelve months to speak freely about the exact same issue (“the vocation and mission of the family in the Church and the contemporary world”) was primarily not about the family. Rather, it was about re-introducing a process of discussion and debate at the highest level of the church, not seen since the first years immediately following the Second Vatican Council. He confirmed as much in a key address he gave on Oct. 17 during a symposium to mark the 50th anniversary of the Synod of Bishops.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Western Morning News

The right-hand man of pervert bishop Peter Ball has been found guilty of a string of gay attacks dating back to the 1970s.

Retired priest Vickery House, 69, was convicted at the Old Bailey of five counts of indecent assault on males, one of them in Devon – with one as young as 14 – over a period of 16 years. He was cleared on three further counts.

During much of that time, House was vicar in Berwick, East Sussex, and worked under Ball – who earlier this month was jailed for 32 months after he admitted molesting young men between 1977 and 1992.

The pair targeted young men and aspiring priests through a Church of England scheme called Give A Year For Christ with four members abused by both men, it can now be reported.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

A retired Church of England priest has been found guilty of a string of sex offences dating back to the 1970s and 1980s.

Vickery House, 69, had denied eight counts of indecent assault against six males aged 15 to 34, between 1970 and 1986.

He told the Old Bailey he was ashamed of his actions, but claimed they were not sexual assaults.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, Oct. 27

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

A new film about how journalists broke open the widespread Catholic abuse and cover up crisis will hit theatres next month. We urge every US bishop to order all church staff to see it, even if it means arranging special viewings at church facilities.

[The New York Times]

[Trailer: YouTube]

The movie is about how reporters began exposing 249 predator priests and their complicit church supervisors in the Boston archdiocese when a judge ordered long-secret files to be revealed.

So we urge every US bishop to do now, voluntarily, what courts forced church officials to do years ago: release long-secret records that show which clerics committed and concealed heinous crimes against children.

Releasing this information is the quickest way bishops could safeguard kids and deter cover ups. We’re told that “the truth shall set you free.” And Martin Luther King once said “No lie lives forever.”

Yet bishops across this country, and the world, continue to keep secret hundreds of thousands of pages of documents about crimes and cover ups, while claiming they’re “transparent,” they’ve “reformed” and they want “healing” and “prevention.”

We urge parents, parishioners and the public to remember that child sex crimes and cover ups in the church are still taking place now. In the few years right after the Spotlight Team’s revelations in 2002, we saw some improvements in how bishops dealt with child molesting clerics. But for the last decade, bishops have largely been moving backwards and working even harder and smarter to conceal child sex crimes.

Why? Because they now know they can get by with protecting predators and endangering kids. Only three US bishops have resigned because of this scandal (Law, Piche and Finn). Only one was criminally convicted (Finn, who withheld evidence of child sex crimes from law enforcement). Many complicit clerics have since been promoted. And because there continues to be a grave shortage of priests and seminarians, so bishops desperately cling to even sexually troubled clerics.

To its credit, the film acknowledges that years before the Boston Globe’s award-winning investigation, there were earlier waves of nation-wide attention on pedophile priests, notably in 1985 and 1993. This is important to remember because after every way, church officials pledged to “do better” only to break those promises and continue to act recklessly, callously, deceitfully and secretively.

We hope millions will see and discuss this important and acclaimed film. We hope it will encourage more journalists to look harder at and dig deeper into clergy sex cases. We hope attorneys who handle these cases will go through their files and see what information they may have that could and should still be made public. We hope the film will prod police, prosecutors, judges and juries to look more skeptically on claims made by Catholic officials in child sex and cover up cases.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 27 October 2015 (VIS) – The Holy Father has appointed:

– Bishop Matteo Maria Zuppi, auxiliary of Rome, as metropolitan archbishop of Bologna (area 3,549, population 998,600, Catholics 951,462, priests 590, permanent deacons 127, religious 1,115), Italy. He succeeds Cardinal Carlo Caffarra, whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same archdiocese upon reaching the age limit was accepted by the Holy Father.

– Msgr. Corrado Lorefice as metropolitan archbishop of Palermo (area 1,366, population 916,000, Catholics 909,000, priests 479, permanent deacons 41, religious 1,249), Italy. The bishop-elect was born in Ispica, Italy in 1962 and was ordained a priest in 1987. He holds a licentiate in moral theology and a doctorate in moral theology, and has served in a number of pastoral roles in the diocese of Noto, Italy, including bursar and vice rector of the seminary, lecturer in moral theology, director of the diocesan and regional centres for vocations, director of formation of permanent deacons, director of the diocesan catechistic office, parish administrator, and episcopal vicar for the clergy. He is currently parish priest and vicar forane, episcopal vicar for pastoral ministry, and lecturer in the “San Paolo” theological faculty of Catania. He succeeds Cardinal Paolo Romeo, whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same archdiocese upon reaching the age limit was accepted by the Holy Father.

– Msgr. Giacomo Morandi, vicar general of the archdiocese of Modena-Nonantola, Italy, as under-secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

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NEW JERSEY
NJ.com

[letter from the Newark archdiocese]

By Mark Mueller | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on October 27, 2015

Decades-old sexual abuse allegations against a prominent Short Hills pastor will be referred to the Vatican for further investigation — and a possible canonical trial — after a church review board found sufficient merit in the claims to raise “grave concerns,” according to a letter distributed to parishioners.

Msgr. George Trabold, 68, stepped down as leader of St. Rose of Lima Church in October 2014, when someone came forward with an abuse claim that dates to the mid-1970s. At the time of the alleged abuse, Trabold served as associate pastor of St. John the Evangelist Church in Bergenfield.

The two-page letter, which was shared with parishioners at both parishes Sunday, reveals for the first time the existence of a second accuser. The letter does not describe the nature or extent of the alleged abuse, and a spokesman for Newark Archbishop John J. Myers said he could not comment on the specifics of the case.

Trabold has been barred from serving as a priest since his removal and will remain out of ministry while the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith considers his case, according to the letter and the spokesman, Jim Goodness.

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IDAHO
The Spokesman-Review

Scott Maben The Spokesman-Review

A long-haul truck driver from Coeur d’Alene who also served as a church youth camp counselor is suspected of raping and abusing underage boys in Spokane and Kootenai counties over the past decade.

Kevin G. Sloniker, 30, faces felony charges of rape and lewd conduct involving two underage boys and is a suspect in the sexual abuse of at least eight other boys, according to court documents. He’s being held in the Kootenai County Jail on $1 million bond.

Sloniker met and befriended some of the boys in his role as a youth camp counselor at Immaculate Conception Church in Post Falls, according to investigative reports filed with 1st District Court in Kootenai County.

Some of the alleged abuse occurred at Sloniker’s parents’ home in Latah, south of Spokane, and some happened when he took boys on the road with him around the Western U.S., according to court records.

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FLORIDA
NWF Daily News

By TOM McLAUGHLIN
315-4435 | @TomMnwfdn
tmclaughlin@nwfdailynews.com

Posted Oct. 26, 2015

Two employees of Saint Mary’s Catholic School have been charged with using a computer to seduce a child and traveling to meet the victim.

James Patrick Applegate, a part-time school band director, and Cameron Ahlsen-Girard, a substitute teacher for Saint Mary’s School and volunteer with the Saint Mary Catholic Church youth ministry, were arrested over the weekend.

Okaloosa County deputies took Applegate into custody Saturday on charges of using a computer to solicit or seduce a child and traveling to meet a child after using a computer to solicit or seduce.

Ahlsen-Girard was arrested Sunday on the same charges.

Parish Administrator Father John Licari sent a note Sunday to the parents of children at the school, faculty and staff, parents of children in the youth group and people who work with the youth.

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MASSACHUSETTS
The New York Times

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
OCT. 27, 2015

BOSTON — It was a scandal that shook the Roman Catholic Church to its core: Hundreds of priests molested children for decades and got away with it because church leaders covered it up.

More than a decade later, the story of how The Boston Globe exposed the church’s secret is being told in “Spotlight,” a movie starring Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams and Mark Ruffalo, set for release Nov. 6.

In Boston, where the scandal led to the resignation of Cardinal Bernard Law and settlements with hundreds of victims, key figures featured in the film say it captures the shock of the scandal as it unfolded, the pain suffered by the victims and the work done by journalists to bring it to light.

“We obviously stumbled upon something far more extensive and horrifying than we had any right to expect to find,” recalled Walter Robinson — played by Michael Keaton — who led the Globe’s Spotlight Team, the investigative unit that broke open the scandal with a series of stories in 2002.

The stories detailed how church higher-ups — including Law — knew priests were abusing children but moved them from parish to parish instead of removing them. The series won the Pulitzer Prize for public service in 2003.

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NIGERIA
Nigerian Bulletin

Nigeria – A 53-year-old pastor has been arrested by the Police in Nsukka, Enugu State, for allegedly impregnating married women and young girls in his church.

The Pastor, identified as Timothy Ngwu, is the General Overseer of Holy Trinity Ministry popularly called Vineyard Ministry in Umudikwere Community in the University town.

Ironically, police sources said the suspect claims he was directed by the Holy Spirit to sexually abuse female members of his church in the name of God.

The alleged sexual exploits of the self-acclaimed man of God was blown open by his estranged wife, Veronica Ngwu, who lodged a complaint at the Criminal Investigations Department, Enugu. This led to the arrest of the pastor.

She said she escaped from the ministry with one of her daughters after her husband impregnated her niece and claimed he was obeying the directives of the Holy Spirit and a prophetic revelation.

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CANADA
Cowichan Valley Citizen

posted Oct 26, 2015

By Colin Perkel, The Canadian Press

TORONTO – The question of what to do with records of deeply personal, often heart-wrenching testimony from thousands of survivors of Indian residential schools who sought compensation for sexual and other abuse lands on the doorstep of Ontario’s top court Tuesday.

On one side of the two-day hearing are those who argue a lower court judge was right to order the material destroyed in due course. On the other are those who believe it should be kept in perpetuity under appropriate lock and key.

Justice Murray Sinclair, who headed the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, said his concern is that the stories of what went on in the schools will be lost forever if the “rich trove” of documents is destroyed as ordered.

“In a few generations, that will allow people to be able to deny the validity of the stories we have heard,” Sinclair told The Canadian Press from Vancouver. “Right now there are deniers of those facts.”

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NEW JERSEY
NJ Today

NEWARK – A Linden man who was a leader in a boys’ youth organization and a religious education teacher admitted to sexually abusing children and possessing images of child sexual abuse.

Gregory J. Aker, 46, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Susan G. Wigenton in Newark federal court to an information charging him with possession of child pornography. He is currently in state custody.

According to U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman, the documents filed and statements made in court:

Aker was a leader with a boys’ youth organization and a religious education teacher with his church. On Feb. 22, 2014, Aker was arrested by the Linden Police Department for sexual assault and endangering the welfare of two minor children.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

October 27, 2015

Jane Lee
Legal affairs, industrial relations and science correspondent

The Turnbull government has not met the Catholic Church to discuss a national redress scheme for child abuse survivors, months before it will decide whether to establish such a scheme.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse last month recommended the federal government set up a $4.01 billion redress scheme for 60,000 people sexually abused as children in institutions.

The commission’s report – published on the day Malcolm Turnbull ousted Tony Abbott as Liberal leader – said the federal government should announce whether it will do so by the end of this year.

The Catholic Church is expected to be among the largest contributors, if not the largest, to compensation under the scheme. Francis Sullivan, chief executive officer of the church’s Truth Justice and Healing Council, told Fairfax Media that he had not been able to meet Attorney-General George Brandis on the issue despite repeated requests this year.

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OKLAHOMA
The Lawton Constitution

Tue, 10/27/2015 Scott Rains

An 82-year-old Anadarko pastor had his bond vacated Friday after five more counts of sexual abuse involving four alleged young victims were charged.

Marion Milton-Otis Toehay Sr. of Carnegie received two counts of first-degree rape by instrumentation of a victim under 14 and three additional counts of lewd or indecent acts to a child under 16 in Caddo County District Court, records indicate. The five new charges are on top of 10 counts of lewd acts with a child allegedly committed every Sunday for two years in the church study that were filed Sept. 14. If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison for each count.

The new charges followed an Oct. 5 prosecutor’s request to endorse additional witnesses. Toehay is newly accused of improprieties with four other children dating back to 2001. Dates for the older charges are from within a one-year-period.

Both rape counts stem from alleged incidents that took place in a van at an Anadarko convenience store parking lot. One incident involved a 5- or 6-year-old in 2000 or 2001 and the second with a 9 or 10-year-old between 2010-2011, according to the charges. The child in the second incident was also impetus for one of the lewd acts charges.

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GHANA
Graphic Online

By: Seth J. Bokpe
Date : Tuesday, 27 October 2015

Church leaders in the country have been advised not to shield perpetrators of child abuse in their churches as it is a violation of the Constitution.

Mr Ebenezer Tetteh Kpalam, the Founder and President of the Kinder Foundation, a Christian non-governmental organisation (NGO), urged churches to have child protection policies that protect children from abuse, and stressed that “Although the church is a place where children are sometimes abused, it is also a place where abuses are not reported.

“The church should not handle cases of sexual abuse. Domestic violence cases are criminal in nature. Such cases must be reported,” he said.

He, however, stated that the church could offer emotional support to such victims because of the trauma they go through.

He was speaking at the ninth anniversary celebration of the Child Development Centre of the Trinity Parish of the Global Evangelical Church at Kotobabi in Accra.

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MASSACHUSETTS
WCVB

BOSTON —It was a scandal that shook the Roman Catholic Church to its core: Hundreds of priests molested children for decades and got away with it because church leaders covered it up.

More than a decade later, the story of how The Boston Globe exposed the church’s secret is being told in “Spotlight,” a movie starring Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams and Mark Ruffalo, set for release Nov. 6.

In Boston, where the scandal led to the resignation of Cardinal Bernard Law and settlements with hundreds of victims, key figures featured in the film say it captures the shock of the scandal as it unfolded, the pain suffered by the victims and the work done by journalists to bring it to light.

“We obviously stumbled upon something far more extensive and horrifying than we had any right to expect to find,” recalled Walter Robinson – played by Michael Keaton – who led the Globe’s Spotlight Team, the investigative unit that broke open the scandal with a series of stories in 2002.

The stories detailed how church higher-ups – including Law – knew priests were abusing children but moved them from parish to parish instead of removing them. The series won the Pulitzer Prize for public service in 2003.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

October 26, 2015

Mark Kenny
Chief political correspondent

Sixty-thousand Australian victims of child sexual and other abuses at the hands of churches will be able to seek financial compensation under a future Labor government with Opposition Leader Bill Shorten set to announce Labor’s support for a new “national redress scheme”.

Mr Shorten will formally unveil the commitment on Tuesday in Melbourne, pledging $33 million initially even though the bulk of any financial liability would still fall on the religious institutions themselves.

The proposal reflects a key recommendation of the ongoing Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

While it reflects only a fraction of the estimated $4.01 billion in combined liabilities of a full redress scheme, the policy is likely to be welcomed by victims as it would drive the process of obtaining recompense and provide official recognition of institutional abuse over decades.

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Mail

By LEITH HUFFADINE FOR DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA

An Anglican bishop has revealed he was victim of sexual abuse at the hands of members of his own church denomination.

The revelations of Newcastle Anglican Bishop Greg Thompson come after a diocese apology for the way the church had treated abuse victims.

Bishop Thompson said as a 19-year-old he was targetted by an Anglican bishop and senior clergyman in the 1970s and later sexually abused, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.

On Sunday a formal apology from the Newcastle Diocese was made in which it admitted it actively discouraged those who reported abuse, the ABC reported.

Earlier this year Bishop Thompson also apologised for cover-ups by the church and the manner in which it dealt with child sex abuse reports.

He told the Sydney Morning Herald the bishop and clergyman, now both dead, ‘made him feel special’ and manipulated his faith to cover for their abuse of him.

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NEW YORK
Road to Recovery

JESUIT PRIESTS AND BROTHERS CONTINUE TO RE-ABUSE CHILDHOOD SEXUAL ABUSE VICTIM OF A JESUIT PRIEST – ENOUGH WITH THE FOOT DRAGGING!

Neal E. Gumpel is a clergy sexual abuse victim of a previously named predator, Fr. Roy Alan Drake, SJ, now deceased and former teacher and professor at Fordham Prep and University and Maine Maritime Academy in Castine, Maine, where Fr. Roy Alan Drake, SJ, sexually abused Neal E. Gumpel when he was a minor child

The Northeast Province of the Jesuits interviewed five individuals, including Neal E. Gumpel, who provided credible evidence confirming that Fr. Roy Alan Drake, SJ, held himself out at all times as a Jesuit priest at Maine Maritime Academy and sexually abused Neal E. Gumpel there

What
A press conference and leafleting alerting the media, general public, Fordham University and Fordham Prep students, parents, alumni, and staff that the Northeast Province of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) and Fordham Prep and University keep dragging their feet in assisting a childhood clergy sexual abuse victim of one of its priests, Fr. Roy Alan Drake, SJ.

When
Tuesday, October 27, 2015 from 2:00 pm until 4:00 pm

Where
On the public sidewalk outside the gates of Fordham Prep and University on Southern Boulevard (near the entrance to the Bronx Botanical Gardens), Bronx, NY

Who
Neal E. Gumpel, a childhood sexual abuse victim of Fr. Roy Alan Drake, SJ; his wife, Helen Gumpel; and members of Road to Recovery, Inc., a non-profit charity based in New Jersey that assists victims of sexual abuse and their families, including its co-founder and President, Robert M. Hoatson, Ph.D., and Kevin Waldrip, a victim/survivor from New Jersey

Why
The Northeast Province of the Society of Jesus knows that Fr. Roy Alan Drake, SJ, was a serial molester of minor boys. They settled at least one claim against Fr. Drake in the past. Neal E. Gumpel’s credible story of having been sexually abused as a minor child by Fr. Roy Alan Drake, SJ, at Maine Maritime Academy was credibly supported by four other individuals. Now, the Northeast Province of the Society of Jesus is dragging its feet in settling Neal E. Gumpel’s claim, and they are re-abusing Neal E. Gumpel. Demonstrators will demand that the Jesuit Priests and Brothers of the Northeast Province cease their foot-dragging, acknowledge and verify Neal E. Gumpel’s story, allow him to heal, and try to gain a degree of closure.

Contacts
Robert M. Hoatson, Ph.D. – Road to Recovery, Inc. – 862-368-2800
Attorney Mitchell Garabedian, Boston, MA – 617-523-6250

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Ursula Malone

More than a quarter of people calling a helpline for adult survivors of child abuse are now over the age of 60, a leading support group says.

The figures have been released to mark Blue Knot Day, which aims to raise awareness of the estimated five million Australians who have suffered childhood trauma and abuse.

“We’re seeing more people in older age groups coming forward, and what we believe that relates to is the Royal Commission (into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse),” said Dr Cathy Kezelman, President of Adults Surviving Child Abuse.

“Older people who may have kept this secret their entire life are now ringing up and reaching and seeking help.

“We have people in their 80s ringing our line and saying they have never told a soul, but then hearing how it has profoundly affected their life.”

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

Shalailah Medhora
Monday 26 October 2015

Simon Cole was nearly 40 years old when he read a newspaper article noting the conviction of the man who he alleges abused him as a child. For a decade prior, he had been slowly piecing together the effect that the childhood abuse had had on his mental health.

“I was around 30 when I really started to make the connection,” Cole, who at 52 still suffers from anxiety and insomnia, said.

For three decades, he had been carrying the burden of the abuse on his own. Reading that scoutmaster Rod Corrie, the man who he said inappropriately touched him, had been jailed for abusing other children over a 30-year period, was the circuit breaker he needed to speak out and seek help.

The article prompted Cole to launch a civil case against Corrie and the scouts, which was settled out of court.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

Shalailah Medhora
Monday 26 October 2015 1

Up to 60,000 adult survivors of child sex abuse could receive monetary compensation through a national redress scheme if Labor wins office at the next federal election, the party announced on Tuesday.

Labor will set aside $33m for the creation of a scheme aimed at offering counselling services and compensation for survivors of institutional child sex abuse.

The money includes $20m for the formation of a national body and advisory council to help implement the scheme. The agency would report to the federal attorney general.

There would be three broad goals for the national scheme:

* The chance for survivors to receive a direct personal response from their abuser or the institution that housed their abuser
* Monetary compensation for the abuse suffered
* Counselling and psychological support that is accessible through the course of their lives.

The redress scheme was recommended by the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse, in its final report on redress and civil litigation.

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CANADA/UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, October 26, 2015

Statement by Melanie Jula Sakoda of Moraga, California, Orthodox Christian Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (melanie.sakoda@gmail.com, 925-708-6175)

A Canadian archbishop criminally convicted of child sexual abuse has finally been defrocked by his synod. A support group for victims is grateful for this decision, but wants the bishops to do more.

Archbishop Seraphaim Storheim, who was once the highest ranking official in Canada for the Orthodox Church in America (OCA), was removed from the priesthood this past week, according to the Church’s website.

[Orthodox Church in America]

[Orthodox Church in America]

Leaders of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, are grateful that the OCA has finally applied the mandates of its sexual misconduct policy to Storheim.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

AAP

There has been a spike in the number of older Australians seeking professional help because of childhood sex abuse, new research shows.

The research released by Adults Surviving Child Abuse (ASCA) on Monday to coincide with Blue Knot Day – a national day to raise awareness about the five million Australian adults who survived childhood abuse.

The research, based on an analysis of 5000 calls to ASCA’s 1300 professional support line, reveals abuse survivors aged between 40-69 are still the most common age group to seek support for past abuse.

There has, however, been a 10 per cent increase in the 50-59-year-old age group looking for help compared to last year.

The data shows 19 per cent of callers in the 60-69-year-old age group, and six per cent in the 70-79 age bracket called the helpline for the first time.

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ISRAEL
Arutz Sheva

A 53-year-old rabbi from central Israel was arrested on Sunday for sexual assault and statutory rape of a girl since she was 12-year-old.

The affair was discovered after the girl, now 17, complained to social services about the rabbi’s behavior.

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CHILE
La Tercera

[Bishop Juan Barros in a letter to the faithful of Osorno, which was read at the weekend, the bishop said he was a “a victim” and was unjustly accused to covering up abuse by priest Fernando Karadima and reiterated the rejection of the abuses committed by the former pastor of El Bosque.]

María Paz Núñez
26 de octubre del 2015

“Me siento en algún grado una víctima más, pues me he visto injustamente envuelto faltándose gravemente a la verdad”, aseguró el obispo de Osorno, Juan Barros al negar nuevamente el haber tenido conocimiento de los abusos del ex párroco de El Bosque, Fernando Karadima, a través de una carta firmada el 22 de octubre y que fue leída a los fieles de dicha ciudad el fin de semana.

En la misiva, Barros señala que “reitero mi gran dolor por quienes han sido víctimas de los delitos del mencionado sacerdote. En declaraciones públicas le shemos ofrecido humildemente nuestra petición de perdón y he pedido que me disculpen si por mis limitaciones no he sabido expresar bien mi poisición (…) Muchos fuimos duramente impactados al conocerse esos acontecimientos de abuso que nos han escandalizado”.

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ROME
Irish Times

Paddy Agnew in Rome

Mon, Oct 26, 2015

If anyone ever had any doubt that there are forces inside both the Catholic Church and the Roman Curia working against Pope Francis and his “reform process”, they need only look at events of the last three weeks during the Vatican’s synod on the family.

To the non-Catholic world, the conclusions might look tame in that they represent no significant (doctrinal) changes, rather an amount of pastoral fine-tuning. Much ado about nothing?
Curiously, though, somebody somewhere seemed to care. Did a series of “outside the synod” events in Rome in the last three weeks not suggest that diverse, presumably minority, groups of anti-Francis dissidents are alive and active?

For example, the synod “opened” with the coming-out of Polish monsignor Krzysztof Charamsa, a middle management theologian at the Vatican’s Congregation For the Doctrine Of The Faith (CDF), ex-Holy Office. He and his partner appeared together in a Roman cafe the day before the synod, announced their relationship and then suggested there were plenty more like them within the Holy See. As Francis tries to keep everyone on board, that did not help.

One day into the Synod, an arguably more heavyweight protest surfaced when a small number of senior cardinals wrote to the pope expressing their concerns about a potentially “pre-cooked” synod outcome (of a progressive tendency).

Media invention

The third “event” came this week with Italian media speculation that Pope Francis has a brain tumour. There seems little doubt that this is a media invention, circulated by those who wish to undermine Francis. The current archbishop of Buenos Aires, Victor Fernandez, said it appeared to be a strategy to “discredit the person in control” .

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UNITED STATES
Salon

MARY MAHONEY

I left the Children of God in the early 2000s. It took a long time to come out of the haze of those 30 years, but when I did, I was appalled by my former self. One of the most common questions people ask is: How could you be part of such a thing? And how could you stay? For years — as I came to grips with my own guilt, remorse and shame — I asked myself the same things. In 2003, my eldest son, then an adult, sent me a link to a thorough three-year investigation into the COG as part of a child custody case filed with the High Court in England in the early 1990s, and I learned that, according to these court records, I was not alone in the horrors I’d experienced.

I grew up in suburban Washington, D.C., the youngest of seven children in a comfortably middle-class Catholic home. We must have looked like the perfect family. My parents were leaders of the Charismatic group at their large church. Our house was clean – almost sterile. “Rake the rug after you walk through the living room to clear your footprints. Put a sheet on the sofa before you sit down,” my mother would chime. After my older siblings left home, I felt lost and alone. At 16, I fell into anorexia and depression. I spent my summer lifeguarding, swimming and dabbling in drugs.

Perhaps that’s why I began my spiritual quest, or perhaps it was just a symptom of the times. I was looking for meaning to life, to belong to something larger than myself. In my junior year of high school, I saw a friend reading a Bible at school. She had recently met the COG, and gave me one of their publications to read. I found it a bit strange, but it touched something in me. I went with her to meet the COG after school that day.

I was trying to find my path in life, and I thought this might be it. Here was a group of dedicated Christian young people determined to return to the pure roots of Christianity by living communally and sharing all things. I felt loved and accepted, and was welcomed into the fold as a new “babe” in Christ. Born again. I didn’t see this as a “cult”; I saw it as a chance to live an honorable life of service to God and others. And I was so young. What did I know about how the world worked? It would be another nine years before my frontal lobe was completely developed, the portion of the brain involved in decision-making that allows us to envision long-term consequences. I had no idea I was walking into a nightmare. I couldn’t see past the utter joy of the overwhelming love and acceptance I felt.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

October 26, 2015

Joanne McCarthy

Anglican bishop Greg Thompson has spoken about being groomed by an Anglican bishop and senior clergyman in the 1970s and later sexually abused, after an historic diocese apology on Sunday for the “shameful” treatment of abuse survivors in the past.

The Newcastle bishop said he was an impressionable 19-year-old when the two men singled him out, made him feel special and used his strong faith and their shared religion as the cover to sexually abuse him.

His allegations against the two men, now dead, were revealed to NSW Police and the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse earlier this year.

Bishop Thompson said he did not reveal the information before the diocese synod at the weekend because he wanted the vote on an historic apology to be a genuine response from clergy and senior diocese parishioners, and not a response to him personally.

“I couldn’t have spoken about the need for an apology if they’d known I was a survivor,” Bishop Thompson said.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

An advocate for victims of child sexual abuse says a community-wide approach is needed to deal with the ramifications of the abuse revelations.

Dr Cathy Kezelman, president of the Adults Surviving Child Abuse organisation, said the community needed to gain an understanding of the lasting impacts trauma could have on child abuse victims.

Today, Newcastle Anglican bishop Greg Thompson revealed he also was a victim of child sexual abuse.

Bishop Thompson told 1233 ABC Newcastle that as an Anglican bishop and a survivor, he was on his own personal healing journey.

Over the weekend, the Anglican Diocese of Newcastle in New South Wales moved to issue a formal apology to local people abused by members of the clergy.

“It sends a strong message that we are recognising, we have recognised the great harm. We are working on it, but [it] also enables survivors to come forward themselves,” Bishop Thompson said.

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UNITED STATES
The Daily Beast

[Cardinal Bernard Law Fast Facts – CNN]

Jason Berry

The shadow villain of Spotlight, Bernard Law was one of America’s most ambitious and prominent cardinals—until his handling of the sex-abuse scandal caught up with him.

“Spotlight” is a gripping new film by Tom McCarthy on the Boston Globe’s investigation of how that archdiocese concealed child-molester priests. Set in 2001, the film serves as backstory to the Pulitzer Prize-winning series that began on January 6, 2002—“Feast of the Epiphany,” as we learn in the intelligent script by McCarthy and Josh Singer.

Taking on the church in heavily Catholic Boston was no small order. Several of the reporters came from Catholic homes. Marty Baron, the Globe’s new editor, by way of the Miami Herald, suggested the investigation after reading a Globe columnist on a priest abuse case. Baron wanted to know more; he later became editor of The Washington Post.

Played by the bearded Liev Schreiber, Baron presents as a shy man, of few but forceful words, an outsider to tribal Boston, and a Jew, as a Catholic businessman says, sotto voce, to Michael Keaton in his edgy, pensive portrayal of “Spotlight” editor Walter “Robby” Robinson.

Robinson’s clutch of reporters worked months before the first article appeared, finding documents and tracking down victims of some 30 priests. The turning point in 2001 came when a court ruling against the church unsealed lawsuits that put clergy personnel documents into the public record. The Globe ultimately reported that the archdiocese had sheltered 249 predatory clerics going back several decades.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

As Newcastle’s Anglican Bishop Greg Thompson urges his diocese to come to terms with the church’s handling of child sexual abuse, he has admitted that he too was a victim.

Members of the Synod took part in an historic vote at the weekend, making a formal apology from the Newcastle Diocese, acknowledging it actively discouraged those who reported abuse.

Synod members watched video interviews of two Newcastle priests recounting harrowing stories of their own experience of being sexually abused as children.

Earlier this year, Bishop Thompson marked 500 days in the top job, fighting tears as he apologised to victims for past church cover-ups and the poor handling of complaints about child sexual abuse.

This morning Bishop Thompson revealed to 1233 ABC Newcastle’s Aaron Kearney he has been making his own journey as a survivor.

“Well, I’m both a Bishop, but also a survivor,” he said.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

Two Hunter Anglican priests have spoken of the sexual abuse they experienced as children, as Newcastle’s Bishop admits the diocese protected perpetrators.

Newcastle’s Anglican Bishop Greg Thompson addressed members of the Synod who met on Saturday.

His address covered a range of issues from domestic violence to climate change, but child abuse within the church was the main focus.

“We had cultures that dissuaded people from speaking of their experience,” he told the Synod.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly

2004

COMMONWEALTH
v.
DEBERARDINIS

COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS
SUFFOLK, ss.
SUPERIOR COURT
CRIMINAL ACTION
NO. 2003-10072 (001-021)
COMMONWEALTH
v.
FIDELIS DEBERARDINIS
FINDINGS OF FACT AND ORDER ON
DEFENDANT’S MOTION TO DETERMINE COMPETENCY

The defendant, Fidelis DeBerardinis (“DeBerardinis”), has been charged with unnatural and lascivious acts with a child under sixteen (Counts 1-3, 9, 15-19 and 21), indecent assault and battery on a child under fourteen (Counts 4-8, 10-13 and 20), and open and gross lewdness (Count 14). He has now moved the court for a determination of his competence to stand trial on these charges.

The court conducted an evidentiary hearing on the defendant’s motion on May 11, 13, 14, 15, 16 and 19, 2004. It heard testimony from Laura Bridges, Terry Watters, Ph.D., Dr. Renee Sorrentino, Susan Lewis, J.D., Ph.D., Dr. Bruce H. Price, Brother Charles Gingerich, Nancy Hebben, Ph.D., Deborah Levy, Ph.D., Dr. Alexander Bodkin, and Timothy P. O’Neill, Esq. The court also received 33 exhibits into evidence at the hearing.

Upon consideration of such testimony from the witnesses as the court finds credible, the exhibits, and the memoranda and oral arguments of counsel, the court makes the following findings of fact and Order on the issue of the defendant’s competency to stand trial in this case.

FINDINGS OF FACT

Frank Paul (Brother Fidelis) DeBerardinis, was born on July 10, 1927, the sixth or seventh of nine children. At least two of his siblings are alive, although neither the Commonwealth’s competency experts nor his own expert witnesses made any effort to contact or speak to them about DeBerardinis, or to secure any information from them about his past or his physical or mental health history. Thus, the only information presented to the court about DeBerardinis prior to age 45 is from his own self-reported history to the various individuals who examined, tested, and treated him. (Exhibits 12 and 13).

At age 18, DeBerardinis left the tenth grade of public school to enter a Catholic seminary. Although he desired to become a priest, he apparently was unsuccessful in his studies for the priesthood and instead undertook training to become a Franciscan Friar. He never received a high school diploma. After becoming a friar in 1948, DeBerardinis was assigned, in successive years, to missions in Troy and Brooklyn, New York. He was then sent to Central America, where from 1953 to 1964 he served as a missionary in Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador. DeBerardinis then served at a church in the Bronx, New York for four years. He was then transferred to Our Lady of Mount Carmel in East Boston, where the present offenses allegedly occurred from 1968 to 1973. In 1974, DeBerardinis was sent to Jerusalem where he briefly served as a missionary before returning to upstate New York. He then went to St. Francis Church in Toronto, Ontario, where he stayed from 1974 to 1988. During this period he developed numerous medical conditions, including hypertension, type II diabetes, hyper-cholesterolemia, hypothyroidism and worsening coronary artery disease. (Exhibits 12 and 13).

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

Joshua J. McElwee | Oct. 24, 2015

VATICAN CITY
A worldwide gathering of some 270 Catholic bishops has recommended softening the church’s practice towards those who have divorced and remarried, saying such persons should discern decisions about their spiritual lives individually in concert with the guidance of priests.

Pope Francis also closed the meeting with a strong renewal of his continual emphasis of the boundless nature of divine mercy, saying: “The Church’s first duty is not to hand down condemnations or anathemas, but to proclaim God’s mercy.”

Although the final document from the Oct. 4-25 Synod of Bishops says discernment for remarried persons can “never overlook the demands of truth and love in the Gospel,” it seems to significantly move decision-making for how they can participate in the church to private conversations in dioceses around the world.

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UNITED STATES
Religion News Service – Spiritual Politics

Mark Silk | Oct 25, 2015

Proving himself to be the best politician on the world stage today, the Pontiff of Immigrants succeeded in getting a fractious assembly of bishops from around the world to sanction a path to full ecclesiastical citizenship — i.e. Communion — for divorced and civilly remarried Catholics. Whether he was aided and abetted by the Holy Spirit I leave for others to determine.

During the three-week Synod of Bishops on the Family, those belonging to what the National Catholic Reporter’s Michael Sean Winters christened “Team Javert” weighed in early and often against any relaxation of the rules. “Team Valjean,” by contrast, held its fire until the final week, and then unloaded.

The key player, besides Francis himself, appears to have been the powerful head of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Gerhard Müller. A theological stickler appointed by Pope Benedict, he was among the 13 cardinals who signed a Javertian letter to the pope protesting the Synod’s ways and means. The letter was leaked to Sandro Magister, Francis’ leading critic among Vaticanistas and the journalist who became persona non grata at the Vatican after he published an almost final version of the pope’s environment encyclical Laudato si’ ahead of its embargoed release date.

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UNITED STATES
Bilgrimage

William D. Lindsey

As Chris pointed out in a comment here yesterday, in a section of his Religión Digital interview with the defrocked gay priest and Vatican employee Monsignor Krzysztof Charamsa, journalist José Manuel Vidal asks Msgr. Charamsa about what seems to be a glaring discrepancy between the alacrity with which Catholic officials defrock a priest who comes out of the closet, and their ability to tolerate (and hide) a pedophile priest for years. Brittmarie Janson Perez has sent me a translation of that section of the interview, which I’d like to share with you this morning.

Charamsa responds to Vidal’s question:

It is also true that pedophilia continues to be protected by the Church to save its image and not pay for the damage caused. I am going to give you an example. Toward the end of last summer, the Polish Nuncio, Archbishop Wesolowski, tried by the Congregation as a pedophile, died. That man had a funeral which lasted 10 days, between the Vatican and Poland. A 10-day funeral for a prisoner who had already been tried by an ecclesiastical tribunal for sexual abuse. That funeral started with a sung Mass celebrated by the closest collaboraors of the pope and ended 10 days later in Poland with the reading of a letter in which it was said that the acusations of pedophilia were only inventions of the Dominican Republic mafia. The Vatican allowed this spectacle instead of thinking of how to immediately indemnify the victims of this pederast bishop.

Seeing all this, one can reach the conclusion that there is a pedophile lobby in the Vatican. Yes, many pederast priests and bishops get special treatment and many go scot free. In the light of this Vatican reaction to a gay priest who tells the truth is a shameful automatic reaction. But that is the logic of the Church: everything must be hidden “for the good of the Church.” While it is covered up, nothing happens. But for the Church, “the devil” is the priest who tells the truth, who comes out into the light, out of the closet.

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VATICAN CITY
Religion News Service

David Gibson | October 25, 2015

VATICAN CITY (RNS) The most significant and contested gathering of Roman Catholic bishops in the last 50 years formally ended on Sunday (Oct. 25) after three weeks of debate and dispute, but the arguments over who “won” and who “lost” are only beginning.

The synod of 270 cardinals and bishops from around the world was the second in a year called by Pope Francis to address how and whether Catholicism could adapt its teachings to the changing realities of modern family life. Traditionalists had taken a hard line against any openings, especially after last October’s meeting seemed to point toward possible reforms.

While the delegates made hundreds of suggestions on a host of issues, two took center stage, in part because they represented a barometer for the whole question of change: Could the church be more welcoming to gays, and was there a way divorced and remarried Catholics could receive Communion without an annulment?

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ROME
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane

Archbishop Mark Coleridge

October 25, 2015

When we returned to the Synod Hall yesterday afternoon for voting, there was another touch of high farce – an unscripted skit to finish this Synod of surprises. After we’d recited the Adsumus prayer (used daily at Vatican II), the president of the day welcomed us back and then passed the microphone to the Secretary General, as he normally did.

Cardinal Baldisseri began by reminding us that we had to remember the change from “ora legale” to “ora solare” – in other words, turn you clocks back. Glad he mentioned that; I would certainly have turned up an hour late for the closing Mass this morning. It was one of Cardinal Baldisseri’s finest moments.

He then proceeded in the normal way to register the presences in the Hall, which is something done at the start of each session. But this was more important than usual because we were about to vote on the final document. That’s where the farce began. At the first attempt, 259 registered as present. But then two more bishops arrived belatedly, so we had to start all over again. Now we had 261. But then, in slow succession, two more entered the Hall, the last (a Curial cardinal!) to resounding applause. So we had to start all over again. Some were getting tetchy, but I found it seriously comical. After a third registration, we had 263 and we were told that now the two-thirds vote required to pass a paragraph was 177. Finally we could begin the voting. We all looked furtively at the doors to make sure no more stragglers could be seen.

I should add that we have these little handsets at our seats on which you press any number from 1-9 to register your presence in the Hall. The handset also has one button saying “placet” (Latin for OK) and another saying “non placet” (Latin for not OK). We used these for voting. If you liked a paragraph (or at least thought it wasn’t offensive) you pressed “placet” and then another button saying “Confirmo”. If you felt slightly uneasy about it or hated it, you pressed “non placet” and then “Confirmo”. In all the pressing, you hoped to hell that the system worked. This evening it did, though the Archbishop of Sao Paolo had to call for a number of technicians at one point. They either fixed his handset or decided that his vote didn’t really matter.

We made our way through the 94 paragraphs of the final document in something like 90 minutes, pressing our buttons and recording the results. All paragraphs received the required two-thirds majority, a couple only just. This was a minor triumph in itself. Mind you, there were only a handful of paragraphs that proved controversial, and it’s not hard to guess what they were about. You’ll see what I mean when the document is published with the votes recorded. This was something the Pope announced at the end of the session – that the final document would be published with the votes. That’s good.

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CALIFORNIA
Los Angeles Times

Oct. 23, 2015

Teresa Watanabe

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles abruptly dropped its support for efforts by the Los Angeles Unified School District to make it more difficult to hold institutions liable for employees who commit sexual abuse.

In a letter to the California Supreme Court this week, archdiocesan attorneys had objected to an appellate court’s ruling that plaintiffs only prove that an institution knew an employee had a “potential” for sexual abuse instead of a “dangerous propensity,” as the trial court judge had instructed jurors in the L.A. Unified case.

In that case, the district argued a 14-year-old girl was partly to blame for sexual abuse by her then-math teacher at Edison Middle School during 2010 and 2011. The teacher, Elkis Hermida, was convicted of lewd conduct with a minor and sentenced to three years in state prison, but the girl has filed a civil suit against L.A. Unified, claiming negligence.

A jury found that L.A. Unified was not liable because the girl and the teacher concealed their behavior from school officials. But the Court of Appeal reversed that decision last month, saying that L.A. Superior Court Judge Lawrence Cho erred in using the “dangerous propensity” standard and in allowing evidence of the girl’s past sexual history and arguments that she was partly to blame for her abuse. The appellate court ordered a new civil trial.

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VATICAN CITY
Reuters

[with video]

VATICAN CITY | BY PHILIP PULLELLA

Pope Francis, ending a contentious bishops’ meeting on family issues, on Saturday excoriated immovable Church leaders who “bury their heads in the sand” and hide behind rigid doctrine while families suffer.

The pope spoke at the end of a three-week gathering, known as a synod, where the bishops agreed to a qualified opening toward divorcees who have remarried outside the Church but rejected calls for more welcoming language toward homosexuals.

It was the latest in a series of admonitions to bishops by the pontiff, who has stressed since his election in 2013 that the 1.2 billion-member Church should be open to change, side with the poor and rid itself of the pomp and stuffiness that has alienated so many Catholics.

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VATICAN CITY
Washington Post

By Anthony Faiola October 25

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis on Sunday delivered an extraordinary rebuke to church elders at the closing of a landmark summit on the family here, suggesting they had been too dogmatic and quick to exclude a broader array of people deserving of God’s grace.

In a Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica to mark the end of the three-week summit — known as a synod — Francis took aim at narrowness and false piety, focusing his homily on the biblical story of a blind man named Bartimaeus whom Jesus engages during a journey.

“None of the disciples stopped, as Jesus did,” Francis said in what a times sounded like a scolding tone.

He continued, “if Bartimaeus was blind, they were deaf. His problem was not their problem. This can be a danger for us. In the face of constant problems, it is better to move on, instead of letting ourselves be bothered. In this way, just like the disciples, we are with Jesus but we do not think like him.”

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ROME
The New York Times

By LAURIE GOODSTEIN and ELISABETTA POVOLEDO
OCT. 24, 2015

VATICAN CITY — After a three-week global assembly on family issues that exposed their deep divisions, Roman Catholic bishops produced a consensus document on Saturday that reinforced church doctrine but appeared to give Pope Francis enough support to advance his vision of a more merciful church.

The church doors opened just a crack for Catholics who divorced and remarried without receiving an annulment of their first marriages, and for those living together without being married. They remained firmly shut to same-sex marriage, even as the document said gay people should be treated with respect.

The document, which offers recommendations to the pope, was so carefully worded that it was immediately open to competing interpretations and allowed both the conservative and liberal flanks in the church to claim victory.

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ROME
The Guardian (UK)

Andrew Brown

Pope Francis appears to have been defeated after a bruising battle with conservative Catholic forces over his attempt to humanise the treatment of divorced and remarried couples. A second meeting of bishops from around the world, in a “synod on the family”, will probably end with no movement on the inflamed question of whether some divorced and remarried couples can be admitted to communion.

This may be scored as a draw between liberals and conservatives, but it has been contested as venomously as a Test match draw – and almost as publicly. Briefings, leaks, reports – vehemently denied – that the pope has a brain tumour, and threats of schism have all been used. According to the conservative Catholic blogger Damian Thompson, the next conclave – an occurrence which would require Francis’s resignation or death – can’t come soon enough for many conservatives. And this is the least hysterical language from that side.

The German delegation, broadly liberal, has issued a stinging denunciation of the conservative Australian Cardinal George Pell for language which was “false, imprecise and misleading.” In an interview with the French newspaper Le Figaro, Pell had accused the liberal German cardinal Walter Kasper of opposing Pope Benedict XVI, and this must have seemed a wholly unforgivable attack. The German cardinals said the words had “offended against the spirit of the synod and its fundamental rules … We distance ourselves decisively from this.”

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ROME
Voice of America

VOA News
Last updated on: October 24, 2015

Pope Francis said Saturday that a strongly divided gathering of bishops called to soften church doctrine on divorce, unmarried couples and homosexuals “laid bare” what he called “the closed hearts which frequently hide behind the church’s teachings and good intentions.”

The pontiff’s forceful critique of ultraconservative bishops came at the Vatican at the close of a three-week synod that saw conservatives resist papal calls to make the 1.2 billion-member church more welcoming and inclusive to gays and to divorcees who have remarried outside the church.

Francis accused those bishops of judging, “sometimes with superiority and superficiality, difficult cases and wounded families.”

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ROME
BBC News

Roman Catholic bishops have finished an often fractious synod on the family by reaching a compromise on divisive issues.

Doctrine towards divorcees has been softened but there is no change in the church’s stance on homosexuality.

In comments afterwards, Pope Francis appeared to criticise conservative bishops.

The church, he said, should confront difficult issues “fearlessly, without burying our heads in the sand”.

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UNITED STATES/CANADA
Orthodox Church in America

SYOSSET, NY [OCA]

During their annual fall session in Detroit, MI October 19-23, 2015, the members of the Holy Synod of Bishops of the Orthodox Church in America canonically deposed the retired Archbishop Seraphim from the status and all sacred functions of the episcopacy, removed him from the ranks of the clergy, and returned him to the status of a lay monk.

The letter of His Beatitude, Metropolitan Tikhon to the Archdiocese of Canada reads as follows.

PASTORAL LETTER TO ARCHDIOCESE OF CANADA
October 23, 2015

To the Clergy, Monastics and Faithful of the Archdiocese of Canada,

May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

The Holy Synod of Bishops of the Orthodox Church in America has concluded its Fall Session, held during the past week in Detroit, Michigan. One of the most difficult tasks of that meeting was the convening of the Synodal Court in Windsor, Ontario, to hear the case of the former Archbishop of Ottawa and Canada, His Eminence, Archbishop Seraphim. After much prayerful and intense deliberation, the Synodal Court determined that Archbishop Seraphim should be deposed from the episcopacy, removed from the ranks of the clergy and returned to the status of a simple monk.

The Holy Synod made this decision with much sorrow, but with the conviction that it was a necessary action both for the salvation of the now Monk Seraphim and for the preservation of the good order and stability of the flock of Christ. At the same time, we offer our prayers for the victims, their families and all those who have been affected by the events surrounding this case.

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IRELAND
Irish Mirror

BY CILLIAN O’BRIEN

Survivors of Protestant mother and baby homes will die before they get the compensation they deserve, a brave victim has claimed.

Derek Leinster, who was born in the Bethany in 1941, said he and others from such minority facilities have had no financial redress and that for many it is getting too late.

The Government launched a new commission of investigation into mother and baby homes earlier this year – more than 15 years after the first was established to seek redress for mostly Catholic survivors.

Judge Yvonne Murphy chairs the latest investigation and will issue a report in three years.

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UNITED STATES
The Open Tabernacle: Here Comes Everybody

Posted on October 25, 2015 by Betty Clermont

The following is a portion of the pope’s speech given yesterday at the close of the Vatican synod on the family:

[The synod] was about urging everyone to appreciate the importance of the institution of the family and of marriage between a man and a woman, based on unity and indissolubility, and valuing it as the fundamental basis of society and human life. …

We have seen, also by the richness of our diversity, that the same challenge is ever before us: that of proclaiming the Gospel to the men and women of today, and defending the family from all ideological and individualistic assaults.

[Pope Francis has called the movement in many countries to accept same-sex marriage as “ideological colonization that we have to be careful about that is trying to destroy the family.” In his recent speech to the UN, the pope “reminded the UN of their duty to recognize ethical limits, … ‘for carrying out an ideological colonization by the imposition of anomalous models and lifestyles which are alien to people’s identity and, in the end, irresponsible.’”]

The above quote from yesterday’s speech was omitted by the New York Times, Washington Post, Associated Press, Reuters and Religion News Service. As has been true for this pontificate, only the good stuff gets reported.

Reuters: “Pope Francis Ends Synod By Excoriating Bishops With ‘Closed Hearts’ And ‘Heads In The Sand’ – In his final address, the pope appeared to criticize ultra-conservatives, saying Church leaders should confront difficult issues ‘fearlessly, without burying our heads in the sand.’ He said the synod had ‘laid bare the closed hearts which frequently hide even behind the Church’s teachings or good intentions, in order to sit in the chair of Moses and judge, sometimes with superiority and superficiality, difficult cases and wounded families.’”

AP: “Pope Francis takes swipe at conservative bishops as synod on families ends – Catholic bishops … endorsed Pope Francis’ call for a more merciful and less judgmental church.” The last sentence above was repeated.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
KSHB

Dia Wall

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The catholic diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph is releasing its latest numbers on reported sexual abuse.

This week, the Office of Child and Youth Protection sent 41 Action News the latest information on investigations, training and victim’s services.

To date, there are:

6 pending investigations
4 substantiated claims
4 cleared cases
3 unsubstantiated cases
1 referred to religious community

Kansas City Royals player donates tickets to Game 5 to fire station, firefighters pay it forward

Carrie Cooper is the director of the child and youth protection office. She said after the Shawn Ratigan scandal of 2011 the church, “Really needed a concentrated effort that was direct and transparent and accountable after a trust was breached in our diocese.”

This is the fourth annual report her office has released since its creation.

In the last year, close to 12,000 children and youth have gone through specialized training on how to recognize and report suspected abuse. More than 2,000 adults took part in training as well.

Cooper said as a result, there has been a sharp increase in reports of boundary violations in situations like, “If someone kissed someone that was in a role where that wouldn’t be appropriate.”

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ROME
Rome Reports

[with video]

It was just after six o clock when the doors of the Vatican’s Paul VI Hall, opened, marking the end of the Synod on the Family.

After Bishops and Cardinals voted on the 94 points included in the final document, there was also some time for socializing.

Shortly after, Pope Francis walked out of the Synod Hall, with the final document in hand, as he made his way to his residence in Santa Marta.

Even though there disagreements at times, during the three week Synod, as a whole bishops seemed at ease with the final document.

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ROME
TheTablet

24 October 2015 by Elena Curti, in Rome

The Synod on the Family has ended with no consensus on the issue of Communion for divorced and remarried Catholics and the rejection of any change in the Church’s teaching on homosexuality.

The two-year process culminated today in the publication of a document prepared for Pope Francis that sets out the synod’s views on the Church’s mission to the family. The final document is notable for its warmth and pastoral tone, its emphasis on supporting families in difficulty and in particular the welfare of children.

It recommends more detailed and extensive marriage preparation and also support in the early years of marriage which are judged to be critical.

The document makes no direct mention of Communion for divorced and remarried Catholics but there is reference to a “path of discernment” and the “internal forum” which some priests and bishops already use to determine whether a person can be readmitted to the sacraments.

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VATICAN CITY
CBS News

VATICAN CITY – Catholic bishops called Saturday for a more welcoming church for cohabitating couples, gays and Catholics who have divorced and civilly remarried, endorsing Pope Francis’ call for a more merciful and less judgmental church.

Bishops from around the world adopted a final document at the end of a divisive, three-week synod on providing better pastoral care for Catholic families. It emphasizes the role of discernment and individual conscience in dealing with difficult family situations, in a win for liberal bishops.

Conservatives had resisted offering any wiggle room in determining, for example, whether civilly remarried Catholics can receive Communion since church teaching forbids it. While the document doesn’t chart any specific path to receiving the sacraments as originally sought by the liberals, the document opens the door to case-by-case exceptions to church teaching by citing the role of discernment and conscience.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Spectator

Damian Thompson

This afternoon the Vatican Synod on the Family amended and approved the final document summing up three weeks of chaotic and sometimes poisonous debate – much of it focussing on whether divorced and remarried people should be allowed to receive communion.

The majority view of the Synod Fathers is that they don’t want the rules changed. They especially don’t want one rule to apply in, say, Germany and another in Tanzania. Pope Francis has just given a cautiously worded (but also, alas, rather waffly) address in which he acknowledges as much:

… we have also seen that what seems normal for a bishop on one continent, is considered strange and almost scandalous for a bishop from another; what is considered a violation of a right in one society is an evident and inviolable rule in another; what for some is freedom of conscience is for others simply confusion.

Significantly, the Fathers didn’t back a ‘solution’ suggested by liberal cardinals, whereby divorced and remarried Catholics could consult their consciences and their confessors over whether they should follow the rules.

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VATICAN CITY
Wall Street Journal

By FRANCIS X. ROCCA
Updated Oct. 24, 2015

VATICAN CITY—Catholic bishops handed Pope Francis an embarrassing defeat Saturday by withholding support for one of his signature initiatives— a pathway for Catholics who divorced and remarried to receive Communion—thus showing the strength of conservative resistance to the pope’s liberalizing agenda.

The pope responded with a speech that, while largely hopeful, betrayed his irritation with the bishops, complaining of “conspiracy theories and blinkered viewpoints” and “closed hearts which frequently hide even behind the church’s teachings, in order to sit in the chair of Moses and judge, sometimes with superiority and superficiality, difficult cases and wounded families.”

The final report of a bishops’ meeting on the family, called a synod, omitted any mention of the Communion question, the most fiercely debated topic during five weeks of discussion over the course of a year. Instead, the document called for greater integration of remarried divorcés in the church while “avoiding every occasion of scandal,” suggesting that such Catholics might be allowed to play a larger role in worship, education and other church activities.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

All paragraphs of the final document have been approved with a two-thirds vote from the Synod Fathers. Number 85 was also only just approved (178 placets, 80 non placets and there was a qualified majority quorum of 177). The text does not introduce any general rules, nor has unconditional access to the sacraments been granted but it does build on the work Wojtyla started with the “Familiaris consortio”, advocating “discernment” on a case-by-case basis

ANDREA TORNIELLI
VATICAN CITY

The concluding text of the Synod, approved by participating bishops makes no changes to Church doctrine and values the family and Gospel teaching, but also shows greater understanding to remarried divorcees. Two paragraphs in particular address the attitude to adopt with regard to remarried divorcees – a hotly debated and controversial issue – and also the possibility of them participating in the sacraments in certain cases and under certain conditions.

The decision to entrust communion for remarried divorcees to the “discernment” of pastors has been approved by a two-thirds majority, with only one vote beyond the necessary two thirds (178 “yes” votes against the required 177 votes for a qualified majority). These are the result of the vote on the Relatio Sinodi. There were 80 “no” votes. Three of the text’s paragraphs – numbers 84, 85 and 86 – received consensuses that were higher than the required two-thirds (177) but only by a narrow margin.

Paragraph 85 quotes the following passage of John Paul II’s “Familiaris consortio” as a “general criterion”: “Pastors must know that, for the sake of truth, they are obliged to exercise careful discernment of situations. There is in fact a difference between those who have sincerely tried to save their first marriage and have been unjustly abandoned, and those who through their own grave fault have destroyed a canonically valid marriage. Finally, there are those who have entered into a second union for the sake of the children’s upbringing, and who are sometimes subjectively certain in conscience that their previous and irreparably destroyed marriage had never been valid.”

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VATICAN CITY
News.va

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis addressed the Synod participants on Saturday evening after the vote on the final text by the XIV Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on the Family.

Below, please find the official English translation of the Holy Father’s address:

Dear Beatitudes, Eminences and Excellencies, Dear Brothers and Sisters,

I would like first of all to thank the Lord, who has guided our synodal process in these years by his Holy Spirit, whose support is never lacking to the Church.

My heartfelt thanks go to Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, Secretary General of the Synod, Bishop Fabio Fabene, its Under-Secretary, and, together with them, the Relator, Cardinal Peter Erdő, and the Special Secretary, Archbishop Bruno Forte, the Delegate Presidents, the writers, consultors and translators, and all those who have worked tirelessly and with total dedication to the Church: My deepest thanks!

I likewise thank all of you, dear Synod Fathers, Fraternal Delegates, Auditors and Assessors, parish priests and families, for your active and fruitful participation.

And I thank all those unnamed men and women who contributed generously to the labours of this Synod by quietly working behind the scenes.

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VATICAN CITY
Reuters

VATICAN CITY | BY PHILIP PULLELLA

Pope Francis, ending a contentious bishops’ meeting on family issues, on Saturday excoriated immovable Church leaders who “bury their heads in the sand” and hide behind rigid doctrine while families suffer.

The pope spoke at the end of a three-week gathering, known as a synod, where the bishops agreed to a qualified opening toward divorcees who have remarried outside the Church but rejected calls for more welcoming language toward homosexuals.

It was the latest in a series of admonitions to bishops by the pontiff, who has stressed since his election in 2013 that the 1.2 billion-member Church should be open to change, side with the poor and rid itself of the pomp and stuffiness that has alienated so many Catholics.

In his final address, the pope appeared to criticize ultra-conservatives, saying Church leaders should confront difficult issues “fearlessly, without burying our heads in the sand.”

He said the synod had “laid bare the closed hearts which frequently hide even behind the Church’s teachings or good intentions, in order to sit in the chair of Moses and judge, sometimes with superiority and superficiality, difficult cases and wounded families”.

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UNITED STATES
The Kansas City StarTIED ST

BY CINDY HOEDEL
choedel@kcstar.com

Dennis Coday is editor of National Catholic Reporter, ncronline.org, a daily online and biweekly print publication that covers the Roman Catholic Church for a national and international audience. The newspaper has an eight-person editorial staff in Kansas City, four full-time staffers in Washington, D.C., several correspondents on the West Coast and a correspondent in Rome.

Coday, originally from Nebraska, graduated from Rockhurst University and earned a master’s in journalism at Marquette. He worked for the Catholic Key newspaper in Kansas City, the Union of Catholic-Asian News in Bangkok and as a freelancer before joining NCR in 2003 as Web editor. In 2012, he took over as editor.

National Catholic Reporter was founded in 1964 in Kansas City. It is independently owned and governed by a lay board of directors.

The paper began publishing stories about sex abuse by clergy 10 years before the Boston Globe printed its investigative series that is the subject of the new film “Spotlight” (scheduled to open Nov. 20). In June, NCR published a retrospective of its coverage of the scandal over the past three decades. (The Star also had been reporting cases about priest sex abuse in the local diocese for two decades.)

NCR also is known for taking progressive stances in its editorials, including asserting that climate change is the most important pro-life issue facing the church.

This conversation took place in the paper’s newsroom on Armour Boulevard.

Q: What precipitated NCR’s reporting on clergy abuse?

A: The way stories like this develop is, you get a phone call. And there’s a hint of something going on, or it’s allegations that can’t be traced back. But gradually things build up. By 1985, Tom Fox and Arthur Jones, who were editors at that time, had accumulated enough information that they felt like they could start to write about this.

The breakout case was in Lafayette, La., which came to a head with a trial in 1985. Jason Berry, a reporter writing for a local alternative weekly, collaborated with NCR on an extensive report about what was happening in Lafayette, and Tom Fox and Arthur Jones put together a national overview of sex abuse cases. That reporting really started the ball rolling.

Q: The founder of Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP), Barbara Blaine, credits NCR’s reporting with her coming out about the abuse she experienced and with founding her support group.

A: Yes, and the other piece of that is Father Tom Doyle, a Dominican priest who at the time was a canon lawyer working for (the pope’s ambassador in Washington, D.C.). He was tasked with finding out what was going on.

Tom tells this story in our retrospective that he and a lawyer and a clinical psychologist who was also a priest and a lawyer from Louisiana that was familiar with the cases put together a master plan that they proposed to the U.S. bishops (in 1985). Their position is that if the bishops had acted on that plan, it would have saved decades of abuse, of financial crisis, of scandal — it could have saved the reputation of the Catholic Church. But they didn’t act on it.

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ROME
The Tablet

24 October 2015 by Elena Curti

A standard-bearer of progressive thought at the Synod on the Family, Bishop Johan Bonny, admitted last night that he had been prevented from raising the issue of the pastoral care of gay Catholics in the gathering’s group discussions.

Bishop Bonny of Antwerp, who was in a group led by a senior African cardinal, Robert Sarah, said there had been no way of discussing the issue “in a peaceful way.”

Bonny was speaking at a press conference in Rome called by the three Belgian bishops at the synod on Friday night. Clearly alluding to tensions with Cardinal Sarah in the group, he said it was better to talk about the gay issue “in a positive way than in a bad atmosphere.”

In his synod intervention, Cardinal Sarah, Prefect for the Congregation for Divine Worship, reportedly compared “gender ideology” with Islamic State fundamentalism and Nazism.

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UNITED STATES
Bilgrimage

William D. Lindsey

Yesterday, the Spanish journal Religión Digital published an interview with the gay Polish priest who came out of the closet in a public way prior to the synod on the family — Monsignor Krzysztof Charamsa. Those following this story will know that Msgr. Charamsa was quickly defrocked by his bishop (in sharp contrast to the many priests who have abused minors and have been permitted to remain in ministry, have been moved about from parish to parish and hidden from public scrutiny).

The interview with Msgr. Charamsa in Religión Digital is a conversation between him and journalist José M. Vidal. To the best of my knowledge, this article has not yet been translated into English. I’m very grateful to my friend Brittmarie (Brittie) Janson Perez for sending me and others on her email list a quick translation of the article. As she notes, tools like Google Translate allow non-Spanish readers to have a fairly good, if somewhat rough, idea of what the article is saying.

If I spot an English translation or any Spanish-speaking reader of this blog wants to provide one (and Brittie herself may well have more commentary down the road), I may have further commentary on this interview. For now, here are highlights that leap out at me (whose Spanish is rudimentary, though I can make out quite a bit):

Vidal asks Msgr. Charamsa, “The church preaches mercy, but does it not keep on persecuting homosexuals?” (La Iglesia predica misericordia, pero ¿sigue persiguiendo a los homosexuales?). Charamsa replies:

Sí, hay una verdadera persecución por parte de la iglesia católica tanto de las personas como de la comunidad LGBTI en general. Es la persecución de las minorías sexuales que no pertenecen y no pueden pertenecer a la mayoría heterosexual. Se trata de un proyecto ideológico de la Iglesia. Mi Iglesia se permite afirmar que debe luchar contra los gays al igual que luchaba contra el nazismo. Nos comparan con los nazis, los enemigos de la humanidad. Esta afirmación ha salido en boca del cardenal africano Sarah justo en medio del sínodo, que en su lugar debería pensar con misericordia sobre las familias. La Iglesia está obsesionada con la homosexualidad, así como con la sexualidad humana en general.

Yes, he says, the Catholic church persecutes sexual minorities, the LGBTI community, in particular. It does so as an expression of the percecution of sexual minorities who do not and cannot fit into the heterosexual majority. This is treated as an ideological project by the church — something akin to the ideological battle against Nazism. LGBTI people are compared by church officials with the Nazis; they’re tagged as enemies of humanity. Cardinal Sarah made such an equation during the synod. The church is obsessed with homosexuality, as it is with human sexuality in general.

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VATICAN CITY
ABC 7

AP

[with video]

VATICAN CITY — Catholic bishops were voting Saturday on a final document to better minister to families following a contentious, three-week summit at the Vatican that exposed deep divisions among prelates over Pope Francis’ call for a more merciful and less judgmental church.

Conservative bishops had strongly resisted calls by more liberal bishops to offer a more welcoming approach to gays and divorced Catholics, citing church doctrine on sexuality and marriage. But it wasn’t clear that they had mustered the votes needed to close the door entirely on the core question of whether divorced and civilly remarried Catholics can receive Communion.

Austrian Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn said Saturday the final text, while not addressing the Communion issue head on, speaks obliquely about the “discernment” necessary to help couples in irregular situations.

“The situations are so different that we must look closely at each one, discern the situations and accompany them according to the needs of each one,” Schoenborn told reporters.

If he were looking for wiggle room to push the issue further, Francis could take that reference to discernment – reached through spiritual direction with a priest or bishop – as the opening he needs.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 24 October 2015 (VIS) – The Holy Father has appointed:

– Archbishop Paolo Rocco Gualtieri, apostolic nuncio in Madagascar and the Seychelles, as apostolic nuncio in Mauritius.

– Fr. Aristide Gonsallo as bishop of Porto Novo (area 4,545, population 1,720,996, Catholics 650,000, priests 227, religious 124), Benin. The bishop-elect was born in Cotonou, Benin in 1966 and was ordained a priest in 1992. He holds a doctorate in theology from the Catholic University of Angers, France and a master’s degree and doctorate in modern letters from the state University of Angers. He has served as a teacher in the minor seminary of Parakou, and is currently pastor of the St. Martin parish in Panape and chaplain of the diocesan hospital, and is responsible for the reorganisation of the diocesan health service.

– Cardinal Charles Maung Bo, S.D.B., archbishop of Yangon, Myanmar, as papal legate for the 51st International Eucharistic Congress to be held in Cebu, Philippines from 24 to 31 January.

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LOUISIANA
The New Orleans Advocate

Charles G. Coyle III S.J.
Obituary

. . . and he grew in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man . . . Charles G. Coyle III, S.J. entered the Heavenly Kingdom on July 1, 2015. A private Christian memorial service was held. He is survived by his sister Florence Coyle Treadway, his brother Robert D. Coyle, many loving nieces and nephews, foster-son Hamilton Armstrong, his wife Setsuko Miura Armstrong, and his beloved granddaughter, Ariel Miura Armstrong. Father Charley was born in New Orleans and graduated from Jesuit High School in 1949. He was president of his senior class and received the Senior Class Leadership Award. He matriculated at Spring Hill College and was awarded the Freshman Cup in 1950, Outstanding ROTC Award in 1951, and selected ROTC Battalion Commander in 1952. In 1952, he entered the Jesuit novitiate and began studies toward the priesthood. In 1958, he received a Master of Arts degree in Political Philosophy from Spring Hill College and from 1958-1962 taught at Jesuit High Schools in Dallas, Shreveport, and New Orleans.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

October 24, 2015

Bianca Hall

A Melbourne man who was sexually abused as a child by Yeshivah Centre staff has taken out intervention orders against members of the Orthodox Jewish community, alleging his family was threatened after he spoke out about his abuse.

And several people who were subjected to sexual abuse as children at Yeshivah in Melbourne have now launched civil action against the ultra-Orthodox organisation.

The revelations are contained in a new ABC documentary to be aired on Tuesday night, Breaking the Silence, by film-maker Danny Ben-Moshe. It’s the sequel to Code of Silence, Ben-Moshe’s Walkley-winning documentary about Manny Waks, the whistleblower who lifted the lid on child sex abuse within Melbourne’s Orthodox Jewish community.

This time, Ben-Moshe has turned his sights to evidence presented to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse against staff and directors from the Yeshivah Centre in Melbourne and the Yeshiva in Sydney.

After the Royal Commission’s hearings in February, Sydney’s Yeshiva Centre leaders publicly apologised to victims and introduced training for rabbis and education programs for children.
But while the Sydney centre was praised for its response, victims said change had come too slowly in Melbourne.

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UTAH
KSL

By McKenzie Romero | Posted Oct 23rd, 2015

FARMINGTON — A former counselor of the popular Especially For Youth religious seminar has pleaded guilty to sexual activity with a teenage boy he met through the program.

Keldon Severn “KC” Cook, 29, pleaded guilty earlier this week to one count of attempted sexual exploitation of a minor and three counts of unlawful sexual conduct with a 16 or 17 year old. All the charges are third-degree felonies.

Cook was originally charged with four counts of forcible sodomy, a first-degree felony; one count each of second-degree felony forcible sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of a minor; and one third-degree felony count of dealing in materials harmful to a minor.

Investigators say Cook met the boy, who was 14 at the time, at BYU in 2012 when he was assigned as his counselor during the weeklong program of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

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CALIFORNIA
Press-Telegram

By Greg Yee, Press-Telegram

A former member of a Mormon church in Long Beach was sentenced to eight years in state prison this week after pleading “no contest” to criminal charges in a sexual assault case.

Daniel Montoya, 55, entered the pleas on two counts of sodomy against the victim’s will with a minor 14 or older, according to Los Angeles County Superior Court records. He has previously been convicted of molesting two teen boys in the 1970s and was arrested again in October 2014 after additional victims came forward.

“The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has zero tolerance for abuse of any kind,” said Eric Hawkins, an LDS spokesman, in a statement. “Anyone who abuses a child is rightfully subject to both formal sanction from the Church — including loss of membership — and criminal prosecution. Montoya has been excommunicated from the Church, the most severe penalty we can impose. We have been supportive of the efforts of law enforcement to investigate and prosecute this case.”

One of the recent victims told police that Montoya called in April and began asking about his 8-year-old son, according to a police statement at the time of his arrest.

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PERU
America TV – Cuarto Poder

[con il video]

Desgarradores testimonios de exintegrantes del Sodalicio, una de las más importantes y conservadoras congregaciones religiosas del país, dan cuenta de presuntos abusos sexuales cometidos por los líderes de esta organización espiritual.

“Con mucha tristeza te digo, que hemos descubierto casos que señalan a Luis Fernando Figari, fundador del Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, como un abusador sexual, como un depredador sexual”, denunció el escritor Pedro Salinas y que da cuenta de ello en su libro “Mitad monjes, mitad soldados”.

Luis Fernando Figari Rodrigo, líder del Sodalicio, renunció en diciembre del 2010 al cargo de Superior general de la comunidad.

Para entonces, se empezaban a conocer las primeras acusaciones de abusos sexuales cometidos por parte de quien fuera su brazo derecho, el número dos de la congregación, el hoy fallecido Germán Doig Klinge.

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PERU
Peru Reports

Peru’s attorney general has opened a sexual abuse investigation into Luis Fernando Figari, founder of the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae (SCV) apostolic society.

Attorney general Pablo Sanchez said that a 60-day investigation was opened in wake of the revelations. However any crimes committed before 2004 would be ineligible for prosecution under Peru’s statute of limitations.

Last Sunday investigative news program Cuarto Poder featured a first look at the new book, “Half Monks, Half Soldiers” by journalists Pedro Salinas and Paola Ugaz. 30 former members alleged widespread sexual and psychological abuse within SCV. Three men who claimed to be abused by Figari himself.

“At times I literally felt nauseous, on the point of tears,” author Pedro Salinas said about writing the book. “Because they are such shocking testimonies, especially those who allege sexual abuse, that I doubt anyone would be unfazed. They are traumas people have carried with them for years, that cost them a lot to recount.”

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UNITED STATES
Washington Post

By Sarah Chang October 23

Sarah Chang is a federal prosecutor who specializes in child exploitation crimes.

During my first week as a federal prosecutor of sexual abuse crimes against children, one of my colleagues told me her chief coping mechanism: Turn the sound off when you have to watch a video multiple times. This advice scared me. I imagined children screaming, crying and shrieking in pain — the stuff of nightmares.

My office is responsible for investigating and prosecuting such crimes, namely the production, possession and trafficking of child pornography. My first case file contained multiple CDs and DVDs showing a young girl being sexually abused by her father, who filmed his crimes with a handheld camera. Despite my colleague’s warning, I knew I couldn’t remain deaf during my first pass at the evidence. I went to our forensic computer lab and braced myself.

But all I heard was silence. The 5-year-old girl said nothing — not even a sob. Disturbed, I continued to watch each video with the sound on. I tried to beat back the silence by turning the volume up as high as it could go. The quiet was too deafening, too defeating to accept. Surely, these children must make a sound?

But in video after video, I witnessed silent suffering. I later learned that this is a typical reaction of young sexual abuse victims. Psychiatrists say the silence conveys their sense of helplessness, which also manifests in their reluctance to report the incidents and their tendency to accommodate their abusers. If children do disclose their abuse, their reports are often ambivalent, sometimes followed by a complete retraction and a return to silence.

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NEW JERSEY
NJ.com

By Tom Haydon | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on October 23, 2015

LINDEN — From all appearances, Gregory Aker was solid member of his community, an assistant scoutmaster with the Boy Scouts in Clark and a volunteer religion teachers at a Linden church.

All that changed in February 2014 when Linden police responded to a domestic complaint between Aker and his wife, and then arrested the husband on charges of sexually assaulting two minors. That was followed by federal authorities searching the home and finding 600 images and dozens of videos of child sexual abuse, authorities said.

Today Aker appeared in U.S. District Court in Newark and admitted sexually abusing children and possessing images of child sexual abuse, U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman said in a statement.

Aker, now 46, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Court Judge Susan D. Wigenton to a charge of possession of child pornography.

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ROMA
Radio Vaticana

[con l’audio]

E’ stato presentato ieri sera fuori concorso alla Mostra del Cinema di Venezia uno dei film più attesi, “Spotlight” con il quale il regista statunitense Thomas McCarty ripercorre la storia della famosa inchiesta che nel 2002 portò alla luce lo scandalo e l’orrore della pedofilia tra i sacerdoti della diocesi di Boston. Dal nostro inviato a Venezia, Luca Pellegrini:

Proprio mentre a New York crollavano, in quel fatidico 2001, le Twin Towers centrate dagli aerei civili, portando con sé nel baratro centinaia di vittime innocenti, nella Boston cattolica le fondamenta di quella grande e antica diocesi cedevano non perché attaccate da qualche forma di terrorismo umano, ma dalla forza inesauribile e incontenibile della verità. Non secondario il fatto che fosse un manipolo di validi giornalisti del quotidiano “Boston Globe” a rendersi interpreti della loro più pura vocazione, quella cioè di trovare i fatti, verificare le fonti, raccontarli e rendersi, per il bene della comunità e di una città, paladini di un bisogno di giustizia. Grazie all’unità Spotlight – da qui il titolo del film di McCarty – il 6 gennaio del 2002 solennità dell’Epifania, una data scelta non a caso, uscì un numero storico del giornale che in prima pagina scoperchiava l’orrore già in parte noto e troppo a lungo da molti taciuto, quello della pedofilia diffusa tra i sacerdoti cattolici della diocesi americana, con centinaia di vittime sulla coscienza non solo di chi il crimine l’aveva operato, ma anche di chi lo aveva nascosto, ancor peggio negato.

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ROME
Crux

[A Venezia il film sulla pedofilia nella diocesi di Boston – Radio Vaticana]

By John L. Allen Jr.
Associate editor October 23, 2015

A new film about The Boston Globe’s coverage of child sexual abuse scandals in the Church 13 years ago has drawn strong praise from the Vatican’s official radio outlet, which described the movie as “honest” and “compelling.”

A Vatican Radio commentator also said the Globe’s reporting, upon which the film is based, helped the Church in the United States “to accept fully the sin, to admit it publicly, and to pay all the consequences.”

Artistic commentary from either Vatican Radio or the official Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, is not tantamount to an endorsement of a work by either the pope or the Vatican, spokesmen have insisted over the years. Its appearance in a Vatican media outlet, however, creates at least the impression of approval.

Directed by Thomas McCarthy, the movie takes its title, “Spotlight,” from the name of the investigative unit at the Globe that documented a widespread pattern of abuse and cover-up in the Archdiocese of Boston, which eventually led to the resignation of Cardinal Bernard Law in December 2003.

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CALIFORNIA
CBS SF Bay Area

SAN RAMON (CBS SF) — A teen and his mother are seeking more than $25,000 in damages based on allegations in a lawsuit filed last week that a San Ramon school district and an Alamo church failed to deter child molestation by reporting it to police.

The lawsuit, filed in Contra Costa County Superior Court, names San Ramon Valley Unified School District and New Life Church as defendants. The plaintiff is a 16-year-old boy that was identified as one of three victims in a sexual abuse case.

The plaintiff was a victim in a case brought against Kevin Lopez, a former California High School head wrestling coach and a youth group program leader at New Life Church.

Lopez, 28, was sentenced in February to 10 years, eight months in prison after pleading guilty to eight felony counts of lewd acts on children between the ages of 14 and 15 and other related charges.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Argus

A SEXUAL abuse victim has accused the Church of “systematic behaviour” in failing to act on allegations of assault after the sixth Sussex churchman in two years was exposed as an offender .

The claim comes after it was revealed on Thursday that former Bishop of Chichester George Bell, a man once tipped to be Archbishop of Canterbury, sexually abused a young child for a number of years.

Campaigners are now questioning the Diocese of Chichester’s ability to investigate itself, as historic cases continue to emerge despite five separate inquiries.

Additionally an inquiry into the Church’s handling of the Peter Ball case was commissioned on October 5 and the diocese is also co-operating with the national Goddard review into child sexual abuse.

Yesterday there was no clarification from the current Bishop of Chichester, Martin Warner, following his comment that there had been no cover up by the Church.

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CALIFORNIA
KRON

SAN RAMON (BCN) — A teen and his mother are seeking more than $25,000 in damages based on allegations in a lawsuit filed last week that a San Ramon school district and an Alamo church failed to deter child molestation by reporting it to police.

The lawsuit, filed in Contra Costa County Superior Court, names San Ramon Valley Unified School District and New Life Church as defendants. The plaintiff is a 16-year-old boy that was identified as one of three victims in a sexual abuse case.

The plaintiff was a victim in a case brought against Kevin Lopez, a former California High School head wrestling coach and a youth group program leader at New Life Church. Lopez, 28, was sentenced in February to 10 years, eight months in prison after pleading guilty to eight felony counts of lewd acts on children between the ages of 14 and 15 and other related charges.

And, the lawsuit alleges, the school district and the church might have known Lopez was engaging in this behavior with minors before police were alerted, but didn’t respond to it.

The lawsuit maintains that the district instead conducted its own investigation into a complaint that Lopez had potentially molested children, and made no further action.

It was a concerned parent’s accusation that while Lopez himself was a student at the school, he hosted parties with alcohol for middle school-aged children and may have inappropriately touched some of the minors.

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UNITED STATES
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: A priest of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate ordained in 1950 in Belleville IL, Fitzgerald moved in and out of a number of dioceses during his career, including Belleville, Springfield and Peoria IL, St. Paul and Minneapolis, Duluth, Crookston and New Ulm MN, Sioux Falls SD, and Springfield-Cape Girardeau MO. He was involved with orphanages in Peoria IL and Sisseton SD. He returned to his Order in Belleville sometime in the early 1990s and died in 2009. Fitzgerald was accused in a 2010 lawsuit of having repeatedly sexually abused two residents of the Tekakwitha Indian Orphanage in the 1960s: a girl ages 4-13, and a 10 or 11-year-old boy. In a February 2014 lawsuit Fitzgerald was accused of sexually abusing a 13-year-old boy in around 1978. He had met the boy while at a pastoral education program at a parish in the New Ulm diocese, and invited him to serve as an altar boy for two weeks at his Squaw Lake MN parish. It is during those two weeks that the abuse is said to have occurred. The lawsuit also claims Fitzgerald sexually abused another child during his time in Squaw Lake, on the Leech Lake Indian Reservation near Bemidji MN. A civil trial related to the lawsuit began in October 2015.

Born: December 9, 1919
Ordained: May 1950
Died: September 7, 2009

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PERU
National Catholic Reporter

Barbara Fraser Catholic News Service | Oct. 23, 2015

LIMA, PERU
Accusations of physical, psychological and sexual abuse by leaders of a Catholic movement founded here in the 1970s led the group to pledge an internal investigation.

The allegations were described in a new book, “Mitad Monjes, Mitad Soldados” (“Half Monks, Half Priests”), by Pedro Salinas, a former member of Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, who interviewed about 30 other former members.

The interviewees, some of whom were minors when they joined the group and moved into one of its formation houses, recalled military-style physical exercise and separation from family and friends. Some said spiritual directors had ordered them to disrobe and then touched them, and there were several accounts of rape. One of those accused is the organization’s founder, Luis Fernando Figari.

Figari resigned as head of Sodalitium in late 2010, after the organization withdrew its proposal for the beatification of its deceased former vicar general, German Doig, in the wake of sex abuse allegations.

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UNITED STATES
Religion News Service – Rhymes with Religion

Boz Tchividjian | Oct 23, 2015

One of the many horrors about child sexual abuse is the inability to definitively assess who poses a danger to our children. Not only do decades of studies still leave us at a loss as to why offenders offend, but generations of abuse remind us that offenders are some of the most deceptive and dangerous people on the face of the earth. This combination is deadly. In order to help bring this horror to an end, we must acknowledge this deadly combination and help to equip our communities to understand so that all of us can be more proactive in protecting little ones from those inside and outside of our communities who want to destroy them.

I recently learned about an amazing individual who has committed his life to equipping the faith community to better understand the deceptions and dangers of offenders. Pastor Jimmy Hinton never grew up thinking that this would be his life’s calling. However, that all changed in 2011 when he was hit hard by a disclosure that forever changed his life. Pastor Hinton has spent the past few years collecting invaluable and unique insights into the dark mind of an offender who found himself loved and admired by an unsuspecting public that was deceived for decades. I am so glad and grateful that Jimmy Hinton has taken the time to share just a few of those insights with us today in this guest post. – Boz
_____________________________________________________________________________

It’s a cold February day and I’m standing on stage eyeing up my audience. It’s a seminar at a church on child sexual abuse and I’ve now shifted to speaking about prevention. I don’t want to lecture them about “red flag” behavior. I want them to experience deception. My colleague, a therapist who has logged over 9,000 hours counseling over 3,000 sex offenders in various prisons, has convinced me that we need to role play. He will play the firm church leader and I will play the pedophile. Days before, he assures me that he’s never seen anyone so naturally “get into role” as me. “It’s frightening! You’re too much,” he says. Our aim is to demonstrate to our unsuspecting audience how easily sex offenders cunningly win over the hearts of every person and gain access to children. It’s a scenario we both know too well. It will be, in his opinion, the most compelling and practical part of the entire weekend seminar. He was right.

We let them know that we were acting, but that several of them would find our routine eerily familiar. It’s a strange feeling to pretend to be the very thing you work so hard to fight against. Perhaps that’s why there is a profound shortage of specialists in this field. Nobody wants to plunge their minds into that level of darkness. Two minutes into my act, I could tell that most everyone was hooked. I improvised the entire thing. I had no idea what I was going to say or how I would say it but it just seemed to flow, and so did my tears. Several people in the audience were wiping tears from their own eyes, and we were only 3 minutes in. I used multiple layers of deception through words, pacing and leading, body language, and by hijacking and toying with their belief system. After only 5 minutes I was finished and, frankly, shocked at how easy it was. I asked the audience how many people would give me the benefit of the doubt and let me worship with them, unhindered. Every hand went up except for the church elders. One of the elders raised his hand—“We recently had a situation with a pedophile who gained our trust and eventually worked his way into a leadership position. Things got very ugly and it ended with him threatening lives. I swear, I had to take a second look and make sure that you were not actually that man standing on stage. You mirrored him exactly.” I had never met the man he spoke of, nor did I know any details about this church’s situation.

It’s a specialty I wish I didn’t need to develop, and I wish it wasn’t so personal. It’s taken its toll on me in so many ways, but I remain determined and understanding deception has become a niche. In 2011, a young adult disclosed to me, her pastor, that my own father had sexually abused her as a young child. Three days later, my mother and I were sitting in a police station reporting my childhood hero. How was this possible? I went into ministry because of his influence. He preached for decades at the same church I’m preaching at now. We were best friends. He confessed to over 20 victims, all of them prepubescent children at the time they were abused and is now serving a life sentence. I’ve maintained close contact with my dad, as well as the families of his victims. Learning about deception is woefully painful. Living in its wake is a nightmare.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Spectator

Damian Thompson

Archbishop Mark Coleridge of Brisbane is one of the bishops who’ll be voting on the final report of the Synod on the Family at the Vatican tomorrow. He’s ‘quite a character’, I’m told by a priest who knows him. But anyone who’s been reading his startlingly frank and witty diary of the Synod, published on his diocesan website, will have already worked that out.

There are cardinals and bishops who, after a few jars, will let slip what really goes on at these occasions. And then there’s Archbishop Mark, who – although no doubt great company in the pub – doesn’t need any prompting to spill the beans.

He hasn’t broken any rules, mind. There are no leaks in his dispatches. But let’s just say that it’s lucky for him that Pope Francis doesn’t read English.

Coleridge’s latest entry, published today, is a gem. It’s a refreshing corrective to our mental image of cardinals wringing their hands in pious despair as they debate whether to give Holy Communion to the divorced and remarried. (They’ve decided against, by the way.)

Over to you, Archbishop:

We settled into the second round of voting for the Post-Synod Council which turned out to be a hoot. The first round of voting had been inconclusive, with votes scattering in all directions. This time we were given the names of the 10 bishops who had got the most votes in the first round in each of the four continental sections (Africa, America, Europe and Asia-Oceania). Of these we had to choose three.

Off we went, pressing our little voting machines at the seats. The trouble started when the technology failed in one of the three sections of the Hall. We were voting for Europe. We all agreed that Europe had always been a problem. Technicians were called and ran from all directions. I didn’t realise we had so many technicians looking after a system that is so erratic. It might be better to have a new system and fewer technicians … but the union mightn’t like that.

Enter the Secretary General of the Synod, Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, whose finest hour this has not been. He handed the Fathers the draft of the final report:

The Secretary General then told us that it was our solemn duty to read the text carefully so that we could present proposed amendments the following morning. This was OK for those who know Italian. But the fact is that many of the bishops (and even some of the cardinals!) don’t know Italian … It would have taken a bit of money to hire professional translators to turn it into other languages quickly; but surely that would have been money well spent.

The fun and games started again when Cardinal Baldisseri told us that the draft document was so sensitive and super-secret that we couldn’t even take it home. At this, there were serious rumblings in the Hall. Boos were looming. Sensing mutiny, the Secretary General changed his mind: we could take it home but it was strictly for our eyes only. Not a whisper to anyone else. They weren’t even to know we had the document.

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.

NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

Sinn Fein has backed a call for interim compensation payouts to institutional abuse victims before a long-running inquiry into the crimes is completed.

However, the request for early payments has not yet been endorsed by the Office of First Minister and Deputy First Minister (OFMDFM), indicating Sinn Fein and the DUP have not reached a joint position on the issue.

Charity Survivors and Victims of Institutional Abuse (Savia) has warned that many former residents of institutions where abuse was committed are now old and cannot wait until the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry (HIA) finishes hearing evidence and produces an official report to Stormont.

Sinn Fein’s Jennifer McCann, who is an OFMDFM junior minister, said: “Sinn Fein supports some form of interim redress or acknowledgement payment, as has happened in other jurisdictions, given the age profile of some of the victims of the Historical Abuse Inquiry.”

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.

PERU
RPP

[The religious community apologized to the victims and said it will cooperate with any investigations in both ecclesiastical and judicial bodies.]

La comunidad religiosa pidió perdón a los afectados y aseguró que colaborará con las investigaciones en cualquiera de las instancias tanto eclesiásticas como judiciales.

Tras las denuncias de abusos sexuales contra el fundador del Sodalicio de Vida Cristiana, Luis Fernando Figari, la comunidad religiosa emitió un comunicado en el que piden perdón a las personas afectadas y aseguran que colaborarán con la justicia.

Del mismo modo, informan a la opinión pública que Figari se encuentra desde el 2010 en Roma en alejado de la vida pública.

“Expresamos nuestro profundo dolor y cercanía con todas aquellas personas que han sufrido y sufren por acciones cometidas por algunos de los miembros de nuestra comunidad. A ellas les pedimos perdón y les ofrecemos nuestra disposición de escucha y ayuda”, reza el comunicado.

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PERU
La Ley

En caso de que las víctimas hayan sido menores de 14 años, aún podría procesarse y, eventualmente, condenarse a Luis Fernando Figari y otros miembros del Sodalicio de Vida Cristiana que sean hallados responsables de abuso sexual. Sacerdotes y autoridades religiosas no tienen ningún privilegio ante la ley penal. Más detalles aquí.

Un medio de comunicación ha afirmado que ya no sería posible condenar a Luis Fernando Figari (fundador) y otros miembros del Sodalitium Christianae Vitae (Sodalicio de Vida Cristiana) por los abusos sexuales cometidos contra menores de edad entre 1999 y 2000. ¿La razón? Se asegura que ya habrían prescrito los delitos por los cuales estos personajes han sido denunciados en recientes investigaciones periodísticas y en el libro “Mitad monjes, mitad soldados” de Pedro Salinas con la cooperación periodística de Paola Ugaz.

Sin embargo, esta afirmación no es correcta. Aún resulta posible procesar y, eventualmente, condenar a los miembros de dicho movimiento católico que sean hallados responsables de haber cometido violación sexual en agravio de menores de 14 años de edad.

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.