ABUSE TRACKER

DEUTSCHLAND
Wochen Spiegel

[Laymen and experts as theologians, educators or psychologists discuss topics including the sexual morality of the Catholic Church, existing tensions in practice and possible credible future prospects. “The church is no longer in demand in matters of sexuality as an institution,” was the finding of Münster sex educator Ann-Kathrin Kahle.]

Offizielle Sexualmoral der katholischen Kirche kontra tatsächliches Liebesleben der Menschen: Um dieses Spannungsfeld ging es jetzt beim Forum “Sexualität. Leben” im Rahmen der Bistumssynode.

Laien und Experten wie Theologen, Pädagogen oder Psychologen diskutierten unter anderem über die Sexualmoral der katholischen Kirche, bestehende Spannungen in der Praxis und mögliche glaubwürdige Zukunftsperspektiven. “Die Kirche ist in Fragen der Sexualität als Institution nicht mehr gefragt”, lautete der Befund der Münsteraner Sexualpädagogin Ann-Kathrin Kahle. Ihre Aufgabe sei es, Menschen zu begleiten, nicht sie zu verurteilen, sagte Ethik-Professorin Sigrid Müller aus Wien. Details sind unter www.bistum-trier.de zu finden.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Westfalische Nachrichten

[Suspected sexual abuse in two dioceses.]

Münster/Freiburg –
Der Fall wirkt verfahren. Er zeigt, wie schwer es ist, der Wahrheit auf den Grund zu kommen und dem Leid eines Menschen gerecht zu werden. Es geht, wie die „Badische Zeitung“ in Freiburg berichtet, um den Fall einer 48-jährigen Frau, die sich nach langem inneren Kampf im Sommer 2014 an das Erzbistum Freiburg wendet. Sie wird gequält von Erinnerungen aus ihrer Kindheit im Bistum Münster. Ein Priester, Freund der Familie, habe sie als junges Mädchen in den 1970er Jahren über einen langen Zeitraum vielfach sexuell missbraucht.

Von Johannes Loy 

Die Frau vertraut sich der Missbrauchsbeauftragten des Erzbistums Freiburg an, die das Gesprächsprotokoll mit einer eidesstattlichen Erklärung an die zuständige Kommission für „Fälle des sexuellen Missbrauchs Minderjähriger durch Geistliche“ im Bistum Münster weiterleitet. Denn der Beschuldigte ist Priester des Bistums Münster, Mitte 70, und nach wie vor in Nordrhein-Westfalen im Dienst.

Was sich nun anschließt, könnte man mit der Redewendung „Von Pontius zu Pilatus rennen“ umschreiben. Dieser Umstand mag auch damit zusammenhängen, dass die münsterische Untersuchungskommission mit sechs Mitgliedern und fünf Beratern recht groß und die Kompetenzverteilung möglicherweise nicht klar geregelt ist. Die Klägerin wird von unterschiedlichen Kommissionsmitgliedern kontaktiert und befragt, dann wiederum lehnt sie zusätzliche Aussagen aus Angst vor einer Retraumatisierung ab. „Eigentlich sollte es zum Schutz des mutmaßlichen Opfers möglichst wenige Ansprechpartner geben“, räumt Bistumssprecher Dr. Stephan Kronenburg ein.

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DEUTSCHLAND
EPD

[Catholic child protection officer: pent-up demand for prevention.]

Bei der Prävention von sexuellem Missbrauch an Kindern sieht der erste Kinderschutzbeauftragte des Vatikans, Hans Zollner, in vielen Ländern noch Nachholbedarf. “Vielerorts wird ernsthaft an der Aufarbeitung von Missbrauchsfällen gearbeitet und konsequente Präventionsarbeit geleistet”, sagte der Psychologieprofessor und Jesuitenpater der “Hannoverschen Allgemeinen Zeitung” (Mittwochsausgabe). Das sei allerdings nicht überall der Fall.

In großen Teilen Afrikas, Asiens und teilweise in Lateinamerika sei sexueller Missbrauch an Minderjährigen bisher noch ein Thema, das nicht öffentlich diskutiert werde. Dort müssten Verantwortliche in Staat, Gesellschaft und Kirche erst ein Problembewusstsein entwickeln, um effektiv und entschlossen gegen Missbrauch vorzugehen.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Statement by Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, Outreach Director of SNAP, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 314 503 0003 cell, bdorris@snapnetwork.org )

We believe Msgr. William Lynn should go back to prison because it’s just and the best way to deter others who may conceal.

[Philadelphia Inquirer]

One could argue that those who conceal child sex crimes are more culpable than those who commit them. Predators are often sick individuals with a virtually uncontrollable compulsion to assault kids. Enablers, however, are presumably otherwise healthy individuals who deliberately choose to hurt kids by ignoring, hiding and, in effect, facilitating predators.

We suspect no penalty will stop the Fr. Edward Averys from molesting. (That’s why prison is important: it’s the only sure-fire way to keep predators away from prey.) But we’re confident that harsh penalties will stop the Msgr. Lynns from enabling.

And in the Catholic Church, nearly every other prevention measure – except punishing the hierarchy – has failed. Despite decades of scandals, lawsuits, settlements, exposes, prosecutions, and defections, bishops keep protecting predators and endangering kids.

So something more and different must be done. Punishing wrongdoers must happen, instead of promoting wrongdoers.

Some will no doubt consider our view punitive. It’s not. It’s preventative. It’s what our society must do more often if children are to be safer from heinous crimes.

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UNITED STATES
Bilgrimage

William D. Lindsey

A valuable piece of commentary from Peter Isely of SNAP Wisconsin, in his Facebook feed recently, about the resignation of Bishop Robert Finn and the pomegranate seed: Peter notes that the leaders of the Catholic church are divided into two teams, team Benedict and team Francis, one the “traditionalist tough guy” team, the other the “moderate” team. And because teams vie to be winners, making other teams losers, and because winners and losers continuously shift, there’s a whole lot of politicking and image-making and face-saving going on.

And then there are the survivors of childhood clerical abuse. And there’s justice, which these win-lose political games are almost never about:

Justice is something altogether different than this kind of two party politics. Justice doesn’t have teams. It doesn’t take the side of the exploited, the oppressed, and the dispossessed because justice is the exploited, the oppressed, and the disposed. They are not a team. They are those without a team. Any true social change originates in them. They are the part of the system that has no part in the system. They occupy the empty place of the system, the social and political space where the law has been annulled, vacated or subverted. That is why survivors, paradoxically, who represent no one, no faction, no particular interest are, unknown to them, the universal church, which has no place for them and does not know what to do with them.

Survivors are Persephone’s pomegranate seed, the biblical pearl in the field, the grain of mustard, overlooked and ignored by those playing the big-boy games — who sometimes change things in unexpected ways simply by being there. And by refusing to get caught up in the push-shove games of the ever-shifting teams of victors and losers . . . .

And as many of you probably now know, the latest unbelievable breaking news in the Finn story: as Rick Montgomery reports for Kansas City Star on Monday, he’ll be presiding at several ordinations next month in the diocese he (formerly?) headed — a decision that Yael T. Abouhalkah rightly calls “repulsive, reckless and yet a par-for-the-course decision by the local Catholic hierarchy.”

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BELGIUM
National Catholic Reporter

Jonathan Luxmoore Catholic News Service | Apr. 29, 2015

OXFORD, ENGLAND A Belgian bishop said the president of the bishops’ conference urged Catholics to respect a court judgment against him for failing to act on allegations of abuse.

However, Auxiliary Bishop Jean Kockerols of Mechelen-Brussels also said the ruling provoked concern that it could spur more claims for damages, and he said it would take a while for the church to regain credibility.

“Our church set up a special commission to investigate such cases, which will soon complete its work,” Kockerols told Catholic News Service, adding that he believed the Belgian church’s procedures for combating abuse were now robust.

“After the damage we’ve suffered from these cases, it’ll take us 10-20 years to regain our credibility as a church. What’s important in the meantime is that we’re not intimidated into silence. When you’re walking a tightrope, your best chance of finding a balance is to keep moving forward,” he said.

The Appeal Court in Liege ruled against Archbishop Andre Leonard of Mechelen-Brussels, conference president, in a case dating to when he was bishop of Namur, 1991-2010. The court said the archbishop was guilty of misconduct and ordered him to pay $11,000 to a former Catholic seminarian, Joel Devillet, who was sexually abused as a choirboy in Aubange by a Catholic abbot, Fr. Gilbert Hubermont.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Jamie Manson | Apr. 29, 2015 Grace on the Margins

For the past 15 years, Fr. Donald Cozzens has distinguished himself as a commentator on religious and cultural issues, especially those relating to the sexual and financial crises gripping the Catholic church. His best-selling book The Changing Face of the Priesthood exploded onto the religious publishing scene in 2000, receiving both broad acclaim and fierce critique — and changing the direction of his ministry as a priest.

He went on to write four more books, including Sacred Silence: Denial and the Crisis in the Church (2002) and Notes From the Underground: The Spiritual Journal of a Secular Priest (2013). He now travels widely, lecturing on the upheavals engulfing the Catholic church and leading retreats for priests and religious. He is also a writer-in-residence and adjunct professor at John Carroll University in Ohio.

In Cozzens’ latest work, Master of Ceremonies, published by In Extenso Press, he revisits themes that have dominated much of his writing: clergy sex abuse, clericalism, Vatican intrigue and corrupt bishops. But this time, he spins the narrative in the form of a mystery novel.

I recently spoke with Cozzens recently about his new tale of secrecy and silence, murder and suspense.

Manson: Why did you choose to write your first novel rather than another nonfiction book? Are you a fan of suspense novels?

Cozzens: We know that stories compel us in ways that only the best of nonfiction can. So I thought that telling a story about our wounded church might be something I should try. And once I started, I simply couldn’t stop. I do like suspense novels, and I’m happy to have the book described as a thriller, because I wanted the story to move at a fairly fast pace. One of my colleagues in the English department here at John Carroll, a novelist himself, said that it galloped. …

Why did you choose to make clergy sexual abuse and its subsequent cover-up a key part of the plot?

The church is trying to cope with a number of scandals and urgent pastoral issues today. I’m thinking of the fraud and bank scandals, bishops living like princes, the church’s attitude toward the divorced and remarried, its failure to really listen to Catholic sisters who teach and minister with integrity and humility. The list goes on. But nothing has so rocked the church as the sexual violation of our teens and children and the repeated bungling of many of our bishops as they tried to contain and spin and manage the scandals.

Our laity is saying to the bishops, you might mess with my money, but don’t you dare mess with my children. So sexual abuse and its cover-up remain the stick in the eye of the church. But the reader will also find among the plot lines of the novel faith-killing revenge, naked clerical ambition, and misplaced loyalty. Still, the net holding the narrative in place is the abuse of a young boy by a priest who later becomes an archbishop.

The story involves a secretive group called the Brotherhood of the Sacred Purple. Do you think groups like this really exist, or were you simply trying to infuse Da Vinci Code-like intrigue into the novel?

I’ve had some fun with the Brotherhood of the Sacred Purple. In the novel, it’s a secretive band of bishops and priests who are hell-bent on saving the church from pastoral-minded bishops who, in their judgment, threaten what they call the church’s supreme center — that is, papal infallibility, hierarchal patriarchy, doctrine carved in stone, and the like. And they’re willing to do whatever it takes to achieve their sacred duty as they see it. Groups like this exist today, but I certainly hope they’re not as ruthless as the Brothers of the Sacred Purple. Da Vinci Code intrigue? No. Master of Ceremonies isn’t as dark or complex as Dan Brown’s novel. But intrigue there is.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Survivor Advocates Coalition

Editorial

We read with astonishment that Bishop Robert Finn will preside at the ordinations of seven seminaries in the Kansas City- St. Joseph Diocese in May because Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann who temporarily has charge of this diocese has a scheduling conflict.

Tone deaf is a profound understatement on this matter.

We understand that Bishop Finn has the power to ordain these seminarians regardless of his “voluntary” resignation that was accepted by Pope Francis.

But what in heaven’s name makes anyone in the power structure or the pews of the Roman Catholic Church think this is acceptable?

This is about as acceptable as Richard Nixon presiding over a Cabinet meeting for Gerald Ford or signing an executive order because Ford had some work on Capitol Hill that he had previously scheduled.

We get that Archbishop Naumann already has ordinations scheduled. ‘Tis the season for them.

But how about the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church – and those who are being ordained – act in the same way real people do. When a major event has a major problem, maturity goes into action and a solution is found that doesn’t insult anybody.

How about the time of the ordination be moved to later in the day?

How about moving the ordination to the next day or the next weekend or the next month? We understand that the seminarians and their families and friends have planned for this event and it will cause some difficulty if the event were moved even by a day, but plenty of people make sacrifices to be at events of this significance for the people they love. And, really, we think the family members of the seminarians would be all too willing to make whatever adjustments were necessary if an ordination date had to be moved. It’s not for them that this accommodation of Finn’s presiding is being made. And certainly the seminarians should not be adverse to a bit of sacrifice on their way to ordination.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

JOSEPH A. SLOBODZIAN, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
POSTED: Wednesday, April 29, 2015

A Philadelphia judge will hear arguments Thursday about whether Msgr. William J. Lynn should return to prison.

The hearing was set by Common Pleas Court Judge M. Teresa Sarmina, who presided over the landmark 13-week trial in 2012 in which Lynn, 64, was found guilty of child endangerment for his role supervising priests accused of sexually abusing children.

Sarmina sentenced Lynn to three to six years in prison and he served about 18 months before being released on house arrest on Jan. 2, 2014, after the Pennsylvania Superior Court reversed his conviction. Lynn has lived since in the rectory of St. William, a parish in Lawncrest in the Northeast.

On Monday, however, the state Supreme Court reinstated the conviction and the Philadelphia District Attorney’s office immediately moved to revoke his bail and return him to prison.

Defense attorney Thomas A. Bergstrom on Wednesday filed a motion asking that Lynn remain free on $250,000 bail and live on house arrest pending further appeals.

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CHICAGO (IL)
CBS Chicago

CHICAGO (CBS) — Chicago police were investigating after a baseball player at a Catholic high school on the Far South Side allegedly was sexually assaulted by several teammates last month, and 12 students have been suspended in connection with the incident.

A source said the victim was sodomized in the locker room at St. Francis de Sales High School, at 10155 S. Ewing Av.

A dozen varsity baseball players at the school were suspended this week. A letter to parents said the players were accused of bullying, or failing to report bullying, but Chicago police said they were notified of a sexual assault at the school.

Chicago police said an 18-year-old allegedly was sexually assaulted by five other males on March 23, at approximately 3 p.m., but the parents of the victim and the school did not report the attack to police until Tuesday. Area South Detectives were investigating, but no one was in custody as of Wednesday afternoon.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

MATT GELB, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
LAST UPDATED: Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Two lawsuits alleging sexual abuse of minors by priests from the Archdiocese of Philadelphia were settled for an undisclosed amount, lawyers announced Wednesday.

The suits, the first settled since a 2011 grand jury investigation of sex abuse allegations in the archdiocese, were filed by the victims before they turned 30 – keeping them in line with Pennsylvania’s statute of limitations.

The plaintiffs, identified as John Doe 10 and John Doe 187, requested the settlement amounts be confidential.

“Nobody ever recovers from this kind of sexual abuse,” said Dan Monahan, one of their lawyers. “But fortunately, both of these young men have really gained a certain amount of power and are no longer living in silence.

“They have moved on with their lives. They are stronger as a result of stepping forward. They are stronger as a result of filing these suits. And I think they feel a somewhat small sense of justice in having these cases resolved.”

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

For a celibate bachelor, Pope Francis perhaps understandably cannot seem to shake his problems with women and children. Too many children are still being “bred” under the pope’s contraception ban for a warming climate and finite world to absorb. Moreover, some of the “excess” children become easy targets of clerical predators that the pope and his bishops seem unwilling and/or unable to control. This was evident from the recent Philadelphia news confirming the conviction for endangering children of the longtime top priest personnel aide to shamed Philly Cardinals Justin Rigali and Anthony Bevilacqua.

The aide took the fall for his two cardinal bosses, it appears. As the Georgetown Law graduate judge told the aide after his jury conviction, he should have stood up to his bishops, Rigali and Bevilacqua presumably. Instead, she said, Lynn had enabled “monsters in clerical garb to destroy the souls of children.” Of course, Rigali and Bevilacqua are still held in esteem by the Vatican. And few Catholics trust US bishops’ clearly inadequate and easily manipulated annual “child protection audits” that Rigali got “straight A’s” on while seemingly surrounded by alleged priest abusers!

Please see also my related remarks, “Two Cardinals’ Aide’s Crime Upheld Yet Philly Visit Is Still On?“, “What Do We Now Know About The Real Goal Of Pope Francis?” , “Childless Pope Faces Man-Made “Mess”: Children & Climate Change” , “Vatican Revolt Negates Synod & Sex Commission” , “Dumping Finn For US President: Who’s Next?”‏ , “Hillary Clinton vs. Pope Francis in 2015 USA Politics“, “Electing Bishops & Jeb Bush Too” , “A Pope, A New US War, Jeb Bush Neocons & Big Oil” , “Finn’s Law: Police Must Now Handle Crimes Says Pope“, and “Must Jesuits Overlook Jesuit Pope’s Mistakes?“.

And now here comes Hillary Clinton, a new grandmother and advocate for women and children, the Vatican’s forgotten Catholics! As noted here,

Hillary Clinton, during her 2008 US presidential campaign, talked a great deal about religion. By contrast, with Pope Francis now on the US political playing field, please note this from Hillary’s recent speech seemingly directed at Pope Francis at the Women in the World Summit in New York:

“Yes, we’ve cut the maternal mortality rate in half, but far too many women are still denied critical access to reproductive health care and safe childbirth. All the laws we’ve passed don’t count for much if they’re not enforced. Rights have to exist in practice, not just on paper. Laws have to be backed up with resources and political will. And deep-seated cultural codes, religious beliefs and structural biases have to be changed. “ (emphasis mine)

Whose “cultural codes, religious beliefs and structural biases”, Pope Francis, do you think Hillary was referring to? This last sentence was key, as one can see from this video (at 8:55). Hillary emphasized these words through a change in tone, cadence and gesture.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Kansas City Star

BY YAEL T. ABOUHALKAH- ABOUHALKAH@KCSTAR.COM

04/28/2015

Bishop Robert Finn should not be allowed to participate in the priestly ordinations next month of deacons in the Catholic church.

Robert W. Finn is a disgraced Catholic bishop who has announced his resignation as leader of the Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocese. He should not be presiding at the priestly ordinations of new deacons next month.

Yet, he is scheduled to do just that.

It’s a repulsive, reckless and yet a par-for-the-course decision by the local Catholic hierarchy, especially the new temporary leader of the diocese, Archbishop Joseph F. Naumman.

The event scheduled for May 23 is a slap in the face to the victims of child abuse at the hands of local Catholic priests over the years and the families of those victims.

It also sends the wrong message to the community at large, the many non-Catholics who have watched for years as the local diocese has been involved in costly settlements with abuse victims.

The revelation that top Catholic officials outside this area are allowing Finn to preside at the ordinations also does not send the right message that lessons have been learned during Finn’s presence as bishop in Kansas City.

Indeed, it appears that the Catholic officials think they can act with impunity and continue to allow a resigned bishop to not just keep his title but keep on doing his duties in this region.

One of the more worrisome comments in The Star story came from Deacon Joshua Barlett, scheduled to be ordained by Finn: “I do echo most everyone when I say we are very excited for Bishop Finn to perform the ordination. I started into this eight years ago. He’s led us all the way through.”

In other words, the new generation of Catholic priests in this area will be blessed by the old generation that is leaving such an ugly legacy for the church.

That’s disappointing.

Naumann and other church leaders keep calling on members of the local church to allow time for “healing and grace.”

Yet it appears too often that the people who were abused by the priests are the ones who are supposed to have all the grace in this situation, and be pressured to do the healing.

If Naumman and other local Catholic leaders were truly interested in “healing and grace,” they would not allow Finn to lead the ordinations in May.

That might disappoint seven men scheduled to become priests.

But it would send the right message to so many other people.

To reach editorial page columnist Yael T. Abouhalkah, call 816-234-4887 or send email to abouhalkah@kcstar.com. Twitter @YaelTAbouhalkah.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Peter Isely | Apr. 29, 2015 Examining the Crisis

Mindful of Aristotle’s caution that one swallow does not a summer make, there is still good reason to celebrate that after years of intense activism, advocacy and grass-roots organizing from abuse survivors, advocates, Catholic clergy and parishioners, the Vatican has finally, formally and unceremoniously removed Bishop Robert Finn from the beleaguered diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Mo.

This is a kind of move the Vatican is always loath to make since it raises serious questions about the divine hand in episcopal promotions. Thus, there was only one paltry sentence in the statement about it from the Vatican. So much for a teaching moment.

That Finn was convicted of child endangerment and was publicly exposed for breaking signed promises to victims of clergy sex crimes negotiated in civil settlements certainly helped, proving once again that when criminal and civil courts intervene in church cover-ups, it becomes increasingly difficult for the Vatican to feign neutrality.

Backing the efforts of the law in Kansas City: parishioners who spoke up, organized and signed petitions (it’s easy to be cynical, but thousands of signatures made a difference); dedicated journalists who investigated and reported stories of priest sex abuse and institutional complicity; and innovative insiders/outsiders to the church system itself, like Milwaukee canon lawyer Fr. Jim Connell, co-founder of The Survivors and Clergy Leadership Alliance, who found ways to use the church’s legal system to represent survivors and press for the rights of aggrieved parishioners.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Independent

KASHMIRA GANDER Author Biography Wednesday 29 April 2015

The judge leading an independent inquiry into child sex abuse by members of the establishment, is to investigate claims made against Lord Greville Janner.

The probe could see Justice Lowell Goddard call the former MP, 86, to court to give evidence, following a controversial decision by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) not to try him because his dementia is too severe.

However, Justice Goddard indicated the inquiry will consider medical evidence before taking a decision on whether to call the peer to be interviewed, and said she will likely enlist medics to make the decision.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Tom Roberts | Apr. 29, 2015

WASHINGTON The number of clergy sex abuse cases in the Catholic church in the United States continues to decline, and most of those newly reported stem from the 1960s through the 1980s, according to the latest report on how dioceses are complying with the ongoing requirements of the U.S. bishops’ 2002 Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People.

The generally positive news in the report is tempered, however, by cautions against complacency from both Archbishop Joseph Kurtz, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, and Francesco C. Cesareo, chairman of the National Review Board for the Protection of Children and Young People.

And, as has been the case for the 12 years the audit has been performed, the review board is forced to report that the church in the United States is not in full compliance with the charter because the diocese of Lincoln, Neb., and five eparchies, dioceses of the Eastern church, refuse to cooperate with the survey.

In his letter presenting the report, Cesareo warned against “Charter drift” and a “false sense of security.”

“While substantive progress has been made, it should not be concluded that the sexual abuse of minors is a problem of the past that has been adequately addressed,” he wrote. “The fact that there were six substantiated cases of abuse of current minors in this year’s audit is indicative of the fact that there are still instances where dioceses fall short.”

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
Catholic League

Bill Donohue comments on a piece today by an editorial writer for the Kansas City Star:

Yael T. Abouhalkah’s mother should have told her son to mind his own business. He writes for the notoriously anti-Catholic newspaper, the Kansas City Star, and is now lecturing Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann of Kansas City, Kansas about his decision to have Bishop Robert Finn preside at two ordinations in May; Finn recently resigned as Bishop of Kansas City-St. Joseph, and Naumann is the apostolic administrator of the diocese.

Archbishop Naumann will be celebrating the ordination of priests in his own diocese on the same day that the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph is holding its ordinations. That is why he asked Bishop Finn to preside over his former diocese. As well he should: not only is Bishop Finn a bishop in good standing in the Catholic Church, he is a holy man who has done a magnificent job in securing bright and able men to the priesthood. Indeed, the number of men he has galvanized to become priests makes Finn the envy of bishops in much larger dioceses throughout the nation.

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UNITED STATES
Crux

By John L. Allen Jr.
Associate editor April 29, 2015

Back in 2002, at the peak of the sexual abuse crisis in the American church, then-Bishop Wilton Gregory of Belleville, Ill., at the time the president of the US bishops’ conference, was in Rome. Every journalist on the planet wanted an interview, and my friend Jim Bittermann from CNN was lucky enough to score one.

I asked Bittermann if I could tag along to his appointment at the North American College, the American seminary in Rome, figuring it was the only way I would get access to Gregory on that trip. (Even though I worked for a competing publication, I was a regular on CNN.) Bittermann agreed, and so we set off.

We got as far as the inner courtyard at the NAC, which is where we ran into the unmovable Sister Mary Ann Walsh, the US bishops’ media coordinator.

Walsh immediately sniffed out the ruse, and wasn’t happy about it. She looked at Bittermann scornfully and said, “What, aren’t you man enough to do this by yourself? You need somebody to hold your hand?”

I was sternly exiled outside to wait for Bittermann to finish, and never did get my face time with Gregory until much later in the game.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

by SNAP outreach director Barbara Dorris

We applaud the few Kansas City priests who are speaking up against the plan by three top Catholic officials – including Pope Francis’ US representative – to let Bishop Robert Finn preside over two ordinations next month.

We beg more Kansas City priests – and parishioners – to join this effort.

We beg the church hierarchy to listen to their cries.

We beg the soon-to-be-ordained deacons to speak up and oppose this too.

And we beg Pope Francis to name a permanent head of the diocese who is a parish priest, not a church bureaucrat.

The temporary head of the diocese, Archbishop Joseph Naumann, told the Kansas City Star “Bishop Finn resigned, and the Holy See has accepted it. But he doesn’t disappear from the face of the Earth. … He still is a bishop.”

[National Catholic Reporter]

That’s a callous non-explanation for a controversial, hurtful plan. A surgeon who was ousted shouldn’t be doing surgery. A police officer who stepped shouldn’t be arresting people. And a bishop who resigned shouldn’t be acting like a bishop, especially when his actions will only prolong years of already intense and easily avoidable pain.

This plan was approved by Naumann, Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano (the “papal nuncio to the US in Washington DC, Pope Francis’ chief US aide) and Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet (the head of the Congregation for Bishops in Rome). Shame on them.

The lesson here is that the feelings of a handful of clerics trump the feelings of hundreds of victims and thousands of Catholics. The lesson is that despite decades of child sex crimes and cover ups, caused largely by clerics who put themselves above parishioners, clerics still put themselves above parishioners.

It’s said that the deacons want Finn to be at the ordinations. That may or may not be true. But many Catholics want their bishop to do things he should not or cannot do. A bishop, as a leader, must decline many opportunities.

It’s said that “Finn has been a mentor and a guide to these men.” That’s likely true. And, if they want a convicted criminal to keep being their mentor and guide, that’s their choice. But it shouldn’t be a highly public and visible role or position or relationship that

It’s said that these events were planned long ago. That’s certainly true. But there are more than 400 active or retired bishops in the US. All it takes is one of them to step in for Finn.

It’s said that top Catholic officials – in Rome and in DC – have blessed Finn’s plans. That’s likely true. But it’s also irrelevant and hurtful. It’s pretty clear by now that just because a high ranking Catholic bureaucrat approves something, it isn’t necessarily good for victims or parishioners.

It’s said that “Finn’s been punished enough.” But this isn’t about hurting Finn. It’s about helping KC victims and parishioners, most of whom desperately want and need this long nightmare to end.

(Besides, Finn’s been let off pretty easy. He’s still a priest. He’s actually still a bishop. He’s still living in his lush home, which was and is paid for by parishioners. He still gets his paycheck, health insurance, dental plan, car allowance and all the rest. And he enabled child sex crimes, got his expensive defense paid for by others, was convicted but avoided jail.)

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MINNESOTA
Patrick Noaker

PRESS CONFERENCE: 2:00 p.m., Wednesday, April 29, 2015
Where: Minneapolis attorney Patrick Noaker’s office, 333 Washington
Ave. N., Suite 300
First case filed under new law against nuns.
Victim to speak with reporters
____________________________________________________________________________
(MINNEAPOLIS, April 29, 2015) – Attorneys filed a new civil lawsuit against an order of nuns, and the Diocese of New Ulm, alleging sexual abuse of a 10-year-old boy repeatedly molested by a nun at a Catholic school in Madison, Minnesota.

This is the first civil lawsuit filed against an order of nuns under Minnesota’s new law for sex-abuse victims.

The lawsuit, filed on behalf of a 58-year-old man from Shakopee, Minnesota, alleges that a nun repeatedly abused the boy in his fifth-grade year, from the fall of 1967 through spring 1968, at St. Michael’s Catholic School in Madison, Minnesota.

Court papers say Sister Mary Regina repeatedly fondled the boy’s genitals during school hours.

Court papers identify the boy as John Doe 117. Since filing the lawsuit, the victim has decided to reveal his identity, to encourage other victims of sexual abuse to come forward.

The man referenced in the lawsuit, Douglas Devorak of Shakopee, Minnesota, will speak with reporters at a press conference at 2:00 p.m., Wednesday, April 29th at Minneapolis attorney Patrick Noaker’s office: 333 Washington Avenue N., Suite 300.

“I do not need to be anonymous anymore,” Devorak said. “I am a survivor. I did not do anything wrong.”

“I need to get the truth out and tell my story to heal.”

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MINNESOTA
Patrick Noaker

Noaker Law Firm and James, Vernon & Weeks law firms filed a new civil lawsuit against an order of nuns, and the Diocese of New Ulm, alleging sexual abuse of a 10-year-old boy repeatedly molested by a nun at a Catholic school in Madison, Minnesota.

This is the first civil lawsuit filed against an order of nuns under Minnesota’s new law for sex-abuse victims.

The lawsuit, filed on behalf of a 58-year-old man from Shakopee, Minnesota, alleges that a nun repeatedly abused the boy in his fifth-grade year, from the fall of 1967 through spring 1968, at St. Michael’s Catholic School in Madison, Minnesota.

Complaint against Diocese of New Ulm and School Sisters of Notre Dame

Press Release

Photograph of St. Michael’s Catholic Church and School

Photograph of Doug Devorak family

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ARKANSAS
Jessica Arbour

SUIT ALLEGES THAT PASTOR SEXUALLY EXPLOITED A VULNERABLE FEMALE PARISHIONER BY PROMISING HER GOD’S BLESSING AND FAVOR

WHAT
Jessica Arbour, a nationally-recognized attorney for survivors of sexual abuse, announces the filing new lawsuit filed in Pulaski County Court alleges that APOSTLE LAWRENCE E. BRAGGS, the Senior Pastor at AWARENESS CENTER INTERNATIONAL MINISTRIES, sexually abused and exploited a female congregant from approximately 2007 until 2012.

The suit alleges that BRAGGS learned sensitive information about Jennifer Richardson, the plaintiff, during the course of spiritual counseling and instruction, which he then used to manipulate the congregant into a sexual relationship. After learning that she was raised by her own minister father to believe that obedience to God was the supreme virtue, Braggs told her that God had shown him that her place was to help him “go to God” through sexual activity. The suit claims that Braggs engaged the plaintiff in sexual contact at various locations around the Little Rock area, including the church, located at 900 S. Pine St., in Little Rock, and at his home, which was at one time owned by the church, and which was recently lost after a complicated foreclosure process, according to online reports.

The Complaint also states that when Plaintiff attempted to end the sexual relationship in mid-2012, Braggs, his family, and other congregates engaged in an ongoing campaign to threaten and harass Plaintiff and her family, if they reported the relationship to police. Sexual exploitation of a congregant by a member of the clergy is classified as third degree criminal sexual conduct under Arkansas law.
The plaintiff is a 33 year old resident of the Little Rock area. She is married with 2 young children.
Richardson v. Awareness Center International Ministry, Inc., et al. is now pending in Pulaski County Court.

CONTACT
Jessica Arbour, Esq., (312) 854-8091; jessica@arbourlaw.com.

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FLORIDA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, April 28

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

A convicted child predator, church volunteer and Eucharistic minister is due to be released from prison early next month. For the safety of children, Fort Myers area Catholic officials must take steps to warn parents and parishioners about him.

[NBC2]

Robert Little was a church volunteer at St. Francis Xavier Church when he abused a 13 year old boy he met through the church. And in 2013, he was convicted for it. On or around May 5, he will be set free.

Venice diocesan officials have acted irresponsibly with Little.

— According to two lawsuits, Catholic officials were told about other allegations of abuse committed by Little, but covered it up. That irresponsible behavior reportedly led to other children being abused. (The first civil suit was filed in September 2014 and involves the victim whose sexual battery in 2013 led to the conviction. The second lawsuit was filed in December 2014 and involves an assault in 2011. After that 2011 assault, that boy’s parents reported his assault by Little to church officials. The church officials’ refusal to act resulted in the 2013 abuse.)

–In February 2014, a Ft. Myers television station disclosed that Little was living on church property, despite two child sex abuse cases against him. Venice diocese officials refused to order him to move. Later, church officials reversed their decision.

[Fox 4]

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UNITED STATES
Patrick Noaker

Posted on April 29, 2015

By Attorney Patrick Noaker

Most of the attention regarding sexually abusive clergy members has focused on sexual abuse by priests. Most media reports and most research involve abusive priests. The 2004 John Jay College study was limited to diocesan and religious order priests. Consequently, information about sexual abuse by nuns is not widely discussed or understood. This article discusses what is known about the prevalence of nun sexual abuse of children.

Initially, it must be noted that 4.6% of all sex offenders are female.[1] However, some believe that this statistic is artificially low because women are more likely to be diverted from the justice system[2] and because societal and cultural stereotypes about female sexual behavior, including professional biases by police and prosecutors, discourage reporting of sex crimes by females.[3]

When it comes to female religious, there has been very little research conducted into the prevalence of sexual abuse. One of the only studies available is a 2002 study conducted by the former director of the Southdown Institute, a well-known treatment facility for thousands of religious men and women. According to this study, 0.7% of religious sisters who were admitted as patients confessed to sexual contact with minors.[4] But, there has been much criticism of this research and its accuracy on the basis that the information upon which the study is based is based upon the non-anonymous admissions by the perpetrator. Both research and common sense supports the conclusion that sex offenders are not always complete and honest about their criminal activities.[5]

Further, this Southdown Institute rate of 0.7% appears to be inconsistent with civil lawsuits that have been filed and expert opinions in the field. For example, in February, the Ursuline Sisters settled claims with 232 plaintiffs for physical and sexual abuse by nuns and priests at the Ursuline Academy in St. Ignatious, Montana. These cases, involved physical and sexual abuse by both priests and nuns and the sexual abuse by the priests was strikingly similar to the sexual abuse by the nuns. This antidotal evidence raises the question whether there really is any difference in the prevalence of priests sexually abusing children versus nuns.

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MINNESOTA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Statement by Verne Wagner of Duluth, Northeast MN SNAP director ( 218- 340-1277, lwagsmn@yahoo.com )

As part of a settlement in a Twin Cities clergy sex abuse lawsuit, a Minnesota abbey will release the files of a “credibly accused” abusive Catholic cleric who worked in Duluth.

He is Fr. Angelo Zankl. He also spent time at St. John’s Abbey in Collegeville MN.

[Minnesota Public Radio]

Why must Duluth area citizens and Catholics learn more about potentially dangerous Catholic clerics only because victims elsewhere prod church officials elsewhere to disclose information by threatening to go to trial and expose more clerics who commit and conceal heinous crimes?

And what other secrets about proven, admitted or credibly accused clerics are Duluth Catholic officials hiding?

In 2013, Duluth officials put Zankl on a list of “credibly accused” abusers. But that’s the bare minimum. Parents, police, parishioners and the public deserve to know what he did, which church staff hid what he did, and whether anyone might still be prosecuted.

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ARGENTINA
APF Digital

[ The Criminal Chamber of the STJ rejected the challenge by Justo Ilarraz who is defending the case against him for the alleged crime of aggravated corruption. The reasons for the judgment will be announced on May 18 at 12 30. He is accused of sexually abusing minors.]

La Sala Nº 1, de Procedimientos Constitucionales y Penal, del Superior Tribunal de Justicia de Entre Ríos rechazó la impugnación extraordinaria interpuesta por la defensa del sacerdote católico y ex prefecto del Seminario Menor de Paraná, Justo José Ilarraz, en la causa que se le sigue por el supuesto delito de promoción a la corrupción agravada. Los fundamentos de la sentencia se darán a conocer el 18 de mayo a las 12:30.

El Tribunal de la Sala Nº 1 del STJ, integrada por los Dres. Carlos Chiara Díaz, Claudia Mizawak y Daniel Carubia, informó a las partes que resolvió “Rechazar la Impugnación Extraordinaria deducida por el Dr. Juan Angel Forneron, defensor técnico del imputado Justo José Ilarraz, contra la sentencia de fecha 18 de noviembre de 2014, dictada por la Sala Nº 1 de la Cámara de Casación Penal de esta Capital”, y fijó audiencia para el 18 de mayo próximo, a las 12:30, para “la lectura íntegra de los fundamentos de la sentencia”.

La defensa de Ilarraz acudió al STJ, para impugnar la decisión de la Cámara de Casación Penal, que confirmó la decisión de la Cámara Primera, Sala I de Paraná y del Juzgado de Instrucción, consistente en el rechazo de la excepción de falta de acción del Estado, por prescripción, para investigar al sacerdote, por el tiempo transcurrido desde los hechos denunciados hasta la fecha.

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MINNESOTA
Patrick Noaker

PRESS CONFERENCE: 2:00 p.m., Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Where: Minneapolis attorney Patrick Noaker’s office, 333 Washington Ave. N., Suite 300, Minneapolis 55401

First case filed under new law against nuns. Victim to speak with reporters

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ARGENTINA
La Voz

– Tres víctimas deberán volver, por tercera vez, a la Justicia, ahora para certificar la veracidad de cartas supuestamente enviadas al cura Ilarraz, un elemento que presentó la defensa; La querella y el fiscal entienden que constituyen una prueba más de su culpabilidad en los abusos; Ayer pidieron el procesamiento

El cura Justo José Ilarraz decidió responder a su modo frente a las siete denuncias que pesan en su contra por abusos cometidos contra menores en el Seminario Arqudiocesano de Paraná: presentó en la Justicia cartas que supuestamente le habrían mandado tres de las siete víctimas que testimoniaron en Tribunales.

La presentación la hizo su defensor, Juan Ángel Fornerón, y encontró rápida respuesta en la jueza Susana María Paola Firpo, titular del Juzgado de Transición Nº 2 que tramita la causa “Ilarraz Justo José s/Promoción a la corrupción agravada”. La magistrada resolvió citar a las tres víctimas que habrían enviado esas cartas al cura para que certifiquen que son de su autoría.

La medida supone ni más ni menos que el aplazamiento de una definición de Firpo en torno a la situación procesal de Ilarraz. El cura se presentó a indagatoria el 21 del actual, y tras eso la magistrada contaba con un plazo de diez días para resolver si lo procesaba, lo sobreseía o le dictaba la falta de mérito. Pero ese plazo ahora se pospone por cuanto Ilarraz pidió ampliar su indagatoria.

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ARGENTINA
Analisis Digital

Montrull Ramirez: The letters are evidence that Illarraz manipulated victims.]

El fiscal Juan Francisco Ramírez Montrull cuestionó la presentación de cartas que hizo Justo José Ilarraz ante la Justicia, las cuales intercambiaba con los jóvenes que lo denunciaron por abusos. “Esto es una prueba de la manipulación que el cura ejercía sobre las víctimas, ya que después de lo que les hizo seguía manteniendo contacto no sólo con ellos, sino también con los familiares de éstos”, explicó el letrado. En ese sentido, pidió celeridad y que “no se revictimice a los denunciantes al exponerlos a esta situación, ya que tuvieron que ir tres veces a Tribunales y el sacerdote solamente fue dos”, cuestionó y luego añadió: “No queremos que esta situación se transforme en una investigación a las víctimas”.

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ARGENTINA
Infojus Noticias

[They will continue investigating a Justo Jose Illarraz, priest accused of abusing at least seven boys.
The priest is investigated for sexual abuse at the seminary of Parana, where he was in charge of two hundred children between 10 and 14 years, in a period was 1985-1993]

El sacerdote católico Justo José Ilarraz no consiguió eludir la causa en la que es investigado por al menos siete acusaciones de abusos sexuales cometidos, entre 1985 y 1993, contra chicos de entre 10 y 14 años que estaban a su cuidado en el Seminario de Paraná. El Superior Tribunal de Justicia (STJ) entrerriano determinó que los abusos sexuales por los que está acusado no prescribieron. El 18 de mayo darán a conocer los fundamentos de la sentencia.

La defensa de Ilarraz viene sosteniendo desde el inicio de la causa que esa investigación no puede continuar por el tiempo transcurrido. Pero la sala Nº 1 del STJ, integrada por Carlos Chiara Díaz, Claudia Mizawak y Daniel Carubia, rechazó el planteo de la defensa, tal como ya lo habían resuelto la Cámara de Casación Penal, la sala I de la Cámara Primera de Paraná y el juzgado de Transición Nº 2 de Paraná, que lleva la investigación.

Los abogados de los denunciantes, Marcos Rodríguez Allende, Rosario Romero y Milton Urrutia, y el procurador general de Entre Ríos, Jorge García, rechazan la posibilidad de que la causa se dé por cerrada, por el tiempo transcurrido. Consideran que se trata de esclarecer “graves violaciones a los derechos humanos, y en especial, de la Convención de los Derechos del Niño”, cometidos por parte del acusado “en forma sistemática”, aprovechando su cargo dentro del seminario y ante la imposibilidad de acceder a la Justicia.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Boston Herald

Wednesday, April 29, 2015

By: Lindsay Kalter

Friends of Star of the Sea’s long-closed Quincy parish are calling on Attorney General Maura Healey to investigate its closing, according to a letter issued yesterday to the archbishop of Boston.

“We have argued that while the cardinal is within his right to suppress parishes, we believe we were a valuable and vibrant parish,” said Maureen Mazrimas, co-chairwoman of Friends of Star of the Sea. “It’s only because of our size that we were suppressed.”

The group asks the AG to look at whether the archdiocese has lived up to its fiduciary responsibility to safeguard property donated by the parishioners.

Mazrimas said at the time it was closed, the church had around 400 worshipers and one priest. She said real estate money from the closure “should have followed the parishioners, but instead it went to the general coffers.”

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AUSTRALIA
New South Wales Police Force

Former priest charged with two sexual assaults, 17 indecent assaults – Granville

Wednesday, 29 April 2015 04:24:07 PM

A former Catholic priest from Sydney’s west has been charged with 19 offences relating to the sexual and indecent assault of children.

Last year (2014), police from the Blue Mountains LAC and the Sex Crimes Squad received information relating to the alleged assault of a young girl by a man at Springwood in 1986.

Detectives made inquiries into the matter and identified seven more children who had allegedly been sexually or indecently assaulted by the man at various locations through NSW between 1975 and 1992.

At the time of the offences, the man was practising as a Catholic priest.

Following their inquiries, detectives yesterday (Tuesday 28 April 2015) arrested a 70-year-old man at a property in Granville.

He was taken to Parramatta Police Station, where he was charged with:

– Two counts of sexual assault; and,

– 17 counts of indecent assault.

Granted conditional bail, the man is scheduled to appear before Parramatta Local Court on 14 May 2015.

Police are urging anyone with information in relation to sexual or indecent assaults to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or use the Crime Stoppers online reporting page: https://nsw.crimestoppers.com.au/ Information you provide will be treated in the strictest of confidence. We remind people they should not report crime information via our Facebook and Twitter pages.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

New clerics are asked to disinvite Finn
SNAP: “Or Finn should withdraw from ordinations”
Bishop’s role “hurts victims & Catholics,” group says
At least 2 KC priests are raising objections within hierarchy
Victims to Pope: “Pick a priest, not a bureaucrat” to head diocese permanently

WHAT
Holding signs and childhood photos at a sidewalk news conference, clergy sex abuse victims and their supporters will

— blast Bishop Robert Finn’s plan to preside at two upcoming church ceremonies and
— disclose that two or three KC priests are objecting to Finn’s role in those events.

For the sake of healing and prevention, the victims will also urge

— eight men who will become deacons next month to disinvite Finn,
— Finn himself to voluntarily step aside from the events, and
— Pope Francis to name a parish priest, “not a headquarters bureaucrat” to permanently head the diocese.

WHEN
Wednesday, April 29 at 2:30 p.m.

WHERE
Outside the KC Catholic diocesan chancery office/headquarters, 20 W. 9th Street in downtown Kansas City

WHO
Two-three-four members of a self-help group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org), including a St. Louis woman who is the organization’s long time outreach director

WHY
This week, it was disclosed that convicted Kansas City Bishop Robert Finn, despite his recent resignation, plans to preside over two ordination ceremonies for new deacons next month in Kansas City.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse will hold a public hearing in Ballarat from May 19.

The commission has held public hearings in every Australian capital city.

This year it will hold open hearings in regional Australia for the first time, starting in Ballarat.

It said the city had a deeply disturbing history of institutional sexual abuse.

It will hear the experiences of survivors and the impact of abuse on the town’s families and social fabric.

Ballarat survivor Andrew Collins said it was great news.

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UNITED STATES
The Garden of Roses: Stories of Abuse and Healing

Virginia Jones

These are reflections I wrote down after attending Mass about five ago. I need to add that I have not attended Mass on a regular basis for more than a year. I was thrown out of my parish in 2004, after handing out newspaper articles about clergy abuse in my parish. I tried to remain a faithful Catholic, but after 10 years of rejection by many parishioners and many in leadership, I decided to stop trying. Going to Church was like hitting my head against a wall or beating a dead horse. It doesn’t hurt the horse much.

Well anyway, this last Sunday I was sitting in Mass. My wanders too much. I try to pay attention to the Bible readings. Sometimes I hold onto the word of God more easily through the music.

The Psalm that was sung, not spoken in church this week was, “If today you should hear God’s voice, harden not your heart.”

I’ve heard the voice of God saying, “I love you Mommy.”

God was speaking through my child. That’s an easy one.

But what about the guy in the car who cursed me for riding through a stop sign on my bicycle. I didn’t come to a full stop. I was sitting there wobbling on my bicycle at the stop sign as I looked around to make sure it was safe to go. I guess I was supposed to put my feet on the ground and come to an absolute stop.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

A former Catholic priest accused of abusing eight children between 1975 and 1992 has been charged with several counts of sexual and indecent assault.

The 70-year-old was on Tuesday arrested at a home in Granville, in Sydney’s west, following a year-long investigation which began with allegations he abused a young girl in 1986. Seven more victims were subsequently identified during the investigation.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

An ex-member of staff at a Worcestershire school has been arrested on suspicion of indecent assault and grievous bodily harm.

The man was detained in Cambridgeshire, in connection with offences dating back to the 1960s and 70s, West Mercia Police said.

He has been bailed until June while investigations continue.

Boy aged 11 to 15 were sent to the now-closed St Gilbert’s in Hartlebury after being convicted of petty crimes.

Police launched an investigation last year into allegations of abuse at the approved Catholic school between the 1940s and 1970s after former pupils were interviewed by BBC Hereford and Worcester.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Catholic Philly

BY ARCHBISHOP CHARLES J. CHAPUT, O.F.M. CAP.

Throughout the weeks of April, our Commonwealth, along with the rest of the country, has been focused on National Child Abuse Prevention and Awareness Month.

Here in Pennsylvania, our people have come through a very difficult decade on this issue. But the abuse problem is much wider than any one state, profession or demographic group. It cuts through every level of society. Child abuse is an ugly crime; abusing children sexually compounds the evil. Every year we see many thousands of cases of child sexual abuse across the country in a full range of institutions, public and private, religious and secular.

In response, Pennsylvania legislators have passed 20 new laws aimed at preventing child abuse and providing better support for survivors. In doing so, they’ve offered a model for the nation. We owe them our gratitude for their good work. And it’s important to stress that as a Catholic community, we too are committed — just as everyone should be — to ensuring safe environments for children and young people.

The Archdiocese of Philadelphia has a zero tolerance policy for clergy, lay employees and volunteers who engage in sexual misconduct with children. If an accusation of this nature is made, we take immediate action by reporting the matter to law enforcement and cooperating with authorities fully in the course of their work.

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BY SIMON SCOTT
APR 29, 2015

My dear children, whom Jesus, our Saviour, has loved so much, whom he bends down to embrace and bless, come to us, stay with us. We will be the guardian angels of your innocence.

Father Jean-Marie De La Mennais, founder of The Brothers of Christian Instruction (Sermon VII)

———————————————

In late 1964, after his family moved to Japan from Australia, Jacob Bernstein was enrolled at St. Mary’s International School in Tokyo. His father, Robert, a diplomat, had been sent to the Australian Embassy in the city — his first overseas posting.

One lunchtime late in 1965, Jacob says he was searching for a good spot to eat lunch when he passed the school chapel.

Being Jewish, the 11-year-old Grade 6 student didn’t eat the school lunches served in the dining room as most of the boys did. St. Mary’s, a Catholic boys’ school run by the Brothers of Christian Instruction, aka the Mennaisians, was unable to prepare food that was kosher, so he had to eat a prepared lunch from home instead.

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UNITED STATES
Religion News Service

David Gibson | April 28, 2015

NEW YORK (RNS) Sister Mary Ann Walsh, a quiet nun with a keen wit who led a very public life as a journalist and a longtime spokeswoman for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, died on Tuesday (April 28) after a tough battle with cancer.

She was 67 and passed away in a hospice in Albany next to the regional convent of the religious order she entered as a 17-year-old novice in 1964.

Walsh had moved to her native Albany from Washington last September after it was discovered that the cancer that had been in remission since 2010 had returned.

She was able to receive better care there and live out her days with other members of the Sisters of Mercy. She was transferred to the hospice on April 23 as her condition deteriorated.

“Sister Mary Ann,” as she was known to the many journalists she sparred and joked with and, with regularity, befriended, worked at the communications office of the American hierarchy for 20 years, retiring in the summer of 2014 just before she fell ill again.

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OREGON
Oregonian

By Steve Duin | The Oregonian/OregonLive
on April 28, 2015

On an otherwise beautiful afternoon in downtown Portland, the niece took the stand Monday in the felony sex-abuse trial of Mike Sperou, the Happy Valley pastor.

Michal Mitchell remembers growing up so “very happy” in Sperou’s church. In her courtroom testimony, she also recalled depression, extreme anxiety, Prozac, nightmares, suicide attempts, the bipolar diagnosis and – starting when she was in the 6th grade – how often she spent the night in her uncle’s bed.

She usually wore Calvin Klein boxers and a t-shirt, she said. Her pastor and spiritual mentor came to bed in boxer shorts, and frequently hugged the long pillow – that he dubbed “Sally” – that separated them. Asked how long this bizarre sleeping arrangement continued, the 30-year-old Mitchell said, “Until now.”

Mike Sperou is on trial for three counts of unlawful sexual penetration of a child under the age of 12. Mitchell is, mind you, a witness for the defense.

For 18 years now, seven other women who grew up in the shadow of Sperou’s bed have insisted he molested them. Their graphic accounts prompted a soul-searching schism at the North Clackamas Bible Community in 1996, but the allegations didn’t spark criminal charges until the women once again brought the complaints to police in 2013.

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OREGON
Oregonian

By Rick Bella | The Oregonian/OregonLive
on April 28, 2015

Pastor Mike Sperou testified in his own defense Tuesday, adamantly denying he sexually abused young girls growing up in his Happy Valley church during the 1980s and 1990s.

However, Sperou had a harder time during cross-examination, appearing to change his story from the one he told Portland police detectives in 1997.

On Tuesday, Sperou’s trial entered its 11th day, including 10 consecutive days of testimony.

Under questioning by defense attorney Steven J. Sherlag, Sperou told a Multnomah County Circuit Court jury that the core families in the North Clackamas Bible Community are very affectionate with children and that he was sorry if he ever made any of them uncomfortable when they spent the night with him in his bed. He said he contacted the girls’ parents immediately afterward to see if the children were all right.

Sperou said he also decided that he did not want to give anyone another chance to misinterpret his innocent affections.

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

Article by: JEAN HOPFENSPERGER , Star Tribune Updated: April 28, 2015

A lawsuit filed by a man who was abused while he was a student at St. John’s Preparatory School yields a landmark settlement.

The monks at St. John’s Abbey worked as student counselors, teachers, parish priests and chaplains, even as they sexually abused minors. What the abbey knew of their sexual improprieties, and when, has never been made public — but that’s about to change.

Under a landmark clergy abuse settlement announced Tuesday, the personnel files of 19 monks known as sex offenders will be made public. The files will expose for the first time how the abbey addressed reports of sex abuse on its Collegeville campus, home to one of the largest Benedictine abbeys in North America.

The lawsuit was settled in much the same way as the first lawsuit against the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, requiring that personnel vaults be opened and that the monks’ work histories, accusations of abuse, psychological treatment, abbey correspondence and other details be made public.

Troy Bramlage, 52, is the Sauk Rapids man whose lawsuit led to the historic settlement. He said he was sexually abused as a 14-year-old freshman living at St. John’s Preparatory School by the Rev. Allen Tarlton, his English teacher.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Daily Times

Editorial

POSTED: 04/28/15

In the last month, convictions of two priests who were found guilty of charges related to child sexual abuse in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia have been upheld by higher courts.

In 2013, the Rev. Charles Engelhardt, a member of the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales, was convicted of sexually assaulting a 10-year-old altar boy at St. Jerome Roman Catholic Church in northeast Philadelphia from 1998 to 1999 while the priest was in residence there.

Engelhardt denied the allegations and appealed the verdict, but died last November of an apparent heart condition while in the second year of a six-to-12-year sentence at the Coal Township Prison in Northumberland County.

State law required that the priest’s appeal be continued. On March 25, the Pennsylvania Superior Court affirmed Engelhardt’s convictions of endangering the welfare of a child, corruption of a minor and indecent assault.

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KENTUCKY
WHAS

Derrick Rose, @WHAS11Derrick

LOUSIVILLE, Ky. (WHAS11) — In a videotaped deposition and several documents released Tuesday, which include a letter written by Louisville native Father Gilbert “Allen” Tarlton, the priest admits to several incidents where he engaged in sexual misconduct with students or children in his care.

The documents and video were made public as part of a settlement between Tarlton, St. John’s Abbey and lawyers representing the victim known in court records as “John Doe 2.” The case had been scheduled to go to trial May 4.

When asked if he touched the genitals of prep students at St. John’s, Tarlton replied, “I did do that, yes,” but could not recall how many times.

It was the first time Tarlton has been seen publicly admitting his role in the sex abuse scandal within the Catholic Church.

WEB EXTRA:

Watch Father Tarlton’s full deposition video

Part of the records released highlight Tarlton’s time at Holy Cross. In the earlier described letter, Tarlton does not name the pastor who invited hiim to Louisville. In the letter, Tarlton does, however, admit to numerous sexual encounters with students as well as alcohol abuse before he transferred to Louisville. There is no mention of whether Tarlton revealed his past to the pastor or if there was any investigation prior to his hiring in 1973.

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UTAH
Deseret News

By Tad Walch, Deseret News

Published: Tuesday, April 28 2015

SALT LAKE CITY — The LDS Church donated $100,000 to the Avenues Children’s Justice Center after nearly a dozen church leaders toured the Salt Lake City home on Tuesday.

Sister Rosemary M. Wixom, the church’s Primary general president, presented the check to the center, which provides a child-friendly atmosphere for children as investigators interview them regarding alleged abuse. The center also provides referrals for support services for both children and their parents or guardians.

“Yesterday I knew next to nothing about this facility,” Sister Wixom said. “Today I have a passion for it.”

“I was quite touched by the resource that is right here in the community for families that are suffering and dealing with the pain of abuse,” Sister Wixom added. “We all love children, and we all have to do everything we can to help the child that may be suffering.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

APRIL 29, 2015

Dan Box
Crime Reporter
Sydney

A former teacher suspected of being the Knox Grammar School “Balaclava Man” was given a positive reference by the headmaster after being caught masturbating in public, and went on to work in other schools.

Christopher Fotis gave evidence yesterday at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse after being arrested for failing to appear at a hearing in February.

Yesterday, he denied receiving a summons to appear at the time. Asked why he did not want to give evidence before the commission, Mr Fotis said: “I’m a private person. This is a very public hearing and I suppose if there is any ­reason, it comes down to that.”

He said he was employed at Knox in 1987 without being asked for references or whether he had a criminal record. Evidence before the commission suggests he did have a criminal record, for offensive behaviour, at the time.

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MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

Madeleine Baran Apr 28, 2015

Documents released Tuesday show that the Rev. Allen Tarlton, a St. John’s Abbey monk, has admitted in writing to sexually abusing at least one high school student at St. John’s Preparatory School.

In a 14-page undated memoir released by the abbey as part of a lawsuit, Tarlton, 87, described how he invited a high school senior to his room and sexually touched him.

“I used some excuse that I was studying nude art and wanted to study his body,” Tarlton wrote. “He came to my room on several occasions and lay nude on my bed, while I pretended to be studying some art books that were lying open on my desk.”

Tarlton gave the boy wine during one of the visits and the boy threw up, he wrote. He touched the boy inappropriately during about three separate visits, according to the document.

“I was not involved with any other high school student until many years later,” he wrote.

Tarlton also described sexual contact with at least 10 adult students at St. John’s University. In one case, he admitted to giving a college student a sleeping pill and sexually touching him while he slept.

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NEDERLAND
Trouw

[The Orthodox Jewish community in Amsterdam is embarrassed by its chief rabbi, Aryeh Ralbag. He has ties to a Jewish gang in the United States. Ralbag, who lives in New York, earlier this week has discontinued his work as chief rabbi.The gang between 2009 and 2013 visited spouses who did not divorce and tried to bring them by force to change their minds.]

De orthodox-joodse gemeente Amsterdam is in verlegenheid gebracht door haar opperrabbijn, Aryeh Ralbag. Hij heeft banden met een joodse knokploeg in de Verenigde Staten. Ralbag, die in New York woont, heeft begin deze week zijn werk als opperrabbijn gestaakt.

De knokploeg ging tussen 2009 en 2013 op bezoek bij echtgenoten die niet wilden scheiden en probeerde hen met geweld op andere gedachten te brengen. Bij hun acties gebruikten de leden volgens de politie onder meer chirurgische messen, schroevendraaiers, touw en stroomstootwapens. Twee leden zijn dinsdag in New Jersey veroordeeld voor poging tot ontvoering. Hun leider werd schuldig bevonden aan samenzweren met ontvoering als doel.

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AUSTRALIA
John Menadue – Pearls and Irritations

Posted on 28/04/2015 by John Menadue

On 21 April 2015, the Vatican announced that Bishop Robert Finn of Kansas, Missouri, had resigned. The announcement referred to the Code of Canon Law that states that a bishop who “has become less able to fulfil his office because of ill health or some other grave cause is earnestly requested to present his resignation from office.” Bishop Finn seems to have been in good health, so the “grave cause” must have been that he had been convicted in September 2012 of failing to report to the police one of his priests, Fr Ratigan, who had been producing child pornography. Finn received a two year suspended sentence with probation, and despite calls for his resignation then, Finn refused to do so until now.

There is an extraordinary irony in this case, and it illustrates the mess that is created by canon law on the issue of child sex abuse, and which Pope Francis refuses to change, despite requests by United Nations Committees on two occasions to do so. Similar requests by Catholic Bishops Conferences from Ireland, Britain, the United States and Australia during the reigns of Popes John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI fell on deaf ears.

In 1996, the Irish Bishops informed the Vatican that they wanted to have mandatory reporting of all allegations of child sexual abuse to the police. The Vatican refused, saying it breached canon law, and it was “immoral” for a bishop to report even a paedophile priest to the police. In 1996, the Australian bishops (other than Archbishop Pell) adopted the Towards Healing protocol which required reporting where the civil law required it. In most cases that involved breaching the pontifical secret imposed by Pope Paul VI’s instruction Secreta Continere of 1974 that applied to all allegations of child sexual abuse by clergy. In 2001, the British Bishops adopted Lord Nolan’s report that recommended mandatory reporting. In 2002, the American’s sent to the Vatican the proposals for mandatory reporting. They were told that it conflicted with canon law. A delegation went to see Cardinal Ratzinger. A compromised was reached whereby bishops were required to obey domestic laws on reporting. There was a serious danger of bishops going to jail for breaching reporting laws in some American States. That requirement to obey domestic laws on reporting was eventually extended to the whole Church in April 2010. A month later, on 21 May 2010, Benedict XVI extended the pontifical secret to cover allegations against priests for possessing child pornography.

In December 2010, Bishop Finn became aware of the allegations against Ratigan. Because Missouri law required reporting, Finn had not only breached the civil law, he had also breached canon law. He could thus be held accountable under both sets of laws.

If Missouri law did not require reporting (about half the American States don’t have comprehensive reporting laws), Bishop Finn had committed no crime under State law, and in December 2010, he would have been obeying canon law by not reporting because six months before, Benedict had imposed the pontifical secret on allegations of possession of child pornography.

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

Article by: Associated Press Updated: April 28, 2015

MINNEAPOLIS — In a story April 28 about the settlement of a clergy abuse lawsuit involving St. John’s Abbey, The Associated Press reported erroneously that the abbey is part of the Diocese of St. Cloud. The abbey is a separate entity from the diocese, said Brother Aelred Senna, an abbey spokesman.

A corrected version of the story is below:

Attorneys say settlement in abuse case against St. John’s

Attorneys say settlement reached in lawsuit over alleged abuse at St. John’s Abbey

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A Minnesota man has settled a lawsuit with St. John’s Abbey that will force the release of personnel files for 19 monks accused of sexually abusing minors, attorneys said Monday.

The settlement announced by attorney Jeff Anderson’s law firm was to be detailed at a news conference Tuesday.

Anderson sued St. John’s in 2013 on behalf of Edward “Troy” Bramlage III, 52, who said he was abused by the Rev. Allen Tarlton when he was a 14-year-old freshman at its prep school in 1977. The lawsuit said St. John’s leadership repeatedly sent Tarlton for treatment but allowed him to continue working at the prep school.

Anderson said Monday the settlement is “a big deal” and an “important step forward” because it requires not only the disclosure of Tarlton’s files but also those of an additional 18 St. John’s monks credibly accused of abuse. A timeline for releasing the other files has yet to be set, Anderson said.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter

Brian Roewe | Apr. 28, 2015

KANSAS CITY, MO. Despite stepping down as head of the Kansas City-St. Joseph, Mo., diocese last week, Bishop Robert Finn is scheduled to preside at two ordinations here next month.

Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City, Kan., who was named apostolic administrator of the neighboring diocese, told a meeting of priests on Thursday that he had asked Finn to oversee the ordinations after realizing that the Kansas and Missouri dioceses had scheduled ordinations on the same days.

According to Jack Smith, spokesman for the Kansas City-St. Joseph diocese, Naumann consulted with the Vatican’s apostolic nuncio to the U.S., Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, about the schedule conflict, and he suggested that Finn could celebrate the ordinations. Finn also raised the ordinations issue at the time he turned in his resignation to Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet, prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, who also suggested Finn preside over them, Smith said.

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MINNESOTA
Fox 9

ST. PAUL, Minn. (KMSP) –
St. John’s Abbey has reached a settlement in a lawsuit brought by a former student who was sexually assaulted by a priest at the Collegeville, Minn. prep school in 1977. The settlement is being called an important step forward in the ongoing battle against clergy sex abuse.

Troy Bramlage says he was abused by the Reverend Allen Tarlton during his freshman year at the school. The lawsuit says St. John’s leadership repeatedly sent Tarlton for treatment, but allowed him to continue working at the prep school. Bramlage says there are still many victims out there.

“The guilt and the shame that we feel doesn’t belong to us,” he said.

As part of the deal, St. John’s must now release files for 19 monks accused of sexually abusing minors.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Big Trial

By Ralph Cipriano
for Bigtrial.net

A day after the state Supreme Court reinstated Msgr. William J. Lynn’s conviction, the district attorney filed a motion in Common Pleas Court seeking to revoke Lynn’s bail and send him back to jail.

“Consistent with its prior rulings, this Court should, once again, revoke Defendant’s bail, thereby remanding him to the service of the remainder of his sentence,” said the motion filed today by District Attorney R. Seth Williams and Assistant District Attorney Patrick Blessington, who originally prosecuted Lynn.

Not so fast, said Thomas A. Bergstrom, who is Lynn’s lawyer. Bergstrom filed a response to the D.A.’s motion in Common Pleas Court today stating that the D.A. has applied to the wrong court. Any argument over Lynn’s bail should be dealt with in state Superior Court, Bergstrom asserted.

The Common Pleas Court does not have jurisdiction over the case, Bergstrom argued. After the state Supreme Court reinstated Lynn’s conviction, the Supreme Court specified that the case was to be remanded within 14 days back to the state Superior Court, where a number of appeal issues from Lynn’s original trial are still pending. …

In his response to the D.A.’s motion, Bergstrom wrote that he is going to file a motion in state Superior Court to have the case returned to the same panel of three Superior Court judges that reversed Lynn’s conviction. Bergstrom also plans to file a motion with that same panel to keep Lynn out of jail on the original $25,000 bail deposit of 10 percent imposed by Judge Sarmina.

“Any application for bail revocation or otherwise should be presented to the Superior Court as the Court on remand,” Bergstrom wrote. “The trial court is without jurisdiction to consider the current bail motion.”

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MINNESOTA
Shakopee Valley News

Lawsuit filed on behalf of Shakopee man, allegedly abused by nun as a child

MINNEAPOLIS — Attorneys filed a civil lawsuit against an order of nuns and the Diocese of New Ulm, alleging sexual abuse of a 10-year-old boy repeatedly molested by a nun at a Catholic school in Madison, Minn.

The lawsuit, filed on behalf of a 58-year-old man from Shakopee, alleges that a nun repeatedly abused the boy in his fifth-grade year, from the fall of 1967 through spring 1968, at St. Michael’s Catholic School in Madison. Court papers say Sister Mary Regina repeatedly fondled the boy’s genitals during school hours, according a news release issued Wednesday by the Minneapolis law firm of Patrick Noaker.

Douglas Devorak of Shakopee, the alleged victim, will speak with reporters at a press conference on Wednesday afternoon, said Noaker’s office.

Court papers identify the boy as “John Doe 117.” Since serving the lawsuit, the Devorak has decided to reveal his identity to encourage other victims of sexual abuse to come forward, said Noaker’s office.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
The Philadelphia Tribune

Larry Miller Tribune Staff Writer

Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams said the one thing he wants people in the city to understand is whether crime happens on the streets or in the suites, his office applies the same standard of justice.

Whether it’s a dope-slinging guy on a corner with an illegal gun in his pocket or a corrupt politician taking bribes and payoffs, the justice that applies to “Pookie” and “Ray-Ray” is the same that applies to a cop who stains his badge, or a wayward politician or priest, he said.

“I’m here to prove that the same justice applies to everyone,” Williams said. “From the corners at Broad and Erie to Germantown and Bethlehem in Chestnut Hill. It doesn’t matter. If you shoot someone while trying to rob them or if you’re involved in a conspiracy to move pedophile priests from one parish to another, we’re going to prosecute you for it. That’s what I want Philadelphians to know; if crime happens on the streets or in the suites the same justice applies.” …

Since being sworn in as district attorney, Williams’ office has had to make some tough decisions, he said.

His office was among the first in the country to prosecute a member of the Catholic Church hierarchy — Monsignor William Lynn — for endangering the welfare of a child. Another high-profile decision was taking over an investigation that was dropped by state Attorney General Kathleen Kane, in which legislators who supported Williams for district attorney were named.

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UNITED STATES
Commonweal

The Editors

April 28, 2015

n a March 2014 interview, Pope Francis was given an opportunity to comment on the sexual-abuse scandal, a subject he had said remarkably little about since his election. Acknowledging the “deep wounds” suffered by victims, Francis went on to defend the church as the only public institution to address such crimes “with transparency and responsibility.” No one else has done more, he continued, and yet “the church is the only one to be attacked.”

Those ill-advised remarks took many by surprise, coming as they did just a few months after Francis had announced a new Commission for the Protection of Minors and asked the world’s bishops to support its work. The commission, which includes two victims, wasted no time publicly stating its highest priority: accountability for negligent bishops. In November 2014, Cardinal Séan O’Malley—president of the commission—told 60 Minutes that the Holy See needed to “urgently address” one of the most painful cases to emerge in the U.S. church: Bishop Robert Finn of Kansas City-St. Joseph, who was convicted of failing to report child abuse in 2012. Last month, following a Vatican investigation, Pope Francis removed him.

In December 2010—nearly a decade after the U.S. bishops pledged “zero tolerance” for abusive priests—Finn learned that Fr. Shawn Ratigan’s personal computer contained possibly pornographic photos of children. Five months after the photos were discovered, and without Finn’s knowledge, the vicar general turned the cleric in to the police. Ratigan, now laicized, is serving a fifty-year sentence in federal prison after pleading guilty to possessing and creating child pornography. (Federal sentencing law is especially hard on child pornographers.)

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
KMBC

KANSAS CITY, Mo. —Bishop Robert Finn, who resigned last week as leader of the Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocese, will preside over the ordinations of seven deacons next month.

Diocese officials said Monday the ordinations on May 23 conflict with the schedule of Archbishop Joseph Naumann, who was appointed temporary leader of the diocese after Finn resigned.

The Kansas City Star reported that Naumann will preside over ordinations of deacons of the Kansas City, Kansas, diocese, which he leads, at the same time the ordinations are scheduled in the Missouri diocese.

Naumann also said he wanted to respect the wishes of the seven Missouri deacons, who received their training under Finn’s guidance.

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SAN FRANCISCO
National Catholic Reporter

Mandy Erickson | Apr. 28, 2015

SAN FRANCISCO Labor leaders and union members joined teachers, parents and students from archdiocesan high schools here Monday to rally against Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone’s proposal to change aspects of their employment.

Gathering in front of the archdiocesan offices at 1 Peter Yorke Way, a crowd of more than 200 protested the archbishop’s plan to reclassify the teachers as “ministers,” thereby providing them with fewer legal protections, and to insert a morality clause into their handbook.

The morality clause condemns same-sex marriage, contraception and use of reproductive technology, among other things, and expects employees to accept “these truths” outside the workplace.

“The church has told us that it honors all civil rights and labor rights,” said Art Pulaski, chief officer of the California Labor Federation, speaking before the crowd gathered in the blocked-off street. “You cannot profess social justice if within your own walls you refuse to practice it. We call on the archbishop to adhere to the principles of social justice.”

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
The Republican

By Anne-Gerard Flynn | aflynn@repub.com
on April 28, 2015

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has reinstated the conviction on child endangerment charges of a priest in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

Monsignor William Lynn, the first U.S. church official ever prosecuted over his handling of sex abuse complaints, had been freed of those charges by a 2013 appeals court ruling that overturned an earlier conviction. Lynn had served half of a three- to six- year sentence, and remained under house arrest in a Philadelphia rectory.

The Supreme Court, voting 4 to 1, on Monday upheld the 2012 felony conviction for endangerment of an altar boy. The child had been abused in 1998 by a priest transferred to a parish by Lynn despite earlier complaints against the priest who is now serving prison time. Lynn’s lawyers argued that Lynn, who was secretary for the clergy in the diocese under two cardinals, including Anthony Bevilacqua from 1992 to 2004, was not responsible for the boy’s welfare under existing state law that they said applied to parents and caregivers. …

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests posted a response, from David Clohessy of St. Louis, to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court decision in the Lynn case.

“We are grateful the Pennsylvania Supreme Court reversed the reversal of Monsignor Lynn’s conviction,” said Clohessy, director of SNAP.

“Punishing wrong doers deters wrong doing, especially in scandal ridden institutions. Like the catholic hierarchy. For decades complicit church officials have exploited legal technicalities to evade justice. It is a victory for parents, parishioners, church goers, wounded victims and innocent kids each time corrupt church staffers are disciplined.”

Lynn’s lawyers have 14 days to appeal.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Catholic Philly

[Supreme Court opinion – via BishopAccountability.org]
[Dissenting opinion – via BishopAccountability.org]

BY MATTHEW GAMBINO

Free from prison and living under house arrest since a court ruling last December, Msgr. William Lynn’s freedom may be in jeopardy again.

The case of the former secretary for clergy of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, the highest-ranking church official in the archdiocese convicted of a crime connected to the clergy sexual abuse crisis, took a dramatic new turn April 27 when the Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturned a lower court’s ruling that had released him on bail.

It remains unclear whether the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office will press to revoke Msgr. Lynn’s bail and return him to a Northeast Pennsylvania prison, pending appeals to yesterday’s ruling.

Msgr. Lynn, 64, had been convicted of endangering the welfare of a child in his landmark 2012 trial. In his position, he had supervised clergy on behalf of Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua including former priest Edward Avery, who pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a 10-year-old boy in 1999 and is serving a five-year prison sentence.

After Msgr. Lynn served 18 months of his three- to six-year sentence at Waymart State Prison, his conviction was overturned by the state Superior Court in December 2013. He subsequently took up residence with electronic monitoring at St. William’s rectory in Northeast Philadelphia.

Msgr. Lynn’s defense contended he should not be convicted retroactively according to a 2007 amendment to a 1995 child endangerment law when he was a supervisor until 2004.

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CINCINNATI (OH)
Enquirer

Dan Horn, dhorn@enquirer.com

A former Cincinnati priest is part of a legal settlement in Minnesota that will open “incident files” about child abuse accusations involving Catholic clergy.

The Rev. Gilbert Allen Tarlton, who worked in Cincinnati in the late 1960s and early 1970s, was sued in 2013 by a man who said the priest abused him when he was a freshman at a Minnesota preparatory school in 1977. The accuser’s attorney, Jeff Anderson, said Tuesday that terms of the settlement of a civil lawsuit require the release of Tarlton’s files, as well as the files of 18 other priests.

Tarlton, a priest with the Order of St. Benedict, also must release sworn testimony he gave about the case in 2013.

Officials at the Archdiocese of Cincinnati said Tarlton’s file shows no accusations of abuse during his time in Cincinnati. The archdiocese was ordered to turn over records as part of the accuser’s lawsuit in Minnesota, but the archdiocese was not a named defendant and is not part of the settlement.

“We had no accusations here,” said archdiocese spokesman Dan Andriacco.

Anderson said the priest files that will be released involve other members of the Order of St. Benedict and include personnel files and “incident files,” which may detail allegations of abuse and how they were handled by superiors. The accuser in Minnesota has not been named and was identified only as “Doe 2” on his lawsuit.

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MINNESOTA
Jeff Anderson and Associates

4/28/2015

Timeline – Fr. Allen Tarlton
19 Monks of St. John’s – Photos
Key Documents – Fr. Allen Tarlton
Deposition Transcript of Fr. Allen Tarlton 10-10-2013

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MAINE
Greek Reporter

by Ioanna Zikakou – Apr 28, 2015

Former Greek Orthodox priest Adam Metropoulos was convicted of four counts of child sexual abuse in Bangor, Maine on Tuesday, March 17. On Monday, April 27, Metropoulos was sentenced to 12 years in prison with all but six and a half years suspended for his involvement in the sex crimes.

Superior Court Justice Ann Murray also sentenced him to 3 years of probation after he gets out of prison, adding that he would have to register with the Main Sex Offender Registry for the rest of his life. “The victim impact in this case was great,” said Murray.

At Metropoulos’ trial a 23-year-old former altar boy at St. George Greek Orthodox Church testified that he had been sexually abused by the former priest when he would sleep over at the man’s house. Furthermore, police found pornographic images in the offender’s computer, depicting a family member that he would secretly film in the nude, as well as other photographs of different people, some of them children.

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

Article by: JEAN HOPFENSPERGER , Star Tribune Updated: April 28, 2015

St. John’s Abbey in Collegeville will make public its files on 19 priests with credible charges of sex abuse, as part of a settlement reached with a man who sued the abbey for abuse he suffered as a teenager.

The documents are expected to reveal how the abbey addressed reports of sex abuse perpetrated by its monks over the past decades. The provision is similar to one in the first lawsuit settled against Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, requiring that priest personnel vaults be opened.

The lawsuit was filed by a man who was abused by the Rev. Allen Tarlton in 1977, when he was a student at St. John’s Preparatory School and Tarlton was his English teacher. It charged that the abbey was aware of previous sexual improprieties by Tarleton, yet allowed him to continue to teach at the school. The abbey did not notify parents or police.

Tarlton, who had a significant history of psychiatric treatment, went on to abuse again, the lawsuit charged. Yet he was not put on restrictions on campus until 2002.

The settlement comes a week before the case was scheduled for trial in Stearns County.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Shuttle

by Gema Bate

A man from Cambridgeshire has been arrested on suspicion of indecent assault and grievous bodily harm on pupils at a boy’s school in Hartlebury.

The offences were allegedly carried out when the man worked at St Gilbert’s Catholic School, in Hartlebury, during the 1960s and 1970s.

The man, who can not be identified for legal reasons, has been bailed until June while investigations by West Mercia Police continue.

The police force launched Operation Quail in September last year investigating alleged abuse at St Gilbert’s School dating back to the 1940s, 1950s, 1960s and 1970s.

St Gilbert’s, which was a school for boys, no longer exists and is now residential housing.

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UNITED STATES
Frum Follies

The Grey Area of Rape Culture in the Black and White World of Jewish Orthodoxy

by Esther Tova Stanley*

“Yeah, but he’s a man.”

That was the actual reason I was given as to why a rabbi’s sexual predatory behavior was OK. Well not , “OK,” but y’know, understandable.

In the wake of sexual assault allegations brought against Elimelech Meisels, a “rabbi” who controlled and operated numerous seminaries for post high school girls, a very unseemly side of our Jewish orthodox culture is raring its ugly head, yet again. The side that excuses men for being unable to control their sexual urges and, on occasion, even has the audacity to blame the victim for it.

“Well, what was she thinking getting into the car with him?”
“She’s troubled; she misunderstood what really happened.”
“She’s a crazy, manipulative liar.”

Yes, these are actual responses I got when I asked community members why they continued to support this sexual predator/rabbi. Was I surprised? Unfortunately, I was not.

You see, there’s an odd relationship between male authority figures (“rabbis”) and female students that is considered “normal” within post high-school year abroad programs. It not only accepts, but actively encourages a relationship in which an adult male takes young female students under his wing in the name of “kiruv” (loosely translated as bringing someone closer to G-d.)

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MAINE
Bangor Daily News

By Judy Harrison, BDN Staff
Posted April 26, 2015

PORTLAND, Maine — A federal judge has ordered a Freeport man being sued for slander over allegations of sexual abuse of boys at a Haitian orphanage to pay $8,000 toward the plaintiffs’ legal fees as punishment for defying a court order.

U.S. District Court Judge John Woodcock did not say when Paul Kendrick, 65, would have to pay the Portland attorneys representing Hearts with Haiti, a North Carolina-based nonprofit that raised money for orphanages run by former Catholic brother Michael Geilenfeld.

The judge found on Feb. 20, following a hearing the previous month, that Kendrick had violated a court order not to make public documents that had been gathered during the discovery process.

Lawyers for Hearts with Haiti sought more $28,000 in reimbursement. Kendrick’s attorneys, based in Bangor, said work on the motions seeking the sanction should have cost about $3,800.

Woodcock on Wednesday issued the order specifying how much Kendrick would be fined. Kendrick, who has maintained that Geilenfeld has sexually abused boys for decades, has said he would go to jail rather than pay the charity’s legal fees.

“I cannot in good conscience write a check to people who kept secret information that adversely affects the safety, protection and well-being of children,” Kendrick said in an email dated March 1. “I will not pay these lawyers one cent. If so ordered by the judge, I will sit in a jail cell.”

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UNITED STATES
First Things

by William Doino Jr.
4 . 28 . 15

The Vatican’s recent announcement that Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Bishop Robert Finn, of the diocese of Kansas City–St. Joseph, has given relief and new hope to victims of sexual abuse in the Church.

Technically, the Pope didn’t directly “remove” Finn, as the media has widely reported; rather, the bishop formally offered his resignation in accordance with canon 401, paragraph 2, of the Code of Canon Law, which reads: “A diocesan bishop who has become less able to fulfill his office because of ill health or some other grave cause is earnestly requested to present his resignation from office.” But there is no mystery as to why Finn resigned, several years after resisting petitions for him to do so.

Finn is the only American bishop ever to be convicted of a criminal charge for failing to report suspected child abuse. His September 2012 conviction, on a misdemeanor charge, came about because Finn waited several months before telling police of his knowledge that one of his priests, Fr. Shawn Ratigan, had a computer with explicit images of young girls on it. Ratigan later pled guilty to five federal counts, and was sentenced to fifty years in prison. Bishop Finn was himself sentenced to two years probation, and the diocese was hit with an additional $1.1 million fine, when an arbitrator ruled Finn’s diocese had broken an earlier agreement.

Finn’s resignation comes after the completion of a Vatican investigation of him and his diocese, initiated by Pope Francis, last year. The Pope’s action has confounded both defenders of Bishop Finn, as well as skeptics of Francis’s promise to combat abuse in the Church.

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

A US state Supreme Court has reinstated the landmark child-endangerment conviction of the Philadelphia Catholic Archdiocese’s Monsignor William Lynn, who was the first high ranking US Church official ever prosecuted over his mishandling of priest child sex abuse complaints, see Supreme Court opinion . Lynn had been from 1992 to 2004 the top priest personnel aide to Philly Cardinals Justin Rigali and Anthony Bevilacqua. Both cardinals managed to avoid prosecution for their aide’s misdeeds done apparently on their behalf. Bevilacqua died soon after giving a two day video deposition (that is still being kept secret, it appears) in the Lynn criminal case, and Rigali left town in a hurry, by “retiring” after Lynn’s indictment. He may now be seen in good form with Pope Francis attending Vatican ceremonies along with his former pal, the infamous Boston Cardinal Bernard Law. The pope likely knew Bevilacqua from their Vatican committee work and appears to be personally acquainted with Rigali.

By my estimate, almost 25% of then active Philly priests had had sexual abuse complaints in their files reportedly secretly maintained by Lynn for his two cardinals. Portions of these files were reportedly kept from the Archdiocese’s child protection committee. Given the Archdiocese’s pervasive cover up mentality, who knows how many other complaints were not reported out of futility? In 2011, well regarded US Catholic Church historian, David J. O’Brien, reportedly told the NY Times that “The situation in Philadelphia is ‘Boston reborn.’ ” O’Brien was right then and appears still to be right. Why is Pope Francis honoring this disgraced Archdiocese? Have the US elections next year anything to do with the pope’s plans?

After Lynn was indicted, Archbishop Charles Chaput, Philly’s current hierarchical leader, reportedly “led the clerical cheerleaders” applauding Lynn at a large Philly private priests’ meeting. Rigali and/or Chaput then spent seemingly a small fortune on Lynn’s legal defense and also fully “lawyered up” their Archdiocese to fight abuse survivors’ claims, adding to their well connected Philly Republican focused law firm, Chaput’s former Colorado diocese’s law firm and the firm of the former Pennsylvania Democratic governor and Philly mayor and district attorney, who the NY Times had earlier reported as a suggested vice president for Hillary Clinton. Chaput has seemingly funded his “spare no bucks” lawyer onslaught by selling profitable Catholic senior citizens homes, closing Catholic churches and schools, selling Church property, etc., the usual US Catholic bishop’s drill for putting the protection of clerics as the highest priority.

See generally my remarks at (1) “A Cardinal, an Archbishop and a Funeral: A year in the Philadelphia Archdiocese’s Priest Child Abuse Scandal” here,

and (2) “… the Philadelphia Inquirer: A Time of Truth About Child Abuse”, here, Bilgrimage , and my other extensive reports easily available at the Bilgrimage website; as well the links at “Sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia” here,

[Wikipedia]

Indeed, why is Pope Francis honoring with his first US visit a local church hierarchy with such a sordid history? The pope should instead apologize to Philly Catholics and also make Chaput apologize to Philly Catholics and tell him to release the Bevilacqua video deposition. And the pope should at a minimum publicly chastise Rigali instead of honoring him with Vatican invitations. Please see my relevant remarks, What Do We Now Know About The Real Goal Of Pope Francis?

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NORTHERN IRELAND
BBC News

Survivors of sex abuse at Kincora children’s home in east Belfast have called for the building to be demolished.

Gary Hoy, who lived in Kincora, said the memories would always be there but he would like to see the building gone.

Survivor Clint Massey said demolishing the building would bring a kind of closure for victims like him.

Margaret McGuckian, of pressure group SAVIA, said they hoped to speak to the home’s owners about the next step.

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MAINE
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, April 28, 2015

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

An Orthodox priest from Maine, who was found guilty of child sexual abuse for the second time in March, was sentenced today to six and a half years in prison and 3 years probation. He will also be required to register as a sex offender for life.

[Bangor Daily News]

We are glad that Father Adam Metropoulos will spend time behind bars, although we are disappointed that it is not for a longer period of time. While incarcerated, he will be unable to hurt any more kids.

Now that the criminal process is complete, we urge the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America (GOA) to explain to the Faithful how a man previously convicted of child sexual abuse in Michigan was admitted to their seminary in Massachusetts and then ordained a priest. If not for this appalling lack of oversight, Metropoulos’ young victim would not have been hurt.

In addition, the Church should explain to their membership what procedures have been put in place to insure that this disgraceful situation never occurs again.

Finally, the GOA should use all of their resources to reach out to each and every parish and group where Metropoulos worked, begging anyone who experienced, witnessed or suspected the priest of child sexual abuse to contact the police.

We are in awe of the courage of the young man who testified against Metropoulos. We hope that now that he has found his voice and told his truth he can begin healing. We also hope that his bravery will encourage other Orthodox victims to speak up and report to law enforcement.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Regensburg-Digital

[The Diocese of Regensburg has yielded to public pressure: An external lawyer will investigate violence and abuse at the cathedral choir. An actual change of course?]

Das Bistum Regensburg hat dem öffentlichen Druck nachgegeben: Ein externer Rechtsanwalt soll Gewalt und Missbrauch bei den Domspatzen aufarbeiten. Ein tatsächlicher Kurswechsel?

Seht her, hier hat sich was geändert. Das scheint man sowohl mit dem Ort, der für die Pressekonferenz gewählt wurde, als auch mit der Besetzung des Podiums zeigen zu wollen. Während den Verantwortlichen der Diözese Regensburg allein der Begriff „Domspatzen“ schwer über die Lippen kam, wenn sie in der Vergangenheit zu ihren vorgeblich aufklärerischen Presseterminen zum Thema sexueller Missbrauch einluden, so ist es dieses Mal der Wolfgang-Saal des Domspatzen-Gymnasiums, in dem man sich den Medien stellt.

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DEUTSCHLAND
RP

Stadt Willich. Der Anwalt des Anfang Februar wegen teilweise schweren sexuellen Missbrauchs von Kindern in 25 Fällen zu sechs Jahren Haft verurteilten Pfarrers Georg K. hält an der Revision gegen das Urteil fest. Das sagte Dr. Wilhelm Helms aus Hannover gestern auf Nachfrage dieser Zeitung. Die schriftliche Urteilsbegründung habe er am 7. April erhalten, von diesem Zeitpunkt an habe er einen Monat Zeit, die Revision zu konkretisieren. Nach wie vor gehe es nicht um die Schuldfrage, sondern um die Höhe des Strafmaßes. Er halte eine Haftstrafe von fünf Jahren für angemessen. Inzwischen habe er nach Rücksprache mit seinem Mandanten einen Strafverteidiger hinzugezogen, der sich auf Revisionen spezialisiert habe, so Helms.

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PENNSYLVANIA
El Nuevo Herald

POR MARYCLAIRE DALE ASSOCIATED PRESS
04/27/2015

FILADELFIA
La Corte Suprema estatal ratificó el lunes la condena en primera instancia contra un sacerdote católico de alto rango por el cargo de poner en riesgo la vida de menores. El caso fue el primero en la historia en contra de una autoridad eclesiástica en Estados Unidos que enfrentó cargos por su manejo a las quejas sobre abuso sexual.

La Corte Suprema de Pennsylvania confirmó la condena en 2012 por delitos graves contra monseñor William Lynn por poner en riesgo a un monaguillo víctima de abuso sexual a manos de un sacerdote que había sido trasladado a su parroquia pese a las acusaciones previas.

Los abogados defensores han argumentado desde hace tiempo que Lynn, secretario del clero, no era responsable por el bienestar del niño según la ley estatal vigente en ese momento. Sin embargo, en una votación de 4-1, la Corte Suprema estatal no estuvo de acuerdo, por lo que el sacerdote de 64 años potencialmente encara un regreso a prisión.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
KCTV

[with video]

By DeAnn Smith, Digital Content Manager
deann.smith@kctv5.com

By Brad Stephens, Anchor

KANSAS CITY, MO (KCTV) –
He is a temporary caretaker, but he knows he has an important role to play in the coming weeks.

Joseph Naumann, who has been archbishop for Kansas City, KS for a decade, admits he was stunned when the phone call came from the Vatican on April 17. He was told that Pope Francis on April 21 would accept the resignation of Robert Finn as bishop for the Kansas City-St. Joseph diocese.

And Naumann was told that the church leadership wanted him to assume the role as interim bishop. He initially had his reservations, but has overcome them.

“There’s been some polarization within the church,” he said. “What I hope we can do is begin a process of healing and uniting us as a church,” Naumann said. “I think Jesus, he prayed for that for the church.”

Finn admitted in court that he failed to alert authorities about Father Shawn Ratigan, who was a pedophile taking pictures of young girls in his parishes. Finn tried to rehabilitate Ratigan after he attempted to take his own life and court documents say Finn’s actions allowed Ratigan to continue to have access to little girls even after child pornography was found on his church computer.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
Fox 4

[with video]

APRIL 27, 2015, BY ABBY EDEN

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Less than a week after Pope Francis accepted Bishop Robert Finn’s resignation, Archbishop Joseph Naumann is learning all the ins and outs of being an Apostolic Administrator or interim Bishop. He says leading two regions’ Catholic communities at once isn’t easy, but he’s willing to do what needs to be done.

On the Friday before Bishop Finn’s resignation was made public, Archbishop Joseph Naumann heard from the Apostolic Nuncio, or the ambassador of the Vatican to the United States. He was told Bishop Finn was resigning, and he’d have to take over the administrative duties of the Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocese.

“It’s one community. We share the plight of the church on both sides of State Line Road, affects one another, so I felt if I can do anything to assist the church at this time of transition, I want to do that,” said Archbishop Naumann.

As the Apostolic Administrator of the Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocese, Archbishop Naumann will maintain his responsibilities in Kansas City, Kan., and take care of day-to-day administrative responsibilities to keep the diocese on the Missouri side operating smoothly.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
KMBZ

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The Kansas City- St Joseph Diocese is still feeling aftershocks from the resignation of Bishop Robert Finn and the scandal involving Father Shawn Ratigan.

Archbishop Joseph Naumann says that, for now, he is focusing on the big picture. A new high school in Lee’s Summit was scheduled to open next fall, but donations fell short. The opening is now set for 2016.

Many parishioners withheld contributions to the bishop’s discretionary fund when the child sex abuse scandal broke.

Finn is still a bishop and is being paid by the church.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

APRIL 28, 2015

Dan Box
Crime Reporter
Sydney

A former Knox Grammar teacher suspected of being the “balaclava man” who sexually assaulted a young boy at the exclusive Sydney school says he did not want to give evidence to a royal commission because he is a “private man”.

Christopher Fotis was arrested in Queensland earlier this month after failing to appear at a previous hearing of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

Mr Fotis, a former resident master at the northern Sydney boarding school, told the commission he did not receive a summons to give evidence at the hearing in February and did not follow it at the time.

“I did what I was legally entitled to do. I was a free man under no legal obligation and I based my movements upon that,” he said.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

Bridie Jabour
@bkjabour

Monday 27 April 2015

A former teacher at Sydney’s prestigious Knox Grammar school who was suspected of assaulting a student in his bed has told an abuse inquiry he did not attend when called to its hearings in February because he is a “private man”.

Christopher Fotis, 52, took the stand at a reconvened hearing of the royal commission into institutional responses to child sex abuse on Tuesday.

He denied ever hearing about the sexual assault of a student in 1988 which became known as the “balaclava man incident”. He told the commission the first he heard of it was from the hearings.

The commission had heard Fotis was a resident master at MacNeil house at the time and was widely suspected as the person seen running away from the house in an old Knox tracksuit and balaclava, after a student, known as ARN, had his genitals groped by the same man who was lying beneath his bed.

A warrant was issued for the arrest of Fotis in February when he failed to appear at the commission after being summoned but Fotis’s counsel, Margaret Bateman, said he was not served with a summons.

“I was a free man, legally entitled to move about anywhere I wanted. I’m a private person, this is a very public hearing and I suppose if any reason, it comes down to that,” he said when asked by counsel assisting the commission, David Lloyd, if there was any reason he did not appear.

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Mail

By AUSTRALIAN ASSOCIATED PRESS

A teacher who was asked to resign from an elite private school when he was charged with performing a sex act in public, expected to get a “richer” reference from the headmaster of Knox Grammar.
Christopher Fotis was asked to resign from the Sydney school in 1989 by the headmaster Ian Paterson.

He was given a reference which noted his enthusiasm for his job and his enormous help with extra-curricular events but which made no mention of why he was asked to leave or other complaints against him.

On Tuesday Fotis told a royal commission that it was a “pretty underwhelming” reference.

Fotis was later found guilty of obscene exposure after he was caught masturbating in his car on a street in Ryde, Sydney.

He was also suspected by teachers and students at Knox of being the balaclava-wearing intruder who sexually molested a year 8 boarder about a year before he resigned.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Nicole Chettle

A former teacher at Sydney’s Knox Grammar School has denied he was the so-called balaclava man, who indecently assaulted a sleeping student in 1988.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse previously heard that in 1988, a teenage boarder woke to find a masked man groping him from under his bed and many people believed the former boarding master Christopher Fotis was the perpetrator.

The police were not contacted about the incident, but former headmaster Dr Ian Paterson told the commission he suspected Mr Fotis committed the indecent assault, but he had no proof.

In his opening statement, counsel assisting the commission, David Lloyd said Mr Fotis continued teaching at Knox Grammar School until “the latter part of 1989” when he resigned “after being arrested for masturbating in his car while parked outside a school”.

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AUSTRALIA
news.com.au

FORMER Knox Grammar teacher Christopher Fotis has denied any knowledge of an incident in which a boy was sexually assaulted by a balaclava-wearing intruder who hid under his bed, despite sleeping metres away.

EVIDENCE has been given to the sex abuse royal commission that bedlam erupted after the boy screamed in the early hours “Some faggot’s got my balls”.

The Year 8 boys chased the intruder, who was wearing a balaclava and an old Knox tracksuit, from the boarding house dormitory and news of the assault spread like wildfire across the prestigious Sydney school.

But, even though he was a suspect, Fotis told the royal commission he never knew of the 1988 incident until it was mentioned at the hearings this year.

Fotis, 52, said he had no recollection of the then-house master Tim Hawkes banging on his door, but that did not surprise him because he had slept though earthquakes in Greece.

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MAINE
WGME

BANGOR (WGME) — A priest who sexually abused a boy multiple times will spend six-and-a-half years behind bars. A judge sentenced Adam Metropoulos, 53, Monday.

He was a priest at a Greek Orthodox church in Bangor and was well known for his community involvement. Metropoulos sexually assaulted a then 15-year-old altar boy at his church in 2006 and 2007.

Metropoulos also secretly recorded a female relative taking a shower. The woman found the camera and that’s what lead to his arrest. Metropoulos also had hundreds of pornographic images on his computer, some which showed children.

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SAN FRANCISCO (CA)
San Francisco Chronicle

By Nanette Asimov
April 27, 2015

Hundreds of Catholic-school teachers and supporters gathered outside the San Francisco Archdiocese on Monday afternoon waving rainbow banners and preaching acceptance of gays and lesbians — all in protest of efforts by the archbishop to require employees to embrace church opposition to “homosexual relations,” “fornication” and other “gravely evil” sexual activities.

The protesters sang a hymn called “Love, Love,” to which they’d rewritten the lyrics with their message of acceptance: “Teach acceptance is our call / Love your neighbor as yourself / For God loves us all.”

Until February, teachers and other employees at the San Francisco Archdiocese’s four high schools who disagreed with Catholicism’s strict sexual teachings felt little need to defend their beliefs, existing in comfortable, live-and-let-live symbiosis with their employer and their religion.

But this winter, Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone unveiled a statement he wanted included in the employee handbook and the faculty contract for Riordan and Sacred Heart Cathedral schools in San Francisco, Marin Catholic in Kentfield and Junipero Serra in San Mateo clarifying that sex outside of marriage, homosexual relations, the viewing of pornography and masturbation are “gravely evil.” It said employees should “affirm and believe” the statements, which include that marriage is between “one man and one woman” and that sperm donation, the use of a surrogate and other forms of “artificial reproductive technology” are also gravely evil.

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SAN FRANCISCO (CA)
National Catholic Register

by Joan Desmond 04/27/2015

On April 27, the Archdiocese of San Francisco signaled that it was prepared to make “adjustments” to advance negotiaions with the local Catholic teachers’ union.

The union represents faculty at the four Catholic high schools under the direct jurisdiction of Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, and it has challenged proposed contract language that directs teachers to avoid public statements and actions that oppose Catholic teaching on sexual ethics, Mass attendence, abortion, and the Eucharist, among other issues.

“The Archdiocese reiterates its commitment to do what we can to listen to teachers’ ongoing concerns, to restore respectful discussion, and to heal any rifts that may remain,” read today’s statement, released at the end of the work day.

Archbishop Cordileone “understands that the teachers want to make sure that the final language in the contract both promotes Catholic identity and protects the rights of the teachers. He too wants language that protects the rights of the teachers, and he is willing to make adjustments to firmly secure those rights,” the statement continued.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

April 28, 2015

Rachel Browne
Social Affairs Reporter

Disgraced former Knox Grammar School teacher Christopher Fotis​ continued to work in both the public and Catholic education system after being caught exposing his genitals in public, a royal commission has heard.

Fotis, 52, was asked to resign from the prestigious private school in 1989 after being arrested for exposing himself.

He told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse that he worked as a casual teacher in NSW public schools and a Catholic school for six or seven months in 1990 following his arrest.

Fotis told commissioner Jennifer Coate he was never asked to provide proof of his experience when working as a casual teacher.

The commission heard when former Knox Grammar headmaster Ian Paterson became aware of the incident, he asked Fotis to resign.

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GERMANY
The Local

The diocese of Regensburg announced on Monday it is cooperating with the victims’ organisation White Ring to investigate sexual and physical abuse at the Domspatzen Choir, Die Welt reported.

“We have asked White Ring to recommend us a lawyer who can take this investigate forward,” said administrative head of the diocese Michael Fuchs.

Ulrich Weber, a lawyer specialising in cases of sexual abuse, will now lead the investigation into allegations of sexual and physical abuse at the Domspatzen primary school from the 1950s up to the present day.

The report will be published “as soon as we have the impression that the majority of reports [of abuse] have been considered,” said Fuchs.

Günther Perottoni from White Ring welcomed the diocese’s decision.

“They have assured us that the procedures of the investigation will not be obstructed,” he said.

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MINNESOTA
southernminn.com

Associated Press

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A Minnesota man has settled a lawsuit with St. John’s Abbey that will force the release of personnel files for 19 monks accused of sexually abusing minors, attorneys said Monday.

The settlement announced by attorney Jeff Anderson’s law firm was to be detailed at a news conference Tuesday.

Anderson sued St. John’s in 2013 on behalf of Edward “Troy” Bramlage III, 52, who said he was abused by the Rev. Allen Tarlton when he was a 14-year-old freshman at its prep school in 1977. The lawsuit said St. John’s leadership repeatedly sent Tarlton for treatment but allowed him to continue working at the prep school.

Anderson said Monday the settlement is “a big deal” and an “important step forward” because it requires not only the disclosure of Tarlton’s files but also those of an additional 18 St. John’s monks credibly accused of abuse. A timeline for releasing the other files has yet to be set, Anderson said.
“Until we reveal the history (of abuse), it’s going to repeat,” Anderson said.

The abbey has said Tarlton lives in a restricted setting and has no contact with students. In a statement Monday, the abbey said it reached the settlement in order “to achieve some measure of reconciliation” but had no other comment. Tarlton’s attorney, Robert Stich of Minneapolis, said Monday that Tarlton, now 87 and under 24-hour-a-day medical care at the abbey, has never admitted abusing Bramlage.

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KENTUCKY
WHAS

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WHAS11) — Details in the settlement of a sex abuse lawsuit against a Catholic priest will reveal specific information on the priest’s brief stint as a principal in Louisville said the attorney on the case.

Attorneys representing St. John’s Abbey and Father Gilbert Tarlton reached a settlement Monday with lawyers representing the victim known in court records as “Doe 2.” The case was scheduled to go to court May 4.

The suit was filed in 2013 on behalf of a man who was a freshman at St. John’s Preparatory School in Minnesota in 1977. The man, who wanted to be identified as a survivor, said there were at least 100 incidents of grooming and abuse at the hands of Tarlton.

Six years prior, Tarlton was a principal at Holy Cross Parish School in Louisville but was removed from the school before completing his first year said Mike Finnegan, the attorney representing the Minnesota survivor.

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MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

Madeleine Baran Apr 27, 2015

Saint John’s Abbey has reached a settlement with a man who said he was sexually abused as a teenager by a Benedictine monk.

The man, known in court filings as Doe 2, sued Saint John’s Abbey in 2013 for allegedly failing to protect him from sexual abuse by the Rev. Allen Tarlton in the late 1970s.

Attorney Jeff Anderson, who represents Doe 2, said the settlement will require Saint John’s Abbey to release the files of 19 monks accused of sexually abusing children and provide a financial settlement for an amount that will not be publicly disclosed.

Saint John’s Abbey declined to describe the agreement. “Out of respect for the privacy of the parties involved and the agreement we have made, we have no further comment on this settlement,” it said in a statement Monday.

The lawsuit, filed in Stearns County, accused Tarlton of abusing the boy in about 1977 when he lived on campus as a student at Saint John’s Preparatory School in Collegeville. Tarlton was the boy’s English teacher. It said the abbey knew of abuse allegations against Tarlton nearly two decades earlier and failed to call police or warn students and parents.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
KSHB

[with video]

Amy Hawley

Pope Francis asked Archbishop Joseph Naumann to be in charge of the Kansas City-St. Joseph diocese until a new bishop is named.

FULL INTERVIEW | Watch the entire 18-minute, sit-down interview with Archbishop Naumann here

Many called last week’s move by the Vatican a historic moment. For the first time, the Vatican held a bishop accountable for poorly handling a case of a priest’s child abuse.

In 2012, a judge convicted Bishop Robert Finn of failing to report suspected child abuse .

The public pressured the church for Finn’s resignation and last Tuesday, Pope Francis accepted it .

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Kansas City Star

BY RICK MONTGOMERYRMONTGOMERY@KCSTAR.COM
04/27/2015

Despite announcing his resignation a week ago, Bishop Robert W. Finn will preside over the priestly ordinations of seven deacons next month in the Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocese.

A diocese spokesman Monday cited a scheduling conflict that prevented the new temporary leader of the diocese, Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann, from ordaining the seven men on May 23 at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Kansas City.

Naumann, who continues to lead the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas, will preside over ordinations scheduled for the same time in Leawood.

Longtime critics of Finn expressed agitation over the bishop’s continuing role in a diocese from which he stepped down under a cloud of scandal.

“Good grief. It’s appalling,” said Michael Sandridge, who was among the plaintiffs in 32 sex-abuse lawsuits against the diocese that were settled in 2014. “Like the good ol’ boy network all over again.

“… What did his resignation mean? Nothing, really.” said Sandridge, a Kansas City resident who alleged he was raped by two priests about 30 years ago.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Reuters

PHILADELPHIA | BY NATALIE POMPILIO

(Reuters) – Pennsylvania’s highest court on Monday reinstated the conviction of the first U.S. Catholic church official sent to prison for mishandling sexual misconduct complaints against priests.

In August 2012, a Philadelphia jury found Monsignor William Lynn, 64, guilty of one count of child endangerment for failing to supervise a pedophile priest who eventually sexually assaulted a 10-year-old altar boy in 1999.

That conviction was overturned by the state’s Superior Court in December 2013.

Monday’s ruling by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court upholds the original August 2012 judgment.

The high court said Lynn “as a high ranking official in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, was specifically responsible for protecting children from sexually abusive priests.”

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
CBS Philly

[Supreme Court opinion]

[Dissenting opinion]

Steve Tawa

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — In a stunning reversal, the Pennsylvania State Supreme Court is upholding the 2012 conviction of Monsignor William Lynn, the first Roman Catholic official sent to prison over his handling of priest abuse complaints. The DA’s office hasn’t said whether it will try to revoke bail and send him back to prison, pending more legal arguments.

Monsignor Lynn was convicted of a single charge of endangering the welfare of a child, and sentenced to three to six years in prison in 2012. As the Archdiocese of Philadelphia’s former secretary for clergy, he was the official responsible for investigating and recommending punishment for priests accused of sexual and other misconduct.

After serving about half his sentence behind bars, by late 2013, Superior Court heard his appeal, and reversed his conviction. Since then, he has been on house arrest, living in the rectory of St. William, a parish in Lawncrest.

Now, the State Supreme Court is reversing Superior Court, ruling that Lynn could be held responsible for the welfare of children in the Archdiocese.

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TENNESSEE
WBIR

(WBIR- KNOXVILLE) – A new tally shows a former church treasurer took $400,950 from Saint George Greek Orthodox Church over about four years, and church members want that man to be prosecuted, records show.

Church officials filed an incident report Wednesday with Knoxville Police Department and have contacted the Knox County District Attorney General’s Office, members say.

Sean McDermott, spokesman for the District Attorney General’s Office, said Monday the office could not comment on ongoing investigations that involve prosecutors or any area law enforcement agency.

Darrell DeBusk, KPD spokesman, said Monday he could not comment about an open investigation.

Church officials have briefed members on what a review of church finances showed over the last several years. A lawyer and former FBI agent conducted it.

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UNITED STATES
Bilgrimage

William D. Lindsey

Here’s a letter from the heart I have written (by email) this morning to an e-friend, a very good person, who had emailed me to add to the chorus of those who pointed out that my reference to Bishop Robert Finn several days ago as a convicted felon is not technically correct: Bishop Finn was convicted for a misdemeanor, not a felony. The friend who emailed me about this is ordained, and I cannot help but be struck by the fact that those who have picked at this point are all ordained, all clergymen.

My friend tells me that those defending the use of the term “felony” to apply to Finn’s crime in shielding a known pedophile and keeping children in harm’s way by keeping that priest in ministry have an agenda. My friend also appears to think that convicting priests of crimes of child molestation and of endangering children’s well-being is counter-productive, not a way of healing their pedophilia (I myself don’t think pedophilia is curable), and is premised on vengefulness and not love.

Here’s my response to these observations in an email this morning:

I suspect we all have agendas. And, though I don’t have children of my own, I can understand and empathize with the agenda of seeing children protected from child molesters—and the outrage of so many Catholics that this concern seems to have been far down the list of concerns for the hierarchy and the clerical club, as the abuse crisis in the Catholic church came to light.

The frustration I think many lay Catholics feel is that we keep discovering that what seems to us the obvious top priority here—keeping children out of harm’s way—is not really even on the radar screen of many in the clerical club, whose fundamental instinct is to make excuses for each other and protect each other from exposure and prosecution. The anger of lay Catholics builds, I think, and understandably so, as we see these concerns playing out within the clerical system, and find ourselves talked down to in a bizarre way about the distinction between a felony and a misdemeanor—a very strange, insubstantial, diversionary straw to clutch at in this disucssion, it seems to me.

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UNITED STATES
Bilgrimage

[with photos]

William D. Lindsey

And — it has to be said — (piggybacking on my first posting today) photos like the following absolutely do not help many of us lay Catholics overcome our anger about how the clerical club persistently finds every way in the world to make excuses for fellow priests abusing minors, and still, even now!, just does not seem to get it, about protecting children from danger as the obvious, indisputable top priority in the abuse crisis:

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IRELAND
National Catholic Reporter

Sarah Mac Donald | Apr. 27, 2015

LIMERICK, IRELAND The role and full equality of women in church life as well as the governance of the church were the two main issues discussed by delegates at the second international meeting of priest associations and lay reform groups here April 13-17.

In a statement at the conclusion of their four-day gathering, the 38 delegates from 10 countries, who seek to establish an international “network of networks” to develop strategies on church reform, said: “The election of Pope Francis has begun a new era in Catholicism.”

Speaking on behalf of participants, censured Irish Redemptorist Fr. Tony Flannery of the Irish Association of Catholic Priests said, “With the resignation of Pope Benedict we are at the end of an era, and this is our best chance to renew the church for a long time.”

According to Deborah Rose-Milavec, executive director of the U.S. reform group FutureChurch, it became clear during a very open and honest discussion among participants from the U.S., Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, India, Germany, Slovakia, Austria, Switzerland, and elsewhere that there is much pain over the exclusion of women from governance, leadership and ordained ministry.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Magazine

[Supreme Court opinion]

[Dissenting opinion]

By Joel Mathis | April 27, 2015

Monsignor William Lynn may be headed back behind bars.

Lynn was freed last year after an appeals court overturned his conviction on child endangerment charges relating to Philadelphia Archdiocese’s sex-abuse scandal. On Monday, though, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturned that reversal and reinstated the original conviction — saying that the child endangerment statute applied to Lynn even though he did not directly supervise the welfare of the child victims in the scandal.

Justice Max Baer, writing for the court, said prosecutors established that Lynn — who had served as the Archdiocese of Philadelphia’s former secretary for clergy — had:

• “Mollified victims of sexual abuse by falsely telling them their allegations were being seriously investigated and that the particular priest would never again be assigned around children, despite knowing that the priests under his supervision would merely be reassigned to another parish with no ministry restrictions on contact with children.”

• “Informed parishioners that the priests he transferred were moved for health reasons, leaving the welfare of children in jeopardy.”

• “Routinely disregarded treatment recommendations for priests.”

• “Failed to inform the relocated priest’s new supervisor about abuse allegations.”

• “Took no action to ensure that the abusive priest was kept away from children at his new assignment.”

• “Suppressed complaints and concerns by the colleagues of the priests; all with the knowledge that sexually abusive priests rarely had only one victim and that all of these actions would endanger the welfare of the diocese’s children.”

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