ABUSE TRACKER

UNITED STATES
Religion News Service – Rhymes with Religion

Boz Tchividjian | Apr 10, 2015

As you may know, April is designated as National Child Abuse Prevention Month. What does this mean for us? More importantly, what does this mean for children? I have little doubt that most reading this post acknowledge the evil of this offense and would be overjoyed if no more children were ever abused or neglected. Unfortunately, taking a few minutes during one month of the year to give thought to this evil with the hope that it will end is simply not enough. I am convinced that in order to prevent child abuse, the world community (that means you and I!) is going to have to become much more aware of its prevalence and its destruction. An awareness that will hopefully become the fuel to action. An action not limited to thoughts and hopes. I plead with you to be aware:

Be aware that in 2013, over 3.5 million children were reported as abused or neglected involving over 6 million children.

Be aware that a report of child abuse in the United States is made every 10 seconds.

Be aware that in 2013, approximately one-fifth of every child abuse report was found to be “substantiated”. This means that almost 700,000 children were confirmed abused or neglected. For every 1000 children, 9 of them were victims of abuse or neglect. Keep in mind, this doesn’t include the vast majority of child abuse that never gets reported or investigated.

Be aware that child sexual abuse is 75x more common than pediatric cancer.

Be aware that there is at least one child molester per square mile in the United States.

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

PENNSYLVANIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Friday, April 10

For more information: 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

Pastor sentenced for child sex abuse
Prosecutor says he was in Mercer County PA
Group seeks “victims, witnesses & whistleblowers”
It urges “anyone with info” to “speak up & get help”

A Protestant minister who worked in Mercer County was sentenced this week to 15 years in prison for abusing two girls in 2001 and 2002 in New York.

[The Daily News]

Rev. Roy Harriger was pastor of Ashwood Wesleyan Church in Yates, NY. He was arrested at his home in Middleport, NY in November 2013 after a state police investigation.

Rev. Harriger also spent time in Michigan, in the Milford—Oakland County area.

“We desperately hope that anyone else who may have seen, suspected or suffered Rev. Harriger’s crimes – in Pennsylvania, Michigan or New York – will find the courage and strength to step forward now,” said David Clohessy of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. “It’s possible that Rev. Harriger could be prosecuted for more child sex crimes or that his church colleagues might be prosecuted for helping to conceal those crimes.”

Clohessy also stressed that coming forward often helps victims heal.

“You can recover from childhood trauma and betrayal, but not if you insist on trying to carry this awful burden alone,” he said. “It’s crucial that you break your silence and tell a relative, partner, friend, therapist or a support group like ours. That’s the first step toward rebuilding your shattered trust and self-esteem.”

Orleans County District Attorney Joe Cardone (Joe.Cardone@orleanscountyny.gov), in an email, informed SNAP that Rev. Harriger spent time in Mercer County.

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

VATICAN CITY
The Australian

APRIL 11, 2015

Dennis Shanahan
Political Editor
Canberra

More than a billion euros in previously “hidden” Catholic Church funds is about to be revealed in new Vatican budget audit.

The vast sums of undeclared money have been hidden in various bank accounts by organisations and groups within the Holy See in Rome.

The funds have not been misused and are not part of corruption and scandal that have previously shamed the Vatican but the money has not been properly disclosed or available for the full use of the Vatican because it has been hidden away in an Italian practice of keeping aside undeclared finds.

It is now expected that Australia’s Cardinal George Pell, ­appointed by the Pope a year ago as the Vatican treasurer, will disclose in his audit of Vatican funds as part of next month’s budget that more than a billion euros has been hidden away.

Cardinal Pell, who is introducing tough, modern financial rules for the Vatican, said previously he found hundreds of thousands of hidden euros as he applied his new audit standards to the Holy See.

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

MINNESOTA
Roman Catholic Diocese of Winona

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MEDIA CONTACT:
Joel Hennessy, Director of Mission Advancement & Communications
jhennessy@dow.org office 507.858.1249 cell 507.254.3948

A Statement from Most Rev. John M. Quinn, Bishop of Winona

WINONA, MN – April 10, 2015 – Today, the Diocese of Winona is releasing the names of two priests who are accused of committing child sexual abuse while serving as priests within the Diocese of Winona. Today’s release, comes as part of an ongoing effort to identify and publically disclose names of priests that have been accused of child sexual abuse. These accusations have been deemed to be not manifestly false or frivolous.

Fr. Harold B. Mountain has been accused of child sexual abuse. Fr. Mountain was ordained on May 30, 1942 and served in the following parishes over the course of his 47 years with the Diocese of Winona.
June 9, 1943 – Mater Dolorosa, Madelia, MN
June, 1943- September, 1947 – Saint Thomas Pro Cathedral , Winona, MN
June, 1943- September, 1947 – Precious Blood, LaMoille, MN and Saints Peter and Paul, Hart, MN
1946-1947 – Spiritual Director for the Newman Center in Winona, MN
September 1, 1947 – Saint Bernard, Stewartville, MN and Sacred Heart, Hayfield, MN
June 18, 1948 – Saint Bernard, Stewartville, MN and Sacred Heart, Hayfield, MN
June 15, 1950 – Diocesan Director of Blessed Sacrament
January 30, 1952 – Christ the King, Medford, MN and Corpus Christi, Deerfield, MN
August 5, 1968 – Saint Casimir, Wells, MN
July 14, 1977 – Immaculate Conception, Saint Clair, MN
May 30, 1989 – Retired
November 12, 2006 – Died

Because Fr. Harold Mountain died prior to the accusation of abuse was made to the Diocese of Winona, Fr. Harold Mountain was never able to confirm or deny the allegation.

Fr. Thomas E. Duane has been accused of child sexual abuse. Fr. Duane was ordained on June 5, 1938 and served in the following parishes over the course of his 41 years with the Diocese of Winona.
August 22, 1938 – Saint Charles Borromeo, Saint Charles, MN
November 14, 1945 –Saint Bernard, Stewartville, MN and Sacred Heart, Hayfield, MN
June 3, 1947 – Saint Ignatius, Spring Valley, MN and Saint Patrick, LeRoy, MN
June 30, 1954 – Saint John the Baptist, Caledonia, MN and Loretto High School, Caledonia, MN
August 22, 1961 – Saint Gabriel, Fulda, MN
August 11, 1966 – Leave of Absence for Medical Reasons
August 12, 1966 – Resigned as pastor for Saint Gabriel, Fulda, MN
September 1, 1966 – Chaplain for Mother Frances Rest Home, Mankato, MN
March 1, 1967 – Saint Patrick, LeRoy, MN
March 3, 1969 – Saint Patrick, LeRoy, MN
March 1971 – Requested leave of absence until June 15, 1971
July 11, 1974 – Saint John, Dodge Center, MN and Saint Olaf, Kasson, MN
June 11, 1976 – Saint Francis de Sales, Claremont, MN
May 18, 1979 – Retired
April 28, 1993 – Died

Fr. Thomas Duane died prior to the Diocese of Winona becoming aware of the accusation of abuse, therefore Fr. Duane was not able to confirm or deny the allegation.

These disclosures have been prompted by information that was recently obtained by the Diocese of Winona and the complete and comprehensive review that has been conducted by the Diocese of Winona of all priest files in its possession. The Diocese of Winona is committed to transparency and ensuring that crimes against children do not go undisclosed or unreported. The Diocese of Winona has implemented one of the most thorough background search and safety training protocol in the nation to ensure those entrusted in our care are safe. Our prayers remain with those who have been victimized by members of the clergy and we stand committed to providing support and healing to those who have been tragically abused by clergy. We encourage anyone that has been abused recently or in the past to come forward and report the abuse to civil authorities.

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

MINNESOTA
Winona Daily News

The Diocese of Winona on Friday for the first time released the names of two additional priests suspected of sexual abuse.

The names of Fathers Harold Mountain and Thomas Duane were released as part of the ongoing settlement agreement with the diocese and the Archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis. Both names have never been released to the public before. The two names bring to 17 the total list of diocese priests suspected of sexual abuse.

Neither priest is alive. Duane died in 1993, and Mountain in 2006. There were not abuse complaints filed against either when they were alive.

Joel Hennessy, speaking for the Diocese of Winona, said the release of was prompted by the receipt of new victim information by the diocese. “The priests did not meet the disclosure protocols prior to the new information,” Hennessy said.

“This is a good day for child protection,” said Patrick Wall, researcher for Anderson & Associates, the law firm representing the plaintiffs in the suit. “This is another forward step,” he said, “we are not done…there will be more priest files.”

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

SCOTLAND
Scottish Legal News

Survivors of historical child abuse in institutions including schools and places run by religious organisations are calling for compensation to be included in a forthcoming inquiry.

The education secretary Angela Constance (pictured) will announce the scope of the inquiry at the end of April after having discussed the issues with victims as well as people who ran the institutions over recent months.

Survivors seek interim payments, similar to the system in Ireland.

In Care Abuse Survivors (INCAS), which represents almost 400 victims of institutional abuse, said that in the last 17 years, while calls were made for an inquiry, numerous victims have died of old age as well as ill-health and suicide.

Helen Holland, chairwoman of the charity, said: “We want the scope to be as wide as possible and should not be narrowed down. It should cover everyone who was abused under the care of the state.

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VATICAN CITY
Washington Post

By Abby Ohlheiser and Michelle Boorstein April 10

It’s been a few months since France appointed Laurent Stéfanini, a practicing Catholic who is also openly gay, to be the country’s next ambassador to the Holy See. This week, the European press noticed that the Vatican has yet to accept the appointment, which many are interpreting as an implicit rejection of candidate.

The Rev. Thomas Rosica, a Vatican spokesman, declined via e-mail on Thursday to comment on Stéfanini’s appointment, adding that “any host government has the right to grant agrément or refuse it for their own reasons.”

An agrément is a formal diplomatic approval of another country’s choice of an ambassador. That the Vatican has reportedly thus far withheld agrément for an ambassador who has been chosen will be seen as a rejection.

Federico Lombardi, the head of the Holy See’s press office, added in a second e-mail, “The Press Office has never done comments about appointments of ambassadors to the Holy See.”

Stéfanini worked at France’s embassy to the Vatican from 2001 to 2005, Le Monde reported, before French President François Hollande decided to appoint him to the job in early January of this year. According to Le Monde, Stéfanini is unmarried and has no children.

The rumors about the meaning of the Vatican’s apparent non-response to the appointment seem to stem from a report in “Le Journal du Dimanche.” The report, citing an unnamed Vatican insider, alleges that a decision to essentially freeze the application came from the “pope himself.”

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CANADA
The Globe and Mail

ALLAN MAKI
CALGARY — The Globe and Mail
Published Friday, Apr. 10 2015

Young aboriginal women in B.C. are more likely to be victims of violence if they were sexually abused as children or had a parent who attended a residential school, a landmark study has found.

Researchers for a survey called the Cedar Project say their study to be released on Friday is the first in Canada to show a statistical connection between continued abuse and the residential schools. (B.C. had 22 of them, the most of any Canadian province.)

The Cedar Project interviewed 259 women, ages 14 to 30, several times over seven years. The report says they were “nearly 10 times more likely to be sexually assaulted later in life if they had a history of childhood sexual abuse.” It said the women were also at a high risk if at least one of their parents had spent time at a residential school.

Until the late 20th century, native children were taken from their families and placed in residential schools, where many were beaten and sexually abused. At least 3,000 children died at the schools. Some survivors suffering from the effects of the abuse became abusers themselves.

Of the 259 women recruited from Vancouver and Prince George, B.C., all used drugs, 28 per cent reported that they were sexually assaulted during the seven-year period, and 41 per cent of that group were assaulted more than once.

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MINNESOTA
Jeff Anderson & Associates

4/10/2015

Winona Diocese Publicly Releases Names of Two Priests Accused of Sexually Abusing Minors Father Harold Mountain and Father Thomas Duane added to the list of accused priests (Winona, MN) – Today the Diocese of Winona publicly released and added the names of two more priests to their list of accused clerics, Father Harold Mountain and Father Thomas Duane. Both names have never been released to the public before. There are now 17 clerics accused of sexual abuse who worked in the Winona Diocese. This disclosure is a result of the October 2014 settlement agreement in the civil lawsuit Doe 1 v. Archdiocese of Saint Paul & Minneapolis and Diocese of Winona. The settlement agreement contained a multi-step child protection plan which included the ongoing, public release of individual names of clerics with substantiated claims of the sexual abuse of minors. “Today’s release is a step forward in transparency and making our communities safer,” said Jeff Anderson who represents several sexual abuse survivors abused by clerics who worked in the Diocese of Winona.

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

MINNESOTA
Jeff Anderson & Associates

Winona Diocese Publicly Releases Names of Two Priests Accused of Sexually Abusing Minors

Father Harold Mountain and Father Thomas Duane added to the list of accused priests

(Winona, MN) – Today the Diocese of Winona publicly released and added the names of two more priests to their list of accused clerics, Father Harold Mountain and Father Thomas Duane. Both names have never been released to the public before. There are now 17 clerics accused of sexual abuse who worked in the Winona Diocese.

This disclosure is a result of the October 2014 settlement agreement in the civil lawsuit Doe 1 v. Archdiocese of Saint Paul & Minneapolis and Diocese of Winona. The settlement agreement contained a multi-step child protection plan which included the ongoing, public release of individual names of clerics with substantiated claims of the sexual abuse of minors.

“Today’s release is a step forward in transparency and making our communities safer,” said Jeff Anderson who represents several sexual abuse survivors abused by clerics who worked in the Diocese of Winona.

Thomas Duane Timeline
Thomas Duane Priest File
Harold Mountain Timeline
Harold Mountain Priest File

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VATICAN CITY/FRANCE
The Local

Pope Francis’ liberal credentials have taken a blow after the Vatican reportedly refused to accept the nomination of the new French ambassador, a close aide of President François Hollande, because he is gay.

Laurent Stefanini, a senior diplomat and French President François Hollande’s chief of protocol, was nominated in early January but the Vatican has yet to accept his credentials, officials in Paris said.

Normally a new ambassador’s credentials are accepted within a month and a half. The Vatican does not usually explicitly refuse an envoy’s credentials, but a prolonged silence after a nomination is interpreted as a rejection.

The Vatican declined to comment when asked by The Local if Stefanini, who is openly gay, was being rejected and if this was due to his sexuality.

A French presidential aide said that the choice of the 54-year-old to represent France at the Vatican resulted from “a wish by the president and a cabinet decision” and that the president regarded him as “one of our best diplomats.”

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VATICAN CITY/FRANCE
Catholic Culture

In January, the French government appointed Laurent Stefanini as its ambassador to the Holy See, but three months later, the Vatican has not approved the appointment—leading to European media reports that the lack of approval stems from Stefanini’s homosexuality.

Le Monde and Corriere della Sera reported that Cardinal André Vingt-Trois of Paris interceded with Pope Francis on behalf of the nomination of Stefanini, a former official of the French embassy at the Vatican. La Croix reported that Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, the former Vatican foreign minister who now serves as president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, also supports the appointment.

According to Le Monde, Pope Francis has decided to “freeze the dossier,” while La Croix reported that French President François Hollande maintained his support for Stefanini in a recent private conversation.

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ITALY
The Daily Beast

Barbie Latza Nadeau

The alleged victim of a horny cleric in Southern Italy takes him to court, and (once again) blows the lid off sexual corruption in the Catholic Church.

If only there was an online hookup site especially for gay priests, perhaps it could save the Vatican some of the embarrassment that comes when celibacy-challenged prelates start snooping around for some action. Instead, we are reminded once again about the secret desires of the not-really-so-chaste.

The latest awkward moment for the Catholic Church came this week when the archbishop of Taranto in the southern Italian province of Puglia dismissed Father Antonio Calvieri, a priest in his 50s who worked at the monastery of the local Carmelite order. Calvieri is the subject of a sexual harassment charge and lawsuit by Andrea Baldon, a 32-year-old man the priest apparently had set his sights on. According to court documents filed in Taranto, Baldon is seeking unspecified damages against Calvieri as well as the church of the Santissimo Crocefisso after apparent aggressive sexual harassment.

His fantasy was that I was Judas Iscariot and, since I had betrayed Jesus, I had to pay the price by becoming his slave.

Baldon, who met Calvieri online when he was seeking spiritual guidance, gave the court photos including screenshots of the priest, Facebook messages and chat messages the two exchanged. There are also reportedly hard core videos of Calvieri with other men assumed to be priests and in solo acts, according to local press reports.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

Police have released a computer-generated image of a man wanted for questioning over a suspicious fire at a Dandenong church historically linked to a paedophile priest.

Fire crews were called to St Mary’s Catholic Church in Dandenong at 2:30am on April 1 by the parish’s priest, Father Declan O’Brien, who lives in a detached building, when he was woken by the sound of smoke alarms.

The church was one of eight linked to convicted paedophile priest Kevin O’Donnell, who sexually abused children throughout his 50-year career in Melbourne parishes.

The fire brigade said it was clear to firefighters that someone had broken in and set several areas of the building alight.

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NEW MEXICO
Gallup Independent

Published in the Gallup Independent, Gallup, N.M., April 2, 2015

By Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola
Independent correspondent
religion@gallupindependent.com

ALBUQUERQUE – U.S. Bankruptcy Judge David T. Thuma issued an order in the Diocese of Gallup’s bankruptcy case related to possible clergy sex abuse victims who may come forward in the future with claims against the diocese.

Thuma signed an order Friday appointing a legal representative to represent the interests of such future claimants, including individuals who might currently be minors. In his order, Thuma approved the employment of Michael P. Murphy, the managing director of AlixPartners, LLP, as the representative. AlixPartners, an international business advisory firm, was also approved to assist Murphy with his duties.

Unknown tort claimants

Referred to as the “unknown claims representative,” Murphy and AlixPartners will be paid a flat fee of $50,000, plus expenses to represent the interests of clergy sex abuse victims who might possibly come forward in the future. Those individuals are referred to as “unknown tort claimants” in court documents.

According to Murphy, he is currently serving as the future claims representative in the Diocese of Stockton’s bankruptcy case. In addition, he previously was appointed to that same position in church bankruptcy cases in Fairbanks, Alaska, and Davenport, Iowa.

On Feb. 11, bankruptcy attorneys for the Gallup Diocese, referred to as “the debtors” in the case, filed the motion requesting Murphy’s employment be approved by the court. The Unsecured Creditors Committee, which represents the interests of clergy sex abuse victims who have come forward and filed abuse claims with the court, supported the motion.

“Although the debtors are not currently aware of any such adults, the Arizona and New Mexico statutes of limitations for such claims may be tolled by certain circumstances,” diocesan attorney Elizabeth S. Fella stated in the motion. “Additionally, while the debtors are not yet aware of any tort claimants who may be younger than the age of legal majority, the interest of such minor tort claimants should also be represented, because they may be presently unable to come forward as a result of their minority.”

Funds for such claimants

The Gallup Diocese admitted in the motion that any plan of reorganization must provide for unknown tort claimants “that are currently unable to assert or are excused from asserting their Tort Claims because they are currently unable to advocate for themselves.” The motion said the Diocese of Gallup will preserve a portion of the funds under its reorganization plan to compensate such individuals.

In the motion, Fella set clear limitations to the pool of possible future claimants. “The class of Unknown Tort Claimants should include only those individuals who experienced sexual abuse as minors,” she stated.

The Diocese of Gallup continues to have a small number of active priests who have been accused of the sexual harassment and/or assault of adult victims. Since his arrival in Gallup in 2009, Bishop James S. Wall has not removed the priestly faculties of any of these alleged offenders.

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OKLAHOMA
Stillwater News Press

A 4-year old girl will only be 16 when she must choose to confront her abuser in court. Because of her minor status, she may still be living with her abuser during this difficult decision.

Without prospects of gaining independence, finding her own job and place to live, or attending college, the 16-year-old girl feels trapped and simply lets her abuser go unchallenged in court.

The state of Oklahoma secretly promotes this child’s psychological conflict. With the statute of limitations being merely 12 years, the state is promoting further injustice against a minor by leaving her voiceless and fearful of formally charging her abuser.

According to the Oklahoma Department of Health Services, 60.73 percent of child abuse victims were under 6 years old when the abuse occurred. Of their perpetrators, 78.62 percent were their mothers and fathers. Therefore, over half of our Oklahoma children will still be in their parents’ care when the statute of limitations will run out.

We can easily change this unacceptable policy. By simply freezing the statute of limitations for victims until they are 18, a child will be able to face her abuser as an adult rather than a minor. The 12-year statute of limitations would not begin to tick away until the child gains adult status as an 18-year old.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Thomas Reese | Apr. 10, 2015 Faith and Justice

In his pre-Christmas talk to the cardinals and bishops of the Vatican Curia, Pope Francis shocked his audience and the world by his scathing words on the failings of those working in the Vatican. He warned them against 15 separate “diseases” in their work and attitudes.

In this “examination of conscience,” among other sins, he spoke of “spiritual Alzheimer’s,” “existential schizophrenia” and the “terrorism of gossip.”

“They are diseases and temptations which weaken our service to the Lord,” he said.

“The list paints a picture of an institution full of gossip, backstabbing and lack of contact with the reality lived by most Catholics around the world,” Joshua J. McElwee wrote.

The pope argued that these sins were rooted in a feeling of indispensability that often stems from “the pathology of power, from a superiority complex.”

News stories of this talk naturally connected it with Pope Francis’ plans to reform the Curia, but the speech notwithstanding, little progress has been seen except in the area of financial reform.

After such a speech, one would have expected heads to roll, but they did not. Despite the rhetoric, curial cardinals are still treated like princes.

True, Cardinal Raymond Burke was sidelined to the Knights of Malta from being the head of the Apostolic Signatura, the church’s highest court. But no other curial cardinal was removed from his job in a way that looked like an embarrassing demotion. For example:

* Cardinal Mauro Piacenza went from being prefect of the Congregation for Clergy to being head of the Apostolic Penitentiary in 2013.

* Cardinal Antonio Canizares Llovera, prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship, was transferred in 2014 to his home archdiocese of Valencia, Spain.

These cardinals can continue to serve the church with their heads held high.

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AUSTRALIA
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

10 April, 2015

The Royal Commission public hearing into Knox Grammar School will re-commence on Tuesday 28 April 2015 at 9:00am.

The hearing will continue to inquire into the response of Knox Grammar School and the Uniting Church in Australia between 1970 and 2012 to concerns raised about inappropriate conduct by a number of teachers towards students at the school.

Mr Fotis has been summonsed and will be called to appear on 28 April 2015.

The public hearing will be streamed live to the public via webcast on the Royal Commission’s website at www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au.

Interested individuals and organisations are encouraged to view the proceedings via the webcast.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Sarah Farnsworth

Child sexual abuse prevention programs for preschoolers can be effective, according to a new report.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has found children as young as five can be taught how to recognise abuse.

However, while the report found child abuse prevention programs for preschoolers do appear to work, there is not enough evidence to say whether they result in more children disclosing abuse.

But child safety advocates are convinced they do.

Bravehearts founder Hetty Johnston said although it is a sensitive topic for teachers and parents, it is possible to get a young child to recognise if they are being sexually abused and to speak out.

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MINNESOTA
KSTP

By: Cassie Hart

A federal bankruptcy judge has given the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis more time to submit a reorganization plan.

Judge Robert Kressel on Thursday extended the deadline for filing the plan to Nov. 30.

Attorneys for the archdiocese argued it needed more time to both work with insurance carriers and to determine a more precise total number of abuse claims. The attorneys said it would be counterproductive to file without that information.

Kressel denied a motion that would allow the archdiocese to pay its attorneys on a more frequent basis.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Telegraph

By David Barrett, Home Affairs Correspondent 10 Apr 2015

Victims of child sexual abuse are poised to launch legal action against the Home Office over the set-up of the Government’s inquiry into allegations of high-level paedophile rings.

Lawyers acting for a number of abuse survivors intend to challenge a decision by Theresa May, the Home Secretary, to exclude representatives of victim’s groups from the inquiry panel.

Justice Lowell Goddard, the inquiry chairman, said last month that it would be inappropriate to appoint survivors to the panel – which will hear evidence alongside her – because they may lack “objectivity”.

Victims now intend to challenge her over those comments and demand an apology.

Unless the Home Office appoints survivors’ representatives to the panel they also intend to launch judicial review proceedings in the High Court.

“We think this is necessary because they are not listening to survivors,” said Phil Frampton, of the White Flowers Campaign Group, an umbrella organisation for survivors’ groups.

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ILLINOIS
Daily Herald

Justin Kmitch

A former Elmhurst church youth minister was sentenced to 10 years in prison Thursday after pleading guilty to criminal sexual assault of a teenage girl he previously mentored.

With his plea, 43-year-old Darin Evans, a former associate pastor and youth minister at West suburban Community Church, admitted to having sexual contact with the girl in parks, cemeteries, men’s restrooms, and during a religious retreat in Wisconsin.

The encounters began in 2004 when the victim was 16 and being spiritually counseled by Evans for “adolescent issues,” authorities said. The abuse lasted until about September 2005.

Prosecutors said Evans groomed the girl for abuse by showering her with gifts and attention while being in a position of “trust, supervision or authority.”

Some of the abuse took place in a vehicle outside College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn while the girl was still in high school. Prosecutors said Evans told the girl to keep the encounters secret and threatened to kill himself if anyone found out.

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VIRGINIA
WUSA

[with video]

Surae Chinn, WUSA April 10, 2015

STERLING, Va. (WUSA9) — Calvary Temple Ministries has been investigated for years following the alleged sex abuse scandal at Calvary Temple Church in Sterling. The case was recently re-opened after ex-members spoke out. They say the pastor’s son has threatened them on social media.

The head pastor’s son, Star Scott Jr. recently posted this message on Facebook: “I have dirt on everyone! Both sides, protesters included.” He later deleted it.

John Muiccio left the church after 27 years of what he calls brainwashing that cost him his marriage.

“Six years ago, I wanted to leave and she said I will go if they let me go with you,” said Muiccio. Apparently, they didn’t. “They convinced her that I was going to hell.”

Muiccio says he was part of the abusive and controlling environment.

The pastor’s son leaked a 2008 email to members, accusing his father of molesting children, which is part of the criminal investigation.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Philadelphia Tribne

Larry Miller Tribune Staff Writer

Experts have said child abuse is a crime — its very nature something no one wants to talk about.

It affects every ethnicity and economic class, and is something that happens every day in Pennsylvania and across the country.

April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month and Attorney General Kathleen G. Kane encourages all Pennsylvanians to do their part this month and throughout the year to make the commonwealth a safe and nurturing place for children. National Child Abuse Prevention Month is a nationwide campaign designed to acknowledge the importance of families and communities working together to prevent abuse and neglect, and to promote the social and emotional well-being of children.

Kane said by providing parents, educators and community leaders with the skills and resources they need to properly raise and care for children, child abuse can be substantially decreased.

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CANADA
Toronto Star

By: Jacques Gallant Staff Reporter, Published on Fri Apr 10 2015

A GTA Catholic school board did not disclose to parents recent allegations that a board priest had sexually assaulted a child a decade ago in the United States, while the Archdiocese of Toronto made the allegations public only this week — nearly three months after they surfaced.

Although the Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board and the archdiocese were kept informed throughout the investigation into Rev. James Roth by his U.S.-based religious order, they repeatedly chose not to publicly reveal the allegations until Thursday, when the Star began making inquiries. That was almost two months after the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales deemed the allegations credible.

The archdiocese now has a statement on its website. The school board, which briefed staff earlier this week, said it will “make an exception” and post a statement as well, likely on Friday, said spokesman Bruce Campbell.

“It’s not our practice to communicate, on a broad basis, on issues where a staff member may be charged criminally or there are allegations against them,” said Campbell, when asked why the board didn’t speak up sooner.

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Mail

Pictured: The young man police want to speak to over the torching of a Catholic church where an evil paedophile priest dubbed the ‘two-a-day man’ once reigned

By SARAH DEAN and SARAH MICHAEL FOR DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA

Police have released an image of a bearded young man in relation to a suspected arson attack on a Melbourne church which was once presided over by a paedophile priest.

Detectives have issued a photo of a brown haired, Caucasian male wearing a black top who they want to speak to after a fire was started at St Mary’s Catholic Church in Dandenong, at 2.15am on April 1.

Victoria Police said: ‘Detectives have released a FACE image of a man that may be able to assist with their enquiries.’

Dandenong Crime Investigation Unit detectives are yet to determine the exact cause of the fire which is being treated as suspicious.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Daily Mail

Sex crimes may run in a family’s male genes: Brothers of men convicted of offences five times more likely to commit similar crimes

By Jenny Hope Medical Correspondent For The Daily Mail

The brothers of men convicted of sex offences are five times more likely than average to commit similar crimes, according to researchers.

They also found the sons of fathers with a criminal record for sex offending were nearly four times more likely to be convicted of such crimes.

The biggest study of its kind suggests sex offending could run in the family along the male genetic line.

The findings show that 40 to 50 per cent of the differences in risk between close relatives of offenders and men from the general population were genetically driven.

But the researchers stressed that this did not mean a man with a brother or father convicted of rape would inevitably follow in their footsteps.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Patsy McGarry

A major international conference of Catholic Church reform movements will take place in Limerick next week.

The International Network of Church Reform Movements conference is being hosted by Redemptorist priest Fr Tony Flannery. Since 2012 Fr Flannery has been forbidden by the Vatican to exercise his ministry as a priest following articles he wrote for the Redemptorists’ Reality magazine.

The conference will be the first time such a large gathering of leaders of Catholic Church reform movements has taken place and will be the first such event hosted in Ireland.

The four-day conference will be facilitated by Austrian and Canadian leaders, with participants from 12 countries, including the US, Canada, Australia, India and various countries in Europe.

Among those attending will be Fr Donald Cozzens, Sr Jeannine Gramick, Deborah Rose-Milavec from the US, Fr Helmut Schüller from Austria, former priest Paul Collins and his wife Marilyn Hatton of the Australian Catholic Coalition of Church Renewal, Dr Astrid Lobo Gajiwala from India, Christian Weisner and Martha Heizer of We Are Church International.

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MINNESOTA
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis

Date: Thursday, April 2, 2015

Source: Anne Steffens, Interim Director of Communications

From Archbishop John Nienstedt, Archbishop of Saint Paul and Minneapolis

This weekend, Rev. William Stolzman returned to public ministry as a retired priest who celebrates Masses on a fill-in basis.

In 2008, the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis received an allegation that Rev. William Stolzman sexually abused a minor in the 1970s while serving in the Diocese of Rapid City, S.D. At the time, law enforcement investigated and did not refer the case for criminal charges. After an investigation by the Archdiocese, the Clergy Review Board reviewed the case and recommended that Rev. Stolzman remain in ministry.

In January 2015, the Archdiocese reopened its investigation of the alleged 1970s abuse and Rev. Stolzman was placed on a leave of absence. He has not exercised priestly ministry during the investigation. The recent investigation did not uncover any additional information that was not known to the Clergy Review Board in 2008 that would support the allegation of abuse. Therefore, I have decided to reinstate his faculties and permit Rev. Stolzman to resume public ministry.

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MINNESOTA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Thursday, April 9

Statement by Frank Meuers of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 952-334-5180, frankameuers@gmail.com )

We’re disappointed that Catholic officials are already seeking to delay the bankruptcy process.

[Star Tribune]

St. Paul church officials have known for a long time they were going to seek Chapter 11 protection. They have a legion of lawyers. They consulted with bankruptcy lawyers in early or mid 2013.

So it’s distressing to see that already Catholic officials are trying to slow events down. Many survivors struggle daily with depression, addictions, sleeplessness, agoraphobic, eating disorders, and suicidal thoughts. They need justice, help and closure sooner, not later.

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CHICAGO (IL)
WGN

APRIL 9, 2015, BY CHARLES HAYES AND JULIAN CREWS

Two new lawsuits are filed on Thursday against disgraced, former priest Daniel McCormack and the Chicago Archdiocese.

Two people claim he sexually assaulted them at St. Agatha’s on the West Side. The lawsuit claims the Archdiocese ignored obvious warning signs.

The lawsuit claims McCormack targeted vulnerable kids through basketball and after-school programs.

One of the alleged victims says he was abused between 2001 and 2006 starting at the age of seven.

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

Article by: JEAN HOPFENSPERGER , Star Tribune Updated: April 9, 2015

Church wants more time to determine number of claims by abuse victims and response from insurance carriers.

The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis was granted more time to construct a financial reorganization plan Thursday, when a U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge extended its deadline for filing the plan to Nov. 30.

Archdiocese attorneys argued that it needed more time to both work with insurance carriers and to determine a more precise total number of abuse claims. To file without that information would be counterproductive, they said.

“This gives us time to continue to pursue discussions with all parties,” said Richard Anderson, an attorney representing the archdiocese. “It insures that we won’t have to file something before it is fully vetted.”

However, Judge Robert Kressel denied a motion that would allow the archdiocese to pay its attorneys on a more frequent basis. The archdiocese argued that paying them every 120 days, as permitted by U.S. Bankruptcy code, “imposes an undue burden.” Kressel denied a motion to authorize 60-day payment periods.

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ILLINOIS
Illinois Times

Thursday, March 12, 2015 1

By Cap City

Bishop Thomas Paprocki this week summoned reporters to refute a recent suggestion made by Survivors Network Of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) that pedophile priests from Chicago might have been assigned to the Springfield diocese in the 1990s. SNAP’s evidence? Six pedophile priests, back in 1993, had a phone number that rings to a Litchfield address, SNAP had said at a March 5 press conference. During his press conference, Paprocki told reporters that the Litchfield address in question is a house where a priest from Chicago once lived. Somehow, a church directory from the 1990s had erroneously contained the same Litchfield phone number for 265 priests, including the pedophiles. “The repetition of this same phone number for 265 priests was clearly a mistake,” Paprocki said. Anyone who should suspect that a priest has sexually abused a child should call either the diocese or the state Department of Children and Family Services, Paprocki said. After the bishop spoke, David Clohessy, SNAP director, said that he did not know whether he would again call a press conference with old phone numbers as his chief evidence. “That’s a good question,” Clohessy said. “I’m just hearing this explanation today, that it was a typographical error. I have no reason to doubt that.” But Clohessy stood firm on one point: If someone suspects a priest of sexually abusing kids, they should call the cops, not the church.

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CHICAGO (IL)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, April 8

Statement by Kate Bochte of Chicago, SNAP leader ( 630 768 1860, keight@sbcglobal.net )

Archbishop Blasé Cupich showed today that he deals with clergy sex crimes and cover ups no better than his predecessor did.

Two more civil abuses and cover up lawsuits are being filed tomorrow against the archdiocese for the dreadfully deceitful and reckless way top Catholic officials kept Fr. Daniel McCormack on the job around unsuspecting families despite repeated warnings and “red flags” of inappropriate behavior.

Instead of a truly pastoral response, Cupich’s public relations team repeated the old “distancing” maneuvers that Catholic bishops have used for decades when discussing predator priests.

“Daniel McCormack is no longer a priest,” archdiocese spokeswoman Susan Burritt said in a statement. “He was removed from public ministry in February of 2006 and laicized (removed from the priesthood) in November 2007.”

That’s common knowledge. That tells no one anything that’s helpful.

Wouldn’t it have been reassuring had Cupich shown real courage and compassion and told his public relations team to say something like:

“I won’t be satisfied until every single McCormack victim has been found and helped and until every single McCormack enabler on the church payroll has been exposed and punished.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Tablet

09 April 2015 by Joanna Moorhead

The Diocese of East Anglia is to commission an independent review into the circumstances surrounding the deployment of a priest who has been jailed for three years for abusing a boy at a children’s home.

Fr Anthony McSweeney’s crimes occurred between 1979 and 1981 although he was not arrested until two years ago when he was parish priest of St George’s Church in Norwich. The 68-year-old cleric, who will now be laicised, is a one-time chaplain at Norwich City FC.

During his trial Southwark Crown Court was told that he watched as care home manager John Stingemore carried out acts of abuse against a 15-year-old boy.

Stingemore, who died before he could be tried, was eventually dismissed after the authorities learned he had taken indecent photographs of children in his care, and at this point McSweeney – by now an ordained priest working in the Diocese of Brentwood – dropped all contact with him.

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OSTERREICH
Der Standard

[Church abuse victim: “Hell can not be worse”]

KATHARINA MITTELSTAEDT
9. April 2015

Folterähnliche Bestrafungen, unbezahlte Arbeit, Vergewaltigung: Eine 62-Jährige berichtet von ihrer Kindheit in einem Tiroler Heim

Innsbruck – Sonja Graf will nicht mehr schweigen. Das hat sie lange genug. Nun soll die Welt von ihrer Geschichte erfahren, sagt sie. Von dem Ekel und Schrecken, der Gewalt, dem Missbrauch, der Ausbeutung: von den 14 Jahren ihres Lebens im Tiroler Landeskinderheim Martinsbühel – und wie Staat und Kirche danach mit ihr umgingen. “Sie hatten keine Skrupel, jetzt habe ich keine mehr”, sagt Graf, zupft eine Zigarette aus der vollen Schachtel vor ihr und beginnt zu erzählen.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian

Alan Travis Home affairs editor
Wednesday 8 April 2015

There has been a 60% increase in child sexual abuse reported to the police over the past four years, according to official figures which make public for the first time the scale of the problem in England and Wales.

A House of Commons library analysis based on freedom of information releases by individual forces shows that the number of offences of child sexual abuse reported to the police has soared from 5,557 cases in 2011 to 8,892 last year.

Child sexual abuse includes grooming, facilitating abuse and child rape.

At the same time the number of arrests for child sexual abuse offences in England and Wales has fallen from 3,511 in 2011 to 3,208 – a drop of 9%.

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ROMA
El Periodico

[‘Impunity’ pedophiles]

IRENE SAVIO / ROMA
SÁBADO, 4 DE ABRIL DEL 2015

Cuando hace una semana el tribunal de Wolomin (Polonia) condenó por pederastia a siete años de prisión al exsacerdote Wojciech Gil -conocido del más famoso Józef Wesołowski, el exnuncio que se encuentra recluido en el Vaticano por ese mismo delito-, a la periodista Agnieszka Zakrzewicz se le removieron las entrañas. «Increíble. Con tal de no celebrar el juicio y debatir el caso, el tribunal aceptó la condena propuesta por el abogado defensor de Gil en la primera vista del proceso. Una vez más, se prefiere la opción menos escandalosa a la verdad», argumenta Zakrzewicz. «Además, le han impuesto siete años, es decir, la mitad de la pena máxima a la que se enfrentaba», añade la periodista, que lleva una década investigando y denunciando los abusos del clero polaco.

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NEDERLAND
Pauw

De medewerker van het Leger des Heils die 850.000 euro heeft verduisterd, is teleurgesteld in minister Dijsselbloem van Financiën. Volgens de man, die anoniem wil blijven, zou Dijsselbloem hebben toegezegd dat hij de oplichting publiekelijk zou verdedigen. Dijsselbloem stelt echter dat de man ervan op de hoogte was dat het kabinet niet achter de diefstal staat: En dan nog dit: Dries Roelvink wil nog niet weten wat het geslacht is van zijn zoon Dave. De zanger heeft liever dat het een verrassing blijft. “We zien het wel”, aldus Dries.

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NEDERLAND
Gelderlander

EDE – Een 36-jarige man uit Ede wordt ervan verdacht het Leger des Heils voor 850.000 euro te hebben opgelicht. De fraude is eind 2014 ontdekt, de medewerker is op staande voet ontslagen.
Dat heeft het Leger des Heils vrijdag gemeld.

Verduistering

De man was in dienst bij de afdeling jeugdbescherming en reclassering van het Leger des Heils in Utrecht. Hij verduisterde in zijn functie als administratief medewerker in 6 jaar tijd in kleine porties het geld door nepfacturen van zorgaanbieders te maken. De fraude werd ontdekt toen hij met ziekteverlof was.

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NETHERLANDS
NL Times

by Marvin Hokstam

The Salvation Army has said it is going after an employee to retrieve more than €850,000 this person embezzled from this charitable organization.

The organization reported in a press release today that the embezzlement was discovered, when a colleague took over the clerk’s tasks. The employee whose name was not provided was immediately dismissed, Salvation Army says.

An external bureau was asked to look into the case and the investigation was concluded this week.

It showed that the clerk had falsified invoices to look like they had been submitted by care providers. “By combining the fake invoices with false signatures the clerk was able to sluice money to private accounts. He embezzled some 850 thousand euros over a period of six years,” said Cornel Vader, the director of Salvation Army Welfare and Healthcare.

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MEXICO
etcetera

[The San Luis Potosi archdiocese suspended priest Noe Francisco Estrada Hernández, vicar of the parish community of Rio Verde, for allegedly being involved in a case of sexual abuse.]

La arquidócesis de San Luis Potosí suspendió al sacerdote Noé Francisco Estrada Hernández, vicario de la parroquia de la comunidad de Rioverde, por presuntamente estar implicado en un caso de abuso sexual.

El sacerdote fue notificado de su suspensión canónica Ad cautelum la noche del domingo, por un emisario del arzobispo Jesús Carlos Cabrero Romero. Sin embargo, él asegura que se trata de una “cacería de brujas” y advirtió que impondrá una denuncia penal contra la arquidiócesis por daño moral.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Main Line Media News

By Gary Puleo
gpuleo@timesherald.com
@MustangMan48 on Twitter

BRIDGEPORT >> The Rev. Ronald Popivchak recently took Pope Francis up on his invitation last fall for clergy and laymen to submit their ideas on ways the Catholic Church can upgrade its profile.

And so the pastor of Ss. Peter and Paul Ukrainian Catholic Church in Bridgeport appointed himself administrator, overseer, leader – a metaphorical bishop for a day, as it were.

In his newly published book, “Bishop for a Day: Ideas to Heal and Renew the Catholic Church,” Popivchak — a gregarious man who is a self-avowed fishing buff and prefers being called Father Ron — covers a lot of ground in a quick and easy read of 91 pages filled with opinions and solutions surrounding such issues as parish closures, abortion, clergy sex abuse scandals, contraception, women in the church and youth.

“About a year and a half ago I decided to sit down and gather up all the facts I could and my ideas to try to help the church and the bishops and present them,” Popivchak noted. “I saw five or six priests in our town and neighboring towns charged with sex abuse and the church couldn’t get a handle on it. It bothered me, and also seeing the diocese going bankrupt. None of this is healthy for the church.”

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CANADA
Yahoo! News

The Canadian Press

MONTREAL – Cardinal Jean-Claude Turcotte, who oversaw the funerals of NHL great Maurice (Rocket) Richard and former prime minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau during his 22 years as archbishop of Montreal, died early Wednesday after a lengthy illness. He was 78.

The Montreal native was hospitalized in the summer of 2014 and was admitted to a palliative care unit last March 24.

A statement from the archdiocese of Montreal said Turcotte died at Marie-Clarac Hospital in the city.

In July 2014, Turcotte spoke out about pedophile scandals in the church and the estimate by Pope Francis that only two per cent of priests were pedophiles.

“We’re talking about two per cent … it’s not a lot, but even if one priest is a pedophile, that’s one too many,” Turcotte told The Canadian Press.

He also said victims of sexual assaults that occurred within the walls of Catholic establishments should be compensated.

“If there are people who behaved badly, they (must) pay for their behaviour,” Turcotte declared. “It’s normal that we pay for the wrongs that were committed.”

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AUSTRALIA
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

Royal Commission releases report on effectiveness of current child sexual abuse prevention programs for pre-schoolers

9 April, 2015

The Royal Commission has released a report that reviews evidence of the effectiveness of child sexual abuse prevention programs for pre-schoolers.

Royal Commission CEO Philip Reed said “The report found that current child sexual abuse prevention programs for pre-schoolers appear to be effective at increasing children’s ability to recognise inappropriate touching and that in general, this knowledge is maintained over time.

“The report also found current programs increase pre-schoolers behavioural skills around what to do and say and who to tell if they experienced inappropriate touching.

“Current prevention programs for pre-schoolers are well received by parents and pre-school teachers, and do not appear to increase fear or anxiety in children, one of the common criticisms of these programs.

“The report concludes that more rigorous studies using large, culturally diverse samples of pre-schoolers are required before strong conclusions can be made about the effectiveness of these programs,” he said.

Mr Reed said the views expressed in this report do not necessarily reflect the final views of the Royal Commission.

“This report offers valuable insight into what steps the Royal Commission should take to ensure its recommendations bring about lasting change in institutions and create a safer future for children.”

Read the report.

About the report

Key findings include:

* Child sexual abuse prevention programs for preschoolers appear to be effective at increasing young children’s ability to detect inappropriate touch requests, and increase their behavioural skills around what to do and say, who to tell and what to report if confronted by an inappropriate touch request. Inappropriate touch requests are verbal and nonverbal signals from adults to touch or look at the child’s private parts, or for the child to touch or look at the adult’s.

* Prevention programs for preschoolers are well received by parents and preschool teachers, and appear not to have adverse effects (e.g. increases in fear and anxiety) for preschoolers.

* There is very limited evidence available to suggest that child sexual abuse prevention programs for preschoolers have an effect on rates of disclosure of child sexual abuse.

* More methodologically rigorous studies using large, culturally diverse samples of preschoolers are required before strong conclusions can be made about the overall efficacy of child sexual abuse prevention programs for preschoolers.

* More research is needed to determine the size of the effect of prevention programs; the extent to which training during preschool years acts as a critical foundation for later learning; whether some groups benefit more than others; and optimal instructional techniques to maximize learning and behavioural outcomes from young children.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

Joshua Robertson
Wednesday 8 April 2015

Victims of institutional childhood sexual abuse may have to rethink expectations about money payments and the level of scrutiny applied to claims for redress, according to a criminologist who has studied the issue in depth.

Griffith University professor Kathleen Daly said she was concerned with a “misfit” between what survivors wish to receive and what will be required in an assessment process in the wake of the royal commission.

The commission has said it had “no fixed view on what payments should be” but released a consultation paper with a report in January by Finity consulting which modelled different average payments of $50,000 to $80,000.

A scheme that offered an estimated 65,000 claimants an average of $65,000 would cost $3.8bn in payments alone before other costs including counselling, the report found.

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SCOTLAND
Christian Today

Ruth Gledhill 09 April 2015

The Catholic Church is facing massive structural reorganisation in Scotland in the face of unprecedented decline in numbers of priests and parishes, according to a pastoral letter to clergy and laity. Numbers of parishes in one diocese could be cut by nearly two-thirds.

The Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh, the Most Rev Leo Cushley, warns that the archdiocese is becoming financially unsustainable and is at a turning point. He says “unpleasant” change is ahead.

Two years after he was nominated to the post, succeeding the disgraced Cardinal Keith O’Brien who resigned in the wake of allegations of sexual misconduct, Archbishop Cushley says he has been “taking stock” and the archdiocese now has to face up to the next steps.

Among the causes of decline in the fortunes of God’s people, Archbishop Cushley blames “bad shepherds”. But he says the “gates of hell” will not prevail and cautions against pessimism.

By 2020 the archdiocese will have just 33 diocesan priests to celebrate Mass, he says. Yet there are at present 111 parishes.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Slugger O’Toole

[with video]

Last night’s powerful Channel 4 news report has led to fresh calls for Kincora to be included in the Westminster paedophile inquiry.

Richard Kerr, a victim of abuse at Kincora told Channel 4 News that he was taken from the east Belfast home to London where he was molested by members of a VIP paedophile ring. Mr. Kerr alleges that he was abused by “very powerful people” at Elm Guest House and Dolphin Square – locations at the centre of the ongoing inquiry which has been mired in controversy.

Last month Home Secretary Theresa May ruled out extending the scope of a child sexual abuse inquiry to cover Northern Ireland and Scotland saying that child protection is “a devolved matter” despite Home recommendations by a Home Affairs Committee report:

In the 13 minute report Richard Kerr meets former army intelligence officer Brian Gemmell who claims he put in an official report about Kincora to a senior MI5 officer but was ordered to “stop digging and forget about it”.

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NEW JERSEY
NJ.com

By Sue Epstein | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on April 08, 2015

NEW BRUNSWICK — A youth minister at a church in Franklin Township has been charged with sexually assaulting two teenaged girls in separate incidents, Middlesex County Prosecutor Andrew Carey announced Wednesday.

Shawn Butler, 48, of Hillsborough, was arrested at a relative’s home in Millsboro, Delaware by members of the Delaware State Police Troop 7 on April 3, according to a statement released by Carey, South Brunswick Police Chief Raymond Hayducka and North Brunswick Police Director Kenneth McCormick.

Carey said Butler, a youth minister at the Eternal Life Christian Center, was charged with one count of sexual assault and two counts each of criminal sexual contact and endangering the welfare of a child.

The prosecutor said police began the investigation after a 15-year-old girl contacted South Brunswick police in July.

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NEW JERSEY
CentralJersey.com

NEW BRUNSWICK – A Hillsborough man, who works as a youth minister at a Franklin Township church, is facing charges related to allegedly sexually assaulting and sexually touching two teenage girls in separate incidents in Middlesex and Somerset counties.

Shawn Butler, 48, was arrested April 3 at a relative’s home in Millsboro, Delaware by members of the Delaware State Police Troop 7, according to Middlesex County Prosecutor Andrew C. Carey.

He has been charged with one count of sexual assault and two counts of criminal sexual contact and endangering the welfare of a child.

Butler was released from custody in Delaware after posting $50,000 bail. He is scheduled to surrender to New Jersey authorities on May 1. Bail in New Jersey has been set at $300,000.

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NEW JERSEY
CBS New York

FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP, N.J. (CBSNewYork) — A Franklin Township, New Jersey youth minister has been charged with sexually assaulting and molesting two teenage girls, prosecutors announced Wednesday.

Shawn Butler, 48, of Hillsborough, New Jersey, was arrested at a relative’s home in Millsboro, Delaware on Friday of last week, according to the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s office.

Butler was charged with one count of sexual assault, and two counts each of criminal sexual contact and endangering the welfare of a child.

Prosecutors and South Brunswick police alleged that Butler sexually assaulted a 16-year-old girl in North Brunswick between July 2012 and August 2013.

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NEW JERSEY
NBC New York

A New Jersey youth minister has been arrested on charges he sexually assaulted two teenage girls, prosecutors say.

Shawn Butler, 48, of Hillsborough, is accused of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl in North Brunswick multiple times between July 2012 and August 2013, and of improperly touching a 15-year-old girl in South Brunswick and in Hillsborough numerous times between March 2014 and June 2014, prosecutors say.

Police began investigating Butler after the 15-year-old girl contacted South Brunswick police last July.

Butler was working as a youth minister at the Eternal Life Christian Center in the Somerset section of Franklin Township and served on the church’s executive board at the time of the alleged assaults, prosecutors said. It’s not clear if he knew his victims through the church.

Butler was arrested by Delaware State Police at a relative’s home in Millsboro, Del., prosecutors said. He was released on $50,000 bail there and is expected to surrender to authorities in New Jersey on May 1.

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GEORGIA
Fox 5

By Jennifer Banks, FOX 5 News

NEWNAN, Ga. –
A former Newnan Sunday school teacher was arraigned on federal charges of distributing, receiving, and possessing child pornography.

Emmett Winston Smith, 66, was indicted by a federal grand jury on March 24, 2015.

According to U.S. Attorney Horn, Smith allegedly traded images and videos of child pornography with others, and went into Internet chat rooms looking to make contact with others who shared his same interests.

“This case, which began with a lead from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, illustrates our strong partnership with international law enforcement to combat child pornography and to identify and prosecute those who trade images of the sexual abuse of children,” said U.S. Attorney John Horn.

Homeland Security Investigations searched Smith’s house in Newnan on March 5, 2015, where they found child pornography on three computers at the house.

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GEORGIA
Times Free Press

A former custodian and Sunday school teacher at a church in North Georgia has been arraigned on child porn charges.

Emmett Winston Smith, 66, worked at church in Newnan, Ga. He has been arraigned on federal charges of distributing, receiving, and possessing child pornography.

“Smith allegedly traded images and videos of child pornography with others, and went into Internet chat rooms looking to make contact with others who shared his same interests,” said Acting U.S. Attorney John Horn. “This case, which began with a lead from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, illustrates our strong partnership with international law enforcement to combat child pornography and to identify and prosecute those who trade images of the sexual abuse of children.”

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GEORGIA
Atlanta Journal-Constitution

A now former custodian and Sunday school teacher at a Coweta County church was arraigned Wednesday on child pornography charges stemming from an investigation that began in Canada.

Emmett Winston Smith, 66, was arraigned in U.S. District Court in Atlanta on charges of distributing, receiving and possessing child pornography. According to a news release issued by the office of acting U.S. Attorney John Horn, Smith was indicted late last month after an investigation that started with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

“In 2014, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police investigated a person on allegations that he traded in child pornography,” the news release said. “That investigation revealed that the Canadian subject had traded more than 200 e-mails containing child pornography with a person using an e-mail address that eventually led back to a house in Newnan, Georgia.”

That information was passed on to the Department of Homeland Security, which ultimately identified Smith as the suspect. While executing a search warrant on March 5, federal authorities allegedly found child pornography on three computers at Smith’s home.

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GEORGIA
Times-Herald

by W. WINSTON SKINNER

Emmett Winston Smith, 66, has been arraigned on federal charges of distributing, receiving and possessing child pornography.

Smith – who has been more commonly known in Coweta County as Everett Smith – was indicted by a federal grand jury on March 24. Smith, who was a former facilities assistant and Sunday school teacher at First Baptist Church in Newnan, was arrested March 5. “Smith allegedly traded images and videos of child pornography with others, and went into Internet chat rooms looking to make contact with others who shared his same interests,” said Acting U.S. Attorney John Horn. “This case, which began with a lead from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, illustrates our strong partnership with international law enforcement to combat child pornography and to identify and prosecute those who trade images of the sexual abuse of children.”

In 2014, the RCMP investigated a person on allegations that he traded in child pornography, according to Horn. That investigation revealed the Canadian subject had traded more than 200 e-mails containing child pornography with a person using an e-mail address that eventually led back to a house in Newnan.

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INDIA
Scroll

The Syro Malabar Church in Kerala gave Rs 12 lakh to a former nun as settlement to ‘build a new life’. The nun had accused a priest of trying to sexually abuse her.

TK Devasia

A few months ago, Pope Francis appointed a British victim of sex abuse by Catholic priests to a special commission established to advise the Vatican on child protection policies. He warned that the Church would face “big trouble” if it failed to take concrete measures to bring to justice those priests who are accused of molestation and rape. Despite that, no lessons were learned.

The Syro Malabar Church, the most powerful of the three Catholic rites in Kerala, has been embroiled in a scandal, with a nun alleging that a priest tried to sexually abuse her. But instead of taking action against the accused priest, the Church has turned the nun out.

The 40-year-old nun, Anitha, had complained of unwanted sexual advances by the priest while she worked as a teacher at the Providence Convent High School at Pachore in Madhya Pradesh in 2011. The convent authorities denied the allegation and transferred her to Italy.

Forced out of convent

When she returned in February this year, Anitha was denied entry into her parent convent at Thottakkattukara near Aluva in Ernakulam district. Her luggage was thrown out and she was asked to leave the convent. Luckily, locals took her to Janaseva Sisubhavan, an orphanage at Aluva.

The St. Agata Congregation – to which Anitha belonged – asked her to give up the nun’s robes, but Anitha refused. She asked the authorities to state the reason for her expulsion or compensate her for the service she rendered to the Church.

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UNITED STATES
Catholic and Enjoying It

April 8, 2015 by Mark Shea

Bill Doino, Jr. writes:

Pope Francis has done many admirable things during his pontificate, not least taking numerous initiatives against the evil of sexual abuse in the Church. He has spoken about the victims’ pain, promised zero tolerance for such crimes, and supported transparency and full accountability for anyone involved. He has followed those strong words up with impressive actions, including punishing, defrocking and removing guilty clergymen.

For all those reasons, I cannot understand–and neither can many others–why Francis, who has been so strong on this issue, has made an incomprehensible decision for Chile–and the entire Church- appointing a bishop in Osorno who has a terrible track record on this issue, for all the reasons I lay out in my new First Things column. …

It’s my hope too. However, my track record in influencing papal decisions is not 100%. Hopefully, the vociferous reaction of the Chilean flock will get his attention though. I think this appointment is an expression of the shadow side of the Petrine office: Peter’s mercurial ability to go from “You are the Christ” to earning the rebuke “Get behind me, Satan”; to pass from promulgating the dogma of salvation by grace apart from works of the law to chickening out at Antioch and getting chewed out by Paul.

I sometimes wonder if there is a horse race in Francis’ makeup between a genuine sympathy for the poor and a Jesuit habit of expecting military obedience to the orders of a superior. My prayers are with this good man as he struggles to do the right thing.

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MINNESOTA
Canonical Consultation

04/08/2015

Jennifer Haselberger

Over the weekend I had a conversation about the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis that left me more than a little despondent. My conversational partner was someone whom I can generally trust to have a fairly good read of the state of things in the Roman Curia, which is why the information he had to impart troubled me more than most of what I hear. For, after speaking for a while about the different personas of Pope Francis- the much-loved public persona as opposed to the actual man himself- the person I was speaking with assured me that the ‘real Francis’ was extremely unlikely to take any action regarding the situation in Saint Paul. In other words, barring some unforeseen development, Archbishop Nienstedt was here to stay.

For months journalists have been telling me that the ‘unforeseen development’ has to be for Nienstedt’s accusers to make public their sworn affidavits (something I think we have all realized that the Archdiocese, despite its claims of transparency, is extremely unlikely to do). Proponents of this argument will point out that the difference between Saint Paul and both Scotland and Chile is that in the other scenarios the victims had gone public with their claims. That is, of course, true, but I am adamantly opposed to the idea that the cure for what ails us must rest on the shoulders of those whom have already suffered. Those men- whether there are ten or twenty of them- offered sworn statements at considerable risk to themselves. In response, at least some of them have been harassed by the Archdiocese and its never-ending pool of lawyers, who apparently have been tasked with discrediting them. We cannot ask anything more of those men.

But we can ask for quite a bit more from another group of people with a stake in the outcome of the investigation into the conduct of the Archbishop, as well as in the broader troubles plaguing the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis. This group is our clergy, and most specifically our Archdiocesan priests. To be fair, many of these men are not in a position to provide any assistance to the cause beyond minor acts of rebellion, and we should also recognize that there are many priests who fall into this category and who have demonstrated through means large and small their opposition to the current holder of the See and his methods of governance. At the same time, I have not heard of any letters signed by a majority of the presbyterate calling for the Archbishop’s resignation and removal (as was done in Chile), although back in 2003 more than 100 of them were willing to sign a letter calling for a discussion of mandatory celibacy, and in 2006 nearly thirty signed a letter to Archbishop Flynn promising to oppose any attempts to pass a constitutional amendment barring same-sex marriage.

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VATICAN CITY
Radio Cadena Agramonte (Cuba)

Rome, Apr 8.- Pope Francis condemned today child abuse, exploitation, and abandonment, treatments that he considered a shame on society.

During his usual general speech at Saint Peter’s Square before thousands of people, the Supreme Pontiff said that children are the first victims of family problems, conflicts, wars and persecution.

Unfortunately, there are children that are victims of criminals, who exploit and subject them to indignant trafficking and smuggling or train them for war and violence, he said.

He also denounced the existence of minors that have no access to education or health assistance, and children that are mistreated and robed of their childhood and youth.

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ITALY
Mirror (UK)

8 April 2015 By Chris Richards

The clergyman was dismissed this week after evidence came to light of his activities – which included sex with gay prostitutes and Christ-based role play

A Catholic priest has been fired – for organising gay orgies in which men were asked to re-enact the betrayal of Jesus by Judas Iscariot.

The clergyman, who served in a religious order in Taranto, Italy, was dismissed this week after evidence came to light of his activities – which included sex with gay prostitutes and Christ-based role play.

His seedy behaviour emerged when the man who played the part of Judas betrayed him to church authorities.

Newspaper Corriere del Mezzogiorno reported how a 32-year-old man, from Rovigo, blew the whistle.

He told the paper: “I needed spiritual help… He (the priest) told me my pictures made him excited and asked me to send him an intimate photo.

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CHICAGO (IL)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, April 8, 2015

Statement by Barbara Blaine of Chicago, president of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 312 399 4747, bblaine@snapnetwork.org )

We applaud Archbishop Blase Cupich for saying, at Parish Leadership Day at Marist High School, that “People are leaving (the church). A lot of people left because of the abuse crisis.”

(See YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJ2hwxSeF8Y&feature=youtu.be)

Catholic officials often minimize the impact of the abuse and cover-up crisis on church attendance. We are grateful any time a Catholic figure talks honestly about this on-going scandal.

It would be more accurate, of course, to say that parishioners leave because of the cover-up, rather than the abuse. Most parishioners understand that there are child predators in every occupation or institution. What outrages and frustrates them the most, surveys show, is that bishops often ignore, minimize, hide and enable these horrific crimes against children and help the predators while endangering the kids.

“Yes, they may have been hurt,” Cupich goes on to say about Catholics who leave. We hope he will also acknowledge that many times, people actually feel driven out of the church by deceitful, arrogant and callous clerics, including the church officials who have concealed and still conceal heinous crimes against children.

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

Catholics are revolting and reforming on their own in Chile, Ireland and many other places, while threatened power hungry Vatican bureaucrats fiddle like Nero as Rome burned. The Vatican’s two resident popes appear to be in an “infallibility” tug-of-war — Pope Francis with his “champion”, Cardinal Kasper, versus emeritus Pope Benedict XVI with his champion, Cardinal Müller. Now Müller is apparently publicly and patronizingly trashing Francis’ theological competence as compared to the purported superior ability of the ex-pope and himself, naturally.

So according to Müller’s recent statement, his office (presumably with hidden help from the ex-pope) must “theologically structure” Pope Francis’ theologically deficient pontificate like he disastrously tried to restructure American nuns presumably. Müller spoke on the occasion of the release of the first volume of the complete works of Joseph Ratzinger, the ex-pope. Müller is helping to edit these voluminous works, instead of spending more time cleaning up the priest sex abuse scandal that his office continues to mismanage. Ironically, this first volume appears to contain the remnants of the ex-pope’s dissertation on Augustine that had been rejected in longer form by the leading Munich theologian for whom it was prepared! So much for theological superiority!

The ex-pope appears to be in a race with his half century long nemesis, Hans Kung, who is also publishing his superior and better selling complete works at the same publishing house, Herder. Francis is apparently getting input from Hans Kung, reportedly in their informal communications as well as presumably via Kasper, who had earlier been Kung’s assistant.

Whatever Müller’s game is, his arrogance mostly serves to undercut the absurdity of the 1870 invention of an “infallible pope”, or ex-pope for that matter. This further underscores the reason why Francis must convene a truly infallible and broadly representative general council, which has been the Catholic Church’s final and exclusive authority on doctrinal matters for almost 2,000 years. Multiple and serially infallible popes since 1870 have failed and will always fail — subsequent popes can too easily reverse their predecessors as the last two popes often did.

Francis’ limitations extend far beyond theology, it appears. The strong ex-bouncer Latino Pope Francis seems to have underestimated brave Celtic priest abuse survivor, Marie Collins, and her colleague, Peter Saunders. A charter member of the pope’s almost illusory abuse commission, she at times complained to AP about the commission’s inexcusable long delays, she boldly, in effect, threaten to quit if bishops were not held at last accountable for protecting priest predators, and she recently challenged the pope publicly on his selection of the tainted Bishop Barros in Chile. Welcome to Ireland, Pope Francis!

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CHICAGO (IL)
YouTube

Published on Apr 7, 2015
Archbishop Cupich answers questions at Parish Leadership Day 2015 at Marist High School.

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ITALY
International Business Times

By Maria Khan
April 8, 2015

The Vatican is at the centre of two major allegations of Italian priests being involved in gay orgies and murder.

The first allegation was made against a north Italian priest, who was alleged to be browsing the Internet in search of gay lovers and accused of being involved in gay orgies.

According to the allegations, made by a 32-year-old man from Rovigo, an unidentified 50-year-old priest approached him through Facebook and after they developed a close friendship, the priest confessed his homosexuality.

The man allegedly filed an official complaint to the Ecclesiastical Court of the Puglia region against the priest and handed in recorded conversations.

He alleged the priest was sexually involved with other religious figures as well, including members of the Vatican’s elite Swiss Guard, and was actively using the internet to search for new partners to engage in sexual encounters.

Following the allegations and once the “reliability of the facts” was determined, the Archbishop of Taranto Filippo Santoro became involved in the case and the priest was removed from office, reported The Independent.

“Needless to say, the feelings of the archbishop and the Curia are those of the regret and dismay,” a Vatican spokesperson told the Italian newspaper Corriere del Mezzogiorno.

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CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Sun-Times

04/08/2015

Two more lawsuits will be filed Thursday against the Archdiocese of Chicago, alleging sexual abuse by convicted child molester and defrocked priest Daniel McCormack.

The lawsuits, filed on behalf of “John T. Doe 24” and “John M. Doe,” will be filed in Cook County Circuit Court on Thursday by the law offices of Lyndsay A. Markley, according to a statement from the law firm.

One of the men alleges he was abused on and off between 2001 and 2006, beginning when he was 7 years old, according to the attorneys. The other alleges he was sexually abused on two occasions in 2001, when he was 14. Both were part of an after-school program—”Safe”—at St. Agatha Parish on the West Side.

“Daniel McCormack is no longer a priest,” archdiocese spokeswoman Susan Burritt said in a statement. “He was removed from public ministry in February of 2006 and laicized (removed from the priesthood) in November 2007.”

“No priest with even one substantiated allegation of sexual abuse of a minor serves in ministry in the Archdiocese of Chicago today,” Burritt added.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, April 8

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 government panel ostensibly set up to help child sex abuse survivors is, sadly, already hurting them by excluding them.

[Telegraph]

This isn’t just an insult to those already wounded by child sex crimes and inadequate official response to those crimes. It’s also self-destructive because it deprives the Home Office’s inquiry of both sorely-needed credibility and vital experience.

This must seem like a third betrayal to men and women who have already been harmed twice, first by a shrewd predator and second by callous institutions.

We hope Theresa May rectifies this hurtful injustice quickly. Most survivors are resilient and smart, not helpless and ignorant. We deserve to be treated with respect and decency. And we deserve to be listened to.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, April 8

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 Congo priest is a suspect in a murder in Italy.

[Independent]

We urge Congo bishops to

–share what they know about Fr. Gratien Alabi with law enforcement officials, and

–use their “bully pulpits” to tell parishioners to do likewise.

We call on Catholic officials in Congo and Italy to take aggressive steps to help secular officials solve this alleged crime and other crimes by church personnel or in church facilities. We urge priests and bishops to show real compassion and courage – by using pulpit announcements, church bulletins, parish websites and other resources – to prod victims, witnesses and whistleblowers to step forward and call police and prosecutors when crimes are committed or suspected in churches.

For the safety of others, we urge everyone – Catholics and non-Catholics – to share what they may know about Fr. Gratien Alabi.

If innocent children and vulnerable adults are to be safer, inside and outside of churches, parishioners should be aggressively prodded to overcome their fears, break their silence and call law enforcement with even the slightest bit of information they may have about crimes and possible crimes.

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ITALY
Pink News

A Catholic priest has been fired in Italy – after throwing steamy gay orgies in which he’d ask men to re-enact the betrayal of Jesus by Judas.

The priest, who served in a religious order in Taranto, Italy, was let go this week after the Church obtained evidence of his activites – including sex with gay prostitutes and Christ-based role play.

The clergyman’s activities came to light when one of his lovers – who played Judas during their roleplay sessions – ironically betrayed him in real life to the church authorities.

According to the newspaper Corriere del Mezzogiorno, a 32-year-old man, from Rovigo in northeast Italy blew the whistle on his online conversations and cam sessions with the priest.

He said: “I needed spiritual help… He told me my pictures made him excited and asked me to send him an intimate photo.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Telegraph

By David Barrett, Home Affairs Correspondent 08 Apr 2015

The Government’s child sex abuse inquiry is facing further turmoil after survivors and campaigners condemned the new set-up as “discriminatory”.

In a letter delivered to the Home Office more than 500 signatories voiced their strong objections to a decision by Theresa May, the Home Secretary, to exclude survivors from the inquiry panel.

Mrs May went back to the drawing board last month after a series of false starts and set up a new four-strong panel to hear the inquiry alongside Justice Lowell Goddard, a senior New Zealand judge.

Unlike the first panel, it did not include any adult victims of sexual abuse and a separate victims and survivors consultative panel is due to be created to advise the main inquiry.

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ITALIA
Romagna Noi

[Father Gratien Alabi had nude photos of nuns on his PC.]

21/Novembre/2014

CA’ RAFFAELLO – Gratien Alabi, il frate congolese indagato per la scomparsa di Guerrina Piscaglia a Ca’ Raffello – enclave della Provincia di Arezzo in Romagna – teneva all’interno del suo Pc delle fotografie di suore nude dalla cintola in giù. Non si tratterebbe di immagini scaricate da siti web osè, ma di suore che conosceva personalmente e con cui, a suo dire, aveva rapporti di amicizia. Le fotografie al momento non costituiscono materiale per l’inchiesta.

Le fotografie sono state rilevate dai carabinieri del Ris, durante l’ispezione del suo computer relative alle indagini sulla scomparsa di Guerrina Piscaglia. Di lei non si sa più nulla dal primo maggio scorso. Dopo quattro mesi senza un ufficiale piano di ricerche, l’autorità giudiziaria ha aperto un fascicolo con gravi ipotesi di reato nei confronti del religioso e incaricato le forze dell’ordine di fare le indagini a tutto campo.

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ITALY
Daily Star (UK)

By Cyrus Engineer / Published 21st November 2014

Father Gratien Alabi, 39, was being investigated over the disappearance of a local woman when cops found the X-rated images.

A police spokesman said: “He had somehow managed to persuade them to provide him with naked pictures. We are looking at his email traffic to find out what tricks he used.”

Alabi’s computer was full of the snaps and was seized following his arrest in connection with the disappearance of Guerrina Piscaglia, 36, from her home in the area of Ca Raffaello near the central town of Arezzo last May.

The woman’s husband Mirko Alessandrini, 40, has organised a massive search for his missing wife, and police reportedly moved to arrest and question the priest after a threatening text message was found on the missing woman’s mobile phone.

Sent from the a device belonging to Father Gratien Alabi, it warned her that talking poorly about a priest is something that she should avoid doing in the future.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Berger’s Beat

April 8, 2015 8:58 am | Author: berger

A St. Louis priest who was ordained by then-Archbiship Raymond Burke is making waves in the Bay Area and headlines across the U.S. At Fr. Patrick Driscoll’s parish, girls can no longer be altar servers, non-Catholic kids can’t read Scripture at school masses, and the pastor said anyone who voted for Obama must go to confession before taking communion. According to the National Catholic Reporter, Driscoll gave “to even young students” a pamphlet called “Examination of Conscience and Catholic Doctrine,” an extensive listing of “potential sins, including adultery, masturbation, fornication, entertaining impure thoughts, and abortion – without notifying teachers or the principal.” He later apologized.

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VATICAN
La Croix

Le préfet de la Congrégation pour la doctrine de la foi dit impossible une éventuelle reconnaissance par l’Église d’une seconde union après un divorce.

Comment concevez-vous votre rôle auprès du pape François ? Est-ce différent d’avec Benoît XVI, qui était théologien et vous avait précédé à la Congrégation pour la doctrine de la foi ?

Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller : L’arrivée sur le Siège de Pierre d’un théologien comme Benoît XVI est sans doute une exception. Mais Jean XXIII n’était pas un théologien de métier. Le pape François est aussi plus pastoral, et la Congrégation pour la doctrine de la foi a une mission de structuration théologique d’un pontificat.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

The German cardinal has suggested a new area of responsibility for his dicastery: to provide the “theological structure of a pontificate”

ANDREA TORNIELLI
VATICAN CITY

In one of the numerous interviews he has given over the past few weeks focusing on the next Synod, Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, spoke about a new task for his dicastery. It is a task that is never been mentioned in the documents outlining the precise competencies of the former Holy Office.

In an interview with French Catholic newspaper La Croix, the German cardinal stated: “The arrival of a theologian like Benedict XVI in the Chair of St. Peter was no doubt an exception. But John XXIII was not a professional theologian. Pope Francis is also more pastoral and our mission at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith is to provide the theological structure of a pontificate.” So according to Müller’s statement, the former Holy Office must “theologically structure” Pope Francis’ pontificate. And this is probably the reason why the Prefect gives public statements on such a frequent basis, like never before.

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ITALY
Daily Mail

Priest who ‘indulged in sexual role play where he made men pretend to be Judas Iscariot atoning for betraying Jesus during gay orgies’ is fired in Italy

By HANNAH ROBERTS IN ROME FOR MAILONLINE

An Italian priest has been sacked amid claims that he took part in gay orgies with a Swiss Guard.

The prelate was sacked from a religious order in Taranto after one of his online lovers contacted the church authorities with a dossier containing alleged evidence of sex with prostitutes, role play and explicit gay web chats.

The priest allegedly favoured sexual role-play scenarios in which his lover played the disciple Judas Escariot, and had to atone for his betrayal of Jesus by becoming his slave.

The diocese confirmed that the priest had been dismissed but claimed there were no other prelates involved.

A 32-year-old man, from Rovigo in northeast Italy, claimed he was contacted by the unnamed priest around six months ago on Facebook.

The man, an unemployed labourer, said he was having problems at the time and thought that ‘it could have been a sign from heaven.’ ‘I needed spiritual help,’ he told Corriere della Sera.

The priest revealed that he was gay during online chats and attempted to seduce the labourer.

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FRANCE
Out

BY JAMES MCDONALD
APRIL 07 2015

On the campaign trail in 2012, François Hollande declared his support for the LGBT citizens of France by promising to pursue the legalization of same-sex marriage. The following year, newly-elected President Hollande signed the the successful bill, making France the thirteenth nation in the world to realize marriage equality. His presidency has had some rough patches and there has been vocal resistance to the furtherance of LGBT rights within the country, but Hollande has remained faithful to his commitment to the community. In a bold move earlier this year, he appointed the openly gay veteran politician Laurent Stefanini as ambassador to the Holy See. Yet, despite the fact that France’s last ambassador stepped down over a month ago, the Vatican has yet to confirm Stefanini’s appointment. While this may be due to resistance from within the heart of Roman Catholicism, Hollande has insisted that he will not back down on his choice.

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NEW YORK
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, April 8

Statement by Mary Caplan of New York City, SNAP Leader, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 917 439 4187, mcaplan682@aol.com )

Brooklyn diocesan officials have scheduled a “healing mass” for abuse victims. At worst, this is a cynical public relations move. At best, it misses the mark. (See details below.)

Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio’s focus should be on real reforms that actually make kids safer, not symbolic gestures that make him seem nicer or that make a few adults temporarily feel better. And events like this imply that the crisis is past when in fact it’s not. By focusing on “healing,” DiMarzio wants us all to believe that prevention is no longer needed. That’s backwards. Only when every cleric who has committed or concealed child sex crimes are identified, punished and kept away from kids should bishops concentrate on healing.

DiMarzio’s first job should be protecting the vulnerable. And much remains to be done on this front.

He should discipline – publicly and harshly – those who hid or ignored clergy sex crimes, to deter such irresponsible behavior in the first place.

He should support – not oppose – reforming New York’s secular child safety laws, especially the archaic, predator-friendly statute of limitations.

He should house – in remote, secure, independent treatment centers – every proven, admitted or suspended and credibly accused child molesting cleric, so that kids will be safer.

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UNITED STATES
Newsweek

BY ABIGAIL JONES / APRIL 8, 2015

“Basically, what we are going to be doing is kidnapping a guy for a couple of hours and beating him up and torturing him and then getting him to give the get,” Rabbi Mendel Epstein told two potential clients. It was August 14, 2013, and he was sitting in his home in Lakewood, New Jersey, with a young Orthodox Jewish woman and her brother. She had sought out Epstein because she desperately wanted to divorce her husband, who was refusing to give her a get, the document that formally dissolves a marriage under Jewish law.

In Orthodox Judaism, only husbands can give gets, and while most do, those who refuse wield enormous power over their wives. Even with a civil divorce decree in hand, a woman is not divorced in the Orthodox Jewish world until her husband gives her a get. Until then, she is an agunah, a “chained” woman. If she falls in love and decides to remarry without the get, she would be considered an adulteress, and her children from that union would be shunned.

Epstein, an Orthodox Jewish rabbi in Brooklyn, New York, and Lakewood, had a reputation for facilitating divorces. On that August day a couple of years ago, he explained to the woman and her brother how he would persuade her husband to give her a get. He mentioned a team of “tough guys” who could torture her husband with electric cattle prods, handcuffs and karate and suffocate him using plastic bags. “I guarantee you that if you’re in the van, you’d give a get to your wife,” he said. “Hopefully, there won’t even be a mark on him.”

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ITALIA
Corriere Romagna

VALMARECCHIA. Ore decisive per sciogliere il “giallo” delle ossa ritrovate nel cimitero di Sestino (in provincia di Arezzo) che si sospetta appartengano a Guerrina Piscaglia, la 50enne scomparsa quasi un anno fa dalla sua casa di Ca’ Raffaello (frazione di Badia Tedalda).

Intanto, viste le voci rimbalzate nelle ultime ore, la procura di Arezzo ha precisato che il blitz di sabato scorso nel piccolo cimitero è stato effettuato su iniziativa dei carabinieri della stazione di Badia Tedalda e non su segnalazione di una sensitiva. Da quando la donna è scomparsa, già diversi sensitivi si sono occupati del caso ma nessuno avrebbe indicato il cimitero di Sestino come luogo dove cercare Guerrina.

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ITALIA
La Nazione

CASO GUERRINA / Intervista a Federica Sciarelli: “Un ritrovamento anomalo: la chiave del giallo resta il frate”

Arezzo, 8 aprile 2015 – «Una sparizione molto strana». La scomparsa di Guerrina Piscaglia è al centro del programma televisivo Chi l’ha visto? di Rai Tre, da settembre. Ma per Federica Sciarelli, giornalista e conduttrice del programma, il caso della casalinga cinquantenne di Ca’ Raffaello è saltato all’occhio subito, ad agosto. «Abbiamo notato immediatamente che c’era qualcosa di strano in tutta questa storia _ afferma la giornalista _ Quando ci è arrivata la lettera della famiglia, disperata, che ci chiedeva aiuto. Com’è possibile che una donna sia scomparsa a maggio e nessuno ancora ad agosto non aveva indagato sulla vicenda? Forse le forze dell’ordine e la Procura avevano ricevuto fin troppe piste false. Quando ci siamo interessati anche noi alla storia è cambiato il corso delle indagini».

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ITALY
The Independent (UK)

ROSE TROUP BUCHANAN Wednesday 08 April 2015

The Vatican has been embroiled in two separate, highly embarrassing, scandals.

In one, a north Italian priest has been removed from office after allegations emerged that he had been surfing the internet to find gay lovers and had been involved in gay orgies.

The other, which has generated – if possible – even more lurid press coverage in Italy, alleges a priest in the south of the country is under investigation on suspicion of murdering one of his parishioners.

Father Gratien Alabi, from the Democratic Republic of Congo, is under investigation for murder following the discovery of female bones under the flagstones of an ancient mountain chapel.

The bones are anticipated to belong to Guerrina Piscaglia, 50, who disappeared from nearby Arezzo in Tuscany last year, The Times reported.

The case has generated intense media interest, with some papers claiming that Father Alabi had engaged in an affair with the woman, a parishioner of his and another priest’s church, and fathered a child with her.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

The Associated Press
Wednesday, April 8, 2015

A new federal indictment identifies three alleged victims in the case of a Pennsylvania priest charged with traveling to Honduras to have sex with poor street children during missionary trips.

The Rev. Joseph Maurizio has been jailed since last fall when federal prosecutors in Johnstown accused him of molesting one boy, and possessing child pornography. The new indictment returned Tuesday adds two victims and charges the 69-year-old priest with sending $8,000 to a charity to help facilitate the trips which ended in 2009. None of the alleged victims are named, but all are under 18.

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CANADA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, April 8

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

Two more Canadian provinces have reformed archaic and arbitrary laws that protect child predators. We applaud these moves and urge lawmakers to go further.

[National Post]

Specifically, we urge legislatures to make it easier for child sex abuse victims to pursue those who commit AND those who conceal child sex crimes, in both criminal and civil courts.

It’s tough to prevent a shrewd child molester from assaulting a child. But we can stop him before he assaults 30 or 40 children. How? By vigorously pursuing and harshly punishing his friends, colleagues and supervisors who ignore or hide his crimes.

Roughly one in ten children are sexually violated. If we are to reduce this horror, we must enable victims to take legal action any time they are able. Deadlines of any sort only help wrongdoers. These predator-friendly statutes of limitations must be eliminated. And laws that give a “free pass” to complicit colleagues must be reformed too.

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SAN FRANCISCO
National Catholic Reporter

Dan Morris-Young | Apr. 8, 2015

SAN FRANCISCO Star of the Sea School in the San Francisco archdiocese has become a kind of war zone between the majority of school parents and Star of the Sea Parish’s two priest leaders — Fr. Joseph Illo, administrator, and Fr. Patrick Driscoll, associate pastor.

The priests began their assignments there last August as part of a plan to establish an oratory, or a kind of fraternity where diocesan priests live in community.

Battle was engaged in November when Illo announced that girl altar servers would be discontinued. Made without known consultation with parents or other archdiocesan priests, the decision generated parental protest, local headlines, and eventually national media coverage.

Illo’s actions were also the subject of heated exchanges at an archdiocesan priests council meeting, NCR learned.

Star of the Sea generated more heat in early February when it came to light that Driscoll had distributed to even young students a pamphlet titled “Examination of Conscience and Catholic Doctrine,” an extensive listing of potential sins, including adultery, masturbation, fornication, entertaining impure thoughts, and abortion — without notifying teachers or the principal.

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IRELAND
Association of Catholic Priests

Fr. Tony Flannery hosts International Network of Church Reform Movements participative conference in Co. Limerick

An International Network of Church Reform Movements conference will take place next week, from Monday 13th April to Thursday 16th April, in the Radisson Blu Hotel in Limerick. Hosted by Fr. Tony Flannery, the participative conference will be the first time such a large gathering of leaders of the Church Reform Movement have met. It is also the first time such an event has been hosted in Ireland.

The four day workshop will be facilitated by Austrian and Canadian leaders and participants will come from twelve different countries around the world, from the U.S. and Canada, Australia, India, many countries in Europe, and of course Britain and Ireland. Each of the main reform movements in Ireland will be represented. Many familiar names in the reform movement will attend; Paul Collins and his wife Marilyn Hatton from Australia, Donald Cozzens, Deborah Rose-Milavech and Jeannine Gramick from the U.S., Astrid Lobo Gajiwala from India, Helmut Schuller from Austria, Christian Weisner and Martha Heizer of We Are Church international, and many others.

​The main focus of the event will be to get to know each other, with the aim of supporting Church Reform, both at the level of structures of authority and at the grass-roots. This is the first time that this group will come together, so a lot of it will be sharing experiences and ideas on Church reform. Some of the topics expected to be discussed throughout the week include sharing perceptions of the reform agenda of Pope Francis, the future of parishes and communities, women’s equality and how to communicate with the Vatican.

A Press Conference will take place at the end of the conference, at 2.00pm on Thursday, 16th in the Radisson Blu Hotel, Limerick

This four day event is not open to the public but there will be an open session at 8.00pm on Thursday, 16th April in the Radisson Blu in Limerick. Some of the international participants will speak of their experience of Church Reform in their parts of the world, and how we can move forward. Members of the public are welcome to this event.

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ITALIA
Corriere del Veneto

ROVIGO «Mi ha stravolto la vita: adesso ogni prete che vedo mi fa paura». Marco (il nome è di fantasia), è il 32enne di Rovigo che ha denunciato le pesantissime avance sessuali subite nei mesi scorsi da un sacerdote in servizio a Taranto. La Curia pugliese ha subito avviato delle verifiche al termine delle quali il prete è stato cacciato perché – si legge in una nota diffusa lunedì – la sua è stata una «condotta moralmente riprovevole e assolutamente non compatibile con il ministero presbiterale ». Il racconto di Marco è agghiacciante. «Nei mesi scorsi, a causa della crisi, ho perso il mio lavoro di manovale. Stavo affrontando un periodo difficile e, la vigilia di Natale, venni contattato attraverso Facebook da un uomo che mi disse subito di essere un sacerdote. Pensai fosse un segno del Cielo: avevo bisogno di un aiuto spirituale».

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ITALY
The Local

Published: 08 Apr 2015

A priest in southern Italy has been defrocked for allegedly making gay sexual advances to a man on Facebook.

The priest was sacked from his post in Taranto after a 32-year-old man contacted church authorities to expose him, Corriere della Sera said.

The 32-year-old man, from Rovigo in north-east Italy, claimed he was contacted by the unnamed priest around six months ago. An unemployed labourer, the man said he was going through a difficult time when he received a Facebook message from the priest.

“I thought it could have been a sign from heaven, I needed spiritual help,” he told Corriere.

After a few days of chatting online, the priest allegedly revealed he was gay and soon after began making sexual advances towards the labourer.

“He told me he was excited looking at my photos and asked me to send an intimate photo,” the man claimed.

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IRELAND
The Tablet

08 April 2015 11:12 by Sarah Mac Donald

Catholic reform leaders from around the world will meet in Ireland next week for a three-day conference organised by the censured Redemptorist priest Fr Tony Flannery.

Forty representatives from North America, South America, Asia, England, Germany, Switzerland and Ireland are due to attend the conference between 13-16 April in Limerick.

Participants include Martha Heizer, head of We Are Church Austria, who was excommunicated by the Vatican along with her husband, Gert Heizer, for celebrating Mass without a priest present.

Other participants include Australian Paul Collins who resigned his priesthood in 2001 over the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith’s censure of his book, Papal Power.

Speaking to The Tablet, Fr Flannery, who was banned from ministry by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in 2012 for what it considered heret­ical views on the Eucharist and priesthood, said some of the topics expected to be discussed include the “reform agenda of Pope Francis, the future of parishes and communities, women’s equality and how to communicate with the Vatican”

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CANADA
National Post

Sarah Boesveld | April 7, 2015

Two Canadian provinces are making it easier for victims of sexual assault to sue their attackers — a move proponents hope will lead more people to seek civil justice, although critics feel this will not protect complainants from the victim-blaming they seek to avoid.

Just over a week ago, Nova Scotia removed its statute of limitation in sexual abuse cases, allowing victims to pursue a civil claim no matter how much time has passed.

In its wide-sweeping action plan to stop sexual violence and harassment released last month, Ontario pledged to amend the statute of limitations to drop time restrictions on filing a lawsuit alleging sexual assault.

As the impacts of sexual assault become better understood, personal injury lawyers are getting more queries from victims of sexual assault by partners, or colleagues. Some may choose to pursue a civil claim, instead of a criminal complaint, in an attempt to maintain some control over their experience and to see the burden of proof significantly lowered. Both options are possible.

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

Virginia Jones

Last week I planned to attend a Passover Seder celebrated in a church, but I found myself too anxious to enter the building. I never even parked my car. After driving 45 minutes from my home to the church, I just turned around and drove home.

The Passover Seder is a dinner cum religious ceremony in Judaism that celebrates why and how the Jewish people fled slavery in Egypt for freedom in the land of Canaan. Traditionally, the youngest child present shares the basic story of the Passover, but in Reform Judaism the celebration has become an opportunity to contemplate injustice in modern times as well.

For example, during a Passover Seder, one might contemplate why so many people are still enslaved in the modern world and why do so many people remain hungry.

It is also a common practice to invite to your Passover Seder the stranger and the person in need, in part, as symbols of the injustice the Jewish people had to endure in Egypt. In other words, the Egyptians treated the Jews as strangers when they enslaved them. The idea of inviting a stranger to your Passover Seder is to not behave like Pharaoh, to be hospitable and compassionate.

I long knew about the story behind the Passover Seder and the focus on social justice. I wish I had known about the part of inviting a stranger to your table.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Eastbourne Herald

Wednesday 08 April 2015

A retired Church of England priest who lives in Eastbourne has been served with a summons alleging eight offences of indecent assault against a boy between 1974 and 1977.

Robert Coles, 74, of Upperton Road, is accused of assaulting the boy at an address in Sussex and an address in Hampshire.

Coles is due to appear at Brighton Magistrates Court today (Thursday April 9).

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

BY LIAM CLARKE – 08 APRIL 2015

Child abuse at Kincora boys home must be investigated by an independent inquiry set up by Westminster into VIP paedophile rings after the general election, Alliance and the DUP have said.

The calls follow revelations in the Belfast Telegraph and later on Channel 4 News by Richard Kerr, a former resident in the notorious east Belfast boys home, that he was trafficked to London to be abused by senior figures.

The current plan is to deal with allegations of sexual abuse at Kincora at Sir Anthony Hart’s inquiry into Historical Institutional Abuse in Banbridge.

But there are growing calls urging the claims to be dealt with by a more powerful inquiry into abuse in England and Wales headed by New Zealand High Court judge, Justice Lowell Goddard.

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CALIFORNIA
Press-Enterprise

BY MARK MUCKENFUSS / STAFF WRITER
Published: April 7, 2015

For Washington Post Executive Editor Martin Baron, society isn’t transitioning into the digital realm, it’s already there. It’s now up to newspapers like the Post and other media outlets to catch up.

Baron addressed a crowd of about 250 people Tuesday night as this year’s speaker for the 47th annual Hays Press-Enterprise Lecture. He spoke about the state of journalism and his vision for what needs to be done in adapting a 20th century model for news gathering and dissemination into the 21st century.

“Never have I seen a moment of so much excitement and so much anxiety,” he told the crowd.

“Journalism is being thoroughly re-imagined.”

The retooling of the trade, he said, has brought new opportunities. As the editor of the Boston Globe, Baron oversaw the investigation of sexual abuse in the city’s Catholic Diocese. It was a story that pointed out the power of the Internet. In the past, such a story might not have seen much attention beyond New England.

Instead, he said, “the investigation of the church had the largest reach of anything that had ever come out in the Globe. The audience was worldwide.”

Social platforms allowed those concerned about the issue to more easily organize themselves and do additional investigation on their own.

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MAINE
Portland Press Herald

BY DAVID HENCH PORTLAND PRESS HERALD
dhench@pressherald.com | @MaineHenchman | 207-791-6327

An advocate for victims of clergy sex abuse says a recently uncovered letter shows the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland church knew for years about allegations against a parish priest but did nothing to protect potential young victims.

The letter mentions allegations against the Rev. James Vallely, who served in St. John’s Parish in Bangor and was later transferred to St. Dominic’s Parish in Portland and to St. Michael’s Parish in South Berwick. He was working with a church in Florida when he was removed from active ministry following allegations of abuse. He has since died.

Robert Hoatson of the New Jersey victims advocacy group Road to Recovery held a news conference outside the Portland diocese Tuesday to call attention to the letter, which he said was one of the documents the church was compelled to release as part of a lawsuit brought by one of Vallely’s victims. That suit alleged fraudulent concealment by the church and was recently settled. Hoatson said he could not provide more details about the case because the name of the victim in the suit, brought in Cumberland County, has not been made public.

The letter was written in 2005 by the Rev. Richard P. Rice and is addressed to “Marc,” apparently Monsignor Marc B. Caron, Hoatson said. In it, Rice said that an article in the Maine Sunday Telegram had reminded him of a conversation he had around 1993 with the Rev. Dick Harvey in which Harvey said five boys had confided to him that they had been abused at St. John’s.

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INDIA
The New Indian Express

KOCHI:The police are finding it difficult to trace the Christian priest who is accused of sexually harassing a minor girl at Puthenvelikara. Even though one week has passed since an FIR was registered against Fr Edwin Figarez, a priest attached to the Lourdes Matha Church, Puthenvelikkara, for allegedly molesting a 15-year-old girl, he remains underground and continues to evade the police. According to Puthenvelikara Sub-inspector M S Shibu, the mobile phone of the accused has been switched off for several days. “The Cyber Cell has put the mobile phone under surveillance, and persons close to the priest are under surveillance. A forensic team visited the priest’s house, and collected evidence,” he said. A medical examination of the victim had confirmed that she was sexually abused. However, the official spokesperson of the Kottapuram Diocese refused to comment on the incident. Meanwhile, Felix Puloodan of the Joint Christian Counsel filed a memorandum with the Kottapuram Diocese, demanding action against the priest. He alleged that Fr Edwin Figarez was being helped by an ‘abkari’ contractor. The case against the priest was registered based on a complaint filed by the mother of the victim. The complainant alleged that priest molested the girl on several occasions when she was alone at home.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

April 7, 2015

By Torsten Ove / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

A federal grand jury has indicted a Johnstown-area priest already accused of traveling to Honduras for sex with a boy on more charges pertaining to other trips to sexually assault boys, as well as three counts of transmitting funds out of or into the U.S. in furtherance of his criminal activity.

A superseding indictment filed Tuesday named Rev. Joseph Maurizio, 69, who remains in federal custody from the earlier charges.

A judge had ordered him detained in November as a danger to the community and also because federal agents feared he would use church funds to flee the country.

The criminal division of the IRS had been examining Father Maurizio’s finances, but it’s not clear exactly what money the priest is accused of transferring out of the U.S. and to what end.

Nor is the source of his money known. Father Maurizio had told a pre-trial services officer that his net worth was $107,000 but agents said it is really about $1 million.

He had previously been charged with illicit sex with one minor in Honduras, as well as possession of illicit images, but the new charges add other incidents of sex tourism dating to 2004. The new money-transferring counts pertain to the years 2006 through 2009.

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