ABUSE TRACKER

AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

THE man who ran Knox Grammar School for 30 years is expected to be asked on Tuesday what he told students about a balaclava-wearing intruder who molested a 14-year-old boy.

IAN Paterson’s appearance at a royal commission hearing into the elite Sydney boys’ school has been delayed since Friday as more witnesses come forward.

Much of the inquiry, which is now in its second week, has concerned an incident in late 1988 when an intruder wearing a Knox tracksuit and a balaclava hid under a boy’s bed and tried to molest him in the early hours of the morning.

Stuart Pearson, the former general duties master at the school and a former policeman said a few days after the incident Dr Paterson told the boys police had arrested an “Asian man” for the break-in.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse can find no record that police were ever contacted and on Monday a former student told the commission he recalled Dr Paterson saying the intruder was an “old boy” with mental problems.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

Purple ribbons tied to the gates of Knox Grammar to honour sexual abuse victims were taken down by a security guard unaware of their significance, and have now been replaced, the school says.

Many in the school community expressed their anger that the purple ribbons, tied by Knox parents to the wrought iron gates on Monday to show support for the victims of sexual abuse at the school, were taken down.

A statement from the school said: “A number of Knox Grammar parents have tied ribbons to the school gate in honour of the brave men who came forward as survivors of sexual abuse at Knox. The school supports this initiative.

“Unfortunately, during the night they were removed by a security guard who was unaware of their significance. The ribbons have now been reattached to the gate.”

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AUSTRALIA
Courier-Mail

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH MARCH 03, 2015

PURPLE ribbons tied to the gates of Knox Grammar in support of victims who suffered abuse there have been removed.

Yesterday a group of parents from the exclusive north shore school posted photos of the ribbons to the Twitter account @concernedknox.

The group claims to be: “appalled at the lack of accountability of successive headmasters at Knox who allowed known sex offenders to remain on staff and put our children at risk”.

Last night however, the group reported the ribbons had been removed.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Sarah MacDonald Catholic News Service | Mar. 2, 2015

ATHLONE, IRELAND The Catholic church is “no longer a safe haven for child abusers,” said a top priest psychologist who advises the U.S. bishops on child sexual abuse.

Msgr. Stephen Rossetti told hundreds of Irish delegates to the first national conference on safeguarding children that the Catholic church in the United States spent $43 million on child abuse prevention and education just last year.

The priest told Catholic News Service following his keynote address that secular organizations and other churches in the United States were now coming to the Catholic church to learn from its policies.

More than 5.2 million adults and children have gone through the safe environment training in the United States, and more than 3 million priests, lay employees and volunteers have gone through background checks.

He highlighted that in the United States, child abuse rates are dropping throughout society and the church.

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NEW MEXICO
Gallup Independent

Published in the Gallup Independent, Feb. 28, 2015

Kiran says audit will clear him of wrongdoing

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

GALLUP — It’s been nearly five months since the Rev. Ravi Kiran abruptly left his assignment at St. Anthony Mission in the Pueblo of Zuni, and officials with the Diocese of Gallup still have not publicly answered questions about Kiran or his financial administration of the mission. Kiran, however, has spoken out in an effort to clear his name. In a series of five emails over the last several weeks, Kiran has claimed he has been cleared of any wrongdoing, and he has made the startling claim that the small mission church had $3.3 million in investments when he left the Diocese of Gallup in October.

Investment accounts

So how did a small Native American mission with just about 125 parishioners in the pews, about the same number of children in its PreK-8 school, and just a few hundred dollars in the weekly collection plate amass $3.3 million in investments?

Kiran did not say, but according to his emailed statements, it appears the little Zuni mission may have healthier finances than the Gallup Diocese, which had to borrow money in order to file for bankruptcy.

According to Kiran, when he arrived at St. Anthony’s in July 2012, the mission had $3.9 million or $4.1 million in investment accounts.

Franciscan friars, who ran St. Anthony’s for about 90 years before the Gallup Diocese took over the mission, reportedly built up a large investment portfolio. In addition, the mission reportedly has a development office that solicits financial donations from across the country. Diocesan officials, however, have repeatedly failed to answer any questions about the mission’s finances. “There were about 16 accounts all over Gallup, Albuquerque and Zuni,” Kiran wrote. “Several steps were taken to minimize the operational cost and the whole operation was simplified with 4 accounts.”

During his two years in Zuni, Kiran said he spent nearly $2 million for a “complete face lift” of the mission campus. When he left in October, Kiran said, the mission still had $3.3 million in investments.

Kiran provided the information in response to a series of media questions that had been emailed to him. Although he avoided many specific questions, Kiran defended his record and reputation.

Mission renovations

“When I took over Saint Anthony Indian Mission, the place was a dump, it was falling apart. Saint Anthony is a very historical mission and I could not see the place falling away,” Kiran said. “Now after restoration and renovations the place is beautiful and will serve another generation of Zuni community,” he added.

Kiran defended his renovations of the mission, which have been controversial among some parishioners, saying he “spent money to improve the facility to assure the safety of the children and to restore the legacy of Saint Anthony Indian Mission.”

Neither Kiran nor diocesan officials have answered whether Bishop Wall approved all of the renovations, which is required under the diocesan financial policy.

Officials have also declined to explain who purchased Kiran’s personal Mercedes-Benz and where the vehicle is now. Kiran, however, provided the names and phone number of the couple who gave him the vehicle.

In a telephone interview Wednesday, Carmen Pacheco-Smith confirmed that she and her husband, Kevin, purchased the Mercedes-Benz as a gift for Kiran after he served as their priest at Holy Trinity Parish in Flora Vista. Pacheco-Smith, who said she and her husband did not pay for insurance on the Mercedes-Benz, added they had purchased other vehicles in the past for another priest and a couple of Catholic sisters.

Pacheco-Smith said the Diocese of Gallup kept the vehicle until about a month ago. At that time, she said, the Rev. Kevin Finnegan, the diocesan chancellor and vicar general, told them they could pick it up.

Conflicting statements

According to Kiran, he has been cleared of all allegations of wrongdoing by two diocesan audits. Kiran said the first audit was completed in early December, and the second audit, which he said was requested by diocesan attorneys, was completed Jan. 10. “May be the chancery will be making a statement and publishing the audit results,” Kiran said in an email dated Jan. 15, adding that Finnegan could confirm his story.

Attempts to confirm Kiran’s claims with diocesan officials have been unsuccessful. Repeated questions to Suzanne Hammons, the Diocese of Gallup’s spokeswoman, have been met with promises to provide a summary of the audit sometime in the future. Hammons has continued to assert that the investigation into Kiran and the mission’s finances is ongoing.

As to the first audit, Kiran cited a statement Finnegan made to Zuni parishioners on Dec. 7, 2014, in which Finnegan said Kiran had been cleared of wrongdoing. And in fact, Finnegan did indeed make that statement, according to parishioners.

However, later that same week, Susan Boswell, the diocese’s lead bankruptcy attorney, and Hammons both contradicted Finnegan and asserted the diocese’s investigation was continuing.

Personal choice

Kiran said he left the diocese in October after Bishop James S. Wall met with him and informed him the diocese was doing an independent audit of the mission’s finances.

“He told me to go back to the parish. I came home and after two days I made a personal choice and decision to be away from the parish,” Kiran wrote. “I thought may be I should leave the parish so that the investigation and audit will be fair and just,” he added.

After returning to India, Kiran said he informed the bishop about his departure. Kiran did not address the fact that Catholic priests cannot simply leave their ministry assignments without permission of their local bishop, but he did say he served the Gallup Diocese longer than his contracted five years.

“I served in the diocese with integrity and honor,” Kiran said in a January email. “I gave myself to the fullest of my ability at every place I served.”

In his emails, Kiran repeatedly stated the diocese has cleared him of wrongdoing, and expressed frustration that the media has not been informed of that by diocesan officials.

“I fulfilled my obligations,” Kiran added in an email Thursday. “Wherever I was assigned I worked with dedication and commitment. Leaving the Zuni mission was my personal choice.”

Reporter’s Note: This online news story has been edited slightly from its original published version to correct a first reference error.

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NEW JERSEY
NJ.com

By MaryAnn Spoto | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on March 02, 2015

TRENTON — A Brooklyn man testifying in the trial of a Lakewood rabbi accused of ordering beatings to force divorce agreements told jurors on Monday that he and his roommate were victims of one of those attacks.

The testimony offered in the seventh day of the federal conspiracy trial of rabbi Mendel Epstein, did not directly link the religious leader to participating in the Aug. 22, 2011, attack, but it did potentially connect his son, who is also charged in the indictment, to the attacks that federal prosecutors say were orchestrated to force Orthodox Jewish men into giving their wives divorces.

However, Menachem Teitelbaum indirectly linked the rabbi to the incident when he said he heard one of his attackers mention the words “Epstein” and “father.”

Testifying to a jury of eight men and eight women before U.S. District Judge Freda Wolfson in Trenton, Teitelbaum said he had been asleep in his Brooklyn basement apartment for nearly an hour after returning from his job at a local grocery store when he was awakened by a man who punched him in the face.

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AUSTRALIA
Jerusalem Post

NEW YORK – Shaken by revelations that senior rabbis were complicit in covering up sexual abuse and intimidating the families of victims, high ranking members of the Organisation of Rabbis of Australasia (ORA) have split off to form a new rabbinic body, the Australian Jewish News reported.

While the rabbis have worked to distance themselves from their disgraced colleagues, the AJN itself has come under fire for terminating a reporter who leaked information that led to the resignation of ORA Rabbi Meir Kluwgant.

As rabbis and community members testified before a government commission investigating institutional responses to child molestation last month, Kluwgant reportedly sent a text message to AJN editor Zeddy Lawrence in which he called the father of an abuse victim “a lunatic on the fringe” who was out to destroy the ultra-Orthodox community.

Zephaniah Waks testified that three of his children, including prominent victim’s advocate Manny Waks, had been abused while in yeshiva.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Werbe Post

[A group wants solidarity with victims of the pastor.]

Erftstadt-Liblar (zi). Eine Gruppe “Solidarität mit den Opfern des Pfarrers” hat für die öffentlichen Solidaritätsaktionen – es gab unter anderem einen Schweigemarsch und eine Unterschriftenaktion – kein Verständnis. Die Gruppe besteht nach eigenen Angaben hauptsächlich aus Anwohnern der Stadt und Menschen, die selbst Opfer sexueller Übergriffe wurden.

“Bei aller Nachsicht über den Schock einer Kirchengemeinde, die ihren langjährigen und anerkannten Pfarrer verloren hat und nun vor den Trümmern einer bisher äußerst erfolgreichen Gemeindearbeit steht – hier wird der mutmaßliche Täter geschützt”, heißt es in einer Stellungnahme, die 28 Personen unterzeichnet haben. Mitglieder der Gruppe haben in der von Pfarrer Jansen betreuten Kirche St. Barbara in Liblar Blumen und Gedenkkarten als Zeichen des Mitgefühls und der Solidarität für die mutmaßlichen Opfer niedergelegt.

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AUSTRALIA
The Humanist

BY LUIS GRANADOS • 26 FEBRUARY 2015

You can get jaded reading too much news, especially too much religion news. Muslims murdering innocents in creative new ways … Jews kicking more non-Jews out of their Palestinian homes … Evangelicals squashing the teaching of basic science … the umpteen millionth manifestation of the Catholic sex abuse saga. Enough already!

Sometimes, though, an item is astonishing enough to command attention amid the squalor. Such is the case with the report of Australia’s “Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse” released earlier this month. This document is not the work of some quick-buck plaintiff’s lawyer or on-the-make journalist. It is a comprehensive, thoughtful investigation of how the response to these abuses unfolded, authored by the most respectable people in the land. The evil it reveals, at the highest levels, is hard to believe.

John Ellis was an Australian altar boy who was routinely assaulted by Father Aidan Duggan, starting at the age of thirteen and continuing for many years afterward. The psychological impact on Ellis was devastating, as it has been for many other victims—he could maintain neither a family nor a job because of his alternating depression and fits of uncontrollable anger.

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

* A Maltese journalist, seemingly seeking to endear himself to the new Malta Archbishop Charles Scicluna, conveniently cites the Boston Globe’s John Allen, observing: “One of journalism’s most prolific of Vatican insiders and the leading American authority on the Holy See, John L. Allen, has dubbed Malta’s new archbishop a Catholic “hero” for his role in successful prosecutions of clerical sex abusers.

* The Maltese journalist continues his cite of Allen: “For years serving by the side of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger as promoter of justice in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Scicluna, 55, spent 10 years handling accusations of clerical sex abuse, gaining a reputation for treating victims with compassion and respect, and for insisting church officials respond to allegations clearly … His leadership on the church’s effort to recover from its child sexual abuse scandals, especially his role in the prosecution of the late Fr Marcial Maciel Degollado, have made him a hero to reformers everywhere. His appointment will thus be taken not only as an important moment for Malta, but also a sign that good guys don’t always finish last!” . (emphasis mine)

* Of course, John Allen has made a nice living, it appears, increasingly as the US “spinmeister of choice” for the Vatican and its wealthy allies. But can Allen be taken seriously here in his “over the top praise” of Scicluna, who perhaps more than any other Vatican bureaucrat facilitated the Vatican’s evident priest abuse cover-up strategy for years. Scicluna’s rewards for this troubling behavior were promotions to senior episcopal positions from all indications.

* Sadly, in a gathering of “moral midgets” that the Vatican’s priest child abuse cover-up team seems to represent, even a short guy like Scicluna may seem a giant. But let’s be honest, please.

* Scicluna’s latest promotion appears to be just more of the same decades’ old cover up strategy. Pope Francis, a reportedly very hands on manager, apparently selected recently the members of his advisory sex abuse commission to deal, slowly it seems, with his biggest challenge, the scandal of sexual predatory priests and their unaccountable bishop accomplices.

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CHILE
La Tercera

[The film El Bosque will be released in April. Starring Luis Gnecco and Benjamin Vicuna, it is based on the allegations of abuse against Chilean priest Fernando Karadima.]

por P. Reyes – 02/03/2015

La esperada película El Bosque de Karadima lanzó su trailer oficial. El film, del cineasta Matías Lira, difundió un adelanto de dos minutos y medio, que muestra las tensiones entre el párroco y uno de los abusados.

La cinta, protagonizada por Luis Gnecco y Benjamín Vicuña, se basa en hechos reales: las denuncias de abusos en contra del sacerdote chileno Fernando Karadima y en cómo el párroco y líder de la Iglesia más poderosa de la clase alta chilena -considerado “un santo en vida” entre los años 80 y 2000- comete abusos sostenidos contra Thomas, un adolescente en busca de su vocación. Tras la situación, decidirá hablar y enfrentar las redes de poder que protegen al cura.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Berger’s Beat

March 2, 2015 11:41 am | Author: berger
Carol Kuhnert, a local Catholic whose brother Fr. Norman H. Christian was a pedophile priest, has penned a new book, “No Longer on Pedestals.” In 2003. Christian was a arrested on sexual abuse charges and faced at least eight allegations. Still, then Archbishop Raymond Burke let Christian be buried as a “priest in good standing ” in 2004. Kuhnert’s book details how she had moved from blind trust of Catholic figures to actively supporting victims of child molesting clerics.

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UNITED STATES
New York Times

Bikram Choudhury’s Sexual Assault Lawsuits

By ERNESTO LONDOÑO

I succumbed to the spell of Bikram yoga during a cold winter in Washington. At the time, I was feeling depressed, lethargic and a bit chunky. During a routine physical, my doctor had discovered that my testosterone level was abnormally low for someone my age, while my blood pressure was high.

I had glanced at the sign outside a yoga studio near Dupont Circle countless times, but one afternoon, at the height of my malaise, its motto seemed to scream at me: “Change Your Body & Change Your Life.”

I knew nothing about Bikram Choudhury, the eccentric Los Angeles-based yoga mogul who has made a fortune marketing his guided series of 26 postures, or about the growing allegations by women who say he sexually assaulted them during teacher training workshops. I just knew I needed a jolt.

After walking up a narrow set of stairs and looking into the mesmerizingly placid eyes of the studio owner, I signed up for a $20 weekly trial of the 90-minute practice, which is held in studios set to 105 degrees with 40 percent humidity.

For the uninitiated, Bikram yoga can feel downright torturous. At first, I found the heat suffocating, the poses impossibly difficult to master and the instructors somewhat kooky.

Act with “English bulldog determination!” they commanded. Hold poses with “Bengal tiger strength!” After my first 90 minutes of misery, I staggered away from the puddle of sweat I left in the studio, took a cold shower and was rewarded with an electrifying high. I began taking classes almost daily and became evangelical about the workout.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Mary Carolan

Mon, Mar 2, 2015

A priest is seeking permission to bring High Court proceedings aimed at halting his trial on charges of indecently assaulting 14 boys at a secondary school in Munster.

The charges relate to alleged offences between 1969 and 1990 and the priest contends his right to a fair trial has been prejudiced due to a “fatal deficit” of disclosure, Mr Justice Seamus Noonan was told.

Margery Farrelly SC, for the priest, said that deficit arose from the refusal of the Irish Examiner newspaper to disclose documents on foot of which it had published a number of stories concerning the alleged offences.

Following a request from lawyers for the priest, gardaí had asked the newspaper to disclose any documents in its possession related to the stories published.

The stories included interviews with some former pupils of the school, some of whom might be complainants in these proceedings and whose identities were protected via the use of pseudonym, she said.

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NEW YORK
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Sunday, March 1

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

Three women have been “repeatedly manhandled for three years by a leering, oversexed co-worker” while three Catholic priests did little or nothing to stop the assaults, according to court papers and the NY Post.

[New York Post]

Shame on Franciscan Friars John McVean, John Felice and Tom Walters, who allegedly ignored and tolerated intolerable assaults on underlings by Gyasi Bramos-Hantman at St. Francis Friends of the Poor in Manhattan.

It’s very hard to expose wrongdoing in Catholic institutions. They’re often oppressive work places, because the church is a rigid, secretive, largely-male monarchy that exploits ‘religious freedom’ laws to shield itself from scrutiny and keep employees largely powerless. They’re often hard to sue, because Catholic officials spend liberally on top-notch, aggressive defense lawyers who use scorched-earth legal tactics to discredit and attack victims, witnesses and whistleblowers.

So we applaud employees Donna Graves and Ann O’Leary and Maria Colon for their incredible courage, especially because these clerics allegedly “ruled with an iron fist and fostered a culture of intimidation.”

Those who see, suspect and suffer clergy sex crimes, misdeeds and cover ups must somehow find the strength these women have found and speak up. Only when church staff and members summon the bravery to expose wrongdoing will Catholic institutions become more safe and healthy.

We call on New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan to show leadership and publicly denounce these Franciscans and beg others who have knowledge of or suspicions about their irresponsible actions and inaction to step forward, get help, prevent assaults, deter cover ups and start healing.

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NEW YORK
ABC News

MINEOLA, N.Y. — Feb 23, 2015

By FRANK ELTMAN Associated Press

A decision by New York’s highest court striking down dozens of local laws that set boundaries on where convicted sex offenders may live has rekindled a debate over whether such laws really work to protect children.

New York’s Court of Appeals ruled unanimously last week that only the state has the power to tell offenders where they can and cannot reside, and generally only while they are on parole or supervised release. The ruling effectively struck down more than 130 local laws across the state, many of which went further than state law by imposing such restrictions on offenders for the rest of their lives.

Some lawmakers and advocates reacted by seeking to strengthen the state law, which currently bars more serious sex offenders on parole or supervised release from being within 1,000 feet any school grounds in a parked car or public areas adjacent to schools.

“We are very concerned,” said Laura Ahearn, executive director of a Long Island group called Parents for Megan’s Law. “Because certain registrants are no less dangerous the day after they complete their supervision.”

But several experts argue such residency restrictions may not provide the protection for children the laws envision.

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NEW YORK
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, March 2

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

We’re disappointed a New York court has struck down laws limiting where child sex offenders can live and we urge lawmakers to quickly adopt other measures that help protect kids from predators.

[ABC News]

For at least decades, child sex abuse has been rampant. Relatively speaking, laws that restrict convicted child molesters are relatively recent. So at best, it’s likely premature to reach firm conclusions on whether or not these laws work.

We challenge those who oppose these restrictions on predators’ whereabouts: Before you try to block further restrictions, come up with a better plan.

One in four girls and one in eight boys is molested. So clearly, what our society is doing now to stop predators and protect kids is failing.

Advocates of relaxing or repealing virtually any child sex abuse law, therefore, have a moral duty to devise some other means of safeguarding kids first.

Those who just nay-say and nit-pick child safety laws endanger kids. Those who ambitiously and creatively try new approaches to child safety protect kids. That’s where our energies should be concentrated – trying harder, thinking smarter and pushing the legal envelop to devise and adopt new approaches to preventing horrific child sex crimes and cover ups.

Finally, convicted child predators aren’t the real threat to kids. The real threat to kids are the vast majority of child molesters who are never caught, convicted or exposed. That’s where our society’s focus should be – on making sure that they are at least publicly exposed.

So the single most effective step legislators could take to protect kids would be to pass Assemblywoman Marge Markey’s bill setting up a civil “window” enabling anyone who was abused at any time by any predator – for a short time – to use the civil courts to warn parents and the public about those who commit and conceal child molesters. This is a cheap, quick and effective way to expose dangerous predators.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Mirror

2 March 2015 By Amy De-Keyzer

A priest has been jailed more than 30 years after sexually abusing a boy under 16 at a children’s home.

Father Anthony McSweeney was found guilty of indecent assault of a boy, between January 1979 and July 1981, and three counts of making indecent photographs/pseudo photographs of children on or before January 15 2013.

Southwark Crown Court heard the incident was committed during his time working at Grafton Close Children’s Home in Hanworth.

The 68-year-old, of Crawley in Sussex, was convicted as part of Operation Fernbridge, part of the wider Operation Fairbank which was launched in 2012 to investigate allegations of child abuse at the home in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

Knox Grammar general duties manager ‘put his job on the line’ to investigate ‘protected’ paedophile teacher

JANET FIFE-YEOMANS THE DAILY TELEGRAPH MARCH 02, 2015

THE former headmaster of Knox Grammer, Dr Ian Paterson, has been accused of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl in a startling development at the child sex abuse royal commission.

His police report, tendered to the commission, reveals that in 2009, a student from the exclusive girls’ school Roseville College claimed he had assaulted her while she was backstage after a performance at Knox Grammar.

The former student, Lucy Perry, told police that it was 1989 when she was 15.

According to the police statement, she said that she did not want to proceed with charges but had come forward to back up reports made by former Knox students which were being investigated by Strike Force Arika and led to five former Knox teachers being charged with sexual abuse.

“Perry stated that Paterson patted her on the bottom a few times and slid his hand underneath and toucher her in the genital area,” the police report stated.

“Perry said that it only lasted a few seconds and that she stepped forward to remove his hand.

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

A key witness at a hearing into Knox Grammar has denied he’s trying to shift the blame for poor record keeping onto the former headmaster Ian Paterson.

Stuart Pearson, the former general duties master at the elite north shore Sydney boys’ school, reiterated his allegation Dr Paterson had lied when he said he had reported to police that an intruder wearing a balaclava had sexually assaulted a boy in 1988.

Solicitor Jim Harrowell, representing Dr Paterson cross-examined Mr Pearson, a former policeman, for more than an hour.

In a terse exchange he asked Mr Pearson if when he was a policeman he had a problem with record keeping and complained about the need to keep a lot of documents.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

The chief executive of a women’s health charity says she was indecently assaulted by a former Knox Grammar School headmaster.

Lucy Perry has told a royal commission hearing into the elite Sydney north shore boy’s school that Ian Paterson groped her in 1989 when she was part of musical being produced by her school Roseville and Knox Grammar.

Ms Perry who is chief executive of Hamlin Fistula Ethiopia (Australia), said the assault happened in full view of students at the Knox school hall, and the boys who saw it “roared with approval”.

She reported the assault to NSW police in 2009 when numerous allegations about widespread sexual abuse at the school were coming out.

Ms Perry said at one of the rehearsals she was backstage talking to some of the boys at a production of Guys and Dolls when Dr Paterson pointed to her and one of the boys and said “you and you out”.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

Australian Associated Press
Monday 2 March 2015

A senior church figure who was on the council of Sydney’s Knox Grammar has denied giving advice that school records should be destroyed.

James Mein, who was moderator of the Uniting Church in Australia and on the council of the Sydney school, said neither he nor any solicitor he knew advised the school to destroy records.

He was giving evidence at a royal commission into sexual abuse on Monday

Counsel assisting the commission David Lloyd said on Monday it was not his intention to recommend finding against Mein in relation to the records.

Lloyd said Dwane Feehley, whose email contained an allegation that a solicitor assisted by Mein was advising Knox to destroy records, was overseas and could not be compelled to appear.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

Australian Associated Press
Sunday 1 March 2015

The head of discipline at Knox Grammar school quit in disgust when the headmaster put a suspected paedophile in charge of a boarding house, an inquiry has heard.

Stuart Pearson was general duties master at the elite Sydney school in the 1980s when Ian Paterson was headmaster.

Pearson told a royal commission hearing on Monday that one of his reasons for leaving Knox in 1990 was that four years after he recommended that Adrian Nisbett have nothing to do with students beyond the classroom, the teacher was given responsibility for boys at Kooyong Boarding House.

In 2010, Nisbett was convicted of two counts of committing acts of indecency on Knox boys in the 1980s and was released on a good behaviour bond.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

Jewish community members call on Yeshivah Centre board to resign after child sexual abuse royal commission revelations

SHANNON DEERY HERALD SUN MARCH 02, 2015

MEMBERS of Melbourne’s Jewish community have called for the immediate resignation of the board at the disgraced Yeshivah Centre in the wake of a damning royal commission probe.

While several high-profile rabbis have already ­resigned from positions — ­including the nation’s top rabbi, Meir Shlomo Kluwgant – the management committee has escaped the same level of scrutiny.

Now an online petition, ­individually naming seven people, has called for the entire committee of management to resign.

“We the individuals & families of the Yeshivah community, together with members of the wider Jewish community, call for the immediate resignation of the members of the Committee of Management,” it says.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

March 2, 2015

Rachel Browne

A senior Uniting Church figure denied destroying crucial documents relating to sexual abuse at Knox Grammar School, instead blaming pedophile teacher Adrian John Nisbett, a royal commission has heard.

James Mein, former moderator of the Uniting Church in Australia, synod of NSW and ACT, and an unnamed solicitor were implicated in the disappearance of documents in a series of emails sent by the church’s insurance manager in 2009.

“The solicitor who drafted this is the one who has been advising the school to destroy documents, with Jim’s assistance,” Dwane Freehely wrote in an email tendered in evidence to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

Mr Mein told the commission he did not destroy the documents and nor did anyone involved in a series of meetings held by the church, school council and lawyers after sex abuse allegations were reported to police in 2009.

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Telegraph

AAP

THERE is no evidence to support an allegation linking a former Uniting Church leader with the destruction of documents at Knox Grammar School, an inquiry has heard.

COUNSEL assisting the child abuse royal commission David Lloyd said on Monday it was not his intention to recommend finding related to the records against James Mein, the former moderator of the Uniting Church and former council member at the Sydney boys day and boarding school.

Mr Lloyd said Dwane Feehley, whose email contained an allegation that a solicitor assisted by Jim Mein was advising Knox to destroy records, was overseas and could not be compelled to appear.

There was no other evidence to suggest Mr Mein or former chairman of the Knox Council, solicitor Rob Wannan, made any such advice.

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MALTA
Malta Today

Matthew Vella 2 March 2015

One of journalism’s most prolific of Vatican insiders and the leading American authority on the Holy See, John L. Allen, has dubbed Malta’s new archbishop a Catholic “hero” for his role in successful prosecutions of clerical sex abusers.

Allen, formerly of the National Catholic Reporter and now writing for The Boston Globe, said Charles Scicluna – appointed on Friday as Malta’s new archbishop – was a highly respected churchman all across the Catholic world, apart from being a “gifted canon lawyer.”

For years serving by the side of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger as promoter of justice in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Scicluna, 55, spent 10 years handling accusations of clerical sex abuse, gaining a reputation for treating victims with compassion and respect, and for insisting church officials respond to allegations clearly.

“His leadership on the church’s effort to recover from its child sexual abuse scandals, especially his role in the prosecution of the late Fr Marcial Maciel Degollado, have made him a hero to reformers everywhere. His appointment will thus be taken not only as an important moment for Malta, but also a sign that good guys don’t always finish last!” Allen said.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Nicole Chettle

A woman has accused former Knox Grammar School principal Ian Paterson of indecently assaulting her while she was taking part in a musical he was directing.

Lucy Perry, the chief executive of women’s charity Hamlin Fistula Ethiopia, said she reported the alleged abuse to police after hearing students at the school had been abused.

Dr Paterson has not been implicated in any child abuse allegations, but a royal commission has been examining his handling of the issue at the school, where children were abused between the 1970s and 2003.

Ms Perry’s account is the only allegation of abuse by Dr Paterson heard by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, which has been investigating the school for more than a week.

She told the Sydney hearing the assault happened in 1989 when she was a teenager.

She said Dr Paterson inappropriately touched her in front of the male performers, who laughed.

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Mail (UK)

Boys ‘cheered as former headmaster at Knox Grammar School groped a young girl’ during a rehearsal for a school musical

Boys from Knox Grammar roared with approval when their headmaster touched a young girl who was taking part in a school musical, an inquiry has heard.

Lucy Perry, who now heads an international women’s health charity, told the child abuse royal commission she was indecently assaulted by the elite Sydney boys school’s former headmaster Ian Paterson in 1989 when she was 15.

Ms Perry, chief executive of Hamlin Fistula Ethiopia (Australia), said the assault happened in full view of students at the Knox school hall and the boys who saw it ‘roared with approval’.

She reported the assault to NSW police in 2009 when allegations about sexual abuse at Knox were emerging.

Ms Perry’s school, Roseville College, and Knox Grammar had been jointly staging the musical ‘Guys and Dolls’.

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AUSTRALIA
The Standard

By ALEX SINNOTT March 2, 2015

A STITCH in time saves nine, the old adage goes, but a group of creative Catholic women have a more compassionate metaphor in mind.

The Quilt of Hope — assembled by volunteers from across the Ballarat diocese — was on display at Warrnambool’s St Joseph’s Church yesterday as a way of reaching out to sexual abuse victims.

The campaign was spearheaded by parishioners who wanted to show their compassion and support for those hurt by church-related sexual abuse.

Ballarat quilt-maker Beryl Andersen kick-started work on the quilt in May 2013 and the Moving Towards Justice group completed the piece just over a year later.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Exaro News

By Tim Wood

2 March 2015

Priest Tony McSweeney faces a fresh investigation over the sexual abuse of boys at a children’s home in the London borough of Richmond.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

March 2, 2015

Rachel Browne
Social Affairs Reporter

A former senior staff member of Knox Grammar School was “gobsmacked” to discover two paedophile teachers were still working at the school years after he reported their activities to then headmaster Dr Ian Paterson, a royal commission has heard.

Stuart Pearson, the former general duties master of the school, told the royal commission he reported Craig Treloar to Dr Paterson in 1987 after a boy alleged the teacher had propositioned him for sex.

Mr Pearson told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse on Monday that the boy had come to him in tears following the incident with Treloar.

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“Through tears the boy told me he had been invited into Treloar’s room,” he said.

“Treloar had poured some alcohol. A tape had been put on. It was pornographic but he could not describe it . . . he was just a young boy.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

MARCH 02, 2015

Ean Higgins
Reporter
Sydney

THE general duties matter at Knox Grammar who investigated pedophile teacher Adrian Nisbett was shocked in 1990 to find headmaster Ian Paterson had given Nisbett a position in a Knox boarding house, four years after he had been removed from contact with students.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse this morning heard further evidence from Stuart Pearson, a former policeman, who held the general duties job at the Sydney private school in the 1980s.

Mr Pearson said Dr Paterson had initially discouraged him from investigating Nisbett, who among other improper actions against students, had rubbed boys in a sexual fashion in his darkroom.

Nisbett was arrested in 2009 and convicted of two counts of category 4 sexual assault.

Mr Pearson’s report to Dr Paterson in 1986 on Nisbett found a “pattern of behaviour”, and recommended he be removed from roles in which he would have contact with students, and Mr Paterson took actions to this effect.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

March 2, 2015

Michaela Whitbourn

Parents at private boys school Knox Grammar have tied purple ribbons to its gate in honour of the victims who came forward to report sexual abuse at the school over more than 30 years.

A Twitter account set up overnight, @concernedknox, posted photos of the wrought-iron gate on the Pacific Highway covered in ribbons of various hues of purple on Monday.

“In honour of the victims of Knox paedophiles,” a series of tweets posted on Monday morning said.

“All it takes for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.”

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AUSTRALIA
J-Wire

March 2, 2015

The Jewish Taskforce Against Family Violence Inc. has commended the courage of those victims who came forward to give evidence at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.JTAFVA statement released by the group says: The victims were betrayed by organisations and people in authority at that time and those failures and omissions were categorically wrong. The victims and their families placed their trust in those organisations and people and that trust was manifestly broken. We also acknowledge and pay tribute to the courage of those whose disclosures led to the hearings themselves and bear witness to their ongoing pain.

The Jewish Taskforce Against Family Violence Inc. also acknowledges all other victims in our community whose abuse was not the subject of the Royal Commission’s enquiries but whose suffering and distress is also present.

We reiterate our earlier statements made during the enquiry that all institutions must have appropriate policies in place to safeguard children and all Rabbis and Rabbinical students as well as all teachers and any other people with children in their care must undergo appropriate training in the area of child protection.

We have served, and will continue to serve our community in the campaign for the elimination of all forms of family violence through community awareness and provide information and referrals to those who contact us on our support line on a confidential basis. We continue to commit to the health, safety and wellbeing of our community.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

Royal commission into sex abuse: CEO of global charity ‘indecently assaulted’ as a girl by former Knox headmaster

Rachel Browne
Social Affairs Reporter

The chief executive of a global women’s health charity was allegedly indecently assaulted by former Knox Grammar School headmaster Ian Paterson.

Lucy Perry, chief executive of Hamlin Fistula Ethiopia (Australia), has been called to give evidence to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, which is holding a public hearing into the elite school.

Evidence tendered to the commission shows Ms Perry reported the assault to NSW police in 2009 when numerous allegations about widespread sexual abuse at the school were coming out.

In information provided to the police Ms Perry alleged that as a student at Roseville Ladies College she attended Knox Grammar on a regular basis to perform in plays and musicals.

She said that when she was 16 years old in 1989 Dr Paterson indecently assaulted her backstage after a performance.

A report compiled by the NSW Police and tendered to the commission reads: “PERRY stated that PATTERSON (sic) patted her on the bottom a few times and slide his hand underneath and touched her in the genital area. PERRY stated that it only lasted a few seconds and that she stepped forward to remove his hand . .. At the time. PERRY was wearing a leotard and fishnet stockings. PERRY is unaware if the incident was witnessed by anyone else.”

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AUSTRALIA
ABC Newcastle

By Sarah Shands

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses into Child Sexual Abuse is the end of the road for one Newcastle man.

The man’s name is Stephen (he doesn’t want his surname revealed), and he was invited to share his story of abuse at a private hearing with the Royal Commission in Newcastle last week.

It’s been a harrowing journey for the 66-year old, who said he suffered abuse at school in Adamstown from when he was 13-years old.

“Looking back 50 years I can see it really stuffed up my life,” he said.

Stephen said abuse doesn’t just affect the survivor but their entire extended family.

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Telegraph

Former Knox headmaster lied about the arrest of a balaclava-clad man under the bed, inquiry heard

A former headmaster of Knox Grammar lied to students about police arresting a balaclava-wearing sexual predator at the school, one of his assistants has told an inquiry.

Stuart Pearson, former general duties master at the prestigious Sydney school, said Ian Paterson, the principal at Knox for 30 years, discouraged investigations of sexual misbehaviour by teachers.

Mr Pearson, a former policeman, was a resident master at the school from 1985 to 1990 and investigated infringements as part of his job.

He told the sex abuse royal commission there were no restrictions on investigating matters such as misappropriation of funds, but Dr Paterson’s “attitude was different when it came to inappropriate behaviour by teachers”.

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PENNSYLVANIA
We Are Central PA

[with video]

Christian Heilman

PHILIPSBURG — Sunday was the first service at Saints Peter and Paul in Philipsburg since the diocese placed Father Robert Kelly on leave. Parishioners are trying to understand what happened.

Mass started at 10 AM Sunday as parishioners filed into church. This time, a different priest was overseeing the service.

We talked with half a dozen people leaving church about Father Robert Kelly. They all said the same thing — that Father Kelly was a kind, intelligent man and they don’t believe he did anything wrong.

We spoke to a mother with children who said she had no reason to worry about Father Kelly.

No one wanted to speak on camera. During the service, Father John Gibbons told parishioners not to speak to the media.

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IRELAND
Newstalk

Caoimhseach Connolly

Sunday 1 March 2015

Events to remember women who lived and died in Magdalene laundries and convents took place around the country this weekend.

The Flowers for Magdalene events honour women who were sent to work in laundries run by religious orders. The fourth annual events have been taking place in Waterford, Glasnevin Cemetery in Dublin, Cork, Galway, New Ross and other locations.

It is said that is the first time that all cities and towns that had Magdalene laundries have been represented since the Flowers for Magdalene events began.

Last week the Justice For Magdalenes group criticised a report on the laundries, which they say ignored the testimonies of Magdalene survivors.

The group says the McAleese Report gives too much attention to the religious orders’ version of events, and ignores survivor testimonies.

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GUAM
Concerned Catholics of Guam

There will be a prayer service Monday, March 2 at 3:00pm at the gates of the Chancery, San Ramon Hill. Please bring your rosary.

A CCOG village meeting will be held at the Hagatna Mayor’s Office, across Hagatna swimming pool, on Thursday, March 5 at 6:00pm.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Main Post

[Abuse – An Open Wound]

Der Kirchenskandal: Seit 2010 wurden verstärkt bundesweit Fälle von Priestern bekannt, die Kinder missbraucht hatten. Der erste Fall in der Diözese Würzburg betraf einen Franziskaner-Minoriten-Pater. Seither läuft die kirchenrechtliche Untersuchung.

Vor fünf Jahren haben sich die Opfer an die Kirche gewandt. Auf Gerechtigkeit warten sie noch heute: Das kirchenrechtliche Urteil über einen prominenten Würzburger Franziskaner-Pater steht immer noch aus. Der stadtbekannte „Sportpater“ war im bundesweiten Missbrauchsskandal der katholischen Kirche 2010 der erste Fall in der Diözese Würzburg. Medienberichte brachten damals, Ende Februar, ans Licht, dass der Franziskaner-Minoriten-Pater in den 60er Jahren Schüler sexuell missbraucht haben soll. Kurz darauf weiteten sich die Vorwürfe auf die 70er und 80er Jahre aus.

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NEW YORK
USA Today

[with video]

Rick Hampson, USA TODAY March 1, 2015

NEW YORK – Our Lady of Vilnius Church, built by families of immigrant Lithuanian longshoremen, started out a century ago as a beloved worship space. Now, it’s a coveted real estate asset.

In 2013, six years after the church was closed, it was sold for $13 million to one of the city’s biggest developers. The following year that company flipped it like a pancake to another developer for $18.4 million.

Now the yellow brick church near the entrance to the Holland Tunnel awaits demolition to make way for an 18-story luxury apartment house.

“It makes you cynical,” says Christina Nakraseive, a former parishioner who supported the legal case against the church closing until it was rejected by the state’s highest court. “It seems like it’s all about real estate.”

The issue has taken on added significance since the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York, citing declining attendance, rising costs and a looming priest shortage, announced plans to merge scores of parishes and close dozens of churches this year.

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IRELAND
98 FM

by Rebecca Horan 01st Mar 2015

Events to remember women who lived and died in Magdalene Laundries and convents, took place around the country this weekend.

The Flowers for Magdalene events honour women who were sent to work in laundries run by religious orders.

Last week the Justice For Magdalene group criticised a report on the Laundries, which they say ignored the testimonies of Magdalene survivors.

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DEUTSCHLAND
MKN

[Benedictine Abbot Barnabas Bögle is speechless after the confession of his confrere Father G. before the Landgericht München II. This was particularly bitter for him that the victim had to wait years for justice and were still subjected to a process. For the monastery this was a terrible blow.]

Benediktinerabt Barnabas Bögle ist nach dem Geständnis seines Mitbruders Pater G. vor dem Landgericht München II sprachlos. Besonders bitter sei für ihn, dass die Opfer jahrelang auf Gerechtigkeit warten mussten und noch einem Verfahren ausgesetzt wurden. Für das Kloster sei dies ein furchtbarer Rückschlag.

München/Ettal – Der Ettaler Benediktinerabt Barnabas Bögle ist nach dem Missbrauchsgeständnis eines Mitbruders weiter fassungslos. Fünf Jahre lang sei er nach Bekanntwerden der Vorwürfe von der Unschuldsvermutung ausgegangen, sagte der Abt dem “Münchner Merkur” (Samstag). Pater G., der im Prozess vor dem Landgericht München II am Donnerstag nach jahrelangem Abstreiten ein Geständnis abgelegt hatte, sei noch am selben Abend ins Kloster gekommen. “Um zu sagen, dass er mit der Wahrheit hinterm Berg gehalten hat. Ich war sprachlos”, erzählte Bögle.

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

The former headmaster of an elite Sydney school where boys were sexually abused by teachers will give evidence at a hearing on Monday.

Ian Paterson, who was headmaster of Knox Grammar on Sydney’s north shore for 30 years until 1998 will be in the witness stand at a royal commission hearing into how the exclusive private school responded when boys alleged sexual abuse by teachers.

The commission heard evidence last week that Dr Paterson protected teachers in order to preserve the reputation of the school.

The former moderator of the Uniting Church in Australia Jim Mein will also give evidence.

Mr Mein is expected to deny an allegation contained in an email presented on Friday that linked him to advice given to the school to destroy pertinent documents.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

KATHERINE TOWERS THE AUSTRALIAN
MARCH 02, 2015

A SENIOR journalist has been made redundant from The Australian Jewish News after passing on information that helped a royal commission and led to the resignation of Australia’s most senior Rabbi.

Adam Kamien, who had worked for the paper since 2006, became the only person in the newsroom to be made redundant following an internal investigation into how text messages ended up being used by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

The text message, sent from the Rabbi Meir Kluwgant to the editor of the AJN, Zeddy Lawrence, and read out at the royal commission, described the father of an abuse victim as a “lunatic” who neglected his children.

“Zephaniah is killing us. Zephaniah is attacking Chabad. He is a lunatic on the fringe, guilting of neglect of his own children. Where was he when all this was happening?”

Under intense cross examination, Rabbi Kluwgant was forced to admit he sent the message to Mr Lawrence during the commission evidence of Zephaniah Waks, father of victim and whistleblower Manny Waks.

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

>>>>>UNACCOUNTABLE CARDINALS & POPES

>>>>>CANNOT SUCCEED IN THE INTERNET ERA !

Pope Francis returned from his Lenten Retreat to face the latest “cardinal leak” scandal He tried unsuccessfully to give a “subject changing” speech on the current evils for the poor of global capitalism. Leaked scandals are inevitable occurrences, given the pope’s futile continuation of secrecy in the Internet Era, and the lack of transparent accountability of cardinals, and of the pope for that matter, in the past, now or in the foreseeable future. The new leak involved large and questionable expenditures of one of Francis’ more than a hundred unaccountable Cardinals, George Pell, the Vatican’s new finance czar. Pell seems to like to spend lavishly on almost everything but abuse survivors’ just claims.

The pope also faced continuing fallout from his unwise “Mexicanization comments” and from his difficult Angela Merkel meeting over the Vatican’s Ukraine, and women and children’s, positions discussed below. The top German Cardinal, Reinhard Marx, is reportedly currently nearly threatening to act in Germany on a seemingly important local “money matter” — divorced and remarried Catholics’ access to communion, regardless of what Francis’ futile “all celibate male” Final Family Synod, or even Francis, may decide in a matter of months. Unaccountable cardinals are, it seems, not much influenced by an unaccountable pope in his 79th year.

By serendipity, or providence perhaps, legendary investor, Warren Buffett, was at about the same time making relevant remarks on the need to hold managers accountable. Buffett had earlier made some surprising negative observations about global capitalism that were similar to some the pope just made in his new speech on the adverse effect of the current crony capitalist system on the poor.

Buffett, who was raised a Presbyterian, differs from the pope, significantly however, on the importance of top managers being held accountable and on the importance of family planning programs. Buffett is moving forward with his commitment to transfer most of his $75 billion fortune to the Gates Foundation — a major international advocate for accessible family planning programs. The priest child abuse scandal Francis faces, and the desperate plight of some poor families the world faces, are often exacerbated needlessly by couples having more children than they really want or can afford to provide even basic necessities.

Melinda Gates, the Foundation’s co-head and a Catholic, appears, in effect, to be on a collision course with Francis and his upcoming Final Family Synod over the Synod’s approving at least giving poor women access to affordable and effective family planning programs, including contraception. Please see, “Melinda Gates: ‘I’m a Catholic, but women need access to contraceptives‘ – video interview” here,

[The Guardian]

The former Archbishop from Australia, Pell, is still reeling, it appears, from a recent and devastating government report on his brutal treatment of Australian priest sex abuse survivors who sought minimal financial assistance to alleviate the adverse effects of their abuse, see “Pope Francis Must Fire Cardinal Pell Now ” here:

[Christian Catholicism]

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BRASIL
Jornal de Noticias

O líder de uma seita religiosa norte-americana, Victor Arden Barnard, de 53 anos, foi detido no Brasil para responder por 59 acusações de abuso sexual de menores, pelos quais era procurado pela Interpol.

A polícia deteve na sexta-feira no litoral sul do Rio Grande do Norte o norte-americano, que era procurado pela Organização Internacional de Polícia Criminal (Interpol) por suspeitas de crimes de abuso sexual cometidos entre 2000 e 2012, segundo o diário “Globo”.

O seu nome constava também na lista dos 15 indivíduos mais procurados pela agência US Marshal, organização policial norte-americana responsável pela busca e captura de fugitivos internacionais, acrescentou o diário.

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BRASIL
G1

Anderson Barbosa

A Polícia Militar prendeu na noite desta sexta-feira (27), no litoral Sul do Rio Grande do Norte, o americano Victor Arden Barnard, de 53 anos, líder de uma seita religiosa nos Estados Unidos e que responde a 59 acusações de abusos sexuais contra crianças e adolescentes, crimes que teriam ocorrido entre os anos de 2000 e 2012.

A Polícia Federal confirmou as informações e revelou que Barnard era procurado pela Organização Internacional de Polícia Criminal, mundialmente conhecida como Interpol, e que ele também figurava na lista dos 15 mais procurados pela agência U.S. Marshal, organização policial americana responsável pela busca e captura de foragidos internacionais.

“A agência U.S. Marshal oferecia uma recompensa de 25 mil dólares (o equivalente a aproximadamente 72 mil reais) para quem desse informações que levassem o acusado à prisão. Contudo, como a Polícia Militar cumpriu com sua obrigação constitucional, assim como a própria Polícia Federal, o dinheiro não será reclamado”, acrescentou o delegado Paulo Henrique Oliveira, superintendente em exercício da PF no Rio Grande do Norte.

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MINNESOTA/BRAZIL
New York Daily News

BY JOEL LANDAU NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Sunday, March 1, 2015

Brazilian police have captured a fugitive minister from the U.S. who dressed as Jesus and allegedly sexually assaulted young girls he kept in isolation as part of a religious cult.

The U.S. Marshals and Brazilian authorities announced Saturday the arrest of Victor Arden Barnard, 53. Barnard, who was on the Marshals’ Most Wanted list, faces 59 counts of criminal sexual conduct after two women stepped forward and claimed he had abused them for years beginning when they were 12 and 13 years old.

Authorities charge the self-described minister created a compound in Finlayson, Minn., about 90 miles north of Minneapolis called “Shepherd’s Camp.” He kept 10 virgin girls at the premises away from their families, police said.

The two women say that he abused one from age 13 to 22 and another from age 12 to 20. Officials tried to get other women to come forward but they refused.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Friday, Feb. 27

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 )

An Altoona-Johnstown priest – Fr. Robert Kelly – has been accused of child sexual abuse. It’s not “misconduct.” That’s deceptive and hurtful.

[The Reporter]

Fr. Kelly is the 28th Altoona-Johnstown diocesan priest to be publicly accused of molesting kids. (See BishopAccountability.org) We believe the real number is two or three times higher.

Shame on Bishop Mark Bartchak. Like a slimy politician trying to do “damage control,” he disclosed Fr. Kelly’s suspension late on a Friday afternoon, knowing this news would be heard and seen by the fewest possible people and hoping he dodge reporters’ calls. He also knows that a late Friday release means the resulting news coverage will be shorter and less thorough. And shame on him for not putting his terse, callous news release on his diocesan website.

Bishop Bartchak should get busy. First, for the safety of kids, he should disclose Fr. Kelly’s whereabouts. Second, starting this weekend, he should go to every parish where Fr. Kelly worked, begging victims, witnesses and whistleblowers to step forward and call police.

Why?

Because that’s what will help ensure Fr. Kelly is kept away from kids the longest.

Because that’s what Bartchak owes his flock.

Because that’s how Bartchak will find others who have been hurt and are still suffering.

Because that’s how Catholic officials will begin to reverse centuries of secrecy, deceit, recklessness, callousness and inaction about child sex crimes and cover ups.

Because that’s how Bartchak will begin to earn the trust he says he wants to restore among parishioners.

Because with Pope Francis heading to Pennsylvania in a few months, Bartchak has a tremendous opportunity, through this kind of courageous and compassionate outreach, to show bishops across the globe the proper and effective way to respond when allegations of child sex crimes surface.

What a refreshing and reassuring move this would be. Imagine how thrilled and grateful Altoona-Johnstown Catholics would be to see their spiritual leader forging a new path and going beyond the bare minimum.

Sending a terse, carefully-crafted, lawyer-vetted four or five sentence media statement sends a weak and depressing signal to the flock. Sending the bishop himself to parishes, in person, to beg anyone with information or suspicions about Fr. Kelly to call 911, would send a strong and encouraging signal to the Altoona-Johnstown flock, especially to the hundreds (perhaps thousands) who have been sexually violated by priests, nuns, seminarians, brothers and other Catholic employees.

We beg those who have knowledge of or suspicions about clergy sex crimes or cover ups to find the strength to reach out, get help, expose wrongdoers, protect others and start healing.

If you saw, suspected or suffered clergy sex crimes or cover ups, we want to hear from you and will protect your confidentiality.

Doing and saying nothing keeps the church unhealthy and keeps kids in danger. Please, search your conscience, find some courage and call independent sources of help – a therapist or our group or police or prosecutors. Don’t call biased Catholic bureaucrats. Call the independent professionals in law enforcement.

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

NEW YORK
Frum Follies

Posted on 03/01/2015 by Yerachmiel Lopin

The Brooklyn DA has charged Moses Braustein with trying to lure underage Boro Park boys with a promise of penis enlargement. His pending charges include, attempted luring of a child, acting in a manner injurious to a child under 17, and disseminating indecent material to a minor. He was arrested on February 25, 2015 for acts alleged to have been committed on February 12, 2015.

Nuchem Rosenberg’s blog offers up some Purim spin we can expect from his defenders. He was actually using penis as a euphemism in describing methods of growing peyos (sidecurls) longer. Perhaps he was promising them Chazon-Ish-sized beitzim.

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.

THAILAND
The Rakyat Post

NAKHON PATHOM (Thailand), March 1, 2015:

Phra Buddha Issara is a monk with a mission. From his Buddhist temple near Bangkok he is calling for a radical overhaul of Thai Buddhism, fearing millions of dollars in temple donations and a rapidly modernising nation are corrupting monks.

Surrounded by verdant green rice fields at Wat Or Noi temple, Issara said he wants better oversight of temple finances and to shake up the fossilised structure of Thai Buddhism.

“Buddhism in Thailand is a poisoned fruit. The highest level of the Buddhist religion has turned out to be the devious one,” he told Reuters in an interview.

Buddha Issara’s quest began last month when the Supreme Sangha Council (SSC), Thai Buddhism’s governing body, cleared the abbot of Dhammakaya temple over allegations by the military government’s National Reform Council (NRC) that he embezzled some 900 million baht (RM101 million) in donations.

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
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Sunday, March 1, 2015

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

A fugitive serial child molesting cult leader, last seen in Washington state, has been caught in Brazil. But prosecutors should also vigorously pursue those who suspected wrongdoing at his compound but kept silent about it.

[CBS Minnesota]

[Star Tribune]

News accounts quote several of Victor Barnard’s former Minnesota neighbors who said:

“I didn’t expect it to be anything good that was going on down there”

“It’s been the buzz around here [with regard to the sexual abuse allegations]”

We strongly suspect that some individuals in Washington also saw, suspected or suffered his crimes and stayed silent too.

We are appalled that these individuals – and who knows how many more – kept quiet about this. We also strongly suspect there are former Barnard cult members who could and should have called police long ago.

Anyone who knew about or suspected child sex crimes and refused to call 911 should be prosecuted and punished harshly.

There always have been and will be charismatic predators like Barnard. There’s probably little we can do to prevent them.

We can, however, help ensure they’re reported to law enforcement after their third crime, not their 33rd crime. The way to do that is simple: throw the book at those who stay silent in the face of known or suspected child sex crimes.

When will people finally realize that they should trust their instincts and call the police when anything unusual seems to be happening to or with children? When will people finally start erring on the side of acting responsibly instead of acting timidly? When will people finally understand that where there’s smoke, there very often is indeed fire? And when will people finally understand that we need not wait to see fire before calling police but should call police when we first see smoke.

It’s not too late. We call on each and every one person – in Washington, Minnesota, Brazil or anywhere – who saw or heard or experienced unusual behavior at Barnard’s compound to contact law enforcement officials immediately.

Barnard has been charged with dozens of counts of sexually assaulting young woman and girls. We commend the brave victims who have come forward and to law enforcement for tirelessly working to find this dangerous predator. But they need help, the help of witnesses, whistleblowers and other victims.

So we hope anyone who saw, suspected or suffered crimes by Barnard will immediately call police. It is never too late to report the truth and help protect other children and vulnerable adults.

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

NEW YORK
New York Post

By Kathianne Boniello

March 1, 2015

Forgive me, fathers, for you have sinned.

Three Catholic priests who run homeless charities in Manhattan are anything but Christian behind closed doors, longtime female staffers at St. Francis Friends of the Poor claim in a lawsuit.

Franciscan Friars John McVean, John Felice and Tom Walters subjected the women to racist rants and took a veritable vow of silence as the ladies were repeatedly manhandled for three years by a leering, oversexed co-worker, court papers allege.

The trio “ruled St. Francis with an iron fist and fostered a culture of intimidation,” according to the Manhattan Supreme Court lawsuit. “The priests, who many at St. Francis suspect occasionally come to work drunk, often lashed out at employees and frequently screamed at subordinates.”

McVean, Felice and Walters — all friars in residence at St. Francis of Assisi Church on West 31st Street — launched their nonprofit in 1980 and now house 250 mentally ill men and women at three Manhattan locations. The charity is independent of the Archdiocese of New York.

McVean routinely referred to the building manager as “a goat-loving Muslim,” “an idiot Muslim” and “often said that ‘Muslims are dangerous,’ ” according to court papers. …

The most traumatizing experience, the women say, came at the hands of Friends of the Poor program director Gyasi Bramos-Hantman, who subjected the women to an atmosphere that “would not be tolerated in any locker room,” according to the lawsuit.

About “twice a month,” Bramos-Hantman would corner the women for unwanted hugs, rubbing himself against them and once embracing O’Leary so forcibly “it loosened [her] colostomy and drainage bag,” she claims.

The women turned to McVean, Felice and Walters for help, but were threatened with termination by the priests, who engaged in “a massive coverup,” they allege.

The three priests denied the allegations.

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

MINNESOTA
Duluth News Tribune

Victor Barnard, the Minnesota man who authorities allege ran a cult in Pine County that victimized young women, was arrested Friday in Brazil after nearly a year as a fugitive.

Brazilian media outlets reported that Barnard, 53, was arrested in Rio Grande do Norte, the northeasternmost state of the South American country.

Barnard, 53, had eluded law enforcement since he was charged in April 2014 with 59 crimes related to the sexual abuse of girls who lived at his River Road Fellowship camp near Finlayson, a small town just off Interstate 35 southwest of Duluth.

He was added to the U.S. Marshals Service’s 15 Most Wanted Fugitives list in November.

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
Crux

By John L. Allen Jr.
Associate editor February 28, 2015

Over the centuries, court politics at the Vatican sometimes have had a seriously nasty side. If anyone was wondering whether that aspect of its culture had been killed off in the Francis era, or had simply gone dormant, late February 2015 provided a fairly clear answer.

In a word, the nasty is back.

The focus this time is Cardinal George Pell of Australia, the pope’s chosen fix-it man on Vatican finances. Francis tapped Pell a year ago to end a cycle of scandal and corruption in money management, and in the year since he took over a newly created Secretariat for the Economy, he’s become a lightning rod of the first order.

This week the Italian newsmagazine l’Espresso published leaked receipts from Pell’s new department purporting to show that it has racked up more than a half-million dollars in expenses during its first six months of existence, including a tab of more than $3,000 at Gammarelli’s, a famed clerical tailor shop in Rome.

A rumor ensued that Francis had called Pell on the carpet about those expenses, something the Secretariat for the Economy called “completely false” and “complete fiction” in a statement on Saturday. In fact, the statement insisted, the new department’s expenses are actually below the budget set when it was established last March.

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
CBS Minnesota

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO/AP) — The former leader of a rural Minnesota religious community who fled the U.S. after facing sexual abuse charges was captured Friday by Brazilian military police.

According to the Brazilian newspaper Globo, 53-year-old Victor Barnard was arrested in a beach condo on the country’s northeastern coast. Taken into custody with him was a 33-year-old Brazilian woman.

Barnard, originally from Finlayson in Pine County, was added to the U.S. Marshall’s 15 Most Wanted list in 2014.

According to a statement from the U.S. Marshals Service, authorities eventually determined Barnard was living in Brazil. Investigators then coordinated efforts with Brazilian law enforcement to take the fugitive into custody Friday.

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.

OKLAHOMA
NewsOK

A Tulsa man accused of sexually abusing boys he met through church and as a volunteer at a local Department of Human Services shelter was bound over on 14 criminal counts Friday.

Special Judge Cliff Smith ordered Timothy Shawn Cato, 50, to stand trial on two counts of sexual abuse of a child under the age of 12, a single count of possessing child pornography and 11 counts of child sexual abuse — five of which prosecutors added Friday.

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.

MALTA
Times of Malta

Sunday, March 1, 2015, 00:01 by Mark Anthony Falzon

Mgr Charles Scicluna comes across as an intelligent, humane and outstandingly eloquent person. He has said that reform of the Curia will be high on his agenda as Archbishop.

Which is a good sign, because it suggests two things. First, that his point of departure will be to tidy up his own house. Second, that his approach will be restrained and realistic. I would have loathed someone who said he wanted to transfigure Maltese society with his smile or some such nonsense.

I don’t think Scicluna will be foregrounding himself to lead by charisma. He is more Pope Benedict than Pope Francis. We can expect clarity of thought and expression, a respect for tradition and ritual, and a sense of custodianship. I wouldn’t be surprised if he borrowed his episcopal motto from the watch advert: “You never actually own the Church; you merely look after it for the next generation”.

There are several reasons why his planned reform of the Curia stands a good chance of success.
Unlike Archbishop Emeritus Paul Cremona, who joined the court very much as an outsider clueless to its intrigue, Scicluna can draw on his experience as Auxiliary Bishop and more recently Apostolic Administrator. In many ways he has been the de facto mover since 2012.

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.

WEST VIRGINIA
Bluefield Daily Telegraph

Posted: Sunday, March 1, 2015

By SAMANTHA PERRY Bluefield Daily Telegraph

• December 12, 2013: Timothy Probert, a former youth volunteer at Westminster Presbyterian Church and mentor with the Working to Eliminate Child Abuse and Neglect program, is arrested on 38 counts of child sexual abuse related charges.

• December 18, 2013: A Bluefield Daily Telegraph investigation reveals Probert was accused of similar crimes in 1999.

• February 4, 2014: Graphic testimony is recounted during Probert’s preliminary hearing by Sgt. M.D. Clemons, with the West Virginia State Police Crimes Against Children Unit. Probable cause is found, and the case is bound over to the grand jury.

• March 2014: Probert is placed on house arrest after a man testifies at a hearing that he was propositioned by Probert when he went to his Bluefield home seeking to do yard work or other labor.

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.

WEST VIRGINIA
Bluefield Daily Telegraph

Posted: Sunday, March 1, 2015

By SAMANTHA PERRY Bluefield Daily Telegraph

PRINCETON — A special judge has been called in to try the case of a former church volunteer accused of sexually molesting young boys after all three Mercer County circuit court judges recused themselves from the case.

Retired Fayette County Judge Charles Vickers has been appointed to try the case of Timothy Probert, 56, of Mercer County, who is facing 50 charges related to alleged sexual abuse of children, Prosecuting Attorney Scott Ash said.

Probert was indicted in February on the charges. Ash said after indictments are handed down, cases are assigned to the judges.

“It came out assigned to (Judge Omar) Aboulhosn,” Ash said. Aboulhosn cited a conflict of interest, and the case was then sent to judges Derek Swope and William “Bill” Saddler, who also cited conflicts of interest.

Because the judges disqualified themselves, a senior status judge was assigned to the case, Ash said.

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

BRAZIL
The New York Times

Associated Press

RIO DE JANEIRO — Brazilian authorities said Saturday they arrested a self-professed minister put on a U.S. most-wanted list for allegedly molesting two girls in a “Maidens Group” at his religious fellowship in rural Minnesota.

A statement posted on the website of the Public Security Secretariat for the Rio Grande do Norte state government reported the arrest of Victor Arden Barnard, 53. The U.S. Marshals Service also confirmed the arrest in a statement.

The Brazilian statement said police captured Barnard late Friday in an apartment near a paradisiacal white-sand beach in northeastern Brazil. He was being held in the city of Natal to await extradition to face charges in the U.S.

Barnard, who faces 59 counts of criminal sexual conduct, was on the most-wanted list of the U.S. Marshals Service.

According to a criminal complaint in the U.S., two women said they were among about 10 girls and young women who were chosen to live apart from their families in a camp that Barnard set up near Finlayson, Minnesota, about 90 miles north of Minneapolis.

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.

UNITED STATESf
PopeCrimes& Vatican Evils.

Paris Arrow

The Roman Catholic Church used to be a safe haven for gay priests and pedophile priests – where they were guaranteed to find gay partners in the most exclusive boys’ club on earth – and where they could tap on an ample source of supply of little boys (and girls) in Catholic churches packed with idiots Catholics, in parochial schools run by stupid Catholic nuns, in devout Pope John Paul II & rosary worshipping Catholic families, in rectories filled with adulating altar boys. And with additional perks to – the sure supply of gay men and little boys – priests had the backing of the Vatican Billions and the cover-up of bishops and cardinals and popes who imposed secrecy on their clandestine gay and pedophilia orgies – especially the two new saints John XXIII and John Paul II – thus making the Catholic Church as the most secure place for gay priests and pedophile priests to satiate their bestial priestly lust for gay men and young boys (and girls).

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

MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

Article by: JENNIFER BROOKS and LIZ SAWYER , Star Tribune staff writers Updated: February 28, 2015

His arrest on sexual assault charges ended global manhunt

A Minnesota cult leader who had been the subject of a yearlong global manhunt was arrested Saturday in a beach town in Brazil.

Victor Arden Barnard, 53, was wanted on 59 counts of sexual assault on girls and young women in the isolated religious community he founded in Pine County. The U.S. Marshals Service coordinated with Brazilian military and law enforcement officials, who arrested Barnard early Saturday. Pictures of a handcuffed Barnard appeared in the Brazilian newspaper O Globo.

The arrest took place in a condominium by Pipa Beach, considered one of Brazil’s most beautiful coastal locations. Barnard was reportedly staying with a 33-year-old Brazilian woman who previously lived in the U.S. Federal police confiscated religious papers, diaries, computers, flash drives and cellphones from the condo.

Two young women have told Minnesota investigators that Barnard raped them after they were chosen, at ages 12 and 13, to be separated from their families and live near him as part of a cloistered group he called his “maidens” in the River Road Fellowship near Finlayson.

One of the women who stepped forward to report Barnard was Lindsay Tornambe, who was 13 when Barnard informed her parents that he had chosen her to join the maidens. She told Pine County sheriff’s investigators that Barnard raped her soon afterward, and that the abuse continued for the next nine years.

“I am ready to have him locked up,” Tornambe told the Star Tribune. “As soon as I got the news, I started crying. It feels so surreal. I knew the day would come, but it finally came and it’s almost numbing.”

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
Minnesota Public Radio

Lorna Benson Minneapolis, Minn.
Feb 28, 2015

Victor Arden Barnard, wanted by Pine County for 59 counts of criminal sexual assault, was arrested Friday night in Rio de Janeiro, the U.S. Marshals Service has confirmed.

Brazilian media outlets reported earlier in the day that the former Minnesota cult leader accused of sex crimes involving underage girls was taken in to custody at a beach condominium in the state of Rio Grande do Norte.

Barnard, 53, has been a fugitive since he was charged in Pine County last April. Pine County authorities allege that Barnard assaulted girls as young as 12 years old between 2000 and 2009. The girls were members of a Christian group Barnard led called the River Road Fellowship, based near Finlayson.

The arrest involved coordination between the U.S. Marshals Service International Investigations Branch and law enforcement and military in Brazil. Barnard will be held in Brazil until he is formally extradited to Pine 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.

MINNESOTA
Daily Mail

Fugitive American sect leader arrested in Brazil over allegations he sexually abused two girls at his Minnesota camp over a period of ten years

By Myriah Towner For Dailymail.com and Associated Press

A self-professed minister and one of America’s Most Wanted for allegedly molesting two girls in a ‘Maidens Group’ has been arrested following a year-long search, according to Brazilian authorities.

Victor Arden Barnard, 53, was captured late Friday in an apartment near paradisiacal white-sand Pipa Beach in northeastern Brazil, along with a 33-year-old Brazilian woman, who he was reportedly living with.

Authorities were eventually able to determine that Barnard was living in Brazil and coordinated efforts with Brazilian police to arrest him, according to CBS Minnesota.

He faces 59 counts of criminal misconduct after two women said they were among ten girls and women, who were chosen to live apart from their families and with him at his River Road Fellowship camp in rural Minnesota.

One woman alleged Barnard sexually abused her beginning at age 13 and continued until she was 22, while the other said her abuse occurred between the ages 12 and 20.

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
Concord Monitor

By BRAD BROOKS and AMY FORLITI
Associated Press

Saturday, February 28, 2015
(Published in print: Sunday, March 1, 2015)

Brazilian authorities said yesterday they arrested a self-professed minister put on a U.S. most-wanted list for allegedly molesting two girls in a “Maidens Group” at his religious fellowship in rural Minnesota.

A statement posted on the website of the Public Security Secretariat for the Rio Grande do Norte state government reported the arrest of Victor Arden Barnard, 53. The U.S. Marshals Service also confirmed the arrest in a statement.

The Brazilian statement said the police captured Barnard late Friday in an apartment near a paradisiacal white-sand beach in northeastern Brazil. He was being held in the city of Natal to await extradition to face charges in the U.S.

Bernard, who faces 59 counts of criminal sexual conduct, was on the most-wanted list of the U.S. Marshals Service.

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
KAAL

[with video]

(ABC 6 News) — A Minnesota man wanted for 59 felony counts of criminal sexual assault from allegations that he abused young women while acting as their pastor was arrested in Brazil Friday.

According to the U.S. Marshals Service, District of Minnesota, 53-year-old Victor Arden Barnard was arrested in Pipa, Rio Grande do Norte—the northernmost part of Brazil.

Barnard allegedly assaulted young women at a compound he established in Finlayson called River Road Fellowship.

According to a report from the U.S. Marshals Service, Barnard recruited members from all over the country to attend services at the compound and convinced several of his followers to allow their daughters to live with him there.

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
International Business Times

By Mark Hanrahan
@markdhanrahan m.hanrahan@ibtimes.com on March 01 2015

A fugitive Minnesota cult leader, who is wanted in connection with a long list of sex charges in the U.S. was arrested in Brazil Saturday, according to media reports.

Victor Arden Barnard, 53, was arrested late Friday by Brazil’s military police at a condominium in the beach resort of Pipa, on the southern coast of Rio Grande do Norte. Also arrested was a 33-year-old Brazilian woman, who police said was giving cover to Barnard, Brazil’s Globo News reported.

Barnard is wanted in the U.S. on 59 counts of sexual assault. A criminal complaint alleges that he sexually abused two girls, beginning from the time they were aged 12 and 13, for up to a decade.

In the mid 1990s, when Barnard was a Minnesota pastor, he set up an isolated religious community called “Shepard’s Camp”, in the town of Finlayson. and convinced some of his followers to send their first-born daughters to live with him there, where they were known as “the maidens”.

The girls lived under Barnard’s supervision, and sewed, cooked and cleaned for him. He reportedly told the girls that he was Christ on Earth. “Everything that a wife would do, they did for him,” Ruth Johnson, a former member of Barnard’s River Road Fellowship told CNN.

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.

BRAZIL
CNN

[with video]

By Steve Almasy, CNN
Updated 12:20 AM ET, Sun March 1, 2015

(CNN)Victor Arden Barnard, an American pastor wanted for 59 counts of sexual assaults in Minnesota, was arrested by Brazilian authorities on Friday, the office of the governor for the State of Rio Grande do Norte said Saturday.

The 53-year-old suspect was wanted by the Pine County, Minnesota, Sheriff’s Office for allegedly sexually abusing two young girls who were members of his church, the U.S Marshals Service said.

Barnard — who was featured on CNN’s “The Hunt With John Walsh” in 2014 and again earlier this week — was last seen in the United States in Raymond, Washington, in 2014.

In April of that year, prosecutors in Pine County, Minnesota, issued a criminal complaint that accused him of 59 felony counts of criminal sexual conduct. The manhunt began after a two-year investigation into allegations from two women about Barnard’s alleged conduct while he was preaching to a religious group in Finlayson, Minnesota.

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.

UNITED STATES
Sky News

A self-proclaimed pastor accused of systematically assaulting two young girls at his religious fellowship in the US has been arrested – 11 months after he went on the run.

Victor Arden Barnard, who was one of America’s most-wanted men, was detained by police in Brazil – following a raid on an idyllic apartment near a beach resort.

He faces 59 counts of sexual assault against the girls, who investigators believe were abused throughout their teenage years between 2000 and 2012.

They were among 10 young women who had moved away from their families to live at his camp in rural Minnesota – and both victims were apparently housed in isolation, enabling the abuse to take place.

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.

GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Written by
Tim Rohr

Each Lent the Catholics of Guam are asked to contribute to a special “appeal.” Traditionally, most of the funds collected during the appeal were used to help finance the formation of priests for this diocese who were normally sent to seminaries in the states.

In 2002, with the establishment of Redemptoris Mater Seminary, or RMS, in Yona, Guam Catholics were led to believe that this was a seminary for Guam and that our men would no longer have to be sent to seminaries in the states. Appeal funds began to flow directly to RMS.

Over the years, it occurred to some that there was something suspicious about RMS. Not only were there hardly any local men there, the place was teeming with seminarians who had been brought to Guam by the archbishop from several other countries.

Guam Catholics are used to having clergy from other countries assist our archdiocese, but these men at RMS were not clergy. They were untrained aspirants to the priesthood who required years of education and financial support — our financial support.

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.

UNITED STATES
Religion News Service – Rhymes with Religion

[An Advocate for the Sexually Abused Demands Answers from Prestonwood Baptist Church – Dallas Observer]

Boz Tchividjian | Feb 28, 2015

Earlier this week, the Dallas Observer published a cover story about a former minister who was recently convicted of sexually abusing children in Mississippi. According to the article, prior to this offender getting caught for these crimes, he served as a youth minister in a Dallas area megachurch. The story reports that while serving in that position, a minor who had been part of the youth group stepped forward and disclosed to another pastor on staff that this individual had sexually abused him. The article reported that instead of reporting the youth minister to the police, the megachurch allowed him to leave town where he eventually found employment at another church. Not only did the church fail to report the offense and warn others about this offender, but also it made no effort to find out if there were others who had also been victimized by this man who had virtual unrestricted access to children.

Why do so many churches fail to do the right thing when they learn that one of their own has been accused of sexual abuse? All too often it’s because the victimized are repeatedly overshadowed by the need to protect a “righteous” reputation. I’m afraid it’s a rationale embraced by so many church leaders because it’s convenient and sounds so “godly”. Here is an example of this distorted thought process:

The reputation of the church will be damaged when the public learns that it employed an alleged child molester -> a church whose reputation is damaged will lose members -> a church that loses members is a church that loses income -> a church that loses income is a church that will be required to tighten it’s budget, including reducing salaries and laying off staff -> a dwindling church is a church that has less relevance in the community -> a church that has less relevance in the community is a church that is failing to impact the world for Jesus.

Tragically, this type of response to the evils of abuse destroys lives, emboldens offenders, and produces churches that are rotting at the core. There’s nothing “righteous” about it.

Tragically, this type of response to the evils of abuse destroys lives, emboldens offenders, and produces churches that are rotting at the core. There’s nothing “righteous” about it.

What is the right thing to do when a church learns that one of its own has been accused of victimizing a child? First and foremost, it must immediately turn its focus and care away from institutional reputation and towards the victimized and the vulnerable. Though there are multitudes of ways this can be done, let me suggest three basic first steps for a church that cares:

1. Caring for the victim: A church that cares will encourage and assist the victim to immediately report the crime to the police, regardless of the consequences such a report will have upon the church’s reputation. A church that cares will immediately remove the alleged offender from the church staff and prohibit him/her from being on the church premises. A victim should never have to fear encountering this offender in the place that should be the safest. A church that cares will work tirelessly to connect the victim and his/her family with qualified and professional assistance and provide the necessary financial resources for such assistance…with no strings attached.

2. Caring for other potential victims: A church that cares will inform its members of the allegations knowing that sexual offenders often have many victims. It will also encourage them to immediately report any suspected abuse to the police. A church that cares will not limit its efforts to only current members. It will reach out to those who previously attended the church and had interactions with the perpetrator and may have been targeted for abuse. A church that cares will not sleep until each and every person victimized by the offender has been found. A church that cares will offer to provide any newly discovered victims the resources to receive any needed professional assistance.

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.

UNITED KINGDOM
The Spectator

Damian Thompson

Ever since Cardinal George Pell was appointed by Pope Francis to clean up the Vatican’s finances, I knew a hit job was coming; and I was doubly certain when he spoke up for orthodox cardinals when their views were being trashed by the liberal organisers of the chaotic ‘Carry On Synod’ on the Family.

The Sydney Morning Herald, no fan of Pell in his days as Archbishop of Sydney, has accused him of ‘living it up at the Holy See’s expense’. They cite leaked documents purporting to show he rented an office and apartment in Rome at a cost of £2,580 a month – which, unless I’ve got the figures wrong, isn’t very expensive. Plus £1,270 on ‘religious robes’. Oh, for God’s sake. As a senior cardinal, Pell is required to wear a soutane plus other bits of church uniform, and since he’s massively tall with a rugby player’s build I’m guessing they can’t come off the peg.

He travels business class, too. As he should. Again, this is one hell of a big bloke, getting on a bit, with heart problems and a terrifyingly ambitious brief from Francis. It didn’t take him long to identify hundreds of thousands of euros hidden in the Vatican accounts. He revealed this in an article for the Catholic Herald, at which point we all knew that the Vatican mafia would arrange for him to have a little PR ‘accident’.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

The Vatican spokesman informed that the Vatican’s financial statements for 2014 will be published in the next few months, along with the estimated budgets for 2015 for all of the entities of the Holy See, including the Secretariat

IACOPO SCARAMUZZI
VATICAN CITY

The Vatican spokesman Fr. Federico Lombardi has responded to a series of articles published in today’s issue of Italian weekly news magazine L’Espresso, on the internal struggles purportedly going on within the Vatican regarding the ongoing economic reforms. “Passing confidential documents to the press for polemical ends or to foster conflict is not new, but is always to be strongly condemned, and is illegal,” Fr. Lombardi said. “The fact that complex economic or legal issues are the subject of discussion and diverse points of view should be considered normal. In light of the views expressed, the Pope issues guidelines, and everybody follows them.” And finally, “the article makes direct personal attacks that should be considered undignified and petty.” The Vatican spokesman also announced that the Secretariat for the Economy headed by George Pell “is expected in the next few months to publish the financial statements for 2014 and the estimated budgets for 2015 for all of the entities of the Holy See, including the Secretariat itself.”

Recalling the Vatileaks days, the title today’s issue of L’Espresso, a preview of which was available yesterday, reads: “Santa Romana Spesa” (Holy Roman Expenditures) with a sub-heading which translates as: “Struggles breaks out once again in the Curia over control of finances, hospitals and real estate property. Pope Francis’ reforms are at risk. An exclusive inquiry into what is going on inside the Vatican walls”. At the heart of the inquiry, is the Prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy, Australian cardinal George Pell, especially in two of the articles titled respectively: “Peccati cardinali” (Cardinal sins) and “I lussi del moralizzatore” (The luxuries of a moralizer).

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MEXICO
Sopitas

[Priest Eduardo Cordova Bautista of the San Luis Potosi diocese is wanted in 180 countries thought the Interpol international police agency. He is wanted in connection with allegations that he sexually abused 19 young people.]

El sacerdote que llegó a fungir como representante de la Arquidiócesis de San Luis Potosí, de nombre Eduardo Córdova Bautista, es buscado en 180 países a través de la Policía Internacional de la Interpol por el abuso sexual de 19 menores.De acuerdo con el procurador de Justicia de SLP, Miguel Ángel García Covarrubias, se tramitó una alerta migratoria en la Interpol Washington ante el supuesto caso de que el cura intente entrar o salir de Estados Unidos.El procurador de Justicia emitió esta respuesta en un comunicado luego de que defensores de las víctimas protestaran, acusando que el gobierno de San Luis Potosí protege al prófugo sacerdote pederasta.

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LOUISIANA
WDSU

[with video]

A local youth pastor is accused of having an inappropriate relationship with a 14-year-old girl. Jonathan Bailey has been charged with one count of indecent relationship with a juvenile.

Bailey, 33, is married and was working as youth minister at Lakeview’s First Baptist New Orleans Church. He had been with the church for 2 years.

The church’s head pastor, David Crosby, said surveillance cameras captured an “uncomfortable” situation, which prompted him to talk to the girl in the video.

“When I talked to her and heard her story, that’s when I realized this is something I have to report to police,” Crosby said.

He fired Bailey, escorted him off church grounds and called police to file a report.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Big Trial

By Ralph Cipriano
for Bigtrial.net

When we last saw “Father Andy” McCormick nearly a year ago, thanks to a deadlocked jury, the priest was strolling out of the Criminal Justice Center as a free man.

Today, in Courtroom 1102, the priest was back in court with a new lawyer facing the same accuser. And some long odds in a retrial.

The alleged victim in the case is a slender, gay 27-year-old business manager for a large New York City cosmetics firm. He claims that back during the 1997-98 school year when he was a 10-year-old altar boy in fourth grade, Father Andy lured the boy up to his room in the rectory at St. John Cantius Church in Bridesburg. Then, according to the alleged victim, the priest locked the door, shoved the boy down on the bed, tore off his clothes, and tried to jam his penis in the boy’s mouth.

The alleged victim waited 15 years before coming forward to say what happened. Today in court he told the jury that unlike another former 10-year-old altar boy that we know of, he’s not in this for the money. That’s why he hasn’t filed a civil suit seeking damages, the alleged victim told the jury.

“I don’t need to, I have a pretty successful career,” he said. The only reason why he’s doing this, he told the jury, is to make sure “another little kid doesn’t go through this.”

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DEUTSCHLAND
Sexueller Missbrauch durch Angehörige der katholischen Kirche im Bistum Trier

Claudia Adams

Der Münchner Rechtsanwalt Thomas Pfister sagte der Katholischen Nachrichten-Agentur (KNA), ein großes Problem bei Sexualstrafverfahren sei die Unehrlichkeit der Täter. Wenn sie die Taten bestritten, sei dies stets gleichbedeutend mit dem Vorwurf der Lüge an die Adresse der Opfer. Ein ehrlich gemeintes Geständnis müsse eigentlich zum Prozessauftakt abgelegt werden. “Sonst liegt der Verdacht nahe, dass es nur taktisch motiviert ist, um einer Haftstrafe ohne Bewährung zu entgehen”, sagte der Strafverteidiger.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Katholisch

[An association of victims of abuse at Ettal Monastery said giving their abuser probation is no penalty.]

Kloster Ettal | 27.02.2015 – München

Der Verein Ettaler Missbrauchs- und Misshandlungsopfer hält die vom Landgericht München II dem geständigen Pater G. zugesagte Bewährungsstrafe für problematisch. Aus Sicht von Missbrauchsopfern sei es keine Strafe, “wenn jemand nicht einmal eine Woche ins Gefängnis muss”, sagte der Vereinsvorsitzende Robert Köhler am Freitag auf Anfrage der Katholischen Nachrichten-Agentur (KNA) in München. Eine solche Sanktion werde dem “Vergeltungsbedürfnis der Opfer” nicht gerecht.

Zugleich würdigte Köhler die grundsätzliche Bedeutung des Geständnisses. Damit könne nicht mehr bezweifelt werden, dass es diese Übergriffe gegeben habe. Der Ordensmann hatte nach jahrelangem Leugnen am Donnerstag sich im Sinne der Anklage für schuldig bekannt. Demnach hat er als Internatspräfekt in Kloster Ettal zwischen 2001 und 2005 drei Schüler insgesamt 23 Mal sexuell missbraucht. Das Gericht hatte ihm zuvor für den Fall eines Geständnisses eine zur Bewährung ausgesetzte Haftstrafe von nicht mehr als zwei Jahren in Aussicht gestellt. Eines der Opfer soll noch als Zeuge vernommen werden, bevor am 11. März ein Urteil erwartet wird.

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VATIKAN
Katholisch

Gegen den Chef des vatikanischen Wirtschaftssekretariates, Kardinal George Pell, regt sich einem Pressebericht zufolge starker Widerstand in der Kurie. Laut dem italienischen Nachrichtenmagazin “L’Espresso” (Freitag) wehrt sich das Kardinalsgremium der vatikanischen Güterverwaltung APSA gegen die Beschneidung ihrer Kompetenzen durch die von Papst Franziskus geschaffene Behörde.

Die Kardinäle werfen dem 73-jährigen Pell demnach vor, er versuche, immer weitere Verwaltungsbereiche unter seine Kontrolle zu bringen, und stoße dabei die Mitarbeiter anderer Dikasterien vor den Kopf. Das Wirtschaftssekretariat soll gemeinsam mit dem Wirtschaftsrat die Finanz- und Immobilienbestände des Vatikan erfassen und in eine gemeinsame Bilanz bringen.

Teure Kleidung und Dienstflüge

Der APSA-Präsident, Kardinal Domenico Calcagno, habe bei Franziskus persönlich gegen Maßnahmen Pells protestiert, schreibt das Blatt. Der Chef des Wirtschaftssekretariates habe Calcagno zuvor per E-Mail mitgeteilt, er werde die Umformung der APSA zu einem bloßen Schatzamt “ohne jede Verzögerung” umsetzen.

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VATIKAN
Kurier

Machtkämpfe, Finanzeinfluss, Verschwendungssucht und Luxusausgaben: Das sind die Zutaten des neuen “Vatileaks”-Skandals, der in Rom für Aufregung sorgt. Das Wochenmagazin L’Espresso hat geheime Dokumente veröffentlicht, die von einem erbitterten Machtkampf unter Kardinälen über den Einfluss auf die Finanzen des Kirchenstaats zeugen. Dabei geht es um lukrative Geschäfte in Millionen-Euro-Höhe.

Zwei Lager

Der Unmut der Purpurträger richtet sich dabei vor allem gegen eine Person: Kardinal George Pell. Der 73-jährige Australier wurde vor rund einem Jahr von Papst Franziskus mit der Leitung des neuen Wirtschaftssekretariats, das die vatikanischen Finanzen kontrolliert, beauftragt. Auch bei der umfassenden Kurienreform des Pontifex, die auf Widerstand stößt, spielt George Pell eine tragende Rolle. Er ist Mitglied des Kardinalrats, einer achtköpfigen Gruppe, die dem Papst bei der Kurienreform zur Seite stehen.

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PENNSYLVANIA
The Altoona Mirror

February 28, 2015
By Ryan Brown (rbrown@altoonamirror.com) , The Altoona Mirror

Bishop Mark L. Bartchak, head of the Altoona-Johnstown Roman Catholic Diocese, has suspended a Philipsburg priest amid a review of decades-old child sex abuse allegations, diocese officials announced Friday in a news release.

The Rev. Robert Kelly of SS. Peter and Paul parish in Philipsburg will be kept away from children and forbidden to serve as a priest until the diocese completes an internal investigation, spokesman Tony DeGol said. Kelly, 66 – who has served across the diocese, including in Altoona – was named in a 2003 lawsuit that alleged he’d abused an altar boy in the 1970s.

The diocese settled that case and several others a year later. Kelly remained the parish priest and continued to head the diocese’s missions office until his recent suspension.

“This was an old case that the bishop re-evaluated,” DeGol said Friday. “He just decided to re-evaluate it.”

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VATICAN CITY
Telegraph (UK)

Cardinal appointed by Pope Francis to reform Vatican budget accused of massive overspending

By Nick Squires, Rome 28 Feb 2015

A cardinal appointed by Pope Francis to introduce budgetary rigour and transparency to the Vatican’s murky finances spent half a million euros (£360,000) on business-class flights, furniture and other expenses, it emerged on Friday.

Cardinal George Pell, a former archbishop of Sydney, was appointed as the Vatican’s new finance czar last year as the Pope embarked on sweeping reforms of the Holy See’s economy.

But his apparent taste for luxury and good living stands in stark contrast to the frugality and austerity espoused by the Pope, who lives in a modest residence rather than the opulent Apostolic Palace and has eschewed grand motorcades in favour of humble hatch-backs.

Cardinal Pell reportedly spent 501,000 euros between July last year and January this year on business class flights, ceremonial clothing, wallpaper, tapestries and furniture, including 4,600 euros on a designer kitchen unit.

“What, is it made of gold?” the Pope reportedly asked him when told of the kitchen unit. …

There was speculation that they were leaked in order to discredit Cardinal Pell, whose reform efforts have reportedly made him powerful enemies within the Curia, the Vatican’s governing body.

He has long been known to enjoy the trappings of power and privilege – he is one of the few cardinals still to don the “cappa magna”, a long silk scarlet cloak that has to be carried by an assistant.

The leaked documents showed that the former rugby player has come up against fierce opposition within the Vatican hierarchy to the financial reforms he has implemented on behalf of the Pope.

The Vatican angrily condemned the leaking of the documents but did not deny their authenticity.

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OKLAHOMA
Tulsa World

By AMANDA BLAND World Staff Writer

A Tulsa man accused of sexually abusing boys he met through church and as a volunteer at a local Department of Human Services shelter was bound over on 14 criminal counts Friday.

Special Judge Cliff Smith ordered Timothy Shawn Cato, 50, to stand trial on two counts of sexual abuse of a child under the age of 12, a single count of possessing child pornography and 11 counts of child sexual abuse — five of which prosecutors added Friday.

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FLORIDA
News-Journal

By Katie Kustura & Frank Fernandez
katie.kustura@news-jrnl.com frank.fernandez@news-jrnl.com

Published: Friday, February 27, 2015

The ex-wife of a former Warner Christian Academy teacher sentenced last month to 210 years in federal prison maintained a list of suspicious incidents starting more than a decade ago between her husband and children, according to police reports released Friday.

Matthew Graziotti, who had refused to speak with investigators, was a skilled sexual predator who used his position as a schoolteacher, summer camp director and church volunteer to get close to children, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Karen Gable, who prosecuted the 43-year-old.

Graziotti was given a hefty prison sentence by U.S. District Judge Roy B. Dalton Jr. on Jan. 26 before a courtroom packed with angry adults, including Graziotti’s former wife who sent up the first red flags about Graziotti.

Edgewater police began looking into Graziotti in May 2004 when Susan Little of Edgewater Public School contacted police and asked if Graziotti was being investigated, according to a report. Former police detective Dan Blazi contacted Tim McCardel, the pastor at Friendship Community Church where Graziotti was listed as a youth minister, and asked if the pastor was aware of any criminal investigation into his youth minister, reports show.

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

Article by: JEAN HOPFENSPERGER , Star Tribune Updated: February 27, 2015

The archdiocese bankruptcy filing has stopped the lawsuits, but the public naming of clergy accused of sexually abusing children is picking up pace.

The bankruptcy filing of the Archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis has halted lawsuits against accused child sex abusers, but it has not stopped the public release of their names.

Seventeen priests, including such high-profile men as the late Catholic Charities leader Jerome Boxleitner and the late Auxiliary Bishop Leonard Cowley, were recently identified by victims’ attorney Jeff Anderson. The archdiocese also recently added five more names to its website, including the Rev. Freddy Montero, who returned to Ecuador in 2007 while under investigation for criminal sexual conduct.

The names will keep coming under terms of an agreement reached in October between the church and Anderson, and documentation of the incidents will follow.

Already about 180 people have filed abuse complaints with Anderson’s office, served notices of claims, or are in the process of having notices of claims sent on their behalf, said Mike Finnegan, a partner in Anderson’s firm.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Centre Daily Times

BY LORI FALCE
lfalce@centredaily.comFebruary 27, 2015

A Philipsburg priest will not be celebrating Mass or performing other duties after being placed on leave.

In a statement Friday, Altoona-Johnstown diocese Bishop Mark Bartchak announced that the Rev. Robert Kelly was “on leave from active ministry” because of allegations of sexual misconduct involving minors dating back more than 30 years.

Kelly is the pastor of Sts. Peter and Paul in Philipsburg and director of the diocesan office of the Propagation of the Faith. He has been in Philipsburg since 2001. Kelly, 66, became a priest in 1974. According to the diocese, he has “served assignments at various parishes throughout the diocese.”

In 2003, Kelly was accused of molesting an altar boy at Our Lady of Victory in State College before his transfer to Philipsburg.

According to his accuser at that time, Kelly sexually abused him numerous times between 1974 and 1977, while he was 12 to 14 years old.

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VATICAN CITY
Irish Times

Paddy Agnew

Sat, Feb 28, 2015

The ghost of “Vatileaks” hung in the Vatican air yesterday following the publication by Italian news weekly, L’Espresso, of a report critical of Australian cardinal George Pell, the point man for Pope Francis in the “clean-up” of the Vatican’s finances.

L’Espresso alleges that in its first six months, the Secretariat for the Economy, an organisation established by Pope Francis to oversee the restructuring and rationalisation of the Holy See’s economic affairs, has already run up more than half a million euro in expenses.

The implication is that while Cardinal Pell, the prefect of the secretariat, has been busy preaching to the Curia about the steep and thorny path to fiscal rectitude, he himself has been treading the primrose path of dalliance.

To support these claims, L’Espresso provides an inventory of costs which include airline travel, lavish interior design renovations, job appointments and real estate rentals as well as computers and printers. In particular, it lists €2,508 worth of purchases made from Gammarelli, the clerical tailors, on behalf of the secretariat.

Right-hand man

Furthermore, the magazine alleges that shortly after his appointment to the new secretariat, Cardinal Pell appointed Danny Casey, the former business manager to the archdiocese of Sydney, as a sort of project manager for the secretariat on a tax-free salary of some €200,000 per annum.

The secretariat also provides Mr Casey with accommodation in central Rome at a cost of €2,900 per month, while almost €90,000 was spent on renovation of the apartment.

Cardinal Pell’s travel costs come in for scrutiny, too, with L’Espresso pointing out that he spent €1,293, €1,150 and €1,238 last year on flights to London, Dresden and Munich respectively. The implication here is that the cardinal likes to travel business class. Somewhat improbably, the magazine also suggests that he likes to “buy champagne and canape for everyone”.

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MINNESOTA
Canonical Consultation

02/27/2015

Jennifer Haselberger

When I worked at the Chancery in the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, the ‘Whom to Call List’ was an essential tool for the receptionists (who I supervised) as it helped them determine to whom they should forward the calls that were received via the general Chancery telephone number. From a more theoretical standpoint, the ‘list’ also outlined the way in which the Archdiocesan administration operated and understood itself. Competencies and areas of responsibility were zealously guarded by some members of staff, and so the accuracy of the list took on an internecine importance far greater than one would otherwise expect.

For that reason I was intrigued when, earlier this month, a copy of the 2015 ‘Whom to Call List’ (also referred to as the ‘Directory’) appeared in my inbox. Produced in January of 2015, the document provides some insight into how the Central Corporation is restructuring itself in light of the dismal financial condition of the Archdiocese (these are the employees that would be moving should the Archdiocese succeed in selling the Chancery, Hayden, and Dayton buildings). The effects of the layoffs can be seen in the frequent use of ‘refer calls to’, the reduced staffing of the Marriage Tribunal (increased, as well, by the addition of Father Joseph Gallatin), and in the larger departmental reorganization (there is no longer a Department of Parish Services, for instance).

There is a shift in priorities that is evident as well. While the Department of Worship (an important entity in an Archdiocese, no?) has a staff of two, teh much needed Office for Ongoing Clergy Formation only one, and the Catholic Schools department lists just six employees, there are sixteen employees in the Communications Department and eleven combined for Ministerial Standards and Protection of Children and Youth (including two ‘assistant investigators’ and a two consultants). On a positive note, the Archdiocese finally has an Office of Latino Ministry, and it is headed by someone who is actually a Latina.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

Alleged forged DPP letter was ‘bad quality photocopied document’, forensic expert tells detective’s trial

Nicola Donnelly
PUBLISHED
27/02/2015

A forensic expert has told the trial of a detective accused of forging a letter from the Director of Public Prosecutions that the letter was a “bad quality photocopied document.”

Inspector Michael Moore, who has completed forensic training courses with the US Secret Service and London Metropolitan Police and has 20 years experience in the forensic field, testified that he was asked to determine if the letter, dated January 14, 2004, allegedly from the office of the DPP, was genuine or if it was produced using parts of other documents.

Wicklow detective Garda Catherine McGowan (48), who is based at Bray Garda Station, has pleaded not guilty to one count of forgery on January 15, 2009 at Bray Garda Station and two counts of using a false instrument at Bray Garda Station and at Harcourt Street Garda Station between June 21 and 22, 2011.

The instrument is alleged to have been a letter from the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), dated January 14, 2009.

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VATICAAN
Kerknet

ROME (KerkNet/L’Espresso) – Het Italiaanse weekblad ‘L’Espresso’ publiceert vandaag vertrouwelijke documenten over de interne strijd binnen het Vaticaan over de financiële controle. Paus Franciscus is sinds zijn aantreden op vraag van het kardinaalscollege dat hem verkozen heeft gestart met een hervorming van de financiën van het Vaticaan, met het oog op financiële transparantie. De herstructurering is cruciaal voor alle andere hervormingen die paus Franciscus nog wil doorvoeren.
Pater Lombardi, de directeur van de persdienst van het Vaticaan, veroordeelde vrijdagavond tijdens een ontmoeting met journalisten dat vertrouwelijke documenten gepubliceerd worden, al voegde hij er zonder expliciete verwijzing naar ‘Vatileaks’ aan toe dat dit niet nieuw is. “Het is niet abnormaal dat ingrijpende economische of juridische hervormingen voorwerp van discussie zijn.”

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MARYLAND
WBAL

TOWSON, Md. —Rabbi Barry Freundel resigned Thursday as a professor at Towson University, university spokesman Ray Feldmann told WBAL-TV 11 News.

A rabbi and suspended Towson University professor accused of secretly videotaping more than 150 women at a Jewish ritual bath at Washington, D.C., synagogue pleads guilty Thursday to dozens of counts against him.

Freundel, 63, was arrested in October after a hidden camera disguised as a digital clock radio was discovered in the shower area of the National Capital Mikvah, a ritual cleansing bath affiliated with the Kesher Israel synagogue, where Freundel had worked as a rabbi for more than 25 years.

Last week, Freundel pleaded guilty to 52 misdemeanor counts of voyeurism for secretly videotaping more than 150 women.

Each count carries a maximum sentence of a year in prison and a fine of up to $1,000 or $2,500. Freundel faces a maximum of 52 years in prison along with potential fines when he is sentenced May 15.

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MARYLAND
The Baltimore Sun

By Alison Knezevich
The Baltimore Sun

A rabbi who pleaded guilty to voyeurism charges last week has resigned from his teaching post at Towson University.

Barry Freundel, who had taught at the university since 2009, submitted his resignation on Thursday, effective March 27, according to university spokesman Ray Feldmann.

The resignation comes after negotiations between the rabbi and the university, where he was a tenured faculty member. Freundel, 63, has been on paid leave since after his arrest in October. Since being suspended from his teaching duties, Freundel has been paid $26,084 by the university, Feldmann said. He will get an additional $4,746 in the next month.

The paid leave was in line with University System of Maryland personnel policy for tenured faculty accused of wrongdoing, Feldmann said.

An administrative hearing could have been a lengthy and costly process for the school, he said.

“This was something that was negotiated between the parties, and we feel it is within the university’s best interest,” Feldmann said of Freundel’s resignation.

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MARYLAND
Houston Chronicle

WASHINGTON (AP) — An Orthodox rabbi who pleaded guilty to videotaping nude women in a ritual bath in Washington has resigned from his post at Towson University in Maryland.

WJZ-TV reports (http://cbsloc.al/1vHy3jv ) that Barry Freundel, who pleaded guilty to 52 counts of voyeurism and admitted to secretly videotaping women in the changing room of a ritual bath in a Washington synagogue for years, turned in his resignation letter to Towson University on Thursday.

Freundel was an adjunct professor at both Towson and Georgetown universities

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PENNSYLVANIA
WJAC

Updated: Friday, February 27 2015

PHILIPSBURG, Pa. — The Altoona-Johnstown Diocese has placed the Rev. Robert J. Kelly on leave from active ministry as the result of allegations of sexual misconduct involving minors dating back more than 30 years.

Kelly, 66, has been serving as pastor of Saints Peter and Paul parish in Philipsburg and director of the Diocesan Office of the Propagation of the Faith. While on leave, Kelly will not be permitted to function as a priest, and he will reside at a place where he has no contact with children.

The Rev. John M. Gibbons has been appointed as temporary administrator at Saints Peter and Paul. Kelly was ordained to the priesthood in 1974. He was appointed director of the Office of the Propagation of the Faith in 1994, and appointed pastor of Saints Peter and Paul in 2001.

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PENNSYLVANIA
WJAC

February 27, 2015

HOLLIDAYSBURG, Pa. (AP) — A Roman Catholic priest in western Pennsylvania has been placed on leave due to sexual misconduct allegations dating back more than three decades.

The Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown placed the Rev. Robert Kelly on leave Friday from his role as the pastor of Saints Peter & Paul Parish in Philipsburg.

The 66-year-old priest hasn’t been charged criminally. A spokesman for the archdiocese says the allegations involving minors were first made several years ago.

The accusations were recently re-evaluated, and the bishop decided to place Kelly on leave.

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PENNSYLVANIA
We Are Central PA

PHILIPSBURG, CENTRE COUNTY – We have a developing story involving the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese. A Centre County priest was placed on leave Friday for accusations of sexual misconduct.

Rev. Robert Kelly has been serving as pastor of Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church in Philipsburg. In a statement, Bishop Mark Bartchak said the accusations involve children and they date back more than 30 years

While on leave, Kelly cannot serve as a priest and can have no contact with children. We did research and found that this is not the first time Rev. Kelly has been accused of sexual abuse

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