ABUSE TRACKER

WICHITA (KS)
Associated Press via WKSN

September 13, 2019

By Morgan Lee and Mary Hudetz

Santa Fe, NM – A former Roman Catholic priest who fled the country decades ago was sentenced Friday in New Mexico to 30 years in prison after a jury found him guilty of sexually abusing an altar boy at a veterans’ cemetery and military base.

In ordering the sentence, U.S. District Judge Martha Vazquez said it was the worst case of child sex abuse she has handled over the course of 26 years.

At one point, the judge demanded that 81-year-old defendant Arthur Perrault look a woman in the eyes as she testified about being abused by him.

The judge also condemned Perrault for only being concerned about his sexual needs.

“You chose as a profession the life of being a priest. It was supposed to be your job to help, not destroy,” she 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.

JEFFERSON CITY (MO)
Office of the Attorney General

September 13, 2019

The Missouri Attorney General’s Office identifies 12 cases for potential criminal prosecution, more than any other state attorney general.

[This press release includes a link to the AG’s report.]

St. Louis, Mo. – Today, Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt held a press conference to announce the findings of the investigation into allegations of sexual abuse by clergy members in the Roman Catholic Church. After an extensive review of the records of thousands of clergy members and conducting interviews with victims, the Attorney General’s Office will refer 12 former clergy members for potential criminal prosecution, the most of any state attorney general probe, and laid out suggested guidelines for the Catholic Church moving forward.

“Since I took office, one of my top priorities has been conducting a thorough, exhaustive review of allegations of abuse by clergy members in the Roman Catholic Church. Today, as a result of that review, we are announcing that we will refer 12 cases of alleged abuse to local prosecutors for further investigation and possible prosecution – more referrals than any other state attorney general.” said Attorney General Schmitt during the press conference.

Schmitt continued, “In cases in which local prosecutors should seek our assistance, we stand ready and willing to help. Additionally, we’ve provided concrete recommendations to the Catholic Church moving forward. I also want to thank the brave victims who have come forward to share their stories. To the victims: you didn’t deserve any of this. None of what happened to you was your fault. This report, our referrals for criminal prosecution, our aggressive and substantive suggestions for reform, will not change what happened in the past. But, they can change the trajectory of the future and ensure that this never happens again.”

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.

IRONDALE (AL)
Catholic News Agency via National Catholic Register/EWTN

Eric Schmitt’s report said that Catholic dioceses have less oversight over religious priests than their secular counterparts.

St. Louis – Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt referred 12 former clerics for potential criminal prosecution in a report released Friday on his investigation into sexual abuse of minors by Catholic clergy in the state.

“Since I took office, one of my top priorities has been conducting a thorough, exhaustive review of allegations of abuse by clergy members in the Roman Catholic Church. Today, as a result of that review, we are announcing that we will refer 12 cases of alleged abuse to local prosecutors for further investigation and possible prosecution — more referrals than any other state attorney general,” Schmitt, who is a Republican and a Catholic, said Sept. 13.

He added that his office will assist any local prosecutors who want to pursue charges.

“Additionally, we’ve provided concrete recommendations to the Catholic Church moving forward,” he added. He noted that his “suggestions for reform” are “aggressive and substantive.”

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.

PORTAGE (WI)
WKOW

September 13, 2019

Madison – The Madison Diocese has named an eighth priest “credibly accused” of sexually abusing a minor following a review by an outside firm.

The external review of diocesan personnel files, which was launched in June, adds one more priest to the seven previously named as having substantiated abuse allegations against them.

The Diocesan Sexual Abuse Review Board deemed accusations against John Eberhardy credible, making him the eighth priest on the list. Eberhardy died in 1992, according to the diocese. The diocese has previously named seven clergymen that had accusations of child sexual abuse substantiated by the diocesan Sexual Abuse Review Board: Archie Adams, Curtis Alvarez, J. Gibbs Clauder, Kenneth Klubertanz, Michael Trainor, Lawrence Trainor and Gerald Vosen.

All have either died or been removed from the priesthood.

But the organization Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, claimed Friday four additional former priests who have worked within the Madison Diocese have been either credibly accused of abuse by other dioceses or criminally convicted.

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.

COLUMBUS (OH)
WOSU

September 13, 2019

By Steve Brown

The Catholic Diocese of Columbus says it placed a priest on administrative leave after an allegation of sexual abuse of a minor. A diocese press release says the leave for Father Kevin Lutz, 69, is effective September 11, three days after he retired.

According to the diocese, the accusation was reported to the Chancery office one day after his retirement from St. Mary Parish in Columbus.

The accusation reportedly dates back to Lutz’s tenure at St. Christopher Parish between 1982-1986.

“A meeting of the Diocesan Board of Review for the Protection of Children will be convened in the near future to assess the results of the preliminary investigation and advise the Bishop as to whether or not it appears to be credible,” the release says. “If an allegation is determined to be credible, the Diocese of Columbus will execute the necessary judicial and administrative processes. A determination of credibility is never to be considered proof of guilt.”

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.

COLUMBUS (OH)
Columbus Dispatch

September 15, 2019

By Danae King

In the six months since the Roman Catholic Diocese of Columbus released a list of priests whom it deemed had been “credibly accused” of sexually abusing minors, it has added 14 more names and started a task force to study its policies and make recommendations to the bishop.

The task force, which was formed in May and still is being established, will have 12 to 15 members, including a parish priest and people in the fields of law enforcement, civil law, canon law and mental health. It will review all diocesan policies and procedures related to the sexual abuse of minors, Bishop Robert Brennan said.

“We want to rely on the best advice we can get,” Brennan said. “We want to involve laypeople; we want to involve a lot of people. It’s not just me sitting in a room.”

Regina Quinn, director of the diocese’s safe environment office and chairwoman of the task force, said her goal is to get all members of the task force in place this month.

Judy Jones, Midwest regional leader of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), calls the idea “typical.”

“They’ll start a task force or they’ll make a new policy,” Jones said. “They say all these things. We want to see some action.”

Brennan said, “We want to do things well,” which is why he decided to start by forming a task force instead of just making changes himself.

“I just need professionals to define it for me; I need to know exactly how these things (work). This isn’t my area of expertise,” he 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.

BRIDGEPORT (CT)
Connecticut Post

September 9, 2019

By Daniel Tepfer

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport has acknowledged for the first time that a prominent cleric, who according to court documents played a major role in hiding cases of abuse by priests, was “credibly accused” of abusing a child.

Monsignor William Genuario, who died in June 2015, had been the vicar general of the diocese and reviewed accusations of sexual abuse against priests. Genuario also was a prominent priest in Greenwich for almost 20 years.

The diocese also stated that another dead priest, the Rev. Vincent Cleary, was determined to have a credible allegation of abuse against him.

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.

TORONTO (CANADA)
Catholic News Service via Catholic Register of Archdiocese of Toronto

September 13, 2019

By Mike Latona

In the wake of nearly 50 lawsuits filed against it since New York’s Child Victims Act took effect Aug. 14, the Diocese of Rochester filed for reorganization Sept. 12, under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.

“This is a very difficult and painful decision,” Bishop Matano said in a video and letter to parishes released Sept. 12. The bishop read the letter at the beginning of a news conference held late that day at the diocesan pastoral center in Gates.

“But after assessing all reasonable possibilities to satisfy the claims, reorganization is considered the best and fairest course of action for the victims and for the well-being of the diocese, its parishes, agencies and institutions,” he said. “We believe this is the only way we can provide just compensation for all who suffered the egregious sin of sexual abuse while ensuring the continued commitment of the diocese to the mission of Christ.”

According to the United States Courts website, Chapter 11 is a voluntary action taken by organizations to settle claims on which they owe while remaining intact.

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.

ROCHESTER (NY)
WHEC

September 13, 2019

By Berkeley Brean

This weekend, hundreds of thousands of Catholics will go to Mass in the Rochester Diocese wondering what’s going to happen to their church now that the diocese filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. News10NBC is finding answers from a place that already went through this.

Starting in 2015, four dioceses in Minnesota filed for bankruptcy. The largest — Minneapolis, St. Paul — reached a settlement last year. So I contacted a former Rochester journalist and reporter at our sister station in Minnesota, Kevin Doran, to find out what happened.

Doran and his KSTP news team covered the story of the Archdiocese of Minneapolis, St. Paul when it filed for bankruptcy and emerged three years later.

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.

ROCHESTER (NY)
Rochester Beacon

September 13, 2019

By Will Astor

[This article links to Fr. Daniel J. Condon’s affidavit.]

In a long anticipated move as it faced an inevitable tide of claims by individuals seeking compensation for alleged sexual abuse, the Catholic Diocese of Rochester has asked court protection from creditors while it reorganizes.

A rash of sex-abuse claims against the Rochester Diocese began to pour in to local state courts last month when the Child Victims Act took effect. Signed into law by Gov. Andrew Cuomo Feb. 14, the act partially lifts a state statute of limitations that previously required victims claiming abuse to seek compensation before their 23rd birthday.

The partial lifting of the statute of limitations is temporary. The 2019 act, which extends the claimants’ window to file civil abuse claims to their 55th birthday, sunsets in August 2020. In the time (less than month and a half) that previously barred claims have been allowed, nearly 100 have filed or announced their intention to file civil sex-abuse charges against the Rochester Diocese.

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.

ROCHESTER (NY)
WHAM

September 13, 2019

by Tanner Jubenville

Most the lawsuits filed under the newly enacted Child Victims Act name the Diocese of Rochester, which is much of the reason why it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Thursday.

That law, which went into effect last month, opened a year-long window for sex abuse victims to file lawsuits against their alleged accusers. That included the Catholic Church.

But Thursday’s filing has changed how proceedings against the diocese will move forward.

“So all the cases that have been filed in state court, our cases, all the cases being drafted – all those need to be consolidated, and will be consolidated before the bankruptcy judge,” said attorney James Marsh, who is representing survivors of clergy abuse.

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.

WHITE PLAINS (NY)
Journal News

September 12, 2019

By Joseph Spector and Jon Campbell

https://www.lohud.com/story/news/politics/albany/2019/09/12/child-victims-act-sponsor-rochester-diocese-its-their-own-fault/2298998001/

Supporters of the Catholic Church in New York feared the Child Victims Act would force dioceses across the state into financial ruin.

On Thursday, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester became the first diocese in New York to file for bankruptcy protection, claiming it faces massive judgements for past sexual abuse within its organization.

Supporters of the Child Victims Act, which went into effect last month, had little sympathy for the diocese and others who may also go the bankruptcy route.

Victims “have every right now to go to court and seek justice, and if the institutions find themselves in financial difficulty, what I could say is: It’s their own fault,” Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal, a Manhattan Democrat and the bill’s sponsor, said Thursday.

The law revived previously expired claims from child sexual abuse victims, who have a one-year window to seek judgments against their abusers and the institutions who harbored them regardless of how long ago the abuse occurred.

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.

ALBANY (NY)
Times Union

September 12, 2019

By Cayla Harris

Institutions seek help from insurers after Child Victims Act went into effect Aug. 14

The Department of Financial Services on Thursday pushed insurers across the state to quickly resolve claims stemming from cases filed under the Child Victims Act.

The guidance, issued at the direction of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, notes that insurance companies may be liable for some damages awarded to survivors who pursue legal action under the CVA’s recently enacted one-year look-back period. The window temporarily eliminates the state’s statute of limitations, allowing survivors of all ages to pursue civil claims against their alleged offenders, reviving cases that are sometimes decades old.

More than 95 percent of the more than 600 cases filed in the state since the statute went into effect last month target institutions, primarily the Catholic Church and the Boy Scouts of America, who have invoked insurance policies to help cover settlements, according to attorneys familiar with the matter.

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.

ROCHESTER (NY)
Diocese of Rochester

September 12, 2019

By Doug Mandelaro

[The Diocese of Rochester also posted a letter from Bishop Salvatore Matano.]

Faced with multiple legal claims under the New York State Child Victims Act that exceed its resources to settle or litigate, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester today filed for reorganization under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.

The parishes of the Diocese and the agencies of Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Rochester are not part of the Chapter 11 filing. The 86 parishes are separately incorporated under New York State’s Religious Corporation Law. Charitable entities such as Catholic Charities are separately incorporated under New York’s Not for Profit Corporation Law. Their ministries and operations of parishes should not be directly affected by the Diocese’s Chapter 11 proceeding.

“This is a very difficult and painful decision,” Bishop of Rochester Salvatore R. Matano said in a Letter to the Faithful and video message today. “After assessing all reasonable possibilities to satisfy the claims, reorganization is considered the best and fairest course of action for the victims and for the well-being of the Diocese, its parishes, agencies and institutions. We believe this is the only way we can provide just compensation for all who suffered the egregious sin of sexual abuse, while ensuring the continued commitment of the Diocese to the mission of Christ.”

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.

CHICAGO (IL)
CBS 2 Chicago

Sept. 13, 2019

By Brad Edwards

The CBS 2 Investigators made a remarkable discovery about the statue of once-beloved Fr. John Smyth, the disgraced longtime leader of Maryville Academy in Des Plaines.

The bronze statue came to symbolize pain for grown men who have accused Smyth of sexually abusing them when they were children.

CBS 2 Investigator Brad Edwards sat down with the attorney representing a dozen accusers, and then he went to see the statue.

Smyth was a captivating figure. He was a star on the University of Notre Dame’s basketball team and selected by St. Louis in the 1957 NBA draft. He chose the priesthood instead. He was assigned to Maryville after ordination in 1962 and became its executive director in 1970 — a position he held until it was shuttered in 2004.

Smyth could have been a star in the NBA, yet he decided to take over a rundown orphanage in Des Plaines.

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.

WASHINGTON (DC)
Vox News

Sept. 13, 2019

By Jane Coaston

Jerry Falwell Jr. — president of Liberty University (one of the world’s largest Christian universities) and a prominent supporter of President Trump — has made headlines many times before. Most recently, however, the headlines have focused on a slow-moving series of scandals that threaten to bring down, or at least sully the reputation of, one of evangelical Christianity’s most famous families.

Earlier this week, Politico published a story connecting him and his wife Becki Falwell to a host of questionable real estate deals; possible self-dealing efforts to financially benefit members of the Falwell family; online poll manipulation; and visits to Miami nightclubs. (Liberty University forbids students from attending dances.) According to employees of the University, Falwell Jr. runs a “dictatorship” at Liberty, but said that speaking out about his conduct was necessary.

Falwell’s concerning behavior reportedly also includes his communications with students. As detailed by Reuters this week, Falwell described students at Liberty as “physically retarded” and “social misfits” in emails, the latter stemming from concern from students who wanted to work out at a Liberty-owned off-campus gym (which Falwell wanted to be kept private for Liberty executive use only).

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.

BILLINGS (MT)
Associated Press

Sept. 14, 2019

An attorney for the Jehovah’s Witnesses is asking the Montana Supreme Court to reverse a $35 million verdict against the church for not reporting a girl’s sexual abuse to authorities.

Last year, a jury awarded $4 million in compensatory damages and $31 million in punitive damages to a woman who says she was abused as a child in the mid-2000s.

The abuse was by a member of the Thompson Falls Jehovah’s Witness congregation who was previously accused of abusing two other family members.

Attorney Joel Taylor said Friday during oral arguments that church elders handled the allegations internally in accordance with church practices. He says state law exempts clergy following church doctrine or practice from reporting.

The woman’s attorney, Jim Molloy, says the church doesn’t qualify for the exemption.

The court did not make an immediate ruling.

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 ORLEANS (LA)
Associated Press

Sept. 14, 2019

A Louisiana court’s recent dismissal of a lawsuit against the NFL over officiating at a January playoff game is now being cited by attorneys for the Catholic Church as they fight civil lawsuits over alleged sex abuse by clergy.

A Tuesday filing by church attorneys quotes from the Supreme Court’s Sept. 6 decision dismissing a suit filed by attorney and Saints fan Antonio LeMon. LeMon and three others had sued the NFL for alleged fraud after officials failed to call blatant pass interference and roughness penalties during a key play in a Saints playoff loss to the Los Angeles Rams.

“Just as it is ‘not the role of judges and juries to be second-guessing the decision taken by a professional sports league purportedly enforcing its own rules,’ it is certainly not the role of judges and juries to adjudicate whether or not a religious entity such as the Archdiocese has complied with its own rules, doctrines, or policies,” the filing says. “Moreover, the right of religious entities to govern themselves is guaranteed by both the United States and Louisiana Constitutions, while professional sports leagues have no similar constitutional protection.”

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.

Patheos blog

Sept. 13, 2019

By Hemant Mehta

For more than a year now, ever since the Pennsylvania grand jury report was released, several state attorneys general have been investigating their own Catholic dioceses, looking into allegations of sexual abuse covering a span of decades.

Missouri’s AG Eric Schmitt announced yesterday that he’s now referring 12 priests’ names for prosecution (since, by law, he can’t prosecute them himself) from the list of 163 priests accused of wrongdoing. About half of them have died since their alleged crimes. For many others, the statute of limitations has run out. Another 16 were already referred to local prosecutors. All told, Missouri may be going after more priests than any other state in the country… so far.

In one case being referred for prosecution, a priest is reported to have shared a bed on “numerous instances” with young children before the diocese placed him on leave in 2016, according to the report.

In another, a priest was allowed to return to ministry after a 2015 allegation of “detailed unwanted and inappropriate hugging and kissing of an elementary school aged child.” The priest apparently left the country this year, the report says.

Some victims’ advocates say Schmitt hasn’t gone far enough. He may be prosecuting predator priests, but he has not yet gone after the Church leaders who knew about their crimes but never did anything about it. It’s unclear if there’s a clear path for him (and enough evidence) to pursue those charges in court.

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.

COLUMBUS (OH)
Columbus Dispatch

Sept. 13, 2019

By Danae King

The Rev. Kevin Lutz, a priest in Columbus and central Ohio for four decades who recently retired from St. Mary parish in German Village, has been placed on administrative leave following an allegation of sexual abuse of a minor.

Lutz, 69, was placed on leave Wednesday by Bishop Robert Brennan of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Columbus as part of a diocesan investigation into the allegation, according to a release from the diocese.

Lutz, who did not respond to a request for comment Friday, on Sunday announced his retirement from St. Mary, where he recently supervised a years-long renovation of the historic building. A day later, the accusation that Lutz had sexually abused a minor in the 1980s during his time at St. Christopher Parish on the Northwest Side was reported to the diocese, according to the release.

The abuse is alleged to have occurred from 1982 to 1986. The diocese said it reported the allegation to Columbus police on Monday, the same day it found out about it, and also told Lutz.

A Columbus police report, dated Friday, states that the victim was a 14-year-old male and that the incident occurred in 1984. No specific date or location was given.

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.

JEFFERSON (WI)
Associated Press

Sept. 14, 2019

A Wisconsin jury on Friday acquitted a retired Catholic priest on charges alleging that he had sexually assaulted an altar boy over several years, starting in 2006.

The Jefferson County jury found William Nolan, 66, not guilty of five counts of sexual assault following a weeklong trial.

The 26-year-old accuser, who lives in California, alleged that Nolan had sexual contact with him as many as 100 times, starting in 2006 when he was a middle school student at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Fort Atkinson, which is about 45 miles (72 kilometers) west of Milwaukee. Nolan was the parish priest there. The accuser said the abuse continued into his high school years.

Nolan testified that he did not have any physical contact with the boy other than a friendly hug one time, WKOW-TV reported. He said that when he heard of the allegations from police in 2018, he was “mad, angry because it didn’t happen.”

The accuser testified that he had sexual contact with Nolan in his church office, behind the church altar, at his home and during a school cross-country team practice.

Nolan testified that the boy could not have gone to his office undetected by staff and others.

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.

BALTIMORE (MD)
Archdiocese of Baltimore

Sept. 13, 2019

By Christopher Gunty

Clergy sexual abuse survivor Marie Collins kicked off a five-city U.S. speaking tour on “The Catholic Tipping Point” in Baltimore Sept. 10, noting that she is disappointed with the results of the Vatican summit on child protection and efforts toward accountability and transparency.

Collins, who was one of the original members of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, resigned from that group in 2017 because she was concerned that promised reforms were not being implemented and Vatican leaders were impeding the commission’s work.

Collins also met before her talk with Archbishop William E. Lori and members of the child and youth protection staff of the archdiocese and a few key members of the Independent Review Board that advises about child protection policies and procedures.

Speaking to a crowd of about 100 people at the First Unitarian Church of Baltimore, Collins said the abuse crisis has brought the church to a tipping point.

“The church has come to a crossroads,” she said. “It’s got to decide where it’s going to go next because if it doesn’t change, it’s going to lose everything.”

That would be a shame, she said, because the church does a great deal and there are many good people in the church. She said she no longer depends on whether the leadership of the church can effect change and that it is time for the laity to act.

Before the talk, Collins told the Catholic Review she was disappointed in the outcomes of a Vatican summit on child protection in February. “We had been told it would be about responsibility, accountability and transparency,” she said.

“What we saw come out of it was a (promise of) handbook for bishops — that has not come out yet — and a safeguarding policy for Vatican City, which if you look at it is nothing to boast about, because this is 2019. They should have had a safeguarding policy in position decades ago.”

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.

RUTLAND (VT)
Rutland Herald

Sept. 7, 2019

By Gordon Dritschilo

Editor’s note: A recent report issued by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Vermont listed 40 members of the clergy who had been accused of sex abuse and also served in parishes around Vermont during the past 50 or so years. Our ongoing coverage of the fallout of that long-awaited report and the years of abuse across the state, will include occasional stories of victims.

Dan Gilman said he was already at one of the lowest points in his life when he was molested by his now-defrocked priest, Edward Paquette.

“I had broken my neck in July 1972,” said Gilman, now 62. “I dove into an above-ground swimming pool … broke my neck at the C4 level and was instantly paralyzed from the shoulders down. I was 15 at the time.”

Gilman said everyone at Rutland Regional Medical Center told him he wouldn’t get out anytime soon, and he overheard a doctor saying his life expectancy was only nine years.

“I just shut down mentally,” he said. “Then, all of a sudden, Father Paquette waltzes into my life a week or so later.”

The priest gave Gilman communion, Gilman said, and told him that God could heal his injuries.

“The abuse started at the hospital while I was in traction — in bed with with weights attached to my skull,” he said. “He took credit for each little improvement and lack of pain that happened with the little rituals he did. … I fell for it hook, line and sinker.”

Gilman said Paquette molested him from August 1972 to October 1974, continuing to visit him when he moved home from the hospital. Then, one day, Paquette stopped coming. Gilman said nobody told him why.

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 (NY)
Huffington Post

Sept. 13, 2019

By Carol Kuruvilla

While preaching to his new Florida congregation last Sunday, Pastor Tullian Tchividjian spoke at length about how God offers unconventional, unconditional and sometimes, downright “infuriating” grace to everyone ― even those society considers outcasts.

Tchividjian referred to a biblical story about Jesus interacting with a group of men with leprosy, people who were outcast from their communities as a result of the illness.

“You could no longer work at the job that you had, you could no longer be around the people that love you, you were basically living with this death sentence,” Tchividjian told his Palm Beach Gardens church, describing the experiences of people with leprosy during Jesus’ time.

But then, the Bible says Jesus healed the men ― restoring them to their old lives.

“The one thing that seems to annoy people the most about God is his willingness to love, forgive and restore those whom we have decided deserve the exact opposite,” Tchividjian preached.

He could very well have been thinking about his own story.

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.

ALBUQUERQUE (NM)
Reuters

Sept. 13, 2019

A former Roman Catholic priest who fled to Morocco before he was returned to the United States and convicted of sexually abusing an altar boy in New Mexico in the 1990s, has been sentenced to 30 years in prison.

The US district judge, Martha Vazquez, imposed the sentence on Arthur Perrault, 81, a onetime Air Force chaplain and colonel.

“There are few acts more horrific than the long-term sexual abuse of a child,” said the US attorney, John Anderson, in a statement. “At long last, today’s sentence holds Perrault accountable for his deplorable conduct.”

Perrault was convicted by a federal jury in April on six counts of aggravated sexual abuse and one count of abusive sexual contact with a minor in 1991 and 1992 at Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque and at the Santa Fe National Cemetery, prosecutors said.

The victim, now an adult, testified that Perrault befriended him when he was 9 years old, showering him with gifts and trips before sexually assaulting him, prosecutors said.

Although he was convicted of abusing just one victim, prosecutors alleged in court filings that Perrault was a serial child molester who abused numerous young people over more than 30 years as a priest in New Mexico and Rhode Island.

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.

ST. LOUIS (MO)
MissouriNet

Sept. 13, 2019

By Ashley Byrd

Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt is referring twelve former clergy members accused of sexual abuse for prosecution. Schmitt’s office has concluded a year-long investigation into the four Catholic dioceses in the state.

In a Friday press conference in St. Louis, Schmitt said, “For decades, faced with credible reports of abuse, the church refused to acknowledge the victims and instead focused their efforts on protecting priests.”

The Missouri Attorney General’s Office must refer the cases to local prosecutors.

“In cases in which local prosecutors should seek our assistance, we stand ready and willing to help, he said Friday. “To the victims: you didn’t deserve any of this. None of what happened to you was your fault. This report, our referrals for criminal prosecution, our aggressive and substantive suggestions for reform, will not change what happened in the past. But, they can change the trajectory of the future and ensure that this never happens again.”

Schmitt, who is also Catholic, also outlined recommendations for church leaders: “Diocese [sic] should assume greater responsibility and oversight over all religious order priests and priest visiting or relocating from other dioceses; number two, the diocese should ensure that their independent review boards are composed entirely of laypeople and that the determinations of credibility and sanctions will be given authoritative weight with respect to the ability of the offending priest and minister in its diocese.”

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.

MADISON (WI)
Wisconsin State Journal

Sept. 14, 2019

By Logan Wroge

The Madison Diocese has named an eighth priest “credibly accused” of sexually abusing a minor following an outside review, but a support group of those abused by priests claims there are other abusive priests left off the list.

The external review of diocesan personnel files, which was launched in June, adds one more priest to the seven previously named as having substantiated abuse allegations against them. The diocese has also begun investigating recent accusations against another Catholic clergyman, while a retired Madison priest was acquitted Friday on charges of sexual abuse in Jefferson County.

“While on the one hand, I am encouraged by and grateful for past efforts to be thorough and transparent in these matters, the addition of even one priest to the list of those credibly accused of such horrible acts and sins is one too many,” Bishop Donald Hying said in a statement last week.

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.

COLUMBUS (OH)
WCMH TV

Sept. 13, 2019

A Columbus priest has been placed on administrative leave after an accusation of sexual abuse of a minor.

According to the Diocese of Columbus, an accusation was made against Father Kevin Lutz, 69. The incident allegedly occurred during his time at St. Christopher Parish in the Grandview area from 1982-1986.

Lutz announced his retirement from the ministry at St. Mary Parish in German Village, effective September 8. The diocese received the accusation the next day.

According to the diocese:

The same day, Diocesan officials had the allegation reported to Columbus Police and notified Father Lutz of the allegation. On September 11, the details of the allegation were reviewed with Father Lutz, he was formally placed on leave, and he was advised about the steps the Church would follow as a result of the allegation.

The diocese says the placement on administrative leave is not an indication that it has determined the allegation is credible. The investigation into the accusation has just begun.

Priests on administrative leave are prohibited from the public exercise of their priestly ministry. They cannot publicly celebrate sacraments, wear clerical attire, be housed at any parish or on diocesan property, or identify themselves as a member of the clergy.

Father Lutz has been a priest in the Diocese of Columbus since 1978.

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.

MISSOURI
CNN

September 13, 2019

By Daniel Burke

Cases date from 1945 to present day

Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt on Friday said he is referring 12 cases of alleged sexual abuse by members of the Catholic clergy to local authorities for possible prosecution.

The announcement came as Schmitt released a 185-page report detailing his review of 2,000 priests’ personnel files, dating from 1945 to the present day.

The attorney general’s office said it reviewed the records of more than 300 deacons, seminarians and religious women who served in the state’s four Roman Catholic dioceses: the Archdiocese of St. Louis, the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, the Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau and the Diocese of Jefferson City.

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.

DENVER (CO)
The Associated Press

September 12, 2019

By Nicholas Riccardi

A federal jury has found that the Knights of Columbus broke a promise to a small technology firm. But jurors awarded far less than that company sought in its lawsuit.

The jury on Thursday found the Knights breached its contract with List Interactive in not designating them its vendor for websites. But the jury awarded the three-man company just $500,000 in damages, well below the $100 million the plaintiffs sought.

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.

BUFFALO (NY)
Spectrum Local News

September 12, 2019

By Mark Goshgarian

A month after the Child Victims Act look-back window opened, a lawsuit has been filed against Fr. Art Smith, a priest who was removed from ministry by Bishop Edward Kmiec and returned to ministry by Bishop Richard Malone.

The lawsuit was filed Thursday in Erie County Court by a victim who wishes to remain anonymous at this time. It comes from when he worked at Saint Bernadette Church in Orchard Park.

Fr. Smith has been accused of assault by several people, including his nephew Ryan Cooley and whistleblower Fr. Ryszard Biernat.

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.

ROCHESTER (NY)
The Associated Press

September 12, 2019

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester filed for bankruptcy protection Thursday amid a wave of lawsuits over alleged sexual abuse of children, becoming the first of the state’s eight dioceses to do so and the 20th nationwide. Cayuga County falls into the Rochester Diocese.

New York passed a law this year giving victims of childhood sexual abuse one year to file lawsuits that had previously been barred because the allegations were too old. Hundreds of lawsuits have been filed against churches and other institutions since the law took effect last month.

“We’ve come to the conclusion that we cannot minister to every victim that comes forward and help them out if we did not go this route,” Bishop Salvatore Matano said during a news conference.

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.

KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Kansas City Star

September 11, 2019

By Judy L. Thomas

The Diocese of Cheyenne in Wyoming announced this week that it has substantiated three more allegations of sexual abuse of a minor lodged against a former Kansas City priest.

Three new individuals have come forward in the past year, accusing Bishop Joseph Hart of sexually abusing them in the 1970s and 1980s, the diocese said Tuesday.

“The allegations have been reported to the civil authorities, and the Diocese of Cheyenne has cooperated fully with the police,” the diocese said.

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

MINNEAPOLIS (MN)
Associated Press

September 11, 2019

By Steve Karnowski

The Archbishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis said Wednesday that he has opened an investigation – which is believed to be the first of its kind under a new Vatican protocol – into allegations that a bishop in northwestern Minnesota interfered with investigations into clerical sexual misconduct.

Archbishop Bernard Hebda said in a statement posted on the archdiocese’s website that the investigation targets Bishop Michael Hoeppner of the Crookston diocese. Hebda said the allegations are that Hoeppner “carried out acts or omissions intended to interfere with or avoid civil or canonical investigations of clerical sexual misconduct in the Diocese of Crookston,” but he gave no further details. He said law enforcement has been informed.

This is the first known investigation by one bishop into another under a groundbreaking church law issued by Pope Francis in May aimed at holding the Catholic hierarchy accountable for failing to protect their flocks. Among other things, it outlines procedures for conducting preliminary investigations of bishops accused of sexual misconduct or cover-ups.

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.

WESTFIELD (NJ)
TAP Into

September 12, 2019

By Matt Kadosh

When the Archdiocese of Newark released its list of priests credibly accused of sex abuse earlier this year, Westfield resident Michael Mautone distinctly recognized one name on the list: the man he recalls abused him when he was 16 years old.

The church lists “child pornography” next to the name of that man, Kevin Gugliotta, and shows seven parishes in New Jersey Gugliotta served at following his ordainment as a priest in 1996 and prior to his being “permanently removed” from the ministry.

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.

EAST HAMPTON (NY)
The East Hampton Star

September 12, 2019

By Christine Sampson

Years-old allegations point to 2 former priests

Sag Harbor’s St. Andrew parish is among about 170 parishes around the state named in a widespread sex abuse complaint brought by people who say they were abused, as children, by clergy at those parishes and in some cases their schools.

St. Andrew Catholic Church and its former elementary school, the St. Andrew School, employed two priests who allegedly abused a man who is now an adult living with his family in New Jersey.

The Diocese of Rockville Centre, which oversees Catholic churches and schools on Long Island, was served Aug. 28 with lawsuits and formal discovery requests that are said by attorneys to begin the process of revealing many decades of “secret files” containing evidence of child sex abuse.

The process began last month when hundreds of complaints were filed under New York State’s Child Victims Act, which went into effect on Aug. 14 and opened a one-year window for “all cases for anyone of any age” to file suit, according to Jennifer Freeman of the Marsh Law Firm. Ms. Freeman said more than 550 childhood sex abuse survivors have done so.

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.

VERMONT
Seven Days

September 11, 2019

By Molly Walsh and Derek Brouwer

John “Jack” Kenney happened to be standing in his front yard when a reporter drove up the long dirt drive to his two-story home in West Glover last Thursday.

The 91-year-old ex-priest is among those “credibly accused of sexual abuse” according to a recent report from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington.

Kenney had little to say when asked about the list of alleged perpetrators Bishop Christopher Coyne released last month.

“I’m not interested in it, thank you very much,” Kenney said initially, as he stood in the September sunshine.

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.

BROOKLYN (NY)
ABC News

September 10, 2019

By Meghan Keneally

The number of people suing the Catholic dioceses in New York over abuse they allegedly suffered as children continues to grow.

Ten new lawsuits were filed on Monday, adding to the list of cases that have mounted against the diocese of Brooklyn in the wake of New York’s Child Victim’s Act, a new law that took effect Aug. 14 and allows a one-year window for victims to file civil claims in connection to child abuse no matter the statute of limitations.

The 10 lawsuits filed Monday are being handled by the law firm of Jeff Anderson and Associates. Mike Reck, an attorney for the firm, told ABC News that they have filed nearly 300 lawsuits across New York state since the Child Victims Act window opened.

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 (NY)
Catholic News Agency

September 11, 2019

By Jonah McKeown

Amid calls for his resignation, Bishop Richard J. Malone of Buffalo remains firm in his conviction not to step down from office, even as Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York assesses whether to open an investigation into Malone’s alleged mishandling of abuse cases.

“Cardinal Dolan has been following the situation in Buffalo very carefully. He is aware of his responsibilities under Vos estis lux mundi, he has been consulting extensively both with individuals in Buffalo, including Bishop Malone, clergy and laity,” Joseph Zwilling, communication director for the New York archdiocese, told CNA in a Sept. 10 interview.

“He has been in touch with the nuncio, and with the Holy See. So he has been remaining on top of it, and I expect that we will hear something, some development sometime in the near future,” Zwilling continued.

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.

STATEN ISLAND (NY)
SI Live

September 10, 2019

By Kyle Lawson

Former Staten Island baseball and basketball coach Tony Sagona is now named in three lawsuits claiming he targeted, groomed and sexually abused players.

In a complaint filed this week in state Supreme Court, St. George, the latest accuser claims he was abused from 1975 to 1977, during his time as a player in the Great Kills Babe Ruth League. The New Jersey-based parent organization also is named in the lawsuit.

“I had dreams of being a pro ball player, and I had the ability to do it, (but) things went downhill,” said the complainant, Timothy Morey, in a recent telephone interview with the Advance.

Morey grew up on Staten Island and had a home address in the borough until he recently moved to North Carolina.

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.

SEATTLE (WA)
The Seattle Times

September 12, 2019

This editorial originally appeared in The Seattle Times:

Despite revelations of pervasive child sexual abuse that have come to light in recent decades, the Washington Legislature has not provided victims more time to seek justice in civil court. This makes the state a national outlier and cries out for reform.

Legislators have not since 1991 modified the law that gives victims of child rape in Washington only three years of adulthood — until their 21st birthday — to sue attackers and hold accountable an irresponsible institution, such as a church or youth group. The same law allows another three-year window when a victim realizes that childhood abuse caused a harm, such as an addiction.

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 (NY)
The Jewish Week Times of Israel

September 11, 2019

By Hannah Dreyfus

As child abuse cases against yeshivas mount following a one-year lookback provision, questions turn to legal strategy. Are their fears of bankruptcy warranted?

When a one-year lookback provision created by New York’s new Child Victims Act opened last month — temporarily lifting the statute of limitations on civil child sex abuse cases and allowing survivors of any age to pursue justice through the courts — youth-serving institutions across the state braced for legal fire.

Now, just weeks after the lookback clause went into effect, Jewish institutions across the denominational spectrum are facing legal retribution for allegedly mishandling allegations of child sexual abuse, with claims reaching as far back as the 1950s. In the handful of cases filed thus far, prominent defendants include the National Ramah Commission, the Conservative movement’s camping arm; the Conservative movement’s flagship rabbinical school, Jewish Theological Seminary; Modern Orthodoxy’s flagship institution, Yeshiva University; prominent Modern Orthodox day school Salanter Akiba Riverdale High School (SAR); prominent Modern Orthodox day school Westchester Day School; Yeshiva Torah Temimah, a Brooklyn-based ultra-Orthodox school with a branch in Lakewood N.J.; Oholei Torah, a prominent Chabad yeshiva in Brooklyn; and Temple Beth Zion, a legacy Reform congregation in Buffalo.

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.

ROCHESTER (NY)
WHAM

September 12, 2019

By Tanner Jubenville

Word that the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy spread fast among parishioners and clergy abuse survivors Thursday.

Brian DeLafranier, who filed a lawsuit last month against the diocese under the Child Victims Act, says he was caught off-guard by the decision. But he says it’s another “win” for clergy abuse survivors.

“Enough people have come forward to tell the diocese it’s a day of reckoning,” said DeLafranier. “Their (the diocese) time has come, now it’s time to face the music.”

DeLafranier claims he was sexually abused by a priest in the late 1970s. He’s one of several suing the diocese under the Child Victims Act.

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.

ROCHESTER (NY)
WHAM

September 9, 2019

A new child sex abuse lawsuit filed in Monroe County under the Child Victims Act is focused on both the Diocese of Rochester and the Boy Scouts.

The plaintiff in the case claims that Father Robert O’Neill sexually abused him when he was 16. The lawsuit was filed on Monday against the Diocese of Rochester, Roman Catholic Parish of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, the Boy Scouts of America, and the Seneca Waterways Council for the Boy Scouts of America.

In February 1994, the lawsuit states the victim was an Eagle Scout and had told leaders in the Boy Scouts that he was “interested in religion, philosophy, and politics, among other subjects.” Fr. O’Neill was subsequently assigned to the victim as a mentor and counselor, as he was already active with local Boy Scout programs at the time.

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.

BROOKLYN (NY)
Brooklyn Daily Eagle

September 11, 2019

By Emma Whitford

Ten anonymous survivors of childhood sexual abuse filed civil lawsuits against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn Tuesday, as the first month of a yearlong window for survivors of all ages to take legal action under the Child Victims Act draws to a close.

The lawsuits, brought by the firm Jeff Anderson & Associates and Robins Kaplan LLP, allege abuse of minors in Brooklyn and Queens (the Brooklyn Diocese oversees all parishes in Queens) carried out over three decades, starting in 1953.

“Anybody else out there: It’s not too late to step forward,” said Anderson client Tom Davis, 61, a survivor who sued the Brooklyn Diocese earlier this year, at a press conference in Midtown Tuesday. “Stand up to these monsters like I have, please.”

A total of 69 CVA cases had been filed in Kings County Supreme Court as of last week, according to data provided by the New York Unified Court System and updated weekly. That’s up from 55 on the first day of the so-called lookback window, Aug. 13. The totals for the other boroughs are 152 in Manhattan, 27 in the Bronx, 17 in Queens, and three in Staten Island.

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.

FRESNO (CA)
ChurchMilitant.com

September 12, 2019

By Bradley Eli, M.Div., Ma.Th.

Msgr. Craig Harrison doesn’t want diocese to turn over documents on alleged drug use, porn habit and homosexuality

After suing a Catholic watchdog group for defamation, a California priest facing multiple allegations of homosexual abuse is trying to block the release of potentially damning documents by his Fresno diocese.

Through his attorney, Paul Jonna, Stephen Brady and his organization Roman Catholic Faithful (RCF) subpoenaed the Fresno diocese on Sept. 3 for documents pertaining to Harrison’s alleged “sexual abuse, drug use, therapy, gambling, addictive disorders, use of pornography, homosexual behavior and misuse of parish funds.”

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.

DUNKIRK (NY)
Observer Today

September 9, 2019

A former student at Holy Trinity Roman Catholic School in Dunkirk claims she was sexually abused by a Holy Trinity Roman Catholic Church pastor starting at the age of 5.

In a Child Victims Act lawsuit filed Monday in state Supreme Court in Erie County, the plaintiff, referred to as PB-5 Doe, has filed a civil suit agianst the Diocese of Buffalo, Holy Trinity Roman Catholic Church and Holy Trinity School. The lawsuit claims Monsignor Valerio Bernardo, then a pastor at the church, allegedly began abusing the girl when she was 5 and continued to abuse her for several years. The plaintiff, now 60, lives in Springville, N.Y., and was a student at the school in the 1960s during a time when she and her family were parishioners at Holy Trinity Church.

Bernardo became the seventh pastor in Holy Trinity Roman Catholic Church’s history in July 1945 and remained at the church until February 1974, according to the church’s website. Bernardo was the driving force behind purchasing land on Central Avenue in Dunkirk for a school and convent in the 1960s with a new church and rectory built on the site in the early 1970s.

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.

ALBANY (NY)
Times Union

September 12, 2019

By Larry Rulison and Steve Hughes

Action could have implications for victims of alleged sexual abuse

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester filed for bankruptcy protection on Thursday in the face of mounting clergy abuse lawsuits filed against the diocese in the wake of the passage of the state’s Child Victims Act.

The Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing could potentially provide a road map to the four other upstate dioceses, including the Diocese of Albany, on how to protect themselves from the sudden onslaught of abuse claims unleashed by the new law, signed by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo in February.

The Rochester diocese, like Albany’s, has been served with dozens of lawsuits alleging child sexual abuse by priests and other parish leaders reaching back decades.

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.

AUSTIN (TX)
KXAN

September 12, 2019

By Chelsea Moreno

A settlement has been reached in a lawsuit filed by six women against a priest, bishop and the Austin Catholic Diocese alleging sexual abuse.

Sean Breen, the attorney representing the women and the Austin Diocese told KXAN on Thursday the case had been resolved.

According to the lawsuit, a Catholic priest within the Austin Diocese, identified in the suit as Father Isidore Ndagizimana, would regularly prey on, abuse and harass female parishioners.

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 (NY)
The New York Times

September 13, 2019

By Elizabeth Dias

The investigation found that 163 priests or clergy members were accused of sexual abuse or misconduct against minors.

The Missouri attorney general will refer a dozen men who previously served as Roman Catholic clergy for potential criminal prosecution, his office announced on Friday after a yearlong statewide investigation into clergy sexual abuse.

The investigation found that 163 priests or clergy members were accused of sexual abuse or misconduct against minors.

“Sexual abuse by minors by members of Missouri’s four Roman Catholic dioceses has been a far-reaching and sustained scandal,” Attorney General Eric Schmitt said at a news conference Friday morning. “For decades, faced with credible reports of abuse, the church refused to acknowledge the victims and instead focused their efforts on protecting priests.”

Mr. Schmitt, a Republican who is also Catholic, said he believed his 12 referrals for prosecution were more than any other attorney’s general investigation so far.

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 ORLEANS (LA)
WVUE

September 12, 2019

By Amanda Roberts

The Supreme Court of Louisiana could decide if victims of church sex abuse have a right to sue their abusers, as well as the catholic church. The decision hinges on if two high-profile cases are related: church sex abuse cases and the NOLA no-call.

For about a year now, a John Doe’s lawsuit against the archdiocese and defrocked deacon George Brignac continues to work its way through the courts. The lawsuit outlines how Brignac sexually abused him at Holy Rosary Church from the time he was eight to 13-years-old in the 1970s and 80s.

The attorneys for the Archdiocese are now arguing the case should in part be thrown out on the same grounds the state Supreme Court threw out the NOLA-no call lawsuit.

“It’s very surprising they would make an argument like this,” said legal analyst Bobby Hjortsberg. “It seems like an attempt to use something that’s sensational, something on people’s minds to draw attention to it,” he 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.

BUFFALO (NY)
The Buffalo News

September 10, 2019

By Jay Tokasz

The pastor of one of the region’s largest and wealthiest Catholic parishes is urging fellow priests to call upon Bishop Richard J. Malone and Auxiliary Bishop Edward M. Grosz to resign and let others lead the Buffalo Diocese.

The Rev. Robert Zilliox, pastor of St. Mary Church in Swormville, has contacted about 200 priests and asked them to sign a letter demanding that Malone step down immediately in the wake of a series of scandals in which the bishop’s public statements on handling clergy sex abuse and misconduct accusations appeared to contradict what he was saying and doing in private.

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.

ROCHESTER (NY)
PIX 11

September 12, 2019

By Corey Crockett

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester filed for bankruptcy Thursday, the first in New York to seek protection from creditors in bankruptcy court as a part of the decades-long child sex abuse scandal that’s plagued the Catholic Church, according to the Democrat & Chronicle.

The diocese filed the petition for Chapter 11 reorganization Thursday morning, claiming that the financial liabilities — estimated between $100 million and $500 million — exceed the group’s assets — stated as $50 million to $100 million, according to court documents.

The Democrat & Chronicle — a Rochester local newspaper — said the filing does not mean the diocese is out of money, or that churches will close their doors.

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.

ROCHESTER (NY)
WBEN

September 12, 2019

[Audio]

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.

DENVER (CO)
Crux

Sept. 13, 2019

By Charles Collins

The legislation – called Vos Estis Lux Mundi – enacted what is known as the Metropolitan Model, in which archbishops would play a prominent role in policing those bishops in their ecclesiastical province.

This week, the first investigation into misconduct being carried out under the procedures set out in the new law was announced: Archbishop Bernard A. Hebda of St. Paul and Minneapolis will look into allegations that Bishop Michael J. Hoeppner of Crookston “carried out acts or omissions intended to interfere with or avoid civil or canonical investigations of clerical sexual misconduct.”

In a statement on Wednesday, the archdiocese said law enforcement had also been notified of 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.

ALBUQUERQUE (NM)
Associated Press

Sept. 13, 2019

By Mary Hudetz

A former Roman Catholic priest is scheduled to be sentenced Friday in Santa Fe, where a jury found him guilty this year of sexually abusing an altar boy in the early 1990s before fleeing the country.

Federal prosecutors are requesting a sentence of more than 30 years in prison for 81-year-old Arthur Perrault, once a pastor at an Albuquerque parish and a chaplain at Kirtland Air Force Base.

Perrault — who pleaded not guilty to charges after he was returned to the United States from Tangier, Morocco, in 2017 — maintained his innocence throughout his trial in April.

Federal authorities said their pursuit of Perrault that led them to Morocco, a country that does not have an extradition treaty with the United States, showed how far they were willing to seek justice. Perrault is among more than 70 clergy members who the Santa Fe Archdiocese has identified as credibly accused of abusing children in New Mexico.

The archdiocese also is in the midst of bankruptcy proceeding as a result of the church-wide abuse scandal, which has spanned the globe.

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.

Patheos blog

Sept. 12, 2019

By Mary Pezzulo

In case you haven’t noticed, the Church is a ghastly mess.

I almost said “an ungodly mess,” but that’s not the case at all. God is here, suffering with us. But the hierarchy’s sins are being laid bare and we see that the Bride of Christ was abused by the people who were supposed to be her caretakers, and she is a mess. At the moment we are all watching the Diocese of Buffalo fall apart in real time, with that public disgrace Bishop Malone flailing and claiming he won’t resign. We’re told that Archbishop Dolan is looking into it, and I’m not really convinced that will help.

What seems like moments ago, we were supposed to be happy that a bill had been struck down in one part of the country which would’ve forced priests to report sexual abuse confessed to them, violating the seal of confession. And I do not think that priests ought to be forced to violate the seal. But it was hard to not find it a bit ironic when we found out that Malone had allegedly protected a priest who had a credible accusation of violating the seal of confession against him. One can be forgiven for surmising that in practice, it’s persecution if a priest is compelled to violate the seal to help somebody, but it’s perfectly fine to violate the seal in order to participate in sexual harassment. That’s just one example of the layers of horror we’ve had to process lately.

And this is on top of what happened in the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston a few short months ago, and all that’s gone on in the Diocese of Pittsburgh, and what’s going on all over the country.

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.

JEFFERSON (WI)
Channel 3000

Sept. 12, 2019

By Rose Schmidt

The retired priest being tried on child sexual abuse charges took the stand Thursday in his own defense.

William Nolan is accused of sexually assaulting an altar boy more than 100 times over four years, starting in 2006 when the accuser was 13 years old. At the time the accuser says the abuse began, Nolan was the priest at St. Joseph’s Church in Fort Atkinson.

Nolan testified in Jefferson County court Thursday morning. His defense attorney, Jonas Bednarek, asked at one point how one of the accusations made him feel.

“Mad, angry,” Nolan replied.

“Why?” Bednarek asked.

“Because it didn’t happen,” Nolan said.

The judge dropped one of the six felony charges Nolan is facing.

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.

ROCHESTER (NY)
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle

Sept. 12, 2019

By Steve Orr

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester, facing potentially huge judgments for past sexual abuse by its priests and other ministers, filed for bankruptcy protection Thursday morning.

“This was a very difficult and painful decision,” Rochester Bishop Salvatore Matano said at an afternoon news conference that detailed the action.

The diocese filed its petition for Chapter 11 reorganization in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Rochester at about 9:30 a.m. The petition estimates the diocese’s assets as $50 million to $100 million — and its financial liabilities as $100 million to $500 million.

Rochester’s diocese becomes the first of New York state’s eight dioceses — and the 20th nationwide — to seek protection from creditors in bankruptcy court because of financial fallout from the Catholic Church’s decades-long child sexual abuse scandal.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester filed for bankruptcy on Sept. 12, 2019. The Diocese held a press conference talking about why they did that. Bishop Salvatore R. Matano read from a prepared statement before answering questions with Lisa Passero CFO for the diocese, and Stephen Donato, with the law firm, Bond, Schoeneck, and King that is representing the diocese in the bankruptcy, beside him.Buy Photo
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester filed for bankruptcy on Sept. 12, 2019. The Diocese held a press conference talking about why they did that. Bishop Salvatore R. Matano read from a prepared statement before answering questions with Lisa Passero CFO for the diocese, and Stephen Donato, with the law firm, Bond, Schoeneck, and King that is representing the diocese in the bankruptcy, beside him. (Photo: Tina MacIntyre-Yee/Rochester Democrat and Chronicle)

The bankruptcy filing does not mean the diocese is penniless and does not mean its churches will close.

The intent of a Chapter 11 filing such as this is to reorganize the diocese’s finances, marshal funds to pay fair compensation to sex-abuse accusers and create a plan for the diocese to continue operations much as they were before.

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.

AUSTRALIA
The Australian

September 13, 2019

By Matthew Denholm

Tasmanian priests have been warned they face prosecution for failing to report child abuse disclosed during confession, after the state’s upper house passed “nation leading” laws.

Tasmania’s legislation, passed by the Legislative Council on Wednesday, means it joins South Australia, Victoria and the ACT in mandating that clergy must ­report abuse, even when disclosed in confession.

Queensland and Western Australia are proceeding down a similar legislative path, recommended by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

Tasmanian Attorney-General Elise Archer said the laws were the first tabled in Australia.

Amid Catholic Church threats to defy them, Ms Archer warned those found to have done so faced prosecution, with penalties ­including fines of up to $3360 and jail terms of up to 21 years, in ­theory at least.

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.

AUSTRALIA
Canberra Times

September 10, 2019

By Benita Kolovos

Victorian parliament has passed laws making it mandatory for priests to report child abuse, including when it is revealed to them during confession.

A bill introduced by the state Labor government passed the upper house on Tuesday after last week getting a green light from the Legislative Assembly, with opposition support.

“Today we’ve made Victoria a safer place for children. The special treatment for churches has ended and child abuse must be reported,” Child Protection Minister Luke Donnellan said in a statement.

“I thank all the abuse survivors, their families and advocates who helped us deliver these reforms. We can’t undo the harm to so many children in the past, but this will help ensure it never happens again.”

Under the laws, priests and religious leaders face up to three years’ jail if they don’t report child physical and sexual abuse 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.

BUFFALO (NY)
WBEN

September 10, 2019

By Tom Puckett

Garabedian says Vatican will look at other factors, including donations

As a petition drive continues to remove Bishop Richard Malone from the Buffalo Catholic Diocese, An attorney who dealt with priest sex abuse in Boston says it could be an element in taking away Malone’s credibility.

Mitchell Garabedian says this could help diminsh Malone’s good standing with the Vatican. “Petition drives can be effective especially when coupled with lawsuits being filed, the information being released about the diocese not protecting children. It’s a complicated matter,” says Garabedian. “If Bishop Malone loses enough credibility, he will step down.”

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.

CALIFORNIA
Huffington Post

September 11, 2019

By Alanna Vagianos

Aaron Persky, the judge who infamously sentenced Turner to six months for sexual assault, recently lost his new job at Lynbrook High in California.

Aaron Persky, the former judge in the Brock Turner sexual assault case, has lost his new job as a high school girls tennis coach following swift criticism from the community.

“Effective September 11, 2019, Mr. Persky’s employment with the District as the Junior Varsity Girls Tennis coach has ended,” Rachel Zlotziver, a spokesperson for the Fremont Union High School District, told HuffPost Wednesday night.

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.

BOSTON (MA)
Boston Magazine

September 10, 2019

By Spencer Buell

Evidence suggests higher-ups knew about his secret donations to the Media Lab.

Another day, another major news break on the MIT Media Lab’s deep ties to Jeffrey Epstein, and the lengths to which the university appears to have gone to keep it hush-hush.

The prestigious lab made headlines last month, when some of its members announced they would resign in protest due to the way its now-former director, Joi Ito, accepted donations from and socialized with the disgraced financier and convicted sex offender. At the time, Ito apologized for accepting money from Epstein for both the lab and his own personal investment fund, and promised to give it all back.

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.

ROCHESTER (NY)
Jeff Anderson & Associates

September 12, 2019

Statement of Attorneys Jeff Anderson and Steve Boyd Regarding Diocese of Rochester Filing Bankruptcy

Survivors’ Attorneys’ Statement Regarding Filing Of Bankruptcy by Diocese Of Rochester

(Rochester, New York) – The Diocese of Rochester filed bankruptcy this morning after being named as a defendant in dozens of clergy sexual abuse lawsuits filed since New York’s Child Victims Act’s one-year window opened on August 14.

“The bishop’s choice to use reorganization as a legal tactic is very disturbing and disappointing,” said attorney Jeff Anderson of Jeff Anderson & Associates, who represents several survivors who have lawsuits against the Diocese of Rochester, along with attorney Steve Boyd. “Bishop Salvatore Matano’s choice is simply a legal tactic to protect assets and prevent jury trials, and an attempt to prevent the truth from being revealed.”

“We want to assure the survivors and their family members who have been harmed for so long and have brought claims under the Child Victims Act that this is not the end,” Boyd said. “This will not stop us or the survivors and we know there are battles to be fought.”

Anderson and Boyd, who represent hundreds of sexual abuse survivors in New York, will conduct a press conference at 3:00 p.m. (ET) today in Rochester. Additional details on the press conference are forthcoming soon.

Contact: Steve Boyd: Office: (716)400-0000; Cell: (716)856-7777
Jeff Anderson: Office: (646)759-2551; Cell: (646)499-3364
Mike Finnegan: Office: (646)759-2551; Cell: (612)205.5531

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
AV Club

September 11, 2019

By Dennis Perkins

New York Times journalists Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey told Stephen Colbert about the time that an enraged Harvey Weinstein finally barreled right into the NYT offices, toting folders of “material to smear his accusers.” That’s after the now-disgraced movie mogul had already hired ex-Mossad agent private investigators to “put a stop” to the reporters’ efforts, and threatened to file a massive lawsuit against them and the paper, all tactics that, as Kantor and Twohey’s work on the culture of workplace sexual harassment (and worse) uncovered, had served the bullying Weinstein ably in the past. But that was then, as Colbert interviewed two of the women who helped bring down one of the most powerful sexual predators in show business, and whose quest to get the Weinstein story right helped sear the societal ills behind what had already become known as the #MeToo movement into the national consciousness, inescapably.

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 (NY)
Jeff Anderson & Associates

September 11, 2019

Retraction, Correction and Apology

(New York, NY) –The law firm of Jeff Anderson & Associates released information identifying the incorrect individual as being subject to allegations of child sex abuse.

• The Anderson Report on Sexual Abuse in the Diocese of Brooklyn released on September 10, 2019, incorrectly and erroneously identified Sr. Kathleen McKinney CSJ, a member of the Sisters of St. Joseph, as being subject to allegations of abuse.
• In fact, the allegations should have referred to Sr. Kathleen McKinney CSFN, a member of the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth, who was identified in a lawsuit titled Ark68Doe vs. Diocese of Brooklyn et al., Supreme Court, Index Number 517909/2019. The plaintiff in that matter alleged wrongdoing associated with St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, Jamaica, New York.
• Sr. Kathleen McKinney, CSJ was not involved and/or associated with St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Jamaica New York.
• Jeff Anderson & Associates apologizes to Sr. Kathleen McKinney CSJ and will be providing her with a letter confirming the mistake and deeply apologizing. The firm will make other amends as may be requested to mitigate any harm done.

Contact: Jeff Anderson: Office: (646)759-2551; Cell: (646)499-3364
Mike Reck: Office: (646)759-2551; Cell: (646)493-8058

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.

BROOKLYN (NY)
SNAP

September 10, 2019

Today at a press conference in New York, important information about abusive clergy in Brooklyn was released to the public. We applaud the work of these independent advocates who prepared this report and hope that this information will help create more informed communities in New York.

We are grateful to Jeff Anderson and his team for exposing this information about known abusers in Brooklyn. It is disappointing that, once again, more facts about clergy abuse scandals are made public by independent advocates instead of church officials themselves.

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 (NY)
WBFO NEWS

September 12, 2019

Buffalo Bishop Richard Malone traveled to New York City this week as he faces a potential investigation from the cardinal of the Archdiocese of New York.

The embattled Malone was seen at the Buffalo Niagara International Airport Tuesday boarding a plane to New York City. Diocese of Buffalo spokesperson Kathy Spangler told WBFO Wednesday Malone travels frequently on church matters, including several times a year to New York City.

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.

BRIDGEPORT (CT)
SNAP

September 10, 2019

Church officials in Bridgeport have updated their list of “credibly accused” priests to include two more names of deceased priests. Now we hope they follow up by actively reaching out to members of their flock and urging witnesses, whistleblowers, and victims to come forward and make a report.

The Diocese of Bridgeport has acknowledged that two different priests – Monsignor William Genuario and Rev. Vincent Cleary – were abusers of children. However, this acknowledgement comes years after reports about both men were made to diocesan officials. We can only hope that others were not abused by these men while the reports against them were ignored by Bridgeport church officials.

At least one report against Msgr. Genuario was made in 2002, meaning it took 17 years for the Diocese of Bridgeport to act. Bishop Frank Caggiano writes off the delay by saying that his review board “investigated the allegations” against Msgr. Genuario in 2002 and 2004, but did not find them “credible” at the time. Such a delay is inexcusable and only put more innocent children in harm’s way.

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
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert

September 11, 2019

The authors of the new book ‘She Said’ talk to Stephen Colbert about the drama surrounding their investigative reporting on Harvey Weinstein’s abusive behavior, including his efforts to intimidate journalists and their sources. #Colbert #LSSC #Interviews

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 (NY)
SNAP

September 10, 2019

New York’s top Catholic official is reportedly weighing his options for intervening in the scandal ridden Diocese of Buffalo.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan of the Archdiocese of New York is expected to publicly weigh in on Bishop Richard Malone and the abuse scandal currently engulfing the Diocese of Buffalo. As Metropolitan for the state of New York, this situation is one of the first real tests of the USCCB’s new “metropolitan model” for bishop accountability. In order to help Cardinal Dolan pass this test, we have a few suggestions.

First, he should publicly denounce his colleague to the north and urge him to resign. In 2002, bishops promised that “fraternal correction” will help ensure that bishops followed the rules and standards laid out in the Dallas charter. Yet in the 17 years since, we have not really seen any public evidence of this correction at all. Now, Cardinal Dolan has the chance to live up that promise from 2002 and publicly encourage Bishop Malone to step down and let someone else take over in Buffalo.

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.

ROCHESTER (NY)
WHAM

September 12, 2019

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester filed for bankruptcy Thursday morning, less than one month after dozens of lawsuits were filed against clergy.

The Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing was made in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Rochester.

At least 47 sex abuse lawsuits have been filed under the Child Victims Act in Monroe County as of Thursday. Of those 47, 45 lawsuits name the Diocese of Rochester as a defendant. The Child Victims Act allows a one-year window, beginning on August 14, for child sex abuse victims to file suit without a statue of limitations.

The filing lists the Diocese as a tax-exempt entity and estimates it has fewer than 1,000 creditors. Estimates in the filing also state somewhere between $50 and 100 million in assets, with somewhere between $100 and 500 million in liabilities. Among those liabilities are “various sex abuse claimants”. The bankruptcy filing includes a list of 264 creditors.

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.

WASHINGTON (DC)
The Hill

Sept. 11, 2019

By Rachel Frazin

The Roman Catholic archbishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis has opened an investigation into allegations that a Minnesota bishop interfered with a sexual misconduct probe in the diocese.

Archbishop Bernard A. Hebda said in a Tuesday statement that he had been authorized to begin an investigation into allegations that Bishop Michael Hoeppner “carried out acts or omissions intended to interfere with or avoid civil or canonical investigations of clerical sexual misconduct” in the Diocese of Crookston.

Hoeppner is the bishop for Crookston, a city in Polk County.

Hebda said in his statement that law enforcement had been notified about the allegations. He also noted that the probe is preliminary and has a limited time period to gather information. That information will be send to the Pope’s U.S. representative and to the Congregation for Bishops in Rome to determine whether further procedures will be warranted.

Hoeppner and the Diocese of Crookston declined to comment through a spokesperson who cited the investigation.

The Associated Press reported that the investigation is the first known review under a new papal law outlining preliminary investigation procedures. The law issued by the Pope in May aims to increase accountability.

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests said in a statement that “survivor advocates will be watching the outcome closely.”

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.

BUFFALO (NY)
WBFO News

Sept. 12, 2019

Buffalo Bishop Richard Malone traveled to New York City this week as he faces a potential investigation from the cardinal of the Archdiocese of New York.

The embattled Malone was seen at the Buffalo Niagara International Airport Tuesday boarding a plane to New York City. Diocese of Buffalo spokesperson Kathy Spangler told WBFO Wednesday Malone travels frequently on church matters, including several times a year to New York City.

It’s unclear whether Malone’s visit is related to the possible review of his handling of the Buffalo Diocese’s clergy sexual abuse crisis from Cardinal Timothy Dolan of the Archdiocese of New York, which is based in New York City.

Archdiocese spokesperson Joseph Zwilling said earlier this week that Dolan has been following the Buffalo Diocese situation very closely and consulting extensively, and that Dolan will make an announcement “in the near future.”

That news was first reported by the Catholic Herald Monday.

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.

MINNEAPOLIS (MN)
Associated Press

Sept. 12, 2019

The Roman Catholic archbishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis said Wednesday that he has opened an investigation — the first known of its kind under a new Vatican protocol — into allegations that a bishop in northwestern Minnesota interfered with investigations into clerical sexual misconduct.

Archbishop Bernard Hebda said in a statement posted on the archdiocese’s website that the investigation targets Bishop Michael Hoeppner of the Crookston diocese. Hebda said the allegations are that Hoeppner “carried out acts or omissions intended to interfere with or avoid civil or canonical investigations of clerical sexual misconduct in the Diocese of Crookston,” but he gave no further details. He said law enforcement has been informed.

Advocates for clergy abuse victims say it’s the first known investigation by one bishop into another under a groundbreaking church law issued by Pope Francis in May aimed at holding the Catholic hierarchy accountable for failing to protect their flocks. Among other things, it outlines procedures for conducting preliminary investigations of bishops accused of sexual misconduct or cover-ups.

Jeff Anderson, a St. Paul attorney who has represented hundreds of survivors of clerical sexual abuse, told The Associated Press that the allegations against Hoeppner likely stem from lawsuits against the Crookston diocese that have been settled, including one by Ron Vasek, who was aspiring to be a deacon when, he alleged, Hoeppner blackmailed him into signing a letter in 2015 that essentially retracted his allegation that a popular priest had abused him when he was 16.

That lawsuit was settled for an undisclosed sum in 2017. In July, the diocese reached a $5 million settlemen t with 15 people, including Vasek, who were children when they were sexually abused by priests. As part of the new settlement, the diocese agreed to release the names and files of clergy accused of abuse. Anderson said that information, along with depositions he took from Hoeppner and other Crookston diocese officials, will be released “in the days and weeks ahead.”

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.

ROCHESTER (NY)
WROC TV

Sept. 12, 2019

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester has filed for bankruptcy.

This follows a flurry of lawsuits against the organization, mostly sexual assault cases, that were filed following the enactment of the Child Victims Act.

The Child Victims Act, which went into effect on August 14, extended the statute of limitations on child sexual abuse cases for one year.

Rochester’s Diocese is the first to file bankruptcy in our state, and the 20th to do so in the nation.

The Diocese of Rochester represents 86 parishes in 12 counties.

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.

LONDON (ENGLAND)
Scottish Sun

Sept. 12, 2019

By John Jeffay

JIMMY Savile was allowed to “roam freely” in the boys’ dorms of a Catholic school in the Highlands, an inquiry heard yesterday.

The serial sex predator would turn up in his Rolls-Royce at a time when young boys say they were being abused by staff, a former pupil told relatives.

Another witness said yesterday that he had been drugged and raped by monks at the Benedictine Fort Augustus Abbey and that he was also sexually assaulted at Pluscarden Abbey, near Elgin.

The youngster was warned he would be thrown into the Moray Firth or Loch Ness if he reported the abuse, he said.

The allegations were made as witnesses at the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry gave evidence of sexual and physical attacks at Fort Augustus Abbey.

In a written statement, a man given the pseudonym “Rory” said that his brother “Doug”, who was born in 1951 but has since died, told him that Savile was given access to the school in the 1960s, when he was already a famous DJ with Radio Luxembourg.

It read: “Savile would park his Rolls-Royce car outside the school. Doug said Savile was allowed to roam freely at the school, even the boys’ dormitories.

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.

LAJOLLA (CA)
LaJolla Light

Sept. 11, 2019

By Ashley Mackin-Solomon

A sexual abuse lawsuit was filed Aug. 28 against The Bishop’s School in La Jolla and the Episcopal Diocese of San Diego by a former student alleging two years of abuse by a teacher while he was a student at the school in the 1990s.

The recent suit comes after the 2018 discovery of more than a dozen other alleged incidents of sexual misconduct, which took place over the span of 30 years.

The latest lawsuit alleges that plaintiff John H. Doe was repeatedly sexually molested and harassed by a female computer sciences teacher beginning when he was a 16-year-old student (she was 32 years old at the time).

The suit names the charges as sexual harassment; sexual battery; assault; gender violence; negligence; negligent supervision; negligent hiring/retention; negligent failure to warn, train or educate; intentional infliction of emotional distress; and constructive fraud.

The alleged abuse included, but was not limited to, hand holding, flirting, touching, fondling, oral sex, and sexual intercourse on the Bishop’s School campus, at the teacher’s house, at a local hotel, at a local restaurant, at a local park, and across various other San Diego area locations. The teacher is no longer listed as an employee of The Bishop’s School.

According to the lawsuit, the teacher would bring the Plaintiff into the computer lab, with the windows covered and the door locked, and subject him to sexual acts. On multiple occasions, teachers and a Bishop’s administrator saw John H. Doe and the teacher exiting the computer lab together, with no other person in the room.

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.

ULTIMO (AUSTRALIA)
Australian Broadcasting Service

Sept. 11, 2019

By Emily Baker

The Catholic Church says it will not follow new Tasmanian laws that require priests to break the seal of confession to report suspicion of child sex abuse.

The Legislative Council yesterday passed Government legislation making religious ministry and MPs mandatory reporters of child sex abuse, along with teachers, police and health professionals.

The laws also require any Tasmanian with knowledge of child sex abuse to report the crime to police — or face up to 21 years’ imprisonment or fines of up to $3,360.

But Tasmania’s most senior Catholic said the laws would make paedophiles less likely to come forward.

In a statement, Archbishop Julian Porteous said priests were “unable” to follow secular law that required them to break the seal of confession.

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.

PRINCETON (NJ)
The Daily Princetonian

September 11, 2019

By Marie-Rose Sheinerman

Father Gabriel Zeis, the director of and chaplain at the University’s Catholic campus ministry, resigned on Wednesday following an allegation of sexual abuse of a minor, which dates back to 1975. According to an email sent to student members of the Aquinas Institute, the on-campus Catholic ministry, Zeis denied the allegation but immediately resigned from both his position at the Institute and his position as Diocesan Vicar for Catholic Education.

The email, sent by the Diocese of Trenton, said that the Provincial Superior of the Third Order Regular Franciscans (TOR) was notified on the evening of Monday, Sept. 9 of the allegation against the chaplain. The email stated that the Order is “pursuing an investigation into the allegation to determine its credibility” and asked that anyone with information or questions related to the notification contact the Franciscans through their website.

With the approval of Bishop David O’Connell of the Diocese of Trenton, Father Zeis served at the University. In an email statement to The Daily Princetonian, University spokesperson Ben Chang explained, “Father Zeis was not a University employee, and the University had no role in his resignation. The Diocese notified us that this action had been taken.”

Chang went on to encourage any students in need of support “to speak with a member of their residential college staff, the Graduate School, or one of our confidential resources, including SHARE, Counseling and Psychological Services, and the chaplains in the Office of Religious Life.”

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.

NEWCASTLE (AUSTRALIA)
Newcastle Herald

Sept. 7, 2019

By Joanne McCarthy

ARCHBISHOP Philip Wilson’s evidence to a Special Commission of Inquiry about his knowledge of notorious Hunter paedophile priest Denis McAlinden in the 1980s and 1990s was “improbable”, “unsatisfactory” and “implausible”, a confidential 2014 report released on Friday found.

Archbishop Wilson’s evidence in 2013 that he had forgotten communications with anti-corruption crusader MP John Hatton in 1987 about “sexual misbehaviour” complaints involving McAlinden and young children was “improbable”, Commissioner Margaret Cunneen found after an inquiry into police and Catholic Church responses to Hunter child sexual abuse allegations.

The future archbishop assured Mr Hatton in a letter in July, 1987 that his complaint about McAlinden was “receiving attention”. Their communications also included phone contact on four occasions and a further letter in which the then Maitland-Newcastle Vicar General assured the MP that McAlinden had left the parish for “a full program of psychiatric assessment and help”.

The confidential fourth volume of the Special Commission of Inquiry was released more than five years after the first three volumes were made public, and following Archbishop Wilson’s conviction in 2018 for concealing child sex allegations about Hunter priest Jim Fletcher, which was overturned on appeal in December.

The Commission regarded as “unsatisfactory and implausible” the archbishop’s evidence in 2013 that he had “honestly forgotten” liaising with a psychiatrist about McAlinden, and talking with the priest by phone on five occasions between October, 1987 and February, 1988.

Mr Hatton’s report was one of a number of complaints about McAlinden to the future archbishop in 1987, the Commission found.

While the Hatton letter was raised during the inquiry hearings in 2013, Archbishop Wilson’s role – including having a direct confrontation with McAlinden, referring him to a psychiatrist and repeated phone calls with the paedophile priest before he was moved to Western Australia – has not been revealed until now.

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.

NEWCASTLE (AUSTRALIA)
Catholic Herald

Sept. 12, 2019

By Joanne McCarthy

A HUNTER survivor advocate criticised for demanding an apology from Archbishop Philip Wilson after his conviction for concealing a priest’s child sex crimes has repeated the demand after a damning report into Catholic abuse responses in the Hunter.

Peter Gogarty said survivors of church abuse and the Hunter community had the right to an apology from the archbishop and Maitland-Newcastle diocese after a confidential 2014 report released last Friday revealed the extent of church knowledge of allegations involving paedophile priests Denis McAlinden and Jim Fletcher.

Archbishop Wilson in December successfully appealed his May, 2018 conviction for concealing allegations about Fletcher, but was strongly criticised in the confidential report for “improbable”, “unsatisfactory” and “implausible” evidence about his knowledge of allegations about McAlinden while a Hunter priest in the 1980s and 1990s.

Six days after the NSW Department of Premier and Cabinet released the damning confidential fourth volume of the NSW Special Commission of Inquiry final report there has been no response from Archbishop Wilson, Maitland-Newcastle diocese or Bishop Bill Wright.

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.

SAN ANTONIO (TX)
St. Mary’s University

Sept. 12, 2019

St. Mary’s University will host a joint lecture and symposium on the theme “A Church in Crisis Moves to the Future” on Wednesday, Sept. 18, and Thursday, Sept. 19. Both days will feature discussion by Peter Steinfels, Ph.D., scholar and former New York Times journalist.

St. Mary’s University’s MacTaggart Lecture Series and the newly established Center for Catholic Studies will jointly present the free public discussion that will take place in the University Center, Conference Room A.

“This program demonstrates that St. Mary’s has heeded the call given by St. John Paul II, who as pope stressed that ‘a Catholic University must have the courage to speak uncomfortable truths which do not please public opinion, but which are necessary to safeguard the authentic good of society,’” said Alicia Cordoba Tait, D.M.A., Beirne Director of the Center for Catholic Studies.

“St. Mary’s offers this program to help the church and all people of faith, or none, to consider multiple viewpoints to issues and ideas that we are grappling with each day,” Tait said.

At 7 p.m. on Sept. 18, Steinfels will discuss, “Sex Abuse and the Future Church,” as the first lecture of the year in the MacTaggart Catholic Intellectual Tradition Lecture Series. This free, annual lecture series features men and women who have helped shape the Catholic Intellectual Tradition, which is at the heart of the educational experience at St. Mary’s.

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.

Spacious Faith blog

Sept. 11, 2019

By Joanna

I invite you to do a thought experiment with me. Imagine that I am qualified to lead a seminary: I have a PhD in Mennoniteness and have taught graduate level classes in Missional Transformation Transforming Missional Paradigms. I’m the perfect candidate for seminary president. Except the seminary has recently committed itself to the “traditional” position that same-sex marriage is unacceptable. Would that seminary hire me? Ever? Even if I said I would respect the school’s position? Even if the only other person willing to take the job was some twenty-four-year-old dude who barely graduated from two-year Bible college?

In case you’re struggling with this, the answer is “no.” They would never hire me. And they shouldn’t. And, frankly, I shouldn’t have applied in the first place.

But enough about hypothetical me. Let’s talk about Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary appointing Dave Boshart as president.

First, two relevant facts about Dave:

He is a NICE GUY. I mean, really, super-nice. That’s what a lot of people will say about his appointment as president. He’s so nice. And it’s true. I’ve had a few opportunities to communicate directly with Dave, and he’s always been nice.

He is LITERALLY a spokesperson for MC USA’s official “teaching position” against same-sex marriage. When Western District Conference wanted to hold a workshop exploring “both sides of the issue,” Dave was the guy they brought in to talk about why I shouldn’t have kept my ministerial credentials after officiating a same-sex wedding. This was several years ago, but I have seen nothing from Dave that would indicate his position on this has changed.

I’ve dealt intimately with institutional politics at the congregational, conference, and denominational levels for over a decade now. I am often frustrated by the actions of institutional leaders, but I generally understand them. I don’t agree with everything church officials do, but I have a pretty good idea why they do it. Yet when it comes to this decision by AMBS, I am truly baffled. Why would they say they are fully supportive of queer students and then hire an anti-gay spokesperson for their president?

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.

KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter

Sept. 12, 2019

By Tom Roberts

The Catholic Church has reached a crossroads. Its leaders can either change, become open and accountable, or maintain the status quo: an institution lacking transparency, wrapped in secrecy and beholden to a clerical culture that is at the heart of the institution’s problems.

That bleak assessment was made by Marie Collins, the Irish clerical sexual abuse survivor who was an original member of a papal commission dealing with the sex abuse crisis, and who said she is “hanging on by my fingernails.”

The scandal, she said in remarks Sept. 8 opening a five-city U.S. tour, is both systemic and global, and clericalism remains at its core.

“The church is at a crossroads. It can either continue to behave as it has for centuries, protecting itself, or open up and become the church we all want it to be, the church that it should be.”

Collins, in a separate interview with NCR following the news conference, expanded on her understanding of clericalism and how it played into her decision to resign, after serving for three years, from the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors.

During the past 20 years, she said, the church “has been reactive” and “has not changed one single thing unless forced to by survivors and those in the media. … I don’t believe the church has made any changes of its own volition.” She made her remarks at the United Methodist Building on Capitol Hill at the outset of her tour, titled, “A Crisis of Culture: Seeking Justice to Reclaim the Church.”

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.

FT. WAYNE (IN)
Journal Gazette

Sept. 11, 2019

By Rosa Salter Rodriguez

A deceased former religious sister has been added to the list of those who have worked in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend and been found to have a credible allegation of sexual abuse of a minor.

The allegation regarding the late Sister Susan Whitten is reported in a statement from the Poor Handmaids of Jesus Christ in Wednesday’s issue of Today’s Catholic, the diocese’s weekly newspaper.

Whitten was a teacher at Bishop Dwenger High School in Fort Wayne in her last assignment before being dispensed from her vows in 1967, the statement said.

The person making the allegation was a member of the class of 1967 and accused Whitten “of engaging in an inappropriate relationship,” according to the statement. “Out of respect for the privacy of the individual who made this credible allegation, the Poor Handmaids will not say anything further regarding the allegation or the response to it.”

The statement also said the order is “saddened to hear of this abuse” and adds the safety and well-being of children “is of the highest importance to us.”

Julie Dowd, the order’s communications director, told The Journal Gazette on Wednesday she did not know when Whitten joined the order or left it.

But Dowd said Whitten’s leaving was “just her choice” and not the result of official discipline.

Dowd also said she would not disclose the gender or any information about the person making the allegation.

An online history of the Poor Handmaids lists Whitten as one of four of the order’s sisters assigned to Dwenger as teachers when it first opened in 1963. A Poor Handmaids sister also was assigned as assistant principal.

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.

KANSAS CITY (KS)
Kansas City Star

Sept. 11, 2019

By Robert Cronkleton

The adoptive mother of a girl allegedly sexually abused by a Catholic priest in Kansas City, Kansas, testified Wednesday that she waited to report the inappropriate touching she witnessed because she didn’t think the church would do anything.

She saw the priest carrying her daughter in a way he shouldn’t have been, she said. But she did not see him touch her daughter’s breast as the girl later reported.

Because the mother hadn’t witnessed sexual abuse, she felt the incident she did witness would be “swept under the rug” and forgotten about, she testified.

It wasn’t until months later that she came forward and reported what happened.

The testimony came during the trial of the Rev. Scott Kallal, 37, who is charged in Wyandotte County District Court with two felony counts of aggravated indecent liberties with a child.

The Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas suspended Kallal in July 2017 after receiving allegations of inappropriate conduct involving two people, one a minor.

Kallal has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The trial, which continues this week, concerns two incidents that allegedly occurred in 2015, according to testimony at a preliminary hearing in December 2017. The girl testified at the hearing that twice when she was 10, Kallal had tickled her breasts against her wishes.

The first alleged incident was at a friend’s graduation party in Bonner Springs in spring 2015. The second allegedly took place a few months later at the parish hall gymnasium at St. Patrick’s church in Kansas City, Kansas.

It was the second incident that the adoptive mother testified about Wednesday.

In June 2015, she was helping coordinate appointments for the church’s pictorial directory in the parish hall, she said. Her daughter was in the gym playing when Kallal came to get his picture taken. Kallal heard the sound of a basketball bouncing and asked who was in the gym, the woman testified.

When she responded that it was her daughter, Kallal made a “bee line” to the gym, the woman testified. Shortly thereafter, she heard her daughter scream.

Her daughter came “flying out” the gym door with Kallal right behind her. The girl ran into the women’s restroom, where she tried to lock herself into a stall, the woman testified. Kallal followed her in. He then came out carrying the girl with his arms wrapped around her.

When the woman saw that, she told Kallal to put her daughter down — that it was inappropriate to do that, she testified. She had to say that about three times before he put the girl down, she said.

“She was scared,” the woman said.

The woman testified that she was mortified and shell-shocked at what happened. She didn’t know what what to do.

The woman clutched a rosary for comfort and strength during her testimony. She said the fact that Kallal was a priest also affected how she responded. She was a “cradle Catholic” and raised to hold priests in higher regard, she 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.

JEFFERSON (WI)
WKOW TV

Sept. 11, 2019

A former Wisconsin priest on trial for the alleged sexual assaults of an altar boy over a decade ago will decide by Friday whether to take witness stand in his own defense.

The 26-year old accuser testified earlier he felt he was gay as early as middle school and welcomed the sexual contact with Father William Nolan of St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Fort Atkinson. The accuser testified there were at least one hundred sexual encounters between Nolan and himself between 2006 and 2009.

One of the accuser’s friends, Tyler Zaspel testified Thursday and contradicted the accuser’s claim of the timing of the initial, 2006 sexual assault. Zaspel said the accuser confided to him two years ago that the first sex with Nolan was during a 2009 ski trip.

A Wisconsin Department of Justice forensic investigator testified there was nothing retrieved from the accuser’s cell phone or Nolan’s lap top computer to establish any past, electronic connections between the two before Nolan’s May 2018 arrest.

The accuser testified earlier watching a film on Boston’s priest sex abuse scandal, Spotlight, motivated him to come forward to Fort Atkinson Police last year.

Nolan’s attorney indicated to the judge it was possible Nolan would testify, but any testimony would come just before the defense rests Friday. During the jury selection process, the attorney stressed to potential jurors they could not legally hold any lack of testimony by Nolan against him.

The judge says jurors are expected to begin deliberations in the 66-year old priest’s trial on six, felony child sex crimes Friday afternoon.

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.

BUFFALO (NY)
WKBW TV

Sept. 11, 2019

By Charlie Specht

Last week, Bishop Malone said he was getting mostly positive feedback from Catholics about his handling of multiple sexual abuse scandals .

“Just today [I got] probably 12 or 13 either voicemails or emailing saying, ‘Stay with it, we need you, do not resign,’” Malone said Friday.

But that would soon change.

Within hours of hearing the bishop’s interview, Catholics across Western New York — young and old, practicing and lapsed — began flooding the bishop’s email with letters asking him to resign.

Many of the Catholics — 52 of them, to be exact — copied the 7 Eyewitness News I-Team on the emails sent to the bishop. All 52 asked for his immediate resignation.

“I think we’ve all come to the realization now that it’s time for the bishop to go,” said William Ogilvie, a parishioner at Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church in Clarence. “The large majority of people in my parish specifically — and in all the parishes, from what I have seen — the large majority want the bishop to resign.”

The messages sent by Catholics to the bishop said things like:

“…You have failed your people. You have failed your flock. It is time to step down…”

“…Because of you Bishop, I have thought of leaving the faith…”

“…I pray that you do the right thing. Step down – let us heal…”

Click here to read all of the letters sent to Bishop Malone and the I-Team.

But by Sunday night, Catholics like John Polvino began receiving error messages saying the bishop’s email address — bishop.malone@buffalodiocese.org — “couldn’t be found”.

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 (NY)
Newsweek

Sept. 11, 2019

By Daniel Avery

Apopular Catholic priest has been named in two sex abuse lawsuits filed this week in New York City.

Monsignor Otto Garcia, a vicar at St. Teresa’s Church in Woodside, is accused of sexually assaulting 61-year-old Tom Davis when Davis was a teenage alter boy in the 1970s.

“He was able to pick me as a prime victim because of my parents’ involvement in the church,” Davis said in a press conference Tuesday. “I just didn’t think anyone would believe me. I said nothing until my parents passed.”

The abuse allegedly occurred between 1971 and 1973, when Davis was an altar boy at St. Michael’s Church in Flushing, Queens. His family was fully enmeshed in church life — his mother was a teacher in the parish school and his father was the parish basketball coach. Davis got a job answering phones in the rectory and Garcia would allegedly come by to visit alone.

“He would start with, ‘You look tense, let me rub your back.’ Then he’d say, ‘Let me rub lower, stand up,’ Davis told the New York Daily News in February. “He’d make me stand up, he’d put his hands under my shirt and try to get under my pants. Then he would start grinding me from behind and rub my nipples. I was terrified.”

Davis says he tried to push back, but “he was bigger than me — he’d use physical force to keep me trapped, rubbing his groin against me,” he recounted. “He’d see how far he could go.”

Getting a job at a local grocery store, Davis finally quit working at the rectory. But he still couldn’t bring himself to come forward with the abuse because his parents — and his community — held Father Garcia in such high regard. Later, as an adult working as a plumber at Shea Stadium, he feared speaking out would damage his career.

Eventually Garcia was made monsignor, while Davis felt so ashamed he began abusing drugs and alcohol and sabotaging relationships. After years of soul searching and Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, he finally reported the abuse to the Diocese of Brooklyn’s review board in 2017.

The board determined there was “a lack of evidence” for his accusations, and prosecutors said the statute of limitations had long run out.

“I reported [Garcia] to the diocese and even picked him out of a lineup, but after a two-day investigation, they just swept it under the rug,” Davis at Tuesday’s press briefing. “I’m not looking for a payday,” he told the Daily News. “I’m just trying to get [Monsignor Garcia] out of the ministry.”

A second suit against Garcia was also filed by a John Doe, though details have not been made available.

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.

ELMA (NY)
WKBW TV

Sept. 11, 2019

By Ed Reilly

Bishop Richard insists that he has the majority of support among his clergy in the Diocese of Buffalo, despite troubling revelations about his handling of the priest sex abuse crisis.

Influential Catholic groups, like the “Movement to Restore Trust,” have called for the Bishop to resign after secret audio recordings were released showing Malone was hesitant to deal with an active pastor accused of sexually harassing a seminarian because the Bishop was worried about a public scandal.

In the recording, Bishop Malone referred to the accused priest as “dangerous” and a “sick puppy.”

After the story went public, Malone called a press conference where he said that he has no plans to step down and believes he still has the majority of support from his clergy.

But is that true?

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.

BUFFALO (NY)
West Seneca Bee

Sept. 11, 2019

By Alan Rizzo and Taylor Nigrelli

Lawyers, local politicians and Catholic parishioners from around the region are calling for the resignation of Bishop Richard Malone, in the wake of an increasing number of Child Victims Act lawsuits against priests from the Diocese of Buffalo, as well as his handling of the growing scandal.

On Sept. 4, attorneys Jeff Anderson and Steve Boyd, both of whom are representing child sexual abuse survivors in Child Victims Act lawsuits filed against the diocese, called for Bishop Malone’s resignation after news that he had discussed his possible resignation with diocesan officials in the wake of a scandal regarding Christ the King Seminary and claims of sexual harassment by the Rev. Jeffrey Nowak, a diocesan priest.

Anderson and Boyd criticized Bishop Malone for continuing to “deflect, deny and disparage” accusations of clergy sexual misconduct.

“Truth is simple,” Anderson said. “Deception, denial and prevarication are complex. Bishop Malone is a master at it.”

According to the attorneys, during a recent press conference on the scandal Bishop Malone was less concerned with the damaging content of the recordings referencing Rev. Nowak’s behavior and more concerned that a diocesan official had recorded conversations about the scandal — including the resignation discussion and one in which he had called Rev. Nowak a “sick puppy.”

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.

WASHINGTON (DC)
Washington Post

Sept. 11, 2019

By Meagan Flynn

Inside a beige bungalow in California’s Imperial Valley with a well-trimmed lawn and beds of pink flowers, the 17-year-old girl felt imprisoned. The doors were locked from the inside. The windows were nailed shut.

Like the other homeless and vulnerable people who came to Imperial Valley Ministries seeking shelter, food and rehab, the teenager was not allowed to leave without supervision, was not allowed to contact her family, to “discuss things of the world” or read any book but the Bible, according to federal prosecutors. Those who lived in the church’s group homes had to turn over their money and welfare benefits, their identification and all of their personal belongings, so that even if they wanted to leave, they couldn’t, prosecutors said.

Then, once they settled in, they were allegedly forced to panhandle up to nine hours a day for six days a week in parking lots and on street corners – turning over every penny they earned to the church.

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 (NY)
Queens Times Ledger

Sept. 10, 2019

By Bill Parry

The longtime pastor of St. Joan of Arc Church in Jackson Heights and current parochial vicar at St. Teresa’s Church in Woodside was named in two lawsuits filed Tuesday under the Child Victims Act as an alleged sexual abuser.

Monsignor Otto Garcia, who was cleared after a Diocese of Brooklyn investigation in February determined allegations against him were “unsubstantiated,” was accused of child sexual abuse by Tom Davis, 61, during a Manhattan press conference on Sept. 10.

Garcia is a vicar general with the Diocese of Brooklyn, and part of his duties involve investigating allegations of sexual abuse made against clergy members. He remains an active priest, and celebrated Mass at St. Teresa’s Church as recently as Sept. 8.

Davis told reporters on Sept. 10 that he kept the incident to himself for nearly five decades before finally coming forward.

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.

YORK (PA)
York Daily Record

Sept. 10, 2019

By Dylan Segelbaum

Brian Platt appeared before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Tuesday to argue that a grand
jury report that names Charles Quinton “C.Q.” Smith should never see the light of day. He was finished in less than five minutes — and after facing minimal questions.

Platt and Stephanie Cesare represent Smith, a pillar of the Chambersburg community who served as scoutmaster of Boy Scout Troop 127 from 1966 to 1991. A York Daily Record/Sunday News investigation revealed that he had been the subject of the grand jury inquiry, which was into allegations of decades of sexual abuse.

The statute of limitations has expired, and Smith cannot be criminally charged. Franklin County President Judge Carol L. Van Horn, who supervised the grand jury, ordered for the report to be publicly released, writing that Smith was “afforded all the protections of due process.”

But Smith has asked the state Supreme Court to permanently seal the report, or, alternatively, to shield his identity. He’s only identified in court records by his initials, C.S., and is anonymously proceeding in the petition.

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.

JEFFERSON (WI)
Channel 3000

Sept. 10, 2019

By Rose Schmidt

A man who says a Catholic priest sexually abused him when he was a teenager took the stand Tuesday in the second day of the now-retired cleric’s sexual assault trial.

The accuser, now 26, alleges that William Nolan sexually assaulted him more than 100 times over a span of four years starting in 2006 when the alleged victim was in middle school. At the time of the alleged incidents, the accuser said he was an altar boy at St. Joseph’s Church in Fort Atkinson and Nolan was the priest.

He testified that he never “never felt like a victim” because he was often the one who instigated the sexual encounters with Nolan.

“Part of me did feel guilty for doing it because … I also sought it out, so I felt bad for getting a man in trouble who I do not hate or did not dislike. I felt bad and had a hard time calling the police knowing that it would put him in very serious trouble,” the accuser said in Jefferson County court Tuesday.

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 (NY)
New York Post

September 10, 2019

By Elizabeth Rosner and Ebony Bowden

Three newly-accused clergymen were named in a batch of sexual abuse lawsuits filed against the Diocese of Brooklyn on Monday in Brooklyn civil court.

The victims filed 10 separate suits under New York State’s new Child Victims Act, claiming they were repeatedly sexually abused by Catholic clergy in Brooklyn between the 1950s and 1980s.

Father Patrick Fursey O’Toole, Friar Rudolph Manozzi and Brother Julio Ortiz were newly accused of engaging in “unpermitted sexual contact” with the altar boy victims, according to court docs.

Both O’Toole and Manozzi are dead. Ortiz’s whereabouts are unknown.

O’Toole is accused of abusing an altar boy over a 9-year period in the 1980s at the now-demolished St. Ann’s Church, formerly in Brooklyn, when he was aged 9 to 18.

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.

CHARLESTON (WV)
Huntington News

Sept. 11, 2019

West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey’s office urged a circuit court at a hearing Tuesday in Parkersburg to allow its case against the Wheeling-Charleston Diocese to proceed.

“We are pleased and appreciate having had our day in court,” Attorney General Morrisey said after the hearing. “These allegations are very serious, and we are hopeful now that we can begin a process of bringing true transparency to this ordeal and ensure compliance with our state’s consumer protection laws.”

The Attorney General argues his office’s lawsuit does not seek to dictate how the Diocese can hire, teach and operate, rather it seeks to enforce state law that requires honesty in advertising when the Diocese markets its fee-based schools and camps.

These facts include allegations that the Diocese hid its knowing employment of abusive priests and its failure to conduct the comprehensive background checks it promised.

The Attorney General contends attempts to dismiss the state’s lawsuit rely upon a flawed reading of the state’s Consumer Credit and Protection Act.

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.

KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter

Sept. 11, 2019

By Michael Sean Winters

Monday, the Catholic Herald reported that New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan was preparing to make an announcement regarding Buffalo, New York, Bishop Richard Malone. “[Cardinal Dolan] has been following the situation very closely, and has been consulting extensively,” Joseph Zwilling, longtime communications director for the New York Archdiocese told the Herald by email. “I would anticipate that we will hear something within the near future regarding this matter,” he concluded.

Malone has been embattled since last year when, on “60 Minutes,” his former secretary, Siobhan O’Connor, alleged Malone covered up cases of clergy sex abuse and provided documents that supported her allegation. Malone has denied the allegations.

This summer, there was a series of charges and counter-charges involving Malone’s handling of what he himself deemed a “love triangle.” Malone removed a pastor whom a seminarian alleged had made unwanted sexual advances on him, but a love letter from the bishop’s priest secretary to the same seminarian raised the possibility that the pastor was taking the fall. The priest secretary is now on a leave of absence as well.

The situation in Buffalo has unfolded at the same time as the universal church, under the leadership of Pope Francis, has finally taken steps to hold bishops accountable not merely for any sexual abuse they commit, but also for covering up the abuse of others. In May, the Holy Father issued the letter “Vos estis lux mundi” on his own initiative (motu proprio) that accorded metropolitan archbishops responsibility for conducting investigations into suffragan bishops against whom an allegation has been made. In a first for the ever-slow Vatican, the new law contained deadlines: Once the metropolitan requests authority to conduct an investigation, the relevant dicastery in the Vatican curia has 30 days to respond, and then the metropolitan must file a monthly report and complete the investigation within 90 days.

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.