ABUSE TRACKER

ROME
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Statement by Barbara Blaine of Chicago, president of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( European cell +39 366 1160224, U.S. cell +1 312 399 4747, Rome hotel- +39 06 598591; SNAPblaine@gmail.com )

If Pope Francis’ new abuse study panel is to be effective and seem credible, it must act quickly. After all, Catholic officials have dealt with clergy sexual violence privately for centuries and publicly for decades, yet painfully little reform has happened or is happening. And clergy sex crimes and cover ups keep happening while predator priests are being protected, moved and kept on the job.

[The News]

[Chicago Sun-Times]

We’re pessimistic about this panel. But if it is to have any real chance of making any difference, we believe the panel should:

–make their meeting agendas public (long in advance),
–make their meeting minutes public (promptly afterwards),
–immediately denounce the new, secretive Italian bishops’ abuse policy,
–publicly rebuke even a few individual bishops, by name, who are clearly concealing or have concealed abuse, and
–hold open, public hearings about the church’s on-going abuse and cover up crisis in at least a dozen nations.

Secrecy has enabled child rape and cover up. Openness will help expose and prevent it.

Why are we pessimistic? Because over the past two decades, hundreds of similar church panels have been set up at the national and diocesan levels across the world. Because these panels often operate in secrecy, with little real input from independent sources and have almost no power we believe they are mostly ineffective.

These hand-picked panel members –mostly all Catholic church-goers –have rarely spoken out in public, even in the most egregious cases of recklessness, callousness and deceit by Catholic officials. Thus, they lend their names and reputations to an effort that is destined to fail because bishops retain all their power and continue with their irresponsible complicity.

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.

SWITZERLAND
swissinfo

by Simon Bradley, swissinfo.ch
March 3, 2014

People sexually abused by priests in Switzerland believe not enough is being done to tackle their cases and the bigger issue – this despite new prevention guidelines released by the Swiss Catholic Church in the wake of the global scandal.

“Where are all the Swiss priests who have been accused?” demands Gérard Falcioni, a ski guide and herdsman from the village of Bramois in canton Valais.

Falcioni was himself a victim of abuse by a local priest from the age of five. Since 2002 he has been one of the few people in Switzerland to speak out against the church and tell his story in two books as well as in the Swiss media. But now he has had enough.

“We’re up against a brick wall and we can’t do anything. They are free to do what they want,” he told swissinfo.ch.

Other voices can also be heard questioning progress in tackling abuse within 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.

NETHERLANDS
The Tablet (UK)

01 May 2014

A deceased Dutch bishop has been identified as a child molester in the second such admission in as many weeks. Utrecht archdiocese, where Johannes Nienhaus was auxiliary bishop from 1982 to 1999, said a commission investigating the scandals had confirmed four complaints against him.

Earlier in April, Roermond diocese said its late bishop Johannes Gijsen had sexually abused two boys, also decades ago.

The Amsterdam daily De Volkskrant, which uncovered the story, said the abuse took place from the mid-1950s to the early 1970s when Nienhaus was chaplain and later rector of a junior seminary in Apeldoorn. Utrecht Cardinal Johannes Eijk, its current archbishop, took note of the four cases reported by the abuse commission and stressed they took place before Nienhaus was a bishop.

The diocese’s statement made clear the cases were being reported in response to queries from De Volkskrant, which said they had been confirmed by the abuse commission two years ago but not made public by the archdiocese at the time. Two years ago, a Dutch Catholic school association named the Nienhaus Foundation after the bishop changed its name because of the accusations 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.

UNITED STATES
National Survivor Advocates Coalition

Editorial

Australia may seem like a million miles away from you.

It really isn’t.

In as-the-crow-flies miles, it’s:

9,946 miles from New York City
10,102 miles from Boston
9,072 miles from Chicago
9,072 miles from Los Angeles
8,896 miles from Dallas
And in case you’re interested, it’s:

5,568 miles from Beijing
4,609 miles from the South Pole, Antarctica
7,560 miles from Nairobi
10,075 miles from Quebec City
10,153 miles from Rome
7,339 miles from Buenos Aires
Compared to a million that’s not so far.

In the modern world of air travel and communications, Australia is even closer than you think. You probably know someone that’s been there on a vacation or who does business there or someone who has come to the United States from Australia on vacation or to work.

In January 2013 Australia set up a Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

Australia is serious, it appears from the diligence of its work, about finding survivors and learning from them. It also appears to be serious about protecting its children.

Here is the Commission’s description of itself:

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse is investigating how institutions like schools, churches, sports clubs and government organisations have responded to allegations and instances of child sexual abuse.

It is the job of the Royal Commission to uncover where systems have failed to protect children so it can make recommendations on how to improve laws, policies and practices.

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
Geelong Advertiser

BY AVA BENNY-MORRISON AAP MAY 01, 2014

SHOCKING allegations aired during a child sexual abuse inquiry might prompt a drop in donations to the Salvation Army this year.

But the charity understands 2014 is a year for rebuilding trust, not for money.

“This year will be a difficult year for us,” Major Bruce Harmer told AAP.

“But our focus is not necessarily on money this year.”

Mr Harmer said this year’s Red Shield Appeal was an opportunity to stand alongside the Australians who had supported the charity for so many years.

The appeal launch on Thursday came on the back of allegations of child abuse at Salvation Army homes.

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 West Australian

AMANDA BANKS, LEGAL AFFAIRS EDITOR The West Australian
May 1, 2014

The Catholic Church and Christian Brothers fought a class action by abuse victims from WA orphanages at every turn, using their strong legal position to open settlement negotiations with the offer that the men pay their costs.

Slater and Gordon lawyer Hayden Stephens has told the royal commission public hearing in Perth this morning of the uphill battle faced by hundreds of men who signed retainers for the national law firm to take on the class action.

Mr Stephens said while a trust of $3.5 million was eventually settled in 1996 after a three-year legal stoush, the Christian Brothers made it clear from the outset that under no circumstances would any agreement be seen to be a payment of compensation to victims.

“Although this amount does not fairly reflect the suffering that these men suffered and experienced at these institutions, it was the best we could achieve,” Mr Hayden told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual 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.

AUSTRALIA
WA Today

May 1, 2014

Aleisha Orr
Reporter, WA Today

Details of legal proceedings undertaken in the 1990s in regard to child sex abuse at institutions run by Christian Brothers in Western Australia were revealed as part of a royal commission.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse in Perth was told that approximately the same amount of money was spent on legal costs as the total amount awarded to a group of about 200 men in the case.

The commission is hearing accounts of sexual abuse against children at the institutions in WA between the 1940s and ‘60s.

Slater & Gordon lawyer Hayden Stephens, involved in the class action against the Christian Brothers, told the hearing that men were “dragged through” three years of litigation for a payout that did not reflect the impact on the victims.

“We had battled for three years… and although that this amount of money does not reflect the suffering that these men had suffered and experienced at these institutions, it was the best that we could achieve through these negotiations.

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

May 1, 2014

Michael Inman
Courts reporter for The Canberra Times.

A former Canberra Catholic priest has pleaded guilty to historical acts of indecency on young boys in Sydney the 1960s.

Moves to defrock Father Gregory David Rankin, 79, were started by the Jesuit Provincial – the head of the order in Australia – upon hearing of Wednesday’s pleas in the Downing Centre District Court.

Rankin was a lay teacher at Northbridge Primary School when he committed 11 acts of indecency on three boys in the 1960s.

He joined the priesthood in 1970 and there are no allegations he offended while giving service to the church.

Court documents said the defendant molested one boy after he volunteered to tutor the 11-year-old after school in late 1963.

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
Daily Telegraph

Salvation Army promises that Red Shield Appeal won’t fund sexual abuse compensation payments

JONATHON MORAN AND ANDREW CARSWELL THE DAILY TELEGRAPH MAY 01, 2014

THE Salvation Army has issued a startling decree ahead of its annual Red Shield Appeal, promising donors that none of their pledged money will go towards compensation for victims of sexual abuse.

Moving to distance its fundraising activities from the claims of pedophilia and physical abuse that have surfaced at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, Salvation Army commissioner James Condon said all donated funds will be directed to the charity’s traditional welfare arms.

In a statement that suggests the charity is deeply concerned Australians will refrain en masse from giving to the Red Shield Appeal given the Royal Commission’s revelations about its handling of child sexual abuse claims, Mr Condon urged the public to consider the Salvation Army’s strong policies that protect children.

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

NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

01 MAY 2014

The first nun to give evidence to the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry has denied allegations that she physically, emotionally and psychologically abused children in her care.

The Sisters of Nazareth witness, who is in her 70s and cannot be identified, is accused of carrying out the abuse, including beating children when they wet the bed, at a children’s home in Londonderry.

Seven former pupils at Termonbacca home for boys and girls accused her of a variety of physical offences, when she and another nun looked after more than 50 boys at the home in the late 1950s.

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
7 News

ABC

IRENA CERANIC
April 30, 2014

A man sexually abused in a church-run institution was ignored by police and warned he would be charged if he continued to make abuse allegations, a royal commission has heard.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse entered its third day of hearings in Perth today.

Edward Delaney was a child migrant from England when he was sent to a Christian Brothers institution at Castledare, and then sent on to Bindoon.

He has told the commission he was physically and sexually abused by the brothers at Bindoon over a prolonged period.

“I felt despair and like I could not go on,” Mr Delaney said.

“At the age of nine I started to think about killing myself.”

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AUSTRALIA
NEWS.com.au

Salvation Army promises that Red Shield Appeal won’t fund sexual abuse compensation payments

THE Salvation Army has issued a startling decree ahead of its annual Red Shield Appeal, promising donors that none of their pledged money will go towards compensation for victims of sexual abuse.

Moving to distance its fundraising activities from the claims of pedophilia and physical abuse that have surfaced at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, Salvation Army commissioner James Condon said all donated funds will be directed to the charity’s traditional welfare arms.

In a statement that suggests the charity is deeply concerned Australians will refrain en masse from giving to the Red Shield Appeal given the Royal Commission’s revelations about its handling of child sexual abuse claims, Mr Condon urged the public to consider the Salvation Army’s strong policies that protect children.

“I want to assure you today that as the Commissioner of the Salvation Army I have zero tolerance for child sexual abuse within the Salvation Army,” Mr Condon said at the official launch of the appeal at Sydney’s Westin Hotel today.

“I want to assure you that we have strong policies in place to protect children and all vulnerable people that come into our care.

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
ABC News

By Rebecca Trigger and Jade Macmillan

Law firm Slater and Gordon has defended its handling of a class action on behalf of people abused in children’s homes run by the Christian Brothers in Western Australia.

Several victims who have given evidence at the Perth hearings of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse took part in the class action.

Ted Delaney, who received $3,000 compensation, described the process as a joke and accused Slater and Gordon of fighting for its own commission rather than the victims.

Hayden Stephens, a Slater and Gordon lawyer, today appeared on the fourth day of the commission’s hearings in Perth.

In the early 1990s, Mr Stephens was involved in the class action against the Christian Brothers representing the boys who alleged 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.

AUSTRALIA
The West Australian

May 1, 2014

Aleisha Orr
Reporter, WA Today

A public hearing has heard how at least two young boys, sent to Australia from overseas reported sexual abuse at Christian Brothers run ‘schools’ to police officers but were not taken seriously.

Edward Delaney, a child migrant from the United Kingdom described being sexually abused as a child at Bindoon Farm School while giving evidence to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

He left Bindoon at the age of 16 and told the commission that two years later he went to the police to report the abuse he’d experienced.

Mr Delaney said he went to Mount Lawley Police Station and told officers that he’d been sexually abused by the brothers at Bindoon.

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AUSTRALIA
The Conversation

Marcus O’Donnell
Senior Lecturer, Journalism at University of Wollongong

The week after Easter, Pope Francis presided over the canonisation ceremony which declared his two most famous contemporary predecessors, John Paul II and John XXIII, were now “saints”. This is an important marker in his papacy, a transparently political act which seeks to balance the canonisation of the deeply conservative John Paul II with a simultaneous nod to John XXIII, who reigned from 1958 to 1963 and unleashed the progressive reforms of Vatican II.

Saints are the most distinctive part of the Catholic church’s symbolic world. From the courage of martyr saints to the eccentric ecstasies of its mystics, they people catholic theology, providing both illustration and inspiration. But they are not just resources for personal piety.

They are a powerful part of the church’s international political theatre. Canonisations are in some senses a pacifying, distracting ritual – but they are always also an important statement about the church’s key values.

The canonisation of John Paul II seemed inevitable since the chants at his funeral in 2005: “Sancto subito” – sainthood immediately. The process started when his successor Pope Benedict, forever the loyal lieutenant, waived the standard five-year waiting period.

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AUSTRALIA
Perth Now

Day 4: Royal commission told Christian Brothers tried to avoid liability over alleged abuse

A LAWYER who represented the Christian Brothers against survivors of extreme abuse in WA has agreed it’s inconceivable the order’s leaders did not know sexual abuse and gratuitous violence was going on.

On Thursday, the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual abuse heard from two lawyers who sat on opposite sides of litigation brought in the mid-1990s by abuse survivors from four Christian Brothers institutions in WA.

Under questioning from commission chairman Peter McClellan, Carroll & O’Dea partner Howard Harrison, who was a lawyer for the Christian Brothers in the 1990s, acknowledged the leaders of the order must have known about the violence at its institutions. “It is inconceivable they didn’t know that the violence went beyond punishment, was gratuitous in many cases. It is inconceivable they didn’t know that, isn’t it?” Justice McClellan asked.

“Well, yes, your honour,” Mr Harrison replied.

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.

IRELAND
National Board for the Safeguarding of Children in the Catholic Church

(May 1st 2014)

The National Board for the Safeguarding of Children in the Catholic Church in Ireland (NBSCCCI) published its annual report today. It details the work done by the Board and its National Office during the year ending 31st March 2014. It notes that 162 new allegations of abuse were reported to the Board, and to the State Authorities, between April 1st 2013 and the end of March 2014. Most allegations relate to abuse allegedly having taken place between the 1940’s and 90’s, with the biggest number of allegations relating to the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s.

The Board are satisfied that all of these have also been passed to the Gardaí/PSNI and where appropriate to the HSCT/HSE (Child and Family Agency).

2013 was a particularly significant year in that it saw the retirement of the organisation’s first CEO, Ian Elliott and the appointment of its second, Teresa Devlin. This change was used as an opportunity to re-examine the activity of the Board, to ensure that it was doing most effectively what it was established to do.

“I’ve inherited a really important role and it’s great to be leading a small but busy and committed team of people who are making the Church a safe place for children and to ensure that past mistakes are not repeated,” said Teresa Devlin, CEO, NBSCCCI. “Over the last year we have undertaken 18 reviews of safeguarding practice, initiated a busy 3 year training programme and on a day to day basis, offered advice and support across the various church bodies.”

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IRELAND
National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church

Allegations Notified to the National Office – 1 April 2013 to 31 March 2014

The National Office has been collecting information on allegations, concerns and suspicions of child
abuse against priests and religious since 2009. In the first couple of years the flow of information to
the National Office was slow; however, there is now a real acceptance that in addition to notifying the
civil authorities, relevant information should also be shared with the National Office consistent with
requirements of data protection legislation. To allow the exchange of information, all Church authorities have signed a memorandum of understanding with the Board. The National Office staff offer advice regarding notification to the civil authorities and the management of risk by the Church authority. The data also allows the National Office to provide an overview of the numbers of allegations. In the past five years there has been a significant number of allegations made (see charts below), totalling 1,042.

However, care needs to be exercised in interpreting this data, as a small number of these notifications can be re-referrals and also the data includes allegations, suspicions and concerns and should not be viewed as the total number of allegations of proven abuse. During the period April 2013 until end March 2014, there has been a decrease in numbers of allegations made in comparison to the same period 2012–2013. There were 64 received against priests from dioceses and 100 against
priests and religious from religious congregations. The total number received was 164. Monthly, the notifications made to the Board are as follows:

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IRELAND
RTE News

[annual report]

The Catholic Church here must learn better and more compassionate ways of responding to victims of clerical child sexual abuse.

That is according to the Chief Executive of the Church’s child protection watchdog

Writing in the annual report of the National Board for the Safeguarding of Children in the Catholic Church, Teresa Devin revealed that the number of allegations made in the past year has fallen to 164.

Ms Devlin says that in the twelve months to the end of March, the board received 64 allegations, suspicions or concerns of child sexual abuse relating to priests from dioceses and 100 against members of religious congregations.

As some clerics were subject of more than one complaint, it is not clear how many were concerned.

Some of the allegations date back as far as 1948.

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JOLIET (IL)
NBC Chicago

[with video]

[The David Rudofski Child Protection Archive – BishopAccountability.org]
[Joliet diocese]
[Abuse by Clergy in Chicago]

By Charlie Wojciechowski | Wednesday, Apr 30, 2014

Five lawsuits were filed Wednesday against the Joliet Diocese alleging sexual abuse by four priests dating back as far as the 1950s.

The accusers’ attorneys released thousands of documents they say shows a pattern of protecting priests at the expense of their young victims.

“In each case, because the Diocese of Joliet in the past and to the present has, in our view, failed to protect the children and have failed institutionally to do the right thing,” attorney Jeff Anderson said.
The cases were made possible by a settlement clergy abuse survivor David Rudofski made with the Diocese in which he demanded that more than 7,000 pages of secret files be released detailing cases involving 16 priests.

“It’s not over, but I feel a small sense of relief that these documents are the first step in trying to make things better,” Rudofski 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.

JOLIET (IL)
Chicago Sun-Times

[Lawrence Gibbs]

BY BRIAN SLODYSKO Staff Reporter April 30, 2014

Even before the Rev. Lawrence Gibbs became a priest in 1973, Diocese of Joliet officials showed a lack of faith in their young charge, using terms like “pompous” and “not too bright” to describe the seminarian, according to church records.

But in a 1971 performance review of the seminarian, there was a phrase that proved prophetic: “possible source of scandal.”

Father Larry — as Gibbs was known — created plenty of that during his roughly 20 years as priest, records show. Records allege he started molesting boys as early as 1976 — a practice he allegedly continued until at least 1987.

Accusations of sexual abuse against Gibbs — and 15 other priests from the Diocese of Joliet — was included in thousands of pages of records released by the attorneys for a plaintiff who previously sued the diocese. As part of the legal settlement, diocesan priest files were released to the plaintiff — some of which were released to the public for the first time Wednesday. According to the documents, the diocese found that sexual abuse complaints against all 16 were credible.

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JOLIET (IL)
Chicago Sun-Times

[Donald O’Connor]

BY FRANCINE KNOWLES Religion Reporter April 30, 2014

Concern was raised in seminary about the late Rev. Donald O’Connor’s mental health before he was ordained a priest in 1964.

Two years later, allegations of sexual abuse began and continued over the years, according to Diocese of Joliet documents, released by attorneys Wednesday on the priest and 15 others, whom the diocese found had credible allegations made against them.

An altar boy said he was taken to a hotel by O’Connor after a trip to the Museum of Science and Industry in or around 1966, according to a 2005 document. When the boy woke up, he had no clothes on and found shaving cream on his stomach with a smiley face. Someone else was in the room, but he didn’t know who because he was drowsy. He suspected he was drugged.

Meanwhile a 1980 report disclosed allegations that O’Connor attempted to molest several teenage boys. “Don has forced at least two boys on the bed in the rectory. One fought him off. The other result is vague,” the document said.

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ILLINOIS
Patch

Posted by Shannon Antinori (Editor) , April 30, 2014

A year after the Diocese of Joliet released a list of priests who were credibly accused of sexually abusing children, more documents detailing abuse allegations are coming to light.

On Wednesday, Chicago-based attorney Jeff Anderson also announced that five new lawsuits have been filed against the Diocese of Joliet.

The new information sheds more light on 16 of the 34 priests included on the diocese’s list of credibly accused clergy. Click here to view the list of credibly accused priests. …

On Wednesdsay, files were made available priests, including:

Fr. James Burnett, who served at St. Mary Catholic Church in Mokena, as well as serving as rector at the Cathedral of St. Raymond in Joliet. Removed from ministry in 2006.
Fr. Phillip Dedera, formerly of St. Andrew in Romeoville and St. Pius X Church in Lombard; removed from ministry in 2002.
Fr. Michael Gibbney, formerly of St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church Bolingbrook; removed from ministry in 1992.
Fr. Lawrence Gibbs, formerly of Christ the King Church in Lombard; removed from ministry in 1992.
Fr. Carroll Howlin, formerly of St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Romeoville; removed from ministry in 2002.
Fr. Fred Lenczynski, convicted of sexually abusing boys at St. Isaac Jogues Church in Hinsdale; removed from ministry in 2002.
Fr. Lawrence Mullins, formerly of the Cathedral of St. Raymond in Joliet; removed from ministry in 1993.
Fr. Anthony Ross, formerly of St. John the Baptist in Winfield and the Cathedral of St. Raymond in Joliet; removed from ministry in 2002.
Fr. William Virtue, formerly of St. Mary in Mokena; removed from ministry in 2006 in the Diocese of Peoria.

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AUSTRALIA
Lawyers Weekly

Slater & Gordon has declined to comment on allegations that it “forced” a victim of sexual abuse to sign a settlement in the firm’s class action against Christian Brothers-run institutions.

Edward Delaney and Gordon Grant gave evidence at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse today (30 April) in Perth. Both victims spoke about sexual abuse that occurred at Bindoon Farm School.

Delaney described a subsequent class action by Slaters, which was launched in the 1990s, as “a joke”, reported SMH.

He claimed that he was told by the firm that if he didn’t take a settlement offer of around $3000 he would “get nothing”.

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AUSTRALIA
The West Australian

AMANDA BANKS AND COLLEEN EGAN The West Australian
May 1, 2014

The national law firm that represented former orphanage residents in a class action against the Christian Brothers was fighting for its commission and not for the victims, a man who was abused at Bindoon told the royal commission in Perth yesterday.

Edward Delaney told the public hearing that he had heard about the class action by Slater & Gordon and attended a meeting in Melbourne, where he was told he should sign a final offer that would give him about $3000.

“For what we went through, I felt this amount was an insult,” he said at the third day of evidence at the Perth hearing of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

Mr Delaney said he thought it was “disgusting”, but he was told it was $3000 or nothing and he signed a document. “I am sorry I signed that document,” he said.

The Perth hearing is investigating the abuse of boys at the Christian Brothers’ Bindoon, Clontarf, Castledare and Tardun homes from the 1940s to 1960s.

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AUSTRALIA
The West Australian

COLLEEN EGAN The West Australian
May 1, 2014

Last week, in preparation for his testimony to the royal commission, feisty Welshman Gordon Grant took a trip to Karrakatta cemetery with another of the “old boys” of Christian Brothers homes.

“I counted 79 Christian Brothers buried there, we counted 14 who are repeat offenders,” he said. “They were notorious paedophiles of these four institutions (Bindoon, Tardun, Castledare and Clontarf boys’ homes).”

Mr Grant told the inquiry yesterday of a wish that would bring him relief from the lasting depression and flashbacks to beatings and sexual abuse at Bindoon, led by the infamous tyrant, Brother Paul Keaney.

“We want the mortal remains of Brother Keaney taken up and his mortal remains, what is left of them, to be reinterred at the brothers’ plot at Karrakatta,” he said. “Bindoon is no place for him now. It is a co-educational college with 140 students.

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Telegraph

Child sexual abuse victim John Hennessey relives horrors, giving evidence at Royal Commission

AMANDA PARTRIDGE MACARTHUR CHRONICLE CAMPBELLTOWN MAY 01, 2014

INGLEBURN resident John Hennessey is looking forward to coming home after reliving the horror stories of the abuse he suffered as a child at the hands of the Christian Brothers.

Mr Hennessey gave evidence at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Perth on Monday.

For the years between 1947-1953 he was raped, beaten and emotionally abused by the brothers at the Bindoon boys home in Western Australia.

As Mr Hennessey took to the stand to dredge up horror memories he has never spoken of before, the silence was fittingly poignant.

“The thing that amazed me was that you could hear a pin drop in the commission,” Mr Hennessey, a former Campbelltown deputy mayor, told the Macarthur Chronicle.

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AUSTRALIA
Australian Teacher Magazine

PERTH, April 30 – A survivor of child sex abuse at a West Australian boarding school wants the remains of a former principal exhumed from the school and reburied with his “pedophile” mates, a royal commission has heard.

Gordon Grant, a former resident of St Joseph’s Farm and Trade School, Bindoon, also wants the marble-top tombstone of Brother Paul Keaney – the superior of the school in 1947 – dumped in a piggery.

Grant, now in his 80s, was sent to Bindoon from Wales when he was 14.

While at the school, he was physically beaten by Brother Keaney and repeatedly sexually abused by other brothers.

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UNITED STATES
PopeCrimes& Vatican Evils

Paris Arrow

The Opus Dei Beast “supernatural” Holy Father John Paul II

The relic for the new Saint John Paul II presented at his canonization circus at the Vatican was a vial drawn from his blood before he died – but that blood comes from the most cold-blood-ed cold-heart-ed pope in the history of Christendom because as the “Holy Father” – he did not have one drop of compassion in his blood and he didn’t have the fatherly compunction for hundreds of thousands of his Catholic children who were sexually sodomized and tortured by his bestial JP2 Army – John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army named aptly after him who said nothing and did nothing to save and protect children during his 27 globetrotting years as the most powerful man, most famous monarch albeit religious dictator in the 20th century.

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
City of Angels

Kay Ebeling

(Just found this in a journal, copy and pasted it here, and apart from a few small changes for clarity, it’s exactly as I wrote it in spring 2012 when I was left in West Virginia. Part 2 is here) .

I’d wake up each morning not sure where I was. The building went up in the early 1800s as a boarding house in this small town in the country a 3-hour drive from Washington D.C., but that didn’t matter to me as I had no way to get to D.C. or even out of this town. I never had any reason to want to live in West Virginia, yet here I was, stranded.

In 2010 I’d taken off to roam around the country interviewing other pedophile priest victims, trying to develop City of Angels Blog into something that could really accomplish something.

Instead by summer 2011, I got sidetracked, swept aside, and outright abandoned and now I was in this little rental house in small town West Virginia, totally isolated.

And I woke up with a huge spider bite on my thigh. I guess it was a spider bite, or some other massive insect whose venom under my skin was rapidly expanding into a puss-filled bubble, a good three inches wide. And pulsating, I woke up with a hot red pulsating infected insect bite on my leg on top of my thigh.

I’ve had PTSD since age five, so I’ve been on this endless treadmill. No matter what happens, I keep running and running and running. In the 1980s it got me through an unexpected pregnancy when I was single and age forty. I ran and ran and kept a roof over our heads and got my daughter to early adulthood in pretty good shape, well sort of.

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.

JOLIET (IL)
WLS

April 30, 2014 (CHICAGO) (WLS) — The files of 16 Joliet priests accused of sexually abusing children were released to the public Wednesday.

DOWNLOAD: Joliet Priest Files / Bishop Imesch Deposition

The priests’ files, made up of about 7,000 documents, were released by a Chicago law firm. Lawyer Jeff Anderson also announced that five lawsuits have been filed against the Diocese of Joliet because it “failed to do the right thing.”

David Rudofski and others allege church leaders at the Joliet Diocese knew about the abuse for years and did little about it. Rudofski sued to get the records, which attorneys say prove the diocese knew what was going on.

Rudofski, 38, said the day of his first confession was the day his abuse began. He was 8 years old.

“You can never really move forward in the future and protect children if you don’t realize what you’ve done in the past and how to correct those actions,” Rudofski said. “If I can just save one child in all of this, the long road I went through to get here today, every bit of that heartache will be worth it.”

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.

ILLINOIS
Daily Herald

By Justin Kmitch
jkmitch@dailyherald.com

Twelve years have passed since the late Rev. Donald Pock was removed as the longtime pastor at Itasca’s St. Peter’s Catholic Church after allegations of his past sexual misconduct were confirmed.

Pock was among 16 priests — all with ties to DuPage County — accused of sexually abusing minors in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Joliet, whose long-confidential files were released to the public Wednesday by sexual abuse attorneys Jeff Anderson and Marc Pearlman.

While some files are as recent as 2002, others date to the 1950s.

But Anderson says the thousands of pages of documents released Wednesday show the diocese put a priority on “protecting themselves and their priests at the peril of children.”

According to Pock’s 79-page file, his trail of alcoholism and sexual abuse began in 1969 while he was pastor at Divine Savior Church in Downers Grove and spanned through his removal from St. Peter on April 26, 2002. He died in May 2004.

Also released were more than 80 pages of documents on Pock’s predecessor, former Pastor Anthony Ross. The diocese placed Ross on administrative leave in April 2002 following accusations of sexual misconduct with a teen in 1982 at St. Peter’s.

A nearly 400-page file detailing alleged abuse by former Rev. Phillip Dedera was also included in Wednesday’s released documents. Between 1976 and 2002, Dedera served as an associate pastor throughout DuPage County, including at St. Pius X in Lombard, Visitation Church in Elmhurst, St. Walter Church in Roselle, St. Scholastica in Woodridge and most recently as the chaplain in residence at Edward Hospital in Naperville.

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.

JOLIET (IL)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Statement by Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, Outreach Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 314 503 0003 cell, SNAPdorris@gmail.com )

People often ask why we are here today. We are here because once again brave survivors have put aside their pain, put away their desire for privacy and stepped forward to protect children and reach out to others who have been hurt. They have had the wisdom to work with civil authorities and the persistence to demand the release of these documents which we believe will not only detail horrific abuse but will also reveal what church officials have done to enable, shield and protect these predators.

Bishop Conlon can claim that these documents are a stinging indictment of his predecessor Bishop Imesch. He can claim much of this did not happen on his watch. That may be true but he has done nothing to correct the horrible injustice inflicted on the brave survivors. He has done nothing to ensure these dangerous predators have no access to children.

Conlon claims on one hand to be a moral and spiritual leader, yet when it comes to clergy predators he becomes a cold hearted CEO who will stop at nothing to protect the reputation of his “company.” He has chosen to sit behind his desk waiting until the brave survivors haul him into court and even then he does only the bare minimum.

Of the 16 predators named in these documents, five, possibly six, are dead. What are church officials doing to ensure the others have no access to kids? Are they currently teachers, working in a daycare, scout leaders, coaching little league, babysitting, acting as mentors?

Conlon can claim there is nothing he can do about past crimes. We disagree. We urged Bishop Conlon to disclose not just the names, but the photos, work histories, personnel records and current whereabouts of all child molesting Catholic clerics. Not just those that are sued. Not just those on the diocesan payroll. All of them. Anything less is selfish and irresponsible.

He should stop burnishing his image. He should start protecting his flock.

He should stop splitting hairs. He should start acting responsibly.

He should stop pledging “transparency” and start practicing transparency.

He should stop disclosing when forced and start disclosing voluntarily.

He should beg employee and former employees to come forward and work with law enforcement if they have any knowledge of these crimes.

He should use every resource at his disposal (church bulletins, diocesan newspaper and website, church pulpits) to beg survivors to contact the police.

He should punish anyone who enabled or shielded a predator, anyone who failed to call the police when they suspected misdeeds including Bishop Imesch who was allowed to quietly retire.

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.

JOLIET (IL)
Chicago Sun-Times

[The David Rudofski Child Protection Archive – BishopAccountability.org]

[Joliet diocese]

[Abuse by Clergy in Chicago]

BY FRANCINE KNOWLES Religion Reporter April 30, 2014

The Diocese of Joliet was hit with five lawsuits Wednesday alleging four priests sexually abused minors decades ago and was accused of continuing a pattern of protecting priests while leaving children at risk.

The suits were announced by plaintiffs’ attorneys, who also made public thousands of pages of diocese files on 16 priests credibly accused of sexually abusing minors. The documents suggest a pattern of diocese officials failing to notify the police or unsuspecting parishioners about the abuse.

The documents were released by the diocese in a non-cash settlement following a lawsuit brought by David Rudofski, who alleged he was abused by the Rev. James Burnett. Burnett was removed from ministry in 2006.

One of the latest lawsuits “brings a nuisance claim, and that means that that claim, which has yet to be brought in this state before, claims that the bishops for the Diocese of Joliet have in the past and to the present continue to choose to engage in making conscious choices to protect the reputation of their priests and themselves at the peril of children,” said attorney Jeff Anderson.

Attorneys called on the diocese to release all documents on priests accused of abusing minors.

The diocese “has not yet been served with the five lawsuits filed in Will County Court today,” the diocese said in a statement. “After receiving copies of the suits and reviewing the specifics of the pleadings, diocesan officials will respond in the appropriate forum.

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.

JOLIET (IL)
CBS Chicago

[with audio]

[The David Rudofski Child Protection Archive – BishopAccountability.org]

Nancy Harty

(CBS) — The public can now see files of priests from the Diocese of Joliet accused of sexually abusing children thanks to a lawsuit by one of the victims, reports WBBM’s Nancy Harty.

The roughly 7,000 pages of documents detail credible allegations against 16 priests from the Diocese of Joliet. Among them is Father James Burnett, accused by David Rudolfski and two others of sexual abuse.

Rudofski says his relief by the documents being made public is tempered.

“Knowing what I had to go through get these, that still bothers me a lot,” said Rudofski.

Attorney Jeff Anderson accuses the diocese and even the Vatican of continuing to protect priests at the peril of children.

“If it was a past problem, we wouldn’t be as alarmed as we are,” said Anderson.

The attorneys have filed five more lawsuits. They want the release of the names and addresses of other priests with credible accusations.

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.

VIRGINIA
Catholic Herald

Jim Byrne

A decade ago, bishops across the United States set about implementing the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People. It was a watershed moment in the clergy abuse scandals rocking our church. At the time, as Catholic parents ourselves, my wife and I had grave concerns, and our pastor challenged me to participate in helping to make the changes required by this charter.

The USCCB Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People was drafted in Dallas in 2002. With it, an institutional amends began. Few of my fellow Catholics seem to comprehend its impact. To date, 194 dioceses/eparchies in the United States have made radical changes. More than 2 million adults are now trained to recognize potentially abusive behavior and to respond in keeping with civil and canon law. The U.S. church now has a background check process more stringent than most school systems, having checked more than 2.3 million volunteers, employees, candidates for ordination and clerics — anyone who has substantial contact with children under the aegis of the church. Many other related programs have been established, each requiring extensive fact-finding, research and counsel for our bishops. I have been honored, with others, to participate in that process in our diocese.

One critical step under the charter established in each diocese a review board to advise their bishop on matters pertaining to the charter. This step was seen as historic. It opened a dialog between bishops and laity at a new level, helping energize the church at every level. It also helped bishops break through the insular thinking that led to deleterious decisions with regard to sexual predators ordained or otherwise working in some dioceses.

In 2003, with the close support and help of Oblate Father Mark Mealey, vicar general, Bishop Paul S. Loverde created Arlington’s Diocesan Review Board. He tasked this board to review allegations of sexual misconduct. For other duties required by the “essential norms,” however, the bishop created a separate diocesan Advisory Board. Our task was to launch diverse programs ranging from an equitable system of background checks, to broad-scale training, to victim outreach and care. While the norms required each diocese to have only a review board tasked with all these responsibilities, our bishop was one of only a few who chose to split responsibilities. Doing so, he multiplied the impact of lay people, sisters and priests in helping the church change and move 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.

JOLIET (IL)
Roman Catholic Diocese of Joliet

The following list of diocesan priests has been prepared in the hope that it will further facilitate healing
and closure for those who have been affected by sexual abuse. It may also encourage others who have been sexually abused to come forward.

Persons wishing to report sexual abuse are asked to call the Victims Assistance Coordinator, Judith
Speckman, at 815-263-6467 or to contact DCFS at 1-800-25ABUSE.

PRIESTS WITH CREDIBLE/SUBSTANTIATED ALLEGATIONS

Priest Ordained Status
Burnett, James 5/25/1968 Removed from ministry 2006
Buczyna, Andrew 6/6/1987 Removed from ministry 2008
Dedera, Philip 11/1/1972 Removed from ministry 2002
Dugal, William 5/28/1976 Removed from ministry 2002, Deceased 2009
Fischer, Lowell 5/8/1954 Removed from ministry 2002, Deceased 2006
Flores, Alejandro 6/6/2009 Removed from ministry 2010
Formusa, Salvatore 4/27/1935 Removed from ministry 2002, Deceased 2006
Frederick, James 5/30/1959 Deceased 1988
Furdek, John 6/2/1984 Removed from ministry 2000
Gibbney, Michael 5/24/1975 Removed from ministry 1992
Gibbs, Lawrence 5/12/1973 Removed from ministry 1992
Lenczycki, Frederick 10/21/1972 Removed from ministry 2002
Malzone, John 5/30/1955 Left ministry 1970, Deceased 2008
Mateo, Leonardo 3/17/1956 Left diocese 1984, Deceased 2004
Meis, Anthony 8/15/1972 Removed from ministry 2002
Mullins, Lawrence 10/15/1977 Removed from ministry 1993
O’Connor, Donald 5/23/1964 Removed from ministry 2002, Deceased 2011
Pock, Donald 6/7/1958 Removed from ministry 2002, Deceased 2004
Poff, Edward 6/7/1958 Removed from ministry 2002
Ross, Anthony 11/11/1972 Removed from ministry 2002
Ruffalo, Richard* 5/30/1959 Deceased 1997
Slade, Henry 5/31/1969 Removed from ministry 1990
Slown, John 5/30/1959 Removed from ministry 1986
Stefanich, Edward 5/25/1965 Removed from ministry 1987
Van Duren, Charles* 5/31/1952 Deceased 1997
White, Myles 5/28/1968 Removed from ministry 1992, Deceased 2012

PRIESTS WITH CREDIBLE ALLEGATIONS WITH A CONTINUING CANONICAL PROCESS

Priest Ordained Status
Dennerlein, Arno 5/31/1969 Removed from ministry 2003
Howlin, Carroll 5/27/1961 Removed from ministry 2002
Nowak, James 5/27/1967 Removed from ministry 2012
Ryan, Lee 5/25/1968 Removed from ministry 2010
Virtue, William** 11/29/1975 Removed from ministry 2006

PRIESTS WITH CREDIBLE ALLEGATIONS BUT UNRESOLVED

Priest Ordained Status
Dinan, Paul* 6/6/1937 Deceased 1996
Storm, James* 5/22/1952 Deceased 1974
Walsh, Oliver* 5/28/1960 Deceased 1975

*Credible accusation(s) received after death.

**Ordained in the Diocese of Joliet in 1975; and thereafter incardinated into the Diocese of Peoria in 1988; and thereafter removed from ministry by the Diocese of Peoria in 2006.

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JOLIET (IL)
Patch

[The David Rudofski Child Protection Archive – BishopAccountability.org]

Posted by Shannon Antinori (Editor) , April 30, 2014

A year after the Diocese of Joliet released a list of priests who were credibly accused of sexually abusing children, more documents detailing abuse allegations are coming to light.

The new information sheds more light on nine of the 34 priests included on the diocese’s list of credibly accused clergy. Click here to view the list of credibly accused priests.

As part of a legal settlement, the Catholic Diocese of Joliet last year began releasing internal documents related to the accused priest — including files that show that for decades, bishops had been aware of the sexual abuse accusations. More than 7,000 documents were to be released.

Attorney Mark McKenna, whose firm Hurley McKenna & Mertz represents 15 alleged victims who have cases pending against the diocese, said a list created by the diocese’s review board shows that the diocese has been keeping track of allegations against priests at least since the 1960s.

This week, more documents were made public after being released by plaintiff David Rudofski through his Chicago lawyer, Terrence Johnson, as part of his settlement with the diocese.

Rudofski was 8 years old and making his first confession at St. Mary’s Church in Mokena when he was sexually molested by the Rev. James Burnett in the 1980s. He filed a personal injury suit against the diocese in 2007.

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JOLIET (IL)
Enquirer-Herald

[the documents via BishopAccountability.org]

BY MICHAEL TARM
Associated Press
April 30, 2014

CHICAGO — Attorneys have released thousands of files from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Joliet they allege show a pattern of minimizing and sometimes covering up sexual abuse by priests.

Jeff Anderson’s law firm released documents Wednesday on 16 priests. He says they indicate the Chicago-area diocese put a priority on “protecting themselves and their priests at the peril of children.”

He adds the diocese refuses to disclose the whereabouts of more than 20 former priests accused of abuse and who could still harm children. Anderson says the diocese put up “great resistance” to turning over the files as part of civil litigation.

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.

HAWAII
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Statement by Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, Outreach Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 314 8627688, SNAPdorris@gmail.com )

Yesterday Hawaii lawmakers approved a bill that would give child sex victims more time to expose predators and seek justice in civil courts. They also approved legislation giving prosecutors unlimited time to file criminal charges against child predators. We applaud this action.

[SF Gate]

HB 2034 would completely remove the statute of limitations for continuous sexual assault of a child or abuse in the first and second degrees and SB 2687 would extend the deadline for civil filings to 2016.

Giving child sex victims more time to take action is key to prevention. If those who commit or conceal heinous crimes against kids know they can be exposed or prosecuted, they may not attack children or hide predators.

No amount of money can make up for a lost childhood. But when victims are allowed to use the tried-and-true civil justice system to name sex offenders, uncover cover ups, get secret records and provide valuable evidence to law enforcement, children are safer and victims can heal.

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.

JOLIET (IL)
Abuse by Clergy in Chicago

Bishop Joseph Imesch Deposition

Imesch File Part 1

Imesch File Part 2

Priest Files

• Janssen, James Timeline
• Formusa, Salvatore Timeline
• Mateo, Leonardo Timeline
• Pock, Donald Timeline
• Frederick, James Timeline
• Slown, John Timeline
• Howlin, Carroll “Pud” Timeline
• O’Conner, Donald Timeline
• Burnett, James Timeline
• Gibbney, Michael Timeline
• Lenczycki,Frederick Timeline
• Dedera, Phillip Timeline
• Ross, Anthony Timeline
• Gibbs, Lawrence Timeline
• Virtue, William Timeline
• Mullins, Lawrence Timeline

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

VATICAN CITY
Washington Post

By Josephine Mckenna | Religion News Service, Updated: Wednesday, April 30

VATICAN CITY — As Pope Francis prepares to address the new Vatican panel charged with tackling the clergy sexual abuse scandal, victims are demanding the Catholic Church take immediate action to expose perpetrators and punish the bishops who protected them.

The Vatican’s new commission for the protection of minors, led by Boston Cardinal Sean O’Malley, is designed to show the pope’s personal commitment to confront the sex scandals that have shaken the church in the U.S., Ireland, Germany and elsewhere around the world.

The eight-member commission, including Irish victim Marie Collins, who says she was raped by a priest at age 13, will meet for the first time Thursday (May 1) at the Santa Marta residence where the pope lives inside the walls of the Vatican.

But the Chicago-based Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) said Wednesday that church panels in the past had done nothing to expose or prevent abuse, and it called for a new approach.

“SNAP contends that these panels — or panel members — have both the chance and the duty to take action now to expose and deter cover-ups,” said Barbara Blaine, founder and president of SNAP, which represents 18,000 victims from 79 countries who claim to have suffered clerical sexual abuse.

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ILLINOIS
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Statement by Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, Outreach Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 314 8627688, SNAPdorris@gmail.com )

An Illinois pastor is on leave during an investigation into his conduct. We are glad he has stepped aside and hope that the investigation is thorough and any relevant findings are turned over to secular authorities.

[Kane County Chronicle]

In a statement from Rockford’s bishop David Malloy, the allegation against Fr. Aaron Brodeski’s conduct supposedly has nothing to do with a minor or Holy Cross church in Batavia, where Brodeski was the pastor.

We hope this is true. We hope that anyone who saw, suspects or suffered misconduct by Brodeski or any other church staff will come forward and call secular authorities.

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

ILLINOIS
BishopAccountability.org

[with complete files on 16 priests]

A large selection of Joliet diocesan files regarding the sexual abuse of children by priests, and the mishandling of those crimes by the diocese, was released by abuse survivor David Rudofski and his advocates on April 30, 2014. The release was the latest step in a dramatic story that dates back to the early days of the diocese, which was erected in 1948 from the Chicago archdiocese and the dioceses of Peoria and Rockford.

The documents, which are provided in their entirety below, have much to tell us about the horrifying details of individual cases and the methods used by the Catholic hierarchy to protect the priests involved while containing the information about their crimes. Rudofski’s struggle to make the documents public highlights the foundational role played by survivors in the somewhat greater accountability we see today, and makes clear what is driving that accountability. The document release also sheds light on the generally still poor state of accountability post-Dallas, owing to the weaknesses of the Norms as revised by the Vatican and the failure to implement the aspirational language of the Charter. The Rudofski Archive argues for an increased commitment by the bishops to list their accused and make public the voluminous files that the dioceses and religious orders hold.

David Rudofski was sexually assaulted by the Rev. James Burnett at his First Confession in 1982 at St. Mary’s church in Mokena, Illinois. His molestation was a crime, and because it was perpetrated during confession, it was one of the gravest offenses a priest can commit under the Catholic church’s own Code. Yet the file demonstrates the way in which a priest such as Burnett, who is accused by three persons, two of whom were abused in the confessional, can be effectively shielded by the framework established by the U.S. bishops in Dallas in 2002. What the bishops did not anticipate in Dallas was that the survivors of clergy abuse would take the bishops’ commitment to transparency and responsibility much more seriously than the bishops themselves.

Rudofski refused to settle with the Diocese of Joliet without the release of the files for all the accused priests whose cases were mishandled during the same time that Burnett was abusing Rudofski and Dan Shanahan (the survivor who first went public about Burnett’s abuse). Rudofski was supported by his attorney Terrence Johnson, and after a protracted and costly legal battle, Rudofski prevailed, by order of Will County Circuit Court Judge Michael J. Powers.

The results of Rudofski’s determination are available below, as well as on the websites of attorneys Jeff Anderson and Marc Pearlman. Anderson had taken the deposition of Bishop Joseph Imesch of Joliet in 2005, another benchmark in accountability within the diocese. Imesch’s mishandling of four cases, including the Gibbs and Lenczycki abuses documented below, had earned him the dubious honor of inclusion in the Dallas Morning News’ database of enabling bishops. That article was on the newsstands when the bishops gathered in Dallas. Below we provide the local news coverage that unfolded in Joliet at the same time that the story was breaking in Boston, as the highly local abuse crisis, which occurred parish-by-parish and home-by-home, became a national and global concern….

Rev. James Burnett
Rev. Phillip J. Dedera
Rev. Salvatore V. Formusa
Rev. James Frederick
Rev. Michael L. Gibbney
Rev. Lawrence M. Gibbs
Rev. Carroll Howlin
Rev. Frederick A. Lenczycki
Rev. Leonardo Mateo
Rev. Lawrence Mullins
Rev. Donald O’Connor
Rev. Donald P. Pock
Rev. Anthony J. Ross
Rev. John Slown
Rev. William D. Virtue

Bishop Imesch Documents

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AUSTRALIA
Perth Now

Day 3: Royal Commission hears more horrific evidence about abuse by WA Christian Brothers

EMILY MOULTON PERTHNOW APRIL 30, 2014

AFTER more than five decades there is just one overwhelming question Ted Delaney wants answered – why?

Why was he taken from the orphanage his mother had to place him in and shipped off to Australia without her permission?

Why did the Australian Government want children from the UK only to abandon them when they arrived?

Why didn’t anyone check on their welfare while they were in the care of the Christian Brothers?

And why didn’t anyone question why so many children ended up in hospitals with injuries which clearly were not the result of accidents?

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
Perth Now

EMILY MOULTON PERTHNOW APRIL 30, 2014

A FORMER Bindon boys’ home resident says he wants the remains of the Christian Brother who inflicted the most pain on him removed from his grave and placed with other “notorious pedophiles”.

Gordon Grant, 80, was sexually and physically abused by several brothers while he was a resident at Bindoon boys home.

Yet only one he says he despised the most – Brother Paul Keaney.

He told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse today that he wanted his remains to be dug up from the former orphanage and placed at Karrakatta cemetery.

“There is at Bindoon, the mortal remains of Brother Paul Francis Keaney,” he told the hearing in Perth today. “We want those remains taken up and his mortal remains, whatever is left of them to be reinterred at the Christian Brothers plot at Karrakatta.

“I went there last week, and I counted 79 Christian Brothers who are buried there. We counted 14 Christian Brothers who are buried there and they are all repeat offenders.

“They were notorious pedophiles at these four institutions. I want the remains of Brother Keaney removed from Bindoon.

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

NICOLAS PERPITCH THE AUSTRALIAN MAY 01, 2014

THE Christian Brothers paid a former child migrant $3000 as compensation for years of rapes and sadistic beatings that drove him to attempt suicide at the age of nine.

However, the payment was on condition that he made no further claims against the West Australian orphanages that have come under scrutiny this week for cruelty and perversion.

Yesterday Edward Delaney told the royal commission into child abuse that he felt forced to sign a document he did not fully understand. He said it was part of a Slater & Gordon class action that he had come to consider a joke. “For what we went through, I felt this was an insult,” he said.

Mr Delaney was among the last of 11 witnesses to give evidence at public hearings in Perth. They were residents at four Christian Brothers institutions in Western Australia between 1947 and 1968.

Mr Delaney was born in Eng­land to a mother who had been raped. She could not afford to look after him and put him in a home run by Barnados. The royal commission heard that he was sent to Australia without his mother’s knowledge, and arrived at Bindoon orphanage when he was nine. He attempted suicide the same year.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Rebecca Trigger and Courtney Bembridge
Updated Wed 30 Apr 2014

A man has described being “consumed by guilt and shame” as a result of savage abuse he suffered at church-run institutions north-east of Perth.

The man, known only as VV, was giving evidence to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses into Child Sex Abuse in Perth on Tuesday.

He described being molested by the institution’s priest as the man comforted him following a brutal sexual assault by one of the Christian Brothers.

“When I look back on my life I’m consumed by guilt and shame and a sense of betrayal, denial and abandonment,” 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.

NEW MEXICO
Arizona Journal

By Linda Kor

As the Roman Catholic Diocese of Gallup, N.M., goes through the process of filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, notification has been provided regarding the time restraints for those individuals who want to file a claim related to abuse by those working for the diocese.

The notification states that individuals must file a claim no later than 5 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 11, if they contend that the Diocese of Gallup is responsible for any injury or other damages caused by sexual abuse, whether by a priest, nun, worker, volunteer, or any employee, person or entity associated with the Diocese of Gallup. The deadline is also for acts that occurred beyond the territory of the Diocese of Gallup for which they claim the Diocese of Gallup is responsible.

The diocese made the determination to file for bankruptcy last year due to the mounting costs of litigation as a result of numerous claims of sexual abuse involving children by former clergy. The most recent list provided by the diocese to the courts indicates 121 alleged victims.

According to the diocese, the claims of sexual abuse stem from incidents that occurred decades ago, primarily in the rural reservation areas and smaller communities, such as Holbrook and Winslow. The diocese includes 53 parishes in a geographic area of more than 55,000 square miles.

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CHICAGO (IL)
The Republic

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
April 30, 2014

CHICAGO — A Chicago law office is releasing documents on 16 priests from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Joliet who are accused of sexually abusing children.

A statement from attorneys Jeff Anderson and Marc Pearlman says they’ll offer details at a Wednesday news conference.

Earlier this year, the Archdiocese of Chicago released some 6,000 pages of complaints, personnel documents and other files for about 30 priests. They show how the church often shielded priests and failed to report child sex abuse to authorities.

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ILLINOIS
Kane County Chronicle

Published: Tuesday, April 29, 2014

By BRENDA SCHORY – bschory@shawmedia.com

BATAVIA – After little more than a year as pastor of Holy Cross Catholic Church in Batavia, Monsignor Aaron Brodeski has gone on leave from his post while the Catholic Diocese of Rockford proceeds with an investigation into his conduct, church officials said.

“The Diocese of Rockford has received an allegation regarding the conduct of your pastor, Monsignor Aaron Brodeski,” according to a statement from Bishop David Malloy, which was read at Saturday and Sunday Mass, diocese spokeswoman Penny Wiegert said.

“The allegation is currently under investigation. To be clear, the alleged conduct in no way pertains to anything having to do with minors, parish funds or anything pertaining to Holy Cross Parish or school,” according to the statement. “Monsignor Brodeski has agreed to take a leave of absence, effective immediately, for evaluation and possible treatment for personal and spiritual difficulties affecting his priesthood.”

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IRELAND
Herald

BY RALPH RIEGEL – 30 APRIL 2014

A VATICAN ruling on the dismissal of the priest at the centre of the Cloyne Report has been delayed after the elderly cleric lodged a full legal defence.

The priest, who is in poor health, is vigorously contesting his dismissal from the priesthood and is set to demand a personal hearing in Rome.

Known only by the pseudonyms Fr Ronat and Fr B, he is fighting his dismissal from the priesthood, which was recommended last year by an Irish canonical court.

CHALLENGING

The court, which suspended its investigation to allow Judge Yvonne Murphy to complete the Cloyne Report into how the sprawling Cork diocese hand-led clerical child abuse allegations, recommended the priest be dismissed, or defrocked, in March 2013. He was then given 15 days to indicate an appeal.

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FLORIDA
Sun Sentinel

[with video]

By Robert Nolin, Sun Sentinel
7:54 p.m. EDT, April 29, 2014

Sexual adventurism and a penchant for porn is what toppled charismatic Pastor Bob Coy from the leadership of Calvary Chapel, the Fort Lauderdale megachurch he founded nearly 30 years ago, according to another pastor.

“Our former pastor was caught in sin,” Outreach Pastor Chet Lowe told a congregation in a 78-minute service earlier this month. “Our pastor, he committed adultery with more than one woman. Our pastor, he committed sexual immorality, habitually, through pornography.

“Rest assured, God will not be mocked.”

Fort Lauderdale Megachurch Pastor Resigns Over `Moral Failing’

Coy, 58, resigned April 3 from the 20,000-member church he and his wife Diane founded in 1985. In announcing his departure, the church would only say Coy was guilty of a “moral failing.”

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NORTHERN IRELAND
RTE News

A nun in her 70s has been giving evidence to Northern Ireland’s Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry in Banbridge.

The inquiry is examining what took place at 13 residential institutions run by churches, religious denominations, voluntary organisations and the state between 1922 and 1995.

It heard this morning that the nun and another member of the Sisters of Nazareth order were looking after more than 60 boys at the Termonbacca boys’ home in Derry in the late 1950s.

The nun said she entered the order as a 17-year-old and took up her job in Derry two years later. She had no formal training in childcare.

Several former residents made allegations of physical and verbal abuse about her in earlier hearings.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
BBC News

A nun who worked at a children’s home in Londonderry has denied the physical, emotional and psychological abuse of children in her care.

Allegations against the witness, who is in her 70s, and cannot be identified, have been made by seven former pupils at Termonbacca home for boys and girls.

She is the first nun to give evidence to the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry (HIA).

It was set up to investigate allegations dating from 1922 to 1995.

The inquiry heard on Wednesday that the nun and another member of the Sisters of Nazareth order looked after more than 50 boys at the home in the late 1950s.

The inquiry heard the nun had no formal training in childcare. …

——————————————–
Institutions under investigation

Local authority homes:

• Lissue Children’s Unit, Lisburn
• Kincora Boys’ Home, Belfast
• Bawnmore Children’s Home, Newtownabbey

Juvenile justice institutions:

• St Patrick’s Training School, Belfast
• Lisnevin Training School, County Down
• Rathgael Training School, Bangor

Secular voluntary homes:

• Barnardo’s Sharonmore Project, Newtownabbey
• Barnardo’s Macedon, Newtownabbey

Catholic Church-run homes:

• St Joseph’s Home, Termonbacca, Londonderry
• Nazareth House Children’s Home, Derry
• Nazareth House Children’s Home, Belfast
• Nazareth Lodge Children’s Home, Belfast
• De La Salle Boys’ Home, Kircubbin, County Down

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PENNSYLVANIA
Catholics4Change

APRIL 30, 2014 BY SUSAN MATTHEWS

PA State Representative and child sex abuse survivor Mark Rozzi is introducing a new bill in Harrisburg today – Civil Window Bill, HB 2067. This legislation would provide a specific period of time in which victims of child sex abuse could come forward and expose predators who have escaped justice due to statutes of limitations. These monsters are still living out among children. They don’t retire! They come from all walks of life and don’t wear signs. Protect all of PA’s children by calling your state rep today and insisting on their support of this important bill. They may argue that evidence is hard to come by. Well that’s the job of the court – not theirs. They may argue that this is about lawyers getting rich. Well that could be said of any legislation. Our civil court rulings are based on financial penalty for all crimes. There is NO excuse good enough to risk even one child.

Find Your PA State Representative Here: http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/home/findyourlegislator/

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AUSTRALIA
Broken Rites

By a Broken Rites researcher (updated 30 April 2014)

A Catholic priest (James Patrick Jennings) allegedly committed indecent assaults against boys at two Catholic boarding schools – one school in New South Wales and another school in Victoria. A Victorian jury in 2014 found him guilty of the Victorian charges but a NSW jury in 2010 had found him “not guilty” of the NSW charges. Same priest, different State, different jury. This Broken Rites article is about the NSW trial.

In the Sydney District Court in 2010, a jury heard evidence from four men (now aged in their sixties) alleging that they were indecently touched by Father James Jennings when they were pupils at a boarding school fifty years earlier — in 1960-61. The school was St Stanislaus College, Bathurst, in central-west New South Wales. This school was conducted by Catholic priests and brothers in the Vincentian order (also called the Congregation of the Mission).

The jury returned a verdict of Not Guilty.

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AUSTRALIA
Broken Rites

By a Broken Rites researcher (article updated 30 April 2014)

In 1959-1962, Father James Patrick Jennings began his priestly career, ministering at St Stanislaus College in Bathurst, New South Wales, followed by a church school in northern Victoria in 1963-68 and a parish in Queensland in the 1970s. Half a century later, on 30 April 2014, aged 81, he was jailed for child-sex crimes committed at the Victorian school in the 1960s.

The Victorian school was St Vincent’s College, which was then situated at Bendigo, 150 kilometres north of Melbourne. Both the Bathurst school and the Bendigo one were boarding schools, for boys only, and were owned by the Catholic order of Vincentian Fathers (this order is officially known as the Congregation of the Mission).

St Vincent’s College, Bendigo, was established in 1955 and was staffed by the Vincentian order. In 1977, it was taken over by the Marist Brothers. In 1983 this school then became part of Bendigo Catholic College.

The Vincentians are an Australia-wide religious order, which has schools and parishes in several states. That is, the Vincentians are not confined to a particular diocese. Father Jim Jennings worked in Queensland as well as in New South Wales and Victoria.

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AUSTRALIA
Broken Rites

A Melbourne court has been told that a former Christian Brother, who spent five years in jail for child-sex offences, has changed his name to avoid publicity.

The former Brother, now known as “Ted Bales”, appeared in the Melbourne Magistrates Court on 29 April 2014.

This hearing was an administrative procedure. The court adjusted his bail conditions and released him until the next step in the prosecution process in July 2014.

Bales, aged 64, of Thomastown in Melbourne’s north, faces 48 charges of indecent assault and gross indecency against 14 boys in the 1970s and 1980s.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

The group of cardinals called to oversee the Institute for the Works of Religion met today to “draw up guidelines for their action”

ANDREA TORNIELLI
VATICAN CITY

“The Supervisory Commission of Cardinals on the Institute for the Works of Religion met at 9 am today, Monday 28 April, to draw up guidelines for their action,” the Vatican said in a short statement. It has also been decided that the Supervisory Commission will initially meet thrice yearly, notwithstanding special circumstances necessitating other meetings,” the Vatican statement added.

The Commission, which oversees the body popularly known as the Vatican Bank, was reshuffled last January and its members currently comprise its president, Cardinal Santos Abril y Castello, who is Archpriest of the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore and by cardinals Christoph Schönborn, Archbishop of Vienna; Thomas Christopher Collins, Archbishop of Toronto; French Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran who is President of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue and the Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin. Some of the Commission’s members have a close relationship of trust with Pope Francis.

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GERMANY
Washington Times

By Cheryl K. Chumley-The Washington Times Wednesday, April 30, 2014

A German Catholic priest who fathered a daughter eight years after he vowed celibacy has nonetheless pressed forward with a petition to Pope Francis: Please waive my oath.

Stefan Hartmann recently revealed he has a daughter, and that’s drawn fire from the superiors in his parish in Oberhaid, United Press International reported. They asked him to leave.

But the priest, 59, is fighting back, posting on his Facebook page this message: “There is a human right to partnership, marriage and starting a family, even if you can voluntarily waive it for religious reasons.”

He then asked Francis for a “positive answer” that would let him keep his priestly position, UPI reported.

“I tried to walk the road of celibacy again, but since 2007 I have realized more and more that I am just not up to it,” he wrote. “I have known for some years now that the oath I took after just two and a half years of seminary training was too rushed and did not reflect the constitution of my character. …

[However, it’s still my] calling to be a Catholic priest, a pastor and a theologian.”

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NEW JERSEY
The Star-Ledger

READ THE JUDGE’S OPINION HERE

By Mark Mueller/The Star-Ledger
on April 30, 2014

In a case that could have broad implications for New Jersey’s cemetery industry, a judge has ruled the Archdiocese of Newark did not violate state law when it began marketing headstones and private mausoleums directly to consumers at its Catholic burial grounds.

The decision, released Tuesday in Superior Court in New Brunswick, deals a blow to the state’s headstone dealers, who argued in a lawsuit that Catholic cemeteries should fall under a law explicitly barring nonsectarian cemeteries from selling headstones and private family mausoleums.

The archdiocese became the first cemetery operator in the state, religious or otherwise, to enter the lucrative headstone business in April of last year. Two independent dealers and their trade association, the Monument Builders of New Jersey, filed the lawsuit three months later, saying the new venture would swiftly undercut them and drive them out of business.

On Tuesday, in the wake of the ruling against the dealers, Monument Builders President John Burns Jr. reiterated that prediction of financial ruin and said his group would appeal.

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

A former Catholic priest who abused three Victorian schoolboys in the 1960s will spend another four months behind bars.

James Patrick Jennings, 81, indecently assaulted the boys while a priest at Bendigo’s St Vincent’s College in the 1960s.

He was jailed on Wednesday for three years, but two-and-a-half years of the term was suspended.

The sentence takes into account the two months he has already served in jail before his sentencing, meaning he will serve four more months.

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Telegraph

Royal Commission hears from victim: Priest told me to say three Hail Marys after abuse’

EMILY MOULTON THE DAILY TELEGRAPH APRIL 30, 2014

WHEN Ted Delaney finally found the courage to reveal he was being sexually abused, he didn’t receive help – he was simply told to say three Hail Marys.

The priest attached to Bindoon boys home, who took the confessional, Father William, didn’t care a crime had been committed against a young boy, all he wanted to know was had the former resident been a willing participant.

“When I was about 13 years old, I went to confession and fessed to Father William that Brother Parker was sexually abusing me,” Mr Delaney told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse today.

“I didn’t use those exact words, but I think I said something like ‘I wish to confess that one of the brothers is having sex with me and he is treating me like a woman’.

“Father William asked me who, and I said Brother Parker. Father William said ‘Did you participate?’ and I said ‘No’. Father William told me to say three Hail Marys and pray and I would be forgiven.”

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AUSTRALIA
Australian Teacher Magazine

PERTH, April 30 – A man who was left for weeks without treatment for broken bones while in the care of Christian Brothers at a Western Australia orphanage says the federal government neglected its responsibility to child migrants.

Giving evidence at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, Edward Delaney says he was told by a priest he would be forgiven for being raped by a brother if he said three Hail Mary’s.

When Delaney was 14, he fell while working at St Joseph’s Farm and Trade School, Bindoon.

“For two weeks I cried with the pain and finally when we were staying at Moore River (the Christian Brothers holiday home) I was crying so much I was taken to Royal Perth hospital.

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

BY EOIN BLACKWELL
April 30, 2014

A survivor of child sex abuse at a West Australian boarding school wants the remains of a former principal exhumed from the school and reburied with his “pedophile” mates, a royal commission has heard.

Gordon Grant, a former resident of St Joseph’s Farm and Trade School, Bindoon, also wants the marble-top tombstone of Brother Paul Keaney – the superior of the school in 1947 – dumped in a piggery.

Mr Grant, now in his 80s, was sent to Bindoon from Wales when he was 14.

While at the school, he was physically beaten by Brother Keaney and repeatedly sexually abused by other brothers.

Mr Grant says he wants Keaney’s remains exhumed from the grounds of Bindoon and reinterred at the 115-year-old Karrakatta Cemetery in Perth.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian (UK)

Australian Associated Press
theguardian.com, Wednesday 30 April 2014

A former Catholic priest who abused three Victorian schoolboys in the 1960s will spend another four months behind bars.

James Patrick Jennings, 81, indecently assaulted the boys while he was a priest at St Vincent’s College in Bendigo in the 1960s.

He was jailed on Wednesday for three years, but two-and-a-half years of the term was suspended.

The sentence takes into account the two months he has already spent in jail before his sentencing, meaning he will serve four more months.

Victorian county court judge, Wendy Wilmoth, said Jennings knew when the schoolboys he abused would be alone and in which dormitory they slept.

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VATICAN
La Croix (France)

[Summary: The committee appointed by Pope Francis to study sexual abuse in the church will meet on Thursday, May 1. One of the members, Marie Collins of Ireland, was abused by a priest when she was a child. She was one of the first in Ireland to report abuse by priests. She was hoping that this committee would include the voices of the survivors.]

Cette commission se réunit au Vatican pour la première fois jeudi 1er mai.

Lorsqu’elle a appris qu’une Commission pontificale pour la protection de mineurs serait créée au Vatican, Marie Collins, qui fut l’une des premières en Irlande à dénoncer les abus sexuels commis par des prêtres, attendait comme un « test » de connaître les noms de ses membres. « J’espérais avant toute chose qu’elle inclue la voix des survivants. » Elle était pourtant loin d’imaginer qu’elle serait « appelée à incarner cette voix », raconte-t-elle, reconnaissant avoir éprouvé un « choc » à l’annonce de sa nomination parmi les huit experts de la nouvelle instance constituée par le pape François, le 21 mars.

Elle-même agressée sexuellement par un prêtre en 1960, devenue porte-parole des « survivants » de la pédophilie dans l’Église irlandaise, comme ils se dénomment eux-mêmes, cette Dublinoise de 67 ans affirmait avoir toujours gardé la foi, mais perdu « toute confiance » dans l’institution. Elle avait pourtant accepté, il y a deux ans, de participer au symposium international organisé au Vatican pour coordonner la lutte contre les abus sexuels dans l’Église, malgré les critiques de certaines victimes l’accusant de trahison.

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MEXICO
El Comercio

[Summary: The Film “Perfect Obedience”, which is inspired by the case of Mexican pederast priest Marcial Maciel, opens Friday in Mexico. It brings to the screen the subject of sexual abuse that rocked the congregation of the Legionaries of Christ which was found by Maciel. He was closed to Pope John Paul II until he died in 2008 at age 87.]

La película mexicana ‘Obediencia perfecta’, inspirada en el caso del sacerdote pederasta mexicano Marcial Maciel, no busca la provocación sino “conmover y provocar reflexión”, dijo hoy su director, Luis Urquiza.

El filme, que se estrena el jueves en México, lleva a la pantalla el tema de los abusos sexuales que sacudieron a la congregación de los Legionarios de Cristo, fundada por Maciel. El sacerdote mexicano, cercano a Juan Pablo II, murió en 2008 a los 87 años alejado del ministerio público por órdenes del Vaticano debido a las acusaciones de abuso, pero nunca fue sometido a proceso.

Después de su muerte se supo también que había tenido tres hijos con dos mujeres. La película llegará a 500 cines en todo México pocos días después de la canonización de los papas Juan XXIII y Juan Pablo II y luego de que el actual Sumo Pontífice Francisco pidiera perdón por los casos de abuso sexual cometidos por clérigos contra niños.

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HAWAII
SF Gate

HONOLULU (AP) — The Hawaii Legislature has approved two bills that would give victims of child sex abuse more time to file complaints and prosecutors unlimited time to file criminal charges.

One of the proposals (HB 2034) would completely remove the statute of limitations for continuous sexual assault of a child or abuse in the first and second degrees.

The other (SB 2687) would extend the deadline for civil filings to 2016.

Victims had been given a two-year window to file lawsuits in cases that had passed the statute of limitations. But that window closed last week.

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AUSTRALIA
WA Today

April 29, 2014

Aleisha Orr
Reporter, WA Today

Men who were victims of sexual abuse as children while in the care of the Christian Brothers have told a public hearing in Perth that they not only had to go through the trauma of abuse but also the “traumatic” process of trying to receive compensation.

On Tuesday, a man known to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse as ‘VV’ described sexual and physical abuse he experienced at Bindoon Farm School.

He said he “could not stop trembling” after the first time he was raped by one of the brothers, two weeks after arriving at Bindoon Farm School in 1954 at nine years of age.

VV said the abuse by brothers, priests and other boys continued until he left Bindoon in 1961 but he could not move on from what happened to him.

“People say you can get on with it, lift yourself above it. I tried to do this and I thought I was being successful but always… always in your mind there is the belief that you don’t deserve anything good,” he told the hearing.

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AUSTRALIA
WA Today

April 29, 2014

Aleisha Orr
Reporter, WA Today

The fifth witness to give evidence at the Perth hearings of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse told of not only physical and sexual abuse but the suspicious deaths of two children at Bindoon Farm School while he was there in the 1960s.

Clifford Walsh arrived as a child migrant from the United Kingdom in Australia at the age of nine.
He recalled the deaths of Brian Duncan and another boy, Tony Sullivan amid stories of physical and sexual abuse of the children in care who he said were put to work rather than given education.

Mr Walsh said he had been told Tony Sullivan died after he had been sliding down a concrete bannister.

“I remember another boy saying Tony had just come out of one of the brothers rooms and was upset and disoriented when he fell over the bannister.”

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MALTA/AUSTRALIA
Times of Malta

A Royal Commission in Australia has heard more shocking evidence by Maltese men about the abuse they suffered from Christian brothers when they were orphan boys.

The commission, meeting in Perth, is investigating institutional responses to child sexual abuse.

The West Australian newspaper said hundreds of boys at the Bindoon, Tardun and Castledare institutions were beaten by day and raped by night.

Orphaned or distanced from parents unaware of their plight, nobody could hear the screams.
And those who did hear them refused to save them.

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AUSTRALIA
WA Today

April 29, 2014

Aleisha Orr
Reporter, WA Today

An overwhelming sense of loss has come through in the evidence given by witnesses at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

Nine of 11 men who were sexually abused as children while in the care of Christian Brothers in Western Australian institutions, who are set to speak as part of public hearings in Perth, have talked about their experiences.

“I lost my country, I lost my language, I lost my culture, I lost my family and I lost any chance of a decent career,” Raphael Ellul told the commission at the second day of hearings.

Mr Ellul was a child migrant from Malta who was sent to Australia to “obtain a better future”, which he described as “rubbish”.

He arrived in Australia in 1960 at age 10 and was sent to St Mary’s Agricultural School in Tardun.

Mr Elull was not allowed to speak Maltese even though he knew no English and took three years to pick up enough Pidgin English “to get by”.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Bilgrimage

William D. Lindsey

David Clohessy for SNAP: Twice-Arrested Priest in St. Louis Still Being Defended by Small, Vocal Group of Local Catholics

I’d like to point readers today to David Clohessy’s posting at the SNAP blog site about the small but loud bunch of Catholics rallying around Father Joseph Jiang in St. Louis, after a teenaged girl alleged that Jiang sexually abused her when she was fifteen years old. As David notes, the girls’ parents believe her, as do the police, prosecutors, and St. Louis’s most experienced attorney dealing with clergy abuse cases, Ken Chackes.

As David also notes, in a court filing, law enforcement officials state that they have a phone message, several text messages, and a $20,000 check that Jiang is said to have left for the girl’s parents after they confronted him with their suspicions. Jiang has also been suspended by St. Louis archbishop Robert Carlson, and in the civil suit they’ve filed against Jiang (according to David, a criminal case has been dropped for complicated legal reasons), the parents of the girl state that Jiang admitted his guilt to them as well as to Carlson.

A boy has now come forth making allegations similar to those of the girl, and his parents believe him, as do the police and prosecutors. Even so, as Lilly Fowler and Jesse Bogan note recently for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, a small but very vocal group of St. Louis Catholics is claiming that Father Jiang is being persecuted, and that the allegations against him are insubstantial.

As SNAP officials and others connected to groups supporting abuse survivors have repeatedly noted, the formation of vocal pressure groups to defend religious officials accused of sexual abuse of minors almost always complicates the process of investigating the claims of those who have alleged abuse. It creates an atmosphere in which those claims cannot easily be investigated and adjudicated, and it frequently lends comfort and assistance to religious authority figures who turn out to have done precisely what it’s alleged they have done.

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MALTA/AUSTRALIA
Times of Malta

A Royal Commission in Australia has heard more shocking evidence by Maltese men about the abuse they suffered from Christian brothers when they were orphan boys.

The commission, meeting in Perth, is investigating institutional responses to child sexual abuse.
The West Australian newspaper said hundreds of boys at the Bindoon, Tardun and Castledare institutions were beaten by day and raped by night.

Orphaned or distanced from parents unaware of their plight, nobody could hear the screams.
And those who did hear them refused to save them.

Young Raphael Ellul, who was at Tardun, made it all the way to a police station in Mullewa, only to be clipped over the ear by the local officer, who told him, “Don’t tell lies about good Christian men”.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Irena Ceranic

A man sexually abused in a church-run institution was ignored by police and warned he would be charged if he continued to make abuse allegations, a royal commission has heard.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse entered its third day of hearings in Perth today.

Edward Delaney was a child migrant from England when he was sent to a Christian Brothers institution at Castledare, and then sent on to Bindoon.

He has told the commission he was physically and sexually abused by the brothers at Bindoon over a prolonged period.

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AUSTRALIA
WA Today

April 30, 2014

Aleisha Orr
Reporter, WA Today

Victims of sexual abuse at Christian Brothers run institutions have slammed the law firm which represented them in a class action, alleging they were “forced” to sign a settlement they did not understand.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse heard from the final two of 11 victims at Wednesday morning, the third day of Perth’s public hearing.

Gordon Grant and Edward Delaney spoke of sexual abuse at Bindoon Farm School.

Mr Delaney, who was taken as a child to Australia from the United Kingdom without the consent of his mother, described the class action put forward by Slater & Gordon in the 1990s as “a joke”.

He said he was told the church had made an offer and, “if I did not take the offer, I would get nothing.”

“If I did take the offer, that was the end of it. It was only around $3000. For what we went though, I felt this was an insult”.

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AUSTRALIA
WA Today

April 30, 2014

Aleisha Orr
Reporter, WA Today

Concerns about the living conditions at Bindoon Farm School were raised in documents from the West Australian government department responsible for child welfare at the time, an inquiry into institutional abuse has heard.

WA Department of Child Protection acting director general Emma White presented the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse with a number of documents on the third day of the public hearing being held in Perth.

An inspection report written in November 1947 about a visit to Bindoon Farm School the month before raised concerns with “the cleanliness and physical environment in which the children were being kept”.

A letter from the secretary of the government department to the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Perth in regard to this visit addressed these welfare issues.

“I have no doubt when I next visit in three or four weeks there will be a decided improvement along the lines I wish, and more particularly in the educational facilities.”

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AUSTRALIA
The West Australian

AMANDA BANKS LEGAL AFFAIRS EDITOR The West Australian
April 30, 2014

Allowing priests and brothers to marry would solve a lot of the problems of the Catholic Church, an abused former Christian Brothers’ resident told a royal commission in Perth this morning.

Giving evidence on the third day of the hearing into systemic sexual, physical and mental abuse of young boys at four WA Christian Brothers homes, Edward Delaney said there also needed to be greater scrutiny of the people allowed into the Catholic Church.

Mr Delaney, the 10th former resident of the orphanages to give evidence, told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse that the Australian and British governments had a lot to answer for in regard to the atrocities committed against him at the Bindoon home for boys.

He said no amount of money could ever compensate him for the sexual, physical and mental abuse inflicted on him by the brothers who had been entrusted with his care.

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GEORGIA
Ledger-News

By Jessica Lindley
Posted on Apr 30, 2014

A former First Baptist Church of Canton volunteer accused of molesting a child at Bible school in the summer of 2010 pleaded guilty this month to the lesser offense of sexual battery against a minor.

Cherokee County Superior Court Chief Judge Jackson Harris sentenced Matthew Brent Sheffield on April 18 to serve eight years on probation for the aforementioned offense.

Conditions of his probation also require Sheffield to register as a sex offender.

According to court records, Sheffield was indicted by a Cherokee County Grand Jury in April 2011 on two counts of child molestation. The indictment charged Sheffield with inappropriately touching a juvenile’s thigh and leg in June 2010, as well as touching the boy’s buttocks.

A civil suit filed by the parents of the juvenile, which was dismissed with prejudice last July, contended that the alleged misconduct occurred during a Bible school program at First Baptist Church of Canton and again during a church sanctioned trip to the beach.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

A former Catholic priest will serve six months in jail for sexually abusing three boys at a Bendigo school.

James Jennings, 81, was a teacher at St Vincent’s College (which is now known as Catholic College Bendigo) in the 1960s, when he sexually abused three boys, who were aged 12 and 13 at the time.

The offences took place in their bedrooms, his office and the school sick bay.

One of the boys suffered frequent and sustained abuse over several years.

In a victim impact statement tendered in the county court, he said the abuse made him feel “exploited, humiliated, ashamed and embarrassed.”

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

EMILY PORTELLI NEWS LIMITED APRIL 30, 2014

AN ELDERLY former Catholic priest who forced a teenage boarder to sexually gratify him and then confess his sin and beg forgiveness will serve only six months in jail.

James Patrick Jennings, 81, received a largely suspended three-year term of imprisonment for the sustained sexual abuse of three young boarders at a regional Victorian school in the mid-1960s.

County Court judge Wendy Wilmoth said allegations of abuse were reported to at least three priests at St Vincent’s College in Bendigo but took decades to reach the police.

The judge said one complainant — now in his 60s — came forward only when his local priest read aloud an apology from the local bishop for the sexual assaults on children by priests.

Judge Wilmoth said Jennings’ state of profound denial led him to allege the complainants — who had not met and had no knowledge of any other complaints against the former priest and teacher — had fabricated the assaults for financial gain.

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COLORADO
The Daily Sentinel

By Paul Shockley
Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Allegations of sexual abuse against a Catholic priest assigned to Grand Junction nearly five decades ago, claims raised in open court during a hearing on Friday at the Mesa County Justice Center, are the subject of an open case, a spokeswoman for the Mesa County Sheriff’s Office said Tuesday.

Heather Benjamin of the Sheriff’s Office said the agency is declining additional comment on the matter until Mesa County District Judge Valerie Robison issues a ruling on a motion for a new trial for 72-year-old sex offender Rodney Eddy.

Eddy’s bid for a new trial was the subject of a four-hour hearing Friday before Robison.

A man who served as a juror during Eddy’s second Mesa County jury trial in August 2010 testified on Friday he was sexually abused by a priest in Grand Junction in 1965, at age 12. In a screening questionnaire sent out in advance of Eddy’s trial, the man answered “no” when asked if he’d ever been a victim of sexual abuse. He also told investigators he was interested in “payback” for wrongs allegedly committed against him, once he learned about the nature of the allegations in Eddy’s case.

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OREGON
Portland Tribune

Wednesday, 30 April 2014 01:00 | Written by Tyler Francke

An $8.5 million lawsuit has been filed in Multnomah County Circuit Court against the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Portland, along with St. Luke Catholic Church in Woodburn, in connection with a 2012 sex abuse case involving a popular local priest.

Angel Armando Perez, 48, was a priest at St. Luke in August 2012, when he was charged with first-degree sex abuse (a Measure 11 offense), driving under the influence of intoxicants and two counts of furnishing alcohol to a minor. Under the terms of a plea agreement, Perez pleaded guilty in April 2013 and was assessed the mandatory minimum sentence for the sex abuse charge — six years, three months — which he is currently serving.

His victim was a Salem boy, 12 at the time, who is identified in court documents only as “J.T.” The initial complaint in the lawsuit, filed April 23 by the Barton Law Firm in Newport, describes the plaintiff and his family as “particularly devout, attending church regularly.” It also notes that, as immigrants, the church played a particularly important role in the family members’ lives.

The complaint claims that Perez, in the course of his ministerial duties as a priest, befriended the victim and established himself as a spiritual guide and trustworthy mentor.

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AUSTRALIA
Australian Teacher Magazine

PERTH, April 29 – A Christian Brother known for extreme violence at a West Australian boys’ school seemed to get a sexual thrill out of beating boys for minor transgressions, a survivor has told a royal commission.

Brother Bruno Doyle tried to stop the rampant sex abuse at St Joseph’s Farm and Trade School in Bindoon when he took over as head of the school in 1959, but he was still violent and sadistic, the commission heard.

The witness, known as VV, on Tuesday told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual abuse he was once beaten almost unconscious by Brother Doyle.

The Christian Brother once “worked himself into a rage” and had an erection while beating VV.

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AUSTRALIA
The West Australian

[with video]

COLLEEN EGAN The West Australian
April 30, 2014

They were trapped.

Beaten by day and raped by night, hundreds of boys at the Bindoon, Tardun and Castledare institutions had no escape.

Orphaned or distanced from parents unaware of their plight, nobody could hear the screams.

And those who did hear them refused to save them.

Witnesses told the second day of the royal commission yesterday of their heroic yet futile attempts to escape the violence and depravity doled out by a sadistic club of Christian Brothers responsible for their care.

One child told a priest visiting to hear confession he was being sexually abused – and was chastised for making up lies.

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NEW YORK
The Jewish Daily Forward

By JTA
Published April 29, 2014.

A Hasidic man from Brooklyn was sentenced to five years probation for throwing bleach in the face of a rabbi who had accused the man’s father of being a sexual predator.

Meilech Schnitzler, 38, pleaded guilty on Monday in Brooklyn state Supreme Court to felony assault for throwing bleach at Rabbi Nuchem Rosenberg, an advocate for victims of sexual abuse in the New York City borough’s haredi Orthodox Jewish community.

In 2012, Rosenberg on his blog for sexual abuse victims accused Schnitzler’s father of being a child sexual molester. As Rosenberg walked past Schnitzler’s Brooklyn fish market, Schnitzler ran toward him with a cup of bleach and threw it in his face.

Rosenberg, of the same Williamsburg neighborhood in Brooklyn, was treated for burns on his face, around his eyes and in his left eye.

The incident came a day after Nechemya Weberman, a Satmar Hasidim leader, was convicted on 59 counts of sexual abuse of a then-18-year-old woman when she was between the ages of 12 and 15 and went to Weberman for counseling. Rosenberg supported and assisted the victim throughout the judicial process.

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CHICAGO (IL)
TheMediaReport

The anti-Catholic pressure group SNAP sets the bar very high in its purported quest to protect children from abuse – or it least when it comes to the Catholic Church.

In the past, SNAP’s hysterical founder and president, Barbara Blaine, has said that it is “reckless” and “irresponsible” for Church officials to fail to call law enforcement and keep an accused cleric in ministry “even for one day” before calling police and yanking an accused cleric out of ministry.

But if nothing else, SNAP is rich in hypocrisy. So it should come as no surprise that, according to an Archdiocese of Chicago press release, SNAP did not call police or alert Church officials even though it knew “for several weeks” about a shocking sex abuse allegation against a Chicago priest.

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MASSACHUSETTS
The Republican

By Jeanette DeForge | jdeforge@repub.com
Follow on Twitter
on April 29, 2014

EAST LONGMEADOW – Rev. James J. Scahill, a controversial but beloved priest known for being an outspoken critic of the way the Catholic church has handled the sex abuse scandal, will retire as pastor of St. Michael’s Parish in June.

Scahill, who is around 67, met with Rev. Timothy A. McDonnell, the bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield, to discuss his plans to retire recently, said Mark E. Dupont, spokesman for the diocese.

“It is not an unusual time. It is the end of the fiscal year and the program and there is plenty of notice to give the bishop a chance to find a new pastor for July,” Dupont said.

Scahill, who could not be reached for comment, is known internationally for his years of support of victims of priest sex abuse and his outspoken criticism of the way the Catholic Church has handled the crisis. He has appeared on a variety of international networks including the British Broadcasting Corp. and Cable News Network in 2010 after urging then-Pope Benedict XVI to deal more forcefully with sex abuse causes or resign.

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AUSTRALIA
Irish Examiner

By Jenny Johnson

A 10-year-old boy was told by a priest to make himself less attractive so as not to be a target for sexual abuse, a royal commission has heard in Australia.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has also heard that Christian Brothers pimped boys out to a visiting photographer at St Joseph’s Farm and Trade School, Bindoon, in the late 1950s.

A witness known as VV told the commission in Perth that a Christian Brother who raped him suddenly announced he needed to confess his sins.

“Then Brother Parker came back and said I needed to see Father Gerard. Father Gerard sat me down and told me what we were doing was very wrong, and that I should make myself less attractive,” VV said.

“I should stop leading Brother Parker on, because it was a sin. He told me it was my fault, all the while he sat there sucking a cigar, blaming a child for being assaulted.”

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ILLINOIS
Jeff Anderson & Assoicates

Updated Media Advisory

April 29, 2014

Chicago News Conference Wednesday

(Chicago, IL) – In addition to the Diocese of Joliet document release on April 30, 2014, in Chicago, IL, video from Bishop Imesch’s 2005 deposition will be released. Detailed summaries and timelines of the Diocese of Joliet files will also be available.

Copies of the transcript and video will be available on our websites www.abusedinchicago.com and www.andersonadvocates.com as well as on our YouTube channel, AndersonAdvocates.

WHEN/WHERE:

11:00AM CDT
Law Offices of Kerns, Frost & Pearlman and Jeff Anderson & Associates
30 West Monroe
Suite 1600
Chicago, IL 60603

Contact Jeff Anderson: Office: 651.227.9990 Mobile: 612.817.8665
Contact Marc Pearlman: Office: 312.261.4550 Mobile: 773.368.0142

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.

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

No question but that Catholic priest Andrew McCormick had one of the region’s most respected criminal defense lawyers for his trial in March for allegedly sexually assaulting a 10-year-old altar boy in 1997 at St. John Cantius church in Bridesburg.

Now, more than a month after the Philadelphia Common Pleas Court jury deadlocked in its deliberations, it seems lawyer William J. Brennan Jr. may be irreplaceable.

On Monday, McCormick, 57, was supposed to tell Judge Gwendolyn N. Bright the name of the lawyer who will represent him in the retrial. Instead, McCormick told the judge he was still lawyer-less although the reasons why were not explained.

Bright gave McCormick until May 29.

Brennan, appearing exhausted, withdrew as McCormick’s lawyer after the March 12 mistrial. Earlier, the veteran lawyer said he felt uncomfortable after discovering shortly before trial that he knew the extended family of the alleged victim.

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AUSTRALIA
Mandurah Mail

By Kate Hedley April 29, 2014

WHEN Helena Maiolo was 12 years old she was thrown into a bin full of pig slop in a bid to try to shut her up.

More than 40 years later, the Mandurah woman refuses to be silenced.

Just one of tens of thousands who suffered at the hands of abusers while in State care, Ms Maiolo has made it her mission to speak out against child abuse.

Referring to herself, and others who were abused while institutionalised, as a ‘forgotten Australian’, the mother of four chose the opening week of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse as the moment to have her say.

“I was told to keep quiet,” Ms Maiolo said.

“But they can’t shut me up now.

“I have a voice and I’m going to use it.”

Placed in care at just two years old following the breakdown of her parents’ marriage, Ms Maiolo and her three siblings learnt early on that abandonment was to become a central theme in their lives.

Speaking only for herself – the 56-year-old will not comment on experiences faced by her siblings – Ms Maiolo said being placed in a Salvation Army childrens’ home in Perth at 11 led to “horrific and ongoing” abuse.

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UNITED STATES
Bilgrimage

William D. Lindsey

Is it just me, or do things feel really depressed right now, following the big papal circus of the day of the four popes? I had thought that the big papal circus was designed to have precisely the opposite effect. As Susan Jacoby rightly notes,

The dual canonization is an attempt to please the traditional Catholic base while luring back some among the millions of who have left the church in what was once Christendom’s western bastion.

Jacoby had previously explained the point about “luring back some among the millions who have left the church in what was once Christendom’s western bastion” by noting,

It is no accident that during John Paul’s conservative papacy — when the church refused to reconsider sexual prohibitions applying to the laity but covered up sexual abuse of children by priests — millions of practicing Catholics decamped in the United States and Western Europe. According to a Pew poll conducted in 2009, more than one out of five native-born Americans raised in the church no longer consider themselves Catholics.

And so as she notes that the dual canonization is being sold by media spin-doctors as an adroit way for Pope Francis to heal the divisions in the church and bring back many who have strayed, she observes:

It is difficult to imagine, though, that Catholics who no longer consider themselves Catholics are likely to return to a church that still condemns divorce, artificial birth control, in vitro fertilization, abortion for any reason and gay unions. Moreover, if the church continues to require priestly celibacy and refuses to consider the ordination of women (Francis has already reiterated his support for the latter policy), there will continue to be a severe priest shortage.

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ROME
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

New Vatican abuse panel to hold 1st meeting
Victims beg committee: “Take immediate action”
Use ‘bully pulpit’ to ‘denounce bad bishops,’ they urge
They also ask for open, public hearings in several countries
SNAP: “Vulnerable kids can’t wait a year or two for Vatican steps”
“Practical moves, that require no study, are needed right now,” they say

WHAT
Holding signs and childhood photos, clergy sex abuse victims will call on Pope Francis’ new child sex panel to take immediate steps to protect kids. Specifically, victims want the panel (at or shortly after their first meeting) to

–make public all agendas and minutes of their meetings,
–hold public hearings about the church’s on-going abuse and cover up crisis in at least a dozen nations, and
They will also beg the panel to immediately denounce
–the new, secretive Italian bishops abuse policy, and
–Individual bishops who are clearly concealing or have concealed abuse.

WHEN
Wednesday, April 30 at 11:00 a.m. (Rome time/Central European time)

WHERE
Hotel Orange- Via Crescenzio, 86, 00193 Roma, Italy; +39 06 686 8969

WHO
One-two clergy sex abuse victims who are leaders in an international support group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org). One is a Chicago woman who is the founder and longtime president of the organization.

WHY
Pope Francis’ new abuse study panel will meet for the first time ever on May 1 in Rome.

Over the past two decades, hundreds of similar church panels have been set up at the national and diocesan levels across the world, SNAP says. Those panels have been ineffective, SNAP says, in part because they tend to operate in secrecy with little real input from independent sources.

These hand-picked panel members –mostly all Catholic church-goers – have rarely spoken out in public, even in the most egregious cases of recklessness, callousness and deceit by Catholic officials.

So SNAP believes the pope’s new panel should make public all agendas and minutes of their meetings and hold public hearings about the church’s on-going abuse and cover up crisis in at least a dozen nations. SNAP also wants the panel to immediately denounce the new, secretive Italian bishops abuse policy, and individual bishops who are clearly concealing or have concealed abuse.

Historically, church spokesmen claim that these church abuse panels are to focus on the “big picture” and “long term proposals.” But SNAP says children can’t wait for one or two or three years of “study.” Regardless of what the church hierarchy wants, SNAP contends that these panels – or panel members – have both the chance and the duty to take action now to expose and deter cover-ups. The best way to do that, SNAP feels, is to rebuke the most serious and blatant “enablers,” the church supervisors who endanger kids by protecting predators and keeping secrets.

The panel should also urge bishops to fight for, not against, reforming secular child safety laws (like the archaic, predatory-friendly statutes of limitations).

SNAP believes that only similar swift and public action will help keep children safe, and that the panel will only be effective if it insists on concrete reforms, including the punishment of wrongdoers.

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.

ILLINOIS
Jeff Anderson & Associates

Media Advisory
April 29, 2014

Chicago News Conference Wednesday

Documents on 16 Priests from the Diocese of Joliet, Bishop Imesch to be Disclosed Wednesday

Sexual abuse survivors and their attorneys will respond to the release and announce the filing of five lawsuits

What: At a news conference on Wednesday, April 30, 2014 in Chicago, sexual abuse attorneys Jeff Anderson and Marc Pearlman will:
• Publicly release the files of 16 priests credibly accused of sexually abusing minors in the Diocese of Joliet.
• Announce the filing of five lawsuits naming the Diocese of Joliet.
• Reveal secret Diocesan communications detailing the Diocese’s efforts to conceal abuse and protect itself at the expense of innocent children.
• Introduce several sexual abuse survivors who will respond to the release of the files and share their experiences in fighting to make these files public.

WHEN: Wednesday, April 30, 2014 at 11:00 AM CDT

WHERE: Law Offices of Kerns, Frost & Pearlman and Jeff Anderson & Associates
30 West Monroe
Suite 1600
Chicago, IL 60603

WHO: Attorneys Jeff Anderson and Marc Pearlman, lawyers specializing in sexual abuse litigation who work together on behalf of sexual abuse survivors in Illinois helping them achieve justice and healing.

Notes:
• All documents will be available online Wednesday morning prior to the press event at www.abusedinchicago.com and www.andersonadvocates.com.

Contact Jeff Anderson: Office: 651.964.3458 Mobile: 612.817.8665
Contact Marc Pearlman: Office: 312.261.4550 Mobile: 773.368.0142

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

VATICAN CITY
Washington Post

By Josephine Mckenna | Religion News Service, Updated: Tuesday, April 29

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis and his council of eight cardinals are unlikely to complete a radical shakeup of the Holy See’s administration, or Curia, before 2015, the Vatican said Tuesday (April 29).

The council, which includes Australian Cardinal George Pell, head of the Vatican’s new economic secretariat, has been meeting in Rome for the past two days and also received input from the Vatican’s secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin.

Francis joined the council’s discussions in between events on an intense appointment schedule that included an audience with King Juan Carlos of Spain after the historic double canonizations of Popes John Paul II and John XXIII on Sunday.

“The work is of some importance,” Pell said on Monday evening at a function to mark the 40th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Australia and the Holy See.

The former archbishop of Sydney recently moved to Rome to take up his new position. He said there is a great deal of work to be done but declined to comment further.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

Joshua J. McElwee | Apr. 29, 2014 NCR Today

VATICAN CITY Former Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone has responded to criticism that his new residence at the Vatican is too large and opulent, saying the apartment is of normal size for a church prelate and that Pope Francis has called him to express support.

Reports in recent days had said Bertone, who served at the Vatican post from 2006-13, had gone to unusual expense to combine two previous apartments inside the Vatican into one 6,500 square foot residence.

Writing on the website of the Italian archdiocese of Genoa, which the cardinal led from 2002-06, Bertone says he received a call from Francis April 23 during which the pope informed the cardinal of “his sympathy and his disappointment for the attacks against me about the apartment.”

“The apartment is spacious, as is normal for the residences in the ancient palaces of the Vatican, and dutifully restored (at my expense),” writes Bertone.

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.

DEUTSCHLAND
BZ

[Summary: Nigel D., 53, now stands before the Berlin district court charged with child abuse. He had allegedly abused the boy for years while his own son was next to the bed. He taught at the Nelson Mandela School but also started a free church.]

Ein Wilmersdorfer Lehrer missbrauchte jahrelang einen Knaben, den er selbst unterrichtet hatte. Sein eigener Sohn lag daneben im Bett!

Jetzt steht er vor dem Berliner Landgericht. Nigel D. (53, Studium in Oxford) unterrichtete an der Nelson-Mandela-Schule Sport und Englisch. Es ist die einzige staatliche Schule Berlins, die zum Internationalen Abitur führt.

Anfangs war er Klassenlehrer des Jungen. Der Missbrauch begann, als das Kind elf Jahre alt war. “Irgendeine Störung in mir ermöglichte mir das”, so der Vater von vier Kindern im Geständnis, “ich blendete die Konsequenzen meines sexuellen Missbrauchs aus.” Der Junge sei der beste Freund seines Sohnes gewesen. Hätte regelmäßig nach dem Fußballtraining bei diesen geschlafen, oft im selben Bett.

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.