ABUSE TRACKER

AUSTRALIA
SBS

By Rhiannon Elston
Source World News Australia

Jay was just ten years old when it started. First, it was a stranger who abused him. Then the stranger became a family friend, and others followed.

Terrified and wracked with shame, Jay didn’t breathe a word of what happened to anyone for over 25 years. Even today, after years of counselling, he hesitates to say the words.

“I was [a victim of] a paedophile network in the 80s and I was offended by at least ten offenders that I can remember,” he says.

Now in his early 40s, Jay — who asked for his last name not to be published — believes he may never truly “get over” what happened, but he is finding ways to cope.

“I have gone to the police, and people are in jail because of me coming forward.”

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

AUSTRALIA
ABC News

by Melinda James

Rob lived with the secret of the sexual abuse he’d suffered at the hands of a Wollongong priest for decades.

In the early 1980s he was just a small boy, aged around 7 or 8.

“I used to go into the church to find solace. At that time we were allowed to go whenever we wanted to into the church. So I used to find solace, just going and sitting and praying. I guess I was a bit of a spiritual kid,” he said.

He says he used to light a candle and just sit quietly.

“While I was there, the priest come up and talk to me and wanted to know about me and why I was sitting there and why I felt safe in the church,” said Rob.

“Then he took me into one of the rooms at one time and that’s where the abuse occurred.”

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

UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Tom Roberts | Dec. 10, 2013

A Catholic group dedicated to reporting sexual abuse within the church has proposed that three prominent activists from the United States be appointed to the new Vatican commission being formed to deal with the crisis.

Catholic Whistleblowers, a network of clergy and sisters committed to reporting and monitoring abuse cases in the church, made the recommendations in a letter to Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston, a member of the Council of Cardinals appointed by Pope Francis to help him in reforming the curia and in the worldwide governance of the church.

O’Malley announced Dec. 5, during the most recent meeting of the council, that Francis had ordered the creation of a new commission, to be part of the church’s central bureaucracy, to deal with the issue of sex abuse in the church. The cardinal said few specifics had been established, but that the commission would deal with protection of children and pastoral care of victims and would comprise experts from around the world, including priests, sisters and lay people.

The Whistleblower group, founded by Fr. James Connell, a retired Milwaukee priest who is a canon lawyer and former vice chancellor for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, proposed Notre Dame de Namur Sr. Maureen Turlish, Dominican Fr. Thomas Doyle and Dr. Robert M. Hoatson for membership on the commission.

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.

ZIMBABWE
Zimbabwe Mail

THE trial of pastor Martin Gumbura, the leader of End Time Message entered its second day yesterday with the aunt of one of the alleged rape victims telling the court how she left the church owing to persistent sexual demands from the man of the cloth who knew fully well that she was married with two children.

The woman, who produced a letter which she wrote in 2006 notifying the church of her decision to quit, said she was “committed to the hands of the devil” by the pastor who dealt ruthlessly with people who disobeyed him.

The woman had been called as the State’s second witness to testify on allegations made by the victim against Gumbura.

“When the complainant was planning her wedding with her fiancée, pastor Gumbura called her to his house in Kadoma on the pretext that he wanted to counsel her and help her plan the wedding.

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VIRGINIA
WSLS

By Tim Ciesco, Reporter

A grand jury will now decide if there is enough evidence to move forward with a criminal trial for a Buena Vista pastor accused of molesting at least two teenage boys.

Larry Clark was in Rockbridge County Juvenile & Domestic Relations Court Monday for a preliminary hearing, where a judge found there was sufficient cause for the case to go before a grand jury. They’ll decide whether or not to indict Clark on two counts of taking indecent liberties with a child and one count of cruelty and injuries to a child.

The charges stem from two separate incidents the alleged victims claim took place back in 2011. According to search warrants, one teenage boy says he was molested in the bathroom of Clark’s home. Another says Clark invited him to his house via Facebook and when he went to Clark’s house, he too was molested.

Due to the sensitive nature of the case, a judge kept the hearing closed to the public.

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VIRGINIA
News-Gazette

Written by Roberta Anderson

Sexual abuse charges against Larry Clark, 61, pastor of the Pentecostal Outreach Church, were certified to the grand jury following a preliminary hearing Monday in Rockbridge County Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court.

The hearing was closed to the public because a juvenile was scheduled to testify.

Clark is charged with taking indecent liberties with and endangering the morals of a child. The offenses allegedly took place in 2011. He was arrested by the Rockbridge County Sheriff’s Office on Nov. 7.

The grand jury is scheduled to meet again on Monday, Feb. 3.

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AUSTRALIA
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

live stream

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IRELAND
98 FM

by Teena Gates 10th Dec 2013

A report from the Catholic Church’s own watchdog has found that 870 allegations of child sex abuse were made against members of the Christian Brothers since 1975.

The National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church has found that allegations were made against 325 Brothers – 50 of whom are still alive and 12 of whom were convicted.

All of the allegations were reported to the Gardaí and the HSE or Health Boards.

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MINNESOTA
Jeff Anderson & Associates

Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and the
Diocese of Winona fought to have the claim dismissed

Nuisance Order 12-10-13

(St. Paul, MN) – Today, Ramsey County District Judge John Van de North issued an Order allowing a survivor’s nuisance claim to proceed. The nuisance claim sought to make public the names and documents about credibly accused priests. Last week, the court ordered the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and the Diocese of Winona to release the names. Today’s decision allows this survivor, Doe 1, to proceed in uncovering and making the community aware of the secret documents kept by the Archdiocese and Diocese of Winona.

“We are both relieved and comforted that the nuisance claim can move forward so that we can continue on the journey with this courageous survivor to expose and disclose these long kept secrets,” said Attorney Jeff Anderson. “Relief and truth can be known in the legal system in a way it couldn’t before. This decision is also a precedent for other courts examining this issue still pending in the Dioceses of New Ulm, Crookston and Duluth.”

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CHICAGO (IL)
Jeff Anderson & Associates

December 10, 2013

Chicago News Conference Wednesday
First survivor to publicly speak out about abuse by serial child molester Fr. Daniel McCormack
Lawsuit to be filed naming the Archdiocese of Chicago involving sexual abuse of survivor at St. Ailbe

What: At a news conference on Wednesday, December 11, 2013, in Chicago, sexual abuse attorneys Jeff Anderson and Marc Pearlman will:

· Introduce a sexual abuse survivor who was abused by Father Daniel McCormack during the years that he attended St. Ailbe School and was a young student, altar server and member of the basketball team. The courageous survivor will speak publicly, using his name, and will discuss the important reasons why he is coming forward to share his experiences.

· Announce the filing of a sexual abuse lawsuit naming the Archdiocese of Chicago as defendants alleging the Archdiocese was negligent in allowing McCormack access to children after receiving reports of McCormack’s inappropriate behavior with a minor boy and young seminarians two years before the abuse at St. Ailbe.

· Discuss McCormack’s pattern and grooming behavior, using his position as a priest and coach, to sexually abuse this survivor and numerous other young children. McCormack, ordained in 1994, worked at various Chicago parishes including St. Ailbe’s, Holy Family, St. Agatha’s and Our Lady of the West Side Catholic School. He also worked as the director of liturgy for St. Joseph College Seminary at Loyola University.

WHEN: Wednesday, December 11, 2013 at 11:00AM CST

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

WHO: A Sexual Abuse Survivor, will use his name and discuss why he’s coming forward to share his story. 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.

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

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NEW MEXICO
Gallup Independent

Published in the Gallup Independent, Gallup, NM, Dec. 10, 2013

Third in a three-part series

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

GALLUP – When the Rev. Carlos R. Rodriguez, a Vincentian priest from California, sexually molested a teenage boy in a Flagstaff motel room in 1987, his religious superior aided Rodriguez’s hasty exit out of the state.

More than 25 years later, that Vincentian provincial’s identity was known only to a few people. Like most information in clergy abuse personnel files, it was sealed up in confidential church archives.

And if that religious superior had any ties to the Diocese of Gallup, no one here — particularly Catholics in the pews — would have any way to know that.

That began to change when a portion of Rodriguez’s file was released in January as part of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles’ 2007 settlement with clergy abuse survivors. However, the identity of Rodriguez’s Vincentian provincial was still protected by the redaction of his name in the file. All throughout the record, the word “REDACTED” was stamped where his name had been protectively removed.

However, since church officials were forced to release a file in September with fewer redactions, anyone who reads the Rodriguez file on the Internet can easily see what church official advised the priest to leave Los Angeles immediately, pick up money from another church official, hole up overnight in a hotel and then catch a plane to the East Coast for quick admittance into a Catholic treatment facility.

For at least Rodriguez’s file, the protective — and deceptive — redactions are gone.
Gallup Connection

And the Vincentian provincial who aided Rodriguez? It was the Rev. Jerome “Jerry” R. Herff — one of the founding members of the Gallup Diocesan Review Board on Juvenile Sexual Abuse. Ironically, in the years Herff worked in the Gallup Diocese, he worked on the western part of the Navajo Nation, in Coconino County, the same county where Rodriguez molested the teen. And more ironically, as the clergy representative on Gallup’s sex abuse review board, Herff was supposed to advise the Gallup bishop on how to properly deal with sex abuse allegations. How Herff advised Rodriguez to flee California in 1987 has brought Herff national notoriety since his redacted name was added back into Rodriguez’s file.

Herff, who left the Gallup Diocese and returned to California in 2011, did not respond to requests for comment for this article. However, in a letter about Rodriguez to Pope John Paul II in 1997, Herff admitted to “not knowing much about child abusers” a decade before.

Herff’s actions, as documented in Rodriguez’s file, along with the recently released file of Gallup priest James M. Burns, raise a number of questions about redactions in clergy abuse files. For one, just who are these redactions protecting?

Redactions are supposed to protect the names and identifying information of abuse victims. But the initial redactions in the Rodriguez file also protected church officials like Herff who put the interest of a sexual offender over the interests of an abuse victim, his parents and law enforcement.
Burns’ redactions

So is anyone being protected in Burns’ very heavily redacted personnel file?

Terence McKiernan, the president of Bishop Accountability, the online archive that documents clergy abuse, said most of the priest files released in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles settlement feature redaction percentages in the five to 10 percent range. The Burns file is more than 35 percent redacted, he said, with 195 totally blacked-out pages and extensive redactions on many other pages.

In addition, McKiernan said, although the file features a page numbering system up to 564, nine pages are actually missing from that system that had to have been part of the original file.

California attorney Raymond P. Boucher, who negotiated the Burns file redactions with the Diocese of Gallup, said the redacted pages involve privileged attorney/client communication, documents related to Burns’ medical conditions, or Burns last will and testament. Any information related to sex abuse allegations are not redacted, he said.

However, there are many viewable pages that feature Burns’ medical and health information, from his medical allergies to his weight, blood pressure and cholesterol levels. And what are missing, however, are documents that a number of individuals across the diocese have said in media interviews that they remember mailing or submitting to the Gallup chancery about Burns.

“There really is no other file that is so aggressively redacted as this one,” McKiernan said of the Burns file’s 200-plus pages of missing information.

“Such extensive redactions are unique in the Los Angeles file release,” he said, “and it is a matter of serious concern whether the redactions are in keeping with the settlement agreement, and what information they conceal.”

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
GlobalPost

Jason Berry
December 10, 2013

News that the Vatican will create a commission to address its global sex abuse crisis comes 11 years after American bishops, amid devastating media coverage from the Boston scandal, met for their summer conference in Dallas, trailed by 700 journalists.

With help from RF Binder, a Madison Avenue public relations firm specializing in damage control, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops by parliamentary vote enacted a youth protection charter, predicated on “zero tolerance.”

They also announced the formation of a National Review Board of 12 blue-ribbon Catholics to research the crisis and offer an agenda for resolution.

Washington, DC attorney Robert Bennett became the Review Board chair. Among other members: Leon Panetta, the former chief of staff to President Clinton; Pamela Hayes, a New York defense attorney and former prosecutor; and Judge Anne Burke, now on the Illinois Supreme Court.

The Review Board spent 18 months interviewing bishops, therapists, theologians, victim advocates, clinicians working with perpetrators and journalists including myself for the final report.

The report called for transparency and oversight of bishops to halt the practice of concealing and recycling sex offenders.

But as Justice Burke told GlobalPost, “The bishops did not follow our recommendations. They set up barriers for our work from the very beginning.”

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MINNESOTA
Patch

Posted by James Warden (Editor) , December 05, 2013

Six former Hopkins priests are on a list of priests “credibly accused of sexual abuse of minors in the archdiocese (of St. Paul and Minneapolis),” according to the archdiocese’s newspaper.

The priests on the list are:

John Brown was an associate priest in Hopkins between 1951 and 1956. The 93-year-old had a career that lasted from 1948 until 1990. He was permanently removed from the ministry in 2002 and now lives in Maplewood.

Richard Jeub started his career at St. Joseph in 1966 and worked there through 1967. The 73-year-old held several posts before he retired in 2002. He was permanently removed from the ministry that same year and now lives in Crosby.

Joseph Pinkosh was at St. Joseph from 1969 until 1972. The 70-year-old also worked in New Prague, Minneapolis and Shieldsville. He was permanently removed from the ministry in 1992 and now lives in Columbia Heights.

Richard Skluzacek was at St. Joseph between 1978 and 1990. He worked in various positions between 1957 and 1998. He was permanently removed from the ministry in 2005 and died in 2012.

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IRELAND
Breaking News

Christian Brothers

The Minister for Children described the number of child sex abuse allegations against the Christian Brothers as “chilling”.

Frances Fitzgerald said the order played a central role in Irish Society over many decades.

The National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church today published eight audits of procedures.

They cover over 1,400 allegations against 456 priests and brothers, of whom 21 have been convicted.
Since 1975 – 870 allegations were made against 325 Christian Brothers alone, resulting in 12 convictions.

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
Jeff Anderson & Associates

TF Complaint 12-6-13
Fr. Joseph Ferrario History
Photo of Troy Franks

Honolulu News Conference Tuesday
Third Sexual Abuse Survivor to File Lawsuit Naming Former Honolulu Bishop Joseph Ferrario
Survivor to speak publicly at press conference Tuesday

What: At a press conference Tuesday, a sexual abuse survivor along with his attorneys and advocates will:

• Announce the third child sexual abuse lawsuit naming former Honolulu Bishop Joseph Ferrario and Diocese of Honolulu. The man, born and raised in Hawaii and now residing in Las Vegas, NV, will speak publicly about his abuse and his prior thwarted attempts to notify parishioners and the diocese about the abuse.
• The survivor will speak about his experience as a seven-year-old student at St. Anthony’s grade school in 1975 when then-Father Joseph Ferrario began to groom and sexually molest him. The Diocese of Honolulu did not substantiate his abuse despite knowing other victims of Ferrario existed.
• Discuss the opportunity for sexual abuse survivors to come forward and pursue legal action under a new Hawaii law that expires April 24, 2014. The alleged victim is the third man to come forward and file a lawsuit claiming that Ferrario sexually abused him. All three boys were molested during the same time period at St. Anthony’s in Kailua.

WHEN: Tuesday, December 10, 2013 at 11:00 AM HST

WHERE: 7 Waterfront Plaza
500 Ala Moana Blvd.
Suite 400
Honolulu, HI 96813

WHO: Attorney Mark Gallagher, a Kailua-based affiliate of Jeff Anderson & Associates in Minnesota, Mark has over 24 years of experience as an attorney successfully seeking justice and compensation for those injured in Hawaii. An experienced litigator in Hawaii state courts on Oahu, the Big Island, Kauai and Maui, Mark has also practiced in the United States federal courts system.

Notes: A copy of the complaint and documents will be available on www.abusedinhawaii.com.

Contact: Mark Gallagher: Office/Cell: 808.535.1500
Jeff Anderson: Office/651.237.5143 Cell/612.817.8665

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

Article by: JEAN HOPFENSPERGER  , Star Tribune Updated: December 10, 2013

Lawyers seeking documentation of their client’s abuse by a Catholic priest say a Tuesday decision by a Ramsey County District Court judge will open the “secret documents.”

A lawsuit involving an alleged victim of the Rev. Tom Adamson included a nuisance claim against the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, and the Diocese of Winona, where Adamson also had served. It alleged that the church created and continued to create public and private nuisances by failing to disclose information about certain priests accused of sexually abusing minors.

Judge John Van de North dismissed the private nuisance claim but allowed the public nuisance claim to move forward. It paves the way for the law firm representing an anonymous plaintiff identified as “Doe 1,” to request internal chancery correspondence and other documents from the archdiocese and diocese to support its client’s case.

“This opens up a whole new part of the case,” said Mike Finnegan, a lawyer with Anderson and Associates of St. Paul, “namely what the higher-ups knew and when they knew it.”

The archdiocese was not available for immediate comment. Its lawyers had argued that the nuisance claim didn’t apply to the case, and that it was barred by the statute of limitations.

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MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press

By Emily Gurnon
egurnon@pioneerpress.com
POSTED: 12/10/2013

A Ramsey County judge has ruled that an alleged sexual abuse victim’s nuisance claims against the Catholic Church may proceed.

A man identified as John Doe 1 filed suit in May alleging he was abused by Thomas Adamson, and that the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis and the Diocese of Winona failed to respond adequately.

Adamson had admitted to molesting boys in the Winona diocese, yet was transferred to the Twin Cities archdiocese and allowed to work at St. Thomas Aquinas parish in St. Paul Park, among other locations, with no warning to families, according to the suit.

It was at St. Thomas Aquinas that Adamson abused Doe 1, the lawsuit alleges.

The victim alleges that the diocese and archdiocese created a public nuisance by concealing Adamson’s history and that of other priest offenders from the community. He also alleges their actions constituted a private nuisance by leading to his sexual abuse.

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UNITED STATES
NBC News

*** Tuesday’s “MSNBC Live with Thomas Roberts” line-up: MSNBC’s Thomas Roberts covers the memorial for Nelson Mandela with Arise TV’s Leila McDowell. We’ll talk to David Clohessy of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests about what Pope Francis has done for abuse survivors. Today’s Agenda panel includes MaddowBlog’s Steve Bennen, NBCLatino contributor Victoria DeFrancesco Soto and The Nation’s Lee Fang.

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.

GALLUP (NM)
Gallup Independent

By Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola

December 9, 2013

[See also the first article in this series: Disastrous Legacy of Abuse: Gallup Priest’s Personnel File Released, by Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola, Gallup Independent, December 7, 2013.]

GALLUP — When James M. Burns was studying for the priesthood at Immaculate Conception Seminary in Missouri in 1959, his rector raised a concern in a letter to the Diocese of Gallup.

“Whereas there is nothing precisely to which I can refer as a character defect … something in his character does not ring true,” the rector wrote Bishop Bernard T. Espelage (Burns file, page 552).

Had Espelage paid attention to the rector’s concern, perhaps Burns wouldn’t have been ordained, sparing an untold number of Catholic children and teens from sexual abuse by their parish priest.

But the Diocese of Gallup was then — as it is today — a sprawling, rural diocese in need of priests and its officials were willing to give some men a chance that wouldn’t have made the grade in other dioceses. With a lackluster seminary record — checkered with a number of red flags — Burns was an available warm body, ready for assignment.

Ordained in 1962 and removed from ministry in 1993, Burns spent most of that time in Arizona. Based on his priest personnel file, which was publicly released in October, and interviews with abuse survivors, it is believed Burns molested a series of adolescent boys throughout his 31 years as a parish priest and correctional facility chaplain.

“He said the sexual involvement with the adolescent males started about four years after ordination,” stated a psychiatric report on Burns, written at the Servants of the Paraclete’s Jemez Springs facility in March 1990. “He remembered in his first parish that two kids told him that they had been sexually involved with the last priest. He became sexually involved with them. He talked about getting in trouble in a reform school with another boy and described the boy as fifteen or sixteen years old.” (Burns file, pages 234-235)

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IRELAND
The Nationalist

Kerry

A priest facing several sex abuse allegations asked to be dismissed and went on to work in a job which gave him access to children, the church watchdog has found.

The ex-cleric was the subject of four serious complaints relating to his time working in a children’s home in Co Kerry in the 1970s.

But the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church found he was never prosecuted.

Furthermore, he was dismissed from the priesthood at his own request and was allowed to move to another part of the country and take a job involving access to children.

Overall, it was found that 21 priests faced a total of 67 allegations in the Kerry diocese. Only one priest was convicted.

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CALIFORNIA
Contra Costa Times

By VIRGINIA HENNESSEY, Monterey Herald
POSTED: 12/10/2013

Barring intervention by an appellate court, depositions and other records from the child molestation lawsuit against the Rev. Edward Fitz-Henry and the Diocese of Monterey will be released next month.

Monterey County Judge Thomas Wills made final Monday his tentative ruling that there was no compelling reason to withhold the records. They were previously sealed to avoid tainting the prospective jury pool when the case was still headed for trial. It was ultimately settled with a $500,000 payment to the alleged victim.

Wills stayed his order for 45 days to allow attorneys for Fitz-Henry and the diocese to appeal to the 6th District Court of Appeals. Paul Gaspari, who represents the diocese and Bishop Richard Garcia, said they are “certainly going to look very, very closely” at appealing.

“We are being forced to do the impossible,” Gaspari said, “to try this (case) again in the press without the ability to defend ourselves in the press because we are not going to violate” the privacy rights of “individuals who were swept up in this.”

The Monterey County Weekly sought to lift the protective order barring release of the records, arguing there was an overriding public interest in knowing what and when the diocese knew about the allegations against Fitz-Henry and what it did to protect its young parishioners and other juveniles in the community.

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UNITED STATES
Catholic Whistle Blowers

December 10, 2013

Catholic Whistle Blowers release letter to Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley regarding Vatican commission on sexual abuse of children, teenagers, and vulnerable adults

LETTER

Catholic Whistle Blowers
P.O. Box 279
Livingston, NJ 07039
862-368-2800

December 9, 2013

His Eminence Sean P. O’Malley, O.F.M. Cap.
Archbishop of Boston
66 Brooks Drive
Braintree, MA 02184-3839

Your Eminence:

It is with a sense of Advent hope and joy that we write to respond to the announcement from the Vatican that the establishment of a commission to deal with clergy sexual abuse has been approved by His Holiness, Pope Francis. As men and women who have been deeply affected by the clergy sexual abuse crisis of the Catholic Church for decades, including some who are survivors of sexual abuse by clergy and religious, we express our cautious optimism that such a commission might signal the beginning of the end of sexual abuse of children, teenagers, and vulnerable adults within the Roman Catholic Church.

Since many aspects of the Vatican commission on sexual abuse have not been determined, including its membership, mission, and goals, we would like to make the following recommendations to you as the titular head of the commission, at least at this time:

1) While the Catholic Church’s work emanates from a pastoral nature, we recommend that the Vatican commission not ignore the juridical (canon and civil law), psychological, and sociological factors that impact cases of sexual abuse in the Church. Justice for the victims and their families must be the paramount aim of the commission.

2) While we welcome the news that the commission will be composed of an array of persons from different vocations and backgrounds, we urge the selection of a broad-based group of experts, including highly qualified and independent criminal, civil and canonical attorneys; psychiatrists and psychotherapists; advocates and supporters; victim/survivors and their families. To this end, we recommend the consideration of three highly qualified Americans for appointment to the commission:

Sister Maureen Paul Turlish, SNDdeN – Advocate, Supporter, and Writer
Rev. Thomas P. Doyle, O.P., J.D.C. – Canon lawyer and Victims’ Advocate
Dr. Robert M. Hoatson – Co-founder and President, Road to Recovery, Inc., a non-profit charity that assists victims of sexual abuse and their families

These three individuals have committed themselves for decades to the pursuit of healing for victim/survivors and the promotion of justice for all involved in the crisis of clergy sexual abuse.

Sr. Maureen Paul Turlish, through her extensive writing, support of lay efforts to advocate for victim/survivors, and participation in changing and reforming laws that will protect children and teenagers, has committed herself to the mission of ending sexual abuse by clergy and other religious persons.

Rev. Thomas Doyle, O.P, was instrumental in developing in the 1980s for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops a “handbook” for treating allegations of clergy sexual abuse. In addition, he has been a recognized international expert on clergy sexual abuse, acting as a canonical and pastoral consultant and expert for numerous organizations and institutions.

Dr. Robert Hoatson, a victim/survivor of multiple Catholic Church abusers, began reporting cases of sexual abuse in the 1970s when he was a teacher in a Catholic high school. In 2003, he co-founded a charity that has helped over 2,000 victim/survivors internationally with advocacy, financial assistance, psychological services, and a host of other ministries.

3) While we understand Pope Francis’ desire to move forward and “from here on” determine that no child, teenager, or vulnerable adult will be harmed by ministers of the Catholic Church, we recommend that past cases, which will continue to surface in large numbers sporadically based on the nature of sexual abuse and the inability of victims to predict when is the “right time” to come forward and begin the healing process, be dealt with compassionately and justly. In addition, we urge the commission to discipline members of the hierarchy of the Church who have displayed reckless negligence in their handling of cases of clergy sexual abuse.

Finally, Your Eminence, all of us, Catholic Whistle Blowers and signers of this letter, have attempted in many ways and often to assist the Church we love in the resolution of the worst scandal to afflict the Roman Catholic Church. It appears that Pope Francis has embarked on a mission to end the scandal. We offer him, and you, the talents and abilities with which we have been blessed to make this happen.

Yours in Christ,

The Catholic Whistle Blowers:

Rev. John P. Bambrick, Jackson, NJ
Sr. Sally Butler, O.P., Brooklyn, NY
Rev. Patrick W. Collins, Douglas, MI
Rev. James E. Connell, Milwaukee, WI
Rev. Thomas P. Doyle, O.P., Vienna, VA
Robert M. Hoatson, West Orange, NJ
Rev. Ronald Lemmert, Peekskill, NY
Rev. Bruce N. Teague, Sheffield, MA
Sr. Maureen Paul Turlish, SNDdeN, New Castle, DE
Patrick J. Wall, Stillwater, MN

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

MINNESOTA
Patch

Only 30 clerics were on last week’s list of accused priests, but an animated Patch map and interactive timeline illustrate the scope of their time in the ministry.

Posted by James Warden (Editor) , December 10, 2013

There were just 30 clergymen on last week’s list of priests who have “credible claims against them” of sexually abusing minors. Those priests are a fraction of the clerics who served in the archdiocese between 1933 and 2012, the timeframe that the accused priests were in the ministry. For context, the archdiocese has 495 priests serving right now, plus 1,400 deacons and numerous religious brothers, according to the organization.

Yet the accused priests—some with long tenures in the church—have come into contact with more parishes than their small numbers suggests. In all, the priests have held positions at 92 of the 188 parishes in the archdiocese.

Some locations were home to accused clerics for a disproportionate amount of time. One accused cleric assigned to St. John’s Abbey spent a total of about 35 years there, the most of any location, according to a Patch analysis. Four accused priests spent a total of 31 years at Sacred Heart in Robbinsdale, the second-highest total and the most for a parish. At St. Joseph in Hopkins, the second-highest parish, five accused priests tallied 27 years.

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AUSTRALIA
lewisblayse.net

The Catholic Church’s program for dealing with claims of child sexual abuse, “Towards Healing”, continued to be the focus of the fourth hearings of the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, today.

Yesterday the hearings featured the church’s lawyer, Peter Gray, whose biblical quotations triggered a walk-out from some members of the gallery, and distressed many others. It also featured Mrs. Joan Isaacs, who was molested by Fr. Frank Derriman in the late sixties, and who received a short prison sentence in 1998 for that offence. Mrs. Isaacs continued her evidence at today’s hearing, concerning her experiences with the “Towards Healing” process.

She informed the enquiry that, on two occasions, she was forced to chase up the church authority for payment for counseling sessions, after her counselor revealed that bills sent to Towards Healing had gone unpaid. Despite the paltry sum offered to Mrs. Isaacs (less than $10,000 after costs), the Brisbane Archdiocese had a fund with $154 million in it which was available for compensation.

She had been made to sign a deed of release which included the phrase along the lines of not being critical of the church. In 2001, she received a second draft of a deed of release from Towards Healing, containing a clause that she could not discuss the matter with anyone, including her husband and children.

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UNITED STATES
TheMediaReport

Lest there be any remaining doubt about the nastiness and true motives of the anti-Catholic group SNAP, the organization is now publishing on its web site the personal phone numbers and email addresses of priests who have merely been accused of abuse.

TheMediaReport.com has examined two recent media statements where SNAP has published such personal information. In both cases, the accusations against the clerics date back many decades, and neither cleric has ever been charged criminally.

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MINNESOTA
The Record

By Adam Tucker | December 9th, 2013

Saint John’s Abbey released a statement Monday voluntarily naming 18 monks that have “likely offended against minors”—most of whom have already been publically named. Nine of the names on the list reside at the Abbey under supervised plans, seven of the monks have deceased, and two of the monks—including Francis Hoefgen, who was indicted by a lawsuit filed on Nov. 19—have since left the clergy.

“We are including all 18 names to provide as complete of a list as we can to acknowledge the pain suffered by victims. This list underscores our commitment to being transparent in our policies and procedures for dealing with allegations of abuse,” Abbey spokesperson Br. Aelred Senna said.

Attorney Jeff Anderson filed a lawsuit in November in Dakota County court that names the Abbey as a defendant for allegedly concealing or neglecting to fully disclose Hoefgen’s misconduct prior to his establishment at St. Boniface parish in Hastings in 1985. Today’s letter is the first list of names announced by the Abbey since they released a list of 17 names in 2011 as part of a different case.

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IRELAND
Journal

Christian Brothers

ONE IN FOUR, the advocacy group that represents survivors of clerical abuse, today said that the reviews by the Catholic Church’s National Board for Safeguarding Children have been met with an overly legalistic response by the Christian Brothers.Today’s publishing of the reports shows that just 12 convictions have been made on the back of 870 allegations against 325 Christian Brothers.

While One in Four welcomed the publishing of the reports, they said they were disappointed with the response of the Christian Brothers.

Maeve Lewis of One in Four said that the findings of the report, which said that the Christian Brothers were too quick to resort to legal recourse, were in keeping with what the survivors of abuse had experienced.

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UNITED STATES
Daily Kos

by Betty Clermont

On the July 28 flight back to Rome from Rio de Janeiro’s World Youth Day and in a widely publicized interview in September with a Jesuit magazine, when asked for his opinion on abortion and same-sex marriage, Pope Francis said his position was identical to that of the Church. “I am a son of the Church,” he explained.

He is a son of the Church as restructured by his two predecessors, Pope John Paul II and his head of doctrine, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, later Pope Benedict XVI.

Fr. Jorge Mario Bergoglio was promoted to bishop, archbishop and cardinal by Pope John Paul II who preached: “The globalized economy must be analyzed in the light of the principles of social justice, respecting the preferential option for the poor who must be allowed to take their place in such an economy, and the requirements of the international common good.” John Paul condemned, “Whatever is opposed to life itself, such as any type of murder, genocide…whatever violates the integrity of the human person, such as mutilation, torments inflicted on body or mind.”

Yet he backed Latin American dictators and worked with the CIA, Reagan and right-wing Catholic groups to counter the actions of progressive clerics in Latin America. The CIA thought Wojtyla would be “a perfect vehicle for U.S. foreign policy.”

Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio was elected pope by a College of Cardinals comprised entirely of men appointed by Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI. Benedict taught: “Democracy will attain its full actualization only when every person and each people have access to the primary goods (life, food, water, health care, education, work, and the certainty of their rights) through an ordering of internal and international relations that assures each person of the possibility of participating in them.” And “Commitment to promoting effective social justice in international relations demands of each one an awareness that the goods of creation are destined for all, and that in the world community economies must be oriented toward the sharing of these goods, their lasting use, and the fair division of the benefits that derive from them.”

Yet when polls showed a tie between Pres. George W. Bush and Sen. John F. Kerry in 2004, he sent a letter to the U.S. episcopate instructing the bishops to deny communion to Kerry. After favoring Gore in 2000, Catholics voted 52 percent for Bush versus 47 percent for Kerry. “Throughout the 2004 campaign, Rove maintained that, if Bush won the Catholic vote, he would be reelected. Rove was right.”

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IRELAND
Journal

Cashel and Emly

THE ARCHDIOCESE OF Cashel and Emly was given a largely clean bill of health in the latest review of its child safeguarding measures.

The report from the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church (NBSCCCI) found that the archdiocese had received a “relatively small number” of allegations/suspicions/concerns regarding clerics in its area and that those that were received were generally dealt with quickly.

“Archbishop (Dermot) Clifford promptly removed priests from public ministry, usually within days of the allegations being brought to his attention,” reads the report.

There was a delay in bringing allegations to the gardai in four cases but of three of these, the complainants had not wanted the gardai involved – the fourth concerned a priest who was out of ministry and had no access to children. However, this fourth case took nine years to be reported to gardai.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

MATT JOHNSTON STATE POLITICS REPORTER HERALD SUN DECEMBER 10, 2013

CREEPS who groom children for sex through websites or community groups face 10 years in jail even if no abuse occurs, under a tough new law.

The draft Bill is the first stemming from the Victorian parliamentary child sex abuse inquiry’s report, Betrayal of Trust, which found “several thousand” victims in non- ­government organisations.

Attorney-General Robert Clark will today introduce the law, designed to stop paedophiles before they strike.

It is aimed at anyone trying to groom children, from Facebook fiends to dodgy family friends, and covers those who cultivate relationships with parents to gain access to children for sexual purposes.

Mr Clark said the new law would have a maximum penalty of 10 years.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

Richard Willingham

Sexual predators will face up to 10 years in prison for grooming children for sex under new laws to be introduced in the Victorian Parliament.

In response to the Betrayal of Trust parliamentary investigation into child sexual abuse and Protecting Victoria’s Vulnerable Children Inquiry, the laws will prohibit adults from communicating, in any way, with a child under the age of 16 for the purpose of sex.

”Grooming” is when an offender tries to facilitate the involvement of a child in sexual activity. Attorney-General Robert Clark said the grooming laws would apply to any communication by an adult with a child, parent or carer intended to facilitate involving the child in a sexual offence.

Importantly the law will allow police to intercept predators based on communications rather than have to set up a ”sting” to catch paedophiles. The offence is not contingent on sexual abuse having occurred or even attempted.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

Kerry

10 DECEMBER 2013

Four fresh complaints of child abuse have been made against three priests since the review of safeguarding practice in the Diocese of Kerry was completed in May.

One of these refers to a retired priest living in Kerry who is the subject of an ongoing investigation in the UK.

A total of 67 allegations against 21 priests were made in the Diocese of Kerry in the 38-year period from January 1975 to May 2013.

There has only been one prosecution in the diocese in that time.

Thirteen of the priests against whom allegations were made are now dead.

One of these, who died about 30 years ago, had 25 complaints made against him while he had access to children.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

Ossory

CAROLINE CRAWFORD – 10 DECEMBER 2013

A “prolific abuser” who was later convicted of sexually abusing children was not reported to gardai for 11 years after a bishop received legal advice that he did not need to notify gardai of the allegation.

The case emerged in the Diocese of Ossary which was reviewed by the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church.

It found that the priest who has since been convicted and is now being monitored by State authorities was immediately removed from ministry by the then bishop Bishop Laurence Forristal.

However, after receiving legal advice in 1994 that he did not need to notify gardai of the allegation, the information was not passed on to the authorities until 2005.

A second priest also described as a “prolific abuser” was brought to the attention of Bishop Forristal by gardai in 1994 and the priest was immediately removed from ministry.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

Achonry

10 DECEMBER 2013

CONCERNS about a priest who was recently convicted of abusing 18 boys in five counties over two decades were not passed onto the civil authorities when it became known in the early 1980s.

A review of the Diocese of Achonry highlighted three cases of “problematic” management of priests and religious from outside the diocese.

In 1981 a priest arrived in the diocese to provide cover for a colleague, unbeknown to the bishop. Priest P spent five months in the diocese and returned the following year when he sexually abused a boy.

The review found evidence that information about Fr P’s abuse of this young boy was made available to a priest of the diocese “at an early stage”, but had not been passed on by the diocese to the civil authorities.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 10 December 2013 (VIS) – Today, the Plenary Meeting of MONEYVAL (the “Committee of Experts on the Evaluation of Anti-Money Laundering Measures and the Financing of Terrorism”, established by the Council of Europe) has approved the Progress Report of the Holy See/ Vatican City State. The Progress Report follows the adoption of the Mutual Evaluation Report on 4 July 2012 and is part of the ordinary process in compliance with to the Rules of Procedure of MONEYVAL, according to a press communique published in the evening of Monday, 9 December by the Holy See Press Office.

The progress report, submitted for review during the Plenary, confirms that significant progress has been made. Upon request by the Holy See and the Vatican City State the MONEYVAL Secretariat agreed to carry out a full progress review. Therefore, the report contains an analysis of progress against the core and key recommendations of the FATF (Financial Action Task Force), regarding international standards on combating money laundering and the financing of terrorism.

“The adoption of the Progress Report confirms the significant efforts undertaken by the Holy See and the Vatican City State to strengthen its legal and institutional framework”, said Monsignor Antoine Camilleri, Under Secretary for Relations with States, and Head of Delegation of the Holy See and Vatican City State to MONEYVAL. “The Holy See is fully committed to continuing to improve further the effective implementation of all necessary measures to build a well functioning and sustainable system aimed at preventing and fighting financial crimes.”

In accordance with the MONEYVAL Rules of Procedure, the Progress Report will be published in full by the MONEYVAL Secretariat on its website on Thursday.

At the legislative level, and among the principal results following the Mutual Evaluation report of 4 July 2012, Financial Intelligence Authority (AIF) has been strengthened by the amendment on 14 December 2012 of the Law on the Prevention and Countering of Laundering of Proceeds of Crimes and Financing of Terrorism. In addition to the Motu Proprio of Pope Francis on the Laws on Criminal Matters of 11 July 2013, the new laws cover all terrorist offences set forth in the Conventions annexed to the Terrorist Financing Convention as well as a new approach to the civil liability of legal persons arising from crime. In particular, a modern scheme on confiscation, freezing and seizure has been adopted. The Motu Proprio extended the jurisdiction of the Vatican Tribunal over criminal offences – including the financing of terrorism and money laundering – committed by public officials of the Holy See in the context of the exercise of their functions, even if outside Vatican territory.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Get West London

A priest and well-known community leader is facing sex offence charges.

The 42-year-old Gurudev Rajesh Parmar, founder of Hindu temple the Siddhashram Shakti Centre in Palmerston Road, Wealdstone, is facing charges of assault causing actual bodily harm, a charge of conspiring to commit sexual offences and a charge for perverting the course of justice.

The Hindu priest, who lives in Headstone Drive, will appear at Harrow Crown Court again on Friday for a plea and case management hearing.

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IRELAND
Journal

St Patrick’s Missionary Society ( Kiltegan Fathers)

A REVIEW ON the safeguarding of children in the Catholic Church has found a “historical failure” to react appropriately to abuse at St Patrick’s Missionary Society, also know as the Kiltegan Fathers, in Wicklow.

In one of eight reports published by the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church (NBSCCCI), particular failures were identified in the society’s handling of abuse allegations outside of the State.

There were 50 allegations made about 14 members of the society since 1975 with 47 of these were reported to gardaí and the HSE. Three allegations were not reported in Ireland as the offences occurred in other jurisdictions and so were reported there and none of these priests reside in Ireland.

Just one priest has been convicted of having committed an offence against a child or young person.

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IRELAND
Irish MIrror

by Ed Carty, Lyndsey Telford and Michael McHugh

An audit of how the Catholic order the Christian Brothers dealt with abuse allegations has found only 12 brothers were convicted of crimes between 1975 and today.

A review of the congregation’s files found that its initial response to the need to report abuse to the authorities was not systematic and was inadequate.

It revealed allegations were made against 325 brothers – only 50 of whom are still alive – with 870 complaints of abuse in the 38 year period, all of which have been reported to authorities.

The audit, carried out by the church’s own watchdog the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church, is one of eight being released today.

The latest and largest tranche of reviews by the oversight body scrutinise both current practice in two religious orders and six dioceses and the handling of all allegations received since January 1975.

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ZIMBABWE
Zimbabwe Mail

THE trial of Harare pastor Martin Robert Gumbura, accused of raping seven women from his church, opened yesterday with the man of the cloth denying the charges and claiming that some of the victims were his lovers.

In his defence, the pastor who has 11 wives and 30 children, said he had consensual sex with five of the women including his sixth wife’s young sister.

Harare area public prosecutor Mr Jonathan Murombedzi and Mrs Kudzai Chigwedere, who represented the State in the case, applied to have all the witnesses testify in camera but regional magistrate Mr Hoseah Mujaya only granted the application in respect of three.

Outlining the defence case, Gumbura’s lawyers Ms Rekai Maposa and Mr Emmanuel Samundombe said Gumbura intended to marry the women and that the rape charges do not stick.

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

Sex abuse victims who went to a Catholic Church mediation with a lawyer would lose the right to pastoral support, an inquiry has been told.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse is looking at the church’s internal process for dealing with sex abuse victims.

It was told on Tuesday the approach in the late 1990s was a standard one and required an insured to make no admission of liability.

The commission is examining the experience of four abuse victims who went through the Church’s Towards Healing procedure, which was established in 1996.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

December 11, 2013

Catherine Armitage
Senior Writer

Catholic Church officials have admitted their treatment of a woman who was sexually abused at 14 by the chaplain of her Brisbane convent school lacked justice and compassion, the Royal Commission on Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse has heard.

The church’s Towards Healing process for responding to victims’ complaints amounted to ”re-abuse” of Joan Isaacs, admitted Mary Rogers, who facilitated Mrs Isaacs’ case for the Catholic archdiocese of Brisbane.

Mrs Isaacs, 60, turned to the church for an apology, counselling and compensation after her abuser, Frank Derriman, was convicted and jailed for eight months. Her Towards Healing meeting with church representatives took place in April 1999. After two years of fraught negotiations she was paid $30,000, most of it wiped out by costs. She had 10 sessions with a psychologist but had to repeatedly chase up the Brisbane archdiocese to pay her psychologist’s invoice.

The protracted negotiations ”had the effect of re-abusing Mrs Isaacs and it was certainly not a compassionate response”, admitted Ms Rogers, now director of the Catholic Church’s Queensland professional standards office. Mrs Isaacs wept quietly in the hearing room at these words, comforted by her husband, Ian. Ms Rogers agreed there was no ”justice” in Towards Healing in any legal sense. ”The word justice is difficult to fit into this protocol,” she said.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

JENNIFER SEXTON THE DAILY TELEGRAPH DECEMBER 11, 2013

THE Catholic Church ran its insurance company as a charity at law but treated sexual abuse claims in much the same way as any other insurance claim – make no admissions of liability and be wary of apologising.

The royal commission yesterday heard that lawyers and insurers were dictating the terms of mediations with the Catholic Church’s victims of sexual abuse.

The church’s insurance representative Laurie Rolls warned priests the victims would forfeit the right to pastoral care if they engaged a lawyer.

Mr Rolls told the commission in a statement that liability was at all times reduced.

Representing Catholic Church Insurances Limited, he said the sexual abuse claims were treated in much the same way as any other insurance claim, “to make no admission of liability”, be wary of apologies and use technical defences and limitations where ever possible.

Rev Dr Adrian Farrelly, Chancellor of the Catholic archdiocese of Brisbane, said that before saying sorry in writing to victim Joan Isaacs, he sent a draft letter to Mr Rolls. Letters show Mr Rolls ordered the removal of a crucial sentence: “I am sorry that you were not believed when you told other priests what had happened to you.”

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

DAN BOX THE AUSTRALIAN DECEMBER 11, 2013

THE Catholic Church’s insurance company instructed a bishop to delete an admission that church officials had been warned about a pedophile priest from a letter of apology sent to one of the man’s victims.

The company, Catholic Church Insurances, dominated the negotiation of abuse claims, the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse heard yesterday, instructing clerics to deny liability and dictating the amount of compensation and even counselling offered in response.

On one occasion, the commission heard, the company was consulted on a 1999 letter sent to the victim of a Brisbane priest who claimed to be terminally ill and saying she “needed to have sex with him before he died”.

His victim, Joan Isaacs, had attempted to warn church officials about her abuse but was ignored, the commission heard, allowing the priest to abuse other children.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
BBC News

Down and Connor

Allegations of abuse have been made against 42 priests in the diocese of Down and Connor in the past 38 years, an audit has revealed.

The review was carried out by the Catholic Church’s child protection watchdog, the National Board for Safeguarding Children.

It revealed that since 1975, 59 allegations had been made in the diocese.

Three priests have been convicted of offences against children.

The report went on to say that 14 allegations since the appointment of Bishop Noel Treanor five years ago had been properly managed.

In seven of these cases, there was insufficient evidence to proceed.

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

Tuesday, December 10, 2013

The Christian Brothers have said that “they deeply regret” the hurt caused by their response to abuse allegations which resulted in only 12 brothers being convicted of crimes in the past 38 years.

The Catholic Church’s child protection watchdog has published eight reviews of the practices and procedures in place to address sex abuse cases.

The audit, which covers the period between January 1975 and May 2013, examines six separate dioceses and two religious congregations.

The work was carried out by the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church.

The congregation in a statement said they accept that a “safeguarding deficit” existed in the past and they “deeply regret” the hurt that this causes.

Their statement said: “We want to learn from the mistakes of the past and to create a safe environment for all children and young adults. By developing robust child protection measures and inviting the National Board to independently assess these, we aim to continuously enhance child protection safeguards so that the mistakes of the past may never be repeated.

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IIRELAND
Irish Times

St Patrick’s Missionary Society ( Kiltegan Fathers)

Patsy McGarry

The Kiltegan fathers religious order has been heavily criticised in the latest reviews of child protection carried out by the Catholic Church.

The Church’s National Board for Safeguarding Children (NBSC) said “abuse that has been identified outside the Irish region has not in every case given rise to an appropriate and robust response.”
The reviews which also include six Catholic diocese and the Christian Brothers this morning, have been generally positive where the diocese are concerned.

The reviews which also include six Catholic diocese and the Christian Brothers this morning, have been generally positive where the diocese are concerned.

However the NBSC reviews has been very critical of past handling of allegations by the St Patrick’s Missionary Society based at Kiltegan, Co Wicklow and of the Christian Brothers.

It has also disclosed that 325 Christian Brothers faced a total of 870 child abuse allegations most of which related to the 1950s, 60s, 70s period. All had been reported to the gardaí and health authorities with 12 Brothers convicted in the courts. The NBSC reviewers found that the Christian Brothers’ initial response to reporting allegations to the statutory agencies “was not systematic and was inadequate.”

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IRELAND
BBC News

Child abuse allegations were made against 325 members of one religious order on the island of Ireland since 1975, but only 12 were convicted.

The Christian Brothers is a Catholic order set up to provide education and to help the poor. It ran more than 100 schools across the island of Ireland.

A Catholic Church child protection watchdog has published an audit of the order’s handling of abuse allegations.

Fifty of those accused are still alive and are current members of the order.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Journal

Down and Connor

THE LARGEST DIOCESE ever to be audited by the Catholic Church’s child safety watchdog has properly managed all of the incidents of child welfare concerns that have come to it in recent years.

That is the finding of the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church, the body responsible for overseeing the welfare of children in the Church.

Down and Connor, which is the second largest diocese in the country, was found to have dealt with cases involving 14 living priests under the current bishop, Noel Treanor.

In all of those cases, the board found that Treanor had “properly managed” the allegations. Seven were investigated by the PSNI, but found not to have enough evidence to warrant a prosecution.

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IRELAND
Newstalk

Christian Brothers

The child protection watchdog of the Catholic Church has published eight reviews of the practices and procedures in place to address sex abuse cases. The audit covers the period between January 1975 and May 2013.

It examines six separate dioceses and two religious congregations.

The work was carried out by the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church (NBSCCC).

This latest tranche of reports from the Catholic Church child protection watchdog shows that during a period of almost three decades 870 allegations of child sex abuse were made against 325 members of the Christian Brothers order.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Ulster Herald

Armagh

A report into how the Armagh Archdiocese handled allegations of child sex abuse has revealed that 36 allegations have been made against priests since 1975.

The National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church’s audit into child protection in the Archdiocese found that the allegations concerned 16 priests, nine of whom are still alive.

Four are still ‘in ministry’. Just one priest has been convicted since January 1 1975. Seven priests have since died.

The reports refer to alleged abuse perpetrated between 1950 and 2000. The audit was carried out over three days in August this year. The publication of the report has this morning (Tuesday) prompted an apology from Cardinal Seán Brady, Archbishop of Armagh.

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IRELAND
Journal

THE BOARD SET up to oversee the improvement of child safeguarding measures within the Catholic Church in Ireland has noted that it has no power in reviewing cases where Irish priest are accused of abusing children abroad.

The National Board of Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church of Ireland (NBSCCCI) said today that there was an “anomaly” in how safeguarding standards could be applied when a religious organisation is based in Ireland – but carries out its work outside the country.

The NBSCCCI was speaking in relation to the audit of St Patrick’s Missionary Society – also known as the Kiltegan Fathers. There have been 50 allegations made about 14 members of the Society since 1975 but three allegations were not reported in Ireland as they occurred in “other jurisdictions”.

The reviewers of the Society’s efforts were concerned that abuse allegations made outside Ireland “has not in every case given rise to an appropriate and robust response” from the Kiltegan Fathers HQ in Wicklow. In one case, several reports made in the mid to late 1960s of sexual activity between a Kiltegan Father and a number of young Goan boys in Kenya were not looked into until 1997, and the priest in questions remained part of the Kiltegan Fathers until 2002.

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IRELAND
Journal

Armagh

CARDINAL SEÁN BRADY has said he is “truly sorry” to abuse survivors following the publication of the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church’s review of practices in the Archdiocese of Armagh.

“The Review finds that this diocese is fully committed to safeguarding children and young people. Nevertheless, my first thoughts today are with those who were abused,” he said in a statement. ”

“I know that for you, survivors of abuse and your families, days such as today are especially difficult. You have suffered terribly and I am truly sorry. I pray for you and will work to ensure that you are supported on your journey towards healing and peace.”

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IRELAND
Journal

Ossory

THERE HAVE BEEN allegations made against 14 priest since 1975 in the Diocese of Ossory.

It’s reported that most of these occurred under the tenure of Bishops Peter Birch and Laurence Forristal.
Bishop Séamus Freeman was appointed in 2007 and has dealt with allegations against two living priests since then.

Both those allegations were made in the past six years and the report says both ‘have been appropriately managed with timely notifications to the civil authorities.’

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IRELAND
Irish Times
.
Patsy McGarry

The latest and largest tranche of reviews by the Catholic Church’s child protection watchdog will be published later this morning.

The reports by the Church’s National Board for Safeguarding Children (NBSC) will cover eight Church institutions, including the archdioceses of Armagh and Cashel, as well as the dioceses of Down & Connor, Achonry, Kerry, and Ossory, as well as the Christian Brothers and the St Patrick’s Missionary Society, Kiltegan, Co Wicklow.

This fourth tranche of reports from the NBSC, which oversees child protection in the Catholic Church in Ireland will address both current practice in the institutions investigated as well as their handling of all allegations received since January 1st 1975.

Interest is likely to focus particularly on the Christian Brothers a congregation which incurred severe criticism from the Ryan Commission in its report, published in May 2009.

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IRELAND
RTE News

An audit by the Catholic Church’s child protection watchdog has found only 12 Christian Brothers were convicted of crimes between 1975 and today.

A review of the congregation’s files found that its initial response to the need to report abuse to the authorities was not systematic and was inadequate.

It revealed allegations were made against 325 brothers – only 50 of whom are still alive – with 870 complaints of abuse in the 38-year period, all of which have been reported to authorities.

The audit, carried out by the church’s own watchdog the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church, is one of eight being released today.

The latest and largest group of reviews by the oversight body scrutinise both current practice in two religious orders and six dioceses and the handling of all allegations received since January 1975.

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

Christian Brothers

An audit of how the Christian Brothers dealt with abuse allegations has found only 12 brothers were convicted of crimes between 1975 and today.

A review of the congregation’s files found that its initial response to the need to report abuse to the authorities was not systematic and was inadequate.

It revealed allegations were made against 325 brothers – only 50 of whom are still alive – with 870 complaints of abuse in the 38-year period, all of which have been reported to authorities.

The audit, carried out by the church’s own watchdog the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church, is one of eight being released today.

The latest and largest tranche of reviews by the oversight body scrutinise both current practice in two religious orders and six dioceses and the handling of all allegations received since January 1975.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

Christian Brothers

10 DECEMBER 2013

THE audit on the Christian Brothers by the National Board for Safeguarding Children found allegations of abuse against a staggering 325 brothers relating to 870 incidences of abuse.

All of these incidences the NBSCCCI found had been reported to the gardai and HSE.

But the files read by the reviewers left them in no doubt that a great number of children were seriously abused by Brothers.

And according to the NBSCCCI the historical evidence makes it clear that a substantial safeguarding deficit existed within the Province prior to the early 1990s.

The years 1995 –2008 marked a period of acute and fundamental change for the Province evidenced by a dramatic rise in complaints, against deceased, former and living Brothers.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

BY PAUL MELIA – 10 DECEMBER 2013

Cardinal Seán Brady, Archbishop of Armagh, has said he is ‘truly sorry’ for the abuse suffered by children in the Catholic Church.

The Fourth Tranche of the Reviews of Safeguarding practice across the Catholic Church brings the total authorities reviewed to date to 27.

“In the majority of cases the progress that has been made has been heartening,” said Teresa Devlin, Acting CEO of the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church in Ireland (NBSCCCI).

“However, this was not universally the case and we have undertaken to work closely with those that have not met the required standards to ensure that children are properly safeguarded.”

She went on to outline how the completion of 27 audit reports meant that a significant portion of the work to be done had now been completed.

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CALIFORNIA
Manteca Bulletin

By Rose Albano-Risso
City Editor ralbanorisso@mantecabulletin.com 209-249-3536
POSTED December 10, 2013 .

Bishop Stephen E. Blaire of the six-county Catholic Diocese of Stockton announced over the weekend the diocese will likely file for bankruptcy saying there is “no viable option” other than re-organization.

That action may take place “after the first of the year.”

The announcement was made in a letter from the bishop that was distributed to all parishioners in the diocese during all Masses Sunday and during the anticipated Masses on Saturday.

Since his last letter to all the faithful a few months ago, the bishop stated that the diocese has looked into all possible and available alternatives to filing for bankruptcy.

“However, no viable option has emerged other than re-organizing financially under the protection of Bankruptcy Court. Moving in this direction will enable us to continue to meet our obligations to the victims of sexual abuse, to the poor and vulnerable, and to you our people,” the bishop stated in his letter.

A footnote in his letter clarified that the use of the term “the Diocese” refers to “The Roman Catholic Bishop of Stockton, a corporation sole.” That statement means the diocesan “parishes and organizations are not subjects of the possible bankruptcy filing,” he stated, but also added, “Still they need to be prepared in case they are challenged, as has happened in other dioceses.”

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AUSTRALIA
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Perth

To download a copy of Archbishop Costelloe’s FULL LETTER, please click here (Word 97 – 61KB).

Below is a shortened version of the Archbishop’s Letter containing the main points. This shortened version is also available to download. Please click here (Word 97 – 57KB).
____________________

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

In the coming weeks the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse will turn its attention specifically to the Catholic Church and particularly to the Church’s Towards Healing programme through which people can bring complaints of child sexual abuse to the Church.

Terrible stories of abuse of children and young people by Catholic priests, religious and other Church workers, will be revealed or, in some cases, revisited. This will be distressing primarily for the survivors of sexual abuse themselves and for those who love and care about them.

It is time for the Church to recognise in shame that so many people have suffered, and continue to suffer. We acknowledge that this terrible betrayal has at times been compounded by our leaders who failed to recognise the presence of this evil in our midst and respond promptly with decisiveness and courage.

As Archbishop, I would like to say that:

– I offer my sincere and unreserved apology to all those affected by this terrible abuse;
– I apologise to your families, loved ones and friends who have suffered with you and alongside you;
– I apologise to the wider community for our failure to live up to the high ideals to which we as Church aspire.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Lucy Martin

The Archbishop of Perth Timothy Costelloe has issued a public apology for the Catholic Church’s failure to recognise and prevent the sexual abuse of children.

In an open letter to 100 parishes and the wider community, Archbishop Costelloe says he is sorry the abuse happened and ashamed that some church leaders did not adequately respond to allegations.

“The key message of the letter is really to acknowledge the terrible suffering of people who have been victims of sexual abuse by clergy and other church workers,” he said.

“I really do feel ashamed of the actions of those who betrayed everything the church stands for.

“The words that I said are words that most Catholics would carry in their hearts I’m sure.”

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian (UK)

Helen Davidson
theguardian.com, Monday 9 December 2013

There have been no meetings between the Brisbane facilitator of the Catholic church’s Towards Healing process and her interstate counterparts to discuss or ensure consistency across states in the treatment of victims of sexual abuse, the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse has heard.

On the second day of the public hearing examining the Towards Healing program, the commission heard from Bernadette Rogers, a state facilitator in charge of meetings between abuse victims and the church. Rogers is currently director of the Queensland professional standards office and was a facilitator for Towards Healing from 1997 to 2003 and again from 2010.

The church established Towards Healing in 1996 in response to complaints of sexual abuse by members of the clergy. It has been criticised for its processes, which are allegedly heavily influenced by the church insurance company, and it has been accused of looking after the church’s interests over victims.

The questioning addressed the differences in Towards Healing after it was revised in 2009 as well as the specifics surrounding the facilitation meetings with abuse victim Joan Isaacs.

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AUSTRALIA
SBS

By David Liddle
Source NITV News

The Royal Commission will hold its final hearing for 2013 over the next two weeks, looking at the Catholic Church’s response to allegations of child sexual abuse within its institutions.

One Murri man, who identifies himself as ‘Paul’ from North Queensland, told NITV News about being adopted into a family where the father sexually abused him, inflicting injuries he still suffers today.

He bravely came forward to share his story with the Royal Commission, but says his voice was ignored.

“I told them what had happened, in more detail, and basically they said it’s not within their jurisdiction to investigate it. So, if they’ve got a Royal Commission into child sexual abuse, why isn’t it being investigated,” said Paul.

Paul says he was also ignored by the authorities in 2006.

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OKLAHOMA
Westmoreland Times

A man serving as a Jehovah’s Witness elder minister in Oklahoma was arrested on 19 counts of sexual abuse, according to authorities. Authorities said they had received numerous reports of other children being molested by Ronald Lawrence, 76 years of age, from more than 30 years ago.

It is believed, according to Lawrence’s arrest warrant, the Kingdom Hall church where Lawrence was an elder, chose not to inform law enforcement of the abuse. Authorities said that if the Jehovah’s Witness church withheld information from authorities that they too could face criminal charges.

There is evidence the Jehovah’s Witness organization was aware of a problem that took place back in 2005, yet he continued to serve as a clergyman for the sect.

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AUSTRALIA
Catholic Culture

The Australian government’s Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has begun its examination of Towards Healing, the Australian bishops’ response to child sexual abuse that was launched in 1996.

“The data indicate the following for the period 1 January 1996 to 30 September 2013: 2,215 complaints were received and about 1,700 people agreed to participate in the Towards Healing procedure, although not all of these were necessarily pursued or substantiated,” said attorney Gail Furness.

“76% of all Towards Healing complaints related to alleged incidents of child sexual abuse that occurred from 1950 to 1980 inclusive,” she continued. “Over 60% of all Towards Healing complaints detailed the incident location as a school, college or orphanage. The Church authority with the largest number of complaints was the Christian Brothers, followed by the Marist Brothers and then the De La Salle Brothers.”

43% of alleged abusers were religious brothers, 21% were diocesan priests, and 14% were religious priests.

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IRELAND
Journal

[Diocese of Achonry]

A REPORT INTO child safeguarding in the Catholic diocese of Achonry has found ’scant evidence’ that the diocese gave information about child sex abuse allegations to gardaí in the past.

The report by the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church, one of several published today, was strongly critical of the actions of Bishop Thomas Flynn, who presided over the diocese in Mayo and Sligo for more than 30 years until 2007.

The report found that of the 11 priests against whom allegations have been made in the diocese since 1975, none were ever convicted of an offence. In the majority of the cases, the abuse happened at least thirty years ago.

Nine of the priests are now dead. Of the two who are still alive, one is still in ministry but has retired, while the other has left either the diocese or the priesthood.

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MALTA
Malta Independent

Priest abuse victims see ‘small ray of hope’

Lawrence Grech, the spokesperson for a group of 11 sexual abuse victims involved in the high-profile St Joseph’s Home priest abuse case, sees “a small ray of hope” in Pope Francis’ recent agreement to establish a commission that will help abuse victims with their healing process.

Speaking yesterday to The Malta Independent on Sunday, Mr Grech, who is himself one of the 11 victims, reiterated how, despite the Maltese Church’s claims to the contrary, not a single member of the group of abuse victims he represents has been contacted to follow up on the Church’s offer of assistance to those who had fallen prey to paedophile priests.

In August 2011, Godwin Scerri, at the time 75 years of age, and Charles Pulis, 64, were sentenced to five and six years imprisonment for sexually abusing 11 of the boys in their care at the Santa Venera home over 20 years earlier. Both were defrocked after the sentence.

An ensuing civil court case, in which the victims are claiming damages, is scheduled to continue next week.

Speaking yesterday, Mr Grech was tentatively hopeful that the new commission appointed by the Pope earlier this week may eventually lead to the kind of help that his fellow sexual abuse victims are in need of, and which he says has been denied them despite the Church’s pledges.

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

[list of names – St. John’s Abbey]

Article by: JEAN HOPFENSPERGER and TONY KENNEDY , Star Tribune staff writers Updated: December 9, 2013

New release expands the lists of accused priests, but advocates say many names of abusive clergy remain secret.

The list of local Catholic clergy accused of sex abuse grew longer Monday, when St. John’s Abbey of Collegeville released the names of 18 monks and allegations against a priest working at the University of St. Thomas came to light.

Most of the monks named Monday by St. John’s Abbey also were on a list made public with the settlement of a lawsuit in 2011. That list is missing several credibly accused monks, say attorneys and victims advocates. It’s also missing the monks’ work history and current residences.

“This list reflects our best efforts to identify those who likely have offended against minors,” said Brother Aelred Senna, abbey spokesman. “That task often is complicated by the passage of time, the deaths of some of those involved and sometimes incomplete accounts of the past.”

The developments come days after the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis reversed its long and tenacious resistance to identifying credibly accused clergy and produced a list of 34 priests believed to have committed acts of abuse. The church agreed to a court order releasing the names after a recent wave of new clergy sex abuse allegations that have led to the abrupt departures of several top leaders in the local church. Pressure continues to mount on other Catholic dioceses in the state to make their own lists public.

Richard Sipe, a former St. John’s monk who chaired its Interfaith Sexual Trauma Institute from 1994 to 1996, said he’s disappointed that it took so long for St. John’s to make its list public. Most monks on the list had been identified by the abbey years ago, he said.

Many of the monks were in key positions of authority, Sipe said. The late Rev. Cosmas Dahlheimer was the “novice master,” and all the young monks were under his tutelage for a year, he said. The Rev. Finian McDonald served in the university’s counseling center, he said.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

DAN BOX THE AUSTRALIAN DECEMBER 10, 2013

THE Catholic Church’s insurance company instructed a senior cleric not to accept responsibility or discuss compensation when meeting a victim of child sex abuse committed by a priest.

The royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse has heard the insurer was also sent a draft of a letter sent to the victim and recommended an admission other priests knew of the abuse be taken out.

The chancellor of the Archdiocese of Brisbane, Adrian Farrelly, told today’s hearing that he received the advice from a representative of Catholic Church Insurance before meeting the victim, Joan Isaacs, in 1999.

He subsequently told the retired schoolteacher he was unable to offer her compensation and in his report of the meeting, tendered in evidence, said: “I did not offer an apology on behalf of the church but did express my sorrow at what had happened to her.”

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

Helen Davidson
theguardian.com, Tuesday 10 December 2013

The former chancellor of the Brisbane archdiocese says it is “difficult” for the church to take the blame for a priest who “fell short of the standards expected of him” when he sexually abused a 15-year-old girl.

The church sought to avoid condemning the convicted man on advice from lawyers and insurers, in case it was left open to liability claims, the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse heard on Tuesday.

On the second day of the public hearing into the Catholic Church’s Towards Healing program, it was also revealed that a development fund of $154m could have been used to pay victims of child abuse within the Brisbane archdiocese.

Brisbane priest Frank Derriman was convicted in 1998 of the sexual abuse of Joan Isaacs when she was 15 and 16. Isaacs sought redress through the Towards Healing process, which was set up in 1996 in response to claims of sexual assault by clergy.

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AUSTRALIA
Geelong Advertiser

BY ANNETTE BLACKWELL AAP DECEMBER 10, 2013

ALTHOUGH the Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane had income from an $154 million development fund, it was trying to avoid a payout to a woman still suffering from being abused as a child by a priest.

The revelation came on the second day of a royal commission hearing into how the church dealt with Joan Isaacs, abused by Father Frank Derriman at a Brisbane convent school in 1967 and 1968,

The former archdiocesan chancellor, the Very Rev Dr James Spence, who acted as a “conduit” between the archdiocese, lawyers and the church insurers during negotiations with the victim in the late 90s and early 2000s said he understood the fund was worth about $154 million in 2001.

Dr Spence, now retired, said he was not aware then if any money was specifically available for abuse matters other than from insurance.

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IRELAND
National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church

Archdiocese of Armagh
Archdiocese of Cashel and Emly
Diocese of Achonry
Diocese of Down and Connor
Diocese of Kerry
Diocese of Ossory
Christian Brothers
St Patrick’s Missionary Society ( Kiltegan Fathers)

Overview of the Safeguarding Practice from 4th Tranche of Reviews conducted in the Arch Dioceses of Armagh and Cashel and Emly; the Dioceses of Achonry; Down and Connor; Kerry and Ossory; St Patrick’s Missionary Society, Kiltegan and the Congregation of Christian Brothers.

December 2013
In May 2013, the fieldwork into the 4th tranche of safeguarding reviews began. Included in this tranche were 6 Dioceses and 1 Religious Congregation; included in this overview report are the findings of those reviews and those relating to St Patrick’s Missionary Society which was reviewed earlier in the year as part of the 3rd tranche. The fieldwork part of the reviews was conducted by reviewers employed by NBSCCCI and took place over a 2/3/4/5 day period between May 2013 and September 2013.

The purpose of the reviews is set out in the Terms of Reference which was agreed by the Bishops Conference, the Conference of Religious of Ireland and the Irish Missionary Union in June 2010.
As with all other reviews, the process was initiated through the signing of a data processing deed which allowed the exchange of information with the NBSCCCI and was overseen by a Reference group made up of Dr Helen Buckley, TCD; Paul Harrison, HSE and John Toner, independent consultant and chair of safeguarding trust boards in Northern Ireland.

Each Review report is an assessment of local policy and practice against the Church’s seven standards, followed by recommendations for improvements to practice as appropriate. The terms of reference are clear in stating that in terms of allegations that the concentration is on current risk, in other words the reviewers read files relating to living priests/brothers. The Reviews involved a time period from 1st January 1975 to the period of the Review.

Key Findings of the Reviews

The fourth tranche shows steady progress across all standards and especially in relation to reporting allegations to the civil authorities. Prior to 2008, when “Safeguarding Children”, Standards and Guidance for the Catholic Church in Ireland were endorsed as the Church standards, the practice of reporting all allegations to the civil authorities was sporadic. From the records it is clear that up to 2008 there were long delays in reporting allegations against living priests/brothers and that, allegations against deceased priests and brothers were not systematically reported. There has been significant improvement and it is now practice across all diocese and orders that all allegations are promptly reported. As will be noted from the individual reports, the follow-up church inquiries were either slowly instituted or in many cases not instituted at all, leaving complainants and respondent priests/brothers in limbo in criminally non adjudicated cases.
The overall findings include:

* There were a large number of allegations and evidence in the files to support that there were significant numbers of children abused by priests and Religious. It is important that everyone recognises the extent of the abuse of children. In total there were 1140 allegations made. (this does not constitute 1140 victims – as there may have been multiple allegations from 1 person; in addition these figures are not confirmed figures of abuse)
* In one example, unacceptable in terms on a complete failure to act appropriately to allegations, – men remained in ministry and children were placed at risk; and non-adherence to any policies was evident until relatively recently
* Response to victims is still inconsistent and often not addressed at all
* Delays in reporting up until 2008, now prompt reporting, particularly good reporting in Dioceses and in some instances for a number of years dating back to early 1990s before any Church guidance
* Canon law processes are not well understood, so there is drift in cases which were not criminally adjudicated on.
* Concerns about lack of State follow through on non-adjudicated men.
* Best examples of overall good safeguarding practice and management of allegations are where the Bishop/Provincial personally gets involved alongside the lay designated person.

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IRELAND
National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church

Progress Good But Not Consistent

10th December 2013

The Fourth Tranche of the Reviews of Safeguarding practice across the Catholic Church was released today by the seven Church authorities involved. They were the Dioceses of Achonry, Kerry, Ossory and Down & Connnor, the Archdioceses of Armagh and Cashel & Emly as well as the Christian Brothers and the St Patrick’s Missionary Society. This brings the total of Church authorities reviewed to date by this process to 27.

“In the majority of cases the progress that has been made has been heartening,” said Teresa Devlin, Acting CEO of the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church in Ireland (NBSCCCI). “However, this was not universally the case and we have undertaken to work closely with those that have not met the required standards to ensure that children are properly safeguarded.”

She went on to outline how the completion of 27 audit reports meant that a significant portion of the work to be done had now been completed.

“Our next tranche will see that last of the Dioceses being reviewed”, said Devlin. “And, we will also be dealing with the larger religious Congregations and Missionary Orders during 2014. Thereafter, many of those organisations still to be audited will be small in terms of membership and may have limited involvement with children – so we are expecting such audits to be quite rapid.”

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

CAROLINE CRAWFORD – 10 DECEMBER 2013

ALLEGATIONS of abuse were made against 13 priests since 1975 in the Archdiocese of Cashel and Emly, an audit of child protection practices has revealed.

It reveals that 19 separate allegations were made against priests in the area, all of these have been reported to gardai.

The abuse alleged was of both a physical and sexual nature.

The report found that seven priests against whom an allegation was made were still members of the Diocese at the time of the review. Allegations of sexual abuse were made against six of these men with an allegation of physical abuse against one.

Of the seven, only two were removed from ministry after Archbishop Dermot Clifford decided that based on evidence there was “a semblance of truth to the allegations in relation to these two priests”.

After investigations the five remaining priests remained in ministry.

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AUSTRALIA
Eureka Street

Jane Anderson | 10 December 2013

Last week I went to the Royal Commission and had a private session, which means, in short, that I am a victim of sexual abuse. That history spanned nearly three decades. My encounters with one perpetrator prepared me for more harrowing experiences during adolescence, and later in a marriage that turned violent. Those crimes have shaped my life, and telling my tale that spans nearly 50 years was an experience for which I am thankful.

I commend the Royal Commission for the way in which it was conducted; with attentiveness, sensitivity and professionalism, and with an ongoing concern for the wellbeing of the interviewee.

During the process, it was mentioned that after the Commission had finished its work, there might be the possibility of making this process available to those who might subsequently want to recount stories of sexual abuse. I think that could be a valuable option, but it set me thinking about the whole process of dealing with this crime, the wounds, and the tragedy.

First I want to say that we are very well served by a judicial system in our democracy which takes seriously the sexual crimes against the most vulnerable. This independent body, which is separate from executive and legislative bodies in our society, is fundamental to protecting the rights of individuals. This system is not available in the Catholic Church, with these three bodies being collapsed into the role of bishop. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why the Church has had so much difficulty with dealing with this crime.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

Sex abuse victims who went to a Catholic Church mediation with a lawyer would lose the right to pastoral support, an inquiry has been told.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse is looking at the church’s internal process for dealing with sex abuse victims.

It was told on Tuesday the approach in the late 1990s was a standard one and required an insured to make no admission of liability.

The commission is examining the experience of four abuse victims who went through the Church’s Towards Healing procedure, which was established in 1996.

The process failed Joan Isaacs, who was abused by a priest when she was 14 and 15 while attending a convent school in Brisbane, the commission heard on Monday.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

December 10, 2013

Catherine Armitage
Senior Writer

Three decades after the chaplain of her Brisbane convent school sexually abused her, Joan Isaacs saw him on a beach with a young woman and child. She felt “really traumatised” to see that Father Francis Derriman was “still interested in young women”. She had “terrible thoughts” about the future of the child he was with. So she decided, at last, in 1996, to take action.

This was the man who stalked her in her teenage years. He stole her innocence, and her promise. He told her he was dying and she had to have sex with him first or he’d kill himself. He read Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita to her to “soften me up for sexual contact”. He called her to the presbytery to pack his underpants in his suitcase for hospital.

He “took me to isolated and unsafe places so he could molest me”, and stalked her when she tried to break away from him. He molested her “in my home, my bedroom, his car and the presbytery”, when she was 14 and 15. He molested her friends, too, and got one of them pregnant at 17.

In 1998 Derriman was convicted of indecently assaulting Mrs Isaacs. He served eight months of a one-year sentence. Then she turned to the church to which she’d stayed loyal, despite her awful experiences. She sought an apology, compensation and counselling through its Towards Healing process, set up for people just like her.

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

BY THOMAS ORITI – ABC
December 10, 2013

An inquiry into child sexual abuse within the Catholic Church has heard the people involved in a pastoral and redress scheme for victims received two days of training.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse is examining the Towards Healing process, established by the Church in 1996 to respond to complaints against its personnel.

The Church’s Director of Professional Standards in Queensland, Mary Bernadette Rogers, says she participated in a two-day course in 1997 before she started to liaise with victims.

She told the inquiry that was enough, given that staff already had experience in “dispute resolution”.

Ms Rogers was involved in the case of Joan Isaacs, who was abused by a priest when she was 14 years old.

The commissioner heard that in 1967, Father Francis Derriman told her he was going to die and said he needed to have sex with her.

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CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Sun-Times

BY FRANCINE KNOWLES Religion Reporter December 9, 2013

A network of survivors of priest sexual abuse is criticizing the Archdiocese of Chicago for its handling of an allegation of sexual misconduct by the pastor of a Lake View church.

Meanwhile a parishioner at a church where the priest had previously been pastor offered words of support for the priest.

The Archdiocese of Chicago said Sunday it was notified about an allegation that the Rev. Michael W. O’Connell engaged in sexual misconduct with a minor in the late 1990s while he was pastor at his previous parish, Our Lady of the Woods Parish in Orland Park, a church spokeswoman said. He served as pastor there from 1997 to 2012.

He is currently pastor of St. Alphonsus Parish, which includes St. Alphonsus Catholic Church and St. Alphonsus Academy & Center for the Arts, a pre-school and elementary school, on Chicago’s North Side.

The archdiocese contacted the Cook County state’s attorney’s office and the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services after receiving the single allegation, a church spokeswoman said. At the request of Cardinal Francis George, O’Connell agreed to step aside from day-to-day responsibilities and reside away from the parish while the archdiocese investigates, according to the archdiocese spokeswoman.

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CANADA
Huffington Post

By James Keller, The Canadian Press

VANCOUVER – A freelance journalist who wrote an article alleging former Vancouver Olympic CEO John Furlong verbally and physically abused British Columbia students in the 1960s and ’70s asked a judge Monday to force Furlong to put up $100,000 to prove he can pay legal costs if he loses.

The procedural application, which relied on a rarely used section of law that has only been used twice in more than a century, largely focused instead on what Robinson’s lawyer described as the “bitter” feud between the pair.

Laura Robinson wrote an article for the Georgia Straight newspaper published in September 2012, quoting several people who claimed to have been taught by Furlong in Burns Lake, B.C., and Prince George, B.C., in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The former students were quoted alleging Furlong verbally and physically abused them.

Furlong immediately denied any wrongdoing and subsequently sued Robinson and the newspaper for libel. He recently dropped the Georgia Straight as a defendant and has promised to “escalate” his legal action against the reporter.

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HAWAII
The Worthy Adversary

Posted by Joelle Casteix on December 9, 2013

For tomorrow’s event in Honolulu …
Fmr. Bishop and 3-time accused predator Joseph Ferrario
Fmr. Bishop and accused predator Joseph Ferrario
Fmr top Catholic official accused of abuse
Victim speaks publicly for the first time
He says he was 7 when ex-Honolulu bishop molested him
New lawsuit is one of more than two dozen filed since 2012

WHAT:
Holding signs and childhood photos at a news conference, a third alleged child sexual abuse victim of a now-deceased Honolulu Catholic bishop will speak publicly about his abuse for the first time. He’ll discuss why he’s filing a civil abuse and cover up lawsuit, and
–how he tried to warn neighbors and reach out to other survivors,
–how church officials flew to his home and tried to silence him, and
–how he hopes to encourage other survivors to reach out, and get help.

WHEN:
Tuesday, December 10, 2013 at 11 am

WHERE:
7 Waterfront Plaza, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Suite 400 in Honolulu

WHO:
The alleged victim and another abuse victim who is a leader of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPNetwork.org), the nation’s largest support group for men and women sexually abused as children in religious and institutional settings.

WHY:
A third alleged victim of former Honolulu Bishop Joseph Ferrario is filing a lawsuit and coming forward publicly saying that the cleric sexually abused him.

The man, who now lives in Las Vegas, was a seven-year-old student at Kailua’s St. Anthony’s grade school in 1975 when, he says, then-Fr. Ferrario began to groom and sexually molest him during and after school hours. Ferrario allegedly assaulted the boy in rooms on church property for roughly three years.

The alleged victim is the third man to come forward and file a lawsuit accusing Ferrario of abuse. In 2012, former St. Anthony’s parishioner Mark Pinkosh came forward and accused Ferrario and Kailua priest Joseph Henry. Ferrario was first sued for child sex crimes in 1993 by a now-deceased Honolulu man David Figueroa.

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VATICAN CITY
Chicago Tribune

Philip Pullella
Reuters
1:34 p.m. CST, December 9, 2013

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – A European committee evaluating the Vatican’s financial reforms said the Holy See had made significant progress but needed more internal controls over its bank and another key financial office, sources familiar with the report said on Monday.

The plenary of Moneyval, a monitoring committee of the Council of Europe, adopted a progress report on the Vatican following a July, 2012 initial evaluation that made recommendations on how the Holy See could clean up its murky finances. Moneyval will issue its report on Thursday.

It is expected to add impetus to Pope Francis’s efforts after decades of scandal, particularly surrounding its bank.

According to two sources familiar with it, the Moneyval report says the Vatican has made much progress in the past 17 months in areas such as legislation to combat money laundering, tax evasion and the financing of terrorism.

“This is a very positive document,” one person familiar with the report said. Another expressed “massive satisfaction”.

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IRELAND
RTE News

The Catholic Church’s Irish child protection watchdog is to publish reports tomorrow morning on eight church entities.

They will include an audit of the response by Christian Brothers over the past 38 years to allegations of child sexual abuse in day schools.

Also included is a review of the diocese Down and Connor, the largest diocese the watchdog has audited to date.

It is the fourth tranche of audit reports from the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church.

Drawing on records in church files, they will examine the response to allegations since 1975.

It will also report on current arrangements for safeguarding children.

At the top of the list of the eight entities are the Christian Brothers’ day schools.

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

MISSOURI
The Kansas City Star

December 9
BY JUDY L. THOMAS
The Kansas City Star

A former altar boy whose case prompted a wrongful-death lawsuit against the Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocese that resulted in a $2.25 million settlement is suing a national Catholic organization, alleging defamation and invasion of privacy.

Jon David Couzens filed the lawsuit against the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights; its president and CEO, Bill Donohue; the KC Catholic League; and two Kansas City men who were officers of the now-dissolved local organization.

The lawsuit, filed Friday in Jackson County Circuit Court, alleges that Donohue published false statements about Couzens in news releases, on the Catholic League’s website and in documents distributed to churches. In those statements, Donohue said that Couzens had been involved in a botched drug deal and implicated in a murder.

“It’s a very sad thing that William Donohue and the Catholic League are attacking those who the priesthood has already abused,” Couzens said in a statement. “I now understand why other victims don’t come forward. The things said about me are so cruel and offensive they cut to the core of my being.

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MICHIGAN
Fox 17

WAYLAND, Mich.– According to a news release from the Michigan State Police Troopers recently arrested 32-year-old Nathan Lavoie of Middleville in connection with an investigation into Child Sexually Abusive Activity, 2nd Degree Criminal Sexual Conduct and Accosting a Minor.

On December 5 troopers arrested Lavoie following an investigation into the alleged criminal activity, which reportedly occurred between 2011-2013. The allegations include multiple criminal sexual acts perpetrated against a female victim beginning when she was 15 years old.

Lavoie was employed by St. Therese Church in Wayland as the choir director.

The investigation remains open in an attempt to identify and interview other potential juvenile victims.

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MICHIGAN
WOOD

[with video]

WAYLAND, Mich. (WOOD) – An Allegan County parish choir director is facing criminal sexual conduct charges in a case involving a teenage girl.

Nathan Lavoie, 32, who worked as the choir director at St. Therese Lisieux Parish in Wayland, is facing charges of second-degree criminal sexual conduct, child sexually abusive activity and accosting a minor.

Lavoie, who resides in Middleville, was arrested Dec. 5 after Michigan State Police investigated reports of criminal activity that allegedly took place between 2011 and 2013.

Police said the girl, who is connected to the church and was 15 years old when the alleged activity began, was reportedly the victim of multiple criminal sexual acts.

Lavoie has been on administrative leave from St. Therese Church since

The accusations first surfaced in March. A parent reported his suspicions regarding Lavoie’s behavior to the church priest. The priest then called Children’s Protective Services, who brought in MSP, and placed Lavoie on administrative leave.

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MICHIGAN
WZZM

Bob Brenzing

WAYLAND, Mich. (WZZM) – A choir director has been arrested on charges of criminal sexual conduct with a minor.

Nathan Lavoie, 32, of Middleville was arrested December 5 on charges of Child Sexually Abusive Activity, 2nd Degree Criminal Sexual Conduct and Accosting a Minor. He was arraigned in Allegan County’s 57th District Court and faces up to 20 years in prison, if convicted.

Michigan State Police say the alleged crimes happened between 2011 and 2013. Police say the female victim was 15 years old when it began, and Lavoie was the choir director at St. Therese Church in Wayland.

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MICHIGAN
WHTC

UNDATED (WHTC) — A Middleville man who worked as a parish choir director faces criminal sexual conduct charges involving a teenage girl. The man, 32-year-old Nathan Lavoie, worked as the choir director at St Therese Lisieux Parish in Wayland. Mlive reports that Lavoie was arrested on December 5th in connection with the charges, alleging that the sexual abuse went on between 2011 and 2013. Michigan State Police are investigating to find out if there are more victims. Lavoie could face up to 20 years in prison and 100-thousand dollars in fines.

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MICHIGAN
WWMT

[with video]

Updated: Monday, December 9 2013, 07:05 PM EST WAYLAND, Mich. (NEWSCHANNEL 3) – The music director at a West Michigan church is now facing multiple sex charges.

32-year-old Nathan Lavoie, an employee with St. Therese’s parish in Wayland was charged late last week with four felonies, including criminal sexual conduct.

Michigan State Police say Lavoie is accused of having a sexual relationship with a 15 year old between 2011 and 2013.

State Police say they are concerned that there may be more victims out there, they’re hoping now that Lavoie has been charged, others will come forward.

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MICHIGAN
MLive

By Andrew Krietz | akrietz@mlive.com
on December 09, 2013

Update: A statement from the Catholic Dioceses of Kalamazoo has been included in this story.

WAYLAND, MI — A man employed as a church choir director was arrested Thursday, Dec. 5, in connection with sexually abusing a teenager during a span of about three years.

Nathan Lavoie, 32, of Middleville, faces several sexual abuse charges, including criminal sexual conduct in the second degree and accosting a minor, according to the Michigan State Police.

He was employed by St. Therese Lisieux Parish in Wayland, police said.

Authorities allege Lavoie committed multiple sexual acts against a teenage female beginning when she was 15 years old from 2011 to 2013.

Police continue to investigate the allegations and are working to identify and interview other potential victims, they say.

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CHICAGO (IL)
WLS

[with video]

Chuck Goudie

December 9, 2013 (CHICAGO) (WLS) — The latest child sex abuse allegation to befall the Roman Catholic Church in Chicago involves the pastor of one of the city’s oldest parishes.

The pastor of St. Alphonsus Catholic Church is being allowed to remove himself from that job after being accused of molesting a child at a previous parish nearly two decades ago. Father Michael O’Connor is voluntarily stepping aside.

And the unusual consideration from church officials that he be allowed a temporary hiatus is angering victims’ rights advocates.

Outside Chicago Archdiocese headquarters, the president of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests says that O’Connell’s victim is now an adult. The alleged victim has told authorities that he was molested at Our Lady of the Woods parish in south suburban Orland Park.

“He’s claiming that the priest abused him on more than one occasion,” said Barbara Blaine, SNAP president. “That he was a student in the equivalent of Sunday school… that the priest called him out of class and that’s when the abuse occurred.”

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

David Marr
theguardian.com, Monday 9 December 2013

It was the gallery’s day. At one end of an immensely expensive room in the Sydney legal district was a squad of lawyers briefed months ago for the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

But in the gallery at the other end sat victims and the parents and friends of victims who have been on the case for nearly 20 years. For some it has become their life’s work. And they came from all points on Monday to see what they had managed at last: to put the Catholic Church in the dock.

They made their presence felt. They groaned. They protested. A handful walked out when Peter Gray SC, counsel for the church’s Truth, Justice and Healing Council, began by quoting the “ageless words” of St Mark: “Let the little children come to me.”

Gray laid on the apologies not with a trowel but a front-end loader. He called abuse by clergy and its concealment by the church unbearable, disgraceful, heartbreaking, shattering and devastating. He declared the royal commission, “a watershed in church history and indeed in Australian history”.

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UNITED STATES
The New York Times

By THE EDITORIAL BOARD
Published: December 6, 2013

After decades of Vatican indifference and evasion, Pope Francis has ordered the creation of a commission to study the rape and intimidation of schoolchildren by priests and to recommend measures for effective reform. The new commission, long overdue, will be composed of international experts, both lay and religious, reflecting the global scope of the scandal. Its task is to propose concrete recommendations for firmer safeguarding of schoolchildren and better training of Roman Catholic priests.

The hallmark of the new pope has been a refreshing resolve to shake up Vatican intransigence, but Francis has a way to go to reassure Catholics, particularly parents, that a firmer hand will in fact produce credible reform. His new initiative, for instance, offers no guarantee that he will deal with a major dynamic in the scandal by ordering greater accountability from diocesan prelates, many of whom ran systematic cover-ups of the criminal abuse of children. Catholics, including the non-offending majority of clergy members, are entitled to clear progress on this.

Francis’s call for the commission came just days after Vatican officials rebuffed a request from the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child for details on how the church handled the scandal. The officials said the problem was primarily the responsibility of individual bishops and of local criminal justice authorities.

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Collegeville (MN)
Saint John’s Abbey

Official Statement of December 9, 2013

Saint John’s Abbey voluntarily is releasing the names of current and former monks who likely have offended against minors. Most of the names previously have been made public. The list includes 18 names: nine monks who are living at Saint John’s Abbey under supervised safety plans, seven monks who are deceased and two men who have been dispensed from their religious vows and no longer are connected to the Abbey.

The claims against each of those named were reviewed either by the Abbey’s External Review Board or by the Abbot himself. In each case, it was determined that there was sufficient evidence to include the person on the list. In some cases, however, all the facts could not be completely substantiated. Claims against some of those named on the list, for example, were not brought to the Abbey’s attention for decades after the accused monk’s death. It is in several of these cases where the Abbot made the determination to include the name of the monk on the list despite the lack of corroborating evidence.

The External Review Board was created in 2003. The seven-member panel includes those who have expertise in the treatment of sexual abuse of minors, judges, attorneys and current and former members of law enforcement. In addition, the Board consistently has included a survivor of sexual abuse. The Board is charged with evaluating allegations of sexual abuse against members of the Abbey and making recommendations for action to the Abbot, as well as conducting annual reviews of individual monks’ safety plans.

“This list reflects our best efforts to identify those who likely have offended against minors,” said Brother Aelred Senna, OSB, spokesperson for the Abbey. “That task often is complicated by the passage of time, the deaths of some of those involved and sometimes incomplete accounts of the past. Even so, we are including all 18 names to provide as complete of a list as we can to acknowledge the pain suffered by victims. This list underscores our commitment to being transparent in our policies and procedures for dealing with allegations of abuse.

“Our commitment is reflected in the policies and procedures implemented over the past decade, particularly the External Review Board. This Board gives victims the assurance that allegations of abuse against minors will be investigated objectively, sensitively and thoroughly,” said Brother Aelred.

Bik, Michael
Eckroth, Richard
Gillespie, Thomas
Maiers, Brennan
McDonald, Finian
Moorse, Dunstan
Phillips, James
Schulte, Francisco
Tarlton, Allen
Bennett, Andre†
Blumeyer, Robert†
Dahlheimer, Cosmas†
Hoefgen, Francis*
Hohmann, Othmar†
Keller, Dominic†
Kelly, John*
Wendt, Pirmin†
Wollmering, Bruce†

† = deceased
* = no longer a monk of Saint John’s

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MINNESOTA
KARE

COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. – Days after the Archdiocese of St. Paul/Minneapolis released a list of nearly three dozen priests who likely committed sexual offenses against children, St. John’s Abbey is sharing its own list of likely predators.

On Monday Saint John’s Abbey voluntarily released a list of 18 names: Nine are monks who are living at Saint John’s Abbey under supervised safety plans, seven monks who are deceased and two men who have been released from their religious vows and no longer are connected to the Abbey.

“This list reflects our best efforts to identify those who likely have offended against minors,” said Brother Aelred Senna, OSB, spokesperson for the Abbey. “That task often is complicated by the passage of time, the deaths of some of those involved and sometimes incomplete accounts of the past. Even so, we are including all 18 names to provide as complete of a list as we can to acknowledge the pain suffered by victims.”

The claims against each of the 18 were reviewed either by the Abbey’s External Review Board or by the Abbot himself. In each case, it was determined that there was sufficient evidence to include the person on the list.

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MINNESOTA
Patch

Posted by Mike Schoemer (Editor) , December 09, 2013

Brother John Kelly, who Patch attempted to speak with in 2011 regarding inappropriate contact with minors, was listed today as one of 18 monks “credibly accused” of sexual misconduct, according to the Order of St. Benedict at St. John’s Abbey and multiple news sources today. Kelly, now of St. Michael, is one of 17 monks accused in a lawsuit of sexual misconduct while he resided at the abbey, back in 2011.

Abbot John Klassen, Order of St. Benedict, has also named Kelly in his list of offenders who worked with students at St. John’s Prepatory School and St. John’s University.

Kelly and fellow monk and St. Michael native Cosmas Dahlheimer were both on today’s list, as well as:

Michael Bik, Andre Bennett (deceased), Robert Blumeyer (deceased), Richard Eckroth, Thomas Gillespie, Francis Hoefgen (no longer a monk at the abbey).

Othmar Hohmann (deceased), Dominic Keller (deceased), Brennan Maiers, Finian McDonald, Dunstan Moorse, James Phillips, Francisco Schulte, Allen Tarlton, Pirmin Wendt (deceased), and Bruce Wollmering (deceased).

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AUSTRALIA
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

Live stream.

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CHICAGO (IL)
Catholic New World – Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago

The Archdiocese of Chicago confirms that over the last two years, it has reached settlements with several victims of sexual abuse. For the most part, the cases discussed today are decades old and it is important to note that no priest with even one credible allegation of abuse is in active ministry. Five of the 11 priests discussed today are deceased.

Francis Cardinal George, OMI, archbishop of Chicago, stated, “For many years, despite the sins and crimes of some clergy, the Archdiocese of Chicago has tried to be an instrument of God’s mercy for those who have been sexually abused. This is the vision of the church that Pope Francis had recently brought to the fore.” No money from parish collections, parish savings or the “To Teach Who Christ Is” campaign, is being used to fund these settlements.

It has long been the practice of the archdiocese to reach out to victims regardless of when the abuse occurred and attempt to resolve their claims without the stress of an extended legal process. We remain committed to resolving sexual abuse cases in a way that results in a prompt and fair settlement for the victims and their families.

The names of priests who were credibly accused of abuse have been on the archdiocese’s website for years. We have cooperated with attorneys representing victims to release documents in January on 30 priests and are working to update our website with more complete information on approximately 30 others. The release of this information requires a careful process to ensure the privacy of victims and other innocent individuals. It is our hope that this and other actions will encourage victims of abuse to come forward to receive help and healing.

The Archdiocese of Chicago is concerned first and foremost with the healing of abuse victims and has maintained a victim-assistance ministry for more than 25 years. In addition, the archdiocesan Office for the Protection of Children and Youth, charged with the prevention of abuse, has trained and processed background checks on more than 160,000 priests, deacons, religious, lay employees and volunteers; conducted more than 3,000 training sessions; and trained more than 200,000 children to protect themselves from sexual predators.

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NEVADA
Las Vegas Review-Journal

By STEVEN SLIVKA
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL

A former Las Vegas priest who faced sexual assault charges in Missouri during the 1980s died Nov. 27 of at the age of 71.

In 2011, the Rev. Bede Parry resigned as organist and choir director at All Saints’ Episcopal Church in Las Vegas after a former choir boy filed a lawsuit in Missouri alleging the Roman Catholic monastery, Conception Abbey, kept secret the boy’s 1987 sexual assault by Parry, then a Catholic priest who directed the choir.

Parry had served at All Saints’ Episcopal Church since 2000. He resigned when his name surfaced in the lawsuit. Parry said he also asked the diocese to relieve him of his priest duties.

“I feel terrible for anybody that I’ve hurt,” he said after his resignation. “I feel terrible that my actions would cause a lawsuit to be filed against the abbey, and I feel terrible about letting down my friends and the diocese here.”

Parry did not deny the 1987 incident in Missouri and said the abbey sent him to New Mexico afterward for several months of treatment.

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AUSTRALIA
NEWS.com.au

SCHOOLTEACHER Joan Isaacs yesterday claimed a Catholic priest ran a cult-like group sexually abusing young girls and gave them the surname Brown, as in Charlie Brown from the Peanuts comic.

Her voice wavering, Ms Isaacs told the royal commission into institutionalised responses to child sex abuse in Sydney how one member of the Brown group had Father Frank Derriman’s baby while the priest told them that if they loved God, it was OK to have sex with him because he was God’s representative.

He lied that he was terminally ill and wanted to have sex before he died. During holy communion, he put his fingers in her mouth, she said.

“Frank Derriman used the Peanut comic as a platform and used the surname Brown in reference to himself, the other three children and me,’’ Mrs Isaacs, who was known as Junkie Brown, said.

“(He) created a cult-like group which included myself and three other children.”
She said that his actions would now be called grooming.

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