ABUSE TRACKER

PERU
La Republica

Impacto profundo. Para el ex presidente de la Conferencia Episcopal del Perú, monseñor Luis Bambarén, el Opus Dei se ha lavado las manos y se ha apartado del caso del expectorado sacerdote Gabino Miranda, no obstante que fue formado por ellos.

Doris Aguirre.

Por algo será.

Antes que el cardenal Juan Luis Cipriani se pronunciara sobre el caso del defenestrado ex obispo auxiliar de Ayacucho, Gabino Miranda Melgarejo, lo hizo la Oficina de Información del Opus Dei en el Perú, el 20 de septiembre. Aclaró que el sacerdote no era uno de sus miembros sino que formaba parte de la Sociedad Sacerdotal de la Santa Cruz, una organización que pertenece al Opus Dei. Era una forma elegante de apartarlo del círculo del Opus Dei.

Recién al día siguiente, el 21 de septiembre, desde Roma y por teléfono Cipriani demandó comprender y no condenar a Gabino Miranda y pidió que se le permita “el derecho a defenderse”, como si el ex sacerdote hubiera sido víctima de una injusticia. Demasiada agua tibia para un caso que remeció la fe de los católicos.

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WASHINGTON
Yakima Herald-Republic

By Jane Gargas / Yakima Herald-Republic
jgargas@yakimaherald.com

As he leaves Yakima behind, Robert Fontana, who headed the local chapter of Voice of the Faithful, remains at odds with the Catholic Diocese of Yakima over the naming of clergy accused of sexual abuse.

Fontana argues that the diocese should publish the names of all diocesan clergy on its website who have faced credible allegations of sexual abuse, where they served and when.

A spokesman for the diocese vociferously disagrees, saying that school districts and Scout organizations don’t publish names of the accused on their websites.

Listing names on diocesan websites is not unheard of, but it’s not common, either. Of the 195 dioceses in the United States, only 34 publish names of accused clerics on their websites. In Washington, just the Spokane Diocese does so. Yakima and Seattle do not.

According to the U.S. Conference of Bishops, a credible allegation is “one which has a semblance of truth to it following an initial examination of the facts and circumstances surrounding the allegation.”

While Fontana believes that victims would find it less intimidating to come forward if they thought that a clergy member may have abused others, Monsignor Robert Siler, diocese chief of staff, takes a different view.

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WASHINGTON
Yakima Herald-Republic

By Jane Gargas / Yakima Herald-Republic
jgargas@yakimaherald.com

Some will say, emphatically, “good riddance.”

Others will lament his leaving.

But all will acknowledge his imprint here.

Robert Fontana, who has been a leading advocate for major reforms in the Catholic Church, recently moved away from Yakima.

Fontana and his wife, Lori, are relocating to Seattle, where he will train as a marriage and family therapist at Seattle University, and she will substitute teach.

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NEW JERSEY
The Star-Ledger

By Mark Mueller/The Star-Ledger
on September 29, 2013

[statement from the diocese]

The text messages read as if they’ve been ripped from a pornographic novel.

Matthew Riedlinger quizzed his texting partner about sex videos, pressed for details about intimate liaisons, described sexual acts and encouraged mutual masturbation.

He also repeatedly asked to meet.

“Promise me you will never breath (sic) a word of this to anyone — ok?” he wrote.

Riedlinger had good reason for discretion.

He is a priest of the Diocese of Trenton, and while exchanging more than 1,200 text messages over four weeks last year, he thought was he talking to a 16-year-old boy.

Riedlinger, at the time an assistant pastor at St. Aloysius Church in Jackson and a sex-education teacher at the parish school, was the target of an elaborate sting by a Catholic University of America graduate who says the priest sexually harassed him for years.

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

The optimistic hopes of many Catholics about the upcoming meetings next week of Pope Francis and his eight man Cardinals’ reform committee are beginning to fade. Various new Vatican reports, leaks, etc., are playing down the meetings as very preliminary, only advisory and mostly secret. So what else is new?

Pope Francis has little time left to reform the Catholic Church. He cannot afford to procrastinate, in my considered view as an international lawyer. If he fails now , he also will likely be compelled to resign like his predecessor, ex-Pope Benedict, ignominousily had to. The Vatican’s “house of cards”, as Francis realistically described it, will then probably collapse. If that happens, Cardinal Rigali’s Secretary, Monsignor Lynn, may have some hierarchical company in prison before his sentence is completed. It’s that bad. Some hierarchs from outside Pennsylvania will likely find accomodations at their local jails.

Francis must promptly make the Church’s leaders accountable to the faithful, the Gospels and civil law, especially with respect to protecting defenseless children. He must initiate and enforce specific and effective policies to do this, before government prosecutors from Australia, Ireland, the Dominican Republic, the USA, Peru, Chile, Argentina, the Phillipines, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, or from dozens of other countries, do so for him.

Prosecutors dictated to Kansas City’s criminal, but continuing, Bishop Finn the specific policies he must follow, as nearby Federal prosecutors buried Finn’s protected pedophile priest with a 50 year prison term. Prosecutors eventually can be expected to dictate to other bishops and even to Francis himself, no matter what Francis may be advised otherwise. Government regulators are already dictating to Francis how he must manage the hierarchy’s finances. Government lawyers can, and I expect soon will, dictate to him how he must manage the hierarchy’s approach to predatory priests, if Francis fails to get effective control of the bishops’ flawed approach first. Priests may not be the pope’s “employees”; but bishops are another story.

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ARGENTINA
BishopAccountability.org

Summary

Grassi was a Salesian until 1991, when he became a priest of the Morón diocese. In 1993, he founded Fundacion Felices los Niños (the Happy Children Foundation), aimed at rescuing street children. According to a news article, the foundation cared for 6,300 children in 17 homes nationwide from 1993 to 2002.

On 11/29/2000, an anonymous complaint filed in the Juvenile Court of Morón accused Grassi of corrupting minors. The case lay dormant until 10/23/2002, when Telenoche Investiga,an investigative news show on Argentina’s Channel 13, aired a program alleging Grassi’s sexual abuse of five boys, ages 11 to 17. It included an interview with a young man, his face obscured, who said that Grassi performed oral sex on him in 1998, when he was 15. Within days, Grassi was arrested and charged with 17 counts of abuse of three boys, who were 9, 13, and 17 when the alleged incidents occurred. Grassi denied all the allegations.

In November 2002, the executive committee of the Argentine bishops’ conference issued a statement denouncing a “campaign” intended to “blur the image” of the Catholic Church and “cause society to lose its trust” in the institution. It warned against making “condemning judgments about individuals or institutions before a fair trial.” Although the statement did not refer to a specific attack, some news analysts interpreted it as the bishops’ response to public uproar about Grassi and the recently arrested Archbishop Storni. The Executive Committee was headed by Archbishop Karlic of Parana and his first and second vice-presidents, Monsignor Miras of Rosario and Cardinal Bergoglio of Buenos Aires.

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CALIFORNIA
Ms. Magazine

September 27, 2013 by Melissa McGlensey

California Senate Bill 131, otherwise known as the The Child Victims Act, was passed by the state Legislature earlier this year–but it’s still sitting on Gov. Jerry Brown’s desk. He has until October 13 to sign the bill, veto it or let it pass into law without signing.

The governor, a former Jesuit seminarian, is under pressure to veto the bill from Catholic dioceses and other Church officials, as well as from organizations such as the Boy Scouts of America and USA Swimming–all entities that could face lawsuits if the bill is passed into law.

The Child Victims Act would expand the statute of limitations for victims of sexual abuse to seek monetary damages in civil courts. If the bill becomes law, victims would be able to sue institutions that failed to adequately protect them from sexual predators.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Bedfordshire on Sunday

Catholic Church faces more claims of abuse at former home which was visited by Jimmy Savile

Written by STEVE LOWE

ANOTHER former boy of a Catholic boys home has spoken of the abuse he suffered.

He, who we have agreed not to name for legal reasons, was a resident of St Francis Boys Home, Shefford, in the 1960s. He states that former priest Father Hammond groomed boys for sexual purposes.

He also remembers the brutality of Father Ryan (pictured) who was twice arrested by Bedfordshire Police but never charged. The police are still looking for the paperwork of those arrests, as it has gone missing.

He also states that the boys were sexually abused by the nuns and that one nun, Mother Xavier, punished boys by making them put their hands in scalding water.

And yet another former boy remembers Jimmy Savile visiting the home in the 1960s.

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UNITED STATES
Catholics4Change

SEPTEMBER 28, 2013 BY SUSAN MATTHEWS

Billy Graham’s grandson has declared “evangelicals” worse than Catholics on child sex abuse. See article here. Whether or not that’s true is irrelevant. What does matter is protecting children from predators in general and specifically those who hide behind God. The latter steal a victim’s spirituality along with their childhood. The term “soul murder” is very appropriate.

The Catholic Church, whether better or worse than others, has a responsibility to be a leader in the solution. Yet, I suspect the Catholic Church outspends other faiths in blocking legislation that would protect all children – regardless of faith.

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POLSKA
Gazeta Wyborcza

[Summary: Bishops said they want to tackle the issue of pedophilia. The comment was made as a response from bishops regarding allegations of child sexual abuse made against Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski and priest Wojciech Gil in the Dominican Republic. The meeting was a precedent since reporters have found it difficult to get comments from the Polish church.]

Katarzyna Wiśniewska 28.09.2013

“Chcemy przeciwdziałać zjawisku pedofilii” – to odzew ze strony Episkopatu na głośny od tygodnia skandal w Kościele z udziałem polskich duchownych na Dominikanie. Abp Józef Wesołowski, były nuncjusz papieski, i ks. Wojciech Gil z zakonu michalitów są podejrzewani o molestowanie seksualne nieletnich chłopców.

Biskupi zareagowali na to konferencją prasową, na której szczegółowo mówili o tym, jak Kościół zamierza radzić sobie z podobnymi problemami. Takie spotkanie to precedens. Zwykle dziennikarzom trudno było doprosić się o komentarz, gdy ujawniano kolejne przypadki molestowania w polskim Kościele. Dobrze, że Kościół poczuwa się do odpowiedzialności za czyny swoich księży. Bo nie mniejszym problemem niż samo molestowanie było przez lata ukrywanie przestępczych czynów przez kościelnych przełożonych. Proboszcza z Tylawy, który przez 30 lat wykorzystywał dziewczynki, bronił abp Michalik. Kilka lat temu “Gazeta” opisała historię mężczyzn, którzy twierdzili, że kilkanaście lat wcześniej byli przez ks. Andrzeja ze Szczecina wykorzystywani seksualnie. O sprawie wiedziało kilku biskupów i nic z tym nie zrobili.

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PORTUGAL
Porta da Estrela

[Summary: The former vice rector at the Fundao seminary is facing 19 charges of sexual abuse of minors and the court has begun deliberations in private. The decision to close the trial to the public, including journalists, is because the abuse involved minors. According to the indictment the president abused six children between ages 13 and 15. Five of the students were boarding at the seminary where the alleged crimes were committed.]

Padre foi ordenado na Igreja Nova em São RomãoO Tribunal do Fundão começou a julgar à porta fechada o padre de 37 anos, ex-vice reitor do Seminário do Fundão, que está acusado de 19 crimes de abuso sexual de menores.

A decisão de fechar o julgamento ao público, incluindo jornalistas, prende-se com o facto de o processo ter vítimas sexuais menores e já era esperada, pelo que no local havia poucas pessoas com intenção de assistir.

De acordo com a acusação, o padre terá abusado de seis crianças entre os 13 e os 15 anos, cinco das quais alunos em regime de internato no Seminário do Fundão, local aonde alegadamente os crimes foram cometidos.

A acusação refere que Luís Mendes terá agido sempre com menores que considerava «mais fracos emocional ou familiarmente e sobre quem tinha forte ascendente».

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IRELAND
98 FM

A research project focusing on the events in Magdalene Laundries is being launched today.

Transcripts and archival material relating to the Laundries, will be made available through UCD archives.

Around 5,000 pages of documents are contained in the research.

Over 11 hundred women are thought to have suffered in the Laundries over the decades.

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

A research project focussing on the events in Magdalene Laundries is being launched today.

Titled Magdalene Institutions: Recording an Oral and Archival History, the project was funded by the Irish Research Council and conducted at UCD Women’s Studies Centre.

Transcripts and archival material relating to the Laundries will be made available through UCD archives.

Around 5,000 pages of documents are contained in the research.

“The overall objective of this project is to contribute towards a better understanding of the system of Magdalene Institutions that existed in Ireland through the gathering of archival material and oral history accounts from survivors who worked and lived in the Magdalene Laundries, as well as relatives, members of the Religious Orders, key informants (such as paid hands and GPs), and anyone else who has a story to tell that relates to these institutions,” according to project coordinator Dr Katherine O’Donnell.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Tablet

25 September 2013

An international group of Catholic reformers has written to the Pope pressing for a decision-making voice for laity in the Church.

In their open letter the group, which represents 100 church organisations, backed by over four million Catholics worldwide, seek an audience with the Pope to discuss church governance. Supporters of the letter include several British groups including Catholics for a Changing Church, Catholic Women’s Ordination, We Are Church UK and Quest.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

Michael Sean Winters | Sep. 27, 2013 Distinctly Catholic

The cardinals who comprise the special commission to advise the Pope, the G-8, begin arriving in Rome today for preparatory meetings. Next Tuesday, they begin meeting with Pope Francis for three days of discussions, followed by a visit to Assisi. There has been a great deal of analysis about what we should expect, much of it very good, much of it published here at NCR. I believe the most important reform to come from the G-8 meeting will be simple and far-reaching: They are going to re-arrange the furniture.

My colleague Fr. Tom Reese, S.J., has already noted that in addition to the relatively simple managerial reforms, there needs to be a deeper reform of how the curia works and how it relates to the universal Church. There is talk about merging several Pontifical Councils into a large dicastry, perhaps even putting a layperson at its head. That would be great. Already, the G-8 will serve as a kind of check on the curia, a sounding board for the pope to see if the work of the curia is more of a burden or a blessing for local churches.

Some people advocate a wholesale change of doctrine, and I suspect they will be disappointed. Doctrine does not change, it develops. Those who invoke human dignity to promote this or that agenda item should always be mindful of the fact that there are few indignities greater than being a child of one’s own age. Conversely, those who insist that “nothing changes” need to hit the library. The Church’s teaching developed on usury and mandatory clerical celibacy in the middle ages, it developed on papal infallibility in the nineteenth century and on Church-State relations in the twentieth. The teaching on usury is especially instructive. In a pre-modern economy, the charging of interest under any circumstances would exploit the poor. As a commercial economy developed, the need for credit emerged and the prohibition on all usury was likely to exploit the poor. The teaching on usury, then, changed in order that the fundamental, evangelical value, not exploiting the poor, could remain the same. The doctrine did not change. The ambient circumstances changed, so the doctrine needed to develop in order to stay true to its deepest meaning.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

Thomas Reese | Sep. 27, 2013 NCR Today

The chair of the committee of cardinals charged with reforming the Vatican curia said that the current system is over, and it is time for something different. As a result, the reform will not come quickly but will require “long discussion and long discernment.”

Cardinal Oscar Rodríguez Maradiaga responded to questions about the curial reform process in a wide-ranging interview with Basilian Father Thomas Rosica of Salt and Light Television in Canada earlier this week. Cardinal Rodríguez is chair of the committee of eight cardinals who were appointed by Pope Francis to advise him on reforming the curia. The cardinals will meet in Rome for the first time October 1-3.

Cardinal Rodríguez also revealed that, within four days of his election, the pope had already decided on Archbishop Pietro Parolin as his secretary of state even though the announcement did not come until the end of August.

Cardinal Rodríguez said that his committee has received suggestions from all over the world, 80 pages of suggestions from Latin American alone. “We have put them together around the main themes,” he reports. “There is convergence in many of the main subjects so we can say that it is the work of the Holy Spirit, it is not ours. You cannot have millions of Catholics in the world suggesting the same unless the Holy Spirit is inspiring.”

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
NBC 10

Criticism from victim advocates about the way the latest case of alleged sex abuse by a Philadelphia-area priest.

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IRELAND
Limerick Leader

by Anne Sheridan
Published on the 28 September 2013

DROGHEDA priest Fr Iggy O’Donovan has insisted he has not been “exiled” to Limerick, but his removal from his post in Louth has been heavily criticised by Limerick priest who has also been ‘silenced’ by the Vatican.

The uproar centres around a complaint that Fr O’Donovan, an outspoken Augustinian, allowed godparents to pour water on a baby’s head during a baptism, which contributed to him being removed from his parish.

The complaint, which was made without the knowledge of the parents, who later said that they fully support Fr O’Donovan, was addressed to Cardinal Sean Brady and subsequently forwarded to Rome.

The baby was baptised for a second time, after another priest in the diocese approached the parents and told them the baby would have to be baptised again – but not by Fr O’Donovan, who has now left Drogheda for a year-long sabbatical in Limerick on the orders of his superiors.

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

I am now of the strong view as an international lawyer that Pope Francis has little time left to reform the Catholic Church. If he fails, likely he also will be compelled to resign like his predecessor, ex-Pope Benedict, ignominousily had to. The Vatican’s “house of cards”, as Francis realistically described it, will then probably collapse. If that happens, Cardinal Rigali’s Secretary, Monsignor Lynn, may have some hierarchical company in prison before his sentence is completed. It’s that bad.

Francis must make the Church’s leaders accountable to the faithful, the Gospels and civil law, especially with respect to protecting defenseless children. He must initiate and enforce specific and effective policies to do this, before government prosecutors from Australia, Ireland, the Dominican Republic, the USA, Peru, Chile, Argentina, the Phillipines, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, or from dozens of other countries, do so for him.

Prosecutors dictated to Kansas City’s criminal, but continuing, Bishop Finn the specific policies he must follow, as nearby Federal prosecutors buried Finn’s protected pedophile priest with a 50 year prison term. Prosecutors eventually can be expected to dictate to other bishops and even to Francis himself, no matter what Francis may be advised otherwise. Government regulators are already dictating to Francis how he must manage the hierarchy’s finances. Government lawyers can, and I expect soon will, dictate to him how he must manage the hierarchy’s approach to predatory priests, if Francis fails to get effective control of the bishops’ flawed approach first. Priests may not be the pope’s “employees”; but bishops are another story.

Francis can no longer just hope to finess, spin and/or avoid addressing authentically, directly and effectively the obscenity of priest child abusers and bishops, like Finn and many others, who protected them. Francis seemed to have used this spin approach to some extent in Argentina and to have continued doing this mostly in his first six months as pope. He is almost out of time to be proactive, before he will likely be forced by civil and criminal laws to be reactive.

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SCOTLAND
Herald Scotland

Saturday 28 September 2013

FOR SCOTLAND’S newest ­archbishop, you could say it is a question of the Catholic Church in Scotland getting back to basics.

Described by church insiders as “a world-class operator”, ­Archbishop Leo Cushley – who last week succeeded Cardinal O’Brien as Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh – worked closely with both Popes Benedict and Francis and was chosen in the hope his diplomatic service skillset would help the church move on from the O’Brien scandal.

Already he has been touted as the frontman for the church in Scotland, with his counterpart in the Glasgow Archdiocese, Philip Tartaglia, keeping a much lower than expected profile following his appointment last year.

Now Archbishop Cushley has signalled his ­intention to change the damaged church’s approach, amid hypocrisy claims following its vocal ­opposition to same-sex marriage and subsequent revelations about the Cardinal, and to adopt the approach the Pontiff has taken in his six months in the Vatican.

After the turmoil surrounding Cardinal Keith O’Brien, it is ­glaringly apparent to Archbishop Cushley many of the church’s traditional interests have been neglected – namely the needy.

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PUERTO RICO
El Nuevo Dia

[Summary: An ex-seminarian reported witnessing homosexual encounters within the Arecibo diocese and that the misconduct was masked by high officials in the Catholic Church. Daniel Collazo Rivera, was at Seminario Jesús Maestro from August 2007 to Oct. 22, 2009.

He said he left the church after reporting irregularities and seeing that nothing was done with priests living a life contrary to the dogmas of the church. He believes that a “mafia” exists within the church. He complained along with other seminarians to the Vatican of instances of homosexuality, pedophilia and theft at the seminary. He then received death threats and attempts were made to intimidate him. The allegations are contained in several affidavits and depositions, he said. Collazo Rivera reported that priests at the seminary had made sexual advances to seminarians and homosexual relationships were established.

He added that nuncio Joseph Wesolowski and Inaki Mallona knew of the situation and covered-up. When leaving seminary in 2009, he met with Monsignor Mallona and told him the reasons he was leaving. He asked the seminarian to keep quiet. At the end of that year and early 2010, Collazo Rivera and six seminarians wrote to the Vatican detailing the irregularities they had witnessed in the Arecibo diocese and the Vatican responded by sending three researchers.]

Por Limarys Suárez Torres / lsuarez1@elnuevodia.com

Arecibo – Un exseminarista denunció ayer haber sido testigo de encuentros homosexuales dentro de la Diócesis de Arecibo y aseguró que todos fueron encubiertos por altos oficiales de la Iglesia Católica.

Daniel Collazo Rivera, quien estuvo desde agosto de 2007 al 22 de octubre de 2009 en el clausurado Seminario Jesús Maestro, señaló que dejó la Iglesia Católica tras denunciar las irregularidades y observar que nada se hacía con los sacerdotes que vivían una vida contraria a las dogmas de la iglesia.

“Dentro de la Iglesia Católica hay una mafia. Hice una denuncia con otros seminaristas ante El Vaticano de varios casos de homosexualismo, pedofilia y robo, y después de eso recibí amenazas de muerte y se paraban frente a mi casa carros con tintes oscuros para intimidarme”, dijo Collazo Rivera, cuyas alegaciones constan en varias declaraciones juradas y deposiciones.

El hombre relató que en el Seminario Jesús Maestro varios sacerdotes tenían acercamientos sexuales hacia los seminaristas y otros tenían relaciones homosexuales establecidas.

“El nuncio Josef Wesolowski y el monseñor Iñaki Mallona conocían de estos actos y ellos los encubrieron. Cuando salí del seminario me reuní con monseñor Iñaki, le comenté sobre las razones por las que abandoné mi formación vocacional, y él lo que hizo fue agradecerme por haber estado en el seminario y me pidió que me quedara callado”, relató.The ex-seminarian said that frustration and disappointment he experienced in the Diocese of Arecibo caused her to leave the Catholic Church.

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PUERTO RICO
El Nuevo Dia

[con video]

Por Israel Rodríguez Sánchez / israel.rodriguez@elnuevodia.com

La Diócesis de Arecibo es foco de una investigación de la Iglesia Católica por escándalos sexuales que involucran a sacerdotes y seminaristas, muchos de ellos ya destituidos o suspendidos por las autoridades eclesiásticas.

La situación se había mantenido en silencio hasta que se supo de la fulminante destitución del exnuncio apostólico para República Dominicana y Puerto Rico, Josef Wesolowski, quien es investigado por las autoridades del vecino país y del Vaticano por abuso sexual de menores.

Wesolowski visitaba con frecuencia a Puerto Rico y llegó a pernoctar en la Diócesis de Arecibo, según contaron a este diario feligreses de la Iglesia San Martín de Porres en esa ciudad.

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PUERTO RICO
Metro

[Summary: The former nuncio of the Dominican Republic, Joseph Wesolowski, allegedly hindered investigations of pedophilia against more than a dozen priests in the Arecibo diocese. The most shocking case was that of priest Jose Colon Otero, who allegedly was caught seducing a choirboy. It is alleged that Colon Otero was a friend of Wesolowski and the nuncio stayed with the priest every time he came to Puerto Rico. The information was made known by Dominican journalist Adis Burgos of Código Calle who came to investigate in Puerto Rico.]

El destituido nuncio Josef Wesolowski supuestamente obstaculizó investigaciones de pederastía contra más de una decena de sacerdotes de la diócesis de Arecibo en Puerto Rico.

Se dice que uno de los casos más impactantes fue el del sacerdote José Colón Otero, quien se alega fue sorprendido seduciendo a un monaguillo.

Se alega que Wesolowski era amigo de Colón Otero e inclusive se hospedaba con el sacerdote cada vez que venía de visita a Puerto Rico.

La información la dio a conocer la periodista Adis Burgos, del programa Código Calle, que se trasladó a Puerto Rico para hacer la investigación.

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PUERTO RICO
Metro

[Summary: Priest Jose Colon Otero, who is accused of child abuse, challenged his accusers to show evidence and prove that he committed those acts. He said it seems unfair that after 11 years of service that he would be subjected to vicious attacks.]

El sacerdote José Colón Otero, quien es señalado como uno de los involucrados en una investigación que realiza la Iglesia Católica por presuntos actos de abuso infantil, retó hoy a que quienes lo acusan muestren pruebas que evidencien que cometió los actos.

“Me parece muy injusto que a esta altura de la vida a un sacerdote después de 11 años de servicios se le ataque vilmente sin ni siquiera tener una prueba fehaciente o una acusación seria sobre un niño sobre una cosa como esta”, declaró Colón Otero en una conferencia de prensa en el Pabellón de la Paz del Parque Luis Muñoz Rivera.

Añadió que a cinco años de las denuncias no se ha probado nada y pidió a las personas que lo acusa a que presenten pruebas y que “sean responsables tanto eclesiásticamente como civilmente”.

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PUERTO RICO
El Nuevo Dia

Por Ricardo Cortés Chico / rcortes@elnuevodia.com

El arzobispo de San Juan, Roberto González Nieves, aceptó ayer que la Iglesia Católica ha “cometido errores” en el manejo de imputaciones de abuso sexual contra sacerdotes, pero aseguró que se están enmendando.

Las expresiones de González Nieves se dieron en reacción a las informaciones de que varios sacerdotes de la Diócesis de Arecibo han sido suspendidos por conductas sexuales impropias, para miembros del clero, y por abuso sexual de menores.

Según González Nieves, el obispo de Arecibo, Daniel Fernández, ha manejado de manera adecuada la situación en su diócesis. Pero admitió que en el pasado no siempre ha sido así.

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PUERTO RICO
El Nuevo Herald

[Summary: San Juan Archbishop Robert Gonzalez Nieves on Friday rejected allegations of cover-up of alleged sexual scandals within the Catholic Church in Puerto Rico and in particular the Arecibo diocese, a district on the north coast of the island. He said Bishop Daniel Fernandez of Arecibo has handled the issue properly and with agreement of the Vatican.

His press conference follows a report in El Nuevo Dia stating that the Arecibo diocese is focus of a church investigation because of sex scandals involving priests and seminarians. The newspaper said some of those involved were dismissed or suspended..

González recalled that in the 14 years he has been San Juan archbishop, 32 local priests have been expelled for misconduct or sexual situations. He noted that every bishop in Puerto Rico has had to deal with such situations. He asked Catholics to pray for the Arecibo diocese.]

EFE
SAN JUAN — El arzobispo de San Juan, Roberto González Nieves, rechazó el viernes que se trate de encubrir supuestos escándalos sexuales dentro de la Iglesia Católica de Puerto Rico y en concreto en la Diócesis de Arecibo, distrito de la costa norte de la isla.

González Nieves, cabeza de la Iglesia Católica en Puerto Rico, señaló en conferencia de prensa que conoce de la situación de la Diócesis de Arecibo y que el obispo de esa demarcación, Daniel Fernández, ha manejado correctamente el asunto en consenso con el Vaticano.

Las aclaraciones de González Nieves siguen a una información aparecida el viernes en el diario sanjuanero El Nuevo Día en la que se señala que la Diócesis de Arecibo es foco de una investigación de la Iglesia Católica a causa de unos supuestos escándalos sexuales que involucran a sacerdotes y a seminaristas.

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PUERTO RICO
Prensa Latina

[Summary: Roberto Gonzalez, metropolitan archbishop of San Juan, denied the Catholic Church in Puerto Rico was involved in a conspiracy to cover-up sexual abuse by clergy. He acknowledged, however, that mistakes were made in dealing with pedophilia allegations. He spoke out at a press conference because the Arecibo diocese is immersed in a scandal after it become known that priest Jose Colon is being investigated for pedophilia.

Gonzalez said in recent years 32 priests have been expelled from the church for misconduct or sexual situations. He urged victims of sexual abuse to contact civil authorities.

The situation in the Arecibo diocese has ramifications with removal of Josef Wesolowski, apostolic nuncio to the Dominican Republic, who allegedly abused minors in the Dominican Republic. Wesolowski often visited Puerto Rico and stayed overnight in the Arecibo diocese, according to parishioners of St. Martin de Porres. Gonzalez said Daniel Fernandez, bishop of Arecibo, properly handled the issue and has advised the Vatican of the situation.

The Arecibo diocese is being investigated by the church because of allegations of sexual activities involving priests and seminarians. Newspaper reports claim that at least four bishops were deposed and nine seminarians were expelled from Seminario Jesús Maestro.]

San Juan, 27 sep (PL) El arzobispo metropolitano de San Juan, Roberto González, rechazó hoy que en la Iglesia católica puertorriqueña exista contubernio para encubrir los casos de abuso sexual en que incurren miembros de la curia.

El prelado reconoció, sin embargo, que se han cometido errores en la atención de denuncias de casos de pedofilia en los que han estado involucrados sacerdotes.

Las expresiones de González se produjeron en una rueda de prensa en el Arzobispado de San Juan, luego de que saliera a la luz pública que la Diócesis de Arecibo, en el norte del país, se encuentra inmersa en un escándalo luego que se conociera que el sacerdote José Colón es investigado por pedofilia.

Aseguró que desde que se encuentra al frente del Arzobispado metropolitano de San Juan, hace 14 años, se han expulsado 32 sacerdotes de la Iglesia católica por mala conducta o situaciones de naturaleza sexual.

González instó a las víctimas de abuso sexual a acudir a las autoridades civiles para que se investiguen criminalmente los casos.

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POLONIA
Hoy

VARSOVIA. AFP. La Iglesia de Polonia, país muy católico, enfrenta un escándalo de pedofilia después de que el papa Francisco destituyera de sus funciones al nuncio del Vaticano en República Dominicana, el polaco Josef Wesolowski, acusado junto a otro cura de la misma nacionalidad en misión en el país caribeño de abuso sexual a menores.

A pesar de que en los últimos años han salido a la luz varios casos de pedofilia en este país europeo, ninguno ha provocado un verdadero escándalo, al contrario de países como Estados Unidos o Irlanda, en donde casos de este tipo han sido ampliamente mediatizados y condenados.

El Secretario General del Episcopado polaco, monseñor Wojciech Polak, calificó el viernes a este caso de “doloroso y difícil”.

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Filmweb

El tema de los abusos sexuales cometidos por sacerdotes católicos divide a la opinión pública, generando indignación y hasta incredulidad en quienes profesan una de las religiones con más adeptos en el mundo.

Retratar este hecho tiene sus retos, como le ocurrió al cineasta norteamericano Alex Gibney, quien desafiando un sistema plagado de intereses y corrupción, se aventuró a dirigir el polémico documental “Mea Maxima Culpa: Silencio en la casa de Dios”.

Durante 107 minutos, el realizador evidencia las faltas cometidas por el sacerdote Lawrence Murphy, a quien se le acusó de abusar sexualmente de casi 200 niños sordos en una escuela que estaba bajo su control.

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PERU
Trome

[Summary: Archbishop Salvador Pineiro of Ayacucho confirmed that former Auxiliary Bishop Gabino Miranda was removed from office for “impure acts” by decision of Pope Francis. The abuse of the 14-year-old boy is said to have occurred in the confessional.]

El arzobispo de Ayacucho, monseñor Salvador Piñeiro, confirmó que la decisión del Vaticano de destituir de su cargo al obispo auxiliar de esa región, Gabino Miranda, se debió a “actos impuros” cometidos por el exsacerdote.

Piñeiro explicó que, por decisión del Papa Francisco, el pasado 5 de julio, Miranda recibió la máxima sanción para un cura: la pérdida total del estado clerical. Empero, no dio más detalles sobre la dimisión.

Cabe recordar, sin embargo, que ayer la revista Caretas informó que sería un monaguillo de 14 años oriundo de Huanta quien denunció a Miranda, el año pasado, por tocamientos indebidos durante un acto de confesión, hecho que habría sido denunciado por Piñeiro ante el Vaticano.

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PERU
La Republica

[Summary: Marco Arana, former priest and now leader of the Tierra y Libertad political party, said former Auxiliary Bishop Gabino Miranda should be punished with life imprisonment. He called for investigation of Miranda, who has been accused of abusing a minor in the confessional.]

Arequipa.

Para el exsacerdote y ahora dirigente del partido político Tierra y Libertad, Marco Arana, el delito imputado al obispo auxiliar de Ayacucho, Gabino Miranda, debería ser sancionado con cadena perpetua.

“Aparentemente hubo una conducta delincuencial que repudio totalmente”, sentenció. A decir de Arana, ninguna persona puede ampararse en su institución para quedar libre de la justicia luego de cometer abusos sexuales contra menores de edad. En este caso, exigió que se investigue a profundidad el caso de Gabino Miranda para determinar la sanción que le corresponda.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

John L. Allen Jr. | Sep. 28, 2013 NCR Today

Rome – Steamy magazine exposés are rarely good news for the people or institutions featured in them. That’s probably especially true for the troubled Vatican bank, which over the years has been the church’s premier magnet for conspiracy theories and scandals of every imaginable sort.

On Friday, however, the bank finally caught a break.

There was yet another gossipy piece in an Italian newsmagazine, in this case l’Espresso, featuring ominous storm cloud art, which was full of unnamed sources describing an “earthquake” related to the bank. (The place is technically the “Institute for the Works of Religion,” often referred to by the Italian acronym IOR.)

Immediately after it appeared, the piece had phone lines buzzing inside the Vatican, in part because after last summer’s leaks scandal, the perception that insiders are spilling the beans to reporters usually means going to Defcon 1.

Yet despite the melodramatic flourishes in the piece, its overall effect is probably to burnish, rather than erode, the bank’s new image.

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ARGENTINA
Clarin

[Summary: The Julio Cesar Grassi story began on Oct. 23, 2002 after he was arrested and accused of corrupting minors at the Happy Children Foundation. ]
POR JORGE LANATA

28/09/13

Esta historia tiene casi once años: comenzó el 23 de octubre de 2002 cuando, después de un informe de Telenoche Investiga, la Justicia ordenó la captura del sacerdote Julio César Grassi por corrupción de menores a su cuidado en la Fundación Felices los Niños.

Un Tribunal Oral, la Cámara de Apelaciones, la Cámara de Casación y la Suprema Corte bonaerense fallaron contra Grassi, pero hasta hace algunos días siempre pudo evitar ir a la cárcel. Sólo estuvo preso unos cuatro meses al principio del caso: un mes en una comisaría (entre el 24 de octubre y el 29 de noviembre de 2002) y tres en su casa.

En el juicio que comenzó el 20 de agosto de 2008 declararon más de 130 personas durante nueve meses. La querella y la Fiscalía pidieron entre 37 y 30 años. El 10 de junio de 2009 fue condenado a 15 años de prisión por el Tribunal Oral Número 1 de Morón, culpable de abuso sexual agravado en dos de los 17 hechos que se le adjudicaban. La condena fue por haber abusado de Gabriel, uno de los tres menores denunciantes, entre noviembre y diciembre de 1996. Pero deciden no encarcelarlo hasta que la condena quede firme. El 14 de septiembre de 2010 la Cámara de Casación bonaerense ratifica su culpabilidad,

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ARGENTINA
Perfil

[Summary: The fate of priest Julio Cesar Grassi at both judicial and ecclesiastical levels is a real mystery. While his defense is trying to get him free from prison, lawyers for alleged victims “Luis” and “Eziekiel” are trying to get his 15-year sentence increased to 37. The maximum penalty in church action would be expulsion from the priesthood. A canonical penal process would be independent of the civil process.]

Por Marcelo Androetto / L.N. | 28/09/2013

La suerte de Julio César Grassi, tanto a nivel judicial como eclesiástico, es una verdadera incógnita. Mientras su defensa define una estrategia para reclamar su libertad, la querella anunció que irá por más.

Según adelantaron los abogados de “Luis” y “Ezequiel” –dos supuestas víctimas–, en los próximos días presentarán un recurso ante la Corte Suprema de Justicia de la Nación, para que amplíe a 37 años la condena a Julio Grassi con la inclusión de esos dos casos que no fueron tenidos en cuenta en tres instancias anteriores.

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UNITED STATES
Daily Mail (UK)

By MATTHEW HALL
PUBLISHED: 15:23 EST, 27 September 2013

Billy Graham’s grandson claims Evangelicals are ‘worse’ than the Catholic Church on responding to sex abuse claims.

Speaking at a conference hosted by the Religion Newswriter Association on Thursday, Professor Boz Tchividjian, the third-eldest grandchild of Reverend Billy Graham, also said that Christian missions overseas are a ‘magnet’ for sex abusers.

‘I think we are worse [than Catholics],’ Tchividjian told the audience at the Austin, Texas, conference according to Religion News Service. In an uncompromising address, Tchividjian added that too many Evangelicals had ‘sacrificed the souls’ of young victims.

‘Protestants can be very arrogant when pointing to Catholics,’ Tchividjian said. ‘We’ve got the Gospels backwards.’

Tchividjian is a law professor at Liberty University, a Christian college in Virgina founded by Jerry Falwell, the Southern Baptist pastor who died in 2007.

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UTAH
Deseret News

SALT LAKE CITY — A man convicted in a sexual abuse case involving a young man he met in church will serve up to life in prison.

Judge Randall Skanchy sentenced Michael Driggs, 62, to serve three years to life in prison for attempted aggravated sexual abuse of a child, a first-degree felony.

Police say Driggs abused the boy in 2004 and 2005 when the victim was 12 and 13. Driggs helped the boy set up an email account, which he used to send him pornographic movies and photos, according to the charges. Prosecutors said he sexually abused the boy when he came to the Kearns house where Driggs lived at the time.

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PERU
Peru This Week

By Rachel Chase

Last week, reports surfaced that the former auxiliary bishop of the diocese of Ayacucho, 53-year-old Gabino Miranda, had been defrocked as a result of sexually abusing a minor in his role as a priest.

Church officials were initially tight-lipped about the details of the case; Peru’s Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani has only given press terse comments downplaying the issue, telling the public “not to make firewood out of a fallen tree.”

Now, however, more details about the case have come to light. Caretas magazine reported this week that Miranda was defrocked on Pope Francis’s orders, as part of the latter’s stated “zero tolerance” policy for sex abusers in the clergy.

Caretas writes that the incident in question may date back to June 2012. According to reports, the victim was a 14-year-old altar boy who was touched inappropriately by then-Bishop Miranda during confession.

According to Caretas, the victim lodged a formal complaint (denuncia) with the Archbishop of Ayacucho’s office; it appears the complaint went unnoticed or ignored for some time. The Archbishop of Ayacucho, monseñor Salvador Piñeiro denies that a complaint ever reached his office. Bishop Piñeiro confirmed that Miranda was removed for committing “impure acts,” but added that accounts of a formal complaint “are a lie. If I had received [a complaint], I would have investigated it, of course. I’m not an accomplice in this.”

The following April, Miranda wrote a letter to Pope Francis asking for a sabbatical year so he could “reflect on my imprudent acts, and dedicate myself completely to my personal interests, and put ecclesiastical and work functions aside.”

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MISSOURI
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

By Jesse Bogan jbogan@post-dispatch.com 314-340-82553

ST. LOUIS • A 78-year-old St. Louis priest on trial in Colorado was sentenced this week to four years probation for being a bad influence on a teenager who’d come to him for guidance about the Catholic faith.

The Rev. Charles Manning was convicted in July on two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor; he was acquitted of an additional charge of sexual assault of a minor.

Court testimony and evidence convinced the jury that Manning was guilty of giving alcohol and marijuana to the 16-year-old boy and a friend, according to a report in The Gazette, a daily newspaper in Colorado Springs. The judge in the case reportedly considered jail time for Manning but thought he’d spend all of it in a hospital wing.

Manning showed up to Thursday’s sentencing hearing in a wheelchair.

Colorado Springs Bishop Michael Sheridan, a former auxiliary bishop of St. Louis, removed Manning as pastor of St. Gabriel the Archangel parish after the accusations against him were found to be credible.

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COLORADO
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Statement by David Clohessy of St. Louis, Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (314 566 9790, SNAPclohessy@aol.com)

A Colorado Springs priest was sentenced on Wednesday to four years of probation for “contributing to the delinquency of a minor.” He had been accused of molesting a boy, giving him liquor and marijuana, kissing the boy on the lips, taking the boy to get his nipples pierced, and engaging in other sexual acts.

Now, Colorado church officials should aggressively seek out others who may have seen, suspected or suffered the cleric’s crimes.

The crimes and misconduct reportedly happened in 2011 while Fr. Robert Charles Manning was pastor of St. Gabriel the Archangel Catholic Church in Colorado Springs.

[Gazette]

Fr. Manning worked in the St. Louis archdiocese for a decade (1997-2007) before following Bishop Michael Sheridan to the Colorado Springs diocese in 2007.

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COLORADO
Denver Post

The Associated Press
POSTED: 09/26/2013

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.—A former Colorado Springs priest has been sentenced to four years’ probation after a July conviction on of two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
The Gazette reports that former Catholic priest Charles Robert “Bob” Manning was sentenced Thursday ( http://bit.ly/1h6YpOK).

Manning was acquitted of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old altar boy. The 78-year-old former pastor at St. Gabriel the Archangel Catholic Church in Colorado Springs also was acquitted of child pornography counts.

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POLAND
Dominican Today

Warsaw.- Poland’s Catholic Church on Thursday begged forgiveness from boys victims of sexual abuse in Dominican Republic by Polish-born bishop Jozef Wesolowski, former Vatican envoy to Dominican Republic and another countryman prelate were accused of pedophilia in a scandal which has spread to that European nation.

The apology comes the very day Poland’s office of the prosecutor general confirmed having sufficient information to launch an investigation into the alleged abuses of children by Wesolowski and the priest Wojciech Gil (Padre Alberto) in the remote mountain town of Juncalito.

In a press conference Polish Catholic Church official Wojciech Polak said forgiveness is the least owed the victims and affirmed that the Church works on prevention.

Although more than 25 priests have been convicted for abusing minors in Poland since 2001, the recent scandal in Dominican Republic has once again put the spotlight on Poland’s Catholic Church.

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POLAND
GMA News

By STANISLAW WASZAK, AFP
September 28, 2013

WARSAW – Poland’s powerful Roman Catholic church on Friday apologized over two alleged pedophile priests as prosecutors on both sides of the Atlantic began probing the men, one a former Vatican envoy.

Prosecutors in the Dominican Republic have asked Interpol to arrest fugitive Polish priest Wojciech Gil, 36, who allegedly abused several young boys while serving on the Caribbean island.

A Vatican probe is already under way into allegations of child sex abuse against Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski, a 65-year-old Pole who served as papal envoy in Santo Domingo for around five years.

Senior Polish church officials said they were unaware of the whereabouts of both men on Friday as prosecutors in Warsaw also launched criminal investigations against them.

“Trust in the church is waning. We are sorry. This is the least we can do,” Bishop Wojciech Polak, a senior official with the Polish episcopate, told reporters on Friday.

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UNITED STATES
Associated Baptist Press

The founder of a group that investigates sexual abuse says evangelicals often discourage the reporting of abuse by telling whistle-blowers to keep quiet in order to protect the reputation of the church.

By Bob Allen

A Liberty University law professor and grandson of Billy Graham told reporters Sept. 26 that he thinks evangelicals “are worse” than Catholics when it comes to responding to sexual abuse by clergy.

“Protestants can be very arrogant when pointing to Catholics,” Boz Tchividjian, executive director of Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment (GRACE), told journalists attending the Religion Newswriters Association conference in Austin, Texas.

“The Protestant culture is defined by independence,” Tchividjian said in comments reported by Religion News Service.

Evangelicals often frown upon transparency and accountability, he said, as many Protestants rely on Scripture more than religious leaders, compared to Catholics. Abusers discourage whistle-blowing by condemning gossip to try to keep people from reporting abuse, he said. Victims are also told to protect the reputation of Jesus.

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UNITED STATES
RH Reality Check

by Bridgette Dunlap, Senior Legal Analyst, RH Reality Check
September 24, 2013

Pope Francis’ recent interview, published in a number of Jesuit journals, has made headlines for his honest statements about how the Catholic hierarchy is “obsessed” with homosexuality, abortion, and contraception. He also said church leaders don’t need to talk about these issues “all the time,” not because it might be moral to marry your partner or use contraception, but because these are not the most important teachings of the church, and everyone is quite clear on where the hierarchy stands.

However, while “Chill out with the gay-bashing” is a nice sentiment, it is not something that brings me a great deal of comfort in light of the immense power of the Roman Catholic Church over laws, governments, and societies around the world.

The Roman Catholic Church isn’t just a church; it is a world power. It has a privileged position in the United Nations, immense political influence in many countries, and vast financial resources. It is currently using that significant power all over the world to deprive women and LGBTQ individuals of equality, self-determination, and health care to an extent few U.S. “cafeteria Catholics” realize. A Catholic living comfortably in a liberal democracy is free to embrace the good things the church does and teaches while rejecting the bad—if he is unlikely to be affected by the bad. For instance, a Catholic who gets her good salary and health insurance from a secular company may not understand how a social worker at Catholic Charities could struggle to afford birth control, let alone how the church’s influence in foreign governments deprives women living in extreme poverty from being able to stop having children, or how the church undermines maternal health efforts like those to end obstetric fistula.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
DFW Catholic

Philadelphia, Pa., Sep 27, 2013 / 10:26 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The Philadelphia archdiocese drew praise for its swift reporting of an inactive priest to authorities after a young man said that he had been abused during his time as an altar boy between 1998 and 2001.

“A serial predator is now behind bars, thanks to the brave actions of this young man,” Philadelphia district attorney Seth Williams announced at a Sept. 26 press conference.

“It takes tremendous courage for any sexual assault victim, especially young boys, to come forward and report the horrors they endured, particularly if it happened over the course of several years.”

“The archdiocese is also to be commended for immediately reporting this case to our office,” he added.

Father Robert L. Brennan, who is currently undergoing the canonical process of laicization and was removed from ministry in 2005, has been charged with several sexual offenses against a boy who served at Resurrection of Our Lord Parish in northeast Philadelphia.

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OHIO
WSAV

[with video]

By Andrew Davis, Anchor/Reporter

It’s the unthinkable for any parent, their child molested, abused by someone they trusted.

It happened to a Cincinnati man who’s son was touched inappropriately by a priest.

That priest, Father Robert Poandl, used to work in Pembroke, Sandhill, and Claxton.

Last week Poandl was convicted by a Ohio jury.

That victim’s father spoke exclusively to News 3 about the crime, which he claims started with a connection to the group Worldwide Marriage Encounter.

The father says Poandl asked to take their son alone with him on a trip from Cincinnati to West Virginia so he could help him “stay awake”. That one on one encounter ended with the boy molested and Poandl eventually facing charges.

“Poandl is a Monster. I don’t know how else you can describe someone who would betray the trust of people who thought they knew and deeply cared for him.”

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
NBC 10

[with video]

By Dan Stamm | Friday, Sep 27, 2013

A Philadelphia priest, previously accused of sexually abusing 20 boys, was arraigned today on charges that he sexually assaulted an altar boy over a three-year period.

A judge set Rev. Robert L. Brennan’s bail on rape, involuntary deviant sexual intercourse and aggravated sexual assault charges at 10 percent of $1 million.

Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams announced Brennan’s arrest Thursday morning of Rev. Robert L. Brennan.

“A serial predator is now behind bars thanks to brave actions of this young man,” Williams said.

Brennan was arrested Wednesday afternoon in Perryville, Md. and was returned to Philadelphia on Thursday evening after waiving extradition.

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IRELAND
Limerick Leader

by Mike Dwane
Published on the 27 September 2013

A FORMER Christian Brother who worked at Sexton Street in the late 1960s would fondle young boys as he taught the rest of the class, Limerick Circuit Court has heard.

Sean Drummond, 65, of Broadford Drive, Ballinteer, Dublin 16, pleaded guilty to two sample counts of indecent assault against a 10-year-old pupil at the primary school during the year 1968-69.

The victim, who went on to work as a teacher himself, described in an impact statement how his relationships had suffered and how he had tried to take his own life at the age of 21 as a result of sexual abuse he suffered while at Sexton Street.

The events had “stayed with me all my life” and “I have never forgotten his [Drummond’s]name or face”.

Prosecuting counsel John O’Sullivan BL said Drummond would bring pupils to school on a Saturday – for what purpose the victim no longer remembered – and would place his victim’s hand on his erect penis under his soutane but over his clothing.

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MISSOURI
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For more information: David Clohessy 566-9790, SNAPclohessy@aol.com, Barbara Dorris 862 7688, SNAPdorris@gmail.com

St. Louis priest sentenced to probation
He “contributed to delinquency” of boy
Case has “unusual aspects,” SNAP says
Cleric spent more than a decade in MO
But in odd move, he was sent to Colorado
Priest followed a St. Louis bishop who was also sent there

A St. Louis priest with close ties to a former St. Louis bishop was sentenced on Wednesday to four years of probation for “contributing to the delinquency of a minor.” He had been accused of molesting a Colorado boy, giving him liquor and marijuana, kissing the boy on the lips, taking the boy to get his nipples pierced, and engaging in other sexual acts.

[Gazette]

Fr. Robert Charles Manning, a St. Louis native, worked in the St. Louis archdiocese for a decade (1997-2007) before following Bishop Michael Sheridan to the Colorado Springs diocese in 2007.

[BishopAccountability.org]

In July, Fr. Manning was acquitted of sexually assaulting the boy, but convicted on other charges before Judge Robin Chittum.

“Fr. Manning spent most of his clerical career in St. Louis, so it’s unlikely he only started acting inappropriately around kids once he was transferred to Colorado,” said Barbara Dorris of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.

According to the Colorado Springs Gazette, Fr. Manning “has been living in St. Louis at the Regina Cleri Home for retired priests.”

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Register

by Mark Shea Thursday, September 26, 2013

People were wrong to be outraged by the priest abuse scandal if the reason for their outrage was the notion that there was something singularly sick and weird about priests that made them and them alone commit crimes against children, or if they believed there was something unique to bishops in possessing an institutional instinct to cover up the crimes, circle the wagons, and perpetuate the victimization by attacking the victims as boat rockers, etc. As our school system keeps demonstrating, there is nothing uniquely Catholic about this. All institutions behave this way. And it ain’t because teachers are celibate or teaching is a male-only institution.

On the other hand, people were absolutely right to be outraged by the priest abuse scandal because the Church’s response to priestly abuse was not unique but average, like the average response of all human organizations to such crimes. Why single the Church out when the average response of schools or the military, or corporate cultures is also to let the same things go on and commit similar coverups? Because, blast it!, the Church is the Body of Christ, that’s why! It’s. Not. Supposed. To. Be. Average. It’s. Supposed. To. Be. Holy. Those to whom much is given, much will be required.

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NEW JERSEY
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Friday, Sept. 27, 2013

For more information: David Clohessy of St. Louis, SNAP Director (314) 566-9790 cell, SNAPclohessy@aol.com

Accused serial predator Fr. Joseph Shannon of Camden has passed away in a Missouri church facility that houses child molesting clerics. We are grateful that he will never again be able to hurt any more kids.

We hope every Camden Catholic employee – from the bishop to the bookkeeper – will reach out to others who may have seen, suspected or suffered Fr. Shannon’s crimes. And we hope that everyone with information or suspicions about those crimes will call law enforcement. Though Fr. Shannon cannot be prosecuted, we suspect and hope that at least one of the Catholic staffers who ignored, concealed and enabled his crimes might still be brought to justice.

Fr. Shannon had lived for 20 years at the Vianney Renewal Center, one of several St. Louis area Catholic facilities that house child molesting clerics from across the US and Canada. We worry about these centers at which child molesting clerics are “overseen” by other clerics. Catholic officials should send these dangerous men to independent, professionally run facilities far away from families and make their whereabouts and histories publicly known.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

Read the Bishop’s letter here

Read the Herald stories that started it all here

MAITLAND-Newcastle Bishop Michael Malone described the Newcastle Herald as ‘‘the enemy’’ in a bitter but ultimately unpublished message to Catholics in 2007 after the newspaper first exposed Church knowledge of notorious Hunter paedophile priests.

The message, titled ‘‘Trial by Media’’, has not seen the light of day until now after the NSW Special Commission of Inquiry released hundreds of documents to the public last week, including previously secret Church documents dating back to the late 1940s.

The documents form part of the commission’s investigation of Church and police handling of allegations involving paedophile priests Denis McAlinden and Jim Fletcher.

The then Bishop Malone’s ‘‘Trial by Media’’ message was written for the diocese’s Aurora magazine after Herald articles in September and October 2007 quoted documents proving Catholic Church officials knew about McAlinden and another notorious paedophile priest, Vince Ryan, for decades.

In it Bishop Malone:

● accused the newspaper of a ‘‘concerted attack’’ on the diocese;
● accused journalists of ‘‘personal attacks’’ on clergy;
● accused the newspaper of raising allegations against clergy only after they were dead;
● accused police of providing intelligence to the Herald which resulted in ‘‘attention [being] diverted from their own inability to process these matters adequately’’;

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POLSKA
Newsweek

Prokuratura Apelacyjna w Warszawie dostanie materiały w celu wszczęcia śledztwa dotyczącego dwóch polskich duchownych z Dominikany. W jednym z tekstów apelował o to dziennikarz “Newsweeka” Wojciech Cieśla.

Takie działanie sugerował dziennikarz “Newsweeka” Wojciech Cieśla w swoim tekście “Pedofilia na Dominikanie to sprawa dla polskiej prokuratury” >>

By przyjrzeć się sprawie oskarżeń polskich księży o pedofilie Wojciech Cieśla pojechał na Dominikanę. Kliknij tutaj, by przeczytać jego reportaż z wyspy!

– Otrzymaliśmy właśnie z ambasady RP w Bogocie potwierdzenie, że prokuratura na Dominikanie prowadzi śledztwo wobec dwóch polskich obywateli w związku z podejrzeniem seksualnego wykorzystywania przez nich osób nieletnich. Ta informacja stanowi podstawę do wszczęcia polskiego śledztwa w tej sprawie. W związku z tym, odpowiednie materiały zostaną wysłane do Prokuratury Apelacyjnej w Warszawie – poinformował Martyniuk.

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POLSKA
Gazeta Prawna

[SUMMARY: Polish police have not yet received information from Interpol regarding the search for priest Wojciech Gil, who is accusing of abusing minors in the Dominican Republic. Police Chief Mariusz Sokolowski said Dominican authorities can count on cooperation from Polish police.]

Polska policja nie ma na razie żadnych informacji z Interpolu w sprawie poszukiwania księdza Wojciecha Gila – powiedział IAR rzecznik komendanta głównego policji Mariusz Sokołowski. Władze kościelne nie wiedzą, gdzie jest ksiądz podejrzany o pedofilię na Dominikanie.

W specjalnym komunikacie prokurator generalny Dominikany, który w tej sprawie zwrócił się do Interpolu oświadczył, że ma nadzieję, że uda się postawić księdza przed sądem.
Sokołowski zaznaczył, że prokuratura na Dominikanie może liczyć na współpracę z naszą policją, która jest gotowa udzielić wszelkiej przewidzianej przez prawo pomocy. Do polskich służb nie dotarła jednak na razie żadna informacja w tej sprawie.

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ROME
National Catholic Reporter

John L. Allen Jr. | Sep. 27, 2013 All Things Catholic

ROME
A pope plays many roles, one being the premier ambassador for Catholicism (and religion generally) on the global stage. In a sense, it requires the art of diplomacy: reaching across divides, finding ways to communicate with people who don’t speak your language, and emphasizing common ground rather than drawing lines in the sand.

Francis has shown himself to be awfully good at that part of the job, which may help explain why he seems increasingly inclined to turn to churchmen with a strong diplomatic background to fill his administration’s key slots.

Indeed, one surprising twist to his papacy is that it seems to be shaping up as a golden age for Vatican diplomats.

Not long ago, conventional wisdom had it that the election of Jorge Mario Bergoglio was bad news for the Secretariat of State, the Vatican’s ultra-powerful coordinating department, which is typically led by veterans of the diplomatic corps. Frustration with perceived dysfunction in the Secretariat of State, symbolized by the Vatican leaks scandal, was a large part of the reason why the cardinals elected a Latin American outsider in the first place.

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NEW JERSEY
Whispers in the Loggia

For all the smiles at the cameras and talk of a smooth transition, the difference between Newark Catholicism’s present and future can be boiled down to this: while John Myers prefers to be addressed as “His Grace” – the British/Canadian style for archbishops – whatever title his successor might be saddled with, the next metropolitan of New Jersey will forever be known to all as, simply, “Bernie.”

The mottoes are instructive, too: the incumbent chose for himself the refined, maybe even esoteric “Mysterium ecclesiae luceat” (“Let the mystery of the church shine forth”), a reference to the Vatican II constitution Lumen Gentium. His coadjutor’s is straightforward and in English – two words: “Only Jesus.”

Shot into the stratosphere as shepherd-in-waiting of the nation’s ninth-largest diocese, Bernie Hebda’s ascent to North Jersey has been described as “the first truly Francis appointment” on these shores: a distinctly pastoral, nonideological figure with a penchant for sharp ideas, hard work, close ties and creating oceans of goodwill across all sorts of divides.

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AUSTRALIA
lewisblayse.net

The reason given by the federal government for appointing six commissioners to the Royal Commission was that the enormous volume of work would require multiple hearings being conducted simultaneously.

So far, only a single hearing has been held with all six commissioners present. The “case study” format used for the first hearing, last week, is to be used for at least the rest of the year, with no multiple hearings. This means that there will be a few days of hearings, then a month or so of no hearings, for the foreseeable future.

So far, nearly a year has passed since the Royal Commission was announced by former Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, and almost $100 million has been spent on it.

In the absence of multiple hearings, there will be very little to report on, especially since the first 4 “case studies” are already well-documented in both the media and the courts. It does seem strange that all six commissioners, at the first hearing, sat there in a row like stuffed chooks, with little or no involvement in the proceedings.

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POLAND
ABC News

AP

A high official of Poland’s Catholic Church apologized on Friday to the victims of pedophile priests while prosecutors said they will probe allegations that two Polish priests, including a Vatican envoy, sexually abused boys in the Dominican Republic.

Secretary of the Episcopate Bishop Wojciech Polak told a news conference that “sorry” was the least that was owed to the victims, and that the church was seeking to make amends and work on prevention.

But he said that any legal responsibility and financial compensation rested with the convicted wrongdoer, not with the church. He was addressing reporters in relation to both the allegations in the Dominican Republic and those in Poland, where some 27 priests have been convicted since 2001.

Mateusz Matyniuk, spokesman for the prosecutor general, said that Poland has obtained sufficient information from Dominican investigators to open a probe into pedophilia allegations against two Poles, one of whom has diplomatic status. He gave no names, but Dominican prosecutors have identified them as papal nuncio Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski and the Rev. Wojciech Gil, a parish priest.

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DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
GlobalPost

AFP

Prosecutors in the Dominican Republic said they have asked Interpol to issue an arrest order for an alleged pedophile priest alleged to have abused several young boys.

“We will use whatever judicial resources are needed, whether on the local level or internationally” to bring fugitive Polish priest Wojciech Gil to justice, Attorney General Francisco Dominguez Brito said in a statement.

Gil went missing in May after allegations of child sex abuse were raised.

A court in the city of Santiago, some 155 kilometers northwest of Santo Domingo, has declared him a fugitive from justice, and Interpol has been asked to help track him down.

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IRELAND
The Tablet

27 September 2013

A priest is facing censure by the Vatican for failing to perform a baptism correctly by allowing the parents and godparents to pour water over the child’s head during the ceremony.

A pro-life campaigner reported Fr Iggy O’Donovan to the Primate of All Ireland, Cardinal Sean Brady, after witnessing the baptism at a church in Drogheda. Cardinal Brady deemed the baptism unlawful and reported the matter to Rome.

Fr O’Donovan, an Augustinian, has left his parish to begin a one-year sabbatical in Limerick. He and his order have denied that he has already been censured by Rome. Some 1,500 people attended his final Mass.

Following the complaint, the parents of the child were asked by a local priest in Drogheda, acting on behalf of the Cardinal, to have their son re-baptised.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 27 September 2013 (VIS) – Next Monday, 30 September, the director of the Holy See Press Office, Federico Lombardi, S.J., will hold a briefing on the Pope’s meeting with the group of eight cardinals, regarding the nature of the meeting, preparation and working times involved, and the information that will be available.

“It is important to remember that the Group is constituted to offer advice to the Pope and not to make autonomous decisions, that it is a first meeting which will be followed by others, and that the participants will abide by criteria of privacy regarding the content of the consultations”.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Augsburger Allgemeine

[Catholic priest Michael W. has been convicted of child abuse and sentenced to two years and nine months in prison. The victim, a boy, lived in his parish house and was the son of the housekeeper. He called the priest Dad. The court said the abuse was significant sexual assault and went way beyond boundary issues.]

Das Landgericht Würzburg hat einen Priester wegen sexuellen Kindesmissbrauchs zu zwei Jahren und neun Monaten Haft verurteilt. Er hatte den Sohn seiner Haushälterin missbraucht.

Der Junge lebte in seinem Pfarrheim und nannte ihn Papa, der Priester erzählte ihm Gute-Nacht-Geschichten. Doch das hat ein katholischer Priester schamlos ausgenutzt. Nun ist er wegen sexuellen Kindesmissbrauchs zu zwei Jahren und neun Monaten Gefängnis verurteilt worden.

Das Landgericht Würzburg sprach den 58-Jährigen am Freitag schuldig, sich in neun Fällen am Sohn seiner Haushälterin vergangen zu haben. «Das waren nicht nur Grenzüberschreitungen, sondern ganz erhebliche sexuelle Übergriffe», sagte der Vorsitzende Richter Burkhard Pöpperl. Der Geistliche hatte die Taten aus den 1990er Jahren vor Gericht gestanden. Das Kind war bei den Übergriffen in Bayern und Hessen sechs bis zehn Jahre alt.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Abendzeitung

[Summary: A Catholic priest in Wurzburg has been found guilty of child sexual abuse and sentenced to two years and nine months in prison.]

Das Landgericht Würzburg hat einen katholischen Priester wegen sexuellen Kindesmissbrauchs zu zwei Jahren und neun Monaten Gefängnis verurteilt.

Würzburg – Die Richter sprachen den 58-Jährigen am Freitag schuldig, sich in neun Fällen am Sohn seiner Haushälterin vergangen zu haben. Der Ordensmann hatte die Taten aus den 1990er im Prozess gestanden.

Das Kind war bei den Übergriffen sechs bis neun Jahre alt.

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POLAND
The News

27.09.2013

The Dominican Republic’s attorney general has called on INTERPOL to facilitate the arrest of a Polish priest who has been charged with molesting minors.

Attorney General Francisco Dominguez Brito contacted the intergovernmental organisation after a panel of judges in the Dominican Republic declared Father Wojciech Gil a “fugitive” for failing to return to the country to face charges.

Father Gil, who led a parish in the highland town of Juncalito for close to a decade, had taken children on holiday to Poland earlier this year.

However, when allegations emerged of crimes against minors in recent years, he chose not to return to his post on the Caribbean island.

“We are going to resort to all the necessary judicial resources, both locally and abroad, so this case doesn’t go unpunished,” Francisco Dominguez Brito declared in a statement.

It is understood that Father Gil is currently residing in his family village south of Krakow.

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NEW JERSEY
Courier-Post

Written by
Jim Walsh
Courier-Post

CAMDEN — A former priest at the center of an ongoing clergy sex-abuse lawsuit against the Camden diocese has died.

The death of Joseph Shannon, 87, was disclosed in a court filing in a lawsuit brought by Mark Bryson, a North Carolina man who claims he was molested by Shannon in a Camden church more than 40 years ago.

Shannon, removed from the ministry in 1990, was the subject of four sex-abuse complaints, according to a brief filed Monday by the diocese.

The brief — which challenges Bryson’s claim that he repressed memories of childhood assaults — contends the deaths of key figures in the case raise concerns about the fairness of any trial.

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NEW YORK
The Jewish Daily Forward

By Paul Berger

Dozens of former students who say they were abused by rabbis at a Yeshiva University high school waited decades too long to file their $380 million lawsuit, Y.U.’s attorneys say.

“There is no debate that the abuse each plaintiff endured, if true, is unacceptable,” the attorneys stated in a recent court filing. But “the law strikes a balance between the rights [the plaintiffs] could have exercised long ago, and the defendants’ competing rights to a fair opportunity to present evidence in their defense.

“The passage of time, fading of memories and passing of witnesses deprives defendants [of] a fair opportunity to defend themselves against plaintiffs who sat on their claims.”

Under New York State law, child victims of sexual abuse have until their 23rd birthday to file a civil lawsuit.

Kevin Mulhearn, who represents the plaintiffs in this case, argues that the statute of limitations does not apply, because Y.U. fraudulently covered up the abuse and misrepresented the safety of the school. Mulhearn’s clients are 34 former students of Yeshiva University’s High School for Boys, in Manhattan, aged 39 to 60. The former students are suing Y.U., current and former senior administrators, and trustees for $380 million in damages for abuses that they say took place between 1971 and 1992.

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ROME
Chiesa

by Sandro Magister

ROME, September 27, 2013 – In his interview with “La Civiltà Cattolica” that has gone all around the world, Pope Francis describes the Church as “a field hospital after battle,” where the very first thing to do is “heal wounds.”

But what changes when the battle is fully underway?

In his Argentina, between 1976 and 1983, Jorge Mario Bergoglio lived through the ‘years of lead’ of the military dictatorship. Kidnappings, torture, massacres, 30,000 disappeared, 500 mothers killed after giving birth in prison to children who were taken away from them.

What the young provincial of the Argentine Jesuits at the time did during those years long remained a mystery. So dense as to prompt the suspicion that he had passively witnessed the horror, or worse, had exposed to greater danger some of his confrères, those most committed among the resistance.

Last spring, immediately after his election as pope, these accusations were issued again.

They were also immediately contradicted by authoritative voices, albeit highly critical of the overall role of the Argentine Church in those years: the mothers of Plaza de Mayo, Nobel peace laureate Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, Amnesty International. The Argentine magistracy itself had exonerated Bergoglio of all accusations, after having subjected him to questioning in a proceeding between 2010 and 2011.

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REPUBLICA DOMINICANA
El Mensajero

AP

SANTO DOMINGO, República Dominicana — La Procuraduría General de República Dominicana solicitó el jueves el apoyo de Interpol para detener al sacerdote polaco Gil Wojciech, quien se encuentra prófugo desde que en mayo fue acusado de abuso sexual contra varios niños.

“Esperamos contar con la colaboración de los organismos internacionales” para que Wojciech “pueda ser juzgado en República Dominicana”, manifestó el procurador general Francisco Domínguez Brito en un comunicado enviado a Interpol y a la policía local.

El funcionario precisó que el cura de 36 años “se ausentó de su domicilio y del país para sustraerse del proceso que se sigue en su contra por supuesta violación y agresión sexual agravada” contra menores de edad.

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ILLINOIS
Chicago Tribune

By Lisa Black and Alexandra Chachkevitch, Chicago Tribune reporters
7:04 a.m. CDT, September 27, 2013

A request by a Glenview church to suspend its priest until the conclusion of a criminal investigation that involves him has prompted a sharp rebuke from the leader of the Greek Orthodox Church in Chicago, who then ordered the removal of the parish council president who made the request.

James Gottreich, council president at Sts. Peter and Paul Church, wrote last week to Metropolitan Iakovos, the patriarch of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Chicago, asking that the Glenview church’s pastor, the Rev. James Dokos, be placed on leave until the out-of-state criminal probe has wrapped up.

The district attorney’s office in Milwaukee confirmed it has launched a formal investigation into how money was distributed from a $1.3 million trust fund set up to benefit Annunciation Church in Milwaukee. Dokos oversaw the trust fund as pastor at Annunciation before being transferred to Sts. Peter and Paul last year.

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NEW JERSEY
The Record

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 27, 2013
BY HANNAN ADELY
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD

HACKENSACK – Newark Archbishop John J. Myers visited the Bergen County Courthouse on Thursday, months after a local priest was arrested on seven counts accusing him of violating a lifetime ban on ministering to children, charges that were referred to a grand jury.

The priest, the Rev. Michael Fugee, a former assistant pastor of a Wyckoff parish, was found guilty in 2003 of groping a teenage boy, but the conviction was overturned three years later because of a judicial error. He and the archdiocese later signed an agreement with the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office that barred him from working with children. He was returned to the ministry in 2009.

Prosecutors in May charged Fugee with seven felony counts of contempt of a judicial order, claiming he violated the agreement by hearing confessions from minors seven times from April 2010 to December 2012 at various churches, a retreat center and a private home.

A grand jury typically decides in private whether felony charges are credible enough to indict. Fugee has not been indicted. He was released on $25,000 bail.

It’s unclear why Myers was at the courthouse, which also is where the Prosecutor’s Office is located.

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PERU
RPP

El arzobispo metropolitano de Ayacucho, monseñor Salvador Piñeiro, a su retorno de su viaje a Estados Unidos, brindó una conferencia de prensa con relación a la destitución del exobispo Gabino Miranda Melgarejo, en la que dijo desconocer los motivos de su dimisión como sacerdote.

“Soy amigo de la verdad y les digo que recién me enteré el 05 de julio, cuando la anunciatura me llamó y de manera verbal me dijo que para mi obispo auxiliar había esta pena canónica. Cuando los juicios son en relación con sacerdotes lo asume el obispo y cuando son de obispos lo asume directamente la Santa Sede. No sé cuáles son las causas, ni quiénes son los denunciantes; es contra el sexto mandamiento. Mañana a primera hora responderé al Ministerio Público. No tenemos nada que encubrir, ni nada que mentir”, dijo enfáticamente.

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PERU
La Republica

[Summary: Archbishop Savador Pineiro said that former Bishop Gabino Miranda was given time by the church to rebut the accusations of pedophilia but never did. The archbishop said he was informed of the action against Miranda on July 5 through verbal communication from the apostolic nunciature and said the action against Miranda taken by Pope Francis which included laicization. He was asked the reasons for the extreme measure by the Holy Father and the archbishop replied it was a “pontifical secret.” He said the sanctions involved sins against the sixth commandment which were recognized as being most serious. He believes Pope Francis must have had sufficient reason to impose the penalty.]

El arzobispo de Ayacucho, monseñor Salvador Piñeiro, declaró que el padre Gabino Miranda Melgarejo tuvo suficiente tiempo para ofrecer sus descargos ante las acusaciones pero que nunca lo hizo.

Doris Aguirre

La Iglesia peruana se niega a revelar por qué el ex arzobispo auxiliar de Ayacucho Gabino Miranda Melgarejo fue despojado de los hábitos y expulsado del clero.

El presidente de la Conferencia Episcopal del Perú (CEP), y arzobispo de Ayacucho, monseñor Salvador Piñeiro García-Calderón, afirmó que desconocía completamente el motivo de la drástica sanción impuesta por el Vaticano contra Miranda. No obstante, como obispo auxiliar de Ayacucho, el defenestrado sacerdote actuaba como brazo derecho de Piñeiro.

“No tengo ningún temor de decir la verdad sobre este lamentable caso. El 5 de julio de este año, mediante una comunicación verbal de la Nunciatura Apostólica, fui informado de la decisión del Santo Padre Francisco. Luego de recibir la denuncia (contra el ex obispo Miranda), investigó y castigó. Lo sancionó con la pena más rigurosa para un clérigo: la pérdida total del estado clerical, el retorno a la vida laical”, relató monseñor Piñeiro a La República.

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PERU
Diario Correo

[Summary: Archbishop Salvador Pineiro of Ayacucho said yesterday that former Bishop Bishop Gabino Miranda is currently staying with a family in Lima and is recovering from a gall bladder operation. The archbishop said he never received a complaint regarding alleged abuse by MIranda. At a press conference, the archbishop said he will provide the attorney general with all documents that they requested. He asked the people of Ayacucho to pray for him that he be a good shepherd. He thanked the people who support Miranda but asked them to cease their mobilization on the former bishop’s behalf and to accept the punishment meted out by the Vatican.

26 SEPTIEMBRE 2013 | AYACUCHO –

El arzobispo de Ayacucho, Salvador Piñeiro, reveló que el ex obispo Gabino Miranda -acusado presuntamente de pedofilia- habría sido operado en las últimas horas y estaría con una familia en Lima.

En conferencia de prensa en Ayacucho, monseñor Salvador Piñeiro aseguró que él es el mas afectado con el tema y contó que Gabino Miranda viene siendo acogido pro una familia en la capital y que se está recuperando de una operación a la vesícula.

El obispo de Ayacucho dijo que está muy apenado y que nunca recibió una denuncia y desconoce a los agraviados. Recalcó que es tema muy delicado y hay que tener respeto a las personas.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Big Trial

By Ralph Cipriano
for Bigtrial.net

District Attorney Seth Williams announced the arrest this morning of another Roman Catholic priest, charging Father Robert L. Brennan with rape, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and aggravated indecent assault.

Father Brennan, 75, a known abuser with 20 previous alleged victims, was charged with sexually assaulting an altar boy between 1998 and 2001, when the latest victim was between 11 and 14 years old. The altar boy was allegedly assaulted at Resurrection of Our Lord Parish in Northeast Philadelphia, where Father Brennan served as assistant pastor. The crimes, according to the D.A., supposedly took place in the church sacristy, the priest’s bedroom in the church rectory, a storage area on parish property, and in a movie theater.

The victim in this case, now 26, came forward in January 2013, six months after a jury convicted Msgr. William J. Lynn of endangering the welfare of a child. The D.A. said the latest victim was inspired by the Lynn verdict. Lynn was the first Catholic administrator in the country to go to jail for failing to adequately supervise sexually abusive priests. The allegations in the new arrest are eerily similar to the Billy Doe case.

Meanwhile, D.A. Williams used the press conference to again attack Msgr. Lynn for not reigning in abusive priests. But when push came to shove, Williams said his office had declined to indict Lynn on another child endangerment charge, because the crime in this latest case missed the statute of limitations by 3 months.

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AUSTRALIA
The West Australian

A Catholic priest has been charged with child abuse offences dating back 30 years.

Child Abuse Squad detectives have charged the 60-year-old man in relation to child abuse offences which are alleged to have occurred in the Peel District and North West Metropolitan District between 1983 and 1986.

Police will allege that the accused man, who was, and still is a Catholic Priest, met the victim through Church-related activities in the Peel District.

It will be further alleged the accused man abused his position of authority over the victim, who was aged between 15 and 17 years old at the time of the alleged offences, to perform indecent and sexual acts.

The accused man was aged between 30 and 32 years old at the time of the alleged offences.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

A 60 year-old priest working in the Peel District, south of Perth, has been charged with child sex offences.

It is alleged the Catholic priest abused a boy aged under 17 between 1983 and 1986.

Police say it will be alleged the priest was aged about 32 when he engaged in indecent sexual acts with the boy.

He has been charged with four counts of unlawful and indecent assault, attempted carnal knowledge and carnal knowledge against the order of nature.

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ARGENTINA
Pagina/12

El sacerdote recurrió a la Cámara de Garantías, aunque ese tribunal ya había pedido su detención en abril pasado. El martes, el Comité por los Derechos del Niño presentará ante la Corte nacional un recurso para que Grassi sea condenado también en los otros casos.

Por Carlos Rodríguez

La defensa de Julio César Grassi apeló ante la Cámara de Garantías de Morón el fallo del Tribunal Oral 1 que ordenó la detención, en una cárcel común, del cura condenado a 15 años de prisión por “abuso sexual agravado y corrupción de menores agravada”.

Consultado al respecto, el abogado Juan Pablo Gallego, querellante en la causa contra Grassi, dijo estar “muy tranquilo porque después del fallo del lunes, es imposible que pueda recuperar su libertad; hay que tener en cuenta que esa misma Cámara de Garantías, en abril de este año, había pedido la detención del cura, la que no se concretó porque hubo una apelación que estuvo varios meses sin ser resuelta por la Cámara de Casación”.

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ARGENTINA
Minuto Uno

[Summary: Lawyers for two other alleged victims of priest Julio Cesar Grassi petitioned the Supreme Court yesterday to extend Grassi’s sentence to 37 years. He is now jailed for 15 years. In the meantime, Grassi’s lawyers have filed yet another appeal.]

Los abogados que representan a “Luis” y “Ezequiel” presentarán en las próximas dos semanas un recurso ante la Corte Suprema de Justicia de la Nación pidiendo que se amplíe a 37 años la condena a Julio Grassi con la inclusión de esos dos casos de abuso que no fueron tenidos en cuenta por las tres instancias anteriores.

En tanto, la defensa del cura presentó este jueves el recurso contra la detención ante la Cámara de Garantías y Apelaciones de Morón basándose en el hecho de que no existe peligro de fuga y que la condena no está firme, ya que también presentarán una apelación extraordinaria a la Corte Suprema pero para pedir que revea todo el caso.

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ARGENTINA
InfoRegion

Los abogados defensores de dos víctimas aseguraron que presentarán ante la Corte Suprema de Justicia de la Nación un recurso para ampliar a 37 años la condena que recibió el sacerdote Julio César Grassi, quien está acusado de abusar sexualmente de menores. Se busca incorporar estos dos casos, que no habían sido tenidos en cuenta en las tres instancias anteriores.

Los abogados defensores de “Luis” y “Ezequiel” presentarán en las próximas dos semanas un recurso ante la Corte Suprema de Justicia con el fin de ampliar a 37 años la condena que recibió el cura Julio César Grassi por abuso de menores. Así se pretende incluir en la pena estos dos cosas, que no fueron tenidos en cuenta en las instancias anteriores.

En tanto, la defensa del cura presentó hoy el recurso contra la detención ante la Cámara de Garantías y Apelaciones de Morón basándose en el hecho de que no existe peligro de fuga y que la condena no está firme, ya que también presentarán una apelación extraordinaria a la Corte Suprema pero para pedir que revea todo el caso.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Church Times

Posted: 27 Sep 2013

The problem of sexual predators in churches needs to be addressed, says Susanna Gridley

THE phrase “sexual abuse” in a church context brings to mind paedophile priests (News, 24 May; Comment, 17 May). Like everyone else, however, most religious leaders are attracted not to children, but to other adults.

A survey by the ecumenical support organisation Minister and Clergy Sexual Abuse Survivors (MACSAS), The Stones Cry Out(2011, available on its website), says that: “Almost completely below the public …

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UNITED STATES
Religion News Service

Sarah Pulliam Bailey | Sep 26, 2013

The Christian mission field “is a magnet” for sex abusers, Boz Tchividjian, a Liberty University law professor who investigates abuse said Thursday (Sept. 26) to a room of journalists.

While comparing evangelicals to Catholics on abuse response, ”I think we are worse,” he said at the Religion Newswriters Association conference. But it’s harder to track.

“Protestants can be very arrogant when pointing to Catholics,” said Tchividjian, a grandson of evangelist Billy Graham and executive director of Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment (GRACE), which has investigated sex abuse allegations.

Mission agencies, “where abuse is most prevalent,” often don’t report abuse because they fear being tossed from countries, he said. Abusers will get sent home and might join another agency. Of known data from abuse cases, 25 percent are repeat cases.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC Brisbane

27 September 2013 , 4:27 PM by Heather Stott

The Catholic Church is no stranger to controversy, especially when it comes to claims of sexual abuse and fiscal corruption.

Now, three Catholic Bishops are joining with 100 church organisations, calling on Pope Francis to acknowledge the rights of Catholics when it comes to making decisions on these issues within their church.

Two of the three, Geoffrey Robinson and Bill Morris, join Tim Cox in the studio…

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WEST VIRGINIA
Charleston Daily Mail

A local pastor has pleaded not guilty to multiple charges of child sexual abuse relating to acts that allegedly occurred with family members 25 years ago.

Christopher Mark Winnell was arraigned by Kanawha Circuit Judge Paul Zakaib. The judge granted a $25,000 bond with a 10 percent cash option and gave Winnell until Monday to post it.

If Winnell makes bond, he is ordered to be on home confinement pending a Dec. 9 trial. The judge also ordered that he not be in contact with anyone under the age of 18.

Winnell was indicted by a grand jury after a victim recently contacted authorities. The 12-count indictment alleges he had sexual contact with three children.

His attorney said Winnell denied the allegations and called the indictment “sensational.”

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WEST VIRGINIA
WCHS

A Kanawha County pastor was in court Thursday charged in connection with a decades old sexual abuse case.

Christopher Winnell is accused of molesting three boys who were close family members.

The alleged abuse took place in Sissonville 25 years ago.

Winnell was just recently indicted in the case. He pleaded not guilty to the charges Thursday.

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DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
KENS

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) — The Dominican Republic’s attorney general asked for Interpol’s help Thursday in detaining a Polish priest who has been accused of sexual abuse involving three children in this largely Roman Catholic country.

The Rev. Wojciech Gil was in Poland on vacation when the allegations surfaced in late May and has not returned to the Dominican Republic, where he led a parish in the mountain town of Juncalito for eight years. He has denied wrongdoing in phone calls to Dominican reporters.

In a statement, Attorney General Francisco Dominguez Brito said he hoped for the collaboration of Interpol and other international organizations in detaining Gil so he “can be judged in the Dominican Republic.”

The father of one of the alleged victims has charged that his son was molested by the priest for about three years. A complaint against the 36-year-old priest also alleges he promised two other children that he would take them to the beach and to Europe if they dressed in thong underwear and appeared in videos and photos.

Gil took Dominican altar boys on vacation to Poland several times and lodged them at his mother’s house and at the local parish house, Polish media have reported.

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DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Hong Kong Standard

(09-27 11:23)

The Dominican Republic’s attorney general asked for Interpol’s help in detaining a Polish priest accused of sexual abuse involving three children in this largely Roman Catholic country.

The Reverend Wojciech Gil was in Poland on vacation when the allegations surfaced in late May and has not returned to the Dominican Republic, where he led a parish in the mountain town of Juncalito for eight years. He has denied wrongdoing in phone calls to Dominican reporters, AP reports.

In a statement, Attorney General Francisco Dominguez Brito said he hoped for the collaboration of Interpol and other international organizations in detaining Gil so he “can be judged in the Dominican Republic.”

The father of one of the alleged victims has charged that his son was molested by the priest for about three years. A complaint against the 36-year-old priest also alleges he promised two other children that he would take them to the beach and to Europe if they dressed in thong underwear and appeared in videos and photos.

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AUSTRALIA
Mandurah Mail

By Catherine Botman Sept. 27, 2013

A 60-YEAR-OLD local Catholic priest has been charged with five historic child abuse offences.

The man, who cannot be named until his court appearance, met the victim through church-related activities in the Peel district between 1983 and 1986.

It is alleged the man “abused his position of authority” and forced the victim, then aged between 15-17 years of age, to perform indecent and sexual acts.

The man has been charged with four counts of unlawful and indecent assault and two subsequent abuse charges after an investigation by Child Abuse Squad detectives.

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Telegraph

KAITLYN OFFER PERTH NOW SEPTEMBER 27, 2013

A CATHOLIC priest has been charged with historic child sex abuse offences alleged to have occurred in the mid-1980s.

Child Abuse Squad detectives charged the 60-year-old in relation to alleged sexual acts that occurred between 1983 and 1986 in the Peel and North West Metropolitan Districts.

It will be alleged the accused man – who was and still is a Catholic priest – met the victim through church-related activities in the Peel District.

Police will further allege the priest abused his position of authority over the victim, who was aged between 15 and 17 years old at the time, to perform indecent and sexual acts.

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

A 60-year-old Catholic priest has been charged with child abuse alleged to have occurred in Perth and south of the city 30 years ago.

Police claim the man met the victim through church-related activities in the Peel district.

It will be further alleged he abused his position of authority to make his victim perform indecent and sexual acts.

The victim was aged between 15 and 17 at the time of the abuse, which is said to have occurred between 1983 and 1986.

The priest has been charged with four counts of unlawful and indecent assault, and one count each of attempted carnal knowledge and carnal knowledge against the order of nature.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Daily News

MENSAH M. DEAN, DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER DEANM@PHILLYNEWS.COM, 215-568-8278
POSTED: Friday, September 27, 2013

A FORMER Philadelphia Catholic priest has been arrested and charged with sexually assaulting an altar boy, the Philadelphia district attorney announced yesterday.

The Rev. Robert L. Brennan, 75, was arrested Wednesday night in Maryland and charged with rape and related crimes for allegedly abusing the boy from 1998 to 2001, when he was 11 to 14 years old. Brennan, who was in his early 60s at the time of the alleged assault, was an assistant pastor at Resurrection of Our Lord Parish, in the Northeast.

D.A. Seth Williams said the boy’s abuse was facilitated by the inaction of Monsignor William Lynn, the disgraced former secretary of the clergy for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

Lynn, 62, who was convicted last year of child endangerment for failing to discipline predatory priests, is serving a three-to-six-year sentence in state prison. He has appealed.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
CNN

By Ross Levitt, CNN
updated 2:15 AM EDT, Fri September 27, 2013

(CNN) — A Philadelphia priest who narrowly escaped prosecution during a recent clergy abuse scandal that rocked the city’s archdiocese has been arrested on charges that include raping an altar boy.

In a grand jury presentation in 2005, the Philadelphia District Attorney’s office revealed allegations against Father Robert Brennan, now 75, that included more than 20 alleged child sex abuse victims, according to Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams.

All of the cases were beyond the statute of limitations, and Brennan was never charged in that case, Williams said at a press conference Thursday.

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COLORADO
The Gazette

By Matt Steiner Published: September 26, 2013

A 4th Judicial District judge sentenced Colorado Springs Catholic priest Charles Robert “Bob” Manning to four years probation Thursday after he was convicted in July of two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

Manning, who was acquitted July 3 of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old altar boy, apologized to the victim, his family, the court and the Diocese of Colorado Springs before Judge Robin Chittum handed down his sentence.

The 78-year-old who is confined to a wheel chair and on oxygen echoed the apology just outside the courtroom.

“I’m very sorry for what I did,” he said. “I’m just glad this is all over. It’s been a long road.”

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CANADA
The Chronicle-Herald

A former altar boy at Immaculate Conception Parish Church in Truro is suing the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Halifax for alleged sexual abuse by a priest.

Court papers filed Wednesday in Nova Scotia Supreme Court allege the claimant was fondled by the priest when he was between the ages of 14 and 15, and that the archdiocese is vicariously liable for the priest’s actions.

The papers claim the assaults and resulting injuries were caused by “the negligence, infliction of mental distress, breach of trust, breach of non-delegable duty and breach of fiduciary duty of the archdiocese,” and of its employees.

The negligence, the court papers allege, includes the archdiocese’s failure to take steps to implement programs or procedures to supervise the priest, to take steps to counsel or prevent him from assaulting the claimant and to use reasonable care in the ordination, training, supervision and employment of the priest.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Catholics4Change

SEPTEMBER 26, 2013 BY SUSAN MATTHEWS

Please call your Pennsylvania state rep and say you want the statute of limitations removed for child sex abuse. Protect children by exposing predators hiding behind the current law. Father Robert Brennan had many victims who don’t fall within the current statutes. For them, there is no justice. How many more abusers are roaming free in our communities because they can’t be prosecuted?

There is no statute for murder. Why should there be one for child sex abuse. Find your State Rep contact info by clicking here.

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REPUBLICA DOMINICANA
Noticias SIN

[con video]

[Summary: Archbishop Ramon Benito de la Rosa said Tuesday that the former apostolic nuncio who is accused to sexually abusing minors must face Dominican justice. Priest Wojciech Gil must also face justice, he said.]

SANTO DOMINGO, República Dominicana.- Monseñor Ramón Benito de la Rosa y Carpio dijo este martes que el ex nuncio apostólico y los sacerdotes acusados de pederastia deben enfrentar la justicia dominicana.

El escándalo que envuelve al ex nuncio Josef Wesolowski y al padre Alberto Gil debe ser juzgado por la justicia, según Monseñor Ramón Benito de la Rosa y Carpio.

De la Rosa y Carpio explica que veía normal la relación del ex nuncio con el padre Alberto Wojciech, asegura no entender como un sacerdote es capaz de violar las normas de la iglesia.

Monseñor de la Rosa y Carpio expresó que a pesar de este escándalo los feligreses en vez de dar la espalda a la iglesia, oran en abundancia por los sacerdotes y obispos del país.

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REPUBLICAN DOMINICANA
Al Momento

Por ELVIRA GUILLEN

SANTO DOMINGO.- El procurador general de la República Dominicana emitió este jueves una orden de captura internacional, contra el padre polaco Wojciech Gil (Aberto Gil) acusado de violación de menores.

Francisco Domínguez Brito colocó la orden en el sistema de la INTERPOL. La solicitud del se produce luego que los jueces del Tribunal de la Cámara Penal de la Corte de Apelación de Santiago declararan la rebeldía contra el imputado.

Fue sustentada en virtud de que el sacerdote se ausentó de su domicilio y del país para sustraerse del proceso que se sigue en su contra por los supuestos hechos que cometió en la localidad de Juncalito, del municipio de Jánico, provincia Santiago.

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REPUBLICA DOMINICANA
La Opinion

[Summary: The priest Wojciech Gil, who is accused to child sexual abuse in the community of Juncalito, had stored more than 87,000 pornographic pictures and videos on the parish computer. Prosecutor Bolivar Sanchez said Gil at 7:35 a.m. on May 27 asked a deacon to take out the computer hard drive.]

Santo Domingo, 23 sep – El sacerdote Wojciech Gil, conocido como el “padre Alberto” y acusado de abuso de menores en la comunidad de Juncalito, en Santiago (al norte del país), tenía más de 87 mil fotos y videos en la computadora de la parroquia con imágenes de actos pornográficos.

Según las investigaciones de los representantes de la fiscalía a través del procurador adjunto Bolívar Sánchez, una de las personas entrevistadas con relación al caso del destituido nuncio Josef Wesolowski, dijo haber visto fotos y vídeos pornográficos como los encontrados en la computadora portátil del religioso y que lo comprometen para ser juzgado por pornografía infantil.

Sánchez detalló que el pasado 27 de mayo, a las 7:35 de la mañana, Gil llamó a un diácono para pedirle que sacara el disco duro de la computadora y que, al obtener la información, el religioso entendió que había “cosas comprometedoras”.

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DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Dominican Today

Santo Domingo.- Dominican Republic’s top prosecutor on Thursday asked INTERPOL to arrest Polish national Wojciech Gil (Padre Alberto), indicted on several counts of sexually molesting at least seven minors.

Justice minister Francisco Dominguez’s request comes just hours after a panel of judges from the Santiago District Criminal Court declared the accused a fugitive, for failing to appear to face the pedophilia charges filed the parents of the boys in the village of Juncalito, in that north-central province.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
My Fox Philly

[with video]

A serial predator is now behind bars thanks to the brave actions of this young man. Those words are from District Attorney Seth Williams as he announced the arrest of 75-year-old Rev. Robert l. Brennan.

Brennan is accused of sexually assaulted an 11-year-old altar boy here at the Resurrection of Our Lord Parish from 1998 to 2001.

The assaults allegedly took place in the sacristy of the church in Reverend Brennan’s bedroom in the rector inside a storage area on parish property and at a movie theater.

Brennan was arrested at a private residence in Maryland Wednesday night. The DA said the now 26-year old victim bravely came forward last January and told officials at the Arch Diocese.

Williams went on to say that convicted monsignor William Lynn continued to transfer father Brennan from church to church despite numerous warning even reports at resurrection of our lord parish.

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UNITED STATES
Christian Post

BY MICHAEL GRYBOSKI, CHRISTIAN POST REPORTER
September 26, 2013

A Missouri-based group devoted to helping victims of clerical sexual abuse is critical of former Pope Benedict XVI’s recent claim that he did not hide sexual abuse incidents.

Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) of St. Louis took issue with Benedict XVI’s recently published letter denying involvement in a cover-up.

David Clohessy, executive director of SNAP, told The Christian Post that the Pope Emeritus’ recent words were “hurtful and deceitful.”

“They rub salt into the already deep and still fresh wounds of tens of thousands of clergy sex abuse victims and millions of betrayed Catholics,” said Clohessy. “And we’re deeply saddened that not a single one of the world’s tens of thousands of bishops and priests has the courage to publicly dispute Benedict’s self-serving, misleading and callous comments.”

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