ABUSE TRACKER

VATICAN CITY
BBC News

Pope Francis has named a new secretary of state, in what is seen as his most significant appointment since he became leader of the Catholic Church in March.

Archbishop Pietro Parolin, a 58-year-old Vatican diplomat, replaced Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, 79, who is retiring.

Cardinal Bertone, appointed by Francis’ predecessor Pope Benedict, had been widely criticised over last year’s so-called “Vatileaks” scandals.

Leaked documents revealed corruption and infighting at the Vatican.

The secretary of state heads the Roman Curia, the central administration of the Catholic Church, and is the Pope’s chief adviser.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Derby Telegraph

A FORMER Derby priest has been charged with 27 offences of sexual assualt against children.

Francis Paul Cullen appeared at Southern Derbyshire Magistrates’ Court this morning and was charged with 16 counts of indecent assualt on a boy under the age of 16.

The 85-year-old was also charged with 10 counts of gross indecency involving a boy under the age of 14 and one further sexual offence.

Cullen, who spent 18 years working at Christ the King Catholic Church, Mackworth estate, was extradited from Tenerife, where he had been living.

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CANADA
Victoria News

By Kyle Wells – Goldstream News Gazette
Published: August 30, 2013

Laurie McDonald is First Nations residential school survivor, having attended the Ermineskin residential school in Alberta as a child.

He witnessed abuse in the form of neglect, physical and sexual abuse of children and emotional abuse.

“All those things were part of it,” said McDonald, an instructor at the Caring for First Nations Children Society in Langford. “It’s not ancient history. And we’re certainly feeling the affects of it.”

Today the healing from this dark chapter in Canadian history continues with the Truth and Reconciliation process, which strives to help all Canadians to move forward through understanding and acceptance.

Tuesday, Sept. 3 brings a Truth and Reconciliation community event to the Caring for First Nations Children Society (664 Granderson Rd.). The society will host an open house and two elders from the Tsawout First Nation will speak on their experiences and the importance of the reconciliation process.

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NEW YORK
Jewish Daily Forward

Editorial

Here are the numbers you need to know regarding the Yeshiva University sex scandal. Nearly two dozen students first told the Forward that they were physicially and sexually abused by staff members at Y.U.’s high school for boys. Eventually, 34 of those students sued the school. The university spent a reported $2.5 million on an eight-month investigation by the respected law firm Sullivan & Cromwell, in which about 145 people were interviewed and 70,000 pertinent emails reviewed.

But in the end, the actual hard findings in the report released August 26, acknowledging abuse and cover-up in only vague terms, were contained in precisely 200 words.

Two hundred words are no match for the years of pain suffered by students at the hands of their rabbis. Two hundred words are no answer to the haunting question of why multiple people in authority at America’s flagship Orthodox educational institution repeatedly ignored pleas by the students they were entrusted to keep safe. Two hundred words hardly explains how these abusers were allowed to quietly leave the school and take jobs with other Jewish institutions in the United States and Israel without ever being held accountable.

The justification that Y.U. offers for its brief, public explanation of what went wrong for decades at various branches of the school is “pending litigation.” That is, the $380 million lawsuit brought by 34 former students who allege that university officials knowingly covered up the abuse, a suit that is now slowly winding its way through U.S. District Court.

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UNITED STATES
Pope Crimes & Vatican Evils…

Paris Arrow

Below we cite an excerpt from the book The Celestine Prophecy that describes what is going on before our eyes in the USA today – between the Medieval Vatican and its obsolete doctrines and irrelevant dogmas – and the New Age American nuns who have evolved with the American people. The Machiavellian strategy of all male despots and male autocrats including and specially the Vatican is to suppress, kill, mock, banish or silence their members who disobey or disagree with their totalitarian obsolete decrees because these members consequently and effectively expose their monarchical deceits and crimes. With its Dark Ages doctrines, the Middles Ages Vatican is fearful of the New Age American nuns who are more in numbers than the dying breed of Catholic priests because these nuns have first-hand influence on the populace while the Vatican and its princes of Bishops and Cardinals are far-flung in Rome or are living in the lap of luxury in their Episcopalian palaces out-of-touch with reality away from its people. So the way they control these nuns is by final condemnations, destructions of their reputations and excommunication or banishments – exactly as the Celestine Prophecy describes.

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REPUBLICA DOMINICANA
Noticias Sin

CONSTANZA, República Dominicana.- Las recientes publicaciones en diversos medios del país, que acusan y señalan al sacerdote Juan Manuel Mota de Jesús, alias Johnny, de abuso sexual a tres menores, han causado gran controversia en el municipio de Constanza.

Personas devotas de la iglesia católica y allegados al cura repudian las informaciones que circulan en los medios.

Otros destacan su labor social y descartan cualquier acusación.

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REPUBLICA DOMINICANA
Noticias Sin

[con video]

POR WELLINGTON CARPIO
30/08/20130

SANTO DOMINGO, República Dominicana.- El sacerdote católico, Juan Manuel Mota de Jesús, acusado de violar sexualmente a tres menores en Constanza, se quejó este viernes de que la sociedad lo haya condenado sin investigar las imputaciones en su contra.

Mientras que el Ministerio Público de La Vega inició las indagatorias sobre el caso. Al hablar por la vía telefónica para Noticias SIN, el procurador general de la Corte de la Vega, Víctor González, confirmó que fue apoderado del caso y desde ya trabaja en el.

De su lado el cura, mejor conocido como el padre Johnny, dijo que no está escondido ni huyendo y pidió a su feligresía y gente de bien de la Iglesia que oren por él y dijo estar sorprendido de las acusaciones en su contra publicadas en medios de comunicación locales

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UNITED KINGDOM/TENERIFE
Derby Telegraph

Saturday, August 31, 2013

By Zena Hawley

A FORMER Derby priest being extradited from Tenerife to face allegations of sexual abuse involving altar boys over three decades appears to have “lived like a ghost” on the Spanish island.

Francis Paul Cullen, 85, who spent 18 years working at Christ the King Catholic Church, Mackworth estate, has been detained on a European arrest warrant issued by Britain.

He travelled to the National Court in Madrid to face extradition proceedings but his neighbours back in Arona said they hardly knew him.

Miguel Gutierrez said: “We knew nothing of the priest until we saw the police activity. If this man has lived here for as long as they say then it is amazing – we have never noticed him here.”

German Beate Weber, 47, who also lives and works in Arona, said: “I spoke with the police because we had heard about an arrest. They said he had been keeping himself quiet – as if he was living like a ghost.

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GEORGIA
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

By Alexis Stevens
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

A Cobb County pastor was arrested Wednesday for allegedly molesting a 6-year-old girl at church.

John Aubrey Pinkston, 76, of Dallas, was charged with child molestation and sexual battery for allegedly touching the child between July and August, according to an arrest warrant obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Pinkston is the founder and pastor of Congregation of God Seventh Day church on South Main Street in Kennesaw, according to the church’s website. An ordained minister for more than 30 years, Pinkston is also an author and the voice of “Watch America” radio and television programs, according to his online biography.

According to investigators, Pinkston allegedly reached inside a 6-year-old’s clothes and touched her.

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MINNESOTA
KTTC

ROCHESTER, Minn. (KTTC) — The Diocese of Winona is facing a lawsuit after a former altar boy has come forward accusing a priest of abuse.

St. Paul attorney Jeff Anderson is filing the lawsuit on behalf of 61-year-old Bill Beardmore.

Beardmore now lives in Iowa, but attended church at St. John’s Parish in Caledonia, and was 12-years-old when Father Thomas Adamson allegedly raped him.

The lawsuit is seeking the disclosure of 13 priests from the Diocese of Winona who have credible complaints of sexual abuse made against them.

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CITTA DEL VATICANO
Bolletino – Vatican Information Service

[Summary: The Holy Father Francis has accepted, according to Can. 354 of the Code of Canon Law, the resignation of His Eminence Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Secretary of State, asking him, however, to remain in office until 15 October 2013, with all the faculties belonging to that office.

At the same time, the Holy Father appointed Archbishop Pietro Parolin, Apostolic Nuncio to Venezuela, as the new Secretary of State. He will take possession of his office Oct. 15, 2013.]

Il Santo Padre Francesco ha accettato, secondo il Can. 354 del Codice di Diritto Canonico, le dimissioni di Sua Eminenza il Card. Tarcisio Bertone, Segretario di Stato, chiedendogli, però, di rimanere in carica fino al 15 ottobre 2013, con tutte le facoltà inerenti a tale ufficio.

Nel medesimo tempo il Santo Padre ha nominato S.E. Mons. Pietro Parolin, Nunzio Apostolico in Venezuela, come nuovo Segretario di Stato. Egli prenderà possesso del suo ufficio il 15 ottobre 2013.

In quell’occasione, Sua Santità riceverà in Udienza Superiori ed Officiali della Segreteria di Stato, per ringraziare pubblicamente il Card. Tarcisio Bertone per il suo fedele e generoso servizio alla Santa Sede e per presentare loro il nuovo Segretario di Stato.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

An 85-year-old Catholic priest has appeared before magistrates in Derby charged with sexually abusing boys in the East Midlands.

Francis Paul Cullen was extradited from Tenerife, where police said he had lived “for some time”.

He faces 27 charges relating to sexual offences against boys under the ages of 15, dating back nearly 50 years.

He has been remanded in custody and is due to appear at Derby Crown Court in September.

Derby Magistrates heard Mr Cullen was originally charged in 2000.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
KTVI

August 30, 2013, by Vera Culley

ST. LOUIS, MO (KTVI) – A St. Louis priest will spend the next three years in federal prison for possession of child pornography.

Father William Vatterott, 37, pleaded guilty to the charges and was sentenced to 37 months in jail by U.S. District Judge E. Richard Webber.

The allegations stemmed from an investigation by the Missouri Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force in which Vatterott was said to have possessed child porn between June 2010 and June 2011.

The St. Louis Archdiocese placed Vatterott on administrative leave from St. Cecilia after being informed about an incident involving underaged drinking. The Archdiocese says at that time, there was no mention of child pornography, but did cooperate with the investigation.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
ConnectMidMissouri

ST. LOUIS, MO (AP) — A St. Louis Roman Catholic priest has been sentenced to more than three years in prison for possessing child pornography.

The Rev. William F. Vatterott was sentenced Friday in U.S. District Court after pleading guilty to one count of possession of child pornography.

Vatterott was indicted in April after authorities alleged he possessed at least two images of an unidentified nude boy on his computer.

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HAWAII
The Worthy Adversary

Posted by Joelle Casteix on August 30, 2013

What do you do when your umbrella organization files for bankruptcy (to avoid costly sex abuse civil trials); ten of your former teachers are exposed as perpetrators; and at least 15 former students come forward to say they were sexually abused by your teachers and brothers?

Swindle the state of Hawaii out of $1.5 million, of course.

Damien Memorial School, Honolulu’s hotbed of alleged child sex crimes, has just been granted $1.5 million in state (read: taxpayer) money for capital improvements. The problem? Damien fudged on the application, dramatically and untruthfully understating the legal mess they are facing because of child sex abuse and cover-up.

From page 11 of the application, dated January 2013:

Litigation
The applicant shall disclose any pending litigation to which they are a party, including the disclosure of any outstanding judgment. If applicable, please explain.

Three lawsuits are pending against Damien and the Roman Catholic Church in Hawaii for which Damien has denied all allegations and is represented by counsel for the Diocese. No judgments have been entered.

There is no mention of the 15 legal claims that were pending against the school at the time. (the $16.5 million settlement was not announced until May 2013). Nor is there any mention of the fact that victims still have the right sue the school and a civil window granting them the right to do so.

The school could be on the hook for millions in compensation for the kids who were sexually abused by priests and brothers while they were Damien students. But the Christian Brothers of Hawaii have no problem raiding public coffers – money much better used for the public schools in the state.

Damien officials KNEW that were knee-deep in legal trouble when they filled out the grant application. But did they disclose? No.

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FRANCE
JTA

August 30, 2013
(JTA) — French police have arrested two Jewish men from Paris on suspicion they pressured parents of allegedly molested minors not to press charges.

The two men, identified as Andre T. and Rabbi A., were arrested July 31, according to the RTL news network. The two men deny the allegations, the report said.

The actions attributed to the men are connected to sexual abuse allegations at the Chabad-Lubavitch Beth Hannah elementary school for boys. A supervisor at the school was indicted for sexual abuse of minors last year, the French news agency AFP reported, and a principal, Rabbi Benjamin M., was indicted in February for “non-reporting of sexual abuse of minors under 15 years” of age.

The men are both senior members of the Chabad movement in the Paris region, RTL reported.

In a perceived reaction to the Beth Hannah affair, the Rabbinical Centre of Europe — an organization where senior Chabad rabbis hold key positions — issued a strongly worded statement in April urging “educational institutions to stop covering up abuse of children and in general.”

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CALIFORNIA
Restorative Justice International

Since we have been vocal regarding sexual abuse of children and the need for restorative justice we believe that this legislation should be cited here at RJI. SB 131 authored by California Senator Jim Beall, and co-authored by Senator Ricardo Lara, gives a voice to victims of abuse that is needed. The legislation is currently in the California Assembly. A vote will be taken soon on the Assembly floor.

We continue to be believe that each offender should be held accountable for the crimes he has committed. This is one way to provide relief for victims of abuse when it seems the justice system closes the door on such relief. Should there be a statute of limitations in cases of child victims of abuse? We are not so sure.

RJI believes victims-driven restorative justice should be made available to every victim of crime, including cases of sexual abuse in the U.S. and globally. Restitution is not the only response to these crimes against children that is necessary, but in many cases it seems to be the only response. Ask victims of abuse what they would want and through our experience at RJI, and through our research, we have found that victims want far more than monetary compensation from their abusers, and those who have enabled the abuse. But this is an important step through this legislation in California. California is not alone in considering legislative change similar to SB 131. These battles are happening around the U.S. with strong opposition.

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CALIFORNIA
Pope Crimes & Vatican Evils…

Paris Arrow

Updated August 30, 2013

Children should not be treated as “less sacred, worth less or less important” than Popes, Bishops and priests and their “holy robes, sacred vessels and exclusive male-club basilicas and churches”. Children who are the most vulnerable and voiceless class in our American society should have first place in our State Senate legislature and Assembly and in every heart of all senators and representatives. It is the moral duty of the California State Senate and Assembly representatives to vote for SB 131 in order to expose ALL pedophiles (priests) – especially in court – with SB 131 and render the only justice which many of our suffering American children will ever know in their lifetime .

California State Senate and Assembly representatives, you must render the final and only justice to victims of pedophiles (priests) in California – History has revealed to us as the largest numbers of victims from the systemic cover-up by the Roman Catholic Church. There are more victims out there, and therefore, you must release them from their prisons – secretly coerced and established by pedophiles (priests and their complicit Bishops).

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Joan Chittister | Aug. 30, 2013 From Where I Stand

One of the major scientific discoveries of the 20th century revolves around the role played by communication in stressful situations — the notion that a person’s communication style can soften or harden conflict depending on how it is used; the idea that simply the amount of information supplied in crucial situations affect the tone, the efficacy and the outcome of negotiations. As a result of those findings, whole corporations have changed their processes of decision-making and dissemination of information.

So with that in mind, people waited for information about the progress of the Vatican visitation of the LCWR from this year’s gathering in Orlando, Fla. Given the fact that none was forthcoming, people drew their own conclusions.

I, on the other hand, went for the one piece of data the assembly managed to produce on the subject, the homily Sartain gave to the membership. And a clear piece of communication it was.

In this homily, Mary is “quiet,” “docile,” submits herself over and has no “desire or a need to figure things out … or resolve them to her own personal satisfaction.” There was, we’re told here, no “no” or “mine” in her. The Mary of this homily is a passive receptacle of what she understands to be the Word of God.

Well, maybe. But it might be good to think about all that a bit in the light of the other things we also know about Mary. …

For instance, Mary answers the angel’s declaration to her by questioning it. An angel! Someone of much higher rank, it would seem, than even apostolic delegates, and only then with a “Be-it-done-unto-me” response to a situation to which, apparently, “no” was a viable answer. Otherwise, why bother to have the conversation?

Even more important, perhaps, is the awareness that despite the seriousness — even the danger — of her situation, Mary did not go to any man — to the high priests of the temple, the local rabbi, her father or even Joseph — for directions about what to do next. She went to another woman for the wisdom she needed and followed that instead. No visitations here.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Friday, August 30, 2013

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

Archbishop Robert Carlson, through his public relations team, says today that his employees “pray for the safety and dignity of all children in our archdiocese and around the world.” That’s not enough.

More than two years ago, Carlson should have personally gone to Fr. Vatterott’s parish, urging victims and witnesses to call police. He should do that this weekend. Tangible action like this is what will better safeguard kids.

It’s disingenuous and self-serving for Fr. Vatterott to try to blame alcohol for his heinous child sex crimes.

Everyone knows that the vast majority of alcoholics never even ponder, much less commit, child sex crimes.

Fr. Vatterott is young. (He’s in his mid-30s.) He’ll be out of prison soon. And there’s little reason to think he’ll be “cured.”

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

A Legionary of Christ, he worked with the Argentinean cardinal Eduardo Pironio for many years and has been head of Vatican City telecommunications until now

ANDREA TORNIELLI
VATICAN CITY

Following Bishop Giuseppe Sciacca’s transferral to the Apostolic Signatura, the Governorate has a new Secretary General: Fernando Vérgez Alzaga, a member of the Legionaries of Christ who has up until today been head of Vatican City telecommunications.

Fr. Vérgez was born in Salamanca, Spain, in March 1945 and twenty years later he made his perpetual profession to the Congregation of the Legionaries of Christ. He was ordained priest in 1969.

In 1972, after obtaining a degree in Philosophy and Theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University and a diploma from the School of the Vatican Secret Archives, he began serving the Holy See through the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life. Three years later, Argentinean archbishop Eduardo Pironio (created cardinal by Paul VI in 1976) took over the dicastery’s leadership. Fr. Vérgez started working with him as Secretary. In April 1984, Cardinal Pironio left the Congregation for Religious to take over as President of the Pontifical Council for the Laity and Fr. Vérgez followed him, as his Secretary, until the cardinal left the post.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Friday, Aug. 30

Statement by Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, Outreach Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 314 862 7688 home, 314 503 0003 cell, SNAPdorris@gmail.com )

Pope Francis has made one new appointment and reportedly will soon make another. We’re disappointed with both.

The pontiff has promoted a Legion of Christ priest, Fr. Fernando Vergez Alzaga, to secretary-general of the office governing Vatican City.

The Legion is perhaps the most secretive and scandal-ridden religious order in the church. While we don’t know much about Fr. Vergez, his long tenure in the Legion is troublesome.

The pontiff is expected to soon name Archbishop Piero Parolin as his secretary of state.

Noted Vatican observer John Allen calls Parolin “the consummate insider.” To some, that might seem like a compliment. To us, it’s a distressing sign.

[National Catholic Reporter]

An outsider, not an insider, is what’s needed. If concealing child sex crimes in the church will ever stop, it will only happen when complicit church officials are replaced by independent-minded men who have shown, through their actions, real courage in challenging a corrupt clerical culture. We see no evidence that Parolin is such a person.

Allen reports that by selecting an Italian, “Francis does not intend to completely upend the Vatican’s traditional culture.” That’s a serious understatement. Francis has, in our view, done precious little to “upend” the most damaging aspect of Vatican culture – the on-going recklessness, callousness and secrecy surrounding those who commit and conceal heinous crimes against kids.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

Pope Francis could appoint the Nuncio of Venezuela as the new Vatican Secretary of State tomorrow

ANDREA TORNIELLI
VATICAN CITY

Tomorrow Pope Francis could accept the resignation presented not so long ago by the current Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone. Rumour has it he has decided to replace him with the Apostolic Nuncio to Venezuela, Archbishop Pietro Parolin.

The new Vatican “prime minister” is 58 years old and hails from Schiavon, a town in the northern Italian province of Vicenza. A priest since 1980, he entered the Vatican diplomatic corps in 1986 and in 2002 was appointed under-secretary of the Secretariat of State’s section for Relations with States (the Vatican equivalent of a deputy foreign affairs minister). In the Secretariat of State, he worked first with Cardinal Sodano and then with Bertone. In September 2009, Benedict XVI, who had nominated Parolin Nuncio to Venezuela about a week earlier, co-ordained him bishop with Bertone and others.

The outgoing Secretary of State leaves his position just before his 79th birthday, as his predecessor Cardinal Angelo Sodano, currently Dean of the College of Cardinals, did. Tarcisio Bertone, a Salesian, had been Archbishop of Geneva up until then and was chosen by Benedict XVI as Secretary of State in 2006, a year after Ratzinger was elected Pope. Strangely, Bertone’s nomination was announced in June but he took up his post in September: the Vatican’s new “prime minister” found himself having to deal with a crisis sparked by the interpretation of Benedict XVI’s controversial speech in Regensburg.

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DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Dominican Today

Santo Domingo.- Community members in Constanza are expressing shock and disbelief at the sexual abuse allegations against Father Juan Manuel Mota de Jesús (Johnny). The priest is being accused of seducing and raping 11 underage girls as well as women, after some of the victims filed accusations at the Santiago Prosecutor’s Office.

The the latest in a series of scandals affecting the religious authorities following a large number of pedophilia cases that have come to light in recent months.

A press conference was held at the offices of the Ministry for Women’s Affairs yesterday afternoon, where interim office coordinator Juana María Castillo confirmed that they had received three specific reports of rape of minors by the Catholic priest and chaplain who is originally from Cotuí and has served as the parish priest for the last 11 years.

The official said that they had spent seven months investigating these accusations and that the case had entered a new phase since the public disclosure.

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VATICAN CITY
New Straits Times

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis is preparing to replace the Vatican’s powerful Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone in a key reshuffle for his papacy, Italian media reported on Friday, citing anonymous Vatican sources.

Bertone has held the post, considered a deputy to the pope, since 2006 and has proved a divisive figure in the Roman Catholic Church’s central administration.

A series of leaks carried out by former pope Benedict XVI’s butler last year revealed infighting between factions supporting and opposing the now 78-year-old Bertone.

He has been criticised for alleged mistakes, poor choices in appointments and favouritism.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Rhein-Zeitung

Limburg/Rhein-Lahn – Nach dem Stadtverband der Frankfurter Katholiken hat sich nun auch der Bund der katholischen Jugend (BDKJ) im Bistum Limburg mit einem offenen Brief an Bischof Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst gewandt. Von einer Vertrauenskrise ist darin die Rede. Der BDKJ schließt sich mit dem Schreiben den Forderungen aus Frankfurt an.

Derweil hat die Staatsanwaltschaft Hamburg die Ermittlungen gegen den Bischof abgeschlossen. Zurzeit werde den Beteiligten Akteneinsicht gewährt, das Ergebnis vermutlich Ende September vorliegen. Das hat die Pressesprecherin der Behörde, Nana Frombach, mitgeteilt.

Drei Privatleute hatten Anzeigen gegen den Limburger Oberhirten wegen von ihm abgegebener eidesstattlicher Erklärungen erstattet. Sie werfen Tebartz-van Elst (53) vor, gegenüber dem Nachrichtenmagazin “Der Spiegel” eine falsche Aussage über ein Upgrade in die erste Klasse bei einem Flug nach Indien gemacht zu haben.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Rhein-Zeitung

Limburg – Die Staatsanwaltschaft Hamburg hat die Ermittlungen gegen den Limburger Bischof Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst abgeschlossen.

Derzeit werde den Beteiligten Akteneinsicht gewährt, das Ergebnis vermutlich Ende September vorliegen. Das hat die zuständige Pressesprecherin der Behörde, Oberstaatsanwältin Nana Frombach, am Donnerstag auf Anfrage mitgeteilt.

Drei Privatleute hatten Anzeigen gegen den Limburger Oberhirten wegen von ihm abgegebenen eidesstattlichen Erklärungen erstattet. Sie werfen Tebartz-van Elst (53) vor, gegenüber dem Nachrichtenmagazin „Der Spiegel” eine falsche Aussage über ein Upgrade in die erste Klasse bei einem Flug nach Indien gemacht zu haben.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Post-Dispatch

By Tim Townsend ttownsend@post-dispatch.com 314-340-82211

A Roman Catholic priest of the St. Louis Archdiocese admitted Friday that he had child pornography on his computer and cellphone, and sent explicit photos of male genitalia to a male minor. He was immediately sentenced to 37 months in federal prison.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Rob Livergood said in court that in 2010 Ballwin police confiscated a computer and cellphone belonging to the Rev. William Vatterott, 37, that had been used to store and send explicit photos of a male minor. Investigators found 20 images of child pornography and emails of male genitalia.

Vatterott, dressed in a dark suit and white shirt – not in a priest’s collar – did not dispute any of the facts Livergood’s narrative.

Vatterott was ordained in 2003. He was associate pastor at Holy Infant Church in Ballwin, then became pastor of St. Cecilia Parish, at 5418 Louisiana Avenue, in 2008. He was placed on administrative leave June 29, 2011, after a complaint was filed with the Ballwin police.

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AUSTRALIA
lewisblayse.net

Anyone is entitled to present a submission to the Royal Commission. There is one aspect which has become apparent which needs some thought. That is, what if someone who is a victim does not want to talk about it, report it, or has not yet received help in dealing with the effects of the abuse, but friends and relatives want something done about the offending organisation?

It is both a sad and difficult question.

Whatever the motivations, no victim needs to talk before he or she is ready. This is taken for granted and needs no further discussion. Yet, something must be done to avoid the production of further victims. This is actually possible, fortunately. There is no requirement to give a victim’s name or the abuser’s name, and a person can still present a submission drawing attention to the offending organisation, even if it merely says that “organisation x should be investigated.”

There is a point to this in that the Royal Commission will tend to only investigate organisations which have been the subject of a significant number of complaints. Usually, there will be attention on organisations which have also had several of their members convicted in the courts. However, while it is almost impossible to get away with murder, it is fairly easy to get away with child sexual abuse for a host of reasons. So, the conviction rate may not reflect, accurately, the offending rate, for a particular organisation.

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ARGENTINA
La Plata YA

Organizaciones sociales, feministas, de derechos humanos se reunieron esta misma tarde en la zona de 25 y 70 para con el único fin escrachar y hacer público la situación de un cura párroco de 80 años acusado de más de 30 casos de abuso sexual contra menores de edad cometidos en un campo de Bavio entre los años 1980 y 1987 y condenado a 8 años de prisión por violación de un menor de 5 años en la localidad de Magdalena durante el año 1995.

Dos de las más de 30 victimas que fueron abusadas por el cura Gimenez, quienes más de 32 años después lograron poder recomponerse del daño que el clérigo les realizo decidieron llevar adelante un escrache con “justicia social” donde pudieran de algún modo descargar toda la bronca y angustia que tanto Julieta Añazco, como Carla Rosbech acumularon con años y años de injusticia.

El sacerdote que actualmente con 80 años y que vive en una casa particular de un barrio de Los Hornos ubicada en 68 n 2859, tiene una larga trayectoria en casos de abuso sexual y corrupción de menores. Su historia comienza allá por los años 1979 cuando el cura comenzó (según las propias victimas) a llevar adelante estas prácticas contra menores de 5, 7, 8 y 9 años que concurrían a diversos campamentos organizados por el mismo párroco en un campo alejado en la localidad platense de Bavio.

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ARGENTINA
Agencia Nova

“Ésta es la primera vez que lo vuelvo a ver después de lo que pasó. Pensé que estaba muerto que alguna justicia divina, si es que existe, había actuado. Nunca pensé que estaba vivo, menos ejerciendo como cura”, aseguró Carla Rosbech, en diálogo con NOVA. Ella, junto a Julieta Añazco denuncia haber sido abusada por el cura Ricardo Giménez cuando era menor de edad.

Este jueves organizaciones sociales, feministas y de Derechos Humanos realizaron un escrache y movilización en el Hospital San Juan de Dios donde se desempeña como sacerdote Giménez. Los manifestantes lograron ingresar a la capilla donde pudieron encontrarse cara a cara con el párroco, quien desmintió las acusaciones: “A mí me absolvió un juez, lo que dicen es una calumnia. Yo me arrepiento de todos mis pecados de mi vida pasada”.

Giménez estuvo detenido en 1997 acusado de abuso a ocho menores. En ese entonces el juez Caputo Tártara desestimó la solicitud de excarcelación y pasó a manos de juez César Melazo, quien hizo lugar a la presentación. De esta forma, el expediente llegó a la Cámara Penal de Apelaciones platense y con la firma de los doctores Raúl Delbés y Horacio Piombo se concedió el pedido bajo caución juratoria.

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SCOTLAND
Daily Record

PREDATOR Jimmy Savile was a frequent guest of monks at the Catholic boarding school at the centre of a sex abuse scandal.

The serial sex attacker regularly drove to Fort Augustus Abbey at a time when ex-pupils claim they were being terrorised by some of the monks.

A BBC TV investigation, Sins of the Fathers, this week alleged that nine monks at the Benedictine Order school repeatedly beat, sexually assaulted and, in one case, raped boys in their care over several decades.

Victims of the abuse complained but their testimony was ignored and covered up. Police are now investigating.

Savile, who is known to have attacked scores of young girls and boys during decades of abuse, would park his Rolls-Royce, registered JS 247, at the school gates before swanning around the grounds.

The former BBC presenter, known to have abused children at schools on other occasions, was invited to Fort Augustus on several occasions, according to pupils there.

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VATICAN CITY
Catholic News Service

By Carol Glatz
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — A Legionary priest who led a major overhaul of the Vatican’s telecommunications infrastructure and set up public email addresses for two popes has been named the new secretary-general of the office governing Vatican City.

Spanish-born Legionaries of Christ Father Fernando Vergez, 68, fills a vacancy recently left by Bishop Giuseppe Sciacca, whom the pope named Aug. 24 to the Vatican’s supreme tribunal as adjunct secretary under U.S. Cardinal Raymond L. Burke.

Father Vergez, who is director of the Vatican’s telecommunications department, will continue to hold his old post while serving in his new capacity at the governor’s office.

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SCOTLAND
The Tablet

30 August 2013

The Bishops of Scotland are expected to commission an outside body to examine their child abuse files when they meet next week.

It is understood that they will ask an independent academic expert to assess cases of clerical abuse in dioceses going back decades.

Last week, in a letter to The Tablet, the Archbishop Emeritus of Glasgow, Mario Conti, claimed that Cardinal Keith O’Brien had blocked a planned investigation into the files dating back 60 years when he was President of the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland.

According to a spokesman Archbishop Conti was referring to a meeting of the bishops’ conference in September 2012.

This week the Bishop Emeritus of Motherwell, Joseph Devine, said he believed that Cardinal O’Brien had blocked the review of his St Andrews and Edinburgh diocese’s files because it might have uncovered something that “could prove very damning” for the Church, given that the review went back many years.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

Pietro Parolin is tipped to become the new Vatican Secretary of State. His potential appointment should be indicative of the path Bergoglio’s pontificate is going to take

GIANNI VALENTE
ROME

Fifty eight year old Pietro Parolin left Rome four years ago, was ordained Archbishop by Benedict XVI and appointed Nuncio of Venezuela after spending seven years as the Vatican’s “deputy foreign affairs minister”. Rumours have just emerged that Pope Francis may have chosen him as the Vatican’s Secretary of State, making him Francis’ first appointed collaborator. Parolin would be the youngest figure “enrolled” to the position since Eugenio Pacelli.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

John L. Allen Jr. | Aug. 30, 2013

ANALYSIS
Multiple reports suggest Pope Francis intends to name 58-year-old Italian Archbishop Pietro Parolin to the key position of Secretary of State, traditionally the most important figure in the Vatican after the pope himself.

Although the pope is the head of state, the Secretary of State generally functions as the Vatican’s head of government, both for internal church affairs and for diplomatic relations, making him, effectively, the prime minister.

Currently the papal nuncio, or ambassador, in Venezuela, Parolin is a career Vatican diplomat who’s been involved in shaping Rome’s response to virtually every key geopolitical challenge during the last two decades.

Parolin is also widely seen as a talented and efficient administrator who served from 2002 to 2009 as the undersecretary for relations with states, the No. 3 position in the Secretariat of State. In that role, he often functioned informally as the Vatican’s primary interlocutor with the outside world.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Friday, August 30, 2013

Statement by Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, Outreach Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 314 862 7688 home, 314 503 0003 cell,SNAPdorris@gmail.com )

A young St. Louis priest appears in court today on child porn charges. We beg others who may have seen, suspected or suffered his crimes to call prosecutors as soon as possible.

[KSDK]

Sadly, in this case, like so many others, Catholic officials deceive the public and the parishioners. When Fr. William Vatterott was suspended, Archbishop Robert Carlson said he was accused of “inappropriate electronic communication.” In fact, he has been criminally charged with child pornography.

He is, in fact, the ninth local priest to face child pornography allegations.

[SNAP]

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CALIFORNIA
Orange County Weekly

By Gustavo Arellano Fri., Aug. 30 2013

It’s been almost a year now since Kevin Vann became bishop of the Diocese of Orange, and what has he accomplished? There was a profile in one of the Orange County Register’s magazines that read like a press release. He approved the removal of memorial stones at the former Crystal Cathedral, memorial stones that the sheep of the Rev. Robert H. Schuller spent thousands to install under the idea they’d be up there for centuries. And now he’s joining his fellow bishops in trying to defeat a California State Senate bill that seeks justice for child-abuse victims.

SB 131 would open a one-year window lifting statutes of limitation so that victims of pedo-priests can file civil lawsuits against the Catholic Church regardless of when their abuse happened. A similar window occurred in 2002, exposing the Church as a pedophile factory. And that’s why Vann doesn’t want it to happen again.

Under his direction, the Orange County Catholic, the “newspaper” of the Diocese of Orange, has published five articles opposing SB 131 since June, including a commentary from retired OC Superior Court Judge Francisco Firmat calling it “bad legislation,” a column by Vann, and a whole other bunch of gobbledygook. The rag is pushing its stories on Twitter, and also retweets stories that support its view. This past week, Vann directed parish priests to send out emails to their congregation urging them to contact their state assemblymen to vote against SB 131.

Vann’s position? SB 131 discriminates against Catholics and does nothing to protect children. And why should you believe him? “Dioceses throughout California have worked to atone for past mistakes,” Vann writes, “and have implemented robust procedures to ensure children and young people are as safe as we can make them.”

In other words: yeah, we let pedo-priests rape children, then covered it up. But NOW you should really, really trust us!

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
KSDK

[with video]

ST. LOUIS (KSDK) – A St. Louis priest is due in court Friday on federal child pornography charges.

Investigators say Fr. William Vatterott was in possession of child porn between June 2010 and June 2011. He was pastor of St. Cecelia Parish in St. Louis when the allegations surfaced. Before that, he was an associate pastor at Holy Infant in Ballwin.

The Archdiocese of St. Louis cooperated with the investigation and placed Vatterott on administrative leave when the allegations surfaced.

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MINNESOTA
Minnesota SNAP

News-Mirror

Outreach to those seeking civil justice and healing process still a long, hard journey

Back in the early seventies a young man from Buffalo Lake had finished high school — sort of — and set out to see the world on his thumb.

He saw and learned much more about this Country, its citizens and their history than any book could ever describe.

Entering his second decade the young man left his home and his family to live a life of solidarity.

He hadn’t gone farther than a few miles from his workplace. A farmer, which owned a vacant farm house that did not want it “squatted” by vagabonds, rented the house on a quarter mile driveway in the middle of a section of the farmer’s land.

It was a perfectly quiet setting. Remote enough to the kind of gardening “Hippies” did in the ‘60s. Yet, close enough, to the necessities — food, bread, and beer–to get you through a night and ready for the next day.

This “Child of the ‘60s” soon became host to several other “Children” – some for a weekend, others for months – for little more than the four seasons of a year.

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OHIO
WFMJ

[with video]

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Allegations of child sex abuse, is prompting a group that protects victims, to push for answers from the Youngstown Catholic Diocese.

A Youngstown man says he was repeatedly sexually molested as a child, by an “unnamed” Catholic school teacher at St. Christine’s, back in 1976.

The Diocese denies his claims. On Thursday, two activists stood outside Saint Edward Church holding signs and photos of victims.

The group sent another letter, demanding Bishop George Murry to make a statement, and make the name of the alleged predator public. “”Why hasn’t he explained to his parishoners why he doesn’t work there anymore. He’s not doing that. That’s not open and transparency.”, said Judy Jones, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.

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UNITED STATES
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: Ordained in 1934, Coughlin was a Jesuit whose formation was in the California Province, and who went on to work in the Oregon Province dioceses of Spokane and Tacoma WA, the archdiocese of Seattle, and the Helena MT diocese. Coughlin was included on a list released by the Spokane diocese in 2007 of admitted, proven or credibly accused perpetrators of sexual abuse. He died in 1965.

Ordained: 1934
Died: September 27, 1965

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ILLINOIS
Renew America

By Matt C. Abbott

There could be a new sheriff in town – in an Illinois county, to be specific.

Former Catholic activist and current child advocate Stephen Brady has announced that he will be pursuing the Republican nomination for the office of Menard County Sheriff in the upcoming 2014 March general primary.

Brady, who was born in Decatur, Ill., attended Purdue and Indiana universities for a short time before being drafted into the Army, where he was trained as a military police officer. While in the Army, he received a “secret security” clearance from the FBI. He was then sent to northwestern Illinois on special assignment for just over a year.

After moving to Petersburg, Brady married Jo Ann Lyons. He and his wife have seven children and ten grandchildren. His family has owned a construction company, a flower shop and, at present, a pizza restaurant.

Brady spent 13 years as lead investigator for the not-for-profit organization Roman Catholic Faithful, which investigated child exploitation and other abuses of authority.

After receiving death threats and being interviewed by investigators regarding the March 1998 still-unsolved murder of Father Alfred Kunz, a priest of the Diocese of Madison, Wis., who had been assisting Brady with his investigations into clergy corruption, Brady has kept much of his work life private in order to protect his family.

He has given lectures across the U.S. regarding his investigations and has helped with certain cases outside the U.S., including South Africa, Australia and England.

In the late 1990s, Brady was instrumental in exposing the corruption in the Diocese of Springfield, Ill., which led to the resignation of Bishop Daniel Ryan in 1999. At the time, Brady was largely ignored and even treated with contempt by the powers that be, until he was ultimately vindicated in 2002 when the clergy abuse scandal made national headlines in the mainstream media. (It should be noted that he’s supportive of the current bishop of Springfield, Thomas Paprocki.)

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CHILE
Politico

Sacerdote irlandés que llegó al país en 1984. Durante años ha sido el rostro de la Congregación Legionarios de Cristo en Chile y responsable que su movimiento haya entrado en la elite empresarial y política criolla. Hombre influyente, O’Reilly fue acusado en julio de 2012 de presunto abuso sexual en contra de dos niñas del Colegio Cumbres de las Condes donde se desempeñó hasta 2012 como asesor espiritual. Éstas tenían, al momento de los supuestos hechos en 2007, seis y diez años de edad. El 27 de agosto de 2013 fue formalizado por uno de estos delitos, pero fue dejado el libertad, pues la jueza Alejandra Muñoz, estimó que las pruebas presentadas no eran suficientes para acreditar la existencia del delito. La magistrada rechazó la petición de la fiscalía, que solicitaba prisión preventiva, estableciendo que el sacerdote quedaba sólo con arraigo nacional.

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NEW YORK
Jewish Daily Forward

By Irwin Kula
Published August 29, 2013, issue of September 06, 2013.

On August 26, the law firm of Sullivan & Cromwell, hired by Yeshiva University to look into allegations of past abuse at the university’s High School for Boys, finally concluded its eight-month investigation and released a report detailing its findings. As one of the high school students abused in the early 1970s and as one of the more than 145 people interviewed in the investigation — though not party to the impending multi-party lawsuit against Y.U., now $380 million — I am disappointed, though not surprised, by the report. Eight months, 6,300 hours of investigation, more than 145 interviews and the best that Y.U.’s administration and board could come up with was three paragraphs that said many people were abused at many Y.U. institutions but they could not give any details because of “pending litigation.” Of course some people are happy with this and some people are angry.

Kevin Mulhearn, a lawyer for the group of students that filed the lawsuit, called the report, as one would expect, “a gross disappointment,” while those abused students, willing to be quoted, were justifiably “shocked.” As someone who spent more than two hours being interviewed and rehashing what was so locked away that I never even mentioned it to my wife of 30 years, nor to my brother, who also attended the Y.U. high school and unbeknown to me was similarly abused — I can attest that it is shocking to have your traumatic experience summarized in a few legally cool paragraphs. Y.U. President Richard Joel expressed in an equally expected way the school’s “deepest and heartfelt remorse,” and his hope that this “recognition” brings “comfort and closure.” This was an appropriately lawyerly response, with a concluding flourish referring to Yom Kippur, the High Holy Days season and forgiveness — as if this process has been anything like Maimonides’s wrenching prescription for genuine teshuvah, repentance.

There we have it — a report that offers nothing we don’t already know. (Though I want to make clear that the lawyer who interviewed me was thorough, extremely professional, compassionate and honest.) The report confirms that a part of Y.U.’s high school (and university) culture was predatory and that until 2001, the school’s administration simply did not do what any decent and morally evolved authorities are supposed to do: protect and ensure the safety of its students. No surprises here, and actually quite sad.

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VATICAN CITY
Chiesa

Among the organizations with offices inside the Leonine Walls, only the Foundations escaped the controls of the Financial Information Authority and the Vatican magistracy. Not any more. Moneyval has requested it, and the Holy See has obeyed. Here they are, one by one

VATICAN CITY, August 30, 2013 – If from announcements one moves on to accomplishments, it must be said that the first steps taken by Pope Francis are firmly set in the path opened by his predecessor Benedict XVI.

The motu proprio of last August 8 for the prevention of and fight against money laundering, the financing of terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, in fact, does nothing other than comply with what was established by Benedict XVI on December 30, 2010, with a previous motu proprio that instituted, for the first time in the Vatican, a Financial Information Authority, AIF, a decisive step toward harmonizing the activities of the Holy See with the international norms against illegal activities in the financial and monetary field.

Among the normative developments of the new pontifical document there is one of particular interest, which very few have noted.

The motu proprio of Benedict XVI established that the new Vatican legislation for fighting money laundering and the financing of terrorism were binding not only for Vatican City-State, but also for the dicasteries of the Roman curia and for all the organisms and institutions belonging to the Holy See, including the controversial Institute for Works of Religion, IOR.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

August 30, 2013

Adam Cooper
Reporter for The Age

Former Catholic priest David Rapson has been found guilty of sexually abusing eight boys at Salesian College between the mid 1970s and 1990.

After a nine-day trial in the County Court, the jury of 12 on Friday morning found Rapson guilty of eight counts of indecent assault and five counts of rape.

He raped one of his victims on four separate occasions in 1990.

Rapson showed no emotion as the foreman said the former priest was guilty of all the charges against him after more than two days of deliberations.

Rapson had been in teaching positions at Salesian College’s Rupertswood and Lysterfield campuses, where the offences took place.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

August 27, 2013

Adam Cooper
Reporter for The Age

A jury has been urged to overlook attempts to discredit the evidence of eight men who allege they were sexually abused as boys by a Catholic priest while at a boarding school.

Prosecutor David Cordy, in his closing address in the trial of former Salesian priest David Edwin Rapson, told the County Court he wanted to ”debunk” some of the theories the accused’s barrister put forward during the trial.

Mr Cordy said it was the inference of defence counsel Shaun Ginsbourg that the complainants could not be reliable in their evidence because were teenage boys at the time of the alleged offences, nor could some of them be trusted on account of their own legal problems as adults.

Mr Rapson, 60, has pleaded not guilty to eight charges of indecent assault and five counts of rape related to alleged incidents involving eight boys between the mid-1970s and 1990.

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AUSTRALIA
NEWS.com.au

SHANNON DEERY
Herald Sun
August 30, 2013

A DISGRACED former priest who plied young boys with cigarettes and alcohol before assaulting and raping them has been jailed for a second time.

David Edwin Rapson’s crimes were so evil he was kicked out of the church by Pope John Paul II in 2004 after years of lobbying by his Melbourne superiors.

Rapson rose to become vice-principal of Sunbury’s notorious Salesian College Rupertswood despite a string of allegations being levelled at him in the 1980s.

It was there he committed many of his crimes during the 1970s and 1980s, telling a fellow priest that “God made us this way”.

The 60-year-old former priest was today remanded in custody after a County Court jury found him guilty on all charges, eight counts of indecent assault and five counts of rape.

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SCOTLAND
Scottish Catholic Observer

The new Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh is expected to open all the archdiocese’s files on allegations of clerical abuse to a national independent enquiry.

Mgr Leo Cushley, who will be installed as Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh next month, is expected to fully endorse plans by the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland dating back to 2011 to examine all Church records for instances of clerical abuse.

Helpline

Archbishop Emeritus Mario Conti of Glasgow said last week that the Scottish Bishops’ plan for an independent inquiry into these records was postponed when one member—reported to be Cardinal Keith O’Brien, before he retired—indicated that his diocese needed more time to be sufficiently prepared to participate.

“It was the intention of the conference to publish these audits but was delayed in doing so by the objection of a member of the conference; without full participation of all the dioceses the exercise would have been faulty,” Archbishop Conti said. “I understand that in the light of the criticisms, which the Church has been, in my opinion unjustly, facing, these audits will now be published. I think they will go some distance not only in confirming what Bishop [Emeritus] Devine [of Motherwell] said by way of the number of cases which we have had to address, but in demonstrating the seriousness and competence with which the Church in Scotland has been dealing with safeguarding in all its implications.”

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NEW MEXICO
ABQ Journal

By Clara Garcia/Valencia County News-Bulletin

LOS LUNAS – A former member of the Los Lunas Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses is suing the church, claiming she was molested by a former elder.

Monica Lynn Jaramillo, 35, through her attorneys, Terrence Revo and Irwin Zalkin, filed a complaint for damages Aug. 12 in the 13th Judicial District Court. Also named as defendants in the case is Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, which oversees the church, and a former elder, who has not been charged with a crime.

Attempts to reach the Jehovah’s Witnesses Kingdom Hall in Los Lunas for comment were unsuccessful before the News-Bulletin deadline.

According to the civil lawsuit, Jaramillo allegedly was sexually abused as a child by the elder, who had served as a ministerial servant and an elder, which are leadership positions in the congregation. Jaramillo said the abuse occurred in 1987 when she was 8 years old at his home.

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SOUTH AMERICA
Adventist News Network

Thousands of Seventh-day Adventists took to the streets as activists against abuse in scores of cities throughout South America last Saturday.

The church’s campaign “Breaking the Silence” brought marches and motorcades along avenues, hosted dramatic performances in plazas, and partnered with school districts and public safety agencies to offer educational talks about preventing domestic violence, sexual abuse and cyber bullying.

The initiative was part of the Adventist world church’s Abuse Prevention Emphasis Day, which is typically held the fourth Saturday of every August. The campaign was established by the denomination’s Executive Committee in 2001.

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OKLAHOMA
Tulsa World

By RANDY ELLIS NewsOK.com on Aug 27, 2013

LAWTON — A Lawton church pastor has been charged with child sexual abuse following an investigation that prompted DHS officials to close a local juvenile group home.

Bobby Glen Burrell, pastor of One More Soul Outreach Ministry, is accused of exposing himself and masturbating in front of a 16-year-old boy after taking the boy from the group home to the church.

Burrell is only charged with one felony count of child sexual abuse. But Lawton police reported Burrell took several group home children on unauthorized trips and that “six possible juvenile victims were interviewed.”

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OKLAHOMA
KFOR

[with video]

August 29, 2013, by Sara Celi

LAWTON, OK – 28-year-old Pastor Bobby Burrell faces several charges of sexual abuse of a child.

He’s pastor of the One More Soul Church in Lawton, and police say he used his position to gain the trust of kids at a group home called Sequoyah House. A whole new agency took it over in April, after DHS revoked Sequoyah House’s contract.

Police say the crimes started when Burrell built a relationship with the kids, and then used that to put them in compromising positions. Burrell had a second job at Sequoyah House as a staffer.

“We’ve got this person taking these kids to places they are not supposed to go, at times they are not supposed to go there, and so they have these kids trusting this person, and it’s a repertoire that builds up with the kids,” said Lawton Police Captain Craig Akard.

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OHIO
Tribune Chronicle

August 30, 2013

By VIRGINIA SHANK Tribune Chronicle (news@tribtoday.com)

YOUNGSTOWN – The advocacy group that challenged the Catholic Diocese of Youngstown this week to disclose information about a former parochial school teacher accused of abusing a student has now demanded that local church officials reveal information about a former local priest as well.

For the second day in a row, members of the Survivors Network for Those Abused by Priests (SNAP) protested in Youngstown.

The group is asking Bishop George Murry to provide information about where former priest John Warner, 69, is living and if he is still undergoing treatment.

In a written response, the diocese stated that in 2011, local church officials received an allegation against Warner of sexual misconduct with a minor more than 30 years ago.

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

MINNESOTA
KIMT

[with video]

By Jeron Rennie

ROCHESTER, Minn. — An area man is coming forward with a lawsuit that claims abuse he says took place half a century ago.

Bill Beardmore and his lawyer made an announcement in Rochester Thursday that they are filing a lawsuit claiming sexual abuse.

“I would like to make it known that I was raped by a priest and that it happened on a number of occasions,” Beardmore said.

He now calls Boone, Iowa home, but he grew up in Caledonia, Minnesota where he says his childhood was spent as an altar boy at St. John’s Parish.

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MINNESOTA
Winona Daily News

[Statement from the diocese – via KAAL]
[the lawsuit]
[Adamson timeline]
[Minnesota map of Adamson’s assignments]
[Adamson photo]
[10-26-02 letter Hoeppner to Beardmore]
[11-6-02 letter Beardmore to Hoeppner]
[1-30-03 letter Hoeppner to Beardmore]
[Photo of client as a 7th grader]

By Nathan Hansen | nathan.hansen@winonadailynews.com

A former altar boy who attended Caledonia’s St. John’s Parish in the 1960s publicly spoke out for the first time Thursday about abuse he said he suffered at the hands of former Diocese of Winona priest Thomas Adamson.

Bill Beardmore’s decision to speak out comes as attorney Jeff Anderson filed a new lawsuit on his behalf against the Diocese this week in Winona County District Court. The suit seeks $50,000 in damages, and, like similar suits Anderson has filed elsewhere, requests that a judge order the public release of a list that contains the names and personal information of “credibly accused child molesting priests.”

Beardmore, a 61-year-old Iowa man, grew up in Caledonia and encountered Adamson as an altar boy at St. John’s during 1963-64. Beardmore, originally listed as John Doe 16 in his lawsuit against the Diocese, spoke Thursday about being sexually abused by Adamson as a young child.

According to Beardmore and court documents, Adamson repeatedly cornered him in private areas of the church and subjected him to oral and anal sex over a two-year period. Beardmore first came forward in 2002, but his claims were dismissed by the Diocese for a lack of corroborating evidence, he said.

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AUSTRALIA
WA Today

August 30, 2013

Patrick Caruana
AAP

For more than a decade, Catholic priest, teacher and vice principal David Edwin Rapson raped and sexually abused a number of Victorian schoolchildren.

Decades after committing the abuse, 60-year-old Rapson has been found guilty of indecently assaulting eight boys.

Rapson, who was defrocked by Pope John Paul II after his first sexual abuse conviction, abused the boys during his time at Salesian College’s Lysterfield and Rupertswood campuses between the 1970s and 1990.

He denied the allegations but a jury on Friday found him guilty of all five charges of rape and eight counts of indecent assault.

During his nine-day trial in the Victorian County Court, prosecutor David Cordy said Rapson had abused the boys, sometimes with witnesses around, and thought he could not be held accountable.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By court reporter Sarah Farnsworth

A jury has convicted former Salesian College vice-principal David Rapson over the rape and abuse of eight students.

Rapson, 60, was member of the Salesians of Don Bosco religious order, which operated the Salesian College “Rupertswood”, a boarding school in Sunbury, north-west of Melbourne.

He pleaded not guilty to eight charges of indecent assault and five counts of rape relating to the abuse of eight students, who were between 12 and 17 years of age, between the mid-1970s and 1990.

The court heard he would use computer games, soft drinks, alcohol and cigarettes to lure the young boys into his office, where he would sexually abuse them.

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MINNESOTA
KAAL

[Statement from the diocese]

[the lawsuit]

[Adamson timeline]

[Minnesota map of Adamson’s assignments]

[Adamson photo]

[10-26-02 letter Hoeppner to Beardmore]

[11-6-02 letter Beardmore to Hoeppner]

[1-30-03 letter Hoeppner to Beardmore]

[Photo of client as a 7th grader]

(ABC 6 News) – The Diocese of Winona has been named as a defendant in a sex abuse lawsuit involving a former alter boy from Caledonia. The former alter boy, Bill Beardmore, joined his attorney outside the Olmsted County Government Center Thursday afternoon to announce the lawsuit.

They say the Diocese of Winona is named as a defendant because it continued to allow Father Thomas Adamson to have access to children despite reports of inappropriate sexual behavior with young boys. The suit claims Beardmore, who is now 61 and lives in Iowa, attended church at St. John’s Parish in Caledonia. He says he was 12 years old when Father Adamson raped him in the early 1960s.

His attorney, Jeff Anderson, also wants the Diocese to release a list of 13 priests he says were accused of sexually molesting minors. He says the Diocese has yet to release those names to the public.

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MINNESOTA
Post-Bulletin

Kay Fate, kfate@postbulletin.com

Tears came to Bill Beardmore’s eyes as he described a 2002 meeting with officials from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Winona.

“It made me feel like I was interrogated,” he said Thursday. “I’d like to make it known that I was raped by a priest on a number of occasions, but I went away from that day feeling really terrible. I felt like I was the bad guy. But I was a little kid. I was an altar boy; I didn’t bring this on.”

Beardmore is one of a number of men to sue the diocese, accusing its top officials of allowing priests continued access to children, despite reports of inappropriate sexual behavior with young boys.

The lawsuit was filed late Wednesday in Winona County District Court by Jeff Anderson, a St. Paul lawyer, on behalf of Beardmore, now 61 and living in Boone, Iowa.

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CALIFORNIA
Capitol Weekly

By Victor Garza, Rose Amador | 08/28/13

Child sex abuse is a terrible crime and one that each and every one of us has a moral, legal and ethical responsibility to expose and prevent. There are many ways that the law can and should deal with the problem, but as local leaders of the La Raza Roundtable de California, we don’t believe SB 131, a bill by state Sen. Jim Beall (D-Campbell) is one of them.

On the surface, SB 131 looks like serious legislation to deal with the rights of victims of child sexual abuse to sue their abuser by reviving claims that have died because the statute of limitations has expired. But scratch the surface, and people should have serious concerns about how it addresses the problem.

Why?

Because SB 131 isn’t about victims. It’s about lawsuits. If it were about victims, it would focus on the perpetrators of abuse and give new rights to all victims of sexual abuse, but it doesn’t.

Instead, SB 131 discriminates against the poor and less well off by reviving legal claims for child sex abuse only against private and non-profit organizations like private schools or groups like Little League or youth soccer, but not against public schools, public agencies or government workers of any kind.

So if someone is abused at Stanford or Santa Clara or some other private school or college, they could sue. But if they were abused by someone associated with a public school, or a city-run day care or a community college like DeAnza, they’re out of luck. The bill makes sure public schools and local governments have complete immunity—i.e. they cannot be sued—for any incidents of child sex abuse that took place before 2009.

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OHIO
Tribune Chronicle

August 29, 2013
Tribune Chronicle | TribToday.com

YOUNGSTOWN – The advocacy group that challenged the Diocese of Youngstown this week to disclose information about a former parochial school teacher accused of abusing a student has now demanded that local church officials reveal information about a former local priest as well.

For the second day in a row members of the Survivors Network for Those Abused by Priests (SNAP) protested in Youngstown.

The group is asking Bishop George Murry to provide information about where former priest John Warner, 69, is living and if he is still undergoing treatment.

In a written response, the Diocese stated that in 2011 local church officials received an allegation against Warner of sexual misconduct with a minor more than 30 years ago.

The allegation was reported to civil authorities and Murry placed Warner on leave of absence, the statement reads.

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VATICAN CITY/ARGENTINA
Think Progress

BY TARA CULP-RESSLER ON AUGUST 29, 2013

When Alejandra Pereyra wrote a letter to Pope Francis earlier this month, she wanted to convey the pain that resulted from her rape and abuse at the hands of Argentinian law enforcement. After her family was repeatedly harassed by the police, an officer raped her at gunpoint. “With all the pain I carry in my heart dear Holy Father, I ask you for your help,” Pereyra wrote.

She didn’t expect the kind of response that she received.

On Sunday, Pereya’s phone rang — and Pope Francis was on the other end of the line. “I started crying… He told me to be calm and that he was calling because he had read my letter and my story struck him,” Pereya recounted later on Argentinian television. “He restored faith and peace in me and gave me strength to carry on fighting.”

Pereya emailed her letter to the Vatican in mid-August. The pope receives hundreds of letters each day, but hers struck a chord with him and he decided to reach out. The crimes committed against Pereyra continue to go unpunished, because the judge who is in charge of the case is worried he’ll face personal repercussions for going after law enforcement.

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OHIO
WKBN

Members of the Survivors Network for Those Abused by Priests held another protest in the area Thursday, this one outside Saint Edward’s Parish on the city’s North Side.

The group is asking Bishop George Murry to explain where former priest John Warner, 69, is now living and if he is still undergoing treatment.

Warner was removed from his duties in the diocese two years ago after being accused of abusing a victim more than 30 years ago.

“He could be living amongst kids and abusing children right now,” said SNAP coordinator Judy Jones. “Child predators need to be kept away from children forever. That is a well-known fact, and the Bishop is still the one who is responsible for him”

In 2011 the Diocese of Youngstown received an allegation of sexual misconduct with Warner and a “minor child” over 30 years ago, according to a news release. Their investigation revealed the allegation was credible and Warner was placed in a facility for treatment. “He is now living in another state in a restricted community and is engaged in ongoing treatment,” the release stated.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Kreisblatt

Frankfurter Westen.
Der Offene Brief an Bischof Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst zieht weiter Kreise: Nachdem zum Patronatsfest von St. Bartholomäus am Sonntag bereits mehr als 800 Menschen das Schreiben unterzeichneten (wir berichteten), werden nun auch in einigen Gemeinden des Frankfurter Westens Unterschriften von Gläubigen gesammelt, die sich mit dem Frankfurter Stadtdekan Johannes zu Eltz solidarisieren und Kritik am Führungsstil des Limburger Bischofs äußern. In seiner Sitzung am Dienstagabend hat der Pastoralausschuss des Pastoralen Raums Nied-Griesheim über den Brief beraten. „Der Pastoralausschuss hat in Anwesenheit seines Priesterlichen Leiters, Pfarrer Rolf Glaser, ohne Gegenstimme und bei nur einer Enthaltung beschlossen, diesen Offenen Brief vollinhaltlich zu unterstützen sowie ihn in allen Kirchen des Pastoralen Raums bis zum kommenden Wochenende auszulegen und auf die Möglichkeit hinzuweisen, sein Anliegen durch Unterschrift zu unterstützen“, sagt Armin Nagel, der Vorsitzende des Pastoralausschusses. Das Gremium vertritt in Nied und Griesheim rund 15 000 Katholiken sowie die in diesen Gemeinden beheimateten Katholiken anderer Muttersprache aus Frankreich, Italien und Eritrea.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Frankfurter Rundschau

LIMBURG –
Nach der massiven Kritik am Limburger Bischof Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst haben sich nun seine Unterstützer zu Wort gemeldet. Das streng konservative „Forum Deutscher Katholiken“ ruft zur Solidarität mit dem Oberhirten auf. Die Unterschriftenaktion der Kritiker gegen die Amtsführung des Limburgers richte sich im Grunde nicht gegen angeblich begangene Fehler, sondern gegen dessen „kirchentreue theologische Einstellung“, heißt es in dem Aufruf. Auch das Forum will Unterschriften sammeln, unter anderem im Internet. Seit Mittwochabend seien etwa 150 zusammengekommen, sagte der Vorsitzende Hubert Gindert am Donnerstag.

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ITALIA
Il Fatto Quotidiano

Il caso di don Giorgio Carli, sacerdote bolzanino che nel 2009 si è visto riconoscere la prescrizione in Cassazione (dopo una condanna in secondo grado), potrebbe essere uno dei primi in Italia in cui è l’istituzione Chiesa a pagare. Alla vittima di violenza sessuale 500mila euro e 100mila euro per ogni genitore

Prescrizione nel processo penale, ma maxi risarcimento nella causa civile. Il caso di don Giorgio Carli, sacerdote bolzanino che nel 2009 si è visto riconoscere la prescrizione in Cassazione (dopo una pesante condanna in secondo grado) dell’accusa di abusi sessuali su una parrocchiana minorenne, potrebbe essere uno dei primi in Italia in cui è l’istituzione Chiesa a pagare. La prima sezione civile del tribunale di Bolzano ha ora condannato, in solido fra loro, la diocesi di Bolzano e Bressanone e la parrocchia San Pio X di Bolzano al risarcimento di complessivamente 700.000 euro, oltre agli interessi legali.

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ITALIA
AGI

(AGI) – Bolzano, 27 ago. – La diocesi di Bolzano-Bressanone e la parrocchia San Pio X di Bolzano dovranno risarcire complessivamente 700 mila euro, piu’ gli interessi, per il caso legato a don Giorgio Carli. La condanna al risarcimento dei danni e’ giunta a seguito della sentenza della prima sezione civile del Tribunale del capoluogo altoatesino. Il sacerdote, prosciolto nel 2009 in Cassazione dopo essere stato condannato in secondo grado a sette anni e sei mesi di reclusione, era stato accusato di abusi sessuali nei confronti di una ragazza minorenne che frequentava la parrocchia di San Pio X.

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ITALY
The Local

An Italian court has ordered a priest and his parish to pay €700,000 compensation after he allegedly spent years sexually abusing a girl. The ruling has been hailed as a first of its kind in Italy by the family’s lawyer.

Despite being let off the criminal charges in 2009, a civil court in the northern city of Bolzano has ordered Giorgio Carli to pay out for the alleged abuse.

The civil court was able to make the ruling as it operates separately to the criminal court system.

The Bolzano court relied heavily on the victim’s testimony of abuse, which occured from the age of nine to 14, Il Messaggero said.

Carli has always professed his innocence, but he and the diocese have now been ordered to pay €500,000 to his victim and €100,000 to each of her parents.

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CANADA
Victoria News

By Kyle Slavin – Victoria News
Published: August 29, 2013

Phil Jacobs, the former Saanich priest found guilty earlier this year of touching a young person for a sexual purpose, is expected to be sentenced next week in B.C. Supreme Court.

Jacobs worked as priest at St. Joseph the Worker Parish in Saanich from 1997 to 2002. He left his post in Greater Victoria after allegations surfaced of inappropriate behaviour involving boys during his time working in Columbus, Ohio in the 1970s.

He was charged by Saanich police in 2010 for incidents that were alleged to have occurred while he worked in Saanich.

On Wednesday, members of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests protested in downtown Columbus, attempting to urge B.C. Supreme Court Justice J. Miriam Gropper to hand down a harsh sentence, according to The Columbus Dispatch.

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OHIO
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

They want to know where two accused predators are
And they urge him to write to his colleagues in two states
An accused Youngstown pedophile priest worked in MD & MI
Another was sent away in 2011 but his whereabouts aren’t clear
SNAP to Murry: “Tell your flock when, why, and who is ousted deacon”

WHAT
Holding signs and childhood photos at a sidewalk news conference, advocates for clergy sex abuse victims will prod Youngstown’s Catholic bishop to disclose

— disclose why and when he suspended a Cardinal Mooney teacher who faces two allegations of child sex abuse,
— disclose the whereabouts of this accused predator and another one who was sent away in 2011, and
— write to Catholic bishops in Maryland and Michigan about a third accused predator who worked there.

They will also
— prod current and former Catholic employees to speak up about the accused clerics, and
— urge Youngstown’s bishop to make public all allegations of sexual abuse that he has received, those that have been removed, and all accused clerics that have been reported to law enforcement.

WHEN
TODAY, Thursday, August 29, at 11:30 a.m.

WHERE
On the sidewalk outside St. Edward’s parish (where one accused priest worked) 240 Tod Lane, in Youngstown OH

WHO
Two St. Louis activists including, Judy Jones, who is the associate Midwest director of a support group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org)

WHY
In 2002, US Catholic bishops adopted a supposedly binding national child sex abuse charter mandating “openness and transparency” in child sex abuse cases. SNAP, however, believes that Youngstown Bishop George Murry is violating that policy in two recent cases by his “on-going secrecy.”

[Vindicator]

First, in response to a SNAP news conference, Murry disclosed yesterday that a teacher and deacon no longer works for the diocese “in any capacity” but refused to say why. SNAP suspects it is because that teacher/cleric faces child sex abuse allegations. In fact, SNAP disclosed yesterday that the group has heard from one local man, Jerry Arnal, that he had been molested as a child by a Youngstown Catholic teacher/cleric. Weeks ago, SNAP also received an anonymous letter that said the teacher/cleric was ousted recently from his post at Cardinal Mooney High School.

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OHIO
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

August 29, 2013

Dear Bishop Murry:

We are writing about three credibly accused child molesting clerics.

We want you to disclose their whereabouts, to reach out to their victims, to warn citizens and Catholic parishioners about them and reveal to citizens and Catholics in your own diocese the identity of the other credibly accused child molesting clerics.

In 2002, US Catholic bishops adopted a supposedly binding national child sex abuse charter mandating “openness and transparency” in child sex abuse cases. SNAP, however, believes that you as the Youngstown Bishop are violating that policy in two recent cases by your “on-going secrecy.”

[Vindicator]

1) You disclosed yesterday that a teacher and deacon no longer works for the diocese “in any capacity” but refused to say why. We suspect it is because that teacher/cleric faces child sex abuse allegations. In fact, we disclosed yesterday that the group has heard from one local man, Jerry Arnal, that he has been molested as a child by a Youngstown Catholic teacher/cleric. Months ago, we also received an anonymous letter that said the teacher/cleric was ousted recently from his post at Cardinal Mooney High School.

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UNITED STATES
Waiting for Godot to Leave

Kevin O’Brien

About a year ago, Fr. Groeschel made his ill-advised comments that amounted to, “A victim of sexual abuse is not always a victim.”

When I pointed out how wrong he was, the furor that erupted on this blog surprised and distressed me. As I explained to a friend on Facebook …

A very large percentage of “conservative” Catholics are adamant that the age of consent is based on positive law only and not on natural law to some degree. I kept claiming that the age of consent, like all legal boundaries, must be somewhat arbitrary, but that it was based on a simple fact: the capacity to consent to sex is not present until fairly late in adolescence. No one wanted to hear that. One of the guys who was most critical of this and who most pushed the agenda of “a 15-year old wants it” had a profile that linked to anime sites. It was really distressing to me.

And let me add the usual caveats. Yes, teenaged girls can be very provocative – and I know personally how easy it is for a “grown ass married dude” (as Matt Walsh calls us) to be tempted in this way.

But read this article – The Myth of the Teenage Temptress: Or Why A Young Girl Can Not Consent to Sex With An Adult Man. Be advised that some graphic language is used and at one point a sexual encounter is described in detail. But the article speaks the truth – the truth many of my readers don’t want to hear.

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DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Dominican Today

Santo Domingo.- Community organizations held a press conference in Constanza yesterday to denounce sexual abuse allegedly committed by a local parish priest, Father Juan Manuel de Jesús Mota.

The groups made the complaint via the Cibao Women’s Coordination Group and called on the La Vega prosecution office to open an investigation into the case: despite being informed of the allegations two weeks ago the authorities have not yet taken any action.

A priest identified as Juan Manuel de Mota (Padre Johnny) who has served the church in Constanza for 15 years, is accused of sexually abusing several young girls, some of them members of the parish choir.

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UNITED STATES
Bilgrimage

William D. Lindsey

5. At its annual assembly a few weeks ago, the Conference of Major Superiors of Men, which serves the leadership of more than 17,000 Catholic priests and brothers who belong to religious orders in the U.S., chose Fr. James J. Greenfield of the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales as its president-elect. On behalf of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP), David Clohessy responds:

A Delaware priest, who claims there’s a “war on the Roman Catholic priesthood” has just been elected head of America’s Catholic religious orders. He also insists that two convicted child molesters are innocent and that prosecutors are “overzealous.” We think he’s an extremist.

David Clohessy notes that Greenfield made his “incendiary remarks” about a purported “war” on priests as abuse cases are investigated and tried in court to Ralph Cipriano of the Big Trial blog in Philadelphia. Clohessy adds,

Fr. Greenfield’s election sends a depressing and chilling message to thousands of clergy sex abuse victims. Decades into the church’s horrific and on-going clergy sex abuse and cover up crisis, Catholic officials are still elevating colleagues who deny and mischaracterize the scandal.

And I agree with David that this decision of the Conference of Major Superiors of Men deserves critical attention. If the goal of the Catholic hierarchy and of religious communities is to get to the bottom of abuse and to be transparent in account for it, electing people who speak about the investigation of the abuse crisis as a “war” on priests is hardly likely to help us achieve that goal.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

JOHN MASANAUSKAS HERALD SUN AUGUST 29, 2013

VICTORIAN Jewish religious leaders are being trained in how to deal with disclosures of sexual abuse and family violence.

A US expert recently visited Melbourne to advise rabbis on the subject.

There have been perceptions in the Jewish community that some religious figures were advising against reporting abuse cases to police.

Last month, rabbi David Kramer was jailed for sexually assaulting four students while teaching at Melbourne’s Yeshivah College between 1989 and 1991.

Rabbinical Council of Victoria president Rabbi Meir Shlomo Kluwgant said the training for rabbis was not directly linked to the sex abuse cases, but was influenced by them.

“There was a misconception that rabbis were saying to people that they mustn’t report to the police,” he said.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Deutsche Bischofskonferenz

Das von der Deutschen Bischofskonferenz beschlossene Forschungsprojekt „Sexueller Missbrauch an Minderjährigen durch katholische Priester, Diakone und männliche Ordensangehörige im Bereich der Deutschen Bischofskonferenz“ wird nun als „Interdisziplinäres Forschungsverbundprojekt“ neu ausgeschrieben. Diesen Beschluss hat der Ständige Rat der Deutschen Bischofskonferenz auf seiner jüngsten Sitzung gefasst.

Nachdem das Forschungsprojekt durch die Kündigung der Zusammenarbeit mit dem Kriminologischen Forschungsinstitut Niedersachsen e. V. zu Jahresanfang vorläufig beendet wurde, weil keine gemeinsame Basis gefunden werden konnte, beschlossen die deutschen Bischöfe noch im Januar 2013 einstimmig, an der Realisierung des Forschungsprojektes festzuhalten. Dazu wurde ein Beraterkreis von den deutschen Bischöfen eingesetzt, der bei der Überprüfung des Projektkonzepts und der Auswahl eines neuen Projektpartners Hilfe leistet. Wesentliche Ziele des Forschungsprojektes sind nach wie vor die Erhebung von verlässlichem Zahlenmaterial sowie die Untersuchung von Täterstrategien, Opfererleben und institutionellen Aspekten. Die Erkenntnisse werden in die diözesane Präventionsarbeit einfließen.

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OSTERREICH
Kurier

Er wollte, dass ich ihn immer zwischen den Oberschenkeln streichle. Ab und zu habe ich auch sein ,Teil’ berühren müssen – das hat ihm getaugt“, beschuldigte Ex-Ministrant Harald F. im Mai 2012 Pfarrer T. in einem TV-Bericht des Senders Puls4.

Der Geistliche soll ihn zwischen 1982 und 1984 vielfach sexuell missbraucht haben. Die Übergriffe sollen in einer kleinen Gemeinde im Bezirk Steyr-Land,OÖ, passiert sein. Doch T., der inzwischen eine Innviertler Pfarre leitet, bestreitet das vehement: „Das stimmt nicht.“

Der Fall landete bei der Unabhängigen Opferschutzanwaltschaft („Klasnic-Kommision“), die F. einem zehnstündigen Clearing-Verfahren unterziehen ließ. Nach eingehender psychologischer Prüfung wurde der 41-Jährige schließlich als Opfer eingestuft und bekam 5000 Euro plus 30 Therapiestunden zugesprochen.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Jesus.de

[Summary: The German Catholic Bishops’ Conference has re-advertised the research project regarding sexual abuse of minors.]

Die katholische Deutsche Bischofskonferenz hat das Forschungsprojekt zum sexuellen Missbrauch Minderjähriger neu ausgeschrieben. Das habe der Ständige Rat auf seiner jüngsten Sitzung beschlossen, teilte die Bischofskonferenz am Mittwoch in Bonn mit.

Für das Projekt können sich Wissenschaftler verschiedener Fachrichtungen bewerben. Ziel der Studie sei weiterhin, sexuelle Übergriffe von Priestern und anderen Geistlichen von 1945 bis heute zu erheben und zu analysieren.

Die neue Ausschreibung sieht eine Laufzeit von 2014 bis 2017 vor. Ziel sei es, verlässliches Zahlenmaterial zu erheben und Täterstrategien, Opfererleben und institutionelle Aspekte zu untersuchen. Die Erkenntnisse sollen in die Präventionsarbeit einfließen.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Welt

Die katholische Bischofskonferenz hat einen neuen Anlauf für das Anfang des Jahres vorerst gescheiterte Forschungsprojekt zur Aufarbeitung des Missbrauchsskandals gestartet. Das Projekt werde interdisziplinär neu ausgeschrieben, teilte die Bischofskonferenz am Mittwoch in Bonn mit. Wesentliche Ziele seien weiterhin die Erhebung “verlässlichen Zahlenmaterials” sowie die Untersuchung von “Täterstrategien, Opfererleben und institutionellen Aspekten”. Die Projektlaufzeit sei von 2014 bis 2017 vorgesehen.

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DEUTSCHLAND
kath.net

Ziele des Forschungsprojektes sind nach wie vor die Erhebung von verlässlichem Zahlenmaterial sowie die Untersuchung von Täterstrategien, Opfererleben und institutionellen Aspekten. Erkenntnisse werden in die diözesane Präventionsarbeit einfließen

Bonn (kath.net/dbk) Das von der Deutschen Bischofskonferenz beschlossene Forschungsprojekt „Sexueller Missbrauch an Minderjährigen durch katholische Priester, Diakone und männliche Ordensangehörige im Bereich der Deutschen Bischofskonferenz“ wird nun als „Interdisziplinäres Forschungsverbundprojekt“ neu ausgeschrieben. Diesen Beschluss hat der Ständige Rat der Deutschen Bischofskonferenz auf seiner jüngsten Sitzung gefasst.

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MICHIGAN
MLive

By Jessica Fleischman | jfleisc2@mlive.com
on August 28, 2013

SAGINAW, MI — John Douglas White, convicted of murdering Rebekah Jane Gay last year, has killed himself in prison, according to the Michigan Department of Corrections.

White was found dead during the morning hours of Wednesday, Aug. 28, having hanged himself in his prison cell.

White, 56, was housed in the Michigan Reformatory correctional facility in Ionia at the time of his death, stated written correspondence from MDOC spokesman Russell Marlan.

After accepting a plea deal for second-degree murder as a habitual offender in the death of the 24-year-old Isabella County woman, White was sentenced to 56 years and three months in prison during his April 2013 sentencing.

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MICHIGAN
Oakland Press

IONIA (AP) — A minister convicted of murder for killing his fiancee’s 24-year-old daughter to fulfill a fantasy to have sex with a dead body has died after being found hanged in his prison cell.

MLive reports that officials at the Michigan Reformatory in Ionia found 56-year-old John D. White about 4 a.m. Wednesday suffering from self-inflicted asphyxiation.

White had been a minister of the small Christ Community Fellowship church in Isabella County’s Deerfield Township, about 120 miles northwest of Detroit.

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AUSTRALIA
Maitland Mercury

Aug. 29, 2013

An inquiry into the alleged cover-up of child sexual abuse committed by Maitland and Newcastle Catholic priests will reopen to hear evidence from two of the church’s most senior officials.

The special commission of inquiry will reconvene in Sydney on September 9 when the general-secretary of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, Father Brian Lucas, and the chancellor of the Archdiocese of Sydney, Monsignor John Usher, will give evidence.

Father Lucas gave evidence to the inquiry during its eight weeks of public hearings that wrapped up in Newcastle earlier this month.

He said between 1990 and 1995 he heard of 35 complaints against priests while working on a team established to persuade ­paedophile priests to resign.

Father Lucas was also part of a committee that designed protocol for bishops in dealing with allegations of criminal behaviour in the 1980s and 1990s.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

By IAN KIRKWOOD Aug. 28, 2013

THE Special Commission of Inquiry into the handling of child sex abuse allegations in the Maitland-Newcastle diocese of the Catholic Church has announced further public hearings in Sydney.

The hearings, with Monsignor John Usher and Father Brian Lucas, are scheduled to start at 10am on September 9.

The commission finished its scheduled public hearings in Newcastle on August 1, but commissioner Margaret Cunneen has held a series of in-camera hearings during the intervening weeks.

Father Lucas, the general secretary of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, gave evidence in the public Newcastle hearings and was listed as one of at least 15 witnesses giving evidence behind closed doors.

Monsignor Usher, chancellor of the Archdiocese of Sydney, had not appeared previously on witness lists.

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OHIO
WFMJ

[with video]

By Michelle Nicks, Reporter

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – New allegations of child sex abuse emerge related to the Catholic church.

A Youngstown man claims he was molested at age 13 by a teacher at St. Christine’s School in the city.

Jerry Arnal, now 51 years-old, stood outside the Catholic Diocese of Youngstown telling 21 News he felt compelled to publicly reveal his painful past in hopes that he could prevent the crimes from happening to any other young children.

Arnal says he was repeatedly molested by a deacon and Catholic school teacher at St. Christine’s back in 1976.

The Youngstown man also claims the alleged abuser still works in the diocese, a claim the Youngstown Diocese vehemently denies.

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CHILE
Cooperativa

El abogado querellante en la denuncia de abusos sexuales contra el sacerdote John O’Reilly, Juan Ignacio Escobar, afirmó en Una Nueva Mañana en Cooperativa que se han producido presiones inaceptables para proteger al ex capellán del Colegio Cumbres en el juicio.

O’Reilly enfrentó este martes la audiencia de formalización por abusos contra ds hermanas de ese establecimiento cuando ellas tenían seis y nueve años, en la que la Fiscalía pidió la prisión preventiva en su contra, lo que fue rechazado por la jueza a cargo del caso, Andrea Díaz-Muñoz.

Este trámite se produjo dos días después de que fuera publicada una carta en los diarios La Tercera y El Mercurio con más de mil firmas en apoyo del sacerdote acusado, lo que el abogado calificó de “presión indebida”.

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CHILE
Cooperativa

Luego que el Cuarto Juzgado de Garantía de Santiago lo dejara en libertad y sin medidas cautelares, el sacerdote John O’Reilly envió un mensaje de apoyo a las familias de las presuntas víctimas de abusos que se le imputaban, afirmando que reza por ellas.

El religioso había sido formalizado este martes acusado de abusos sexuales en contra de dos niñas del colegio Cumbres cuando éstas tenían seis y 10 años, a partir de 2007.

O’Reilly llegó hasta el Centro de Justicia acompañado por apoderados, alumnos y ex estudiantes del colegio Cumbres y salió de la misma forma. Antes de retirarse del lugar declaró que “creo que se han mencionado aquí todos las personas que sufren, evidentemente, tienen una oportunidad para el futuro”.

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CANADA
Ottawa Citizen

BY BERNIE M. FARBER, OTTAWA CITIZEN AUGUST 28, 2013

He was considered one of Canada’s preeminent poets, a writer whose verses sang of Canada’s natural beauty, whose poems painted pictures of Canadian wilderness that brought pride to a nation. He was also a heartless civil servant, the first superintendent of Canadian residential schools and a deputy minister of Indian Affairs in the early part of the 20th century whose policies targeting First Nations, many believe, meet today’s definition of the UN genocide convention.

Duncan Campbell Scott was born in Ottawa in 1862. His desire was to go into medicine, a profession that his family could ill afford. His father, however, Rev. William Scott, did have connections in the nation’s capital and managed to get his son a job within the Indian Affairs sector, then part of the Department of the Interior. Scott spent the rest of his professional career in Indian Affairs, eventually rising to deputy superintendent in 1923. And it is here that he callously enforced laws and regulations that were determined to assimilate Canada’s indigenous population into Canadian society.

Scott believed wholeheartedly in the residential-school plan for young aboriginal children, a policy Canada had adopted even before Confederation. He approached his job with the fervour of a zealot. Scott embraced the idea that removing aboriginal children from the reserve, forcibly if need be, and placing them in residential schools often many hundreds of miles from their homes was the only way, as he ominously stated, to “kill the Indian in the child.”

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IOWA
KCRG

By Katie Wiedemann, Reporter

DUBUQUE, Iowa — The Archdiocese of Dubuque has agreed to pay $5.2 million to 26 people claiming clergy sex abuse.

The settlement was announced Wednesday.

The Dubuque Archdiocese also settled with 18 victims in 2008 for $4.7 million. The Archdiocese paid nine victims $2.6 million in 2007. 20 victims were part of a $5 million settlement in 2006. The church also settled with 10 victims individually.

As director of The Iowa “Survivor’s network of those Abused by Priests”, Steve Theisen says no amount of money can fix the damage abusers cause their victims. “A lot of the folks haven’t been able to reach their potential because of the abuse,” said Theisen.

As a sexual abuse survivor himself, Theisen says what really helps victims recover is therapy. “The nightmares went away. The wrong thinking, some of that is still there. But a lot of the anxiety and depression went away. ”

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IOWA
The Gazette

More than 20 sexual abuse claims against the Archdiocese of Dubuque were resolved earlier this month in the form of a settlement.

According to a press release from Waterloo lawyer Chad Swanson, of Dutton, Braun, Staack & Hellman, P.L.C., 26 sexual abuse claims were resolved with a $5.2 million settlement with the Archdiocese. The money was collectively paid to 22 males and four females survivors.

“The settlement is a significant and the amount of money included in the settlement may appear substantial, but on a per person basis, it will never be sufficient to compensate these claimants for all of the years of living with shame, embarrassment and stigma of the abuse,” Swanson said in the release.

A statement from the Archdiocese of Dubuque, released Wednesday, said the Archdiocese will continue to publish notices in its newspaper inviting people who were sexually abused as minors to come forward with information on how to do so. It will also offer to pay for counseling and therapy for victims for up to 12 sessions.

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IOWA
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Dubuque

August 2013

Table of priests against whom public accusations of sexual abuse of minors have been made and/or
lawsuits have been filed. They are listed chronologically according to the earliest time the sexual abuse
occurred, according to the accusations. The name of the priest is included, as well as dates of birth, ordination, and death. In the “Comments” section, the time that the accusation became public is Indicated. At the end of the table, there is provided an alphabetical list of the priests, with each priest’s
dates and places of assignments. The current status of the priest is also listed in that summary. Being included in this table does not necessarily mean that the accusation has been proven in a court of law or shown to have occurred through an outside investigation or admitted to by the person accused.

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IOWA
WHO

The Archdiocese of Dubuque is paying millions of dollars to victims of sex abuse by its clergy members.
26 victims of sexual abuse will split a $5.2-million settlement. Of the 26, four are female and 22 are male.

The abuse to the then minors happened between the 1940′s and 1970′s.

The Archdiocese of Dubuque keeps a list on its website of priests publicly accused of abuse. Nine of the 10 priests accused of abuse in this particular settlement were already on that list.

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IOWA
The Globe Gazette

By PAT KINNEY, For The Globe Gazette

WATERLOO — The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Dubuque has paid $5.2 million to 26 victims of clergy sex abuse — the fourth such settlement in nine years and the first since 2008.

The out-of-court settlement was announced Wednesday by Waterloo attorney Chad Swanson of the Dutton law firm and confirmed by the archdiocese.

It involves 10 priests in incidents alleged to have occurred from the late 1940s through the 1970s, including three who served in North Iowa.

None of the accused clergy currently work as priests, and most are dead. Archdiocesan officials have said the number of new claims has tapered off significantly in recent years.

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IOWA
Houston Chronicle

DUBUQUE, Iowa (AP) — The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Dubuque will pay $5.2 million to 26 people who have claimed clergy sex abuse, according to a settlement announced Wednesday.

Archbishop Michael Jackels and Archbishop Emeritus Jerome Hanus apologized in a statement to the victims and their families, and expressed hope that the settlement will be supportive of them.

“They assure all the victims of their prayers for them and their families,” said a statement from Sister Carol Hoverman, the communications director for the archdiocese.

The statement said priests who abused are a “disgrace to the vocation and a scandal to the faithful.”

“The vast majority of priests are good and holy servants of God and God’s people,” said the statement.

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OHIO
Vindicator

By joe gorman
jgorman@vindy.com
youngstown

A man saying he was abused by a deacon and former Diocese of Youngstown employee in 1976 said he came forward to help other people who may have been abused by the same person.

The diocese in 2011, however, told Jerry Arnal, 51, of Youngstown, who is making the claim, that it investigated and found the claims to be unsubstantiated. The diocese also said the employee, who also used to be at Cardinal Mooney High School, has not been employed by the diocese since last year and that he no longer is a deacon.

Judy Jones, Midwest regional director of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, and Arnal had a news conference outside St. Columba Cathedral on Wednesday. Jones urged Bishop George Murry, head of the diocese, to release the man’s name so that others can report abuse and seek help. Jones and Arnal refused to identify the person they are accusing, saying that is up to the diocese.

“We believe children are still at risk in this diocese,” Jones said. “We won’t release the name because Bishop Murry knows who it is, and it his responsibility.”

When asked if the name of someone who has not been formally charged should be released, Jones said the diocese has done it before with the case of former priest Thomas Crum. Crum was banished from the priesthood in 2010 after allegations surfaced in 2009 that he abused a student, also at Cardinal Mooney, in 1976. Crum was asked to resign by the diocese in June 2009 after the accuser’s May 2009 claim was investigated and found to be credible, and police departments in several other locations were contacted. Crum ultimately was not charged criminally because the statute of limitations, the time limit for filing charges in a criminal case, had run out.

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OHIO
Tribune Chronicle

August 29, 2013

YOUNGSTOWN – A city man who said he was abused close to 30 years ago by a teacher / deacon while he was a student at St. Christine’s school joined an advocacy group that confronted Youngstown Diocese officials about the matter on Wednesday.

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests announced plans to hand-deliver a letter to Bishop George Murry asking him to suspend the deacon, who SNAP claimed is still part of the diocese.

SNAP official Judy Jones said Jerry Arnal was abused by a teacher repeatedly during the mid-to-late 1970s. According to SNAP, Arnal reported the alleged abuse to Sister Jane Marie Kudlacsz, the principal, in 1987.

SNAP claims Murry told Arnal in 2011 that he hired a private investigator, who found no evidence of molestation.

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UNITED STATES
Morung Express

Catherine Woodiwiss Sojourners

The Silence and the Shame of Sexual Violence in Church

Several years ago, Amee Paparella was an eager student at a state university in Ohio. A conservative Christian, she quickly signed up to join the campus ministry. What she found in the group surprised her.

“It was so misogynistic,” Paparella recalled. “My leaders perpetuated this hyper-masculinized idea of God as physically a man.”

Over the years, Paparella wrestled to reconcile this image of God with her own faith, often to the discomfort of her peers. But an incident of sexual abuse within the ministry proved the breaking point. When it was discovered that a young man had been abusing his female partner, also in the group, the campus minister and student leaders responded by encouraging the young woman to stand by her man and to pray with the other students for his healing.

Paparella was horrified. “I realized, they don’t want me to think. After that, I just didn’t see how faith and women’s empowerment could be reconciled.” From that point on, she said, “the women’s movement really became my new church.”

Several months ago, a young woman in Steubenville, Ohio, suffered a series of horrific, and horrifically public, violations. After being raped by two classmates, her abuse continued as photos of the incident were spread throughout social networks and ultimately to the national media. Not only did she suffer violations of her body, of her dignity, and of her privacy, she later suffered skepticism and blame from victim-shamers both online and in her community, and had her identity broadcast on cable news.

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IOWA
CBS 2

[with video]

Updated: Wednesday, August 28 2013

DUBUQUE, IA (CBS 2/FOX 28) — Tonight, it’s the church asking for forgiveness.

“I will repeat it as long as I have life’s breath…I am sorry,” said Archbishop Michael Jackels.

With the Archdiocese of Dubuque settling with 26 more victims of sexual abuse for a total of $5.2 million dollars, the total is now up to 83 settlements over the past seven years. Jackels says they don’t want to stop at a cash payment.

“If there’s anything that we can do or say to help with the process of healing and wholeness, we’re ready to do that,” Jackels said.

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