ABUSE TRACKER

UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

By Robert Pigott

Even if you’re not a Scottish Catholic, the case of the disappearing cardinal has an unsettling effect.

So much about the case against Cardinal Keith O’Brien, until Monday the leader of the Catholic Church in Scotland, is unknown.

Even he is said by a close colleague to be unaware of who his accusers are, and exactly what they claim he did. The cardinal has said that he “contests” the claims against him.

Yet he has paid an extremely heavy price – resigning barely two weeks short of his 75th birthday, when he could have retired with dignity at the end of an illustrious career.

So why did he choose to go?

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SCOTLAND
Daily Record

AS the Cardinal worked from home an ex-leader of England’s Catholics says the next Pope must put his house in order.

CARDINAL Keith O’Brien seemed to be working away like normal in his study yesterday – despite claims he was “very upset” over the circumstances of his shock resignation.

The day after he stepped down as Britain’s most senior Catholic, the 74-year-old remained behind closed doors in his official residence in Edinburgh’s Morningside.

As O’Brien was making calls and talking into a dictaphone, a former leader of Catholics in England and Wales called for the “Pope’s own house to be put in order”.

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SCOTLAND
Daily Record

THE resignation of Britain’s most senior Catholic has been felt world-wide in the run up to the selection of the next Pope.

CARDINAL Keith O’Brien’s decision not to take part in the conclave to elect the next pope has heaped pressure on other scandal-hit cardinals to follow his lead.

Several senior Catholic figures from around the world are planning to travel to Rome despite the fact they’ve been embroiled in damning claims of abuse cover-ups.

Father Tony Flannery, of the Association of Catholic Priests in Ireland, believes many of them will now be feeling the heat. He said: “Cardinal O’Brien has taken the decision on his own not to attend the conclave and that’s significant.

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IRELAND
Reuters

By Tom Heneghan

February 27, 2013

Ghana’s Peter Turkson is the Irish bookmakers’ favorite to replace Pope Benedict, putting a non-European in pole position to lead the 1.2 billion-member Roman Catholic Church for the first time in more than a millennium.

Irish bookmaker Paddy Power offered odds of 11/4 against for Turkson, meaning successful punters would win 11 pounds for every four staked, while Britain’s second largest bookmaker Ladbrokes offered odds of 5/2 against.

Turkson would be the first non-European to lead the Catholic church in more than a millennium if he is chosen to succeed Benedict. Italian Angelo Scola is second favorite according to Paddy Power at 3/1 against.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Berger’s Beat

SNAP leaders Barbara Dorris and David Clohessy landed in Rome this morning and just five hours later held their first news conference challenging Pope Benedict to “take dramatic action” during his final days in office to “punish those who conceal child sex crimes.” Among those in attendance: Mary Ann Ahern of the Chicago NBC affiliate, the inimitable Sylvia Poggioli of NPR and two reporters – Dennis Coday and Josh McElwee – of the KC-based National Catholic Reporter. . .

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BOSTON (MA)
WGBH

By Ibby Caputo

This week, Pope Benedict XVI joins a handful of his predecessors who resigned as leader of the Catholic Church. In Boston, and around the world, the Pope’s startling decision has prompted weeks of reaction, reflection and curiosity.

There are 1.8 million Roman Catholics in the Boston area. They range from the devout to Catholic “in name only.”

I asked a few local people, “Are you Catholic?”

“Um, Kind of yes,” one young woman replied. “I was raised Catholic.”

“I do go to church on Easter, that’s about it,” a man said.

“I am a practicing Catholic,” an older woman said. “I go to church every Sunday and I’m delighted to do so to praise and thank God.”

For both the devout and the dubious, the Pope’s resignation has caused a stir, especially for Catholics here in Boston.

Because we’ve been immersed in it, possibly more thoroughly than the average Catholic,” said Anne Southwood, chair of the Boston Council of Voice of the Faithful, an international organization that supports victims of clergy sexual abuse, started in Massachusetts after the Boston Globe broke the scandal in 2002. …

Scholarly speculation about the next pope has been intense – including the mention of long shot American names like New York’s Cardinal Timothy Dolan and Boston’s Cardinal Sean O’Malley.

Local scholars are also being asked to help put the Pope’s decision into a broader historical context. After all, it has been 600 years since a Pope resigned. We were curious about why — and why it’s been so long.

“There have probably been 4, 5 popes who have resigned, but all but one of them rescinded under duress,” said Richard Gaillardetz, professor of theology at Boston College. “Either an emperor or some political figure, maybe even local clergy forced them to resign.”

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VATICAN CITY
International Business Times

By Esther Tanquintic-Misa | February 27

In the midst of the sexual abuse crisis now hounding the Roman Catholic church which ironically is in its most critical period in selecting the new pope, believers of the faith say it is not enough that the highly anticipated new leader is just plain spiritual or has charisma to convert bigots into the secular religion.

“From the new pope, we’d simply expect courage,” David Clohessy, national director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, told reporters at a news conference in Rome on Tuesday.

“We long for the day when church officials announce that this cardinal or this bishop is being demoted because church officials have found proof of wrongdoing and church officials want to clean things up.”

The shock resignation of Cardinal Keith O’Brien, Britain’s most senior Catholic clergyman, on Monday, who observers said was pressured to step down by no less than the outgoing Pope Benedict XVI himself, could be a most improved signal of better things to come for the secular Roman Catholic faith.

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VATICAN CITY
The Himalayan Times

REUTERS

VATICAN CITY: The sex and power scandals haunting the Catholic Church look set to play a big role in meetings before next month’s papal election after two senior cardinals called on Tuesday for more internal debate about them.

A leading support group for victims of clerical sexual abuse also made what it called a “last-ditch plea” to Pope Benedict to use his authority before resigning on Thursday to discipline bishops who have protected predatory priests in their dioceses.

The abuse issue took on new urgency after Scotland’s Cardinal Keith O’Brien, accused of improper behavior with young priests, quit as Edinburgh archbishop on Monday and pulled out of the Sistine Chapel conclave to elect a new pope. …

French Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran said in a newspaper interview that the cardinal electors, who number 115 after O’Brien stepped down, should also be informed about a secret report on Vatican corruption prepared for Pope Benedict.

The retiring pontiff has decided to reserve the report for his successor, but the three cardinals over 80 years old who drew it up will be allowed to inform the cardinal electors about some of its findings during next week’s consultations.

ASKING TO NAME NAMES

“The cardinal electors cannot decide to choose this or that name to vote for if they don’t know the contents of this dossier,” Tauran told La Repubblica newspaper.

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NETHERLANDS
Expatica

A 59-year-old man who was sexually assaulted once by church officials while living in a Catholic boarding school in Limburg is taking legal action against the church for years of physical abuse.

In an interview with the Volkskrant, the man says he was kicked and punched as a teenager over a period of several years. ‘I was literally beaten into hospital five times,’ the man said. ‘But the church does not comment on this sort of abuse.’

The case will be heard on March 11. The paper says it is the first time a victim of church physical abuse has gone to court. The man was earlier given €25,000 compensation for the sex attack he endured.

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AUSTRALIA
Maitland Mercury

By EMMA SWAIN
Feb. 27, 2013

The mother of a son who suffered at the hands of a paedophile priest and a man abused by a Marist Brother when he was just a boy have revealed their stories in a DVD.

Breaking the Silence: The Impact of Sexual Abuse by Church Personnel presents the testimony of two Maitland residents, Patricia Feenan and Bob O’Toole, in a confronting and unflinchingly honest account of their experiences.

The DVD was produced by Insights – an arm of Zimmerman Services in the Catholic Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle that was established in 2009 to explore the ongoing consequences of historic child sexual abuse in the diocese.

“I think this is a very worthwhile venture because it’s a way of getting the message out there about what this does to a family,” Ms Feenan said.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Dan Cox

Updated Wed Feb 27, 2013

A new DVD, commissioned by the Maitland-Newcastle Catholic Diocese, aims to raise the awareness of the impact of child sexual abuse at the hands of church workers.

Around a hundred people were at the Newcastle launch of the DVD titled, ‘Breaking the Silence’.

Pat Feenan’s son Daniel was sexually assaulted by a Catholic priest from the age of 12.

She says he was sometimes assaulted between church services.

“He left one mass, he took my son to another mass to be an extra altar boy , and he abused him in the car,” she said.

“That’s disgraceful.”

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VATICAN CITY
The New York Times

By LAURIE GOODSTEIN

Published: February 26, 2013

The sudden resignation of the most senior Roman Catholic cardinal in Britain, who stepped aside on Monday in the face of accusations that he made unwanted sexual advances toward priests years ago, showed that the taint of scandal could force a cardinal from participating in the selection of a new pope.

His exit came as at least a dozen other cardinals tarnished with accusations that they had failed to remove priests accused of sexually abusing minors were among those gathering in Rome to prepare for the conclave to select a successor to Pope Benedict XVI. There was no sign that the church’s promise to confront the sexual abuse scandal had led to direct pressure on those cardinals to exempt themselves from the conclave.

Advocates for abuse victims who were in Rome on Tuesday focused particular ire on Cardinal Roger M. Mahony, the former archbishop of Los Angeles, and called for him to be excluded from the conclave. But Cardinal Mahony, who has vigorously defended his record, was already in Rome, posting on Twitter about the weather.

Even stalwart defenders of the church point out that to disqualify Cardinal Mahony would leave many more cardinals similarly vulnerable. Many of the men who will go into the Sistine Chapel to elect a pope they hope will help the church recover from the bruising scandal of sexual abuse have themselves been blemished by it.

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TEXAS
KENS

[with video

by Brix Fowler / KENS 5

Posted on February 26, 2013

“It’s been a very big loss. There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think about Eduardo,” Barbara Boehland said.

Boehland’s son, Eduardo Ramon, committed suicide back in 1997. She says he did it because of sexual abuse by a priest.

‘I remember falling to my knees and crying because it didn’t happen at my house. It happened at my grandparents’ house where he hung himself,” Boehland said.

Boehland says the Catholic Church needs to be held accountable. She’s part of a nationwide group that supports survivors of religous sexual abuse.

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) petitioned the International Criminal Court to investigate its 84-page legal complaint that the pope and several cardinals knowingly condoned sexual abuse and did very little, if anything, to stop it.

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BRAZIL
Infosur Hoy

APARECIDA, Brazil – Catholicism in Latin America is “lively and dynamic,” Brazilian Cardinal Raymundo Damasceno Assis said on Feb. 24, suggesting that the church look to Latin America for leadership.

Damasceno, 76, is one of the 117 “cardinal electors” who will participate in the upcoming conclave to elect a new pope. No favorite has emerged to succeed Pope Benedict XVI, who announced that he is stepping down at the end of the month.

Damasceno, who also is the head of Brazil’s Conference of Catholic Bishops, said Catholicism is very strong in Latin America.

“The Church in Latin America is enjoying a very special moment, with strong missionary enthusiasm,” Damasceno said.

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SPAIN
EWTN News

Throughout his eight-year papacy, Pope Benedict XVI has “carried out a cleansing of the episcopate,” said the apostolic nuncio to Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tadjikistan.

“This Pope has removed two or three bishops per month throughout the world because either the accounts in their dioceses were a mess or their discipline was a disaster,” said Archbishop Miguel Maury Buendia during a Feb. 20 address at the University of San Pablo in Madrid.

“The nuncio went to these bishops and said, ‘The Holy Father is asking you for the good of the Church to resign from your post.’”

Nearly all of these bishops, when approached by the Pope’s representative, were aware of the “disaster” and accepted the request to resign, he added.

“There have been two or three instances in which they said no, and so the Pope simply removed them,” he explained. “This is also a message to the bishops: do the same thing in your dioceses.”

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SPAIN
Catholic Culture

A Vatican diplomat has given Pope Benedict XVI credit for a “cleansing of the episcopate,” saying that the Pope has removed many bishops from office during the course of his pontificate.

Speaking in Madrid, Spain, Archbishop Miguel Maury Buendia said that the Pope has confronted bishops who have proved incompetent or unworthy, and asked them to resign. The Spanish archbishop–who is the apostolic nuncio to Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tadjikstan—said that most of the bishops acknowledged their failings and agreed to resign. “There have been two or three instances in which they said no, and so the Pope simply removed them,” he said.

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UNITED STATES
Catholic Culture

By Phil Lawler February 26, 2013

If the only news you read comes from popular commentators in the secular media, you might think that Pope Benedict XVI is resigning because he could not make any progress in fighting corruption within the Church. Those who follow Catholic news carefully know better.

In our news coverage yesterday we called attention to remarks by a member of the Vatican diplomatic corps, who credited Pope Benedict with a cleaning up the ranks of Catholic bishops. Archbishop Miguel Maury Buendia said that the Pope has quietly demanded the resignations of many bishops. The Spanish archbishop made this eye-opening claim:

This Pope has removed two or three bishops per month throughout the world because either the accounts in their dioceses were a mess or their discipline was a disaster.

Two or three bishops a month! That number seems impossibly high. There are thousands of bishops in the world, and every month brings a certain amount of turnover in their ranks. But most of the resignations reported by the Vatican press office come with convincing explanations: in most cases the bishop has reached the canonical retirement age of 75.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Scotsman

By STEPHEN MCGINTY
Published on Wednesday 27 February 2013

THE Catholic Church in Scotland has been badly damaged over allegations of “inappropriate behaviour” by Cardinal Keith O’Brien towards priests, according to the former leader of the Church in England and Wales.

Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, the retired arch-bishop of Westminster, said yesterday that “what has happened will for him and for the Church in Scotland have been very damaging”.

His comments came on the day Cardinal O’Brien had been expected to fly to Rome to take part in the conclave to elect a new pope, but instead remained at his home in Edinburgh.

Cardinal O’Brien’s decision to stay in Scotland was triggered by the Pope’s immediate acceptance of his resignation following accusations that he made “inappropriate” approaches to four priests during the 1980s.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Mirror

Colleagues said he and knew neither what he is alleged to have done nor who had made the allegations that led to him quitting

Cardinal Keith O’Brien today continued to deny strenuously the “anonymous and non-specific” allegations that led to his resignation.

Colleagues said he was “vulnerable and very upset”, and knew neither what he is alleged to have done nor who had made the allegations.

Britain’s most senior Roman Catholic cleric quit aged 75 on Monday.

He was accused of “inappropriate behaviour” in the 80s by three priests and an ex-priest to papal nuncio Antonio Mennini.

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SCOTLAND
Scotsman

Published on Wednesday 27 February 2013

IT IS, without doubt, the strangest of times to be Catholic in Scotland, but I would argue not necessarily the most disheartening if you’re liberal like me and desperate for change.

I know that there will be many traditional church-goers who feel cast adrift by Keith O’Brien’s resignation and bewildered by the allegations that have been made against him, and I have some sympathy for them.

If you are a parishioner who looked to him for spiritual guidance; who listened and invested in his and other Church leaders’ increasingly strident views on issues such as gay marriage, then you would, of course, be justifiably distressed by suggestions that he himself had engaged in “inappropriate behaviour” with other men.

Though O’Brien contests the allegations, made by three priests and a former priest, the very fact that they have been made will be enough to leave ordinary worshippers wondering what on earth is going on at the heart of religious life.

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CHILE
Bio Bio

Víctimas de Karadima afirman que Francisco Javier Errázuriz debería restarse de la elección del Papa

Los denunciantes de Fernando Karadima indicaron que el cardenal Francisco Javier Errázuriz debería inhabilitarse en la elección del nuevo Papa, debido a su actuar frente al caso contra Karadima.

Esto, a propósito de la decisión del ex arzobispo de Sain Andrews y único cardenal británico, Keith O’Brien, que decidió restarse del proceso tras ser acusado de abusar de cuatro personas.

Las víctimas de Karadima señalaron que si se trata por pureza de conciencia, Errázuriz no debería participar en el cónclave que escogerá al sucesor de Benedicto XVI.

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ROME
Irish Times

As Pope Benedict XVI prepares to celebrate his last Wednesday public audience in front of 150,000 faithful in St Peter’s Square this morning, clerical sex abuse continues to cast a dark shadow over the conclave.

Speaking in Rome yesterday, David Clohessy, spokesman for the US-based clerical sex abuse victims group, SNAP, called on the new pope to do a lot better than his two predecessors.

“We would like the new pope to have a lot of courage and make the safety of kids his number one job. Benedict was perfectly positioned to make the kind of changes that were needed, but it is obviously very, very tough to change things if wrongdoers are virtually never disciplined,” he said.

“I mean there is not a single bishop on the planet today who drives a smaller car or does his own laundry or takes fewer vacations because of the clerical sex abuse crisis. This is a crisis that has had massive impact on the day to day life of the Church but not on that of the men who have caused this crisis. Until we see the pope defrocking bad bishops . . . then things are not going to change.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
Express

By: Dean Herbert
Published: Wed, February 27, 2013

Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, retired Archbishop of Westminster, said the successor to Benedict XVI would need to be able to tackle reform of the Roman Curia, the Vatican departments that govern the 1.2 billion-strong global church.

His remarks came as the Church was shocked by the resignation of Cardinal O’Brien amid allegations that he behaved inappropriately towards young priests in the early 1980s.

Cardinal O’Brien, who was once pictured with the disgraced late television presenter Jimmy Savile, has denied the allegations and is taking legal advice.

Yesterday, a spokesman for the Catholic Church in Scotland strongly denied suggestions that the Pope had effectively “sacked” the Cardinal, saying his resignation was not linked to the allegations.

The Church said the Cardinal had been due to retire on March 17 when he turned 75, but had requested some time ago for the date to be brought forward due to ill health.

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UNITED STATES
Fort Worth Weekly

Posted February 26, 2013 by JIMMY FOWLER

Some Catholic commentators have lamented the latest round of tabloid-quality scandals besetting the Vatican. Tragic that so much vanity and human error should impede the serious business of selecting a new pope, they opine. And isn’t the church’s professed mission of helping the poor and the marginalized compromised by all the salacious gossip? It’s a sad time to be a Catholic, they sigh.

Oh, bollocks! As I wait for another CNN “breaking news” report about some errant bishop or shadowy gay cabal in Rome, my response is: “Pass the popcorn!” The current intrigue is one of the many reasons some of us chose to join this particular flock: Nobody does drama like the Catholic Church hierarchy. A very cool priest once told me that the history of the church is “more like a soap opera than a religious institution.” That’s an understatement.

As a Catholic, I don’t worry about “the moral authority of the church,” because that ship sailed a long time ago. Even before the worldwide pedophilia scandals broke, the church’s stance against birth control sealed the Vatican’s reputation among most Westerners –– including, perhaps especially, most Western Catholics –– as an overly pampered, out-of-touch club of old men.

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RHODE ISLAND
NBC 10

By Katie Davis

Updated: Feb 26, 2013

NBC 10’s I-Team has learned that a priest in Woonsocket who admitted to sexual abuse involving a 15-year-old boy in the 1980s won’t be monitored or forced to register as a sex offender.

This week, the former Monsignor John Allard was removed from duty at Precious Blood Church and St. Agatha’s Church, both in Woonsocket.

But critics say that’s not enough. Anne Barrett Doyle of Bishop Accountability, a nonprofit group that tracks publicly accused priests, said she believes Allard is still a risk to children.

“They suspend priests,” Barrett Doyle said. “But who is going to monitor him?”

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence said in a statement that Allard took responsibility for his actions. But NBC 10 learned he won’t be tracked or forced to register as a sex offender because of Rhode Island’s statute of limitations.

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OHIO/CANADA
The Columbus Dispatch

By JoAnne Viviano
The Columbus Dispatch
Tuesday February 26, 2013

A Roman Catholic priest who once worked in central Ohio has been convicted in British Columbia, Canada, of sexually touching a person between the ages of 14 and 18.

The Rev. Philip Jacobs was found guilty yesterday. He was acquitted on one count of sexual assault and two counts of sexually touching a person younger than 14.

The Saanich News reported trial testimony that Jacobs ran his hand up and down the pants-clad leg of a boy he was tutoring at St. Joseph the Worker School in Saanich. The boy testified that he lay on a couch in the priest’s home with his legs over Jacobs’ lap and Jacobs’ hand touched his genitals, according to the newspaper.

Jacobs maintains that he unintentionally brushed the boy’s groin, his attorney, Chris Considine, said.

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BELGIUM
The Times (United Kingdom)

Charles Bremner
Brussels

Roman Catholic activists, led by a retired priest, are calling on a Belgian cardinal to stay away from the papal conclave in Rome because of his alleged failure to expose widescale sexual abuse by priests. Rik Devillé, a priest who has campaigned for two decades to uncover sexual abuse in the Church, said that Cardinal Godfried Danneels, 79, who headed the Church in Belgium from 1979 to 2010, should follow Cardinal Keith O’Brien from Scotland in not attending the conclave to pick a successor to Benedict XVI.

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NEW YORK
New York Daily News

BY Michael O’Keeffe

New York assemblywoman Margaret Markey is taking her sexual abuse legislation on the road.

Markey, a Democrat from Queens, will hold a hearing on her Child Victims Act, which would eliminate criminal and civil statute of limitations in sex abuse cases in Manhattan on March 8. The bill was inspired in part by scandals at Poly Prep, Penn State and Syracuse.

Markey will hold the hearing with the New York State Assembly Codes Committee. The lawmakers have invited will hear from law enforcement officials, mental health experts and sexual abuse victims testify about why the statute of limitations should be eliminated.

“We are particularly interested in hearing about research that clearly demonstrates why so many victims of abuse do not come to grips with the abuse they have suffered until later in life, long after the current law permits them to come forward, and long after their abusers and those who hide them can be identified and punished,” Markey said in a statement.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

by Ken Briggs | Feb. 26, 2013

Analysis
As it turns out, the investigation of American nuns came squarely in the middle of Pope Benedict XVI’s eight-year reign. It angered those who’d pledged themselves to renewal and stirred barely suppressed glee in the minority whose concept of religious life was pre-Vatican II.

In the years leading up to that alarm, many religious communities belonging to the Leadership Conference of Women Religious had languished in the face of huge challenges, among them the financing of care for retired sisters and sheer survival.

Their position was further compromised by a successful public relations initiative to convince the public that adherents of the rival Conference of Major Superiors of Women Religious, certified by the Vatican in 1991 as a traditionalist alternative, were thriving as the result of their fidelity to true religious life while LCWR-affiliated groups were dying because they had abandoned their vows for worldliness and self-seeking.

No matter that the publicity was essentially wrong. It had an impact; news coverage focused on the joyous nuns in habits who did everything the old way and were booming. Renewal sisters found themselves in a defensive posture.

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ALASKA
News-Miner

Associated Press

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – The Catholic Archdiocese of Anchorage is moving forward with plans to defrock a long-time priest suspected of inappropriate behavior with five women.

The archdiocese in 2009 suspended Father J. Michael Hornick for what it said was inappropriate physical contact with three adult women.

Archdiocese spokesman Father Thomas Brundage says two more women came forward with similar allegations that occurred decades ago when they were minors.

Hornick served in Anchorage for more than 40 years. After his dismissal as pastor of St. Nicholas Parish, he was forbidden from identifying himself as a priest.

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NEW HAMPSHIRE
Concord Monitor

By TRICIA L. NADOLNY Monitor staff
Tuesday, February 26, 2013

The parents of a 14-year-old Pembroke boy have accused a priest at St. John’s Regional School in Concord of making inappropriate comments about sex and pornography to their son while the two talked during the sacrament of confession last December.

In a lawsuit filed today by the boy’s parents against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Manchester, the Rev. George Desjardins is accused of asking the boy if he had “engaged in watching pornographic material and masturbating.” When the boy said that he hadn’t and that he had a girlfriend, Desjardins went on to tell the boy to use “rubbers” and warned him that the a girl can “yell ‘rape’ ” during sex, the lawsuit alleges.

Kevin Donovan, the diocese’s spokesman, said this afternoon that he had just received the lawsuit and was unable to comment. According to the lawsuit, Desjardins is officially retired but still working in some form at the school.

The family’s lawyer, Peter Hutchins, said the comments were completely unsolicited and called the actions “classic grooming.”

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UNITED STATES
Religion News Service

Tom Ehrich | Feb 12, 2013

(RNS) I wish I could see Pope Benedict XVI’s surprise decision to resign on Feb. 28 as a mea culpa for having led the world’s largest Christian body backward for eight years.

Alas, he has made no apology for cementing Roman Catholicism’s reputation as male-centric, homophobic and uninterested in sex abuse scandals beyond their litigation costs.

In an eerie tone-deafness, he announced his retirement in Latin and had it translated into seven languages of Europe, where the church is close to extinct, and not into any of the African, Asian or Middle Eastern languages spoken by emerging Catholics.

The 85-year-old pope simply said he was physically too frail to do the job. That was a humble admission, and there are countless old men around the world’s power structures who might take a cue from him about the wisdom of letting go.

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UNITED STATES
TheMediaReport

Ever since Pope Benedict announced his resignation, the media has given a special voice to the usual cadre of anti-Catholic bigots and malcontents lashing out at the Church over the decades-old abuse issue.

However, in what may be the beginning of a positive development, two bishops are finally engaging in the public debate with these haters and calling them out for their inaccuracies. The time for bishops to speak out against the media jihad against the Catholic Church is long overdue.

Bishop Paprocki steps up

Seizing on Benedict’s announcement earlier this month, so-called Episcopal priest Tom Ehrich unleashed an angry and bigoted screed in which he stated that the Catholic Church is “uninterested in sex abuse scandals beyond their litigation costs,” “stuck in the 19th century,” “providing safe cover for oppression and intolerance,” “against oppressed peoples,” and “homophobic.” It was an unhinged screed of such magnitude that it easily could have found a home in the anti-Catholic New York Times or a 19th-century Know Nothing pamphlet.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

Cardinals, including the over 80s, have started their pre-Conclave pow wows. Many Italians are betting on Scola. U.S. candidates will play a central role but there is still uncertainty over the future Pope’s profile

GIACOMO GALEAZZI
Vatican City

Big manoeuvres are expected in the election of the next successor to the Seat of Peter. Cardinals, including the over 80s among them (Sodano and Ruini), have kick started the pre-Conclave pow wows. Many Italians are betting on Scola being elected as he would strengthen the front and prevent a split, like the one which occurred between Benelli and Siri in 1978, paving the way for outsider Wojtyla’s rise to the Seat of Peter. The focus will also be on U.S. cardinals as they were the first to deal with the paedophilia scandal, they are at the forefront of issues that are key for the Catholic Church in today’s secularised society (the constant friction between U.S. bishops and the Obama administration over issues such as same-sex marriage and abortion demonstrated this), and more prosaically, they are the biggest contributors to the Holy See’s coffers. The Church does not appear to be ready for an African or Asian. Africa and Asia are scarcely represented in the Conclave.

Whoever is elected as the next leader of the Catholic Church will have to add Ratzinger’s “purification” programme to their agenda. The profile of the new Pope remains hazy.

In his last homily before leaving for Rome, the Archbishop of Washington, Donald William Wuerl, who figures in the list of those considered likely to be elected Pope (the papabili) expressed enthusiasm but also apprehension at the prospect of electing Benedict XVI’s successor. The new Pope will have to have the energy and presence needed in order to tackle the big challenges the Church faces.

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IRELAND
GlobalPost

Ireland’s Catholics have been profoundly affected by the scourge of clergy sex abuse. Author Michael D’Antonio explains why the Irish are vital to the future of the global church.

Ireland, once called “the most Catholic country in the world” by Pope Paul VI, isn’t as Catholic as it used to be. Surveys show dramatic drops in the number of Irish people who identify as religious or attend weekly masses. News of heinous sex abuse and coordinated cover-ups challenge the church’s crucial position in Irish life.

The extent of child sexual abuse by clergy in Ireland’s parishes and Catholic institutions was revealed in a series of government inquiries over the last decade. One report revealed how tens of thousands of children were abused in a network of church-run residential schools. Another showed how the church worked to cover up decades of child sexual abuse by priests in Dublin. In March 2010, it became widely known that Cardinal Sean Brady — the head of the Catholic Church in Ireland who has been asked by abuse victims not to take part in the enclave selecting a new pope — attended meetings in the 1970s where two teenage abuse victims signed vows of silence after testifying against a priest who was later exposed as the most infamous serial sex offender in Irish church history.

Responding to widespread outrage, Pope Benedict XVI penned an unprecedented apology letter to Ireland’s Catholics, expressing “shame and remorse” for clergy sexual abuse and criticizing Irish bishops for “failures of leadership.” But the pope did not declare any Vatican responsibility in the chronic scandal or call for any church leaders to be disciplined.

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UNITED STATES
Catholic Culture

By Phil Lawler February 26, 2013

As the date of the Pope’s resignation draws near, thousands of “news” stories are posted about a confidential Vatican report on the “Vatileaks” scandal and on the likely candidates for the papacy. Let me caution readers once again about putting any credence in these reports. The “Vatileaks” scandal has not been seen by anyone in the media; stories about its contents are entirely conjectural. As for the odds of any particular prelate’s chances to succeed Pope Benedict XVI, the old Vatican saying is particularly applicable: “Those who know don’t tell, and those who tell don’t know.”

Today, rather than correcting outright errors, let me answer a few questions that have been asked frequently, and needlessly.

•Could Cardinal Peter Turkson become the first African Pope? That’s easy. No, he couldn’t. Not because he is unlikely to be elected (although I think that’s the case), but because the Church has already had African Pontiffs. St. Victor became the 1st African Pope 1,824 years ago. Sts. Militiades and Gelasius, both Africans, succeeded him in the 4th and 5th centuries.

•Will Archbishop of Westminster be called to participate in the conclave, replacing Cardinal Keith O’Brien? The Daily Telegraph asked that question, and again the answer can be given easily: No. In theory, perhaps Pope Benedict could rush Archbishop Vincent Nichols a red hat. But it is extremely improbable that in the final hours of his pontificate, the Holy Father would act so rashly. A few British Catholics might feel better, knowing that they had at least one representative in the conclave. But millions of others would accuse the Pontiff of manipulating the conclave. And in any case, cardinals are not representing their native countries at the conclave; they are representing the universal Church. One more point: Pope Benedict called 2 consistories last year, and created 28 new cardinals. If he had felt it was imperative to have Archbishop Nichols in the College of Cardinals, he could have arranged it.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian

Severin Carrell and Sam Jones
The Guardian, Tuesday 26 February 2013

Senior Roman Catholics including the former archbishop of Westminster have urged the new pope to radically reform the Vatican in the wake of the resignation of the Scottish cardinal Keith O’Brien and other scandals.

Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, former head of the Catholic church in England and Wales, said he believed the pope’s “own house has to be put in order”.

He added that many bishops and cardinals believed the entire church should be reformed by Benedict XVI’s successor, with the pope taking a much less dominant role in the church, to give a greater say to its bishops. “It is not just the pope who rules the church,” he said. “It is the pope with the bishops.

“There is no doubt that today there needs to be renewal in the church, reform in the church and especially of government,” he told a news conference in London. “How is this next pope going to govern the church?”

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UNITED KINGDOM
SBS (Australia)

Reform should be the top priority for the new Pope, says the former head of the Catholic church in the UK.

The next pope must drive through reforms in the wake of scandals that have hit the Roman Catholic Church, the former head of the Church in England and Wales says.

Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, the former archbishop of Westminster, said Pope Benedict XVI’s successor must be “capable of the kind of reform and renewal that are needed in the church”.

“The pope’s own house has got to be put in order,” Murphy-O’Connor told a press conference in London.

“As you know there have been troubles in recent years. These have got to be addressed.”

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AUSTRALIA
ABC – Lateline

[with video]

Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Broadcast: 26/02/2013

Reporter: Emma Alberici

Former monk and priest, and now advocate for victims of sexual abuse within the Catholic Church, Patrick J Wall, says sexual abuse of children has been part of the culture of the Catholic Church as far back as 60 AD and despite constant attempts by the Popes to curtain the problem, it has never been snuffed out.

Transcript
EMMA ALBERICI, PRESENTER: Just a short time ago we were joined from Irvine, south of Los Angeles, by Patrick J Wall, a former priest and monk who is now a lawyer and an advocate for victims of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church.

Patrick Wall, welcome to Lateline.

PATRICK J WALL, ADVOCATE FOR SEXUAL ABUSE VICTIMS: Thank you.

EMMA ALBERICI: Now you are a former member of the Roman Catholic clergy. Can you tell us the circumstances around which you actually left the priesthood?

PATRICK J WALL: Well after 12 years in the monastery and six years as the priest, all six years I was assigned to follow perpetrators, I came to the conclusion in my early 30s that if I wanted to be a defence lawyer and to defend child abusers the rest of my life, that was going to be my next 40 years.

And at that point after, you know, discovering that this is just not an isolated phenomena to the diocese or the religious order I belong to, it’s really a worldwide phenomena, I had to pull the plug and leave in ’98.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC – Lateline

Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Broadcast: 26/02/2013

Reporter: Lisa Millar

Catholic activists in the US are demanding the former Los Angeles Archbishop, Cardinal Roger Mahoney, pull out of the papal conclave because he has been tainted by a sex abuse scandal.

Transcript
EMMA ALBERICI, PRESENTER: The resignation of the UK’s top cardinal, Keith O’Brien, has encouraged Catholic activists in the United States who’ve been demanding the former Los Angeles Archbishop, Roger Mahony, pull out of the papal conclave.

They’ve delivered a petition of 10,000 names to the now Cardinal Mahony alleging he’s a Church leader tainted by the sex abuse scandal and therefore unfit to take part in the new pope’s election next month.

North America correspondent Lisa Millar reports.

LISA MILLAR, REPORTER: Ten thousand names united in one cause.

PETITIONER: I would respectfully ask that you deliver this petition on to Cardinal Mahony that he recuse himself from the upcoming papal conclave.

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IRELAND
irish Independent

26 February 2013

‘BE not afraid’ was one of the great recurring catch-phrases of Jesus, and yet, 2,000 years on, his church persists in the shady business of fear management. When there isn’t openness, transparency or accountability, then power is devoid of collective scrutiny and inevitably becomes warped and misused. We’ve seen it in the banks, in politics and the media. The wielding of power by the few needs to be regulated by the many.

In the case of Christ’s church, we should expect better checks and balances than are found in secular institutions but, ironically, the church has no oversight structures. It is run by a clerical caste, much to the embarrassment of many decent priests and laity the world over.

Historically, the institutional church manufactured fear based on its own fears; fear of science and progress, of educated followers, of other religions, of bible reading, of change, and it is fear that drives the institution today. A humble church for the people became a church that took from the Emperor Constantine the clothes of a dying empire, parting ways with the simplicity of its early foundation.

From then on, it would be ‘princes of the church’ instead of fishermen in charge; Popes would run empires and start wars rather than humbly lead; those who spoke out would be deemed heretics and burned at the stake. Catholicism had truly lost its way.

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UNITED STATES
The New Yorker

Posted by Naunihal Singh

According to the smart money, the odds favor the election of Ghana’s Cardinal Peter Turkson as the next Pope, the first from Africa since Pope Gelasius I over fifteen hundred years ago. In the intervening years, several African candidates have attracted interest (Benin’s Cardinal Gantin, in 1978, and Nigeria’s Cardinal Arinze, in 2005), but none has ever been a front-runner among the papabile. In fact, the term “black pope” traditionally refers to the head of the Jesuits, revealing how unlikely the prospect of an actual black pope was for most of the Church’s history.

This time around, the demographic argument in favor of a non-European pope is hard to ignore. In the eight years of Benedict’s papacy alone, the number of Catholics in Africa grew by twenty-one per cent and the number of priests by sixteen per cent. In Europe, on the other hand, the number of Catholics has plummeted to such an extent that it is no longer the most Catholic region in the world, both in terms of the number of faithful and percentage of the population. The election of Turkson by the College of Cardinals, most of whom still come from Europe, would be clear acknowledgment that the leadership of the Church has to reflect this shifting center of gravity. The past of the Catholic Church is in Europe, and its future is in Africa and Asia.

For me, as a (non-Catholic) professor teaching African politics at the University of Notre Dame, this is an immensely teachable moment. Once, Pope Alexander VI used his authority to help divide the world for colonial conquest. Now the Church is considering a man for the papacy who was born a subject of the British colony of the Gold Coast. There is a clear sense of the wheel turning around.

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VATICAN CITY
Foreign Policy

BY PAOLO MASTROLILLI |FEBRUARY 26, 2013

The last time a pope resigned — Gregory XII in 1415 — it was to end a 40-year schism that threatened to tear the church in two. Today, the church faces a crisis that may be no less profound, and it has to do it with the entire world watching. (Gregory didn’t have to contend with the Twittersphere.) And while many things remain opaque in the secret and closeted Vatican, one thing we know for sure is that the church faces a fundamental divide that threatens its future far more than the scandals that are dominating front pages.

“This time is different, the crisis is much deeper and more difficult to solve than it appears,” an Italian bishop with long experience in the Curia laments. “Catholics are deeply divided between a group of conservatives, constantly looking toward the past that will never come back, and progressives, who pushed themselves too far from any possible compromise with the other group. I don’t envy the next pope.”

According to sources close to the pope, Benedict XVI resigned because he felt he no longer had the physical and intellectual energy to address the Vatican’s problems. These problems started to emerge in the late 1990s,with the revelations of sexual abuse of children by priests in the United States. Church officials hoped the scandal could be contained in America, but soon there were similar reports of abuses and church cover-ups in Ireland, Belgium, Britain, and even Benedict’s old parish in Germany. The fallout from the abuse investigations was compounded by other scandals including remarks by Benedict that upset the Muslim community in 2006, the rehabilitation of Holocaust-denying bishop Richard Williamson in 2009, and revelations of money laundering at the Vatican’s bank, IOR, last year. If Benedict were an elected politician, it’s unlikely his government could have survived.

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VATICAN CITY
Huffington Post

Reuters | By Tom Heneghan Posted: 02/26/2013

VATICAN CITY, Feb 26 (Reuters) – The sex and power scandals haunting the Catholic Church look set to play a big role in meetings before next month’s papal election after two senior cardinals called on Tuesday for more internal debate about them.

A leading support group for victims of clerical sexual abuse also made what it called a “last-ditch plea” to Pope Benedict to use his authority before resigning on Thursday to discipline bishops who have protected predatory priests in their dioceses.

The abuse issue took on new urgency after Scotland’s Cardinal Keith O’Brien, accused of improper behaviour with young priests, quit as Edinburgh archbishop on Monday and pulled out of the Sistine Chapel conclave to elect a new pope. …

Two directors of the United States-based abuse victims’ network SNAP arrived in Rome on Tuesday to draw attention to their demands for tougher Church policies.

“We’re here to make a last ditch plea to Pope Benedict to use the remaining hours of his papacy to take decisive action to protect kids,” said David Clohessy, national director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.

He acknowledged that Benedict had met some abuse victims and made some strong statements condemning the molestation of minors by priests, but said he only acted under public pressure.

“We long for the day when Church officials announce that this cardinal or this bishop is being demoted because Church officials have found proof of wrongdoing and Church officials want to clean things up,” he told journalists.

SNAP saw no papal candidates ready to fire bishops for shielding wrongdoers, he said, but added: “It’s hard to believe there aren’t some cardinals who are grabbing their colleagues by the lapels and saying ‘We simply have to do better’.”

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UNITED STATES
Huffington Post

Michael D’Antonio

As in American politics, where every campaign season sees a revival of Republican race baiting, every twist and turn of the long-running Catholic sex abuse scandal brings another round of gay baiting. High churchmen and their supporters note that most victims are male, like the offending priests, and hastily conclude that the problem is homosexuality. Of course this claim ignores the fact that gay men are no more likely to abuse that heterosexual men, and avoids the fact that abuse is not about sexual relations but about criminal behavior enabled by the church itself.

The gay baiting technique was deployed most recently by Peter Turkson, a cardinal from Ghana, who has been much-mentioned as a successor to Benedict XVI. In an interview with CNN, Turkson blamed gays for the abuse scandal and said that Africa has not been affected by the crisis because an anti-homosexual cultural tradition “has served to keep it out.”

There is so much wrong with Turkson’s claims that it’s difficult to know where to start. First, despite his denial, sexual abuse by priests is a problem in Africa, as cases in Kenya and Tanzania show. And as anyone who has studied the abuse crisis knows reporting abuse is far more difficult in the developing world, where access to the legal system can be difficult and so costly it is foreclosed to many victims. Finally, if some African societies do harshly stigmatize gay men and women, this is hardly to their credit. Anti-gay legislation and hate speech seen in countries such as Ghana and Uganda reflect the worst of these societies, not the best. (Turkson, The Huffington Post has reported, gave his support to legislation that would make gay relationships in Ghana a crime punishable, in soem cases, by death.)

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

The BBC has been told Cardinal Keith O’Brien is “very upset” over the circumstances of his resignation.

A source within the Catholic Church also said the cardinal “doesn’t know who his accusers are and doesn’t know what they’re accusing him of”.

The ex-Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh has been accused of inappropriate behaviour towards priests in the 1980s – allegations he contests.

Cardinal O’Brien will no longer take part in the election of the new Pope.

The source also said Cardinal O’Brien, Britain’s most senior Roman Catholic cleric, was “a vulnerable adult” approaching the age of 75, the age at which he was due to retire from his position.

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UNITED STATES
Catholic League

Over the weekend, Sally Quinn wrote a piece in the Washington Post that caught the interest of Bill Donohue. Here is his response:

It is not easy to write an op-ed on any subject and manage to be factually wrong about virtually everything. But Sally Quinn did just that.

Quinn speaks about the “child sexual abuse scandal” in the Catholic Church. The scandal did not involve children—less than 5 percent of the victims were prepubescent. The typical offense involved “inappropriate touching” of postpubescent males. In other words, it was a homosexual scandal. Furthermore, it ended more than a quarter century ago: the number of credibly accused priests over the last decade has averaged in the single digits, among a population of more than 40,000. No religious or secular group can match that proportion today.

Due principally to the efforts of Pope Benedict XVI, it is much harder for practicing homosexuals to enter the priesthood these days. The net result is an incredibly sharp decline in abuse. Those who were guilty are for the most part either dead or laicized.

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OSTERREICH
kathweb

Symposion der Unabhängigen Opferschutzkommission im Wiener Haus der Industrie – Evangelischer Pfarrer und Übergriffsopfer Öllinger warnt vor verharmloster Gewalt in der Familie – Referenten nehmen Staat in die Pflicht

26.02.2013

Wien (KAP) “Lassen Sie keine Verharmlosung zu”: Diesen Appell vor dem Hintergrund selbst erlittenen sexuellen Missbrauchs richtete der evangelische Pfarrer Jürgen Öllinger an die Teilnehmer eines Symposions der Unabhängigen Opferschutzkommission (“Klasnic-Kommission”) über Missbrauch im kirchlichen Bereich. Ca. 200 Experten und Personen aus Zivilgesellschaft und Kirche – darunter die Bischöfe Klaus Küng und Alois Schwarz sowie Propst Maximilian Fürnsinn – waren am Dienstag im Wiener Haus der Industrie anwesend.

Er sei als 11-Jähriger sexuell gedemütigt worden und hatte mit 16 Mordfantasien gegenüber seinen Peinigern, berichtete Öllinger, der 1984 im Stiftsgymnasium Kremsmünster maturierte. Es folgte langes “Vergessen”, erst als 40-Jähriger habe er sich dem Erlittenen stellen können – auch mittels Gesprächen mit den damaligen Tätern. Der nun in Villach wirkende evangelische Pfarrer sprach vom “Problem der juristischen Verharmlosung”, es gebe fast keine verurteilten Täter, da – nicht zuletzt wegen Verjährung – selten Anklage erhoben werde.

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OSTERREICH
APA

Nach peinlich einseitigem kirchlichen Missbrauchssymposium: Betroffene regen große Missbrauchskonferenz an

Wien (OTS) – Anlässlich des kirchlichen Missbrauchssymposiums im Haus der Industrie, an dem hauptsächlich kirchliche Mitarbeiter und die Mitglieder der kircheneigenen Klasnic-Kommission anwesend waren, regt die Plattform Betroffener kirchlicher Gewalt jetzt eine große Konferenz zum Thema sexueller Missbrauch in der r.k. Kirche an.

Die Zeit ist reif, dass auch Betroffenen als kompetenten Experten Mitspracherecht eingeräumt wird. Das offenbart auch die Tatsache, dass diese Veranstaltung, die zuerst im Parlament anberaumt war, letztendlich von Parlamentspräsidentin Prammer abgesagt wurde, mit der Begründung, dass die Vertrauensbasis mit Betroffenen fehle.

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UNITED STATES
Leon J. Podles: Dialogue

The story of the downfall of Cardinal O’Brien has proceeded at a dizzying pace.

He was accused by three current and one former priests of inappropriate actions. He resigned and will not attend the conclave. The Pope has accepted his resignation.

It sounds like a confession of guilt to me.

The four accusers must have strong evidence, because they can be sued for libel, and in Britain they must prove the truth of their allegation.

He has also been vociferous on his criticism of gay marriage.

Cardinal Groër of Vienna had made strong homeoerotic gestures to almost every student and seminarian he had come in contact with – 1,000+. A former student read Groer’s denunciation of homosexual acts. Groër said that those who committed them would not enter the kingdom of heaven. The student thought that was not what Groër had told him while they had a relationship, and decided to go public – the first public accusation against a cleric in German-speaking lands since the Nazi era.

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ROME
Cardinal Roger Mahony Blogs LA

The overall mood here in Rome now is quite different from 2005. Recall that Pope John Paul II had been in declining health from early 2004 until his death April 1, 2005. It was obvious that the Pope would not remain much longer on this earth, and we had all begun to mourn him even before he died.

The mood back in April of 2005 was somber and sad. So many people had never really known any other Pope in their lives, and it was like losing a revered Grandfather–someone whom we had made a part of our own families.

There then followed the official days of mourning, the Pope lying in state in St. Peter’s Basilica, countless pilgrims coming to pay their respect and gratitude for his ministry in our midst.

This time, the mood is two-fold. On one hand, we give thanks for the incredible eight years which Pope Benedict served as Successor to Peter. We recall his wonderful teachings and homilies, and we were all in awe at his scholarship. There is no real sense of loss this time, because we have not “lost” Benedict. He is stepping away from the very active role as Pope to serve God and the Church in a more prayerful fashion–outside the fury of activities that swirl around the Pope who is active.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

The Archbishop of Boston, the Capuchin monk who beat the paedophilia plight, is an “odd” choice of papal candidate

Andrea Tornielli
Vatican City

One of the papabili arrived in Rome a few days ago. He is wearing a Capuchin habit and has an imposing disposition. He is a determined man devoted to prayer who ten years ago was called to perform a miracle that was considered impossible: restore the credibility of the Catholic Church in Boston which was crumbling as a result of the paedophilia scandal that had led to the resignation of Cardinal Bernard Law. He has a typical Irish name, Patrick O’Malley, was a missionary in the Virgin Islands and is deeply involved in assisting the U.S.’s Latin communities. He is also plays a leading role in the pro-life movement.

The Capuchin cardinal is not one of those candidates who are known favourites for the papacy, such as Marc Ouellet. O’Malley is an outsider, a surprise candidate whom electors could pick if there is a vote gridlock.

As a figure, the Archbishop of Boston, manages to unite Europe and the Americas in some way. When he arrived in Boston, once a stronghold of U.S. Catholicism, he found the diocese on its knees. Cases of sexual abuse of children had been covered up and paedophile priests moved from one parish to another, free to continue abusing new victims. The situation was disastrous: vocations and mass attendance had dropped and the Church had lost a great deal of credibility. The archbishop came to the diocese wearing his friar’s sandals and without causing an outcry. He started listening and also making decisions. He paved the way to a path of purification and renewal and now the situation that existed ten years ago is just a horrible memory. Faithful are returning to Church and vocations have picked up again.

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VATICAN CITY
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Peter Isely on February 25, 2013

Regarding the alleged network in and around the Vatican involving financially corrupt individuals and active gay clerics:

At one level, we’re skeptical because Catholic officials have often tried to scapegoat gays. That’s wrong and hurtful. At another level, we suspect there’s some truth to these accusations. Studies have shown that many priests, bishops and seminarians – gay and straight – are not celibate.

In a rigid, secretive hierarchy where no one is permitted to have sex of any type, many will have sexual secrets, so they are loathe to report sexual misdeeds by their peers. It’s likely, then, that there’s some truth to these new accounts.

Vatican staffers criticize these so-called “rumors.” But the Catholic hierarchy has only itself to blame for “rumors.” In this digital age, centuries of secrecy and deception are slowly catching up to Catholic officials who are accustomed to special treatment and excessive deference by many.

Catholic officials continue to make vague attacks against journalists. They serve only one purpose: to distract attention away from wrongdoing by the church hierarchy. They’re designed to deter others from exposing the truth. We hope all citizens and Catholics will be highly skeptical when Catholic officials try to ‘shoot the messenger’ and criticize reporters.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

by John L. Allen Jr. | Feb. 26, 2013

Rome —
John Allen is offering a profile each day of one of the most frequently touted papabili, or men who could be pope. The old saying in Rome is that he who enters a conclave as pope exits as a cardinal, meaning there’s no guarantee one of these men actually will be chosen. They are, however, the leading names drawing buzz in Rome these days, ensuring they will be in the spotlight as the conclave draws near. The profiles of these men also suggest the issues and the qualities other cardinals see as desirable heading into the election.

To date I haven’t included Italian Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi in my daily sketches of papal contenders, largely because I published a profile of him on the first day of the Vatican’s Lenten Retreat, which was led by the 70-year-old President of the Pontifical Council for Culture.

That profile can be found here.

Suffice it to say that I’m sticking to my guns: In many ways, Ravasi really is “the most interesting man in the church.”

Ravasi drew good reviews for his meditations during the retreat, organized as a series of reflections on the Psalms. At the end, Pope Benedict XVI thanked him for his “brilliant” work – “brilliant” being a word that often tends to crop up in sentences about Ravasi.

In most media reports, the only line from the retreat that got much play was Ravasi’s reference to “divisions, dissent, careerism [and] jealousies”, which made a nice sound-bite amid the “Vatican gay lobby” furor touched off by the Italian media.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Spectator

Keith O’Brien’s resignation is no good thing. But it might be good for the Catholic church

Melanie McDonagh
26 February 2013

The downfall of Cardinal Keith O’Brien could not have been more complete if it had been orchestrated by Stonewall, which, if you recall, awarded him Bigot of the Year for his opposition to gay marriage. Actually, the one surprise is that it wasn’t Stonewall that brought him down, but three Scottish priests, and one ex-priest, courtesy of The Observer. The most senior Catholic cleric in Britain, the most forthright opponent of gay marriage; quite a scalp for secularists, gay rights activists and indeed for some Catholics of a liberal persuasion. One Catholic academic, when he heard the news, observed that this marked the end of the Church’s authority on matters to do with sex – no more Rome in the bedroom.

Which is one take on it. The Guardian lost no time in its editorial today in getting the boot into a man who epitomised every attitude it least likes about Catholicism, notably abortion. Except that it went even further, observing that Rome ‘has a special problem with sex’ and in a spectacularly spiteful aside added: ‘even if one discounts innuendo about Pope Benedict XVI’s own proclivities’. Sorry? Come again? Was that a suggestion that the pope himself is a homosexual? Perhaps that was intended as a reference to Benedict’s good looking sidekick, Georg Gänswein, a cue for readers to take to the internet? Or a titter at his weakness for old fashioned regalia? Raising allegations for which there is just no evidence goes to show that Keith O’Brien has become a useful means to get at the Vatican in general, and the pope in particular.

Actually, the culture that gave rise to these alleged abuses by the cardinal does merit scrutiny. The one good thing about these allegations/revelations (which he may yet contest) is that they were first brought to the attention of the papal nuncio and that he responded, not by silencing the accusers, but by praising them for their bravery. In the old days – well, before the child abuse scandals alerted the church to the reality there is a problem – criticism was hushed up rather than addressed; anything rather than give comfort to the opposition. The replacement of a post-Reformation mindset by a culture of (relative) openness is a very good thing.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
Los Angeles Times

A top U.S. cardinal came to the defense of Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony, saying some priest abuse victims groups who have criticized Mahony may never be satisfied with the church’s response to the crisis.

Cardinal William Levada on Monday said Mahony should help select a new pope.

“There are some victims groups for whom enough is never enough, so we have to do our jobs as best we see it,” said Levada, 76, according to Associated Press. “He has apologized for errors in judgment that were made. I believe he should be at the conclave.”

Levada, who spoke about Mahony and the historic events at the Vatican during a talk at a Menlo Park seminary, is a former archbishop of San Francisco and also served as the pope’s prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Critics have slammed Mahony for going to Rome for the papal conclave after church files released last month showed he sought to prevent law enforcement officials from investigating priests who molested children. Mahony has apologized for his actions in the 1980s but said it is his duty to help select a new pope.

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ITALY
Gazzetta del Sud

Padua, February 26 – The patriarch of Venice and wildcard candidate for pope praised Benedict XVI’s legacy on Tuesday in the final days of his papacy. “He is a man that has served the church through and through, and who taught us that one does not fill a post but serve the Church. We all love him very much,” said Archbishop Francesco Moraglia. He was speaking on the sidelines of a ceremony to march the start of the academic year at the Triveneto School of Theology. At just 59 and not yet a cardinal, Moraglia is considered a dark horse candidate for pope.

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NEW YORK
NY1

Cardinal Timothy Dolan is heading to the Vatican today to take part in the conclave that will elect a new Pope.

Pope Benedict XVI resigns in just two days.

The Vatican says he will be called Emeritus Pope upon his retirement and will continue to wear white.

He’s set to make his final public appearance tomorrow.

Before leaving for the Vatican, Dolan chimed in on speculation that he could be the next pope.

“Yeah, I’m eager to get to Rome. A lot going on. I’m eager to say goodbye and give my love and gratitude and prayers to the holy father on behalf of myself and of the Archdiocese of New York and then get to the work of the conclave then get back home,” said Dolan. “Listen, I think I got a better chance of taking A-Rod’s place than I do of Benedict XVI.”

Cardinal Dolan also addressed the resignation of Scottish Cardinal Keith O’Brien, whose resignation was accepted by Pope Benedict yesterday.

O’Brien is denying charges of inappropriate behavior with priests.

“Right now all I hear is this speculation and opinions and kind of gossip and whispers so I’m as eager as the rest of you to know what’s going on and I presume that will too will be part of the solicitude and concern and reflections of the cardinals and the new pope,” Dolan said.

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UNITED KINGDOM
NBC News

By Sohel Uddin, Producer, NBC News

LONDON – With Pope Benedict XVI set to step down on Wednesday, questions are swirling over what’s next for the soon-to-be ex-pontiff and who will be chosen as the next leader of the Catholic Church.

“There is a tendency of the electors in a conclave to choose somebody who is unlike the predecessor,” papal historian Michael Walsh said. “If you are not going to elect an Italian necessarily, then I don’t think there is any problem about whether he comes from Africa or from Asia or from America.”

Walsh added that the cardinals would be more likely to choose an “extrovert … who relates much more easily to the people than cardinal Ratzinger did.”

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

by John L. Allen Jr. ,Dennis Coday,Joshua J. McElwee | Feb. 26, 2013

Rome

Cardinal Donald Wuerl of Washington, D.C. may not have the rock star charisma of New York’s Timothy Dolan, or the reputation for simplicity of Boston’s Sean O’Malley, but he’s arguably the most pivotal senior prelate in the United States for two reasons.

First, he’s seen by many observers as the dead center of the bishops’ conference, a pragmatic thinker able to hold people of differing outlooks and temperaments together. Second, he’s viewed as an effective manager who can get things done. Put those two qualities together, and it’s no mystery why he’s become the “go-to” figure among the U.S. bishops on a variety of fronts.

Wuerl is also no stranger to the Vatican, having lived and worked here as priest-secretary to Cardinal John Wright of Pittsburgh from 1969 to 1979, the period when Wright served as prefect of the Congregation for Clergy.

Wuerl clearly enjoys the esteem of Pope Benedict XVI. The apple of Benedict’s eye is the idea of a “New Evangelization”, meaning relighting the missionary fires of the church, especially in the secular cultures of the West. When the Vatican staged a synod of bishops on the subject last fall, Benedict tapped the 72-year-old Wuerl for the all-important role of relator, or general secretary, whose role is crucial in keeping the synod on track and shaping its conclusions.

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BOSTON (MA)
Boston Catholic Insider

Today, we learned that the Cardinal O’Brien of Scotland resigned in the wake of charges he made “inappropriate” sexual advances to four men. In the past week, most people have probably read media reports about a secret dossier claiming there is a ‘gay network’ inside the Vatican. There is speculation–denied by the Vatican–that this news contributed to the resignation of the Pope.

The drumbeat of these troubling reports from across the Atlantic has prompted BCI to tackle two topics that we have avoided for nearly the past 3 years. They are:

i) Does the Boston Archdiocese have a “gay network” of clergy
ii) Why and how is the gay agenda being advanced within the Boston Archdiocese in parishes and Catholic schools with tacit approval by Cardinal O’Malley?

We start our coverage on this topic by publishing in its entirety a document titles,”Crisis and Reform in Boston.” What you are about to read was apparently written between the time when Cardinal Bernard Law resigned (December 2002) and when Bishop Sean O’Malley was appointed Archbishop of Boston (July 2003). We do not know who wrote it or who has seen it. We posted excerpts in January 2011 (“Musings on the Future of the Boston Archdiocese: Episcopal Leadership“) and in August 2011 (“Episcopal Leadership“).

Much of what was described in the document written about ten years ago still seems to apply today. It describes the clerical “black wall”, behind which some priests have surrendered completely to the pagan culture of “gay” identity and behavior. It also describes the author’s view of a ”perfect Archbishop of Boston” which also could be criteria for the “perfect next Pope.” We were especially struck by the passage about the archbishop needing to “be the pastor of the pastors” and by the very last sentence: “he must be a passionately effective evangelist because he is first a thoroughly converted disciple of Jesus Christ.”

Crisis and Reform in Boston (written late December 2002 or winter/spring 2003)

The next Archbishop of Boston will find his particular Church in the midst of a grave crisis of faith and discipline. The public scandals which led to the resignation of Bernard Cardinal Law point to deep and longstanding problems among the priests and people of the Archdiocese, and the nature and magnitude of these problems should be considered in selecting the new pastor of a profoundly troubled Church.

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UNITED STATES
Virtue Online

By Michael Voris
THE VORTEX
http://www.churchmilitant.tv/scripts/vort-2013-02-25.pdf
February 25, 2013

Perhaps Pope Benedict is a lot smarter and more clever than he is being given credit for by the secular media and much of his opposition in the Church.

As we reported last week, a blockbuster report was released by a priest from Poland detailing a homosexual underground among Catholic priests and bishops that has helped ruin the Church in much of the west.

Media reports began emerging late last week from the Italian press that the Pope was handed a secret report in December prepared by three cardinals in response to the so-called Vatileaks scandal from last spring.

According to some media reports .. one alleged particular damning piece of information in the overall 300 pages of documentation is the existence of a number of homosexual cardinals who are being blackmailed.

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

The current meltdown at the Vatican reveals what so many Catholics shamefully preferred to overlook for years. It is truly a “Wizard of Oz moment”, as the international media has pulled back the papal curtain for all to see. The Pope is trying to keep secret a 300 page report evidentally of massive criminal conduct affecting innocent children, among others, and documenting financial corruption. Papal Rome has just burned down and the Pope fiddles over his new title.

Meanwhile, the Pope’s press officer has now even suggested that the papal elections are so secret that reporters face excommunication if they report any leaks they receive from Cardinals about voting results. The Middle Ages are over! The papal “witch” is dead. Time to end the mystical nonsense and to protect children, women, AIDS victims, gay persons and the many other groups that have suffered much, needlessly, as a result of a self-serving Vatican clique’s lust for power and wealth, with a little sex on the side. We have heard more than enough already.

The papal geo-political strategy following World War I of trading “papal blessings” for papal influence and subsidies received a mortal wound with President Barack Obama’s strong re-election victory over the Pope’s flawed anti-contraceptive and anti-gay marriage strategy. The Pope’s strategy has now breathed its last with the recent election trouncing of the Pope’s preferred candidate, Italy’s Prime Minister Monti by an ex-Clown Prince! It really is a good time for the Pope to leave the Vatican, and hopefully he will not return. He can pray and mediate better at Castel Gandolfo, and still claim sovereign immunity there as well under the Lateran Treaty.

Now secular leaders must act immediately to apply the rule of law to the Pope and the Cardinals. Enough with the winks and nods and special dispensations seeking political support. The International Criminal Court prosecutor must stop procrastinating and national leaders, like President Obama and Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel, must step-up and follow the admirable lead of Australia’s Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, and Ireland’s Prime Minister, Enda Kenny. Subpoena the secret report and the Pope’s butler and put an end to the incessant rape of children by priests!

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VATICAN CITY
Tucson Citizen

by Eric J. Lyman and Cathy Lynn Grossman on Feb. 26, 2013

VATICAN CITY — When Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger took the name Benedict XVI upon becoming pope, it was a nod to sixth-century St. Benedict of Nursia, who had lived for several years in a cave in Italy.

As Pope Benedict prepares to end his papacy this week, his critics say the challenges he’ll leave to his successor are the result of him living in a cave of his own.

Benedict’s intellect and successful role as a spiritual leader for the world’s 1.1 billion Catholics is not in doubt, say Vatican experts and observers. But recent blunders and the poor handling of festering scandals indicate Benedict may have been far too immersed in scholarship and theology over his nearly eight-year tenure when what the church needed was a CEO.

“There was a time when the pope was a kind of king, and then, more recently, a spiritual leader,” said Alistair Sear, a church historian in Rome. “Perhaps now we will see an age of the pope first and foremost as an administrator.”

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VATICAN CITY
CBS News

[with video]

(CBS News) The world’s cardinals want to begin the job of choosing a new pope as soon as possible, according to a well-placed Vatican source.

The newest guessing game in Vatican City is how soon the conclave will begin. By both law and tradition, the cardinals can’t talk openly about it until one day after Benedict officially leaves office.

Pope Benedict XVI officially steps down Thursday.

A major issue plaguing the cardinals through the selection process will be the sex abuse scandals. But they must be dealt with, in the view of U.S. Cardinal James Stafford, who is too old to vote in the conclave.

“If it means to be despised, which in many ways it does mean, then we accept that,” Stafford told CBS News’ Allen Pizzey.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Sys-Con

MANCHESTER, England, Feb. 26, 2013 /PRNewswire/ — Some readers may find it disconcerting that Sam Jane Brown’s debut novel “Forgotten Word” (http://www.samjanebrown.com) depicts tumult in the Roman Catholic Church hierarchy at a time when the church is, in fact, experiencing a shakeup in its ranks.

But as extraordinary as the factual troubles are, Brown takes the conflict to a whole new level, blending the suspense of a thriller with the unconventionality of speculative fiction and the intellectual challenge of a murder-mystery. The main character is Zena McGrath, a detective working for an International Police Organization. She is charged with investigating the death of an Irish priest based at the Vatican, the latest victim of a chain of unexplained deaths among the Catholic priesthood.

Though Vatican authorities claim the deaths are due to natural causes, Cardinal Donatello, an enigmatic figure who is responsible for training priests in the sacred, secretive and highly dangerous art of exorcism, reveals to Zena that the priests who have died were all exorcists. Donatello reluctantly reveals the gravity of the problems the Vatican faces in the eternal battle between good and evil. He even takes her to see a priest who is possessed by evil spirits, and Zena herself has a chilling encounter with a demonic presence. Donatello convinces Zena to allow the church authorities to fight the evil in their own way.

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UNITED STATES
National Survivor Advocates Coalition

February 26, 2013

This is an urgent, intense cri de coeur to priests and seminarians who have been abused by superiors or who know of priests, former priests and seminarians who have been abused by superiors to come forward – now.

We have learned in the 10 years since the Boston incarnation of the crisis what others who have labored in this field before us have long known: that there are patterns to abuse, to grooming, to the wrong use of authority, to the twisting of obeisance, the misuse of closing ranks.

We have learned that it is extremely rare that survivors emerge from totally unique circumstances.

The priests and former priest who took their cases to the papal nuncio in Scotland about the “inappropriate behavior” of Cardinal Keith O’Brien showed courage. Their acts of courage have borne fruit.

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CANADA
CBC News

A man who was convicted of a sexual assault in the late 1980s has had two new charges filed against him.

The two sex-related charges against Gary Gerard Hoskins date back almost 20 years.

Police said they believe the assaults took place between 1984 and 1986 in or near Stephenville.

Hoskins was a Roman Catholic priest in that area at the time.

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UNITED STATES
The New York Times

By PAUL KENNEDY

Published: February 26, 2013

Being about the only professor at a liberal, tolerant, cosmopolitan Western university who is known to be a practicing Catholic — baptized at the age of two weeks — I have been asked frequently in recent times about what I think will happen to the church in the light of Pope Benedict’s resignation. Will it split further, between conservatives and liberals? Will there be an African pope? When will there ever be female priests, then bishops? What about declining attendance of the European congregations (as opposed to the surging populations in the southern world)?

I sigh. When I turn to my daily newspapers, I sigh further, at the stereotyping, the false assumptions, the hostility in some quarters, the focus upon protocol rather than substance, the obsession with fiscal laxities at the Vatican rather than the proclaimed mission of Christ. Much of this criticism is boringly predictable; I may be wrong, but I suspect it might be hard to find a month, for example, when New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd does not launch an attack upon the papacy and the Catholic Church. And when the College of Cardinals announces the successor to Benedict, there will be fervid speculation about the new pope’s attitude toward divorce, abortion, the Jews, secularism in Italy, and so on.

That is one view of the Catholic Church, the church of hierarchy, tradition, formalism, its bursts of reform soon restrained by a return to conservatism. It is the church so familiar to the minds of secularists, pagans and anti-Catholics everywhere. It is the church of the 19th-century popes. It is the church of infallibility, incense, candles, and of Latin masses. Pushing it further, it is the church of financial corruption and sexual abuse. It is the church of stereotype, which is not wise.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC – Lateline

Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Broadcast: 25/02/2013

Reporter: Hamish Fitzsimmons

The Victorian inquiry into sexual abuse in religious organisations is likely to recommend a reform of property trust laws which allow churches to avoid being sued.

Transcript
EMMA ALBERICI, PRESENTER: One of the key recommendations of Victoria’s inquiry into sexual abuse by religious organisations will be that property trust laws be reformed to enable people to sue churches.

The prediction comes from legal researcher Judy Courtin who has made numerous submissions to the inquiry on behalf of abuse victims.

And ahead of committee hearings this week in Ballarat where dozens of male abuse victims have taken their own lives, there are calls to fast track support services to stop more deaths.

Hamish Fitzsimmons reports.

HAMISH FITZSIMMONS, REPORTER: Victoria’s inquiry into sexual abuse by religious organisations has been repeatedly told victims of sexual abuse by the Catholic Church have few legal options because the only legal entity the Church has are property trusts. It’s believed the inquiry will recommend change.

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AUSTRALIA
Canberra Times

Opinion

Judy Courtin

Only secular justice will help the victims of clergy sexual abuse.

The Vatican is surely ablaze with excitement and expectation. The imminent influx of holy men in a sea of flowing crimson cassocks and skull-caps makes for a powerful picture.

This papal convocation of cardinals will soon meet and greet, grace its way into the Sistine Chapel, factionalise, debate and make its decision. Then, with that puff of white smoke, the new pontiff will be known.

One topic that is on everyone’s lips with this atypical and rather curious resignation of the Pope is whether or not the sexual abuse crisis within the church is related to his decision to resign and whether the newly elected leader will make any difference and deliver some justice to victims.

There will certainly be millions of Catholics wanting changes in the church, changes that are many and challenging for the conservative, misogynistic and headstrong Catholic hierarchy pursuing centuries-old male doctrines. Much of the world’s Catholics, not least children, women and gays, are marginalised and muzzled and treated with disdain and contempt by the church.

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CANADA
CTV

VICTORIA – Former Catholic priest, Phil Jacobs, has been found guilty of sexual exploitation.

The ruling came Monday morning in a Victoria courtroom. Jacobs was facing four charges including two counts of sexual interference, one count of sexual assault, and one count of sexual exploitation.

The former priest at St. Joseph the Worker Church in Saanich was acquitted of three of the four charges.

Madame Justice Groper told the court that some of the testimony against Jacobs did not add up and that some of the evidence presented raised doubts over when the alleged offences took place.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

Emer O’Kelly– 24 February 2013

‘Sacred heart o’ Jesus, take away our hearts o’ stone an’ give us hearts o’ flesh.” In 1924, Sean O’Casey put that passionate prayer into the mouth of Mrs Tancred, standing on the stairs of a Dublin tenement. Nobody listened then to his cry for the voiceless; we remained deaf for generations.

But last Tuesday a group of women sat in the visitors’ gallery of our national parliament, moved to tears and cheers as a Taoiseach who had listened broke down on the floor of the house. The women had spoken often of a “stigma”. The only stigma is that they had to wait until most of them were old before the moment came.

The women incarcerated in the Magdalene Laundries were there against their will. According to several of the women’s representatives, the report delivered by former Senator Martin McAleese fell short in many ways; one of the most glaring was to write of “self-referral”.

Was a destitute woman thrown on the street by her parents “willing” when her choice was between selling herself or a hell-hole of slave labour?

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IRELAND
The Sun

By JENNIFER TIPPETT

MORE than 10,000 women and girls were forced to do unpaid labour in workhouses run by Catholic nuns in Ireland between 1922 and 1996.

Following Irish PM Enda Kenny’s apology for the atrocity last week, hundreds of women have already come forward – each potentially due thousands of pounds in compensation.

Here one survivor tells of her harrowing life inside one of the Magdalene Laundries.

FORCED into hard labour at the tender age of 14, Kathleen Legg’s only crime was being born out of wedlock.

The Magdalene Laundries seemed the perfect solution to hide her “shameful secret”.

Kathleen, now 77, was sent to St Mary’s Training School, Stanhope Street, Dublin, where she lived and worked in horrific conditions.

Although it happened more than 60 years ago, she still can’t erase her memories of life in the laundry.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian

Sam Jones
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 26 February 2013

The former leader of the Catholic church in England and Wales has denied that the Vatican forced Cardinal Keith O’Brien to step down early amid allegations of “inappropriate acts” against fellow priests.

Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor insisted that no pressure was brought to bear on the former archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh to quit ahead of schedule or to stay away from the conclave to choose the next pope.

“It was up to his own conscience that he stepped down. He wasn’t asked to; he decided to do that,” said Murphy-O’Connor. “As he said in his statement, I think he thought it would be a distraction to be in Rome. I think that was the main reason, the media attention.

“It was his decision to do so. He wasn’t forced to do so; he wasn’t asked to do so. He thought that given the publicity over the allegations, which are being contested by the cardinal, that was a better thing to do.”

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VATICAN CITY
The Associated Press

By NICOLE WINFIELD, Associated Press

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Benedict XVI will be known as “emeritus pope” in his retirement and will continue to wear a white cassock, the Vatican announced Tuesday.

The pope’s title and what he would wear has been a major question ever since Benedict stunned the world and announced he would resign on Thursday, the first pontiff to do so in 600 years.

The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said Benedict himself had made the decision in consultation with others.

Benedict decided he would be called “Your Holiness Benedict XVI” and either emeritus pope or emeritus Roman pontiff, Lombardi said.

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VATICAN CITY
9 News

Pope Benedict XVI will have the official title of “pontiff emeritus” after he resigns on Thursday – the first leader of the Catholic Church to do so since the Middle Ages, the Vatican says.

Benedict can still be addressed as “Your Holiness Benedict XVI” and will have the title of “Roman Pontiff Emeritus”, spokesman Federico Lombardi told the Vatican press corps on Tuesday.

Benedict can also still wear a white cassock normally reserved only for pontiffs and will continue using the shoes given to him by artisans in Mexico during a trip last year, Lombardi said.

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CALIFORNIA
Huffington Post

By MARTHA MENDOZA 02/25/13

MENLO PARK, Calif. — The former archbishop of San Francisco said Monday that Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony has a rightful place among Vatican officials who will choose the next pope, even though Mahony has been battered in recent days by disclosures about his role in covering up clergy sex abuse.

The comments by Cardinal William Levada, a high-ranking Vatican official until recently, came in the wake of a grass-roots campaign to shame Mahony into refraining from participating because of his role protecting sexually abusive priests.

Mahony left for Rome over the weekend after recently released church documents showed he had covered up for other priests who raped and molested children.

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VATICAN CITY
The Globe and Mail (Canada)

JOHN ALLEMANG
The Globe and Mail

Questions are being raised about backroom tactics at the Vatican after Britain’s highest-ranking cleric, in the wake of abuse allegations, decided not to attend the conclave to elect the next pope.

Cardinal Keith O’Brien resigned his post as Archbishop of Edinburgh, it was announced on Monday, a day after The Observer newspaper reported that four men had made complaints to the Vatican’s representative in Britain – and just a week after the influential cleric had stated that Pope Benedict’s successor should move to change the church’s law on priestly celibacy. He had also expressed his belief that the next pope should be an outsider from Africa or Asia rather than Europe or North America, a suggestion that could be seen as threatening to the influential lobby of Italian bishops and to the Curia, the powerful Vatican bureaucracy.

“This will send a shock wave through the College of Cardinals,” said Thomas Reese, the Jesuit author of Inside the Vatican: The Politics and Organization of the Catholic Church. “This hits at the very core of what it means to be a cardinal. The most important thing they ever do in their lives is to go to a conclave and elect a pope – and this guy is not going.”

Cardinal O’Brien’s withdrawal from the conclave he was obliged to attend under church law comes at the same time that Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles is being pressured to stay away because of his reluctance to deal directly with issues of priestly abuse early on in his tenure as archbishop.

“Are these attempts to undermine cardinals outside of Rome?” Father Reese asked.

“I think some of the cardinals will believe that there’s a conspiracy to affect the outcome of the conclave,” said Michael Higgins, co-author of Power and Peril: The Catholic Church at the Crossroads and a CTV Vatican analyst. “And when you argue that there’s a conspiracy in Rome, there usually is. Rome is full of rumours, whispers and conspiracies because it’s not a transparent place – things are veiled, things are secretive.”

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CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Tribune

[with video]

By Manya A. Brachear, Chicago Tribune reporter
February 26, 2013

As he prepared to rush to Rome ahead of a snowstorm at home, Chicago’s Cardinal Francis George said Monday that the next pope should have insight about how the Vatican operates and the ability to lead a global church.

“You’re talking about governance here,” George said. “People say sanctity. Well, sanctity is nice, but there have been popes who have governed fairly well who have not been holy. … What’s important here is governance. Can the man govern the church as a pastor? He has to be a man who knows the Lord because he’s governing in his name. But it doesn’t mean he’s going to be a great saint.”

George’s interview with the Tribune was cut short as his staff scrambled to move up his travel plans to avoid a snowstorm in Tuesday’s forecast. He will arrive at Leonardo da Vinci-Fiumicino Airport in Rome ahead of Pope Benedict XVI’s departure to the Vatican holiday retreat of Castel Gandolfo on Thursday.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Irish Independent

Paul Vallely– 26 February 2013

Make no mistake about it, Cardinal Keith O’Brien has not resigned as Scotland’s leading Catholic. He has been sacked by the Pope. And that is a measure of just how grave the crisis in the world’s biggest church has become. Cardinal O’Brien was due to retire next month anyway because he will then be 75. The usual drill is for a bishop to hand in his resignation to the Pope (pictured) a few months ahead of the due date and for it to be accepted nunc pro tunc, which in Latin means “now for later”. The cardinal handed in his resignation back in November, expecting it to take effect later this year.

The Pope’s decision that he must stand down forthwith came just one day after a newspaper report that three priests and one ex-priest from his diocese have complained to the Pope’s representative to Britain, the nuncio Antonio Mennini, alleging “inappropriate behaviour” towards them in the 1980s.

All this adds to the sense of crisis gripping the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics, still reeling from a papal resignation unprecedented in almost 700 years. To add to that, the Pope himself condemned the manoeuvring of factions within the church. And last Friday the punch drunk church was told by the respected Italian newspaper ‘La Repubblica’ that a report into the Vatileaks scandal claimed there was a gay mafia within the Vatican involving several cardinals and sexual shenanigans in a Rome sauna.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Telegraph

The decision by Cardinal Keith O’Brien to give up his role in choosing the next Pope has prompted renewed calls for the Archbishop of Westminster, the most Rev Vincent Nichols, to be made a Cardinal.

By John Bingham, Religious Affairs Editor
6:00AM GMT 26 Feb 2013

Archbishop Nichols was appointed as leader of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales almost four years ago.

But because his predecessor, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, was already a member of the College of Cardinals, which elects the Pope, he was not elevated to the most senior position – in line with recent tradition that there is only one English or Welsh voting Cardinal.

Yet under Church law, Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor no longer has a vote after he turned 80 last summer. It means that the Church in England and Wales will not be represented in the vote.

Now, following Cardinal O’Brien’s decision to stand aside, there will be no UK voice in the Conclave.

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SCOTLAND
Daily Record

THE shamed TV star helped the clergyman raise money for charity years before his sex crimes came out.

O’BRIEN was a friend of paedophile Jimmy Savile – decades before the disgraced DJ’s crimes were known.

But he demanded Savile be stripped of his papal knighthood – bestowed in 1990 – after his offences came to light.

O’Brien’s spokesman said at the time: “We would absolutely endorse and support that move.

“It seems to be an appropriate response and echoes exactly what every other institution and organisation who had an association with Jimmy Savile are doing.”

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SCOTLAND
Daily Record

THE Pope told Cardinal Keith O’Brien he could leave the church immediately yesterday amid allegations of inappropriate conduct towards three priests dating back 30 years.

CARDINAL Keith O’Brien shocked the world yesterday after apologising for his failures as he resigned as head of the Scottish Catholic Church.

The stunning admission came after allegations of inappropriate behaviour towards three priests and one ex-priest in the 1980s.

He said: “For any failures, I apologise to all whom I have offended.” O’Brien’s decision sent shockwaves through the Catholic community as they prepare for the appointment of a new pope after Benedict XVI resigned earlier this month.

The cardinal, Britain’s most senior Catholic, had been planning to stand down when he turned 75 next month.

As recently as Friday, he talked about taking part in the conclave to appoint the next Pope.

But after the priests’ allegations became known, he was told by the pope that he could leave
immediately.

Yesterday, he confirmed Pope Benedict “had now decided that my resignation will take effect today”.

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SCOTLAND
Daily Record

WRITER Peter Jennings said the accusers should have the courage to “come out and say exactly who they are”.

A FRIEND of Cardinal Keith O’Brien’s yesterday challenged the priests who accused him to have the courage to identify themselves.

Writer Peter Jennings, who has known O’Brien for more than 40 years, said: “I believe these priests should have the courage to come out and say exactly who they are.”

He also questioned why the priests made their claims through a senior figure in the diocese rather than directly to nuncio Antonio Mennini, the Vatican’s “open and accessible” ambassador to Britain.

Jennings added: “I would challenge these four men also to be more specific in their allegations.

“The talk of inappropriate behaviour is all very vague. It is not even clear if the allegations are sexual.”

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VATICAN CITY
San Francisco Chronicle

Jeffrey Donovan, Bloomberg News

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Feb. 26 (Bloomberg) — Pope Benedict XVI, struggling to tame intrigue, won’t give cardinals access to a secret Vatican dossier into leaked papal documents before they meet next month to elect his successor.

The 85-year-old Benedict, who will become the first pontiff in 600 years to retire on Feb. 28, met with the three cardinals tasked to investigate the case known as “Vatileaks,” the Holy See press office said in a statement yesterday. The episode led last year to the arrest of the pope’s personal butler in one of the worst security breaches in modern Vatican history.

The pontiff thanked Cardinals Julian Herranz, Jozef Tomko and Salvatore De Giorgi for work that “made it possible to detect, given the limitations and imperfections of the human factor in every institution, the generosity and dedication of those who work with uprightness and generosity in the Holy See,” according to the statement. Still, “the acts of this investigation,” known only to Benedict, “will remain solely at the disposition of the new pope.”

The German-born pope is preparing to make his last public appearance tomorrow amid a wave of controversy, including the resignation of Britain’s most senior Catholic cleric following allegations of his “inappropriate” behavior toward priests.

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UNITED STATES
NBC News

By Tracy Connor, Staff Writer, NBC News

A lame-duck pope. A secret dossier. Rumors of a gay cabal. A cardinal accused of “inappropriate” behavior.

The Vatican is in an uproar, and church scholars say there hasn’t been this much drama surrounding a conclave since 1800, when Pope Pius VI died while being held prisoner by Napoleon.

One Vatican watcher says you have to go back to 1730 — when Pope Benedict XIII’s right-hand man fled Rome in disguise amid allegations of corruption — to find a conclave buffeted by this much scandal.

“This is not a healthy situation for any kind of institution,” said the Rev. Thomas Reese, an expert on the Catholic Church at Georgetown University.

“It looks like amateur hour.”

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SCOTLAND
Daily Record

THE shock exit of Britain’s most senior Roman Catholic has left the entire church reeling.

IT has been a tumultuous fortnight for Scotland’s Roman Catholic community.

Having just absorbed the resignation of the Pope, communicants now have to deal with the swift departure of Cardinal Keith O’Brien, Britain’s most senior Roman Catholic.

The Church is bereft of spiritual leadership and plunged into self-doubt by the allegations against O’Brien.

But the hasty resignation of the Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh has left the whole of civic society gasping for breath.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Telegraph

[with video]

The former head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor says it would be “inappropriate” for him to comment on Cardinal Keith O’Brien whilst an internal enquiry continues.

Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor’s press conference to discuss Pope Benedict XVI’s legacy and his visit to the UK in 2010, was over-shadowed by questions about the resignation of Scottish Catholic leader Cardinal Keith O’Brien.

Cardinal O’Brien stepped down on Monday after facing allegations dating from the 1980s that he behaved inappropriately towards priests.

Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor said it would be “inappropriate” for him to comment on the Scottish Catholic leader’s resignation and stuck to talking about his memories of the 2005 Papal Conclave after the death of John Paul II.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

Cardinal Keith O’Brien’s decision not to take part in the election of a new Pope was his own, a spokesman for the Roman Catholic Church has insisted.

The cardinal also resigned as archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh following claims of inappropriate behaviour towards priests in the 1980s.

Archdiocese of Glasgow spokesman Ronnie Convery said Cardinal O’Brien had not come under pressure from the Vatican.

“It was very much his own decision,” Mr Convery told BBC Scotland.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

A former archbishop of Westminster says he is “saddened” by the resignation of Britain’s most senior Roman Catholic cleric, Cardinal Keith O’Brien.

Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor said Cardinal O’Brien’s decision to step down was “up to his own conscience”.

Cardinal O’Brien has been accused of inappropriate behaviour towards priests in the 1980s – allegations he contests.

The ex-Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh will no longer take part in the election of the new Pope.

At a news conference on Tuesday, Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor was asked whether his fellow cardinal had been right to stand down.

“It was up to his own conscience that he stepped down. He wasn’t asked to, he decided to do that,” he said.

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VATICAN CITY
Huffington Post

Jaweed Kaleem
Jaweed.Kaleem@huffingtonpost.com

An Italian newspaper publishes a controversial report on an alleged secret network of gay priests in the Vatican. Campaigns start against two American cardinals linked to sex abuse scandals who are about to head to Rome to vote for the new pope. A top British cardinal steps down amid allegations of unspecified “inappropriate” behavior with priests and says he won’t attend the papal conclave. Catholics worldwide start opining about what the next pontiff’s race, age and origin should be, while the dozen or so rumored candidates for pope keep insisting, “No, not me!”

Welcome to the secretive and at times confusing process of selecting a new pope.

In two days, Pope Benedict XVI will stay goodbye to the papacy, leaving the world’s 1.2 billion Roman Catholics without a leader and dozens of top-ranking cardinals in charge.

Nobody knows exactly when the conclave — the closed-door meeting of cardinals who will elect Benedict’s successor — will take place. According to new rules that Benedict issued Monday, it could be as early as March 1 or as late as March 20. It’s up to the cardinals to decide, though reports have indicated the conclave may start between March 9 and 11.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Telegraph

By Stephen HoughSociety
Last updated: February 25th, 2013

Cardinal Keith O’Brien has been forced into retirement slightly earlier than expected. If the accusations against him are false then we’ve seen a despicable use of media power to spread lies and cause scandal. It’s one of the nastiest of modern sins.

But if the accusations are true there’s an opportunity here for a moment of Church-changing, life-enhancing heroism. Cardinal O’Brien has within his hands the potential to preach the Gospel with more power now than ever before, to touch more people’s hearts than at any other time in his priestly life. He’s holding a stick of spiritual dynamite in his anointed hands.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Telegraph

Cardinal O’Brien gay sex scandal: this was a hit job that succeeded beyond the plotters’ wildest dreams

By Damian Thompson
updated: February 26th, 2013

The Cardinal Keith O’Brien Downfall video had been ready to run for ages. The story of three priests and one ex-priest complaining of inappropriate behaviour was timed to break when the Scottish prelate retired at 75 next month. The aim was to expose his alleged hypocrisy. To quote our blogger Stephen Hough, responding in the comments to his blog post yesterday, “I’m convinced that what he did (if he did it) was harmless enough, but he may not have thought it harmless if he’d caught other priests doing it … at least until this week.” If the scandal had come to light next month, that would have been nicely timed to ruin the Cardinal’s reputation just when the media would be running retrospective pieces about him. And, of course, it would throw a spotlight on O’Brien’s passionate opposition to gay marriage, effectively silencing the Scottish Catholic Church on this subject, and probably the Church in the rest of Britain, too.

What no one could have guessed is that Pope Benedict would resign, meaning that Cardinal O’Brien would be the only Briton with a vote in the next conclave. The Observer story was brought forward, with devastating results. The four complainants had the good sense – and, arguably, the courage – to inform the Papal Nuncio, Archbishop Mennini, of their claims. (Mennini, it should be noted, is not in the pocket of the British bishops to the extent that previous ambassadors have been.) So the Vatican already had a file on Britain’s senior Catholic churchman, and Pope Benedict, on being informed of its contents, decided to bring forward O’Brien’s resignation as Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh. In other words, the alleged victims of these inappropriate acts were helped by something that the Church’s critics have often refused to recognise: Joseph Ratzinger’s determination to purify the Church of sex abuse, right up until the last week of his pontificate.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Belfast Telegraph

Editor’s Viewpoint– 26 February 2013

The resignation of Cardinal Keith O’Brien heralds more turmoil for the Catholic Church. While he denies allegations of improper conduct levelled at him by three priests and a former priest, it is an issue which will not go away. The damage done to the church in Ireland by clerical sexual abuse of young people has eroded its moral and political authority and there is no doubt that these latest allegations – which unproven – will lead many to question the standing of the church in Scotland.

Cardinal O’Brien, who had tendered his resignation last November before these allegations surfaced, has done the right thing in standing aside now instead of allowing a media feeding frenzy to develop. The Pope, who is to retire on Thursday, also made the correct move in agreeing to the Cardinal leaving office.

Of course what it does is leave big problems for both their successors. For the new Scottish cardinal the task will be somewhat similar. While Cardinal O’Brien certainly won respect for much of his work, his outspoken views on gays and abortion hit a discordant note with many.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Stroud News & Journal

A FORMER evangelical church minister who subjected his family to sexual abuse and cruelty and was jailed for 15 years on Friday.

Jailing the man at Gloucester Crown Court, Judge Jamie Tabor described him as ‘bullying and tyrannical’.

The man, from the Quedgeley area, was convicted earlier this month of raping his wife and stepdaughter and of cruelty against both the stepdaughter and a stepson.

During the trial, the court heard how the man imposed a ‘Victorian nightmare’ on his family.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Tribune-Democrat

Kathy Mellott kmellott@tribdem.com

JOHNSTOWN — An Altoona attorney filed notice of pending civil lawsuits in Blair County court Monday on behalf of three men, former students of Bishop McCort Catholic High School, who allege they were sexually molested by the late Franciscan Brother Stephen Baker.

The victims are identified in the notice that the lawsuits are commencing as John Doe 75, John Doe 76 and John Doe 77. The abuse is alleged to have occurred at various times from 1992 to about 2001, when Baker worked at or was seen around the school.

Attorney Richard Serbin, a clergy sexual abuse civil litigator, said Monday’s filing in Blair County likely is just the beginning.

“I know I’ll be filing more. I’m certain I’ll be filing more,” he said. “I don’t think the dust has settled.”

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PENNSYLVANIA
The Altoona Mirror

February 26, 2013

By Phil Ray (pray@altoonamirror.com) , The Altoona Mirror

HOLLIDAYSBURG – Another chapter began Monday in the Brother Stephen Baker child sexual abuse case when Blair County attorney Richard Serbin filed notices of three lawsuits against the Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown and others in the Blair County Courthouse.

“There will be more suits,” Serbin said, as he explained that he is investigating many other potential court cases that have come to his attention.

Serbin said the first such cases to be filed in Blair County involve former students at Bishop McCort Catholic High School in Johnstown who say they were abused by Baker. Serbin said Baker served in the local diocese from the mid-1990s to 2000.

Serbin filed writs of summons on behalf of the three individuals listed for court purposes as John Doe 75, John Doe 76 and John Doe 77.

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YOUNGSTOWN (OH)
Vindicator

Tue, February 26, 2013

The Catholic Diocese of Youngstown says letters, interviews have uncovered no new allegations involving Brother Stephen Baker.

By Ed Runyan
runyan@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

The Catholic Diocese of Youngstown has written to 1,800 former Warren John F. Kennedy High School students, interviewed five to six current faculty members who worked with Brother Stephen Baker, and soon will talk to all other faculty and staff members from that time to ask what they know about the Franciscan friar.

None of the former students, however, has responded to the letter to indicate any knowledge of sexual misconduct by Baker other than the 11 who were part of a legal settlement last fall. None of the faculty members has indicated a prior awareness that Baker sexually assaulted students, a diocesan spokesman said Monday.

Furthermore, no one has come forward with any credible allegations against any other faculty member, staff member or coach at the school, said Brian Corbin, a member of the administrative board of the diocese.

Corbin called The Vindicator with those and other points, in response to statements made at a news conference Sunday in front of Warren JFK. That’s when Robert Hoatson, a former priest and an advocate for victims of sexual abuse by clergy, said at least 50 more men have come forward to allege sexual abuse by Brother Baker. Many of them have ties to Kennedy High School or the former St. Mary’s Middle School in Warren, Hoatson said.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

FOR more than 50 years Bob O’Toole lived with the consequences of being sexually abused by a Marist Brother at Hamilton.

In 2008 he broke the silence and told his wife.

In December last year, Hunter woman Patricia Feenan broke another silence and released her book, Holy Hell, about the crimes of paedophile priest Jim Fletcher against her eldest son, Daniel.

Last night Mr O’Toole and Mrs Feenan took another step on behalf of victims of the Catholic church’s child sex abuse crisis, and launched a DVD in association with Maitland-Newcastle diocese.

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