ABUSE TRACKER

CANADA
The StarPhoenix

MONCTON, N.B. – Two Roman Catholic priests in New Brunswick have been removed from working for any ministry following allegations of sexual abuse involving children.

The Archdiocese of Moncton says it made the decision after it became aware of the accusations during a reconciliation and compensation process for alleged victims of sexual abuse.

The archdiocese says on its website that Rev. Yvon Arsenault was removed from the ministry on July 4, 2012, as was Rev. Irois Despres, who has been retired since 1992.

The archdiocese, which made the announcement on the weekend, did not say why it took six months to inform the public of its decision nor whether it has referred the matter to police.

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NEW YORK
New York Daily News

Queens lawmaker Margaret Markey says Poly Prep sex abuse scandal should lead to elimination of statute of limitations for victims

By Michael O’Keeffe / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Wednesday, January 2, 2013

New York state assemblywoman Margaret Markey has introduced legislation since 2006 that would permit victims of childhood sexual abuse to seek criminal charges and file civil lawsuits until their 28th birthday.

But the Queens Democrat said the Poly Prep Country Day School lawsuit and other sex abuse scandals have pushed her to call for a complete end to the criminal and civil statute of limitations when she introduces the Child Victims Act later this month.

“As this case demonstrates, adding a few extra years to current law is not enough,” Markey said of the Poly Prep scandal.

As the Daily News first reported last week, the attorney who represented the 12 men who last week settled the explosive lawsuit which accused Poly Prep administrators of covering up decades of sexual abuse by longtime football coach Phil Foglietta said he welcomes the change in the legislation.

“I think the statute of limitations for sexual abuse victims is one of the most absurd and asinine statutes on the books in New York state,” Orangeburg lawyer Kevin Mulhearn said. “It does not reflect the reality that for many survivors of sexual abuse, it takes decades to realize the extent of the damage they have suffered.”

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OREGON
KVAL

EUGENE, Ore. — A Portland man filed a multi-million dollar lawsuit against the United Methodist Church, claiming that he was raped by a Eugene pastor in the 1980s.

A Portland firm filed the case against the First United Methodist Church of Eugene on Wednesday, issuing a press release on behalf of the man.

The firm alleges that nearly 28 years ago the now-deceased Pastor William Walker sexually abused the plaintiff, who was 11 years old at the time.

Walker passed away in 1992 from complications related to AIDS. At the time of his death several other men in their late teens and 20s came forward saying that they had sex with the pastor.

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OCEAN CITY (MD)
WBOC

By Kye Parsons

OCEAN CITY, Md.- Ocean City police have filed charges against a former Roman Catholic priest accused of sexually abusing a child in the resort town more than 30 years ago.

Bruno Michael Tucci, 70, of Salisbury, was arrested in December and charged with fourth-degree sex offense and child abuse: custodian.

According to police, Tucci’s arrest stemmed from an incident that occurred in August of 1981. Investigators said Tucci brought a child to an Ocean City motel room where the alleged illegal sexual acts occurred.

Police ask that anyone with information about Tucci, a former priest in Allentown, Pa., from 1971 until 2007, to contact Detective Brett L. Case at (410) 723-6632.

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MISSOURI
St. Louis Review

The Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau has announced a credible complaint of sexual abuse of a minor involving the late Father Walter G. Craig.Born in 1899, Father Craig was ordained for the Archdiocese of St. Louis in 1923 and served here until the 1950s. In 1956, the Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau was established, and he continued to serve there.

The allegation of abuse occurred in the mid-1960s.

Father Craig served at Our Lady of Lourdes in St. Louis (1923), St. Ambrose in Chaffee, Mo. (1936), St. Matthew Parish in St. Louis (1948), Immaculate Conception Parish in New Madrid, Mo. (1954), Immaculate Conception in Jackson, Mo. (1967) and St. Lawrence in New Hamburg, Mo. (1969). He died in 1971.

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PENNSYLVANIA
The Morning Call

By Manuel Gamiz Jr., Of The Morning Call
10:20 p.m. EST, January 2, 2013

A former priest with the Allentown Catholic Diocese removed from active ministry in 2002 amid sex-abuse allegations has been charged in Maryland with sexually assaulting a boy at the shore in 1981, authorities said.

Bruno M. Tucci, former pastor of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Church in Nesquehoning, faces two counts in Ocean City, one for committing a sexual assault and the other for child abuse by a custodial person, police said.

Tucci, 70, faces a preliminary hearing Jan. 16 in Worcester County district court.

He was among numerous priests investigated in 2002 by prosecutors in the five counties that make up the Allentown Diocese, diocese spokesman Matt Kerr said. The district attorneys concluded none of the priests could be prosecuted because the statute of limitations had run out.

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CANADA
CBC News

The Archdiocese of Moncton is facing criticism by an Ontario lawyer for its recent announcement of two priests being removed from ministry based on allegations of sexual abuse of children.

The archdiocese informed parishioners during mass last weekend that Father Yvon Arsenault, who was removed in July, and Father Irois Després, who retired in 1992, have been removed “from any ministry whatsoever following allegations of serious sexual abuse on minors.”

Retired Supreme Court of Canada justice Michel Bastarache — who was hired by the archdiocese in June to handle a conciliation process for the victims of another priest in Cap-Pelé — brought the latest allegations to the archdiocese’s attention, according to a Dec. 30 statement posted on its website.

None of the allegations have been proven in court.

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AUSTRALIA
The Courier

By THOMAS MCILROY
Jan. 3, 2013

FAMILIES impacted by sexual abuse in the Ballarat region have begun a moving project to remember loved ones who have died.

A new photo series featuring relatives with images or mementos of their loved ones will be presented to the Victorian inquiry into institutional sexual abuse when it returns for public hearings in Ballarat next month.

Organiser and abuse victim Peter Blenkiron recruited Ballarat photographer Craig Holloway to take the photos at locations around the Ballarat region.

Participant Helen Watson said the project would help support family members, including those involved in a group submission to the inquiry, and help remember those who had taken their own lives or died prematurely.

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OREGON
The Register-Guard

By Greg Bolt
The Register-Guard

Published: Wednesday, Jan 2, 2013

A one-time Eugene man is suing the Methodist Church for $4.5 million over allegations that he was sexually abused as a youth by a Eugene pastor who later died from AIDS.

The suit, filed today in Multnomah County Circuit Court, alleges that former Pastor William Walker of First United Methodist Church sexually assaulted the unnamed victim when he was about 11 years old and his family attended the Eugene church. It claims the abuse caused extreme physical and psychological damage, the effects of which continue to haunt the man, who is now in his late 30s.

A spokesman for the Oregon-Idaho Conference of the United Methodist Church, which is based in Portland and is named as the defendant in the suit, said today that the church has not yet been served with a copy of the suit and cannot yet comment on it.

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OREGON
KLCC

January 2, 2013
By Rachael McDonald

EUGENE, Ore.– A Portland man is suing the Oregon-Idaho Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church for sexual abuse he claims he suffered at the hands of a now-deceased Eugene pastor.

William Walker was pastor at First United Methodist Church in the 1980s. He died in 1992 from complications related to AIDS. A Register Guard newspaper article from the time says he was diagnosed with AIDS in 1989 but kept it a secret. The plaintiff, Jack Doe, claims Walker raped and sexually abused him 28 years ago when he was 11. Gilion Dumas is Doe’s attorney. She says she believes there are others who were sexually abused by Walker.

Dumas: “We want them to know that if they do come forward with either information about Pastor Walker or information about their own experiences with Pastor Walker that they will be listened to and treated with respect because its very important that the whole story comes out.”

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PORTLAND (OR)
KEZI

by KEZI Staff

Published January 2, 2013.

PORTLAND, Ore. — A Portland man is suing a church group for sexual abuse he says he repeatedly suffered as a child by a now-deceased Eugene pastor.

Jack Doe filed a lawsuit against the Oregon-Idaho Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church, the group that operates the First United Methodist Church in Eugene.

Doe says Pastor William Walker abused him when he was 11 years old at the church and Camp Magruder, a Methodist church camp.

According to the O’Donnell Clark & Crew LLP law firm, which filed the case Wednesday, it is likely that there are witnesses that have more information regarding this case.

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MINNESOTA
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: Krautkremer was accused in 1983 of sexually abusing a 10 year-old altar boy in 1977 at a Wisconsin lake cabin. The boy and his parents said they were told by St. Paul-Minneapolis archdiocesan officials that Krautkremer would never again work around children. He was subsequently transferred to a parish that had an elementary school. Bishop Carlson stated in 1983 that Krautkremer admitted to “a sexual relationship” with two boys twelve years previously. Krautkremer was a hospital chaplain from 1989 until he was removed from active ministry in April 2002. He is last known to be living in north Minneapolis.

Ordained: 1966
Incardinated: St. Paul-Minneapolis

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PITTSBURGH (PA)
Federal Bureau of Investigation

U.S. Attorney’s Office
January 02, 2013 Western District of Pennsylvania
(412) 644-3500

PITTSBURGH—A suspended Catholic priest was sentenced in federal court for violating federal child sexual exploitation laws, United States Attorney David J. Hickton announced today.

Bartley Sorensen, 63, was sentenced by United States District Judge Alan N. Bloch to serve 97 months in prison, followed by five years of supervised release, for receiving and possessing thousands of visual depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct. Sorensen was also ordered to pay a $25,000 fine.

On December 9, 2011, Sorensen was a Catholic priest assigned to Saint John Fisher Parish in Churchill, Pennsylvania. On that day, a parish employee observed Sorensen viewing an image on the screen of his computer of a young boy wearing nothing but a shirt. The employee promptly reported what she observed to the Catholic Child Abuse Hotline. Search warrants were thereafter served at the rectory that resulted in the seizure of, among other things, over 100 CDs, most of which were loaded with thousands of images of children being sexually abused, including one that depicted a nude male child with a rope around his genitals and what appeared to be blood on his genitals.

Assistant United States Attorney Craig W. Haller prosecuted this case on behalf of the United States.

U.S. Attorney Hickton commended the Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office, the Allegheny County Police Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Churchill Police Department for the successful investigation leading to the conviction and sentence in this case.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by David Clohessy on January 02, 2013

Pennsylvania politicians who want the entire Penn State fine to be spent in Pennsylvania are being greedy. And anyone who wants to overturn the fine entirely is being short-sighted.

We suspect that Gov. Corbett is posturing to curry favor with Penn State staff and alums. At best, his lawsuit is frivolous. At worst, it threatens to delay or derail millions of dollars that would otherwise be devoted to protecting children.

At one level, Corbett sounds like a parochial member of Congress who just wants to “bring home the bacon” to his constituents. At another level, Corbett sounds like a misguided Penn State booster who can’t recognized that Jerry Sandusky essentially had the help of university staff in keeping his heinous child sex crimes secret.

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WISCONSIN
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

[map – alleged incidents in Wisconsin]

By Raquel Rutledge of the Journal Sentinel

Twenty more names have been added to the list of Boy Scout leaders and volunteers accused of sexually assaulting children in Wisconsin over the last several decades. The newest additions, published by the Los Angeles Times last week, involve mostly cases from the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Included in the group: a 6-foot 5-inch, 300-plus-pound man known as “Bigfoot,” accused of molesting boys at St. John’s School for the Deaf in St. Francis in the early 1970s.

Thomas “Bigfoot” Tannehill, who himself was deaf, was never criminally charged in Wisconsin in the 1970s when he was a dorm supervisor at the school or in the 1980s when he was an assistant scoutmaster with three units in the Milwaukee County Council.

He was banned from Boy Scouts of America in 1990 after he was convicted of molesting two boys in Indiana at the Indiana State School for the Deaf, where he was also a Scoutmaster, according to records ordered to be released in October by an Oregon court

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PENNSYLVANIA
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

By Brian Bowling

Published: Wednesday, January 2, 2013

The Rev. Bart Sorensen, formerly of St. John Fisher Church in Churchill, will serve up to eight years and one month in prison for receiving and possessing thousands of pornographic images of young boys.

U.S. District Judge Alan Bloch sentenced Sorensen, 63, on Wednesday. He also must pay a $25,000 fine, spend five years on probation and register as a sex offender.

The Diocese of Pittsburgh removed Sorensen from active ministry and placed him on administrative leave in December 2011.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Craig Haller said that Sorensen admitted to investigators he viewed child pornography for about 10 years. He initially claimed he was only looking at a child porn website because a parishioner was concerned that his daughter was spending a lot of time on the site, but he later admitted no parishioner made such a request, Haller said.

A detective from the Allegheny County District Attorney‘s office arrested Sorensen on state charges in December 2011 after a parish worker spotted the priest looking at an image of a partially clad boy on his computer.

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PITTSBURGH (PA)
CBS Pittsburgh

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – A suspended Pittsburgh priest who was caught with child porn on his computer was sentenced in federal court Wednesday to 97 months in prison.

Fr. Bartley Sorensen pleaded guilty in May.

An employee at Saint John Parish in Churchill noticed him looking at an image of a young boy on his computer.

That prompted the police search that turned up thousands of graphic images.

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PITTSBURGH (PA)
WTAE

PITTSBURGH —A suspended Pittsburgh-area priest will serve more than eight years in prison for possessing and receiving thousands of images of child pornography on his church computer.

A federal judge on Wednesday sentenced the Rev. Bartley Sorensen to 97 months behind bars.

The 63-year-old Roman Catholic priest was arrested by Allegheny County authorities in December 2011 after an employee at St. John Fisher Parish in Churchill noticed him looking at a photo of a young boy on his computer.

Federal officials took over the investigation after a computer search turned up thousands of child pornography images, some of them sadomasochistic.

Sorensen pleaded guilty in May.

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PITTSBURGH (PA)
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

January 2, 2013

The Rev. Bartley Sorensen claimed at sentencing today that he meant to be caught with child pornography, and didn’t realize then that collecting such images was a crime.

U.S. District Judge Alan N. Bloch showed him just how big of an oversight that was, sentencing him to eight years and one month in prison.

Sorensen, 63, who was assigned to St. John Fisher Parish in Churchill several weeks before a parish secretary walked in and saw images on his computer screen, said he “decided not to get rid of what was on the computer” as the employee climbed the stairs to his office. “I knew that my sin had to be known. What I did not know is that it was also a crime.”

Judge Bloch said the priest had “been viewing images of sexually abused children for the last 10 years of his life,” and had a collection of some 5,000 files on 100 computer disks. He said that although Sorensen never touched a child inappropriately, collecting such images is “just as harmful and dangerous to children as if he had been abusing them himself.

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PITTSBURGH (PA)
WPXI

PITTSBURGH —

A suspended Churchill priest will serve more than eight years in prison for possessing and receiving thousands of images of child pornography on his church computer.

A federal judge on Wednesday sentenced the Rev. Bartley Sorensen to 97 months behind bars.

The judge also sentenced Sorensen to five years supervised release. He was also ordered to pay a $25,000 fine.

Sorensen’s attorney, Patrick Thomassey, had contended that Sorensen obtained the images for himself and never molested a child. Thomassey argued in court filings that the mandatory five-year sentence he faces is sufficient.

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MISSOURI
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Barbara Dorris on January 02, 2013

A St. Louis priest, Fr. Walter Craig, was ordained 90 years ago. He died more than 40 years ago. Now, he’s been credibly accused of child sex crimes.

Fr. Craig wasn’t recruited, ordained, supervised, trained, transferred or shielded by Archbishop Robert Carlson. In fact, Carlson probably never met him (since Carlson was ordained a priest in 1970 in another state).

Since so much time has passed, anyone else who may have been hurt by Fr. Craig surely has no chance to file a lawsuit.

So it should be easy for Carlson to do the right thing here: reach out to others who may be struggling because they were assaulted in childhood by Fr. Craig.

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ESPANA
El Mundo

Iker Rioja Andueza | Bilbao

Actualizado domingo 30/12/2012

Un antiguo alumno del colegio Gaztelueta de Leioa (Bizkaia), el que más años lleva abierto de los alrededor de 90 que la institución católica Opus Dei tiene por toda España, ha declarado haber sido víctima de abusos sexuales por parte de un profesor del centro. Los hechos se produjeron, según este relato, durante los cursos 2008-2009 y 2009-2010, cuando el adolescente cursaba primero y segundo de Educación Secundaria Obligatoria (ESO).

Así consta también en la documentación médica y del Departamento de Educación a la que ha tenido acceso EL MUNDO del País Vasco. El presunto responsable de estos abusos sexuales fue un profesor numerario del centro, con voto de celibato, que responde a las iniciales J.M.M.S. Esos informes añaden que, según el niño, este docente se “mofaba” igualmente del estudiante en clase, lo que propició un entorno favorable a que la víctima lo fuera también de acoso escolar por parte de algunos de sus compañeros, que llegaron a amenazarlo de muerte.

El maestro J.M.M.S, que impartía Religión y Lengua y que ejercía de monitor de tiempo libre en un club del Opus Dei en Bilbao, al que ocasionalmente acudía el joven, era también su preceptor. Ésta es una figura existente en los centros del Opus Dei que ejerce no sólo como tutor sino, además, como enlace entre el alumno y su familia, hasta el punto de que llegó a comer en su casa. El docente, además, presionó al adolescente en tres ocasiones para que se incorporara al Opus Dei, según atestiguan los padres.

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UNITED STATES
Atheist Revolution

Catholics are not the only Christian denomination with problems related to the sexual abuse of children by clergy. Southern Baptists have been on the radar quite a bit too.

While the hierarchy of the Catholic Church has worked tirelessly to conceal sexual abuse by priests, sometimes transferring them, paying off victims’ families, and the the like, the Baptists appear to have a different sort of problem. In addition to their tendency to deny that abuse is occurring, it appears that the manner in which the Southern Baptist church is structured may prevent accountability.

According to Tim Townsend (The Post-Dispatch, St. Louis and available through CNN), Rev. Travis Smith only has to face his own congregation after his arrest for sexual abuse and statutory rape.

Unlike members of many denominations — such as Catholics, Lutherans, Methodists, Episcopalian and Presbyterians — Southern Baptists don’t conform to a centralized, hierarchical structure.

Instead, authority resides at the local church level. And that’s true even amid allegations of clergy misconduct.

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UNITED STATES/VATICAN CITY
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by David Clohessy on January 02, 2013

An international support group for clergy sex abuse victims wants Pope Benedict to reverse his decision and pick a different individual to head the Vatican’s abuse office.

Leaders of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, plan to write the pontiff, urging him to rescind his selection of a Boston priest to the post and choose a parent instead.

One week ago, Benedict announced Fr. Robert Oliver’s promotion, despite concerns by victims and advocates about his ties to controversial Cardinal Bernard Law and his role in the handling of pedophile priest cases in Boston.

[Read here – New York Times]

“Oliver is an awful pick,” said Barbara Blaine of Chicago, SNAP’s president.

Oliver has shaped the Boston archdiocese’s handling of abuse cases for the last decade. Four basic charges are being leveled against him:

1. He eliminated a provision requiring the immediate removal of accused priests.

2. He limited victims’ access to the archdiocese’s files on their cases.

3. Under his leadership, the archdiocese ‘cleared’ a very high percentage of accused priests.

4. Under his leadership, the church tribunal has failed to rule on the cases of 15 accused priests.

–According to the Boston Herald, in 2003, Oliver “said the church went too far in immediately removing priests from their public ministries once they were accused of abuse. He implemented a new policy stripping them of duties only after claims are investigated.”

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NEW ZEALAND
New Zealand Herald

By Anne-Marie Emerson of the Wanganui Chronicle

6:08 PM Wednesday Jan 2, 2013

Poverty and lack of support are two factors that must dealt with if New Zealand is to successfully tackle the problem of child abuse, according to Wanganui paediatrician David Montgomery.

Dr Montgomery is the clinical head of the paediatric ward at Wanganui Hospital and is also the clinical leader of the children’s emergency department at Auckland’s Middlemore Hospital, so he is no stranger to dealing with cases of child abuse.

He said while child abuse and neglect can happen in any sector of society, it’s more likely to happen when a family’s resources are stretched.

“There are clear linkages between the socio-economic situation that families find themselves in and child abuse,” Dr Montgomery said.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

AAP
January 03, 2013

THE scope of the royal commission into child sex abuse should be extended to include physical assault and neglect, child welfare advocates say.

The National Association for Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect says the scope of the royal commission needs to be broadened because it is inequitable.

According to The Australian newspaper, the group wants Prime Minister Julia Gillard to expand the terms of reference of the commission to include all forms of abuse against children by churches, institutions and government.

The newspaper reports the call has split child welfare advocates, with some arguing it would mean the commission would go on for years, making it harder to get “concrete recommendations”.

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NEW YORK
The Jewish Daily Forard

Published January 02, 2013, issue of January 04, 2013.

On December 13, the Forward published an explosive story by our Paul Berger detailing how Yeshiva University for years ignored students who claimed that they were sexually abused by two former staff members at Y.U.’s high school for boys in Manhattan. For that story, Berger spoke to four students who voluntarily offered their accounts. Since then, about 20 former students have called or written, and the number keeps growing.

Most of the allegations occurred in the 1970s and 1980s, and the statute of limitations prevents these men from suing the school, so they aren’t looking for money or other compensation. They are seeking answers, though. And so, independently, is the Forward.

Y.U.’s press office has issued several statements, including a sort-of apology and an offer of counseling to any former student who thinks he needs it. But Y.U. President Richard Joel has declined repeated requests for comment. Not so its chancellor and former president, Norman Lamm, but he left us even more confused, by acknowledging in an interview with the Forward that he knew of some of the allegations and let at least one of the alleged abusers leave quietly.

Why? Why was Rabbi George Finkelstein, a long-time teacher who rose to become principal, allowed to leave Y.U. in 1995 and become dean of a Jewish day school in Florida? Here was a man who has been accused by numerous students of inappropriate wrestling, kissing and simulated sex. And when the Jerusalem Great Synagogue said it hired Finkelstein in 2001 after being assured by Y.U. officials that the rumors of sexual abuse were false, who was responsible? Just because Finkelstein resigned his synagogue post after the initial Forward story was published does not erase the pressing need for answers.

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PENNSYLVANIA
San Francisco Chronicle

By JOE MANDAK, Associated Press

Updated 5:28 am, Wednesday, January 2, 2013

PITTSBURGH (AP) — A suspended Pittsburgh-area priest is set for sentencing on charges he possessed and received thousands of child pornography images — some of them sadomasochistic — on his church computer.

Court records show federal prosecutors want the Rev. Bartley Sorensen to serve eight to 10 years in prison. But the defense attorney for the 63-year-old Roman Catholic priest says the mandatory five-year sentence he faces is sufficient.

Sorensen was arrested by Allegheny County district attorney’s detectives in December 2011 after an employee at Saint John Fisher Parish in Churchill noticed him looking at a photo of a young boy on his computer. Federal authorities took over the investigation after a computer search turned up thousands of images.

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UNITED STATES
Christian Today

Dawkins refers to own experience of sexual abuse by priest, still insists teaching hell to children is worse

Atheist professor Richard Dawkins has clarified remarks he made when he stated that being taught to believe in an eternal hell as a child is worse than being sexually abused, reminding critics that he himself was abused by a priest at a young age.

By: Stoyan Zaimov
Christian Post

Wednesday, 2 January 2013

“It was a very unpleasant and embarrassing experience, but the mental trauma was soon exorcised by comparing notes with my contemporaries who had suffered it previously at the hands of the same master,” Dawkins writes on his official website. “Thank goodness, I have never personally experienced what it is like to believe – really and truly and deeply believe ­– in hell. But I think it can be plausibly argued that such a deeply held belief might cause a child more long-lasting mental trauma than the temporary embarrassment of mild physical abuse.”

The evolutionary biologist’s remarks come in light of a recent article by the Daily Mail that referenced an interview on Al Jazeera in which Dawkins said: “Horrible as sexual abuse no doubt was, the damage was arguably less than the long-term psychological damage inflicted by bringing the child up Catholic in the first place.” The scientist wrote similar claims in his 2006 bestseller The God Delusion.

In his recent blog post, Dawkins reveals that he received a flood of Twitter messages from “horrified” people asking him to explain those remarks – which he does by admitting that “violent, painful, repeated sexual abuse, especially by a family member such as a father or grandfather, probably has a more damaging effect on a child’s mental well-being than sincerely believing in hell.”

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MISSOURI
The Kansas City Star

The Associated Press

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — The Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau says it has received a credible complaint of sexual abuse against a minor that allegedly occurred in the early to mid-1960s.

The diocese says the accused priest, the Rev. Walter C. Craig, died in 1971.

The Springfield News-Leader reports that the diocese has notified civil authorities of the allegation. Further details were not released.

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UNITED STATES
Catholics4Change

January 1, 2013 by Susan Matthews

Here’s a look back at last year on Catholics4Change.

Visitors came from 131 countries. Thank you for stopping by and referring our site to others.

Most viewed post:

The List Cardinal Bevilacqua Didn’t Want You to See

Post that received the most comments:

Hold a Child Sex Abuse Forum

Kathy and I would like to extend special thanks to Bishop-Accountability.org and the National Catholic Reporter for all the readers they referred to this site in 2012.

We’d also like to thank Joan for the most comments this past year. Her contributions were as informative as they were passionate. Beth, Had It Catholic and Survivor’s Wife you were also in our top five. The comments section is what makes C4C so special. We are very grateful for everyone’s input. …

Moving Forward:

Msgr. Lynn’s trial changed me at my very core. For me, evil is no longer abstract. I will never forget the victims on the witness stand and in the courtroom. Because of them, I still have faith in human strength and goodness. I know we can prevent others from facing this pain.

If you are a victim who does not wish to pursue legal action but would like to prevent harm to other children, please consider giving an anonymous tip to the District Attorney’s office. Please help remove predator priests from ministry. Information is available on our Resources page.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Daily Local News

By SARA MOSQUEDA-FERNANDEZ
sferandez@dailylocal.com

Monsignor William Lynn became the first U.S. church official criminally convicted for covering up abuse claims related to predator-priests.

Lynn, 61, was convicted of child endangerment, but acquitted of conspiracy in June. Lynn previously served as secretary for clergy from 1992 to 2004, mostly under the late Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua.

After 13 days of deliberating, jurors decided that Lynn endangered the victim of Edward Avery, a now defrocked priest, who pleaded guilty before trial to a sexual assault from 1999.

Avery is serving a 2½- to 5-year prison term. As secretary, Lynn sent Avery for sexual-offender treatment, but knew he was later sent to live in a parish.

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UNITED STATES
NJSpotlight

By Deborah Jacobs, December 31, 2012

A recent Sports Illustrated cover story focusing on young athletes subjected to child sexual abuse reminds us once again that the pernicious scourge of child sexual abuse continues to haunt the playing fields, playgrounds, and backrooms of our nation.

Among the social ills facing our nation, child sexual abuse stands alone in its epidemic proportions, and the devastation it sets upon its young victims cannot be overstated. Despite high-profile and well-publicized instances within institutions like the Catholic Church, Boy Scouts of America, and Penn State, among others, child sexual abuse remains among the least discussed and most impactful problems our nation faces, while it tarnishes the lives of large swaths of each new generation.

Whether you measure the harm of the individual victims, or the costs to society as a whole, there is ample reason to prioritize child sexual abuse in our national dialogue and adopt policies and practices that help protect children.

The most compelling way to understand the power and enormity of child sexual abuse is through the experience of individual victims. Because child sexual abuse primarily leaves emotional scars instead of physical, its full impact on victims remains under-appreciated. Child sexual abuse occurs at a tragically high rate and can rob young people of self-determination, self-esteem, and potential, sometimes setting in motion a lifelong chain of events and decisions. Many victims don’t readily speak of the trauma they suffer as a result of child sexual abuse. This reluctance has a variety of roots: manipulation by the abuser, fear of not being believed, misplaced shame, fear of stigma, and just plain discomfort with a painful topic.

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DEUTSCHLAND
domradio

Es war eine Reaktion auf das Bekanntwerden des Missbrauchsskandals: die Telefonhotline der katholischen Kirche für Opfer und deren Angehörige. Nun endet das Angebot zum Jahresende. Doch die Kirche bietet weiter Beratung und Hilfen an.

Ansprechpartner und Adressen finden sich unter www.hilfe-missbrauch.de. Zur Begründung für die Einstellung der Hotline sagte der Pressesprecher der Deutschen Bischofskonferenz, Matthias Kopp, in Bonn, es gebe kaum noch Anfragen. Das Angebot habe seinen Dienst erfüllt.

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DEUTCHLAND
Deutche Welle

Die katholische Kirche schaltet ihre Hotline für Opfer von sexuellem Missbrauch ab. Sie bietet aber weiterhin Beratung an. Nach Ansicht von Kritikern gibt es nicht genügend Hilfe für Opfer sexualisierter Gewalt.

Wenn es nach Matthias Kopp, dem Sprecher der Deutschen Bischofskonferenz geht, dann hat die Telefon-Hotline der katholischen Kirche ihren Dienst erfüllt. Zweieinhalb Jahre lang gab es dieses Beratungsangebot, um Missbrauchsopfern und ihren Angehörigen als erste Anlaufstelle zu dienen. Mittlerweile werde die Nummer aber kaum mehr gewählt, sagte Kopp im Gespräch mit der Deutschen Welle. Deshalb wird die Hotline Ende des Jahres abgeschaltet.

Kritik an der katholischen Kirche

Der Missbrauchsbeauftragte der Bundesregierung, Johannes-Wilhelm Rörig

Eine Entscheidung, die Johannes-Wilhelm Rörig kritisch sieht. Er ist der Unabhängige Beauftragte der Bundesregierung für Fragen des sexuellen Kindesmissbrauchs. Telefon-Hotlines seien “wichtig für den ersten Schritt, um Hilfe zu suchen”, sagte er der ARD.

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GERMANY
Deutsche Welle

The Catholic Church in Germany has closed its hotline for victims of sexual abuse due to lack of use. Critics say the church is not doing enough to counter this ongoing problem.

For two and a half years, the counseling service run by the Catholic Church was set up as a first point of contact for victims of abuse and their relatives.

Today, few people call the number, Matthias Kopp, spokesman for the German Bishops’ Conference, told Deutsche Welle. He said the telephone helpline had fulfilled its purpose and would be turned off at the end of 2012.

Incidents of abuse

Johannes-Wilhelm Rörig: An ‘important first step’ against abuse is being taken away

Johannes-Wilhelm Rörig doesn’t approve of this decision. He is the independent special representative for sexual abuse of minors, appointed by the German government. Telephone helplines are “important for the first step towards finding help,” he said in an interview with German public television.

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CALIFORNIA
Courthouse News Service

RIVERSIDE, Calif. (CN) – New Wine Ministries pastor Matthias Anderson sexually assaulted a 13-year-old girl and continued molesting her for three years, the girl claims in court.

Jane Doe sued Anderson, New Wine Ministries, the Life Project Community & Family Transformation Center, and three other people: Marc Anderson, Matthias’ brother and also a pastor at New Wine; Matthias Anderson’s wife, and New Wine administrator Debra Flores.

Matthias Flores was sentenced to nine years in state prison for sexually assaulting her, the girl says in the complaint.

Doe says she met Matthias Flores in 2008, when she was 12. He became her pastor, and her mother “came to be employed by New Wine” while Matthias Flores was sexually molesting her, Doe claims in her Superior Court complaint.

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MISSOURI
News-Leader

The Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau has announced a credible complaint of sexual abuse of a minor involving the Rev. Walter G. Craig, who died in 1971.

The allegation involves a complaint stemming from an act or acts in the mid-1960s. The diocese has notified civil authorities of the allegation.

Craig was born in 1899 and ordained in 1923 for the Archdiocese of St. Louis. His appointments included serving as pastor in Immaculate Conception Parish in Jackson and St. Lawrence Parish in New Hamburg.

People who want to document an allegation may contact Rev. Thomas Reidy at (417) 866-0841 or diocesan victim assistance coordinators John Kreymer at 417-597-3755 or: pyjk12@gmail.com and Judy St. John at 573-587-3139 or jastjohn44@gmail.com.

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UNITED STATES
Huffington Post

Meredith Bennett-Smith Posted: 12/31/2012

Infamous polygamist and leader of the break-off Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints sect has predicted that the end of times is near, prompting some to worry about violence this New Year’s Eve.

Warren Jeffs is currently serving a life sentence in Texas for abusing underage girl “brides,” but authorities say he has been issuing missives to his 10,000 followers from his prison cell, the New York Daily News notes.

Sam Brower, a private investigator who represents former FLDS members, told CNN that law enforcement officers will be monitoring known FLDS communities as the new year approaches.

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MISSOURI
Ozarks First

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — The Catholic Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau says it has received a credible complaint of sex abuse of a child involving a priest.

According to the diocese, the complaint involves Rev. Walter G. Craig and is alleged to have happened in the mid-1960s.

The church says Rev. Craig was appointed to the diocese in 1956 and the alleged abuse occurred in New Madrid County.

Rev. Craig was born in 1899 and ordained in 1923 for the Archdiocese of St. Louis. He died in 1971.

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MISSOURI
Sikeston Standard Democrat

Monday, December 31, 2012

SPRINGFIELD – The Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau has reported allegations of sexual abuse of a child by a priest who once served parishes in Southeast Missouri.

The Diocese is reporting “a credible complaint” of sexual abuse of a minor involving the Rev. Walter G. Craig. The allegation pertains to a period in the mid-1960s, according to a news release from the Diocese.

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CANADA
Global Montreal

Monday, December 31, 2012

MONTREAL — A church member says a West Island deacon facing child-pornography charges worked directly with children at St. Edmund of Canterbury Church in Beaconsfield.

Pierre Drolet, whose three children attended catechism classes and volunteered at the popular Catholic parish, said that as a deacon, William Kokesch was involved in a range of children’s activities, including organizing bowling parties and other events for altar servers, choir members and children enrolled in liturgy programs.

Drolet made the comment in response to a statement by church warden Peter Geukers, who said Thursday that Kokesch did not work directly with children, except during mass.

“That’s not true,” said Drolet, an active church volunteer for about 10 years, until three years ago.

“He’s a deacon, and the deacons work with kids,” he said.

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WORCESTER (MA)
Telegram & Gazette

Dianne Williamson
dwilliamson@telegram.com

The mother of one of my oldest friends died of cancer last week. Jacqueline Brunelle Sharry was 86, funny and warm, with a succinct way of expressing herself that led to phrases dubbed “Jackieisms” by her kids.

She never went to college or worked outside the home. Instead, she raised 10 terrific children, all of whom adored her and were by her side as she passed. Looking back, she never made the raising of such a big, boisterous brood seem anything but effortless.

Mrs. Sharry was also one of those moms who made her children’s friends feel welcome in her home, where she was always quick to set another place at the dinner table. Last week, she was asked by her daughter Nancy how she managed to raise such a large family and still have the energy to host all the neighborhood stragglers.

She shrugged and seemed puzzled by the question.

“It was easy,” she said. Then she added, “What’s another hot dog?”

I loved this final Jackieism, and believe the world would be a better place if we carried that simple sentiment into the New Year. So with that in mind, I offer the following resolutions for local folks who have appeared in this space in 2012, either voluntarily or under duress: …

Don Peters, the Worcester priest who exposed a fellow cleric, resolves to continue to follow his conscience. And the people who ostracized him for doing so resolve to be ashamed of themselves.

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UNITED STATES
TheMediaReport

We close out our great year at TheMediaReport.com with our Top Five posts of 2012! Again, thank you so much to everyone!

#5 Minn. Supreme Court Rejects ‘Repressed Memory’ Junk Science Against Priest, Media Yawns

For years now, Church-suing lawyers have attempted to use the novel psychological theory of “repressed memory” as a way to circumvent the statutes of limitations in many states in order to file big-money lawsuits against the Catholic Church.

However, in July, the Minnesota Supreme Court flatly rejected the theory as bogus. The Court declared that scientific studies that have tried to prove the bogus theory have “lacked foundational reliability.” Yet – not unexpectedly – the media was nowhere to be found reporting this important story.

Regular readers of this site have long known that “repressed memory” is a complete sham. Yet once again, when the facts do not fit the accepted media narrative, the facts are ignored. Kudos to the Minnesota Supreme Court, however, for telling the story that the media will not.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Minnesota SNAP

[Reach out – say THANK YOU to John, on his daily journey he stops at the library and reads comments below]

The Passion of John Wojnowski

Haunted by his past, he has stood outside the Vatican embassy nearly every day for 14 years. His lonely vigil has made him a hero to victims of sexual abuse. But will he ever find peace?

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COLOMBIA
The Association of Catholic Priests (Ireland)

Fr. Alfonso Llano Escobar, S.J. had learned the hard way that it doesn’t pay to critique your boss’s writings. Fr. Llano, whose weekly column Un alto en el camino (“A stop along the road”) had appeared in the major Colombian newspaper El Tiempo for 30 years, has been told that his writing career has come to an end.

In a message to the editorial board of the newspaper, Fr. Llano wrote that “Father Adolfo Nicolás, the superior general of the Jesuits, has ordered Father Alfonso Llano to consider his apostolic vocation as a writer to be over, has deprived him of his freedom of speech, and is demanding that he not even say goodbye and that he keep absolute silence.”

The priest columnist earned his silencing for a November 24th column in which he offered his views on Pope Benedict XVI’s new book, Jesus of Nazareth: The Infancy Narratives, and specifically on the doctrine of the virginity of Mary. The column focuses on internal debate about the subject within the theological community and is worth translating in its entirety:

The Infancy of Jesus. That’s the title of the third volume of the trilogy on Jesus of Nazareth by theologian Joseph Ratzinger, now Benedict XVI. It has been published in nine languages, including Spanish, and will be published in a first global edition of one million copies. With a series of articles in the press and interviews on radio and television, I would like to guide readers of this book by the Pope, which offers a special difficulty — the virginity of Mary — which will give theologians and the media a lot to talk about.

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UNITED STATES/IRELAND
Irish Independent

By Eimear Ni Bhraonain

Monday December 31 2012

A THIRD lawsuit has been filed in the United States against an Irish priest who fled the country where a civil jury found him guilty of molesting an altar boy.

Fr Michael Kelly (63) insisted on his innocence after he returned to stay with family in Ireland last April.

The Catholic priest from Ballingarry, Co Tipperary, has rarely been seen since he returned to Ireland.

The Irish Independent understands that he has not been involved in any priestly duties since he came back to Ireland.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
The Worthy Adversary

Posted by Joelle Casteix on December 30, 2012

What would have happened if the LA Times and The Associated Press did not intervene in the court battle over the Los Angeles Archdiocese clergy sex abuse documents?

My guess? The worst possible outcome.

What do I mean by that? The document redactions—that would have allowed church officials guilty of covering up for clergy sex offenders to remain unpunished, unexposed and unaccountable for their crimes—would probably have sailed in under the radar. Victims (and their attorneys) who fought for years to get justice and accountability would have been given the proverbial “sand-pounding hammer” and LA criminals similar to Philadelphia’s Msgr. William Lynn would be off scot-free.

Let’s hope that more media organizations—as well as Catholic justice and advocacy groups—step up and also demand the accountability that Los Angeles’ victims have been fighting for for decades. Let’s also hope that Judge Emilie Elias rules for victims and public safety (remember, many of the names that could be redacted belong to people still in positions of power).

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
The Worthy Adversary

Posted by Joelle Casteix on December 30, 2012

Remind me to take Los Angeles Archdiocese lawyer J. Michael Hennigan off my Christmas card list.

From the Los Angeles Times:

“We agree with Judge Tevrizian that enough time has passed and enough reforms have been made that it’s time to get off this and move onto another subject,” attorney J. Michael Hennigan said.

Those other subjects? Two civil sex abuse trials against former priest Michael Baker and the first of what could be many civil sex abuse trials against former priest Nicolás Aguilar Rivera. And that’s just the start.

“… enough time has passed?” To run out the statute of limitations for other victims, perhaps …

Gee, those UNREDACTED documents would get in the way, wouldn’t they?

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ITALY
euronews

[with video]

Women staged a protest at Sunday mass after a priest in Italy blamed violence against females committed by men on provocative behaviour and clothing.

The activists made their opposition to Father Pietro Corsi’s views clear at the main church in the Tuscan city of Carrara.

Father Corsi, priest at a church in nearby Lerici, penned his views in a letter, then posted it on the church noticeboard.

“We decided to stage this protest because we think that this ideology is basically shared by most of the Catholic Church and society. This ideology has become one of the causes of violence against women, which is actually an emergency in Italy,” said Anthropologist and women’s rights activist Alessandra Verdini, who organised the protest by using Facebook.

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CANADA
Montreal Gazette

By Roberto Rocha, THE GAZETTE
December 30, 2012 12:51 PM

MONTREAL — Montreal police will arrest a second priest believed to have sexually abused students of a school run by the Congregation of Holy Cross one of Quebec’s pre-eminent religious orders.

The arrest of Olivain Leblanc, 70 follows that of Georges Sarrazin, 91. Both are accused of abusing boys at College Notre-Dame between 1966 and 1980.

Leblanc, like Sarrazin, is also believed to suffer from health problems, which complicates their arrest.

Police are in discussion with the priests’ lawyers, and the arrest warrants will be “executed shortly,” Constable Anie Lemieux of the Montreal police said.

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ITALY
RTE News

Women in Carrara, Italy attended mass wearing miniskirts and low-necked dresses to protest against an Italian priest’s comments.

Father Pietro Corsi, priest at Saint Terenzio, a church in Lerici, Northern Italy said that women killings and violence against women are caused by provocative women’s behaviour.

Father Corsi hung a notice on the Church’s notice board on women dressing which provoked strong reactions and protests among Italian women and also towards the Church.

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UNITED STATES
Pope Crimes & Vatican Evils…

Paris Arrow

New Year’s plea to the judge of Los Angeles: Reveal the whole truth, the entire truth now

Dear Judge Emilie H. Elias,

You are our final hope for the whole truth and nothing but the truth…and May the Almighty God help you and give you the courage to do the right thing.

The crimes against American children systemically covered-up by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles must not be hidden in the dust of history nor must it be given the chance to be shredded and forgotten forever into oblivion (five or six banker’s boxes of documents).

We beg you to please release all confidential church records of the names of vicars, bishops and others who handled reports of child sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles for the sake of hundreds of victims of sexual abuse that settled their claims in 2007 for $660 million. Money can settle for compromise and silence, but it cannot buy the whole truth and money cannot repair the lives of hundreds of children in Los Angeles that have been destroyed forever by Roman Catholic pedophile priests.

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CANADA
CNews

By QMI Agency

Montreal police have issued arrest warrants for two elderly priests accused of sexual assaults dating back to the 1960s.

Olivain Leblanc, 70, and Georges Sarrazin, 91, both brothers of the Congregation of Holy Cross, could face charges including gross indecency, indecent behaviour and sodomy.

It is alleged they sexually assaulted students at the College Notre-Dame in Montreal between 1966 and 1980. Police said four people have filed complaints against the two men.

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CANADA
La Presse

Philippe Teisceira-Lessard
La Presse

Un deuxième frère de Sainte-Croix sera bientôt arrêté par la police de Montréal pour des agressions sexuelles qu’il pourrait avoir commises au Collège Notre-Dame il y a des décennies, a appris La Presse.

Olivain Leblanc, 70 ans, fait l’objet d’un mandat d’arrêt daté du 6 décembre dernier. L’ancien professeur d’anglais du réputé collège montréalais devrait être accusé de grossière indécence et d’attentat à la pudeur, en lien avec des actes survenus entre mars 1979 et octobre 1981.

À cette époque, l’accusation d’agression sexuelle n’existait pas et celle de viol était réservée aux situations impliquant un homme et une femme. Même si les accusations sont déposées en 2012, c’est la version du Code criminel valide à l’époque des actes reprochés qui doit prévaloir dans ce dossier.

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CANADA
Journal de Montreal

MONTRÉAL – La police de Montréal a confirmé samedi qu’un deuxième frère de la Congrégation de Sainte-Croix devrait être arrêté prochainement pour des agressions sexuelles commises entre 1966 et 1980.

Un mandat d’arrestation a été émis le 6 décembre contre le frère Olivain Leblanc, âgé de 70 ans, qui pourrait faire face à des accusations de sodomie, de grossière indécence et d’attentat à la pudeur.

Vendredi, le Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) avait déjà révélé que des accusations semblables pourraient être déposées contre le frère Georges Sarrazin, âgé de 91 ans. La police a spécifié que le frère Sarrazin, qui fait également partie de la Congrégation de Sainte-Croix, devrait être arrêté en janvier à la suite de plaintes déposées par d’anciens élèves du collège Notre-Dame, à Montréal.

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CANADA
CJAD

Posted By: Luciano Pipialpipia@astral.com·12/29/2012

Two elderly Quebec priests are expected to be arrested and charged in the new year.

Arrest warrants have been issued for 70-year old Olivain Leblanc and 91-year old Georges Sarrazin.

It’s alleged they sexually assaulted students at College Notre-Dame during a 14-year period beginning in the mid 1960’s.

Charges could inlude gross indecency, indecent behaviour and sodomy.

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CANADA
CTV

[with video]

CTV Montreal
Published Saturday, Dec. 29, 2012

MONTREAL—With over 200 former students claiming they were abused by priests, the fight against the Congregation of Holy Cross has been ongoing for years. Early in the New Year, two priests will be arrested and charged.

On Saturday, the Montreal police confirmed that a warrant had been issued to arrest Olivain Leblanc, 70, and Georges Sarrazin, 91. The two priests face allegations that they sexually assaulted students at College Notre-Dame between 1966 and 1980.

Leblanc and Sarrazin could face charges of gross indecency, indecent behaviour and sodomy—crimes in the Criminal Code at the time they were committed.

With the warrant issued on Dec. 6, Montreal police worked with the men’s lawyers to organize their arrest.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

Over the coming months it will, rightly, be subjected to extreme scrutiny as a royal commission into the institutionalised abuse of children examines why so many people have had their lives ruined by organisations that were trusted to protect and nurture them as youngsters.

The church will face searing questions about its past practices, including why, in some cases, it moved priests accused of abuse to other dioceses, meaning more children were victimised.

And why it did not properly co-operate with many police investigations into paedophile priests.

The church will need to be open and transparent about disgraceful failings of the past, which have devastated too many lives and shocked Australia.

The church also needs to be accountable for its future and consider whatever steps are necessary, no matter how radical, to ensure future generations are protected.

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UXBRIDGE
Telegram & Gazette

By Susan Spencer TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
susan.spencer@telegram.com

UXBRIDGE — The pastor and co-founder of the Church of the End Times, a nondenominational church that has drawn attention for some of its practices, such as purported exorcisms featured on YouTube and late-night gatherings with teenage girls, bid his lawyer farewell Friday at Uxbridge District Court after several charges from the past year were dismissed or continued without a finding.

Judge Vito A. Virzi dismissed charges against David H. Stanley, 40, of 51 Murphy’s Way, related to violation of a restraining order, resisting arrest and disturbing the peace on Oct. 1. Several neighboring police departments were called to assist Uxbridge police in removing David’s brother, Dennis H. Stanley, from the home Dennis shared with his wife, Beth Stanley, at 41 Murphy’s Way. Mrs. Stanley has since filed for divorce.

Judge Virzi also dismissed charges stemming from alleged breaking and entering to steal a motorcycle from his brother’s home in May.

Mr. Stanley was found not responsible on three unregistered motor vehicle charges brought after witnesses alleged Mr. Stanley and a child were riding a motorcycle, without helmets, at high speed through their neighborhood last July. A charge of driving an uninsured motor vehicle was dismissed.

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PENNSYLVANIA
The Patriot-News

By Debra Schilling Wolfe

The Pennsylvania Task Force on Child Protection recently released its report calling for sweeping reform in how the state responds to reports of child abuse.

The numbers tell the story: 11 Pennsylvania professionals, representing all corners of the state and many of the fields that touch the lives of victims of child abuse, released a comprehensive report in excess of 400 pages, after meeting on 17 separate occasions, holding 11 public hearings across the commonwealth and hearing testimony from more than 60 experts.

With the support of legislative staff, they incorporated research on how every other state addresses the problem.

While some people were leery about another commission, all appointed by elected officials in a highly partisan environment, the task force was comprised of committed private citizens.

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

(by Jerry Slevin, retired Wall Street lawyer)

The petition that went public a couple of days ago on the White House website has been garnering over hundreds of signatures daily since then from all over the USA. The petition asks President Obama to set up a national investigation commission on organizational child sexual abuse that is increasingly occurring in church, synagogue, school and youth organizational situations.

State laws and local officials seem incapable of curtailing these crimes sufficiently. The sexual violence against children often involves organizations operating nationally that protect, and at times even facilitate, the sexual predators. Many of these organizations have significant political and economic clout of over local officials and prosecutors that often improperly precludes local prosecutions of the criminal conduct.

As a grandfather who has been a lawyer (now retired) for over 40 years since graduating from Harvard Law School, it is very clear to me that only a Federal solution can curtail this growing epidemic. That is what the petition seeks.

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UNITED STATES
Rapid City Journal

Mary Garrigan Journal staff

Before the slaughter of innocents in a Newton, Conn., school on Dec. 14 sent a grief-stricken nation into mourning, religion journalists voted the top 10 religion stories of 2012.

While the No. 1 U.S. religion story in December 2012 was, without a doubt, the school attack that killed 20 first-grade students and six adults, it happened after the Religion Newswriters Association ballot deadline. But the mournful search for meaning that will follow, as religious people discern religion’s role in future debates about mental health and gun control, promises to remain an important story in 2013.

RNA members — professional journalists who cover religion — voted on the year’s other significant religious events and put the U.S. Catholic bishops’ opposition to national health care legislation that mandated contraception coverage at the top of the list. Related to the top story, the top religion newsmaker was Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York, who became the point man for Catholic objections to required coverage of contraception, sterilization and morning-after drugs in Obamacare. …

The Top 10 Religion Stories of the Year, as chosen by RNA members, are:

5. Monsignor William Lynn of Philadelphia becomes the first senior Catholic official in the U.S. to be found guilty of covering up priestly child abuse; later Bishop Robert Finn of Kansas City, Mo., becomes the first bishop to be found guilty of it.

6. The Vatican criticizes the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, an umbrella group of U.S. nuns, alleging they haven’t supported church teaching on abortion, sexuality or women’s ordination.

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AUSTRALIA
Radio Australia

Tom Nightingale

Support groups have warned that the upcoming Royal Commission into child sexual abuse could be held back by legal gag orders.

Support groups have warned that the upcoming Royal Commission into child sexual abuse could be held back by legal gag orders.

They say some of the most severe cases of abuse might be restricted by a court order or a confidential legal settlement and there are concerns this could stop some victims sharing their stories.

At the Victorian parliamentary inquiry into abuse, the Catholic Church waived any confidential legal agreements that had been entered into by victims of abuse and allowed victims to give evidence.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

Samantha Maiden
From:The Sunday Telegraph
December 30, 2012

PRIESTS should be required by law to report cases of suspected child sex abuse – without breaking the seal of the confessional – according to the new chief of the Catholic Church’s Truth, Justice and Healing Council.

Francis Sullivan, a committed Catholic, also believes offering a weekly prayer for victims and a moment’s silence during mass could help the church atone for atrocities.

He has also warned he wants to be an independent voice for victims and their families, not an apologist for the church.

The Truth, Justice and Healing Council was established by the Catholic Church to co-ordinate its response to next year’s royal commission, prompting sceptics to question the new organisation.

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UNITED STATES
The Salt Lake Tribune

By Peggy Fletcher Stack
The Salt Lake Tribune

Whether by accident, serendipity or divine design, four future heavyweights of American Catholicism found themselves in the Class of 1962 at St. John’s Seminary on a lush hillside 60 miles from Los Angeles.

Momentous societal changes were surfacing all around the young men, but seminary life for George Niederauer — who served as Utah’s bishop from 1995 to 2006 — and pals Roger Mahony, William Levada and Tod Brown continued much the same as it had since, oh, the 16th century. Part spiritual boot camp and part modern-day monastery, the school and its choreographed schedule stretched far beyond normal college rhythms — a Catholic “Goodbye, Mr. Chips.”

The four friends — a pair of cardinals-to-be, a future archbishop and bishop — were assigned alphabetically to desks and dorms. They arose at 5:30 a.m. to the blare of an insistent hallway bell, and, within a half hour headed to the chapel for prayers and Mass. Silence was required during meals and after 7:30 p.m. Moral theology and philosophy classes were taught in Latin.

The priests-in-waiting had neither televisions nor telephones and were forbidden to leave the Camarillo, Calif., campus without permission. They could read about current events — such as the 1960 election of the first Catholic to the White House — but only in clips from approved newspapers.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
The Worthy Adversary

Posted by Joelle Casteix on December 28, 2012

What crime is worse: a) sexually abusing a child, or b) knowing about it, covering it up and allowing the abuse to continue?

Don’t worry – I’m not requiring an answer. But I will say this: both groups deserve to be punished, exposed and held publicly accountable for the pain and suffering they caused.

But now there is a huge risk that Group B—Los Angeles Archdiocese officials who knew kids were being raped and did nothing to stop it—will go unpunished and unexposed. Names of child sex abuse enablers and abetters could be redacted from secret personnel files, more than five-and-a-half years after those documents were promised to victims.

Why? Well according to the Los Angeles Times:

That agreement, however, is at risk of being undermined. A court-appointed referee has ruled that the names of church leaders who are not accused of abusing children should be redacted from the files before those documents are publicly released early next year. Why? The referee argues that including the names of such high-ranking clerics, including Cardinal Roger M. Mahony, would only cause further embarrassment to an institution that has already enacted reforms to prevent future abuses.

Because of the ruling of the referee judge, the LA Times and Associated Press have intervened and will argue against the redaction of names of church officials who covered up abuse.

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AUSTRALIA
The Gympie Times

Toni Mcrae
29th Dec 2012

THE head of the largest Catholic congregation on the Fraser Coast has cautioned people against believing the Royal Commission into child sex abuse was going to end the brutalisation of minors.

Father Paul Kelly, of St Mary’s Catholic Parish in Maryborough, said people were falling into the trap of believing the Federal Government inquiry would “quickly flush out pedophile priests or other church members and then sexual abuse will just go away”.

“This inquiry is going to turn into a showcase of, while you point the finger at the bogey man, beware the person right next to you,” he said.

“It is already being talked about as a Catholic Church clean-out and it is definitely not just the Catholic Church that needs probing.”

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

(by Jerry Slevin, a retired Wall Street lawyer)

It must be tough being a child in the USA today. If your school isn’t invaded by some Terminator-style lunatic supposedly exercising his Second Amendment rights, then all you have to worry about is being sexually assaulted and violated by your priest, rabbi, teacher, nun, minister, scout leader or other adult your parents told you to trust. How can this happen in the USA?

Is a way, it’s simple. Ours laws protect criminals at times more than children. Organizations protect the sexual predators and their accomplices. These groups often almost control local political leaders, legislators and prosecutors. Bishops, scout organizations, et al., lobby vigorously, support local candidates and hire high priced lawyers and publicists. Survivors’ lawyers often agree to keep potentially incriminating abuse files secret, apparently to get more bucks for their few clients that benefit, as well as for themselves in large legal fees. The media is too often passive and inattentive. Sadly, kids don’t vote and most of their parents don’t think, not enough anyway.

This must change. Please click on, read and sign the White House petition at:

http://wh.gov/5aAQ

The petition to President Obama was filed by a brave New Yorker who lost her brother to sexual abuse. It has only been public for a few days and is already gaining several hundred signatures a day from all over the country and as far away as Sydney, Australia. Instead of reading and blogging about kids being sexually violated, please do something about it. Sign the petition.

So far only the Call To Action, a prominent Catholic social justice group, has voiced support for the petition. Other abuse survivor and child protection groups have surprisingly been missing in action inexplicably

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UNITED STATES
Seth H. Langston Attorney

Moose International’s Failure to Protect Children in Light of the Allegation that Former CEO William Airey’s Sexually Abused a Child

The Moose’s announcement this past Friday of former CEO William Airey’s retirement was woefully inadequate. It evidenced an attempt by the Moose leadership to cover up the seriousness of the allegations and possibility that there are others who will make similar reports. Studies have shown that most child sex offenders have multiple victims.

Noticeable in both of the Moose press releases on this subject was the failure of the Moose leadership to take any action to determine the truth of the accusations and whether anyone in the Moose organization had been aware of any allegations of sexual misconduct with children by Mr. Airey. …

These statements by Moose International suggest that their leadership is afraid of what they might find out with a thorough investigation. Mooseheart School and members of the Moose have provided great services to children for many years. The Moose leadership, by its inaction,threatens to obscure all of the good work that the Moose have done and to permanently stain the Moose. This is similar to what has occurred with the Catholic Church and the Boy Scouts of America, where millions of good deeds by members, have been overshadowed by the misdeeds of leadership

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NEW YORK
The Jewish Daily Forward

By Judy Brown (Eishes Chayil)
Edited By Naomi Zeveloff

Published December 20, 2012, issue of December 28, 2012.

Guilty on all 59 counts: guilty, guilty, guilty.

On Monday, December 10, a jury of 12 found Nechemya Weberman enormously guilty. The jurors convicted him of sexually abusing an underage girl entrusted to his care. They declared the respected member of the ultra-Orthodox community to be a criminal and a fraud, and thousands of survivors, advocates and victims, many of whom still live in silence, breathed a sigh of relief as one.

Once, an ultra-Orthodox man could not be found guilty of sexual abuse. He could not be charged with a word that did not exist.

I was 9 years old when I first encountered the word “abuse.” I was at my friend’s house. I found a book on a desk near her room, and ran to the staircase to read it. I don’t remember the title, or what the book was about, only that across its white cover was a picture of a gun, and on the first page, in the subtitle, was an adjective I’d never seen.

I read it, slowly: “Ub-u-sive…”

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NEW YORK
The Jerusalem Post

By NAOMI RAGEN

12/27/2012

While Weberman is behind bars, many are still unnamed and continue to destroy the souls of young boys and girls because of a conspiracy of silence surrounding rabbinical sexual misconduct.

The case was horrific. A 17-year-old girl from the Satmar community in Williamsburg testified that she was forced by her school to attend “counseling sessions” from age 12 to 15 because she wore stockings that were too thin and asked too many questions about God. Instead of religious mentoring, three times a week she found herself behind a thrice-locked door with a bed, face to face with a fiftyish, overweight, unlicensed father of 10 who forced her to watch pornographic movies and perform sexual acts.

The defendant, Nechemya Weberman, had risen from the humble post of driver for the Satmar Rebbe to the go-to expert to whom rebellious young girls were forcibly sent. According the victim’s mother, Weberman charged her $150 an hour, and demanded thousands of dollars up front.

At one point, when he insisted on taking her young daughter on a 12-hour, unchaperoned excursion upstate, the victim’s mother finally protested. His response? An angry demand for a written apology, and a threat to stop the sessions, which would have resulted in the girl’s expulsion from school.

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NEW YORK
The Jewish Daily Forward

By Jon Kalish
Edited By Larry Cohler-Esses

Published December 28, 2012, issue of December 28, 2012.

You think your family has issues? Consider the Weberman clan.

Nechemya Weberman was convicted December 10 for child sexual abuse in a landmark case that underlined the massive support he enjoyed in the Satmar Hasidic community. But it turns out that he is just one high-profile member of a sprawling brood, whose diverse activities have made them one of that community’s more notable families.

Besides the newly minted felon, the extended Weberman family includes an anti-Zionist who broke bread with Holocaust deniers in Tehran six years ago; an immigration attorney who got the Satmar rebbe into America after World War II, and a Yippie “garbologist,” famous for sorting through the trash of Bob Dylan, among other things.

From the Satmars’ perspective, the singular bad apple in the barrel may be neither the anti-Zionist nor the convicted child abuser. It is the garbologist, Alan Jules Weberman, a secular left-wing activist better known as A.J. Weberman, who has recently put up a website to trash his Hasidic relatives and the entire Satmar community.

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MICHIGAN
Patch

By Jessica Carreras
December 27, 2012

A Dearborn priest arrested in August for drunken driving and indecent exposure faces a year of probation and continued counseling, but hopes to return to the ministry, according to his attorney.

The Rev. Peter Petroske, who formerly served as the head priest at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Dearborn, was sentenced Thursday in Dearborn’s 19th District Court before Judge Richard Wygonik.

Petroske was arrested in Dearborn in August for driving under the influence, and while naked. Following the charges, he was suspended from his post at Sacred Heart by the Archdiocese of Detroit.

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ITALY
Stabroek News

Friday, December 28, 2012

ROME, (Reuters) – An Italian priest has provoked outrage after putting up an article that said women were partly to blame for encouraging domestic violence by failing to clean their houses and cook properly and for wearing tight and provocative clothing.

Italian media reported that parish priest Piero Corsi fixed a text to the bulletin board of his church in the northern village of San Terenzo di Lerici, which said women should engage in “healthy self criticism” over the issue of femicide, or men murdering women.

Domestic violence against women is a serious problem in Italy although a report by a United Nations mission in June said it was “largely invisible and underreported”.

The text, posted on a website by a conservative Catholic named Bruno Volpe, attacked pornography and erotic television advertising but said women shared the blame for “provoking the worst instincts, which then turn into violence and sexual abuse”.

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CHILE
Cooperativa

El ministro de fuero Juan Muñoz Pardo solicitó el expediente criminal con los detalles de la indagatoria que desarrolló la ministra en visita Jessica González en contra del sacerdote Fernando Karadina.

Con esto se inició la primera diligencia tras la acción civil iniciada por James Hamilton, José Andrés Murillo y Juan Carlos Cruz, para exigir una indemnización de la Iglesia Católica por los abusos cometidos por el sacerdote.

El ministro Muñoz fue designado para llevar adelante el proceso, a causa del fueron del demandado: el arzobispo Ricardo Ezzati, como representante de la Iglesia.

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WILMINGTON (DE)
The News Journal

Written by
Sean O’Sullivan
The News Journal

WILMINGTON — In the spring of 2011, when attorneys representing 152 victims of sexual abuse by priests were close to settling with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Wilmington, attorney Thomas Neuberger made a promise to his clients.

No matter what happened with the settlement, he said, he would make sure their stories were told – free of the filter of media or church – by writing a book.

“They wanted to make sure their voices would be heard, and they wouldn’t be forgotten,” Neuberger said.

After more than a year away from his law firm, Neuberger has fulfilled his promise publishing, “When Priests Become Predators: Profiles of Childhood Sexual Abuse Survivors.”

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NEW YORK
The New York Times

By MOSI SECRET

Published: December 27, 2012

An elite Brooklyn private school agreed to settle a lawsuit brought by former students accusing the school of covering up decades of sexual abuse of hundreds of boys by a star football coach.

The settlement, between Poly Prep Country Day School and 12 plaintiffs who said they had been abused, closes a case with all-too-familiar allegations of abuse shielded by power and prestige: Philip Foglietta, the football coach who took the Poly Prep team to great heights after his arrival there in 1966 and who died in 1998, is said to have groped and raped boys on campus, in his car and on trips, while administrators enamored with his success ignored a series of allegations made against him.

The terms of the settlement, first reported by The New York Daily News, are confidential. The original claim was filed in 2009 in Federal District Court in Brooklyn. The parties released a joint written statement, capping an often-contentious negotiation with a unified voice.

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BALTIMORE (MD)
The Baltimore Sun

[note: This is a 1995 article]

July 22, 1995

By Kate Shatzkin | Kate Shatzkin,Sun Staff Writer

Former Catholic school teacher John J. Merzbacher left Baltimore Circuit Court yesterday still proclaiming his innocence, after a judge sentenced him to life in prison for “dastardly crimes — crimes beyond the comprehension of rational people.”

Judge Robert I. H. Hammerman sentenced Merzbacher, 53, to four life terms for rape and statutory rape for the abuse of Elizabeth Ann Murphy, a Cockeysville woman who was Merzbacher’s student at Catholic Community Middle School in the 1970s. He also received a 10-year sentence for perverted sexual practice.

The sentences are to be served concurrently, meaning that under current guidelines, he must serve 12 years before he is considered for parole. However, few prisoners serving life sentences are paroled at that stage.

“I have always regarded teaching to be the most honorable profession of all,” Judge Hammerman said. “For all of us to face a moment such as this is a tragedy for the entire community.”

He noted that he had tears in his eyes listening to the tortured testimony of Merzbacher’s wife, Gloria, as well as to Ms. Murphy’s statement of how Merzbacher’s crimes had indelibly marked her life.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
Los Angeles Times

Editorial

Judge Emilie H. Elias will decide next month whether the names of vicars, bishops and others who handled reports of child sexual abuse should be released.

When hundreds of victims of sexual abuse agreed in 2007 to settle their claims against the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles for $660 million, they did so with the understanding that confidential church files that contained the full story of what officials knew, and when they knew it, would become public.

That agreement, however, is at risk of being undermined. A court-appointed referee has ruled that the names of church leaders who are not accused of abusing children should be redacted from the files before those documents are publicly released early next year. Why? The referee argues that including the names of such high-ranking clerics, including Cardinal Roger M. Mahony, would only cause further embarrassment to an institution that has already enacted reforms to prevent future abuses.

Fortunately, the referee’s ruling is not final. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Emilie H. Elias has the last word in the matter. Next month she will hear objections to the referee’s redactions and decide whether the names of vicars, bishops and other priests who handled reports of abuse should be released or be blacked out. The church files are believed to contain internal memos, Vatican correspondence and medical records. (Full disclosure: The Times’ lawyers have filed a motion urging the court to ignore the referee’s proposed redactions on the grounds that the public has a right to know who was aware of abuse allegations and how they responded.)

We hope that Elias will overrule the referee. Whether the archdiocese endures further embarrassment is not the legal standard the court should use given the damage done over several decades to hundreds of children by officials of the church. The only test that should be applied in this case is whether the public’s right to know outweighs the clerics’ right to privacy.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
Los Angeles Times

By Victoria Kim, Los Angeles Times
December 27, 2012

Media organizations will be allowed to argue against redactions in secret church files that are due to be made public as part of a historic $660-million settlement between the Los Angeles Archdiocese and alleged victims of sexual abuse by priests, a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge ruled Thursday.

Pursuant to Judge Emilie Elias’ order, The Times and the Associated Press will be allowed to intervene in the case, in which attorneys are gearing up for the release of internal church personnel documents more than five years after the July 2007 settlement. The judge’s ruling came after attorneys for the church and the plaintiffs agreed to the news organizations’ involvement in the case.

The Times and the AP object to a portion of a 2011 decision by a retired judge overseeing the file-release process. Judge Dickran Tevrizian had ruled that all names of church employees, including Cardinal Roger M. Mahony and other top archdiocese officials, should be blacked out in the documents before they were made public. In a hearing, Tevrizian said he did not believe the documents should be used to “embarrass or to ridicule the church.”

Attorneys for the news organizations argued in court filings that the redactions would “deny the public information that is necessary to fully understand the church’s knowledge about the serial molestation of children by priests over a period of decades.” The personnel files of priests accused of molestation, which a church attorney has said were five or six banker’s boxes of documents, could include internal memos about abuse claims, Vatican correspondence and psychiatric reports.

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CANADA
The Globe and Mail

The Canadian Press
Published Thursday, Dec. 27 2012

Montreal police say they have received more tips from the public about a deacon charged with producing and distributing child pornography.

A bail hearing for William Kokesch began in a Montreal courtroom today but a publication ban on its contents was granted at the defence’s request.

The 65-year-old Kokesch was charged Saturday via video link after police searched his west-end home a day earlier.

Montreal police Constable Dany Richer said Thursday that authorities have received more tips since Mr. Kokesch’s photo was made public.

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CANADA
CBC News

A Quebec deacon charged with producing and distributing child pornography was granted bail today.

The judge told William Kokesch, 65, he will have to deposit $10,000 cash with the court.

He is not allowed to use computers and must not be in the presence of anyone under the age of 18 without another adult’s supervision.

The deacon from Montreal’s West Island has been behind bars since he was arrested on Friday.

At the defence’s request, the judge granted a publication ban on today’s proceedings, which means that evidence and testimony offered in court cannot be reported.

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CANADA
News 1130

The Canadian Press December 27, 2012

MONTREAL – A Montreal deacon charged with producing and distributing child pornography was granted bail on Thursday.

William Kokesch was ordered to deposit $10,000 and to return to court on Feb. 27.

He is not allowed to be in public areas where children are likely to gather. He is also forbidden from using a computer or having access to the Internet.

The bail conditions were announced as Montreal police said they have received more tips from the public since his photo was released.

Kokesch, 65, was charged Saturday via video link after police searched his west-end home a day earlier.

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CANADA
Sun News

QMI AGENCY

MONTREAL – A Montreal deacon charged with producing, possessing and distributing child pornography is free on $10,000 bail.

William Kokesch, 65, and his wife testified at his bail hearing Thursday, but a judge ordered their testimony be banned from publication.

Kokesch’s lawyer, Jeffrey Boro, told journalists outside the courtroom that his client has the “support of his family.”

Montreal police said they found more than 2,000 images of child pornography after searching Kokesch’s home and another location last Friday.

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CANADA
Montreal Gazette

By Monique Beaudin and Marian Scott, THE GAZETTE
December 27, 2012

MONTREAL – A West Island church deacon facing child-pornography charges was granted bail Thursday, as Montreal police said they are investigating new information related to his case.

William Kokesch, 65, was released on $10,000 bail with several restrictions imposed by a judge.

He was arrested Friday after police seized more than 2,000 computer files and messages left on Internet chat sites while executing search warrants at his home and the Beaconsfield church where he served as a deacon.

Kokesch has been charged with production and distribution of child pornography. Crown Prosecutor Dominique Potvin said Kokesch also will be charged with possession of child pornography.

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MICHIGAN
The News-Herald

DEARBORN — The priest arrested for driving drunk and naked this summer has been sentenced to probation and fined.

The Rev. Peter Petroske, placed on administrative leave by the Archdiocese of Detroit from Sacred Heart Catholic Church, will have to pay $1,200 in fines and court costs, was sentenced to 12 months’ reporting probation and must attend Alcoholic Anonymous meetings three times a week, according to the sentence handed down by 19th District Judge Richard Wygonik on Thursday afternoon.

Petroske also was ordered to continue outpatient counseling when he’s discharged from the St. John Vianney Center in Downingtown, Pa., which is geared toward the clergy and religious community.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
Mercury News

The Associated Press
Posted: 12/27/2012

LOS ANGELES—A judge has ruled that media organizations can intervene to oppose redactions in the personnel files of priests accused of sex abuse in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles.

Los Angeles County Judge Emilie Elias on Thursday said The Associated Press and the Los Angeles Times can argue against the redactions at a Jan. 7 hearing.

The Los Angeles archdiocese plans to release the files by Jan. 14 under the terms of a previous judge’s order, which allows it to black out the names of some accused clerics and all church officials.

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NEW YORK
Times of Israel

JTA – A Brooklyn fishmonger was indicted for throwing a cup of bleach in the face of a Hasidic rabbi who advocates for victims of sexual abuse in the ultra-Orthodox community.

Meilech Schnitzler, 36, of Williamsburg, a member of the Satmar Hasidic sect, was indicted Wednesday on two counts of attempted assault, two counts of assault and criminal possession of a weapon. He could face up to 15 years in prison.

Schnitzler on Dec. 11 threw a cup of bleach in the face of Rabbi Nuchem Rosenberg, also of Brooklyn’s Williamsburg neighborhood.

Rosenberg, 62, was treated for burns on his face, around his eyes and in his left eye. The rabbi runs a website and blog for sex-abuse victims, as well as a telephone hot line.

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NEW YORK
Times Herald-Record

By The Associated Press

NEW YORK — A Satmar Hasidic man has been indicted on charges he tossed bleach into the face of a New York rabbi who publicizes claims of child sexual abuse in the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community.

Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes announced Wednesday that Meilech Schnitzler was indicted on two counts of attempted assault, two counts of assault and criminal possession of a weapon. The top charge carries a potential prison sentence of 15 years. A lawyer for Schnitzler did not immediately return a message for comment.

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NEW YORK
Kings County District Attorney’s Office

KINGS COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY CHARLES J. HYNES ANNOUNCES THE INDICTMENT OF MEILECH SCHNITZLER FOR ASSAULT AFTER ALLEGEDLY THROWING BLEACH IN THE FACE OF RABBI NATHAN ROSENBERG

Brooklyn, December 26, 2012 – Kings County District Attorney Charles J. Hynes today announced the indictment of Meilech Schnitzler for Attempted Assault in the First Degree, for throwing a cup of bleach in the face and eye of Rabbi Nathan Rosenberg on December 11, 2012.

Schnitzler, 37, is charged with two counts of Attempted Assault in the First Degree; Assault in the Second Degree; Assault in the Third Degree and Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Fourth Degree. He faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted on the top count.

“This indictment alleges an act of thuggery in broad daylight that cannot be tolerated,” said District Attorney Hynes. “The indictment sends a clear message that anyone who would seek to intimidate someone opposed to the uncovering of sexual abuse in the Orthodox community will face serious criminal charges and if convicted, I will ask for the maximum jail time.”

According to the indictment, the defendant and the victim both lived in Williamsburg and knew each other. The victim was walking past 311 Roebling Street when Schnitzler allegedly tapped Rosenberg on the shoulder, threw a cup of bleach in his face and eye and ran away.

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NEW YORK
Gothamist

The Williamsburg man accused of throwing a cup of bleach into a Rabbi’s face in ultra-Orthodox South Williamsburg was indicted yesterday. Meilech Schnitzler, 37, is accused of approaching Rabbi Nuchem Rosenberg on the street one afternoon earlier this month and assaulting him with bleach, then running off. Rosenberg runs a controversial website that identifies alleged child molesters in the ultra-Orthodox community, and according to NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly, Schnitzler’s father was named on Rosenberg’s website as a pedophile. (Kelly made it clear that Schnitzler’s father had not been charged.)

Rosenberg immediately flushed out his eyes with water after the attack, which a doctor says saved him from going blind. But Rosenberg says that the “pain was unimaginable.” He was treated for burns at Woodhull Hospital and sustained a corneal abrasion to his left eye and chemical burns around his eye. “He taps on my shoulder, he says ‘whoops’ and throws it in my face,” Rosenberg told a Daily News reporter at the hospital. He subsequently identified his alleged assailant to police.

Schnitzler, a fishmonger who operates Schnitzler’s Famous Fish in South Williamsburg, is charged with two counts of Attempted Assault in the First Degreem, Assault in the Second Degree, Assault in the Third Degree and Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Fourth Degree. He faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted on the top count.

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ITALY
euronews

[with video]

An Italian priest has been urged to resign after posting comments claiming women provoke violence against themselves.

Father Piero Corsi has sparked a wave of protests after sticking this flyer on the door of his San Terenzo church in the northern region of Liguria.

The lengthy text accuses women of ratcheting tensions in family life and inciting sexual attacks.

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ITALY
The New Age

A Catholic priest has sparked outrage in Italy by claiming that women bring domestic violence on themselves by dressing provocatively and neglecting housework, Italian media reported on Thursday.

“How often do we see girls and mature women going around scantily dressed and in provocative clothes?” Piero Corsi said in a Christmas message posted on the door of his church in the small town of San Terenzio in northwest Italy.

“They provoke the worst instincts, which end in violence or sexual abuse. They should search their consciences and ask: did we bring this on ourselves?” it read. …

The region’s bishop, Luigi Ernesto Palletti, stepped in as the story went viral and said Corsi’s words were “unacceptable and go against the church’s common feeling on the matter”.

Amid protests from women’s rights and anti-violence campaigners, Corsi was widely reported by Italian media to have apologised to his congregation and handed in his resignation.

He later denied the reports, saying a resignation letter sent to news agencies was “probably a fake”, adding that he was going to “take a rest” but had no intention of stepping down.

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CHILE
Terra

El ministro de fuero Juan Muñoz Pardo pidió el expediente con los detalles de la investigación que desarrolló la ministra en visita Jésica González en contra de Fernando Karadima.

El mes pasado, el médico James Hamilton, el sociólogo José Andrés Murillo y el periodista Juan Carlos Cruz, representados por el abogado Juan Pablo Hermosilla, interpusieron una demanda ante la justicia civil para exigir indemnizaciones a la Iglesia Católica.

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CHILE
Bio Bio

Publicado por Gerson Guzmán | La Información es de Erik López

El ministro de fuero Juan Muñoz Pardo, solicitó el expediente con los detalles de la investigación que desarrolló la ministra en visita Jéssica González, en torno a los abusos sexuales por los cuales fue acusado al sacerdote Fernando Karadima.

Esta acción responde a la medida interpuesta en la justicia civil por el abogado Juan Pablo Hermosilla, representante de James Hamilton, José Murillo y Juan Cruz, quienes exigen indemnizaciones por parte de la iglesia Católica.

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ITALIA
Quotidiano

Il sacerdote, dopo le aspre polemiche scatenate dal contenuto del volantino, ha incontrato il vescovo, monsignor Palletti, il quale ha consigliato al parroco di prendersi “un periodo di riposo e riflessione”

Genova, 27 dicembre 2012 – “Mi prenderò un periodo di riposo ma non lascio la tonaca. Il comunicato arrivato stamattina è, probabilmente, un fake”. Lo ha detto don Piero Corsi, sacerdote autore del volantino sul femminicidio, stamani in un video registrato a cura della televisione diocesana che sarà diffuso nel primo pomeriggio. Il sacerdote, dopo le aspre polemiche scatenate dal contenuto del volantino, ha incontrato ieri sera il vescovo, monsignor Luigi Palletti, il quale ha consigliato al parroco di San Terenzo di prendersi “un periodo di riposo e riflessione”. Il sacerdote ha poi sentito per telefono stamani l’alto prelato ma “non ho mai detto o scritto di voler lasciare la tonaca”.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

By Greg Harkin

Thursday December 27 2012

A PARISH priest who was cleared by the courts on sexual-assault charges more than six months ago is still waiting for clearance from Rome to return to his parish.

Fr Eugene Boland says he is “extremely hopeful” that he will get the go-ahead to do so in the new year.

It is thought that up to 10 other priests in Ireland are currently awaiting clearance to return to their posts after being cleared by investigations.

The Donegal-born priest was forced to stand down from public ministry in August 2010 after allegations had been made against him in the Derry diocese.

Fr Boland (66) was acquitted by a jury last June on sexual-assault charges brought as a result of allegations dating back 20 years.

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ITALY
International Business Times

By Umberto Bacchi

December 27, 2012

Widespread outrage has been sparked by an Italian priest’s Christmas message in which he claimed that women triggered men’s violence by wearing “filthy clothes” and serving “cold suppers”.

Father Piero Corsi put up a leaflet on his church’s notice board in the small seaside town of San Terenzio near La Spezia in northwestern Italy, asserting that 118 women killed by men in Italy in 2012 was caused by the victims themselves.

“Is it possible that men have turn crazy all of a sudden? We don’t believe so. The point is that more and more women provoke, fall into arrogance, believe [themselves] to be independent and exacerbate tensions,” the leaflet read.

“Children are left outside alone, homes are dirty, meals are served cold or are fast-food-like, clothing is filthy,” Corsi wrote. “They [women] trigger the worst instincts, leading to violence and sexual abuse. They should do a self-examination and think: did we ask for it?”

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CANADA
Montreal Gazette

Church deacon William Kokesch is to appear in court Thursday morning for a bail hearing after being charged with distribution and production of child pornography on Saturday.

Kokesch, an assigned deacon of St. Edmund of Canerbury Parish in Beaconsfield, was arrested Friday after Montreal police carred out search warrants at his house in Pointe Claire and at the church.

Police seized more than 2,000 computer files as well as messages left on Internet chat sites.

After his arraignment on Saturday, the Archdiocese of Montreal removed him from all ministry and pastoral activity. Kokesch had been ordained as a “permanent deacon” in the diocese of Montreal in 1981.

A Vancouver native, Kokesch had also worked as a reporter — for The Gazette in the 1970s and for CFCF Radio.

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