ABUSE TRACKER

NORTHERN IRELAND
Mid-Ulster Mail

A CATHOLIC priest from Magherafelt has said many priests feel demoralised by clerical child abuse.

Father Eamon Murray, who is now based at St Peter’s Church, Biggleswade, said Cardinal Sean Brady would have to do “a lot of soul searching”.

Fr Murray was speaking on the Nolan Show following allegations that Cardinal Brady had names and addresses of children abused by Father Brendan Smyth back in 1975.

Smyth, a paedophile, continued to attack children for further 13 years.

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NEDERLAND
Limburgs Dagblad

Heerlen
ANP

Dat blijkt uit het dinsdag opgestelde proces-verbaal van aangifte, in het bezit van het ANP.

Ook deed de in België wonende 52-jarige man aangifte wegens het vernietigen van de archieven van het internaat en bisdom Roermond, waardoor hij niets meer terug kan vinden over zijn tijd in Bleijerheide. Verder deed hij aangifte tegen aartsbisschop Wim Eijk wegens nalatigheid in de aanpak van nog levende vermeende daders.

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UNITED STATES
ABC News

[with video]

By ALAN B. GOLDBERG, GAIL DEUTSCH, SUSAN JAMES and SEAN DOOLEY

April 8, 2011

For years, her church was all she knew but today, Tina Anderson has left that church and says she’s not going back.

“I still struggle, because I’ve been made to feel guilty for so long,” she told “20/20.”

Anderson was only 16 when she said she was forced to stand terrified before her entire church congregation to confess her “sin” — she had become pregnant. She says she wasn’t allowed to tell the group that the pregnancy was the result of being allegedly raped by a fellow congregant, a man twice her age.

She says her New Hampshire pastor, Chuck Phelps, told her she was lucky not to have been born during Old Testament times when she would have been stoned to death.

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NEDERLAND
hbvl

Een oud-leerling van RK jongensinternaat Bleijerheide in het Nederlands-Limburgse Kerkrade heeft dinsdag bij de politie in Heerlen aangifte gedaan van seksueel misbruik en mishandeling door 11 broeders van het internaat.

Drie van de broeders leven nog, onder wie de huidige Maastrichtse pastoor Jan S. Eerder deed de in België wonende 52-jarige Nederlander samen met twee medescholieren van toen aangifte bij de Nederlandse Klachtencommissie voor seksueel misbruik.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

Concerns have been expressed in the report that is to be discussed with the Holy See, over the reorganisation of the body that monitors Vatican finances and the political influence of the Secretariat of State

ANDREA TORNIELLI
Vatican City

The draft report containing Moneyval assessors’ initial observations arrived in the Vatican a couple of days ago but remains top secret. Moneyval is the committee of Council of Europe experts whose task it is to assess measures taken against money laundering and terrorism financing. The assessors were called to evaluate the progress made by the Holy See in getting in line with international regulations. The draft of the report which Moneyval still needs to discuss with Vatican authorities, recognised the areas where progress has indeed been made, but also pointed out some issues that still need to be resolved, including the reorganisation of the role and tasks of the AIF, the domestic financial monitoring authority, which came about when the new transparency law – promulgated last January – came into force. It looks like the Vatican still has a long way to go until it can be added to the “white list” of financially virtuous countries and complete all steps towards the transparency called for by Benedict XVI.

As previously stated, Moneyval’s report is still just a draft: the appraisals of individual assessors have not yet been discussed to provide a jointly agreed set of points. A meeting is due to take place in Strasbourg between 14 and 16 May 2012, to clarify everything. Here, the Vatican delegation will make observations and offer clarifications. There is no doubt whatsoever, however, that the draft’s passages, which define the reorganisation of the AIF and the emphasis on the role and influence of the Secretariat of State as steps backwards, will spark controversy in the Holy See.

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IRELAND
Irish Central

John Spain

Last week the political parties here began their campaigns for the referendum on the European Fiscal Compact, probably the most important vote this generation of Irish people will cast.

Depending on how you see it, the outcome could make or break the Irish economy for decades to come.

It’s not only a very important matter but a highly complex one. It deserves all our attention for the next few weeks as we decide whether to vote yes or no.

It should have been dominating the headlines here last week, but it failed to do so. Instead it was pushed to the margins as sex abuse by priests yet again took over the news agenda.

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AUSTRALIA
Broken Rites

In the mid and late 1960s, Father James Patrick Jennings was listed as a priest at St Vincent’s College — a Catholic boarding school for boys in Bendigo, 150 kilometres north of Melbourne. Father Jennings was then a member of the Vincentian religious order (this order is also called the Congregation of the Mission).

More than 40 years later, in May 2012, Jennings was charged in the Bendigo Magistrates Court with a series of child-sex offences, allegedly committed against boys at the school in the 1960s.

James Jennings, aged 79 when charged in court, faces multiple charges of gross indecency and indecent assault on a male child aged under 16. The charges relate to three complainants, all students at this Bendigo school in the 1960s.

Magistrate Jennifer Tregent heard evidence concerning the three complainants.

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IRELAND
Galway Advertiser

Posted on 09/05/2012

by Marie Madden
@galwayindo

The standards of journalism displayed in the making of RTE’s ‘Mission to Prey’ documentary were “shambolic”.

That’s according to solicitor Robert Dore, who made the statement to the Galway Independent on behalf of Ahascragh priest Fr Kevin Reynolds.

The ‘Prime Time Investigates’ programme had levelled libellous and untrue allegations against Fr Reynolds, namely that he had raped a minor and fathered her child during his time as a missionary in Kenya 30 years ago.

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IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

By Gail Walker
Wednesday, 9 May 2012

Why doesn’t he just go? Taoiseach Enda Kenny, Martin McGuinness and, crucially, the people want Cardinal Sean Brady to resign. But His Eminence hangs on. Desperately. Counting angels on the top of the pin. A mere humble note taker, he says he did nothing wrong during the investigation into paedophile priest Father Brendan Smyth.

Actually, he did absolutely nothing (apart from forcing Smyth’s victims to keep their testimony silent, of course) and consequently many children were raped, abused and forced to endure the anguish of the damned. The investigating panel must have known this was a possible outcome, but instead it seems the policy was to let Smyth go on his merry way and hope for the best.

Did they inform the police about the alleged abuse? No. Did they inform parents of the victims? No.

Did they warn the congregations of parishes that Smyth was shipped to that a child rapist was in their midst? No.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Mid Sussex Times

Published on Wednesday 9 May 2012

A former priest at St Johns Church, Burgess Hill faces charges of indecent assault against children alleged to have happened up to 25 years ago.

Child protection detectives in West Sussex have charged retired Church of England priest Keith Wilkie Denford, 77, now of Broad Reach Mews, Shoreham, West Sussex.

He and Michael Mytton, 68, of South Road, East Chiltington, near Plumpton Green, East Sussex will appear on bail at Mid-Sussex Magistrates court on May 22.

Denford has been charged with three indecent assaults on a boy then under 16, two in or near Shoreham, and one in or near Cuckfield on dates between June 1987 and January1990, and has also been charged with one indecent assault on another boy then aged under 16 in or near Cuckfield on dates between January 1987 and December 1990.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

By Greg Harkin

Wednesday May 09 2012

A SEX-abuse victim has welcomed a public apology from Cardinal Sean Brady but insisted last night that the cleric should quit his position as the leader of Ireland’s Catholics.

Brendan Boland was abused for two years from the age of 12 by paedophile priest Brendan Smyth. In March 1975 he told three priests, including the cardinal — who was then Fr Brady — of the abuse. He believed his bravery in coming forward would prevent further cases. But Smyth went on to abuse dozens more victims.

Brendan Boland’s devastating testimony in the BBC ‘This World’ programme led to calls for Dr Brady to resign.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

By Independent.ie reporters

Wednesday May 09 2012

FR KEVIN Reynolds, the priest at the centre of RTE’s worst libel ever, has said he is accepts the decision not to seek resignations from the RTE board.

Fr Reynolds expressed agreement with the response of his solicitor Robert Dore who said he respected the judgement of Communications Minister, Pat Rabbitte, not to seek changes.

Fr Reynolds, who was wrongly accused of fathering a child in Africa in the notorious Prime Time Investigates programme, was speaking to the Irish Times from his home in Ahascragh, Co Galway.

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IRELAND
IFTN

RTÉ has agreed to submit a report to Minister for Communications Pat Rabbitte in one week’s time, as well as provide a monitoring report every three months, detailing the measures it is taking to ensure it does not repeat a defamatory programme such as ‘Mission to Prey’.

The agreement was the result of a two hour-long meeting between the minister and the RTÉ Board yesterday. Minister Rabbitte called the meeting following the publication of the BAI’s report on the now infamous RTÉ ‘Prime Time Investigates’ A Mission to Prey’ programme.

Following yesterday’s meeting Minister Rabbitte said: “Arising from the meeting I have agreed that the Board will provide me, within a week, with a detailed report on all of the steps they are taking to address the serious systemic short-comings that have been exposed by this case.”

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IRELAND
Galway Bay FM

May 9, 2012

The Taoiseach’s backed calls from the Fianna Fáil leader for an Oireachtas inquiry into Public Service Broadcasting.

Micheál Martin made the call this morning in the wake of the Carragher report into the libelling of Ahascragh Parish Priest Father Kevin Reynolds by RTE.

Mr Martin wants a special committee established but Enda Kenny says he believes that’s not necessary.

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UNITED STATES
TheMediaReport

Dave Pierre

They are at it again.

The Grey Lady just published another editorial on Sunday on its favorite topic: sex abuse in the Catholic Church from decades ago. This time the Times praises the state of Hawaii for passing a law to lift the statute of limitations for two years to file stale sex abuse claims and then lobbies Governor Andrew Cuomo in New York to do the same in an attempt to bankrupt the Catholic Church in New York.

The sex abuse story has been an obsession at the Times for a decade now. But in those ten years, the Church has radically reformed its polices requiring prompt reporting and annual audits while contemporaneous abuse claims have now fallen to near zero; abuse victims have already filed scores of often questionable lawsuits collecting billions in judgments; half of the accused priests have already died; a vast industry of wealthy contingency lawyers and professional victim’s groups have emerged who heavily advertise for still more victims; and, indeed several dioceses have already been forced to file for bankruptcy protection amid the flood of claims.

So the simple, if sometimes unpopular, truth is that the problem of sex abuse in the Catholic Church has already been solved.

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UNITED STATES/AUSTRALIA
Catholic Leader

Published: 13 May 2012
By: Catholic Religious Australia

CATHOLIC Religious Australia (CRA) has sent a letter of support to the United States’ Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) following the recent announcement of a Vatican proposal to reform the association.

The announcement from the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith was based on an investigation by Bishop Leonard Blair began on behalf of the Vatican in April 2008.

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LOUISVILLE (KY)
The Courier-Journal

Written by
Mark Boxley
The Courier-Journal

When more than 50 laypeople took to the steps of Cathedral of the Assumption on Tuesday, they had one message in mind: “We are all nuns.”

The group gathered at 5 p.m. for a silent prayer vigil to support the nuns of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, which has recently been the focus of what vigil participants called a Vatican investigation.

In a statement concerning the Women Religious, the Vatican said that while lauding sisters’ historic work in education and on behalf of the poor, the conference had allowed influential members and speakers at its meetings to undercut, without challenge, core church doctrines on sexuality, the nature of Jesus and the male-only priesthood.

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EXETER (CA)
KSEE

[with video]

By KSEE News

Alton Dorrough was a respected man, a man many people trusted. He was a volunteer chaplain for the Exeter Police Department. Chief Cliff Bush has known him for years, “He was the kind of person you would think, this person has the community at heart.”

His reputation was tarnished Monday after a teenage girl walked into police headquarters. According to authorities, she claimed Dorrough sexually abused her for four years. Investigators called him in and took him away in handcuffs.

Chief Bush said, “I’m sick to my stomach, this is just awful. It’s just shock, betrayed, disappointed.”

Dorrough is 62-years-old. He was involved with several drug recovery groups and ministries. Chief Bush said he was also a minister at The Church of God of Exeter.

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CANADA
The Chronicle-Journal

Northwest Bureau
Wednesday, May 9, 2012

A former Anglican Church minister who worked in First Nations communities in Northwestern Ontario in the 1970s and 1980s has been charged with sexual abuse offences following a lengthy provincial police investigation.

Ralph Rowe, 72, of Surrey, B.C., is to appear in Kenora court on May 31, charged with two counts of indecent assault on a male and five counts of sexual assault.

Provincial police said Tuesday that the charges relate to incidents at Fort Severn, Big Trout Lake, Wunnumin Lake and Kingfisher Lake between 1973 and 1986.

The OPP North West Region crime unit has been investigating reports of sexual offences against Rowe since 1994. The accused was last charged by police in 2009. Since then, new information has come forward, police said.

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IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

Wednesday, 9 May 2012

A priest in the Dublin Archdiocese has voluntarily stepped aside from his position over child protection concerns.

Parishioners in Rathnew, Co Wicklow, were informed at weekend masses that curate Fr Denis Nolan was taking time away to allow for church and state investigations to take place.

The Dublin Archdiocese declined to give specific details about the nature of the concerns, but stated that reports of all allegations of abuse are passed to gardai and the Health Service Executive.

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IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

Catholic Church braced for new child sex abuse scandal in Republic of Ireland

By Ralph Riegel
Wednesday, 9 May 2012

The Catholic Church is bracing itself for another potential child abuse scandal, with a file to be sent to the Republic of Ireland’s Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) about allegations of physical and sexual abuse at a boarding school.

Colaiste an Chroi Naofa in Carraig na bhFear in Cork — which was formerly run by the Order of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart (OMSH) — is the focus of a garda probe into abuse complaints lodged by almost 20 former pupils.

The complaints all relate alleged events at the school in the 1970s and 1980s.

Three men have been arrested as a result of the complaints.

The men — all in their late 60s and 70s — were released without charge.

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SOUTH CAROLINA
WTVR

By Michael Saba, special to CNN

(CNN) – Former Bob Jones University student Chris Peterman expected to graduate on May 4. But on April 24, nine days before he was set to receive his diploma, the 23-year-old poli-sci major was suspended from school.

According to BJU, Peterman was suspended for a variety of infractions involving the school’s code of conduct. Most of the violations involved Peterman’s activity on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter.

Peterman responded by uploading videos to CNN iReport alleging that he was the victim of a pattern of intimidation and coercion on the part of several BJU staff and administrators. He claims to have been forced out of school in retaliation for his activism against Chuck Phelps, a former BJU Board of Trustees member who was accused of covering up a sex-abuse scandal at the church where he served as pastor.

Carol Keirstead, BJU’s Chief Communications Officer, denied these allegations.

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CALIFORNIA
KMPH

[with video]

Nicole Garcia

EXETER, Calif. (KMPH) –
An Exeter congregation in crisis – after a beloved pastor is accused of preying on a teenage girl, who is a member of the church.

62-year-old Alton Dorrough is in jail, facing at least nine counts of sexual abuse.

Dorrough is a pastor at the Church of God of Exeter and a volunteer chaplain with the Exeter Police Department.

Church members say the girl accusing Dorrough of sexually abusing her for several years is a youth leader at the same church.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Priest Abuse Trial Blog

Ralph Cipriano

Assistant District Attorney Patrick Blessington got worked up in court Tuesday, repeatedly calling the defendant, Monsignor William J. Lynn, a liar.

“The lies, the outrageous lies that he [Lynn] continues to tell,” Blessington shouted. That prompted an objection from Thomas Bergstrom, a defense lawyer who rarely raises his voice.

Judge M. Teresa Sarmina, often mistaken for a member of the prosecution team, continued the surprises by siding with the defense. “Stick to the facts, Mr. Blessington,” the judge admonished.

Blessington was trying to convince the judge to take a road trip to a cloistered convent in North Philadelphia, as part of his recent campaign to prove that the monsignor is a liar.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Priest Abuse Trial Blog

Ralph Cipriano

Father James J. Brennan dreamed of becoming a Trappist monk. He thought the monastic life would bring him closer to God as he meditated and prayed in solitude for hours on end.

But after he joined the Trappists in 2000, Father Brennan found the reality of the monastic life was far different then he had imagined. He was getting up at 3 a.m. to feed the chickens on the monks’ organic farm. The priest who used to lead church choirs was reduced to serenading hens to the tune of White Christmas.

“I think too much of me is being wasted on chickens,” he wrote Msgr. William J. Lynn in 2001, asking to come back to the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

On Tuesday at the Archdiocese of Philadelphia sex abuse trial, the prosecution had Detective James Dougherty spend several hours reading into the court record more than 60 formerly confidential records from Father Brennan’s personnel files and the archdiocese’s secret archive files.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
My Fox Philly

Kristen Byrne, Blogger
MyFoxPhilly.com

Documents from the file of an accused priest were read to the jury in a clergy-abuse case involving the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

On Tuesday, Detective James Dougherty read numerous documents outlining Rev. James Brennan’s assignments and leave of absence from the archdiocese. The documents spanned from 1989, which was the year Brennan was ordained, to 2006.

In 1995, complaints began to surface regarding Brennan’s “inappropriate behavior” at Divine Providence Village, where he both resided and served as chaplain. There had been reports of a younger man living with him, whom he claimed to be his nephew, and later his cousin.

According to a memorandum filed by Monsignor William Lynn, Brennan confronted him requesting a leave of absence from the ministry in 1996. Brennan said he was leaving for personal reasons; to face his issues with sexual and emotional abuse. However, in Brennan’s 2008 canonical testimony read last week, the jurors heard that Brennan denied claims that he ever experienced sexual abuse as a child.

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CALIFORNIA
Marin Independent Journal

By Tracey Kaplan
tkaplan@mercurynews.com

The judge in the high-profile case of a San Francisco man accused of beating up an elderly Los Gatos priest he claims molested him as a child took a grueling seven hours to hammer out a game plan Tuesday for the upcoming trial that gave both sides reason to rejoice.

For the first time, defendant Will Lynch’s attorney publicly conceded that his client pummeled the Rev. Jerold Lindner two years ago at the Sacred Heart retirement and medical center in Los Gatos. That admission set the parameters for a June 20 trial and should make it easier for prosecutor Vicki Gemetti to prove Lynch committed felony elder abuse and assault.

But in a victory for the defense, Judge David A. Cena ruled that Lynch and up to three other people from a list of about 11 can testify that the Jesuit priest allegedly molested them as kids and threatened them with violence or death if they told anyone. Even though the judge narrowly limited that testimony to avoid inflaming the jury against the priest, it may well have an influence.

“We’re not getting into details because there is a substantial danger of them being misused by the jury, of creating an emotional response,” said Cena, adding that the priest would have to deny he molested anyone for the testimony to come in.

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IRELAND
Waterford Today

Wednesday, 9th May 2012

Here we go again. The Roman Catholic Church has gotten itself bogged down in yet another scandal surrounding the issue of child sexual abuse. This time however it is the head of the Church, The Primate of All Ireland Cardinal Brady that is in the firing line. It has emerged that he knew about the actions of perhaps the most notorious of Ireland’s paedophiles – they are many to choose from – Fr. Brendan Smyth and effectively he did nothing about it. There have been some, in the Church and outside of it, that have come to his defence. They say that he did as much as he could have done and that effectively there was nothing that he could have done at the time. Also, they point out, he did as much as anyone could and that the whole issue of priests who sexually abused children was handled differently back then and also that there was not as much information on the issue as there is now and that it is not fair to look at things that happened in the past using the standards that we have today. Those arguments might be well and good for some people but just how much water do they really hold? The first point, and perhaps the only point, is, since when did the rape of children become acceptable to those in the church?

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

May 08, 2012|By John P. Martin, and Joseph A. Slobodzian

Weeks before prosecutors say he tried to rape a 14-year-old boy, the Rev. James J. Brennan called the clergy office at the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

At the time, Brennan had just started a leave of absence to deal with “inner turmoil” he blamed in part on being sexually abused as a child.

Brennan complained to Msgr. William J. Lynn, who ran the clergy office, that other priests had been gossiping that he really took the leave so he could “shack up” with one of his former students at Cardinal O’Hara High School.

“I told him not to be concerned about the rumors, that we only take facts as we find them,” Lynn wrote in a June 1996 memo.

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MISSOURI
KOMU

by Amanda Macias

JEFFERSON CITY – A 200-page case study revealing the names of eight Missouri children sexually molested by priests was released on Monday. Michael Wegs of the organization, Come to the Stable-The Stephens Spalding Foundation, held the news conference in remembrance of the 10th anniversary of the closing of St. Thomas Aquinas Preparatory Seminary in Hannibal, Missouri.

According to Wegs, the seminary was closed in 2002 because of low attendance. Wegs said the low attendance was because there were numerous reports of priests molesting the students.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Atlanta Journal-Constitution

By MARYCLAIRE DALE
The Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA — Defense lawyers complained Tuesday that the lengthy priest-abuse trial of a Roman Catholic church official has veered far afield from the original charges.

Monsignor William Lynn is charged with conspiring to hide child sex-abuse complaints against two co-defendant priests, and endangering children by keeping them in ministry. But a judge has let jurors hear weeks of testimony about how Lynn, the longtime secretary for clergy for the Philadelphia Archdiocese, handled abuse complaints lodged against 20 other priests.

“This case has come down to (the Rev. Stanley) Gana and (the Rev. Nicholas) Cudemo, despite the fact they’re not charged,” defense lawyer Thomas Bergstrom argued outside of the jury’s presence.

Gana and Cudemo were accused of heinous, repeated sexual assaults in a 2005 grand jury report. Both were defrocked in the years that followed, but neither was charged criminally because of legal time limits. Prosecutors have spent days detailing their alleged crimes to the jury, through testimony from accusers and church documents.

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MISSOURI
News Tribune

By News Tribune

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

An advocacy group for victims of clergy abuse held a press conference Monday to allege priests in the Catholic Diocese of Jefferson City were involved in past sexual abuses and to announce additional alleged victims of Bishop Anthony J. O’Connell.

The timing of the press conference by The Come to the Stable/Stephen Spalding Foundation coincides with the 10th anniversary of the closing of the St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary in Hannibal, after O’Connell admitted to having molested students while he worked there.

Before his resignation in 2004, O’Connell was transferred to Palm Beach, Fla., to help a church recover after another priest there admitted to having molested five boys.

Wegs said O’Connell’s transfer is part of the Jefferson City diocese culture of promoting those who hide sexual abuse.

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UNITED STATES
Care2

by Jessica Pieklo
May 8, 2012

Last month the Vatican announced it was cracking down on American nuns for not sufficiently pushing the Catholic Bishops anti-gay, anti-woman agenda. Who was behind this sudden and aggressive push-back against women many American Catholics deeply respect? The same shamed men behind the church’s sex abuse cover-up and complicity.

David Gibson reports that conservative American churchmen living in Rome, among them the disgraced former Boston Cardinal Bernard Law, were key figures pushing the hostile takeover the the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, or LCWR. Law and other hard-right Catholic leaders don’t like the group because of its emphasis of social justice work over loyalty to church hierarchy and issues like abortion and gay marriage.

Law was joined by a former archbishop of St. Louis, Cardinal Raymond Burke in his efforts to aggressive investigate the LCWR. Burke was named to a top Vatican judicial post in 2008 because his hard-right views made Burke a lightning rod in the U.S.– a move familiar within the Catholic Church’s leadership structure and one knowing as getting “kicked upstairs.”

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MINNESOTA
BishopAccountability.org – Assignment Record

Summary of Case: Jeub was accused in 1992 of having engaged a 15 year-old girl in unwanted sexual activity in 1969. Jeub denied abusing the girl. Another woman accused Jeub of having sexually abused her when she was an adolescent, from 1967-1970. She turned down a settlement offer, and he was found in a civil trial not to have engaged in abusive behavior. Jeub was sent to St. Luke’s Institute in Maryland in 1990 for evaluation and treatment. The archdiocese’s Vicar General wrote in 1991 that Jeub had a history of exploitative sexual relations with adult women. A St. Luke’s psychiatrist wrote that these women included a nun Jeub was counseling, a blind woman he was caring for, the wife of a patient in a hospital in which he was chaplain, among others. Jeub was taken out of full time parish ministry for a few years, eventually being allowed to return. He resigned from parish ministry in June 2002, after publicity about past accusations. Per the archdiocese, Jeub took early retirement.

Ordained: 1966
Incardinated: St. Paul and Minneapolis

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NEDERLAND
De Telegraaf

HEERLEN – Een oud-leerling van RK jongensinternaat Bleijerheide in Kerkrade heeft dinsdag bij de politie in Heerlen aangifte gedaan van seksueel misbruik en mishandeling door 11 broeders van het internaat. Drie van hen leven nog, onder wie de huidige Maastrichtse pastoor Jan S. Dat blijkt uit het dinsdag opgestelde proces-verbaal van aangifte, in het bezit van het ANP.

Ook deed de in België wonende 52-jarige man aangifte wegens het vernietigen van de archieven van het internaat en bisdom Roermond, waardoor hij niets meer terug kan vinden over zijn tijd in Bleijerheide. Verder deed hij aangifte tegen aartsbisschop Wim Eijk wegens nalatigheid in de aanpak van nog levende vermeende daders.

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NEDERLAND
Zie

Bij het katholieke meisjesinternaat St. Anna in het Limburgse dorpje Heel was in de jaren ’50 van de vorige eeuw geen sprake van een sterftepiek. Dat blijkt uit een maandag gepubliceerd intern onderzoek door de Koraalgroep, waaronder St. Anna nu valt.

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NEDERLAND
Nu

HEEL – Bij het katholieke meisjesinternaat St. Anna in het Limburgse dorpje Heel was in de jaren ’50 van de vorige eeuw geen sprake van een sterftepiek.

Dat blijkt uit een maandag gepubliceerd intern onderzoek door de Koraalgroep, waaronder St. Anna nu valt.

Van 1952 tot en met 1954 overleden 40 zwaar gehandicapte meisjes tot 18 jaar. Ze stierven allen een natuurlijke dood. De meesten voor hun 10e verjaardag, wat in die tijd de levensverwachting was van kinderen met die handicap.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
U.S. Catholic

By Lou Baldwin Catholic News Service

PHILADELPHIA (CNS) — Church action following the clergy sexual abuse scandal is most importantly about justice for the victims. But it’s also about healing — not only for the victims, but for the entire church community.

With that in mind the Archdiocese of Philadelphia has begun a new initiative, “Honesty, Healing and Hope in Christ: Confronting Sexual Violence in Our Archdiocese.” The plan, which consists of four phases implemented over six months, is designed to address the feelings and responses experienced when final resolutions about clergy are announced and going forward.

Coordinating the initiative is Mary Achilles, who served as victims advocate for the commonwealth of Pennsylvania for a decade, and who is the victims advocate for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

“This is all about the parishioners, people who have been impacted,” Achilles said at a May 4 news conference. “As Catholics, we have been battered by this experience, and our sense of the integrity of the process has been robbed.

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CANADA
CBC News

The Ontario Provincial Police in northwestern Ontario have laid more charges against a former Anglican priest and boy scout leader for alleged sexual offences.

Ralph Rowe, 72, will appear in court in Kenora, Ont., later this month. He’s charged with five counts of sexual assault and two counts of indecent assault.

The charges relate to incidents that occurred between 1973 and 1986 in the First Nations communities of Fort Severn, Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug, Wunnumin Lake and Kingfisher Lake.

Rowe has already been convicted of more than 50 counts of sex-related crimes.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
BBC News

Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness has accused the Vatican of “miserably failing” the victims of child sexual abuse.

He said the failings of Rome were a greater issue than the position of Cardinal Sean Brady.

Mr McGuinness told the Assembly that he loved the Catholic church but that Catholics throughout Ireland were “dismayed and angry”.

The cardinal is accused of failing to act over abuse allegations in 1975.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

JOANNE MCCARTHY

09 May, 2012

PUBLIC prejudice against Catholic priests was going to be ‘‘the elephant in the room’’, a barrister told a Sydney District Court jury yesterday at the trial of a priest charged with sex offences involving four boys.

‘‘There’s a prejudice in our community, that if you’re a priest and you’re charged with crimes of a sexual nature with respect to young boys then that’s it. Game over. Walk away,’’ the priest’s barrister said.

The priest, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, has entered not guilty pleas to eight charges, including indecently assaulting the four boys and unlawfully detaining one of the boys at a Hunter location for a short period during an alleged indecent assault.

The court was told a three-week trial would hear evidence of wrestling bouts involving the priest and boys, during which the priest would allegedly hold the boys down and rub his erect penis over their bodies.

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CANADA
Brandon Sun

By: The Canadian Press

8/05/2012

IQALUIT, Nunavut – An accused priest already convicted of sex abuse against Inuit children will face dozens of fresh charges in court next Monday.

Prosecutors in Iqaluit (ee-KAL-oo-eet), Nunavut, say Eric Dejaeger (deh-YAY-ger) will now face a total of 74 charges in a case that just keeps growing.

Dejaeger originally faced 28 charges when he was returned from Belgium last spring.

He will now face 74 charges of abuse and assault against girls, boys and dogs, and the total is expected to grow larger before the case comes to trial.

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STOCKTON (CA)
Calaveras Enterprise

by Alex George

An unidentified 25-year-old man has filed a lawsuit against the Stockton Diocese, alleging defrocked priest and convicted pedophile Oliver O’Grady molested him at the age of 5.

O’Grady, who is serving a three-year prison term in Ireland for possessing child pornography, was assigned to San Andreas’ St. Andrew’s Parish in 1992, when the alleged incident occurred. O’Grady bounced around from parish to parish throughout the 1970s and ‘80s in what critics say was an effort by diocese officials to conceal sexual molestation allegations.

The complaint also names the Stockton Diocese’s highest-ranking official, Bishop Stephen Blaire, who became the presiding bishop in 1999.

Blaire said he shared the complaint with the Calaveras County Sheriff’s Office after receiving it Wednesday, but has not had the opportunity to review it.

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IRELAND
BBC News

Brendan Boland, one of the victims of paedophile priest Father Brendan Smyth, has said his healing and that of other victims cannot begin while Cardinal Sean Brady remains as Catholic Primate of all-Ireland.

He was responding to a public apology made by Dr Brady.

In it, the cardinal admitted he should have passed on information to parents given to him in 1975 by Mr Boland.

That information warned Fr Smyth was a danger to other children.

In a statement on Tuesday afternoon, Mr Boland thanked the cardinal for the apology and said that one day he hoped to find the strength to accept his offer of a face-to-face meeting.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Farming Life

Published on Monday 7 May 2012

The Vatican has miserably failed the victims of child sex abuse within the Catholic Church, Stormont’s Deputy First Minister has claimed.

Amid continuing calls for Irish Primate Cardinal Sean Brady to resign over his involvement in a controversial Church probe that did not stop notorious paedophile priest Brendan Smyth’s reign of abuse, Martin McGuinness shifted focus to Rome’s attitude to historic clerical sex crimes.

“The issue of Cardinal Brady’s position in all of this is important for a lot of people but of more importance to me is the attitude that pertains in the Vatican and I believe that the major failing that exists in the Catholic Church resides in the Vatican,” said the Sinn Fein politician.

Mr McGuinness hit out at how Rome had approached previous inquiries into abuse scandals and warned the Catholic authorities that if they failed to co-operate with a forthcoming investigation into institutional abuse in Northern Ireland they would be compelled to do so.

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AUSTRALIA
Bendigo Advertiser

ELISE SNASHALL-WOODHAMS

09 May, 2012

A former priest who taught in a Bendigo Catholic boarding school in the 1960s has been committed to stand trial on a series of child sex offences.

James Jennings, 79, faces multiple charges of gross indecency and indecent assault on a male child aged under 16.

The charges relate to three complainants, all students at St Vincent’s College in Bendigo in the 1960s.

Magistrate Jennifer Tregent heard from the victims now aged in their 60s, and some of Jennings’ teaching colleagues, in a two-day committal hearing that finished in Bendigo Magistrates Court yesterday.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
San Antonio Express-News

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Philadelphia prosecutors hope to take testimony from two cloistered nuns as they pursue a child-endangerment case against a Catholic church official.

They say Monsignor William Lynn lied when he told a man the nuns were keeping an eye on his alleged priest-rapist in 1997, and knew about the priest’s history.

The priest had been sent to their monastery after sex-offender treatment. Prosecutors say he was soon saying Mass — and working with altar boys — nearby.

Lynn’s lawyers object to the nuns’ depositions, calling the subject “far afield” of the charges against Lynn.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

A Church of England priest and an organist have been charged with sexually abusing two young boys in the late 1980s.

Father Wilkie Denford, 76, who is semi-retired and from Shoreham, and Michael Mytton, a 68-year-old organist from near Lewes, were arrested in November.

The pair are accused of abusing the boys at a number of locations in West Sussex between 1987 and 1990.

The men are due to appear at Mid Sussex Magistrates’ Court on 22 May.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Brighton and Hove News

A priest who worked in Brighton and Hove has been charged with sexually assaulting two boys more than 20 years ago.

Father Wilkie Denford, 77, of Broad Reach Mews, Shoreham, was charged today (Tuesday 8 May) and has been bailed to appear at Mid Sussex Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday 22 May.

The Church of England minister is accused of indecently assaulting a boy under 16 on three occasions between June 1987 and January 1990.

Two of the offences were said to have taken place in or near Shoreham and the other was said to have happened in or near Cuckfield.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
CBS Philly

By Tony Hanson

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — The prosecution in the Philadelphia clergy sex abuse case presented evidence today they say shows that one of the defendants, Msgr. William Lynn, lied to police during their investigation of alleged abuse by another priest.

The police interview in 2001 was related to an allegation of abuse two decades earlier by Father Nicolas Cudemo.

Police officer Denise Holmes testified today that she interviewed Msgr. Lynn about the allegations against Father Cudemo. During the interview, she says, Lynn told her of allegations of abuse against by Cudemo by members of the priest’s own family.

But when she asked about any other complaints, she recorded this response: “Not that I am aware of.”

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter

May. 08, 2012
By Joshua J. McElwee

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A Missouri judge’s decision to go forward in seeking a wide range of documents from the leading advocacy group for clergy sex abuse victims could have far-reaching consequences for survivors’ support organizations, say victims’ advocates and lawyers.

Among those consequences, the experts tell NCR, could be a “chilling effect” on victims willing to come forward to report abuse and a bogging down of criminal and civil cases across the country trying to bring abusers from both the church and wider society to account.

Experts’ worries stem from Jackson County, Mo., Circuit Court Judge Ann Mesle’s most recent order to the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests in a case concerning a Kansas City priest accused of abuse. The case, in which SNAP is not a party, made headlines in January when it became the first in which one of the group’s leaders was ordered to provide testimony.

Following back-and-forth filings from SNAP lawyers and those defending Kansas City-St. Joseph, Mo., diocesan priest Fr. Michael Tierney, Mesle ordered the group in late April to make available 23 years of internal files and correspondence to the priest’s lawyers.

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IRELAND
National Catholic Reporter

May. 08, 2012
By Michael Kelly

DUBLIN, Ireland — An assembly of the entire church in Ireland took one step closer Monday with an overflow meeting that saw more than 1,000 priests, religious and laypeople gather to discuss the future of the church.

Organizers say they expected about 200 participants to attend the event, which the Association of Catholic Priests sponsored. However, Dublin’s Regency Hotel was packed to capacity, with many at the event forced to stand.

Speaker after speaker pleaded for a more open church centered around a spirit of dialogue. Redemptorist Fr. Tony Flannery, who was recently forbidden to write by the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, maintained a discreet presence and was greeted by many well-wishers.

The priests association now represents about 25 percent of Irish priests in active ministry and has called for a re-evaluation of the church’s teaching on sexuality and a “redesigning” of ministry “to incorporate the gifts, wisdom and expertise of the entire faith community, male and female.” The group also wants local involvement in the appointment of bishops.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
News-Press

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Missouri prosecutors have asked a judge to add a second misdemeanor charge against a Kansas City diocese and its bishop, who is the highest-ranking U.S. Roman Catholic official criminally charged with shielding an abusive priest.

The Jackson County prosecutor’s office announced Monday that it had filed a motion to add a charge of failure to report suspicions of child abuse. Bishop Robert Finn and the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph already face one count of that charge over the way they managed the Rev. Shawn Ratigan, who has pleaded not guilty to child pornography charges stemming from claims that he took hundreds of pornographic pictures of children. After the images were found on Ratigan’s computer, the diocese waited five months to turn copies of them over to police.

Prosecutors also want the diocese to turn over a broad swath of records detailing how it has handled child abuse allegations.

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ITALIA
IVG

Savona. Caso giudiziario archiviato per prescrizione del reato: si chiude così, in sede penale, la vicenda che vedeva l’ex vescovo di Savona, Dante Lanfranconi, indagato per concorso in atti sessuali su minori per non aver impedito ad alcuni sacerdoti della diocesi di compiere atti di pedofilia.

Il giudice per le indagini preliminari Fiorenza Giorgi ha oggi firmato l’ordinanza di archiviazione, in base agli elementi esaminati, ma nell’atto ha evidenziato che “è astrattamente configurabile” l’omissione nell’impedire il verificarsi degli eventi, che equivale a cagionarli. Ossia monsignor Lafranconi avrebbe “coperto”, pur essendone a conoscenza, le attitudini pedofile di almeno due preti della sua comunità ecclesiale.

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ITALIA
La Provincia

CREMONA – Reato prescritto, caso archiviato per il vescovo Dante Lafranconi, dal 2001 a Cremona, finito nei guai giudiziari a Savona, quando dal 1991 e per dieci anni ha retto la diocesi, indagato per concorso in atti sessuali su minori perché non avrebbe impedito ad alcuni sacerdoti di compiere atti di pedofilia.

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ITALIA
Punto Savona

Il giudice per le indagini preliminari Fiorenza Giorgi ha disposto l’archiviazione del procedimento per concorso in atti sessuali su minori a carico di monsignor Dante Lafranconi perché il reato è prescritto, ma resta comunque il fatto che il presule coprì degli episodi penalmente rilevanti.

L’ex vescovo della diocesi di Savona Dante Lafranconi, (nella foto) era stato indagato per non aver evitato a don Nello Giraudo, non più sacerdote, di mettere in atto i suoi gesti di pedofilia nei confronti di minori legati agli scout e al mondo cattolico.

Un’ accusa che sembrava destinata a cadere dopo la richiesta di archiviazione presentata dalla Procura savonese.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

By Joseph A. Slobodzian
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

Msgr. William J. Lynn seemed to downplay the sex-crime allegations against the Rev. Nicholas V. Cudemo — one of the Archdiocese’s most notorious priests — during a 2001 interview with a Philadelphia police sex crimes officer investigating an assault charge involving against Cudemo.

Officer Denise Holmes told a Philadelphia Common Pleas Court jury this morning that during a 2001 interview with Lynn, the church official said the only allegations of sexual abuse against Cudemo were made in 1991 by three female relatives of the priest.

Holmes asked to meet with Lynn on Jan. 22, 2001, after getting a call from a woman complaining that Cudemo sexually molested her 20 years before when she was a student at the school in the St. Irenaeus parish in Southwest Philadelphia.

Holmes testified that Lynn, then secretary for clergy and the ranking Archdiocesan official responsible for investigating sex-abuse allegations against priests, said he knew nothing of an allegation against Cudemo during his time at St. Irenaeus. Lynn also claimed not to know where Cudemo was living, except for “Florida, maybe.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Argus

3:08pm Tuesday 8th May 2012 in News By Emily Walker, Chief Reporter

A priest has been charged with child abuse.

The Diocese of Chichester has confirmed that priest Reverend Keith Wilkie Denford and Michael Mytton, worked as an organist in the Lewes area have been charged in relation to allegations of abuse.

A spokesman for Sussex Police said: “Child protection detectives in West Sussex have today, charged two men with sexual offences allegedly committed between 22 and 25 years ago.

“Keith Wilkie Denford, 72, a priest, of Broad Reach Mews, Shoreham, and Michael Mytton, 68, of South Road, East Chiltington, will appear on bail at Mid-Sussex Magistrates court on Tuesday May 22.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Shoreham Herald

Published on Tuesday 8 May 2012

CHILD protection detectives in West Sussex have today, (Tuesday, May 8), charged two men, including a priest who lives in Shoreham and worked in Tarring, with sexual offences.

Keith Willkie Denford, 72, a priest, of Broad Reach Mews, Shoreham, and Michael Mytton, 68, of South Road, East Chiltington, will appear on bail at Mid-Sussex Magistrates court on Tuesday, May 22.

Denford has been charged with three indecent assaults on boys under 16.

Two of these allegedly took place “in or near” Shoreham and one took place “in or near Cuckfield” between June, 1987, and January, 1990.

Denford, who was previously based at a church in Tarring, has also been charged with one indecent assault on another boy, aged under 16, “in or near Cuckfield” January, 1987 and December, 1990.

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UNITED STATES
The Philly Post

Sandy Hingston

A few weeks back, I wrote about how the Catholic Church was cracking down on rabble-rousing nuns who despite Rome’s exhortations continue to care more about social justice issues like affordable health care than about cracking down on gay rights and abortions. This week, a priest in the Archdiocese of Melbourne, Australia, is telling females to get over themselves and get married to loser guys.

Young hussies today, opined Father Tony Kerin, are “too choosy” in looking for a mate: “I think many are setting aside their aspirations for later, but by the time they get around to it, they’ve missed their chance.” In trying to have it all, Father Kerin cautioned, the breastified will “end up missing out.”

I could say a few things about marriage and missing out and taking relationship advice from celibate guys belonging to an organization that’s proven to be a haven for pedophiles, but that would be a cheap shot. I will note that Father Kerin, not content with advising women to rush to exchange eternal vows with questionable fellas, also warned us not to shack up without the benefit of matrimony. I will mention that Australian priests are such stalwart proponents of marriage that one of them recently admitted to having been secretly married for a year.

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CANADA
CBC News

The case against Roman Catholic priest Eric Jose Dejaeger continues to grow.

The 65-year-old now faces 74 criminal charges – up from about 35 – stemming from his time in Igloolik, Nunavut, between 1978 and 1982.

The new charges, which come from 39 complainants, were announced by Crown prosecutors in the Nunavut Court of Justice Monday afternoon.

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NEDERLAND
de Volkskrant

Door: Anneke Stoffelen

Kinderen in pleeggezinnen en tehuizen worden daar drie tot vier keer vaker slachtoffer van seksueel misbruik dan jongeren die thuis wonen. Uit huis geplaatste jongeren met een licht verstandelijke beperking zijn zelfs tien keer vaker slachtoffer. Tussen 2008 en 2010 kwam misbruik in de jeugdzorg ‘schokkend vaak’ voor, stellen wetenschappers van de Universiteit Leiden in een nog niet openbaar gemaakt onderzoeksrapport in opdracht van de commissie-Samson.

Seksueel misbruik is volgens de onderzoekers nog een groot taboe. De helft van de ondervraagde jongeren die slachtoffer werd van seksueel misbruik in de jeugdzorg, durfde zelfs in de anonieme vragenlijst niet te melden wie de dader is. Degenen die wel antwoordden, noemden medewerkers van de instelling als dader, maar ook pleegouders of groepsgenoten.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

By Greg Harkin

Tuesday May 08 2012

CARDINAL Sean Brady last night admitted he was wrong when he failed to tell parents that their children were being abused by Fr Brendan Smyth.

The leader of the Catholic Church in Ireland also apologised to a victim of the notorious paedophile priest.

Brendan Boland was among those targeted by the predatory sex attacker in 1975.

Dr Brady also insisted he would not resign despite growing calls for him to do so, many from within the church.

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HAWAII
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Joelle Casteix on May 07, 2012

Last month, Hawaii officials made their state safer for children by enacting a law that will help expose dangerous child predators. The measure creates a two-year civil window for victims of child sexual abuse and opens the courthouse doors to dozens of victims who, until now, were denied justice. It also means that at least some child molesters – and any colleagues or supervisors who helped them hide their crimes – may be publicly exposed as the wrongdoers they are.

No amount of money can make up for a lost childhood. But when victims are allowed to use the tried-and-true civil justice system to name sex offenders, uncover cover ups, get secret records and provide valuable evidence to law enforcement, children are safer and victims can heal. In California and Delaware, hundreds of perpetrators were exposed and thousands of pages of evidence of abuse and cover-up helped police begin investigations and make arrests.

Simply put, this is a pro-victim, anti-crime law.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Barbara Dorris on May 07, 2012 ·

We applaud the new charge against Bishop Finn. At the same time, however, this kind of legal maneuvering by the prosecutor wouldn’t even be necessary if not for Bishop Finn’s desperate hair-splitting defense moves.

We also applaud Baker for seeking more information on these credibly accused pedophile priests: Fr. John Basket, Fr. Thomas Cronin, Fr. Mark Honhart, Fr. Earl Johnson, Fr. James Lawbaugh, Fr. Stephen Muth, Fr. Thomas Parrott, Fr. Bede Parry, Fr. Michael Tierney and Fr. Anthony Pileggi.

It’s pathetic that Finn’s lawyers, paid by parishioner donations, claim that the state law requiring prompt reporting of known or suspected child sex crimes is too vague.

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IRELAND
The Association of Catholic Priests

Over 1000 people, representative of a broad range of opinions in the Catholic Church, gathered today at a meeting called by the Association of Catholic Priests. The meeting agreed on the need to recapture as a matter of urgency the reforming vision of the Second Vatican Council.

The meeting called for a organised dialogue in the Irish Church, a dialogue that would work towards establishing appropriate structures that would reflect the participation of all the baptised. This dialogue should take place at parish, diocesan and national levels, and should address all issues facing our people at this time of crisis. We call on all who are concerned with the future of our Church, including our Church leaders, to participate in this dialogue.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Priest Abuse Trial Blog

Ralph Cipriano

He was a 13-year-old eighth-grader chosen by his classmates for the lead role in the annual parish passion play.

“I was elected to play Jesus,” Shawn Magee told the jury Monday in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia sex abuse case. Magee, now 39, recalled how he originally thought it was an honor back in 1986 to be singled out by his classmates at Annunciation BVM Church in Havertown.

Then he found out the passion play was being directed by a pervert priest, Father Thomas J. Smith.

Magee told the jury how Father Smith brought him upstairs to the sacristy, and locked the door behind him. He had the boy disrobe until he was “completely naked,” Magee said. Then Father Smith kneeled down in front of him, with his mouth full of safety pins.

Magee told the jury how Father Smith’s face was “six to eight inches” from his groin while the priest took between 15 and 20 minutes to pin the boy’s loincloth together. This was done before every performance, Magee testified. He estimated that he had to strip for the priest between 15 and 20 times, as the passion play hit the road, and was performed at other parishes, as well as Villanova University.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Priest Abuse Trial Blog

Ralph Cipriano

Former FBI Agent Jack Rossiter told jurors Monday about his interview with Father James J. Brennan, on trial for the attempted rape of a 14-year-old-boy.

The jury has now heard three versions of the story. First, the former alleged victim, Mark Bukowski, testified about he was allegedly sexually assaulted by the priest during a 1996 sleepover at Father Brennan’s apartment in West Chester. Bukowski also told the jury that three years later, the priest allegedly exposed himself and masturbated in front of Bukowski while standing in a shed outside Father Brennan’s church. At the time, Bukowski told the jury, he was doing community service, and that as part of a jail sentence after being arrested, Father Brennan was allowing him to mow church lawns.

Msgr. Kevin Quirk, who presided over a 2008 church inquiry into the alleged attempted rape, then told the jury Father Brennan’s version of the story, namely that he he never sexually assaulted the boy or exposed himself. Quirk also told the jury that Bukowski had backtracked on the alleged 1999 masturbation incident, saying, “the accused had withdrawn that part of the allegation.”

In court Monday, Rossiter gave jurors a third version of the story, as he recounted his efforts to investigate the priest on behalf of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. Rossiter told the jury that Bukowski’s parents had asked Father Brennan to take the boy for a weekend, because he was angry and exhibiting “anti-social behavior.” The parents told Father Brennan that he had a good relationship with Mark, and that maybe after spending a weekend with the boy, he could figure out what was wrong with him.

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CANADA
Nunatsiaq Online

DAVID MURPHY

The erstwhile fugitive priest, Father Eric Dejaeger, was a no-show at the Nunavut Court of Justice May 7 at a scheduled court appearance, but he’s set to appear in court next week, May 14.

His lawyer, Malcolm Kempt, was also not in court to set a trial date.

Dejaeger faces more than 70 criminal charges, the majority being allegations of sex offenses involving minors.

The Crown prosecutor for Dejaeger’s trial, Paul Bychok, expects the trial will last up to four weeks, once lengthy examination of evidence is complete.

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IRELAND
Galway Bay FM

Minister for Communications Pat Rabbitte has said there should be no changes on the board of RTÉ in the wake of the mistakes in the Mission to Prey programme

Minister Rabbitte has held a two hour meeting on the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland’s report on the Prime Time Investigates programme of May last year

The Minister says the Board offered no excuses for what had happened and accepted it caused damage not only to Ahascragh parish priest Fr Kevin Reynolds but also to the reputation of RTÉ.

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IRELAND
Donegal Democrat

The board of RTE has said there is no excuse for the defamation of a missionary priest wrongly accused of rape by the once-flagship journalism Prime Time Investigates programme.

In a two-hour meeting with Communications Minister Pat Rabbitte, the 13 members made no attempt to defend the show over the Father Kevin Reynolds scandal.

RTE was fined 200,000 euro and reporter Aoife Kavanagh quit after a media watchdog probe found it broadcast serious, damaging and untrue allegations about Fr Reynolds by wrongly accusing him of raping a minor and fathering a child while working in Kenya 30 years ago.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Derry Journal

Published on Tuesday 8 May 2012

A Derry priest has praised local parishioners who removed offensive anti-clerical graffiti daubed on a church at the weekend.

The word ‘Paedos’ – with an arrow pointing towards the front door entrance – was painted in large black lettering on the front of St Joseph’s in Galliagh some time late on Saturday night or early Sunday morning.

Rev. Michael McCaughey, parish priest of the Three Patrons parish – which includes Galliagh – says both clergy and parishioners were “shocked and distressed” to discover the graffiti.

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IRELAND
Breaking News

08/05/2012
The board of RTÉ has said there is no excuse for the defamation of a missionary priest wrongly accused of rape by the once-flagship journalism ‘Prime Time Investigates’ programme.

In a two-hour meeting with Communications Minister Pat Rabbitte, the 13 members made no attempt to defend the show over the Father Kevin Reynolds scandal.

RTÉ was fined €200,000 and reporter Aoife Kavanagh quit after a media watchdog probe found it broadcast serious, damaging and untrue allegations about Fr Reynolds by wrongly accusing him of raping a minor and fathering a child while working in Kenya 30 years ago.

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IERLAND
De Telegraaf (Nederland)

DUBLIN – Het hoofd van de Rooms-Katholieke Kerk in Ierland heeft excuses aangeboden aan de slachtoffers van seksueel misbruik. Van aftreden wil kardinaal Sean Brady echter niets weten, zei hij maandag op de Ierse publieke omroep RTE.

Een BBC-documentaire bracht vorige week aan het licht dat Brady in de jaren ’70 was gewaarschuwd voor een pedofiele priester. Een van de slachtoffers had hem de namen en adressen van andere misbruikte kinderen gegeven, maar kardinaal Brady gaf dat niet door aan hun ouders en liet de priester in zijn functie. Daardoor kon de geestelijke nog meer dan 15 jaar lang zijn gang gaan.

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IRLAND
kathweb

Kardinal Brady wegen seiner Mitwirkung als Protokollant bei Ermittlungen gegen einen später verurteilten pädophilen Priester weiter in Bedrängnis

08.05.2012

Dublin, 08.05.2012 (KAP) Der irische Kardinal Sean Brady hat Fehler im Umgang mit Missbrauchsfällen in den 1970er Jahren eingeräumt. “Die Eltern aller Opfer hätten informiert werden müssen”, sagte Brady in einem Interview des öffentlich-rechtlichen Senders RTE am Montagabend: “Ich bedauere es sehr, dass sie es nicht wurden; wären sie jetzt in der gleichen Situation, würde ich natürlich darauf bestehen, dass sie informiert werden.” Er sprach zugleich eine Entschuldigung gegenüber dem Missbrauchsopfer Brendan Boland aus. Er wolle ihn “bei der frühesten Gelegenheit” persönlich um Verzeihung bitten, so der Kardinal.

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DEUTSCHLAND
kathweb

Präsident des Zentralkomitees der deutschen Katholiken, Glück: Pfarrerinitiative-Sprecher tritt beim bevorstehenden Deutschen Katholikentag nicht auf – “Unser Weg ist der des ernst gemeinten Dialogs und des beharrlichen sachlichen Gesprächs und nicht der des Aufrufs zum Ungehorsam”

Bonn, 07.05.2012 (KAP) Das Zentralkomitee der deutschen Katholiken (ZdK) hat darauf hingewiesen, dass Pfarrerinitiative-Sprecher Helmut Schüller nicht beim bevorstehenden Deutschen Katholikentag in Mannheim auftritt. Dass Schüller bei dem in wenigen Tagen beginnenden Treffen in Mannheim Seelsorger und Gläubige “zum Widerstand gegen Reformstau in der Kirche aufrufen wolle”, sei unzutreffend, sagte ZdK-Präsident Alois Glück am Montag der deutschen katholischen Nachrichtenagentur KNA in Bonn.

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DEUTSCHLAND
MissBiT

die offizielle Chronologie sexuellen Missbrauchs durch Angehörige der katholischen Kirche ´ im Bistum Trier

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DEUTSCHLAND
MissBiT

Adenau / Eifel
1978/1980
Täter: Pastor, bekannt
Tatort: Sakristei
Opfer: Mädchen

Arzfeld
Die Ermittlungen laufen seit Anfang 2008: Ein 37-jähriger katholischer Priester aus dem Bistum Trier und aus der dortigen Verbandsgemeinde Arzfeld soll sich kinderpornografische Bilder aus dem Internet geladen haben, bestätigte der Saarbrücker Staatsanwalt B.M. Die Staatsanwaltschaft Saarbrücken war nach einem Hinweis des Bundeskriminalamtes auf den Geistlichen aufmerksam geworden. Die Taten sollen mehr als ein Jahr zurückliegen. Noch seien die Ermittlungen in dem Verfahren, das seit Anfang 2008 laufe, nicht abgeschlossen. Der 37-Jährige war zuvor 4 Jahre Priester im saarländischen Völklingen und wurde dann in die Eifel versetzt. Unterdessen wurde der Pfarrer vom Paderborner Erzbischof Hans-Josef Becker am 29. Oktober beurlaubt und aus seiner Gemeinde versetzt. In der betroffenen Pfarrei wurden die Gläubigen offenbar im Unklaren gelassen, warum ihr Pastor plötzlich keine Gottesdienste mehr hält. “Uns wurde gesagt, das habe psychische Gründe”, sagte der Großkampenberger Ortsbürgermeister Herbert Heinz.

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DEUTSCHLAND
De Redactie

Bei der Stiftung für vermisste und sexuell ausgebeutete Kinder, Child Focus, sind im vergangenen Jahr fünf Mal mehr Meldungen über möglichen sexuellen Missbrauch von Kindern eingegangen. Unter den tatsächlichen Missbrauchsfällen zählten 2011 vor allem Mädchen zu den Opfern. Das geht aus dem Jahresbericht der Stiftung hervor.

Das Tabu in Zusammenhang mit sexuellem Kindesmissbrauch ist viel kleiner geworden. Die Zahl der Akten bei der Stiftung für vermisste und sexuell ausgebeutete Kinder, Child Focus, nahm von 331 im Jahr 2010 auf 534 im letzten Jahr zu. Die Stiftung führt den Anstieg auf die Verfünffachung der Zahl präventiver Anrufe nach den Enthüllungen sexuellen Missbrauchs innerhalb der katholischen Kirche zurück.

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IRLAND
taz (Deutschland)

DUBLIN taz | Wenn er im Fernsehen auftritt, wirkt er unsympathisch und arrogant. Das ist Seán Brady auch. Er ist Kardinal und höchster Würdenträger der katholischen Kirche Irlands. Forderungen nach seinem Rücktritt wischt er lässig vom Tisch. Dabei hätte er allen Grund, sein Amt zur Verfügung zu stellen.

Die BBC hat jetzt aufgedeckt, dass Brady im Jahr 1975, als er noch einfacher Pfarrer war, von dem damals 14-jährigen Brendan Boland über die Machenschaften des pädokriminellen Pfarrers Brendan Smyth informiert worden war. Boland gab Brady die Namen von fünf weiteren Jugendlichen, die ebenfalls von Smyth vergewaltigt worden waren.

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IRELAND
The Irish Times

PATSY McGARRY, Religious Affairs Correspondent, and MARIE O’HALLORAN

MORE THAN 1,000 Catholic laity, priests and nuns called for dialogue in the Irish church at a day-long conference in Dublin yesterday.

Titled “Toward an Assembly of the Catholic Church”, the conference agreed such dialogue should “work towards establishing appropriate structures that would reflect the participation of all the baptised”.

It “should take place at parish, diocesan and national levels” and “address all issues facing our people at this time of crisis”.

The conference agreed on the need to recapture “as a matter of urgency” the reforming vision of the Second Vatican Council and called on all who were “concerned with the future of our church, including our church leaders, to participate in this dialogue.”

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IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

By Mark Hilliard
Tuesday, 8 May 2012

Silencing priests is not an appropriate method of ending disagreements within the church, the Association of Catholic Priests (ACP) said yesterday.

More than 1,000 people attended a meeting to discuss how to solve the church “crisis” that includes continuing abuse scandals and declining Mass attendance.

Fr Brendan Hoban of the ACP told the gathering at Dublin’s Regency Hotel that clamping down on “wayward” opinions was not the way to deal with issues.

He was referring to the recent censoring of a number of priests including Fr Brian D’Arcy and Fr Tony Flannery who voiced opinions unpopular with the hierarchy.

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IRELAND
Catholic Herald (United Kingdom)

Cardinal Brady’s situation is now irretrievable, and he would be wise, therefore, to retire; but the storm beating down on him is wholly undeserved

By William Oddie

I begin by quoting an article by Jenny McCartney in this week’s Sunday Telegraph. Firstly, because she is normally a fair-minded and well-informed commentator; secondly because she sums up well enough what seems to be the general tenor of the obloquy now raining down on the head of Cardinal Seán Brady. Jenny McCartney puts it like this: “It has become a painfully self-evident truth – surely, even to the silent onlookers at the Vatican – that the longer Cardinal Seán Brady stays in place as Primate of All Ireland, the greater the damage inflicted on the reputation of the Catholic Church in Ireland and beyond.”

I wonder, I really do wonder, if anyone has really thought through the implications of all this. What we have here, it seems to me, may well be nearer to the phenomenon we call today a “witch hunt” than to a common understanding based on an equitable understanding of the reality of the situation. The mass psychology of these affairs is rarely based on reason or justice; and such, I suggest, is the case here.

It may well be that Cardinal Brady, who is 72, should take early retirement, given the wholly intractable nature of the situation that has now arisen. It coud be that this is the only way forward, since fighting on is likely only to exacerbate the situation: he cannot expect to be listened to now, however reasonable his self-defence may be. Fr Vincent Twomey, the eminent retired professor of moral theology at Maynooth, says with some justice: “There is a sense of a Greek tragedy in all of this. In the Greek tragedy, people do things intending to do the good thing but instead some awful, dreadful things happen as a result of their actions and they have to pay for it… I think for the good of the Church, I’m afraid I am of the opinion that he should resign….”

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
Mo Rage

The reasons why our own Kansas City Star and SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests) is correct, to date, about Bishop Finn, the Catholic Church and the abuse charges against this Bishop are because, first, the Star is merely reporting things as and when they happen. It’s called reporting. It’s what they’re supposed to do.

Should they take editorial stands on it?

Sure they should. It is, after all, adults sexually and/or physically abusing the students–children–they are supposed to be otherwise responsible for. That and they’re from their own churches and schools. What other stand should any people or organization take?

As for SNAP? Same thing. They’re trying to see to it that the sexual and physical abuse of students–children–isn’t left unpunished so that it doesn’t take place any longer.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
The Legal Intelligencer Blog

By Amaris Elliott-Engel
Of the Legal Staff

A retired FBI agent hired by the Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia to look into alleged sex abuse by priests testified today that he had no background in investigating allegations of sex crimes and that he did not receive training on investigating possible sexual abuse.

Lawyers for Monsignor William J. Lynn, who is on trial for endangering the welfare of two men who say they were abused by priests as youths, have made the argument that Lynn also did not receive training as the personnel director for priests when he was assigned to look into allegations of abuse by priests.

The church investigator, Jack Rossiter, testified Monday that he believed the man who said Lynn’s co-defendant, the Rev. James Brennan, had abused him, even though the accuser had a criminal history. Rossiter said he weighed that factor in his analysis.

Rossiter has since been named in a civil lawsuit brought by the alleged victim, M.B., against church officials, Rossiter testified today. The Legal is not naming the alleged victims.

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IRELAND
The Guardian (United Kingdom)

Henry McDonald in Dublin
guardian.co.uk, Monday 7 May 2012

The embattled leader of Ireland’s Catholics, Cardinal Sean Brady, has issued a public apology to a man who revealed that he failed to report to police and parents a list of children who were being abused by a notorious paedophile priest.

But one victim has denounced the move, saying it was part of a survival strategy by Brady and the Irish Catholic hierarchy.

Andrew Madden, an abuse victim who detailed his ordeal at the hands of a north Dublin priest in his book Altar Boy, said Brady’s apology to Brendan Boland should not be used to help keep the cardinal in his position.

Madden said: “Ultimately it’s up to Brendan Boland to decide what he thinks of the apology, but it looks like a very self-serving one now that he is in so much trouble.

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

By Fergus Finlay

Tuesday, May 08, 2012

I’VE been asked a lot during the last week whether I think Cardinal Brady should resign.

My instinctive answer has been yes, because I really don’t believe any renewal of the Church’s moral authority in Ireland is possible under his leadership.

Moral authority is a force for good. Not when it is exercised through power and oppressiveness, but when it is based on compassion and some degree of understanding. A society in transition, that is searching for values, needs to be able to turn to authority figures that have earned respect.

It’s that type and level of moral authority that needs to be renewed, and that is beyond the capacity of Cardinal Brady to deliver. That’s why, any time I’ve been asked, I have said he should go.

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IRELAND
Radio New Zealand

A group representing about a quarter of Roman Catholic priests in Ireland has called for radical reforms in the church.

The Association of Catholic Priests meeting in Dublin, says the reforms are needed to stem the Church’s decline in the wake of the long-running sexual abuse scandals.

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

By Sean O’Riordan and Claire O’Sullivan

Tuesday, May 08, 2012

Three men have been arrested in connection with a major investigation into child sex abuse at a Co Cork school.

The arrests follow complaints made by nearly 20 former pupils of Sacred Heart College, Carrignavar.

Gardaí received the first of the complaints last August, when they were approached by a former boarder at the secondary school.

Two of the three men were arrested and questioned at Cobh Garda Station in Co Cork, while the third was detained in Dublin.

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IRELAND
Shropshire Star (United Kingdom0

Children across Ireland were raped and sexually abused by priests – some within the grounds of a church – yet it is those in charge today who remain the biggest threat to the Catholic faith, writes political correspondent Jason Lavan.

I was raised as a Catholic in Ireland and received Holy Communion and was Confirmed under the church. I also served as an altar boy. I no longer support the Catholic church.

For years in Ireland the horrifying details of children being raped have been revealed to the public by shocking accounts from victims – now suffering the devastating after effects of their terrifying ordeals.

Children were raped in churches, taken on trips by priests and sexually assaulted just hours after the victim’s parents waved them off from their front doors, believing them to be in the hands of god.

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UNITED STATES
SF Weekly

By Erin Sherbert
Mon., May 7 2012

As readers probably recall, nut job Pastor Sean Harris’ gay-children hating comments at a recent sermon made national headlines and sent Americans into a convulsing rage — and we’re not not just talking about liberals and gays.

It seems even the most faithful and godly can’t deal with the North Carolina Baptist preacher. To prove that he sure as hell doesn’t speak for all Christians, Faithful America, a faith-based Washington, D.C., nonprofit, has circulated a petition denouncing the pastor’s comments encouraging parents to attack and hit their young, effeminate sons. The comments came a week before state voters are to decide whether to ban gay marriage tomorrow.

According to the petition:

“Faithful Christians are appalled by Pastor Sean Harris’s hateful tirade urging violence against gay and lesbian youth. Violence and child abuse can never be justified by the teachings of Jesus Christ. All young people, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity, should be assured in church that they are beloved children of God.”

More than 10,000 people have signed the petition, and many left little notes for Harris alongside their names, including this one:

“There is a special place in Hell for those who abuse children.” And probably for those who advocate it.

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UNITED STATES
Advocate

BY Neal Broverman.

May 07 2012

A group called Faithful America is circulating a message that condemns antigay pastor Sean Harris, who advocated punching gay-acting children in a recent sermon.

The letter, entitled “Abusing Gay Children Is Not Christian,” has received over 10,000 signatures, according to the Faith in Public Life website. The statement reads, “Faithful Christians are appalled by Pastor Sean Harris’s hateful tirade urging violence against gay and lesbian youth. Violence and child abuse can never be justified by the teachings of Jesus Christ. All young people, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity, should be assured in church that they are beloved children of God.” Read more here.

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MINNESOTA
Bemidji Pioneer

By: Sasha Aslanian, Bemidji Pioneer

With more than 1 million members, the Catholic Church is the single largest religious denomination in Minnesota.

Catholics’ numbers, and their financial contributions, make them a powerful force in the debate over a constitutional amendment that would only allow marriage between men and women. If approved by voters this fall, the amendment would effectively write a ban on gay marriage into the state constitution.

Minnesota law already prohibits gay marriage. But Catholic bishops have made passage of the amendment a top political priority this year, so much so that the Catholic Church is putting a lot of money and prayers into the effort to pass the marriage amendment. …

The Duluth diocese has contributed $50,000 from the estate of a deceased priest. The New Ulm diocese has given another $50,000 from the sale of real estate.

But the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis donated $650,000 — the single largest contribution in the race so far….

Archdiocese officials declined to comment, but explained in a press release that the money came from investment income and not “from parish assessments, the Catholic Service Appeal, or donations to parishes or to the Archdiocese.” It also noted that contributions to Catholic Charities and Parochial Schools remained constant or increased.

Still, some Catholics aren’t happy with the big spending on the marriage issue.

“None of us knew that there was that large amount of money available to be used for any purpose,” said Bob Beutel, a St. Paul attorney who describes himself as a “cradle Catholic.”

A product of Catholic Schools, Beutel is a member of Catholic Coalition for Church Reform, a group that has pressed the church to disclose more information about its finances.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Examiner

By The Examiner staff – localnews@examiner.net

Kansas City, MO —

Misdemeanor charges against Bishop Robert W. Finn and the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph have been split into two different periods.

The motion to amend the misdemeanor charges pending against the metro area’s top Catholic official and the diocese was filed late Friday, Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker announced Monday.

If granted, Finn and the diocese would each face two misdemeanor counts, according to the prosecutor’s office.

If granted, the first new charge specifies the period of Dec. 17, 2010, to Feb. 10, 2011, while the second specifies Feb. 11, 2011, to May 18, 2011.

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VENICE (FL)
News-Press

[Read the decision by the Agency for Workforce Innovation reinstating Wilson’s unemployment (pdf)]

[Read fired teacher Chris Wilson’s lawsuit (pdf)]

[The report filed by Fort Myers Police (pdf)]

[Read the Diocese response to the Wilson appeal]

[Read the Supreme Court January decision upholding “ministerial exception” (pdf)]

[Read the letter sent by a church member to Bishop Dewane complaining about Wilson’s firing and bishop’s response (pdf)]

[Read the letter from canon lawyer Thomas Doyle to Bishop Dewane regarding Rev. Cory Mayer (pdf)]

Written by
Mary Wozniak

A lawsuit filed by a former Bishop Verot Catholic High School teacher, saying he was fired almost a year ago for reporting claims a priest asked inappropriate sexual questions of female students, could wind up testing a recent landmark religious ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court.

In the lawsuit, former theology teacher Chris Wilson says he blew the whistle on the Rev. Cory Mayer, claiming the priest asked at least five teenage girls during confessions held at school whether they had sex or masturbated. When one girl balked, saying it was none of the priest’s business, Mayer reportedly said he would deny absolution for her sins unless she answered.

The Diocese of Venice says Mayer did nothing wrong. Bishop Frank Dewane, head of the diocese, said in a letter to a church member who complained about Wilson’s firing that some students felt “uncomfortable” with Mayer’s questions, but none reported feeling anything “inappropriate” happened. The priest never was charged with a crime, and Wilson was fired for what the diocese called “unprofessional behavior.”

“Mr. Wilson is a disgruntled former employee who was fired from Bishop Verot High School after demonstrating a history of unprofessional behavior which was officially documented,” Billy Atwell, diocese spokesman, wrote in emailed answers to questions from The News-Press. “After not being selected to be principal of the school, his frustration with school administration rose to the point that he yelled and screamed at the principal in front of other faculty and within earshot and view of students — totally unprofessional behavior.”

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VENICE (FL)
News-Press

Written by
Mary Wozniak

Canon law, the internal law of the Catholic Church, says this about the priest’s role in the sacrament of confession:

“In posing questions, the priest is to proceed with prudence and discretion, attentive to the condition and age of the penitent, and is to refrain from asking the name of an accomplice.”

Which raises the question: Is it prudent or discreet to ask teenage girls in the confessional if they’ve had sex or if they masturbate?

Fired Bishop Verot High School teacher Chris Wilson claims in a lawsuit the Rev. Cory Mayer asked those questions of at least five female students while hearing their confessions April 14, 2011. In at least one instance, Mayer said he would refuse absolution unless the questions were answered, Wilson said.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
News Letter

Published on Tuesday 8 May 2012

CARDINAL Sean Brady has been unfairly singled out for criticism over child sex abuse cover-up allegations, according to the Auxiliary Bishop of Down and Connor.

Although he stopped short of defending the under-fire Cardinal’s actions, Bishop Donal McKeown has pointed an accusing finger at influential people in other spheres, saying some could be using the “pain of victims to further their own agendas”.

The Catholic Church in Ireland has been rocked by recent revelations that, in 1975, Cardinal Brady was involved in a secret Church inquiry into Fr Brendan Smyth’s sexual abuse of children.

Most damning of the allegations is that the then 36-year-old church legal expert failed to notify police or the parents of children at risk.

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UNITED STATES
Catholic Culture

In April, Gary Marx and David Jackson of the Chicago Tribune were named finalists for the Pulitzer Prize in investigative journalism “for their exposure of a neglectful state justice system that allowed dozens of brutal criminals to evade punishment by fleeing the country, sparking moves for corrective change.”

While their series (“Across the Border, Beyond the Law”) did not focus on the clerical abuse scandal, Marx and Jackson found that at least 32 priests facing allegations of sexual abuse have fled the United States since 1985.

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MINNESOTA
BishopAccountability.org – Assignment Record

Summary of Case: Heitzer was accused publicly in 2002 when a man told the story to the U.S. bishops gathered in Dallas of his having been sexually abused by Heitzer in 1968, when he was 11 years-old. The St. Paul and Minneapolis Vicar General stated at the same gathering that there was some indication that the archdiocese knew that about allegations that Heitzer had abused children. Heitzer died in 1969 while in treatment for alcoholism.

Ordained: 1944
Incardinated: St. Paul and Minneapolis
Died: Nov. 24, 1969

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IRELAND
The Irish Times

KITTY HOLLAND and PATSY McGARRY

THE CATHOLIC primate, Cardinal Seán Brady, has said parents of children he knew in 1975 had been abused by Fr Brendan Smyth should have been told.

“I regret very much that they weren’t, and obviously if we were in the same situation now we would insist they be informed,” he said yesterday.

Were it now, he would make it “absolutely certain” that parents were informed.

“It would be a matter of insisting that somebody should do it because the parents have a right to know, and obviously the fact that they weren’t informed was a great source of pain and further traumatisation to these children.”

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