ABUSE TRACKER

IRELAND
The Association of Catholic Priests

I have just read the results of your survey of catholic opinion on the internet. Firstly, let me congratulate you on this timely undertaking. Many of the findings are interesting if not unexpected. We need to know exactly where we stand.

Let me state my own particular interest. I am a retired secondary school teacher who taught, among other subjects, religion to junior and senior levels. There’s another subject worthy of thorough research – the status of religion teaching in our secondary schools – but that’s for another day. I am closely involved with liturgy in my local church, particularly that involving young people aged from sixteen to late twenties; I am a member of the parish liturgy committee and of the diocesan liturgy commission.

And now to my particular interest in your survey. Granted, any survey must be limited in the number of questions it can put, but I would have liked a few more on the liturgy. My own experience is that a sizeable minority of lay people are willing to be involved, but from my experience of dealing with school chaplains over a forty year period and with parish clergy over a longer period I have come to the regrettable conclusion the priests in general are just not interested in liturgy, with the exception of a few who are willing to ‘let you get on with it’ and even fewer who give active support and encouragement.

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IRELAND
The Association of Catholic Priests

Tertullian, in or about the year 200, tackled the imperial magisterium of his fellow Roman African, Septimius Severus, with all the zeal of the newly converted but with the pungent wit of one who wasn’t going to put up with any silencing or persecution from those who thought his newly espoused sect of Christians, or his own Montanist denomination of choice, should offer sacrifice (even if with a mental reservation) to some recently deified dead emperor in distant Rome.

Where the hell would you be without us? he went on in his definitely unapologetic ‘Apologeticum’. Who do you think has been keeping a bit of moral backbone in all your offices of state in your far-flung outposts, since all we’ve left you are your silly temples? We are and wish to remain at the very heart of the Empire – but if you do martyr us remember: “semen est sanguis Christianorum”.

The blood of martyrs certainly seems to have given the ACP a spurt of Easter growth over the past few days, if we are to judge from the 200+ comments over half a dozen threads on this site and a scatter of letters in the Dublin papers. Let’s hope this new growth doesn’t all melt away like snow off a ditch when the story moves on. I guess Fr Flannery’s witness, and that of his colleagues both in ‘Reality’ and the ACP, would count as what used be called ‘white martyrdom’. Those of us who were reared on Redemptorist parish missions of the 1940s/’50s variety will appreciate the journey Fr Tony and (many of) his confreres have travelled over the decades to supply us with new wine in reassuringly old redemptorist bottles. Rome’s Holy Office-imposed Silentium is a badge he can wear with pride. Congar and many others were here before him. Shouldn’t it be up to all those who have benefited from his missions, retreats, conferences, books, Reality columns and ACP website posts and moderation over decades to persuade Levada’s lot to face reality?

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IRELAND
The Association of Catholic Priests

At a meeting of the Kerry Association of Catholic Priests (ACP) held in Killarney on 13 April, dismay and concern was felt and expressed at the treatment of Fr Tony Flannery.

As priests we have long known and valued Fr Flannery’s mission work in the diocese and his contribution to the faith life of the people of the diocese.

On a daily basis we are meeting concerned lay people who are surprised and disturbed at what they would consider the harsh treatment of a man who brought God alive amoung them.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

By Breda Heffernan

Saturday April 14 2012

FR Paddy Byrne, at 38, is the youngest priest in his diocese.

It is a title he has held, much to his disappointment, for the past 11 years.

He would like to be able to marry and is a supporter of women entering the priesthood and, therefore, finds himself at odds with the leadership of the Catholic Church.

He said yesterday he hoped the hierarchy would consider the results of the survey by the Association of Catholic Priests, although he was not holding his breath.

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LAS VEGAS (NV)
Las Vegas Sun

By Richard N. Velotta

On the day that Monsignor Kevin McAuliffe reported to the La Tuna Prison in Anthony, Texas, his embezzlement of $650,000 from the St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church in Las Vegas — and his compulsive gambling problem — was the subject a keynote address and a panel at the close of the sixth-annual Nevada State Conference on Problem Gambling on Friday.

An expert witness in McAuliffe’s court case, UCLA Gambling Studies Program co-director Timothy Fong, and three other panelists discussed some of the Nevada court cases that have brought compulsive gambling behavior to the public eye in recent months.

Another of the panelists was Douglas Crawford, a disgraced former attorney who was the first problem gambling defendant in Clark County to receive diversion to a three-year program of treatment under a new statute approved last year by the Nevada Legislature. Crawford is eligible to reapply for his license to practice law in the state in May.

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PENNSYLVANIA
The Abington Journal

Times Leader Staff

SCRANTON – The Diocese of Scranton Friday said a priest accused of sexual misconduct with a minor in Wayne County was removed from his ministry pending the investigation into the accusation.

The diocese said it was notified Wednesday of the accusation against the Rev. Russell E. Motsay.

The alleged victim is now an adult and the Wayne County District Attorney’s Office and state police in Honesdale are investigating.

Motsay was ordained in 1972 and was serving as pastor of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Carbondale since 1996.

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CARBONDALE (PA)
The Times-Tribune

A priest who served at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in Carbondale for 16 years is being investigated for sexually abusing a minor, according to an announcement by the Diocese of Scranton late Friday.

The announcement, which was released about 11:20 p.m., said the Diocese of Scranton received information on Wednesday about the accusation against the Rev. Russell E. Motsay.

Reached by phone late Friday night, diocesan spokesman Bill Genello confirmed the investigation of the Rev. Motsay.

According to the diocese, the Wayne County district attorney’s office and the state police are investigating the allegations made by the accuser, who is now an adult.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Tyrone Times

Published on Saturday 14 April 2012

THE Archdiocese of Armagh has been urged to speak with parents who saw 16 pornographic images on a projector screen during a presentation by the Parish Priest of Pomeroy, and make its position clear about whether the cleric will be taking part in First Communion and Confirmation ceremonies in the area.

Details of the incident, which took place a fortnight ago at St Mary’s Primary School in the village, have made headlines around the world, with the concerned parents demanding to know why Fr Martin McVeigh has not been suspended pending the outcome of a church investigation.

Cardinal Sean Brady, the head of the Catholic Church in Ireland, said: “inappropriate imagery was inadvertently shown by a priest at the beginning of a Powerpoint presentation,”

He added: “The priest has stated that he had no knowledge of the offending imagery. The archdiocese immediately sought the advice of the PSNI who indicated that, on the basis of the evidence available, no crime had been committed. The priest is co-operating with an investigation of the matter on the part of the archdiocese.”

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Catholics4Change

Date: Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Our Mother of Consolation Parish
The Parish Hall
7 East Chestnut Hill Avenue
Philadelphia, PA 19118
215-247-0430
www.omcparish.com
Time: 7:00 PM to 8:30 PM

The Psychology of Sexual Abuse
This event will feature two mental health professionals sharing their expertise in the field of sexual abuse as therapists, researchers, and educators. The purpose of this session is to help us to better understand the psychological aspects of this issue, for both those who have been sexually abused as well as those who have committed sexual abuse. There will be an opportunity for questions.

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IRELAND
Catholic Herald (United Kingdom)

The Irish Association of Catholic Priests should stop using Vatican II to justify its defiance of papal teaching: some of us know what the Council actually said

[click here for the story]

By William Oddie on Friday, 13 April 2012

I see that the Irish so-called Association of Catholic Priests (a title which misleadingly implies that it is representative of the views of most Irish clergy) is in the papers again, this time for expressing its support for Father Tony Flannery, who has been “silenced” by “The Vatican”: that is, he has been told to stop writing articles attacking the teaching of the Magisterium of the Church, which he consistently describes as being simply the views of a clique of reactionary clergy who have seized power in the Roman curia, and have decided to suppress as far as they are able the freedom of speech of everyone else.

Father Flannery, it may be remembered, came out in support of the Taioseach, Enda Kenny, when he scurrilously attacked the Pope last year: “I was happy with the Taoiseach’s statement”, he said; “Many of us priests are frustrated with the way the Vatican conducts its business.” Maybe he was more than just “happy” with the statement: indeed, David Quinn, of the Iona Community, former editor of the Irish Catholic, asked an interesting question “Did a priest angry at Rome [i.e. Fr Flannery] help him write the speech?…. One could perhaps be forgiven for thinking that he was trying to encourage the creation of an Irish Catholic Church, as distinct from the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland.”

Quinn’s theory, so far as I know, was never denied, and it has a certain plausibility. One of the Taioseach’s top advisers is one Frank Flannery, Fr Flannery’s brother; and Fr Flannery is one of the founders of the aforementioned Association of Catholic Priests., which calls for the establishment of a national Church, separate from Rome, that would be conducted “democratically”. The ACP was formed less than 2 years ago, and kicked off by demanding that the Church should “re-evaluate” a number of its teachings, notably those on the ordination of women, artificial birth control and priestly celibacy.

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IRELAND
The Nenagh Guardian

(14/04/2012)

By Peter Gleeson

A Nenagh born priest has this week asserted that he is at odds with the Vatican on the issue of marriage for priests and the ordination of women.

Fr Sean McDonagh said advocating to allow priests to marry was not contrary to the teachings of the church.

And he said teenagers he had spoken to in secondary schools could not understand why the Vatican would not allow women to be ordained as priests and forbid clerics from marrying.

Fr McDonagh, said his own late mother, a long serving primary school teacher in Saint Mary’s Boys National School who died ten years ago, and who was “a very pious woman”, could not understand why the Catholic Church did not allow priests to marry and women to be ordained.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

[with video]

Victoria Police has criticised the Catholic Church for not referring sexual abuse cases for criminal investigation, with growing calls for a Royal Commission into abuse in the church.

Hamish Fitzsimmons

Transcript

EMMA ALBERICI, PRESENTER: Victoria Police has criticised the Catholic Church for not referring sexual abuse cases for criminal investigation. The church says many victims don’t want to go to police and it has dealt with hundreds of abuse complaints internally. But now there are calls for a Royal Commission into sexual abuse in the church.

Hamish Fitzsimmons reports from Melbourne.

HAMISH FITZSIMMONS, REPORTER: Police say the church could do better in referring sex crimes to them for criminal investigation.

GRAHAM ASHTON, DEPUTY COMMISSIONER, VICTORIA POLICE: It’s not fair to say that they have been holding things back in terms of things we’ve asked for, but we believe there’s also an onus the church when they see matters to let us know about them, rather than wait for victims to come directly to us.

DENIS HART, CATHOLIC ARCHBISHOP OF MELBOURNE: I want to make it emphatically clear that the investigation of crimes is a matter for the police. All crimes should be investigated by police, that is their role.

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IRELAND/KENYA
Irish Independent

[click here to read the story]

By Edel Kennedy

Saturday April 14 2012

THE woman at the centre of the Fr Kevin Reynolds libel case has broken her silence, to say her comments about who fathered her child were misinterpreted.

Veneranda Mudi, who lives in a shanty town on the outskirts of the Kenyan capital Nairobi, confirmed that the father of her eldest daughter, Sheila, is Kenyan.

“Sheila has got her own father. He is a Luhya (member of a Kenyan tribe),” she told the Irish Independent.

RTE has vigorously denied that the interviews were misinterpreted in any way.

Veneranda’s son Nelson backed her comments, saying her words on ‘Mission To Prey’ had been “miscommunicated”.

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CANADA
CTV

By: Dirk Meissner, The Canadian Press

Date: Friday Apr. 13, 2012

One of British Columbia’s most prominent aboriginal leaders wept uncontrollably Friday as he told Canada’s truth and reconciliation commission that he never fully realized the impact of Indian residential schools on his life until he heard survivors recount their own experiences at the hearings.

Grand Chief Ed John, leader of the First Nations Summit, said the stories he heard while the commission was in Inuvik, N.W.T., tore open wounds he never realized were there.

“I never realized the depth of my own story until I heard their stories,” said John, who stood back from the podium, tried to start speaking again, but couldn’t as the tears flowed.

“It haunts me.”

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IRELAND
Herald

Friday April 13 2012

THE new survey that says that Irish Catholics have “liberal” views on clergy having sex is hardly startling. Christians have always been preoccupied with what goes on in the pants department.

Some of the early Christians held views that would make Pope Benedict look like a liberal. Take the Gospel of Thomas, for instance, which advocates celibacy and tells the story of how the Apostle convinced an Indian princess to plead a bad headache to her husband after hearing Thomas wax lyrical about “filthy intercourse”.

The Church, in fairness, has taught that this is heresy, but in its history has come close to these extreme views on sex, not least in the Ireland of the 1930s up to the 1960s.

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UNITED STATES
New York Daily News

By Nina Mandell / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Friday, April 13, 2012

A former polygamist sect wife who played a major role in putting Fundamentalist LDS leader Warren Jeffs behind bars spoke outside of the courtroom this week for the first time.

Rebecca Musser, who became one of Rulon Jeffs’ 65 wives at the age of 19, said she lived in a constant state of fear and misery from the time she was given away to the 85-year-old man by her father until the time she escaped after his death.

“My father sold my innocence,” Musser told a group of women at an event in Salt Lake City called Overcoming Obstacles, the Deseret News reported. “My life there was a constant state of fear, unknown … silence.”

She said she had been told to always obey her husband and was never given the option of saying no to his sexual advances, despite the enormous age difference.

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IRELAND
The Independent (United Kingdom)

David McKittrick

Saturday 14 April 2012

Ireland, once regarded as the land of the especially faithful, has become largely disconnected from the previously powerful Roman Catholic church, a survey reveals. An overwhelming majority is in fundamental disagreement with church doctrine, favouring women priests and an end to priestly celibacy.

Three-quarters of Catholics say the church’s teachings on sexuality are irrelevant to their lives. Almost 90 per cent believe priests should be allowed to marry while a similar number say divorced or separated people should be allowed to take communion. More than 70 per cent say married men should be ordained. A third of Catholics still attend mass at least once a week. But the survey confirms that most have parted company with the church they were born into, certainly in terms of looking to it for guidance on such matters.

The poll was organised by the Association of Catholic Priests (ACP), a body with liberal leanings. But there is no sign that the church will make any moves to accommodate its disaffected flock or those priests who are pressing for change. Only last week, Father Tony Flannery, one of the ACP’s founders, was silenced by the Vatican because of his views on issues including celibacy, contraception and the ordination of women. He was ordered to a monastery for six weeks to “pray and reflect”. He and Father Gerard Moloney, editor of an Irish magazine, are now banned from writing on such issues.

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IRELAND
The Irish Times

IRELAND REMAINS overwhelmingly Catholic in identity but has become alienated from church teaching on sexual matters. The 2011 census found that 84 per cent of people in this State regarded themselves as Catholics. However, the great majority of Catholics in a more recent survey rejected papal teaching on who should be priests, on divorce, homosexuality and contraception. The emergence of such an a la carte approach reflects a loss of authority within the church caused by sex abuse scandals and extensive cover-ups, along with the emphasis placed on personal conscience by Vatican II.

The fact that a controversial survey involving religious beliefs was commissioned and published by the Association of Catholic Priests is, perhaps, the most significant development. It follows the silencing of Tony Flannery, one of the association’s four leaders, by Rome and the release of an edited version of a “path of renewal” for the Irish church, drawn up by Vatican churchmen who visited here last year. Brendan Hoban may protest they are not dissenting priests and that the association is merely reflecting the views of parishioners. Rome may not regard their behaviour in that light.

There has been an increasing emphasis in recent years on centralised Vatican discipline and religious orthodoxy. An integral part of that process has involved the selection and promotion of suitably compliant bishops in “local churches” throughout the world. Renewed control by Rome and a crackdown on liberal theological discourse has generated resistance in some European countries, but with little effect.

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AUSTRALIA
WAToday

Judy Courtin

THE reasons for a royal commission of inquiry into the Catholic Church in Victoria are multiple.

Sex crimes against children and vulnerable adults by Catholic clergy are prevalent. There are possibly thousands of victims in this state. Victims were raped and tortured, some by more than one offender. When these brave and terrified children spoke up to get help, they were further punished by being threatened or beaten. They were silenced.

These crimes continue to be deliberately concealed by the church authorities. Vast numbers of documents about these crimes and the offenders are locked away in church buildings.

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CHARLESTON (SC)
The Post and Courier

The Catholic Diocese of Charleston will offer a special Mass at 5:15 p.m. Sunday in observation of National Child Abuse Prevention Month.

The Mass, held at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist on Broad Street, “will be offered for the healing of child sexual abuse victims and their families, and in recognition of the diocese’s newly adopted policy that addresses sexual abuse allegations,” the diocese said in a news release.

The Catholic Church has been coping for decades with allegations of abuse at the hands of pedophile priests and church employees, as well as accusations of cover-ups and obfuscation. The scandal first burst onto the public stage in the U.S. in the 1980s and has since embroiled church officials in European countries, Canada, Mexico and elsewhere.

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STOCKTON (CA)
The Modesto Bee

By Jennie Rodriguez-Moore
The Record (Stockton)

STOCKTON — Before rape allegations against Catholic priest Michael Kelly surfaced in 2007, a board charged with reviewing sexual misconduct in the Diocese of Stockton had discussed Kelly six to eight times on other complaints, Monsignor Richard Ryan told a civil jury Friday.

The jury has found Kelly liable of sexual misconduct against a plaintiff identified in court papers as John TZ Doe. Now the jury is trying to determine whether the diocese carries any blame. The diocese removed Kelly from ministry after the April 6 verdict in favor of Doe, a former altar boy who said he was molested and raped by Kelly more than 20 years ago.

Church officials did not notify police or child protection in 2007 because none of the concerns raised by parents were deemed sexual in nature by the church, Ryan said.

Bishop Stephen Blaire said in a statement that although his view of the evidence has not changed, he removed Kelly this month to respect the jury’s decision and in accordance with the church’s charter to protect children.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

Chip Le Grand and Pia Akerman
From:The Australian
April 14, 2012

THE Catholic Church says it has “nothing to hide” if the Victorian government establishes an independent inquiry into its treatment of sexual abuse victims.

The church was also prepared for its priests to be subject to the same mandatory reporting laws as govern teachers, doctors and other professionals.

But despite vowing to co-operate “generously and fully” with any inquiry, Melbourne Archbishop Denis Hart yesterday took aim at Victoria Police Deputy Commissioner Graham Ashton for the leaking of a report cataloguing at least 40 cases of suicide by victims of priests.

“It appears that a confidential report has been given to the media,” Archbishop Hart said in response to a report in The Age that accused the church of choosing to remain silent over its knowledge of the deaths.

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AUSTRALIA
The Standard

PETER COLLINS

14 Apr, 2012

South-west Victorian men are among those who committed suicide because of Catholic clergy sexual abuse.

Confidential police reports listing at least 40 suicides of abuse victims across the state are believed to be only a fraction of the total tragic toll.

Premier Ted Baillieu yesterday hinted he may call for a full inquiry into the abuses, which occurred across the state for decades, and Victoria Police is preparing a brief for the coroner on links between suicides and abuses.

Reports by a Ballarat detective, highlighted this week in The Age newspaper, said investigators discovered “an inordinate number of suicides which appear to be a consequence of sexual offending”.

Convicted former priests Gerald Ridsdale, Bryan Coffey and Paul Ryan and former CBC brother Robert Best all served in the south-west.

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AUSTRALIA
The Standard

PETER COLLINS

14 Apr, 2012

A NIGHT out at the local Catholic presbytery left mental scars that haunted Peter Watson to his death.

He died aged of 24 after spiralling into a pattern of self-destructive behaviour of alcohol and drugs shortly after leaving secondary school.

Yesterday his mother, Helen Watson of Ballarat, told The Standard how her son had been a normal fun-loving boy growing up in a farming community until his life was scarred by events at the Ararat Catholic presbytery when he was 15.

Local parish priest Father Paul David Ryan had invited some boys to an evening of cars, a blue movie and alcohol. Court evidence later revealed the priest had sexually abused the boys.

Ms Watson’s evidence assisted Warrnambool’s Detective Senior Constable Colin Ryan in bringing charges against Ryan, who was convicted in 2006 and sentenced to 18 months’ jail. “Peter has been a normal young boy growing up, but after the abuse was a different person,” his mother said.

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IRELAND
Edmonton Journal

Agence France-Presse April 13, 2012

An Irish priest was summoned to Rome and asked to retire to a monastery last month after he voiced views in favour of liberal reforms for the Catholic Church.

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the main guardian of the Church’s dogma, did not reportedly take kindly to Father Tony Flannery’s pronouncements on contraception, the marriage of priests and women’s ordination.

The Vatican Insider website, citing informed sources, said the 65-year-old priest, one of the founders of the Association of Irish Priests, was called back to Rome by the superior general of his Redemptorist order, Father Michael Brehl.

The alleged incident happened last month before the Vatican published a report on its eight-month inspection of the Irish Catholic Church following a wave of thousands of abuse scandals that has badly shaken faith in the Church.

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CHILE
La Tercera

Arzobispado de Santiago anuncia cierre canónico de la Unión Sacerdotal, organización liderada por Fernando Karadima

El Arzobispado de Santiago anunció hoy que el día 5 de abril, se decretó el cierre canónico de la Unión Sacerdotal, agrupación a la que pertenecía el sacerdote Fernando Karadima, quien fue condenado por la Iglesia por abusos sexuales reiterados.

De acuerdo a lo informado por la Iglesia en un comunicado, “el Señor Arzobispo de Santiago, independientemente de la Visita Canónica realizada por Mons. Carlos Colazzi, Obispo de Mercedes – Uruguay, cuyas conclusiones obran en poder de la Congregación para la Doctrina de la Fe, oído el parecer favorable del Consejo Directivo de la Unión Sacerdotal y la petición de sus miembros, ha decidido cancelar el reconocimiento canónico que se le había otorgado con Decreto Arzobispal del 21 de Agosto de 1928, renovado con Decreto 417, del 23 de Diciembre de 1989”.

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CANADA
Metro

By Staff The Canadian Press

SYDNEY, N.S. – Police have dropped their investigation into a complaint against a priest who headed up a rehabilitation centre for addicts in Cape Breton.

The Cape Breton Regional Police say they have no basis to pursue any criminal charges involving the former employee of Talbot House in Sydney.

Rev. Paul Abbass confirmed in an email that he was the person being investigated, and that police have ended the probe.

Abbass took a leave of absence from his position as executive director of the facility after an unspecified allegation surfaced in February.

The centre has since closed.

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CANADA
The Chroncile-Herald

By EVA HOARE Staff Reporter

UPDATED 5:44 p.m.

A high-ranking member of the Catholic Church in Nova Scotia accused of misconduct is no longer under investigation by police.

Late Friday afternoon, Cape Breton Regional Police issued a news release saying they would not pursue any further investigations about an unnamed employee for Talbot House, an addiction treatment facility in Frenchvale.

“Based on the information (from) our investigation, there was no grounds to pursue criminal charges,” police department spokeswoman Desiree Vassallo said in an interview.

Vassallo would not reveal the subject of the investigation, but Rev. Paul Abbass confirmed in an email to The Canadian Press that he was the person being investigated, and that police have ended the probe.

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CANADA
Guelph Mercury

GUELPH — One of the sex assault victims of defrocked Guelph priest James Boudreau says his life spiraled downward from the abuse like a blow from a “wrecking ball” from which he still hasn’t recovered.

“It left me completely devastated and forever changed,” the victim, who cannot be identified, said in a victim impact statement offered Friday at a sentencing hearing for Bourdreau. To this day, he struggles with depression, isolation, loss of faith, despair and shame, court heard. He’s lost friends and fears his identity becoming public.

The victim, 17 at the time of the offence, during the 1980s, termed the assault “an act of betrayal,” from a priest he greatly admired. “I became the unwitting victim of a cunning aggressor” who wanted him for “his perverse sexual pleasure,” court was told.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Kansas City Star

The headline on the website of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops reads like good news: “Child Protection Audits Find Nearly All Dioceses Compliant.”

What they were complying with, as the accompanying press release explained, was a set of zero-tolerance policies the bishops conference put in place a decade ago in response to the unfolding scandal involving the sexual abuse of children by clergy members.

The view from Kansas City is far less consoling. In September, their bishop will stand trial in criminal court for failing to report suspected child sexual abuse. Bishop Robert Finn will be the highest-ranking U.S. Catholic official to be tried on such charges. The case stems from how the bishop handled the case of a priest now charged with possessing and producing pornographic photos of young girls, some of which were taken around churches and schools.

Many outraged Catholics in Kansas City are wondering how this could have happened. The church has argued — and, indeed, it does so in the just-released annual audit report — that the worst of its child sexual abuse problem is in the past. New allegations of abuse are made each year, but three-fourths of the credible new allegations made in 2011 were from adults reporting incidents long ago, from 1960 to 1984.

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CANADA
Cape Breton Post

SYDNEY, N.S. — Police have dropped their investigation into a complaint against a priest who headed up a rehabilitation centre for addicts in Cape Breton.

The Cape Breton Regional Police say they have no basis to pursue any criminal charges involving the former employee of Talbot House in Sydney.

Rev. Paul Abbass confirmed in an email that he was the person being investigated, and that police have ended the probe.

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CANADA
CBC News

Cape Breton Regional Police say there will be no criminal charges against the priest in Cape Breton who has spoken for the Diocese of Antigonish in recent years.

Police had received an unspecified complaint against Rev. Paul Abbass — who used to run Talbot House — a men’s addiction and rehabilitation facility outside Sydney.

They began looking into the case in February to see if there was enough information to launch a criminal investigation, said Cape Breton Regional Police spokeswoman Desiree Vassallo.

“Based on the information we received and gathered since then, we have found no basis to pursue any criminal charges at this point,” Vassallo said in a statement.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

by Tom Roberts on Apr. 13, 2012 NCR Today

“Traditional Catholicism is winning,” blared a headline on a Wall Street Journal opinion piece by Anne Hendershott and Christopher White.

Whether that conclusion is warranted only time, and what one means by “traditional Catholicism,” will tell. It is the claims underpinning the conclusion that merit comment. “There were 467 new priestly ordinations in the U.S. last year, and Boston’s seminary had to turn away applicants,” read the subhead beneath the declaration that traditional Catholicism was racking up the most points on the ecclesial scoreboard.

The article went on to note that a new seminary was being built in North Carolina and that Boston’s seminary was so full it had to turn applicants away. And, it reported, there were 5,000 more priests worldwide in 2009 than there were in 1999.

Problem solved, right?

When I read the piece, which is whipping ’round the ether, I contacted Mary Gautier, senior research associate at the Center for Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University.

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CANADA
CKTB

Siobhan Morris, 610 CKTB News

4/13/2012

The lawyer of 3 men molested by a local priest as boys, says the parishioners of the St. Catharines Diocese should revolt.

Robert Talach represents Mike Blum, James Hennessey & a man who can’t be named because of a publication ban. All 3 were victimized by Father Donald Grecco in the 1970s & 80s.

In December 2010, Grecco was sentenced to 18-months behind bars after pleading guilty to 3 counts of gross indecency. The man, now in his 70s was recently released from prison & is serving 2 years probation. His name & DNA are now on the national sex offender registry.

Talach says between Grecco’s case &that of Father James Kneale, who in 2010 plead guilty to performing oral sex on a 16-year-old boy—there should be pickets in the streets of Niagara.

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AUSTRALIA
Blacktown Sun

NICK MCKENZIE, RICHARD BAKER, JOSH GORDON

14 Apr, 2012

AT LEAST five people killed themselves after allegedly being sexually abused by paedophile priest Ronald Pickering between 1960 and 1980, new research says.

The deaths in Melbourne, uncovered by lawyer Judy Courtin, add to the 40 suicides by victims of clergy paedophiles documented in a police report.

The revelations have forced the Victorian Premier, Ted Baillieu, to bring forward plans to respond to the growing church abuse scandal. It is understood the government will announce a broad investigation – potentially with powers to compel witnesses to give evidence – into the criminal abuse of children by religious organisations.

But demands for a full-scale royal commission are unlikely to be met, with the government concerned about the potential cost.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Spiegel

Von Julia Jüttner, Würzburg

Max H. hat sich an Mädchen vergangen, Uwe B. hat sich mit Kinderpornografie stimuliert. Die psychotherapeutische Fachambulanz Würzburg hilft den beiden Sexualstraftätern bei der Resozialisierung, unterstützt von der katholischen Kirche. Ein Besuch.

Jede Sexualstraftat hat eine Vorgeschichte. Oft schlummert der Auslöser ganz weit in der Vergangenheit. Klaus Weths Aufgabe ist es, ihn zu finden. Er ist Leiter der psychotherapeutischen Fachambulanz Würzburg. Seit einem Jahr betreut er 85 Täter aus Franken.

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OSTERREICH
APA OTS

Wien (OTS) – Christoph Riedl präsentiert im ORF-Religionsmagazin “Orientierung” am Sonntag, dem 15. April 2012, um 12.30 Uhr in ORF 2 folgende Beiträge:

Missbrauch im Kloster-Internat: Ein Kremsmünster-Opfer berichtet

Er gehört zu jenen insgesamt mindestens 45 mutmaßlichen Opfern, die im Stiftsgymnasium von Kremsmünster ab den 1970er Jahren bis in die 1990er Jahre gedemütigt, geschlagen und sexuell missbraucht worden sind: der heute 46-jährige evangelische Pfarrer Jürgen Öllinger. Von “grauenhaften Dingen” berichtet er, von Scham und heftigen Verletzungen, die jungen Menschen durch Lehrer – durch Ordensmänner – zugefügt worden sind. Vor allem an Pater Alfons erinnert er sich.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Stern

Spekulationen über seinen Gesundheitszustand, unverhohlene Kritik an seinem Staatssekretär und die obskure Nachricht über ein Mordkomplott: Papst Benedikt erlebt ein “annus horribilis”. Von Luisa Brandl, Rom

Sie sollen sehr vertraulich miteinander gesprochen haben: der “lider máximo”, seit 50 Jahren unangefochtener kommunistischer Herrscher Kubas, und das Oberhaupt der katholischen Kirche. Fidel Castro habe sich nach den Aufgaben eines Papstes erkundigt, berichtete das “Wall Street Journal”. Der alte bärtige Mann habe seinen gleichaltrigen Gast auch gefragt, wie er es denn schaffe, in seinem Alter die Kirche zu führen. Was Joseph Ratzinger geantwortet hat, ist nicht kolportiert. Aber die Frage muss ihm einen Stich versetzt haben, denn daheim im Vatikan entgleiten dem Kirchenchef allmählich die Zügel.

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STOCKTON (CA)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by David Clohessy on April 13, 2012

Twice in a matter of weeks, a supporter of Fr. Michael Kelly has attempted to sway a juror. This is a crime, and deserves to be punished as such. It is one thing to pray for a priest and believe he is innocent (though a 12 person jury found him guilty of molesting a boy). It is quite another to actively attempt to persuade a juror towards your point of view.

This individual clearly has no respect for the justice system. The judge should, at a minimum, hold this person in contempt of court to teach the lesson that ought to be common sense: jury tampering should never be acceptable.

And we renew our call to Stockton’s Bishop Blaire to rein in his parishioners who are publicly supporting Kelly, both at the courthouse and elsewhere. These church-goers and Bishop Blaire should let the justice system run its course and put an end to these public display that intimidate victims – adults and teens – into staying silent.

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UNITED STATES
Newswise

Newswise — Parents generally teach their children about “stranger danger” from an early age, telling them not to talk to, walk with or take gifts or candy from strangers. But statistics show danger often lurks closer to home. According to numbers provided by the National Association of Adult Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse, the vast majority of children who are sexually abused are abused by someone they know – most often a family member, an adult the family trusts or, in some instances, another child.

Parents can help protect their children from sexual abuse by talking frankly to them about abuse, starting at a young age with age-appropriate information.

“It’s essential that parents have a continuing conversation with their children about sexual abuse,” said Kay Knaff, clinical services program manager for Youth Villages, a private nonprofit organization that helps children with emotional, behavioral and mental health issues, as well as children who have been abused or neglected. “This may seem hard to do, but it’s the best way to protect your child. It’s best to start talking to your children about child abuse as early as age 3 or 4.”

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IRELAND
Catholic News Service

By Michael Kelly
Catholic News Service

DUBLIN (CNS) — Three out of four Irish who identified themselves as Catholics find the church’s teaching on sexuality “irrelevant,” according to new research published by the Association of Catholic Priests.

The survey — conducted by the research association Amarach — also showed that almost 90 percent of those surveyed believe that divorced or separated Catholics in a stable second relationship ought to be able to receive Communion at Mass. Under church law, divorced and remarried Catholics who have received an annulment may receive Communion.

The figures were compiled from a sample of 1,000 Catholics and, according to researchers, have a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

According to the results, 35 percent of those surveyed attend Mass at least once a week; 51 percent attend at least once a month. Five percent of Irish who identify themselves as Catholics never attend Mass.

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NEDERLAND
Bert Smeets

Gisteren schreef Willem over de netelige bijbelbelt waar hij met zijn vrouw Anita doorreed (gas geven jongens) en waar iedere seksuele drive angstig klopt onder een ijzeren discipline. Er is nog niet zoveel bekend uit die streken, ze hangen daar niet de vuile was buiten zoals bij die arme katholieke kerk die door het celibaat, hun seksuele masker moeten afzetten. De kerk en Deetman willen ons bij gelegenheid erop wijzen dat geweld en seksuele onvrijheid in alle lagen van de maatschappij voorkomt. Wij hebben nooit ontkend dat het geen wereldlijk probleem is, universeel onze ziel schuurt, dat de onschuldigen even schuldig zijn als de rest, de farizeeërs, de artsen, de kardinalen, de bijbelbelters, the rock and roll boys and girls, pastoortje of broedertje en al die de maagdelijke nonnetjes. Ook ik ben wel eens te ver gegaan, zij was volwassen, had met haar al meerdere malen gevreeën, zij wilde die keer niet, ben weliswaar gestopt maar had toch een grens overschreden. Diepe spijt, vooral dat ik haar als vriendin een tijd ben kwijt geraakt.

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NEDERLAND
Bert Smeets

Vanmiddag, tweede paasdag2012, Anita afgezet bij een vriendin in Ochten.

Vanuit Rhenen de Rijnbrug over, de radio stond aan en het nieuws van 1 uur werd aangekondigd.

Er werd bericht over de emotionele herdenking in Alphen aan de Rijn, waar precies een jaar geleden een totaal gestoorde idioot een bloedbad aanrichtte.

Direct hierna de berichtgeving over kardinaal Eijk, hij heeft een beeld onthult als “ herdenkingsmonument” tegen kindermisbruik “ in het algemeen” , dus niet alleen binnen de rooms katholieke kerk.

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NEDERLAND
Tubantia

OLDENZAAL – Omdat hij zou hebben gezoend met een meisje uit zijn klas moest hij op het matje komen bij de kapelaan. Die strafte hem voor het vermeende onzedelijke gedrag door hem drie maanden lang stelselmatig seksueel te misbruiken.

Bijna 45 jaar na dato doet de nu 58-jarige oud-Oldenzaler Bob Alders een boekje open over wat er destijds met hem gebeurde in de kamer van kapelaan Frans B. in de pastorie van de Antoniusparochie aan de Spoorstraat in Oldenzaal. Het misbruik had grote negatieve invloed op de rest van zijn leven. Al die jaren zweeg Alders over was hem was aangedaan maar in de stortvloed van onthullingen over seksueel misbruik in de katholieke kerk doet hij nu zijn mond open en heeft hij aangifte gedaan. In de hoop in het reine te komen met zijn verzwegen verleden maar hij hoopt ook dat eventuele andere slachtoffers naar buiten komen. ‘Want het bestaat niet dat ik de enige ben.”

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MASSACHUSETTS
Wicked Local

GateHouse News Service

Posted Apr 12, 2012

BOSTON —

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston has reached settlements in sexual abuse cases involving two priests, including a priest at St. Colman Church in Brockton during the 1950s and 1960s who later served at Sacred Heart in Weymouth.

The Rev. Richard J. O’Donovan died in August 2000, before the allegation was raised against him.

The other case involved the Rev. James Lane, a former Boston police chaplain whose only previous connection with the scandal was as a whistleblower.

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ESPANA
Canal Sur

Así lo ha manifestado Alcalde a los periodistas antes de entrar a declarar ante el titular del Juzgado de Instrucción número 47 de Madrid, Adolfo Carretero, que tras tomar ayer declaración a la religiosa María Gómez Valbuena mantiene su imputación por los delitos de detención ilegal y falsedad en documento público.

Alcalde, que comparece en calidad de testigo, ha explicado que no abonó ninguna cantidad por adoptar a la niña y que se limitó a pagar las facturas de la estancia de la madre biológica en la clínica Santa Cristina de Madrid.

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SPAIN
New York Daily News

Madrid, April 13 (IANS/EFE) Following a wave of allegations of illegal adoptions, Spain’s government pledged Thursday to set up a database of infants who may have been stolen during the 1939-1975 Franco dictatorship and beyond.

The government announced that and other measures after meeting with associations of affected parents and families Thursday, the same day the first suspect in the baby-stealing scandal, 80-year-old Sister Maria Gomez Valbuena, appeared before Madrid’s Superior Tribunal of Justice.

Prosecutors in different Spanish provinces are investigating hundreds of cases of alleged child-stealing, especially between 1950 and 1990.

The national government, which said the measures are aimed at “determining the real scope of the problem”, also will create a working group coordinated by the Justice Ministry and the Attorney General’s Office.

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STOCKTON (CA)
Modesto Bee

By Jennie Rodriguez-Moore
The Record (Stockton)

STOCKTON — For the second time since a civil trial began, a supporter of former Catholic priest Michael Kelly has attempted to interfere or influence the jury that found Kelly liable of sexually assaulting a child.

“That will not be tolerated,” San Joaquin County Superior Court Judge Bob McNatt warned spectators just before the second phase of the civil trial began Thursday.

The plaintiff, a former altar boy who is now 37 years old, said he was molested and raped by Kelly more than 20 years ago while they both served at Cathedral of the Annunciation.

The second phase of the trial will determine whether the Diocese of Stockton is liable for damages based on its handling of Kelly, who was found liable in the trial’s first phase.

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STOCKTON (CA)
Lodi News-Sentinel

Posted: Friday, April 13, 2012

By Ross Farrow/News-Sentinel Staff Writer

Now that Father Michael Kelly has been held liable for sexual assault and removed as pastor of a Lockeford parish, his civil trial will focus on the Stockton Diocese’s role in handling Kelly and other priests accused of childhood sexual abuse.

“The diocese made a concerted effort to cover up for Father Kelly,” attorney John Manly told the jury in his opening statement on Thursday morning. “They value money, power and their reputation more than they do children. Ladies and gentlemen, that has got to stop.”

The 10-woman, two-man jury found Kelly, 62, liable on Friday of sexually assaulting an altar boy in the mid-1980s. The plaintiff, now a 37-year-old man from the Marin County community of Fairfax, is on medical leave from his position as a pilot for Southwest Airlines. Kelly doesn’t face criminal charges because the statute of limitations has expired.

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MICHIGAN
MLive

Question of the Day: Does Grand Rapids Diocese restructuring mean the Catholic Church should allow female priests, clergy to marry?

By Garret Ellison | gellison@mlive.com

GRAND RAPIDS, MI — The Grand Rapids Diocese’s plan merge, close and cluster Catholic parishes across West Michigan because of an aging priest population was met with calls by some MLive readers to change practices.

The “Our Faith, Our Future” plan, which affects churches in 11 counties, took nearly three years to draw up and involved consultation with priests from all nine deaneries of the diocese and parish lay members, according to Bishop Walter Hurley.

Hurely said fewer and older priests, stretched parish finances and aging church facilities necessitated the restructuring plan.

Some readers saw the plan as proof that the Catholic Church needs to make dramatic changes to long-standing traditions and, among other changes, ditch the ancient discipline that mandates celibacy for those who enter the clergy.

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FLORIDA
Orlando Sentinel

By Rafael A. Olmeda, Sun Sentinel

6:09 p.m. EDT, April 12, 2012
FORT LAUDERDALE —
Breathless and ill-at-ease, an alleged victim of former youth pastor Jeffery London told a packed Broward courtroom how he quickly came to dread the man he was told to trust.

London, 48, was ordered held without bail by Broward Circuit Judge Michael Usan, who found prosecutors had enough evidence of his guilt in 30 counts of sexual battery and child molestation to justify keeping him in custody until trial.

If convicted, London faces life in prison, and Assistant State Attorney Sheila Alu made it clear that she intends to seek “multiple life sentences.”

London, who denies the allegations, was asking Usan to set a reasonable bail, despite the growing number of accusers who say he abused his position of trust to coerce pre-teens and teenage boys in his care to allow him to have sex with them.

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FLORIDA
Local 10

[with video]

Bob Norman

I’ve never heard such gut-wrenching testimony in a courtroom in my life. It came from an 18-year-old student who yesterday alleged ten years of sexual abuse by the man who was a father figure to him, Jeffery London, his pastor.

“After church this man would come home and do it with me,” said the student on the stand. “How could I believe in God if he’s doing this to me? I was so twisted.”

The boy is far from alone. Seven alleged victims of London were in Broward Circuit Judge Michael Usan’s courtroom yesterday, willing to testify to convince the judge not to give him bond. London so far has been formally charged in six cases, but if what a growing number of alleged victims are saying is true, he’s one the worst sexual predators in Broward County history.

More than 30 young males have now come forward against him, said prosecutor Sheila Alu at yesterday’s hearing, adding that London sexually assaulted the boys over a period of decades, turning them into “sex slaves.”

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NEDERLAND
Bert Smeets

Het schandaal van kerkelijk machtsmisbruik is pas mogelijk geweest omdat de Kerk van de politiek de vrije hand kreeg voor het vormen van een staat in de Staat, met alle gevolgen van dien voor generaties kinderen. Er wordt nu nog steeds op geen enkele manier nagedacht over de fouten in de democratische controlemechanismen die tot het misbruikschandaal hebben geleid.

Politieke partijen weigeren na te denken over de vrijheid van godsdienst. De scheiding tussen kerk en staat is mede verantwoordelijk voor de uitbuiting, het geweld/ misbruik schandaal. Tal van overheidsdienaren, artsen, politici hielden te lang rekening met de leer van de kerk.

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NEDERLAND
RTL

Het Openbaar Ministerie in Middelburg heeft de aangifte tegen kardinaal Ad Simonis wegens meineed niet serieus genomen. Het OM heeft zelf geen enkel onderzoek verricht terwijl daar genoeg reden voor was. Advocaat Niels van Schaik van misbruikslachtoffer Gideon Uvyn uit Breda heeft dat vrijdag gezegd in een eerste reactie op sepot van de aangifte.

De Bredanaar die is misbruikt door de vorig jaar overleden salesiaanse pater Jan N., stapte na publicatie van het onderzoek door Wim Deetman naar de politie. De man meent dat de kardinaal tijdens getuigenverhoor bij de rechtbank in Middelburg heeft gelogen toen hij zei dat hij niet wist over misbruik van kinderen door geestelijken.

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AUSTRIA
Vatican Insider

Peter Paul Kaspar, chaplain of the Academy and the artists of Linz, one of the leaders of the “Pfarrer Initiative” has written an open letter to the Cardinal of Vienna

ANDREA TORNIELLI
Rome

Peter Paul Kaspar, chaplain of the Academy and the artists of Linz and one of the leaders of the “Pfarrer Initiative” has written an open letter to the Cardinal of Vienna Cristoph Schönborn, referring to the case of the young gay man who was elected to the pastoral council of Stützenhofen. He presented this case as an example of “disobedience”, or rather of obedience to his own conscience rather than to “Roman law”.

Readers will recall that during the Chrism mass on Holy Thursday morning, Benedict XVI unexpectedly spoke about the “Appeal to Disobedience” signed by 400 Austrian parish priests. Those who signed the appeal are asking for drastic reforms, including the abolition of priestly celibacy and the ordination of women. In response to this, the Pope said that disobedience is not the right path towards the reformation of the Church, because it risks transforming it “according to our wishes and ideas.”

The Pope’s words were welcomed in a positive manner by the Archbishop of Vienna, Cardinal Cristoph Schönborn, but were also appreciated by the leader of the “Pfarrer Initiative”. Although the latter he said did not agree with the Pope’s decision to declare the ordination of women priests impossible, he saw the reference to it in the homily as a move towards dialogue.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

Italian current affairs programme TG2 Dossier broadcast on Saturday evening has unearthed the contents of an interview with the Cardinal of Munich just before the 1978 conclave: “It is crucial to emphasise the local importance of the papal role”

ANDREA TORNIELLI
Vatican City

I would not be in favour of a non Italian Pope…” The interview was referred to again in 1978, just before the death of Paul VI and the conclave of 26 August, in which John Paul I was to be elected Pope. The answer came from a fifty year old German cardinal who had been at the helm of the Diocese of Munich for a year: Joseph Ratzinger. The video was retrieved by Italian current affairs programme TG2 Dossier and will be broadcast tomorrow evening at 23:30 (local Italian time) on Italian television channel Rai 2 as part of a programme dedicated to the Pope on the occasion of his 85th birthday and presented by Enzo Romeo, entitled Benedetto si racconta (Benedict tells his story).

The interviewer had asked the then cardinal Ratzinger: “Do you think you could be elected as a non Italian Pope in the future?” Ratzinger did not exclude the possibility with the papal election result about a month away, following Pope Luciani’s mysterious death but seemed to prefer the idea of an Italian being elected to the position: “Let’s say that broadly speaking it could happen. It has happened in the past. Personally I would not really be in favour of such an election for two reasons. Firstly we must remember that the Pope is the Bishop of Rome. Not only does he have a role that is superior to others, he is also the bishop of a local church, in this case Rome. As bishop of Rome he is also responsible for the Catholic Church in the world. It is important in my opinion to stress the local importance of the papal role. That is that he is first and foremost the bishop of a city and it is crucial to emphasise this.”

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IRELAND
The Association of Catholic Priests

In preparation for Confirmation around the age of ten, Catholic children are taught that this sacrament will confer on them the dignity ‘Temple of the Holy Spirit’. Are they taught how to recognise the Holy Spirit moving within them then? If their hearts were then to burn strongly for other Temples of the Holy Spirit who were violated in the past, or they were to feel a just anger against bishops who knowingly allowed that to happen, or they were to shed tears for the mothers so cruelly betrayed – would any of those manifestations of moral indignation signify to them that the Holy Spirit was now at work within themselves?

I ask this question because of the stunning failure of the apostolic visitation to Ireland to address two other questions: First, why Irish Catholic church administrators, politicians, civil servants and police officers – all also Temples of the Holy Spirit – were not moved to moral outrage and effective action by the cruelties revealed by the series of state reports into abuse: Ferns, Dublin, the Catholic residential institutions and Cloyne.

Second, why it was that the church’s clerical system did not become ostentatious in the cause of child protection until secular courts, media and state forced it to act.

The apostolic visitation to Ireland was itself the product of secular revelation but its summary report shows absolutely no sign of an honest acknowledgement of this. Are Ireland’s young Temples supposed to be forever unable to notice this, and forever unprompted by courage, honesty and love, to ask why?

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UNITED STATES
Talk to Action

Frank Cocozzelli

Thu Apr 12, 2012

In early 1916, the First World War was entering its third year. For over two years the German army had been locked in a stalemate with the forces of Britain and France on the Western Front. The German high command decided on a strategy intended to “bleed France white” by drawing the French Army into a battle of attrition centered on the forts of Verdun. But in pursuit of this strategy, the Germans almost bled themselves out instead.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York, the president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), and the most powerful leader of the the Catholic Church in the United States — may be leading his church towards a similar outcome, having adopted a similar strategy towards groups seeking greater accountability for the Catholic hierarchy’s handling of pedophile clergy.

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CHILE
Puranoticia

A través de un comunicado el Obispado de Valparaíso resolvió dar a conocer la designación de un Promotor de Justicia para investigar la denuncia de abusos sexuales hecha en contra de dos obispos y cinco sacerdotes por el ex seminarista, Mauricio Pulgar Lazo, actual obispo de la “Comunidad Iglesia El Comienzo”, que dio a conocer el audio de la confesión que le hizo el ex cura de Quilpué en el programa “Mentiras Verdaderas” de La Red.

La nota señala que el denunciante ya declaró ante el Promotor de Justicia, que no depende del Obispado porteño, cuya labora sólo esta abocada a indagar las actuaciones “de los sacerdotes y del Seminario, pues la situación de los obispos mencionados por el señor Pulgar depende exclusivamente de la Santa Sede vía Nunciatura Apostólica”.

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UNITED STATES
YouTube

Uploaded by AgendaStevePaikin on Jun 16, 2010

Canon Lawyer Patrick Wall and the latest victims to come forward alleging abuse by Catholic priests, women.

Patrick Wall is a world-renowned expert on the Catholic Clergy Abuse Crisis and has been working on behalf of victims of clergy sexual abuse since 2002. A former Roman Catholic Priest and Benedictine Monk, Wall has a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and a master’s of divinity degree from Saint John’s University in Minnesota.

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ALBANY (NY)
Albany Times Union

April 13, 2012 at 8:00 am by Brendan J. Lyons

ALBANY — The Albany Roman Catholic Diocese on Thursday said an internal review board has determined that a former janitor at a Catholic elementary school in Albany may have sexually abused at least one boy there in the 1970s.

The alleged abuse took place at St. Teresa of Avila, which was located on New Scotland Avenue and has since been closed by the diocese.

Two men, including the victim whose allegation was recently sustained by the diocese, told the Times Union in January that Eugene Hubert, Jr., a former school custodian, sexually abused them when they were 12 and 13 years old. Hubert, who last lived near Warrensburg, Warren County, died in 1997 at the age of 54.

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GEORGIA
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

By Shelia M. Poole
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The Securities and Exchange Commission has filed a complaint alleging that a businessman ran a Ponzi scheme that targeted church investors, including members at Lithonia-based New Birth Missionary Baptist Church.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District in Atlanta, accuses Ephren W. Taylor II, the former CEO of City Capital Corp., of operating a scheme to swindle more than $11 million from predominately African-American church congregations. The SEC complaint follows a suit filed by some New Birth members last year in DeKalb County that named Taylor, the church and its pastor, Bishop Eddie Long, concerning an investment seminar Taylor conducted at the church in 2009.

The SEC complaint alleges that investors’ money was used to pay rent, payroll and expenses at City Capital’s various affiliates. It also alleges that while some of the money was used as promised, Taylor secretly diverted hundreds of thousands of dollars that he used to publish and promote his books, pay credit card bills and rent for his New York apartment, and fund his wife’s singing career.

The complaint, which identifies Taylor as a “self-proclaimed social capitalist,” also names City Capital and Wendy Jean Connor, the firm’s chief operating officer until November 2010.

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CALIFORNIA
Monterey Herald

By JULIA REYNOLDS
Herald Staff Writermontereyherald.com

Months after last year’s bankruptcy filings by two prominent Catholic organizations, the real estate arm of one of them sold two Salinas properties to Palma High School, county records show.

The transfer of the West Acacia Street lots, which include two single-story houses, has plaintiffs’ attorneys asking whether the sale coincided with the hunt for assets by abuse victims seeking restitution in the massive Christian Brothers’ bankruptcy cases.

“The timing is very interesting,” said Michael Pfau, a Seattle attorney involved in the cases.

“What was the purpose of the transfer?” he asked. “We’re going to scrutinize it in light of the national bankruptcy and in light of claims coming forward in multiple states. The question is, is that an effort to keep those assets from being pulled into the bankruptcy case?”

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CHICAGO (IL)
Chcago Sun-Times

By Lauren FitzPatrick Sun-Times Media lfitzpatrick@suntimes.com April 12, 2012

The Irish Christian Brothers, who founded Brother Rice and Leo high schools in Chicago, and St. Laurence High School in Burbank, are trying to cap damages from allegations some members of their order molested the children they taught.

The Brothers are in bankruptcy, having filed for Chapter 11 reorganization protection. And so they’ve set Aug. 1 as the last date anyone can file sex abuse claims against any members of the order.

“After that date, if you’ve been abused, physically or sexually, you will not be able to bring a lawsuit against the Christian Brothers,” said attorney Mark McKenna, who has sued the brothers on behalf of Chicago-area victims.

Over the last several weeks, letters about the case and the deadline were sent to alumni who attended the schools during years when known or alleged abusers were assigned there.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 13 April 2012 (VIS) – The annual report for 2011 on the implementation of the U.S. Church’s “Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People” was presented recently in the United States. The Charter, which advocates a zero tolerance policy, was promulgated by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in 2002 and is observed by all Catholic dioceses in the country. It contains a series of rules and makes prevision for periodic checks to control efficiency and determine the need for any further improvements.

According to an article in the “Osservatore Romano”, the results for 2011 throw light on ongoing efforts to ensure the protection of children and young people from sexual abuse by the clergy, a commitment which constitutes a priority for the local Church. The report shows that almost all the the archdioceses, dioceses and eparchies in the U.S.A. have respected the rules laid down in the Charter. The Charter itself was updated last year by introducing the offence of child pornography, and by placing abuse against people with disabilities on a par with abuse against minors.

The annual report includes 683 new complaints of abuse made by adults, most of which refer to incidents which took place between 1960 and 1984. Assistance programmes have been offered to the people involved and 453 of them have accepted. The report also includes twenty-one accusations presented by minors; some of these have been considered reliable by the police, three have turned out to be false and the rest are still being investigated. As for those accused, 253 have since died, 58 have been reduced to the lay state and 281 have been relieved of their pastoral duties.

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NEDERLAND
Nu

BREDA – Het Openbaar Ministerie in Middelburg heeft de aangifte tegen kardinaal Ad Simonis wegens meineed niet serieus genomen.

Het OM heeft zelf geen enkel onderzoek verricht terwijl daar genoeg reden voor was. Advocaat Niels van Schaik van misbruikslachtoffer Gideon Uvyn uit Breda heeft dat vrijdag gezegd in een eerste reactie op sepot van de aangifte.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Huffington Post

Philadelphia Priest Trial: Mother Of Abuse Victim Stayed Friendly With Accused Reverend James Brennan

By JOANN LOVIGLIO

PHILADELPHIA — A woman whose son gave emotional testimony about his alleged abuse at the hands of a Roman Catholic priest took the stand herself Wednesday at a landmark trial in the priest abuse scandal and said she regrets maintaining contact with the priest for years afterward.

The woman said the Rev. James Brennan was like a brother to her, a confidant and spiritual adviser at a vulnerable time when she was caring for her terminally ill mother and raising three young children, so she remained friendly with him even after her son told her “something weird” happened on an overnight trip with the priest.

“Regrettably, I did not,” she replied Wednesday when asked if she cut ties with Brennan after the alleged 1996 molestation, “and I’ll never forgive myself for it.”

Brennan is on trial with Monsignor William Lynn, the first Roman Catholic official in the U.S. charged with endangering children for allegedly shifting priests suspected of molestation from parish to parish without warning anyone of prior sex-abuse complaints. Both have pleaded not guilty.

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LAS VEGAS (NV)
KTVN

LAS VEGAS (AP) – A Roman Catholic priest from Nevada is due at a low-security federal prison in Texas to begin serving three years and one month for embezzling $650,000 from his Las Vegas parish to support a gambling habit.

Monsignor Kevin McAuliffe’s lawyer, Margaret Stanish, tells The Associated Press the 59-year-old clergy member plans to turn himself in as required Friday at the La Tuna correctional institution in the Texas-New Mexico border town of Anthony.

McAuliffe pleaded guilty in October to federal mail fraud charges for falsifying financial documents sent in 2008, 2009 and 2010 to the Roman Catholic Archdiocese in San Francisco.

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SPAIN
The New York Times

By RAPHAEL MINDER

Published: April 12, 2012

MADRID — An 87-year-old Spanish nun became the first suspect to appear in court Thursday as part of an investigation into at least 1,500 allegations that newborns were abducted and then given or sold for adoption over four decades.

The nun, Sister María Gómez Valbuena, used her right to remain silent before the judge. She then made her way from the Madrid courtroom to a waiting car amid a crowd of journalists and onlookers, some of whom jeered and shouted abuse at her.

Sister Gómez Valbuena was subpoenaed last month after being accused by María Luisa Torres of abducting her baby daughter, born in a Madrid clinic in 1982. Ms. Torres was reunited with her daughter Pilar last summer, after the start of a nationwide campaign to help parents find their abducted children, using DNA testing to confirm parentage.

While the nun refused to testify in court, she issued a statement later in the evening denying any wrongdoing and saying that she found “repugnant'” the idea that a mother could be separated from her baby. She said that she had spent her long life helping the most needy in a disinterested manner, in accordance with her profound religious beliefs.

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IRELAND
The Irish Times

PATSY McGARRY

THE ONLY one of the four-member leadership team of the Association of Catholic Priests absent from yesterday’s press conference was Fr Tony Flannery. He has been advised by Rome to go to a monastery where he might “pray and reflect” on his liberal views and his role with the association.

None of his three colleagues has been spoken to by a superior or advised go to a monastery because of their liberal views or their role with the association. This was confirmed yesterday by Columban priest Fr Seán McDonagh; Fr Brendan Hoban, parish priest at Ballina Co Mayo; and Fr PJ Madden who serves in Graigcullen, Co Carlow.

Members of the association were “not dissenting priests”, Fr Hoban said. “We are reflecting what we have been hearing in parishes for years . . . we have to give voice to the people. The idea of handing down is not going to work. Laity are now far more educated than ever before and have to be given a voice.”

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Bilgrimage

Jerry Slevin has sent another excellent statement about the abuse trial involving the Catholic archdiocese of Philadelphia. The following text is Jerry’s latest commentary on the Philadelphia trial:

The ongoing Philly trial of Msgr. Lynn for the crime of “child endangerment” for allegedly retaining and reassigning known Philly child predator priests over a long period under two Cardinals is unprecedented. The Philly trial is quickly becoming a veritable goldmine of readily available information in English on how top US Catholic Cardinals typically handled abuse cases for over a half century period almost through the present.

For daily reports of key Philly trial events, including today’s major testimony by Fr. Tom Doyle, the world’s leading expert on the priest abuse scandal, please read the brief, but comprehensive, Philadelphia Inquirer’s “Complete Coverage—Clergy Abuse Case,” accessible at this link.

The broad domestic and international backgrounds of the Philly Archdiocese Cardinals in charge during the period implicated in the current trial (Cardinal Krol, 1961 to 1988, Cardinal Bevilacqua, 1988 to 2003, and Cardinal Rigali, 2003 to 2011) make these Cardinals’ dismal “abusive priest management” records a fair and representative case study of senior Catholic hierarchical policy and practice during this half century period by top US Cardinals.

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IRELAND
The Cork News

Priests will be as “rare as hens’ teeth” in 30 years if a number of issues are not addressed, according to a Youghal chaplain.

Fr Joseph McGuane was speaking following a new survey that shows the majority of Irish Catholics believe priests should be allowed to marry and female priests should be introduced. The survey commissioned by the Association of Catholic Priests revealed that 87% of Catholics believe priests should marry and 77% thought that women should be allowed to be ordained into the priesthood.

Additional information showed that 72% felt mature men should be allowed to be ordained and 60% thought that clustering of parishes might overcome the priest shortage.

Fr McGuane told the Cork News that he was “not surprised” by the findings, agreeing that it was the public view that equality should exist within the Church. He added that he could foresee changes happening “eventually” in the coming years, albeit only after major restructuring occurred. “In 1960, there were 80 ordinations in Maynooth, while in 1970, there were 38. In 2007, there were only four,” he said. “I’m 66 now, and was ordained in 1970. This shortage of priests has been an issue since then. If it’s to continue on this path, priests will be as rare as hens’ teeth and I’d say we will be an endangered species.”

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

[with video]

Henrietta Cook and Maris Beck
April 13, 2012

Police are compiling a report for the coroner on suicides linked to sexual abuse in the Catholic church but say a broader inquiry into clergy abuse is a matter for the government.

Victoria Police Deputy Commissioner Graham Ashton said the investigation was close to making a recommendation and would deliver a report to the coroner in the next few weeks.

“What no doubt the coroner and the government are wrestling with at the moment is what’s the best outcome for victims,” he said.

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

The Victorian government is under renewed pressure to launch an inquiry into sexual abuse perpetrated by some Catholic clergy.

Secret police reports detail the suicides of at least 40 people sexually abused by Catholic clergy, according to Fairfax.

One of the reports notes the Catholic Church would have known about Brother Robert Best and Father Gerard Ridsdale, both convicted pedophiles, but chose to remain silent.

An inquiry into how religious groups respond to child abuse within their ranks is one of the key recommendations of a review into Victoria’s child protection system.

It is understood there is deep division within government over whether or not there should be an inquiry.

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TEXAS
Lubbock Avalanche-Journal

NEW BRAUNFELS — A Christian school in Houston has been sued after some fourth-graders became pen pals with a jailed man later convicted of child abuse.

Officials with Trinity Lutheran Church and School say teacher Laura Perry put together the voluntary project and is a family friend of 55-year-old Rickey Rowlett.

Perry, who allegedly told students Rowlett was falsely accused, is no longer with the school. School administrators said Wednesday the project was unacceptable and security has been updated.

Jurors in New Braunfels on March 22 sentenced Rowlett to 50 years in prison after his conviction for sexual abuse of a girl. Investigators discovered the letters following the conviction.

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

Friday, April 13, 2012

In recent days, we have again seen how an authoritarian Vatican responds to those who question the assertions it regards as absolute truths.

We have seen how it neutralises those who belive that institutions, even the Catholic Church, must evolve if they are to remain relevant in a quickly changing world.

Redemptorist Fr Tony Flannery has been silenced and censured for expressing views at variance with those endorsed as orthodox by Rome’s ruling executive.

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith — charged with policing Catholic teaching and doctrine as well censuring theological challenge — has intervened to stop Fr Flannery writing on various subjects — contraception, priests’ vow of celibacy and the ordination of women to the priesthood. It has also suggested that he quit the Association of Catholic Priests which he helped establish in 2009 to represent priests and promote Vatican II reforms.

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SCOTLAND
stv

A church youth leader has been jailed for the sustained sexual abuse of two young girls which began when he was just 14.

One of Alexander Taylor’s victims was only five years old when he began abusing her, while the other was 12.

Taylor was 14 when the offending began in 2001, but it continued until he was 20.

When police detained him last year, he confessed to them he had done something “horribly, horribly wrong”.

The 25-year-old, of Chapelhill Road, Fraserburgh, was jailed for 32 months at the High Court in Edinburgh on Friday after he admitted two counts of indecency towards the children.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

By John P. Martin and Joseph A. Slobodzian
Inquirer Staff Writers

Cardinal Anthony J. Bevilacqua broke civil and church laws when he ordered aides in 1994 to shred a list identifying dozens of Philadelphia-area priests suspected of molesting children, an expert on canon law and clergy sex abuse testified Thursday.

“That was like obstructing justice cubed,” the Rev. Thomas P. Doyle told a Common Pleas Court jury. “He’s got a list of men who may have abused children – and he’s going to shred it?”

The assertion thrust the late cardinal squarely into the spotlight for the first time in the landmark child-sex-abuse and endangerment trial against his former secretary for clergy, Msgr. William J. Lynn.

And though an attorney for Lynn strove to paint Bevilacqua as a bossy micromanager who dictated how the Archdiocese of Philadelphia handled abuse cases, Doyle wouldn’t give Lynn a pass.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

[with video]

Melbourne’s Catholic Archbishop has denied the church covered up claims of sexual abuse by clergy.

A police report linking dozens of suicides to sexual abuse by clergymen will be passed onto the state coroner for further investigation, Victoria Police said on Friday.

Deputy Commissioner Graham Ashton said the Catholic Church had a duty to report any allegations as soon as it became aware of them and in the past the church had often waited for victims to come forward to police.

Archbishop Denis Hart said the Catholic Church had a good relationship with police and fully co-operated with investigations.

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AUSTRALIA
The Courier

CONFIDENTIAL police reports have detailed the suicides of at least 40 people sexually abused by Catholic clergy in Victoria, and have urged a new inquiry into these and many other deaths suspected to be linked to abuse in the church.

In a damning assessment of the church’s handling of abuse issues, reported in The Age today, the reports say it appears the church has known about a shockingly high rate of suicides and premature deaths but has “chosen to remain silent.”

Written by Detective Sergeant Kevin Carson, the reports state that while conducting lengthy inquiries into paedophile clergy, investigators have discovered “an inordinate number of suicides which appear to be a consequence of sexual offending.

“The number of people contacting this office to report members of their family, people they know, people they went to school with, who have taken their lives is constant. It would appear that an investigation would uncover many more deaths as a consequence of clergy sexual abuse,” one of the reports states.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

[with video]

Victorian Premier Ted Baillieu has hinted at an inquiry into sex abuse within the Catholic church.

Police first revealed on 7.30 Victoria last July that dozens of suicides were linked to sex abuse by Catholic clergy.

The Age newspaper has revived the case today, citing increased pressure for an inquiry.

Mr Baillieu called it a “significant cause for concern” for the Government.

He says the Cummins Inquiry on protecting vulnerable children recommended further examination of the issue. But he stopped short of promising an inquiry.

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UNITED STATES
Wall Street Journal

By ANNE HENDERSHOTT AND CHRISTOPHER WHITE

In his Holy Thursday homily at St. Peter’s Basilica on April 5, Pope Benedict XVI denounced calls from some Catholics for optional celibacy among priests and for women’s ordination. The pope said that “true renewal” comes only through the “joy of faith” and “radicalism of obedience.”

And renewal is coming. After the 2002 scandal about sexual abuse by clergy, progressive Catholics were predicting the end of the celibate male priesthood in books like “Full Pews and Empty Altars” and “The Death of Priesthood.” Yet today the number of priestly ordinations is steadily increasing.

A new seminary is to be built near Charlotte, N.C., and the archdiocese of Washington, D.C., has expanded its facilities to accommodate the surge in priestly candidates. Boston’s Cardinal Sean Patrick O’Malley recently told the National Catholic Register that when he arrived in 2003 to lead that archdiocese he was advised to close the seminary. Now there are 70 men in Boston studying to be priests, and the seminary has had to turn away candidates for lack of space.

According to the Vatican’s Central Office of Church Statistics, there were more than 5,000 more Catholic priests world-wide in 2009 than there were in 1999. This is welcome news for a growing Catholic population that has suffered through a real shortage of priests.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

April 12, 2012|By David O’Reilly, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

The Archdiocese of Philadelphia has named three new members to its Archdiocesan Review Board, the 12-member panel that advises Archbishop Charles J. Chaput on issues related to allegations of clergy sexual abuse.

The appointees are:

Stacey Ginesin, a member of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s Sexual Offender Assessment Board;

Bebe Kivitz, a lawyer and former prosecutor and former chief of the child-abuse unit in the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office;

Robert L. Sadoff, a professor of forensic psychiatry at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

[with video]

Nick McKenzie, Richard Baker and Jane Lee
April 13, 2012

CONFIDENTIAL police reports have detailed the suicides of at least 40 people sexually abused by Catholic clergy in Victoria, and have urged a new inquiry into these and many other deaths suspected to be linked to abuse in the church.

In a damning assessment of the church’s handling of abuse issues, the reports say it appears the church has known about a shockingly high rate of suicides and premature deaths but has “chosen to remain silent.”

Written by Detective Sergeant Kevin Carson, the reports state that while conducting lengthy inquiries into paedophile clergy, investigators have discovered “an inordinate number of suicides which appear to be a consequence of sexual offending.

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INDIA
Free Malaysia News

Gautaman Bhaskaran
| April 13, 2012

The Catholic Church in Kerala has been under a magnifying glass for some years now following autobiographies published by members of the church.

Years ago, the whispers doing the rounds at a Catholic college in Kolkata, where I studied, were about the sexual affairs between priests and nuns. Or, between mothers/sisters and fathers/brothers.

Since those were not days of bold media exposes, these alleged affairs remained behind closed doors, far away from public gaze. I presume the priests and nuns had their “fun” and minded their business.

I must, however, admit that they were excellent teachers, just excellent and absolutely dedicated to the cause of education. So nobody bothered about their activities outside the classroom.

Now into the 21st century, India is a different place altogether where television and print are extraordinarily gutsy and do not hesitate to air or write about the most salacious of happenings.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

[with audio]

Updated April 13, 2012

Victoria Police is preparing a report for the coroner into dozens of suicides linked to sexual abuse by the Catholic clergy. The long running police investigation could lead to a coronial inquest, that will look for systemic abuse issues within the Catholic Church.

Liz Hobday

Transcript

KIM LANDERS: Police in Victoria are preparing a report for the coroner into dozens of suicides linked to alleged sexual abuse by the Catholic clergy.

The long running police investigation could lead to a coronial inquest that will look for systemic abuse issues within the Catholic Church.

The police brief also means there’s further pressure on the Victorian Government to hold a wide-ranging inquiry into clergy abuse.

As Liz Hobday reports.

LIZ HOBDAY: Victoria Police Deputy Commissioner Graham Ashton says a recommendation to the Coroner on suicides linked to Catholic clergy abuse is not far away.

GRAHAM ASHTON: What we are doing at the moment is what we are examining what is in those reports and whether they do link to systemic behaviour by the Catholic Church in that area and we do see that linkage then we will be asking the coroner to make an assessment on whether she needs to reopen.

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PENNSYLVANIA
The Patriot-News

By MATTHEW KEMENY, The Patriot-News

It took decades for a Bethlehem man to come forward with his story.

The man, now in his 70s, reached out to Tammy Vonada Lerner, vice president of the Foundation to Abolish Child Sex Abuse, and told her he was “sick of living like this.”

He said he couldn’t even allow his grandchildren to sit on his lap because it reminded him of how his priest molested him many years ago, Lerner recalled.

The case, explained at a Patriot-News Editorial Board meeting Thursday, illustrates the difficulty victims often have in coming forward to report abuse and the need for reforms to the state’s statute-of-limitations laws for civil litigation, Lerner said.

“It runs counter to the nature of the crime,” she said. “It’s insidious in that it takes decades for a person to understand how [the abuse] has impacted their lives.”

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Washington Post

Canon law expert: Shredding list of 35 accused Phila. priests ‘obstruction of justice cubed’

By Associated Press, Updated: Friday, April 13

PHILADELPHIA — An expert on “canon” law angrily called it “obstruction of justice, cubed” for a Roman Catholic archbishop to have shredded a list of 35 active priests accused of molesting children.

Defense lawyers for Monsignor William Lynn say he prepared such a list in 1994 based on secret archives at the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and gave it to the late Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua. Bevilacqua ordered his top aides to destroy it, according to church documents aired in court.

The Rev. Thomas Doyle, an expert on Roman Catholic law, testified at Lynn’s child-endangerment trial Thursday. Lynn, 61, is the first Catholic church official in the U.S. charged with child endangerment for allegedly failing to protect children from suspected priest-predators.

Church law requires church officials to investigate the complaints, Doyle said. And the archbishop — following the teachings of Christ — should have sought out victims to offer pastoral care, he added.

“He’s got a list of men who are sexually abusing children, and he’s going to shred it?” an incredulous Doyle asked on cross-examination from defense lawyers.

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AUSTRALIA
The Telegraph

THE Australian public would be horrified at the extent of sexual abuse likely to be revealed by an inquiry into the Catholic clergy, says a lawyer mounting a case for compensation against the church.

Vivian Waller, who represents 45 victims who are suing the church, has joined the call for an inquiry following a police report linking dozens of suicides to sexual abuse by clergymen.

Victims in the civil suit include former students of four Catholic schools in Victoria and a Melbourne church orphanage.

Most of the cases concern assaults committed by convicted Catholic clergymen Robert Charles Best and former priest Gerald Ridsdale.

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STOCKTON (CA)
The Record

By Jennie Rodriguez-Moore
Record Staff Writer

April 13, 2012

STOCKTON – A Catholic priest recently found liable for sexually assaulting an altar boy by a civil jury had been sent to a behavioral health center to be evaluated on his sexual deposition several years before the alleged rape occurred.

The former priest of St. Joachim Church in Lockeford, Michael Kelly, showed pedophilic traits in a psychological evaluation ordered by the Diocese of Stockton, but the test results were inconclusive, said John Manly, who is representing the former altar boy.

Manly said that should have been a warning sign.

Manly’s client, now 37 years old, said he was molested and raped by Kelly more than 20 years ago while they both served at Cathedral of the Annunciation.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Daily News

CARDINAL ANTHONY J. Bevilacqua broke civil and church laws when he ordered aides in 1994 to shred a list that identified dozens of Philadelphia-area priests suspected of molesting children, an expert on canon law and clergy sex abuse testified on Thursday.

“That was like obstructing justice cubed,” the Rev. Thomas P. Doyle told a Common Pleas jury. “He’s got a list of men who may have abused children, and he’s going to shred it?”

The assertion thrust the late cardinal squarely into the spotlight for the first time in the landmark child-sex-abuse and endangerment trial against his former secretary for clergy, Monsignor William J. Lynn.

And although an attorney for Lynn strove to paint Bevilacqua as a bossy micromanager who dictated how the Archdiocese of Philadelphia handled abuse cases, Doyle wouldn’t give Lynn a pass.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Priest Abuse Trial Blog

Ralph Cipriano

A priest who is an expert on canon law testified Thursday that in his opinion, the late Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua was guilty of obstructing justice when he ordered the shredding of a confidential memo in 1994 that listed 35 archdiocese priests accused of sex abuse.

Father Thomas P. Doyle, an outspoken advocate for victims of clerical sex abuse, was asked on cross-examination what advice he would have given Bevilacqua.

“He’s got a list of 35 men who are sexually abusing children, and he’s going to shred it?” Doyle asked incredulously.

“No way,” Father Doyle told the jury. “That’s like obstruction of justice.”

Father Doyle said his advice to Bevilacqua, who died Jan. 31, would have been to take off his gold ring and bishop’s robes, and go visit the families of the victims. Instead, by shredding the memo, Doyle said, the cardinal destroyed evidence.

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IRELAND
Gibralta Chronicle

The vast majority of Irish Catholics want women and married priests, liberal clergymen have found.

The Association of Catholic Priests (ACP), which has had one of its founding members silenced by the Vatican for his views, insists it has public support for Pope Benedict to open dialogue on the controversial bans.

The group of more than 800 priests in Ireland claimed they have a mandate from mass-goers to raise concerns after a survey revealed a disconnect between official church teachings and what ordinary Catholics believe.

Almost nine out of 10 Catholics questioned said priests should be allowed to marry, with 77% believing women should be ordained.

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AUSTRALIA
SBS

Published – 13 April 2012

The Victorian government is under renewed pressure to launch an inquiry into sexual abuse perpetrated by some Catholic clergy. The state’s police today revealed they are compiling a report for the coroner on dozens of suicides linked to sexual abuse within the church.

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AUSTRALIA
SBS

[with video]

Calls for an inquiry into sexual abuse by Catholic clergy have accompanied the revelation of a police dossier on the deaths of 40 victims.

The Australian public would be horrified at the extent of sexual abuse likely to be revealed by an inquiry into the Catholic clergy, says a lawyer mounting a case for compensation against the church.

Vivian Waller, who represents 45 victims who are suing the church, has joined the call for an inquiry following a police report linking dozens of suicides to sexual abuse by clergymen.

Victims in the civil suit include former students of four Catholic schools in Victoria and a Melbourne church orphanage.

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

[with video]

By Mike Hedge, AAP Updated April 13, 2012

Melbourne’s Catholic archbishop denies the church covered up sexual abuse by clergy, saying it has nothing to hide amid a possible coronial and wider inquiry.

A police report linking dozens of suicides to sexual abuse by clergymen will be passed on to the Victorian coroner for further investigation.

Senior police said the Catholic Church had a duty to report any allegations as soon as it became aware of them and in the past the church had often waited for victims to come forward to police.

But Archbishop Denis Hart said the church had fully cooperated with investigations.

“I reject absolutely the allegations that the Melbourne archdiocese has covered up crimes,” he told reporters on Friday.

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SACRAMENTO (CA)
The Sacramento Bee

The Rev. Uriel Ojeda, the Catholic priest accused of molesting girl when he worked at parishes in Woodland and Redding, entered a not guilty plea today in Sacramento Superior Court.

Judge John P. Winn then scheduled Ojeda’s preliminary hearing for June 8. The hearing will determine whether Ojeda, 32, will stand trial on the seven molestation counts.

The complaint against Ojeda charges that he molested the girl, who was under the age of 14 at the time of all of the allegations, three times in Sacramento County and four times in Shasta County.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
The Irish Times

CONOR LALLY

An inquiry being carried out by the Archdiocese of Armagh into how gay pornographic images were “inadvertently” shown by a priest to a group of parents and one child has apparently been derailed after the laptop at the centre of the matter was stolen from the priest’s house.

The computer is believed to have been the only item stolen and the PSNI has made a public appeal to help solve the crime.

On March 26th a number of gay images were shown during a slideshow about children’s First Confession. The priest said he had no idea where the images came from and the memory stick on which they were placed was used by a number of people.

The images, which caused concern to those present, were immediately removed from the screen. There is no suggestion they were of minors and no suggestion they were illegal.

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MARTINEZ (CA)
Patch

White Rabbit Boutique will be hosting a book signing for Martinez’ own, Joey Piscitelli, Author of the book “A Witch Wins Justice” at White Rabbit Boutique on Saturday, April 28 from 2 PM to 4 PM.

The book is a true story of our own local, Joey Piscitelli’s childhood abuse by the Salesian Order of Catholic priests when he went to an all-boys parochial school in Richmond, California. He was raised a devout Catholic as was his family. He was raised to revere priests as next to God. When he experienced the abuse, he could not tell anyone for fear of retaliation. His mother worked for the church and any problems he caused would surely cost her the job and he would get kicked out of school. He could not tell his father or his mother because he was afraid. As he grew older, he dare not tell his family because he was afraid any action against the abusing priest would mean a life in prison for his father who surely would kill the abuser.

This reminds me of the story of Ellie Nessler who in 1993 in Jamestown, California, shot and killed the man who sexually abused four boys, one of which was her six year old son. Most people felt she was justified. I was one of them, I am afraid. Mothers want to protect their children and keep them free of harm. The animal instinct takes over and God help the person who hurt their children. All logical thinking goes out the window and revenge is all that you can think of.

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CHILE
ACI Prensa

SANTIAGO, 11 Abr. 12 / 03:35 pm (ACI/EWTN Noticias).- El Obispado de Valparaíso en la quinta región de Chile respondió a través de una declaración a las acusaciones hechas por un ex seminarista y ahora líder protestante, que ha denunciado a dos obispos y 5 sacerdotes por supuestos abusos sexuales.

El Obispado de Valparaíso reafirmó en su comunicado emitido el 10 de abril y publicado en el sitio web de la Conferencia Episcopal de Chile –firmado por el Vicario General del Obispado de Valparaíso, Mons. Leopoldo Núñez Huerta– que apuntan a saber la verdad de los hechos.

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