ABUSE TRACKER

ROME
Vatican Insider

Magistrates inspect the crypt of St. Apollinaris, where De Pedis, the leader of Banda della Magliana, is buried. According to Pietro Orlandi “that shameful burial is the true knot of the interlacing of State, Church and Crime”

Giacomo Galeazzi
Vatican City

The door that keads onto the piazza is closed off. From the courtyard of the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, students come in dribs and drabs for Eucharistic adoration, and the rector of the basilica, Fr. Pedro Huidobro, has just put on his vestments. It is the first time in 29 years that Pietro Orlandi has set foot in the church that may hold the secret of the disappearance of his 14-year old sister. Buried inside the crypt is Banda Magliana boss Renatino De Pedis, and the Public Prosecutor of Rome has given the Vicariate “clearance” to inspect the tomb. It had already taken DNA from Pietro and the other family members of the girl from the Vatican City who vanished in front of the church assigned to Opus Dei, just a few steps from Piazza Navona and the Senate.

“The burial of the boss De Pedis in a place intended for popes and cardinals is, I think, the true knot of the interlacing between Church, State, and the criminals that took away my sister Emanuela 28 years ago,” says Pietro. The Acting Public Prosecutor of Rome, Giancarlo Capaldo, has met twice with the rector of St. Apollinaris, who has been very cooperative about opening the tomb which an anonymous tip said contains traces of Emanuela. “I am with you and your family, for you the doors of this church will always be open,” assured Father Huidobro, who is also a coroner, to Pietro Orlandi, who this afternoon will lead a demonstration in front of the basilica. “Like you, I also want the grave opened and want to shed light on this matter,” the rector added, expressing “respect and closeness for people who have suffered so much.”

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BELGIEN
L’essentiel

ARLON – Als Jugendlicher wurde Joël Devillet von einem Priester regelmäßig missbracht. Es dauerte 15 Jahre, bis der Täter verurteilt wurde. 0 Kommentare

In seiner Jugend wurde der 38-jährige Joël Devillet in seiner Zeit als Messdiener regelmäßig vom Priester seiner Gemeinde Aubange missbraucht. Vor Kurzem wurde nach 15 Jahren Prozessdauer das Urteil gesprochen. Der Geistliche Gilbert Hubermont wurde für schuldig befunden und muss seinem Opfer 70 000 Euro zahlen. «Ich bin erleichtert, dass endlich seine Schuld anerkannt wurde», sagt Joël Devillet, der heute in Brüssel lebt. «Aber ich habe ihn nicht des Geldes wegen juristisch verfolgt. Ich wollte, dass jeder weiß, was er getan hat und er selbst seine Taten zugibt.»

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UNITED STATES
Pope Crimes & Vatican Evils…

Paris Arrow

Updated January 20, 2012

96,000 postcards were sent to Ireland’s prime minister protesting the closing of country’s Embassy to the Holy See…so what? Will these same fanatic Catholics be willing to pay out of their own wallets the 1.25 million euro to maintain an Irish Embassy in Rome? Or are they going to force Irish secular people to pay for it ? According to Wikipedia, the population of Ireland is approximately 6.4 million. Just under 4.6 million live in the Republic of Ireland and just under 1.8 million live in Northern Ireland. therefore 96,000 is barely 1% of the population.

The Taoiseach, Prime Minister Edna must keep his words as a man of integrity when he officially declared within the chambers of the Irish Parliament and before the world – that “the Cloyne Report excavates the dysfunction, disconnection, elitism….the narcissism that dominate the culture of the Vatican to this day.

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BELGIQUE
Le Soir

RICARDO GUTIERREZ

jeudi 19 janvier 2012

Chaque évêché semble devoir y passer. L’un après l’autre. Méthodiquement. Le juge d’instruction bruxellois Wim De Troy, sanctionné voici peu pour ses méthodes de cow-boy, semble opérer, cette fois, dans les règles de l’art. Et sous le contrôle permanent du procureur fédéral, Johan Delmul.

Reste que les perquisitions à répétition de ces trois derniers jours interpellent. Des catholiques s’en émeuvent. Ils y voient comme un acharnement judiciaire, accusent le juge de « vouloir faire le procès de l’Histoire », d’un passé révolu.

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BELGIQUE
L’Avenir

Samuel SINTE

NAMUR – Curé à Flawinne dans les années nonante, il reconnaît des attentats à la pudeur commis sur de jeunes garçons en âge de confirmation.

Les faits remontent à 1992-1993. Si l’affaire arrive seulement aujourd’hui devant le tribunal correctionnel, c’est parce que la plainte à la base du dossier est intervenue tardivement.

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UNITED STATES
America’s Most Wanted

Cops: Con Man Posed as Pastor

Charismatic and cunning, Las Vegas Pastor Otis Holland is on the run after members of his church between the ages of 13 and 16 accused him of sexual abuse. The revelation of Holland’s relationship with his young parishioners has opened a Pandora’s box that has left Holland’s entire congregation stunned and shamed. Police say this is not a case of a man of the cloth falling from grace.

“He was a con man, and he used the church front for his schemes,” said Kevin Abernathy of the Henderson Police Department, the lead investigator on the case. “In the 19 years that I’ve been on the job, I would rank this as probably the worst case I’ve dealt with as far as a predator identifying and abusing victims.” said Abernathy.

Trusted Minster becomes Alleged Predator

Otis Holland’s journey from trusted minister to alleged predator started in the late 1990s, when he founded United Faith Church. Holland broke off from a ministry headed by his mother. That’s also where he found his first members. Karla Grajeda was among a group of teenagers who looked to Holland for guidance.

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IOWA
KCCI

PELLA, Iowa — A former Pella pastor accused of sexually assaulting and exploiting women in his congregation is slated to go on trial this spring.

The Des Moines Register says a May 14 trial is set for 42-year-old Patrick Edouard in Dallas County District Court. Eduard’s trial, which was moved from Marion County, had been scheduled to start this week.

Edouard is charged with three counts of sexual abuse and four counts of sexual exploitation by a counselor or therapist. Documents say the alleged crimes occurred from 2003 to 2010.

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UNITED STATES
The Salt Lake Tribune

Lindsay Whitehurst

With the news that followers of Warren Jeffs are taking his revelations to the people in the form of quarter-page ads in newspapers (including this one) all over the country, I thought it would be a good time to launch something I’ve been working on a while.

The big Warren Jeffs revelations calendar. Take a look at it here. (switch it to month view to get the full effect).

I’ve read through all the packets received by the Utah Attorney General’s Office (the same ones that have been sent out to the thousands of government officials, librarians, and other people from Missouri to Boston).

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LAS VEGAS (NV)
8 News Now

By Nathan Baca, Investigative Reporter

LAS VEGAS — Polygamist leader Warren Jeffs is making what former members of his church call a “last ditch” effort to raise money as he serves time in prison.

An advertisement appeared in Friday’s Review-Journal which gives southern Nevadans the opportunity to buy church proclamations ranging in price from $3 to $10.

Leaders of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, known as FLDS, did not return 8 News NOW calls.

Church membership is estimated to be between 10,000 and 15,000 members. The I-Team talked to a member of the Child Protection Project who was a child bride in the FLDS church before leaving.

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IDAHO
Idaho Statesman

Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012

Faithful followers of imprisoned polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs are making his apocalyptic writings available to the public through the ads, The Associated Press reported.

Where did they appear? In Friday editions of The Washington Post, The New York Times, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, The Salt Lake Tribune and other newspapers, including the Idaho Statesman. The ads will run again in the Statesman on Sunday.

Why publish them? “We did not make the decision to run this ad lightly, but we do support and believe in free speech and freedom of religion,” said Travis Quast, Statesman sales and marketing vice president. “While we may not all agree with this group and what they believe, we found nothing offensive in their ad that would have kept us from publishing it.”

How did readers respond? A dozen called or emailed the Statesman with concerns about the ad; two canceled their subscriptions.

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SANTA FEE (NM)
KOB

By: Joe Vigil, KOB Eyewitness News 4

People prayed in the hometown of former Santa Fe Archbishop Robert Sanchez Friday night.

A small group gathered outside San Miguel Mission Church in Socorro to remember the 77-year-old who passed away on Friday.

Sanchez was baptized there and performed many baptisms at the church.

Gene Romero said her daughter was baptized by Sanchez in 1960.

Friday night Romero told KOB Eyewitness News 4, “My daughter was getting baptized when he first came back from Rome. And we named her after him. His name is Robert and we named her Roberta. She was 19-days-old at the time. He is going to be very well missed and I’m fortunate to have known him.”

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NEW MEXICO
Santa Fe New Mexican

1934: Born in Socorro, N.M.

1959: Ordained as priest after studying at the Immaculate Heart of Mary Seminary in Santa Fe and the Pontifical North American College in Rome, where he earned degrees in philosophy and theology.

1974: Appointed archbishop of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe to succeed Archbishop James Peter Davis. At the time, Sanchez was serving as parish priest at San Felipe de Neri Church in Albuquerque. He was the first Hispanic archbishop in the U.S. and, at the age of 40, one of the youngest.

1970s: Begins having sexual relationships with at least three women sometime after becoming archbishop.

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SANTA FE (NM)
KOAT

[with video]

SANTA FE — New Mexicans had mixed reactions on Friday upon learning of a former Santa Fe archbishop’s death.

Archbishop Robert Sanchez led the Santa Fe Archdiocese for nearly two decades.
Sanchez was forced to resign in 1993 after word leaked he was not only having relationships with women, but that more and more priests under his watch were being accused of horrific sex crimes against children.

“Whenever something from the abuse age comes back up again, it’s repeated hurt for people that were victimized,” said Mike Mellinger, the head of the local chapter of Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests.

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WYOMING
Billings Gazette

By WILLIAM BROWNING Casper Star-Tribune | Posted: Friday, January 20, 2012

CASPER — A Colorado woman has filed a lawsuit against a deacon at a local church alleging the church official “imposed a sexual relationship” on her after she was referred to him for counseling a decade ago.

The lawsuit claims that Donald Morris Stewart, a deacon at St. Anthony’s Catholic Church, began the sexual relationship after the woman started receiving counseling from him in 2002.

The eight-page lawsuit was filed Tuesday in the U.S. District of Wyoming. St. Anthony’s Catholic Church and the Diocese of Cheyenne are named as defendants in the suit, as well.

“Stewart imposed a sexual relationship during plaintiff’s church-sanctioned bereavement counseling with (the woman),” the lawsuits states. “The other defendants knew or should have known of this inappropriate and meretricious sexual relationship imposed upon plaintiff by Stewart in the course and scope of his employment.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
Harrow Observer

Jan 20 2012 By Ian Proctor

A FORMER deputy headteacher has walked free from court after a jury found him not guilty of a series of historical child sex abuse.

David Griffiths, of Thistlecroft Gardens, Stanmore, emerged an innocent man following the conclusion of the trial at Wood Green Crown Court in east London.

Mr Griffiths, who had denied all the historical child sex allegations against him, was found not guilty of the last remaining charge – indecency with a child – today. …

He also had a voluntary role in child protection at a local church, as well as assisting with a range of other projects at the church.

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ILLINOIS
Naperville Sun

BY BILL BIRD wbird@stmedianetwork.com January 20, 2012

A onetime minister and community college professor convicted of sexually molesting a girl from Naperville could be sentenced Friday to as much as seven years in prison for his crimes.

DuPage County Circuit Court Judge Daniel P. Guerin will decide the fate of James W. French, 64, the founding pastor of an upstate church and an adjunct professor of U.S. history and Western and Eastern civilization at Rock Valley College in Rockford.

The victim’s father on Wednesday told Guerin how French sexually abused his daughter “for about a year, in multiple counties and states.” The girl “eventually came to believe that if she did not say something, at some point what happened to her would most likely happen” to her siblings, the father said in a written, victim impact statement.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Cape Cod Times

By sean teehan
steehan@capecodonline.com

January 21, 2012

A Barnstable County grand jury has indicted a Cape Cod music instructor on more than a dozen counts of sexual abuse of two young students.

Stephen B. Lindberg, 55, of Marstons Mills will likely be arraigned on four counts of rape of a child, six counts of indecent assault and battery on a person under the age of 14, three counts of indecent assault and battery on a person over the age of 14 and one count of violating a restraining order, Cape and Islands Assistant District Attorney Sharon Thibeault said.

“My client vigorously denies these charges,” said William A. Korman, Lindberg’s defense attorney. “Based on the nature of the charges, we’re not surprised the district attorney decided to present evidence to a grand jury.” …

At the time of his arrest, Lindberg was working as music director at Unity on Cape Cod church in Hyannis. The Rev. Steve Cordry, the church’s pastor, said he fired Lindberg, who held the position on a contract basis since 2007, when he became aware of the charges against him.

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TEXAS
El Paso Times

By Diana Washington Valdez / El Paso Times
Posted: 01/20/2012

The El Paso Catholic Diocese will pay $1.6 million as part of a legal settlement involving allegations of sexual impropriety against former Cathedral High School Principal Samuel Martinez, according to an announcement today by the T.O. Gilstrap law firm.

The lawsuit alleged that Martinez abused numerous boys, including the two plaintiffs who brought the suit, during his tenure at the school. Martinez served as the principal between 1976 and 1985.

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NEW MEXICO
Santa Fe New Mexican

Steve Terrell | The New Mexican
Posted: Friday, January 20, 2012

For nearly 20 years, Archbishop Robert Fortune Sanchez was a figure of inspiration for thousands.

As the nation’s first Hispanic archbishop, the Socorro native was known for establishing the first Archdiocesan Youth Conference. He instituted the first Native American liturgy at the cathedral in Santa Fe and apologized to American Indians for abuses by the church that went back to the Spanish colonial era. He appointed a commission to preserve New Mexico’s historic churches. On Sanchez’s watch, the archdiocese built new parishes in Santa Fe and Albuquerque.

But despite those accomplishments Sanchez is destined to be remembered mainly for resigning in disgrace for a double-headed sex scandal that shook New Mexico in the early 1990s.

First there were the seemingly endless lawsuits against the archdiocese filed by or on behalf of children who had been sexually abused by priests. Many of these had a common thread — Sanchez did little or nothing when informed of the allegations against pedophile priests.

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NEW MEXICO
ABQJournal

By Olivier Uyttebrouck / Journal Staff Writeron Sat, Jan 21, 2012

The Rev. Robert Fortune Sanchez became a state hero in 1974 when he was ordained as the first New Mexico-born Archbishop of Santa Fe and the first Hispanic in the nation to hold the post.

He resigned in disgrace in 1993 as part of a sex scandal that took a heavy toll on the church.

The ordination of Sanchez, then 40, as the nation’s youngest archbishop drew 14,000 jubilant New Mexicans to the Pit at the University of New Mexico.

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CANADA/UNITED STATES
Vancouver Sun

By Daphne Bramham, Vancouver Sun January 21, 2012

An American priest, who has been financially supported for the past five years by the priest and parishioners of a Vancouver Catholic church, has been convicted of sexually molesting a minor by an ecclesiastical tribunal in Pennsylvania.

In its decision, reached last October, the tribunal recommended to the Vatican that Eric Ensey be dismissed as a priest.

“The tribunal reached moral certitude that Ensey had indeed committed the offences of which he was accused,” Fr. Tom Doyle wrote in letters sent last week to Vancouver Archbishop Michael Miller and John Hor-gan, the priest at Saints Peter and Paul Church.

Doyle, a Dominican priest and canonical lawyer, represented the victims.

“I realize that Ensey and his cohorts continue to insist on their innocence,” he wrote. “They have masked themselves with a deceitful veil of traditional orthodoxy, which has proven successful in duping a number of people. Unfortunately there is overwhelming evidence to the contrary.”

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NEW MEXICO
Santa Fe New Mexican

ALBUQUERQUE — Former Santa Fe Archbishop Robert Fortune Sanchez, who became the nation’s first Hispanic bishop in 1974 and headed New Mexico’s largest Catholic diocese for nearly two decades before resigning over sex allegations, has died. He was 77.

He was surrounded by his family when he died Friday in Albuquerque, said officials with the Archdiocese of Santa Fe. It did not release the cause of death but said Sanchez had been ill.

“I ask for prayers for the repose of his soul and the comfort and consolation of his family members,” Archbishop Michael Sheehan said in a statement.

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TEXAS
KVIA

EL PASO, Texas — The Catholic Diocese of El Paso has paid $1.6 million in a sexual abuse lawsuit involving two former Cathedral High School students.

Clark Harmonson, a partner with the T.O. Gilstrap law firm confirmed the payment to two men who were allegedly molested by then-Principal Samuel Martinez in 1978 and 1982.

Martinez was a member of a religious order called the Christian Brothers, whose mission is education and teaching, It operated Cathedral High School under contract from the Diocese.

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UNITED STATES
Washington Post

By Associated Press, Updated: Friday, January 20

SALT LAKE CITY — Faithful followers of imprisoned polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs are making his apocalyptic writings available to the public through advertisements placed in newspapers nationwide.

The ads appear in Friday editions of The Washington Post, The New York Times, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, The Salt Lake Tribune and other newspapers.

A Washington Post ad sales representative tells The Associated Press a quarter-page ad in the newspaper costs about $10,000.

The 56-year-old Jeffs has been sect president since 2002 and has long predicted natural disasters and the destruction of the world. Threats have increased since his 2010 conviction in Texas on sexual assault charges.

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UNITED STATES
The Salt Lake Tribune

By Lindsay Whitehurst

The polygamous sect led by Warren Jeffs has taken out apocalyptic quarter-page newspaper ads all over the country.

Labeled as a “Revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ Given to President Warren S. Jeffs,” the ad reads in part: “Repent ye; now be of full humbling; all peoples shall be humbled in full way; as I send full judgements.”

The ad appeared on page A7 of The Salt Lake Tribune on Friday, and also in the Denver Post and Las Vegas Review-Journal, according to Associated Press reporters; in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, minnpost.com reported; and in the Nashville Tennessean, paper staff confirmed.

It also showed up in the A sections of The New York Times and the Washington Post. It did not run Friday in the Deseret News, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints-owned newspaper in Salt Lake City.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Berger’s Beat

If you’ve gotta fall down steps or slip on ice somewhere this winter, you might consider doing it at the Hilton St. Louis at the Ballpark over the lunch hour Friday, January 27. That’s when hundreds of barristers will gather for the annual Missouri Lawyers Weekly’s awards confab. One of three honorees in the “Influential Lawyers” category is Rebecca Randles of Kansas City. She represents dozens of the clergy sex abuse victims in western Missouri (including 20+ who sued just last year). Legal minds around here may remember Randles from the 1999 Bachmann v. Gummersbach and the St. Louis archdiocese case. It’s the only civil lawsuit against a pedophile priest that’s ever gone to trial in the state. The jury awarded the victim $1.2 million but that was overturned on appeal.

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CANADA
Gelph Mercury

GUELPH — The Catholic Church has learned much as it has wrestled with increasing reports of sexual abuse of children by members of its clergy, and can use that knowledge to help others, Canada’s newest cardinal designate told a Guelph audience Friday.

During a question-and-answer session following his lunchtime address to the Rotary Club of Guelph, Toronto Archbishop Thomas Collins said as the church became aware of these reports “some of the decisions made by people in authority were not very wise.

“They just didn’t know how to deal with it,” the Guelph native said.

Collins said sexual abuse is a societal problem “and I hope what we (in the church) have learned from our mistakes might help other organizations to deal with it.”

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UNITED STATES
The Catholic Free Press

By Father John Catoir
Catholic News Service

Every once in a while, I hear about a Catholic priest with a personality disorder so severe that he feels justified in verbally abusing women whenever he pleases and reducing them to tears. Such behavior should be reported to the bishop, and if the bishops is satisfied that the charges are true, he should suspend the culprit immediately.

Using the priest shortage as an excuse for tolerating any kind of abusive behavior is unacceptable.

Many husbands abuse their wives habitually at home. Women need to defend themselves by breaking the cycle of secrecy.

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NEW MEXICO
KOAT

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Former Santa Fe Archbishop Robert Fortune Sanchez, who headed New Mexico’s largest Catholic diocese for nearly two decades, has died. He was 77.

Officials with the Archdiocese of Santa Fe made the announcement, saying Sanchez died Friday. The archdiocese did not provide any details about the cause of death, but said he had been ill.

Sanchez was ordained as the archdiocese’s 10th archbishop in 1974. He was the first Hispanic bishop in the United States.

He had resigned in 1993 after three women accused him of being sexually involved with them in the 1970s and early 1980s.

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CHILE
El Mostrador

Hay un documento que circula en Internet reuniendo rúbricas de apoyo a la petición. El texto acusa a Andrés Arteaga, Juan Barros, Tomislav Koljatic y Horacio Valenzuela de haber participado del “círculo de hierro” del ex párroco de El Bosque y de no haber dudado “en ayudarlo encubriendo sus terribles abusos”.

por El Mostrador

“Los obispos chilenos Andrés Arteaga (Auxiliar de Santiago), Juan Barros (Castrense), Tomislav Koljatic (Linares) y Horacio Valenzuela (Talca) fueron hombres cercanos a Karadima. Lo blindaron y apoyaron siempre incluso sabiendo de los abusos que cometía. Testigos los veían”.

Así comienza una carta que escribió Juan Carlos Cruz, una de las víctimas del ex párroco de la Iglesia del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús de calle El Bosque, Fernando Karadima. En el texto, el periodista que se querelló contra su otrora guía espiritual por abusos deshonestos reiterados, pide firmas para solicitar al Vaticano la remoción de las autoridades eclesiásticas que habrían encubierto al sacerdote.

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NEW MEXICO
KOB

The Archdiocese of Santa Fe is confirming the death of former Archbishop of Santa Fe Robert Sanchez, who served the diocese for 19 years until resigning in 1993.

He was 76.

In a statement, the archdiocese did not mention a cause of death, but said Sanchez had been ill.

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NEW MEXICO
ABQJournal

By Olivier Uyttebrouck / Journal Staff Writeron Fri, Jan 20, 2012

Archbishop Robert Fortune Sanchez, who served as the 10th Archbishop of Santa Fe from 1974-1993, died today, the archdiocese announced.

“Archbishop Sanchez was much loved as a native son by the people of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe,” Archbishop Michael J. Sheehan, who succeeded Sanchez in 1993, said in a written statement issued today.

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NEW MEXICO
Santa Fe New Mexican

The following is a statement released Friday afternoon from the Archdiocese of Santa Fe (please check back later for more information on this story):

The Archdiocese of Santa Fe is saddened to announce the death of Archbishop Robert Fortune Sanchez who served as the 10th Archbishop of Santa Fe from 1974-1993. His family has deep roots in New Mexico with many ancestors among the first Hispanic settlers. On March 20, 1934 when Robert was born to Julius C. and Priscilla Fortune Sanchez, neither he nor his parents knew what God would call Robert to do. Robert was taught well by his parents to love God; and they made sure he received all his Sacraments. …

As a result of the sexual abuse scandals, and allegations made against his own personal conduct which were brought to the forefront, he resigned as Archbishop in 1993. Many would claim that he was not as proactive as he could have been in the disciplining and expulsion of priests who were alleged of sexual misconduct. As he became ill, Archbishop Sanchez reiterated his love and blessings always for the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, her priests, people and his family.

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SYRACUSE (NY)
Daily Reporter

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
First Posted: January 20, 2012

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — The attorney for a Maine man who accused fired Syracuse assistant basketball coach Bernie Fine of molesting him says he’s dropping a civil lawsuit filed in Pittsburgh.

Jeffrey R. Anderson, attorney for Zach Tomaselli, says in a statement that he “will be dismissing his case” against Fine.

The 23-year-old Tomaselli told The Post-Standard of Syracuse in an interview Friday that he altered emails from Syracuse police before forwarding them to the paper in an attempt to bolster his account. In a phone interview with The Associated Press Tomaselli insists he did not “fabricate the story” about Fine molesting him when he was 13. Two former ballboys also accused Fine of molesting them.

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MISSOURI
Catholic Culture

January 20, 2012

Leaders of an organization representing sex-abuse victims claim that their group is fighting for its life, in the face of a court order requiring disclosure of its internal documents.

SNAP—the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests—continues to fight against a subpoena calling for the documents, which was issued in connection with a lawsuit against a Kansas City priest. David Clohessy, the executive director of SNAP, says that the subpoena would require the group to identify victims of molestation: a step that SNAP refuses to take. Clohessy also admitted that if the subpoena is enforced in the Missouri case, SNAP is likely to face dozens of other demands for documents, and the expense could be devastating to the group.

The refusal of SNAP to disclose information carries some irony, since the group has persistently criticized Catholic bishops for their reluctance to open confidential diocesan files. Clohessy told the National Catholic Reporter that he sees “two standards of transparency.” The standards of candor that SNAP expects of Catholic dioceses, he explained, should not be applied to groups working with victims of abuse.

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

ASIA
Catholic Culture

At a recent closed-door meeting, the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences addressed the problem of sexual abuse and the response of the Catholic hierarchy, acknowledging “a considerably serious problem in Asia.”

To date the Catholic Church in Asia has not been seriously hurt by the scandal that has battered the Church in Europe and North America.

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SYRACUSE (NY)
WSYR

Syracuse (WSYR-TV) – An attorney representing a man who has accused former Syracuse University men’s basketball coach Bernie Fine of sexually abusing him says that they will drop their civil lawsuit.

Attorney Jeffrey Anderson told NewsChannel 9’s Jeff Kulikowsky that he and his client, Zach Tomaselli, will drop their suit and will soon issue a statement.

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NEWTON (MA)
Newton Tab

By Ashley Studley
Wicked Local Newton

Posted Jan 19, 2012

Newton —

A spokesman for the Suffolk District Attorney’s office today confirmed a Newton second-grade teacher is part of a federal investigation of an online child pornography community.

Spokesman Jake Wark said David Ettlinger, 34, of Brighton, was part of “Dreamboard”, an online forum that operated out of Louisiana.

In August, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced they’d broken up an international network dedicated to the creation and sharing of child pornography. …

Ettlinger was a boy’s gymnastics coach at Newton South High in 2000, an adviser for a community service program at Underwood and previously worked as a camp counselor at the JCC Grossman Camp and instructor at the Leventhal-Sidman Jewish Community Center.

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IOWA
Des Moines Register

11:15 AM, Jan 20, 2012 | by Jeff Eckhoff |

A former Pella pastor accused of raping and sexually exploiting multiple women now faces a May 14 trial after a judge rejected his lawyer’s attempt to get much of the case thrown out.

Patrick Edouard, 42, was scheduled to face trial in Dallas County this week on Marion County charges that he raped three women and on four occasions violated an Iowa law that makes it a crime for counselors or therapists to sexually exploit clients in their care.

Defense Attorney Angela Campbell argued in court papers that the four sexual exploitation counts should be thrown out because prosecutors had failed to identify “any ‘emotional condition’ under which any of the accusers were laboring such that defendant knew, or had reason to know, they were ‘significantly impared in the ability to withhold consent to sexual conduct’ ” as defined in Iowa law. Campbell also attacked the constitutionality of the sexual exploitation law, arguing that the statute “unconstitutionally burden’s Edouard’s fundamental right to associate in intimate relationships, in violation of his due process rights” and that the law, “as applied to members of the clergy, violates the establishment clauses of the state and federal constitutions.”

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MINNESOTA
MinnPost

By David Brauer | Published Fri, Jan 20 2012

Would you accept an ad from a religious sect touting a divine revelation given to a convicted sex abuser of two girls under 16?

That’s what the Star Tribune did Friday morning, running two ads from the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. One (on page A5 of my Minneapolis edition), simply says, “Jesus Christ, Son Ahman.” The second, on A6, proclaimes “Revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ Given to President Warren Jeffs,” and offers serveral writings for sale.

Jeffs, the president of the polygamist sect, was convicted in 2011 of molesting two “child brides” aged 12 and 15. He is serving life plus 20 years in a Texas prison.

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IRELAND
Vatican Insider

One-third of the members of the Irish parliament attend meeting in Dublin organized by a group that wants the Government to re-open its Embassy to the Holy See

Gerard O’Connell
Rome

The Irish Government is coming under pressure from a broadly based Catholic lay group, with support from members of different political parties, to re-open its Embassy to the Holy See.

On January 18, more than a hundred members of the Group, known as Ireland Stand Up, met for five hours with one-third of the members of the Irish parliament. 50 of the 166 members of parliament’s lower house (the Dail) and 25 of the 60 members of its upper house (the Seanad) were present.

Even more significant was the presence of the Junior Minister of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), Lucinda Creighton, together with representatives of the Taoiseach (Prime Minister) and several other ministers, as well as Ireland’s new ambassador to the Holy See, David Cooney, who is also Secretary General of the DFA.

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MISSOURI
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

[link to legal documents via SNAP]

Posted by Mark Serrano on January 18, 2012

Late yesterday, a judge “unsealed” the six hour deposition of SNAP Executive Director David Clohessy by five lawyers representing Kansas City Bishop Robert Finn and five Kansas City accused pedophile priests (Fr. Michael Tierney, Msgr. Thomas O’Brien, Fr. Mark Honhart, Fr. Francis McGlynn and Fr. Thomas Cronin). We will post it on our website as soon as we get a copy of the transcript. It ostensibly stems from a case called John Doe BP v. Fr. Michael Tierney and the Kansas City diocese and from one of three subpoenas that have been issued in recent weeks to victims who are SNAP leaders. This is the first time in SNAP’s 23 years that its staff has been subpoenaed.

Catholic officials are demanding thousands of pages of private records from child sex abuse victims and others. This has been called a “fishing expedition.” But it’s much worse than that. It’s a cynical, shrewd legal maneuver to deter victims, witnesses, whistleblowers, police, prosecutors, journalists and others from exposing predators, protecting kids and seeking help from SNAP.

And it threatens the long-standing privacy protections that almost all crime victims – not just child sex victims of predatory clerics’ victims – have enjoyed for years.

The demands – including documents from as long ago as 23 years- come from church officials in two dioceses – Kansas City and St. Louis. SNAP is not part of either suit.

Catholic officials want private, personal records and e mails involving hundreds of individuals who have never even heard of or met the accused or the accusers in the two suits. This is a misuse of judicial processes designed to crush a support and advocacy group that protects the vulnerable and heals the wounded. It’s cleverly orchestrated to keep clergy sex crimes and cover ups concealed.

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BELGIQUE
RTL

Dans le cadre de l’opération calice, le juge d’instruction Wim de Troy et plusieurs enquêteurs avaient effectué des perquisitions dans plusieurs diocèses en début de semaine. Selon nos confrères du journal “Le Soir”, le juge d’instruction ne vise peut-être pas seulement à identifier les protecteurs de prêtres pédophiles. L’enquête cherche également à incriminer l’Eglise catholique en tant que bande organisée.

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NEDERLAND
CCV

In reactie op het rapport van de Commissie Deetman, over seksueel misbruik van minderjarigen in de Rooms-katholieke Kerk, stellen minister Opstelten van Veiligheid en Justitie en staatssecretaris Veldhuijzen van Zanten van Volksgezondheid, Welzijn en Sport een Taskforce kindermishandeling en seksueel misbruik in.

Actieplan aanpak kindermishandeling

De Taskforce gaat er mede op toezien dat het Actieplan aanpak kindermishandeling wordt uitgevoerd. De bewindslieden kondigen multidisciplinair onderzoek aan naar seksueel geweld en hieraan gerelateerde verschijnselen, zoals kindermishandeling, huiselijk geweld en gedwongen prostitutie. Hiermee reageren zij op de oproep van de Commissie Deetman om diepgaand onderzoek te doen naar kindermishandeling en seksueel misbruik.

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NEDERLAND
RKnieuws

DEN HAAG (RKnieuws.net) – De kerk faalt op alle fronten met de hulpverlening aan slachtoffers van seksueel misbruik. Ook de afhandeling van meldingen over misbruik laat te wensen over.

Dat meldden de slachtofferorganisaties Klokk en Mea Culpa gisteren in Den Haag tijdens de hoorzitting van de Kamercommissie Veiligheid en Justitie over het rapport-Deetman.

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NEDERLAND
Friesch Dagblad

Aartsbisschop Wim Eijk liet gisteren tijdens een hoorzitting in de Tweede Kamer weten dat er geen twijfel over bestaat: met wortel en tak moet misbruik worden uitgeroeid in de Katholieke Kerk.

Den Haag | Voor de slachtoffers van seksueel misbruik is de belofte van Eijk iets wat ze vooral pas gelóven als ze de komende jaren ook echte veranderingen zien in het beleid. Dat leidde er gisteren toe dat er wederom twee kampen lijnrecht tegenover elkaar stonden: de kerk en de slachtoffers.

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NEDERLAND
Movisie

[video]

Een omvangrijke misbruikzaak op het internaat in ‘s Heerenberg was aanleiding voor het instellen van de commissie Deetman die het seksueel misbruik in de katholieke kerk onderzocht. In de documentaire Jongens van Don Rua van Coen Verbraak en Bernd Wouthuysen vertellen vijf mannen over de gevolgen van het seksueel misbruik in hun volwassen leven.

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NEDERLAND
Prachtig Pekela

VEENDAM/PEKELA – Het rapport ‘Seksueel misbruik van minderjarigen in de Rooms Katholieke Kerk’ dat een commissie onder leiding van Wim Deetman onlangs publiceerde, laat een groep zondige geestelijken en onverantwoordelijke leiders zien. De commissie maakt melding van klachten over het gedrag van wijlen Mgr. Niënhaus, die geruime tijd hulpbisschop is geweest en namens de Bisschoppenconferentie onderwijsreferent. >>

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NEDERLAND
Kerknieuws

Tijdens een hoorzitting met de Tweede Kamer liet aartsbisschop Wim Eijk weten dat medewerkers van de Rooms-Katholieke Kerk in de toekomst een Verklaring Omtrent het Gedrag (VOG) moeten hebben. Ook andere kerken beraden zich op deze verklaring.

Dat meldt het Nederlands Dagblad. Eijks toezegging is één van de actiepunten van de kerk om seksueel misbruik in de kerk te voorkomen. Bij verschillende beroepsgroepen in de samenleving – met name beroepsgroepen die werken met kinderen – is een VOG al vereist.

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PENNSYLVANIA
The Republic

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
First Posted: January 20, 2012

SMETHPORT, Pa. — A bishop says a suspended Catholic priest convicted of a felony for his inappropriate relationship with a 15-year-old boy will not return to active ministry.

Erie Bishop Donald Trautman tells the Bradford Era (http://bit.ly/A7ATW3 ) that the Rev. Samuel Slocum’s conviction on Wednesday in McKean County is a “tragedy for everyone concerned.”

Jurors convicted the 60-year-old priest of concealment of the whereabouts of a child. Prosecutors say Slocum continued to contact the boy and urge him to lie about their relationship to his mother even after she told the priest to stop contacting her son. Slocum was not charged with sex crimes, though prosecutors contend some of the priest’s messages to the boy were flirtatious.

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CANADA
Cape Breton Post

Chris Shannon
SYDNEY — The Polish community is fighting back against the Diocese of Antigonish’s decision to close down their church in Whitney Pier within six months.

The diocese’s pastoral planning committee for the Sydney deanery proposed the closure of St. Mary’s Polish Church, along with nearby St. Nicholas Church, and St. Augustine’s Parish on Grand Lake Road in July.

In a report released Sunday, the committee cited the declining number of priests, church attendance and financial support, as well as increases in the cost of operating and upgrading aging structures.

“If that’s the criteria they’re using, then why are they closing us?” asked Wayne Joseph, parish council secretary at St. Mary’s Polish Church.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Spiegel

Von Julia Jüttner, Braunschweig

Er verging sich an drei Jungen, tagsüber, abends, sogar morgens vor der Messe: Pfarrer Andreas L. steht wegen teils schweren Kindesmissbrauchs vor dem Landgericht Braunschweig. Die Befragung der Mütter dokumentiert das Versagen der Kirche – und das unerschütterliche Vertrauen ihrer Mitglieder.

Als Polizeibeamte im Juli vergangenen Jahres das Pfarrhaus in Salzgitter-Lebenstedt durchsuchen, stürmt eine Frau herein und wirft sich Priester Andreas L. an den Hals. “Wir stehen zu dir”, sagt sie und umarmt ihn. So hat es der Leiter der damals ermittelnden Sonderkommission beschrieben.

Am Donnerstag sitzt die Frau im Saal 141 des Landgerichts Braunschweig, sechs Schritte von Andreas L. entfernt. Sie als Zeugin, er als Angeklagter. Der Pfarrer hat ihre beiden Söhne missbraucht, jahrelang. Sie weint. Das Vertrauen ist erschüttert, zerstört ist es nicht.

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BUFFALO (NY)
The Buffalo News

By Jay Tokasz
News Staff Reporter

Authorities didn’t charge a Catholic priest accused of groping a former parishioner because they had no corroborating evidence, and the alleged victim did not cooperate in the investigation, according to Erie County District Attorney Frank A. Sedita III.

The priest, the Rev. Secondo Casarotto, 70, was abruptly removed as pastor of St. Anthony of Padua Church last weekend and placed on administrative leave, after Catholic Diocese of Buffalo officials learned of a criminal complaint in which a former female parishioner accused him of sexual misconduct.

The woman, who is in her 30s, filed a complaint with Buffalo police last June in which she reported that Casarotto allegedly groped her two years earlier — in the summer of 2009 — while the two were in the priest’s residence at the church on Court Street.

“The police made a decision not to arrest him, and we agreed with that determination,” Sedita said.

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NEDERLAND
Groningen Vandaag

VEENDAM/PEKELA – Het rapport ‘Seksueel misbruik van minderjarigen in de Rooms Katholieke Kerk’ dat een commissie onder leiding van Wim Deetman onlangs publiceerde, laat een groep zondige geestelijken en onverantwoordelijke leiders zien. De commissie maakt melding van klachten over het gedrag van wijlen Mgr. Niënhaus, die geruime tijd hulpbisschop is geweest en namens de Bisschoppenconferentie onderwijsreferent. >>

Uiteraard absoluut onwetend over het voornoemde heeft op 5 juni 2007 de Stichting Katholiek Onderwijs Provincie Groningen (SKOPG) haar naam gewijzigd in de Mgr. Niënhausstichting.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Justice4PAKids

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE January 19, 2012

SENATOR ANDREW E. DINNIMAN
CONTACT: MARTIN INDARS
PHONE: 610-692-2112
www.senatordinniman.com mindars@pasenate.com

Dinniman Introduces Bill for Victims of Childhood Sexual Abuse Legislation Opens 2-Year ‘Window’ for Civil Actions against Abusers

WEST CHESTER (January 19) – State Sen. Andy Dinniman has introduced legislation that would give victims of childhood sexual abuse another chance to file a civil action against their alleged perpetrator if their deadline for filing such a suit has expired.

Dinniman said he is introducing the bill because the current statute of limitations expires upon the victim’s 30th birthday, despite the fact that it often takes many years and even decades for victims of childhood sexual abuse to confront and fully process what happened to them as children.

“The horrific headlines of late focus attention on the reality that there are adults in Chester County and throughout Pennsylvania who were victimized as children and have sometimes only now, often through support and therapy, come to grips with what happened to them,” Dinniman said. “Even though these adults are past 30, I believe they still deserve their day in court and the ability to confront and seek retribution from those who sexually assaulted them.”

Modeled after Delaware’s Child Victims Act of 2007, Dinniman said his bill would specify a one-time, two-year period for when such civil suits could be filed.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Catholics4Change

January 20, 2012 by Susan Matthews

Important bill relating to child sex abuse was introduced to Pennsylvania Senate. Click here to read press release.

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HAWAII
KITV

Jill Kuramoto KITV 4 News Reporter

HONOLULU — Governor Neil Abercrombie and state lawmakers gathered for Mass Thursday as part of a tradition in Hawaii for more than half a century.

But this year, the annual Red Mass was met by protesters angry over the church’s teachings and actions.

“Shame on the politicians for attending the Red Mass and listening to the moral teachings of a morally bankrupt organization like the Catholic church,” said protester Holly Huber.

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IRELAND
Catholic World Report

96,000 postcards have been sent to Ireland’s prime minister protesting the closing of country’s Embassy to the Holy See.

By Michael Kelly

Ireland’s Prime Minister Enda Kenny at a news conference following a meeting of European leaders in Brussels in June 2011. (CNS photo/Reuters)

The Irish Government is coming under increased pressure to reverse a controversial decision to close the country’s Embassy to the Holy See.

Dozens of parliamentarians – including many from the Fine Gael and Labour coalition parties – attended a meeting in Dublin January 18 called to highlight opposition to the closure and some 96,000 postcards have been sent to Prime Minister Enda Kenny by members of several different lay initiatives and individual Catholics protesting the move.

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TEXAS
San Antonio Express-News

By Craig Kapitan

A registered sex offender who has already served a seven-year sentence for molesting a young girl from his church congregation was sentenced again Thursday — this time for targeting a new victim.

David Fino, 57, asked the judge for the death penalty. He got eight life sentences, two of them stacked and without the possibility of parole.

A jury found him guilty Friday of super aggravated sexual assault of a child younger than 6, continuous sexual abuse of a child and six other first-degree felony molestation charges involving the same girl.

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ALABASTER (AL)
The Birmingham News

By Veronica Kennedy — The Birmingham News

ALABASTER, Alabama — The church where Daniel M. Acker Jr., suspected of multiple counts of child sex abuse, served as youth minister is holding a child safety forum this weekend.

The forum at Westwood Baptist Church will be held from 4 to 5 p.m. Sunday, in the worship center in Alabaster, 1155 Alabaster Blvd. The event is free and is open to the public.

Jenny Funderburke, minister to children at Westwood, said the church had decided to address the issue after Acker was arrested earlier this month. He is in the Shelby County Jail on a $745,000 bond, charged with six counts of child sexual abuse. Four alleged victims have come forward; none were associated with Acker at the church, according to Alabaster police.

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CANADA
Cape Breton Post

SYDNEY RIVER — A former university professor with deep ties to the Roman Catholic Church hierarchy at the Vatican will give a lecture on the challenging times the church finds itself in.

Charles MacDonald of North West Arm is a well-known community leader who taught for many years in the religious studies department at Cape Breton University.

The Sydney Deanery Pastoral Council and the Council of Priests are sponsoring MacDonald’s lecture at Our Lady of Fatima Church hall on Sunday from 2-4 p.m.

The presentation entitled, The Catholic Church: Which Way Forward, will sketch important local historical developments in the recent history of the church and Catholic community.

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ILLINOIS
The Courier-News

By Denise Crosby dcrosby@stmedianetwork.com
January 19, 2012

TJ Johnson is not looking for understanding from you or me. He’s not looking for sympathy either. And he’s certainly not seeking forgiveness, even from his victims, whose hurt he caused “is irreparable.”

What the Oswego man wants more than anything is a chance at redemption, in this life and the next.

And he wants to help other sinners come to terms with their offenses — just as he has: With the help of intense prison therapy; along with people on the outside who have embraced both his frailties and strengths.

Johnson is a convicted felon, found guilty in 2000 of performing sexual acts on young men at his Aurora church, who were doing community service contracted with the DuPage County Probation Department. At the time, his arrest was plenty screamy. Not only had he violated the justice system through what he describes as “a bogus ministry,” he’d also performed thousands of wedding services there. Adding to the outrage of this case was the fact he was a bus driver with the Oswego School District.

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MAINE
Boston Herald

By Nok-Noi Ricker / Bangor Daily News, Maine
Thursday, January 19, 2012

BANGOR, Maine — The day before his suicide, the Rev. Robert Carlson was told by Penobscot County Sheriff Glenn Ross, a longtime friend, that Carlson was the subject of a state police investigation of child sex abuse allegations, according to a Waldo County Sheriff’s Department report.

Ross said Wednesday that he felt compelled to tell Carlson that he was the focus of the Maine State Police probe because Carlson was on the Penobscot County Jail’s board of visitors and Ross wanted to limit his access to the jail.

Ross, who was Carlson’s co-worker for 33 years, said he spoke with Carlson around noon on Nov. 12. Carlson jumped to his death from the Penobscot Narrows Bridge early the next morning.

“I didn’t feel it was a conflict. I felt it was my responsibility as a sheriff,” Ross said when asked why he informed Carlson of the investigation.

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BUFFALO (NY)
WKBW

[with video]

By WKBW News

January 19, 2012Updated Jan 19, 2012

BUFFALO, NY ( WKBW ) Rev. Secondo Casarotto was placed on administrative leave from his position as pastor for St. Anthony of Padua Church in downtown Buffalo, after allegations surfaced that the priest sexually assaulted a woman parishioner in 2009.

According the Florida based attorney for the victim, the woman went to St. Anthony’s in the summer of 2009 to meet with Father Casarotto about a sick relative.

According to attorney Adam Horowitz, the priest began to show the woman around the rectory, and allegedly took her to his bedroom, where he asked her to sit on the bed.

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CANADA
Toronto Sun

By Tony Blais, Edmonton Sun

First posted: Thursday, January 19, 2012

EDMONTON – A former altar boy who alleges he was sexual abused by a priest and a church organist has filed two $3.4-million lawsuits against the Catholic Archdiocese of Edmonton.

The alleged victim, a 51-year-old man now living in Vancouver, claims the sexual abuse happened in the early and mid-’70s, when he was a member of the congregation at St. Joseph’s Basilica in Edmonton.

According to one of two statements of claim filed Jan. 6, the man said he was initially sexually assaulted by a person employed at St. Joseph’s as an organist and music director.

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CANADA
The Windsor Star

Winnipeg Free Press
January 20, 2012

A high-ranking former orthodox archbishop has been ordered to stand trial on Manitoba sexual abuse charges dating back decades.

Seraphim Storheim appeared in a Winnipeg courtroom Wednesday for the conclusion of a preliminary hearing to determine whether there is sufficient evidence for the case to proceed. A court-ordered ban prevents specific details from being published.

Provincial court Judge Rocky Pollack ruled the Crown had met the standard of proof required to move the case along. The case will return to court in March for the setting of a trial date.

Storheim has pleaded not guilty to sexually abusing two teenage boys while he was a priest in Winnipeg 30 years ago. He remains free on bail with several conditions, including having no contact with children.

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CANADA
Edmonton Journal

By Ryan Cormier, Edmonton Journal January 20, 2012

A former altar boy who claims he was sexually abused by a Grande Cache priest and an Edmonton church employee in the 1970s is suing the Catholic Archdiocese of Edmonton for $6.8 million.

The man, who now lives in British Columbia, was an altar boy at St. Joseph’s Basilica in downtown Edmonton from 1973 to 1975. For three years before that, he was part of the congregation. He was a teen-ager at the time.

The lawsuit alleges he was “sexually abused, assaulted and battered” by Patrick O’Neill while at the Grande Cache parish on an altar boy ex-change program. O’Neill was a priest in the parish at the time.

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BUFFALO (NY)
WGRZ

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Father Secondo Casarotto, a priest at St Anthony of Padua in Downtown Buffalo, was recently removed from the parish. Earlier this week, the Diocese of Buffalo would only say the removal was due to a personnel matter.

Now, the attorney for a woman who accused the priest of sexual assaulting her – is speaking out.

Channel 2 News obtained a copy of the police report filed in June. In it the alleged victim, who’s in her 30s, says the sexual assault took place in the bedroom of the St. Anthony of Padua parish rectory back in August of 2009.

The diocese says the first they heard about all this was when the alleged victim’s attorney sent them a letter at the end of last year. That was several months after Father Secondo was investigated by police.

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CANADA
CBC News

A former Orthodox archbishop has been ordered to stand trial in Winnipeg on sexual assault charges dating back more than 25 years.

Following a preliminary inquiry, the Manitoba Court of Queen’s Bench on Wednesday ordered Kenneth William Storheim, 65, to stand trial.

Details of the preliminary inquiry cannot be published due to a court-ordered ban. A trial date will be set on March 14.

Storheim is charged with two counts of sexual assault based on allegations that he molested two pre-teen boys in 1985. He pleaded not guilty to the charges on Nov. 18.

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BELGIE
De Standaard

De Operatie Kelk in drie vragen.

Wat is Operatie Kelk?

Onder die codenaam voerden de Brusselse onderzoeksrechter Wim De Troy en de federale politie op 24 juni 2011 een reeks huiszoekingen uit in een onderzoek naar seksueel misbruik in de Kerk en mogelijk schuldig verzuim van de hoogste kerkelijke autoriteiten.

De speurders vielen binnen bij de commissie-Adriaenssens, die op vraag van de bisschoppenconferentie op dat moment het seksueel misbruik in de Kerk onderzocht.

De federale politie nam daar 475 dossiers in beslag.

Daarnaast viel het gerecht ook binnen in het aartsbisschoppelijk paleis, bij kardinaal Danneels thuis en in de Sint-Romboutskathedraal in Mechelen.

Ze deden dat op basis van een tip van eremagistrate Godelieve Halsberghe, de voorgangster van Peter Adriaenssens.

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BELGIE
De Standaard

dinsdag 17 januari 2012

Auteur: Yves Delepeleire

BRUSSEL – Iedereen dacht dat Operatie Kelk dood en begraven was. Tot het gerecht gisteren nieuwe huiszoekingen verrichtte. Voor onderzoeksrechter De Troy wordt het stilaan D-Day.

Van onze redacteur

Het leek gisteren of het hele circus weer van voren af aan zou beginnen, zoals goed anderhalf jaar geleden: huiszoekingen bij het aartsbisdom Mechelen-Brussel, en dat voor het oog van de camera’s. Maar in tegenstelling tot het machtsvertoon in juni 2010, waarbij de Brusselse onderzoeksrechter Wim De Troy 140 lopende meter aan kartonnen dozen uit het raam en in bestelwagens liet gooien, bleef het showgehalte gisteren beperkt. De speurders zochten maar tien dossiers.

Ook in de bisdommen Antwerpen en Hasselt werden enkele dossiers in beslag genomen.

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OSTERREICH
Der Standard

Wolfgang Bergmann, 16. Jänner 2012

Im Wiener Stephansdom fehlt derzeit am Beichtstuhl ein wichtiges Hinweisschild: “Jugendverbot – for adults only!”

Dies wäre jedenfalls die Konsequenz, würde die Erzdiözese ihren eigenen Richtlinien für „Maßnahmen, Regelungen und Orientierungshilfe gegen Missbrauch und Gewalt” ernst nehmen. Die von allen österreichischen Bischöfen in Kraft gesetzte Rahmenordnung sieht vor: „Pädophile Missbrauchstäter werden keinesfalls weiter Pastoral eingesetzt, wo der Kontakt zu Kindern und Jugendlichen gegeben ist.”

Man ist sogar so vorsichtig, einen weiteren Einsatz für Missbrauchstäter selbst nach einer Therapie auszuschließen, weil “eine relativ hohe Rückfallquote gegeben ist.” In Verdachtsfällen wird bis zur Klärung mit einer Dienstfreistellung gearbeitet.

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NEW YORK
Reuters

By Aman Ali

NEW YORK | Thu Jan 19, 2012

(Reuters) – A newly installed Roman Catholic priest has been removed from his suburban New York parish after church officials on Thursday said he secretly fathered a child while attending seminary.

The removal of Reverend Casmir Mung’aho, 34, from his post at St. Stephen the First Martyr Church in the Orange County town of Warwick, New York, comes two weeks after the resignation of a Los Angeles assistant bishop who admitted he had two children.

Mung’aho was asked to step down after officials learned he fathered a child in a consensual relationship with an adult woman during his first year of seminary school, Bishop Dominick Lagonegro said in a statement.

While Mung’aho was removed from the congregation in Warwick, it was not yet clear whether he will remain a priest or be defrocked by the New York Archdiocese, said archdiocese spokesman Joseph Zwilling. He said officials had yet to discuss with Mung’aho what action will be taken.

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VIRGINIA
The Virginian-Pilot

By Louis Hansen
The Virginian-Pilot
January 19, 2012

NORFOLK

A former priest of two Vietnamese Catholic Churches pleaded guilty today to embezzling $84,450 from the diocese.

Joseph Quoc Hai-Nguyen admitted to taking the money from the Catholic Diocese of Richmond between 2003 and 2008. Hai-Nguyen, 66, led Our Lady of La Vang in Norfolk and Our Lady of Vietnam in Hampton, court records state.

During a court appearance today, Hai-Nguyen gave the diocese a cashier’s check for the full amount of the loss. He was convicted of four counts of felony embezzlement and received a suspended sentence. He will not serve time in prison as long as meets the terms of his probation.

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WISCONSIN
Fox 11

Updated: Thursday, 19 Jan 2012

APPLETON – The Catholic Diocese of Green Bay wants a civil suit against it heard outside of Outagamie County.

Todd and Troy Merryfield sued the diocese, claiming it committed fraud by repeatedly transferring a priest without telling parishioners of the priest’s history of abuse. The diocese says it had no knowledge of abuse committed by former priest John Feeney.

In 2004, Feeney was convicted of sexually assaulting the Merryfields 26 years earlier when he was assigned to a church in Freedom. Feeney, who was defrocked, was recently released from prison.

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CANADA
Toronto Star

Amy Dempsey
Staff Reporter

Pastor Jae-Kap Song was indeed alone in a room with a naked female church member on Valentine’s Day two years ago, an Orangeville court heard in his testimony Wednesday. But, he testified, it was not the woman he stands accused of sexually assaulting, and he did not invite the “shocking” incident.

Song, 57, a grocer and spiritual leader with the Toronto-based Jesus First Church, fervently denied that he is guilty of any kind of sexual assault.

The pastor said he did not tell his 30-year-old accuser she was being pursued by “evil spirits” that would turn her into a hunchback, as she had testified. Nor did he prescribe treatment for a skin condition or ask her to take off her clothes for an examination.

At no time were they alone together in his bedroom as she alleged, the pastor said. And he did not — on Feb. 14, 2010 or any other day — touch the woman sexually, with or without her consent.

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CANADA
Toronto Sun

Tracy McLaughlin, Special to the Sun

First posted: Thursday, January 19, 2012

ORANGEVILLE – A woman accusing a former Toronto pastor of a bizarre sex assault concocted the story out of revenge, a defence lawyer charged yesterday.

Jae-Kap Song, an Orangeville grocer and once-pastor of the now-closed Canada Jesus First Church, near Steeles and Islington Aves., is on trial for the alleged sexual assault of a member of his congregation — a university student from Korea here on a student visa.

“It’s all a crock,” defence lawyer Christophe Preobrazenski said in closing arguments in Orangeville Superior court Thursday.

Earlier in the trial the woman, who can not be identified, wept as she testified how Song told her she was possessed by evil spirits and that he needed to examine her naked body to see if her skin was turning green.

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CANADA
Winnipeg Free Press

By: Mike McIntyre

A high-ranking former orthodox archbishop has been ordered to stand trial on historical Manitoba sex-abuse charges.

Seraphim Storheim appeared in a Winnipeg courtroom Wednesday for the conclusion of a preliminary hearing to determine whether there is sufficient evidence for the case to proceed. A court-ordered ban prevents specific details from being published.

Provincial court Judge Rocky Pollack ruled the Crown had met the standard of proof required to move the case along. The case will return to court in March for the setting of a trial date.

Storheim has pleaded not guilty to sexually abusing two teenaged boys while he was a priest in Winnipeg 30 years ago. He remains free on bail with several conditions, including having no contact with children.

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UNITED KINGDOM
National Secular Society

A personal testimony of child abuse in the Catholic Church from Sue Cox of Survivors Voice Europe

A fate worse than death. When I was younger, this is the phrase people used when they referred to being raped. Adults would give each other knowing looks when talking about someone “if she is not careful she’ll end up murdered – or worse” I couldn’t imagine anything worse than being murdered, but it seemed there was something even worse.

It wasn’t terribly long before I found out what they meant, and indeed they were right. My abuses at the hands of a priest are well documented, and I have talked about how my life started to go downhill from the moment I was raped. What was hard to understand was: why, if I had suffered “a fate worse than death” no one did anything about it! Had I been murdered perhaps they would have cared.

I was brought up with all the horrific fear stories of hell fire and damnation. In that Catholic world everything, apart from breathing, was sinful. Aged five I was told to pray for a cousin to die because he was about to marry a divorcee; his mother’s priest told her that he would be better off dead than living in sin, so we should all pray for him to have a “happy death”.

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NEW YORK
NBC New York

A newly ordained Roman Catholic priest in upstate New York was kicked out of his parish after church officials learned he fathered a child while he was a student at St. Joseph’s Seminary in Yonkers.

Regional Bishop Dominick Lagonegro told parishioners he and Cardinal-Designate Timothy Dolan had believed 34-year-old Father Casmir Manyonyo Mung’aho fathered the child prior to entering the seminary when they installed him at St. Stephen in Orange County.

Then church officials learned he had fathered the child as a first-year seminary student and removed him. Roman Catholic priests pledge a vow of celibacy and seminary students are expected to abide by the same principles.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

VATICAN CITY, 19 JAN 2012 (VIS) – The Holy Father:

– Appointed Bishop William C. Skurla of Passaic, U.S.A., as metropolitan archbishop of Pittsburgh of the Byzantines (Catholics 58,763, priests 64, permanent deacons 17, religious 88), U.S.A.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

VATICAN CITY, 19 JAN 2012 (VIS) – The Holy Father today received in audience:

– Seven prelates of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, on their “ad limina” visit:

– Archbishop Edwin Frederick O’Brien, apostolic administrator of Baltimore and pro-grand master of the Equestrian Order of the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, accompanied by Auxiliary Bishops Mitchell Thomas Rozanski and Denis James Madden.

– Bishop Paul Stephen Loverde of Arlington.

– Bishop Francis Xavier DiLorenzo of Richmond.

– Bishop Michael J. Bransfield of Wheeling-Charleston.

– Bishop William Francis Malooly of Wilmington.

– Bishop Gregor Maria Hanke O.S.B. of Eichstatt, Germany.

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NEDERLAND
Trouw

De rooms-katholieke kerk is werkelijk vastbesloten om seksueel misbruik ‘met wortel en tak uit te roeien’. Regelingen daartoe kunnen kil overkomen, gaf aartsbisschop Eijk woensdag toe tijdens een zitting van een speciale Kamercommissie. ‘Vergoedingen zijn maar een onderdeel. Leed kun je niet afkopen.’

Eijk beantwoordde woensdag, net als misbruikslachtoffers, vragen van Kamerleden over het onderzoek van de commissie-Deetman. Daaruit bleek vorige maand dat rooms-katholieke geestelijken van 1955 tot 1983 tussen de 10 duizend en 20 duizend misbruikslachtoffers maakten. Ordes en bisdommen waren daar jarenlang van op de hoogte.

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NEDERLAND
L1

Het meldpunt seksueel misbruik Rooms Katholieke gaat aan de slag met de kritiek die ze woensdag kreeg tijdens een hoorzitting over het rapport van commissie Deetman.

Die deed onderzoek naar misbruik binnen de kerk. Verschillende slachtoffergroepen verweten het meldpunt dat slachtoffers er weinig gehoor vinden. Ook zou er sprake zijn van weinig samenwerking met vertegenwoordiging van slachtoffers, en wordt de onafhankelijkheid van het meldpunt in twijfel getrokken.

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NEDERLAND
Trouw

De rooms-katholieke kerk is werkelijk vastbesloten om seksueel misbruik ‘met wortel en tak uit te roeien’. Regelingen daartoe kunnen kil overkomen, gaf aartsbisschop Eijk woensdag toe tijdens een zitting van een speciale Kamercommissie. ‘Vergoedingen zijn maar een onderdeel. Leed kun je niet afkopen.’

Eijk beantwoordde woensdag, net als misbruikslachtoffers, vragen van Kamerleden over het onderzoek van de commissie-Deetman. Daaruit bleek vorige maand dat rooms-katholieke geestelijken van 1955 tot 1983 tussen de 10 duizend en 20 duizend misbruikslachtoffers maakten. Ordes en bisdommen waren daar jarenlang van op de hoogte.

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NEDERLAND
Tubantia

DEN HAAG – Aartsbisschop Wim Eijk wil dat er een verklaring van goed gedrag komt voor medewerkers binnen de katholieke kerk. Dat zei hij woensdag tijdens een hoorzitting in de Tweede Kamer over het rapport-Deetman over seksueel misbruik in katholieke instellingen.

Zo’n verklaring is er nog niet bij de Rooms Katholieke Kerk. “Nu worden er wel inlichtingen ingewonnen, bij een bisschop bijvoorbeeld, maar een soort van VOG hebben we nog niet.”

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VATICAANSTAD
RKnieuws (Nederland)

VATICAANSTAD (RKnieuws.net) – De rooms-katholieke Kerk versterkt de strijd tegen seksueel misbruik en zij wil de inspanningen in de verschillende bisdommen wereldwijd sterker op elkaar afstemmen, meldt Kerknet. De bisdommen kregen in 2011 al een schrijven van de Congregatie voor de Geloofsleer met de opdracht om nog dit jaar een preventiebeleid op punt te stellen en dit aan het Vaticaan voor te leggen.

In februari vindt in Rome een symposium plaats met afgevaardigden van 110 bisschoppenconferenties wereldwijd en verantwoordelijken van meer dan 30 religieuze orden en congregaties. De bijeenkomst van 6 tot 9 februari aan de Gregoriaanse Universiteit in Rome, met de steun van het Staatssecretariaat en verschillende congregaties, is de eerste internationale bijeenkomst van kerkelijke verantwoordelijken op dit niveau.

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NEDERLAND
Trouw

HOORZITTING SEKSUEEL MISBRUIK – De Tweede Kamer hoort woensdagmiddag en -avond vertegenwoordigingen van slachtoffers van seksueel misbruik in de Rooms-Katholieke Kerk. Ook aartsbisschop Wim Eijk kwam naar de Kamer om de commissie voor Veiligheid en Justitie van informatie te voorzien.

Aanleiding voor de hoorzitting zijn de bevindingen in het rapport van de onderzoekscommissie-Deetman. De hoorzitting begon met een toelichting van Deetman zelf.

16.00 Aartsbisschop Wim Eijk als vertegenwoordiger van de Bisschoppenconfertentie
De aartsbisschop zegt veel pijn en verdriet te hebben van het leed dat de kerk heeft berokkend bij zoveel mensen. ‘Het is pijnlijk te moeten te concluderen dat we niet leefden volgens onze eigen normen. Dat vervult mij met schaamte’.

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NEDERLAND
Reformatorisch Dagblad

DEN HAAG – Oud-CDA-minister Deetman, voorzitter van de commissie die onderzoek deed naar het misbruikschandaal in de Rooms-Katholieke Kerk, voelt er niets voor het toezicht op religieuze organisaties te verscherpen.

Een suggestie daartoe werd woensdag gedaan door GroenLinks Tweede Kamerlid Dibi, tijdens een door de Kamer belegde hoorzitting. Daarin komen naast Deetman ook slachtoffers aan het woord.

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NEDERLAND
RTV Drenthe

[met audio]

ASSEN – De Monseigneur Niënhausstichting, met vier katholieke basisscholen in Drenthe, wil een nieuwe naam. De naam van Monseigneur Niënhaus, een hulpbisschop, komt voor op de lijst van de commissie Deetman, die onderzoek deed naar seksueel misbruik van minderjarigen in de Rooms Katholieke Kerk.

Volgens John van Meekeren, voorzitter College van Bestuur van de stichting, is iedereen diep geschokt. “Als we dit van tevoren hadden geweten hadden we nooit deze naam aangenomen. We hebben nog geen negatieve reacties gekregen op onze huidige naam. Maar we willen op geen enkele manier geassocieerd worden met seksueel misbruik binnen onze scholen.”

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NEDERLAND
De Telegraaf

DEN HAAG – Slachtoffers van seksueel misbruik in katholieke instellingen willen dat de overheid de kerk beter in de gaten houdt. Ze hielden hiervoor woensdag een vurig pleidooi tijdens een hoorzitting van de Tweede Kamer. Ook het rapport van Wim Deetman over seksueel misbruik binnen katholieke instellingen kwam aan bod.

Slachtoffers vinden dat de overheid druk moet uitoefenen op de kerkleiding om verantwoordelijken te bestraffen. Verder zou de overheid moeten toezien op een onafhankelijk meldpunt. Iets dat er volgens slachtoffers nu nog niet is.

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IRELAND
The Irish Times

A former priest is to stand trial on 55 counts of indecent assault of 18 children at various locations in the State from the late 1960s until the early 1980s.

The defendant, in his seventies, was brought before Dublin District Court yesterday. He was arrested yesterday afternoon at Dublin Airport, the court heard. He was cautioned and said “No” in reply, when he was held on 55 warrants.

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NEDERLAND
Nieuws

(Novum) – Premier Mark Rutte (VVD) heeft valse hoop gewekt door te zeggen dat hij priesters die zich schuldig hebben gemaakt aan seksueel misbruik alsnog wil laten vervolgen. “Dit is opnieuw een tik in het gezicht van de slachtoffers”, zei CDA-Kamerlid Madeleine van Toorenburg woensdag op Radio 1.

Rutte deed de toezegging eind vorig jaar in het televisieprogramma College Tour. Dinsdag schreef minister van Veiligheid en Justitie Ivo Opstelten in een Kamerbrief echter dat het lastig is om de daders aan te pakken, omdat bijna alle zaken al zijn verjaard. Uit jurisprudentie van het Europese Hof voor de Rechten van de Mens blijkt volgens Opstelten dat er geen ruimte is om deze daders alsnog te vervolgen.

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PENNSYLVANIA
San Antonio Express-News

SMETHPORT, Pa. (AP) — Jurors in northwestern Pennsylvania have reached a split verdict in the trial of a priest accused of having an inappropriate relationship with a 15-year-old boy.

The McKean County jury deliberated for more than seven hours Wednesday before convicting the Rev. Samuel Slocum of a felony count of concealment of the whereabouts of a child as well as corruption of minors, The Bradford Era (http://bit.ly/A1zcY5) said. But the panel acquitted Slocum of another felony count of interference with the custody of a child and a misdemeanor count of loitering and prowling at night.

Police earlier testified that Slocum, 60, told officers that he bought the boy’s attention with expensive gifts because he felt “old and alone” but contended that he acted more like the boy’s “Dad” despite flirtatious-sounding messages prosecutors said he sent the boy without his mother’s knowledge.

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PENNSYLVANIAN/NEW YORK
Buffalo News

By Matt Gryta
News Staff Reporter

A suspended northwestern Pennsylvania priest who studied in East Aurora was convicted Wednesday evening of having an inappropriate relationship with a 15-year-old boy.

A McKean County Court jury of 10 women and two men handed up their verdict about 6:30 p.m. in Smethport, Pa., following a three-day trial and eight hours of deliberations.

Rev. Samuel Slocum, 60, a Smethport native who studied for the priesthood at Christ the King Seminary in East Aurora, was acquitted of a felony count of interference with the custody of a child and a misdemeanor count of loitering and prowling at night.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

By Tom Tuite

Thursday January 19 2012

A FORMER priest is to stand trial on 55 counts of indecent assault of 18 children at various locations in the State from the late 1960s until the early 1980s.

The defendant, who is in his seventies, was brought before Dublin District Court yesterday evening. The judge ordered the media not to name him or report the location of the alleged offences in case that would identify the complainants.

The man was arrested yesterday afternoon at Dublin Airport, the court heard. He was cautioned and said “No” when arrested on 55 warrants.

There was no application for bail. Judge Miriam Malone remanded him in custody to appear again at Cloverhill District Court on January 25.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Press Association

The leader of Catholics in England and Wales is “grief stricken” over incidents of child sexual abuse in Catholic schools, Education Secretary Michael Gove has said.

Mr Gove said he had “absolute confidence” that decisions taken by Archbishop Vincent Nichols would be the “right ones” following calls from a group of lawyers for a public inquiry into abuse within church organisations in England and Wales.

“I know from the conversations that I have had with Vincent Nichols that he takes the pastoral care of children in Catholic schools extremely seriously and he is grief stricken by what has happened to children who were entrusted to Catholic schools,” Mr Gove said. “I think it is right in the first instance for Archbishop Nichols and his team to consider and reflect on how to respond.

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ALABAMA
Alabama’s 13

By: Kalisha Whitman | Alabama’s13.com

SHELBY COUNTY, Ala. —
There are several new developments in the case against Daniel Acker, Jr., a former Shelby County teacher, who is accused of sexual assault.

More victims have come forward accusing him of sexually assaulting them. Wednesday, we learned a judge from outside Shelby County may have to hear the case.

The closer we get to Acker, Jr.’s preliminary hearing there is more potential for new and relevant information to surface. Currently, there are six different sexual abuse charges against – five of them involve a child less than 12 years old. At this point, no judge has stepped to the bench to hear the case. ,,,

The community wants to bring awareness to sexual child abuse to prevent anyone from becoming another victim of sexual child abuse. Westwood Baptist Church in Alabaster – the same church that members of the Acker family attend – is hosting a forum on child safety.

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BUFFALO (NY)
Buffalo News

By Jay Tokasz
News Staff Reporter

A Catholic priest abruptly removed from a downtown Buffalo church this past weekend was accused of groping a woman inside the church rectory in 2009, a lawyer for the woman said on Wednesday.

The woman filed a complaint with Buffalo police last June in which she reported she was sexually attacked two years earlier — in the summer of 2009 — by the Rev. Secondo Casarotto in the priest’s residence at St. Anthony of Padua Church on Court Street.

Casarotto, 70, was removed on Saturday from St. Anthony, where he had served as a priest for more than 25 years, and placed on administrative leave.

At the time, diocesan officials provided no further information about the removal.

Casarotto has not been charged with a crime. The woman, a former parishioner in her 30s, hired the Florida-based law firm of Herman, Mermelstein, & Horowitz to investigate the case. She has not filed a lawsuit at this point.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
KMOX

ST. LOUIS–(KMOX)–The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests is preparing for a legal fight that could determine its own survival.

SNAP’s Executive Director — David Clohessy — continues to defy a subpoena in a Kansas City abuse case, refusing to hand over internal SNAP documents on abuse victims. He says the showdown amounts to a test case that could have ripple effects nationwide.

“Ultimately, our fear is that we’ll face ten, or twelve or fifteen of these subpoenas in states all across the country,” Clohessy said, “The bottom line is we will either go broke, or victims and witnesses and whistle blowers and journalists will stop contacting us.”

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