ABUSE TRACKER

WHEELING (WV)
The Intelligencer/Wheeling News-Register

August 7, 2020

Announcement of a new system by which abuse and harassment linked to the Roman Catholic Church can be reported was one more step in the church’s effort to rebuild trust. But a reminder included with that news may have been even more important.

This week, the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston announced it is working with a third-party partner on a new reporting system. An Oregon firm, Navex Global, has a mechanism “intended to report suspected financial, professional and personal misconduct of a priest, deacon, religious or lay employee of the diocese, parish, or Catholic school in West Virginia.”

Already in place are two other reporting systems. One is the national Catholic Bishop Abuse Reporting Service. The other, here in the Mountain State, is the Diocesan Office of Safe Environment.

Adding the Oregon company’s program will provide “a safe, honest channel for reporting and expressing concerns,” the diocese noted in a press release this week.

But Bishop Mark Brennan added something else: “The Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston encourages reporting to civil authorities first and foremost if a crime has been committed.”

Precisely. For too long, too many in the church discouraged reporting abuse to the authorities. The church would handle it, they maintained.

But in many cases, predator priests were merely transferred out of parishes where they had been caught in abuse, and to new places where they could continue their wrongdoing.

Brennan’s emphasis on reporting first and foremost to law enforcement authorities is critically important. Above any other step being taken by church leaders, it is a signal to not just Roman Catholics, but to everyone, that this time, the church is serious about reform. Good for Bishop Brennan for continuing to emphasize that.

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WHEELING (WV)
The Intelligencer/Wheeling News-Register

August 5, 2020

By Alan Olson

The Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston in West Virginia has partnered with another third-party reporting system to report abuse and harassment.

The diocese announced this week it is working with Oregon-based software and compliance management company Navex Global to introduce a new version of the EthicsPoint software, intended to report suspected financial, professional and personal misconduct of a priest, deacon, religious, or lay employee of the diocese, parish, or Catholic school.

This is in addition to the national reporting system, the Catholic Bishop Abuse Reporting Service, which is designed to receive reports of sexual abuse, as well as interference with investigations of abuse, and relay them to lay professionals within the diocese who are to assist the Archbishop with investigations.

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ALBANY (NY)
WAMC

August 6, 2020

By Dave Lucas

An Albany woman has filed a sexual abuse suit against a Troy church.

Governor Andrew Cuomo signed the Child Victims Act into law in 2019. It opened a one-year window for abuse victims to bring claims. That window for victims to file lawsuits was extended to August 2021 owing to the pandemic.

Cuomo’s Deputy Press Secretary Abigail Barker says she is one such victim. Barker says in 1998 she was sexually abused by a Sunday school teacher and deacon, Mark Rhodes of Wynantskill, at Victorious Life Christian Church in Troy.

“I was 5 years old. Mark would often babysit me and my younger brother, and it happened on those, occurred on one of those occasions. After I had been abused, he never babysat for us again.”

Barker’s lawsuit includes claims of negligence and cover-up against the church as well as its Pastor and Presiding Elder Dominick Brignola, who is also a local attorney.

“The trauma of the abuse and the scars that it leaves, you know, it goes throughout your entire life, and 22 years later I’m still dealing with the ramifications of that one time, 22 years ago. And it irrevocably changes your life in ways that you don’t expect.”

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AUBURN (NY)
The Citizen

August 6, 2020

By Jeremy Boyer

Two former Weedsport Central School District students have filed lawsuits in the past week claiming the district failed to protect them from sexual abuse on school grounds.

The complaints were filed in state Supreme Court in Cayuga County under the state’s Child Victims Act look-back provision for civil cases that would otherwise be barred under the statute of limitations. One of the new cases follows an earlier lawsuit filed against the school district that identified the same alleged abuser. The other new case is connected with a former teacher’s aide who was arrested and convicted of having sexual contact with students more than 16 years ago.

In a case filed July 29, a plaintiff identified as AB 509 Doe, said the school district was negligent in its handling of issues related to an aide named Mary Schoonmaker, who in 2003 pleaded guilty to rape and sodomy charges. She admitted in court that she had sexual relationships with two teenage boys, and a one-night sexual encounter with another teenager. The victims were 14 and 15, and she was in her mid-20s at the time. She was sentenced to probation with a period of homebound detention in 2003.

“Prior to the sexual abuse of the plaintiff, defendant Weedsport learned or should have learned that Schoonmaker was not fit to work with children,” the complain states, saying the abuse took place in 2002 and 2003.

In a separate case filed Monday by a plaintiff identified as AL 540 Doe, the district is accused of negligence with respect to a former Boy Scout leader who ran the school district’s audio-visual club in the late 1970s. The complaint said the alleged abuser, former village of Weedsport Mayor Victor Sine, abused the victim from 1975 to 1980.

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NEW YORK (NY)
Daily News

August 5, 2020

By Larry McShane

Photo caption: A gathering of childhood sex abuse victims representing more than 200 including, Matthew Harris, far left, Vincent Guzzone, second from left, and Helene Hamilton, third from left, seated above photos of themselves at the age of their abuse, listen as their lawyer Paul Mones, fourth from left, speaks at June 2019 press conference.

Child abuse survivor Ron Samuel, one of 80 accusers of reputed serial sexual predator Dr. Reginald Archibald in the latest Child Victims Act lawsuit against Rockefeller University, wanted his name in the court papers.

“It’s important to come forward and discuss what happened, and protect other people,” he told the Daily News. “I have no problem exposing my name. I don’t want to be shut down in any manner. I wanted to come forward with the full story.”

The latest sordid tales of Archibald’s decades of sick sexual behavior with children were contained in a 336-page Manhattan Supreme Court filing that laid out in brutal detail the doctor’s mistreatment of his underage patients while working at the university from the 1940s into the 1980s.

Attorney Jennifer Freeman, of the Marsh Law Firm, noted most of the plaintiffs joined Samuel in going public with the lawsuit filed Wednesday.

“Our plaintiffs felt it was so important to bring this forward and to use their own names, to put the responsibility for these cases where it belonged with their names on it,” she said. “They were not afraid to speak up.”

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NEW YORK (NY)
Associated Press

August 5, 2020

By Tom Hayes

As a Girl Scout growing up in upstate New York, Alice Weiss-Russell says she lived with a dark secret: The husband of her troop leader was sexually abusing her in the bathroom of a church basement where scout meetings were held in the 1980s.

Weiss-Russell has detailed her alleged ordeal in a new lawsuit filed against Girl Scouts of the USA, part of a flurry of child sex-abuse cases in New York using a “look back window” for making civil claims against abusers.

“For me, it gives me a chance to be heard because I didn’t have that chance when I was young and hold the Girl Scouts accountable for what happened to me,” Weiss-Russell told The Associated Press in a phone interview on Tuesday. The AP does not typically identify people who say they are victims of sex crimes unless they grant permission.

Another lawsuit, also filed Wednesday, accuses a Manhattan research center of similarly looking the other way as a prominent physician abused dozens of children he was studying and treating for being small for their age.

The two lawsuits come after Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo signed a bill earlier this week granting a one-year extension to the state’s Child Victims Act. The law temporarily lifts the usual time limits on filing lawsuits for anyone suing over childhood sexual abuse.

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MINNEAPOLIS (MN)
Star Tribune

August 6, 2020

By Jean Hopfensperger

The Rev. John LeVoir oversaw the diocese during sexual abuse lawsuits and bankruptcy.

Bishop John LeVoir announced Thursday that he is resigning as leader of the Diocese of New Ulm because of health problems.

LeVoir has been bishop of the Catholic diocese since 2008. Earlier this year, the diocese reached a $34 million settlement with victims of sexual abuse, ending more than five years of litigation.

“Although these last years have been very challenging for the diocese and the life of the church, it has been a privilege to have served the faithful of the Diocese of New Ulm,” LeVoir said in a statement.

Since early July, LeVoir has been undergoing physical and psychological assessments at Sacred Heart Mercy Health Care Center in Alma, Mich., operated by the Religious Sisters of Mercy, according to the diocese, which did not comment further on the particular medical condition.

The 74-year-old bishop will stay in Alma until September to participate in a therapy plan, the diocese said.

About 93 sex abuse claims were filed against the diocese after passage of the Minnesota Child Victims Act in 2013. The diocese filed for bankruptcy in 2017 in response to the claims, following the pattern of most of Minnesota’s dioceses.

LeVoir was not implicated in the claims, but he oversaw the 63-year-old diocese during its most challenging years.

“We must never forget these sins of the past,” LeVoir said when the final settlement was reached in bankruptcy court in March. “The Diocese of New Ulm and the Catholic Church must do everything possible to help protect the vulnerable so that this tragedy never happens again.”

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MANKATO (MN)
Free Press

August 6, 2020

New Ulm – The bishop in the Diocese of New Ulm has stepped down, citing health reasons.

Pope Francis accepted Bishop John M. LeVoir’s resignation, which is effective as of today, according to a diocese news release.

LeVoir, 74, who was appointed bishop of New Ulm in July 2008, is now considered a retired bishop. Typical retirement age for a bishop is age 75, the release said.

Since early July, LeVoir has been undergoing a physical and psychological assessment at Sacred Heart Mercy Health Care Center in Alma, Michigan, a facility operated by the Religious Sisters of Mercy. He expects to remain there until early September to undertake a therapy plan.

“Although these last years have been very challenging for the diocese and the life of the Church, it has been a privilege to have served the faithful of the Diocese of New Ulm,” LeVoir said in a statement. “As bishop, it has not only been a great honor, but an enriching experience as I have come to know many people throughout this local Church … It would not have been possible to serve as their shepherd without their continued support, cooperation, and prayers.”

Levoir testified in March at a hearing in which a $34 million settlement with survivors of clerical sex abuse in the diocese was approved by a federal bankruptcy court judge. LeVoir issued an apology to the 93 abuse survivors, several of whom were in the courtroom.

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LONDON (ENGLAND)
Guardian

August 6, 2020

By Angela Giuffrida and Harriet Sherwood

Former Labour minister Ruth Kelly is among the women who will oversee Vatican finances and address its cashflow problems

Pope Francis has appointed six women to oversee the Vatican’s finances including Ruth Kelly, the former Labour minister, in the most senior roles ever given to women within the Catholic church’s leadership.

The appointments mark the most significant step by Francis to fulfil his promise of placing women in top positions. Until now, the 15-member Council for the Economy was all male. By statute, the council must include eight bishops – who are always men – and seven laypeople.

“That six are women is a pretty big quota,” said Joshua McElwee, the Vatican correspondent for the National Catholic Reporter. “But the important thing here is that these six women are part of a group that essentially oversees all of the financial activities of the Vatican, so obviously that’s a pretty top-level group.”

The female appointees are all European and have high-profile financial backgrounds. Leslie Ferrar, a former treasurer to Prince Charles, is the other British woman among the team. The other women are Charlotte Kreuter-Kirchhof and Marija Kolak, both from Germany, and Maria Concepción Osácar Garaicoechea and Eva Castillo Sanz, both from Spain. The only layman on the council is Alberto Minali, a former director general at Generali, the Italian insurance company.

The appointments come as the Vatican struggles with its finances, with problems worsened by the coronavirus pandemic and a sharp drop in the number of visitors to the Vatican Museums, a cash cow for the Holy See.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter

August 7, 2020

By Madeleine Davison

Members of Catholics for Change in Our Church take part in a small-group discussion during the January meeting of the group, which advocates for reform in the Pittsburgh Diocese. (Kevin Hayes)
The Pittsburgh Diocese is reeling from declining attendance and a massive restructuring program two years after a 2018 Pennsylvania grand jury report uncovered widespread clerical sexual abuse in six dioceses in the state. A lay advocacy group now says diocesan leadership has made few concrete steps to restore trust with parishioners.

“I don’t think they’ve made progress since the grand jury,” said Jan Hayes, a leader of the advocacy group known as Catholics for Change in Our Church.

Catholics for Change in Our Church arose out of a meeting of lay parishioners from across the diocese in September 2018, said Kevin Hayes, the group’s acting chair. Horrified by the scale of the crisis, members of the new organization wanted to address issues such as insufficient support for survivors, the diocese’s financial secrecy, and a lack of leadership roles for laypeople. The organization eventually coalesced into seven focus groups, representing about 1,000 total members, he said.

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DENVER (CO)
Crux

August 6, 2020

By Inés San Martín

Rosario, Argentina – Beyond the obvious reasons to fight clerical sexual abuse, above all the damage such abuse inflicts on victims, Pope Francis has added another argument: The effort to prevent abuse, he’s written, promotes a deeper acknowledgment that all life is sacred and deserves respect.

“Fighting abuse [means] fostering and empowering communities so that they are capable of keeping watch and announcing that all life deserves to be respected and valued, especially that of the most defenseless who do not have the resources to make their voice heard,” Francis wrote.

“We’ve been challenged to look squarely at this conflict, to take it up and suffer it together with the victims, their families and the whole community, to find ways that make us say: ‘Never again to the culture of abuse’,” he wrote. “This reality calls us to work in the awareness, prevention and promotion of a culture of care and protection in our communities and in society in general so that no person sees their integrity and dignity violated or mistreated.”

Pope Francis’s words came in a prologue for a new book edited by Father Daniel Portillo, a Mexican priest and founder of the Interdisciplinary Center of Investigation and Formation for the Protection of Minors from Mexico’s Catholic University (CEPROME).

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter

August 6, 2020

By Mark Nacinovich

Arthur McCaffrey fought for about a decade to keep his parish in suburban Boston open.

But in 2015, St. James the Great Parish in Wellesley was demolished. The site is now home to the Boston Sports Performance Center, a large recreational center complete with a hockey rink, swimming pool and indoor field.

St. James was one of nine Boston-area churches that kept a continuous vigil to prevent their parishes from being shuttered by the Boston Archdiocese in the wake of the sex abuse crisis that was brought to light in 2002 by The Boston Globe. Parishioners occupied the churches for years, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.

St. Frances X. Cabrini in Scituate was the last of the vigil holdouts. It closed in 2016, after parishioners spent almost 12 years in vigil and exhausted their legal appeals to the Vatican and in civil courts. Their civil case reached the U.S. Supreme Court, which refused to hear the case, letting stand a lower-court ruling that stated that the archdiocese owned the church’s property and the parishioners who were keeping vigil were trespassing.

Now, four years later, the Vatican’s new document on pastoral care raises the question of whether parishioners have more legal recourse within the church to keep their parishes open. The answer appears to be yes.

The 22-page document from the Vatican’s Congregation for the Clergy, released July 20, is titled “The pastoral conversion of the parish community in the service of the evangelizing mission of the church.” It discusses the role and structure of parishes in today’s digital age, where the concept of a fixed parish that covers a certain area may be outdated. One topic the document addresses is the closing of parishes.

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STEUBENVILLE (OH)
Herald-Star

August 6, 2020

By Joselyn King

New Cumberland – A request by the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston to dismiss a lawsuit alleging sexual assault by the Rev. Victor Frobas has been denied in Hancock County Circuit Court.

The order issued July 31 by Circuit Judge David Sims pertains to a complaint filed May 15 in Hancock County Circuit Court by Michael Pirraglia of Fairfax, Va. The complaint alleges Pirraglia was sexually assaulted over a three-year period by Frobas as a child while attending St. Paul Catholic Church in Weirton.

Frobas was assigned to the diocese from 1965 to 1983, according to court filings. The complaint seeks compensation from the diocese as the employer of Frobas, and alleges the diocese was aware of Frobas’ misconduct.

“The court finds that plaintiff has sufficiently set forth several causes of action against defendant in a manner that permits plaintiff to maintain his cause of action under West Virginia statutory and common law,” Sims states in his order. “There has been little formal discovery undertaken in this matter, and the claims raised by plaintiff and defenses raised by defendants may be more fully developed during discovery.”

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NEWTOWN SQUARE (PA)
Main Line Today

August 5, 2020

By J.F. Pirro

Monahan has represented dozens of clergy abuse victims while grappling with his own story.

He’s 67 now, but Dan Monahan was once an altar boy serving Roman Catholic masses in rural Connecticut. At his small church, Father Y (the only name he knew the priest by) was revered. “We were told that he was God on earth,” says Monahan, who’s now a personal injury lawyer in Exton. “And so we were indoctrinated.”

During one mass, delivered in Latin, Monahan wet his pants rather than abandon the altar. “Don’t worry,” the priest told him. “We’ll clean it up.”

Now, after more than a decade of disclosure after disclosure involving sexual abuse among the clergy, Monahan reflects on the cunning, programmatic behavior among those in purple garb. “It was like there was a playbook,” he says. “They picked on kids whose fathers were alcoholics, or whose mothers were overly devoted. They gave boys chores—ways we could help. It was like they were all given a manual on how to groom.”

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BAKERSFIELD (CA)
KGET

July 28, 2020

By Jason Kotowski

A lawsuit filed last week alleges sexual misconduct on the part of a former counselor at Bridge Bible Church against a church member.

The suit, filed July 22, says Eric Simpson manipulated a woman who had initially gone to him for marriage counseling sessions with her husband. Simpson later insisted on private sessions, the suit alleges, where he told her that her husband was a lucky man and repeated things to her that she told him in previous sessions she wished her husband would say to her.

“After months of manipulation, defendant Simpson had plaintiff where he wanted her,” the suit says. “Starting in July of 2019, defendant Simpson began sexually abusing plaintiff.”

It goes on to say church elders blamed her for the situation and shunned her and her husband.

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NORMAN (OK)
Good Faith Media

August 6, 2020

By Christa Brown and David Clohessy

Does it get any sicker than this?

At a flagship megachurch of the Southern Baptist Convention, church staffer James A. Hook sexually abused a 15-year-old church girl.

Hook sent the girl sexually explicit photos of her own mother – photos he had taken when he had an affair with the mother seven years earlier.

That’s just one of the details set forth in the complaint of a recently filed civil lawsuit in Memphis, Tennessee.

In a separate criminal case, Hook pled guilty to sexual battery by an authority figure. Police had found Hook together with the girl in a car.

The girl’s mother, identified in the lawsuit as Jane Doe, had first begun attending the church after the affair with Hook ended and after Hook himself suggested that Doe and her husband get counseling from one of the church’s staff pastors, Eric Brand.

As alleged in the lawsuit, Pastor Brand shared sexually explicit photos of his own wife during the counseling sessions and he encouraged Jane Doe to do what his wife did so that Doe would keep her husband interested.

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BAKERSFIELD (CA)
Bakersfield Californian from Los Angeles Times

August 6, 2020

By Nardine Saad

https://www.bakersfield.com/ap/national/with-ouster-of-priest-accused-of-pedophilia-coptic-church-mobilizes-against-sexual-abuse/article_a2f35dcd-1341-5baf-9252-6a62ad4265b4.html

Los Angeles – The Coptic Orthodox Church in the U.S., shaken by recent accusations of sexual abuse, has vowed to eradicate inappropriate behavior in its cloistered communities following the defrocking of a priest accused of pedophilia for decades.

The 2,000-year-old church, which was started in Egypt by the Apostle Mark and grew in the U.S. following a wave of immigration in the 1970s, is steeped in centuries-old traditions and rituals that define Christian Orthodoxy.

It is now contending with a new generation of activists among an estimated half-million Copts living in the U.S. in what is being described in the community as a “Coptic #MeToo” movement engrossing parishioners on social media.

The flashpoint started with Facebook and Instagram posts from Sally Zakhari, a 33-year-old Florida woman who said she was molested in Orlando, Florida, by Father Reweiss Aziz Khalil in the late 1990s. Zakhari wrote that she was molested at home after Khalil convinced her mother that she should start confession. She was 11 or 12.

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ROCHESTER (NY)
Democrat and Chronicle

August 3, 2020

By Sean Lahman

More than 70 survivors filed civil suits last week accusing former priests, nuns and lay teachers who served within the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester of sexually abusing them as children.

Among the new cases are 21 alleged abusers who had not previously been accused publicly.

A deadline to lodge the claims by Aug. 13 — a date that could yet be extended if legislation is signed, has accelerated the pace of filings.

At least 230 complaints have been brought against the diocese and its member parishes since last August under the state’s Child Victims Act. Adopted in early 2019, the CVA carved out a one-year window during which suits can be brought by people who allege they were sexually abused when they were young.

One of the new lawsuits alleges abuse that occurred in 1939, but most of the new cases describe incidents of sexual misconduct from the 1970s and 1980s. Roughly half of the new lawsuits involve victims who were 10 years old or younger when their abuse allegedly started.

To date, roughly 80% of the 260 CVA cases filled in Monroe County name the diocese and its parishes as defendants.

“We are honored to stand with these survivors in their pursuit of truth and accountability,” said attorney Jeff Anderson, whose firm filed 58 of the suits last week. “The number of complaints being filed demonstrates the magnitude of peril that has existed in the diocese for decades and that will no longer continue due to these courageous survivors.”

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ROCHESTER (NY)
WHAM 13

August 3, 2020

By Jane Flasch

Governor Andrew Cuomo signed a bill into law Monday, extending the deadline for people to file claims against alleged abusers under the Child Victims Act until August 14, 2021.

The deadline was previously set to expire on August 13, 2020.

Attorneys say the extension will not apply to anyone suing the Rochester Catholic Diocese.

“The bankruptcy judge ruled just last week the deadline remains August 13 of this summer,” said Attorney Steve Boyd, who represents clients suing the diocese.

The Rochester Diocese is an exception, in part, because it filed for bankruptcy last year. CVA lawsuits are handled by a federal bankruptcy judge – along with all other creditors making claims. A ruling by the judge last weeks makes the diocese here the one exception to the extension.

The Child Victims Act provides a one-year window for survivors of abuse to file claims, regardless of when the statute of limitations may have expired. On the first day – nearly one year ago – 38 lawsuits were filed in Monroe County. Attorneys say, to date, there are at least 225 naming the Rochester Catholic Diocese.

Those victims are grouped together, their cases moved to federal court when the diocese filed for bankruptcy. That makes them different than other cases which are being handled in state courts.

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ERIE (PA)
WICU/WSEE

August 4, 2020

The program was suspended in mid-March at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Diocese of Erie announced Tuesday it will resume its work with the Independent Survivors’ Reparation Program (ISRP), a program established to assist survivors of sexual abuse.

The program was suspended in mid-March at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.

The suspension affected approximately 40 remaining claimants. Claimants will be notified that the fund will begin processing claims effective August 6.

According to the Diocese of Erie, the ISRP was established to address the emotional, psychological and pastoral needs of survivors of sexual abuse within the Catholic Church in the Diocese of Erie.

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ROCHESTER (NY)
WHAM 13

August 4, 2020

By Jane Flasch

Serial predators inside the Catholic Church: At least 245 lawsuits filed under the Crime Victims Act name the Rochester Catholic Diocese. Taken together, they allege a stunning abuse of power – some of it involving only a handful of priests.

Five of them have been accused by a combined 105 victims.

“These people hurt you. You don’t forget that,” said a man who asked to be identified only by his initials: J.O.

For him, the abuse began in 1973 when he was living in what as then an orphanage run by the Rochester Diocese.

After filing a CVA lawsuit, he met dozens of others with similar claims.

“It’s almost like a fraternity. We really care about what happened – not only to us but to the other kids,” J.O. said.

Four victims say that while attending St. Bridget/Immaculate Conception as children, they were sexually abused by Rev. Francis Vogt. Over 45 years, Vogt also served in parishes in Elmira, Palmyra and Irondeqouit.

The four CVA suits are new – filed in the last three days. They bring the total number of victims alleging abuse at the hands of Vogt to 46. The youngest was just six years old at the time.

Next up is Rev. Robert O’Neill. News accounts reported by 13 WHAM decades ago reveal two bishops were aware of “credible abuse complaints” against him – yet he was allowed to serve the church until his retirement.

He is facing 24 lawsuits – by 24 different victims.

In 1996, Rev. Eugene Emo was arrested for abusing a mentally-challenged adult male. He served six months in prison. The diocese acknowledged that before his arrest, he took a leave of absence for almost a year for “a personal problem.”

At least 12 CVA suits name him.

Rev. Joseph Larrabee and Rev. Paul Cloonan round out the top five.

Because the Rochester Diocese filed for bankruptcy the CVA cases will be settled by a bankruptcy judge. He has set next Thursday as the deadline for any new filings naming the Rochester Diocese.

The window for other CVA lawsuits has been extended another year to August 13, 2021.

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LAS CRUCES (NM)
Sun-News

August 4, 2020

By Leah Romero and Damien Willis

Two Catholic priests were accused Tuesday of child sexual abuse in southern New Mexico.

Civil complaints were filed against the two priests, as well as the Las Cruces and El Paso dioceses and the parishes where the alleged sexual abuse occurred.

Fr. Roderick Nichols and Fr. Damian Gamboa were named in the alleged abuse of John Doe and Jane Doe.

According to court documents, John Doe alleges Nichols abused him in the early 1990s when the alleged victim was about 13 years old. At the time, Nichols was the pastor and administrator of St. Vincent De Paul Parish in Silver City. He was formerly listed as a chaplain for jail and prison ministry, but according to the diocese directory for 2020, Nichols is a retired diocesan priest.

Jane Doe alleges Gamboa abused her in the early 1980s, according to court documents. The alleged victim was about 13 or 14 years old. At the time, Gamboa was serving as the pastor and administrator of St. Francis de Paula Church Inc. in Tularosa. The church was formerly under the El Paso Diocese, but has since been reassigned to the Las Cruces Diocese.

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CINCINNATI (OH)
CityBeat

August 4, 2020

By Maija Zummo

The list of 90 religious and lay people includes 59 priests who have substantiated accusations against them, including four still living in the Greater Cincinnati area

The Diocese of Covington has published a list with the names of the priests, brothers, sisters and lay employees/deacons who have had the accusations made against them of the sexual abuse of minors substantiated.

The list does not say what each individual allegedly did or what accusations have been substantiated.

According to the diocese, the list is a result of a “comprehensive and independent review of thousands of diocesan records dating back to 1950” from two former FBI agents, who were allowed to review all Chancery files, archival files, priest personnel files and Safe Environment files.

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DUNKIRK (NY)
Observer

August 4, 2020

By Eric Tichy

The former pastor of a Dunkirk church is being accused of sexually abusing a child in the 1960s in a new Child Victims Act lawsuit filed Monday.

The complaint, filed in New York State Supreme Court in Chautauqua County, names the former St. Mary’s Church as a defendant. The victim claims to have been abused by the Rev. Maurus Schenck between 1962 and 1968 when the victim was about 12 to 17 years old.

“Plaintiff was a parishioner and participated in youth activities and/or church activities at St. Mary,” the suit claims. “Plaintiff, therefore, developed great admiration, trust, reverence, and respect for the Roman Catholic Church, including Defendants and their agents, including Fr. Schenck.”

The victim is being represented by the New York City-based Jeff Anderson & Associates and attorney Steve Boyd of Williamsville.

Schenck was one of dozens of priests tied to misconduct complaints and identified in leaked Diocese documents. According to multiple media reports, the former pastor was also accused of abusing a then-13-year-old at St. Mary’s around 1965.

Elsewhere, two Child Victims Act lawsuits were filed late last week for abuse said to have taken place at a Jamestown church in the early 1960s and mid-’70s. Both complaints name Ss. Peter and Paul Church and Holy Apostles as defendants.

One victim, only identified as “AB 279 DOE,” claims they were sexually abused by the Rev. John D. Lewandowski from about 1962 to 1963. The victim was about 13 to 14 years old when the alleged abuse took place.

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.

NEW YORK (NY)
Daily News

August 3 2020

By Denis Slattery

Albany – Survivors of childhood sexual assault will have another 12 months to file civil suits against their alleged abuser — no matter how long ago the incident occurred.

Gov. Cuomo on Monday signed an extension of part of the Child Victims Act providing a “look back” window for victims to file lawsuits beyond statue of limitations restrictions.

The measure, passed by the Legislature back in May, comes after the coronavirus pandemic led to a reduction in court services and limited the ability of survivors to file suits.

“The Child Victims Act has allowed more than 3,000 brave survivors to come forward to seek justice,” said sponsor Sen. Brad Hoylman (D-Manhattan). “Yet it’s clear many New Yorkers who survived child sexual abuse haven’t come forward — especially during the COVID-19 crisis which has upended our courts and economy.”

The Child Victims Act went into effect last August after being stalled in Albany for more than a decade. The legislation upended the legal landscape by allowing victims of abuse to seek criminal prosecution against an abuser until the age of 28, an increase from the prior age limit of 23. In civil cases, victims can seek prosecution until they turn 55.

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NEW YORK (NY)
New York Post

August 3, 2020

By Bernadette Hogan

Victims of child sex abuse now have an extra year to file lawsuits against their abusers, as Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed legislation Monday extending the current deadline slated for mid-August.

The New York Child Victims Act passed in early 2019 gave individuals a one-year lookback window to bring claims against perpetrators in cases that had already exceeded the statute of limitations.

The original filing deadline would have expired within the next few weeks — Aug. 14 of this year — but the new law expands the date one full year to Aug. 14, 2021.

The move came after advocates and sex abuse survivors begged lawmakers to introduce a measure granting additional time, especially after so many cases were filed after the courts stopped taking new cases in March.

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.

ALBANY (NY)
Times Union

August 3, 2020

By Cayla Harris and Chris Bragg

Deadline, originally set to expire this month, pushed to August 2021

In a long-fought victory for sex abuse survivors and victims advocates, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo on Monday signed a bill granting a one-year extension to the Child Victims Act’s “look-back window” allowing survivors of all ages to file previously time-barred claims against their alleged abusers.

The window, which opened last August, was set by statute to expire this month. But as the coronavirus pandemic shut down courts and introduced economic hardship early this year, Cuomo earlier this year signed an executive order initially extending the window through mid-January 2021. More than 3,100 cases have been filed under the act so far, including more than 200 in Albany County, according to data compiled by the state court system.

The newest extension grants survivors until Aug. 14, 2021, to file claims.

“We cannot let this pandemic rob survivors of their day in court,” the governor said Monday in a Tweet. ” … This extension will help ensure that abusers are held accountable.”

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.

UTICA (NY)
Times-Telegram from Rochester Democrat and Chronicle

August 3, 2020

By Sean Lahman

Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a bill Monday that will extend the deadline for lawsuits filed under New York’s Child Victims Act.

That legislation, adopted in early 2019, carved out a one-year window during which suits can be brought by people who allege they were sexually abused when they were young. The window of opportunity was set to close on August 13, 2020.

In May, both chambers of the state Legislature passed a bill to extend the deadline by a full year, to August 2021, saying they would do so because other states had given victims more than a year to bring suit. The state court system had also been closed by the pandemic, meaning that for several months, new CVA cases couldn’t be filed.

The legislation signed today extends the special filing period by a full year and claims can now be filed under the statute until August 14, 2021.

“The Child Victims Act brought a long-needed pathway to justice for people who were abused, and helps right wrongs that went unacknowledged and unpunished for far too long and we cannot let this pandemic limit the ability for survivors to have their day in court,” Cuomo said in a statement Monday. “As New York continues to reopen and recover from a public health crisis, extending the lookback window is the right thing to do and will help ensure that abusers and those who enabled them are held accountable.”

Cuomo had signed an executive order to extend the deadline, but critics expressed doubts that such a move would survive legal scrutiny and there was widespread concern that as a result, survivors who wait may not get their day in court.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Christian Post

July 28, 2020

By Ryan Foley

Roman Catholic Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, a prominent critic of Pope Francis, has accused a group of Church leaders of subverting the Church from within by allowing “heresy, sodomy and corruption” to run rampant.

In a recent interview with Vatican expert Marco Tosatti, the 79-year-old Vigano elaborated further on what he sees as the “deep church.”

Vigano, who previously served as the Vatican’s ambassador to the United States in one of the top diplomatic positions, first coined the phrase “deep church” in a June letter to President Donald Trump in which he described it as “mercenary infidels who seek to scatter the flock and hand the sheep over to be devoured by ravenous wolves.”

According to Vigano, there’s an effort by the leadership of the Catholic Church, including the pope, to downplay the role of sodomy and homosexual behaviors in the sexual abuse of minors.

Throughout the interview, Vigano referred to Pope Francis by his given name of Jorge Mario Bergoglio.

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LONDON (ENGLAND)
Daily Mail

July 31, 2020

By Darren Boyle

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8581307/Judge-freezes-late-paedophile-priests-5million-estate.html

A paedophile priest’s almost £5 million estate – most of which he left to a charity he set up to support families of clergy of the Church of England – cannot be spent while potential victims are found, the High Court has ruled.

A judge has also ordered the executors of Michael Studdert’s estate to set up a website to try and find those who may have been abused by the former Anglican minister in England and Wales, Poland, Denmark and Italy.

Studdert, who died aged 78 in August 2017, was convicted on three occasions of various charges relating to the possession, importing, making or distribution of indecent images of children between 1988 and 2006.

He was jailed alongside Paedophile Information Exchange founder Thomas O’Carroll in December 2006 after more than 100,000 indecent images were found at his home in Surrey.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Catholic News Service/USCCB via Catholic San Francisco

August 3 2020

Citing major decline in revenue, Camden Diocese suspends survivor payments

Camden, NJ – Citing “a precipitous decline” in revenue due to COVID-19, the Diocese of Camden announced July 31 it is putting a moratorium on any future decisions or payments to abuse survivors through its Independent Victim Compensation Program.

“Awards already made by the IVCP administrators will be paid,” the diocese said in a statement.

The diocese “is fast approaching a point where it will not be able to continue to borrow the funds necessary to pay the amounts awarded by the program” because of the economic toll the pandemic is taking.

The moratorium on future payouts to survivors “necessary in order to maintain the critical programs that the Diocese of Camden continues to provide for the communities it serves which, now more than ever, are so essential,” the diocese said.

In November 2018, the Camden Diocese along with the Trenton, Paterson and Metuchen dioceses and the Newark Archdiocese approved an independent compensation program to pay eligible victims who were sexually abused by clergy while they were minors in their localities.

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CHARLESTON (WV)
MetroNews

August 3, 2020

The Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston (DWC) announced two third-party reporting systems for people to use about concerns and allegations of abuse and harassment in the diocese.

DWC officials announced on Monday the partnership with Navex Global to roll out a new version of its EthicsPoint platform, intended to report suspected financial, professional, and personal misconduct of a priest, deacon, religious, or lay employee of the diocese, parish, or Catholic school in West Virginia.

This comes more than a year after the Catholic Church investigation concluded disgraced former Bishop Michael Bransfield sexually harassed younger priests and misused millions of dollars in church money.

The diocese said in a release that on a national scale, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has its own third-party reporting system called the Catholic Bishop Abuse Reporting Service. This reporting system is established to receive reports of sexual abuse and interference with sexual abuse investigations on the part of bishops in the United States.

These reports will be relayed to a lay person in each diocese with experience in such matters, who will assist the Metropolitan Archbishop in the investigation, according to DWC. Where a report indicates a crime, such as the sexual abuse of a minor, it will also be reported to civil authorities by the website’s third-party vendor. The website to make such reports is reportbishopabuse.org.

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.

MARTINSVILLE (VA)
Martinsville Bulletin

August 3, 2020

By Bill Wyatt

https://martinsvillebulletin.com/news/local/watch-now-father-mark-white-appeals-to-washingtons-archbishop-next-stop-rome/article_0867c757-7993-533c-acbc-b4839bd8cd56.html

[Includes a substantial video of Fr. Mark White being interviewed and speaking to the demonstrators, and scenes from the demonstration in front of the Vatican embassy.]

After being shunned at the doorsteps of a Richmond bishop and now also at the Apostolic Nuncio to the United States in Washington, D.C., Father Mark White of Martinsville and his supporters intend to take their demands for justice to the Vatican in Rome.

*
On Friday, White and his supporters took their appeal for justice to Apostolic Nuncio Christopher Pierre in Washington, D.C. Pierre serves as the pope’s ambassador to the United States.

White’s group had sent Pierre a letter two weeks before the trip asking for a meeting at 3:30 p.m. on Friday to discuss Knestout’s actions against White including the sex-abuse scandal and the rights of Catholics to speak their minds about the problems they see in the church.

“We came to try to talk to the pope’s representative here in the United States,” White said. “We had two topics that we wanted to discuss: The first one is – does it help our church to cover up the crimes of bishops and priests – does it help us or does it hurt us? Can we live in the truth? Can we help people to heal and find God again by living in the truth? That’s the first topic that we had hoped to discuss with him.

“Question number two: Are we allowed to have free speech in the church? Are we allowed to speak our minds about these things? Are we allowed to get things out in the open? Because that seems to be the way to make some headway here, to make some progress or do we have to suffer reprisals and persecution when we try to have this discussion?

“We’re here hoping someone will welcome us to have these discussions … but at least we can say at the end of the day today ‘we tried.’”

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NEW ORLEANS (LA)
Times-Picayune and New Orleans Advocate

August 3, 2020

By Matt Sledge

The Archdiocese of New Orleans has removed a recently ordained deacon from ministry at a Metairie church after receiving an allegation that he abused a child 20 years ago, church officials announced Monday.

Archbishop Gregory Aymond removed Deacon V.M. Wheeler from his post at St. Francis Xavier Parish in Old Metairie.

In addition to serving as a deacon since his 2018 ordination, Wheeler, 63, is a partner at the well-known Chaffe McCall law firm. Archdiocese officials said they didn’t receive a “formal” report of abuse until last week.

Wheeler was listed as one of the parish’s three deacons as recently as Sunday’s parish bulletin.

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NEW ORLEANS (LA)
Times-Picayune and New Orleans Advocate

August 3, 2020

By Kyle Whitfield

V.M. Wheeler, a deacon who has been removed from ministry by the Archdiocese of New Orleans, is an attorney who worked with various community organizations in metro New Orleans.

The church said Monday it recently received information about alleged abuse by Wheeler 20 years ago. The 63-year-old has been serving at St. Francis Xavier Parish in Old Metairie.

Here are a few notable positions Wheeler has held or currently holds:

— Partner at Chaffe McCall law firm;

— Member of the state bar since 1984, when he graduated from Tulane Law School;

— Adjunct associate professor at the Tulane Law School, according to the school’s website …

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.

SAN DIEGO (CA)
Insurance Journal

August 3, 2020

Two new lawsuits allege that the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph in Missouri covered up abuse by two priests who were known to be sexual predators.

The lawsuits, one filed on July 28 and the other on July 20, were announced by the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.

One of the priests died while the diocese was in the process of removing him from the priesthood and the other is no longer allowed to present himself as a priest, the diocese said.

The lawsuit filed July 20 alleges the Rev. Darvin Salazar sexually assaulted the victim in the rectory at Holy Cross Catholic Church and then prevented the plaintiff from leaving in July 2018, The Kansas City Star reported.

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.

WHEELING (WV)
WTRF

August 3, 2020

By Alexa Trischler

The Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston has unveiled a new third-party abuse reporting system. There is a national system to report sexual abuse and interference on a case but what we are talking about today is a second way people can report abuse, now on a local level adapted to West Virginia by the Diocese here.

Abuse can range from sexual to financial malfeasance, harassment, any form of abuse from the clergy, lay or religious employee. It is completely confidential and totally anonymous. A case number is assigned and that’s how a person is referred to, no names. Once a complaint is made, a thorough investigation will be conducted by a qualified lay employee.

Bishop Brennan told 7News “I think we’re in a different age where people want to know what’s really going on, the Lord Jesus said something about things that are whispered in darkness will be proclaimed in light I think we have to bring things up into the light if it’s bad name it and do something about it if it’s good we should praise it and encourage it so it’s really for that purpose.”

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.

ROCHESTER (NY)
WHAM 13 ABC

July 31, 2020

All legal claims against the Diocese of Rochester must be filed within the next two weeks, according to a federal bankruptcy judge.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Paul Warren issued the ruling Wednesday, stating August 13, 2020 will be the deadline for filing claims in the Diocese’s Chapter 11 case.

An official committee representing plaintiffs in abuse cases and other unsecured creditors had filed a motion to extend the deadline, but were denied.

Leander James, an attorney who has filed many lawsuits under the Child Victims Act on behalf of clients, said earlier this year that setting a deadline such as this one is not an unusual move for a bankruptcy case.

Back in May, the deadline for filing lawsuits in the Child Victims Act was extended to January 14, 2021 by Governor Andrew Cuomo, citing the coronavirus pandemic. Approximately three weeks later, the New York State Legislature passed legislation for a one-year extension of the same law, which would extend the deadline to August 13, 2021. Cuomo has yet to sign that into law.

The bankruptcy court ruling supercedes the extension of the Child Victims Act deadline, meaning anyone who wants to file a lawsuit under the Child Victims Act can do so – but not against the Diocese after August 13.

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.

NEW ORLEANS (LA)
WDSU

July 31, 2020

Local victims of Catholic clergy abuse want to see investigation records the Archdiocese of New Orleans has shared with the Vatican.

Members of the Survivors Network of those Abuse by Priests (SNAP) held a news conference Friday at Notre Dame Seminary, where area Catholic priests are trained. They called upon Archbishop Gregory Aymond to share all documents related to abuse probes.

The victims cite the December 2019 decision of Pope Francis to abolish what’s called the pontifical secret. It removed the veil of confidentiality covering church investigations into abuse.

“The pope requires all the bishops across the world to send their investigations up,” said Kevin Bourgeois with the SNAP New Orleans chapter. “This gives us the opportunity, outside of the court of law, to actually make sure our bishop followed canon law.”

In response, the Archdiocese of New Orleans provided background on the abolition of the Pontifical Secret, saying that it applies to matters other than clergy sexual abuse. It gave the example of diplomatic communications among the Vatican’s nunciatures, or embassies, around the world.

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NEW ORLEANS (LA)
WVUE

July 31, 2020

By Rob Masson

SNAP Calls for Church Archives

Victims of clergy sex abuse are calling for a new level of transparency when it comes to abusive priests. They say under new church doctrine victims are entitled to see the files on abusive priests.

They gathered in front of Notre Dame seminary, to call for a new level of transparency when it comes to information on sexually abusive clergy

“Child rape is bad but the cover-up is so disheartening,” said Tommy Crane, a supporter of the ‘Survivors Network of Those Abused By Priests’, or ‘SNAP’.

Alleged victims say in December of last year Pope Francis abolished what is known as the ‘pontifical secret’ which they say should clear the way for survivors to view files on their abusers.

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.

BERLIN (GERMANY)
Agence France Presse via WION

August 3, 2020

Former Pope Benedict XVI became seriously ill himself after visiting his sick brother in Germany in June and is “extremely frail”, according to a report in the Monday edition of the German Passauer Neue Presse newspaper.

Benedict, 93, is suffering from erysipelas of the face, a virus that causes a facial rash and episodes of severe pain, the newspaper reported, citing the former pope’s biographer Peter Seewald.

“According to Seewald, the Pope emeritus is now extremely frail,” the report says. “His thinking and his memory are quick, but his voice is hardly audible at the moment.”

Seewald reportedly visited Benedict in Rome on Saturday to present him with his biography.

“At the meeting the emeritus Pope, despite his illness, was optimistic and declared that if his strength increased again he would possibly take up his pen again,” the paper said.

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DENVER (CO)
Crux

August 3, 2020

By Inés San Martín

Rosario, Argentina – Public Mass might have stopped across much of the world during the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic, but several aspects of the life of the Church have continued, including efforts to prevent clerical sexual abuse in Latin America.

Evidence came in a Zoom conversation on Friday, with some 2,000 people joining through two parallel screens, plus many more joining through Facebook. It was organized by the Center for Child Protection of Mexico’s Catholic University (CEPROME) and the Vatican Safeguarding Taskforce, launched earlier this year. The event had the support of the Catholic bishops of Latin America.

To be sure, this was no ecclesiastical feel-good session. The talk was blunt and, at times, searing.

“Nowhere have I encountered the level of destruction I found within the Church,” said Chilean laywoman Maria Josefina Martinez Bernal, a member of the National Council on Abuse Prevention and Victims Accompaniment of the Chilean bishops conference since 2011, and a member of the Fundacion para la Confianza, an NGO founded by three survivors of former Chilean priest Fernando Karadima.

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YONKERS (NY)
News 12

August 2, 2020

Hyde Park Baptist Church is being sued over claims of sexual abuse allegedly at the hands of a former pastor.

A lawsuit filed under the state’s Child Victims Act alleges that the church knew Senior Pastor Jonathan Weaver was abusing the victim.

It alleges the abuse began when the victim was just 15 years old inside an office at the church. It also alleges that the abuse lasted for years with Weaver visiting and raping the girl while at college in South Carolina in 2005.

Shortly after, Weaver resigned after news of a pregnancy from the alleged rape began to circulate around the church.

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.

DENVER (CO)
Crux

August 3, 2020

By Elise Ann Allen

Rome – After seven women in France last month “applied” for ecclesial jobs traditionally open only to men, including the priesthood, the Vatican’s ambassador to the country has made a personal phone call to several of them offering a sit-down meeting.

The calls apparently are unrelated to death threats one of the women “applicants” says she received.

On May 25, a woman named Anne Soupa sent the Vatican embassy in Paris her application to be the next Archbishop of Lyon, a post which has been vacant since the resignation of Cardinal Philippe Barbarain in March amid an ongoing legal battle to clear himself of allegations that he covered up sexual abuse.

After Soupa sent in her request, several other women joined her cause, forming a coalition called, Toutes Apôtres!, meaning, “All Apostles,” which is dedicated to promoting equality in the Church for all baptized regardless of their gender, marital status, profession or sexual orientation.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter

August 1, 2020

By Thomas C. Fox

[See Schroth’s Humility and responsibility: Bishops can’t exempt themselves from tough line applied to priests, Boston Globe, June 23, 2002; and A New Future for the Church, Speech to Rockville Centre VOTF, November 14, 2002.]

Jesuit Fr. Ray Schroth was well-known in the Catholic press as a writer for America magazine and as the associate editor and book editor for Commonweal in the 1970s before we first met in Kansas City, Missouri, in June 1980.

What followed from our first encounter was a near four-decade journalism collaboration.

Schroth died July 1 at Murray-Weigel Hall, a Jesuit nursing facility next to Fordham University’s Rose Hill campus. He was 86.

He left behind countless admirers and readers. Feeling his loss are countless more former students — now well-established professionals — who carry on gratefully, holding close the knowledge, wisdom and friendships they built and shared.

Schroth was an intellectual. He devoured books and explored their ideas. He was a teacher. He counseled and encouraged students. He was a journalist. He believed storytelling could provide solace and build a better world. He was an advocate. He pursued justice endlessly.

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.

COVINGTON (KY)
Diocese of Covington

July 31, 2020

The Diocese of Covington today is releasing the names of priests, religious, deacons and lay employees who have served in our Diocese against whom one or more allegations of sexual abuse of a minor have been substantiated.

The list is the product of a comprehensive and independent review of thousands of diocesan records dating back to 1950. Two former FBI agents were given free rein to review all diocesan records, including Chancery files, archival files, priest personnel files, and Safe Environment files. The former FBI agents have a combined 50 years of investigative experience.

In October, 2019, Bishop Roger Foys and the Diocesan Review Board initiated the review as a way to continue to assure the people of the Diocese of Covington, as well as our priests and other Diocesan personnel, that the Diocese has, as far as is humanly possible, addressed the scourge of sexual abuse of minors by its priests, religious and lay employees.

Inclusion on this list does not necessarily indicate that an accused priest, religious, deacon or lay employee has been found guilty of a crime or liable for any civil claim. The definition of “substantiated allegation” that guided the file review is as follows:

An allegation of sexual abuse of a minor is deemed substantiated when there is probable cause for believing the claim is true. The following may be considered as evidence of probable cause:

1) admission of guilt by the accused;
2) guilty finding rendered by a court;
3) finding rendered by an investigative process shows cause for believing the allegation is true on an objective basis;
4) the accused, when presented with the allegation and afforded a reasonable opportunity to respond, declined to address the allegation; or
5) the Special Masters appointed by the Court in the class action litigation against the Diocese made a monetary award from the class settlement fund based on a sworn claim form alleging one or more incidents of sexual abuse of a minor by the accused, and any other evidence that was submitted on behalf of the claimant.

The review process that has culminated in this list is part of the Diocese’s ongoing commitment to create a Safe Environment and to ensure that all allegations of child sexual abuse by priests, religious and lay employees over the last 70 years have been properly identified and reported. The review process is the natural outgrowth of two significant developments that have transpired during the last eighteen (18) years: significant reforms in the U.S. Catholic Church beginning in 2002 and the Diocese’s involvement in class action litigation from 2003-2009.

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.

DAYTON (OH)
Dayton Daily News

July 31, 2020

By Josh Sweigart

https://www.daytondailynews.com/news/catholic-orders-list-of-accused-shows-past-of-mishandling-abuse-allegations/MUUYNGBVOJDLLGTDKOLV44MHFA/

A Dayton Daily News investigation into the Society of Mary’s handling of alleged abuse of children by its members found the religious order concealed allegations against some from parents, students and school officials.

The order released a list this summer of 46 priests and brothers its leaders say sexually abused children since 1950, but critics say the disclosure falls short.

The Catholic order today is based in St. Louis and runs dozens of schools in the U.S. and around the world. Because of the group’s ties to Dayton, many of the men named in the list worked or studied in Dayton at some time, a Dayton Daily News investigation found.

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.

NEW DELHI (INDIA)
Hindustan Times

August 2, 2020

Mulakkal had filed the plea in the top court where he claimed to be innocent and said he was implicated after he questioned the financial dealings of the victim nun. He approached the top court after the Kerala high court rejected his plea for discharge from the case.

The Supreme Court will hear the plea of former Bishop Franco Mulakkal, seeking direction to discharge him from the nun rape case, on August 5.

A bench headed by Justice AS Bopanna will hear Mulakkal’s plea for dropping of rape charges against him.

Mulakkal had filed the plea in the top court where he claimed to be innocent and said he was implicated after he questioned the financial dealings of the victim nun. He approached the top court after the Kerala high court rejected his plea for discharge from the case.

The prosecution in the high court had contended that there was strong evidence against him and he was moving pleas frequently to delay the trial.

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.

[In the name of the Father: They will appeal the ruling that dismissed the complaint against the Church’s abuse reporting system]

ROSARIO (ARGENTINA)
El Ciudadano

July 30, 2020

By Arlen Buchara

Apelarán el fallo que desestimó la denuncia contra el sistema de reportes de abuso de la Iglesia

El abogado Carlos Ensinck consideró que los argumentos de la fiscal Juliana González están sostenidos en jurisprudencia de la propia Iglesia y no en leyes argentinas y tratados internaciones de protección de víctimas de abuso sexual

[GOOGLE TRANSLATION: The lawyer Carlos Ensinck considered that the arguments of the prosecutor Juliana González are sustained in the jurisprudence of the Church itself and not in Argentine laws and international treaties for the protection of victims of sexual abuse.]

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FRANCE
Agence France Presse via Barron’s

July 23, 2020

Pope Francis’s former ambassador to France, Luigi Ventura, will stand trial for sex assault in Paris in November following complaints by four men, one of whom accused the cleric of inappropriate touching, lawyers said Thursday.

Ventura, an Italian-born archbishop, was stripped of his diplomatic immunity by the Vatican last July after he was questioned by French police, and resigned in December when he reached the 75-year age limit for his post.

His trial will open on November 10, the Paris prosecutor’s office said Thursday.

“He will be present,” Ventura’s lawyer Bertrand Ollivier told AFP. “He will attend the hearing to defend his honour and innocence.”

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Register

August 1, 2020

By Jim Graves

Church leaders offer an inspiring lineup at the virtual event planned for mid-August.

For the first time since it was established a decade ago, the Napa Institute Summer Conference will be held online Friday and Saturday, Aug. 14-15. The original event had been planned as an in-person event in July in Napa, California, per usual, but it will be online this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Featured speakers include Cardinal George Pell, who will discuss suffering and persecution, particularly in light of his 13 months in prison as a result of what Australia’s highest court declared was an unjust conviction for child sexual abuse. (Busch noted that he had been friends with Cardinal Pell for a decade and that, in Cardinal Pell’s recent case, “grace prevailed.”) Arthur Brooks will discuss reconciliation and love in America, including the need for a return to civil discourse. Princeton professor Robert George will ask: “Where do we go from here?” Author George Weigel will present lessons from Pope St. John Paul II and what Vatican II was all about. Trent Horn of Catholic Answers and Catherine Pakaluk of the Busch School of Business at The Catholic University of America will discuss socialism, and evangelical pastor Rick Warren will speak about hope.

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WISCONSIN
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

August 1, 2020

By Elliot Hughes

https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/2020/08/01/pewaukee-priest-accused-sexual-assault-can-return-work-work/5564267002/

A Pewaukee priest whose sexual assault of a minor case ended with a mistrial and then dropped charges is being allowed to return to work at his church, the Archdiocese of Milwaukee announced Saturday.

The announcement comes after the archdiocese says it completed its own investigation into the allegations against the Rev. Charles Hanel, 63, and determined they were unsubstantiated and false. He will be restored to the ministry effective Monday and will be allowed to resume his role of pastor at Queen of Apostles Church in Pewaukee.

Hanel was charged with second-degree sexual assault of a then-13-year-old girl in a church confessional in December 2017. In March 2020, Waukesha County Circuit Judge Michael Maxwell declared a mistrial after it became public that the girl’s mother is an undocumented immigrant trying to gain legal status to stay in the U.S.

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MICHIGAN
The Herald-Palladium

August 1, 2020

By Julie Swidha

Child abuse reporting is down, but authorities are worried

Authorities have seen a dramatic decrease in the number of child abuse cases being reported, but they aren’t viewing it as good news.

Berrien County Prosecutor Michael Sepic and Jamie Rossow, executive director of the Children’s Advocacy Center of Southwest Michigan, say they suspect that child abuse is actually up and is just not being reported. They said this is occurring not just locally but all across the country.

Sepic and Rossow said in a joint news release Friday that they suspect stress and isolation from the COVID-19 pandemic has likely increased instances of child abuse and, for some children, has created a dangerous environment. Many reports of suspected abuse come from school officials, and schools have not been in session since March.

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CAMDEN (NJ)
Philadelphia Inquirer

July 31, 2020

By Jeremy Roebuck

https://www.inquirer.com/news/camden-diocese-victim-compensation-fund-clergy-sex-abuse-catholic-feinberg-biros-20200731.html

Citing financial losses resulting from the coronavirus pandemic, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Camden said Friday that it would halt payments from a clergy sex-abuse victim fund that has paid out nearly $7.6 million.

In a statement, the diocese said it had suffered a “precipitous decline in revenue” and was rapidly approaching a point where it would not be able to continue to borrow money to pay authorized awards.

“These steps are necessary in order to maintain the critical programs the Diocese of Camden continues to provide for the communities it serves, which, now more than ever, are so essential,” it read.

A diocesan spokesperson said he did not know how many victim claims would go unresolved. Victims and their lawyers on Friday decried the decision, noting that many had been asked to relive traumatizing experiences and fill out exhaustive paperwork while applying through a process that is being abandoned.

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COVINGTON (KY)
Associated Press

August 1, 2020

The Diocese of Covington has released a report on sexual abuse that found 59 Catholic priests and 31 others associated with the church have sexually abused children since the 1950s.

The report was released Friday on the diocese website along with a list naming the accused, The Kentucky Enquirer reported.

“There are no words to adequately express the sorrow and shame I feel,” Foys wrote in an apology released with the report. “I can never apologize enough to those who have been harmed by any representative of the church. I beg your forgiveness in the name of the church.”

In 2006, the Diocese of Covington paid more than $81 million to sexual abuse victims in a court settlement.

The diocese said the report was compiled by two former FBI agents who reviewed thousands of records dating back to 1950.

Of the accused priests, all but 14 are deceased.

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COVINGTON (KY)
WCPO-TV

July 31, 2020

By Craig Cheatham and WCPO staff

[Includes video]

https://www.wcpo.com/news/local-news/i-team/diocese-of-covington-names-90-with-substantiated-allegations-of-sexual-abuse-of-a-minor

Dean McCoy said he had been waiting for this day for more than three decades.

On Friday, the Diocese of Covington named 90 religious and lay employees with substantiated allegations of sexual abuse of a minor while working at the diocese.

McCoy said he was one of the victims.

McCoy told the WCPO 9 I-Team that the Rev. Herman Kamlage sexually abused him more than 30 years ago. Kamlage is one of the priests on the Covington list.

“My reaction to the list being released is: it’s a long time past due,” McCoy said. “It should have been released a long time ago and given people an opportunity to address the situation at that time.”

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WASHINGTON D.C.
MetroWeekly

August 1, 2020

By John Riley

Conspiracy-minded archbishop accuses Pope of trying to “legitimize” homosexuality, even though church teaching would say otherwise

A right-wing Catholic archbishop who once served as the Vatican’s ambassador to the United States has accused Pope Francis of heresy for promoting the “legitimization of homosexuality.”

Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, who is known for his anti-gay views and has previously called on the pope to resign, made the charge in a recent interview with Italian journalist and Vatican expert Marco Tosatti. In that interview, Viganò, who refers to the pope by his given name and refuses to use his official title, claims that Pope Francis, a.k.a. “Jorge Bergoglio,” is involved in a ploy to “corrupt” the church by promoting homosexuality, according to Newsweek.

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OAKLAND (CA)
Associated Press

July 20, 2020

A San Francisco Bay Area priest accused of sexual battery failed to appear in court Monday and a judge issued a warrant for his arrest.

Varghese Alengadan, 67, known as “Father George,” was charged last week with one count of misdemeanor sexual battery for allegedly inappropriately touching a woman in July 2019.

He was scheduled to appear in Alameda County Superior Court Monday for his arraignment but never showed up, the district attorney’s office told the Mercury News of San Jose.

Alameda County Judge Colin Bowen issued an arrest warrant with bail set at just one cent due to the coronavirus pandemic. Jail population reductions mean that only inmates accused of serious and violent felonies are being held.

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ALTOONA (PA)
Altoona Mirror

August 1, 2020

Briefs challenge, support landmark decision allowing lawsuit against priest

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court in the past week has received several friend-of-the-court briefs both supporting and challenging a landmark decision made by the court last year in which it allowed an Altoona woman to proceed with a sexual abuse case against a priest, even though the alleged offenses occurred in the mid-1970s.

Pennsylvania’s highest court agreed in March to review the Superior Court decision, which has drawn interest from church organizations as well victims’ rights groups nationwide.

According to attorney Richard M. Serbin, who has a law office in Altoona and who represents the alleged victim of the sexual abuse, Renee A. Rice, no date has been set for argument on the appeal.

Serbin said that in the past week, amicus briefs have been filed by supporters of his client, CHILD USA, The Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP), the National Crime Victims Association and the Pennsylvania Association of Justice.

Other briefs have been filed on behalf of the defendants by the The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, The Altoona-Johnstown Roman Catholic Diocese, other dioceses in Pennsylvania and The Catholic League.

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WASHINGTON D.C.
WFXR-TV

July 31, 2020

By Santiago Melli-Huber

Father Mark White was in Washington, DC today, protesting outside the Catholic Church’s embassy, and he was not alone. Dozens of his congregants drove up from Rocky Mount and Martinsville with him.

“It’s sad to have to be here,” said White, “but I’m very much heartened and encouraged by all the people that are here with me and the solidarity with the victims of sexual abuse that everyone here is trying to express.”

White is the Catholic priest in Rocky Mount and Martinsville who was removed from his post and reassigned as a prison chaplain, because he refused to take down his blog. In that blog, he was frequently critical of the Catholic Church’s cover up of sexual abuse.

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NEW YORK (NY)
New York Daily News

July 31, 2020

By Molly Crane-Newman

A slew of lawsuits filed Friday accuse the Boy Scouts of America with tolerating sexual abuse for decades — and say the systemic mistreatment of boys went on since the organization’s founding in 1910.

The 21 new lawsuits in Manhattan Supreme Court charge 14 adult scout leaders with sexually abusing children in numerous instances dating to 1954.

The abuse has gone on through the entire 110 year history of U.S. scouting, the lawsuits say.

”Throughout that time, many of these children have been subjected to horrific acts of sexual abuse by adults who gained access to them through scouting organizations,” says one of the lawsuits. “This widespread abuse of children in scouting programs has been a systemic crisis that goes back since these organizations first existed.”

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
MyNewsLA.com

July 31, 2020

A lawsuit filed against the Archdiocese of Los Angeles by two siblings who allege they wrongfully lost their jobs after more than 10 years of working at a Catholic church office in Lynwood will have to be shored up for it to proceed on all the current allegations, a judge ruled Friday.

Susana Montoya and Patricia Garcia brought the lawsuit last September in Los Angeles Superior Court, saying they were retaliated against after reporting what they believed was an inappropriate relationship between a school principal and a priest.

Also named as defendants are the Rev. Ernesto Jaramillo of St. Philip Neri Church and Alejandra Gonzales, principal of St. Philip Neri Catholic School.

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KENTUCKY
Cincinnati.com

July 31, 2020

By Erin Glynn and Dan Horn, Cincinnati Enquirer

The Diocese of Covington has released a list of priests and others affiliated with the diocese accused of sexually abusing children. A report summarizing the findings of a new report compiled by two former FBI agents, the list naming the accused and a letter of apology from Covington Bishop Roger Foys can be seen on the diocese’s website.

A nearly year-long review of records at the Diocese of Covington found that 59 Catholic priests and 31 others associated with the church have sexually abused children since the 1950s.

A report summarizing the findings of the review was released Friday on the diocese’s website, along with a list naming the accused and a letter of apology from Covington Bishop Roger Foys.

“There are no words to adequately express the sorrow and shame I feel,” Foys wrote. “I can never apologize enough to those who have been harmed by any representative of the Church. I beg your forgiveness in the name of the Church.”

The report is the most exhaustive accounting yet of those credibly accused of sexual abuse in the diocese, covering pastors, chaplains, deacons, teachers, brothers, nuns and about 20 lay people.

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KENTUCKY
WLWT

July 31, 2020

The Diocese of Covington released an extensive list of priests, deacons, consecrated religious and laity who have had substantiated allegations of sexual abuse of minors on Friday.

The list of allegations dates back to 1950.

“I sincerely hope that this report will bring at least some sense of closure to those whose lives have been forever changed by the egregious behavior of those who were pledged to care for God’s little ones,” Most Rev. Roger J. Foys said in a statement.

In his message, Foys acknowledged that releasing the report may cause additional pain and anger for the victims, and he apologized for that.

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ROME
Rome Reports

July 31, 2020

In the vademecum on cases of sexual abuse, there are still improvements to be made. That’s according to Fr. Jordi Bertomeu, from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, who in 2018 was sent to Chile alongside Msgr. Charles Scicluna, to investigate the Church’s sexual abuse scandal. Their work prompted the pope to change the Church’s approach to dealing with this challenge.

In a virtual conference organized by Mexico’s Center for the Protection of Minors (CEPROME), he said the document still contains some gaps. For example, it doesn’t say that victims must be notified of any security measures taken against an accused priest, a distressing reality for victims. He also says some of the document’s affirmations are too generic, citing the example that a bishop must report a priest to authorities “if this is considered necessary.”

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QUEENS (NEW YORK)
Patch.com

July 30, 2020

By Maya Kaufman

Glendale priest Rev. Francis J. Hughes was arrested Wednesday on a child pornography charge, federal prosecutors said.

A Queens priest was arrested by the FBI Wednesday after investigators caught him swapping sexually explicit texts and nudes with a 15-year-old boy on the dating app Grindr.

Francis Hughes, the pastor at St. Pancras Church in Glendale, was charged with receiving child pornography for the explicit exchanges, federal prosecutors said.

Hughes, 65, is accused of sending the Westchester teen photos of his genitals and trying to meet up with him for sex, according to Manhattan federal court records.

Prosecutors said Hughes told the boy he was a part-time college professor and a counselor.

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QUEENS (NEW YORK)
CBSLocal.com

July 30, 2020

A priest in Queens is facing child pornography charges, according to police.

Francis Hughes, 65, is accused of exchanging sexually explicit messages with a 15-year-old boy from Westchester County.

Hughes allegedly received pornographic images from the teen. Police said there could be more victims.

The Diocese of Brooklyn said Hughes has been removed from his post.

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FIJI
RNZ

July 31, 2020

The head of Fiji’s Catholic Church has met with leaders in the Archdiocese of Suva to address, what he says, are the recent allegations of sexual abuse against children by its priests.

Earlier this month, a man reportedly claimed he was molested by a priest in Fiji when he was a child.

The TV New Zealand report also claimed that the NZ Catholic Church had moved certain brothers and priests – who had sexually abused children – to the Pacific including Fiji.

This week Archbishop Peter Loy Chong reiterated that the church in Fiji is committed to dealing with allegations of sexual abuse against minors by priests and religious workers.

Archbishop Chong said the church will work closely with the arms of the law to ensure that justice is served at all levels while providing pastoral care to the victims and their families.

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NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR
VOCM

July 30, 2020

The Roman Catholic Episcopal Corporation is reviewing a Court of Appeal ruling that found it guilty of vicarious liability for the sexual and other abuse suffered by boys at Mount Cashel from the late 40s to the early 60s.

The Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador ruled in March, 2018 that the corporation was not liable. However, the Court of Appeal has unanimously overturned parts of that ruling including the question of liability.

The Archdiocese of St. John’s says it was never responsible for the operations of the orphanage or the school at Mount Cashel, but the Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador (Appeal Division) wrote that the Archdiocese provided the Brothers who were staffing Mount Cashel with the power, environment and tools to carry out their wrongdoing virtually undetected.

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VATICAN
Newsweek

July 30, 2020

By Aila Slisco

A Catholic Archbishop who once served as the Vatican’s ambassador to the United States has accused Pope Francis of heresy for promoting the “legitimization of homosexuality.”

Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano is well known for his anti-gay views and has previously called for the pope to resign. In a recent interview with Italian journalist and Vatican expert Marco Tosatti, Vigano insisted that Pope Francis, who he refers to using his given name of Jorge Bergoglio, is involved with a plot to “corrupt” the church by promoting homosexuality.

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ROME
Crux

July 30, 2020

By Elise Ann Allen

Brazilian Cardinal João Braz de Aviz, the Vatican’s point man on consecrated life, has criticized what he said is a state of “dominance” that men often hold over women in the Catholic Church, and stressed the need for a deeper renewal of religious life across the board.

“In many cases, the relationship between consecrated men and women represents a sick system of relations of submission and dominance that takes away the sense of freedom and joy, a misunderstood obedience,” said Braz de Aviz in a recent interview.

Braz de Aviz is the prefect of the Vatican Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.

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VATICAN CITY
Catholic News Service

July 30, 2020

By Carol Glatz

The abuse occurring within women’s religious orders deserves more attention from the media and must be remedied, said an influential Jesuit journal.

Novices and women religious, especially those who have been assigned to a country where they don’t know the language, can be particularly vulnerable to abuses of power and conscience by superiors, and sexual abuse by their formators, said an article in “La Civilta Cattolica.”

“The dynamics of women’s religious life turn out to be very different from that of men in many ways. The education and many pastoral opportunities of those who receive Holy Orders allow men religious to live with greater openness and autonomy,” even in a religious community, said the article, written by Jesuit Father Giovanni Cucci, a professor of psychology and philosophy at Rome’s Pontifical Gregorian University.

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COVINGTON (KY)
WVXU

July 31, 2020

By Jennifer Merritt

The Diocese of Covington on Friday released the names of priests, deacons, and other religious and lay employees who have been substantially accused of sexual abuse by a minor. The list, it says, “is the product of a comprehensive and independent review of thousands of diocesan records dating back to 1950.”

In 2018, the National Review Board prompted all dioceses to embark on the process of reviewing such claims – and making them public. Two former FBI agents began the Covington file review in October 2019, the Diocese says.

In a letter, Bishop Roger Foys wrote “there are no words to adequately express the sorrow and shame” he feels in presenting the Diocese of Covington’s list.

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CANADA
SNAP Network

July 30, 2020

An appellate court in Canada has upheld a ruling that holds the Archdiocese of St. John’s responsible for cases of child sexual abuse that occurred at an orphanage within its boundaries. We applaud this decision and appreciate that the court chose to put a nail in the coffin of one of the Catholic Church’s oldest arguments to avoid accountability for cases of abuse.

In this case, the Archdiocese of St. John’s argued that abuse inflicted by priests from the Christian Brothers religious order was not the responsibility of the Archdiocese, even though the children abused were from families within the Archdiocesan boundaries and the order priests worked in the Archdiocese with the permission of the Archbishop. We have long seen this same brand of hairsplitting and lack of accountability in the United States and the only time it stops is when a secular authority steps in, as has happened in this case.

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NEW ORLEANS (LA)
SNAP Network

July 30, 2020

SNAP Leaders from New Orleans will hold a press event Friday, July 31, 2020, in front of Notre Dame Seminary at 2901 S. Carrollton Ave at 10 am.

The New Orleans Chapter of SNAP is extremely interested in knowing what the Archdiocese of New Orleans has shared with the Vatican regarding pedophile clergy. When Archbishop Aymond released the names of fifty-seven credibly accused clerics to the public on November 2, 2018, Canon law required all bishops to provide information to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) and the Vatican.

In December 2019, Pope Francis abolished the Pontifical Secret. This should equate to every survivor being able to obtain files on his or her abuser. Survivors and victims have a right to review the results of the local and Vatican review of the accusations and outcome of the Church processes.

We call on victims and survivors of those sexually abused to support this action to open the books even if your case was settled.

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UPPER WEST SIDE (NY)
Patch

July 30, 2020

By Gus Saltonstall

The four new complaints against Monsignor John Paddack span 16 years.

Four new Child Victims Act lawsuits were filed Wednesday against Upper West Side priest Monsignor John Paddack. The lawsuits also name the Archdiocese of New York, under the leadership of Cardinal Timothy Dolan, as a defendant.

The latest accusations follow seven lawsuits already filed against Paddack, who has continued in his position at Church of Notre Dame at 405 West 114th Street on the Upper West Side.

“These lawsuits demonstrate Paddack’s pattern of predation: in each instance, exploiting his clerical power to abuse children,” said attorney Jeff Anderson, who filed six of the seven previous lawsuits naming Paddack as a perpetrator.

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COVINGTON (KY)
FOX19

July 31, 2020

By Kim Schupp

The Diocese of Covington released the names of priests, deacons, and lay employees who have been accused of sexual abuse of a minor.

The diocese said the list is the product of a comprehensive and independent review of thousands of diocesan records dating back to 1950.

“After over a year of deliberations and planning, the Diocesan Review Board presented a process of review to Bishop Roger Foys for implementation. These deliberations were prompted in November 2018 by the recommendation of the National Review Board for all dioceses to conduct an independent review of all files — going back to 1950, if possible — and making these results public, including publishing the list of names of all clergy offenders,” they said in the release.

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DETROIT (MI)
The Detroit News

July 30, 2020

By Kim Kozlowski

Bo Schembechler, the legendary University of Michigan football coach, knew about the alleged sexual abuse linked to the late Dr. Robert E. Anderson, according to a federal lawsuit filed Thursday.

A former UM student told Schembechler about Anderson’s alleged abuse in 1982 and 1983 after seeing the late doctor for migraines, according to the suit that is among dozens of othersfiled against UM and the Board of Regents in U.S. District Court in Detroit.Schembechler allegedly sent the student to former UM Athletic Director Don Canham.

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FLINT (MI)
WJRT

July 30, 2020

By Cheri Hardmon

53 survivors are part of the lawsuit against U of M–over allegations of sexual abuse by Anderson from 1960-2003.

“Whether it was on the field or on the track, yet the very coaches and staff and University put their trust in and dedicated themselves to looked to for support and guidance as young people, they ignored their suffering,” said attorney Michelle Simpson Tuegel.

Add legendary University of Michigan head football coach Bo Schembechler’s name to the growing list of those who allegedly knew about the sexual assault of student athletes– by then team doctor Robert Anderson.

“Much like what happened in the Nassar case at Michigan State, they were told this part of a normal physical and if they wanted to participate in their perspective sports and get the sign off from Anderson to play, they needed to just go along with it,” said attorney, Steve Estey.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
Church Militant

July 31, 2020

By Paul Murano

New lawsuits are accusing the diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph in Missouri covered up and enabled clergy sex abuse.

The lawsuits, one filed Tuesday in Jackson County Circuit Court and the other on July 20, were announced Tuesday afternoon at a news conference in Kansas City. The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) claims the diocese covered up abuse, which in turn allowed predator priests to gain access to and abuse others.

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.

QUEENS (NY)
SNAP Network

July 30, 2020

A Queens-area priest has been arrested for grooming and sexually abusing a teenage boy. By our count, this is the ninth arrest of a cleric or Catholic employee this year, a fact that shows the clergy sexual abuse scandal is not a thing of the past as Church officials want the public to believe.

While Pastor at St. Pancras Parish in Glendale, Fr. Francis Hughes reportedly sent and received child pornography and physically abused the victim at least one time. Making matters worse, by his admission, Fr. Hughes made “numerous attempts” to meet with other teens, making us concerned that there are children out there who Fr. Hughes may have groomed or abused and who have not yet come forward. We are grateful to the FBI for their work uncovering and charging these crimes and we hope that this news will inspire others who may have been hurt to come forward and make a report to the local police.

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MISSOULA (MT)
SNAP Network

July 29, 2020

Allegations of sexual abuse against a former Missoula pastor have been found credible, and now SNAP is calling for Catholic officials in every location where he lived or worked to update their lists to include his name.

According to Jesuit West leaders, they have received credible allegations that Rev. Richard D. (Rich) Perry abused a minor from 1979 to 1983 while he worked in Seattle at Seattle Preparatory College. It seems notable to us that Rev. Perry was sent on a one-year sabbatical in 1979, the first year that the reported abuse occurred. It is hard to believe that this timing is a coincidence and we worry that Rev. Perry may have been sent away because Catholic officials were informed of his abuse far earlier than they are reporting today.

It is especially concerning that Rev. Perry was elevated to the position of superior of the Ravalli Jesuit Community in Missoula, Montana, years after the abuse occurred in Seattle. He worked in that position of honor and authority for four years before a woman reported in 2019 that he had “inappropriate contact” with her. Given the timeframe of the allegations against Rev. Perry, the fact that at least two women have come forward, and because data shows that the majority of abusers have multiple victims, we believe that it is very probable that there are other women who have been hurt by this priest and have remained silent.

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LAFAYETTE (LA)
SNAP Network

July 28, 2020

A man who volunteered within the Diocese of Lafayette, Louisiana, has been arrested on charges related to child pornography and the sexual abuse of an animal. Catholic officials now must share this information at every location where this volunteer worked and urge anyone who saw or suspected wrongdoing by the man to come forward and make a report to law enforcement.

While the Diocese of Lafayette claims that Isac Calderon-Sierra never had the opportunity to be alone with any youth while he volunteered at Our Lady Queen of All Saints Church, we think it is important that parents and parishioners are made aware of this news. It is possible that Calderon-Sierra could have taken advantage of his trusted position to be alone with children without the knowledge of Diocesan leaders. It behooves them to pull out the stops in order to ensure that no one else was hurt.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Catholic News Service via America

July 30, 2020

By Gina Christian

The Archdiocese of Philadelphia has paid out or approved over $50 million so far to 222 clergy sex abuse survivors, according to a new report from the Independent Reconciliation and Reparations Program.

IRRP was launched in November 2018 as a means of providing settlements to claimants alleging abuse by archdiocesan clergy.

The program’s administrators, acting independently of the archdiocese, assess claims and offer compensation with no monetary cap, either individually or in total. Claims are considered regardless of how long ago the events in question occurred, or whether the statute of limitations had expired.

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ROCKVILLE CENTRE (NY)
The New York Post

July 30, 2020

By Priscilla DeGregory and Bernadette Hogan

A Long Island Diocese can’t postpone the 86 child sex-abuse lawsuits it’s facing as it tries to fight a law protecting underage victims, a judge ruled Thursday.

The Diocese of Rockville Centre filed its own lawsuit last November to fight the constitutionality of New York’s Child Victims Act that was passed in February 2019 allowing victims of childhood abuse — for a one-year period — to bring claims regardless of when the abuse occurred.

The Diocese, which serves more than 1.4 million Catholics in Nassau and Suffolk counties, has since asked for 86 sex abuse cases brought against it to be put on hold pending an appeal of their case fighting the CVA. The Diocese argued the stay was essential because the cost of fighting the appeal and the sex abuses cases all at once could drive it to bankruptcy.

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NEW YORK
WPDH

July 30, 2020

A New York priest is accused of sharing sexual texts with a 15-year-old from the Lower Hudson Valley.

On Wednesday, Audrey Strauss, the Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and William F. Sweeney Jr., Assistant Director-in-Charge of the New York Office of the FBI announced the arrest of 65-year-old Francis Hughes, a Queens priest, for allegedly receiving images of child pornography via text from a 15-year-old in Westchester County.

“The allegations against Francis Hughes are chilling and frightening to any parent. A person who, by the nature of his profession, is presumed to be trustworthy allegedly victimized a child. Thanks to the FBI, Hughes now faces a serious federal charge,” Acting U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said.

On Feb. 16, Hughes began texted a 15-year-old boy, officials say. According to the complaint filed in White Plains federal court, during the conversation, the teen sent Hughes three images of the teen’s penis.

Hughes told the boy he was a part-time college professor and a counselor, officials say.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
Associated Press

July 31, 2020

By Robert Jablon

California on Wednesday charged the leader of a Mexican megachurch with child rape and human trafficking, months after a court dismissed the previous allegations because of prosecution errors.

Naasón Joaquín García, the self-proclaimed apostle of La Luz del Mundo, was charged with three dozen felony counts.

Also charged were Susana Medina Oaxaca and Alondra Ocampo.

Prosecutors contend the three committed sex crimes and also produced child pornography involving five women and girls who were church group members. The crimes took place between 2015 and 2018 in Los Angeles County, authorities said.

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MONTANA
Montana Standard

July 30, 2020

By Mike Smith

Editor’s note: The civil suit filing and documents connected to this case may be read on mtstandard.com.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Helena responded to a lawsuit alleging a Butte Central High School teacher sexually exploited two female students and committed other transgressions by blaming the couple making the claims and trying to shame victims, the couple’s lawyers say.

Attorneys at Vicevich Law in Butte also say the diocese, which oversees Butte Central High School, “outed” the couple by naming them in a news release responding to the lawsuit, even though the suit itself publicly names John and Heather Stenson as the plaintiffs.

Heather Stenson, meanwhile, told The Montana Standard she and her husband didn’t know about allegations of sexual misconduct by Butte Central math teacher Brad Kadrmas until their lawyers told them last week. Still, they are among the multiple allegations made in their lawsuit against Butte Central Schools, the diocese and Kadrmas’ wife, Amy, 42.

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SOUTH AMERICA
Crux

July 31, 2020

By Inés San Martín

ROSARIO, Argentina – A little over two years after Pope Francis accepted the resignation of a controversial Chilean bishop accused of covering up sexual abuse by his mentor, a local network of clerical abuse survivors are alleging that neither civil nor Church authorities are making allegations public.

In an online map that is updated periodically, mostly recently on Wednesday, the Chilean Network of Clerical Sexual Abuse Survivors counts 41 new allegations against priests, religious brothers, and religious sisters in the past 6 months.

The map is now lists 360 public allegations of sexual abuse against a Church official in the country.

The map includes allegations both of abuse and allegations of cover up. The list includes some infamous cases, including Fernando Karadima and Cristián Precht, two former priests sanctioned by the Vatican and eventually removed from the priesthood by Pope Francis.

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ROSARIO (ARGENTINA)
Crux

July 30, 2020

By Inés San Martín

Two major archdioceses in Argentina are facing allegations of wanting to “replace the state” by creating a commission to receive allegations of clerical sexual abuse, but one expert says civil law and canon law aren’t competitors for justice.

“Always, every case, the law of the State wherever the abuse happens, must be followed and respected,” said Maria Ines Franck, the executive secretary of the Pastoral Council for the Protection of Minors and Vulnerable Adults of the Argentine bishops’ conference.

“The Church is a different entity, but complementary, and both must be upheld because the person has these two dimensions, as a faithful and as a citizen.”

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SEDALIA (MO)
Associated Press

July 29, 2020

The Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph is named in two new lawsuits claiming the diocese covered up abuse by two priests who were known to be sexual predators.

The diocese says it was in the process of removing one of the priests from the ministry when he died and the other is barred from acting as a priest. One lawsuit was filed July 20 and the other on Tuesday.

One alleges the Rev. Darvin Salazar sexually abused the victim in the church rectory at Holy Cross Catholic Church in Kansas City.

The diocese says law enforcement has declined to charge Salazar. The other lawsuit names John Tulipana, who died in 2012.

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DETROIT (MI)
Detroit Free Press

July 30, 2020

By David Jesse

Legendary University of Michigan football coach Bo Schembechler was told by a student in 1981 about sexual assaults being carried out by then-football team doctor Robert Anderson, according to a lawsuit filed Thursday against the school.

The suit alleges the student — who is filing as an unnamed “John Doe” — told Schembechler he was digitally penetrated by Anderson during an exam for migraines.

“The revelations involving the failure to act on the part of Bo Schembechler are troubling but should not be surprising,” said attorney Jamie White. “We have seen this trend play out with institutions all over the country, including but not limited (Penn State football coach Joe) Paterno, leadership in the Catholic Church and Boy Scouts of America, and most recently Michigan State University.

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NEW CANAAN (CT)
New Canaanite

July 30, 2020

By Michael Dinan

In an unusual complaint, a New Canaan man last week sued St. Aloysius Catholic Church for $15.21, saying that’s how much he would’ve saved in local property taxes if the church didn’t have tax-exempt status.

Specifically, Walter Foster argued in his complaint that St. A’ somehow influenced a state representative with respect to abortion-related legislation and therefore shouldn’t qualify as tax-exempt under federal code.

The legislator has been “influenced” by the church’s “repeated, written and unequivocal opposition to abortion,” according to the lawsuit, filed July 22 in state Superior Court. As such, the church is engaging in “substantial legislative activity,” in violation of federal IRS Code, according to Foster.

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ST. JOHN’S, N.L.
The Canadian Press

July 29, 2020

By Holly McKenzie-Sutter

Newfoundland and Labrador’s highest court says the Roman Catholic Episcopal Corporation of St. John’s is financially liable for sexual abuse at the Mount Cashel orphanage in the 1950s.

St. John’s Catholic archdiocese must now pay about $2 million to the four lead plaintiffs, said Geoff Budden, the victims’ lawyer, on Wednesday. The July 28 judgment overturns a 2018 ruling by the Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador and imposes liability on the archdiocese for the conduct of five Mount Cashel Brothers.

At trial, the four plaintiffs, who are now in their 70s and 80s, described the violent abuse they suffered as children at the orphanage. The group appealed the lower court decision of Justice Alphonsus Faour on several grounds.

In its ruling, the Court of Appeal of Newfoundland and Labrador determined the Christian Brothers were working on behalf of the social and religious mandate of the archdiocese. That close relationship, the appeals court said, makes the archdiocese liable.

The appeals court said the plaintiffs were particularly vulnerable to abuse because they were minors isolated from their community with no alternative living arrangements and no means to complain.

This “unfettered power” the Christian Brothers had over the vulnerable children, delegated to them by the archdiocese, was a factor that “weighed heavily” in ascribing vicarious liability for the abuses, according to the judgment.

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WHITE PLAINS (NY)
WABC

July 30, 2020

A Queens pastor is under arrest and facing a charge of receiving and distributing child pornography.

Francis Hughes, 65, was arrested Wednesday and is accused of receiving images from a 15-year-old boy in Westchester and engaging in sexually explicit text communications.

During the inappropriate text exchanges, prosecutors say Hughes told the minor that he was a part-time college professor and a counselor.

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SPOKANE (WA)
The Spokesman-Review

July 29, 2020

By Kip Hill

A Jesuit priest assigned to Gonzaga Preparatory School for two periods in the 1960s and ’70s has been added to a list of Catholic clergy credibly accused of sexual abuse.

Richard Perry has been assigned to the Sacred Heart Jesuit Center in California since October, as provincial authorities investigated an allegation of sexual abuse by an adult female at St. Francis Xavier Parish in Missoula. During that investigation, a second credible allegation was made regarding abuse against a female student at Seattle Preparatory School in the late 1970s and early ’80s, according to a statement from Jesuits West.

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NEW YORK (NY)
WABC – NY

July 30, 2020

A Queens pastor is under arrest and facing a charge of receiving and distributing child pornography.

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NEW YORK (NY)
The City

July 29, 2020

By Virginia Breen and Peter Senzamici

A Manhattan Catholic priest who announced he was stepping down from public ministry last July amid multiple accusations of sexual abuse was on Wednesday named in four more Child Victims Act lawsuits, bringing the total to 11.

But Msgr. John Paddack is still pastor of Notre Dame Church in Morningside Heights, the Archdiocese of New York confirmed Wednesday.

“Because of certain procedures that must be followed under Canon Law, yes, he technically remains the pastor of the parish,” Joe Zwilling, an archdiocesan spokesperson, told THE CITY. “He has stepped away from exercising his priestly ministry, but he has not thus far resigned as pastor.”

The newest suits, filed in Manhattan Supreme Court, span 16 years and allege Paddack molested unnamed students as young as 11 years old at Catholic schools in Staten Island, Manhattan and The Bronx.

The lawsuits name the Archdiocese of New York, under the leadership of Cardinal Timothy Dolan, as a defendant.

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BUFFALO (NY)
Buffalo News

July 29, 2020

By Jay Tokasz

https://buffalonews.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/child-victims-act-plaintiff-confronts-bishop-scharfenberger-i-lost-my-son/article_f1e3dfa8-d1e8-11ea-b8fa-ffd92e348883.html?fbclid=IwAR3H5UBub0CBDZ4Ey9Fwl4q3hKLkg51rv2fh3GGzPPSsApWQ0r4cHy0uXoU#tracking-source=home-top-story-1

Kevin Brun, a member of the committee representing childhood survivors of sex abuse in Buffalo Diocese bankruptcy proceedings, told Bishop Edward B. Scharfenberger on Wednesday that his son killed himself within 24 hours of reading Brun’s letter of being abused by a priest more than 40 years ago.

Brun gave Scharfenberger a heart-wrenching account of losing his son Patrick, 21, on Easter Sunday in 2019, saying he wanted the bishop and the diocese’s lawyers to understand his level of commitment to making sure victims of abuse get a measure of justice in the bankruptcy.

The virtual meeting on Wednesday marked the first time since the diocese filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection that Child Victims Act plaintiffs and their lawyers were able to question Scharfenberger directly about diocese operations and other issues.

Brun, after explaining the painful circumstances around his son’s death, asked the bishop whether he would release secret documents on sexual abuse by priests.

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NEW JERSEY
Bridgewater Courier News

July 29, 2020

By Nick Muscavage

The Diocese of Metuchen has offered to settle a lawsuit brought by a mentally disabled man who claims he was sexually abused by priest in the basement of St. James Catholic Church in Woodbridge nearly three decades ago.

The priest, the Rev. Kevin P. Duggan, took the man to a private area of the basement of St. James on Amboy Avenue on two separate occasions and pulled the man’s pants and underwear down to his ankles and touched his penis, according to the lawsuit.

The man, who is only identified in the lawsuit by his initials, has a mental capacity of a 12-year-old child, according to court documents.

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