ABUSE TRACKER

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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
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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.”

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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)
WABC – NY

July 30, 2020

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

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)
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.

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.

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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PROVIDENCE (RI)
WPRI

July 29, 2020

By Eli Sherman

The state Ethics Commission is keeping its legal options open after a judge overturned a $200 ethics violation against a Supreme Court justice last week, but Executive Director Jason Gramitt said an appeal for further review is unlikely.

“I don’t know that it’s likely we will seek further review at this time,” Gramitt told Target 12.

The Ethics Commission met in executive session Wednesday to discuss the outcome of the Superior Court cases last week when Judge Brian Stern vacated the commission’s ethics violation against Supreme Court Associate Justice Francis Flaherty.

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WHEELING (WV)
The Intelligencer / Wheeling News-Register

July 29, 2020

By Mike Jones

https://www.theintelligencer.net/news/top-headlines/2020/07/diocese-still-awaiting-guidance-from-vatican-on-bransfields-amends/?fbclid=IwAR2KSsogoYvK6lR3Vja4ZeeaWQLZuDuzfHY7_IcWRLxCVtaS4pPxNkIvNH0

More than eight months after the amends for disgraced bishop Michael Bransfield were announced, Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston officials still have heard nothing from The Vatican about how to proceed.

In a letter sent to Roman Catholics across West Virginia on Tuesday, the Most Rev. Mark Brennan said he is still waiting for guidance from Pope Francis on whether the amends set forth against the former bishop are appropriate or whether there should be changes.

Brennan, who was installed as the diocese’s new bishop last August, announced the multi-tiered amends on Nov. 26, which included $792,638 in restitution from Bransfield, along with numerous other conditions.

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NEW YORK
The Observer

July 30, 2020

By Eric Tichy

A former pastor at a Jamestown church, who for years advocated against pornography and the need to uphold obscenity guidelines in literature, was named in two Child Victims Act lawsuits filed Wednesday in state Supreme Court in Chautauqua County.

The lawsuits both claim the Rev. Ralph P. Federico, who died in 2007, abused male victims while serving at St. John’s Roman Catholic Church in Jamestown. A similar accusation has been made against Federico while he served as pastor of Our Lady of Pompeii in Depew.

The 15- and 17-page lawsuits list the plaintiffs as “AB 192 Doe” and “AB 193 Doe,” respectively, and name St. John’s Roman Catholic Church, currently SS Peter & Paul Roman Catholic Church in Jamesotwn, as defendants.

The victims are being represented by Jeff Anderson & Associates in New York City and attorney Stephen Boyd in Williamsville.

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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.”

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.

COLORADO
Colorado Politics

July 29, 2020

By Michael Karlik

During a virtual press conference on Wednesday to celebrate the tenth anniversary of a landmark Florida law benefiting childhood sex abuse victims, participants mentioned Colorado’s failure to pass a similar measure in the 2020 session.

“It’s time to do the right thing to fight crime and to help survivors,” said Joelle Casteix, a sex abuse survivor who successfully sued the Catholic Church in California. “There’s a very similar battle going on in Colorado right now. A bill was recently pulled because it didn’t have that retroactivity.”

Her comments alluded to House Bill 1296, which would have allowed future survivors of childhood sex abuse and other forms of sexual misconduct unlimited time to sue their abusers and the institutions that harbored them. One of the sponsors asked a Senate committee at the last minute to kill the bill because she wanted to add a retroactive provision next year that would benefit past victims.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
Associated Press

July 28, 2020

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

The lawsuits, one filed Tuesday 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.

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STATEN ISLAND (NEW YORK)
SILive.com

July 29, 2020

By Maura Grunlund

A new lawsuit claims that Monsignor John Paddack sexually abused a boy at Monsignor Farrell High School in the early 2000s.

The former principal of the all-boys school in Oakwood was named in four new lawsuits filed Wednesday in Manhattan state Supreme Court by Jeff Anderson & Associates under the New York Child Victim’s Act.

“These lawsuits demonstrate Paddack’s pattern of predation: In each instance, exploiting his clerical power to abuse children,” said attorney Jeff Anderson. His firm has filed numerous lawsuits alleging sex-abuse by clergy.

The Archdiocese of New York and Farrell are defendants in the lawsuit, which names the monsignor, who was principal at the high school from 2002 until 2010.

“From approximately 2002 to 2003, when Plaintiff was approximately 14 to 15 years old, Msgr. Paddack engaged in unpermitted sexual contact with Plaintiff in violation of at least one section of New York Penal Law Article 130 and/or § 263.05, or a predecessor statute that prohibited such conduct at the time of the abuse,” the lawsuit alleges. “Plaintiff’s relationship to Defendants and Msgr. Paddack, as a vulnerable child, student, and participant in church activities, was one in which Plaintiff was subject to the ongoing influence of Defendants and Msgr. Paddack.”

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QUEENS (NEW YORK)
WCBS Radio

July 29, 2020

By Erica Brosnan

A priest in Queens was arrested Wednesday by the FBI for allegedly sending sexually explicit text messages and photos to a 15-year-old boy.

Francis Hughes, 65, a pastor at a religious institution in Glendale, is charged with receiving images of child pornography via text from a 15-year-old minor in Westchester.

“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,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss.

In the criminal complaint filed in federal court in Manhattan, prosecutors said Hughes admitted to FBI agents that he knew the teen was underage and that he had sent the pictures and messages.

He also admitted to having at least one sexual encounter with a teen boy on school grounds in Queens and said he made numerous attempts to meet with other teens.

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QUEENS (NEW YORK)
Channel 4, NBCNewYork.com

July 29, 2020

By Jonathan Dienst and Joe Valiquette

“How would you like to be spoiled by your grandpa?” the priest allegedly wrote to the underage teen in text messages, which included exchanges of photos

A priest in Queens was arrested by the FBI Wednesday for allegedly sharing sexually explicit texts and photos with a 15 year-old boy, including alleged attempts to meet the underage teen for sex.

“How would you like to be spoiled by your grandpa?” Rev. Francis Hughes allegedly wrote in texts to the teen that included exchanges of photos. “We can try to make it a regular thing.”

Hughes, 65, faces child pornography related charges. Acting U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss called the allegations “chilling and frightening to any parent.”

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UNITED STATES
Vice

July 29, 2020

by Carter Sherman

One lawsuit alleges that a Boy Scout volunteer leader abused a boy described as “developmentally challenged” on at least two occasions in 2018.

As the Boy Scouts of America face a nationwide reckoning over accusations that it failed to keep children safe from sexual abuse, at least 26 local Boy Scout councils named in current sex abuse lawsuits have received loans from the Trump administration’s taxpayer-supported coronavirus relief fund.

In total, these councils garnered at least $8.2 million and up to about $20.9 million through the program.

These 26 councils represent a significant number of the 101 Boy Scout councils that secured loans from the Paycheck Protection Program, the $660 billion federal initiative meant to help small businesses survive the economic devastation wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to government records reviewed by VICE News.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Manchester Evening News

July 29, 2020

By Lynda Roughley and Helen Johnson

He was described in court as ‘a predatory paedophile’ who used his position as a Catholic priest to groom and subsequently abuse children for some 27 year

A 96-year-old former Catholic priest was jailed today for sexually abusing six boys more than 30 years ago.

All but one of Father John Kevin Murphy’s victims came forward to police after seeing media reports about him being imprisoned in 2017 for molesting other boys.

Liverpool Crown Court heard he had been ordained as a priest in 1962 and served in a number of parishes in Greater Manchester, Merseyside and Lancashire until he retired.

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NEWARK (NJ)
SNAP Network

July 28, 2020

The Archdiocese of Newark has revised their policies around assisting survivors with sexual abuse and made them significantly more restrictive, especially for survivors who are seeking truth and justice via the court system. We think that this change is a strikingly un-Christian move and call on Catholic officials in Newark to undo these new restrictions.

The recently updated guidelines appear to be a response to New Jersey’s Child Victims Act and are designed to punish those survivors who are using the opportunity provided by this law. These new guidelines now say that therapy services will be refused to any survivor who initiates a lawsuit, a vindictive move that will only further hurt the men and women who have already been abused by Catholic employees ordained, trained, and employed by the Archdiocese of Newark.

The simple fact is that victims of sexual violence need therapy through no fault of their own. They were abused by members of an institution that was supposed to care for them and are subjected to a lifetime of pain because of those actions. Now, the Archdiocese of Newark is twisting the knife, forcing survivors to choose between their therapy and their right to pursue justice for the crimes committed against them.

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FALLSTON (MD)
PRNewswire

July 29, 2020

William Wallace is a father, grandfather, retired entrepreneur, and lifelong resident of Maryland presently living in Fallston with his wife, Connie. He has published his new book “The Pedophile Priests”: a thought-provoking novel following the painstaking investigation of two dedicated FBI agents as they work to find a cold-blooded killer before he claims yet another victim.

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VATICAN CITY
The 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.”

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MANILA
The Philippine News Agency

July 29, 2020

Former Sandiganbayan justice and Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairperson Harriet Demetriou on Tuesday called out religious leaders for engaging in politics and urged them to focus instead on reforming the Catholic Church which has been plagued by scandals.

“Instead of your non-stop politicizing, criticizing and demeaning the System which includes the judicial power of the Philippines, you wait for the decision of the Supreme Court on some issues you rally behind together with some politicians and “prostitute” the dignity of your being ministers of God for self-seeking objectives,” Demetriou said in a Facebook post particularly directed at Manila Apostolic Administrator, Bishop Broderick Pabillo, Caloocan Bishop Pablo Virgilio David, and Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas.

Demetriou called on the prelates to refrain from “tarnishing the system” through self-interest and hypocrisy as she questioned their knowledge and understanding of governance policies.

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.

UNITED KINGDOM
Liverpool Echo

July 28, 2020

By Neil Docking

One of Father John Murphy’s six new victims even felt unable to visit his mum’s grave

An “evil monster” paedophile priest who ruined the lives of 10 children was locked up again – at the age of 96.

Father John Murphy was jailed for three years in December 2017, for molesting four boys during the 1960s and 1970s.

The pervert, from Kirkdale, used swimming lessons, “exercise sessions” and camping trips to interfere with children as young as eight.

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NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR
CBC News

July 29, 2020

Previous judge pegged damages at $2.6 million

A landmark ruling has deemed the Roman Catholic Episcopal Corporation of St. John’s has a responsibility to victims of the horrific abuse suffered by boys at the Mount Cashel Orphanage.

The Newfoundland and Labrador Court of Appeal released its decision on Wednesday, overturning a previous decision by the province’s Supreme Court.

It states that while the abuse was suffered at the hands of the Christian Brothers — who were not employees of the local archdiocese — it was the archdiocese who offered them the environment to commit crimes that went unpunished for decades.

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.

KANSAS CITY (MO)
Kansas City Star

July 28, 2020

By Judy L. Thomas

The Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph is facing two new sexual abuse lawsuits involving two priests, one alleging rape in a church rectory two years ago.

Filed in Jackson County Circuit Court, the civil suits allege that the diocese covered up the abuse, which allowed the priests to gain access to and sexually abuse other vulnerable individuals as well.

“No one can wish this continuing crisis away,” said David Clohessy, former executive director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, which announced the filing of the lawsuits Tuesday afternoon at a news conference in Kansas City. “It takes courageous action to expose and remove sick clerics. We applaud these two brave victims and hope others in pain will keep stepping forward.”

The diocese said in a statement that one of the priests died while the diocese was in the process of permanently removing him from the priesthood. The other, the diocese said, is no longer allowed to present himself as a priest.

One lawsuit, filed July 20, names the diocese and the Rev. Darvin Salazar as defendants, alleging that Salazar sexually assaulted the plaintiff in the rectory at Holy Cross Catholic Church in northeast Kansas City, then prevented him from leaving. The 10 counts include allegations of battery, false imprisonment, negligence, intentional failure to supervise clergy, fraud and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

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.

KSHB-TV
Kansas City (MO)

July 28, 2020

By Caitlin Knute

An accomplished violinist since the age of five, Elena Nanneman once planned to play professionally.

But the 22 year old now is pursuing a different career path, shaped by the sexual abuse she said she experienced in her youth.

“When I was around 7 or 8, I started to be sexually abused by one of the elders in my grandfather’s church,” she said, “and that went on for maybe three or four years.”

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.

WIGAN (ENGLAND)
Wigan Today

July 29, 2020

By By Gaynor Clarke

A Wigan man abused as a schoolboy by a perverted Catholic priest says “a huge weight has been lifted” as the 96-year-old begins his prison sentence.

Father John Kevin Murphy was jailed for five years at Liverpool Crown Court yesterday for sexually abusing six boys – including one from Ashton – more than 30 years ago.

The six victims, who were aged between eight and 16 at the times of the offences, were molested while he took them on swimming lessons and also while visiting the homes of their devout Catholic parents.

All but one came forward to police after seeing media reports about him being imprisoned in 2017 for molesting other boys.

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ONTARIO, CANADA
Global News

June 28, 2020

By Jacquelyn LeBel

The London District Catholic School Board and King’s University College at Western University are moving to rename a school and a centre that currently bear the name of a once highly respected Catholic figure who was posthumously found to have sexually abused at least six women.

Jean Vanier died last year at age 90 and a report from the French-based charity he founded, L’Arche International, was released in February 2020. According to that report, the women’s descriptions provide evidence enough to show that Jean Vanier engaged in “manipulative sexual relationships” over a period from 1970 to 2005, usually with a “psychological hold” over the alleged victims.

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.

AUSTRALIA
Times of Israel

July 28, 2020

By Jacob Magid

Community leaders freely express their discontent over lengthy extradition proceedings of accused abuser Malka Leifer, but say their Zionist roots have helped in weathering storm

The Australian Jewish community’s frustration with the State of Israel reached near boiling point in late February.

The breakdown centered around one woman, former high school principal Malka Leifer, who is wanted in Australia on 74 charges of child abuse. Many in the community saw Jerusalem as dragging its feet on an extradition process that has long been in the works. Some felt the Jewish state was even protecting Leifer from facing the charges against her in Australia.

In 2008, the 53-year-old Israeli mother of eight fled to Israel as allegations emerged that she had sexually abused pupils at Melbourne’s Adass Israel ultra-Orthodox girls high school. Police complaints against Leifer were submitted by three sisters in 2011, Australia filed for extradition in 2013, and Israel arrested her in 2014.

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UNITED STATES
Los Angeles Times

July 28, 2020

By Nardine Saadstaff

The Coptic Orthodox Church in the U.S., shaken in recent weeks by 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 by Fr. 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.

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.

AUSTRALIA
news.com.au

July 29, 2020

By Heath Parkes-Hupton

A Catholic priest convicted of sexually abusing two young boys has had his appeal thrown out despite arguing he didn’t receive a fair trial.

https://www.news.com.au/national/nsw-act/courts-law/john-patrick-casey-catholic-priests-sexual-assault-appeal-fails-in-supreme-court/news-story/b86fa00345e57d67582cc6b01cfbd38a

A former Catholic priest and police chaplain’s appeal against his convictions of sexually abusing young boys in northern NSW has been denied despite arguing the Crown’s “sanitised version” of events deprived him of a fair trial.

John Patrick Casey was in charge of a church in the Lismore Diocese when he molested two boys at his parish house at Mallanganee Presbytery, west of Casino, in the mid 1980s.

Casey was in his 30s when he digitally penetrated a boy’s anus as he washed him in the shower and ejaculated towards the head of another boy.

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.

INDONESIA
The Jakarta Post

July 29, 2020

By Ivany Atina Arbi, Evi Mariani and Dwi Atmanta

Top officials in the Catholic Church have said that they are coming up with a protocol to protect minors and vulnerable adults, but they reiterated that physically and mentally able adult women who have sexual relations with clergymen – consensual or otherwise – will not be the beneficiary of the protocol.

While admitting there were power dynamics and cases of power abuse between clergymen and laywomen or nuns, Father Sunu Hardiyanta, who has been working on a system to prevent and handle cases of sexual abuse at the Catholic Church since 2012, told The Jakarta Post and Tirto.id that the topic of handling cases involving adult women was different and required “a separate protocol”.

“Adult relationships are more an ethical matter, code of conduct, a wrong behavior,” he said. “The most important thing here is correct authority, correct leadership.”

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.

KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter

July 23, 2020

By Phyllis Zagano

The good news is 15 new cardinals seem to be on the Roman horizon. The bad news is they are all men. Yes, Francis will choose from the peripheries. Yes, he will most probably select the usual suspects — the archbishops of Washington, D.C., and Paris, for example. But a mix of major sees, elderly theologians and surprise picks is probably the best he can do right now.

Don’t expect a woman’s name to be on the list.

The 1917 Code of Canon Law decreed cardinals — advisers to the pope and electors of his successor — must be “at least” priests. The 1983 code added they “must receive episcopal ordination” if not already bishops (Canon 351.1).

Not every cardinal-designate is already a bishop — Jesuit Cardinal Michael Czerny is a recent exception — but usually only elderly priest theologians join the college of cardinals. Usually more than 80 years old, they are not invited to papal conclaves.

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.

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Main Line Today

July 27, 2020

By Melissa Jacobs

Josh Shapiro has taken on pedophile priests, President Trump and, now, COVID-19. What’s next for the state’s attorney general? We find out.

Since he took office in January 2017, Josh Shapiro has proven that he doesn’t shy away from legal battles—or the media spotlight. He orchestrated the publication of the Pennsylvania Diocese Victims Report on pedophile priests. It made headlines and sparked reform around the world. Pennsylvania’s attorney general has come a long way from his roots in Montgomery County and the 153rd district he represented for four terms in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. Up for reelection in November, the 47-year-old Democrat is rumored to have aspirations for higher public office. For now, Shapiro and his wife, Lori—who were students together at Bryn Mawr’s Jack M. Barrack Hebrew Academy—live in Abington with their four young children.

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.

UNITED STATES
Get Religion

July 28, 2020

By Julia Duin

There’s a book out there asking: “What is a Girl Worth?” Written by former gymnast Rachael Denhollander, it asks who is going to tell little girls that the abuse done to them years ago was monstrously wrong and that it actually matters that their perpetrators are punished.

There also needs to be a book asking “what is a priest worth?”

For two years now, we’ve been looking at the news reporting about the sex scandal that surrounded the now-former Washington Cardinal Theodore McCarrick and how “everyone” knew he was dallying with seminarians and sharing beds with them at his New Jersey beach cottage back in the 1980s.

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HOUSTON (TX)
SNAP Network

July 27, 2020

This month Catholic officials in Houston showed their willingness to take money that was not originally meant for them. But last year, our local SNAP leader learned that those same Catholic officials would be willing to bend the rules the other way in order to deny him his job, his income, and his stability.

For five years, Eduardo Lopez de Casas worked as the Director of Spanish Music Ministry and Cantor at Prince of Peace Church in Houston. Eduardo is an internationally renowned singer and was seemingly well-liked by parishioners and staff at his parish, but on August 30, 2019, Eduardo was abruptly terminated from his position. Critically, the way that Prince of Peace termed the removal – telling Eduardo that “the position no longer exists” – not only left Eduardo out of job but unable to receive unemployment benefits: the parish, as a non-profit institution, did not pay into the unemployment program and therefore Eduardo was not eligible to participate, despite working in Texas all his life.

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ISRAEL
The Jerusalem Post

July 20, 2020

By Jeremy Sharon

State prosecutors decry ‘cynicism’ of defense’s use of concept of consent, saying Leifer manipulated her victims and used her influence and power.

Nine years after Australia issued an extradition request against Malka Leifer, a former principal at the ultra-Orthodox Adas Israel school in Melbourne wanted on 74 counts of sexual abuse and rape, extradition proceedings finally began on Monday in the Jerusalem District Court.

During the hearing, Leifer’s defense team claimed that the sex acts she is accused of committing with her pupils were consensual, and that even though her alleged victims were under the age of consent, prosecutors in Israel would not make charges on such allegations and therefore extradition should not be considered.

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.

CHICAGO (IL)
SNAP Network

July 27, 2020

A prominent pastor from Chicago’s south side has been accused of grooming and abusing at least three women. We applaud these brave survivors for coming forward and we hope their example inspires others who may have been hurt to come forward and make a report to police and prosecutors.

Pastor Jerry Jones, who runs the Apostolic Assembly Church of Lord Jesus Christ in Chicago’s Morgan Park neighborhood, was still working when these allegations were made. By speaking out and detailing their abuse at Pastor Jones’ hands, we believe these women have likely prevented other children from being groomed or abused. They deserve credit for their bravery and we hope that they are receiving the help and support they need.

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.

UNITED KINGDOM
The Telegraph

July 27, 2020

By Jamie Johnson

John Smyth, former chair of the Iwerne Trust, which funded the camps was alleged to have beaten dozens of young men in the 1970s and 80s

The Church of England is investigating how the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby dealt with complaints of serial abuse of young men at Christian holiday camps….

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MISSOULA (MT)
Missoulian

July 27, 2020

By Seaborn Larson

Aformer Jesuit pastor at St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church in Missoula has been permanently removed from ministry after officials in the church’s province found claims that he sexually abused a minor girl 40 years ago to be credible, according to a statement from the province.

The Rev. Rich Perry will remain at Sacred Heart Jesuit Center in California and live under a safety plan, according to the statement provided to the Missoulian. The statement offers no additional information about the alleged abuse in Seattle. Perry’s name and a timeline of his assignments have been added to a publicly available online list of Jesuits with credible claims of sexual abuse of a minor or vulnerable adult.

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.

UNITED KINGDOM
Independent

July 28, 2020

By Adam Forrest

Justin Welby worked as dormitory officer at summer camps where late John Smyth allegedly beat teenage boys

The Church of England is investigating how the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby handled allegations of abuse at Christian holiday camps in the 1970s and 1980s.

The church launched an independent review last year into claims the late John Smyth QC had stripped young men naked and beat them violently at the summer holiday camps.

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UNITED STATES
AdamHorowitzLaw.com (law firm blog)

July 18, 2020

She’s evidently fascinating, for a bunch of reasons.
For starters, she’s hung around with lots of rich, famous people.
She’s apparently wealthy herself.
Her prominent dad died under mysterious circumstances.
As a result, she suddenly came into loads of money.
She moved half way across the globe and re-invented herself.
She was publicly accused of being both a predator and an enabler.
Her sidekick and former boyfriend and benefactor was arrested. He took his own life while in custody.

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UNITED STATES
AdamHorowitzLaw.com (law firm blog)

July 25, 2020

In any newspaper, the “Letters to the Editor” section is a real grab bag – sometimes goofy, sometimes confusing, and sometimes really perceptive.
In that latter category falls this one which appeared under the headline: “There’s no excuse for delaying Marianists’ victims list.” Here it is:
After decades of protecting predators, a locally based religious order recently released the names of dozens of child molesters it employed at area high schools.

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SAN DIEGO (CA)
SNAP Network

July 27, 2020

The San Diego branch of a national chain of Christian youth theaters has been shut down following extensive allegations of sexual abuse perpetrated by former staffers at the theater. We call for the attorney general of California to investigate this situation and determine if there are any crimes that can still be prosecuted and if there are any abusers hidden among the community.

Allegations of sexual abuse committed at Christian Youth Theater began circulating on social media after former students and employees shared their experiences using the hashtag #CYTKnew. If it is indeed true that theater higher-ups were aware of the crimes and worked to cover them up as these survivors have alleged, we believe that law enforcement must step in as soon as possible to investigate. Especially given that this is a nationwide chain, we fear that if abuse was covered-up at one location, it likely was covered up elsewhere, too.

The allegations made on Facebook are serious. According to The San Diego Union-Tribune, San Diego and El Cajon law enforcement have already received reports of the claims. We hope that they are already investigating and that AG Xavier Becerra will lend his office’s resources and knowledge to assist in this case. Based on the information put out by former students and employees, it seems highly likely that the problems at CYT ran all the way to the top.

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.

CALIFORNIA
SNAP Network

July 20, 2020

We are very grateful to the survivors who have come forward to accuse Fr. Varghese “George” Alengadan of sexual assault and harassment. We also want to thank Alameda County DA Nancy O’Malley and her staff for investigating the allegations and filing charges. We believe that the only way to clean up the Catholic Church is for secular authorities to lead the charge.

Fr. Alengadan remains a powerful priest and we have no doubt that his influence and popularity may inhibit other victims from speaking up. We encourage any survivors and witnesses to contact law enforcement immediately. The DA’s number is 510-272-6222. Reports can also be made to the California Attorney General’s office.

The assault for which Fr. Alengadan is being charged would not have occurred had the Oakland Diocese responded appropriately to the 2002 report made by a young bride-to-be who was also assaulted by the clergyman. Inaction following allegations is all too common in the Catholic Church and is part of the “playbook” uncovered by the Grand Jury in Pennsylvania. Similar tactics were used across the bay at Presentation High School in San Jose. A recently issued report from Presentation laid bare abuse and cover-up at this school in the San Jose Diocese. The investigation spanned a period of 40 years, involved dozens of victims, and exposed five accused teachers and one accused coach.

There is much more for the Oakland Diocese to do in the case of Fr. Alengadan. The cleric was a close associate of Oakland’s Bishop, serving on his personnel board and receiving a “priest of the year” award in 2017. We believe that honor was a slap in the face to survivors. In 2016 the Oakland Diocese received a second report about Fr. Alengadan ‘s 2002 assault on the bride-to-be, this time from her mother. That email was also ignored. To us, it almost seems that the award was meant to show the family that their reports meant nothing.

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MISSOURI
SNAP Network

July 20, 2020

Three new allegations have been made against a Missouri Catholic priest who was first named as an abuser in April.

This situation shows that when the names of abusers are made public it often encourages others who were hurt to come forward and make a report. We applaud these brave individuals for speaking out and hope that their example inspires others who were hurt in Missouri to protect children by coming forward and making a report to the police.

These new allegations against Fr. Gary Carr should compel Catholic officials in every diocese where the cleric worked – including Springfield-Cape Girardeau, MO; Phoenix, AZ; and Santa Fe, NM – to share information about these allegations in every parish and location where Fr. Carr worked in an effort to bring other victims forward.

The average age of a survivor coming forward in the US is 52, but we would expect more of Fr. Carr’s victims to come forward now if they find the support and encouragement they need to do so.

CONTACT: Zach Hiner, SNAP Executive Director (517-974-9009, zhiner@snapnetwork.org)

(SNAP, the Survivors Network, has been providing support for victims of sexual abuse in institutional settings for 30 years. We have more than 25,000 survivors and supporters in our network. Our website is SNAPnetwork.org)

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

July 28, 2020

A Roman Catholic priest who sexually abused young boys has been jailed again for crimes which came to light following his original trial.

John Murphy, 96, of Horwich, was sentenced to six years in prison at Liverpool Crown Court after admitting 32 offences including indecent assault.

The court heard he was a “predatory paedophile” who used his position as a priest to groom and abuse children.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Criminal Lawyers

July 24, 2020

By Sonia Hickey

Catholic Church Priest Vincent Ryan has been released after serving 14 months in prison for the historical sexual abuse of two altar boys.

Unfortunately, it’s another case of historic child sexual abuse where the perpetrator barely suffers consequences, while the victims spend years trying to rebuild their lives after a childhood that’s been shattered.

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.

WASHINGTON D.C.
WUSA, Channel 9

July 27, 2020

By Bruce Leshan

https://www.wusa9.com/article/features/producers-picks/virginia-priests-blogs-about-child-sex-abuse-bishop-threatens-to-defrock-him/65-baea97cc-ce4a-4682-a206-8ec66eff252b

Rev. Mark White and his supporters are coming to D.C. to appeal to the Pope’s representative for help.

A Catholic priest in southwest Virginia is refusing to be silenced.

Father Mark White said his bishop has ordered him to stop writing about clergy child sexual abuse and the actions of Catholic leaders.

The Bishop of Richmond, Barry Knestout, has relieved White of his priestly duties, kicked him out of his parish house, and threatened to have him defrocked, White said.

But Rev. White and his supporters are coming to Washington Friday to appeal to the Vatican Embassy for support.

“As of this writing, this is not just about Fr. Mark’s blog,” Deborah Cox, a spokeswoman for the Richmond Diocese, said. “Fr. Mark continues to refuse to accept the assignment and the new job he has been given.”

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Crux

July 28, 2020

By Inés San Martín

ROSARIO, Argentina—Even though the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic has seemingly put most of the world on hold, many scholars have continued with their research projects and are already planning ahead, thinking about the 2021 calendar to reschedule events postponed this year.

One such event is a day-long consultation at the University of Notre Dame, set to bring together some 30 participants from the United States and Germany to look into the lessons of national truth and reconciliation processes, and apply them to the Church on matters of clerical sexual abuse.

The organizers believe that major festering wounds continue to exist in the Church, including a lack of healing for victims of clerical abuse, a reticence to speak the truth about the abuse, and a lack of accountability. They believe that the many national processes in the political realm of the past generation may provide insights for how the Church as a whole might confront decades of abuse and cover-up.

Behind the project are German Dr. Katharina Westerhorstmann, Professor of Theology at Franciscan University of Steubenville, and Dr. Daniel Philpott, professor of political science at the University of Notre Dame. The project is being funded by a grant from the University of Notre Dame.

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ROME (ITALY)
Catholic News Service via Crux

By Junno Arocho Esteves

July 28, 2020

In the Catholic Church, a person’s canonization is almost always preceded by decades of meticulous investigation into the minute details of the candidate’s life.

Thousands of saints have been raised to the altars after these thorough investigations, while the causes of many other candidates are usually suspended or closed when there is insufficient evidence of one’s sanctity or the lack of miracle.

Yet, there are also causes that have been closed or delayed due to doubts or, worse, due to proverbial “skeletons in the closet” uncovered during the investigation into their lives.

The delay in the sainthood cause of Father Joseph Kentenich, founder of the Schonstatt movement, was the most recent example of that last scenario, after allegations of abuse uncovered during an apostolic visitation in the early 1950s were made public July 2.

His cause was opened in 1975 in the Diocese of Trier, Germany, and was in the diocesan phase, which is the first step in a candidate’s cause before it is sent to Rome for further investigation.

German scholar Alexandra von Teuffenbach, a former professor of church history at Rome’s Pontifical Regina Apostolorum University, discovered documents in the recently opened archives of the pontificate of Pope Pius XII that revealed allegations of sexual abuse and abuse of power against Kentenich.

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UNITED STATES
AdamHorowitzLaw.com (law firm blog)

July 26, 2020

Like many clergy, Scout leaders are often thought of as selfless men, generously sharing their time and talent with youngsters.

Like many clergy, they often have seemingly legitimate reasons to be alone with kids.

Like many clergy, Scout leaders belong to a rigid, male-dominated, hierarchical group.

Like many clergy, they are often seen as ‘good influences’ on kids, especially troubled kids.

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.

UNITED STATES
AdamHorowitzLaw.com (law firm blog)

July 26, 2020

This week, we took note of these three stories. See if you respond to them like we did.

First, this one: following Mr. Epstein’s death, prosecutors said they would “continue to investigate his associates,” including Ghislaine Maxwell, “once a fixture on New York’s social scene,” who reportedly “also had participated in some of the abuse and lied about her conduct.” Authorities have “identified more than 15 bank accounts linked to her, whose total balance at times exceeded $20 million” and are trying to keep her locked up until trial.

Then this one: “In a $150 million settlement, the New York Department of Financial Services said Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted sex offender, had engaged in suspicious transactions for years” and Deutsche Bank “inexcusably failed to detect or prevent millions of dollars of suspicious transactions. . . “

And this one: “Within a 48 hour period this week, many of the world’s internet giants took steps that would have been unthinkable for them even months earlier. Reddit, which spent most of its life as a lawless free-for-all banned thousands of forums for hate speech. Twitch suspended President Trump’s official account for ‘hateful conduct.’ YouTube purged a handful of notorious racists. Facebook took down a network of violent anti-government insurrectionists who had set up shop on its platform.”

We’re encouraged by these developments These stories may seem unconnected. But look closely and you’ll see that the common denominator: powerful individuals and institutions that let and helped others do harm are being 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.

JAKARTA (INDONESIA)
The Jakarta Post

July 28, 2020

By Ivany Atina Arbi, Evi Mariani and Dwi Atmanta

Twenty-seven years ago, an 11-year-old girl knelt beside a priest in a mandatory confession organized by her Catholic school in Jakarta. She told the priest her sin: disobeying her parents. As he spoke the absolution, the girl felt his hands touching her body.

The confession lasted five minutes and did not take place in a traditional partitioned confessional. Twice a year, the school arranged the event, usually before Christmas and Easter, and brought dozens of school children to a special confession space in a chapel, where there was no partition to separate the child and the priest.

“I felt uneasy and knew something was wrong, but I couldn’t tell what was off,” said the former student of Sang Timur Catholic elementary school, which is located next to the the Maria Bunda Karmel (MBK) 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.

CHICAGO (IL)
WLS-TV (Channel 7)

July 27, 2020

A Chicago bishop and retired Chicago Fire Department assistant commissioner has been charged with sexual abuse, according to the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office.

Jerry Jones, 71, is facing three felony charges for crimes that allegedly took place over the course of two decades.

Jones, a bishop at two South Side churches, is also a retired Chicago Fire Department assistant commissioner.

Jones allegedly sexually abused the victims at multiple locations, including one of the churches and at his home, when he was 42-66 years old, prosecutors said.

A 21-year old woman, who was 11-years old at the time, claims Jones used pastoral counseling meetings as an opportunity to inappropriately touch her, police say. The victim also told police he would use Bible verses to speak to her inappropriately about sex.

Jones also allegedly asked for the victim to send nude photographs of themselves.

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.

INDIA
Catholic News Agency via the Catholic World Report

July 27, 2020

After several failures to secure dismissal of charges in lower courts, a Catholic bishop whom a nun has accused of rape has asked India’s Supreme Court to dismiss the case.

Bishop Franco Mulakkal of Jullundur has been charged with raping a nun repeatedly over the course of two years, allegations he denies.

His effort to dismiss the charges was rejected in a trial court in March, then again in the Kerala High Court July 7. The court agreed with prosecutors that there was evidence to proceed, The Tribune of India reports.

Mulakkal claims he was falsely accused after he questioned alleged financial irregularities of the victim’s convent.

Bishop Mulakkal was arrested in September 2018 amid protests calling for a police investigation of the allegation. He was subsequently released on bail. The bishop was charged in April 2019 with rape, unnatural sex, wrongful confinement, and criminal intimidation. He faces imprisonment of 10 years to life if found guilty.

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.

PROVIDENCE (RI)
WPRI

July 27, 2020

By Eli Sherman, Walt Buteau

With R.I. Supreme Court Justice Francis Flaherty winning a key victory in his yearslong fight against an ethics complaint, the state’s high court could soon find itself in the unusual position of hearing a case involving one of its own.

R.I. Superior Court Judge Brian Stern on Friday reversed a R.I. Ethics Commission decision from last year that cited Flaherty for violating the state’s ethics code. The violation, which came with a $200 fine, stemmed from a 2016 complaint accusing Flaherty of repeatedly failing to disclose his leadership position in a Catholic nonprofit while also ruling on a priest sexual abuse case.

Stern vacated that decision, however, concluding in part the commission had failed to prove Flaherty made a “knowing and willful” violation, meaning commission lawyers didn’t show Flaherty intentionally withheld the information.

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.

UNITED STATES
LifeSiteNews

July 25, 2020

‘These three elements – heresy, sodomy, and corruption – are so recurrent that they are almost a trademark of the deep state and of the deep church’

Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò has pointed out three elements that have become what he calls the trademark of the deep Church: “heresy, sodomy, and corruption.”

In a new wide-ranging interview with Vatican expert Marco Tosatti (read full interview below), the Vatican whistleblower speaks about the deeper significance of the case of former Cardinal McCarrick in relation to the “doctrinal crisis” the Church is facing.

“There is a very strict relationship between the doctrinal crisis of the Church and the immorality of the clergy, that scandalously reaches up to the highest levels of the hierarchy. But it is also apparent that this crisis is being used by the ultra-progressive wing not only to impose a false morality together with a false doctrine, but also to irremediably discredit the Holy Church and the Papacy before the faithful and the world, through the action of its own leaders,” stated the Archbishop.

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NEW YORK
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle via Daily Messenger

July 27, 2020

By Steve Orr and Sean Lahman, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle

Victims of child sexual abuse are rushing lawsuits into state court, fearful that two attempts to extend the deadline for such suits will amount to nothing.

More than 400 child sexual abuse suits have been filed in the past month, and 1,000 since late May. Hundreds more are expected before the original deadline arrives in three weeks.

“Our firms are working around the clock to finalize the complaints. We’re filing all of our cases now,” said Michael Pfau, a Seattle-based lawyer who, in conjunction with a New York firm, has filed upward of 600 such lawsuits to date.

The firms have at least 200 more cases that will be filed shortly.

The state’s Child Victims Act, 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.

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
Times Herald-Record

July 27, 2020

By Chris McKenna

In one lawsuit filed on Thursday, eight men alleged that a longtime Orange County priest sexually abused them when they were children, adding their claims to those of at least three other accusers of the late Rev. George Boxelaar who have sued.

In another case brought one day earlier, a former Middletown School District student alleges he was molested in second or third grade by Dr. Stefan Irving, a former school pediatrician now serving almost 22 years in prison for a 2003 conviction on charges he traveled abroad to have sex with minors.

Fourteen lawsuits in all were filed under the Child Victims Act in Orange and Ulster counties in the last two months as an 11:59 p.m. Aug. 13 deadline approaches for past abuse allegations to be brought in civil courts. State lawmakers passed a bill in May that could extend that deadline by a year, but Gov. Andrew Cuomo hasn’t signed or vetoed it yet.

Other recent suits brought under the Child Victims Act include:

– In a case filed Tuesday in Ulster County, a former Ellenville School District student alleges his assistant football coach – who was also his Spanish teacher – sexually abused him at least 50 times from 1989 to 1994, starting when the plaintiff was in eighth grade.

– Two sisters from Orange County sued their former stepfather on Wednesday for sexually abusing them when they were younger than 13. The Rockland County man pleaded guilty to those crimes in 2012 and served three years in prison, according to the complaint and state records.

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WASHINGTON D.C.
Washington Post

July 22, 2020

By Michelle Boorstein

https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2020/07/22/new-accuser-theodore-mccarrick-alleges-ex-cardinal-orchestrated-abuse-involving-other-clerics/

Ex-cardinal Theodore McCarrick, already laicized and the subject of a Vatican investigation, is accused in a newly filed lawsuit of orchestrating the abuse of minor boys by multiple other clerics at his New Jersey beach house in the early 1980s.

The lawsuit was filed Tuesday evening in New Jersey Superior Court by a man who alleges he was abused by McCarrick, former D.C. archbishop and until recently one of the country’s best-connected and influential Catholic clerics, and five other New Jersey clerics when the victim was between 11 and 16 years old. Four of them did so at the beach house, the suit alleges, when McCarrick was bishop of Metuchen, N.J.

The suit alleges that the boy needed money to pay for his Catholic education, and that one cleric — who had already sexually abused the boy — told him he needed to talk to “the boss,” and then introduced him to McCarrick, who then allegedly began abusing him.

At least 7 more people told the Vatican they were sexually abused as boys by Theodore McCarrick, according to sources

McCarrick, who was defrocked in 2019, has previously been accused of sexual misconduct with at least seven minors, according to three individuals who spoke to The Washington Post for a story in October. One of the individuals is an accuser, one of five McCarrick accusers who are represented by the same attorney. The second is Camille Biros, who is a member of the independent reconciliation and compensation board set up by the New York archdiocese. The third, who has direct knowledge of all the claims U.S. church officials sent to the Vatican for its probe, spoke on the condition of anonymity because canon law forbids unauthorized people to speak about internal cases.

The Vatican said in defrocking McCarrick that he had been credibly accused of sexually harassing seminarians and young priests.

The accuser in Tuesday’s lawsuit is coming forward for the first time, said his attorney, Jeffrey Anderson. His name is not included in the lawsuit, and The Washington Post usually does not publish the names of alleged victims of sexual misconduct without their permission.

Pope Francis in October 2018 launched an investigation into McCarrick and how he rose to such prominence even as rumors and reports to church higher-ups of sexual misconduct streamed in for decades. Anderson said the new accuser has spoken to the Vatican investigators for that ongoing probe.

McCarrick’s civil attorney, Barry Coburn, declined to comment Wednesday. McCarrick, in limited comments he has made since being suspended in 2018, has said he did nothing wrong.

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PROVIDENCE (RI)
Providence Journal

July 24, 2020

By Katherine Gregg

https://www.providencejournal.com/news/20200724/superior-court-rules-in-justice-flahertyrsquos-favor-in-case-over-200-fine-for-failing-to-disclose-links-to-catholic-organization

A Superior Court judge has sided with Supreme Court Justice Frank Flaherty – and against the Rhode Island Ethics Commission – in heated long running fight over a $200 fine for failing to disclose links to Catholic organization.

In a decision out Friday, Judge Brian Stern vacated the Ethics Commission’s ruling that Flaherty’s failure to list his position as President of the St. Thomas More Society on his financial statements for the period running from 2010-2015 constituted “a knowing and willful violation″ of state ethics law.

Among Stern’s findings: “The Commission Decision contained no finding that the Plaintiff’s actions were deliberate or intentional, and the weight of the evidence presented during the adjudicatory hearing supported a conclusion that the Plaintiff’s actions were not deliberate.

“Accordingly, the Commission Decision is clearly erroneous and affected by error of law,″ the judge ruled in a decision that did not go as far as Flaherty wanted the court to go in challenging the Ethics Commission’s powers.

Flaherty’s judicial battle stemmed from the court decision he wrote denying the appeal of Helen Hyde, a woman who had sued the Roman Catholic bishop of Providence — unsuccessfully — seeking damages from alleged abuse by the Rev. Brendan Smyth more than 40 years ago.

Hyde brought a complaint against Flaherty before the Ethics Commission in 2016, saying he should have mentioned that he was president of the St. Thomas More Society of Rhode Island on his financial and conflict-of-interest disclosure forms from 2010 to 2015. The Society hosts the annual Red Mass, a traditional Catholic celebration of the opening of the court term.

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DÜSSELDORF (GERMANY)
Church Militant

July 24, 2020

by William Mahoney, Ph.D.

Ordaining women remains an open question for a German bishop who believes radical reform in the Church is necessary.

“I consider the reform process in the Church to be essential,” said Bp. Heiner Wilmer of Hildesheim, Germany in an interview published Monday with German newspaper Rheinische Post. “I am in favor of an open discussion and personally trust in the Holy Spirit,” said the German prelate, who explained everything must be brought to the table, including the ordination of women and eradicating mandatory priestly celibacy.

Subscribing to Pope Francis’ “accompaniment” model of the Church, Wilmer said in the interview that the Church’s mission is “to be with the people and make sure that the increasing cold in our society is transformed back into warmth.” Key to living out that model is putting “people” at the forefront, according to the bishop. “People, not institutions, must be at the center of all reforms,” he said.

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.

Ville Platte (LA)
Acadia Parish Today

July 24, 2020

A Ville Platte man affiliated with the Diocese of Lafayette is facing child pornography and sexual abuse of an animal charges.

The Attorney General’s office has confirmed that Isac Calderon-Sierra has been taken into custody at the Rapides Parish Jail on a fugitive warrant.

Calderon-Sierra was a member of a youth group at Queen of All Saints Catholic Church in Ville Platte.

On Thursday, the Diocese of Lafayette said that Calderon was a former volunteer for an inter-parochial youth group that met at Our Lady Queen of All Saints Church. During the time he was a volunteer, the diocese says they never received any complaints in connection with that group.

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.

SUPERIOR (MI)
Catholic Herald (Diocese of Superior)

July 24, 2020

Editor’s note: The Diocese of Superior released this statement July 10 in response to an Associated Press article, “Catholic Church lobbied for taxpayer funds, got $1.4B.”

The Diocese of Superior and its 103 separately incorporated parishes suffered many losses when the COVID-19 pandemic government mandates caused the closing of churches and offices and the suspension of the holy Mass. The economic impact of the dramatically reduced charitable contributions to our churches from March to May was real. Our bishop, James Powers, strongly encouraged each parish to keep their staff on the payroll if at all possible out of a sense of justice to the hardworking employees of the church.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

July 27, 2020

By Michael Sean Winters

Next month will be the second anniversary of the infamous “testimony” of former nuncio Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, published first at the EWTN-owned National Catholic Register. It was obviously the work of a profoundly disturbed person, all the settling scores, spewing accusations hither and yon, demonstrating that he, and he alone, was virtuous. He even called upon Pope Francis to resign! The timing — at the end of Francis’ visit to Ireland — was designed to gain maximum exposure.

At a press conference on the plane back to Rome, Francis chose not to engage the charges Viganò had leveled. “I will not say a single word on this,” the pope said about Viganò’s screed. “I think this statement speaks for itself, and you have the sufficient journalistic capacity to draw conclusions.”

Very oddly, given the fact that Viganò had violated canon law by revealing information he acquired under the pontifical secret and because, well, it is truly brutta figura to ask the pope to resign, several U.S. bishops came out with statements in the subsequent days in which they attested to Viganò’s integrity, and not to that of Francis. There was schism in the air. I will let the readers draw their own conclusions from the fact that when I Googled “bishops who support Viganò” the first item is found at CatholicVote.org, the organization working to reelect President Donald Trump, who famously received a letter from Viganò. Oliver Stone: Call your office!

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INDONESIA
Jakarta Post

July 27, 2020

By Ivany Atina Arbi, Evi Mariani and Dwi Atmanta

Victims of sexual abuse and harassment in the Indonesian Catholic Church face “thick walls” of silence, secrecy and denial, having to bear trauma while the priests who they have accused remain on a moral pedestal.

Sisca, who has chosen to use an alias to protect her privacy, said she was molested by a Catholic priest in Jakarta when she was 11 years old. The 38-year-old watches the same priest greet school children in the same Catholic school every morning, and in December of last year, she heard His Eminence Ignatius Cardinal Suharyo, the highest-ranking member of the Indonesian Catholic Church, deny that he had ever received any reports of sexual abuse in the Church.

Sisca did not believe the cardinal could have possibly been oblivious to the alleged sexual abuse. “Where has he been? We had high hopes for him. He was appointed cardinal by the Pope. It’s a prestigious title. A cardinal is a chosen figure, and [the Pope] would not appoint a random priest,” she told The Jakarta Post in early February. “It hurts me to hear him say that. He doesn’t know how it feels,” Sisca said.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

July 27, 2020

By Christopher White

As allegations of serial sexual misconduct against Catholic composer David Haas continue to mount, a leading supplier of sacred music has vowed an investigation into how one of the church’s best selling musicians’ record of predatory behavior avoided scrutiny and accountability.

GIA Publications, which distributed the Gather hymnals that included some of Haas’ best known works, told NCR in a statement that “a third-party assessment will create a strong survivor-centered structure to report incidents of alleged harassment or abuse.”

“In addition to the assessment, we are in the process of establishing a Code of Conduct for all composers and authors we publish,” said Kate Williams, senior managing editor of GIA Publications. “These changes will facilitate the community’s ability to take prompt action in response to reports of behavioral misconduct.”

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NEW YORK
Cheektowaga Bee

July 23, 2020

Legislation introduced by Assembly member Monica Wallace titled the CARE Act has passed the Assembly this week.

The Child Abuse Reporting Expansion Act would add clergy members to the list of mandatory reporters of child abuse and maltreatment, “closing a loophole that allowed for the proliferation and cover-up of child abuse,” according to Wallace.

The act was introduced last year, weeks after passage of the Child Victims Act, which extended the statute of limitations for survivors of child abuse to file civil claims and provided a temporary period during which survivors could file a claim regardless of how long ago the alleged abuse occurred.

“In the wake of this legislation, plaintiffs filed hundred of lawsuits accusing hundreds of clergy members of acts of abuse and maltreatment against children and teenagers,” said Wallace in a release.

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NEW YORK
Rockland/Westchester Journal News

July 27, 2020

By Jonathan Bandler

Lawyers for the 21 men who have accused Edwin “Ted” Gaynor of molesting them when they were students at either St. Bernard in White Plains, Immaculate Heart of Mary in Scarsdale or Holy Rosary in Thornwood argue that in every instance, the school, parish and Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York officials either knew or should have known about the abuse but did little to stop it.

But in some of the cases, the lawsuits offer details of why they think the officials knew, with claims that they were specifically told either by the students or their parents. In some instances, reports to the school came after meetings among parents.

Edwin Gaynor and his basketball team at Immaculate Heart of Mary in Scarsdale in 1967. Standing in front of Gaynor is Gregory Morra, one of 21 former students who allege in lawsuits that Gaynor sexually abused them

Here are snapshots of some of those cases:

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Register

July 26, 2020

By Jim Graves

The Register spoke to a few dioceses across the country to see how they are coping with the situation.

The Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) surveyed U.S. bishops and reported that the COVID-19 pandemic has had major adverse effects on U.S. dioceses. Indeed, most indicated that the celebration of the sacraments was “very affected” and that it had significantly affected the morale of clergy as well as lay church staff.

Steps taken by bishops to meet financial shortfalls due to the elimination of Sunday collections include applying for government aid, encouraging parishioners to donate electronically, ending diocesan programs, and even closing schools and parishes and laying off staff. (Read more about the study here.)

The Register spoke to a few dioceses across the country to see how they are coping with the situation.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Philadelphia Inquirer

July 26, 2020

By Maria Panaritis

I was in the receiving line at the wake of a virtual stranger. Something had pulled me toward Egizi Funeral Home in Turnersville on Friday. I’d gotten word that an Inquirer reader I had met only once had died. And for some reason, that was reason enough to make the 45-minute trip from Philadelphia into South Jersey.

The pandemic had caused the wake to be delayed by two weeks, so there was no casket. Just flowers and photo galleries of a life I knew close to nothing about: Anthony DeVirgiliis, 72, of Sewell. On a table was a black-and-white picture of him as a baby; another from what looked like his confirmation; in a white tuxedo as a young man; with lifelong love Donata on their wedding day. A faded color shot of him, Donata, and their only child, Michelle Tamburro, on a Jersey Shore beach 40 years ago left a lump in my throat.

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NEW DELHI (INDIA)
Punjab Live

July 25, 2020

Bishop Franco Mulakkal, accused of raping a senior Kerala nun, has approached the Supreme Court claiming innocence and seeking to discharge him without a trial in the matter.

Mulakkal, in his petition, claimed that he is “innocent” and was “falsely implicated” in the case by the complainant after he questioned the financial dealings of the alleged victim nun.

The accused moved the apex court after the Kerala High Court dismissed his petition, seeking directions to discharge him without a trial in the rape case. Earlier, a trial court had also rejected his bail plea.

Mulakkal, 56, was arrested on rape charges on September 21, 2018, after a nun in the Missionaries of Jesus congregation filed a complaint against him accusing the Bishop of raping her 13 times between 2014 and 2016 in Kottayam in Kerala.

The Kerala Police had filed a 1,400-page chargesheet against him in the case.

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.

IRONDALE (AL)
National Catholic Register / EWTN

July 24, 2020

Two years after the former cardinal’s sexual predilections were revealed, the Vatican still hasn’t released its report.

It has now been two years since Pope Francis accepted Theodore McCarrick’s resignation from the College of Cardinals, shortly after allegations of his sexual abuse of a minor and evidence of other sexual exploitations first detonated into public view.

Yet after all this time, Catholics in the United States are still waiting for answers about which Church leaders, here and in Rome, knew about McCarrick’s scandalous situation but failed to take meaningful disciplinary and preventive actions — and possibly even facilitated and abetted his meteoric rise to prominence.

That’s far too long to wait. The delay only aggravates the severe damage caused by this unclarity and lack of episcopal accountability, further compromises the trust Catholics need to have in their shepherds, and prolongs the healing process for McCarrick’s victims. The whole ugly scandal seriously hampers the Church’s basic mission of evangelization and service.

“Why wasn’t this egregious situation addressed decades sooner and with justice?” That’s the urgent question asked in August 2018, two months after the public revelations about McCarrick, by Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, then president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), in a statement in which he vowed to pursue answers to the full extent of his authority and to advocate for answers beyond that.

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NEW YORK (NY)
Commonweal

July 24, 2020

By Massimo Faggioli

What to make of the fact that the Catholic Church received $1.4 billion from the U.S. government’s Paycheck Protection Program? The remarks from Oklahoma City Archbishop Paul S. Coakley, chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, seem to suffice. As he put it in a statement, the “Catholic Church” in this case encompasses the hundreds of individual Catholic dioceses, parishes, schools, social-service agencies, and other organizations that collectively employ thousands of people, and so is not prohibited from receiving taxpayer-backed federal aid. “The Paycheck Protection Program was designed to protect the jobs of Americans from all walks of life, regardless of whether they work for for-profit or non-profit employers, faith-based or secular,” his statement read in part. A range of Catholic media outlets have made the same observation, and it seems clear there is less to this “story” than meets the eye.

Yet at the same time, we should remain mindful about the constitutional and political issues concerning the relationship between Church and state, and the continued need for financial accountability and transparency in light of the links between the sexual-abuse crisis and financial mismanagement in Catholic institutions. It seems that some of the objection to PPP funding for the Church arises from the belief that the money could be used to pay settlements and legal costs associated with sex-abuse cases and other scandals. And this unfortunately speaks to the level of regard many people have for the Catholic Church today.

But we might also use the moment to think about the larger ecclesiological and theological issues raised by the increasingly decisive role of money in the life of the Church, especially the U.S. Catholic Church. As a result of changes in Catholic political culture since the twentieth century, wealthy donors have acquired the kind of legitimacy that the institutional Church might have once conferred on emperors, kings, and princes—as evidenced now in the expanding influence of conservative and traditionalist Catholic groups and Catholic business leaders. But this development itself arises in part from four decades of hostility to government spending and the dismantling of federal social-service programs, which has raised the pressure on Catholic organizations to provide more of these services than at any time since those programs were implemented in the twentieth century. The donations the Catholic Church gets from these private entities don’t necessarily come out of sympathy or support for the work it’s doing in these areas; rather, the contributions can sometimes be meant to influence the Church’s position on issues like immigration, the environment, and the economy. But in the case of the PPP payouts, we are talking about taxpayer money. And this should make us think about the complex meaning of “poor Church” in the recent Catholic tradition, and what that idea means going forward.

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COLUMBUS (OH)
Columbus Dispatch

July 26, 2020

By Danae King

Laura Lewis, a licensed clinical counselor, will now be the person who meets with survivors of priest sexual abuse of minors at the Roman Catholic Diocese of Columbus, replacing a priest who previously had the role.

Laura Lewis believes that mental health counseling is beyond essential when working with survivors of priests’ sexual abuse of minors.

That’s part of the reason she said she was happy to accept the position of interim victims assistance coordinator when it was offered by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Columbus.

Lewis began the part-time position on July 15, replacing Monsignor Stephan Moloney in the role that includes taking all reports of sexual abuse by a clergy member in the diocese; leading the Diocesan Board of Review for the Protection of Children, a group of 10 that determines whether claims are credible; and facilitating healing and help for survivors.

Lewis, a licensed clinical counselor, has worked with the diocese in the past, including on its Safe Environment Task Force that first met in January and was charged with looking at diocesan policies and recommending changes to help the church better serve survivors.

One of their recommendations was that her position be created to help the diocese offer better outreach, support and education on the abuse crisis, according to the diocese.

Lewis will work on an interim basis until the diocese creates a full-time, permanent coordinator position.

The change comes after The Dispatch reported in March 2019 that Moloney was one of three diocesan victims’ assistance coordinators in the country who were also priests, something survivors and their advocates, such as Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), have said can be a barrier to survivors reporting abuse to diocesan officials.

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.

KINGSTON (TN)
Roane County News

July 23, 2020

By Hugh Willett

A lawsuit filed in the Circuit Court of Knox County accuses a Harriman Catholic priest of sexually abusing a female parishioner.

Plaintiff Celeste Arnone alleges that she sustained injuries and damages as a result of a sexual relationship with Father Michael Sweeney, pastor of Blessed Sacrament Church in Harriman.

The Catholic Diocese of Knoxville is also listed as a defendant.

The lawsuit alleges that shortly after the married plaintiff became a Catholic in 2000, Father Sweeney began providing “spiritual direction” that included weekly visits that eventually developed into a sexual relationship.

“Father Sweeney exerted control over the Plaintiff Celeste Arnone to gain and maintain a sexual relationship with her and portrayed it as furthering the spiritual relationship with him and the Church,” the complaint alleges.

The relationship involved going to lunch, shopping and visiting Sweeney’s lake property. He also allegedly provide financial aid including getting her house out of foreclosure, buying her a gun, showing her how to use it, and providing money for a trip to Italy.

The complaint also alleges that the plaintiff’s relationship with her family suffered as a result of the relationship with Sweeney, resulting in a June 2004 divorce and annulment of her marriage.

“Much of this sexual exploitation of adult men and women comes under the guise of spiritual direction done in private,” says Susan Vance of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP).

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.

GENESEO (NY)
Livingston County News

July 24, 2020

By Matt Leader

Latest filing against Joe Larrabee, former priest in Dansville, Avon

Avon NY – One word comes to mind when Mark Rowe recalls Joseph Larrabee, a former priest who’s now the subject of multiple lawsuits alleging the sexual abuse of children.

“I guess the word is charismatic,” said Rowe, the latest to file suit against Larrabee. “Funny guy. There wasn’t anybody that didn’t like him – adults, kids. He was very likable.”

So when Larrabee, an associate pastor at the St. Agnes parish, invited Rowe and some of his classmates over for a sleepover at the rectory one summer in the early 1980s when Rowe was in his early teenage years, Rowe didn’t think much of it.

“Everybody had sleeping bags on the floor – he did as well. He was sleeping next to me. He reached into my bag and grabbed my genitals,” said Rowe, speaking during a phone interview last week. “After I don’t how long it was – if I said 30 seconds or a minute I’d be guessing – I knew it wasn’t right so I told him to stop. He said ‘Are you sure?’ I said ‘Yup.’”

Rowe, who graduated from Avon High School in 1984 and is now 54 years old, doesn’t think he ever went back to the rectory, though he can’t remember for sure.

“It’s really vague in my mind,” he said. “The one time just stands out because of what happened. I want to say it was the only time I’d gone there. I know there were other sleepovers that other kids went to at other times.”

Regardless, Rowe saw little of Larrabee from then on. A couple of years after the sleepover, Larrabee was transferred to a different parish.

The now former priest’s sexual assault of Rowe is outlined in a lawsuit filed earlier this month in Livingston County Supreme Court. It is, at least, the sixth such lawsuit filed against Larrabee under New York’s Child Victims Act. Three were filed in August 2019, according to reporting from Rochester’s Democrat and Chronicle.

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.

CLARKSBURG (WV)
WV News

July 24, 2020

By Matt Harvey

https://www.wvnews.com/news/wvnews/west-virginia-supreme-court-to-take-up-church-and-state-question-in-lawsuit-against-wheeling/article_f491dc8a-9655-5bf3-9f62-b2e167de100c.html

Charleston WV – The state Supreme Court will hear arguments Sept. 22 on whether a consumer protection lawsuit can move forward against the state’s only Roman Catholic diocese.

At the heart of the issue: Whether the lawsuit filed by Attorney General Patrick Morrisey’s office under the Consumer Credit and Protection Act is a violation of the separation of church and state doctrine in the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

Wood County Judge J.D. Beane, who’s presiding over the case at the circuit court level, has ruled Morrisey’s lawsuit opens too much potential for violation of separation of church and state. However, Beane stayed his order granting the diocese’s motion to dismiss Morrisey’s lawsuit and sent the matter to the state Supreme Court as a certified question.

The state Supreme Court’s ruling might not be the end of the matter. Although the U.S. Supreme Court refuses most cases, one with this kind of question might make it on the docket if an appeal is filed by either side.

Morrisey filed the consumer protection action against the diocese in early 2019, alleging misleading and false claims by the church organization over the safety of its private school educational programs and camps.

The lawsuit contends the diocese had a duty to note past instances of sexual crimes and misconduct by priests it had hired. The filing also questions the commitment of the diocese to ferreting out problem hires through background checks, and it indicates that appropriate action wasn’t always taken even when wrongdoing was discovered.

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.

WASHINGTON (DC)
WTOP News

July 23, 2020

By Rick Massimo

A man has filed a lawsuit claiming that he and others were sexually abused as boys in the 1980s in New Jersey by Catholic priests and bishops, and were groomed for and by Theodore McCarrick, who went on to become Archbishop of Washington.

The New Jersey lawsuit also claims that McCarrick began sexually abusing boys in 1969, 50 years before he was laicized by Pope Francis in 2019.

The plaintiff in the suit hasn’t been identified, but Jeff Anderson, one of his lawyers, said in a conference call Wednesday: “We bring into bright and broad focus over 50 years of criminal sexual predation by Cardinal Theodore McCarrick – all of it cloaked in papal power.”

The suit claims that a parish priest, Anthony Nardino, violated the plaintiff when he was an 11-year-old altar boy in 1981. The abuse continued until 1983, the lawsuit says, and McCarrick, then the first archbishop of Metuchen, New Jersey, began to participate in 1982.

When the boy was at the Essex Catholic Boys High School, he was being groomed, Anderson said. The principal, Brother Andrew Thomas Hewitt, began to sexually abuse the boy and became “the procurer of this kid, and, we believe, others for McCarrick,” Anderson said. When the boy was having trouble making tuition, Hewitt said, “You have to see the boss” – McCarrick.

The suit claims that Hewitt brought the boy to McCarrick’s residence, as well as a beach house in Sea Girt, New Jersey, that was paid for with diocesan money, Anderson said.

At the house, boys were assigned to sleep in various rooms, and priests were assigned with them, the suit says. “In the night, with the assistance of others, McCarrick would creep into this kid’s bed and engage in criminal assault, whispering, ‘It is OK,’” Anderson said.

“There are at least seven minors — children — who McCarrick groomed and who were groomed for McCarrick by others,” Anderson said.

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)
New York Times

July 24, 2020

By Patricia Gallagher Marchant (and three other writers)

Readers share their stories of growing up in the Catholic church and of the culture that allowed the abuse to happen.

This article (Pray for Your Poor Uncle, by Elizabeth Bruenig [Sunday Review, July 19]) shows the insidious way predatory priests weaseled their way into families at a time in history when sexual violation was not on the radar. The psychological abuse is so creepy and deep. The isolation and secrecy are deadly.

I was sexually abused by a charismatic Catholic priest who befriended my dad, drank with him and groomed my family before going on to rape me at 7 and countless other children.

Capturing the raw pain is hard, but the systemic piece is huge: one targeted family, feeling unique yet creeped out, surrounded by Catholics who are wowed by the hierarchy. The family and the victim then have to sort and sift alone. But when support and courage emerge as well as public support and courage, victims speak out.

Multiply this story by thousands, and the truth is revealed once again.

Patricia Gallagher Marchant
Franklin, Wis.

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.

LITTLE FALLS (MN)
Morrison County Record

July 24, 2020

By Horst G. Hanneken and Debbie Woitalla

Well, it just got more difficult to justify to our children why we remain Catholic. The St. Cloud Diocese just settled its sex abuse lawsuit for $22 million. Over $2 million falls on 131 parishes, each parish, regardless how big or small, asked to contribute $15,500, regardless whether we support a Catholic school or CCD program.

We did not place pedophile priests among us. Bishops knowingly did that, placing child molesters in unsuspecting communities, as they have done for decades. Generations of innocent children have borne the brunt of these immoral and unconscionable acts, causing irreparable harm. But, why are all parishes being assessed the same? Some don’t even have resident pastors. Bazaars are being canceled. Smaller rural parishes are already assessed $3,500 per year for priest retirement and $5,800 for clerical aid, the same as the largest ones.

We’re guessing many other assessments aren’t equitable either. We are obligated to use Catholic Mutual Insurance, who won’t even supply us a written insurance policy. So much for openness and transparency.

Church leaders are responsible for this chaos, not we Catholics in the pews. It seems the Catholic Church practices a lot of religion, but very little Christianity.

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.

ERIE (PA)
WJET-TV 24 ABC

July 24, 2020

By Samiar Nefzi

The Catholic Diocese of Erie is now facing a new lawsuit from three victims ranging from as far back as the mid-1970’s.

This new lawsuit comes as we near the two year anniversary of the grand jury report on the Catholic Church.

These recent claims are related to similar ones from the alleged cover up.

A high-profile sex abuse lawyer has filed a suit against the Diocese of Erie.

The three victims were identified by initials, all children at the time with the lawsuit suggesting J.A., 12 years old in 1978 was abused by Father Michael Barletta, W.C., 15 years old in 1983 was abused by Clergy Chester Gawronski and K.M. who was seven years old in 1975 was abused by Priest Fidelis G. Lazar.

“The abuse survivors still live with it everyday, I do not think it is fair or right that an institution gets to move on with itself and say look those are the sins of the past when there are thousands of people struggling today,” said attorney Nate Foote.

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.

STUART (VA)
Henry County Enterprise

July 24, 2020

By Brandon Martin

Perhaps the greatest role of a priest is to communicate. They communicate to each other and they communicate to their audience. They communicate scripture, they communicate life and they communicate how to respond when the two collide.

To perfectly communicate, you need a sender, a receiver and a message; however, sometimes the communication runs into a disruption and the message shifts from its original intent.

The Sender

Father Mark White was removed from his position at St. Joseph in Martinsville and St. Francis of Assisi in Rocky Mount following a series of blog posts about the Catholic Church’s handling of sexual abuse among clergy members.

White sees his blog as an extension to all the ways he already communicates with parishioners.

“The on-line social media provide another means of reaching each other, forming a part of the larger ‘social network’ that a Catholic parish is,” he said. “During the virus, of course, the on-line means of communication have become much more important.”

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.

FORT LAUDERDALE (FL)
Horowitz Law

July 23, 2020

Every few months, we at Horowitz Law see or hear a line like this and practically moan with disgust:

“The Catholic Church has dealt with decades of scandal as investigations have found hundreds of priests across the globe who sexually abused minors. . .”

This inaccurate and minimizing line appeared in the Denver Post. But sadly, many reporters have written similar sentences.

As you might have guessed, it’s the word ‘hundreds’ that gets our goat. That’s nowhere close to accurate.

Hundreds of Catholic priests have been accused of abuse in several countries, including:

– Ireland

*

Hundreds of Catholic priests have been accused of abusing in several US states, including

– New York

– Pennsylvania

– Texas

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.

KERALA (INDIA)
LiveLaw.in

July 24, 2020

By Viswajith Anand

https://www.livelaw.in/news-updates/allowing-bail-to-rape-convict-ex-priest-to-marry-survivor-will-be-a-mockery-of-justice-activists-plea-in-kerala-hc-160446

Stating that allowing the plea of rape convict Robin Vadakkumcheriyil, ex-priest of Catholic Church, to suspend the sentence to marry the rape survivor will set a bad precedent, an activist and a Christian feminist organization have filed an application in the High Court of Kerala.

The applicants, Goerge Pulikuthiyil, an advocate-activist and Brinelle D’souza, founding and core committee member of Voices Against Sexual Abuse in the Church (VASAC) stated that, if Robin’s bail application is allowed, then it will set a bad example and open the door for many such men to force or coerce their victims into a compromise in order to escape the rigours of law.

‘The relief at this stage citing his desire to marry the victim, it will open the door for many such men who commit the offence of rape or aggravated sexual assault to force or coerce their victims into a compromise in order to escape the rigours of law. Such practices have been categorically looked down upon by the Hon’ble Supreme Court, and must not be encouraged in any judicial proceeding or stage’, stated the impleading application filed in the criminal appeal filed by Robin.

The applicants pointed out that the intention to marry the victim was already addressed and rejected by the trial court while sentencing him to 20 years imprisonment for the rape of a minor girl.

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.

KARNATAKA (INDIA)
MEA WorldWide

July 23, 2020

By Pathikrit Sanyal

https://meaww.com/retaliation-review-orlando-bloom-child-sexual-abuse-faith-janet-montgomery-charlie-creed-miles-story

In the 2015 Oscar-winning biographical drama ‘Spotlight’, an extremely overwhelmed Phil Saviano (played by Neal Huff) tells the Boston Globe journalists, “See, it is important to understand that this is not just physical abuse. It’s spiritual abuse too. When a priest does this to you, he robs you of your faith.”

Saviano was talking about child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. In a host of powerful scenes in the film, this one stands out. It spells out with immense clarity one of the consequences of this abuse that isn’t often spoken about.

Ludwig Shammasian and Paul Shammasian’s film ‘Retaliation’, which premiered at the 2017 Edinburgh International Film Festival as ‘Romans’, takes us through a similar painful journey. It tells the story of Malky or Malcolm (Orlando Bloom), a demolition worker in a working-class town in England. Malky may look like your normal guy-next-door, who likes to have a few pints of beer with his pals at his local pub after work, but he carries enormous pain inside him.

His cheery façade, however, begins to crumble, after he runs into someone at the pub. This man drags out ghosts from his past and Malky turns into this broken man, unable to process his feelings. He begins to lash out at people — sometimes complete strangers, sometimes his on-again-off-again girlfriend Emma (Janet Montgomery), sometimes his best friend Jo (Alex Ferns), and even himself.

His violent behavior stems from child sexual abuse. Twenty-five years ago, when he was no older than 12, a pastor (played by James Smillie) had raped him. And his repression of this act of abuse has led him to lead a dysfunctional life full of stoicism, rage, overcompensatory masculinity, mistrust, and sexual confusion.

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.