ABUSE TRACKER

ASHEVILLE (NC)
Mountain Express

Dec. 13, 2019

By Laura Hackett

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Charlotte, which represents 46 counties in Western North Carolina and six parishes in the Asheville area, announced in August that it will release a list of clergy who have been the subject of credible accusations of sexual abuse by the end of this year. The process of reviewing personnel files and other historical records, which date to the diocese’s founding in 1972, began last fall.

On Nov. 26, the diocese said in a press release that credible allegations of sexual misconduct had been made toward its former vicar general, Monsignor Mauricio West. Those incidents allegedly date from the late 1980s and early 1990s, when West was a monk at Belmont Abbey. All the allegations involve adult victims; the alleged conduct includes unwanted kissing and, in one instance, unwanted touching. West was removed from ministerial duties beginning in March as the diocese investigated the victims’ claims.

West’s replacement, Vicar General Father Patrick Winslow, met with Xpress on Nov. 13 to discuss the process of reviewing diocesan records. Historical information warranting further inquiry has been passed to an independent lay review board, he said. If the board determines that a clergy member should be removed from his post, the bishop will consider that recommendation and make the final decision.

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CHICAGO (IL)
Sun Times

Dec 13, 2019

By Robert Herguth

One of the more prolific and unrepentant predator priests in the Chicago area has been released from custody after 17 years in prison.

Former Catholic priest Vincent McCaffrey gained his freedom months earlier than his previously scheduled release because of a federal law signed last year by President Donald Trump that cuts inmates an additional break if they behave behind bars.

McCaffrey, who admitted sexually abusing so many boys that he lost count, pleaded guilty in 2002 to receipt and possession of child pornography. He was sentenced by a federal judge in 2003 to 20 years in prison.

Originally slated for release Nov. 18, McCaffrey instead was freed July 19 “in accordance with the revised good-conduct-time provisions provided in the First Step Act,” according to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons.

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DENVER (CO)
Denver Post

Dec. 13, 2019

By Vincent Carroll

When will it end, many Catholics must wearily wonder. And not only Catholics. Anyone who reads or listens to the news must wonder when the Catholic church sex scandals will ever be over.

But in one major sense, the crisis already has passed and what we’re witnessing — and will continue to witness for years — is the aftermath.

To see what I mean, go to Appendix 4 in the report on sexual abuse of minors by clergy in Colorado issued in October by investigators led by former U.S. Attorney Bob Troyer. There’s a bar graph highlighting the “number of victims by decade the abuse or misconduct began.” Towering above all other decades for the archdiocese of Denver is the bar for the 1960s, representing 74 victims. In second place is the 1970s with 25 victims, and the 1950s is third with 14. The 1990s had 11 victims and the 1980s three.

As the report observes, “Roman Catholic clergy child sex abuse in Colorado peaked in the 1960s and appears to have declined since. In fact, the last of the Colorado child sex abuse incidents we saw in the files were 1 in July 1990 and 4 in May 1998.”

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NEW YORK (NY)
America Magazine

Dec. 12, 2019

By Colleen Dulle and James T. Keane

An article published yesterday by the Wall Street Journal, by Francis X. Rocca, had a provocative, even shocking headline: “Vatican Uses Donations for the Poor to Plug Its Budget Deficit.” Focusing on Peter’s Pence, a worldwide collection for the pope’s charitable needs, the article stated that only 10 percent of the yearly collection, which the article estimated at $55 million (though in past years it was higher), goes to charitable works and that two-thirds of the money is used to cover the Vatican’s growing deficit.

Is the Vatican misleading donors to Peter’s Pence? The website of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops explains the purpose of the charitable drive, usually held in U.S. parishes on the last weekend in June, as follows: “Today, the Peter’s Pence Collection supports the Pope’s philanthropy by giving the Holy Father the means to provide emergency assistance to those in need because of natural disaster, war, oppression, and disease.”

The Vatican itself is more circumspect in its description of the charitable drive. “It is an offering that each member of the faithful decides to give to the Pope so that he can provide for the needs of the entire Church,” states the Vatican website for Peter’s Pence, “especially in those places where the Church experiences greater difficulties.” Further, the pope’s charitable works “extend to the whole of humanity, at whose service the structures of the Church exist. For this reason, Peter’s Pence also contributes to the support of the Apostolic See and the activities of the Holy See.”

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COLORADO SPRINGS (CO)
Gazette

Dec. 12, 2019

By Debbie Kelley

Sixteen more victims of alleged sexual abuse by priests in Colorado’s three Roman Catholic dioceses have come forward since the Oct. 23 release of an independent report detailing substantiated accounts of at least 166 children who were harmed by 43 priests, according to Colorado Attorney General’s Office spokesman Lawrence Pacheco.

Among those now seeking recompense is an El Paso County resident.

Daniel Masias told The Gazette that from the age of 8 to 14, while he attended the Sacred Heart Cathedral School in Pueblo in the late 1950s and early 1960s, he was fondled and inappropriately touched by several priests working at the Catholic school that closed in 1971.

His account was not among those outlined in the special master’s report, Roman Catholic Clergy Sexual Abuse of Children in Colorado from 1950 to 2019, which concluded that at least 127 children were victimized by 22 Catholic priests in the Archdiocese of Denver, three children were harmed by two predatory priests in the Diocese of Colorado Springs, and 36 children were sexually abused by 19 priests in the Diocese of Pueblo.

Before Colorado Springs became a separate diocese in 1984, an Archdiocese of Denver priest identified as one of the state’s most prolific offenders, the Rev. Harold White, taught at St. Mary’s High School in Colorado Springs and preyed on five victims at least 15 times from 1963 to 1965, according to the probe.

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RAPID CITY (SD)
KOTA TV

Dec. 11, 2019

By Jeff Voss

A survivor of sexual abuse speaks out on ending sexual abuse against children (KOTA TV)
Center for Prevention of Child Maltreatment and Jolene’s Law has a 10-year plan to end sexual child abuse and maltreatment.

” The goal is to breakdown the styles of work that are happening across the state so we can work together to make a stronger South Dakota.” Carrie Sanderson director center prevention child maltreatment

Jolene’s law was signed by former Governor Dennis Daugaard in 2014 — and named after Jolene Loetscher, a survivor of sexual abuse as a child.

“To know that it was a symbol of putting purpose to my pain and it may be my name but it is the story of 4,000 kids every year in this state.” Loetscher

Jolene’s Law helped put an end to statute of limitations on many rape cases — and with CPCM the new goal is to end abuse altogether.

“We are going to protect our children and our families and we are going to end child abuse, and this a really big huge statement to make,” added Loetscher

The ten-year plan by CPCM will involve the cooperation of 30 agencies throughout the state coming together as one, for one common goal, and for one survivor, a simple message.

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CLARKSTOWN (NY)
Clarkstown Daily Voice

Dec. 12, 2019

By Zak Failla

A former student at an area private school has accused a former nun who later took positions of power at schools in Westchester of sexually abusing her in the 1960s.

Sister Ann Peterson has been accused of groping and molesting Pamela Hayes in Orange County at the Saint Joseph School in Middletown during the 1960s, according to court documents. At the time of the alleged abuse, Hayes was 10 years old.

The new lawsuit, filed this week, accuses Peterson of asking Hayes to stay late after school, then she allegedly kissed, groping and molested her, according to the court documents that were filed this week under the New York Child Victim’s Act. The alleged abuse lasted between 1963 and 1967.

The lawsuit was filed against the Archdiocese of New York, Peterson, the Parish of Saint Joseph, St. Joseph School and the Ursuline Sisters of the Eastern Province, based in New Rochelle.

Court documents say that Peterson abused Hayes by “hugging, kissing, massaging, caressing and touching her breasts and genitals.” It states that Hayes continues to feel “traumatized, ashamed, embarrassed and humiliated.”

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SIOUX FALLS (SD)
Sioux Falls Argus Leader

Dec. 12, 2019

By Trevor J. Mitchell

The eighth and ninth bishops of the Catholic Diocese of Sioux Falls stood together in the Catholic Pastoral Center on Thursday morning, as Bishop Paul Swain introduced Bishop-elect Donald DeGrood.

DeGrood, who called himself “a farm boy at heart,” most recently served as pastor of St. John the Baptist in Savage, Minnesota, part of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis.

While admitting he was sad to leave his parishioners in Minnesota, he said he knew God would provide for them and that prayer had let him know that coming to South Dakota was the right path.

DeGrood succeeds Bishop Paul Swain, who submitted his resignation, per canon law, at the age of 75 in September of 2018.

Swain spoke briefly as he introduced DeGrood, saying that he was pleased with the church’s decision to choose him as the next bishop — “and not just because I can retire now,” he said.

He told DeGrood he’d need to learn to appreciate the open plains of South Dakota he’d see during his many drives across the state, as well as learn the important distinction between East River and West River.

“Though shaken by the scandals of the church these days,” Swain said, DeGrood was entering a community of people who are steadfast in their belief, and who care about each other.

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Mish blog

Dec. 12, 2019

Vatican Spends 90% of Donations for the Poor On Itself

By Mike Shedlock

Thinking of donating money to the Vatican to feed the poor? You may wish to reconsider.

Please consider Vatican Uses Donations for the Poor to Plug Its Budget Deficit.

Every year, Catholics around the world donate tens of millions of dollars to the pope. Bishops exhort the faithful to support the weak and suffering through the pope’s main charitable appeal, called Peter’s Pence.

What the church doesn’t advertise is that most of that collection, worth more than €50 million ($55 million) annually, goes toward plugging the hole in the Vatican’s own administrative budget, while as little as 10% is spent on charitable works, according to people familiar with the funds.

The little-publicized breakdown of how the Holy See spends Peter’s Pence, known only among senior Vatican officials, is raising concern among some Catholic Church leaders that the faithful are being misled about the use of their donations, which could further hurt the credibility of the Vatican’s financial management under Pope Francis.

The Vatican is currently embroiled in a scandal over opaque real-estate investments in London, which has triggered a power struggle within the Vatican’s bureaucracy and led to the dismissal of its chief financial regulator. Last month, the Vatican was suspended from an international network of anti-money-laundering watchdogs.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests

Dec. 12, 2019

A grand jury in Louisiana has indicted a former deacon on charges of child rape. We applaud this decision and hope it will bring comfort and healing to his victims.

George Brignac, a former deacon in the Archdiocese of New Orleans, was still working in parishes as late as last year, despite church officials “removing him from ministry” in 1988. We fear that other children may have been hurt by him during the years that he was working around children despite ostensibly having had his ministerial faculties removed. Because of this, church officials in New Orleans must aggressively seek out any others who may have been hurt by him and encourage them to come forward and make a report to local law enforcement.

This case is yet another reminder that children are best protected by secular law enforcement officials, not church officials. We also believe that, had church officials lived up to their promise to be “open and honest” about cases of clergy abuse and posted a list of accused priests, nuns, deacons and other church staff earlier, the communities in which Brignac was working would have been better informed and better able to protect their children.

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NEW ORLEANS (LA)
Times Picayune

Dec. 12, 2019

By Ramon Antonio Vargas

An Orleans Parish grand jury on Thursday handed up a child rape charge against George Brignac, the former Roman Catholic deacon who was removed from ministry decades ago amid multiple molestation accusations but still remained involved in a local parish until last year.

Brignac, 84, faces a count of first-degree rape in the newest bid from prosecutors to convict a man who decades ago beat similar allegations.

Thursday’s indictment against Brignac comes more than two months after New Orleans police arrested him on a warrant accusing him of multiple acts of abuse, including rape of an altar boy he met while teaching at Our Lady of the Rosary Parish in the late 1970s. He is the first clergyman in the area to be indicted since the church’s long-simmering child molestation crisis boiled over last year, when Brignac and dozens of others were included on New Orleans Archbishop Gregory Aymond’s list of clergy suspected of preying on minors.

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FLUSHING (NY)
Flushing Post

Dec. 8, 2019

By Kristen Torres

A Queens bishop who served as the spiritual leader of a Bayside church has been charged for sexually assaulting a 12-year-old boy from his congregation, the District Attorney’s Office announced Friday.

Bishop Jese Milagrosa, 69, who served at Our Lady of La Salette Church at 46-44 204th St., is accused of sexually assaulting the boy over a three-year period beginning in 2011, according to the District Attorney’s office.

“The defendant is accused of using his position as head of the church to take advantage of an innocent child for his own sexual gratification,” said Acting Queens District Attorney John Ryan in a statement.

Milagrosa was arraigned Thursday night before Queens Criminal Court Judge Karina Alomar on a complaint charging him with predatory sexual assault against a child, first-degree sexual conduct against a child, and first-, second- and third-degree criminal sexual act.

He was ordered held on $250,000 bail and to return to court on Dec. 20, 2019. If convicted, the he faces 10 years to life in prison.

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LONDON (ENGLAND)
The Tablet

Dec. 12, 2019

By Catherine Pepinster

If the Church is to become a safe place for children and vulnerable adults, those who have suffered abuse must be listened to. Three of the victims of abuse by Catholic priests who gave evidence to the IICSA hearings tell their stories to The Tablet

Nolan and Cumberlege. These two names were repeated day after day, by witness after witness, at the various hearings in the inquiry into the extent of failures to protect children from sexual abuse within the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales: one of the 15 investigations into a broad range of institutions being conducted by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA). They are shorthand for the two inquiries – the first chaired by Lord Nolan in 2001 and the second by Baroness Cumberlege in 2007 – held by the Catholic Church into clerical sexual abuse, whose recommendations have set the template for safeguarding in the Catholic Church for nearly 20 years.

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EDMONTON (CANADA)
Edmonton Sun News

Dec. 12, 2019

By Gary Dimmock

Barry McGrory, the disgraced former Catholic priest who skipped his sentencing in Ottawa court last month for molesting boys, has been arrested and is now in jail.

The now-defrocked McGrory, 85, had been on bail awaiting sentencing but didn’t bother to show up on Nov. 18, so Superior Court Justice Michelle O’Bonsawin issued an arrest warrant for the convicted sex predator, who was arrested in Toronto.

In June, O’Bonsawin found McGrory guilty of sexually abusing two teenage boys in historic crimes dating back to the late 1960s. The boys were molested in a church rectory.

McGrory now faces a new charge of failing to attend court, and is now at the Ottawa-Carleton Detention Centre awaiting his next hearing at the Elgin Street courthouse.

McGrory used his position as a parish priest to exploit vulnerable and naive young men, and used drugs and booze to groom them.

“He infiltrated their families and used their faith in him to take advantage of the complainants,” the judge said in June.

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BOSTON (MA)
Boston Globe

Dec. 12, 2019

By Travis Andersen

A Catholic priest in New Jersey pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges of indecently assaulting three children under 14 in Springfield in the 1980s, about 20 years before his ordination, according to prosecutors and court records.

Rev. Patrick Kuffner, 72, entered his plea in Hampden Superior Court to three counts of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14, legal filings show. Bail was set at $50,000, and his lawyer didn’t immediately respond to telephone and e-mail messages seeking comment.

Kuffner was initially arrested Nov. 20 in New Jersey and taken into custody by Massachusetts State Police on Wednesday, officials said.

Prosecutors say Kuffner, who became a priest in 2002, allegedly assaulted the youths while chaperoning a trip to Springfield in the early 1980s. Investigators were initially contacted after one alleged victim recognized Kuffner at a funeral while standing in line to receive communion, Hampden District Attorney Anthony Gulluni’s office said in a statement.

The alleged victim confronted Kuffner and later reported the past incident to law enforcement, prosecutors said.

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NEW YORK (NY)
The New York Times

December 11, 2019

By Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor

After two years of legal wrangling, Harvey Weinstein and the board of his bankrupt film studio have reached a tentative $25 million settlement agreement with dozens of his alleged sexual misconduct victims, a deal that would not require the Hollywood producer to admit wrongdoing or pay anything to his accusers himself, according to lawyers involved in the negotiations.

The proposed global legal settlement has gotten preliminary approval from the major parties involved, according to several of the lawyers. More than 30 actresses and former Weinstein employees, who in lawsuits have accused Mr. Weinstein of offenses ranging from sexual harassment to rape, would share in the payout — along with potential claimants who could join in coming months. The deal would bring to an end nearly every such lawsuit against him and his former company.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
LA Times

December 10, 2019

By Alejandra Reyes-Velard

California prosecutors plan to issue subpoenas to half of the state’s Catholic dioceses as part of a growing investigation into the church’s handling of sex abuse cases, according to several dioceses and the California Catholic Conference.

The move marks another escalation of the California attorney general’s investigation of the church scandal, which already has resulted in massive settlements for accusers and criminal charges against individual priests statewide.

The dioceses in Sacramento, Fresno, Orange, San Jose, Los Angeles and San Francisco received notices sometime last week that they would be issued the subpoenas. The Diocese of Orange and the Diocese of San Jose have been officially served with the subpoena orders.

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NEW YORK (NY)
The New York Post

December 10, 2019

By Chad Pecknold

Speaking before a Chinese Communist body recently, Bishop John Fang Xingyao said: “Love for the homeland must be greater than love for the Church.” That was quite a reversal from the spirit of Saint Thomas More, who declared himself “the king’s good servant but God’s first” — just before Henry VIII had him beheaded in 1535.

Statements like Fang’s are vindicating those who have raised alarm about the Holy See’s 2018 deal with the Beijing regime.

When the Communists took power in China in 1949, they tried to expel Catholics, but many remained. By 1957, the new regime created a state-run “Catholic” church that was loyal to the Communist Party and ­rejected the authority of the Holy See. This drove underground many Catholics, who didn’t want to betray the successor of Saint Peter. Thus, for decades, China has lived with two Catholic churches, one above ground, the other below.

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BUFFALO (NY)
WKBW

December 12, 2019
By John Tummino

The communications leader for the Buffalo Diocese has stepped down.

The diocese announced Thursday morning that Kathy Spangler left “to pursue other interests and opportunities.” Her departure comes one week after the resignation of Bishop Richard Malone.

Gregory Tucker, described as a “seasoned strategic communications advisor,” is now working with the diocese until a permanent replacement is named.

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NEW YORK (NY)
Variety

December 11, 2019

By Elizabeth Wagmeister and Gene Maddaus

A judge on Wednesday increased Harvey Weinstein’s bail to $5 million, following repeated violations of his ankle monitor system.

Justice James Burke agreed to the prosecution’s request to hike his bail, which had been set at $1 million. The defense claimed that the lapses in monitoring were due to technical glitches. Prosecutor Joan Illuzzi alleged that Weinstein was “panicking” and had deliberately caused the ankle monitor to malfunction in order to evade detection. She said there had been 57 violations in less than two months.

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UNITED STATES
The Associated Press

December 10, 2019

By Mary Claire Dale

Bill Cosby lost his bid to overturn his sexual assault conviction Tuesday, as an appeals court upheld the verdict in the first celebrity trial of the #MeToo era.

In its ruling, the Superior Court upheld the right of prosecutors to call other accusers to bolster their case — the same issue that was fought over in pretrial hearings before movie mogul Harvey Weinstein’s sexual assault trial.

“This decision is a reminder that no one is above the law,” Andrea Constand, the victim in Cosby’s case, told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

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NEW YORK (NY)
The New York Post

December 10, 2019

By Lee Brown

The runner who slapped a TV reporter’s behind is a local youth minister who claims he wants to “correct the situation” — while the journalist on the receiving end of his hand says he “hurt me, both physically and emotionally.”

Tommy Callaway was identified as the Savannah, Ga., 10K racer who slapped WSAV-TV anchor Alex Bozarjian, after online sleuths found him thanks to his race number shown in other photos.

Callaway is a youth group leader at his church, Pittman Park UMC, as well as a Boy Scout leader, according to Heavy, based on social media sites that he quickly took down as he was outed and banned from future races.

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BUFFALO (NY)
WBFO

December 10, 2019

By Kyle S. Mackie

James Faluszczak, a former priest and well-known Buffalo advocate for survivors of clergy abuse, is calling on the new interim administrator of the Diocese of Buffalo to release the Vatican’s full report into its handling of sexual abuse cases.

Bishop Edward Scharfenberger of Albany was named temporary head of the diocese following the Dec. 4 resignation of Bishop Richard Malone. The Vatican accepted Malone’s resignation after widespread outcry and calls for his removal over his handling of sexual abuse allegations within the diocese.

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BROOKLYN (NY)
WIVB

December 10, 2019

By Evan Anstey

James Faluszczak, a former priest who claims to have been sexually abused, spoke in Brooklyn on Tuesday morning.

Faluszczak has been calling for investigations into priests. This past August, he announced lawsuits against the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo on the first day of the Child Victims Act window.

Previously, Faluszczak testified before the 40th Pennsylvania Grand Jury while it investigated six dioceses in that state.

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CHICOPEE (MA)
The Associated Press

December 9, 2019

By David Crary

More than a century ago, waves of Catholic immigrants from Ireland, Poland and Quebec settled in Chicopee and other western Massachusetts mill towns, helping build churches, rectories and schools to accommodate their faith. Today the priests leading those churches are under siege due to stresses, challenges and sex abuse scandals complicating their lives and those of their fellow priests across the United States.

The Rev. Mark Stelzer is among those trying to persevere. He’s a professor at a Roman Catholic college in Chicopee, and its chaplain. He travels frequently to out-of-state events organized by a Catholic addiction-treatment provider, recounting his own recovery from alcoholism.

Last year, his busy schedule got busier. Amid a worsening shortage of priests, the Diocese of Springfield named him administrator of a parish in Holyoke, Chicopee’s northern neighbor, where he lives alone in a mansion-sized rectory while serving as spiritual leader to the 500 families of St. Jerome’s Church.

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UNITED STATES
The New York Times

December 7, 2019

By Nellie Bowles and Michael H. Keller

Criminals are making virtual connections with children through gaming and social media platforms. One popular site warns visitors, “Please be careful.”

When Kate’s 13-year-old son took up Minecraft and Fortnite, she did not worry.

The video games were hardly Grand Theft Auto — banned in their home because it was too violent — and he played in a room where she could keep an eye on him.

But about six weeks later, Kate saw something appalling pop up on the screen: a video of bestiality involving a young boy. Horrified, she scrolled through her son’s account on Discord, a platform where gamers can chat while playing. The conversations were filled with graphic language and imagery of sexual acts posted by others, she said.

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SAN FRANCISCO (CA)
The New York Times

December 5, 2019

By Kate Conger

In its first safety report, the ride-hailing company detailed sexual assaults, murders and fatal crashes through its platform.

Uber said on Thursday that it had reports of 3,045 sexual assaults during its rides in the United States in 2018, with nine people murdered and 58 killed in crashes, in its first study detailing unsafe incidents on the ride-hailing platform.

The number of incidents represented a fraction — just 0.0002 percent — of Uber’s 1.3 billion rides in the United States last year, the company said.

There are few comparable figures to judge Uber’s safety record against. The New York Police Department, which keeps a register of sex crimes and rapes that occur on transit systems, counted 533 in 2018.

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BUFFALO (NY)
WKBW TV

Dec. 12, 12019

By Charlie Specht

The secret files on abusive priests in the Diocese of Buffalo sit locked away in a group of beige and green file cabinets at diocesan headquarters on Main Street.

The question is whether a new bishop preaching transparency will release the files to abuse victims and other Catholics.

“Give us the files,” said attorney J. Michael Hayes, who represents two of the victims pushing for the files. “We’re entitled to them under the law.”

Hayes is making a motion in State Supreme Court that could be a potential game-changer for the diocese, and could pry open the secret files on two of its most notorious priests: Fr. William F.J. White and Fr. Norbert Orsolits.

“If there is such a thing as a smoking gun in these cases, my guess is it’s the personnel file of these priests,” Hayes said.

More than a dozen men accuse the two priests of sexual abuse that allegedly occurred decades ago. Hayes is asking Justice Deborah A. Chimes to force the diocese to turn over their files as part of normal court procedure.

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TULSA (OK)
Tulsa World

Dec. 12, 2019

It was very discouraging to see the Rev. Joe Townsend reprieve on the second section of the Tulsa World (“Diocese: Allegation against Tulsa priest found to be unsubstantiated,” Dec. 4).

It was front-page news when word came out about the allegations. Now that he’s been exonerated, it’s no big deal. We are innocent until proven guilty only in the court system it seems.

I feel it should be front page again, so people can see the truth as we know it, just so he can feel truly exonerated.

Evemarie Luce Eklund, Tulsa

Editor’s Note: The newsroom editors choose to publish the story across all columns at the top of the Metro section. The reasons include the front-page breaking news that day of the notification of impeachment filings against President Trump and the Tulsa Public Schools announcement to close four schools and hold meetings on a restructuring plan. The Tulsa World also published the last of a five-part series on statewide criminal justice issues. The decision regarding allegations against Townsend as being unsubstantiated came from an internal diocese investigation, not law enforcement.

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COLUMBUS (OH)
WCBE Radio

Dec. 12, 2019

By Jim Letizia

A Franklin County judge has ordered the Catholic Diocese of Columbus to release files related to priests accused of sexual abuse as part of an ongoing lawsuit.

The judge denied a broad request for files and instead told the Diocese to release documents created before the plaintiff’s complaint about alleged abuse by the late Monsignor Thomas Bennett at St. Charles Preparatory School in Bexley. The judge’s order last week gave officials 30 days to comply.

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COLLEGE STATION (TX)
KBTX TV

Dec. 12, 2019

By Rusty Surette

KBTX has confirmed St. Mary’s Catholic Center in College Station is at the center of an investigation involving a visiting priest.

The Legionaries of Christ on Saturday released a public statement regarding the ongoing investigation into Father Michael Sullivan.

Father Michael Sullivan was well-known among the congregation of mostly A&M students and was in and out of the parish for the last decade.

On Saturday, a Georgia-based group for men studying the priesthood called Legionaries of Christ confirmed its internal investigation of Father Sullivan. They say an adult female visiting St. Mary’s came forward with claims the he “crossed over the emotional physical boundaries of a pastoral relationship with her and others.”

On Wednesday, the Legionaries said a third-party group was actively investigating the latest allegation, and while he may have violated their own code of conduct, they don’t believe any laws were broken.

The organization also said no law enforcement agency has been invited to assist in its on-going fact-finding mission.

This isn’t the first time the Legionaries have had to investigate Sullivan.

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NEWARK (NJ)
By Star-Ledger

Dec. 1, 2019

By Bill Murphy

When the five Catholic dioceses of NJ released the names of priests with credible accusations of sexual abuse, I, like many Catholics, went to review the lists with a feeling of apprehension, hoping that I did not recognize any of the names.

I was devastated to see the name of Father Brendan Williams, a priest I had known and thought the world of since I was a teenager. Next to his name were the words “removed from ministry.” When was he removed from ministry? I wondered. I remembered seeing announcements in the diocesan newspaper announcing his retirement in 2012. Since then, Fr. Williams’ former parish advertised a party in honor of the 50th of his ordination on June 7, 2015 and the parish bulletin also advertised a pilgrimage he was leading in September 2015.

I contacted the Diocese of Trenton multiple times to express my concerns. When exactly was Fr. Williams “removed from ministry,” as they claimed he had been? Was his “retirement” a pretense? If not, when specifically was he removed from ministry and why was no announcement made? What did the diocese know and when did they know it?

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ROCHESTER (NY)
Democrat & Chronicle

Dec. 12, 2019

By Steve Orr

The Vatican conducted a recent investigation into the western New York diocese and Malone’s handling of abuse cases. Matthew Leonard, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle

Lawsuits filed under the Child Victims Act all date from a five-year period when the convicted abuser was associate pastor in Dansville, NY.

After his time in Dansville, Emo was moved around half-a-dozen postings in 14 years.

When police uncovered more complaints of sexual abuse, statute of limitations made prosecution impossible.

When the Rev. Eugene G. Emo was arrested in 1996 for molesting a developmentally disabled man, some of his parishioners said they weren’t surprised. They had suspected for years that Emo had an unholy attraction to boys and vulnerable men.

But those parishioners accused Rochester diocesan leaders of covering up for Emo for years, transferring him from one church to another after people began to talk.

In one case, salacious photos and a pair of handcuffs had been found in Emo’s quarters, and money was missing from the parish’s till. The diocese’s response was to whisk Emo away with no explanation and, a year later, send him to another church 50 miles away.

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BUFFALO (NY)
West Seneca Bee

Dec. 11, 2019

Just over a week ago, Diocese of Buffalo Bishop Richard Malone resigned under immense pressure. Local Catholics or, frankly, anyone who pays attention to the news in Western New York knows why. Parishioners, local politicians and lay people involved in local Catholic institutions were fed up with Bishop Malone’s lack of action in disciplining or investigating priests who were accused of abuse.

His resignation and whatever looming shakeup happens in the coming years will forever change the structure of the church in a region where Catholicism is especially prominent. Voices that are usually silenced were heard, abusive priests have been punished and massive lawsuits have been launched.

None of this would have happened without quality reporting by multiple local outlets. Of course, Michael Whalen deserves credit for sparking the whole story, after bravely and publicly sharing his story more than 18 months ago of abuse at the hands of a priest.

Whalen’s story led Buffalo News reporter Jay Tokasz to investigate further, leading to a confirmation of the abuse by the perpetrator, Norbert Orsolits. This set off a trend of others sharing their story of abuse, with dozens and eventually hundreds of former or current local priests being accused of some form of abuse.

Later, Malone’s secretary Siobhan O’Connor leaked incriminating documents to WKBW-TV reporter Charlie Specht, adding another layer to the story. It became clear to many that Bishop Malone had not done enough to either curb abuse or to ensure that priests accused of wrongdoing couldn’t harm anyone else.

During the next year, Specht broke several more stories related to the scandal and was at every diocesan news conference, looking to hold Malone accountable. Tokasz and others also provided strong coverage of what may be the biggest WNY news story of the decade.

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JAKARTA (INDONESIA)
UCAN News

Dec.11, 2019

By Ryan Dagur

The Indonesian Church will take serious steps to address claims in a Catholic media report that dozens of people have been abused in Catholic institutions across the country, a bishops’ conference official has said.

At least 56 people were abused within Catholic institutions in Indonesia, according to the report titled “Sexual Abuse in Indonesian Churches: An Iceberg Phenomenon?”

It appeared in Warta Minggu, a weekly magazine published by Tomang Parish in West Jakarta, on Dec. 8.

Indonesian Bishops’ Conference (KWI) seminary commission secretary Father Joseph Kristanto confirmed the claims, telling ucanews that his commission had received reports from sources detailing at least 56 abuse victims.

That number comprised 21 seminarians and brothers, 20 nuns and 15 laypeople, while the perpetrators included 33 priests and 23 non-priests, he said.

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NEW YORK (NY)
Intrnational Business Times

Dec. 12, 2019

By Arthur Villasanta

One of Pope Francis’ major aims at the start of his pontificate was to transform the Catholic Church into a “poor church for the poor.” He now faces the painful reality that Peter’s Pence, which is supposed to be used to support the poor throughout the world, has been spent instead on buying luxury real-estate in London and financing the Holy See’s yawning budget deficit, a report by the Wall Street Journal noted.

The Holy See consists of the central administration of the Catholic Church and the global papal diplomatic network.

The Vatican itself describes Peter’s Pence in glowing terms as “a gesture of charity, a way of supporting the activity of the Pope and the universal Church in favoring especially the poorest and Churches in difficulty. It is also an invitation to pay attention and be near to new forms of poverty and fragility.”

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TORONTO (CANADA)
Catholic Register

Dec. 12, 2019

The call went up to have Archbishop Fulton Sheen declared a saint almost from the day he died 40 years ago. So current disappointment at a Vatican directive to touch the brakes on the popular American’s sainthood cause is no surprise, but the decision is appropriate.

Sheen was to be beatified, the final step before canonization, on Dec. 21 in his hometown of Peoria, Ill. But on Dec. 5, the Vatican took the extraordinary step of postponing the ceremony after the American bishops’ conference relayed possible concerns about some unclear aspects of Sheen’s past.  The Vatican gave no explanation, which only fuelled anxiety.

It was left to the bishop of Peoria, Daniel Jenky, to declare no one has accused Sheen of sexual abuse. That was followed by suggestions that Sheen may have failed to act against an abuser priest when Sheen was Rochester’s bishop in the late 1960s.

So the beatification stutter-step appears to be based on some 50-year-old hearsay which has set off alarm bells, due no doubt to a general unease that hangs these days like a dark cloud over Church leaders.

There has been no specific evidence pointing to any misdeed, nor any allegation from a victim or witness. No, just whispers about something that may or may not have happened a half century ago which, in the current climate, is sufficient reason to transform certainty about Sheen’s saintliness into what if?

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NORTHHAMPTON (ENGLAND)
Northhampton Chronicle

Dec. 12, 2019

A disgraced Northamptonshire rector who downloaded pictures and movie clips of children and babies being raped and fantasised about having sex with a young girl has been jailed.

Christopher Goble had already pleaded guilty at Warwick Crown Court to three charges of making indecent images of children.

Between 2002 and 2008, he served as a priest in an area of the Diocese of Peterborough, as rector of Brington with Whilton, Norton, Church Brampton with Chapel Brampton, Harlestone and East Haddon and Holdenby.

When he returned to the court to be sentenced for those pictures on his phone, the court heard that more images had been discovered on other devices.

The disgraced cleric then pleaded guilty to three amended charges detailing larger numbers of images and to two further charges of possessing extreme pornography and prohibited images.

Goble, 44, of The Rectory, Valenders Lane, Ilmington, at the time, but recently living at The Brambles, Oswestry, was jailed for 20 months and ordered to register as a sex offender for ten years.

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BUFFALO (NY)
WBFO TV

Dec. 12, 2019

By Avery Schnider

The Director of Communications for the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo has stepped down after just over a year in the role.

In a written statement Tuesday, Rev. Peter J. Karalus, Vicar General and Moderator of the Curia for the Diocese, announced Kathy Spangler had departed her position as Director of Communications for the diocese “in order to pursue other interests in opportunities.”

Spangler became Communications Director in September 2018, amid a scandal over sexual abuse by clergy. Her departure comes just over a week since Bishop Richard J. Malone resigned his post as head of the diocese, and was replaced in the interim by Bishop Edward Scharfenberger as Apostolic Administrator. Scharfenberger, who is the current Bishop of the Diocese of Albany, will maintain the role until a new Bishop is installed in Buffalo.

Writing on behalf of Scharfenberger, Karalus said, “We are enormously grateful to Kathy for her many contributions and for her dedication to supporting the communications of the Diocese over these challenging months. We wish her much success in her future endeavors.”

In Spangler’s absence, Gregory Tucker will be the diocese’s primary contact for media. Karalus described Tucker as “a seasoned strategic communications advisor,” and said Tucker is now working with Scharfenberger and Chancery leadership.

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PARIS (FRANCE)
La Croix International

Dec. 10, 2019

By Massimo Faggioli

If you blinked, you probably missed it. But this past Sunday was the 150th anniversary of the opening of the First Vatican Council.It was on Dec. 8, 1869 that Pope Pius IX convened the council that would come to be known for its declarations on papal primacy and infallibility.

It would be the symbol of an assertive Catholicism that pushed back against liberal modernity.

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ST. PAUL (MN)
Catholic Spirit

Dec. 12, 2019

By Maria Wiering

Pope Francis has named Father Donald DeGrood bishop of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, the apostolic nuncio to the United States announced Dec. 12.

A priest of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, Bishop-elect DeGrood, 54, has served as pastor of St. John the Baptist in Savage since 2017.

He was ordained in 1997 by Archbishop Harry Flynn. He has ministered as parochial vicar of All Saints in Lakeville (1997-2000), spiritual director at St. John Vianney College Seminary (2000-2004), pastor of St. Peter in Forest Lake (2004-2013), pastor of Blessed Sacrament in St. Paul (2013-2015) and as the archdiocese’s Vicar for Clergy (2013-2017).

Born Feb. 14, 1965, in rural Faribault, Bishop-elect DeGrood is the fourth of Robert and Joanne DeGrood’s five sons. He grew up on a nearby farm. His father died in 2003, and his mother continues to live on the family farm. He has five nieces and four nephews.

He attended Catholic grade school in Faribault and graduated in 1983 from Bethlehem Academy High School, which is run by the Sinsinawa Dominicans. He attended the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul and spent two of his undergraduate years at St. John Vianney College Seminary discerning his vocation.

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SAN JOSE (CA)
Mercury News

Dec. 11, 2019

By John Woolfolk

The California Attorney General has subpoenaed half of California’s Roman Catholic dioceses including San Jose and San Francisco, signaling what victims of sex abuse by priests say is an important step toward what they hope will be a comprehensive expose of child molestation and coverups in the church.

The archdioceses of San Francisco and Los Angeles and the dioceses of San Jose, Sacramento, Fresno and Orange all have received subpoenas to produce documents, said Kevin Eckery, a spokesman for the California Catholic Conference. Those dioceses already had been providing documents and, along with the other six dioceses, retaining records since the attorney general requested that they do so in May.

Eckery said the subpoenas make it easier for the dioceses to produce records for which privacy concerns pose a barrier to voluntary disclosure.

“In some ways, it can speed the process because sometimes files contain things like medical records or private information that without a subpoena you couldn’t legitimately give up,” Eckery said.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests
Dec. 6, 2019

While still a child, he reported the crimes to nuns
A school staffer reportedly cried at the disclosure
But SF Catholic officials didn’t stop the predator
The cleric was just ‘outed’ for the first time in June
SNAP also urges church-goers to ‘boycott’ the archdiocese
It’s one of just 2 dioceses in CA that hasn’t released pedophiles’ names
And it’s one of the few in the US that’s “still dragging its feet”

What:
At a news conference, a local man is publicly revealing his name and face for the first time and disclosing his new child sexual abuse and cover up lawsuit against San Francisco Catholic officials. And an advocate and victim’s attorney will urge the Archdiocese of San Francisco to immediately release its list of clerics accused of sexually abusing children, as most US Catholic dioceses, including nine of the twelve in CA, have done.

When:
Thursday, Dec. 5 at 11:30 a.m.

Where:
Outside the San Francisco archdiocesan headquarters, One Peter Yorke Way in San Francisco

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests

Dec. 11, 2019

For years, priest held diocese-wide position
Group blasts relatively new northern California bishop
He held high posts in Fresno and Sacramento dioceses too
His ‘credibly accused predators’ lists is incomplete, SNAP says

WHAT
Holding signs and childhood photos at a sidewalk news conference, an attorney and abuse victim will
–reveal that a new civil case is being filed against the Diocese of Stockton and a religious order, thanks to a new state law that takes effect next month, and
They will also demand that the bishops of two northern California dioceses
–add more names to their ‘credibly accused clerics’ list,
–stop hiding abuse reports for months or years and instead, for the safety of kids, disclose them promptly, and
–start doing ‘aggressive outreach’ to find and help others who were victimized by clerics and are still ‘suffering in shame, silence and self-blame.

WHERE
On the sidewalk outside the Stockton diocese headquarters, 212 N. San Joaquin St. (corner of Channel) in Stockton, CA (209 466 0636)

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests

Dec. 11, 2019

An Ohio judge is forcing the Catholic Diocese of Columbus to turn over records about clerics who may have seen, suspected or hidden cases of sexual abuse. We applaud this ruling which we believe will lead to safer communities and more transparency about cases of sexual violence.

We are grateful to Judge Jaiza Page for ordering the release of records related to 15 clerics who may have known about sex abuse within the Diocese of Columbus. We believe that Catholic officials in Columbus should have been willing to release this information without a court order. Instead, the diocese remained committed to secrecy and silence about cases of abuse. Examples like this show that it is only through the secular justice system – and not through Church leaders themselves – that we can expect transparency.

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SPRINGFIELD (MA)
The Republican

Dec. 11, 2019

By Anne-Gerard Flynn

A New Jersey-born priest — ordained in 2002 and removed from ministry a year ago — is facing three separate counts of indecent assault and battery of a child under 14 that allegedly occurred in Hampden County more than 35 years ago.

The Rev. Patrick J. Kuffner was arrested in his home state on charges of child sexual abuse Nov. 20 on a fugitive warrant from the Office of Hampden District Attorney Anthony D. Gulluni, and is being held without bail in Toms River, N.J., DA spokesman James Leydon confirmed Wednesday.

“While the alleged crimes date back to the early 1980s, more than 35 years ago, and involve an incident from before Fr. Kuffner was a priest or even a seminarian, the charges are nevertheless shocking and are being taken seriously by the Diocese of Metuchen,” said Anthony P. Kearns III, spokesperson and chancellor of the Diocese of Metuchen in a statement. “Once we learned of the allegations, we immediately reported them to the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office, which then conducted an initial investigation and subsequently referred the matter to the Hampden County Prosecutor’s Office in MA.”

The Diocese of Metuchen, where Kuffner was ordained and raised, had removed the 72-year-old from ministry in February 2018 after three people accused him of sexual abusing them as minors more than three decades ago when Kuffner was a layman teaching in the Catholic school system on Staten Island, N.Y.

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SAN DIEGO (CA)
KGTV

Dec. 11, 2019

By Jermaine Ong

A lawsuit is being announced Wednesday against the Catholic Diocese of San Diego over a priest accused of sexually abuse more than 100 boys during his career.

The lawsuit names the Catholic Diocese of San Diego and Father Anthony Edward Rodrigue. The legal action is being filed on behalf of several people who claim they were victimized by Rodrigue “but were unable to file a civil lawsuit under California’s previous statute of limitation law.”

Rodrigue spent time at 10 different parishes in San Diego, Imperial and San Bernardino counties during his 29-year priesthood career. Attorneys, citing a 1997 San Bernardino County sheriff’s report, said Rodrigue “admitted to sexually abusing four or five boys each year” during his career.

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MEXICO CITY (MEXICO)
Catholic News Agency

Dec. 11, 2019

The apostolic nuncio in Mexico, Archbishop Franco Coppola, has said that anyone who wants to report sexual abuse by the country’s clergy is free to email him, and he will try to help.

Speaking with ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish language news partner, Archbishop Coppola explained that “many times the people who have appealed here were victims who hadn’t been listened to by those responsible for the Church and they come to the nunciature motivated by the commitment that Pope Francis has clearly expressed in favor of the victims.”

Archbishop Coppola said the doors of his office are open to receive complaints and accompany victims “in their search for justice.”

The nuncio said that while it is not within the competency of his office “to conduct an investigation or take measures, what I have tried to do is facilitate the victim’s access to the competent Church authority, whether on the level of the diocese, religious superior or the Holy See, accompanying the victim in his search for justice.”

Archbishop Coppola stressed that efforts to prevent and fight sexual abuse by the clergy are “key because abuse is a betrayal of the very mission of the Church.”

“The mission of the Church is to make present a God who saves and these kinds of acts by committed by members of the clergy instead of saving and healing, wound and destroy people’s lives,” he said.

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ALBANY (NY)
Albany Times Union

December 11, 2019

By Cayla Harris

For years, two siblings have claimed that they were sexually abused by a former Greene County priest — but New York’s statute of limitations only allowed one of them to pursue legal action against their alleged abuser.

That changed Monday, when Ivan Morales Jr. sued 82-year-old Jeremiah Nunan under the state’s recently enacted Child Victims Act.

The case, filed in the state Supreme Court in Albany, alleges that Nunan abused Morales from 1989 to 1995, when he was 9 to 15 years old and an altar boy at Sacred Heart Church in Cairo. Morales, now a 39-year-old state trooper, first brought forth the accusations in 2011 after his sister confessed the abuse to their parents. Morales was too old to file either civil or criminal charges.

At the time, New York’s statute of limitations time-barred child sex abuse cases after the survivor reached age 23 — a window Morales had missed by several years. But in August, the Child Victims Act opened a one-year period for survivors of all ages to sue their alleged abusers. So far, more than 1,200 cases statewide have been filed under the law.

Morales’ lawsuit does not include specific allegations: “As a victim of Father Nunan’s sexual abuse, Plaintiff is unable at this time to fully describe all of the details of that abuse and the extent of the harm he suffered as a result,” the complaint reads. Mitchell Garabedian, a Boston attorney who is serving as co-counsel on the case, declined to elaborate on the accusations but said his client “has empowered himself” by coming forward.

“Given that my client was sexually abused from approximately 9 years old to 15 years old … over 100 times, it is difficult for victims of sexual abuse to believe that the supervisors of Father Nunan did not know that he was sexually abusing children in a wholesale fashion,” he said.

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BERLIN (GERMANY)
Deutsche Welle

Dec. 10, 2019

In a Conflict Zone interview in Rome, Father Hans Zollner told DW’s Tim Sebastian: “There are factors that make it difficult to change.”

Zollner is the head of the Centre of Child Protection at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, and was appointed by Pope Francis as a founding member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors.

Why the Catholic Church had become a home “for deceivers, criminal priests or abusers,” Sebastian asked.

“They have not had a home … they have to be taken to accountability and this is what is going to happen.”

Sebastian pressed further asking Zollner if the church had given the predators an opportunity to continue to abuse.

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Get Religion blog

Dec. 10, 2019

By Clemente Lisi

It’s been 17 years since The Boston Globe published its groundbreaking series on clergy sex abuse.

Some two decades later, a political shift in state legislative bodies and fallout from the #MeToo movement have all collided to bring what many warn is a financial reckoning that could cripple the Catholic church in America.

It was more than a year ago — on November 28 to be exact — that I warned in a GetReligion post about how the church would be hit with a blizzard of lawsuits in 2019 and what a massive story it would be.

Here’s an excerpt from that post:

As the scandals — that mostly took place in past — continue to trickle out in the form of grand jury reports and other investigations, look for lawmakers to try and remedy the situation for victims through legislation on the state level.

With very blue New York State voting to put Democrats in control of both the state Assembly and Senate (the GOP had maintained a slight majority), look for lawmakers to pass (and Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Catholic, to sign) the Child Victims Act. The Empire State isn’t alone. Other legislatures in Illinois, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey and New Mexico are considering similar measures.

The New York legislation would allow victims of abuse suffered under the age of 18 to seek justice years later as adults. Removing the statute of limitations on cases involving private institutions, like the Boy Scouts and Jewish yeshivas, is at the heart of the battle.

New York did indeed pass the law — and may other states followed in its footsteps. In all, 15 states and the District of Columbia have changed their statute of limitations over the past two years in order to allow for lawsuits regarding rape and sexual assault allegations dating back many decades to be brought to court. In many cases, the offender is long dead.

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BALTIMORE (MD)
PR Newswire

Dec. 10, 2019

Two women who allege they were abused and assaulted as teens in homes run by Catholic nuns in the United States tell their stories in a documentary offering a rare look at our own country’s “Magdalene Laundries” premiering at 7:30 p.m., EST, Wednesday, December 11, 2019.

The 15-minute video will be followed by a live discussion on Facebook featuring the women in the documentary and their attorneys Richard M. Serbin and Andrew Janet, of Janet, Janet & Suggs Law Firm, LLC. Funding and support for the documentary was provided by Janet, Janet & Suggs, LLC., Howard A. Janet, Esq–Managing Partner. Viewers can ask questions and make comments via the live stream. The webinar will be recorded and posted on the page for later viewing.

Magdalene Laundries existed in the District of Columbia and the following U.S. cities: Denver, CO; Chicago, IL; Peoria, IL; Indianapolis, IN; Louisville, KY; Newport, KY; New Orleans, LA; Boston, MA; Springfield, MA; Baltimore, MD; Detroit, MI; St. Paul, MN; Kansas City, MO; St. Louis, MO; Helena, MT; Omaha, NE; Newark, NJ; Albany, NY; Brooklyn, NY; Buffalo, NY, New York City, NY; Troy, NY; Carthage, OH; Columbus, OH; Cincinnati, OH; Allegheny, PA; Norristown, PA; Philadelphia, PA; Reading, PA; Scranton, PA, Memphis, TN; Seattle, WA; Wheeling, WV; Green Bay, WI, and Milwaukee, WI.

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ROME (ITALY)
Wall Street Journal

Dec. 11, 2019

By Francis X. Rocca

Every year, Catholics around the world donate tens of millions of dollars to the pope. Bishops exhort the faithful to support the weak and suffering through the pope’s main charitable appeal, called Peter’s Pence.

What the church doesn’t advertise is that most of that collection, worth more than more than €50 million ($55 million) annually, goes toward plugging the hole in the Vatican’s own administrative budget, while as little as 10% is spent directly on charitable works, according to people familiar with the funds.

The little-publicized breakdown of how the Holy See spends Peter’s Pence, known only among senior Vatican officials, is raising concern among some Catholic Church leaders that the faithful are being misled about the use of their donations, which could further hurt the credibility of the Vatican’s financial management under Pope Francis.

The Vatican is currently embroiled in a scandal over opaque real-estate investments in London, which has triggered a power struggle within the Vatican’s bureaucracy and led to the dismissal of its chief financial regulator. Last month, the Vatican was suspended from an international network of anti-money-laundering watchdogs.

Meanwhile, the Holy See is struggling with a growing budget deficit, with the pope warning cardinals of the “grave impact” on the body’s economic future. The Vatican’s continuing financial problems reflect a lack of progress on improving its management and finances, which Pope Francis was elected in 2013 with a mandate to overhaul, following allegations of corruption, waste and incompetence there.

Under church law, Peter’s Pence is available to the pope to use at his discretion in any way that serves his ministry, including the support of his administration. The collection’s website says that, to support the pope’s charitable works, “Peter’s Pence also contributes to the support of the Apostolic See and the activities of the Holy See,” emphasizing activities that help “populations, individuals and families in precarious conditions.”

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests

Dec. 11, 2019

Another abusive priest has been recently added to the list of names for the Diocese of Santa Rosa. The name was apparently added after a reporter from another state pointed out that the cleric, who also worked in California, had been included on another list.

On January 31, 2019, Fr. Jose Luis Contreras was named on the list of abusive priests released by the Archdiocese of San Antonio. The Diocese of Santa Rosa had released their list prior to their Texas counterparts, but did not include Fr. Contreras. According to Bishop Robert Vasa, there were no allegations against the cleric in his diocese.

While it can never be too late to expose a perpetrator, it can also never be too soon. Ideally, Fr. Contreras should have been added to the Santa Rosa list as soon as he was identified by San Antonio. It should not be incumbent on reporters or groups like ours to inform a bishop when one of his own is included on another list.

Catholic bishops should either be sending their lists to their brother bishops, or notifying them when a priest who also worked in another diocese is included among their names. We call on the USCCB to take immediate action to address this gap, in the interest of complete transparency. To do anything less is to continue to cover up the transfer of abusive clerics from one diocese to another.

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ROME (ITALY)
Crux

Dec. 10, 2019

By John L. Allen Jr.

In the argot of sociology, some organizations are “high structure,” meaning they rely on rules and procedures to hold things together, and others are “high culture,” meaning it’s much more about informal relationships and personal trust.

The Vatican, both historically and today, is basically a “high culture” outfit disguised as “high structure.”

There’s a cavalcade of norms governing every aspect of the place’s operations, but everyone knows those are more guidelines than hard-and-fast rules, and that who ends up making what decision is usually a lot more about personal ties than flow charts.

For that reason, personnel is always policy in the Eternal City, which makes Pope Francis’s choice Sunday to name the 62-year-old Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle of Manila in the Philippines the new prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples a key move indeed.

Tagle replaces the 73-year-old Italian Cardinal Fernando Filoni, the Vatian’s former ambassador in Iraq who refused to vacate Baghdad in 2003 when American bombs began to fall, and who now moves on to become the grand master of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem.

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.

WINDSOR (CANADA)
Windsor Star

Dec. 6, 2019

By Trevor Wilhelm

The London diocese has paid out settlements in some sex abuse lawsuits for “practical reasons,” despite believing the accused priests were not guilty, Bishop Ronald Fabbro said Friday.

Some of those cases were included on the list of “credibly accused” priests published this week by Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), he said.

“It is important to note that reaching a settlement in a civil suit does not necessarily indicate the allegation is credible,” said Fabbro. “When there has been a credible allegation, the diocese has offered settlements to help the victims come to some resolution and continue the process of healing. In other cases, though, some settlements are reached for practical purposes, to avoid the protracted costs of a trial, or to give a pastoral response to a plaintiff who has had difficulties in life.”

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.

MENDHAM (NJ)
Observer-Tribune

Dec. 9, 2019

By Phil Garber

The first lawsuit alleging clergy sexual abuse under the state’s extended statute of limitations was filed by a former parishioner of St. Joseph Church against two former priests who have admitted to sexually abusing children for decades.

The unidentified victim claims he was a minor when he was sexually abused by the Rev. James Hanley and the Rev. Thomas Rainforth, both previously associated with St. Joseph Church, and by a third priest, the Rev. John Pisarcik.

Pisarcik, now 74, and Hanley, now 83, have previously admitted to sexually abusing many boys in New Jersey over three decades. Rainforth died in 2019.

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.

COLUMBUS (OH)
WOSU Radio

Dec. 10, 2019

By Steve Brown

A Franklin County judge says the Roman Catholic Diocese of Columbus must hand over documents on at least 15 clergy members to see if they knew about any alleged sexual abuse.

The order issued Friday comes as part of a 2018 lawsuit filed by a man who says he was molested during the 2002-2003 school year at St. Charles Preparatory Academy by Monsignor Thomas Bennett, who died in 2008.

Judge Jaiza Page granted the request related to 15 clergy members other than Bennett, ruling it was “reasonably likely to lead to the discovery of relevant evidence.”

The clergy members in question were not identified in the order.

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.

COLUMBUS (OH)
WOSU Radio

Dec. 10, 2019

By Steve Brown

A Franklin County judge says the Roman Catholic Diocese of Columbus must hand over documents on at least 15 clergy members to see if they knew about any alleged sexual abuse.

The order issued Friday comes as part of a 2018 lawsuit filed by a man who says he was molested during the 2002-2003 school year at St. Charles Preparatory Academy by Monsignor Thomas Bennett, who died in 2008.

Judge Jaiza Page granted the request related to 15 clergy members other than Bennett, ruling it was “reasonably likely to lead to the discovery of relevant evidence.”

The clergy members in question were not identified in the order.

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)
Times News

Dec. 10, 2019

By Ed Palattella

Catholic Diocese of Erie’s compensation fund payouts reach $5.9 million, adding to previous costs of about $6 million.

The Catholic Diocese of Erie’s financial reckoning over the clergy sexual abuse crisis has reached nearly $12 million, rising by about $3 million over the past four months.

The diocese’s newly created victims’ compensation fund has paid out $5.9 million since the fund started accepting claims on Feb. 15.

The $5.9 million includes $3 million in payouts the fund has made since around the time the deadline for filing claims expired in mid-August, Bishop Lawrence Persico said in the most recent update.

The $5.9 million is in addition to more than $6 million that the diocese previously paid to cover abuse claims and associated expenses.

‒ The diocese spent $4 million in legal fees and related costs to investigate and publicize claims of abuse in advance of the release, in August 2018, of the groundbreaking Pennsylvania grand jury report on the abuse crisis in the Roman Catholic Church statewide.

‒ The diocese also paid about $750,000 to abuse victims, mainly for counseling, before the creation of the compensation fund, which is designed to cover claims in old cases.

‒ And the diocese in March paid $2 million to settle a claim with a victim of David L. Poulson, a former priest in the 13-county Catholic Diocese of Erie. The claim was not part of the compensation fund because the Poulson case was new enough to fall within the statute of limitations for filing civil suits.

Poulson pleaded guilty in October 2018 in Jefferson County to molesting the victim and another man when they were boys and Poulson was serving as a pastor in 2002 and 2010. Poulson, 66, was sentenced to 2½ to 14 years in state prison.

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)
Times News

Dec. 10, 2019

By Ed Palattella

Catholic Diocese of Erie’s compensation fund payouts reach $5.9 million, adding to previous costs of about $6 million.

The Catholic Diocese of Erie’s financial reckoning over the clergy sexual abuse crisis has reached nearly $12 million, rising by about $3 million over the past four months.

The diocese’s newly created victims’ compensation fund has paid out $5.9 million since the fund started accepting claims on Feb. 15.

The $5.9 million includes $3 million in payouts the fund has made since around the time the deadline for filing claims expired in mid-August, Bishop Lawrence Persico said in the most recent update.

The $5.9 million is in addition to more than $6 million that the diocese previously paid to cover abuse claims and associated expenses.

‒ The diocese spent $4 million in legal fees and related costs to investigate and publicize claims of abuse in advance of the release, in August 2018, of the groundbreaking Pennsylvania grand jury report on the abuse crisis in the Roman Catholic Church statewide.

‒ The diocese also paid about $750,000 to abuse victims, mainly for counseling, before the creation of the compensation fund, which is designed to cover claims in old cases.

‒ And the diocese in March paid $2 million to settle a claim with a victim of David L. Poulson, a former priest in the 13-county Catholic Diocese of Erie. The claim was not part of the compensation fund because the Poulson case was new enough to fall within the statute of limitations for filing civil suits.

Poulson pleaded guilty in October 2018 in Jefferson County to molesting the victim and another man when they were boys and Poulson was serving as a pastor in 2002 and 2010. Poulson, 66, was sentenced to 2½ to 14 years in state prison.

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.

Church Militant blog

Dec. 4, 2019

By Kristine Christlieb

A Kentucky layman wants his bishop investigated for allegedly covering up clergy sex abuse.

Michael Montgomery, a life-long Catholic, is calling for Owensboro Bp. William Medley to be investigated for his role in reportedly covering up clerical abuse and moving problem priests to unsuspecting parishes.

Using new clergy accountability guidelines issued by Pope Francis in June, Montgomery is testing the Vatican’s commitment to holding Church administrators accountable for their role in the clergy abuse scandals.

The guidelines address both investigations of clerical abusers as well as administrators whose actions “interfere with or avoid civil investigations or canonical investigations.” In his former role as the director of the Office of Clergy Personnel for the archdiocese of Louisville, Medley was directly involved with all clergy personnel matters, including sex abuse cases.

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.

Church Militant blog

Dec. 4, 2019

By Kristine Christlieb

A Kentucky layman wants his bishop investigated for allegedly covering up clergy sex abuse.

Michael Montgomery, a life-long Catholic, is calling for Owensboro Bp. William Medley to be investigated for his role in reportedly covering up clerical abuse and moving problem priests to unsuspecting parishes.

Using new clergy accountability guidelines issued by Pope Francis in June, Montgomery is testing the Vatican’s commitment to holding Church administrators accountable for their role in the clergy abuse scandals.

The guidelines address both investigations of clerical abusers as well as administrators whose actions “interfere with or avoid civil investigations or canonical investigations.” In his former role as the director of the Office of Clergy Personnel for the archdiocese of Louisville, Medley was directly involved with all clergy personnel matters, including sex abuse cases.

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 ROCK (AR)
Bilgrimage blog

Dec. 10, 2019

By William Lindsay

As I have noted in previous postings (a bibliography is appended at the end of this posting, covering the past several years), the diocese of Charlotte, North Carolina, is one of the last dioceses in the nation to release a list of priests credibly accused of abusing minors in the diocese, though its sister diocese in Raleigh long since published its list. As I’ve also noted (again, please see the bibliography below), Charlotte Bishop Peter Jugis promised this year that he would release a list of credibly accused priests prior to the end of the year.

That list has yet to be released. As many people, survivors, notably, wait for Jugis’ list, Charlotte’s NPR state WFAE has been issuing very valuable pre-list commentary in a multi-part series of podcasts entitled “The List.” Reporter Sarah Delia is overseeing and producing this important project.

As the “About” statement at the link to which I have just pointed you states: The Charlotte Diocese has made a promise to release by the end of the year a list of clergy credibly accused of sexual abuse. It will be among the last in the country to do so. WFAE looks at what the list represents, the emotional weight and expectations it carries, the resolution it can bring for survivors.

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 ROCK (AR)
Bilgrimage blog

Dec. 10, 2019

By William Lindsay

As I have noted in previous postings (a bibliography is appended at the end of this posting, covering the past several years), the diocese of Charlotte, North Carolina, is one of the last dioceses in the nation to release a list of priests credibly accused of abusing minors in the diocese, though its sister diocese in Raleigh long since published its list. As I’ve also noted (again, please see the bibliography below), Charlotte Bishop Peter Jugis promised this year that he would release a list of credibly accused priests prior to the end of the year.

That list has yet to be released. As many people, survivors, notably, wait for Jugis’ list, Charlotte’s NPR state WFAE has been issuing very valuable pre-list commentary in a multi-part series of podcasts entitled “The List.” Reporter Sarah Delia is overseeing and producing this important project.

As the “About” statement at the link to which I have just pointed you states: The Charlotte Diocese has made a promise to release by the end of the year a list of clergy credibly accused of sexual abuse. It will be among the last in the country to do so. WFAE looks at what the list represents, the emotional weight and expectations it carries, the resolution it can bring for survivors.

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.

ST. LOUIS (MO)
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests

Dec. 10, 2019

The attorney general investigation into cases of clergy abuse in California has ratcheted up today as California’s top law enforcement official served the state’s 12 Catholic dioceses with subpoenas. We applaud this move and hope that other attorneys general around the country will look to do the same in their own states.

In subpoenaing all of the dioceses, A.G. Xavier Becerra is using the full power of his office in pursuit of the truth as it relates to the scope of clergy sexual abuse in Catholic California. This is a great step forward that will certainly lead to more transparency, and will also hopefully lead to more protections for children and more justice for survivors.

Data shows that when law enforcement tools are used, the resulting information that is gathered about abuse is more detailed, accurate and trusted.

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BUFFALO (NY)
WKBW TV

Dec. 10, 2019

By Charlie Specht

Bishop Edward B. Scharfenberger, apostolic administrator for the Diocese of Buffalo, has talked the talk when it comes to transparency on sexual abuse.

“We can’t be afraid of reality,” Scharfenberger said last week. “We have to be able to — with sober eyes — look at the damage that was done.”

The question on the minds of survivors like former priest James Faluszczak is whether the new interim bishop will now walk the walk — and turn those words about transparency into action.

“Will he finally give to the good people of the Diocese of Buffalo a full public account of the number, the nature and the location of clergy sexual abuse in Buffalo?” Faluszczak said at a news conference Tuesday. “And will Bishop Scharfenberger cough up that information that is so needed?”

Scharfenberger’s first big test on transparency involves the issue of personnel files of abusive priests, which former Bishop Richard J. Malone staunchly refused to make public.

“I’ve said before that I will not release personnel files,” Malone told reporters in 2018. “Those are confidential in any organization, including your organizations, I assume.”

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

Dec. 10, 2019

By Jay Tokasz

Readers posed many questions about Bishop Richard J. Malone after the Buffalo Diocese leader resigned under pressure for his handling of a clergy sexual abuse scandal in the diocese.

Buffalo News reporter Jay Tokasz has covered the crisis since it began 22 months ago, when a retired priest, the Rev. Norbert Orsolits, admitted to him that he had sexually abused “probably dozens” of boys during his career.

Below are some readers’ questions following Malone’s resignation on Dec. 4 and Tokasz’s answers to them.

Yvonne Haymes: Shouldn’t get any “retirement” benefits!

Bonnie Pauly Serwacki: He’s taking a early retirement. Big difference. A big retirement package coming his way.

What benefits can Malone expect to receive as bishop emeritus of Buffalo?

Answer: Bishop Emeritus Richard J. Malone will receive at least $1,900 per month in stipend and pension benefits, according to guidelines set forth in 2010 by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The actual stipend amount could be more in 2019, because $1,900 per month was to be adjusted annually according to local cost of living increases, the guidelines said. In addition to the stipend, the USCCB guidelines recommend that a bishop emeritus receive “appropriate housing and board” within the diocese where he last served. The housing should include the use of a private chapel and housekeeping assistance, the guidelines recommended. And if the bishop emeritus chooses to live outside of the diocese where he last served, that diocese is still obligated to pay for appropriate housing and board.

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)
NBC News

Dec. 10, 2019

By Corky Siemaszko

A popular North Carolina pastor who has spoken out against sexually abusive priests has been hit with an accusation that he sexually abused a minor 25 years ago before he entered the Catholic clergy.

Father Patrick T. Hoare sent a letter to his flock decrying “terrible crimes that were committed by some members of the clergy” shortly after the release of a scathing Pennsylvania grand jury report last year which detailed decades of child abuse by more than 300 “predator priests.”

But on Monday, Hoare was placed on administrative leave from his position at St. Matthew Catholic Church in Charlotte after he was accused of sexually abusing a minor 25 years ago, before he entered ministry.

The alleged incident happened in Pennsylvania, Bishop Peter Jugis of the Charlotte Diocese said in a statement.

“The alleged victim, now an adult, reported his allegations to the diocese yesterday and said he has been in touch with police and social services,” Jugis wrote. “The Charlotte diocese also has been in touch with police and will cooperate in any investigation.”

Jugis stressed that placing Hoare on administrative leave is “standard procedure” and “does not imply guilt.”

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.

SACRAMENTO (CA)
Sacramento Bee

Dec. 10, 2019

By Alexandra Yoon-Hendricks

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Sacramento, along with the other 11 dioceses in California, will be subpoenaed for additional records as the state attorney general continues to investigate whether dioceses complied with mandatory reporting requirements.

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra announced in May he would investigate all of California’s Roman Catholic dioceses to ensure that church officials followed state law and reported sexual misconduct allegations to law enforcement.

The announcement of that investigation came after Becerra’s office began requesting that victims of clergy sex abuse submit complaints to his office last year.

The Sacramento diocese, along with five other dioceses, began voluntarily turning over records to the state agency in May, according to Bishop Jaime Soto in a statement Friday.

“We share the attorney general’s desire to conduct a thorough examination of the practices and procedures that seek to protect the children entrusted to our schools, churches and programs,” Soto stated.

Last week, the attorney general’s office told the Sacramento diocese that it would issue subpoenas for additional records, according to Soto.

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.

DUNDEE (SCOTLAND)
Evening Telegraph

Dec. 10, 2019

A sexual predator who blamed his child victim after he subjected her to prolonged abuse was jailed for five years and three months.

Anthony Clark, 74, repeatedly preyed on the girl more than three decades ago at a house in Dundee.

A judge told the former Michelin tyre factory worker he had pleaded guilty to a sustained course of “disgusting sexual abuse” committed during a five-year period in the 1980s.

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HARTFORD (CT)
Courant

Dec. 9, 2019

By Zach Murdock

Another Catholic priest in Connecticut has been removed from his parish and prohibited from ministering publicly amid two investigations into allegations he abused a minor.

Reverend Jaime Marin-Cardona was placed on administrative leave from the Diocese of Bridgeport over the weekend after the state Department of Children and Families substantiated allegations of abuse after a months-long investigation, Bishop Frank Caggiano wrote in a letter to parishioners dated Saturday.

The Danbury Police Department also is investigating the reported abuse. The diocese did not specify the exact nature of the allegations but has “fully cooperated” with both agencies, Caggiano said.

Marin-Cardona has been a priest in Connecticut since 2010 and has spent time at Saint Joseph Parish in Norwalk, Saint Charles Borromeo Parish in Bridgeport, Our Lady of Guadalupe in Danbury and most recently at Saint Mary Parish in Bridgeport.

The investigations began when the diocese contacted DCF and Danbury police in September after receiving a letter “indicating that parents were concerned by Father Marin-Cardona’s contact with a family member who is a minor,” Caggiano 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.

LONDON (ENGLAND)
Irish Post

Dec. 10, 2019

By Jack Beresford

A Dublin priest described as a “popular and well-known figure in his diocese” has reportedly been accused of searching for “naked boy scouts” on Facebook.

A report from Dublin Live alleges that a retired cleric in his mid 80s searched for “naked boy scouts” and “boy scouts nude” on the social media website.

The accusations stem from a post, believed to be a status update, in which the unnamed suspect wrote “naked boy scouts” alongside a half photo of the suspect and the caption “boys scouts nude”.

Though yet unconfirmed, it is widely believed that the messages were posted in error by the priest who is thought to be unclear on the inner workings of Facebook.

A spokesman for his Religious Order has confirmed to Dublin Live that they are aware of the ongoing situation.

They also confirmed that the matter is being investigated by Gardai.

“As soon as we became aware of the situation our Designated Liaison Person for child safeguarding contacted TUSLA, the NBSCCCI and the Gardaí,” a spokesperson said.

“We followed the procedures for National child- safeguarding as indicated on NBSCCCI website.”

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

MIDDLETOWN (NY)
Journal News

Dec. 9, 2019

By Frank Esposito

A nun is accused of sexually abusing a young girl at a Middletown school before moving on to higher positions at schools around Westchester County, according to court documents.

Sister Ann Peterson is accused of groping and molesting then-10-year-old Pamela Hayes at Saint Joseph School in Middletown throughout the mid-1960s, according to court documents.

The lawsuit accused Peterson of asking Hayes to stay after school and then abusing her by kissing and putting her hands under her clothes and fondling her, according to court documents filed under New York’s Child Victims Act.

The order Peterson belongs to — The Ursulines — worked with the now defunct College of New Rochelle, where Peterson was a board member until its closing earlier this year.

Her order also runs two other secondary education facilities in New York, The Ursuline School in New Rochelle — where Peterson served as principal in the 1970s — and the Academy of Mount St. Ursula in the Bronx.

The Ursuline School’s website currently lists Peterson as a member of the board of trustees at the school.

Peterson also served as advisory board member for Senior Care for the Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers, according to her biography page on the College of New Rochelle’s old website.

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

ERIE (PA)
Times News

Dec. 10, 2019

By Ed Palattella

Catholic Diocese of Erie’s compensation fund payouts reach $5.9 million, adding to previous costs of about $6 million.

The Catholic Diocese of Erie’s financial reckoning over the clergy sexual abuse crisis has reached nearly $12 million, rising by about $3 million over the past four months.

The diocese’s newly created victims’ compensation fund has paid out $5.9 million since the fund started accepting claims on Feb. 15.

The $5.9 million includes $3 million in payouts the fund has made since around the time the deadline for filing claims expired in mid-August, Bishop Lawrence Persico said in the most recent update.

The $5.9 million is in addition to more than $6 million that the diocese previously paid to cover abuse claims and associated expenses.

‒ The diocese spent $4 million in legal fees and related costs to investigate and publicize claims of abuse in advance of the release, in August 2018, of the groundbreaking Pennsylvania grand jury report on the abuse crisis in the Roman Catholic Church statewide.

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.

CHARLOTTE (NC)
WFAE TV

Dec. 9, 2019

By Dashiell Coleman

The pastor of St. Matthew Parish has been placed on leave as the Catholic Diocese of Charlotte investigates a decades-old allegation of sexual abuse.

Bishop Peter Jugis announced Monday in a letter to parishioners that the Rev. Patrick Hoare had been placed on administrative leave after someone told the diocese on Sunday they’d been sexually abused by Hoare about 25 years ago in Pennsylvania.

The alleged abuse would have occurred when the accuser was a minor but before Hoare was a Catholic priest. The administrative leave is standard procedure, and Hoare has denied the accusation, Jugis said.

Jugis says the Charlotte Diocese has been in touch with police – as has the person who accused Hoare. The diocese’s internal lay review board will also investigate to determine if the accusation is credible, Jugis said.

“We do not yet know the facts and have no indication of any issues at St. Matthew Church,” Jugis wrote in his letter.

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)
WKBW TV

Dec. 9, 2019

By Charlie Specht

Terry Connors is one of the few constants in the Diocese of Buffalo sex abuse crisis.

The influential criminal defense attorney has done legal work for four Catholic bishops stretching back three decades.

He was there in 1993, when notorious pedophile priests Bernard Mach and John Aurelio were first accused of sexually abusing boys under the tenure of Bishop Edward D. Head.

He represented the diocese in 2003 under Bishop Henry J. Mansell , when dozens of claims poured into the Buffalo chancery following the explosion of the worldwide sex abuse crisis in Boston. Most of those claims were hidden from the public until this year.

And he was the official attorney for the Catholic Diocese under bishops Edward U. Kmiec and Richard J. Malone , who according to confidants, would often utter of the abuse crisis, “Terry will get us through this.”

But Buffalo now has a new bishop — Edward B. Scharfenberger — and it’s unclear whether he will keep Connors on as diocesan attorney, especially since Connors could be facing legal troubles of his own.

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)
America Magazine

Dec. 9, 2019

By Catherine R. Osborne

Since Pope Francis identified “clericalism” as a key factor in the sexual abuse crisis, it has been a topic of intense discussion among both laypeople and priests. Francis sees it as a sickness that associates ministry with power rather than service. A hierarchical attitude that separates clergy and elevates them above the laity, clericalism seems to permeate the institutional church. But while there has been much discussion of clericalism and sexual abuse, the overall sexual behavior and identity of clergy is relatively unexamined territory.

That may change with a three-year research project on “Clericalism and Sexuality” at the Von Hügel Institute for Critical Catholic Inquiry at St. Edmund’s College, University of Cambridge. In September, an international, interdisciplinary group of scholars gathered for a symposium to identify questions of interest. Luigi Gioia, the project’s originator, said he hopes to “collect reliable data and analyze it from an interdisciplinary viewpoint,” especially inviting sociologists and anthropologists to weigh in.

Symposium attendees came from the fields of psychology, sociology and history, as well as theology. Nearly all were Catholic and many were priests, vowed religious or lay members of movements ranging from Opus Dei to the Catholic Worker. To this deeply committed group, it seemed obvious that clericalism has been a disaster for the church. As the theologian M. Shawn Copeland argued, clericalism is based on the assumption that some human beings really are different than others in God’s eyes. It both resembles and overlaps with patriarchy, racism and colonialism, all systems that maintain hierarchical relationships among groups.

Midway through the symposium, the value of an interdisciplinary exchange came clearly into view when the anthropologist Maya Mayblin upended the conversation, which had been largely devoted to identifying the false theological and historical premises of clericalism. Ms. Mayblin observed that, from a more neutral point of view, clericalism seems to have worked quite well, for quite a long time, in the church. But its rewards do not seem to go only to the clergy who attain elevated positions; they also go to the many laypeople who support and even demand this system of hierarchical separation.

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PEORIA (IL)
Journal Star

Dec. 9, 2019

By Msgr. James Kruse

Member of Fulton Sheen Foundation

Dec. 7, 2019

I am Msgr. James Kruse and hold a degree in church law. For many years I have served as the Vicar General of the Diocese of Peoria. I have been intimately involved in the process for advancing the Cause for Beatification of Fulton Sheen almost from its inception. I had the privilege of being involved in the investigation of the miracle that was ultimately approved by the Pope. I was involved in every stage of the court proceedings in New York regarding the transfer of the mortal remains of Fulton Sheen. It was a great privilege and honor to be present in New York and Peoria on the day his remains were transferred from the cathedral in New York to the cathedral in Peoria. I was filled with joy to hear that Rome approved the miracle attributed to Fulton Sheen and that Pope Francis called for his Beatification. Then I became disappointed when a date for Beatification was not initially granted. I worked extensively in Peoria and at the Vatican offices in Rome examining documents presented by the Diocese of Rochester. Then, I was filled with joy, when recently the date of December 21, 2019, was announced for Sheen’s Beatification in Peoria. But, this week, I again became disappointed when Sheen’s Beatification was postponed. As various news articles were posted and even more when statements from the Diocese of Rochester were publicized, I decided to speak out earlier this week in order to defend Sheen and present the truth of this lengthy ordeal. And now I speak out again in the hopes of setting the record straight, hopefully, for the last time.

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WESTERN AUSTRALIA
Post Newspapers via PressReader.com

December 7, 2019

By Ben Dickinson

Two women who were teenage wards of the Home of the Good Shepherd in West Leederville in the 1970s say they were seriously neglected after they escaped sexual abuse elsewhere.

The women, Dallas Phillips and Cheryle Bandy, say they were often surrounded by unscrupulous male “visitors” to the house, and saw a relationship with a man as their only means of escape.

The home closed in 1979, and its main building in Ruislip Street is now occupied by the Catholic Education office.

Ms Phillips and Ms Bandy spoke after a rally outside the Supreme Court last week, where victims of child sex abuse called for compensation from the Catholic Church.

“Good Shepherd need to be exposed for what they did to girls like me,” Ms Phillips said.

“The nuns did nothing to protect us.”

Ms Phillips came to the West Leederville home at age 13, after she said she was sexually abused by monks in the Benedictine community of New Norcia.

“New Norcia was an evil, evil place,” Ms Phillips said.

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DANBURY (CT)
News Tiimes

Dec. 9, 2019

By Julia Perkins and Erin Kayata

A former priest at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church became the subject of an abuse investigation by police because he was seen driving a teenage boy alone in his car, Catholic officials said Monday.

The Rev. Jaime Marin-Cardona was stripped of his priestly duties and prohibited from engaging in public ministry after the state Department of Children and Families found “substantiated allegations of abuse” against the 51-year-old pastor, Bishop Frank J. Caggiano said in a letter to parishioners Friday.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests

Dec. 9, 2019

A priest who had been placed on leave in January following allegations of sexual abuse has been found “unsuitable for ministry.” We call on Catholic officials in Philadelphia to do outreach to potential victims and to publicize complete information on this cleric so that local communities will be fully aware of the allegations.

In January of 2019, Msgr. Joseph Logrip was placed on administrative leave while Church leaders in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia investigated allegations of abuse against him. But this is not the first time that Msgr. Logrip was the subject of such an investigation. He had been investigated by Catholic officials on similar accusations in 2011. Howver, the clergyman was returned to ministry in 2014. The Archdiocese of Philadelphia owes the faithful and the public an explanation as to why the earlier allegation was found to be “not credible.”

To us this situation shows how Catholic officials in Philadelphia have not taken claims of abuse seriously nor done the right thing when allegations were received, especially since they refused to disclose publicly that Msgr. Logrip had been a volunteer at the K-8 school St. Aloysius Academy for decades.

Church leaders in Philadelphia owe it to their communities to be open and honest about Msgr. Logrip. They should not only disclose his removal, but also his full work history to all parishes in their community and to the public so that parents and parishioners know to look among their own for survivors. In addition, they should turn over all information to the police and to the Attorney General, if they have not already done so.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Catholics 4 Change blog

Dec. 8, 2019

By Susan Mathews

The Archdiocese announced that Msgr. Joseph Logrip is unsuitable for ministry today. The announcement came as most do – on slow-news Sunday and lacking transparency.

The six-page media release buries the lead and fails to mention St. Aloysius Academy for Boys in Logrip’s history. His involvement there as a chaplain and Mass celebrant has been well documented. This isn’t the first time they’ve avoided the whole truth. They didn’t share this info in the 2011 press release when he was first removed or the January 2019 when he was removed again after being reinstated in 2014.

The archdiocese argued they didn’t assign him to St. Aloysius in a formal capacity. For God’s sake, this isn’t a resume. It’s an alert to the community. They knew about his time there and he is one of theirs – an archdiocesan priest. They have a moral duty to share the whole truth. If they are going to claim transparency and accountability, then this is what is required.

Why would they omit the info? Could it be they don’t want more victims to come forward? Just spitballing here. We hope no more children were abused in the decade that’s passed since they disregarded the seriousness of a complaint.

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VANCOUVER (CANADA)
Canadian Catholic News

Dec. 9, 2019

By Agnieszka Ruck

Whenever a group of people with different opinions gather at a table to discuss a controversial topic, sparks are bound to fly.

But Archdiocese of Vancouver lawyer Mary Margaret MacKinnon said the experience can be surprisingly instructive, too. That was her experience while chairing the Case Review Committee that studied 36 cases of sexual abuse by priests in Vancouver since the 1950s over 13 months. Its report was released Nov. 22.

“It was difficult in some ways because we had a bunch of divergent voices at the table, but it was also transformative because it let us hear from people who we haven’t heard from at the table before,” she told The B.C. Catholic.

These voices included four victims of abuse, lay people of various professions, a religious sister and two non-Catholics. All 13 members of the Case Review Committee gathered for seven long meetings to study abuse cases and come up with recommendations for the Archdiocese of Vancouver.

MacKinnon, a lawyer whose practice focuses on personal injury and sexual abuse claims, has been handling abuse cases for more than 30 years. The horrific stories don’t shock her anymore, but the willingness of this group to listen to those around the table did.

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COLLEGE STATION (TX)
KBTX TV

Dec. 9, 2019

By Rusty Surette

A Catholic priest with local ties is currently under investigation following reports of misconduct in which he is accused of breaching both physical and emotional boundaries with several adult women and at least one female youth.

Father Michael Sullivan, a member of the Legionaries of Christ, has admitted to violating the organization’s “Christ Code of Conduct” on more than one occasion beginning in 2013, according to an internal memo obtained by News 3’s Rusty Surette.

The Legionaries of Christ is a Roman Catholic congregation of priests and men studying for the priesthood.

Fr. Sullivan has worked with St. Mary’s Catholic Center in College Station since 2009 and participated in confessional, spiritual direction, and retreats, according to a social media post by the church.

It’s unclear if his accusers are members of the St. Mary’s congregation.

Sullivan left St. Mary’s on November 2 after being reassigned, but the organization says the move had nothing to do with the accusations and was planned prior to the most recent incident.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests

Dec. 9, 2019

A Catholic priest in Cleveland has been arrested for possessing child pornography and today his bond was set at $50,000. We applaud law enforcement for their work in this case, but there is still much more to do. Child pornography is a crime with many victims, many predators and a tragically long shelf life.

Rev. Robert McWilliams was arrested on church property for possessing child pornography. Now Catholic officials in the Diocese of Cleveland must immediately call upon any victims, witnesses, or whistleblowers to come forward to law enforcement with information that will aid in the investigation. Rev. McWilliams’ complete work history must also be publicized and reviewed, with an eye to uncovering whether any children were victimized at any of his posts.

Catholic leadership often says that sex abuse in the Church is “in the past,” but cases like this prove otherwise. Over the past two years, law enforcement in at least 30 states have arrested or started criminal proceedings against living, working priests implicated in sex abuse, according to SNAP’s internal monitoring. This means that parishioners and the public must continue to be vigilant in order to protect children in their communities.

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MARTINSBURG (WV)
The Journal

Dec. 8, 2019

Sometimes it seems every pledge of reform by the Roman Catholic Church is matched by one — or more — reports of outrageous behavior.

A permissive policy toward predator priests who molested children appears to have characterized church policy for decades, not just in the United States but also in many other countries. Church officials say they will crack down on that. No longer will molesters be shielded, they vow.

But those pledges of turning over a new leaf have been coming forth for several years.

In 2017, reports surfaced that some church officials working with the Caritas International charity were engaged in pedophilia. The Rev. Luk Delft, a Belgian priest who had been working int the Central African Republic, was accused.

Officials in the Vatican had said they learned of allegations against Delft in 2017, but decided his Caritas International superiors should handle the matter. They did little; Delft remained as Central African Republic director of Caritas International until this year.

Recently, it was reported that Delft was appointed to the post even though he had been convicted in 2012 of child sexual abuse and possession of child pornography in Belgium.

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BERGEN (NJ)
Bergen Record

Dec. 9, 2019

By Abbott Koloff and Deena Yellin

A former New York Giants football team chaplain accused of sexual abuse more than 15 years ago and later reinstated by church officials — just in time to get a Super Bowl ring — was named in a lawsuit filed Monday by one of the two men who had come forward years ago.

The priest, the Rev. William Dowd, was returned to ministry in 2007 after a church tribunal made up of priests had acquitted him in a closed-door hearing. That decision came five years after a Newark Archdiocese review board, which included lay people, determined the allegations warranted further action by church officials.

Also on Monday, five women said in court papers that they were abused as young girls by a Bergen County priest while their families attended parishes in Hackensack and Glen Rock.

The priest, Augustine Giella, died more than 15 years ago while awaiting trial after being charged with the sexual assault of a child. He’s been accused of abusing five sisters from Pennsylvania after being transferred to that state from New Jersey. A Pennsylvania grand jury report listed him last year among 300 allegedly abusive clerics and called him an example of the Catholic Church’s “wholesale institutional failure that endangered the welfare of children.”

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STRONGSVILLE (OH)
WOIO TV

Dec. 9, 2019

By Randy Buffington

Rev. Robert D. McWilliams, a Catholic priest working in Strongsville, appeared in court on Monday morning on chilld pornography-related crimes.

Bond was set at $50,000 for charges that include possessing, receiving, and distributing child pornography.

Bond set at $50,000 for Strongsville priest accused of receiving, possessing child pornography
McWilliams was placed on leave by the Cleveland Catholic Diocese after he was handcuffed at St. Joseph Church and charged on Dec. 5.

The Ohio Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (ICAC) arrived at St. Joseph Parish and searched McWilliams’ living and office spaces for evidence related to the crimes that were allegedly committed in Geauga County.

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BELFAST (NORTH IRELAND)
Belfast Telegraph

Dec. 9, 2019

By Helen Carson

Fermanagh-born cleric Father Brian D’Arcy says the time was right for his tell-all memoir which reveals how he was sexually abused in the church as a young boy, and again as a teen.

The 74-year-old priest, whose book It Has To Be Said is now on sale, tells how he suffered clerical sexual abuse but had to wait until the perpetrators had died before he could unmask them.

The 400-page book also documents how the veteran broadcaster and author, who is often dubbed ‘the showbiz priest’, influenced Father Ted actor Dermot Morgan’s portrayal of his most famous TV role as the hapless Craggy Island cleric.

The Crossgar-based priest also tells how he played a key role in the Northern Ireland peace process by smuggling letters to key loyalists from former Taoiseach Albert Reynolds, who he had been friends with during the showband era in Ireland.

And amid the most shocking revelations about clerical sexual abuse, Father D’Arcy admits struggling all his life to deal with the trauma of the assaults.

“Many of the stories in the book couldn’t have been written (previously) because many of the people were still alive,” he explains. “The story was worth telling. Now I can tell it with greater freedom.”

The importance of setting the record straight in his 70s was also an issue for the priest: “I’m getting to an age where I could wake up dead tomorrow, or my memory would go, so I had to sit down and do it.”

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests

Dec. 9, 2019

The Diocese of London today acknowledged that the list put together by survivors from SNAP Ontario was not only correct, but that there were actually more names still hidden. We call on Catholic officials to release those names and work histories to the public in order to protect children and support survivors.

The fact is, researching abusers is difficult for survivors, but very easy for Church leaders: they could simply open up their personnel files and secret archives and come clean about the information they hold. Doing that would inform law enforcement and families, who in turn could better protect children. To us, it is a simple choice between secrecy and safety.

Bishop Ronald Fabbro is choosing secrecy, and worse yet, using survivors as his shield in doing so. The argument that survivors will be “revictimized” if their abuser’s name becomes public is an excuse that has been employed by other dioceses previously. But in our experience, most – if not all — survivors would prefer that children are protected and that the public is informed.

We believe there are hundreds, and perhaps thousands, of abusive clerics with ties to Canada. More importantly, we believe the best way to get to the full scope of the problem is for the Canadian government to undertake a national investigation akin to the Royal Commission in Australia. That group unearthed nearly 2,000 abusers in a country of only 5.5 million Catholics. In Canada, there are more than 12.5 million Catholics, as well as many native missions which have historically been epicenters of abuse. For these two reasons, we suspect there are likely many more perpetrators still hidden in Canadian files.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Catholic Philly

Dec. 9, 2019

By Matthew Gambin

Msgr. Joseph L. Logrip, 74, a priest of the Philadelphia Archdiocese who had been cleared of an allegation of child sexual abuse in 2011, has been permanently suspended after another more recent allegation was found to be credible.

The archdiocese revealed the decision of Archbishop Charles Chaput on Sunday, Dec. 8 after he had accepted the recommendation of the Archdiocesan Professional Responsibilities Review Board (APRRB), a 12-member advisory panel of experts on child abuse.

The news was communicated to the community at Camilla Hall, the retirement facility in Immaculata for elderly and ill Sisters Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary where Msgr. Logrip had served as chaplain, and to St. Peter Parish in West Brandywine where he assisted with celebrating weekend Masses.

Msgr. Logrip was ordained a priest in 1972. He had been placed on leave in March 2011 due to an allegation that he had sexually abused a minor decades earlier, and following the second Philadelphia grand jury report on sexual abuse of minors by Catholic clergy.

After law enforcement declined to press charges on the allegation, the archdiocesan Office for Investigations — which looks into cases of sexual assault as well as “boundary violations,” which may not rise to the level of criminality but may be violations of the archdiocese’s Standards of Ministerial Behavior and Boundaries — probed the matter.

By 2014 the APRRB found the allegation not credible and deemed Msgr. Logrip suitable for ministry. At that time he was assigned to Camilla Hall with assistance at St. Peter’s.

In its Dec. 8 statement, the archdiocese said it received in late 2018 a new allegation of Msgr. Logrip sexually abusing a minor in the early 1980s. He was subsequently placed on leave with his public ministry restricted in January 2019.

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NEW YORK (NY)
Associated Press

Dec. 9, 2019

By David Crary

More than a century ago, waves of Catholic immigrants from Ireland, Poland and Quebec settled in Chicopee and other western Massachusetts mill towns, helping build churches, rectories and schools to accommodate their faith. Today the priests leading those churches are under siege due to stresses, challenges and sex abuse scandals complicating their lives and those of their fellow priests across the United States.

The Rev. Mark Stelzer is among those trying to persevere. He’s a professor at a Roman Catholic college in Chicopee, and its chaplain. He travels frequently to out-of-state events organized by a Catholic addiction-treatment provider, recounting his own recovery from alcoholism.

Last year, his busy schedule got busier. Amid a worsening shortage of priests, the Diocese of Springfield named him administrator of a parish in Holyoke, Chicopee’s northern neighbor, where he lives alone in a mansion-sized rectory while serving as spiritual leader to the 500 families of St. Jerome’s Church.

“I’m at an age where I thought I’d be doing less rather than doing more,” said Stelzer, 62.

Stelzer loves being a priest, yet he’s frank about the ever-evolving stresses of his vocation that leave him nostalgic for the priesthood he entered in 1983.

“It was a lot simpler then,” he said. “There’s a real longing, a mourning for the church that was — when there was a greater fraternity among priests, and the church was not facing these scandals that are now emerging every day.”

Stelzer’s concerns echoed those of other priests, and some of their psychological caregivers, who were interviewed by The Associated Press.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

December 7, 2019

By Nassim Benchaabane

The Archdiocese of St. Louis can’t estimate how much it has paid so far to people alleging sex abuse by clergy because records going back decades aren’t consistent or accurate in each case, church officials say.

“Over the last few decades, settlements were paid out in a number of ways … so there is not an accurate number that we would be comfortable sharing,” spokesman Peter Frangie said in an email last week.

While a 2013 archdiocesan report identified $10 million in costs related to sexual abuse since 2004, the full extent of the financial impact of abuse allegations is unknown. Public reports identify other cases that were settled out of court for tens of thousands of dollars to hundreds of thousands of dollars, but many settlements were confidential, sometimes at the plaintiff’s request.

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BUFFALO (NY)
Spectrum News

December 7, 2019

By Katherine Chloe

“I believe that our victim survivors, they are our family. They’re a part of us. And while we don’t want to burden them with yet one more burden, they have a tremendous invitation shall I say, to feel a part of the healing mission,” explains Bishop Edward Scharfenberger, Buffalo Diocese Apostolic Administrator.

Many Catholics expressed relief after Bishop Richard Malone resigned. This after months of Malone being accused of covering up for priests and mishandling the sex abuse crisis.

“I’m here to see how my family of survivors can start to trust the church again. How do we get to this place?” asks Michael Whalen, survivor and advocate.

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SANTA ROSA (CA)
The Press Democrat

December 7, 2019

A Roman Catholic priest who served on the North Coast after he was accused of sexual misconduct in Texas has been added to the Santa Rosa Diocese’s list of clergy credibly accused of child sex abuse on the basis of the 32-year-old molestation case from San Antonio.

Jose Luis Contreras, believed to be 78, is not known to have acted improperly while posted in California, where he served between 1995 and 2000 before returning to Mexico, Santa Rosa Bishop Robert F. Vasa said.

The Santa Rosa Diocese had no knowledge of the 1987 accusation against Contreras when he came to the region from Tepic, Mexico. He had left the United States for Mexico in the wake of the sex abuse allegation. After joining the Santa Rosa Diocese, Contreras served at Saint Elizabeth Seton in Philo, Mendocino County, Vasa said. He would later serve in Crescent City, as well.

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HARRISBURG (PA)
Pennsylvania Capital-Star

December 8, 2019

By Tim Kearney and Katie Muth

It has been over a year since the release of the grand jury report that unveiled widespread sexual abuse by the Catholic Church in Pennsylvania. The report showed, in horrific detail, how 301 priests preyed upon more than 1,000 children over seven decades.

For generations, Pennsylvania’s statute of limitations barred many survivors from seeking legal recourse and shielded their predators.

For generations, powerful institutions, such as the Insurance Federation, and their lobbyists blocked reforms and escaped liability for their crimes. Survivors suffered under the weight of their abuse, silenced by the law, while their tormentors walked free. Last year, before our election to the Senate, the General Assembly was on the finish line of passing the grand jury’s recommendations when the Republican majority adjourned the session.

This year, the legislature finally approved a small but meaningful measure of justice. W

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OLEAN (NY)
Olean Herald

December 8, 2019

After resisting calls for him to resign for several months, Bishop Richard Malone took what he called “early retirement” Wednesday and stepped down as leader of the Diocese of Buffalo.

In his exit, Malone offered acknowledgement he made mistakes in his handling of the flood of sexual abuse claims against priests dating back decades, but he still pointed out that during his tenure no priest ordained in the past 30 years had an allegation of child sex abuse substantiated.

That assertion alone perhaps helps explain why the now former bishop, despite widespread calls from the Catholic community throughout Western New York for him to step down, held out for as long as he did. A “this wasn’t on my watch” justification simply wasn’t enough to appease abuse victims and their families, as well as an active and discerning Catholic community that has been looking for both justice and healing.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

December 8, 2019

By Carl O’Brien

Religious congregations provide €110m in cash but owe twice that amount in property

Total cost of the State’s contribution to redress for survivors of residential institutions is likely to be in the region of €1.5bn.

The State has reached a milestone in securing church assets to cover the cost of abuse redress after the Christian Brothers fulfilled its pledge to complete its contribution of €30 million.

This largely completes cash pledges worth €110 million from religious organisations who offered in the aftermath of the publication of the Ryan report to part-fund redress and support for 15,000 former pupils.

However, religious congregations have yet to transfer more than twice this amount in the form of property which they pledged to hand over to the State about a decade ago.

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BUFFALO (NY)
WBEN, 930 AM (Talk radio)

December 8, 2019

Michael Whalen: “The man truly is sincere”

When Bishop Edward Scharfenberger was introduced to the Buffalo catholic community as the newly appointed apostolic administrator for the Diocese of Buffalo, he said he wanted to meet with survivors of priest abuse. That didn’t take long as survivor Michael Whalen took to the stage at the Movement to Restore Trust symposium Saturday and offered an honest assessment of the crisis, from a survivor’s perspective.

As Whalen, who was seated next to Scharfenberger, walked across the stage inside the Montante Cultural Center at Canisius College, Bishop Scherfenberger was in the front row and stood to recognize Whalen as the crowd of 175 in attendance looked on.

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