ABUSE TRACKER

CYPRUS
Cyprus Mail

April 4, 2018

By Andria Kades

The priest who sexually harassed Elena Frantzi when she was his foster daughter is expected to be defrocked in two weeks by the Holy Synod, it emerged on Wednesday.

According to reports, the Holy Synod will convene on April 19 and the decision will move towards defrocking Father Stylianos who served 18 months in prison for sexually harassing Frantzi, 29, when she was under his wing between the age of four to 10.

Frantzi took her own life in her Nicosia home last month. The news of her death and that the priest had been reinstated after his release despite the sentence and nature of the offences he committed caused public outrage.

The Holy Synod is also expected to defrock another priest from Paphos for having an extramarital affair.

Father Stylianos had been the local priest at Ergates village before he went to jail. His first posting after his release was a convent.

Meanwhile, friends and family of Frantzi, announced on Wednesday they were seeking to create a foundation supporting abuse victims.

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

SAGINAW TWP (MI)
MLive

April 3, 2018

By Michael Kransz

The Catholic Diocese of Saginaw has canceled the 2018 Bishop’s Ball fundraising event due to the ongoing investigation into sexual abuse by priests.

“A celebration during this time would not be in keeping with the heartache felt in the local church community,” the diocese said in a statement.

Ticket purchases and event sponsors for the 12th annual Bishop’s Ball will be refunded, according to the diocese statement. Dinner tickets for the April 27 event were $100 each.

Those set to receive awards at the event will receive them at a later time.

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

CHICAGO (IL)
Church Militant

April 2, 2018

By Alexander Slavsky

Comes after removal of Fr. Frank Phillips as pastor of St. John Cantius Parish

A group of friends is uniting behind a Chicago priest accused of “improper conduct” with men.

Protect Our Priests announced Wednesday in a press release the set-up of a non-profit corporation to assist Fr. Frank Phillips with the legal costs of a canon lawyer, a civil lawyer and associated costs following his removal as pastor of St. John Cantius Church in Chicago and superior of the Canons Regular of Saint John Cantius.

“There is significance in the fact that we have launched Protect Our Priests during Holy Week,” said co-founder Frank Williams. “We intend to walk with Fr. Frank every step of the way. Our faith guides us and our prayers sustain us. We know from everything that Father has taught us that ‘Love does not rejoice in evil but rejoices with the Truth.'”

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.

DURBAN (SOUTH AFRICA)
The Mercury

April 4, 2018

By Sibongile Mashaba

The Anglican Church of Southern Africa will formulate a “clearer” policy as a major step towards dealing with cases of abuse.
Archbishop Thabo Makgoba told the congregation in his Easter message in Cape Town at the weekend that he could not judge the government and fail to look into allegations of sexual misconduct in the church.

He said he was consulting widely.

“This week I had a very productive meeting with the church’s legal advisers. Arising from that, our Canon Law Council will meet representatives of the safe church network this month to formulate clearer policy, so that we have in place a system that is both effective and is seen to be effective for both survivors and alleged perpetrators,” Makgoba said.

“One matter I raised was to offer formal church support for efforts to change the law to ensure old cases can be dealt with in secular courts.”

In January, two women staged a protest at the Pretoria City Mission Methodist Church over sexual abuse claims, disrupting a church service.

Over the past few weeks, several people have spoken out, alleging that they had been abused.

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.

EAST HAMPTON (NY)
The Independent

April 3, 2018

By Rick Murphy

PEDOPHILE PRIESTS WERE COMMON ON THE EAST END.

The pedophile priest scandal in Boston, a story told in the Oscar nominated movie Spotlight, earned the Boston Globe a Pulitzer Prize in 2003 for breaking the news.

But pedophile priests were commonplace decades earlier on the East End, a story that has, for the most part, gone untold. As reported last week exclusively in The Independent — this newspaper has followed the story since 2003 —the Diocese Of Rockville Centre often sent priests accused of inappropriate behavior to eastern Long Island, believing they would blend in better in the sparsely-populated communities here.

According to BishopAccountability.org, published reports, minutes from a Suffolk County Grand Jury investigation, and court documents, the diocese routinely reassigned accused or suspected pedophiles to churches on the East End dating back to the 1960s.

These priests served in East Hampton, Amagansett, Cutchogue, Mattituck, Sag Harbor, Water Mill, Riverhead, Southold, and Manorville.

Rather than turn pedophile priests over to authorities, the diocese discouraged the victims and their parents from filing charges, a world-wide practice the church followed for decades.

According to the grand jury report filed in 2003, “Bishop William Murphy aided and abetted the concealment of criminal conduct of defendant individual priests by failing and refusing to report sexual abuse allegations by said priests to civil authorities, which caused, allowed, and permitted additional children to be molested by predatory priests.”

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.

LANSING (MI)
Lansing State Journal

April 4, 2018

By Matt Mencarini

Three former MSU football players accused of sexually assaulting a female student during a party pleaded guilty to lesser charges of seduction as part of an agreement with prosecutors.

Josh King, Donnie Corley and Demetric Vance each faced sexual assault charges stemming from an incident during a party at a campus apartment in January 2017. They were charged in June and dismissed from the football team.

The agreement, made public in a hearing before Ingham County Circuit Judge Rosemarie Aquilina this morning, calls for all three to have no up-front jail time.

Their court records also would become non-public under a Michigan law that allows judges to close the records of young offenders as long as they meet the terms of their agreement and do not commit any future offenses. Aquilina said during the hearing that she was granting Holmes Youthful Trainee status to all three.

They can withdraw their guilty pleas if Aquilina includes jail time in their sentences, which are scheduled to be set in a hearing at 8:30 a.m. on June 6.

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.

CROATIA
Total Croatia News

April 3, 2018

By Vedran Pavlic

The police are investigating.

The Catholic Church in Croatia has been hit by the latest paedophilia scandal, reports Index.hr on April 3, 2018.

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.

LACKAWANNA COUNTY (PA)
Daily Beast

April 3, 2018

By Olivia Messer

This is the third lawsuit and the fourth plaintiff in Lackawanna County’s prison sexual-assault scandal, involving at least 16 female victims and 10 alleged perpetrators.

A former inmate has filed suit against Pennsylvania’s Lackawanna County over its prison facility’s “unending sexual harassment and sexual assault of female inmates,” claiming the “highest-ranking officials” were aware of the scope of the abuse.

This is the third federal lawsuit and the fourth plaintiff in the county’s prison sexual-assault scandal, which has involved more than 16 victims and at least 10 alleged perpetrators who worked as corrections officers and prison employees.

Seven current and former guards were charged Feb. 14 following a grand jury investigation into reports of sexual assaults at the prison. The indictment claimed the culture of fear and abuse of power—for the guards’ sexual gratification—was going on for more than a decade.

Administrators, corrections staff, and the prison board “utterly ignored their responsibility to prevent the systematic” assaults by engaging in a culture of “silence, cover-up, and retaliation,” according to the new complaint, filed in U.S. District Court in the Middle District of Pennsylvania.

Josh Shapiro, the state’s attorney general, said in February that the guards forced inmates into sexual acts in cells and utility closets, The New York Times reported. Shapiro’s office had been conducting an investigation into the abuse for the better part of a year, which culminated in the statewide grand jury.

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)
Express

April 2, 2018

By Peter Saunders, National Association of People Abused in Childhood

THERE are many myths around this sordid subject of child abuse. One is that women are not perpetrators.

Let’s nail that lie. I offer Myra Hindley, Rose West and the many men I have spoken to over the years who have suffered abuse at the hands of women. And that includes abuse by nuns.

Many people, victims of these crimes, find it very difficult to talk about it.

Men find it particularly difficult to talk about abuse at the hands of a woman.

As a member of the victims and survivors consultative panel to the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse and as a Roman Catholic, I am appalled at the response of the institutional church to these dreadful crimes.

Like most church organisations there is a lot of talk of remorse and action but there is little evidence of the latter.

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

INDIA
The Shillong Times

April 4, 2018

By Benjamin Mylliem

I would like to raise a few thoughts regarding the accountability and transparency in the Catholic Church. This in no way reflects the Church as a whole but rather the Church in Jaintia Hills and I will cite what is happening in Jowai Parish which is the cathedral parish of the Jowai Diocese in order to put forward my thoughts. To put things in perspective let me first explain everything in brief. In Jowai parish there are many villages and the church in these villages are known as “balang shnong” e.g. Mihmyntdu, Sohmynting, etc and Jowai town is just a ‘Balang Shnong’ within the Jowai Parish. In each Balang Shnong there is what is called a “Committee Balang” (church Committee) which looks after the spiritual and temporal welfare of the church in that particular village only. All these Committees work under the guidance of the Parish Pastoral Council. The works of these Committees mostly are to choose workers like Rangbah Balang, Bei Balang (male and female leaders of the church), make liturgical programs, take care of the temporal goods of the church, etc. Jowai town also has a Committee Balang and since this article is about accountability and transparency, I will point out its handling of the temporal goods of the church only.

The Committee Balang Jowai was formed with the authority of the parish priest and after years of functioning it has then been able to work in ways as laid down by the Church in the Code of Canon Law. For example, it use to have a budget session every year (can. 1284 §3). After proper audit is done, it gives accounts to the faithful regarding the goods offered by the lay faithful (can. 1287 §2). In this way it has been able to save funds which sustain the needs of the Balang Jowai. But when the present parish priest came in 2015, he surprisingly dissolved this Committee Balang of Jowai without having a proper discussion with the office bearers of the Committee. He convened a meeting with some of the faithful of Jowai town and in that meeting they decided to dissolve the Committee Balang Jowai and later on the April 2, 2016 he wrote a letter to the General Secretary of the Committee telling him that the Committee has been dissolved and that the amount 46 lakh which the Committee had is to be returned to the parish for church construction!

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.

IRELAND
Irish Examiner

April 3, 2018

By Fr. Brendan Hoban

The world has rapidly changed, and we have refused to change with it, writes Fr Brendan Hoban.

ON Good Friday, droves of people attended church services to honour the sufferings and death of Jesus Christ. Good Friday, like Christmas night, still resonates with most people and recognising its significance, despite the decline in practice in the main churches, is still a compelling impulse in Irish people.

This year, too, on the first Good Friday for decades, pubs opened to allow people to enjoy the Easter bank holiday weekend — a very different, but still compelling impulse in the Irish character.

The contrast between the two worlds — devoted Christians for whom Good Friday is a sacred day and revellers enjoying the holiday weekend — couldn’t be more marked, even though many are happily part of both worlds. But lifting the ban on pubs opening on Good Friday is another marker in the definitive shift of religion to the margins of Irish society.

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.

LANSING (MI)
Insurance Journal

April 3, 2018

A Michigan priest accused of embezzling more than $5 million now faces a civil lawsuit filed by the insurance company for the Catholic Diocese of Lansing.

Rev. Jonathan Wehrle is charged with six counts of embezzling $100,000 or more from St. Martha Church in Okemos, east of Lansing. The charges allege Wehrle used the money to pay for home construction, maintenance and other personal purchases.

The Lansing State Journal reports that a judge approved the Princeton Excess and Surplus Lines Insurance Corp.’s request to place Wehrle’s more than $1 million estate into receivership. The insurance provider says it’s paid out about $2.5 million to the diocese to cover its losses so far.

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.

CHILE
The Clinic

April 2, 2018

By Claudio Pizarro y Jonás Romero

Durante la última visita papal, en enero de este año, Jorge Bergoglio no sólo ofició misas y compartió con jóvenes católicos. También, tuvo tiempo para reunirse con el recién fallecido hermano marista Mariano Varona, quien ya había confesado el haber estado en conocimiento de los abusos sexuales ocurridos con pupilos de la congregación. “Esta es la verdadera cara de Bergoglio, la verdadera cara del Papa”, argumenta uno de los denunciantes maristas. Ahora, es turno del Vaticano de explicar el polémico encuentro en dependencias de la Nunciatura de Santiago.

No se sabe la hora exacta del encuentro, pero la evidencia es categórica: Mariano Varona, fallecido el pasado fin de semana y principal encubridor en el caso de abusos sexuales contra menores al interior de la congregación Marista, se reunió con el Papa Francisco durante la visita que éste realizó a Chile. En la foto, a la accedió The Clinic de manera exclusiva, se aprecia un apretón de manos entre el sumo pontífice y quien fuera el encargado de la prevención de abusos sexuales en la orden. Al fondo, apreciando la escena, aparece el Nuncio Apostólico Ivo Scapolo, máxima autoridad vaticana en Chile.

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.

BALTIMORE (MD)
The Baltimore Sun

April 3, 2018

By Alison Knezevich

Two families and an activist who were sued for alleged defamation by a former Beth Tfiloh Dahan Community School teacher have filed a motion to dismiss the claims, saying the lawsuit was filed in the wrong court.

In January, Rabbi Steven Krawatsky and his wife, Shira, filed a lawsuit in the northern division of the U.S. District Court of Maryland in Baltimore, claiming the defendants had engaged in an effort to “destroy his reputation and ability to earn a living.”

Their lawsuit named as defendants two couples who accused Steven Krawatsky of abusing their children, as well as Chaim Levin, an advocate for victims of abuse.

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

GUANAJUATO (MEXICO)
Mexico News Daily

April 3, 2018

[Note: See also the El Universal article: http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/estados/condenan-90-anos-cura-por-abusar-de-dos-ninas [Spanish]

The five victims were students aged 10-16 at a private school in Guanajuato

A Catholic priest was sentenced yesterday to 90 years in jail for aggravated rape, sexual harassment, sexual abuse, sexual exploitation and corruption of minors.

Jorge Raúl Villegas Chávez, 50, the confessor and spiritual guide for the students of an all-girls’ private school in Guanajuato, was arrested in February last year after two mothers filed criminal complaints, charging him of abusing their two daughters, both under 14.

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.

MARQUETTE (MI)
Daily Press

April 3, 2018

Father Frank M. Lenz, a retired priest of the Diocese of Marquette, has been placed on administrative leave effective immediately, diocese officials announced Monday. The action was taken as the result of a recently-made credible allegation of alleged sexual misconduct with a minor dating back to the 1970s, according to the diocese. Lenz has denied the allegation.

In accord with diocesan policy, the allegation has been reported to the Marquette County prosecutor.

The diocese has extended an offer of pastoral care to the person bringing the allegation, diocese officials stated in a press release.

Lenz has been removed from all public priestly ministry and prohibited from presenting himself as a priest in accordance with the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People.

“It should be noted that this is not a final determination of guilt. Administrative leave is a precautionary measure while a credible allegation is being investigated,” diocese officials 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.

MESQUITE (TX)
Dallas News

April 3, 2018

By Tom Steele

Updated at 12:40 p.m.: Revised to reflect Robert Ross’ bail.

The pastor of a conservative Mesquite Baptist church where a father and son have been charged with sexually assaulting girls has been arrested on a charge of failing to report child abuse.

Robert Arnold Ross, 70, was booked into the Mesquite jail Tuesday morning on one count of knowingly failing to make a required child abuse report. His bail was set at $2,500.

In recent weeks, 33-year-old Steven Aaron Winn and 65-year-old Larry Allen Winn were arrested on charges of sexually assaulting children.

The younger Winn, a volunteer assistant youth pastor at the church on South Belt Line Road, was taken into custody Feb. 22. Mesquite police had learned several days earlier about allegations that he had a sexual relationship with a female student at the church’s Christian academy for more than a year, starting when the girl was 15.

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.

MESQUITE (TX)
Star-Telegram

April 3, 2018

By Sarah Smith

The pastor of a fundamentalist Baptist church with two members already facing sex abuse charges was arrested Tuesday on charges that he failed to make a required child abuse report.

Robert A. Ross, the pastor of Open Door Baptist Church in Mesquite, is in the Mesquite jail. Bond has been set at $2,500. The police have not yet responded to a request for comment.

Open Door Baptist Church in Mesquite has had four members accused of sexual abuse in its 50-year history. Members and ex-members say a strict culture that reveres church authorities as nearly unquestionable has led to an environment conducive to ongoing abuse.

A tipster reported the most recent allegations to Mesquite police in late February. They involved a father-son pair described as belonging to a family deeply involved in the church.

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

PITTSBURGH (PA)
NEXT Wave

April 2, 2018

By Emily Stimmel

Awareness is great. But Pittsburgh’s men are being challenged to step up in a new way in the fight against domestic violence and sexual assault through a new TV campaign by the Center for Victims.

With awareness of sexual violence and “toxic masculinity” on the rise thanks to social media campaigns like the #MeToo movement, the agency is kicking off Sexual Assault Awareness Month with a new public service announcement, which will air throughout April on local TV stations.

We know that one in three women worldwide has been abused or coerced into sex. And yet domestic violence, sexual assault and rape have been deemed “women’s issues” and relegated to the background for generations.

Since launching its MEN Challenge in 2014, the Center for Victims has worked to spread the message that everyone has a responsibility to end violence against women and girls. Over the past four years, the initiative — featuring high-profile figures like Dwayne Woodruff and Art Rooney, II in its first commercial — has grown to include more than 300 men who have committed to doing their part.

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.

SAGINAW TWP (MI)
MLive

April 3, 2018

By Michael Kransz

A Saginaw Diocese teacher is no longer employed at his high school and officials are assuring parents it’s not related to the ongoing investigation into sexual abuse by priests.

School officials announced this week that Dave Valasek, a baseball coach and band teacher at Nouvel Catholic Central High School, is no longer employed due to a “personnel matter,” according to a letter sent out to parents Wednesday, March 28.

“Please be assured that this matter does not involve Mr. Valasek’s relationships with students and is wholly unrelated to the recent issues involving the Saginaw Diocese,” the letter from Mark Frost, the high school’s principal, read.

The letter did not say whether Valasek was fired or resigned.

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.

BATON ROUGE (LA)
The Advocate

April 3, 2018

By Andrea Gallo

After domestic violence deaths plagued Baton Rouge last year and as sexual assault survivors come forward en masse as part of a national #MeToo movement, Baton Rouge leaders are inviting survivors to openly tell their stories later this month.

April is sexual assault awareness month. Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome, the Sexual Trauma Awareness and Response organization and members of a local women’s advancement commission announced Tuesday that they are ramping up a “start by believing” campaign.

They expect to host five listening sessions later this month and next month with survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence who openly tell their stories in a public forum. Racheal Hebert, president and CEO of STAR, said each survivor’s story should help to pinpoint and fix flaws in the health care, law enforcement and educational fields.

“Our message to survivors is clear: what happened to you is not your fault and we believe you,” Hebert said Tuesday.

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.

ENGLAND
Express

April 3, 2018

By John Twomey

The case of the grandfather is the latest in a series of scandals involving historic sex abuse and the clergy.

These include: – Peter Ball, former Bishop of Gloucester, who abused vulnerable young men after they came to him for spiritual guidance.

Ball, 85, was jailed for 32 months at the Old Bailey in 2015 for a series of sex crimes while he was Bishop of Lewes from 1977 to 1991.

He was under suspicion for years but was allowed give up his ministry and retire after accepting a police caution for gross indecency in 1993.

A damning inquiry into the Church of England’s handling of the case revealed a series of shocking failures.

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.

MARQUETTE (MI)
WLUC

April 2, 2018

Father Frank M. Lenz, a senior (retired) priest of the Diocese of Marquette, has been placed on administrative leave effective immediately. This action was taken as the result of a recently-made credible allegation of sexual misconduct with a minor dating back to the 1970s. Father Lenz has denied the allegation.

In accord with diocesan policy, the allegation has been reported to the Marquette County Prosecutor.

The diocese has extended an offer of pastoral care to the person bringing the allegation.

Father Lenz has been removed from all public priestly ministry and prohibited from presenting himself as a priest in accordance with the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People. It should be noted that this is not a final determination of guilt. Administrative leave is a precautionary measure while a credible allegation is being investigated.

Bishop Doerfler said, “On behalf of the Catholic Church, I offer a sincere apology to all victims of clergy abuse. There is no excuse for what happened to you. You are in my thoughts and prayers, and I am willing to journey with you to find Christ’s peace and healing.”

Anyone who may have suffered sexual misconduct by clergy, a church worker or volunteer is encouraged by Bishop Doerfler to come forward to receive pastoral care leading toward healing.

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.

MARQUETTE (MI)
9 & 10 News

April 2, 2018

By Alice Shea

An Upper Peninsula priest is under investigation amid allegations of sexual misconduct nearly 50 years ago.

Father Frank Lenz, a retired priest with the Diocese of Marquette, has been placed on administrative leave after a report was filed with the diocese accusing Lenz of sexual misconduct with a minor dating back to the 1970s.

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

KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter

April 3, 2018

By Marianne Duddy-Burke, Kate McElwee, and Mary E. Hunt

As Catholic feminists and leaders of organizations committed to justice for women within our church as well as throughout society, we have followed Voices of Faith’s efforts to crack open the Vatican walls by sponsoring an annual forum about women inside one of the last remaining bastions of male domination in the western world.

Since 2014, Voices of Faith has marked International Women’s Day (March 8) with an event that examines how the intersection of Catholic doctrine and practice impacts women globally. This year, the Vatican denied the women the use of a hall inside its walls due to Voices of Faith’s selection of speakers, including former Irish President Mary McAleese and Ugandan lesbian activist Ssenfuka Joanita Warry. Voices of Faith held its forum a short distance away at the Jesuit Aula.

We applaud the decision to stick with speakers who would address issues in a way that challenged Vatican authority, instead of replacing them with more “acceptable” individuals in order to be inside the walls. It is a sign of growth and integrity for Voices of Faith and a signal that our movements will not be dismissed or stopped.

Within the Aula, it was clear that both the location and the discourse shifted from previous programs. The opening video, which challenged the Vatican to catch up with the global empowerment of women, began the bold and direct challenges to the institutional church that characterized this fifth annual meeting.

The room was remarkably quiet as Mary McAleese delivered her keynote address. She is a brilliant and passionate critic with the political experience, canon law credentials, Irish wit, experience as the mother of a gay child and fire in the belly to tell it like it is in a memorable speech for the ages. Her own bishop, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin, called it “brutally stark” and said that he must “accept the challenge with the humility of one who recognises her alienation.”

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.

ROME
National Catholic Reporter

April 3, 2018

By Joshua J. McElwee

A Vatican tribunal’s guilty verdict last month against a Guam archbishop, hailed by some as the first instance of the Catholic Church successfully prosecuting a bishop accused of abusing minors, appears likely not to have been made in direct relation to allegations of sexual abuse by the prelate.

A number of prominent canon lawyers say the punishment announced for Agana Archbishop Anthony Apuron — removal from office and a prohibition from living on the U.S. island territory — simply seems too lax to indicate the bishop was found guilty of abuse.

The canonists, speaking in interviews since the March 16 announcement of the verdict from a five-judge apostolic tribunal of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, said the expected punishment for sexual abuse of a minor would usually be laicization, known formally as dismissal from the clerical state.

“It must be that he wasn’t found directly guilty of sexual abuse,” said Oblate Fr. Francis Morrisey, a former president of the Canadian Canon Law Society who has advised numerous Vatican offices and local bishops’ conferences. “Otherwise, I think he would have been dismissed from the clerical state.”

Msgr. Frederick Easton, a former president of the U.S. Canon Law Society, said the punishment for Apuron did not appear proportional to a finding of guilt in regards to sexual abuse.

“One would have thought … if the bishop were found guilty of sexual abuse of minors, that could easily be a reason for dismissal from the clerical state for him,” said Easton, who also served for 31 years as the judicial vicar for the Indianapolis archdiocese.

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.

SEABROOK (NH)
WMUR

April 2, 2018

By Jennifer Crompton

Police say charges involve incidents from 2004

A Seabrook man is being held without bail after he was accused of raping a child while he was serving as a pastor in the Methodist Church.

Russell Davis, 65, faces several charges in Massachusetts. Seabrook police said they arrested Davis Thursday on a fugitive from justice warrant. The Essex County District Attorney’s Office said he is being held without bail because he is still employed in the ministry and has access to children.

Davis pleaded not guilty in Newburyport District Court to charges out of Rowley, Massachusetts, of rape of a child with force and indecent assault and battery on a person 14 or over, and a charge of rape from Newbury, Massachusetts.

Prosecutors said the allegations involve the same victim and incidents that occurred in April 2004.

According to the New England Conference of the United Methodist Church, Davis was a licensed Methodist minister from 1999 to 2015. His first assignment was in Warren, New Hampshire.

Davis moved among several churches in Maine and Massachusetts after that until his license was discontinued in 2015. A spokesperson for the church would not say why his license was discontinued but said it was not related to sexual misconduct.

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.

SALT LAKE CITY (UT)
The Daily Utah Chronicle

April 2, 2018

By Morgan Barron

Last fall, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints unveiled 16 standardized interview questions for young adults interested in serving as missionaries for their church. These questions, designed to determine if candidates are prepared physically, mentally, socially and spiritually to represent the LDS church, range from the applicant’s belief in Jesus Christ to their financial situation. As bishops, local lay leaders who conduct these interviews, previously only received general guidelines about what to ask potential missionaries, these questions garnered some media attention. Question eight, “Have you ever sexually abused a child in any way, regardless of whether or not you were charged, you were convicted, or the record was expunged?” appeared in The Salt Lake Tribune where LDS columnist Robert Kirby wrote, “This is an excellent question to put to a prospective representative of Jesus Christ … However, an excellent follow-up question here would be, “Have you ever been sexually abused… in any way, regardless of whether or not the perpetrator was a church leader?” With the disturbing revelation of sexual abuse within the LDS Church earlier this month, the most important question members need to be asking is how predators who utilize their positions of power within the church to prey on victims are held accountable in our community.

In 2002, The Boston Globe broke the story of sexual abuse within the Catholic Church, focusing in on former priest John J. Geoghan and how cardinals, aware of the sexual misconduct, habitually reassigned Geoghan to protect him and the church from scandal. In their zeal to preserve the reputation of the church and Geoghan, the archdioceses failed to protect Geoghan’s victims, boys as young as four years old. Richard Sipe, a former priest and psychotherapist who was quoted in the article, has long believed the Catholic Church has been too slow when dealing with priests who molest children. According to him, “the church defied its own most basic values of protecting the young and fostering celibacy.”

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.

ENGLAND
Mirror

April 3, 2018

By Jamie Bullen

Edward Hayes told how he was abused for almost three years at the former John Reynolds Home, which culminated in a nun who allegedly raped him falling pregnant

A man claims he was raped by a nun when he was 12 and later went on to father her baby after he became a victim of horrific sexual abuse at a Catholic home.

Edward Hayes told how he was abused for almost three years at the former John Reynolds Home in Lytham St Annes, Lancashire, in the 1950s.

The home was run by The Franciscan Missionaries of St Joseph – a Catholic congregation of nuns – which has apologised for Edward’s treatment.

Edward, now 76, waived his right to anonymity to lift the lid on the horrific sexual abuse he suffered to encourage fellow survivors to speak out.

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.

SALT LAKE CITY (UT)
The Associated Press

April 2, 2018

By Brady McCombs

The Mormon church faced more criticism Monday about its approach to sexual abuse after a top leader praised the #MeToo movement but referred to sexual misconduct as “non-consensual immorality,” a remark that some say could be interpreted as victim blaming.

Quentin L. Cook, a member of a top church governing body, made the comment this weekend in the only mention of the topic during a two-day Mormon conference despite the church facing heavy scrutiny over accusations that a former prominent missionary leader sexually assaulted two women in the 1980s.

Cook was giving a speech about righteousness Sunday, days after The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced updated guidelines for reporting sexual abuse.

“It is commendable that non-consensual immorality has been exposed and denounced,” said Cook, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. “Such non-consensual immorality is against the laws of God and of society.

“However, those who understand God’s plan must also oppose consensual immorality, which is also a sin,” he said of the faith that teaches that sex outside marriage is a sin.

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.

NASHVILLE (TN)
FOX17

April 2, 2018

By Samantha Singer

A former church member spoke out about the former Nashville pastor accused of molesting several children at Nolensville Road Baptist Church over the course of 20 years.

Former pastor Denny Patterson, 45, is a husband and father of four. Patterson is facing eight counts of aggravated sexual battery and will face a criminal court judge on Wednesday.

Metro Nashville Police said they expect more charges and victims as they continue to investigate.

Nolensville Road Baptist Church, 20 minute drive south of downtown Nashville, is now in the spotlight for alleged child sex abuse.

Police said children reported that Denny Patterson had them engage in strange activities including sitting on his face and stomach, sometimes in their underwear.

The disturbing accusations are upsetting to 19-year-old Kade Coleman, who said he spent some time at the church years ago.

“That’s like the sin of all sins,” Coleman said.

Coleman said he was active in the church youth group during Patterson’s tenure.

“I was about 12 or 13, and two of my friends from school brought me there actually,” Coleman said. “We went to the youth group.”

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

TROY (AL)
Troy Messenger

April 2, 2018

By Jaine Treadwell

The Pike Regional Child Advocacy Center in Troy kicked off Child Abuse Prevention Month on Monday at the CAC on West Orange Street with a different format from previous years.

Camille Downing, CAC director, said rather than kicking off the month of awareness and fundraising with the signing of a proclamation, the CAC invited the agencies that support the CAC and pastors from local churches as well as members of the community for an informal time of food and fellowship.

“Mayor Jason Reeves and the Troy City Council signed a proclamation declaring the month of April Child Abuse Prevention Month,” Downing said. “And, we are very appreciative because child abuse is a community concern. The community must be involved in the prevention of child abuse because the best way to stop child abuse is before it starts.”

Reeves said the Pike Regional CAC provides a safe environment for children to talk about the trauma in their lives.

“The environment of the CAC makes children feel safe and that makes it easier for them to talk about their situations,” Reeves said. “I am proud that Calvary Baptist Church made the church building available for a facility for infants, children and families in crisis situations. The CAC is meeting a need in our community and we appreciate their dedication and commitment to these children.”

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

IRELAND
The Irish Times

April 2, 2018

By Sharon Tighe-Mooney

Rite&Reason: There is no prohibition in the scriptures about women ministering

While there have been important cultural advances for women in terms of their role in society, the one institution that does not appear to have altered its attitude towards women to any great degree is the Roman Catholic Church.

This is despite Pope Francis’s 2013 remarks that women are “essential for the church”.

It seems that it is also “essential” that women remain silent, and the long-held tradition that women should remain silent in church, attributed to St Paul (1 Corinthians 14.34), and now believed by scholars to be a later addition to his letter, continues to dominate the Vatican mindset.

To dismiss this edict as no longer applicable is to underestimate the deep-seated antipathy to hearing the voices of women in the institutional church.

This was epitomised recently when the former president of Ireland, Mary McAleese, was vetoed from speaking at a conference to be held within the Vatican on International Women’s Day.

The objective was to silence her. To be heard, therefore, McAleese had to speak outside the walls of the Vatican.

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.

ALLENTOWN (PA)
The Morning Call

April 3, 2018

By Tim Darragh

A grand jury that has been hearing testimony about sexual abuse by priests in six Catholic dioceses in Pennsylvania, including Allentown, will soon conclude its work and issue a report this spring, according to two sources.

The grand jury, which was impaneled in 2016, was extended from late 2017 until the end of this month, said State Rep. Mark Rozzi, D-Berks, who testified before the panel. He said he hopes a report will be forthcoming in May or June.

Rozzi did not disclose the source of his information about the grand jury, which operates in secret. A second source also told The Morning Call the grand jury was reaching the end of its term. Under state code, a grand jury has a term of 18 months that can be extended to 24 months. The source said the grand jury began hearing testimony soon after an earlier grand jury issued a report in March 2016 outlining decades of sexual abuse by priests that went unpunished in the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese.

Rozzi, a Catholic who says he was molested by an Allentown Diocese priest as a boy, said victims have reached out to him because he has been working to extend the statute of limitations for abuse victims. At least 20-30 people from the Allentown Diocese, he said, told him they had been abused by a priest.

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.

ELGIN (IL)
Elgin Courier-News

April 2, 2018

An Elgin man was sentenced to seven years in prison Monday after pleading guilty to sexually abusing an underage girl while he serving as a youth minister at a West Dundee church, according to the Kane County State’s Attorney’s Office.

Chad A. Coe, 36, of the 500 block of Dundee Avenue, pleaded guilty to felony aggravated criminal sexual abuse just before his trial was to begin, a news release from the state’s attorney’s office said. He was sentenced by Kane County Circuit Judge James Hallock.

Coe admitted to having sexual contact with the girl in June 2013 at the church, located in the 900 block of South Eighth St., knowing she was under the age of 18, the release said.

In addition to the prison term, Coe must also register as a sex offender for the rest of his 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.

BROOKLYN (NY)
New York Post

April 2, 2018

By Emily Saul, Shawn Cohen and Bruce Golding

A Brooklyn prosecutor was caught having an affair with one of the NYPD cops accused of raping a handcuffed teenager, The Post has learned.

Assistant District Attorney Nicole Manini, 34, is under investigation for potentially violating professional conduct rules for New York lawyers, according to sources familiar with the matter.

Manini’s illicit relationship with now-former Detective Richard Hall, 33, was uncovered when investigators with her office reviewed his cellphone records as part of the rape case, sources said.

The phone logs revealed multiple calls between Manini and Hall, who is married with two kids, sources said.

The calls began before the alleged Sept. 15 rape and continued afterward, sources said.

The DA’s office referred Manini for investigation to the court system’s Grievance Committee for the Second, Eleventh and Thirteenth Judicial Districts, which prosecutes cases of professional misconduct by lawyers.

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.

MASON (MI)
Patheos

April 2, 2018

by Terry Firma

Stories about thieving clergy members are truly a dime a dozen, but among that deeply disreputable crowd, the Rev. Jonathan Wehrle is special.

That’s because his loot doesn’t top out at a few thousand dollars, or even a few hundred thousand. Wehrle, his accusers say, five-fingered millions of dollars of parish money and spent it on luxuries like an indoor swimming pool for his mansion and six figures’ worth of landscaping for his lavish ten-acre estate.

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

UNITED STATES
ABC News

April 3, 2018

By Catherine Thorbecke

This April marks Sexual Assault Awareness month, a time when survivors and advocacy groups work to raise awareness surrounding the pervasive issue of sexual violence, as well as educate the public about ways to prevent it.

“We know that one month isn’t enough to solve the serious and widespread issue of sexual violence,” Laura Palumbo of the National Sexual Violence Resource Center (NSVRC) said in a statement, adding that the annual event serves as “a reminder that we can change the culture through the things we say and do each day.”

“It can be as simple as calling out comments that blame victims for being assaulted or make light of sexual violence,” Palumbo 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.

MCKINNEY (TX)
The Washington Post

April 2, 2018

By Kristine Phillips

A young man admitted that he sexually assaulted children while he was an instructor at a Mormon church in Texas, authorities said.

Police said Noel Anderson, 22, abused four children between the ages of 2 and 6 when he was a primary instructor at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Dallas suburb of McKinney, Tex. The crimes happened over seven years, during which time Anderson met the children through church meetings and other activities, according to the McKinney Police Department.

Anderson has been charged with aggravated sexual assault of a child, a first-degree felony, and indecency with a child, a second-degree felony. He was arrested last month and is being held on a $200,000 bond, online records show. His attorney did not immediately return a call Monday.

Police suspect that there might have been more victims and are urging parents to speak with their children if they had been in Anderson’s care.

The Washington Post was unable to reach the McKinney congregation Monday, but church officials said in a statement to NBC affiliate KXAS-TV that they are cooperating with investigators.

“Children are precious, and our hearts go out to the victims and their families. We stand ready to offer love, emotional support and professional counseling for them. We are grateful for their courage in reporting this to law enforcement, and we support the efforts of legal authorities to ensure justice is served in these cases. … Anyone who engages in such behavior is rightfully subject to criminal prosecution and will also face discipline from the Church, including loss of Church membership.”

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, headquartered in Salt Lake City, has several congregations throughout the country and worldwide. The Texas case comes as the church faces other allegations of sexual abuse.

In West Virginia, families sued church officials for failing to act while a once-trusted member of a tightknit Mormon community preyed on children. Michael Jensen is serving a prison sentence for sexually abusing two boys while babysitting them. But six families say the much larger Mormon hierarchy in the state should also be held accountable.

The lengthy legal battle that began in 2013 ended last week, after the parties reached a settlement, the details of which were not disclosed.

In Utah, a former Mormon mission leader was accused of trying to rape a young woman more than 30 years ago. Joseph L. Bishop admitted that he took the woman to a small room at the Mormon Church-owned Brigham Young University and asked whether he could see her breasts, the Salt Lake Tribune reported in March. The woman told police that Bishop kissed her and tore her clothes, but she managed to escape.

The allegations resulted in petitions calling for an end to one-on-one interviews between church officials and young Mormons. The Salt Lake Tribune reported that church leaders have since announced new rules allowing a parent or another adult to sit in when church members are interviewing or meeting with women and children.

Julie Zauzmer contributed to this report.

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.

MASON (MI)
The Associated Press

March 31, 2018

A Catholic priest accused of embezzling more than $5 million from his central Michigan church spent about $100,000 on an indoor swimming pool and stained glass windows for his six-bedroom, 12-bathroom home, according to a lawsuit seeking to recoup some of the money.

In addition to the $45,000 indoor pool and nearly $55,000 in stained glass windows, the Rev. Jonathan Wehrle spent more than $134,000 on landscaping at his 10-acre estate in Williamston and other properties, according to the lawsuit filed by Princeton Excess and Surplus Lines Insurance Corporation, which insures the Catholic Diocese of Lansing.

Wehrle faces six counts of embezzling $100,000 or more from St. Martha Church in Okemos, which is just east of Lansing and about 70 miles west of Detroit. Prosecutors allege that Wehrle spent the money on himself, including to build and maintain the estate.

The home, which has 10 fireplaces and three barns, was appraised at $1.28 million in 2012, when construction was only halfway complete, according to court records.

Police said bills for work on the property matched checks written from St. Martha.

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.

ARLINGTON (VA)
Catholic Diocese of Arlington

Posted March 16, 2018

The Diocese of Arlington has been advised that Fairfax County Police Department also have an active investigation regarding Fr. Duesterhaus. Father Duesterhaus has stated that he is cooperating fully with the investigation. Fairfax County Police can be reached at (703) 691-2131.

Posted March 14, 2018

Rev. Michael R. Duesterhaus, a priest of the Catholic Diocese of Arlington, has been placed on administrative leave pending investigation of an allegation of sexual misconduct with a minor. The alleged incidents occurred between 2001 and 2004. Fr. Duesterhaus denies the accusation. No determination has yet been made regarding the allegation. The Diocese is fully cooperating with law enforcement and will continue to do so.

Like all priests, diocesan employees and volunteers who work with children in the Diocese of Arlington, Fr. Duesterhaus has undergone criminal background checks during his service. His current assignment, from which he is on administrative leave, is as parochial vicar at Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish in Winchester.

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.

MARTINSBURG (WV)
Herald Mail

March 30, 2018

By Matthew Umstead

A 2013 lawsuit that claimed Mormon church leaders covered up the sexual abuse of several children by a church member who has been excommunicated and imprisoned has been settled, according to Berkeley County Circuit Court officials.

The settlement ended a trial that began on Jan. 18.

Terms of the settlement were not available Friday, when the six-member jury seated for the trial was released from service after 27 days in court.

Inclement weather and illness delayed the trial, which 23rd Judicial Circuit Judge Christopher C. Wilkes initially estimated would last six to eight weeks.

At the start of the trial, a plaintiff’s attorney told jurors that the case was about how far a powerful institution would go to protect and defend itself. But an attorney for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints told the jury that the church was not responsible for the crimes of Christopher Michael Jensen, and asserted that the alleged abuse didn’t occur on church property.

Jensen, 26, is serving a 35- to 75-year prison sentence in a West Virginia prison for his February 2013 conviction in circuit court on two counts of sexual abuse and one count of sexual assault.

Jensen was convicted of sexually abusing two boys while babysitting them in 2007. The children didn’t report what occurred until 2012, attorneys have 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.

PERTH (AUSTRALIA)
PerthNow

April 1, 2018

By Kim Macdonald

CATHOLIC youngsters are being taught to identify grooming by sex abusers by a child protection veteran who claims most children have no idea when it is happening, even if confronted with pornography.

Andrea Musulin, who worked in the police child protection unit for three decades before being recruited by the Catholic Church to run its Safeguarding program, said most children were uneducated about paedophilia.

In the wake of the Catholic sex abuse scandal, a new guide written by Ms Musulin is being used by the Church to help children identify when they are in unsafe situations.

The book urges children to tell adults when someone looks at obscene images in their presence, plays games involving genitalia, or asks them to keep secrets.

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.

BATAVIA (NY)
The Daily News

March 30, 2018

By Brian Quinn

The statute of limitations may have run out on a former Pavilion man’s molestation allegation.

Still, he hopes the claim he made about a former St. Mary’s Church priest will inspire others who were molested by priests to come forward.

Wayne Bortle of New Hampshire, who lived in Pavilion and attended Pavilion Central School until he was about 15 years old, has come forward publicly, alleging abuse by Father Robert Conlin, a former St. Mary’s priest who passed away in 1997.

Conlin’s name was not on a list of 42 priests whose names the Buffalo Diocese released earlier this month. The list identified diocesan priests who, since 1950, have been removed from ministry, were retired, or left the ministry after allegations of sexual abuse of a minor.

Bortle says his kids have seen him cry more recently than previously.

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)
Spectrum News

April 1, 2018

By Kevin Jolly

The sky was a brilliant blue over St. Joseph Cathedral but a dark cloud still lingered over the Catholic Church this Easter.

The Diocese of Buffalo recently released a list of 42 priests accused of sexual abuse.

While the church is struggling to deal with the issue, another has been raised: whether priests should be allowed to marry.

“They understand marriages better. So you know this confessional stuff, you can confess anything you want. You can confess the problems in your home, but if he is not living it then he can’t understand it,” said St. Joseph’s parishioner Oksana Mychaskiw.

It might not be that easy. While many experts say there is no connection between celibacy required by priesthood and sex abuse or pedophilia, some argue it may be a contributing factor in some of the cases in the Catholic Church.

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

MASON (MI)
The Associated Press

March 30, 2018

A Michigan priest accused of embezzling more than $5 million now faces a civil lawsuit filed by the insurance company for the Catholic Diocese of Lansing.

Rev. Jonathan Wehrle is charged with six counts of embezzling $100,000 or more from St. Martha Church in Okemos, east of Lansing. The charges allege Wehrle used the money to pay for home construction, maintenance and other personal purchases.

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)
The Columbus Dispatch

April 2, 2018

By Kelly Maile

The #MeToo social media campaign to raise awareness of sexual harassment gave Emily Joy the courage to share her own story of sexual abuse in church.

“When I was 16, I was groomed for abuse by a man in his early 30s who was a youth leader in my evangelical megachurch … in Illinois,” Joy said. “There wasn’t an understanding of consent or any sex education. The adults punished me for that rather than realizing this is a predatory situation.”

Ten years later, one tweet by Joy prompted thousands on social media to share their own stories of sexual abuse in church settings. The reaction caused Joy and her friend Hannah Paasch to create #ChurchToo. The movement has given Joy the opportunity to speak out at colleges and churches across the country. Joy will speak at Hiram College on April 24 about the hashtag that went viral and theology and sex in conservative Christian churches.

In the wake of actress Alyssa Milano’s #MeToo movement after the Harvey Weinstein scandal, “we were inspired by all these women in Hollywood and Washington,” Joy said. “We have our own stories of abuse, but we both grew up in conservative Christian environments. Sexual abuse happens everywhere, but there are specific facts and contributors in these conservative spaces.”

Once Joy posted her story on Twitter, “there were other women who started responding to it like something like this happened to me, too. Hannah and I said, ‘I think we need to compile these stories and figure out how to respond to it’.”

They created #ChurchToo. It went viral overnight.

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.

DUBLIN (IRELAND)
The Journal

April 1, 2018

By Christina Finn

During the interview, Archbishop Martin became upset as he recounted telling the Pope about the Tuam babies story.

ARCHBISHOP OF DUBLIN Diarmuid Martin has said misogyny is present in the Catholic Church.

In an interview with Miriam O’Callaghan on RTÉ Radio One, the Archbishop said he would like to see a stronger female presence in the Church.

“I believe that is achievable… But it depends on the ability of the male priesthood to reach out,” he said.

However, he added that he did not believe he would see female priests working within the Church in his lifetime.

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.

AUBURN (NY)
The Citizen

April 2, 2018

By Joanne Ocasio-Bizardi

Throughout April, during National Child Abuse Prevention Month, Cayuga/Seneca Community Action Agency is uniting its many programs to create an environment of awareness and support for families and children in our community. I encourage everyone to join us in standing up for the future of our community’s children.

Statistics obtained through the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System, provided by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Administration for Children and Families, from its 2015 Child Maltreatment Report, help frame the extent of the issue:

• During the federal fiscal year 2015, Child Protective Services agencies received an estimated 4 million referrals involving approximately 7.2 million children suspected of being abused or neglected; this represents a 15.5-percent increase since 2011.

• In 2015, approximately 683,000 children were found to be victims of child abuse and neglect; the victim rate was 9.2 victims per 1,000 children.

• Of those children victimized, 75.3 percent were neglected; 17.2 percent physically abused; 8.4 percent sexually abused and 6.9 percent maltreated in other ways including emotional abuse, threats and/or being subjected to a parent’s drug/alcohol abuse.

• In 2015, a nationally estimated 1,670 children died of abuse and neglect at a rate of 2.25 per 100,000 children in the national population.

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.

GUAM
Pacific Daily News

April 2, 2018

By Haidee V. Eugenio

Guam’s clergy sex abuse cases have been stayed, which means the proceedings have been suspended, in light of the parties’ ongoing settlement negotiations.

Parties in the federal and local lawsuits against the Archdiocese of Agana and others associated with the Catholic Church are pursuing mediation to try to settle some 160 complaints of child sex abuse against priests and other clergy.

If out-of-court settlement fails, then motions can be renewed or refiled.

U.S. District Court of Guam Chief Judge Frances Tydingco-Gatewood ordered a stay in the cases on March 30, after a recent status hearing wherein the parties indicated they would withdraw all pending motions in the clergy sex abuse cases in the interests of facilitating settlement and streamlining the court’s docket “with leave to refile at a later date in the event settlement cannot be reached.”

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

SOUTH AFRICA
eNCA

April 1, 2018

Archbishop Thabo Makgoba used his Easter sermon to address the controversial issue of alleged abuses in the Anglican church.

He said that while structures enabling the church to deal with abuse exist, they are not sufficient.

“Do people know enough about what the Canons provide?” asked the archbishop.

“What do we do in cases where the alleged perpetrators have retired and no longer hold licences? What do we do if they have died? What do we do if those abused have left the Church and perhaps converted to another faith? Are the measures in place in church schools adequate and widely enough known?

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.

NORRISTOWN (PA)
The Associated Press

April 2, 2018

By Kristen de Groot and Michael R. Sisak

Jury selection is getting underway Monday in Bill Cosby’s sexual assault retrial in a cultural landscape changed by the #MeToo movement, posing new challenges for both the defense and the prosecution.

Experts say the movement could cut both ways for the comedian, making some potential jurors more hostile toward him and others more likely to think men are being unfairly accused.

“We really have had this explosion of awareness since that last trial and it has changed the entire environment,” said Richard Gabriel, a jury consultant who has worked on over 1,000 trials. “It is a huge challenge for the defense, but it could also provide an avenue and open up the topic.”

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.

MARTINSBURG (WV)
The Associated Press

April 2, 2018

A civil trial that started in January in West Virginia has ended in an undisclosed settlement in a lawsuit accusing The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and local church officials of covering up years of sexual abuse by one man.

Media outlets report the settlement announced Friday by Berkeley County Circuit Judge Christopher Wilkes ends a trial that began Jan. 18. Details of the settlement were not made public, and lawyers and officials are barred from discussing the case.

Plaintiffs contended the Mormon church and others knew about 26-year-old member Christopher Michael Jensen’s sexual abuse convictions and allegations but “did nothing to warn and protect” their children.

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

NEW YORK (NY)
The New York Times

March 31, 2018

To the Editor:

“This Easter, I’ll Be Back in Church,” by Margaret Renkl (Op-Ed, March 26), reflects my sentiments exactly.

Although I haven’t stopped going to church, I have grown distant from the friends I had there. I can’t accept how my fellow Catholics can support a president and legislators who pass laws that hurt the poor and the needy. To care for them is at the core of our faith.

It broke my heart to see these people and others who desperately need health care demonstrating in the capital last year against repeal of the Affordable Care Act and some legislators voting for repeal anyway.

The silence of the bishops on so many of these destructive actions also leaves me feeling that no one in the church (except for the pope) is speaking with any moral authority.

MARJORIE IVES, JUPITER, FLA.

To the Editor:

Re “Francis, the Anti-Strongman,” by Paul Elie (Sunday Review, March 25):

Pope Francis’s persona belies a dictatorial penchant. He deals with challenges by removing those who disagree with him. The peremptory dismissal of members of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, for no apparent reason, is a case in point.

His rigging of the Synod on the Family and dubious editing of its summation in “Amoris Laetitia” (“The Joy of Love”) — an incomplete citation from John Paul II — is nothing short of dictatorial. And his circumventing of canonical process to initiate change — for example, changing the rite of foot washing on Holy Thursday, from a recognition of the uninterrupted transmission of spiritual authority from the apostles to succeeding generations of bishops, to an open-to-all act of charity — certainly seems autocratic.

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.

ENGLAND
The Guardian

April 2, 2018

By Harriet Sherwood

Deirdre McCormack says Catholic church covered up claims by Oxford academic later detailed in acclaimed book

The next of kin of a senior Catholic priest who was accused of sexual abuse before his death wants the headstone she paid for to be removed and destroyed.

Deirdre McCormack said she was “outraged and disgusted” at the allegations made by an Oxford academic against Canon Dermod Fogarty, and said the church had tried to sweep the disclosures “under the carpet”. She is seeking the urgent removal of the headstone.

The allegations were made by Stephen Bernard in an acclaimed book, Paper Cuts, published in February, which details more than 300 assaults over a four-year period starting in 1987 when Bernard was 11.

The disclosures came as a shock to McCormack, who was Fogarty’s closest living relative and inherited his personal effects.

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.

PORTLAND (OR)
Willamette Week

March 30, 2018

By Katie Shepherd

“We believe it is important to uncover the truth about what happened and to hold the Church accountable—to help ensure that this does not happen to children today.”

A woman sued the Seventh-day Adventist Church on Friday for allegedly removing a man accused of sexually abusing children from his role as a teacher only to position him as the pastor of one of the largest Adventist congregations in Portland.

The suit alleges that Lee Thompson abused a young girl in the early 1970s while he was teaching at Portland Adventist Elementary School, a private parochial school run by the church. After the allegations surfaced, the suit says the Oregon Conference of Seventh-day Adventists removed Thompson from his teaching role, but offered him a position as a pastor in Mt. Tabor, where he continued to abuse the plaintiff.

The plaintiff is named only as Laura Doe. The lawsuit seeks $4 million in economic and emotional damages from the church and asks the court to mete out punitive damages as well.

“This is not the first time the Seventh-day Adventist Church has been accused of turning a blind eye towards child sexual abuse,” says Stephen Crew, who is representing Doe in the suit. “We believe it is important to uncover the truth about what happened and to hold the Church accountable—to help ensure that this does not happen to children today.”

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.

DOTHAN (AL)
The Associated Press

April 2, 2018

Posted By Daniella Oropeza

A former Alabama minister is accused of sexually abusing children.

News outlets report 28-year-old William Wesley Williamson was arrested Thursday and charged with three counts of sex abuse of a child younger than 12 years old. Records say he was released from jail in Houston County after posting bonds totaling $90,000.

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

March 20, 2018, updated March 21, 2018

By Tom Precious

Albany – The spiritual leader of millions of Catholics in New York was at the Capitol Tuesday lobbying against a push to give a one-year window for alleged child abuse victims to sue for damages dating back decades.

“Look-back would be toxic for us,’’ Archbishop of New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan said of a one-year litigation period being pushed by child victim organizations and many state lawmakers.

Dolan, who is also leader of the New York State Catholic Conference, the lobbying arm of the state’s bishops, said the church is supportive of “very vigorous” changes to statute of limitations that would increase the age for victims to file civil and criminal actions.

But the church, along with organizations such as the Boy Scouts of America, has said a one-year look-back period would open the floodgates to litigation against organizations that could have to defend themselves in cases involving alleged abusers who have been dead or retired for years or decades. Victims groups dismiss the church’s concerns, saying other states that have created windows for litigation have seen no such floodgates open in their civil courts.

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

March 20, 2018, updated March 21, 2018

By Tom Precious

[Includes streaming audio of the entire interview.]

Bishop Richard J. Malone said Tuesday that it was important for the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo and for victims of clergy sexual abuse that he publicly identify 42 priests who have been accused of sexual misconduct involving children.

In an exclusive interview with The Buffalo News hours after he released the list of 42 priests, Malone said the diocese may struggle because of its new transparency, but it will be a good struggle.

“We’ve been working on this for months. Reviewing old cases and all of that. I have just become more and more convinced it was time to put those names out. The main reasons are really transparency. You’ve heard of the Dallas Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People. It calls us to transparency. I wanted that transparency to happen,” he said. “We know if a sexual abuse victim sees the name in print of the abuser, sometimes that person might have been ashamed and hidden away. Seeing the name in print, acknowledged by the church, can liberate and empower that person to come forward. And we want them to come forward for help.”

“I think the tendency decades ago was perhaps like a family. You don’t want to hang out the dirty laundry. But clearly there was dirty laundry. I hate to use that metaphor for human beings. But I felt it was time to bring it into the light.”

He noted that about 30 Catholic dioceses out of 197 in the U.S. have publicized the names of priests involved in sexual abuse allegations.

“The majority have not,” he said.

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

BUFFALO (NY)
Diocese of Buffalo

March 27, 2018

By Bishop Richard J. Malone

[Includes streaming audio of the sermon.]

Reprinted with permission, the text of Bishop Richard J. Malone’s Chrism Mass homily, delivered at St. Joseph Cathedral in Buffalo on March 27, 2018.

We gather for the Chrism Mass this year at a moment in our diocesan history when our Catholic community is in the throes of a crisis. Together, we are struggling to navigate through a storm – dark, unnerving, shocking, angering, faith-shaking. As much as we hate to think about it, the fact is that the past aberrant behavior of some of our priests – a few, in the big picture – long shrouded in darkness, has come into the light – thanks to the courage of one victim, Michael, who came forward and publicly disclosed his victimization. This revelation has triggered a series of other sad stories of trust betrayed and young people harmed.

After consultation with our Presbyteral Council and Diocesan Pastoral Council – and with their strong endorsement – I disclosed the names of 42 priests who are known to have abused children and young people. I made that decision for 3 reasons: for transparency; for the empowerment the truth gives victims to come forth so that we can help them; and for mitigation of risk of future incidents when past abuses are identified.

Our Catholic people are reeling, as are we priests, and understandably so. At the same time, I’ve received more support from both laity and brother priests than I can ever remember in 18 years as a bishop. I’m sure you have, as well, my brothers. We’re in this together – all of us – lay, clergy and religious – who are the Church of Western New York. And especially we who are priests. I know from meetings with the victims – I met with two victims just yesterday – and from conversations with brother priests, who are angry and ashamed – I know the truth of Blessed – soon to be Saint – Oscar Romero’s words: “There are many things that can only be seen through eyes that have cried.” Many of us know those tears. I do.

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.

LAUNCETON (TASMANIA)
The Examiner

March 28, 2018

By Stefan Boscia

A Launceston priest has no personal objection to making celibacy optional for Catholic Church clergy.

Father Mark Freeman suggested it was one of several measures that should be considered to bring the church further in line with other Christian denominations.

The Catholic Church forces clergy to remain celibate throughout their life, unlike other mainstream Christian denominations.

A recent royal commission into institutional sexual abuse recommended the Catholic Church reconsider the practice.

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

March 27, 2018

The Diocese of Buffalo failed the community by allowing priests who have been accused of sexually abusing children to remain in leadership roles.

Now, it turns out the church’s careless practices may have had other unintended consequences.

The News found eight priests from the Diocese of Buffalo accused of sexually abusing children living near elementary and middle schools. Reporters had to search public records to find the addresses of the eight priests. The diocese named 42 priests it said had credible allegations of sexual misconduct involving minors brought against them. But it declined to disclose their addresses.

The diocese should ensure the public knows of any such priests living in sensitive areas to forestall problems that could otherwise arise. The church should be upfront in managing this crisis and assuring the public. News staff reporter Jay Tokasz wrote that, in some cases, accused priests have been living across the street from a school or down the road only a few houses away.

Law enforcement’s role is limited. Erie County District Attorney John J. Flynn Jr. explained the problem: Because they were never convicted of a crime, he said, “these individuals are not required to be registered” as sex offenders.

It is true these accused priests were never found guilty of any offense, so they are not in any local database for sex registry offense. Legally, they cannot be prevented from living near a school.

This worrisome situation circles back to the church’s past practice of protecting priests, sending them for treatment near Toronto and then sometimes returning them to parishes and schools. It was an ugly practice that put more young people at risk, and not just here but other parts of the country. Now, the community is dealing with the inevitable consequences of the hierarchy’s initial failure to treat child sexual abuse as the criminal matter that it is.

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

LOS ANGELES (CA)
Variety

March 30, 2018

By Gene Maddaus

The unsecured creditors in the Weinstein Co. bankruptcy have hired Pachulski Stang Ziehl & Jones, a firm that has represented sexual abuse victims in a dozen bankruptcies involving the Catholic Church.

The five-member committee of unsecured creditors includes two alleged victims of Harvey Weinstein’s abuses: his former assistant Sandeep Rehal and former actress Louisette Geiss. The committee also includes WME, Cinedigm, and Light Chaser Animation, a Chinese animation studio. Geiss, who filed a suit alleging that Weinstein tried to force her to watch him masturbate in 2008, will chair the committee.

James Stang, a partner at the firm, will be among the attorneys representing the unsecured creditors. The committee’s goal will be to maximize the value of the Weinstein Co. estate in order to get the greatest possible recovery. The firm’s involvement is a sign that the committee may take an aggressive approach, possibly even suing Harvey Weinstein to recover funds that he may owe the company.

“It is not unusual in a bankruptcy case that one would look for assets that may be recoverable,” Stang told Variety in an interview. “The committee is going to look at potential liability of third parties, other than the Weinstein Co., and that would include Harvey Weinstein. That’s a given.”

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.

GUAM
Pacific Daily News

March 31, 2018

By Haidee V. Eugenio

A new book on sex abuse in the Catholic Church has cited the Guam church and former Archbishop Anthony S. Apuron’s attempts to invalidate a 2016 Guam law lifting the civil statute of limitation for child sex abuses.

G.R. Pafumi released the first of two volumes of his book, “Inhumanity in the Name of Jesus,” which argue the church’s history and teachings made the cover-up of clergy sex abuse inevitable because of unchecked power and the belief in ecclesiastical infallibility.

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.

BOSTON (MA)
NewBostonPost

March 29, 2018

By Kevin Thomas

Elena received her fair share of faulty Catholic teaching as a child, never believing she was good enough … “so any imperfection must be willful on my part and therefore a sin …”

“I learned not to trust my judgment on anything but to allow the priests and others in authority to usurp the role of my conscience and the role of God in my life.”

Then, Elena was molested by a priest when she was 12.

“I felt like Jesus must be on his side.”

Remarkably, both Elena and her faith survived.

“I realized, believing that Jesus was on the priest’s side was part of the lie,” she wrote. “I imagined how angry I would be if someone hurt one of my children.

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

BUFFALO (NY)
WIVB

March 27, 2018

By Marissa Perlman

A Pastor from a Parish in Dunkirk has been put on administrative leave by Bishop Richard Malone following an abuse complaint.

Tuesday, the Bishop says their investigation into the allegations against Father Dennis Riter is still in the early stages.

Dennis Riter was an active priest as of Palm Sunday, but now he will be released of his duties as long as this investigation continues.

We spoke with Mike Reck, who represents victims of child sexual abuse. He says his new client “Matt,” is the person who filed these allegations against Father Riter.

It was a very different meeting for the annual appeal week campaign for Catholic Charities, Tuesday.
Bishop Richard Malone was asked about how he learned of the allegations against Father Dennis G. Riter of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish.

Bishop Malone said, “The initial look at the case convinced us it was not what we call frivolous. In other words this is something we need to look at, that is not a judgement at all yet.”

Bishop Malone says he was notified “very recently.”

He says he is praying for the victims and Father Riter, and wants the parish not to assume guilt.
“There will be a professional investigation that will happen, and it’s a mistake to judge.”

The situation is the first since the Bishop released a list of clergy accused of sexual abuse; where a priest was pulled from active ministry.

Lawyer Mike Reck with Jeff Anderson and Associates is representing a former altar boy at Our Lady of Perpetual Help who wants to only be known as “Matt.”

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.

ARLINGTON (VA)
Diocese of Arlington

March 16, 2018

The Diocese of Arlington has been advised that Fairfax County Police Department also have an active investigation regarding Fr. Duesterhaus. Father Duesterhaus has stated that he is cooperating fully with the investigation. Fairfax County Police can be reached at (703) 691-2131.

Posted March 14, 2018

Rev. Michael R. Duesterhaus, a priest of the Catholic Diocese of Arlington, has been placed on administrative leave pending investigation of an allegation of sexual misconduct with a minor. The alleged incidents occurred between 2001 and 2004. Fr. Duesterhaus denies the accusation. No determination has yet been made regarding the allegation. The Diocese is fully cooperating with law enforcement and will continue to do so.

Like all priests, diocesan employees and volunteers who work with children in the Diocese of Arlington, Fr. Duesterhaus has undergone criminal background checks during his service. His current assignment, from which he is on administrative leave, is as parochial vicar at Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish in Winchester.

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

March 27, 2018

By Aaron Besecker

Fifteen years ago, when a man publicly accused the Rev. Richard P. Judd of sexually abusing him as a child, the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo wouldn’t answer questions about the preist, according to the Niagara Gazette.

Now Judd’s accuser is happy that the diocese included Judd on a list of 42 priests who had credible allegations of sexual abuse against them.

The man, identified by the Gazette as Nick D’Amico, told the newspaper that Judd abused him when he was a student at an elementary school in the summer of 1975.

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

April 1, 2018

By Suzanne Szustakowski

The latest revelations about past sexual abuse by Catholic priests in the Buffalo Diocese are deeply disturbing. The article in the March 21 News has revealed just how many more priests were involved than we, as parishioners, were aware of.

I had hoped the church leaders had learned the lessons of Boston, especially when our current bishop was in the Boston area and saw the destruction that scandal caused. As frequent visitors to the Boston area, we witnessed the empty churches, even on Christmas. We witnessed the distress of devout Catholics as the cover-up of this abuse persisted.

Apparently this was not enough to reform the church’s methods of dealing with this horrid crime. Even as these revelations are being made public, our bishop and prominent church leaders are protesting the passage of the look-back law that would allow victims recourse for past abuse. Our leaders are choosing to protect the church and not the victims.

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

NEW YORK (NY)
America Magazine

March 29, 2018

By Michael J. O’Loughlin

Nearly two decades after revelations of sexual abuse by priests were widely reported, legislators in states around the country are considering changes to laws that would give victims of child sex abuse more time to file criminal and civil complaints. Catholic leaders in those places support many of those changes—but some claim provisions in the proposed laws unfairly target private organizations and that they could open them up to lawsuits over abuse that occurred decades ago.

In New York, lawmakers are scrambling to pass a state budget before breaking for Passover and Easter this week. With backing from victims’ rights advocates and the governor, they are considering a provision in the final bill that would alter the criminal and civil statutes of limitation for sex abuse cases. Part of the measure would create a one-year window that would allow civil suits to proceed for abuse that occurred decades ago, referred to as a look-back provision.

“This extraordinary provision would force institutions to defend alleged conduct decades ago about which they have no knowledge and in which they had no role, potentially involving employees long retired, dead or infirm, based on information long lost, if it ever existed,” Dennis Poust, the director of communications for the New York State Catholic Conference, wrote in an email to America.

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

PROVIDENCE (RI)
Providence Journal

March 30, 2018

By Katherine Gregg

Abuse victims gave wrenching accounts at a House hearing on the bill introduced by Rep. Carol Hagan McEntee, whose legislation was motivated by her own sister’s repeated abuse as a child by their family’s parish priest.

A Rhode Island lawmaker has ripped the scab off the Catholic Church sex-abuse scandal with legislation born out of her older sister’s repeated abuse, as a child, by their family’s parish priest.

Rep. Carol Hagan McEntee’s legislation would remove the seven-year statute of limitations on the pursuit of legal claims against perpetrators of sex abuse. The statute of limitations derailed a lawsuit by two former victims of an infamous pedophile priest in 2016.

A late-night hearing on her bill earlier this week drew pained personal recollections from her sister, now a 65-year-old psychologist; a well-known doctor talking about his abuse publicly for the first time; and Jim Scanlan, a R.I. man whose account of sex-abuse by a Boston College High School priest in the late 1970s figured in the Oscar-winning movie “Spotlight.”

But the tales of abuse by trusted elders were not limited to the Catholic Church. Two women describing themselves as victims of sex-abuse scandals reaching back to the 1970s at St. George’s School in Middletown and the Gordon School in East Providence also conveyed their support for the bill, which has no restrictions on how far back the cases might reach.

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.

SAGINAW (MI)
Michigan Live

March 30, 2018

By Michael Kransz

The Catholic Diocese of Saginaw says many parishioners are celebrating Holy Week with “very heavy hearts” after recent search and seizures on two church properties and the home of Bishop Joseph R. Cistone as part of an investigation into sexual abuse by priests.

Just days before Holy Week, which started March 25 and concludes with Easter Sunday on April 1, police raided the bishop’s home, a cathedral rectory and the diocese offices. The search warrants were executed, because, prosecutors allege, diocese officials failed to fully cooperate in the ongoing investigation into sexual abuse within the diocese.

On Tuesday, March 27, Cistone commented on the doubts some parishioners might have about clergymen.

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.

BRADFORD (PA)
The Bradford Era

March 30, 2018

A former priest has publicly named a now-deceased priest, who served in Elk County, as having sexually abused him when he was a teenager in the Erie area.

James Faluszczak, 48, of Buffalo, N.Y., told The Courier-Express of DuBois that the Rev. Monsignor Daniel J. Martin abused him. Martin served as pastor of St. Boniface Parish, Kersey, in 1962, and as headmaster of Elk County Christian — now Elk County Catholic — until 1970. Martin died in 2006 at age 88.

Faluszczak says he was one of many witnesses to testify before a grand jury around September 2016 to investigate sex abuse allegations in dioceses throughout Pennsylvania, according to the Erie-Times News.

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)
WBFO

March 30, 2018

By Chris Caya

[Includes audio of Mark Lynch’s complete statement.]

A local man is going public with claims of being sexually abused as a teenager by a Catholic priest employed by the Diocese of Buffalo.

Mark Lynch, of Lewiston, says he was sexually assaulted in the rectory of Mount Carmel Parish, in Niagara Falls, by Father Joseph Schuster.

“It was 50 years ago. I was 13 years of age.”

Lynch said, he just began his healing process in December. And he chose to break his silence, Good Friday, with great reverence for the traditions stolen from him by the abuse he suffered at the hands of a Catholic priest.

That’s one of the great wounds that I have from this abuse is the fact that this man stole my sacraments. He stole my church from me.”

And Lynch says, other victims who came forward recently should not be blamed for hindering the Catholic Charities Appeal. He points to Bishop Richard Malone.

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)
WIVB 4

March 30, 2018

By Jenn Schanz

[Includes video interview with Mark Lynch.]

50 years after Mark Lynch claims a Buffalo priest sexually abused him, he’s speaking out.
Lynch was raised in a devout Irish Catholic family in Niagara Falls.

“On Good Friday, when Christ hung on the cross, between the hours of 12 and three, we respected three hours of silence,” it’s that tradition, Lynch told News 4, that inspired him to share his story at exactly 3 o’clock on Good Friday.

“In 1968, at the age of 13 I was sexually assaulted by Father Joseph Schuster,” he said on the steps of St. Joseph’s Cathedral Friday.

In the days after the Buffalo Diocese released a list of 42 former priests accused of sexually abusing children, Lynch reached out to News 4 via email.

“When that list came out I was hungry to find his name on that list. And it was not on that list and it was like I was punched in the gut. For some reason that moment made me feel like I didn’t count,” he said.

Aside from stating they are aware of these allegations, a spokesperson for the Buffalo Catholic Diocese would not comment further.

However, a spokesperson has explained that deceased former priests were listed only if they had at least two allegations against them.

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

ALBANY (NY)
The Daily Star

March 29, 2018

By Joe Mahoney

Advocates for a one-year window to allow child victims of sexual assault to bring civil suits against molesters and employers who enabled abuse said Thursday they are deeply disappointed that the measure was sliced out of state budget negotiations.

Those crusading for the Child Victims Act — legislation that has been opposed by the state’s Roman Catholic bishops, some youth groups and the insurance industry — said they will resume their push in Albany’s post-budget legislative session, which closes in mid-June.

The one-year revival is intended to arm victims with the ability to pursue legal claims even decades after they were molested.

“We’re going to continue our grassroots effort and I think it’s highly likely we’re going to make this happen,” said Bridie Farrell, a Saratoga Springs native and former Olympic speed skater who was molested by an adult male when she was 15.

State Senate Republicans, who control the upper chamber of the statehouse, succeeded in having the measure cut out of the budget legislation submitted in January by Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat.

Critics of the measure say it would lead to an evidentiary nightmare for New York’s courts.

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

SAN JOSE (CA)
NBC Bay Area

March 29, 2018

By Vicky Nguyen, Michael Bott, and Mark Villarreal

Grace Leonis speaks out for the first time, accusing her JV water polo coach of sexually abusing her when she was a freshman. Friends say they reported sexting and an inappropriate relationship to the school, but police were never notified

Grace Leonis arrived as a freshman at San Jose’s Presentation High School feeling like a fish out of water. A standout swimmer, her prowess in the pool got her to the Catholic school for girls, where tuition runs $20,000 a year.

Leonis joined the water polo team but still struggled to make friends and says she often felt dejected and alone. She says she turned to her junior varsity water polo coach Jenna Roe for support. Leonis, who first met Roe at a water polo camp in August 2013, right before school started, says Roe lavished attention on her.

“I’ve never gotten attention like that before from anybody,” Leonis, now 18, said in a recent interview at her parents’ home in San Jose. “I liked it. I wanted to be around her.”

The two began texting each other. Leonis said she confessed to Roe, 24, that she had a crush on her.

“She told me she felt the same way, and at first, I was like, ‘That’s not right,’” Leonis said.

Leonis, who had just turned 14, said she felt conflicted about her coach’s response.

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.

SALT LAKE CITY (UT)
The Associated Press

March 30, 2018

By Brady McCombs

A group of people demanding an end to one-on-one interviews between Mormon youth and lay leaders and the sexual questions that sometimes arise during the meetings plan to march to church headquarters Friday to show they’re not satisfied despite a rule change this week that allows children to bring parents with them.

Group organizer Sam Young, a Mormon father from Houston, says a parent or adult should be required for all meetings that usually happen twice a year starting at age 12. He said sexual questions often become explicit and argues children should only be asked if they are obeying the faith’s law of chastity.

Young is expecting several hundred people at the event that comes one day before a twice-annual conference put on by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They plan to deliver 55,000 signatures supporting the cause.

Church officials have said the interviews allow bishops to get to know youth better and determine their religious habits and obedience to God. The bishops are instructed how to handle the meetings and swear to keep the conversations confidential.

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

AUSTRALIA
Metro

March 29, 2018

The hearing of a whether a Cardinal charged with historic sex offences should stand trial has concluded in Melbourne.

George Pell, 76, Pope Francis’ former finance minister and the third most senior official in the Vatican, was charged on June 29 2017 with sexually abusing multiple people in his Australian home state of Victoria.

He is the most senior Vatican cleric ever charged in the Catholic Church sex abuse crisis.

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.

LANSING (MI)
CNN

March 29, 2018

By Majlie De Puy Kamp

Larry Nassar molested them. Now gymnasts describe a different kind of abuse by famed Olympic coach John Geddert

Late one night in the fall of 2012, 17-year-old Brittany Aragon overdosed. She took four Valium pills, lay down in bed and waited.

She was nervous, she said, but the thought of having to go back to the gym and face her coach, John Geddert, terrified her more than taking the pills.

While Larry Nassar was sexually abusing gymnasts in the back room of Twistars Gymnastics in Lansing, Michigan, Geddert – the famed Olympic coach and then-owner of the gym – was subjecting them to a different kind of horror: routinely ignoring their injuries and verbally assaulting them, according to former gymnasts and their families.

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

AUSTRALIA
The Age

March 30, 2018

By Melissa Cunningham & Adam Cooper

From the first day the door of court 22 was opened to the public, the man hired to represent Cardinal George Pell was ruthless in defence of his client.

Barrister Robert Richter, QC, is renowned for his confrontational courtroom tactics and they were on full display as he mercilessly tore into police, advocates for victims of sex abuse and even the magistrate.

Mr Richter is Australia’s foremost criminal defence counsel, known for successfully defending Mick Gatto on the charge of murdering underworld hitman Andrew Veniamin. Mr Gatto later had ‘‘Robert Richter’’ tattooed on his chest.

The QC has represented the dangerous, violent and the deeply disturbed, Hoddle Street massacre killer Julian Knight not least among them.

But Cardinal Pell, the highest-ranking modern-day Catholic to be charged with sexual offences, is Mr Richter ‘s most high-profile client.

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.

MELBOURNE (AUSTRALIA)
CNA/EWTN News

March 29, 2018

A hearing will that will decide whether Cardinal George Pell will go on trial for alleged abuse came to a conclusion Thursday after Pell’s attorney launched a vigorous defense and sought to cast doubt on the path from the first police investigations through the filing of legal charges.

Pell’s defense lawyer Robert Richter, 72, engaged in cross-examination of the charges against his client, with Victoria Police Crime Command’s head of serious crime, Paul Sheridan, taking the stand in court.

The Victoria Police launched a special operation in 2013 to investigate Pell, “Operation Tethering.” Richter charged that at its launch, “it was an operation looking for a crime because no crime had been reported.”

Sheridan confirmed the effort had been launched in 2013 specifically to gather information on the cardinal. There was a search for complainants and no one came forward until more than a year after the investigation began.

The total number of charges are not public, but most abuse allegedly took place in the 1970s. An additional allegation concerned the cardinal’s time as Melbourne’s archbishop from 1996-2001. Cardinal Pell has said he is innocent. He currently heads the Holy See’s Secretariat for the Economy and is one of the nine cardinals advising Pope Francis.

The hearing in Melbourne Magistrates Court concluded Thursday after hearing testimony from 50 witnesses, including Pell’s accusers, CNN reports. The cardinal was present every day of the hearing.

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.

LANSING (MI)
Detroit Free Press

March 30, 2018

By Gina Kaufman and Joe Guillen

Two Michigan State University employees who allegedly were aware of complaints years ago against Larry Nassar are still on the job, raising continuing questions about the university’s response to abuses by the former Olympic doctor that go back decades.

The two athletic trainers were informed nearly 20 years ago of incidents in which Nassar made athletes uncomfortable during appointments, according to two former athletes. It’s unclear what the trainers did with the information, but Nassar wasn’t stopped.

One of the trainers, Destiny Teachnor-Hauk, is named as a defendant in a federal lawsuit, which claims she and others at MSU “knew or should have known of Nassar’s abuse yet failed to take corrective action.”

An MSU spokeswoman told the Free Press in mid-March the trainers have never been suspended and are still working.

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.

SAGINAW COUNTY (MI)
NBC25

March 27, 2018

By Amanda Chodnicki

A survivor who said he was sexually abused decades ago by a priest within the Saginaw Diocese is helping alleged victims get through recent events surrounding the Catholic church.

Just last week, the offices of the Saginaw Diocese, the Bishop Joseph Cistone’s residence and the rectory at Saint Mary’s Cathedral were raided by police.

Boxes of items including electronics, were seized and all the while, victims were continuing to come forward.

This survivor, Brad Sylvester, is now a volunteer with the organization “SNAP”, or the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.

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.

MASON (MI)
Lansing State Journal

March 30, 2018

By Beth LeBlanc

A priest accused of embezzling more than $5 million from his Okemos parish is now the subject of a civil lawsuit lodged by the insurance company for the Catholic Diocese of Lansing.

The insurance provider claims to have paid out roughly $2.5 million to the diocese so far to cover its losses.

To protect the assets that will cover those losses, the agency convinced a judge Wednesday to place the Rev. Jonathan Wehrle’s sprawling estate into receivership.

“While this suit is pending, nobody wants to see the property go to waste or be damaged before the property can be forfeited,” said Randy Marmor, lawyer for The Princeton Excess and Surplus Lines Insurance Corporation.

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.

TORONTO (CANADA)
The Guardian

March 30, 2018

By Leyland Cecco

Canada bishops’ group said Francis would not offer personal apology for residential school system that abused generations of children

Survivors of Canada’s residential schools have expressed dismay after Pope Francis for a system that abused thousands of indigenous children for generations.

The schools, many of which were run by missionaries, were used to convert indigenous children to Christianity through a governmental policy of “aggressive assimilation”. More than 150,000 children passed through around 80 schools across the country until the last one closed in 1996.

The Canadian government formally apologized for the program 10 years ago. In 2014, Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission recommended a papal apology, which the prime minister, Justin Trudeau, personally lobbied for when he visited the Vatican last year.

While he has apologized for the “grave sins” of colonialism in South America, in a letter released Tuesday by the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, the president of the organization said Pope Francis would not issue a personal apology.

Stephen Kakfwi, the former premier of the Northwest Territories, attended a number of residential schools in the Canadian Arctic. He argued that survivors of the schools were not calling for a personal apology from the pontiff, but an institutional response from the Catholic church.

“We asked as for an apology from the pope, the head of the Catholic faith, for the millions of people who are Catholics around the world,” said Kakfwi, who helped arrange visits by Pope John Paul II to the Arctic.

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.

LAS VEGAS (NV)
The Associated Press

March 28, 2018

By Regina Garcia Cano

Elaine Wynn, the ex-wife of embattled casino mogul Steve Wynn, said during a court hearing Wednesday that she told the company’s general counsel in 2009 that she had received information alleging her ex-husband had raped an employee in 2005. The general counsel later denied receiving any information about a rape allegation.

The revelation came during testimony in a special hearing in a yearslong civil case in state court in Las Vegas involving her, her ex-husband and the casino-operating company they founded. It was the first time she testified in open court regarding the sexual misconduct allegation against Steve Wynn.

He has denied any wrongdoing.

Elaine Wynn said she did not report the information to anyone else in the company other than general counsel Kimmarie Sinatra. She acknowledged under questioning from the attorneys representing Wynn Resorts that she did not share the information with the company’s board of directors of which she was a member at the time.

“I told Ms. Sinatra that I had received information alleging that Mr. Wynn had raped an employee of the hotel in 2005,” she testified. She said Sinatra later told her the accusation “had been discussed by attorneys and that it was deemed not to have been an issue of concern for the company, that it had been handled personally, and therefore, it had been resolved.”

Elaine Wynn has argued she was not re-nominated the company’s board of directors in 2015 in retaliation for her inquiries into company activities.

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.

NIAGARA (NY)
Niagara Gazette

March 30, 2018

By Philip Gambini

After five decades of silence since being sexually assaulted at the hands of a well-known Niagara County priest, Mark Lynch will speak his truth this afternoon in the City of Buffalo.

“I have feared for several months the reality that, somewhere along in this healing process, a public statement would be both necessary and healing. I am answering the call from Bishop (Richard J.) Malone to come forward and be counted,” Lynch said in a prepared statement shared with the Niagara Gazette on Thursday.

Lynch, 63, will deliver his remarks today in Buffalo on the steps of St. Joseph’s Cathedral, 50 Franklin St., at 3 p.m. – a time of religious significance on the Catholic holy day of Good Friday.

“I am making this public statement in the hopes that other victims might be emboldened to come forward,” Lynch said.

In his remarks, Lynch said the sexual assault was perpetrated by a clergyman well-known in the Niagara Region, whose name he will disclose at the press conference later today.

The priest, now deceased, was not on a list of 42 known clergy abusers released by the diocese earlier this year, but Lynch said it his “understanding that I was only the first among many of his victims.”

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

ALBANY (NY)
Spectrum News

March 29, 2018

A new report has been released detailing allegations of sexual abuse by priests in the Albany Diocese, including the locations they were assigned.

Forty-two priests are named in the report titled “Hidden Disgrace Three,” released by attorneys in the group ‘Lawyers Helping Survivors of Child Sex Abuse.’ They say the information needs to get out into the public to prevent further incidents of abuse, and unlike other dioceses in the state, Albany does not have a current compensation program for survivors.

Attorneys say while the diocese keeps a list of priests facing credible accusations on its website, that list hasn’t been updated since 2015. Ultimately, the group is hoping their efforts help victims come forward who otherwise wouldn’t.

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.

BROOKLYN (NY)
Bklyner

March 29, 2018

By Zainab Iqbal

Survivors of clergy sex abuse in Brooklyn have until this weekend to report their abuser to the Brooklyn Diocese to be eligible for compensation. Here’s what it means and how survivors can get started.

In the fall of 2016, Archdiocese of NY set up a voluntary Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Program (IRCP), which allows clergy sex abuse survivors to report their abuse and seek settlements with the church. This IRCP is coming to an end, which is why survivors have until Saturday to apply. The eligibility requirements require that the person who perpetrated the abuse be a priest or deacon ordained in that diocese.

In order to be potentially compensated, survivors should report their abuse (if they have not done so already) by the reporting deadline, which is this Sat. March 31. The filing deadline to IRCP is April 15, but if the abuse is not reported by this weekend, the survivor will not be eligible.

Lawyers Helping Survivors of Child Sex Abuse is a joint venture of three law firms representing over 100 survivors who have filed a claim with the IRCP’s.

“It’s an opportunity, finally, for survivors of child sex abuse to get some measure of relief,” Jerry Kristal, attorney at Weitz & Luxenberg said, “some measure of recognition hat this actually happened to them, some sort of satisfaction that the church is finally doing something to try to right the wrong that had been done to them.”

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.

NEWCASTLE (AUSTRALIA)
Australian Broadcasting Corporation

March 29, 2018

By David Lewis

The Anglican Diocese of Newcastle is using money raised from selling churches to compensate victims of child sexual abuse, but one coastal community is fighting back.

Chapter I

The church on the hill

The closest thing the tiny town of Bungwahl has to a landmark is its church. St James sits high on a hill, overlooking the sparkling Myall Lakes on the New South Wales mid-north coast.

It has been there for more than a century but many tourists fail to notice the heritage-listed building as they drive past on their way to Seal Rocks or Forster.

On the day I visited, however, the church was hard to ignore.

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.

SILOAM SPRINGS (AR)
The Threefold Advocate

March 29, 2018

By Megan Koontz

For years Emily Joy sat in the back of her home church, unable to tell the truth about what kind of man her pastor was. Now, she’s free to be honest

The #ChurchToo movement was spurred on by the #MeToo movement and started by activist and writer Hannah Paasch and spoken word poet Emily Joy. Joy was groomed and raped by her youth pastor at the age of 16 and felt shamed by the culture of the megachurch she grew up in. She never shared her story with anyone in her church. After attending Moody Bible College and feeling the shame follow her, Joy finally gained the courage to confide in Paasch, whom met at Moody, the secret she had been hiding, according to The Huffington Post.

On Nov. 20, 2017, Paasch posted a tweet offering the hashtag #ChurchToo and asking women who had experienced sexual abuse within the church to come forward with their stories. Within 48 hours, people around the world were using the hashtag to recount stori es of pain and abuse they had experienced within the church.

Soon thereafter, the hashtag #SilenceisNotSpiritual followed, and women who are considered prominent in the church—including Beth Moore, Jen Hatmaker, Emily McFarlan Miller and Serene Jones—and 150 other women, published a statement challenging churches to stand by women who had experienced abuse in the church.

The root of abuse that happens within the church, according to Paasch and Joy, is often linked to the purity culture that permeates evangelical churches, the “theology of abstinence that singles out women and slut shames everyone who engages in any kind of sexual activity outside of marriage. Purity culture is the religious antecedent to rape culture, as it lays the bulk of the responsibility for maintaining the sexual purity of both genders on women’s attire and behavior,” Paasch 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.

SALT LAKE CITY (UT)
The Salt Lake Tribune

March 29, 2018

By Mariah Noble

The Mormon church announced Thursday that it plans to close two missionary training centers — one in Santiago, Chile, and the other in Madrid, Spain — in January.

A news release from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said ecclesiastical leaders “continue to seek the best use of resources worldwide according to the needs and demands of each area.”

Starting in January, missionaries who would have attended either of these centers will be trained at one of the remaining 13 missionary training centers around the world, including the flagship facility in Provo.

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.

SALT LAKE CITY (UT)
Deseret News

March 29, 2018

By Sarah Jane Weaver

In a continuing effort to counsel leaders on how to prevent, identify and respond to abuse, the First Presidency announced changes on March 26 detailing the Church actions “to protect God’s children.”

The First Presidency sent a letter and resource document — which includes an updated version of guidelines first issued in 2008 — to Church leaders in the United States and Canada.

“To help ensure the safety and protection of children, youth and adults, we ask that all priesthood and auxiliary leaders become familiar with existing Church policies and guidelines on preventing and responding to abuse,” stated the letter, signed by President Russell M. Nelson, President Dallin H. Oaks and President Henry B. Eyring.

The letter noted that in 2008, the First Presidency encouraged Church leaders to reach out in love to assist those who were suffering from abuse. “This global issue continues to be of great concern to us today. Our hearts and prayers go out to all who are affected by this serious problem.”

The changes detail how bishops and stake presidencies may conduct interviews with women and children and how they counsel victims of abuse and sexual abuse.

The revised statement on policies and guidelines specifies that children, youth and women now may invite an adult to join them in what traditionally have been personal interviews.

The First Presidency also clarified to members of bishoprics and stake presidencies how they should respond to reports of sexual abuse and how to minister in those situations. Church leaders are to rely on Church doctrine when addressing abuse and should never disregard a report of abuse or encourage members to remain in an abusive situation.

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.

NORTHERN IRELAND
The Irish Times

March 30, 2018

By Patsy McGarry

Bishop Philip Boyce expressed regret his focus on victims’ needs was not greater in the past

The Catholic diocese of Dromore has distanced itself from comments by a retired priest there who said he was “disgusted” at the appointment of Bishop Philip Boyce as its administrator this week.

Bishop Boyce (78) had been Bishop of Raphoe in Donegal since 1995 until he retired last year. He was appointed administrator of Dromore (which includes parishes in Antrim, Armagh and Down) after Pope Francis accepted the resignation of Bishop John McAreavey.

That followed controversy over the diocese’s handling of child sexual abuse allegations made against former president of St Colman’s College, Newry and former parish priest at Clonduff/Hilltown, Fr Malachy Finnegan, who died in 2002.

In a BBC Radio Ulster interview this week Fr Eamon Murray pointed out that in 2011 Bishop Boyce was criticised for his handling of clerical sex abuse allegations in Raphoe.

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.

SCOTLAND
The Free Thinker

March 28, 2018

By Barry Duke

A 51-year-old man who cannot be named for legal reasons claims that he was punished after he reported Father Francis Paul Moore, above, for attempting to abuse him in a Scottish church.

According to this report, the alleged victim was just 11 when he had an encounter with Moore in St Margaret’s Church in Castlepark.

The man says the incident occurred when he had visited the church with his cousin who had been locked in an office with Moore.

He said after he banged on the door to help his cousin, the priest pounced and he knew he was going to be his next victim.

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.

FALL RIVER (MA)
The Herald News

March 29, 2018

By Brian Fraga

A judge is allowing a trial to proceed against former Fall River Bishop Daniel A. Cronin, who was sued three years ago for his alleged failure to supervise a priest who is accused of molesting two boy altar servers in the 1970s and 1980s.

In his ruling on Cronin’s motion for a summary judgement, dated March 5, Middlesex County Superior Court Judge Maynard Kirplani said a jury should decide the case because questions remain as to whether Cronin should have been suspicious of and investigated the late Monsignor Maurice Souza for spending a lot of time away from his parish on the Cape and going on road trips with adolescent boys.

Boston attorney Mitchell Garabedian, who represents the plaintiffs, said the judge’s decision is significant because it says the former bishop “had an obligation to supervise in a reasonable manner” to determine whether Souza violated the Catholic Church’s rules regulating priests’ vacations and prohibiting lay people from staying in a rectory. Garabedian said those concerns could have triggered an inquiry in to Souza’s behavior.

“Bishop Cronin could therefore be found by a jury to be negligent even though it has not been shown that Bishop Cronin had prior notice of Monsignor Souza sexually abusing the plaintiffs,” said Garabedian, who has represented dozens of victims of clergy sex abuse.

Garabedian said Kirplani’s ruling “helps hold supervisors accountable which helps victims try to heal and it helps protect children.”

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

BOSTON (MA)
Boston Herald

March 30, 2018

By Bob McGovern

Former altar boys who claim they were molested by a priest years ago are allowed to sue the bishop they say failed in supervising him, according to a recent court ruling.

Paul Andrews and Daniel Sherwood are suing the Rev. Daniel Cronin, the former bishop of the Fall River Archdiocese. They argue that he was negligent in supervising and retaining the services of Maurice Souza — a now-deceased priest who they say sexually molested them when they would go on out-of-state trips in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Judge Maynard A. Kirpalani ruled that the case could go on, despite a pitch from Cronin’s attorneys to toss the suit.

“While the case is certainly slim, genuine issues of material fact do remain,” Kirpalani wrote earlier this month. “In particular, an issue remains about whether Cronin, who was in charge of the diocese and had the power to remove Souza, should have known that one of his priests spent significant time away from the parish … on extended road-trips with adolescent boys.”

Mitchell Garabedian, an attorney representing Andrew and Sherwood, said it was a huge decision for his clients.

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.

SAGINAW (MI)
MLive

March 28, 2018

By Michael Kransz

Some Saginaw Diocese parishioners are calling for Saginaw Bishop Joseph R. Cistone to step down after prosecutors say his diocese failed to cooperate in an ongoing sexual abuse investigation.

“He has no credibility,” said Mary Ureche, a parishioner at St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Saginaw Township. “The reason he’s here is because of the cover-up and shredding of documents in Philadelphia.”

Nathan Medina grew up worshiping at Cathedral of Mary of the Assumption in Saginaw. The 34-year-old said, among other options to rebuild trust, the bishop should resign.

“The Diocese of Saginaw needs somebody who can fix this, and I don’t think Bishop Cistone can,” Medina said.

Ureche and Medina were referencing Cistone’s time as a high-ranking member in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and a grand jury report on sexual abuse and cover-up within that diocese.

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.

ZIMBABWE
The Zimbabwe Mail

March 29, 2018

By Brill Pongo

About 3 years ago I joined a prophetic church largely out of curiosity and I quickly began to investigate the operations of how things work my fascination was mainly with the culture and behaviour of the members of these churches and the celebrity type leaders, who are treated as ‘demigods’.

Because of my previous stance and views vis-à-vis these churches I was treated more favourably by the leadership and found my way and acceptance into the inner circle very quickly.

In no time I was tasked with doing some media and PR work to assist the ‘truth’ and aid the image of the leader.

It was from that position that I was able to carry out my investigations and I was able to observe and understand a lot that goes on behind the scenes, which I will reveal in due course but for now I want to focus on spiritual abuse in general and its excesses particularly in some modern day prophetic movement churches.

My hope is that by writing about these excesses publicly, we can begin to dialog openly about this very real problem. Hiding it or pretending it doesn’t exist simply adds more confusion and anger to those who have walked through the trauma of spiritual abuse.

So I wrote these traits of spiritually abusive ministries and churches. This is not an exhaustive list, but it typifies what happens. My heart in sharing this is to simply shed light on unhealthy, manipulative, controlling practices.

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.