ABUSE TRACKER

OTTAWA (CANADA)
The Guardian

March 28, 2018

Schools largely run by Catholic church took 150,000 First Nations, Inuit and Métis children away from families and force them to convert

Pope Francis will not apologize to survivors of Canada’s Indian residential schools for the role the Roman Catholic church played in operating the institutions or the abuses suffered there.

Some 150,000 First Nations, Inuit and Métis children were taken from their families over much of the last century and put in the schools, where they were forced to convert to Christianity and not allowed to speak their native languages. Many were beaten and verbally and sexually abused, and up to 6,000 are said to have died. Almost two-thirds of the 130 schools were run by the Catholic church.

Bishop Lionel Gendron, president of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, said on Wednesday in a letter to the Indigenous Peoples of Canada that Francis has not shied away from acknowledging injustices faced by indigenous peoples around the world, but that he cannot personally issue an apology for residential schools in Canada.

“The Catholic Bishops of Canada have been in dialogue with the Pope and the Holy See concerning the legacy of suffering you have experienced,” Gendron wrote.

“After carefully considering the request and extensive dialogue with the bishops of Canada, he felt that he could not personally respond.”

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LA RONGE (SASKATCHEWAN, CANADA)
LaRonge Now

March 28, 2018

By Derek Cornet

Residential schools survivors who attended a two-day gathering this week aren’t happy with Pope Francis’ decision to not apologize for the trauma they went through.

“I talked to a few people this morning and the Pope knows what happened from so many stories,” Lac La Ronge Indian Band elder Tom Roberts, who organized the event held March 27 and 28, said. “They’re not happy, I’m not happy, but what we learned at the residential school and being survivors now, is we are very resilient people. If we get knocked down, we get up.”

As one of the Calls to Action from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the Pope was asked to come to Canada and apologize to survivors, their families and communities for the Roman Catholic Church’s role in the spiritual, cultural, emotional, physical and sexual abuse of First Nations, Inuit and Métis children in Catholic-run residential schools. Roberts said through the vast amounts of testimony already given about people’s experiences at those schools, Pope Francis should be well aware of what happened.

Roberts attended residential school in Prince Albert for seven years and said his journey in life has been hard because of it. He said people are now in a period of reclaiming their identities, which are slowly coming back. First Nations people were hopeful the Catholic Church would have apologized this summer, Roberts said, adding he feels sorry for the Pope not coming.

“It didn’t have to happen that way, where they took us away from our moms and dads as young as five years old to be taken to the residential school for 10 months out of the year,” he said.

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SASKATOON (SASKATCHEWAN, CANADA)
Saskatoon StarPhoenix

March 28, 2018

By Dave Deibert

The Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Saskatoon says he remains ‘hopeful’ that Pope Francis will one day travel to Canada to apologize to residential school survivors and their families.

The Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Saskatoon says he remains “hopeful” that Pope Francis will one day travel to Canada to apologize to residential school survivors and their families for the role of the Roman Catholic Church in operating residential schools and for the abuse suffered by the schools’ students.

A papal apology was No. 58 of the 94 recommendations from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

The commission recommended an apology similar to that offered by the Pope to Irish victims of sexual abuse in 2010. In 2015, Pope Francis issued an apology in Bolivia to Indigenous peoples in the Americas for the “grave sins” of colonialism.

Instead, Bishop Lionel Gendron, president of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, on Tuesday released a letter to the Indigenous Peoples of Canada saying Pope Francis has not shied away from acknowledging injustices faced by Indigenous peoples around the world, but that he can’t personally issue an apology for residential schools.

“I recognize that the recent letter to the Indigenous Peoples (of) Canada from the president of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) is a disappointment to many people in our community,” Roman Catholic Diocese of Saskatoon Bishop Mark Hagemoen wrote in a statement issued to media.

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UNITED STATES
Chicago Tribune

March 29, 2018

By Jessi Roti

More than 90 percent of female concertgoers surveyed by OurMusicMyBody experienced being harassed, the campaign said Monday.

Launched in 2016 as a joint effort between nonprofit organizations Between Friends and Rape Victim Advocates, the OurMusicMyBody campaign aims to promote “fun and consensual music experiences for all” through anti-harassment policies and guidelines at music venues and festivals across Chicago.

After recognizing that festivals and venues did not have procedures in place to address issues of harassment and assault, or coordination and education between security and support teams (like medical, for example) about the next steps to take if these issues arise, the campaign became necessary — as echoed by Riot Fest creative director Jeremy Scheuch when he was asked why the festival partnered with OurMusicMyBody.

In 2017, OurMusicMyBody was responsible for the implementation of anti-harassment guidelines and policies at the city’s three major music fests, Pitchfork, Lollapalooza and Riot Fest, as well as more locally focused events Ruido Fest and Green Music Fest. The campaign also partnered with various venues such as Lincoln Hall, Schubas, Subterranean and Beat Kitchen to provide information at concerts hosted year-round.

More than 500 respondents answered questions about harassment in the online survey taken between November and December 11, 2017. The survey was broken down by gender: 379 females, 84 males and 57 nonbinary people. Harassment was defined as spoken violence and aggression to physical assault — including being drugged or being coerced into drinking.

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LANSING (MI)
Detroit Free Press

March 29, 2018

By David Jesse

A financial rating firm has dropped its outlook for Michigan State University to negative as it evaluates the fallout from the Larry Nassar sexual assaults scandal.

S&P Global Ratings credit analyst Ashley Ramchandanisaid pending investigations into MSU, along with lots of turnover in senior leadership, sparked the change. The firm also says they aren’t sure how all the fallout will shake out.

“While management reports the hiring of additional staff and implementation of amended policies to address sexual assault prevention, patient care and campus safety, in our opinion, current campus community tension may stall prompt and equitable resolution of stakeholders’ concerns.”

Ratings affect the university’s ability to borrow money through bonds and the interest rates it gets. The agency left the rating for current bonds unchanged.

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CANADA
The Canadian Press

March 28, 2018

Truth and Reconciliation Commission called for a papal apology to survivors

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said today he’s disappointed with the Pope’s decision to not apologize for the Catholic Church’s role in Canada’s residential schools and the trauma experienced by their students.

The prime minister said reconciliation is not just a matter between government and Indigenous people, but must also involve non-government actors as well.

A letter released Tuesday by the president of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops says Pope Francis has not shied away from recognizing injustices faced by Indigenous peoples around the world, but he can’t personally apologize for residential schools.

“Obviously I’m disappointed with the Catholic Church’s decision not to apologize for their role in residential schools,” said Trudeau.

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ROME
CRUX

March 29, 2018

By John L. Allen Jr.

Father Hans Zollner, an earnest 51-year-old Bavarian Jesuit psychologist and vice-rector at Rome’s prestigious Gregorian University, who’s considered perhaps Catholicism’s leading expert on sexual abuse and child protection, is, in almost every sense of the word, a man on a mission.

In the 21st century, we use that phrase to mean someone with a cause, and that’s certainly Zollner. He sees the protection of vulnerable people, especially children, as a core part of the Christian faith, and he’s determined to do everything in his power to promote and foster safe environments.

In the history of Zollner’s Jesuit order, “mission” also implies hitting the road, taking the Gospel to the four corners of the world, and that’s him as well. Over the past four years or so, he’s led approximately 600 training sessions in child protection for bishops, religious superiors, and Church institutions, in virtually every part of the world. When he spoke to Crux on March 28, he had just returned from a session with the French bishops in Lourdes, and he ticked off plans for the near future including stops in Kenya and in Papua New Guinea.

While he tries to go wherever he’s invited, Zollner says he gets about one-third more invitations than even someone with his inexhaustible energy and relentless commitment can possibly accept, so he hands those off to a growing network of like-minded colleagues and former students.

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MELBOURNE (AUSTRALIA)
The Associated Press

March 29, 2018

An Australian magistrate on Thursday closed a monthlong court hearing of evidence on whether the most senior Vatican cleric ever charged in the Catholic Church’s sex abuse crisis will stand trial.

Belinda Wallington told the Melbourne Magistrates Court she would make her decision after lawyers make their final submissions on April 17 as to whether prosecutors have a strong enough case against Australia’s highest-ranking Catholic, Cardinal George Pell, currently on a leave of absence as head of the Vatican’s Secretariat for the Economy, to warrant a trial by jury.

Pell was charged last June with sexually abusing multiple people in his Australian home state of Victoria. The details of the allegations against the 76-year-old cardinal have yet to be released to the public, though police have described the charges as “historical” sexual assault offenses – meaning the crimes allegedly occurred decades ago.

Pell has not been required to enter pleas, but has said through his lawyers he will plead not guilty to all counts if ordered to stand trial.

The cardinal has attended every day of the four-week preliminary hearing. The first two weeks were closed to the public as his alleged victims testified via a video link to the court. Such closed courts are standard in Victoria when alleged sex abuse victims testify.

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OTTAWA (CANADA)
The Canadian Press

March 27, 2018

By Mia Rabson

Pope Francis will not apologize to residential school survivors and their families for the role the Roman Catholic Church played in operating the schools or the abuses suffered by their students.

A papal apology was one of the 94 recommendations from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and during a visit to the Vatican last year, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau personally asked the Pope to consider such a gesture.

The commission recommended an apology similar to that offered by the Pope to Irish victims of sexual abuse in 2010. In 2015, Pope Frances issued an apology in Bolivia to Indigenous peoples in the Americas for the “grave sins” of colonialism.

Bishop Lionel Gendron, president of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, today released a letter to the Indigenous Peoples of Canada saying Pope Francis has not shied away from acknowledging injustices faced by Indigenous peoples around the world, but that he can’t personally issue an apology for residential schools.

“The Catholic Bishops of Canada have been in dialogue with the Pope and the Holy See concerning the legacy of suffering you have experienced,” Gendron wrote. “The Holy Father is aware of the findings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which he takes seriously. As far as call to action #58 is concerned, after carefully considering the request and extensive dialogue with the bishops of Canada, he felt that he could not personally respond.”

Gendron says the Pope has not ruled out a visit to Canada and a meeting with Indigenous Peoples, but in the meantime is encouraging Canadian bishops to continue working with Indigenous Peoples on reconciliation issues and projects that help with healing.

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CANADA
The Globe and Mail

March 28, 2018

By Michael W. Higgins

Michael W. Higgins is a distinguished professor of Catholic Thought at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Conn.

One of the highlights of the liturgical year, for me at least, when I was a seminarian in the mid-1960s, was the steak-and-wine celebration immediately following the Holy Thursday mass. The Feast of the Last Supper, as it was also known, was traditionally understood as the occasion when Jesus instituted the priesthood, so there was special reason for an enclave of clerics and would-be clerics to break their Lenten fast and rejoice in their unique and sacred calling. It was an event for men only, although in fact there were some women present: the nuns who prepared and served our food.

It was also the liturgy at which the feet of the youngest seminarians were washed by the rector and vice-rector in imitation of Jesus’s washing of the feet of the apostles at the Lord’s Supper. Again, the only women present were the nuns, who assumed a prayerful position at the back of the chapel. Their feet were excluded from the washing, although in terms of humble service – the model of behaviour Jesus exemplified – they were the best living illustration.

The faculty and students in no way saw this ecclesiastical arrangement as anything other than normative and unalterable. It was God’s will. It was their spiritual gift.

I was reminded of this patriarchal bit of theatre recently when the Mary McAleese affair erupted, first on the Irish scene and now globally.

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HUNTSVILLE (TX)
CNN

March 29, 2018

By Jean Casarez and Laura Dolan

Bela Karolyi helped build Karolyi Ranch with his own hands. It’s where he and his wife Martha helped train more than a dozen elite gymnasts to Olympic glory.

But the most powerful couple in US gymnastics history, who coached legends Nadia Comaneci, Mary Lou Retton and Kerri Strug, said they can’t recall numerous details about what happened at their ranch in Huntsville, Texas, such as whether former USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar was licensed to practice there or who was responsible for keeping the gymnasts secure.
In depositions obtained exclusively by CNN, the Karolyis said they had very little to do with the day-to-day operation of the ranch when it served as a training site for the women’s national gymnastics team.

Their depositions, given in May of 2017, are part of a civil lawsuit filed by former elite gymnast Mattie Larson, which claims that the Karolyis “turned a blind-eye to the perpetrator Nassar’s sexual abuse of children at the Ranch.”

Nassar has pleaded guilty to criminal sexual conduct in two cases and to federal child pornography charges. He is serving prison sentences of up to 175 years.

Karolyi Ranch, a 2,000-acre compound about 70 miles north of Houston, wasn’t just a gymnastics mecca bearing the coaches’ names. It became the US Women’s National Team Training Center in 2001 and a US Olympic Training Site in 2011 — during many of the same years Nassar was the national team doctor.

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MELBOURNE (AUSTRALIA)
CNN

March 29, 2018

By Lucie Morris-Marr

Fiery accusations by the defense against witnesses and even the magistrate dominated the last days of a month-long committal hearing into allegations of abuse against Cardinal George Pell, the treasurer for the Vatican.

Pell has attended Melbourne Magistrates Court every day of the hearing, which concluded Thursday after listening to testimony from 50 witnesses, including a number of Pell’s accusers.
The cardinal, Australia’s highest-ranking Catholic official, is alleged to have committed abuse in the 1970s, in locations including a swimming pool, a cinema, a chapel and on a hill top in country Victoria. Pell has vehemently denied the allegations.

An additional allegation of abuse emerged during the committal hearing, of an incident at a sacristy at St Patrick’s Cathedral in Melbourne. Between 1996 and 2001 he was the Archbishop for the city.

A final decision on whether the case will proceed to trial will be made by the magistrate at an undisclosed future date. There is still a further hearing to take place on April 17 for the defense and prosecution teams to make their verbal submissions to the court.

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LONDON (ENGLAND)
The Associated Press

March 28, 2018

By Jill Lawless

Harvey Weinstein’s former British assistant said Wednesday that a gag order she had to sign when she left his film company was “morally lacking in every way” and failed to stop the movie producer’s harassment and abuse of women.

Zelda Perkins quit Weinstein’s firm Miramax in 1998 along with a colleague who accused the movie mogul of trying to rape her. Each received a 125,000-pound ($177,000) settlement and signed a non-disclosure agreement.

Perkins told a committee of British lawmakers that she felt “defrauded” by the agreement, which contained clauses intended to stop Weinstein from sexually harassing or abusing staff.

The agreement committed Weinstein to attend therapy and required the company to act if he made any more payouts over alleged wrongdoing. Perkins said she has no evidence that these actions were carried out.

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ALBANY (NY)
Times Herald-Record

March 28, 2018

By Chris McKenna

Lex Filipowski was a 7-year-old altar boy at Holy Cross Church in Wawayanda, alone with the pastor as they changed into their robes before Mass, when the Rev. George Boxelaar pulled him close and began kissing him on the lips.

Thus began an abuse routine that escalated to groping and lasted for four years in the early 1970s, ending when Filipowski’s family changed churches. Filipowski first went public with Boxelaar’s molestation of him in a Times Herald-Record story in 2002, prompting at least 25 other people to come forward with reports of being sexually abused by the same priest when they were young boys. By that time, Boxelaar had been removed from the priesthood and had returned to his native Holland, where he died at age 81 in 1990.

Today, Filipowski has added his voice to an intense campaign on behalf of the Child Victims Act, a state bill that abuse survivors and their advocates have sought for more than a dozen years and that was part of budget negotiations in Albany this week. The bill would extend the statutes of limitation for criminal and civil cases against abusers — New York doesn’t let cases be brought after the victim turns 23 — and open a one-year window for any past victims to sue their abusers and culpable institutions.

The targets of the campaign are the Senate’s ruling Republicans, who have blocked the legislation because they oppose the one-year window.

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SAGINAW (MI)
Church Militant

March 28, 2018

By Christine Niles, M.St. (Oxon.), J.D.

Brad Sylvester asked for multiple meetings with Bp. Joseph Cistone, which went ignored

A victim of sex abuse claims Bp. Joseph Cistone of Saginaw, Michigan refused to talk or meet with him after multiple requests.

Brad Sylvester, a Saginaw local, hand-delivered a letter to the diocese in 2012 detailing his abuse at the hands of Fr. Stanislaus Bur when he was a child, and requested a face-to-face meeting with Bp. Cistone. It was one among multiple letters he had sent to the diocese that went ignored by the bishop.

Because the abuse took place nearly three decades earlier, it was beyond the statute of limitations.

Instead, the diocese sent Sr. Janet Fulgenzi, victim assistance coordinator for the diocese’s Office of Child and Youth Protection. “She was just sitting in, listening to my sessions, like a bystander,” Sylvester told Church Militant of his meetings with his social worker, where Fulgenzi was present on several occasions. According to the victim, Fulgenzi asked no questions and offered no helpful advice.

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OLEAN (NY)
Olean Times Herald

March 28, 2018

By Tom Dinki

A lawsuit filed by a former Archbishop Walsh High School student alleged the Rev. James A. Spielman abused him from approximately September 1979 through 1982 when he was 14 to 17, and that school officials were aware of the abuse but did nothing to stop it.

The lawsuit, filed in 2014 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaii, includes allegations Spielman molested the victim, including by sexual intercourse, and that the former Walsh priest and religion teacher supplied minors with alcohol and pornography.

Both Catholic Diocese of Buffalo and Walsh officials were aware Spielman “had an unusual interest in minor boys,” yet allowed him to have frequent, unsupervised contact with them, according to the lawsuit.

Photos from the 1982-83 Walsh yearbook obtained by the Olean Times Herald state senior classes would go on annual, three-day retreats to Spielman’s “cabin on the hill.” Students even dedicated that entire yearbook to Spielman for “acting not only as a teacher but as a friend as well.”

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EAST LANSING (MI)
Lansing State Journal

March 28, 2018

By Matt Mencarini

A public relations firm billed Michigan State University for more than $500,000 for January as it tracked social-media activity surrounding the Larry Nassar case that often included the accounts of victims and their families, journalists, celebrities and politicians.

Michigan State University’s Office of Communication and Brand Strategy previously had been doing the work, which also included collecting and evaluating news articles, and some of its employees continued to do so in January.

The work by Weber Shandwick, a New York-based firm, totaled $517,343 for more than 1,440 hours of work, according to documents obtained through a public records request. The firm billed for work done by 18 employees, whose hourly rates ranged from $200 to $600 per hour.

Five billed Michigan State for more than $50,000, including one for $96,900 and another for $120,893.

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BOSTON (MA)
New Boston Post

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.

“Somehow knowing God was on my side, that he was just as angry as I was, helped me to find forgiveness alongside the anger.”

That is part of one story, in a collection of essays in the recently released Christ’s Body, Christ’s Wounds: Staying Catholic When You’ve Been Hurt in the Church” (Cascade Books), edited by Eve Tushnet.

The 12 essays detail a variety of experiences, including abuse, manipulation, rejection, theft, personal judgmentalism, and racism.

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LANSING (MI)
CBS Sports

March 27, 2018

By Kevin Skiver

Interim president John Engler is trying to hold William Strampel accountable for Nassar’s crimes

With Larry Nassar being sentenced to what will amount to life behind bars, Michigan State University is now trying to address the system that made his crimes possible. Nassar’s boss when he was at Michigan State, former dean William Strampel, has reportedly been arrested for his role (or lack thereof) in Nassar’s crimes. Ingham County Sheriff Scott Wriggelsworth confirmed to The Detroit Free Press that Strampel was being held, but he said that he wouldn’t comment on the charges until arraignment.

The Free Press, however, is reporting that Strampel is being held for multiple charges, including at least one felony and several misdemeanors.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
UPI

March 27, 2018

By Danielle Haynes

Police in Michigan arrested William Strampel, Dr. Larry Nassar’s former boss, Tuesday on allegations he failed to protect students at Michigan State University and criminal sexual conduct charges.

The charges came after state authorities removed items from a building at the school over its handling of the Nassar case and other alleged sexual assault cases. In particular, authorities requested records and electronic devices Strampel used during his time as dean of the College of Osteopathic Medicine.

Strampel resigned from the school in December citing health concerns.

He faces four charges, including a felony charge of criminal sexual conduct, two misdemeanor charges of willful neglect of duty by a public official, and felony misconduct in office.

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ISLE (MN)
MilleLacs Messenger

March 28, 2018

By Vivian LaMoore

A $25 million settlement agreement was approved on Thursday, March 22, by the court between the Crosiers religious order and victims of clergy sexual abuse.

The Crosiers emerged from Chapter 11 as the U.S. Bankruptcy Court confirmed the reorganization plan to allow the Crosiers to settle on $25.5 Million – $5.7 million will be paid directly by the Crosiers and just short of $19 million would be paid by the insurers, Jeff Anderson, attorney for the survivors, said.

The agreement was made in advance of the Crosier reorganization settlement under the Child Victims Act, Anderson added.

“We worked with them, and they made public all of the offenders known to the Crosiers. All of the case files will be made public as well,” Anderson said. “I commend the Crosiers for being transparent and helping so many who were hurt to begin to heal.”

Anderson also commended Fr. Tom Enneking, osc, prior provincial of the U.S. Crosier Province, who took the stand and gave a “heartfelt apology and expressions of sorrow” before the court.

The Crosiers filed for Chapter 11 protection over nine months ago, according to a statement by the Crosiers. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Kressel for the District of Minnesota, confirmed the Crosiers’ plan for reorganization on March 22. The Crosier Fathers and Brothers Province, Inc.; Crosier Fathers of Onamia; and the Crosier Community of Phoenix filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy June 1, 2017.

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AUSTRALIA
Illawarra Mercury

March 29, 2018

By Jacqueline Le and Megan Neil

A detective who led the historical sex offence investigation into Cardinal George Pell has denied “zeroing in” on Australia’s highest-ranked Catholic.

The police investigation into Pell has come under repeated attack by lawyers during a hearing to determine if the 76-year-old should stand trial.

Robert Richter QC on Thursday said Pell was targeted for “special treatment” by detectives from Sano Taskforce, which investigates historical sex abuse.

While questioning lead investigator Sergeant Christopher Reed, the barrister said a man made horrendous allegations against a nun before alleging Pell committed a sex offence against him.

“Do you say, and I’m not attributing any blame to you, do you say that the allegation against Cardinal Pell was treated like any other allegation?” the barrister asked on Thursday.

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SCOTLAND
The Guardian

March 26, 2018

By Nick Dowson

Campaigners say move to compel court appearance if deemed in public interest is inhumane

Campaigners in Scotland have expressed anger at new guidance that could force rape victims to give evidence against their will.

Rape Crisis Scotland, , have hit out at the new “reluctant complainers” policy which means rape victims who try to withdraw from cases may be compelled to testify where prosecution is deemed to be in the public interest.

“For anyone who has the courage to report it and then gets to the point where they can’t continue – to then force them to testify is inhumane,” said Sandy Brindley, the chief executive of Rape Crisis Scotland. “It’s also self-defeating – if you have to put them in the cells the night before it’s not going to be useful evidence.”

Rape Crisis Scotland has written an open letter expressing its concern to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS), which is responsible for prosecutions in Scotland.

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COLOMBIA
The American Conservative

March 27, 2018

By Rod Dreher

Even if you are well versed in the clerical sexual abuse scandal, you probably don’t know the name Dino Cinel. He was just murdered in Colombia by his lover. From the New Orleans Advocate, some background on this criminal:

Cinel was a historian on the Tulane University faculty and was living at the rectory of St. Rita Catholic Church in late 1988 when a fellow priest discovered him with child pornography and homemade tapes of Cinel having sex in the rectory with young men.

The story did not become public at that time, and the official response raised immediate controversy when it finally became known more than two years later.

Upon first learning of the discovery, Archbishop Philip Hannan fired Cinel, who was on vacation in Italy at the time. But some suspected the archbishop was giving Cinel a heads-up that authorities were onto him, said Bruce Nolan, who covered the ensuing scandal for The Times-Picayune.

Then-District Attorney Harry Connick, a St. Rita parishioner, let the church hold onto the video recordings for weeks, which church officials explained by saying they were trying to identify and contact any victims involved. Connick later concluded that the evidence in the case was not strong enough to prosecute Cinel.

At one point, a former sexual partner who said he was underage at the time he had a recorded encounter with Cinel sued him in Orleans Parish Civil District Court.

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BRAZIL
Daily Mail

March 26, 2018

By Sara Malm

– Bishop in Brazil ‘led group of priests embezzling £426,000 of church money’
– One priest was fopund with £19,200 hidden behind a false wall in his home
Bishop of Formosa, five clergymen and three lay people arrested in Goias
– They are accused of stealing from church donations, and ceremony fees

A group of Catholic priests in Brazil have been arrested, accused of embezzling £426,000 of church donations, funeral fees and fundraising cash.

The Bishop of Formosa, Jose Ribeiro, along with five clergymen and three lay people were detained in prison in Goiás this week charged with stealing over 2 million reais (£426,000) from church funds.

A police raid on one of the priests’ home saw officers prise open a false wall in to find some £19,200 in plastic bags hidden in a secret storage space.

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BUFFALO (NY)
WGRZ

March 23, 2018

2 On Your Side has heard from more victims who say they were sexual abused by catholic priests.

More and more victims of alleged sexual abuse by Buffalo catholic priests continue to come forward.

Jim Napora, 56, says he was abused by two priests and both of their names are on the list of 42 that the Buffalo Diocese released.

“Seeing the list on Tuesday was such a freeing event, it vindicated me finally. I felt free,” Napora said.

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MEMPHIS (TX)
The Alabama Baptist

March 28, 2018

By Carrie Brown McWhorter

Andy Savage, who served on the senior leadership team as teaching pastor at Memphis’ Highpoint Church, has stepped down following public acknowledgment that he sexually assaulted a teen 20 years ago while serving as her youth minister at a Texas church.

Highpoint Church, a megachurch which is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention, was widely criticized in January when Savage was given a standing ovation after apologizing for a “sexual incident” in 1998 involving Jules Woodson, a 17-year-old high school senior in his youth group at Woodlands Parkway Baptist Church in suburban Houston.

Woodson remained silent for two decades until the #MeToo movement exposing sexual abuse by powerful men prompted her to share the story on two Christian blogs.

In a New York Times video published in early March, Woodson said she looked up to Savage and trusted him before the 1998 encounter. Afterward, she said, church leaders didn’t handle it properly.

“What happened was a crime,” Woodson said. “This is not something the church should handle internally. … We as a church, of all places, should be getting this right.”

The allegations against Savage came at the height of the #MeToo and #ChurchToo movement that saw many female Christian teachers, including Kay Warren and Beth Moore, and thousands of Christian women acknowledge past sexual abuse and call out the church’s silence on the issue.

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MCKINNEY (TX)
The Dallas Morning News

March 27, 2018

By Tom Steele

Updated March 28: Revised to include statement from the church.

McKinney police say an instructor at a Mormon church sexually assaulted multiple children over a period of years.

Noel Young Anderson, 22, was arrested Friday on a charge of aggravated sexual assault of a child. He remained in the Collin County jail Tuesday, with bail set at $100,000.

According to police, Anderson — a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on North Lake Forest Drive — admitted to sexually assaulting four children over the past seven years. The victims ranged in age from 2 to 6, police said.

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EAST LANSING (MI)
The Associated Press

March 27, 2018

The Latest on the Larry Nassar sexual abuse case (all times local):

7:10 p.m.

Lawyers for Michigan State University and more than 200 girls and women say they’re restarting talks that could lead to a settlement in civil lawsuits related to sexual abuse by former sports doctor Larry Nassar.

In a court filing Tuesday, the parties say they’re scheduling mediation with Layn Phillips, a former federal judge in Oklahoma.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
The Belfast Telegraph

March 28, 2018

A retired priest has said he is ‘disgusted’ by the appointment of Philip Boyce as Bishop of Dromore.

John McAreavey stood down as Bishop of Dromore last month after criticism of him celebrating Mass with paedophile priest Father Malachy Finnegan.

Speaking on the Nolan Show on Radio Ulster, Father Eamon Murray said he was disgusted with the appointment of Boyce as Fr McAreavey’s replacement.

In 2011 Philip Boyce was criticised for his handling of clerical sex allegations when working in the Diocese of Raphoe in Co Donegall.

Fr Murray said the appointment of Boyce would “rub salt” on the wounds of those who have already suffered from clerical sexual abuse in Dromore.

He said: “I am so annoyed about this, that he has been appointed to Dromore where there has been a huge problem. I think that’s rubbing the salt on the wound.”

A review into the handling of clerical abuse in the Diocese of Raphoe in 2011 singled out Bishop Boyce’s actions in a serious case of abuse in which he attempted to protect the priest’s family rather than have the cleric removed from the ministry.

At the time Bishop Boyce apologised for “poor judgements” in managing priest accused of “horrific acts of abuse” against children.

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IRELAND
The Journal

March 28, 2018

By Christina Finn

The government will tell the Vatican that families ‘of all shapes and forms’ should be celebrated during Pope’s Irish visit

THE TAOISEACH HAS said it would be appropriate for the Pope to visit survivors of abuse perpetrated by the Catholic Church when he visits Ireland in August.

Leo Varadkar also said that the government’s view that “families in all their shapes and forms should be celebrated” will be relayed to the Vatican.

Leo Varadkar told the Dáil yesterday that the government is very much of the view that there are many different types of families.

“All types should be celebrated, including the traditional nuclear family with the man married to the woman with children, one-parent families, families led by grandparents, and families led by same-sex couples. We will make it known in our meetings with the organisers that the government’s view is that families in all their forms should be celebrated,” he said.

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AUSTRALIA
Insights Magazine

March 28, 2018

Journalist Julia Baird and commentator Andrew Bolt have clashed over reports by the latter on the ABC’s webpage about domestic abuse in churches.

In a series of articles that has been running since late 2017, Dr. Baird and cowriter Hayley Gleeson have explored research that suggests churches have high percentages of domestic violence. The series has been widely read and led to a number of church denominations apologising to domestic abuse survivors and vowing to be more vigilant in detecting abuse within their congregations.

This, Mr. Bolt argued, was tantamount to an attack on churches. A tweet promoting his show, The Bolt Report, suggested that the ABC “cites a dodgy survey to slander Christians.”

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NORTHERN IRELAND
The Journal

March 28, 2018

By Paul Hosford

The PSNI will also investigate if there was any abuse of children by any other person at the Newry school where he worked.

THE PSNI WILL investigate claims of sexual abuse made against Father Malachy Finnegan who worked at a school in Newry.

Fr Finnegan, who died in 2002, was a teacher at St Colman’s College in Newry from 1967 to 1976 and was later President of the school.

Abuse claims against him were detailed in a BBC Spotlight programme in February. The revelation that John McAreavey had officiated at the funeral mass of Finnegan led to his resignation as Bishop of Dromore earlier this month.

It was announced yesterday that Pope Francis had accepted his resignation.

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SYRACUSE (NY)
InformNNY

March 28, 2018

The Diocese of Syracuse isn’t following Buffalo Catholic leaders who identified priests accused of sexual abuse. Last week, the Diocese of Buffalo dropped a bombshell list of 42 priests who had credible accusations of sexual abuse lodged against them.

The Syracuse diocese isn’t changing its position and will continue withholding the names of priests accused of sexual abuse unless victims identify them first. Recently, a law firm representing sexual abuse victims called on the Catholic Diocese of Ogdensburg to release the names of 15 priests who also had credible accusations made against them. No word from church leaders on whether those names will eventually be made public.

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BATAVIA (NY)
The Daily News

March 27, 2018

By Matt Surtel

Less than two weeks after Fr. Donald Becker was named on a list of priests accused of sexual abuse, another former St. Mary’s Church pastor is facing allegations.

Fr. Dennis Riter has been placed on administrative leave from St. Elisabeth Ann Seton Parish in Dunkirk, the Buffalo Diocese has confirmed. The news came allegations from two former altar boys and their families, including a detailed interview on WKBW Channel 7 in Buffalo.

The allegations did not include Batavia.

Riter was pastor from 2002 to 2009 at St. Mary’s Church in Batavia, before his assignment to Dunkirk.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
BBC News

March 28, 2018

A retired priest has spoken out against the appointment of Philip Boyce as interim Bishop of Dromore.

Former Bishop of Dromore John McAreavey stood down in March amid controversy over celebrating Mass with paedophile priest the late Fr Malachy Finegan.

Fr Eamon Murray says his is “disgusted” with Boyce’s appointment.

In 2011 Philip Boyce was criticised for his handling of clerical sex abuse allegations when he was Bishop of Raphoe.

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NIAGARA FALLS (NY)
Niagara Gazette

March 27, 2018

By Rick Pfeiffer and Philip Gambini

FALL FROM GRACE: Attacks followed classic pattern of pedophiles.

In 2002 as the scope of the scandal of sexually abusive priests was sweeping across America, only one Niagara County clergyman stood accused.

But revelations from the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo, more than 15 years later, show that Father Richard Judd was not alone in preying on youth in the region.

At least seven priests, who served in parishes in Niagara County and elsewhere in Western New York, have now been publicly identified as having had “credible allegations of sexual misconduct involving minors” made against them.

In parishes stretching from Niagara Falls to Lewiston to Lockport and as far as the Southern Tier, the priests practiced their ministry from 1962 to as late as 2004. And the faithful were never made aware of the claims against them.

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BUFFALO (NY)
The Buffalo News

March 28, 2018

By Sean Kirst

Jonpaul Okal and Robert Swierat have never met. They grew up in separate parts of Western New York, and their lives took different turns.

But they share the same wounds.

Both say they were sexually abused as children by Catholic priests in their communities, accounts supported by their families. One says he was assaulted in the basement recreation room in his home, the other in a bedroom and shower while staying at a residence for priests who taught in a Lancaster high school.

In both situations, the accused priests have been identified as abusive in unrelated cases.

Okal and Swierat each also represent a void in the way the Diocese of Buffalo is responding to accounts about improper sexual behavior. For different reasons, both said diocesan officials told them they are ineligible for a new review process that offers financial compensation in cases of credible abuse.

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BUFFALO (NY)
The Buffalo News

March 27, 2018

By Aaron Besecker and Jay Tokasz

A former Genesee County man has accused a dead Buffalo Diocese priest of sexually abusing him as a teenager.

The Rev. Robert P. Conlin was not on the list of 42 priests whom the diocese recently said had credible allegations against them.

Wayne Bortle, 53, publicly accused Conlin of sexually abusing him in the rectory of St. Mary Church in Pavilion more than three decades ago, when Bortle was about 16.

Bortle said Conlin frequently hosted boys inside the rectory to watch television and to play pool, foosball and ping pong. Bortle said he was alone in the rectory with Conlin watching television the night he alleges the priest molested him.

“That was the only time I was there I can remember no one else was there,” he said. Bortle said he never went back to the rectory.

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BUFFALO (NY)
The Buffalo News

March 27, 2018

By Aaron Besecker

The Catholic Diocese of Buffalo’s decision to publicly name its priests who had credible allegations of sexual abuse involving a minor will be followed by one neighboring diocese, but not by another.

After the Buffalo Diocese released on March 20 a list of 42 priests accused of abusing minors, the Catholic Diocese of Erie, Pa., said it plans to release its own list of accused priests in the coming weeks, the Erie Times-News reported last week.

But the Diocese of Syracuse has not changed its position about withholding the names of accused priests despite what the Buffalo diocese has done, according to newyorkupstate.com.

Erie’s decision comes as the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office has been investigating the diocese’s handling of abusive priests, the Times-News reported. Erie is one of six Catholic dioceses in Pennsylvania being investigated by the state Attorney General’s Office. A report on that investigation is expected to be released sometime this year.

Lawrence Persico became bishop of the 13-county Erie Diocese in 2012, following the term of Bishop Donald W. Trautman, who served for 22 years. Prior to working in Erie, Trautman served as auxiliary bishop of the Buffalo Diocese.

An Erie Diocesan spokeswoman told the Times-News it would disclose a list after questions arose once Buffalo released its list.

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AUSTRALIA
The Sydney Morning Herald

March 28, 2018

By Terry Fewtrell

Australian Catholics are being conned. After all the disgrace of the Royal Commission evidence and its specific and telling recommendations, the response effectively proposed by the Australian Bishops is to call a Plenary Council of the church in Australia in 2020-21. Australia’s Catholics seem to be meekly agreeing to what is an unconscionable delay and a fudge. In short, the bishops have us where they want us: corralled and quietened.

In one sense, convening such a forum could be seen as innovative and consultative. Realistically, it downplays the magnitude and urgency of the issues that need to be addressed. Whether the agenda ultimately addresses the main reform issues raised by the Royal Commission is a moot point. Such forums in the Australian church have a habit of being lead down paths that produce platitudinous outcomes and avoid the contentious. More significantly it is openly acknowledged that there is considerable doubt and dispute as to whether such a forum would have the authority to make decisions that address the real issues.

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AUSTRALIA
The Sydney Morning Herald

March 27, 2018

By Michael Koziol

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has tried to pressure the major churches into circumventing the states and immediately joining the national redress scheme for survivors of child sexual abuse, telling them their “indifference and resistance” must stop.

Just two states – NSW and Victoria – as well as the Australian Capital Territory have signed on to the Commonwealth scheme, which would provide up to $150,000 in compensation for 60,000 survivors of abuse in government and non-government institutions.

States must commit to the scheme to enable institutions in their jurisdiction to formally sign on. So far, the major churches in NSW and Victoria have intimated they will join a fully national scheme but want to see the details.

In a letter obtained by Fairfax Media, Mr Turnbull urged institutions including the Catholic church, the Anglican church, Scouts Australia and the YMCA to opt into the scheme “as soon as possible” rather than wait for the holdout states.

“I am seeking your in-principle support to join the scheme, so survivors know your position as we continue to seek agreement from all state and territory governments,” Mr Turnbull wrote.

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LAUNCESTON (TASMANIA, AUSTRALIA)
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.

“[The Catholic Church] needs to look seriously at anything that puts priests up on a pedestal,” he said.

“I would have no difficulty if the discussion lead to the fact that that [celibacy] was an optional thing [for Priests] – it would not worry me.

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BUFFALO (NY)
WIVB

March 27, 2018

By Rachele Mongiovi

As the Buffalo Diocese celebrates holy week, it is also reeling from a sex abuse scandal involving dozens of priests.

Last week, Bishop Richard Malone released the names of 42 priests accused of child sex abuse. This week, the Bishop placed an active Dunkirk priest on administrative leave following abuse claims.

Tuesday night, Catholics filed into St. Joseph Cathedral for a standing room only Chrism Mass.

Some faithful followers refuse to let the scandal rock their faith.

“I think as a catholic we believe that human nature has problems so it’s not that big of a surprise that even people in the church have problems. You know priests are human beings as well and I think that at the end of the day it’s about love and it’s a crazy journey and none of us are all that great,” said Jonathan Michals, Catholic.

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HAGATNA (GUAM)
Catholic News Service

March 28, 2018

The Archdiocese of Agaña will sell its chancery property in Hagatna and relocate its offices in September.

“The move is part of archdiocesan-wide efforts related to the liquidation and sale of church property on Guam in the midst of challenging financial times and settlement of clergy sexual abuse cases,” the archdiocese said in a statement.

Church offices will be moved to the Cathedral Basilica of the Sweet Name of Mary in Hagatna, the Guam capital.

“Now that the mediation process related to the sexual abuse lawsuits has been set for September, the archdiocese is in the process of evaluating these claims on an individual basis,” the March 21 statement said. “This necessitates the selling of certain properties owned by the archdiocese.”

The chancery property, a gift to the archdiocese from the estate of Henry Flores Nelson in 1950, is tied to St. John Paul II’s historic visit to Guam Feb. 22-23, 1981. The pontiff stayed overnight at the residence of then-Bishop Felixberto C. Flores at the chancery.

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OTTAWA (CANADA)
The Canadian Press

March 27, 2018

By Mia Rabson

Pope Francis will not apologize to residential school survivors and their families for the role the Roman Catholic Church played in operating the schools or the abuses suffered by their students.

A papal apology was one of the 94 recommendations from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and during a visit to the Vatican last year, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau personally asked the Pope to consider such a gesture.

The commission recommended an apology similar to that offered by the Pope to Irish victims of sexual abuse in 2010. In 2015, Pope Frances issued an apology in Bolivia to Indigenous peoples in the Americas for the “grave sins” of colonialism.

Bishop Lionel Gendron, president of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, today released a letter to the Indigenous Peoples of Canada saying Pope Francis has not shied away from acknowledging injustices faced by Indigenous peoples around the world, but that he can’t personally issue an apology for residential schools.

“The Catholic Bishops of Canada have been in dialogue with the Pope and the Holy See concerning the legacy of suffering you have experienced,” Gendron wrote. “The Holy Father is aware of the findings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which he takes seriously. As far as call to action #58 is concerned, after carefully considering the request and extensive dialogue with the bishops of Canada, he felt that he could not personally respond.”

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NEW YORK (NY)
LoHud

March 27, 2018

By Jorge Fitz-Gibbon

The Archdiocese of New York is among the “most secretive” Catholic districts in dealing with sex abuse allegations against priests, a new report alleges.

BishopAccountability.org, a Massachusetts-based clergy abuse watchdog group, said this week that the nation’s second largest diocese has done so poorly exposing sex abuse by priests that it has exposed fewer than one of the nation’s smallest dioceses.

The Archdiocese of New York, with more than 2.5 million members, has had 84 Catholic clergy members identified as sexual abusers of children, compared with 92 in the Diocese of Manchester, New Hampshire, which has 316,000 members, the report said.

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VATICAN CITY
CNA/EWTN News

March 26, 2018

By Hannah Brockhaus

On Monday, Pope Francis accepted the resignation of Bishop John McAreavey of Dromore, Ireland, who had asked to step down earlier this month following media claims that he mishandled an abuse report in the early ‘90s.

Pope Francis accepted McAreavey’s request to resign as bishop March 26 and appointed an apostolic administrator, retired Bishop Philip Boyce of Raphoe, 78, until the appointment of a successor.

In a letter announcing his resignation March 3, McAreavey wrote that “with a heavy heart” he would be resigning “following recent media coverage which has disturbed and upset many people.”

“I wrestled with this decision over recent weeks; it was not an easy decision to take,” he said, also asking for prayers for anyone who has been abused.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

March 27, 2018

By Allan Preston

Victims who were abused by the late paedophile priest Malachy Finnegan have been urged to contact a dedicated PSNI team.

A number of those abused by Finnegan in St Colman’s College in Newry have already spoken out publicly about his conduct there between 1967 to 1987.

Clem Leneghan, the youngest brother of former President Mary McAleese, has revealed he suffered psychological and physical abuse at the hands of Finnegan and has called for an independent inquiry into allegations of sexual abuse at the college.

Sinn Féin MLA Conor Murphy has also spoken out about how he was savagely beaten by Finnegan. He also claimed the priest attempted to sexually groom him.

Although the disgraced cleric died in 2002 and can no longer be held accountable for his crimes, the PSNI’s public protection branch said other areas needed to be investigated.

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MORRISTOWN (NJ)
The Associated Press

March 26, 2018

A recently ordained Roman Catholic priest accused of groping a 13-year-old girl under her skirt last summer has been indicted on criminal sexual contact and child endangerment charges.

Morris County prosecutors say the Rev. Marcin Nurek touched the girl’s buttocks over her underwear and told her she was “sexy.” The indictment was recently handed up by a county grand jury.

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MEDELLIN (COLOMBIA)
NOLA.com/The Times-Picayune

March 26, 2018

By Maria Clark

Disgraced ex-priest Dino Cinel, 76, was stabbed to death last month by his 18-year-old lover in Medellin, Colombia, according to reports from several international news outlets.

The former Catholic Priest rattled New Orleans in 1991 when a fellow priest discovered a collection of child pornography and homemade videotapes Cinel had filmed of himself having sex with young men in the Uptown rectory he lived in until 1988.

Cinel’s homicide was confirmed by the chief of security of Medellin, Andres Felipe Tobon, who said that local authorities were unaware the former priest had been living in the northern Colombian city for the past five years and that he had been charged with possession of child pornography, according to Colombian news outlet El Tiempo.

Local police told El Tiempo that the young man called emergency services after stabbing Cinel confessing to the crime. Police arrived at the home and found Cinel tied to his bed with a stab wound to his abdomen according to news reports. The young man had been threatening to commit suicide by jumping from the sixth floor of the apartment building where he had been living with Cinel.

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BUFFALO (NY)
WKBW

March 26, 2018

By Charlie Specht

As Holy Week begins, the Catholic sexual abuse scandal that has exploded in the Diocese of Buffalo now reaches an active priest.

The Rev. Dennis Riter, current pastor of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church in Dunkirk, was put on administrative leave by Bishop Richard Malone this afternoon, the bishop’s spokesman told the 7 Eyewitness News I-Team

Riter’s removal comes as a 7 Eyewitness News investigation was about to break in which two former altar boys or their families came forward to allege inappropriate sexual contact by the priest when he served at a church in Buffalo’s Old First Ward in the 1990s.

Riter presided yesterday at the church’s Palm Sunday service, more than two weeks after an altar boy reached out to the diocese’s victim assistance hotline to report abuse he said occurred decades ago. It was the second time Father Riter was accused of abuse.

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SALT LAKE CITY (UT)
KUTV

March 26, 2018

By Larry D. Curtis

The LDS Church issued a letter from its First Presidency Monday, its highest church office, with guidelines for handling abuse.

Its media page, called MormonNewsroom, said its letter and guidelines published in 2008 are part of its continuing effort to help leaders prevent and respond to abuse.

It read:

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. A revised statement of these policies and guidelines is enclosed.

The letter and revised guidelines are sent to the church’s General Authorities, who have regional or world-wide responsibilities and to local leaders in the United States and Canada. The abuse resources were first issued in 2008. The official name of the worldwide organization is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Many know it as the Mormon Church.

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BUFFALO (NY)
WIVB/News 4

March 26, 2018

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

Father Dennis G. Riter of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish has been put on leave as the investigation continues, the Buffalo Diocese confirmed Monday afternoon.

The DA’s Office has been notified.

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UNITED STATES
The Daily Beast

March 24, 2018

By Sam Young

Church-sanctioned ‘worthiness interviews’ allow older men to be alone with children and ask them questions of a sexual nature. It’s time to end this practice.

In recent months, our country has been having a critical and long overdue national conversation on sexual harassment and abuse. From Hollywood power brokers to celebrity chefs to members of the news media, we are seeing a new era of transparency and accountability as victims step forward and speak out.

But as a lifelong Mormon and father of six girls, it was the case of former top Trump White House official Rob Porter that struck closest to home. In speaking out about years of alleged abuse by Porter, his two ex-wives began to shed a long overdue light on the unique, deeply personal, and some would say, disturbing, role that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints can sometimes play in the lives of its members. In Porter’s case, we learned that two young women had turned to their church leaders for guidance in the face of abuse and instead were encouraged by church bishops to stay in an allegedly abusive marriage. In short, to stay quiet and place the professional career of their husband ahead of their own well-being.

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SALT LAKE CITY (UT)
Daily Herald

March 27, 2018

By Genelle Pugmire

The First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints issued an updated policy on church leadership manuals on preventing and responding to abuse.

It is an update to the guidelines first issued in 2008 in Handbook 1, which is issued to church leadership such as stake presidencies and bishoprics.

In the 2008 letter from the First Presidency they define abuse as, “the mistreatment or neglect of others (such as a child or spouse, the elderly, or the disabled) in a way that causes physical, emotional, or sexual harm.

“Abuse causes confusion, doubt, mistrust, and fear in the victims and sometimes inflicts physical injury. Most, but not all, allegations of abuse are true, and should be taken seriously and handled with great care. Abuse tends to become more severe over time.

“The Lord condemns abusive behavior in any form — including neglect and physical, sexual or verbal abuse. Most abuse violates the civil laws of society.”

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BUFFALO (NY)
WKBW

March 26, 2018

The Buffalo Diocese has placed an active priest on administrative leave as it looks into allegations of child sexual abuse dating back to the 1990s, a spokesperson tells the 7 Eyewitness News I-Team.

The Rev. Dennis Riter is pastor of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church in Dunkirk. He presided over the church’s Palm Sunday services yesterday and has led masses at the church for the past nine years.

According to the Official Catholic Directory, Father Riter served at Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Buffalo’s Old First Ward from 1995 until 2001. An article in the Western New York Catholic states he went on a six-month sabbatical before then-Bishop Henry Mansell appointed him pastor of St. Mary’s in Batavia in 2002. He has served under two more bishops since then, with former Bishop Edward Kmiec transferring him to Dunkirk in 2009.

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UNITED STATES
The Post-Journal

March 27, 2018

By Katrina Fuller

From Page A1

Reed said the issue of child sex abuse is currently being dealt with at the state level and at the federal level which includes support for anti-abuse and anti-human trafficking legislation.

“From a big picture federal level very much is in play, but when you get down to the state avenues of recourse, (it’s) really being handled, from my understanding of the situation, at the state capitals. Albany is dealing with the issue as we speak.”

Reed said his office is making sure any such issues are brought to his attention, but to his knowledge, his office has not dealt with a child sex abuse victim involving a priest.

“If we hear of anything, we’ll obviously be a voice and stand ready to assist anyone who wants that assistance,” he said. “We will be a resource, and we stand firm with them and in their corner as they go through a tremendously difficult situation.”

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MEDELLIN (COLOMBIA)
The New Orleans Advocate

March 26, 2018

By Ramon Antonio Vargas

Authorities tell media he was stabbed to death by man, 18, who was former lover

Disgraced former Catholic priest Dino Cinel — who became infamous in New Orleans when it was discovered that he had taped himself having sex with young men in an Uptown church rectory and had amassed a collection of child pornography — was stabbed to death last month in South America by a young man with whom he had a romantic relationship, according to authorities cited by international media outlets.

Police in Medellin, Colombia, said they discovered the 76-year-old Cinel’s body when Santiago Alberto Morales Parra, 18, called them to report that he had killed his lover inside his apartment Feb. 1.

Morales told investigators that the two had argued while discussing a break-up after three months of living together, and police found Cinel’s body with a knife wound to the abdomen, according to numerous media reports in Cinel’s native Italy as well as Colombia.

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ENGLAND
The East Bourne Herald

March 26, 2018

By Phil Johnson and Peter Tatchell

An Eastbourne man who has campaigned on behalf of survivors of child abuse within the Church of England has been given a top award.

The National Secular Society has named Phil Johnson as one of its Secularists of the Year for 2018.

Phil, abused as a child by paedophile priests in Eastbourne, accepted a £5,000 prize from the human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell at an awards ceremony in central London at the weekend.

He was honoured for his work campaigning on behalf of survivors of child abuse in the Church of England.

Phil has worked as the chair of Minister And Clergy Sexual Abuse Survivors (MACSAS), a support group for those who have been sexually abused by ministers or clergy and also runs Eastbourne Survivors.

The award was handed over the day after the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse concluded three weeks of hearings into the cover-up of abuse in the diocese of Chichester. Phil gave evidence to the inquiry earlier this month.

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MINNEAPOLIS (MN)
The Huffington Post

March 26, 2018

By Carol Kuruvilla

Advocates for survivors of sexual abuse believe John Piper’s traditional theology is part of the problem.

An evangelical Christian pastor has put forth a troubling suggestion for how to deal with the issues highlighted by sexual abuse survivors as part of the Me Too movement.

John Piper, an influential Baptist author and speaker and chancellor of a Christian college in Minnesota, claims that a return to traditional gender roles would help keep women safe from sexual abuse. Piper’s definition of traditional gender roles involves women submitting to male leadership, and men accepting their God-given responsibility to protect these “weaker vessels.” This conservative Christian approach to gender relations is known as complementarianism.

In a recent podcast, Piper argued that society’s departure from these traditional roles over the past 50 years has laid the groundwork for sexual abuse.

“Egalitarian assumptions in our culture, and to a huge degree in the church, have muted — silenced, nullified — one of the means that God has designed for the protection and the flourishing of women,” Piper said, according a podcast transcript published on his website March 16.

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SAGINAW (MI)
Catholic News Service

March 26, 2018

The news that law enforcement authorities served the Saginaw Diocese with a search warrant March 22 was “distressing and disheartening for the greater community and most especially our Catholic faithful,” Saginaw Bishop Joseph R. Cistone acknowledged.

The bishop made the comments in a statement sent late evening March 23 to Catholic News Service and other news media.

The warrant included the Saginaw diocesan offices, Cistone’s residence and the Cathedral of Mary of the Assumption. Records, documents and computers were seized as part of an ongoing probe into sexual abuse allegations against a half dozen priests of the diocese.

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SALT LAKE CITY (UT)
Deseret News

March 26, 2018

By Tad Walch

The LDS Church’s First Presidency announced significant policy changes Monday, providing direction on how bishops and stake presidencies may conduct interviews with women and children and how they counsel victims of abuse and sexual abuse.

The changes specified that children, youth and women now may invite an adult to join them in what traditionally have been personal interviews. Some had said they were uncomfortable being interviewed one-on-one by a male priesthood leader.

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. The changes explicitly state that local leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints should never disregard a report of abuse and should never encourage members to remain in an abusive situation.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
BBC News

March 27, 2018

The police have set up a dedicated team to investigate the circumstances of the child abuse carried out by the late paedophile priest, Fr Malachy Finegan.

The County Down parish priest, who also taught at St Colman’s College in Newry, has been accused of a litany of sexual and physical abuse against young boys.

The PSNI said although he died in 2002 and “can no longer be held accountable in a court”, lessons may be learnt from how authorities dealt with him.

They asked victims to contact the team.

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BUFFALO (NY)
The Daily News

March 26, 2018

The release by the Diocese of Buffalo of the names of priests accused of sexually assaulting children stirs strong and mixed feelings – anger, outrage, sorrow, horror.

Even if you accept that priests are human beings with flaws, it is difficult to accept that such evil flaws were allowed to flourish in the echoing silence of the Catholic Church. The lessons to be learned here are many, and they apply to everyone, not just Catholic authorities – Protestants have had similar problems.

It should be noted, first, that an accusation is not a conviction. Perhaps that is the saddest part of this whole situation — that these reports were handled internally, and the courts were not allowed to sort out the truth.

Now, because there are so many accusations, mixed in with confessions and a few convictions, there is a tendency to view all the accusations as true. In some cases, the accused priests are dead – they do not have an opportunity to defend themselves, and unfortunately, the victims do not have the opportunity to seek justice.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
ITV

March 27, 2018

Police are investigating allegations of abuse by Father Malachy Finnegan.

A team has been set up with within the Public Protection Branch of the PSNI to “investigate the circumstances of abuse committed by Fr Finnegan”.

The priest, who died in 2002, worked for some time in the Diocese of Dromore.

“If you were abused by Father Malachy Finnegan, or abused by any other person at St Colman’s between 1967 and 1987, the investigation team would like to hear from you,” a statement from the PSNI said.

Detectives hope to establish and take action against any living offender from that time, and assess if there are any current child safeguarding risks.

They also want to determine if there was any other abuse of children committed by any other person at St Colman’s College during the time when Fr Finnegan worked there.

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LANSING (MI)
Detroit Free Press

March 27, 2018

By Matthew Clayson

As the collective outrage inevitably wanes in the aftermath of Michigan State University’s botched efforts to effectively address campus sexual assault, there remain serious questions about who will be selected to lead the university as the permanent president and how that person will lead.

Michigan’s citizens need answers about how survivors will be made whole, what efforts will be championed to ensure a safe campus and accountable leadership and what MSU will look like in five years. Interim leadership by its nature is temporary and is not well positioned for compensating survivors, healing a divided campus and leading a strategy to restore trust with Michigan’s citizens. There needs to be a robust conversation about securing a permanent president at MSU, how that individual will engage with the campus community and what sort of future that individual will chart.

Getting this decision right is of utmost importance, especially given the increasingly complicated nature of MSU’s budget and the ramifications that any permanent president’s budgetary priorities will place on survivors, the MSU community and Michigan’s taxpayers.

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LANSING (MI)
The Associated Press

March 27, 2018

By David Eggert

A Michigan State University official who oversaw Larry Nassar was arrested Monday amid an investigation into the handling of complaints against the former sport doctor, who is in prison for sexually assaulting patients under the guise of treatment.

William Strampel was in jail pending an arraignment Tuesday, Ingham County Sheriff Scott Wriggelsworth told The Associated Press. He declined to say what charges Strampel was facing because the probe is being led by the Michigan attorney general’s office.

A spokeswoman for Attorney General Bill Schuette declined to comment. A news conference was scheduled for Tuesday, two months after Schuette appointed a special assistant attorney general to investigate.

Strampel, 70, is the first person besides Nassar to be charged in connection with the worst sexual abuse case in sports history. Nassar pleaded guilty to molesting patients and possessing child pornography. Strampel’s arrest was first reported by the Detroit Free Press, and WILX-TV earlier reported that state police were seen outside Strampel’s Lansing-area home.

Strampel was the dean of the College of Osteopathic Medicine, which includes the sports medicine clinic, until he announced a leave of absence for medical reasons in December. He told police last year that he never followed up after ordering Nassar in 2014 to have a third person present when providing treatment to “anything close to a sensitive area.” In letting Nassar resume seeing patients, he also said any skin-to-skin contact should be minimal and needed to be explained in detail.

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MASON (MI)
Detroit Free Press

March 26, 2018

By David Jesse and Gina Kaufman

Police have arrested William Strampel, the former Michigan State University dean who was Larry Nassar’s boss, according to multiple sources with knowledge of the situation.

Strampel, 70, is being held in the Ingham County Jail.

Ingham County Sheriff Scott Wriggelsworth confirmed that Strampel is lodged in the jail, but said information on what charges he is being held on would not be released until he is arraigned.

Strampel faces multiple charges. At least one is a felony and others are misdemeanors, sources told the Free Press without specifying the charges. Strampel served as dean of the College of Osteopathic Medicine from 2002 until December, when he stepped down for medical reasons.

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DETROIT (MI)
Reuters

March 27, 2018

Michigan prosecutors on Tuesday charged a former state university dean who supervised the doctor at the center of the USA Gymnastics sex abuse scandal with criminal sexual conduct and other crimes.

In court papers filed in the state district court in East Lansing, prosecutors said a student at Michigan State University had accused William Strampel, the 70-year-old former dean of its College of Osteopathic Medicine, of forcible sexual contact.

Strampel had supervised ex-USA Gymnastics physician Larry Nassar, who has been sentenced to prison for sexually abusing female gymnasts.

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OLEAN (NY)
Olean Times Herald

March 26, 2018

By Tom Dinki

At least three former assistant pastors among diocese’s list of accused

Celebration and victory, as well as shame and betrayal, were the themes the Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels conveyed to its parishioners at Palm Sunday Mass.

The basilica celebrated Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem by having its younger parishioners roam the aisles with palm fronds and tambourines, but also acknowledged the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo’s sexual abuse scandal and the revelation several former St. Mary’s priests are among the accused.

“I’m very upset,” said Lucille Shavalier, 81, of Eldred, Pa., holding a palm frond in her hand while on her way out of the basilica on Sunday.

It was St. Mary’s first Sunday Mass since the diocese on Tuesday announced the names of 42 priests who were removed from ministry, left ministry or retired after allegations they sexually abused a minor.

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SALT LAKE CITY (UT)
The Salt Lake Tribune

March 26, 2018

By Peggy Fletcher Stack and Benjamin Wood

Amid a grass-roots outcry about sexually explicit interviews with children and sexual assault allegations leveled at a former Mormon mission leader, the LDS Church’s governing First Presidency unveiled revised guidelines Monday for one-on-one meetings between members and local lay leaders while emphasizing that most abuse allegations are “true and should be taken seriously.”

In a document titled “Preventing and Responding to Abuse,” congregational leaders in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are encouraged to invite a parent or other adult to sit in an adjoining room when meeting with women and children.

A change to those instructions includes the option for the interviewee to ask a witness to sit in on the interview itself.

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BRAZIL
LAD Bible

March 26, 2018

By Tom Wood

A group of Brazilian priests have been arrested on charges of stealing £426,000 in donations to the church, funeral costs, and charity cash.

Jose Ribeiro, who is the Bishop of Formosa – located in Brazil’s state of Goiás – has been arrested alongside five other priests and three non-priests.

They’ve all been detained in prison accused of stealing 2 million reais (£426,000) from the church. The police raided one priests house and found about 90,000 reais (£19,200) hidden in plastic bags and stashed behind a false wall.

It is thought that the scheme took place over three years and aimed at diverting money from the church’s coffers and into the pockets of the gang.

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IRELAND
The Irish Times

March 24, 2018

By Patsy McGarry

Vatican photograph from 2007 captures church past and questions its future

It is the story of a photograph: four cardinals, all Irish, and one president, Mary McAleese. The occasion was the elevation in 2007 of the then primate of All Ireland Archbishop Seán Brady to the College of Cardinals.

The location was the Irish College in Rome. Cardinal Desmond Connell and Cardinal Cahal Daly stand to McAleese’s right. Standing to her left, Cardinal Seán Brady and Cardinal Keith O’Brien.

The latter was born on March 17th, 1938, in Ballycastle, Co Antrim. His family moved to Scotland while he was still young, settling in Edinburgh. His death last Monday, aged 80 brought back memories of the photograph.

However, it raised thoughts, too, about the damage caused to the Catholic Church by its handling of sexual abuse allegations; but also about next August’s visit by Pope Francis.

It could be an opportunity to heal, if the right choices are made now. His personal stature is such that he is seen by many, and not just Catholics, as separate from the institution he leads, and which he himself struggles to reform.

Appropriate contrition from him to all the Irish people – abuse victims, their families, perhaps even the Irish Catholic Church itself where appropriate – could herald a new beginning. For there is much contrition to be done.

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NEW ZEALAND
Otago Daily Times

March 27, 2018

The Catholic and Anglican Churches have both written to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern asking for religious institutions to be included in the Royal Commission into abuse in state care.
The Prime Minister says the terms of reference for the inquiry are still being consulted on and while what churches have to say could feed into the inquiry, she stood by her belief that the inquiry should look primarily into what happened to children while in the care of the state.

“I understand that churches have taken a position and certainly it is important that feeds into the discussion we’re having on the terms of reference as well,” she said yesterday.

“I still absolutely think the primary reason that this was instigated by a large group of people was for us to take responsibility for the role of the state by inquiring into ourselves,” Ms Ardern said.

“I’ve always had concerns around the impact of broadening the inquiry and diluting the responsibility that we need to take for those who were harmed in state care.”

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DUNKIRK (NY)
WGRZ

March 26, 2018

A priest in Dunkirk has been placed on leave by Catholic Diocese of Buffalo following an accusation of abuse.

A priest in Dunkirk has been placed on leave by Catholic Diocese of Buffalo following an accusation of abuse.

Father Dennis G. Riter, a pastor at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish, is on administrative leave during the investigation.

The Diocese told 2 On Your Side it received a complaint about Father Riter, so Bishop Richard Malone placed him on leave and notified the District Attorney’s Office.

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BUFFALO (NY)
WGRZ

March 22, 2018

By Claudine Ewing

Rev. David Bialkowski was removed from the Buffalo Catholic Diocese, but he is now an organist in a WNY Lutheran church.

One of the 42 Buffalo Catholic Diocesan priests removed from ministry after allegations of sexual abuse of a minor is now serving as a church organist.

Rev. David Bialkowski served for years at St. John Gualbert in Cheektowaga. It is where many of his alleged victims claim they were abused by him.

2 On Your Side learned that Bialkowski is serving as the organist at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Tonawanda. A church official told Channel 2’s Claudine Ewing that Bialkowski is the organist and confirmed he is the same Bialkowski on the list of priests removed.

Attorney Kevin Stocker represents some of the victims who claim they were abused by Bialkowski. “I called the local police department and the council men and women an advised them of what he had been accused of and I talked to the minister of that church and said he had an obligation to tell the congregation of what this person was accused of so that other children didn’t become harmed by it.”

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BUFFALO (NY)
The Buffalo News

March 26, 2018

By Jay Tokasz

The pastor of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church in Dunkirk was placed on leave Monday after the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo received a complaint of alleged abuse.

Bishop Richard J. Malone wrote an open letter to parishioners stating that the Rev. Dennis G. Riter was placed on “administrative leave” pending an investigation into the complaint.

“Please note that this leave is for investigation purposes only and does not imply any determination as to the truth or falsity of the complaint,” Malone said in the letter. “Please pray for Father Riter and for this investigation. Of course, we continue to pray for all victims of abuse.”

The bishop’s acknowledgement of the complaint against Riter follows weeks of intense focus on how the Buffalo diocese handles clergy sex abuse allegations and the release by the diocese last week of the names of 42 priests identified as having had credible allegations of abuse against them.

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SALT LAKE CITY (UT)
FOX13

March 26, 2018

By Taylor Hartman

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced Monday that it had updated its’ guidelines on preventing and responding to abuse after a former Missionary Training Center President was accused of sexual assault.

The three-page document, first issued in 2008, is meant to act as a guide on how to properly handle all types of abuse for LDS Church leadership. The document states that it operates a free and confidential abuse helpline that can be utilized, and encourages members to look for signs of abuse.

Bryndis Roberts, Chair of Ordain Women, a group within the LDS Church that supports the ordination of women into the priesthood, says the new guidelines are well overdue, but may not be sufficient.

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AUSTRALIA
Central Telegraph

March 24, 2018

By Padraic Murphy

SEVERAL historical sex offence charges against Cardinal George Pell will be withdrawn because a complainant is unable to testify at a hearing that will determine if Australia’s highest ranked Catholic stands trial.

Pell is facing a pre-trial committal hearing at Melbourne Magistrates Court, which wrapped up its third week on Friday.

At the end of Friday’s hearing, prosecutor Mark Gibson SC said one of the complainants will not give evidence because he is “medically unfit”. Pell’s lawyer immediately requested the charges be removed from the committal proceedings.

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AUSTRALIA
News.com.au

March 24, 2018

Cardinal Pell allegedly ‘exposed himself’ to a choir member in the 1990s, claimed a woman whose brother made the allegations during a drunken chat.

CARDINAL George Pell “exposed himself” to a cathedral choir member while working as a bishop in Melbourne in the 1990s, a court has heard.

The sister of one of George Pell’s accusers told the Melbourne Magistrates Court on Friday that her brother had broken down while revealing the alleged incident to her in 2012 or 2013.

Giving evidence at Mr Pell’s pre-trial hearing before Magistrate Belinda Wallington into alleged historical sexual offences, the woman said her brother was crying when he told her.

She said they had been drinking at their grandmother’s 80th birthday beforehand, and his claim related to an offence which allegedly had taken place about 16 years earlier.

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MELBOURNE (AUSTRALIA)
CNN

March 25, 2018

By Lucie Morris-Marr

Cardinal George Pell is set for a tense wait for a decision over whether an abuse case against him will proceed to full criminal trial in Australia when the committal hearing against him wraps up this week.

The Vatican treasurer is the most senior figure in the Holy See to ever face criminal charges, and the past three weeks of evidence has revealed details of multiple allegations of historical sexual abuse.

The 76-year-old Cardinal, who stood aside from his senior post in Rome when he was charged in June last year, will not hear a final decision from the magistrate on whether the case will proceed to trial for up to two weeks, possibly longer. He has strenuously denied all charges.

This week the remaining 50 witnesses will give testimony at Melbourne Magistrates Court where the case against Pell has been heard since early March.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

March 22, 2018

By Melissa Davey

Pastoral associate agrees that robes not able to be parted to ‘reveal one’s genitals’

A pastoral associate who worked at St Patrick’s Cathedral in Melbourne when Cardinal George Pell was archbishop has told a court that the archbishop’s robes were heavy and could not be easily lifted or moved while being worn to expose oneself.

Rodney Dearing was cross-examined by Pell’s defence team on Thursday as part of the committal hearing into historical sexual offence charges against Pell. Dearing told the court that he was responsible for hanging up Pell’s robes and he was therefore familiar with the weight and manoeuvrability of them.

Pell’s barrister Ruth Shann put it to Dearing that the robes were “not able to be parted in the middle to reveal ones genitals or indeed parted to the side to reveal ones genitals”.

“No,” Dearing responded.

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NEW ZEALAND
Anglican Communion News Service

March 26, 2018

A Royal Commission of Inquiry established to investigate historical abuse in state care in New Zealand should be expanded to include the role of the church-related bodies, the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia said today. In a letter to the country’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, and the Children’s Minister, Tracey Martin, Archbishops Winston Halapua and Philip Richardson said that the decision to ask for churches to be included in the Inquiry was made by the Standing Committee of the province’s General Synod when it met earlier this month.

“Our Christian faith teaches us the power of truth, justice and reconciliation,” they said. “We see this Commission of Inquiry as one way we can put that faith into action, and we encourage you to give this request serious consideration, in the hope that this will provide a pathway to healing and wholeness for all concerned.”

In their letter, the co-Primates said: “Our primary concern is for the needs of those whose lives have been impacted by abuse, and we are conscious that abuse has been perpetrated by agencies across our society, including the Church and its agencies. We are concerned that it will be unhelpful to victims and survivors, if the inquiry and its process is limited only to the state sector, denying some the right to have their voices heard.

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BROOKLYN (NY)
Brooklyn Paper

March 26, 2018

By Colin Mixson

Locals sexually abused by Catholic clergy in the Diocese of Brooklyn have one more week to apply for the fund set up to compensate those victims.

Diocesan leaders set a new deadline of March 31 to report incidents in order to be eligible for money from the program, after announcing the fund in June 2017.

Last December, a flock of legal eagles released a list of Kings County’s corrupt Catholic priests that they hoped will encourage sexual-abuse victims to apply for compensation before it’s too late, according to one of the lawyers.

“We’re hoping to raise awareness with this report about the Brooklyn Diocese, the availability of this program for survivors, and specifically that the clock is running and there’s a hard deadline,” said Jerry Kristal, who works for law firm Weitz and Luxenberg, which released the list as part of a multi-firm collective called Lawyers Helping Survivors of Child Sex Abuse.

The document, entitled “Hidden Disgrace,” identified 65 priests within the local diocese who were accused or convicted of sex crimes against children.

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SALT LAKE CITY (UT)
FOX13

March 23, 2018

By Mark Green and Ben Winslow

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has issued an updated statement on allegations of sexual abuse at the Provo Missionary Training Center after an un-redacted police report was published this week.

The new statement acknowledges the LDS Church is aware of at least one other woman who informed local ecclesiastical leaders in 2010 that she was sexually abused by Joseph Bishop at the Missionary Training Center.

“When she reported the alleged abuse to her local Church leaders in 2010, they provided emotional support as well as professional counseling services,” the LDS Church states. “Mr. Bishop’s local ecclesiastical leaders were contacted and they confronted him with her claims, which he denied, and local leaders did not feel they could pursue church discipline for Mr. Bishop.”

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BUFFALO (NY)
The Buffalo News

Published March 23, 2018; Updated March 24, 2018

By Jay Tokasz

Eight priests from the Diocese of Buffalo accused of sexually abusing children live within a short walk of area elementary and middle schools.

Beyond naming the priests, the diocese has declined to disclose addresses or any other information about the 42 priests it said on Tuesday had credible allegations of sexual misconduct involving minors brought against them.

Seventeen of the 42 clergy on the list are alive.

A Buffalo News search of public records showed eight of the living priests resided within blocks of a school. In some cases, they lived across the street from a school or down the road a few houses.

“Obviously, it’s a cause for concern. It’s an issue that the community needs to recognize,” said Erie County District Attorney John J. Flynn. “The problem is that these individuals are not required to be registered. They were never found guilty of any offense. They’re not in any local database for sex registry offenses. So legally, there’s nothing that anyone can do to prevent them from living near a school. That’s the unfortunate reality here.”

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SCOTLAND
The Guardian

March 24, 2018

By Kevin McKenna

Instead of tolerance, a grotesque group of inquisitors are alienating the faithful

The most human response to the death of Scotland’s shamed cardinal came from the journalist whose articles forced his resignation. Catherine Deveney spoke with compassion and pity as she expressed the hope that Cardinal Keith Patrick O’Brien had found peace and forgiveness at the end. Deveney’s articles for the Observer in 2013 revealed that O’Brien had, for many years, conducted a series of inappropriate relationships with young priests under his jurisdiction.

Like others, she had been aware of a whiff of scandal surrounding this widely admired man who, unlike many of his predecessors and contemporaries, seemed to possess something that endeared him to people. It was only when O’Brien began to front an ill-advised and nasty campaign against same-sex marriage that three priests who had been in sexual relationships with him felt they had to speak out and subsequently approached Deveney with their stories.

A few months before this, I was informed by the editor of the Catholic Observer that O’Brien had chided her for publishing an article of mine in which I had criticised his attitude to gay people and the use of the word “grotesque” in describing their sexuality. Yet I didn’t derive any delight at his public outing, only a sense of deep sadness that a man with great qualities of leadership and compassion had been brought low by a lie that had probably stalked half his adult life. What misery and self-loathing must he have endured as he preached his fables about human sexuality. And yet what damage had he caused to the faith of thousands not by being revealed as a sinner but as a hypocrite.

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ENGLAND
Australian Broadcasting Corporation

March 26, 2018

By Julia Baird and Hayley Gleeson

One in four churchgoers has experienced domestic abuse in their current relationship, according to a new study in Britain.

The research, conducted in Cumbria by academics at Coventry University and the University of Leicester in conjunction with Christian charity Restored, has led to urgent calls for churches in Britain and Australia to expose and counter abuse in their midst, with the authors finding more priests need to publicly condemn abuse “from the pulpit”.

Almost half of those who sought help from their church (47.2 per cent) said they were unlikely to do so again, if they experienced abuse in the future.

Only two in seven thought their church was adequately equipped to deal with a disclosure of abuse.

Mandy Marshall, a co-founder of Restored, a global Christian alliance that aims to end violence against women, said: “One of the biggest barriers we have faced is Christians not believing that domestic abuse could happen in their church.”

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NEW ZEALAND
NZ Herald

March 26, 2018

By Lucy Bennett

The Catholic Church has written to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern asking for religious organisations to be included in a Royal Commission looking into abuse in state care.

The New Zealand Catholic Bishops and representation from Catholic religious orders wrote to Ardern, Minister for Children Tracey Martin and Sir Anand Satyanand, chairman of the Royal Commission into Abuse in State Care.

The letter, signed by Bishop Patrick Dunn, the president of the New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference and Sister Katrina Fabish RSM, congregational leader of the Sisters of Mercy, said they supported the work of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State Care but wanted the Inquiry’s terms of reference broadened to include a range of Church institutions.

“We are of the firm view that no individual should be denied the possibility of making a submission to this government inquiry. It would be wrong if some individuals felt excluded from this process simply because their path of referral to an institution was different from someone else’s,” the letter said.

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ROME
The Washington Post

March 25, 2018

By Amanda Erickson

On Saturday, hundreds of young Catholics gathered to give Pope Francis a piece of their minds.

They called for a more transparent and “authentic” church, one with a bigger role for women and more wisdom about the benefits and challenges of technology. They called for more flexibility, too, arguing that “unreachable” moral standards should not be the only way to live an authentically Catholic life.

These findings were part of a 16-page report assembled by 300 young people at a week-long conference sponsored by the Vatican. It drew, too, on online submissions from 15,000 others.

“We, the young church, ask that our leaders speak in practical terms about subjects such as homosexuality and gender issues, about which young people are already freely discussing,” the report said.

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UNITED STATES
Yahoo Lifestyle

March 26, 2018

By Erin Donnelly

There’s been much debate over how to tackle sexual abuse against young gymnasts following the trial of sports doctor Larry Nassar, who was sentenced to 40 to 175 years in prison after more than 260 people accused him of molesting them.

For Aly Raisman, one of the many athletes abused by Nassar, real reform means holding everyone accountable. Earlier this year the gold medalist filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Olympic Committee for failing to pursue allegations about him.

But there’s one proposed solution she won’t entertain: a new dress code for gymnasts.

Raisman took to Twitter to lambast suggestions that gymnasts should stop wearing leotards to deter would-be abusers.

The Olympian said such measures implied that the athletes were partly responsible for the actions of perpetrators like Nassar.

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ROME
Catholic Herald

March 25, 2018

By Cindy Wooden

Final document of a pre-synod gathering asks Church to be more credible, honest and transparent

“We need a Church that is welcoming and merciful, which appreciates its roots and patrimony and which loves everyone, even those who are not following the perceived standards,” the final document of a pre-synod gathering organised by the Vatican has said.

The document reflects the input of 305 young adults attending the meeting in Rome and some 15,000 young people who participated through Facebook groups online.

It was to be presented to Pope Francis at the end of Palm Sunday Mass and was to be used in drafting the working document for the Synod of Bishops on young people, faith and vocational discernment in October, said Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, secretary general of the synod.

With a frantic pace of life, thousands of life choices and proponents of different ideas and ideals battling for their attention, young people said what they want most from the Church is “attractive, coherent and authentic models,” who will accompany them in their search for meaning and fulfilment.

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NEW ZEALAND
Stuff

March 26, 2018

By Laura Walters

The Anglican and Catholic Churches of New Zealand are making a last push to have those abused in faith-based institutions included in the scope of the Government’s Royal Commission of Inquiry into State Abuse.

But the prime minister said the primary purpose of the inquiry was to hold the state to account, and there was a risk of “diluting” that responsibility if non-state institutions were included.

Last month, Children’s Minister Tracey Martin and Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced the draft terms of reference, and scope, of the inquiry.

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ROME
Catholic News Service

March 26, 2018

Young people want to know they are valued members of the Catholic Church and that their questions and struggles are taken seriously enough that someone will spend time with them discussing issues rather than simply repeating “prefabricated” responses, said delegates to a meeting in Rome.

“We need a church that is welcoming and merciful, which appreciates its roots and patrimony and which loves everyone, even those who are not following the perceived standards,” said the final document of a pre-synod gathering organised by the Vatican 19-25 March.

The document reflects the input of 305 young adults attending the meeting in Rome and some 15,000 young people who participated through Facebook groups online.

Released on 24 March, it was to be presented to Pope Francis at the end of Palm Sunday Mass the next day and was to be used in drafting the working document for the Synod of Bishops on young people, faith and vocational discernment in October, said Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, secretary general of the synod.

With a frantic pace of life, thousands of life choices and proponents of different ideas and ideals battling for their attention, young people said what they want most from the church is “attractive, coherent and authentic models,” who will accompany them in their search for meaning and fulfillment.

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NEW ZEALAND
Crux

March 26, 2018

Just months after the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse issued its final report, New Zealand is beginning its own royal commission – and the nation’s Catholic bishops are asking its institutions not to be excluded from scrutiny.

A royal commission is the highest form of inquiry in most countries where Queen Elizabeth II is the head of state, including Australia and New Zealand.

Right now, the New Zealand royal commission will look into youth detention centers, psychiatric hospitals and orphanages, as well as any government care services contracted out to private institutions.

Although this will include some Church-run facilities, the commission doesn’t include a broad mandate to look into religious organizations.

“We are of the firm view that no individual should be denied the possibility of making a submission to this Government inquiry,” said a letter from the New Zealand bishops’ conference.

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ROME
CRUX

March 25, 2018

By John L. Allen Jr.

Since Pope Francis called a summit of Catholic bishops on youth and discernment two years ago, fixing it for this October, speculation has swirled about which topics would loom largest during the meeting, given that its themes seem vast enough to embrace almost everything under the sun.

We won’t really know until the Synod of Bishops gets underway, but if 300 young people from around the world who met in Rome this week to provide input to the bishops have anything to do with it, two tough subjects will be unavoidable: The Church’s sexual abuse scandals, and the role of women in Catholicism.

“The Church should condemn actions such as sexual abuse and the mismanagement of power and wealth,” the young advisers said in a concluding document from their reflections released in a Vatican news conference on Saturday.

“The Church should continue to enforce her no-tolerance stance on sexual abuse within her institutions, and her humility will undoubtedly raise its credibility among the world’s young people,” they said.

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ENGLAND
Independent

March 25, 2018

By Andreas Whittam Smith

Evidence at the inquiry concluded that the abuse was ‘normalised’ because it was practised by so many. Worse still, one member of the clergy believed that God had forgiven him and therefore ‘his slate was wiped clean’

For a long time, I have wanted to understand why one small area of the Church of England has had a large number of the clergy sent to gaol for sexually abusing young people and children. The place is Sussex, particularly East Sussex, part of the diocese of Chichester.

I have not been alone in wanting this question answered. For the Government has set up an Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse in England and Wales and this body has turned its attention to the diocese of Chichester. The hearings have been going on for some weeks now. I shall make extensive use of what the inquiry has been told.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
The Inquirer

March 25, 2018

By Jeremy Roebuck & Stacey Burling

The pastor of a Northeast Philadelphia Catholic parish has been placed on administrative leave while police investigate a report of alleged misconduct with a minor, a spokesman for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia said Sunday.

The Rev. Armand Garcia, formerly of St. Martin of Tours parish in the city’s Summerdale section, was removed from his post March 16 – the same day that investigators executed a search warrant on the parish rectory, said Kenneth Gavin, chief communications officer for the archdiocese.

Parishioners were informed of Garcia’s leave and the circumstances behind it last weekend. But details of the investigation remained sparse more than a week later.

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IRELAND
The Irish Mirror

March 26, 2018

By Craig McDonald

The accuser is now aged 51 and is to launch a civil action against the Church

A disgraced Irish priest who claimed he had sex with a murder victim has been accused of raping a schoolgirl.

The accuser is now aged 51 and is to launch a civil action against the Church over the alleged attacks that she says destroyed her life.

The woman – who asked to be identified only as Teresa – said Fr Gerry Nugent made his way into her life when she went to stay with her gran as a vulnerable 11-year-old.

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