ABUSE TRACKER

UNITED STATES
BishopAccountability.org

2015

* The Victoria Police have been investigating alleged abuse by Pell since at least 2015. This two-year span was confirmed last month by Pell himself, at the beginning of his June 29 statement declaring his innocence.

A specialized team within the Victoria police called the SANO Task Force has been investigating the complaints against Pell. The police established SANO in 2012 to follow up on criminal complaints of child sexual abuse emerging from the Victorian parliament’s Inquiry into the Handling of Child Abuse by Religious and Other Organisations. By the time the Inquiry concluded in November 2013, the national government had launched a broader inquiry, the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse. SANO has remained active to handle criminal complaints emanating from the Royal Commission’s probe.

* In December 2015, the SANO task force asked the public to contact them with any information about child sex crimes at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Melbourne between 1996 and 2001. This was the exact tenure of Pell’s role as archbishop of Melbourne, where the Cathedral was his parish, seat of power and focus of activities.

2016

* In January 2016, Victoria police issued a public appeal in local Ballarat news outlets “for information in relation to allegations of sexual assault at the Eureka Stockade Pool, Ballarat East in the late 1970s. The male victims were aged 8 years old at the time of the alleged incidents.” During the late 1970s, Pell was a priest at St. Alipius parish in Ballarat, serving as diocesan vicar for education.

* On February 19, 2016, one week before Pell was scheduled to give evidence to the Royal Commission from Rome, the Herald Sun broke the news that Victoria Police were investigating multiple complaints that Pell himself had abused minors. The alleged incidents took place when Pell was a priest in Ballarat and archbishop of Melbourne and involved abuse of five to ten boys, now ranging in age from their late 20’s to early 50’s. The Herald Sun cited “legal sources” who described the alleged crimes as involving “both grooming and opportunity.”

Pell responded immediately. A statement from his office called the accusations “without foundation and utterly false.” He accused the Victoria Police of leaking the information in an attempt to embarrass him: “The Cardinal has called for a public inquiry into the leaking of these spurious claims by elements in the Victoria Police in a manner clearly designed to embarrass the Cardinal, in a case study where the historical failures of the Victoria Police have been the subject of substantial evidence.”

* On July 28, 2016, Victoria Police confirmed an ongoing investigation of alleged sexual abuses by Pell. In an email to The New York Times, a police spokesperson said, “Detectives are investigating allegations of historical sexual assaults committed in Ballarat East between 1976 and 1980 and East Melbourne between 1996 and 2001.” The email said the evidence had been referred to the Director of Public Prosecutions for advice, but that “as with any investigation, it remains a decision for Victoria police as to whether charges will be laid.”

The police statement was prompted by a special TV report aired by Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). Its program 7:30 revealed details about the police investigation. (See the program transcript.) ABC reporter Louise Milligan said she had obtained the information from “eight police statements from complainants, witnesses and family members who are helping the [SANO] taskforce with their investigation.”

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

UNITED KINGDOM
International Business Times

By Frenalyn Wilson on July 27 2017

A UK inquiry has wrapped up public hearings on Wednesday in relation to how child migrants were used in slave labour at Australian farm schools. They were also beaten and abuse.

British Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has revealed that the UK government provided assistance to the Child Migrants Trust. The $11.5 million funding will provide counselling to former child migrants and will help them find the families they had been separated from.

The trust has called for full financial redress for former child migrants and ongoing funding for family reunification and counselling. Hunt assured that the government will carefully consider the recommendations of the inquiry.

A report is slated to be published later this year. It is expected to provide recommendations on a redress scheme for former child migrants, following one planned in Australia.

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

NORTH CAROLINA
Associated Press

BY HOLBROOK MOHR, MITCH WEISS AND PETER PRENGAMAN
ASSOCIATED PRESS

Ten former members of the Word of Faith Fellowship church say they have been contacted by U.S. federal and state authorities investigating allegations of abuse, forced labor and visa fraud after a series of Associated Press stories about the North Carolina-based evangelical sect, which has branches in Brazil and Ghana and affiliations in other countries.

In Brazil, the federal police told AP the justice department has asked for a 2012 inquiry to be reopened into complaints that Word of Faith Fellowship’s two churches in the country were illegally sending minors to the United States. The country’s foreign ministry said it was contacting the U.S. consulates in Brazil and U.S. law enforcement agencies for more information, and added that its embassy in Washington, D.C., was trying to reach Brazilians who came to the U.S. via the church.

In February, the AP published its initial story about Word of Faith Fellowship in which 43 former members said congregants were regularly punched and choked in an effort to “purify” sinners by beating out devils. This week, AP revealed how Word of Faith Fellowship took over two congregations in Brazil and created a pipeline of young laborers who say they were brought to the U.S. and forced to work for little or no pay.

Neither church founder Jane Whaley nor the pastors at the Word of Faith Fellowship branches in the Brazilian cities of Sao Joaquim de Bicas and Franco da Rocha responded to repeated requests for comment.

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

ROME
The Commentator

Tim Hedges

The weather has been hot since April, and Italians have been getting away to the seaside whenever possible, at weekends, saints’ days and sometimes pulling a crafty sickie.

But now the holidays proper are approaching, the two, three weeks, often a month spent showing off your beach body and chatting with the friends you always chat to at this time of year, under your reserved umbrella.

Not so, however, in the Vatican. Of course, the Pope has refused to use his summer house, Castelgandolfo in the Alban Hills (now a tourist venue), but there is no shortage of places to go. It’s just that there is a lot to do and, seemingly, not many people to do it. Beach body ready priests and monsignors are having to stay at the office.

Where to start? Australian Cardinal George Pell, who heads up the Vatican’s finances, has returned to Australia to face some historic child abuse allegations. He says he is innocent, and many Vatican observers believe him to be so.

Not that George Pell is a great loss to Francis. The Australian is a conservative, one of a number of cardinals who signed a letter to the Pope saying that there was progressive interference in the Synod on the Family. It was, of course, Francis himself who was interfering.

If Pell is innocent, people will suspect that someone has been stirring up trouble for him, and that someone will almost certainly be of the pope’s progressive faction.

Things are not going too well for Cardinal Francesco Coccopalmerio, head of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts. Last month police were called to a disturbance in a flat occupied by one of his senior aides, Luigi Capozzi. They found what has been described as a homosexual orgy.

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

CONNECTICUT
New Haven Independent

by PAUL BASS & CHRISTOPHER PEAK | Jul 26, 2017

Prominent Edgewood rabbi Daniel Greer turned himself in to police Wednesday for arrest on sexual assault charges.

Police arrested Greer, who is 77 years old, on a warrant charging him with second-degree sexual assault and risk of injury to a minor.

Police said the arrest stems from a complaint they received last August from a former student of Greer at the yeshiva he started in the Edgewood neighborhood. Police said the abuse occurred in the “early to middle 2000s.”

Greer in May lost a $20 million verdict in a federal civil lawsuit filed by former yeshiva student Eliyahu Mirlis, which included testimony about years-long abuse of at least one other victim at the school. Greer invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination to decline responding to the allegations. The rabbi is seeking a new trial.

Greer showed up at 1 Union Ave. at 11 a.m. along with attorney David Grudberg (who was accompanying him while his lawyer in the criminal case is on vacation) to surrender Wednesday. Bond was set at $100,000. Greer posted bond. As he left the police station, he declined comment when asked by a reporter.

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

CONNECTICUT
Frum Follies

Rabbi Daniel Greer was arrested today (7/26/17) in New Haven, CT on charges of sexually assaulting Eliyahu Mirlis, a student in his yeshiva, around 13 years ago. Mirlis recently won a twenty million dollar judgement against Greer in a civil trial.

Bail was set at $100,000 and promptly paid by Greer.

For the full story, see the New Haven Independent Report.

Had the same crime happened in New York State, the alleged crime would not have been prosecutable becuase it was past the state’s very skimpy statute of limitations which force the victim to initiate the police complaint before their 23rd birthday.

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

NORTHERN IRELAND
The Irish News

Suzanne McGonagle and John Manley
27 July, 2017

POLITICANS and campaigners have welcomed an extraordinary intervention by former first minister Peter Robinson calling for action for institutional abuses victims.

The ex-DUP leader yesterday said the issue had been “swept under the carpet for too long” and the delay in implementing the recommendations of the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry (HIA) had been “unfair and unnecessarily deferred” by the collapse of the Stormont institutions.

Writing in the Irish News, he called on Secretary of State James Brokenshire to act on the inquiry’s recommendations. He also described how he and the late Martin McGuinness had been “deeply affected” by the victims’ experiences.

Patrick Corrigan for Amnesty International last night said Mr Robinson’s remarks were “timely and welcome”.

“I remember those initial meetings which Peter Robinson referenced in his article when he and Martin McGuinness met abuse victims,” he said.

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

AUSTRALIA
9 News

The “disgusting” and “reprehensible” molestation of boys by a Catholic priest more than three decades ago has been linked to a culture of abuse at Victoria’s notorious Rupertswood boarding school.

Frank Peter De Dood has been taken into custody while a Victorian County Court judge considers a jail term for the 64-year old after he pleaded guilty to indecently assaulting five boys.

Dozens of students were abused by a number of priests at Salesian College Rupertswood in Sunbury in the 1970s and 1980s.

A psychiatric assessment of De Dood raised the possibility of a link between his crimes and the culture of both the Salesian order and the school.

“The culture of the school and religious order may likely be linked to his offending,” the doctor said in a report tendered in court.

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

NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

Editor’s viewpoint
July 27 2017

The inquiry set up to investigate the abuse of children in Northern Ireland’s state and church-run institutions was comprehensive and detailed in its recommendations. No one could deny, even on a cursory reading of the report, that it presented a humane and just response to the suffering that children had suffered at the hands of evil predators.

Yet it is a report which is gathering dust at Stormont. The victims, as former First Minister Peter Robinson said, were again being let down by political stalemate.

His comments came as the funeral of one of the abused, Billy McConville, took place.

He, like a reported 60 other victims, have gone to their graves never getting the recompense that his traumatic experiences demanded and which were recognised by the Historical Institutional Abuse inquiry.

Like the victims of the Troubles, the abused children – some of whom were shipped out to Australia where they were violated – are growing old, hoping that they will one day get the full justice they demand and deserve.

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

UNITED KINGDOM
The Times

David Brown, Chief News Correspondent
July 27 2017
The Times

The Jehovah’s Witness policy of allowing convicted paedophiles to interrogate their victims has been condemned by the charities’ regulator.

A report into a congregation in Manchester said that elders misled investigators, concealed evidence and allowed a senior member convicted of abusing two girls, aged five and ten, to cross-examine them.

Similar disciplinary policies at the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, which oversees local groups and distributes literature, are being investigated by the Charity Commission.

Jehovah’s Witnesses have 138,000 congregation members, known as publishers, in the UK. The charity regulator is examining a rule that requires two witnesses to give evidence before a member can be expelled and the running of “judicial committees” which allow abusers to question their victims.

An investigation into the Manchester New Moston Congregation was prompted by a complaint that Jonathan Rose, an “elder” of the group and trustee of its associated charity, had abused a young female member in 2002.

He was later convicted of abusing two girls and it was revealed that he had been cleared in 1995 of similar charges against a third teenager.

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

UNITED KINGDOM
Manchester Evening News

BY CHRIS OSUH
26 JUL 2017

Victims of a convicted paedophile were made to attend a Jehovah’s Witness meeting where they were interrogated by the man who molested them, a Charity Commission investigation has found.

Back in 2014, the M.E.N revealed how three women who complained Jehovah’s Witness elder Jonathan Rose, 43, had molested them as children were forced to relive their experiences in detail as eight other senior congregation members looked on.

The women had wanted Rose barred from the Manchester church, and were told that they would have to take part in the bizarre process if Rose was to be ‘disfellowshipped’.

Following our report, national regulator the Charity Commission launched an inquiry into the church at the centre of the controversy, which is a registered charity.

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

UNITED KINGDOM
Guardian

Alice Ross
Wednesday 26 July 2017

A Jehovah’s Witness congregation in Manchester has been criticised by the Charity Commission over its handling of allegations of child sex abuse by a senior member.

Victims of a convicted paedophile, Jonathan Rose, were forced to confront him face to face and answer questions about their abuse, including from him, at a three-hour meeting, the charity watchdog found. One alleged victim was criticised in correspondence as a troublemaker who was “economical with the truth”.

The charity’s trustees failed to provide “accurate and complete answers” to the investigation, the commission wrote, identifying “misconduct or mismanagement in the administration of the charity”.

The Charity Commission launched an inquiry into the Manchester New Moston congregation of the Jehovah’s Witnesses in 2014. This followed reports that women who were abused by Rose, an “elder” who was jailed for child sex abuse in 2013, had been forced to confront him after his release from prison as he sought to rejoin the congregation.

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

UNITED KINGDOM
Telegraph

Camilla Turner, education editor
26 JULY 2017

A Jehovah’s Witness charity has been attacked by the Charity Commission for covering up allegations of paedophilia against one of its former leaders.

In a damning report by the charities watchdog, Manchester New Moston Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses was criticised for failing to report its members claims of sex abuse to the police.

“The inquiry found that the trustees of the charity did not report the allegation of child sexual abuse to the police or to other authorities,” the report said. “Nor did it report the matter as a serious incident to the Commission.”

It added that the charity “badly let down” victims of child abuse in its handling of allegations against Jonathan Rose, a former trustee who was subsequently convicted of indecent assault against a member of the congregation.

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

UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

By Michael Buchanan
Social affairs correspondent, BBC News

Jehovah’s Witnesses have been severely criticised by the Charity Commission for allowing a convicted sex offender to interrogate his victims.

The commission’s report said the women had endured “inappropriate and demeaning questioning”.
And Jonathan Rose had challenged them during a meeting with Church elders, after he was released from prison.

A Jehovah’s Witness statement said “appropriate restrictions” were imposed on anyone guilty of abuse.

Rose was convicted in 2013 of the historical sexual abuse of two girls, aged five and 10, and sentenced to nine months in prison.

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

AUSTRALIEN
Deutschlandfunk

Von Sarah Zerback

Hunderte Kinder, missbraucht von hunderten australischen Priestern, die sich gegenseitig gedeckt haben und die geschützt wurden – auch durch George Pell, den ehemaligen Erzbischof von Melbourne und Sydney. So der Vorwurf. Persönliche Schuld weist der Kurienkardinal jedoch vehement zurück. Lediglich eine allgemeine Verantwortung der Kirche habe es gegeben.

“Die Kirche hat es verbockt und Menschen im Stich gelassen, an vielen Orten, gewiss auch in Australien. Ich bin nicht hier, um das zu rechtfertigen, was sich nicht rechtfertigen lässt”, sagt Kardinal Pell bei seiner Befragung im Vatikan – nur wenige Monate, bevor er in seiner Heimat Australien nun selbst vor Gericht steht. Er, der mächtige Mann in Rom, soll sich vor Jahrzehnten an kleinen Jungen vergangen haben. Für den Heiligen Stuhl sind die Anschuldigungen äußerst unangenehm. Hatte Papst Franziskus doch angekündigt, Missbrauchsfälle und andere schwerwiegende Delikte in der katholischen Kirche strenger aufzuklären. Dazu hat er ein neues Gremium geschaffen, das Kirchenrecht weiter verschärft und die Taten öffentlich verurteilt.

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

DEUTSCHLAND
inFranken

[Hedwig Herrath Beckmann (72) was born in the last months of the Second World War. Her life as a child and adolescent was characterized by psychological and sexual abuse, especially in the home of Catholic nuns of the Order of Divine Providence. She wrote about it a book “Hilifi – Gottes Vermaledeite Brut”.]

von SUSANNE WILL

Hedwig Herrath Beckmann (72) wurde in den letzten Monaten des Zweiten Weltkrieges geboren. Ihr Leben als Kind und Jugendliche war geprägt von seelischem und sexuellem Missbrauch, vor allem im Heim durch katholische Nonnen des Ordens der göttlichen Vorsehung. Sie schrieb darüber ein Buch, “Hilifi – Gottes vermaledeite Brut”.

Was ihr dann widerfuhr, ist selten: Ein Bischof bezeichnete das Buch als bleibendes Mahnmal einer gequälten Kindheit. Bischof Felix Glenn aus dem Bistum Münster entschuldigte sich bei ihr. Am Donnerstag, 27. Juli, liest sie um 19.30 Uhr im Salon des Hauses 1 in der Deegenbergklinik in Bad Kissingen aus ihrem Buch.

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

DEUTSCHLAND
MissBit

[“Regensburger Domspatzen” – After the final report.
July 26, 2017
The abuse officer of the DBK, Bishop Ackermann, remains silent today to the final report.
July 25, 2017: “In Trier, for example, Bishop Stephan Ackermann and his predecessor, today’s Munich Cardinal Reinhard Marx, had to admit mistakes in dealing with a priest, who repeatedly indicated that he was being attacked , But was never condemned.]

27. Juli 2017
Der Missbrauchsbeauftragte der DBK, Bischof Ackermann, schweigt bis heute zu dem Abschlussbericht.

26. Juli 2017
“In der Verdrängungsschleife
Der Klage der Missbrauchsopfer über die Ignoranz und das Desinteresse des Klerus sowie über die mangelnde Unterstützung aus dem Vatikan möchte ich mich anschließen und aus eigener Erfahrung Folgendes beitragen: Nachdem das Bistum Münster den Bericht über meine Erlebnisse als Messdiener in den Jahren 1949 bis 1951 monatelang ignoriert hatte, wandte ich mich an den Beauftragten der katholischen Kirche, Stephan Ackermann, um diesen zu bitten, seinen Münsteraner Kollegen zur Kenntnisnahme aufzufordern. Von Ackermann habe ich nie eine Antwort erhalten…”
“sueddeutsche.de”

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

MALAYSIA
The Star

BY MARTIN CARVALHO

KUALA LUMPUR: Amendments to the Legal Aid Act 1971 will allow underage victims of sexual crimes and their family members to seek legal advice.

The Legal Aid (Amendment) Bill was tabled by Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said (pic) for the first reading in Parliament on Thursday.

Azalina said the Bill is expected to be debated and passed by lawmakers during the current Parliament meeting which runs till Aug 10.

Changes to the law include the creation of a new provision with regard to services of a “legal companion” provided to a child victim.

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

MASSACHUSETTS
Boston Globe

By Roy Greene and Jeremiah Manion GLOBE STAFF JULY 26, 2017

Defrocked priest Paul R. Shanley is slated to be released from prison as early as this week after serving 12 years in prison for raping a Sunday school student in the early 1980s. Shanley, 86, is one of the most notorious Massachusetts figures in the Catholic Church sexual abuse scandal. Here is a look at some of the others, and details of what happened to them.

JOHN GEOGHAN For decades, Geoghan preyed on more than 100 young boys in a half-dozen Boston-area parishes. In February 2002, he was sentenced to nine to 10 years in state prison for fondling a youth at a pool in Waltham. On Aug. 23, 2003, while in protective custody at the maximum security Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center in Shirley, Geoghan was strangled and stomped to death in his cell by another inmate.

RONALD H. PAQUIN In 2002, Paquin pleaded guilty to three counts of child rape involving a boy from Haverhill from 1989 to 1992, when he was an associate pastor of St. John the Baptist Church there. Paquin, who is 75, was released from prison in 2015 but arrested again in February following his indictment on 29 new counts of sexual misconduct in Maine.

JOSEPH BIRMINGHAM Birmingham, who died in 1989, was accused of being one of the worst abusers in the Archdiocese of Boston. More than 50 men claimed they were abused by Birmingham during the priest’s 29-year tenure with the Archdiocese.

ROBERT M. BURNS In 2005, Burns pleaded guilty to raping and sexually assaulting five boys while working as a priest in Jamaica Plain and Charlestown in the 1980s and 1990s. He was given an eight- to 11-year prison sentence. Burns has been released and as recently as 2015 was living in Boston.

JAMES F. TALBOT A former Boston College High School priest, teacher, and hockey coach, he faced multiple accusations of abuse. In 2005, when he was 67, Talbot pleaded guilty to molesting two teenage boys during wrestling practice in the late 1970s and was sentenced to five to seven years in jail. He was released in 2011.

Sources: Globe archives; news reports; and BishopAccountability.org.

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

CANADA
Northumberland Today

By Grahame Woods, Northumberland Today
Wednesday, July 26, 2017

What happened was … the boy told his father, who talked to another father. The two of them talked to the vicar – and the curate left for another parish. It was never talked about again. By anyone.

Which was how it was done in 1940s England – for, in those days, sexual abuse never happened. The priest ‘interfered’ with young boys and was quietly sent somewhere else. And that, shush/shush, was that. Fast forward to 2017 – same country. 560 (reported) young soccer players sexually assaulted and over 250 team managers, so far, have been charged. A welcome change in the wording from ‘abuse’ to assault. And then, in the hallowed halls of the BBC there was …. but, wait. Hasn’t sexual assault and physical abuse, especially of boys by men, something of the norm in England?

Recently, drawn by a review in an American magazine, and having grown up in England, I have just finished reading Alex Renton’s Stiff Upper Lip, subtitled, Secrets and Crimes and the Schooling of a Ruling Class, a book that exposes the truth and perversions of private, all-boys boarding schools in that country. Fee paying, unregulated schools perfectly designed to lure innocent children, some as young as six years of age, into the waiting, welcoming clutches of predatory, sadistic teachers – well, Masters, as they are called over there – facing a life of ‘beating, bullying, fagging, cold baths, vile food and paedophile teachers.’

Renton adds; ‘Just some of the elements of the potion the British elite has applied to its sons and daughters to prepare them for a role in the ruling class.’ It is difficult to imagine any parent sending their six-year-old child off to boarding school for the rest of its schooling life, many of the parents having been through the system themselves, knowing, perpetuating (co-conspirators?) what goes on.

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

ISRAEL
YNet News

Rabbi Ezra Sheinberg was convicted of committing sexual offenses against eight women after he confessed to the allegations. Sheinberg admitted as part of a plea bargain stating that the prosecution would seek to sentence him to eight years and nine months in prison.

The prosecution said that at the end of the day the prosecution decided to accept the recommendation of the magistrate and the outline she had proposed, and to conclude the case in a plea bargain, in light of the overall view of the public interest.

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

ISRAEL
Arutz Sheva

Ido ben Porat, 26/07/17

The Nazareth District Court on Wednesday convicted Ezra Sheinberg, a former head of the Orot ha-Ari yeshiva in Tzfat, of sexual offenses against eight women.

The original indictment against the former yeshiva head included a long list of serious offenses, including rape, sodomy, indecent acts, disruption of proceedings, and fraud.

Sheinberg was arrested after senior rabbis in the city of Tzfat, led by Chief Rabbi of Tzfat Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, dismissed him from the yeshiva he headed, claiming that he had sexually abused women from his community as well as other women.

At first, Sheinberg rejected the charges against him, asserting that they were part of a deliberate plot against him. “The claims are dissipating one by one,” he said in one of the remand hearings. “Complainant after complainant asserts that she said things she was forced to say. Things will become clear later.”

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

ISRAEL
Times of Israel

A well-known rabbi and yeshiva head from Safed was convicted on Wednesday of committing sexual crimes against eight women.

Rabbi Ezra Sheinberg confessed and was convicted in Nazareth District Court as part of a plea deal over a series of crimes committed against women who came to him for advice and counseling.

The prosecution demanded that the former head of the Orot HaAri yeshiva receive a nine-year jail sentence after his conviction for crimes, including rape and indecent assault.

A total of 14 women made allegations against Sheinberg to a special investigation team and police suspect that many other victims were afraid to come forward. The victims were all religious women who had come to the rabbi for advice or help on various issues including health.

Sheinberg had been a popular Kabbalist and respected figure in Israel’s national-religious community and author of several books of Torah ideas.

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

ISRAEL
Jerusalem Post

BY JEREMY SHARON JULY 27, 2017

The rabbi, a renowned yeshiva head from Safed, was originally indicted in July 2015 on 12 charges of sexual offenses including rape, sodomy and indecent assault.

The so-called “rabbi of the North,” Rabbi Ezra Sheinberg, was convicted on Wednesday of sexual offenses against eight women by the Nazareth District Court.

Sheinberg admitted to the crimes in a plea bargain with the prosecution that will see him sentenced to almost nine years in prison.

The rabbi, a renowned yeshiva head from Safed, was originally indicted in July 2015 on 12 charges of sexual offenses including rape, sodomy and indecent assault.

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

MASSACHUSETTS
Boston Herald

Brian Dowling Thursday, July 27, 2017

Sexual abuse survivors and their lawyers protested the clinical findings that led to the release of convicted pedophile priest Paul Shanley and warned the 86-year-old defrocked cleric will be a public danger to children and adults when he gets out of jail tomorrow.

Attorney Carmen L. Durso, who represented many of Shanley’s victims, slammed the conclusions of two doctors who said the former priest is no longer considered “sexually dangerous” for the purposes of having him civilly committed after serving 12 years for the rape and indecent assault of a child.

“If Paul Shanley doesn’t qualify as a sexually dangerous person then nobody will qualify,” Durso said. “The standards used here are archaic, erratic. The law has to be changed.”

Durso and attorney Mitchell Garabedian said officials from the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office who commissioned the clinical evaluations told them Shanley was found not to be “sexually dangerous” partially because of his advanced age.

“Age is not a factor when it comes to pedophile priests sexually abusing innocent children,” Garabedian said.

Rodney Ford, the father of Gregory Ford, whose abuse case sent Shanley to jail, said the former priest destroyed the lives of his son, his family members and “so many other victims.”

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

AUSTRALIA
The New Daily

Lucie Morris-Marr

It wasn’t the way Cardinal George Pell likes to start his morning.

On a normal weekday the 76-year-old is usually found working inside the grand confines of Saint John’s Tower on the western tip of Vatican City.

In the medieval building, the official seat of the office he holds as Prefect of the Secretariat of the Economy, there are assistants to bring him coffee or run errands across the ancient Roman cobblestones.

The restored tower is a place he can work in peace.

On Wednesday, however, there was nothing peaceful about the scene that greeted Cardinal Pell at Melbourne Magistrates Court, where he arrived just before 9am for his first hearing on multiple charges of historic sexual abuse.

This reporter had been the first in line at the doors of the court in the darkness at 5am. But very soon the William Street building was under siege, with an unprecedented media army of over 150 local, national and international journalists and TV crews.

We all morphed into one huge, breathless, heaving and agitated pack.

In truth, we were hungry for breakfast as well as the story.

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

AUSTRALIA
Asian Correspondent

By Jo Lane | 27th July 2017

TO SHOUTS, jeers, a media scrum and chaotic scenes outside the Melbourne Magistrates Court, Cardinal George Pell made his first appearance in what is predicted to be a drawn-out case into allegations of historical sex offences.

In scenes reminiscent of other high-profile cases such as the trial by media of Lindy Chamberlain, the Cardinal’s first stoic, silent fronting to the court, that has either satiated or whetted the public and media’s appetite, has also left no one the wiser about what exactly he is charged with.

“Historical sex offences” and “matters that have been under investigation for two years” are some of the phrases that have been thrown around in explanation, but the fact remains that the details of the allegations have not been made publicly available.

On this perplexity, The Guardian columnist David Marr wrote of his coverage of the filing hearing, “My apologies. I can’t tell you what’s going on. A great billowing, lace-edged cloak of secrecy still surrounds the case of the Director of Public Prosecutions v. G Pell.

“Months down the track, we don’t know what the charges are. Even if they fell into my lap, I would not say a word. Why not? Sorry, that’s a secret too.”

And that, Catholic parishioner Michael Curtin said, is forcing the public to make a decision when there isn’t yet enough information.

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

AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

Shannon Deery, Herald Sun

ANOTHER priest has admitted sex crimes against children at the ­notorious Salesian College in Rupertswood.

Frank De Dood on Thursday admitted abusing five boys, four of them at the Sunbury college while he taught there between 1978 and 1983.

Dozens of young pupils have emerged as victims of relentless abuse at the hands of the Salesian priests, who ran what has been dubbed a “school of horrors”.

At the County Court on Thursday, De Dood, 64, pleaded guilty to six indecent assault charges against the five, aged 11 to 16. He abused one of the boys at the Salesian campus at Chadstone.

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

MASSACHUSETTS
New York Times

By KATHARINE Q. SEELYE
JULY 26, 2017

BOSTON — When he was 21 and coming out as gay, John Harris was referred to a charismatic street priest, Paul Shanley, for guidance.

“He raped me, under the pretense of helping me,” Mr. Harris, now 59, recalled Wednesday. Since the episode, in 1979, Mr. Harris said he had had difficulty trusting people, which led to heavy drinking and depression so severe that he was hospitalized.

Mr. Shanley was defrocked by the Vatican in 2004 and convicted in 2005 of raping a boy repeatedly during the 1980s in a suburban parish. Sentenced to 12 to 15 years in prison, he became one of the most notorious priests in the sex abuse scandal that rocked the Roman Catholic Church.

While the scandal of priests abusing children has faded somewhat from the explosive headlines of the early 2000s, the issue continues to play out here in Boston, the epicenter of the abuse.

Mr. Shanley is now 86. After 12 years of incarceration, he is scheduled to be released on Friday from the Old Colony Correctional Center, a medium-security prison in Bridgewater, Mass. His pending release has distressed his victims and their families, who on Wednesday said they hoped that residents of whatever town Mr. Shanley is released to will monitor him and report his whereabouts.

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

CONNECTICUT
JTA

July 26, 2017

NEW YORK (JTA) — A prominent Connecticut rabbi was charged in the alleged sexual assault of a minor two months after he was ordered to pay a civil judgment of $20 million relating to the same allegations.

Rabbi Daniel Greer, 77, the founding rabbi of the Yeshiva of New Haven, turned himself in to police Wednesday morning and was charged with second-degree sexual assault and risk of injury to a minor, police told the New Haven Register. Bond was set at $100,000.

Eliyahu Mirlis of New Jersey, now an adult, claims the rabbi raped and sexually molested him hundreds of times when he was a minor and a student at the religious boarding school in the early to mid-2000s. Mirlis has urged media outlets that normally would not identify an abuse victim to use his name.

In May, a federal jury ordered Greer and the Yeshiva of New Haven to pay Mirlis $15 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages. The criminal investigation proceeded more slowly than the civil trial.

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

CONNECTICUT
New Haven Register

By Register Staff
POSTED: 07/26/17

NEW HAVEN >> A rabbi turned himself in to police Wednesday morning following a police investigation into an alleged sexual assault of a minor.

Rabbi Daniel Greer, 77, of West Park Avenue, New Haven, was charged with second-degree sexual assault and risk of injury to a minor, police said. Bond was set at $100,000.

New Haven attorney William F. Dow said Wednesday Greer intends to plead not guilty during a court appearance, which Dow said will likely be in the second week of August.

“I proudly represent Rabbi Greer,” Dow said. “Rabbi Greer has a long history of positive contributions to the New Haven community. He intends to plead not guilty. He looks forward to addressing these unfounded charges in court.”

Attorney Antonio Ponvert III confirmed Wednesday the victim in this criminal charge his is client, Eliyahu Mirlis, who was awarded $15 million in his civil lawsuit accusing Greer in May. The New Haven Register generally does not identify people who allege sexual abuse, but Mirlis wanted to come forward. Ponvert represented Mirlis in the civil trail.

Mirlis, now 29, said the abuse has led him to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder as well as distress, humiliation, depression, low self-esteem and an inability to maintain emotional relationships, according to court documents.

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

CONNECTICUT
Washington Post

By Associated Press July 26

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — A rabbi who founded a Connecticut school and is the center of an abuse scandal there has turned himself in to police to face charges of sexually assaulting a minor.

The New Haven Register reports 77-year-old Rabbi Daniel Greer was charged Wednesday with sexual assault and risk of injury. Defense attorney William Dow says Greer intends to plead not guilty.

A federal jury in May awarded $15 million in compensatory damages to a former student who alleges he was repeatedly raped and molested by Greer when he attended the Yeshiva School of New Haven from 2001 to 2005. Greer founded the school.

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

UNITED KINGDOM
The Charity Commission

From:The Charity Commission
Published:26 July 2017

The charity regulator reports on its investigation into Manchester New Moston Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses.

A Charity Commission investigation has led to improvements in safeguarding at a Jehovah’s Witnesses charity, according to a report published today (26 July 2017). The report also makes findings of misconduct and mismanagement against the charity’s trustees.

The Commission concludes that trustees of the Manchester New Moston Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses did not deal adequately with allegations of child abuse made against one of the trustees in 2012 and 2013. The individual was subsequently convicted of 2 counts of indecent assault.

The report details the findings of the regulator’s statutory inquiry into the charity, which opened in May 2014 to investigate the charity’s handling of safeguarding matters, including the potential risks to the charity and its beneficiaries relating to this individual.

The report also acknowledges that, since the inquiry was opened, the charity has improved its child safeguarding policy and its procedures for handling misconduct allegations.

The regulator’s detailed report highlights that the trustees did not identify one allegation as potential child abuse, dismissing it as ‘a matter between 2 teenagers’. The report also finds the trustees did not:

* fully enforce the restrictions they decided to place on the individual’s activities at the charity
* adequately consider and deal with potential conflicts of loyalty within the trustee body
* keep an adequate written record of the decision-making process used to manage the potential risks posed by the individual to the beneficiaries of the charity

The regulator’s report examines the events surrounding an internal disciplinary procedure, held to determine whether the abuser should be allowed to continue as a member of the congregation. The Commission finds that the victims of abuse were ‘effectively required’ to attend a hearing at which they had to repeat their allegations in the presence of the abuser, and the abuser was permitted to question the alleged victims. The trustees had argued that they were not responsible for the procedure and that the victims took part in the hearing voluntarily.

The Commission accepts that the trustees did not themselves conduct the disciplinary procedure, but concludes that they carry ultimate responsibility and must be held accountable for the impact it had on the victims.

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

UNITED KINGDOM
Third Sector

26 July 2017 by Andy Ricketts

A Charity Commission report on the Manchester New Moston Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses says its handling of child abuse allegations was inadequate

The Charity Commission has criticised a Jehovah’s Witnesses charity that allowed a convicted sex offender to question his alleged victims as part of proceedings to decide whether he should continue as part of the congregation.

A report from the regulator on the Manchester New Moston Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses, published today, says trustees failed to deal adequately with child abuse allegations against former board member Jonathan Rose.

The report says the commission began looking into the charity after being told that Rose was appearing in court in August 2012 charged with sexual offences that took place in 2002, before he became a trustee of the charity.

The commission asked the charity’s trustees for further information and gave advice and guidance. Rose resigned as a trustee.

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

UNITED KINGDOM
Yorkshire Evening Post

ALEX EVANS

A church minister raped and sexually abused seven vulnerable women to “rid them of evil spirits”, a court heard.

John Wilson, 70, allegedly told one victim: “Queens need to be dethroned, God has made me a king so I am allowed to do this” before raping her.

On another occasion he told a victim that if she had evil spirits in her he would need to “go into the womb to release them”, it was said.

Wilson is accused of carrying out the attacks during one-to-one prayer ‘deliverance’ sessions at church and at the homes of his victims – the youngest aged just 13.

Opening the prosecution at Bradford Crown Court, David McGonigal QC said: “This case involves the sexual abuse of seven women in the name of religion.

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

PENNSYLVANIA
PennLive

By Nora Shelly nshelly@pennlive.com

A Valley Forge church has been implicated in a case of sexual assault in Australia documented on the country’s version of “60 Minutes.”

The episode, which aired earlier this week, featured Joy Harris, whose former husband Larry Harris is serving a five-year prison sentence in Queensland, Australia for two counts of rape against her, according to the show.

Joy Harris moved with her then-husband, Pastor Larry Harris, from the United States to Australia in 1994, to serve as missionaries for the Valley Forge Baptist Church, located in southeastern Pennsylvania. According to the show, the church was referred to as a “cult” by former members and is a part of the breakaway Independent Baptist Movement.

On the “60 Minutes” episode, Harris details the abuse she suffered at the hands of her husband. According to Harris, the church uses the Bible to justify teaching women to submit to their husbands.

The church’s senior pastor, Scott Wendell, said on the show the accusations against Kevin Harris were not surprising. Once he was informed of the accusations — Wendell said he brought the couple back to Pennsylvania for marriage counseling.

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

UNITED KINGDOM/AUSTRALIA
9 News

Former ABC managing director David Hill has told a UK inquiry the British government betrayed thousands of child migrants who were sexually abused, beaten and used as slave labour at Australian farm schools.

The 70-year-old told the child sexual abuse inquiry sitting in London that former prime minister John Major’s assertion that child migrants were not the British government’s responsibility once they were sent away was “disturbing”.

At age 12, Mr Hill was sent to the Fairbridge Society farm school at Molong in NSW in 1959 along with other children who had been put into care.

His 2007 book The Forgotten Children details the routine abuse suffered by children there.

In May, the inquiry heard former child migrants tell of the sexual, physical and emotional abuse they suffered at institutions run by Fairbridge, the Christian Brothers and other church and charity groups in Australia up to the 1970s.

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

AUSTRALIA
Northern Star

Claudia Jambor | 27th Jul 2017

ANGER has erupted among church abuse victims after a legal loophole within the laws of the Anglican Church has allowed a Bishop and Reverend to be reinstated two years after being deposed.

Former bishop, Rt Rev Keith Slater and Rev Patrick Comben were stripped of their Holy Orders due to their handling of sexual and physical abuse claims by former residents at the North Coast Children’s Home between 1940-1980.

Their attempted defrocking was the result of a church inquiry into evidence of historic child sex abuse at the home at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

Rt Rev Keith Slater appealed the decision before an Appellate Tribunal of the Anglican Church of Australia in November last year.

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

MONTANA
Great Falls Tribune

Seaborn Larson, slarson@greatfallstribune.com July 26, 2017

The window is closing for victims and survivors to file claims of abuse committed by church officials who served under the Great Falls-Billings Diocese.

The diocese earlier this year filed for bankruptcy to begin financing a settlement fund for those reported to be abused by priests, brothers and nuns. More than 70 victims have emerged as alleged victims of abuse, claiming they were physically, emotionally and sexually abused by priests. The timeline of reports so far stretches from the 1940s to 1990s.

“To be considered in part of the settlement in this pool of money, the plains would have to be made by July 31,” Molly Howard, an attorney representing about 40 victims in the Great Falls-Billings Diocese case.

Forms for filing abuse claims are available on the Great Falls-Billings Diocese website and will be submitted to bankruptcy court.

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

MASSACHUSETTS
Boston Globe

By Michael Levenson GLOBE STAFF JULY 26, 2017

When John Harris was 21 and just coming out as gay, a professor at the University of Lowell referred him to a priest named Paul R. Shanley, who had started a retreat for gay people called the Exodus Center in Milton. There, he said, Shanley raped him in February 1979. He was one of scores of the priest’s alleged victims, whose lives were irreparably damaged by sexual abuse at the hands of someone they trusted.

On Wednesday, Harris stood with other alleged victims and denounced the doctors who cleared the 86-year-old defrocked priest for release from prison Friday, finding he was no longer a threat to the public after 12 years behind bars for raping a young boy at a Newton church in the early 1980s.

By turns angry, solemn, and resolved, the victims and their attorneys demanded changes in the standards used to determine whether a prisoner is a “sexually dangerous person” who can be held behind bars even after their sentence is completed. They also said they want the public to be on notice that they believe Shanley remains a dangerous predator, despite the doctors’ opinion.

“This is a guy, Shanley, who has manipulated the system, the church, and the public, and knows how to manipulate people,” Harris, 59, said calmly at a press conference at an attorney’s office in downtown Boston. “I’m concerned he’s going to abuse again.”

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

AUSTRALIA
9 News

A Victorian Catholic priest is set to face court for a plea hearing charged with historical child sexual abuse.

Father Frank De Dood, of the Salesian order, will face a plea hearing in the County Court in Melbourne on Thursday, charged with six child sex abuse related crimes dating back to 1978.

The priest’s first hearing was adjourned after it was revealed Judge Gerard Mullaly, who was to hear the case, had an indirect family link to one of the victims.

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

ILLINOIS
Chicago Tribune

Dan Campana
Aurora Beacon-News

Kane County prosecutors plan to file an emergency motion seeking a Friday hearing in a last-ditch attempt to keep former Aurora priest Alfredo Pedraza Arias, who is accused of sexual abuse, from being deported.

Arias, 50, had been in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials since May until Kane County Judge Linda Abrahamson, who raised his bail by $100,000 earlier in the month, on July 21 agreed to remand the one-time Aurora priest to the Kane County Jail. Prosecutors sought the move because federal authorities issued a June 14 deportation order for Arias.

Court records show someone posted the additional $10,000 on Monday to allow Arias to be released, however ICE records indicate Arias was taken back into their custody not long after. He is again being held in a Kenosha, Wisconsin, facility, according to immigration officials.

Arias has pleaded not guilty to multiple counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse involving two girls who were under the age of 6 at the time of the alleged incidents, which occurred between 2012 and 2014 while he was at Sacred Heart Church in Aurora.

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

MASSACHUSETTS
San Antonio Express-News

BOSTON (AP) — Men who say they were raped by a Catholic priest at the center of the Boston clergy sex abuse scandal say they’re worried for children’s safety once he’s released from prison this week.

Paul Shanley is scheduled to be freed Friday after completing a 12-year sentence for the rape of a boy at a suburban Boston church.

Victim advocates, lawyers, and two men who said they were raped by Shanley in the 1970s called on the public Wednesday to help track Shanley’s whereabouts once he gets out and is placed on probation. They urged people to call their local police to report on Shanley.

Shanley’s appellate lawyer says his 86-year-old client has served his time and is not dangerous.

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

ESTADO UNIDOS
Cineset

[‘The Keepers’: Courageous Women’s Struggle for Justice Results in Powerful Netflix Series.]

Por Ivanildo Pereira · Publicado em 25 de julho de 2017

The Keepers é uma série sobre mulheres. A nova minissérie documental da Netflix tem como ponto de partida o enigma do que aconteceu com uma delas. Em novembro de 1969, a irmã Cathy Cesnik, residente de Baltimore, Maryland, EUA, saiu do seu apartamento para fazer compras e desapareceu. Quase um mês depois, seu corpo foi encontrado num terreno distante. A investigação policial nunca descobriu quem a matou, ou por que. Ela tinha 26 anos.

O capítulo inicial da minissérie, de sete episódios, estabelece as circunstâncias do crime. A irmã Cesnik também era professora do colégio católico Arcebispo Keough, e pouco antes de desaparecer, ficou ciente dos abusos sexuais de algumas alunas do colégio cometidos por uma dupla de padres. E também, logo de cara, somos apresentados às duas investigadoras e ex-alunas do colégio e da freira, que criaram uma página de Facebook para compartilhar dados sobre o caso e hoje mantém ativa a luta por justiça pela irmã Cesnik.

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

AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

Patrick Carlyon, Herald Sun
July 26, 2017

THE word had been that Cardinal George Pell would be afforded no special favours at court on Wednesday.

Yet he wasn’t like everyone else. The journalists camped out in the pre-dawn inkiness, before the tinkle of the first tram, told you as much.

The cardinal arrived at Melbourne Magistrates’ Court a tick before 9am, to be confronted, as all are, by security scanners. But his presence did not set off beeps and whines, as everyone else’s seems to.

By the time he had passed, after a wave of the electronic wand, everyone was looking at the stooped man in the black suit and coat.

Conversations had stopped mid-sentence, though Pell hardly played to the attention. His was a balding head in a wash of hi-vis security.

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

MASSACHUSETTS
CBS Boston

[with video]

BOSTON (CBS/AP) – Several victims of convicted pedophile priest Paul Shanley are furious that he’ll be getting out of prison later this week.

Shanley, 86, is one of the most notorious figures in the Boston Archdiocese clergy sex abuse scandal.

He was convicted in 2005 of repeatedly raping and fondling a boy at St. Jean’s parish in Newton in the 1980s, and he was sentenced to 12 to 15 years in prison.

At a news conference in Boston Wednesday, the parents of Shanley victim Greg Ford called the former priest “pure evil.”

“He brutally raped, sodomized children. He pimped out women and children. He brutalized the handicapped. You can’t tell me Paul Shanley doesn’t fit the criteria for a sexually dangerous person,” said Ford’s father Rodney.

“Every parent has to be vigilant with their kids if they see Paul Shanley in their neighborhood,” Ford continued. “Paul Shanley should never feel comfortable in his skin. Paul Shanley is a threat and I can’t believe that the doctors don’t see that.”

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

MASSACHUSETTS
WCVB

WORCESTER, Mass. —
People who say they were assaulted by former priest Paul Shanley spoke out Wednesday about his scheduled release from prison.

Shanley was convicted in 2005 of raping a boy at his former Newton parish in the 1980s. There are about two dozen other allegations against the 86-year-old.

Prosecutors tried to keep him behind bars past his 12-year prison sentence but said doctors determined he wasn’t sexually dangerous.

Paula and Rodney Ford, whose son, Gregory, was allegedly molested by Shanley in the 1990s, said they are upset that Shanley will be released.

“If anyone ever fit the profile of a dangerous sexual predator, it is Paul Shanley,” said Paula Ford.

Rodney Ford choked back tears as he called for accountability.

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

UNITED STATES
Catholic League

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on Cardinal George Pell’s day in court and the media’s treatment of it:

In the United States it would be unheard of for someone to be summoned to court to face a judge without knowing what the charges are and who the accusers are. But not in Australia.

Cardinal George Pell was summoned to travel from Rome to Melbourne to appear in court today. He did. The proceedings, which were nothing more than a filing, lasted six minutes. Pell said nothing. Moreover, his lawyer did not enter a plea. That’s because the mystery continues—Pell has not been told what he is being charged with or who his accusers are. All we learned is that he must appear again on October 6.

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

MASSACHUSETTS
NBC Los Angeles

Survivors and family members of those who were sexually abused by convicted pedophile priest Paul Shanley spoke out Wednesday after hearing that he is scheduled to be released from prison on Friday.

“Paul Shanley is evil,” said Rodney Ford, whose son Greg’s case resulted in Shanley’s conviction. “He destroyed my son’s life, my family’s life and so many other victims’ lives.”

Shanley, one of the most notorious figures in Boston’s clergy sex abuse scandal, was sentenced in 2005 to 12 to 15 years in prison for raping a boy repeatedly at St. Jean’s Parish in Newton, Massachusetts, in the 1980s. He was defrocked after dozens of men came forward and said he had molested them when they were children.

Shanley is currently being held at the medium security Old Colony Correctional Center in Bridgewater.

Middlesex County District Attorney Marian Ryan said that upon release, Shanley is scheduled to begin 10 years of supervised probation. He is not allowed to have contact with children under the age of 16.

Denis O’Connor and John Harris, two adult survivors of Shanley’s abuse, said they are concerned about the safety of other children and adults upon his release.

“He doesn’t think he’s done anything wrong,” victims’ attorney Carmen Durso said.
Notorious Pedophile Priest Shanley to Leave Prison This Week

The clergy sex abuse scandal exploded in Boston in 2002 after a series of stories by The Boston Globe revealed that dozens of priests in the archdiocese had molested and raped children for decades while church supervisors covered it up and shuffled abusive priests from parish to parish. Thousands of victims came forward in Boston and around the world, describing sexual abuse by priests that dated back decades.

Shanley was arrested that year in San Diego, California.

Phil Saviano, a survivor of sexual abuse at the hands of a different priest, was the whistleblower who exposed the abuse hidden by the church for decades. He said Shanley was one of the worst.

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

AUSTRALIA
Vatican Radio

[with audio]

(Vatican Radio) Cardinal George Pell made a brief appearance at an Australian court on Wednesday in a preliminary hearing regarding the accusation of “historical sexual offences”.

His lawyer said he would plead “not guilty” to the charges leveled against him by police in the state of Victoria.

Escorted by Australian police, Cardinal George Pell made his way through a mass of journalists and protesters to arrive at a filing hearing before the Melbourne Magistrate’s Court.

Once inside, his lawyer Robert Richter told the court Cardinal Pell would plead “not guilty”.

He said, “For the avoidance of doubt and because of the interest, might I indicate that Cardinal Pell pleads not guilty to all charges and will maintain his presumed innocence that he has.”
Cardinal Pell remained silent throughout the six-minute hearing.

At a Vatican press conference in June, Cardinal Pell announced he would be taking a leave of absence from his role as Prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy for as long as the trial would require.

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

SCHWEIZ
Aargauer Zeitung

[Since the end of March, a Reformed Aargauer pastor has been under investigation for suspected sexual abuse of children. Recent research by the daily newspaper «Blick» now shows that the accused is to be released from custody.]

Seit Ende März sitzt ein reformierter Aargauer Pfarrer wegen des Verdachts auf sexuellen Missbrauch von Kindern in Untersuchungshaft. Aktuelle Recherchen der Tageszeitung «Blick» zeigen nun: Der Beschuldigte soll aus der Haft entlassen werden.

Der Fall sorgte im Kanton und darüber hinaus für Entsetzen: Ein reformierter Pfarrer ist im Kanton Aargau wegen des Verdachts auf sexuellen Missbrauch von Kindern verhaftet worden. Der 68-jährige Beschuldigte sitzt seit Ende März in Untersuchungshaft und legte ein Teilgeständnis ab.

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

ARGENTINE
cath.ch

[Bishop Alberto Bochatey, auxiliary bishop of La Plata (Argentina), was appointed Apostolic Commissioner for the Society of Mary for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb by the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, according to the Argentine Periodista digital on July 24, 2017. This congregation is currently marked by a scandal of sexual abuse.]

Mgr Alberto Bochatey, évêque auxiliaire de La Plata (Argentine), a été nommé commissaire apostolique pour la Compagnie de Marie pour l’éducation des sourds-muets par la Congrégation pour les instituts de vie consacrée et les sociétés de vie apostolique, a rapporté le site argentin Periodista digital le 24 juillet 2017. Cette congrégation est actuellement marquée par un scandale d’abus sexuels.

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

TEXAS
KHOU

HARRIS COUNTY, TEXAS – A Houston pastor has been charged with sexually abusing a child and investigators are worried there may be other victims.

Hollis Vaughn, 66, is accused of sexually abusing a child over a number of years.

The victim told a family member and they called the Harris County Sheriff’s Office.

Vaughn is a pastor of two north Harris County ministries: God’s Awesome Army Ministry; and El Shaddaj World Outreach Church.

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

TEXAS
CBS News – Crime Sider

HARRIS COUNTY, Texas — A Houston pastor has been charged with sexually abusing a child repeatedly over the course of several years, reports CBS affiliate KHOU.

Investigators say the child told a family member that Hollis Vaughn, 66, about the alleged abuse. Vaughn was arrested Thursday and charged with first-degree felony charge of continuous sexual abuse of a child.

The Harris County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement that it is investigating whether there are any additional victims.

Vaughn is a pastor for two church groups that operate out of his home: God’s Awesome Army Ministry and El Shaddaj World Outreach Church.

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

UNITED KINGDOM
Keighley Online

A church pastor who sexually assaulted seven of his congregation claimed he was doing God’s work, a jury heard.

Rev John Wilson, 70, gave the women cups of tea possibly laced with drugs to put them into a trance before trying to exorcise ‘evil spirits’ and demons from their bodies.

His wife Mary, 79, and assistant pastor Laurence Peterson, 59, helped the self-styled holy healer commit the offences at the Liberty Pentecostal Church, in Keighley, a court heard.

Rev Wilson sexually abused the vulnerable and trusting women over 30 years, and his alleged victims include a mother and daughter, orphaned sisters and a fellow minister’s wife.

Wilson admits inserting his fingers inside many of the women to perform, what he termed ‘deliverances’ or ‘internal ministries’, but claims he was placing his hands where God directed him, to make them better Christians.

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

TEXAS
Houston Chronicle

By Andrew Kragie Tuesday, July 25, 2017

A 67-year-old man who operates two Christian ministries out of his north Harris County home has been charged with sexually abusing a child over several years.

The Harris County Sheriff’s Office expressed concerns about the possibility of other victims and urged anyone with information to call child abuse investigators at 713-830-3250.

Hollis Albert Vaughn faces a first-degree felony charge of continuous sexual abuse of a child, according to court records. It appears to be the first time he has faced a criminal charge in Harris County.

Vaughn’s defense attorney, Tom Zakes, said in a phone interview that Vaughn had “no inappropriate contact with the child whatsoever.” The lawyer questioned some of the specific allegations in the probable cause affidavit, which is not yet public.

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

AUSTRALIA
The Australian

July 27, 2017

JOHN FERGUSON
Victorian EditorMelbourne
@fergusonjw

TESSA AKERMAN
ReporterMelbourne
@TessaAkerman

There has never been a walk like it in the history of the Catholic Church in Australia.

A couple of hundred steps to and from Melbourne Magistrates Court; a cardinal ever-so-slowly navigating blind hate and blind faith on the way to and from his appointment with the law.

For George Pell, the three-­minute struggle from Crockett Chambers, in the heart of Melbourne’s legal precinct, looked deeply ­uncomfortable as scores of media scrambled for the defining image of a one-time church superpower charged with multiple historical sex offences.

The visual untidiness of the media and police scrum was juxtaposed with the image of an old man — he’s 76 — in immaculate clerical attire making his way into the well-ordered court precinct.

Cardinal Pell’s court hearing provided an opportunity to broadcast his defiance, even if the walk was slow and the welcoming on the concrete steps of the court was mixed. There were those blindly hateful of the cardinal and those blind in their faith, neither group likely to give ground.

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

MASSACHUSETTS
Telemundo Boston

Se espera que el sacerdote pedófilo convicto, Paul Shanley, sea puesto en libertad el viernes después de haber cumplido 12 años de prisión por abusar sexualmente a varios niños.

Shanley, una de las figuras más notorias en el escándalo del abuso sexual del clero, fue sentenciado en 2005 a 12 a 15 años de prisión por violar a un niño repetidamente en la parroquia de St. Jean en Newton en los años ochenta. Fue expulsado después de que decenas de hombres revelaron que los había abusado cuando eran niños.

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

MASSACHUSETTS
Eagle Tribune

By Denise Lavoie AP Legal Affairs Writer

BOSTON (AP) — One of the most notorious figures in the Boston clergy sex abuse scandal has completed his prison sentence on child rape charges and will be released this week after two experts hired by prosecutors found he does not meet the legal criteria to be held as a sexually dangerous person.

Paul Shanley was known in the 1960s and ’70s for being a hip street priest who reached out to troubled youths. But in 2005 he was convicted of repeatedly raping and fondling a boy at a suburban parish in the 1980s, and he was sentenced to 12 to 15 years in prison.

Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan said Tuesday that her office hired two psychiatric experts to evaluate Shanley, now 86 years old, to see if he should continue to be held after completing his sentence. Both experts told prosecutors that he does not meet the legal criteria for civil confinement as a sexually dangerous person.

Once Shanley is released Friday, he will begin 10 years of supervised probation.

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

AUSTRALIA
CNN

[with video]

By Lucie Morris-Marr, CNN
Wed July 26, 2017

Melbourne, Australia (CNN)One of the most senior figures in the Vatican will plead not guilty to multiple charges of historical sexual assault offenses, his lawyer told an Australian court on Wednesday.

Cardinal George Pell faced the Melbourne Magistrates Court Wednesday for his first hearing since the charges were made by Victoria Police last month.

The 76-year-old, who has consistently and strenuously denied the charges, has been given a leave of absence from his role at the Holy See as prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy while he fights the case in the city where he was once Archbishop.

A huge media scrum followed Pell as he entered and exited the court house, requiring police officers to help clear the way for the cardinal.
Both supporters and protestors crowded outside the Magistrates Court for a chance to see the cardinal.
Wednesday’s brief court hearing marked a significant moment in Australia, where Pell is the country’s most senior Catholic.

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

UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Jul. 26, 2017

Cardinal Pell in Court: Statement by Anne Barrett Doyle, Co-Director, BishopAccountability.org

Although today’s hearing in Melbourne was merely procedural, its impact will be felt worldwide. Whatever the outcome of the case against Pell, his presence today in a secular courtroom marks the victory of transparency over secrecy, and of the rule of law over the Vatican’s failed strategy of containment.

Cardinal Pell accuses the Victoria police of targeting him unfairly. There may be some truth to this. But it’s also true that the police have been neither hasty nor cavalier. They have been investigating complaints against the cardinal for more than two years, issued at least two public appeals for witnesses, and twice submitted evidence to prosecutors, seeking advice. (For more on their investigation, see our Timeline: The Victoria Police Investigation of Cardinal Pell.)

And Pell is not the only Australian bishop subject to criminal charges. Adelaide archbishop Philip Wilson, charged with failure to report child abuse, is preparing for trial. Bishop Max L. Davis, head of the military diocese, was recently tried and found not guilty of child sex abuse.

In its quest to stop the sexual abuse of children, the Australian government has put the Catholic church on equal footing with other institutions, and treated its leaders as fellow citizens. Credit for this goes to its astonishingly open and thorough inquiry, the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse. That probe is singular in its sweep and power. But Catholic bishops are facing similar demands for accountability from authorities in Pennsylvania, Mexico City, Argentina, Ireland and France.

Accountability is trending, and Pope Francis should take note. He could begin with a simple but hugely constructive step: release the names of the more than 3, 400 priests that the Church itself has found guilty of child sex abuse.

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

MASSACHUSETTS
The Patriot Ledger

By Fred Hanson
The Patriot Ledger

The scheduled release from prison of an ex-priest convicted of raping a child shows the need for changes in the state’s civil commitment law, an advocate for clergy sex abuse victims said.

BOSTON – A lawyer for victims of clergy sex abuse said the release of a former priest convicted of raping a child shows why the state’s civil commitment law needs to be changed.

Paul Shanley, who as a Catholic priest was assigned to Braintree’s St. Francis of Assisi Parish in the 1960s, will be released Friday from the Old Colony Correctional Center in Bridgewater. He was convicted in 2005 of two counts each of child rape and indecent assault and battery on a child. He was sentenced to 12 to 15 years in prison.

Middlesex County District Attorney Marian Ryan said her office was unsuccessful in getting a civil commitment to keep Shanley, 86, in custody.

“The defendant will be monitored by the probation department for the next 10 years and has been ordered to have no contact with children under 16 years of age,” Ryan told WCVB-TV in a statement.

Carmen Durso, a South Shore lawyer who has represented many of Shanley’s victims, said the basis for civil commitment leans too heavily on statistics rather than an evaluation of the individual.

“If Paul Shanley doesn’t fit into the category of a sexually dangerous person then no one would fit,” Durso said. “No one is more dangerous than Paul Shanley.”

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

ISRAEL
The Jerusalem Post

BY TAMARA ZIEVE JULY 25, 2017

The offered benefits are the result of cooperation between the Foreign Ministry and the Justice Ministry as well as the police.

The Labor and Social Services Ministry on Tuesday called on Israeli members of the extremist ultra-Orthodox Lev Tahor, or “Pure Heart” cult to “come home,” offering each family unprecedented absorption benefits.

The ministry appealed to dozens of families in the sect with the hope they will return to Israel following the death of their leader, Rabbi Shlomo Erez Helbrans, who drowned in Mexico two weeks ago. A statement from the ministry referred to the members as “victims” of the cult and emphasized the large number of children among them.

The benefits offered include flights to Israel, immediate residency and entitlement to children’s health insurance, financial support, housing assistance for a year, the placement of children in educational frameworks, the provision of tools and skills for an independent livelihood and psychological treatment.

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

AUSTRALIA
Star Weekly

JULY 25, 2017

BY GOYA DMYTRYSHCHAK

A Catholic Brother who sexually abused children in the Altona area in the 1970s and ’80s was released from jail on Sunday to return to the supervision of his church in the US.

Bernard Joseph Hartman, 78, a former teacher at St Paul’s College in Altona North, was jailed for three years with one year suspended for sustained sexual abuse, including penetration, of a boy and two girls as young as eight.

Altona’s Mairead Ashcroft, who brought the first charge against Hartman that led to his extradition from the US, said she held concerns about his supervision by his Marianist order.

“When we were in court we heard that while he was being supervised here, he was allowed to go for a 10-day holiday to Apollo Bay with the Christian Brothers over the Australia Day weekend while families were having a holiday at the beach,” Ms Ashcroft said.

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

AUSTRALIA
SBS

AAP

A ring of police officers linked arms to shield Cardinal George Pell from about 100 journalists, photographers and camera operators who swarmed outside a Melbourne court.

The cardinal walked 100 metres from the office of his high-profile barrister Robert Richter QC to the front steps of the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court through perhaps the largest press pack the city has seen.

Scores of local and international reporters, plus members of the public, queued from early on Wednesday to ensure a seat in the court room to witness Pell’s appearance on historical sexual offences.

The demand for seats forced the court to allocate a second room, so more people could watch a live stream.

Pell, 76, arrived at the court just before 9am, after Victoria Police officers barged their way through the media pack making way for Pell and his lawyer.

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

AUSTRALIA
3AW

Neil Mitchell says Cardinal George Pell should receive “some special treatment” at his first court appearance today.

The 3AW Mornings host predicted “bedlam” outside the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court when Cardinal Pell arrived.

Up to 100 local and international media are already camped outside, with supporters and protesters also there.

Neil Mitchell said it was undignified and dangerous.

“They won’t do it, but I think George Pell – to some extent – should get some special treatment today,” the 3AW Mornings host said.

“He should be taken in under the building, if possible.

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

AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

The appearance of the cardinal in a Melbourne court on sexual abuse charges attracted the biggest crowd anyone can remember, but it was still wrapped in mystery, writes David Marr

David Marr

Wednesday 26 July 2017

My apologies. I can’t tell you what’s going on. A great billowing, lace-edged cloak of secrecy still surrounds the case of the Director of Public Prosecutions v. G Pell.

Months down the track, we don’t know what the charges are. Even if they fell into my lap, I would not say a word. Why not? Sorry, that’s a secret too.

Old timers round the Melbourne courts can’t remember the last time the public was left so much in the dark before a great criminal trial. It was certainly baffling for the press of the world who gathered outside the Melbourne magistrates court before dawn for what is usually one of the dreariest rituals of the criminal law: a filing hearing.

But this was entirely Cardinal Pell’s show. He didn’t need to turn up at all and we were only there because he wanted to brave the cameras. Twelve were lined up along the gutter by the time the sun came up. The queue of reporters at the door of the courts went half-way down the wheelchair ramp.

Pell hove in sight a little before 9am dressed all in black with a black overcoat over his arm and black brogues on his feet. He was entirely impassive. Businesslike. Obedient. He did what he was told.

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

MEXICO
HuffPost

[Ex-priest Alberto Athie attacks Norberto Rivera for protecting pedophiles. The ex-priest mentioned that Norberto Rivera previously acknowledged in December 2016 that 15 cases of pedophilia had been investigated by the church and the cases were sent by him directly to Rome and the pope. These cases were not turned over to law enforcement, he maintained.”It should be remembered that the same cardinal accused ex-members of the Legionaries of Christ of defaming Marcial Maciel, and being in a plot against the church,” says Athie. Rivera made these statements knowing that Maciel had abused hundreds of his disciples and had two women and two children, one in Mexico and another in Spain.]

Luis Baylón Editor HuffPost México

Alberto Athié Gallo es un exsacerdote católico que colgó el habito tras comprobar directamente la protección que brindaba el cardenal Norberto Rivera Carrera a pederastas, declaró en 2007 a La Jornada.

En declaraciones más recientes publicadas por Jorge Ramos en Univisión, Athié Gallo arremetió contra el exarzobispo primado de México (Norberto Rivera sí presentó su renuncia al Papa Francisco), “el cardenal Rivera tiene un historial muy grave, muy delicado por encubrimiento de muchos sacerdotes pederastas, comenzando por Marcial Maciel”.

El exsacerdote menciona que previamente Norberto Rivera reconoció en diciembre de 2016, la existencia de 15 casos de casos de pederastia por los que había realizado las investigaciones correspondientes y por las que se resolvieron sentencias directamente desde Roma y por el papa.

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

GEORGIA
The Brunswick News

By GORDON JACKSON gjackson@thebrunswicknews.com

WOODBINE — The author of a law that enables victims of child sexual abuse to file civil lawsuits against their attackers is proposing new legislation to strengthen the Hidden Predator Act.

State Rep. Jason Spencer, R-Woodbine, will hold a press conference at 9:30 a.m., Aug. 2, at the state capitol in Atlanta, where he will be joined by a bipartisan group of co-sponsors.

Organizations that knowingly cover up child sexual abuse could face civil lawsuits if the Hidden Predator Act of 2018 is approved during the next legislative session. Increasing the statute of limitations age for victims is another goal of the bill.

“I am holding this press conference in light of the recent developments regarding litigation implicating child sexual abuse cover-ups by various organizations,” Spencer said. “The details of these cases highlight the need for new and tougher changes to the current Hidden Predator Act. It is necessary that we address many of the injustices uncovered in recent child sexual abuse litigation and the shortcomings of a shortened statute of limitations.”

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

NEW YORK
The New York Jewish Week

BY CHAIM LEVIN July 25, 2017

In a bid to turn up the pressure on Agudath Israel of America over its policies towards sexual abuse victims, activists and abuse survivors protested Sunday in front of the Novominsker shul in Borough Park, the second such protest this summer.

About 30 protesters — including at least 10 of whom said they were abused as children — spent nearly three hours demonstrating their frustration with Rabbi Yaakov Perlow, one of the leaders of Agudah. The charedi umbrella group is one of a few organizations in the Jewish community that has strongly objected to the Child Victims Act, a bill that would increase the statute of limitations for sex crimes committed against minors in New York State. Other groups opposed to the bill include the New York State Catholic Conference and the Boy Scouts of America; they argue that increasing the statute of limitations would expose them to potentially crippling legal bills.

Currently, a victim of childhood sexual abuse can bring charges or a lawsuit until the age of 23. The bill would extend that period until a survivor’s 28th birthday for felony criminal charges and until age 50 for civil cases. It also includes a one-year window to revive old cases.

Upper West Side Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal introduced the bill in the Assembly, where it passed. Midtown state Sen. Brad Hoylman sponsored it in the Senate where it was never voted on, marking the 11th year in a row that the bill has stalled.

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

MASSACHUSETTS
NBC New York

[with video]

Convicted pedophile priest Paul Shanley has completed his prison sentence and is expected to be released this week.

Attorney Mitchell Garabedian, who represented Shanley’s victims and numerous other victims of the Roman Catholic church child sex abuse scandal in Massachusetts, told NBC Boston that Shanley is set to be released on Friday. He is currently being held at the medium security Old Colony Correctional Center in Bridgewater.

Shanley, one of the most notorious figures in the clergy sex abuse scandal, was sentenced in 2005 to 12 to 15 years in prison for raping a boy repeatedly at St. Jean’s Parish in Newton in the 1980s. He was defrocked after dozens of men came forward and said he had molested them when they were children.

During his trial, Shanley’s accuser, then a 27-year-old firefighter, said Shanley would pull him from Sunday catechism classes and rape and fondle him, beginning when he was 6 years old. The man said he recovered memories of the abuse as the clergy sex abuse scandal unfolded in the Archdiocese of Boston during the early 2000s.

“Even though he is an old man, and even though he’s served his time, I worry that, that No. 1, the population is still at risk, and No. 2, this is a terrible thing to put Shanley’s alleged victims through,” said Terence McKiernan of Bishop-Accountability.org.

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

AUSTRALIA
9 News

Supporters of Cardinal George Pell are worried court proceedings against Australia’s most powerful Catholic could turn into a case of “get the bishop”.

Among the throng of media, protesters and public onlookers gathered outside Melbourne Magistrates’ Court, where the 76-year-old appeared on Wednesday facing historical sex abuse charges, was supporter Karen Baxter.

“We’re here to say this person needs to be given the benefit of the doubt,” she told AAP.

“We’re worried it’s going to be the sort of Azaria Chamberlain media pack, let’s just go get the bishop, you know.”

Ms Baxter said she had known Pell since he was a child and described him as polite, friendly and methodical.

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

DEUTSCHLAND
Stuttgarter Zeitung

[In the past residential children were educated with penance to piety. Those who violated rules were severely punished. An outgrowth of this system was sexual abuse. Professor Benno Hafeneger, as was the case with the Brüdergemeinde Korntal-Münchingen – church, state, parents – many people were responsible for the residential education of the 1950s and 1960s. But the fate of a few children shows: All have failed. Nobody can escape the responsibility, says the scientist Benno Hafeneger. What influence did national socialism, later the GDR, have?]

Früher sollten Heimkinder mit Buße zur Frömmigkeit erzogen werden. Wer gegen Regeln verstieß, wurde hart bestraft. Ein Auswuchs dieses Systems war sexueller Missbrauch. Professor Benno Hafeneger untersucht, wie das bei der Brüdergemeinde war.

Korntal-Münchingen – Kirche, Staat, Eltern – für die Heimerziehung der fünfziger und sechziger Jahre waren viele verantwortlich. Doch das Schicksal etlicher Kinder zeigt: Alle haben versagt. Keiner könne sich der Verantwortung entziehen, sagt der Wissenschaftler Benno Hafeneger.

Herr Hafeneger, Sie äußern sich nicht im Detail zu Korntal. Gleichwohl sprechen Sie bereits von einem System der Gewalt. Schließen Sie in Korntal irgendetwas aus?

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

AUSTRALIEN
Sueddeutsche

[Why it is so difficult for the Catholic Church to admit abuse?]

Von Matthias Drobinski

Kardinal George Pell ist zurück in seiner australischen Heimat; eine kurze Filmsequenz zeigt, wie er, von Singapur kommend, auf dem Flughafen von Melbourne von Polizisten und Sicherheitsleuten zu einer weißen Limousine geleitet wird. Es hat ja nicht das Heimweh den 76-Jährigen dazu gebracht, die lange Reise von Rom um die halbe Welt auf sich zu nehmen. Kardinal Pell, als Quasi-Finanzminister des Papstes einer der mächtigsten Männer im Vatikan, soll an diesem Mittwoch vor einem Gericht in Melbourne Rede und Antwort stehen. Der Vorwurf: “historische sexuelle Übergriffe”.

Was damit gemeint ist, bleibt unklar. Seit einigen Jahren gehen immer wieder Männer an die Öffentlichkeit und berichten, Pell habe sich an ihnen vergangen, als er Ende der siebziger Jahre Priester in Ballarat war, einer 80 000 Einwohner-Stadt nahe Melbourne. In seiner Zeit als Erzbischof von 1996 bis 2001 soll er außerdem dazu beigetragen haben, Missbrauchsfälle zu vertuschen. Die australische Justiz hält die Vorwürfe für schwerwiegend genug, um ein Verfahren einzuleiten. Und Papst Franziskus hat dem Kardinal die “Erlaubnis für eine Auszeit” gegeben. Seine Ämter in Rom ruhen.

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

NORTH CAROLINA
Raw Story

TOM BOGGIONI
24 JUL 2017

A North Carolina church that is already under investigation for kidnapping a gay man and attempting to beat his homosexuality out of him is once again in the spotlight after it was revealed that church members have been importing worshipers from Brazil and turning them into slaves.

According to the Associated Press, the Word of Faith Fellowship recruits young members from two affiliated churches in Brazil to come to the U.S. on tourist and student visas where they are put to work on the church’s 35-acre compound in Spindale for no pay.

One man, identified as Andre Oliveira, told the AP that he was forced to work 15 hours a day, usually for no pay, cleaning offices and warehouses owned by the evangelical church. He well also forced to work at private businesses owned by some of the church’s ministers. Olivera stated that failure to comply resulted in beatings and shaming from the pulpit.

“They kept us as slaves,” Oliveira explained. “We were expendable. We meant nothing to them. Nothing. How can you do that to people — claim you love them and then beat them in the name of God?”

According to AP, “Under U.S. law, visitors on tourist visas are prohibited from performing work for which people normally would be compensated. Those on student visas are allowed some work, under circumstances that were not met at Word of Faith Fellowship.”

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

NORTH CAROLINA
Christian Times

Jardine Malado
25 JULY, 2017

A North Carolina church allegedly used its branches in Brazil to entice its members to come to the U.S. and make them work for little or no pay.

An investigation conducted by The Associated Press (AP) has found that the Word of Faith Fellowship Church in Spindale, North Carolina used its two branches in Brazil to siphon a steady flow of young workers who came to the U.S. on tourist and student visas.

Andre Oliveira, one church member who was invited to Spindale when he was 18-years-old, recounted that the church leaders confiscated his passport and money when he arrived. He said that he was forced to work 15 hours a day, usually for no pay, cleaning warehouses for the church and toiling at business owned by senior ministers.

“They trafficked us up here. They knew what they were doing. They needed labor and we were cheap labor — hell, free labor,” he said, noting that the church leaders also beat and shamed members who deviated from the rules.

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

NORTH CAROLINA
Christian Today

James Macintyre 25 July 2017

The controversial Word of Faith Fellowship used its two church branches in Brazil to siphon young labourers on tourist and student visas to its 35-acre compound in rural Spindale, North Carolina, to work as ‘slaves’, an investigation by the Associated Press (AP) has found.

The ‘slave pipeline’ was used by the secretive evangelical church despite US law requiring that visitors on tourist visas are prohibited from performing work for which people would normally be compensated. Those on student visas are allowed some work, under circumstances that were not met at the Word of Faith Fellowship.

Some 16 Brazilian former members told the AP they were forced to work, often for no pay, and physically or verbally assaulted.

One of those was Andre Oliveira, who answered the call to leave his Word of Faith Fellowship congregation in Brazil to move to the mother church in North Carolina at the age of 18, when his passport and money were confiscated by church leaders, supposedly for safekeeping.

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

AUSTRALIA
Daily Examiner

Tim Howard | 26th Jul 2017

TWO ANGLICAN clergymen controversially returned to Holy Orders after being defrocked for their roles in covering up historic cases of child sex abuse, are unlikely to minister again.

Former Bishop of Grafton Keith Slater and Grafton Deacon Rev Pat Comben have been returned to Holy Orders this year after attempts to “depose” them in 2015.

The pair were found to have acted inappropriately to victims of the notorious North Coast Children’s Home who came to them seeking redress for past abuses.

The attempted defrocking came after an church inquiry into evidence of historic child sex abuse at the home at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

But last year Bishop Slater successfully appealed against the decision on the ground the diocese did not have the necessary powers to strip clergy of Holy Orders.

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

GERMANY
The Tablet

26 July 2017 | by Christa Pongratz-Lippitt

‘This is not a matter of individual cases of abuse as Cardinal Müller always insisted when he was Bishop of Regensburg’

The Bishop of Regensburg, Rudolf Voderholzer, has asked the hundreds of victims in the Domspatzen choir scandal for forgiveness saying that he is “absolutely shattered” by the findings of the report released last week.

Published on 17 July, the report, commissioned by the diocese of Regensburg and compiled by the lawyer Ulrich Weber, stated that 547 boys were abused at the prestigious choir school in Regensburg, Bavaria, between the years 1945 and 1992.

Bishop Voderholzer’s response contrasted with that of former prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Gerhard Muller, who was bishop of Regensburg form 2002 to 2012, who admitted that he “experienced shame for what has happened in the Church” but emphasised “everything that was possible and necessary was done” and refused to apologise.

“All this makes me feel deeply guilt-ridden and fills me with shame”, Bishop Voderholzer wrote in a pastoral letter that was read out in all the parishes in the Regensburg diocese on 23 July. “It weighs all the heavier as all these children were, in good faith, put in the trust of priests and church employees who were under obligation to act on behalf of Christ the Good Shepherd.”

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

AUSTRALIA
Starts at 60

After being charged with multiple counts of child sexual assault Cardinal George Pell has appeared in a Melbourne court today.

His appearance resulted in chaos. Escorted by police there was a surge of people, including a large contingent of media from all over the world, calling out questions. Protesters and supporters had gathered early, holding posters showing their opposing thoughts on the matter.

Dressed in a black overcoat and his usual clerical garments, Cardinal Pell remained silent, staring mostly at the ground as he entered the court.

The court was only small, so only media who arrived early were able to witness the proceedings first hand.

The Cardinal’s barrister, Robert Richter, QC, spoke in the Melbourne Magistrates Court today and said Pell will plead not guilty to all charges, and will maintain his presumed innocence.

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

AUSTRALIA
New Daily

Rachel Eddie
Reporter
@heyracheddie

A child sex abuse survivor has called Cardinal George Pell’s first court appearance a “momentous” and “symbolic day”.

Cardinal Pell, 76, fronted Melbourne Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday on historic child sex abuse charges from multiple complainants.

While the Cardinal was not required to enter a plea, his defence barrister Robert Richter, QC, told the courtroom: “I might indicate that Cardinal Pell pleads not guilty to all charges and will maintain the presumed innocence that he has.”

Cardinal Pell has repeatedly and strenuously denied the allegations.

Philip Nagle, a survivor of abuse by convicted Ballarat priest Stephen Francis Farrell, told The New Daily it was a relief to see Cardinal Pell face the allegations.

“It’s a very symbolic day today, because he entered the court as a normal man, not as the third-most powerful man in the Catholic Church,” Mr Nagle said.

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

AUSTRALIA
Sky News

By Sharon Marris, News Reporter

The most senior Vatican official ever charged in the Catholic Church sex abuse scandal has denied the charges against him.

Cardinal George Pell, Pope Francis’s top financial adviser, made his first appearance at a court in Melbourne, Australia, since he was charged with multiple historical sex offences last month.

Full details of the charges faced by the 76-year-old have not yet been released to the public but there are multiple complainants in the case.

The Cardinal, Australia’s highest-ranking Catholic, did not say anything during his court appearance and, although no formal plea was entered, his lawyer told the court that he planned to plead not guilty.

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

AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

A large media scrum of journalists from around the world swamped Cardinal Pell as he arrived then left the court hearing, flanked by scores of police.

There was also a contingent of supporters, protesters and curious passersby.

In one of the most chaotic scenes ever witnessed at the court in William St, it almost took longer for Cardinal Pell to walk the 100m to his lawyer’s offices afterwards than the eight minute hearing.

He was flanked by a dozen police who largely managed to shield the Cardinal as media threw questions.

This is how the morning unfolded.

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

AUSTRALIA
The Local (Italy)

AFP
news@thelocal.it
26 July 2017

Vatican finance chief Cardinal George Pell, a top advisor to Pope Francis, denied all charges of historical sexual abuse on Wednesday at his first appearance in an Australian court over the allegations.

The 76-year-old, the number-three figure in the Vatican, returned from Rome earlier this month to face the charges in Melbourne Magistrates Court.

Details of the charges have not been made public although police said they involved “multiple complainants”. The former Sydney and Melbourne archbishop has always maintained his innocence.

Looking sombre and frail, he attended the hearing with his lawyer, top criminal barrister Robert Richter, who told the court his client was not guilty – even though a formal plea is not required at this stage.

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

AUSTRALIA
7 News

Megan Neil, Jacqui Le, Kaitlyn Offer and Angus Livingston – AAP on July 26, 2017

Cardinal George Pell’s first court appearance lasted only minutes under the intense glare of the world’s media, signalling the start of a lengthy legal fight by the highest-ranking Catholic official to be charged with sexual abuse.

The third most senior Vatican official did not have to be at the Melbourne Magistrates Court for the brief administrative hearing, nor again profess his innocence, but chose to do both.

High-profile barrister Robert Richter QC noted Pell did not have to enter a plea at this early stage but said he will plead not guilty to multiple historical sexual offence charges involving multiple complainants.

“For the avoidance of doubt and because of the interest, might I indicate that Cardinal Pell will plead not guilty to all the charges and will maintain his presumed innocence that he has,” Mr Richter told a packed courtroom.

Pell entered the court as he left it a short time later: shepherded by a ring of police officers, their arms linked, in an attempt to keep a 100-strong media contingent at bay as he walked the short distance to and from Mr Richter’s office.

Several photographers were knocked over as they climbed the steps to the court building.

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

AUSTRALIA
Telegraph (UK)

Jonathan Pearlman, in melbourne
26 JULY 2017

Cardinal George Pell, one of the most powerful figures in the Vatican and Australia’s most senior Catholic, appeared in court to face historic sex assault offences and declared he was “not guilty” despite not yet being required to enter a plea.

Greeted by a mix of jeers and applause, Cardinal Pell, who has returned from the Vatican to try to clear his name, appeared tired but assured as he entered Melbourne Magistrates Court, which was packed with journalists and onlookers.

Wearing his clerical collar, Cardinal Pell did not speak during the six-minute hearing.

“For the avoidance of doubt and because of the interest might I indicate that Cardinal Pell pleads not guilty to all charges and will maintain his presumed innocence that he has,” Mr Richter told the court.

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

NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

By Staff Reporter
July 26 2017

The brother of victims’ campaigner Billy McConville, who died from cancer on Sunday, has said that the family now need the time and space to “quietly grieve” for him.

Mr McConville (50) suffered sexual and physical harm as an orphan at Rubane House in Co Down, where he was sent after the IRA murdered his mother, Jean McConville.

The Belfast man had recently been living at a hospice while bravely coping with cancer.

In recent days he had called on politicians to secure justice and compensation for abuse survivors, dragging himself from his hospital bed to support a Belfast rally.

Speaking before Billy’s funeral today, his brother Michael said: “Billy lived out his last days in a media spotlight campaigning for justice for the victims of institutional sexual and physical abuse, a cause he felt passionately about.

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

NORTHERN IRELAND
ITV

The funeral of victims’ campaigner Billy McConville takes place later in west Belfast.

The 50-year-old passed away on Monday without seeing any form of justice or compensation for years of abuse he suffered in care following the abduction and murder of his mother Jean McConville in 1972.

A Requiem Mass will be held in St Paul’s Church on the Falls Road at 1pm followed by burial in Milltown Cemetery.

Michael McConville said his brother’s last days had been spent in the media spotlight as he campaigned for justice for other victims of institutional abuse, but now his family needed time and space to “quietly grieve”.

“When he was physically at his weakest he showed the greatest strength of character and we are proud of him for that,” he said ahead of the funeral.

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

NORTHERN IRELAND
BBC News

Peter Robinson has called for immediate action to compensate abuse victims after payments recommended by a inquiry were delayed by Stormont’s collapse.

The ex-first minister suggested seeking “consensus” from political parties that could allow the payments to be set up in the absence of devolved government.

The Historical Institutional Abuse (HIA) Inquiry recommended a state apology and compensation for victims.

But the collapse of Stormont in January meant the process was put on hold.

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

NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

July 26 2017

A brother of abuse victims campaigner Billy McConville has urged politicians in Northern Ireland to fulfil his dying wish and compensate those who suffered

Mr McConville, 50, died at the weekend after a battle with cancer. He was the son of IRA “Disappeared” murder victim Jean McConville.

After her killing in 1972, he was placed in residential care at Rubane House in Co Down, run by brothers from the De La Salle religious order. Mr McConville claimed he suffered sexual and physical harm in their care.

He appeared before a Historical Institutional Abuse (HIA) public inquiry in 2014 to detail his experience and in the days before his death called on politicians to secure justice and compensation for abuse survivors, dragging himself from his bed to support a Belfast rally.

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

AUSTRALIA
Associated Press

BY KRISTEN GELINEAU
ASSOCIATED PRESS

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Silent but defiant, Cardinal George Pell made his first court appearance in Australia on Wednesday on charges of sexual abuse, vowing through his lawyer to fight the allegations that have rocked Rome and threatened the pope’s image as a crusader against abusive clergy.

Pell, Australia’s highest-ranking Catholic and Pope Francis’ top financial adviser, is accused of sexually abusing multiple people years ago in his Australian home state of Victoria, making him the most senior Vatican official ever charged in the Catholic Church sex abuse crisis. Details of the charges have yet to be released to the public, though police have described them as “historical” sexual assault offenses – meaning crimes that occurred years ago.

Pell has not yet entered a plea. But on Wednesday, his lawyer told the court that the 76-year-old cardinal plans to formally plead not guilty at a future court date.

“For the avoidance of doubt and because of the interest, I might indicate that Cardinal Pell pleads not guilty to all charges and will maintain the presumed innocence that he has,” lawyer Robert Richter told the court. …

Anne Barrett Doyle of BishopAccountability.org, an archive of clerical sex abuse documents, said in a statement that while Wednesday’s hearing was procedural, its impact would be felt across the world.

“Whatever the outcome of the case against Pell, his presence today in a secular courtroom marks the victory of transparency over secrecy, and of the rule of law over the Vatican’s failed strategy of containment,” she said.

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

AUSTRALIA
The Mirror (UK)

BY NATALIE EVANS
26 JUL 2017

The Pope’s financial adviser and third-highest cardinal in the Vatican has appeared in court charged with historical sexual offences.

Cardinal George Pell did not speak as he was escorted to and from court in his native Australia by police through a large crowd of media, protesters and supporters.

The 76-year-old was not required to enter a plea at Melbourne Magistrates’ Court.

Australian police said last month Pell had been summoned to appear on charges of “historical sexual offences” from multiple complainants.

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

AUSTRALIA
Standard Republic

By Alexander Simon

An Australian court has begun the trial of the most senior Vatican official that has ever been charged in Catholic Church sex abuse scandals، according to “Press TV”.

Australia’s highest-ranking Catholic and Pope Francis’ top financial adviser، Cardinal George Pell، made his first court appearance on Wednesday after being charged last month with sexual abuse of multiple individuals years earlier in his Australian home state of Victoria.

While the details of the charges against the 76-year-old cleric — who has maintained his innocence — are yet to be revealed to the public، police have described them as historical sexual assault offenses، which means the alleged crimes happened years ago.

The development came after Australia’s Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse revealed earlier this year that seven percent of Catholic priests were accused of having sexually abused children across Australia over the past several decades.
Pell said nothing during his court appearance on Wednesday، and although he has still not entered a plea، his lawyer Robert Richter said at the brief hearing that the cardinal intended to formally plead not guilty at a future court date.

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

AUSTRALIA
Christian Today

Joseph Hartropp 26 July 2017

Cardinal George Pell, the Pope’s financial adviser and highest-ranking figure in the Australian Catholic Church, was silent this morning as he entered Melbourne Magistrate’s Court where he faces charges of historic sex offences.

Pell announced late in June that he was taking leave following historic allegations of sex abuse.

Pell, 76, is the most senior Vatican official to have faced charges of sexual abuse. At a Vatican press conference in June, he strongly denied the accusations and plans to clear his name from the charges. ‘I am looking forward finally to having my day in court. I am innocent of these charges. They are false. The whole idea of sexual abuse is abhorrent to me,’ he said.

Today, he entered silent, surrounded by a gaggle of press and onlookers, into Melbourne Magistrate’s Court, where the small courtroom was also packed with reporters, according to The Sydney Morning Herald.

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

AUSTRALIA
Aljazeera

Vatican finance chief Cardinal George Pell made his first appearance in an Australian court on historical sex abuse charges on Wednesday, facing a massive media scrum before the primarily administrative hearing.

The 76-year-old, a top adviser to Pope Francis, returned from Rome earlier this month to face multiple charges in Melbourne relating to offences allegedly committed decades ago when he was a senior cleric in Australia.

Details of the charges have not been made public although police said they involved “multiple complainants”. The former Sydney and Melbourne archbishop has always maintained his innocence.

Pell has not yet entered a plea. On Wednesday, his lawyer Robert Richter told the court Pell planned to plead not guilty at a future court date.

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

AUSTRALIA
Financial Times

by: Jamie Smyth in Sydney

The most senior Catholic priest ever to be charged with sex offences appeared in an Australian court on Wednesday in a case that has dealt a blow to the Church’s efforts to put decades of sexual abuse scandals behind it. 

Cardinal George Pell, the Vatican finance chief, was flanked by about a dozen police officers as he was led through onlookers and a media scrum to appear at Melbourne Magistrates’ Court. He did not reply to reporters’ questions and did not speak during the brief hearing. 

Cardinal Pell’s barrister, Robert Richter, told the court the 76-year-old would plead not guilty to all charges, which police said last month related to claims of “historical sexual offences” lodged by more than one person. 

The filing hearing, an administrative procedure, lasted just over five minutes. Prosecutors have until September 8 to prepare their brief of evidence related to the charges. 

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

JAMAICA
The Gleaner

Damion Mitchell, Integration Editor

The sex-scandal-hit Moravian Church in Jamaica has adopted a new policy to govern the interaction of its leaders, workers and volunteers with children.

The policy was approved at the just-concluded 75th Provincial Synod held at the Bethlehem Moravian College in Malvern, St Elizabeth.

The Synod is the highest decision-making body of the Moravian Church in Jamaica.

In a release Tuesday evening, the church did not detail the provisions of the new policy and a copy could not be immediately obtained.

However, the church says the new Child Care and Protection Policy was developed based on the Child Care and Protection Act, adding that the guidelines will be supported by a programme of training and sensitisation of church leaders and staff.

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

MASSACHUSETTS
The Patriot Ledger

By Fred Hanson
The Patriot Ledger

The scheduled release from prison of an ex-priest convicted of raping a child shows the need for changes in the state’s civil commitment law, an advocate for clergy sex abuse victims said.

BOSTON – A lawyer for victims of clergy sex abuse said the release of a former priest convicted of raping a child shows why the state’s civil commitment law needs to be changed.

Paul Shanley, who as a Catholic priest was assigned to Braintree’s St. Francis of Assisi Parish in the 1960s, will be released Friday from the Old Colony Correctional Center in Bridgewater. He was convicted in 2005 of two counts each of child rape and indecent assault and battery on a child. He was sentenced to 12 to 15 years in prison.

Middlesex County District Attorney Marian Ryan said her office was unsuccessful in getting a civil commitment to keep Shanley, 86, in custody.

“The defendant will be monitored by the probation department for the next 10 years and has been ordered to have no contact with children under 16 years of age,” Ryan told WCVB-TV in a statement.

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

MASSACUSETTS
WHDH

Tim Caputo

BOSTON (WHDH) — After more than a decade behind bars, convicted pedophile priest Paul Shanley will be released from prison this week, according attorney Mitchell Garabedian’s office.

Garabedian, who represented Shanley’s victims, told 7News that he will be released on Friday. A press conference announcing the news will be held Wednesday at 11:30 a.m.

Shanley, who was one of the central figures in Boston’s clergy sex abuse scandal, was convicted in 2005 of two counts of rape of a child and two counts of indecent assault and battery on a child. The Middlesex District Attorney’s Office originally pushed for life in prison, but Shanley was sentenced to 12-15 years in prison.

Shanley, now 86, repeatedly raped and fondled a boy at a Newton parish in the 1980s. Shanley was known in the 1960s and ’70s as a priest who helped troubled children.

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

MASSACHUSETTS
Boston Herald

O’Ryan Johnson Wednesday, July 26, 2017

Those abused by defrocked pedophile priest Paul Shanley were “re-victimized” yesterday when they learned he is soon to be released from prison, according to a lawyer for the victims.

“They’re re-victimized,” said Mitchell Garabedian, who represented several of Shanley’s victims in their suit against the Archdiocese of Boston. “They feel like he should spend the rest of his life in jail. He’s a threat to innocent children.”

Shanley was convicted of two counts of rape of a child and two counts of indecent assault and battery on a child in February 2005. He is expected to be released from Old Colony Correctional Center later this week.

“At sentencing our office requested that he be imprisoned for life,” said Middlesex District Attorney Marian T. Ryan in a statement. “Shanley was sentenced to a 12- to 15-year prison sentence. He is now scheduled to be released from that sentence and begin 10 years of supervised probation.”

Ryan said Shanley will be on probation for 10 years once he’s released. She said her office hired experts to examine Shanley, in an attempt to have him civilly committed after his release as a sexually dangerous person.

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