ABUSE TRACKER

LOUISIANA
KATC

May 02, 2017

ST. MARTINVILLE –
Nearly 10 months after his arrest in a child pornography investigation, a Roman Catholic priest made his first court appearance on Tuesday to plead not guilty to the alleged crimes.

Felix David Broussard, 51, has been formally charged with 20 counts of possessing pornography involving juveniles. He appeared in 16th Judicial Court in St. Martin Parish on Tuesday for an arraignment.

State Police arrested Broussard in July 2016 on accusations he possessed at least 500 images of child pornography on his computer. He reportedly confessed to the crimes, according to a copy of his arrest warrant.

The warrant stated the images depicted children appearing in age from infancy to about 12 years old and included images of their genitals, of children engaging in intercourse with other children and of adults sexually abusing children.

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CANADA
Ottawa Sun

BY AEDAN HELMER, OTTAWA SUN
FIRST POSTED: TUESDAY, MAY 02, 2017

Loud applause erupted in court room No. 33 on Tuesday as Father Stephen Amesse was acquitted of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old boy.

The judge scolded the public gallery, which was packed to standing room-only with supporters of the Stittsville priest known as Father Steve.

“This isn’t a cheering section,” said Justice Martin James to the crowd of supporters, including one man dressed in an Ottawa Senators jersey, calling the applause “offensive to me and this court.”

The cheering was also seen as offensive by the family of the complainant, several of them in tears as they streamed out of court.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Boston Globe

By Karl Capen GLOBE CORRESPONDENT MAY 02, 2017

Richard Nault, the boys’ varsity basketball coach and dean of students at Central Catholic High School in Lawrence, has been placed on administrative leave for allegedly sending inappropriate messages on Snapchat to a former student.

Nault has been at the helm of the perennial Division 1 basketball power for 11 seasons, directing the Raiders to state titles in 2008 and 2010, and reaching this year’s North Section final against Cambridge, the eventual state champion.

Nault, a 1990 Central Catholic graduate, returned to his alma mater as an assistant coach for seven years before he was hired as head coach for the 2006-07 season.

An e-mail sent to families last Thursday by Central Catholic president Christopher Sullivan stated that an administrator was on leave for sending inappropriate messages through social media to a former student last month.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Sarah Bardon, Harry McGee

The Government may ask the Sisters of Charity to gift their land to the State in a bid to defuse the row over the location of the National Maternity Hospital.

Minister for Health Simon Harris briefed the Cabinet on the issue and the controversy surrounding the ownership of the hospital, which is to be built on the grounds of St Vincent’s Hospital.

Mr Harris told his colleagues the focus of the discussion had been on property and ownership rather than on the mothers and babies that the hospital would care for.

The Minister said he would report back to Cabinet within three weeks on the progress made but was seeking creative solutions.

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GUAM
The Guam Daily Post

Neil Pang | The Guam Daily Post May 3, 2017

Suspended Archbishop Anthony Apuron’s attorney, Jacqueline Terlaje stated her objection to the court’s decision to allow prosecutor David Lujan to attempt to fix the jurisdictional problems of his cases by a single filing, rather than amend each and every one of his 45 cases filed in Guam’s federal court.

Magistrate Judge Joaquin Manibusan began yesterday’s scheduling conference by discussing the issues shared in all the child sexual abuse cases pending before the court.

According to Manibusan, the problem lies in language in the complaints, which allege that plaintiffs and defendants are “residents” of different places. The residency of the parties is not enough to establish what he termed “diversity jurisdiction” – the jurisdiction of Guam’s federal court to hear the cases on the grounds that the parties are citizens of different locations.

According to Post files, Manibusan brought up this same issue during a previous hearing held last week on the first six cases to come before him for a scheduling conference. During that hearing, Manibusan ordered a pause on all motions and further proceedings in all the other cases until the issue of jurisdiction can be resolved.

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MASSACHUSETTS
The Lowell Sun

By Aaron Curtis, acurtis@lowellsun.com
UPDATED: 05/02/2017

LAWRENCE — When allegations of abuse at Central Catholic High School came out several years ago, a school official says they were transparent, accepted responsibility and addressed each case “frankly and honestly.”

The plan is to deal with the latest allegations of sexual abuse the same way, according to Central Catholic High School Director of Communications David DeFillippo.

On Monday, a man claimed he was sexually abused by four Marist Brothers in the 1960s. The alleged victim, now in his 60’s, claims he was abused by the Marist Brothers in the school when he was 14 and 15 years old.

“The school had not received prior information concerning these specific allegations and urges this individual or his attorney to contact the school too provide additional information so it can investigate this matter and attempt to assist this individual,” DeFillippo stated in a release put out Tuesday that addressed the accusations.

Boston attorney Mitchell Garabedian, who played a major role in exposing the Catholic Church sex scandal, and is representing the alleged victim, declined to share the name and hometown of the man.

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TEXAS
KTXS

By: Veronica Soto
Posted: May 02, 2017

ABILENE, Texas – A former Abilene church and daycare worker accused of having sex with boys has been on the run for nearly a year, and an investigator who has kept contact with him says he may be plotting another crime.

Former employee at Pioneer Drive Baptist Church Jeffrey Forrest was charged with two counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child in 2015. He was scheduled for a trial on Aug. 29, but he jumped bail before facing his alleged victims in court.

His ex-wife, Jennifer Moore, was on the list of witnesses to testify. Moore had already moved away from Abilene to Denton because of the shame she felt. After Forrest didn’t show, she immediately knew her life was about to yet another turn.

For the past year, Moore claims her ex-husband has harassed and threatened to kidnap her eldest son.

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IDAHO
The Daily Beast

GABY DEL VALLE
KELLY WEILL
05.03.17

In June 1979, Rex Black, an Idaho supervisor for the Boy Scouts of America, sent a letter to his supervisor. A child had accused Scout leader James Schmidt of multiple instances of sexual abuse, and Black reported he had confronted Schmidt about the allegations. Schmidt claimed innocence and was allowed to continue working with children.

In 1983, Schmidt was convicted of lewd conduct with a minor.

Schmidt was one of a group of Boy Scouts leaders in Idaho troops sponsored by the Mormon church who were accused of sexually abusing children in the 1970s and ’80s. Recently unsealed files from the Boy Scouts of America reveal that the organization was aware of allegations against these leaders for years, but allowed them to continue working with children. In one documented instance, an abuser was promoted but the Scout leader who reported him was dismissed.

The files form the basis for a new federal lawsuit brought by five former Boy Scouts who accuse the organization and the Church of Latter-day Saints of fraud for promoting scouting as a wholesome, safe activity while covering up pedophiles in their ranks.
Riley Gilroy is one of two named plaintiffs.

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UNITED STATES
Forward

Barbara Finkelstein
May 2, 2017

This article originally appeared in the Forverts.

When a notable anti-domestic violence activist asked her father, the founder of a Baltimore yeshiva, how rabbis had dealt with child sexual abuse in prewar Europe, he told her, “We closed the shutters.”

Up until a few years ago, this selective blindness was the de facto rabbinic therapy for addressing child sexual abuse in the Jewish community. If you couldn’t see the problem, you couldn’t name it, and if you couldn’t name it, it didn’t exist.

But the same forces that rent the veil of secrecy over child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, Penn State University’s football team and Great Britain’s youth soccer system exposed the alarming reality of abuse in the Orthodox Jewish community. “Social media brought major awareness to the existence of child sexual abuse,” says Meyer Seewald, co-founder of Jewish Community Watch, a victim advocacy organization that takes a guerrilla approach to supporting victims, shaming offenders and rebuking rabbis who minimize the trauma associated with sexual crimes against children.

Indeed, grassroots organizations such as JCW have thrown open the shutters on a communitywide tendency to downplay victim suffering and perpetrator guilt for two arguably valid reasons: Rattling skeletons in the family closet compromises the marriageability of the perpetrator’s children; and committing mesirah — turning over a fellow Jew to non-Jewish civil officials — is halachically taboo. Historically speaking, “squealing” on a fellow Jew to Diaspora authorities frequently did result in the punishment by death of the Jewish offender. Maimonides himself urged rabbinic authorities to kill Jewish informants.

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SOUTH AFRICA
Herald Live

May 3, 2017 Devon Koen

The growing number of assaults and harassment of journalists was highlighted when a follower of controversial pastor Tim Omotoso appeared in the Port Elizabeth Magistrate’s Court yesterday for allegedly assaulting a television reporter and cameraman, as well as a freelance journalist.

eNCA editor-in-chief Anton Harber, who was at court to support his staff who were allegedly attacked outside Omotoso’s North End ministry last month, said it was concerning to note the rising number of such incidents against journalists.

“We all have to send a message that it is not acceptable, we’re doing our jobs – it is important to this country and to our democracy,” he said. “There is a worrying pattern. “We’re getting increased reports of journalists being assaulted while covering [stories].”

Harber’s comments came on the eve of World Press Freedom Day today.

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SOUTH AFRICA
Herald Live

May 3, 2017 Devon Koen and Deneesha Pillay

Tensions were high at the Port Elizabeth Magistrate’s Court ahead of the appearance of controversial pastor Tim Omotoso for his formal bail application on Wednesday morning.

While groups sang struggle songs outside the building, inside a large contingent of people filled the corridor outside the courtroom where Omotoso is to appear on charges of sexual assault and human trafficking.

Those inside the courtroom, including the media, were instructed to switch off their cellphones with one Tactical Response Team (TRT) official saying he would “sort out” anyone who did not adhere to the instruction.

Shortly after the magistrate arrived in court the court was informed that the prosecution was still busy with the charge sheet.

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AUSTRALIA
Yellow Advertiser

A FORMER vicar from the Chelmsford Diocese has avoided jail after he admitted a series of child sex image offences.

Peter Low, 64, of Crescent Road, Heybridge, pleaded guilty in March to three counts of possessing indecent images of children and one count of possessing a prohibited image of a child.

He was sentenced on Tuesday, May 2, to a three-year community order.

The images were discovered when police responded to a report of a burglary at Low’s address.

Chelmsford Crown Court ordered him on Tuesday to complete 150 hours of community service, a sex offender treatment programme and rehabilitation activities.

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AUSTRALIA
Bega District News

Deborah Snow
28 Apr 2017

Senior Catholic educators are warning in a confidential paper that any move by NSW bishops to start collecting rent from Catholic schools could be seen as a way of “paying for the ‘sins’ of the clergy”.

And the serious “reputational, political and canonical risks” involved could trigger a perception that government money meant for the education of children was being diverted to other church activities, the paper says.

The internal briefing paper, obtained by Fairfax Media and dated early April, was prepared for the heads of the 11 different Catholic education offices in NSW, who each report to their local bishop.

At least one diocese, Newcastle-Maitland, has confirmed to Fairfax Media it is considering a proposal to charge its schools rent.

Two others, Armidale and Bathurst, did not rule it out when asked if they had it under consideration.

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AUSTRALIA
Catholic Outlook

The work of safeguarding and protecting minors and other vulnerable people is ongoing and of the highest priority. To strengthen this work, the Diocese of Parramatta has recently lent its support to an important eLearning Initiative organised by the NSW Office of the Children’s Guardian. This new online training can be used across parishes, schools, agencies and ministries in the Diocese of Parramatta.

The new training delivery method will help with the ongoing training and development of staff and church personnel around child-protection issues that is already in place in the Diocese. It will also help ensure robust systems are in place to keep children and other vulnerable people safe when they are involved in the activities of the Diocese.

eLearning Initiative

Child Safe training has been highlighted by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse as having a highly important role to play in keeping kids in institutions safe from abuse and neglect.

To complement our face-to-face training, the NSW Office of the Children’s Guardian has launched a suite of Child Safe eLeanring packages.

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MAINE
Seacoast Online

By Deborah McDermott
dmcdermott@seacoastonline.com

YORK — Dennis O’Connor was abused by his parish priest when he was a kid, and his disclosure ultimately led to the priest’s prosecution. “We need to figure out how keep these people away from kids,” he said.

A York mother said she was 11 years old when she was sexually abused. Now the parent of an 11-year-old girl, “I want to know what I can do to keep her safe.”

These York residents were among a group of about 30 people who came to the York Library Friday afternoon to become involved in a local campaign to raise awareness of child sexual abuse.

The event was organized by Dr. Jeanine Ward, an emergency room physician at York Hospital; resident Kara DioGuardi, a music producer, songwriter and former “American Idol” judge; and York Police Officer Jamie Rooney — all of whom are comfortable now sharing their own child sexual abuse stories. But they recognize that many people are not, and many more do not want to hear about it.

“People don’t want to talk about it,” said DioGuardi. “It’s ugly. The public doesn’t get angry enough to say, ‘We have to stop this.’ They see it on TV, and they turn it off. But we’re not going to deal with this issue if we run from it. Don’t we want to protect our children?”

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CANADA
CTV

Joanne Schnurr, CTV Ottawa
Published Tuesday, May 2, 2017

An Ottawa courtroom erupted in applause today after a Catholic priest was found not guilty of sexually assaulting a young boy. Reverend Stephen Amesse said he had forgiven the victim.

The victim’s family, however, left the court house in tears. It’s has been nearly three years since police began their investigation after an allegation that a 14-year-old boy had been sexually assaulted in a west end Ottawa church. Three long years for both the priest and the victim but only one of them left the courthouse feeling justice had been done.

Surrounded by his supporters, Stephen Amesse walked out of court a free man.

“I feel very good, of course,” Amesse told CTV News outside of court, “but I do want people to know I have forgiven my accuser and his family and I’ve asked my folks to pray for them, that they find peace. And I’m looking forward to going back to ministry.”

Amesse was suspended from the ministry and his work at St. Patrick Church in Fallowfield after he was charged in 2014 with two counts of sexual assault and two counts of sexual interference. The charges dated back to 2008 and involved a 14-year-old boy.

But today, Justice Martin James said there were too many inconsistencies to convict Amesse.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Eagle-Tribune

By Jill Harmacinski jharmacinski@eagletribune.com 11 hrs ago

LAWRENCE — A spokesman for Central Catholic High School said a former student who recently made allegations of sexual abuse in the 1960s will be treated in the same “totally transparent” manner as others before him.

The statement released by the school on Tuesday was in response to a demonstration on the sidewalk across the street from the 300 Hampshire St. school late Monday.

Dr. Robert Hoatson, from the international sex abuse survivors group Road to Recovery, told reporters about new information and allegations regarding the sexual abuse of a boy by a priest at St. Patrick’s Church in Lawrence and four members of a Catholic order of brothers who worked at Central Catholic High School in the 1960s.

The man named the Rev. Paul Rynne, who died in 2001 after facing other sexual abuse allegations, and Marist Brothers who taught and worked at the school.

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CALIFORNIA
SFGate

By Steve Rubenstein Tuesday, May 2, 2017

Archbishop George Niederauer, the eighth archbishop of San Francisco and a leader in the contentious 2008 battle to pass Proposition 8 that banned same-sex marriage in California, has died.

Archbishop Niederauer died Tuesday of lung disease at Nazareth House, a Catholic senior care facility in San Rafael, at the age of 80.

“Religious leaders have the constitutional right to speak out on issues of public policy,” Archbishop Niederauer wrote a month after the closely fought measure passed on a 52-to-48 percent vote. “Catholic bishops have a responsibility to teach the faith, and our beliefs about marriage and family are part of this faith.” …

The archbishop, praised by colleagues for his devotion, service and spirituality, spoke boldly at the time of his 2005 appointment in support of gay priests and disputed allegations that gay priests were a cause of sexual abuse of minors by priests.

“Some who are seriously mistaken have named sexual orientation as the cause of the recent scandal regarding the sexual abuse of minors by priests,” Archbishop Niederauer said in an interview with a Catholic newspaper in Utah.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Haidee V Eugenio , heugenio@guampdn.com May 3, 2017

Former island priest Louis Brouillard is named anew in a clergy sex abuse complaint filed Wednesday by a former altar boy and former Boy Scouts of America scout.

The plaintiff, identified in court documents only as J.Q., was about 13 to 15 when Brouillard allegedly sexually abused and molested him, from about 1973 to 1975.

The complaint says Brouillard’s sexual abuses occurred when J.Q. was an altar boy at a Mangilao parish and as a member of the Boy Scouts’ Mangilao Troop 14, for which Brouillard was a scout master.

“On numerous occasions, while swimming, Brouillard would instruct the boys to remove their clothes and swim naked,” the complaint says. “During these occasions, Brouillard would be groping at J.Q.’s private parts at the same time.”

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CANADA
CBC News

Kristy Nease, CBC News Posted: May 02, 2017

An Ottawa courtroom erupted in cheering and applause Tuesday when a judge found an Ottawa priest not guilty of sexually assaulting a then 14-year-old boy in 2008.

“This is not a cheering section,” Justice Martin James cautioned the dozens of people gathered to support Stephen Amesse, who in 2014 was charged with several counts of sexual assault and sexual interference involving a child under 16.

Amesse had so many supporters there that, just before the verdict was read, Crown attorney Farah Rupert had to clear some space for the complainant’s family to sit.

James told court Amesse met the boy — who cannot be identified — at Guardian Angels School, which is part of the Holy Spirit Parish in Stittsville, when the boy was in Grade 5.

Court heard the boy was big for his age, had been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and had problems with the other children. Their family was active in the church and attended mass regularly.

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MICHIGAN
Detroit Free Press

Tresa Baldas , Detroit Free Press April 11, 2017

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to clarify that out of the dozens of photos of nude boys found on the camp counselor’s iPhone and iPad, 16 of them were actually taken at the camp.

A child pornography case that fueled parental outrage and fears in West Bloomfield ended today with a federal judge sentencing a camp counselor to 10 years in prison for filming young boys in a locker room and posting their nude photos on a Russian website.

But the judge handed down the punishment grudgingly.

U.S. District Judge Avern Cohn expressed frustration, saying he was locked into handing down the sentence because of a plea deal prosecutors worked out, and that the sentence was too long. He also set the defendant free after the hearing — his tether was ordered removed and home confinement was ended — and gave him two months to get his affairs in order before reporting to prison.

“It is clear to me in the 37 years (that) I have been a judge — this case does not represent one of the government’s finest hours,” said Cohn, who also criticized the media, calling its coverage of the case “highly inflammatory.”

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ITALIA
Rete L’Abuso

[The team at Trento that treats priests who are pedophiles and alcoholics. Who are they?]

Chi c’è dietro il portone del centro di Trento. Oltre agli psichiatri, il recupero passa attraverso studio e lavoro

Trento -L’impressione è quella di un altro mondo in questo mondo. Una strada stretta dal nome gentile, via dei Giardini, che curva dopo curva sale verso un quartiere residenziale di Trento, case non lussuose ma tranquille e a pochi passi dal centro storico. Il cancello è sempre aperto. Non si esce dalla città, il castello del Buonconsiglio è proprio ai piedi della collina a qualche centinaio di metri, ma si entra in uno spazio diverso, silenzioso, appartato, dove i guai del mondo vero vengono visti da un punto di vista differente.

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LOUISIANA
KLFY

Ken Stickney, The Daily Advertiser
Published: May 2, 2017

ST. MARTINVILLE, La. (The Daily Advertiser) — The Rev. Felix David Broussard, accused 10 months ago in a child pornography case in Breaux Bridge, entered a plea of not guilty Tuesday morning in 16th Judicial District Court.

Broussard arrived before the courthouse opened, without an attorney present, however he identified Thomas Guilbeau as his attorney.

District Judge Pual deMahy set Broussard’s next court appearance for August.

A Diocese of Lafayette priest for more than two decades, Broussard last served as pastor at St. Bernard Roman Catholic Church in Breaux Bridge at the time of his arrest in July 2016. In that capacity, he was also chancellor of the parish school.

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IRELAND
Newstalk

2 May 2017
Stephen McNeice

Health Minister Simon Harris has been compared to a ‘rabbit caught in the headlights’ over his handling of the National Maternity Hospital.

Fianna Fáil claims the Government should have acted more quickly to deal with concerns about its ownership.

The controversy erupted last month after it emerged the St Vincent’s Healthcare Group – which is controlled by the Sisters of Charity – will own the new National Maternity Hospital, which is to be located on a site on the St Vincent’s Hospital campus in South Dublin.

Enda Kenny is insisting that the hospital will have clinical independence, and that its religious owners could not control the board.

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

Tuesday, May 02, 2017

The Taoiseach Enda Kenny has promised “complete clinical independence” in the running of the new National Maternity Hospital, writes Elaine Loughlin of the Irish Examiner.

It comes as Government continues to come under pressure over the decision to grant the Sisters of Charity ownership of the hospital.

The religious order will own the €300m taxpayer-funded hospital, because the order owns the St Vincent’s Hospital campus on which it is to be built.

Under questioning in the Dáil, Mr Kenny said: “I can confirm that there will be complete clinical independence and that the Sisters of Charity will not have a majority on the board.”

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MASSACHUSETTS
The Lowell Sun

By Robert Mills, rmills@lowellsun.com

LAWRENCE — Boston attorney Mitchell Garabedian, who played a major role in exposing the Catholic Church sex scandal, is now working with a client who alleges he was sexually abused by four Marist Brothers at Central Catholic High School in the 1960s.

The allegations were announced Monday, less than a week after allegations of inappropriate behavior by two administrators and a teacher rocked the school.

Garabedian said he was contacted over a week ago by a man in his 60’s who alleges he was sexually abused by four Marist Brothers in the school when he was 14 and 15 years old.

That client, whose name and hometown Garabedian declined to share, also says he was sexually abused by the late Father Paul Rynne at St. Patrick’s parish in Lawrence. Rynne, who died in 2004, previously faced accusations he sexually abused boys at parishes in Plymouth and Brockton.

“We’re preparing my client’s case so we can notify the Archdiocese of Boston and the Marist Brothers of the sexual abuse and take appropriate action from there,” Garabedian said.

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NEW JERSEY
The Trentonian

By David Foster, The Trentonian

TRENTON >> Menachem Chinn’s wife, Ruth, recalls the day well.

She said Friday in a phone interview with The Trentonian that the boy had a leg cramp on the day in question in 2012.

“He was screaming, withering in pain,” Ruth Chinn said of the incident that occurred at the couple’s East Windsor home. “What do you do if the kid is withering in pain with knots in his muscle on his leg? You don’t help him?”

The wife said the boy was in the basement with a bunch of kids for her husband’s youth programming when the incident occurred. She’s unsure if her husband massaged the boy’s leg, but implied he worked the cramp out.

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IRELAND
Hot Press

The row over whether a new €300m taxpayer-funded National Maternity Hospital should be granted to the Religious Sisters of Charity has gained momentum over the weekend, with protests scheduled at The Dail this afternoon at 1pm.

The move to hand over ownership of the National Maternity Hospital to the Sisters of Charity has proved highly controversial, with many people questioning the logic of there being any over-arching religious influence on such a key medical institution.

Despite attempts by Rhona Mahony, the Master of the National Maternity Hospital, to downplay the influence of the Religious Sisters of Charity, saying that it is a mere “technical detail”, there is a growing consensus that the issue of ownership is far more than a this, with the former Master of the Coombe Hospital, Chris Fitzpatrick, also coming out strongly against any involvement for the Sisters of Charity in the National Maternity Hospital project.

“This is a defining moment in terms of Irish maternity services,” he said in a letter to the HSE, “the first of four co-located maternity hospitals to be built arising out of the new Government strategy – so it’s essential to get it right.”

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GUAM
KUAM

[with video]

Updated: May 02, 2017

By Krystal Paco

Another round of clergy sex abuse cases was on the calendar in federal court today, but like the previous batch, the question of whether they actually belong there was raised. On the docket today were the plaintiffs accusing Archbishop Anthony Apuron and Father David Anderson of child sex abuse.

But the hearing didn’t get very far because of questions raised as to jurisdiction or whether it even belongs in the District Court.

KUAM News asked Attorney David Lujan if he was concerned that he wouldn’t be able to prove jurisdiction for a majority of your clients, to which he replied, “I think we’ll be able to prove for a majority of our clients. But then, you know, even the ones we don’t prove jurisdiction of course we’re back in superior court. So all it means is that it transfers courts, you know.”

Attorney Jacque Terlaje represents Apuron, who maintains his innocence. During the hearing she moved the cases be thrown out. She said, “Generally speaking, when you’re dealing with civil pleadings the plaintiff has the absolute burden to set forth certain things in order for the court to attain jurisdiction of the matter. And so essentially what was occurring in the hearing was that there was a proffer of certain evidence outside of that document so essentially I told the court the best way to deal with this issue is to dismiss it if the plaintiff has not met that burden and to start all over again essentially.”

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GUAM
Pacific News Center

Written by Janela Carrera

The archdiocese says parishes and school buildings will not be liquidated at this time.

Guam – The once-controversial Redemptoris Mater Seminary is among the properties the Archdiocese of Agana may be looking to sell as part of a larger effort to liquidate assets that will be used as compensation for clergy sexual abuse victims.

During a press conference today, Coadjutor Archbishop Michael Byrnes fielded questions about a reported list of assets the archdiocese put together of that could be potentially sold. The archdiocese has already contributed $1 million in seed money for the Hope and Healing fund that will provide counseling services and compensation to clergy sex abuse victims.

However, based on the sheer number of abuse victims who have already filed suit–58–as well as the dozens and dozens of callers into the Hope and Healing hotline, $1 million will clearly not cut it. Byrnes says the list of assets that may be liquidated include the RMS property in Yona which was mired in controversy as the archdiocese and leaders of the Neocatechumenal Way wrestled over ownership of the multimillion dollar property.

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CANADA
Muskoka Region

May 01, 2017 by Paige Phillips Huntsville Forester

MUSKOKA — A former employee with Simcoe Muskoka Catholic District School Board is facing six charges of professional misconduct.

Genevieve Charlton-Rogers faced a disciplinary hearing in Toronto on Tuesday, April 25, with the Ontario College of Teachers to answer to her actions during the 2012-2013 school year.

Charlton-Rogers is charged with professional misconduct under the Ontario College of Teachers Act. The college states that she failed to maintain the standards of the profession, abused a student or students psychologically or emotionally, abused a student or students sexually, failed to comply with the Education Act, committed acts that are regarded as disgraceful, dishonourable or unprofessional and engaged in conduct unbecoming.

An investigation committee of the Ontario College of Teachers is looking into allegations that during the 2012-2013 school year, while employed by the Simcoe Muskoka Catholic District School Board, Charlton-Rogers had an inappropriate personal relationship with a student and a sexual relationship.

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NEW MEXICO
KRQE

By David Romero
Published: May 1, 2017

BELEN, N.M. (KRQE) – Fr. Jonas Romea, the priest at Our Lady of Belen Catholic Church who made controversial comments about Muslims wanting to behead everyone, has now been removed from the Archdiocese of Santa Fe. Many people are asking why, but neither the church or the Archdiocese is talking.

Back in March, the church said the situation with Fr. Romea’s remarks had been handled. However, it appears a new situation with Fr. Romea was brought to the attention of the church within the last week.

It was also brought to the attention of Belen Police. They confirm with KRQE News 13 that they got an anonymous call involving Fr. Romea and a claim of possible sexual harassment. Chief Conner said detectives are looking into the matter to see if a full investigation is warranted.

The Archdiocese of Santa Fe would only send a statement regarding Romea’s dismissal, saying he is an active priest from the Diocese of Tagbilaran in the Philippines. The statement went on to say he served as Parochial Vicar at Our Lady of Belen, then thanked him for his ministry and wished him well.

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NEW JERSEY
NJ.com

By Michaelangelo Conte | The Jersey Journal

A North Hudson preacher and self-proclaimed exorcist who was convicted of sexually assaulting a 13-year-old boy rejected a plea deal yesterday on another sex crime charge.

But first Gregorio Martinez, who was on the lam for 18 months after his February 2015 conviction, had some grievances to air with Hudson County Superior Court Judge Mitzy Galis-Menendez.

“I’m not guilty of anything,” Martinez, 49, the former North Bergen pastor, told the judge.

Martinez also complained at the hearing that when he is brought to court for a hearing, prisoners in other holding cells spit at him while he waits in his cell.

“When they are leaving they spit at my face and they spit at my chest,” Martinez said through a Spanish translator. Galis-Menendez called the spitting inappropriate and said she would alert the sheriff’s officers who handle the prisoners.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Haidee V Eugenio, heugenio@guampdn.com May 2, 2017

U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge Joaquin V.E. Manibusan Jr. on Tuesday raised concerns anew on whether the federal court has jurisdiction over another batch of clergy sex abuse cases.

The cases include those filed against former Rev. David Anderson and Archbishop Anthony S. Apuron, both accused of raping and sexually abusing former altar boys.

Attorney David Lujan, counsel for former altar boys accusing Apuron and Anderson, asked for, and was granted, unt9l to June 2 to file a position paper proving court jurisdiction.

During Tuesday’s scheduling conference, Manibusan cited the case filed by the estate of the now-deceased former altar boy Joseph “Sonny” Quinata, who died in Hawaii, in 2005. The judge also sought stipulation as to where the other plaintiffs live.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Haidee V Eugenio , heugenio@guampdn.com May 2, 2017

While Guam clergy sex abuse lawsuits filed in federal court still need to resolve jurisdiction matters before moving forward, the lawsuits filed in local court continue to deal with judge recusals.

Judges have recused themselves from 12 of 13clergy sex abuse lawsuits filed in local court from March through April. Seven of eight Superior Court of Guam judges filed disqualification notices related to 12 lawsuits as of April 26, documents from the Judiciary of Guam show.

The recusals stem from conflict or potential conflict of interest, mainly because of the judges’ relationships with either the plaintiffs or the defendants.

The plaintiffs include former altar boys and former Boy Scouts who allege they were sexually abused by priests. The defendants include the Archdiocese of Agana and its clergy, the Boy Scouts of America and the Capuchin Franciscans.

In some cases, the judges cited ties to several members of the Neocatechumenal Way, such as Judge Anita A. Sukola, or the Concerned Catholics of Guam, in the case of Judge Vernon Perez.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Newburyport Daily News

LAWRENCE — A Salisbury resident is one of two members of Central Catholic High School’s staff identified as recently being placed on leave pending the outcome of misconduct investigations.

Parents, students and law enforcement officials identified social studies teacher and Salisbury resident John Housianitis, as well as basketball coach and Dean of Students Richard Nault, as the two staff members suspended last week during investigations of their behavior.

Information on the action taken was included in a letter sent Thursday evening to students, parents and alumni by Central Catholic’s president, Christopher Sullivan. The two were not identified in Sullivan’s letter.

Allegations involving the staff members came to the school’s attention in the wake of the firing of Andrew Nikonchuk, the former director of curriculum and instruction at the school. Nikonchuk, 36, of Lowell is under investigation for the drugging and rape of a student in 2006.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Colm Keena

In light of public controversy over the proposed movement of the National Maternity Hospital from Holles Street to the St Vincent’s campus, Minister for Health Simon Harris has said he would like to see a debate about the possible divestment of health service assets held by religious congregations.

Hospital and disability services used by hundreds of thousands of Irish people every year, paid for by the State and by private health insurance, are owned by religious congregations motivated by their Catholic faith.

An examination by The Irish Times of the four largest providers of such services shows that they all have rules that require that their assets are transferred to other charitable bodies with a Catholic ethos in the event that the congregations decide to wind up the companies that run these services.

With many of the congregations now seriously reduced in numbers, and their remaining members elderly, the hospitals and other services controlled by these orders are likely to be transferred to trusts and other such charitable entities, with a stated Catholic ethos, over the coming years.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Crime Online

by Leigh Egan
May 1, 2017

After a Pennsylvania man pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a teenager and getting her pregnant, a judge shut down a two-year sentence jail term agreement and said that the punishment was “too low.”

People reports that Jacob Malone, 35, a married pastor of Exton, Pennsylvania, began sexually assaulting a 14-year-old teen in the fall of 2014 while he was acting as her guardian. According to Chester County Assistant District Attorney Emily Provencher, the sexual abuse lasted about a year. During the one-year time span, the suspect gave the victim alcohol and ended up getting her pregnant.

Malone was convicted of corruption of minors, institutional sex assault, and endangerment the welfare of children. Judge Jacqueline Cody sentenced Malone to three to six years in prison, followed by five months probation. After release, he’ll have to register as a sex offender for 15 years.

“This is one of the times when the court system fails. You are serving a sentence much lighter than the crime deserves,” Judge Cody said.

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NEW JERSEY
CentralJersey.com

By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer Apr 28, 2017

A 36-year-old East Windsor Township man who teaches at the Shalom Torah Academy in Monmouth County has been charged with one count each of endangering the welfare of a child and sexual assault, said Acting Mercer County Prosecutor Doris Galuchie and East Windsor Township Police Chief James A. Geary.

Menachem A. Chinn, 36, of East Windsor Township, was arrested April 20 at the East Windsor Township Police Department, according to Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office spokeswoman Casey DeBlasio. A detention hearing is pending.

The incident, which involved a 12-year-old boy, occurred at Chinn’s home in 2012. He is alleged to have touched the boy inappropriately.

The East Windsor Township Police Department recently learned of the allegations involving the boy, and contacted the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office’s Special Victims Unit. The two agencies conducted an investigation into the allegations.

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NEW JERSEY
NJ.com

By Kevin Shea | For NJ.com

EAST WINDSOR — Authorities have charged a teacher at a Monmouth County school with sexually assaulting a 12-year-old boy at his township home in 2012.

Detectives arrested Menachem A. Chinn, 36, Thursday night at East Windsor police headquarters, township police and the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office announced Friday.

Chinn is a teacher at the Shalom Torah Academy in the Morganville section of Marlboro, the prosecutor’s office said.

The school’s website lists him as a rabbi who instructs 6th and 7th grade boys. Another website, for a Jewish youth organization, also lists him as an instructor.

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NEW JERSEY
New Jersey Jewish News

by Debra Rubin
NJJN Bureau Chief
May 1, 2017

A teacher at Shalom Torah Academy in Morganville and director of the Twin Rivers chapter of the National Council of Synagogue Youth (NCSY) is being held in the Mercer County Correctional Center for the alleged sexual assault of a 12-year-old boy.

According to a press release from acting Mercer County Prosecutor Doris M. Galuchie and East Windsor Township Police Chief James A. Geary, police were recently made aware that Chinn allegedly touched the victim inappropriately on one occasion. A report on NJ.com noted that the prosecutor’s office did not elaborate on why the victim was at the rabbi’s home; another on NJ1015.com wrote that it was unclear if the boy was a student at Shalom Torah. The police contacted the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Special Victims Unit and the agencies conducted a joint investigation. Prosecutor’s office spokesperson Casey DeBlasio told NJJN that a detention hearing was held April 26 in Mercer County Superior Court where a judge ordered Chinn held.

NCSY, the youth movement affiliated with the Orthodox Union, immediately placed Chinn on leave pending the results of the investigation. An NCSY New Jersey website that had listed him as “Twin Rivers Director” was taken down some days later. In a statement released shortly thereafter, NCSY wrote that it was “shocked” to learn of the arrest.

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NEW YORK
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: John “Jack” J. O’Keefe was ordained for the Archdiocese of New York in 1972. He went on to assist in three Bronx parishes and, in 1977, he joined the faculty of Cardinal Hayes High School. In the early 1990s, after over 25 years years as a teacher and guidance counselor, O’Keefe left Hayes to assume the role of president of Archbishop Stepinac High in White Plains. In 1995 he was elevated to Monsignor status. O’Keefe moved on from Stepinac High in 2004 to pastor St. Margaret’s parish in Pearl River.

In December 2015 O’Keefe was removed from St. Margaret’s and suspended from active ministry after he was accused in a lawsuit of having sexually abused a Hayes High School student in the early 1980s. The abuse was said to have occurred on two occasions – in a Virginia hotel during a school trip to Washington D.C., and during a weekend leadership training program at the Irish Christian Brothers’ retreat house in Esopus, New York. District Attorneys in Virginia and New York deemed the allegations ‘credible.’ O’Keefe denied them. He was reportedly living in a supervised setting for evaluation and risk assessment after his suspension. In September 2016 O’Keefe was permanently removed from ministry; two other male accusers had come forward by then with credible allegations.

Ordained: 1972

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IDAHO
Deseret News

By Scott Taylor
Published: May 1, 2017

SALT LAKE CITY — Five men who claimed to have been abused as youth by Scouting leaders in two separate Idaho cities, are suing the Boys Scouts of America and the LDS Church, with the lawsuit saying both organizations deceptively presented the youth program as a safe and wholesome activity for boys.

The lawsuit was filed Monday in Boise’s U.S. District Court by attorneys from Boise and Portland, Oregon, who have represented other men bringing similar sexual-abuse lawsuits against the BSA and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The lawsuit says both organizations knew of problems with child molesters in Idaho Scout troops and intentionally concealed this problem from families, participants, volunteers and law enforcement.

Monday’s case involved two plantiffs by name and three “John Does,” citing abuse that was committed by Scouting leaders to youth participants in the 1960s and ’70s in Boise and Lewiston, the latter 266 miles to the north of Idaho’s capital city. Three former Scout leaders were specifically named in the lawsuit.

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IDAHO
The Columbian

By REBECCA BOONE, Associated Press
Published: May 1, 2017

BOISE, Idaho — Five men who say they were sexually abused as kids while in the Boy Scouts of America are suing the organization and the Mormon church because they say both groups fraudulently presented the Boy Scouts as a safe, wholesome activity for boys.

The men filed the lawsuit Monday in Boise’s U.S. District Court. They contend that the Boy Scouts of America and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints knew that there were child molesters in the Boy Scouts, but they covered up the danger instead of letting parents and children know about the risk.

LDS church spokesman Eric Hawkins said in a prepared statement, “We have only recently learned about this legal action, and will take time to understand it fully and to respond as appropriate.”

The Boy Scouts of America said in a prepared statement that the behavior included in the allegations is abhorrent, and that the organization has strengthened its efforts to protect youth in the years since the abuse occurred.

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UNITED STATES
New York Times

By KATELYN BEATY
MAY 2, 2017

Institutions plagued by sexual assault scandals tend to look alike: They are usually insular organizations that resist external checks and revolve around authoritative men.

This characterization fits Fox News, which recently fired its host Bill O’Reilly after sexual harassment allegations against him (and pressure from advertisers) mounted.

But it is also applies to the white evangelical Christian community. This group is not a monolith, but its social hierarchy often functions like the military, a university or private business. It’s not a coincidence that conservative evangelical leaders tend to resist taking harassment and assault claims seriously.

Eric Metaxas, a best-selling Christian author, tweeted after the firing that Mr. O’Reilly’s ouster was “tremendously sad” and that his show had been a “blessing to millions.” When people responding to his tweet noted that he was silent on the harassment itself, he wrote “Jesus loves Bill O’Reilly” and told his followers to pray for their enemies.

Many Christian leaders responded to Donald Trump’s bragging about sexual assault with a similar line of defense. Jerry Falwell Jr., president of Liberty University, the country’s largest Christian college, said that “we’re all sinners” and that Mr. Trump had apologized. (In fact, Mr. Trump has said that he doesn’t ask God for forgiveness and didn’t need to ask his wife for it either.) Mr. Falwell later claimed to have proof that the women accusing Mr. Trump of sexual harassment were lying.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Patsy McGarry

In a weekend interview the Master at Holles Street Hospital in Dublin, Rhona Mahony, was clear. The need for the new National Maternity Hospital at St Vincent’s in Elm Park, owing to conditions at Holles Street, was “unarguable”, “unassailable”, “a simple, clinical imperative”, she said.

“It would be terrible if it was stopped because of a sideshow. When the next woman dies, how will the conversation go then?” Indeed. And “there’s the rub”, as Hamlet might say, the nub of this “sideshow.”

Speaking of “the next woman” in this context Dr Mahony may have been referring to Savita Halappanavar, the 31-year-old Indian woman who died in October 2012 at University Hospital Galway a week after she was found to be miscarrying.Her husband, Praveen, said she asked several times over three days for a termination and this was refused because the foetal heartbeat was still present and, as one midwife said, “this is a Catholic country”.

One of Dr Mahony’s predecessors as Master at Holles St, Dr Peter Boylan, was an expert witness at an inquiry and at the inquest into Halappanavar’s death.

Clearly he too is anxious that there will be no “next woman” to die in circumstances similar to those in which Halappanavar lost her life.

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MINNESOTA
Law 360

By Katharine Thompson, Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani LLP
April 27, 2017

In Diocese of Duluth v. Liberty Mutual Group et al., case no. 16-05012 (Mar. 30, 2017), the Bankruptcy Court for the District Court for Minnesota was asked to determine the trigger of coverage and the number of “occurrences” related to negligence claims asserted against the Diocese of Duluth by victims of priest sexual abuse. Such claims drove the Diocese to file for bankruptcy. As part of that bankruptcy proceeding, the Diocese filed an adversary proceeding seeking coverage from several of its insurers which had issued multiple “occurrence”-based policies spanning several decades. Ruling in favor of the Diocese, the court found that multiple years of coverage could be triggered and that multiple “occurrences” could be found in each policy year because each victim was a separate “occurrence.”

The Diocese successfully argued that each alleged act of abuse constituted a separate “occurrence” under all insurer’s policies, although it conceded that under the policies’ “occurrence” definition (“arising out of continuous or repeated exposure to substantially the same general conditions shall be considered as arising out of one occurrence”) multiple instances of abuse of the same victim by the same priest in the same year constituted a single “occurrence” for that year.

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AUSTRALIA
Geelong Advertiser

Bodey Dittloff, Geelong Advertiser
May 2, 2017

MUCH-LOVED and admired Geelong priest, Father Kevin Dillon, has confirmed he is leaving his post following a remarkable 17-year service to the local church and wider community.

The St Mary of the Angels Parish priest is set to take up a new position in July at St Simon the Apostle Parish in Rowville, which is located in Melbourne’s far-eastern suburbs.

Speaking to 3AW radio today, Fr Dillon said the change of scenery was his decision alone as he edged towards the retirement marker of 75 years of age, but that leaving would “just about kill me”. …

Having also been a long-time critic of the church’s handling of sexual abuse claims, Father Dillon said he remained in contact with “a lot” of those affected and hoped to continue his advocacy.

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GUAM
Pacific News Center

Written by Janela Carrera

Attorney Lujan will have until June 2 to submit a position paper regarding diversity jurisdiction.

Guam – Jurisdiction for some of the dozens of cases of church sex abuse lawsuits in federal court continues to be an issue and if no judge will take on the case, Attorney David Lujan says he will press on until they can find one.

Attorney Lujan represents 45 plaintiffs suing the Archdiocese of Agana and various clergy members in federal court for millions of dollars in civil claims of sexual abuse. Today he was summoned for a hearing by US Magistrate Judge Joaquin Manibusan who expressed the same concerns he had last week regarding diversity jurisdiction.

At this point, it’s unclear for some of Lujan’s clients where they are registered as residents and Judge Manibusan wants to ensure that he will have jurisdiction to preside over the cases. Lujan notes that even if he cannot prove diversity jurisdiction for some of his clients, they will find a way around it.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Eagle-Tribune

By Jill Harmacinski jharmacinski@eagletribune.com

LAWRENCE — The leader of a recovery group for sexual abuse survivors said he was saddened, but not surprised, to hear a former Central Catholic High School student say he was drugged and raped by a teacher.

“Now, we wait. We are going to get more calls,” predicted Dr. Robert Hoatson, founder and leader of Road to Recovery.

An international, nonprofit group, Road to Recovery helps sexual abuse survivors, many of whom are men who report being abused as boys by clergy members.

Late Monday morning, Hoatson demonstrated on a public sidewalk across from Central Catholic High School where last week an administrator, Andrew Nikonchuk, 36, of Lowell, was fired for failing to maintain “appropriate social boundaries” between teachers and students. The Middlesex district attorney’s office launched an investigation of Nikonchuk after a former student said Nikonchuk drugged and assaulted him in 2006 when the student was age 15.

The alleged victim graduated from Central in 2008. The matter remains under investigation by authorities and no charges have been filed.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian (UK)

Melissa Davey
Monday 1 May 2017

Involving children in the research and decisions that will impact their lives is essential to protect them from being abused within institutions such as sporting clubs, churches and schools, a symposium held by the child sexual abuse royal commission has heard.

On Monday researchers released the findings from three research reports ordered by the commission on the topic of child-safe institutions. The reports examined: key elements of child-safe organisations; the safety of young people in residential care; and disability and institutional child sexual abuse.

One of the six royal commissioners, Justice Jennifer Coate, told the symposium that survivors of child sexual abuse often shared their stories in the hope they could help stop the scourge of child sexual abuse into the future. As children, they were often unheard, or heard but ignored and punished.

“A key challenge for the commission has been the lack of research on institutional child sexual abuse to date,” Coate said. “There has been no large-scale, cross-jurisdiction focus on the topic.”

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MASSACHUSETTS
The Lowell Sun

[with video]

By Robert Mills, rmills@lowellsun.com

LAWRENCE — Well-known Boston attorney Mitchell Garabedian, who played a major role in exposing the Catholic Church sex scandal, is now working with a client who alleges he was sexually abused by four Marist Brothers at Central Catholic High School in the 1960s.

The allegations were announced Monday, less than a week after allegations of inappropriate behavior by two administrators and a teacher rocked the school.

Garabedian said he was contacted over a week ago by a man in his 60s who alleges he was sexually abused by four Marist Brothers in the school when he was 14 and 15 years old.

That client, whose name and hometown Garabedian declined to share, also says he was sexually abused by the late Rev. Paul Rynne at St. Patrick’s parish in Lawrence. Rynne, who died in 2004, previously faced accusations that he sexually abused boys at parishes in Plymouth and Brockton.

“We’re preparing my client’s case so we can notify the Archdiocese of Boston and the Marist Brothers of the sexual abuse and take appropriate action from there,” Garabedian said.

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LOUISIANA
The Advertiser

Ken Stickney , kstickney@theadvertiser.com May 1, 2017

The Rev. Felix David Broussard, accused 10 months ago in a child pornography case in Breaux Bridge, is expected to enter a guilty plea Tuesday, a spokeswoman for the Diocese of Lafayette said.

Broussard, an Acadia Parish native and diocesan parish priest for more than 20 years, was accused last July after the Louisiana State Police Special Victims Unit said they found more than 500 images of child pornography on his personal computer, which was kept at the residence of St. Bernard Roman Catholic Church in Breaux Bridge. State Police joined the investigation at the request of the St. Martin Sheriff’s Office.

Broussard had served as pastor at St. Bernard and chancellor of the parish school for two years at the time of his arrest. Investigators said he had been seeking pornographic images of children on his computer for most of that time.

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UNITED STATES
The American Conservative

By ROD DREHER • May 1, 2017

Rodrigo Duterte, the violent, authoritarian populist president of the Philippines, claims he was sexually abused by a Jesuit priest in his youth. From a 2015 story published when he was mayor of Davao City:

Mayor Rodrigo Duterte has named the priest who allegedly molested him and several other high school boys when he was a teenager studying at the Jesuit-run Ateneo de Davao University (AdDU) here.

Duterte said the sexual abuser was the late Fr. Mark Falvey, SJ, one of the Jesuit priests at AdDU, and that the abuse happened once when he was a high school freshman in 1956. And he spelled out the name of the American Jesuit priest.

“It happened during our generation, two years ahead of us and two years following us,” Duterte told reporters here late Thursday. …

All of this makes emotional sense to me. As many of you readers know, it was becoming deeply involved in reporting and commenting on the sex abuse story in the early 2000s that ended up costing me my Catholic faith. The other night in Nashville, in conversation with a new Catholic friend, I tried to explain to him what that felt like from the inside. He had said, reasonably, “I don’t understand why the sins of priests made you quit believing in the teachings of the Church.”

What I explained was that I too had believed that as long as I had all the arguments clear in my mind, my faith would be impregnable. And you know, that may work for some people. But entering into the stories of Catholic child victims of molester priests, and their families, changed me in ways that I could never have anticipated.

William Lobdell, once the religion reporter for the Los Angeles Times, writes about how the same experience cost him his faith in Christianity, period. He used to be an enthusiastic churchgoer, and had entered into the process by which one joins the Roman Catholic Church. When he started covering the abuse scandal, a priest warned him to keep his eyes on Christ, not on priests. But then:

But then I began going over the documents. And interviewing the victims, scores of them. I discovered that the term “sexual abuse” is a euphemism. Most of these children were raped and sodomized by someone they and their family believed was Christ’s representative on Earth. That’s not something an 8-year-old’s mind can process; it forever warps a person’s sexuality and spirituality.

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MISSOURI
Joplin Globe

A complaint of sexual abuse involving a minor and Larry Gregovich, a former Catholic priest who died earlier this year, has been made to the Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau, the diocese announced in a statement Monday.

The diocese, which covers the southern third of Missouri, also said in the statement that it notified civil authorities of the incident, which occurred more than 30 years ago, but did not say who was notified, or where. The allegation also was forwarded to the diocesan Safe Environment Review Board, which found it “credible” during a recent meeting.

Gregovich had been the target of earlier allegations that were made public by the diocese in 2002, but he was never charged with any criminal wrongdoing.

Leslie Eidson, spokesperson for the diocese, said more details were not being released because the alleged victim wants to remain anonymous.

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NEW MEXICO
Gallup Independent

Published in the Gallup Independent, Gallup, N.M., April 29, 2017

By Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola
Independent correspondent
religion@gallupindependent.com

GALLUP — Officials with the Diocese of Gallup announced they have added three more names to the list of credibly accused clergy sex abusers Wednesday.

“There have been credible allegations of past sexual abuse of a minor (all occurring prior to 2004) against Br. Mark Schornack, OFM, Fr. Ephraim Beltramea, OFM, and Fr. Diego Mazon, OFM,” the diocese announced in a news release.

All three were Franciscan friars who were assigned to churches in the Gallup Diocese for at least part of their ministry. This brings the number of names on the diocese’s credibly accused list to 34, which now includes 33 clergy members and one lay church worker.

However, contrary to the diocese’s announcement, church officials did not add the additional names to the diocese’s published website list until Friday afternoon, after being notified by the Gallup Independent that the names were still absent.

When contacted about the oversight, Suzanne Hammons, the spokeswoman for the Diocese, corrected the website list but said she would not answer any questions about the announcement now because she “gave the exclusive on the story” to the Catholic News Agency.

Public allegations

Although the Diocese of Gallup has just pronounced the allegations to be credible, allegations against the men have been public for years.

Schornack was named in two clergy sex abuse lawsuits filed by Phoenix attorney Robert E. Pastor on behalf of two women who said they were abused as children by Schornack at either St. Michael Mission or St. Michael Indian School. Both women were claimants in the Diocese of Gallup’s bankruptcy case, and both received settlements as part of the Chapter 11 plan of reorganization. One of the women currently has a lawsuit against the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament who operate St. Michael Indian School. Schornack died in 2012.

Mazon, who is originally from the Gallup area, has been the subject of media reports after the Gallup Independent discovered he had been named in a clergy sex abuse lawsuit filed in 2005, on behalf of a woman who said Mazon abused her as a child in Roswell in the 1970s. Along with Mazon, the Archdiocese of Santa Fe and the Franciscan Province of St. John the Baptist in Ohio were named as defendants. In 2009, Annette M. Klimka, the victims’ assistance coordinator for the Santa Fe Archdiocese, confirmed Mazon had been removed from ministry at St. Francis Church in Gallup because of the abuse allegations, and she said a settlement agreement had been made in the case. Parishioners in Gallup, however, were told Mazon stepped down for health reasons. Mazon lives in retirement in the Albuquerque area, along with the Rev. Lawrence “Larry” Schreiber, another credibly accused Franciscan friar.

Beltramea, aka Ephrem or John Beltramea, was named by at least one abuse claimant in the Diocese of Gallup’s bankruptcy case. According to the diocese, Beltramea had only one ministry assignment in the diocese: St. Francis Church in Gallup from 1970-1973. Online websites indicate he was ordained in Washburn, Illinois, in 1961, and he served for some time as a priest in Illinois before coming to the Southwest. Diocesan officials haven’t been able to determine if Beltramea is still living.

Right direction, slow pace

“I think it’s finally a step in the right direction for the diocese,” Gallup resident Prudence Jones said in a phone interview Thursday. “But there are still many more steps ahead for the victims’ relief.”

As a child, Jones was abused by Schornack at St. Michael Mission. During the diocese’s bankruptcy case, she served on the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors, which represented the interests of abuse claimants. She said she hopes the Gallup Diocese will add more names to its list of credibly accused abusers in the near future.

Jones expressed anger over the “really slow, slow pace — frustratingly slow” time that it took the Diocese of Gallup to admit Schornack was a credibly accused abuser.

“It took a lifetime,” she said.

Jones said Schornack apologized to her not long before his death, but his apology left her wondering how many other children he had abused. Jones explained she had confided the story of her abuse to a priest at St. Francis Church in Gallup. That priest then arranged for Jones to meet with Schornack, who was a resident at the Little Sisters of the Poor facility in Gallup.

“The first words he spoke to me was, ‘Did I hurt you?’” Jones recalled. When Jones said yes, Schornack apologized to her.

“That floored me,” Jones said. “How many more were there?”

Jones also expressed frustration that the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament and St. Michael Indian School failed to contribute to the Diocese of Gallup’s settlement agreement and are now fighting another Schornack abuse survivor in court. Jones described the Sisters’ legal approach to the abuse survivor as similar to that taken by other church entities: “Deny, deny. Dig your feet in and don’t go willingly.”

With the addition of the three names to the diocese’s list of credibly accused abusers, Bishop James S. Wall will need to add two more healing services for abuse survivors to his schedule. Under the non-monetary provisions of the Chapter 11 reorganization, Wall is required to visit every Catholic school and church where an abuser was assigned. Wall will now need to visit the Arizona parishes of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Kayenta and St. Anne in Klagetoh, both on the Navajo Nation.

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ITALIA
Rete L’Abuso

[‘Church and pedophilia, the Italian case’, Tulli and Zanardi present the book that nobody wants to talk about.]

Presentato ieri il libro “Chiesa e pedofilia, il caso italiano” nella libreria di viale Libia

Chi lo ha letto, giura che “Lussuria” scritto da Emiliano Fittipaldi, il giornalista prima incriminato e poi assolto dal Vaticano, a confronto sembri un fumetto per ragazzi, tante sono scottanti le rivelazioni contenute nell’opera di Federico Tulli. Eppure, la stampa nazionale continua a far finta di non conoscerne l’esistenza. Silenzio tombale.

Ma ieri, la firma storica di Left, la rivista settimanale di sinistra, lo ha presentato a Roma, a pochi passi dal Vaticano. Ed è proprio nella città-Stato che la pubblicazione ha creato il maggior imbarazzo. Il contenuto non solo fa riferimento ai preti pedofili, di cui ormai tutti parlano, ma mette in discussione la figura di Bergoglio, che, contrariamente a quanto predica dal famoso davanzale di Piazza San Pietro, sarebbe complice delle ignobili coperture perpetrate dalla Chiesa nei confronti dei carnefici di bambini.

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ITALIA
Rete L’Abuso

[ABUSE Network is a non-profit organization of victims, including me, abused by priests. We take care to welcome and assist, especially from the legal point of view, those who turn to the association as a result of abuse. We also collect reports from sources of various kinds then we store and we catalog. Just as the story of Carlos Buela whose presence in the Archdiocese of Genoa has been documented by us due to warnings of the victims who follow us all over the world.]

Rete L’ABUSO è una Onlus di vittime, io compreso, abusate da sacerdoti. Ci occupiamo di accogliere e assistere, soprattutto dal punto di vista legale, coloro che si rivolgono all’associazione a seguito di abusi. Inoltre raccogliamo segnalazioni anche da fonti di varia natura, che poi archiviamo e cataloghiamo. Proprio come la vicenda di Carlos Buela, la cui presenza nell’Arcidiocesi di Genova è stata da noi documentata grazie agli avvisi delle vittime che ci seguono da tutto il mondo.

Persone che si sono fatte forza e, in concomitanza con lo scandalo che in Argentina vedeva protagonista don Nicola Corradi, ci hanno scritto, mandato documenti e indicazioni che ci hanno permesso di localizzare Buela. Da quando abbiamo deciso di seguire da vicino queste sconvolgenti vicende, abbiamo capito che in Italia se ne verificano molte: negli ultimi 15 anni, sono stati più di 250 i preti coinvolti (135 condannati in via definitiva e i rimanenti in attesa di giudizio o svaniti nel nulla).

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INDIA
National Catholic Reporter

Jose Kavi | May. 1, 2017

NEW DELHI
A rash of recent alleged sex abuse cases involving Catholic priests in Southern India have left Christians distraught and frustrated over the local church’s lack of response. More than 100 theologians, women religious, priests and feminists have written to India’s bishops to demand they react quickly in accordance with the pope’s call to end such transgressions.

“We are trying every way to get the bishops to act. We thought this is a good opportunity,” says Virginia Saldanha, a theologian who was part of the team that drafted the March 22 letter to the bishops.

Astrid Lobo Gajiwala, another theologian who coordinated the letter’s drafting, says the Feb. 28 arrest of a Catholic priest who allegedly raped and impregnated a young teenage girl in his parish in Kerala state spurred them to go to church authorities.

Police apprehended Fr. Robin Vadakkumcherry, 48, of the Mananthavady Diocese while he was trying to flee the country after the alleged crimes. Vadakkumcherry is now in jail awaiting trial, police said.

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MONTANA
U.S. News

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Montana’s federal bankruptcy judge has recused himself from overseeing the bankruptcy filing of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Great Falls-Billings because his former law firm provided assistance in the case.

The Billings Gazette reports (http://bit.ly/2oYu7s3) U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Benjamin Hursh disqualified himself from hearing the case on April 24. The case has been assigned to U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Jim Pappas of Idaho.

The diocese filed for bankruptcy in March as part of the negotiations to settle 72 claims of sexual abuse.

The diocese says it and its insurance carrier would contribute to a fund to compensate victims.

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GUAM
The Guam Daily Post

Neil Pang | The Guam Daily Post May 2, 2017

A former monsignor of the Archdiocese of Agana has been named in the latest child sexual abuse lawsuit filed in the District Court of Guam.

According to court documents, a plaintiff by the initials H.J.C. has accused former Guam priest Raymond Cepeda and now-deceased Monsignor Zoilo Camacho of child sexual abuse from 1974 through 1980 at the Santa Barbara Catholic Church in Dededo.

The lawsuit described H.J.C. as having been raised in a devout Catholic family that regularly attended Mass, volunteered at functions and donated money to the church. Though H.J.C. was not an altar boy, court documents indicate that he would volunteer his services by helping to clean around the church after services.

The 53-year-old H.J.C. alleged Camacho gave him gifts and toys when he attended the Dededo parish between the ages of 11 and 15 and, on numerous occasions, would fondle his private parts and force H.J.C. to masturbate him.

“On several occasions, during confession, Camacho would instruct H.J.C. to close his eyes and start to fondle H.J.C.,” court documents state. “Camacho would then take H.J.C.’s hand, put it on Camacho’s penis and force H.J.C. to masturbate Chamacho. Whenever H.J.C. attempted to pull his hand away, Camacho would say, ‘Boboy don’t worry’ and he would tell H.J.C. that he would buy (him) more toys.”

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MASSACHUSETTS
Eagle-Tribune

By Jill Harmacinski jharmacinski@eagletribune.com

LAWRENCE — An international group that supports sexual abuse survivors will be on the public sidewalk in front of Central Catholic High School in Lawrence late Monday morning.

The group, Road to Recovery, is coming to the city after Central Catholic administrator Andrew Nikonchuk was fired last Tuesday due to allegations that he drugged and raped a student in 2006.

Road to Recovery is also exposing new information and allegations regarding sexual abuse of a boy by a priest at St. Patrick’s Church and members of a Catholic order of brothers who worked at Central Catholic High School in the 1960s, said Dr. Robert Hoatson, founder and leader of Road to Recovery.

“In light of this new information, we will still be at Central Catholic, but not rallying so much as exposing this latest disturbing information,” Hoatson told The Eagle-Tribune.

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IRELAND
Newstalk

It could take years not months for the full evolution of health services in Ireland from church to State.

Health Minister Simon Harris says he has heard ‘very clearly’ the public concern over the ownership issue of the the new National Maternity Hospital, and will report back by the end of May.

Minister Harris says he will now focus on the part of the agreement which allows the State to take a lien over the facility.

He also welcomed the fact that it has opened up a wider conversation about religious control of our hospitals.

“After many years of failed attempts, I was delighted when, late last year, the two voluntary hospitals involved agreed to work together to make this happen and to ensure co-location between maternity and acute adult services,” the statement read.

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SCOTLAND
Third Force News

1st May 2017 by Susan Smith

The founder of charity In Care Abuse Survivors (Incas), Frank Docherty, has died aged 74 while still campaigning for justice.

Docherty’s death aged 74 has led other campaigners for victims of child abuse in state care to call for an interim compensation scheme while the Scottish Government continues its Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry.

They say there should be support for elderly victims like Docherty immediately as the inquiry is not due to report back until autumn 2019.

Docherty and his siblings were taken into care as a result of alcoholic parents when he was nine years old in 1954. They were housed at the Catholic-run orphanage Smyllum Park in Lanark where they suffered regular physical abuse including beatings and humiliation.

The orphanage is one of those specifically being investigated by the inquiry.

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SCOTLAND
Herald Scotland

THE death of a leading campaigner for victims of child abuse in state care has led to renewed calls for Deputy First Minister John Swinney to put an interim compensation scheme in place.

Frank Docherty, who died yesterday at the age of 74, was one of the founders of the charity In Care Abuse Survivors (Incas), of which he was honorary president.

In 1954 aged nine, he and his siblings were removed from the care of alcoholic parents and sent to the Catholic-run orphanage Smyllum Park, in Lanark. But while there, he suffered regular physical abuse including beatings and humiliation.

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AUSTRALIA
The West Australian

Shannon Hampton
Sunday, 30 April 2017

A Perth policeman accused of sexually assaulting boys while he was a teacher in the mid-1980s will stand trial to defend the allegations.

Eamon Heary, 56, who was a teacher at a Catholic college in the Perth CBD at the time of the alleged offences, has been charged with five counts of unlawfully indecently dealing with a child under 14.

He pleaded not guilty to all five charges today in the Perth Magistrate’s Court.

Mr Heary, a sergeant in the Central Metropolitan District, has been stood down from operational duties.

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GUAM
KUAM

Updated: May 01, 2017

By Krystal Paco

Fifty-eight – that’s the number of plaintiffs who have filed suit against the Archdiocese of Agana to date. 53-year-old H.J.C. alleges he was sexually molested and abused by both Monsignor Ziolo Camacho for about five years and separately by Father Raymond Cepeda for two years. Both men were priests at Santa Barbara Catholic Church. H.J.C. alleges Camacho sexually abused him after mass and during confessions and would promise toys in exchange. H.J.C. is suing for $10 million. He is represented by attorney David Lujan.

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ROME
Crux

Claire Giangravè May 1, 2017
EDITORIAL ASSISTANT

The IOR, also known as the Vatican bank, is turning a new page and adding three new lay members to its Supervisory Board. According to Investment Guru at Notre Dame, Scott Malpass, this change is an “expression of a rich heritage of the Church engaging with laity.”

ROME – In December 2016 the Vatican announced that the lay board of the Institute for Works of Religion (IOR), also known as the Vatican Bank, had added three new members bringing the total count to seven.

This represented an effort to think outside the box for the IOR in the sense that it showed not only a strong support for reform and change within the Vatican institution, but also openness toward world-renowned lay experts and professionals to bring attention to the balance sheet.

The newbies are American Scott C. Malpass, Spaniard Javier Marín Romano and the German Georg Freiherr von Boeselager. They all have in common a vast experience in the banking and financial fields as well as the fact that none of them is Italian.

The latter caused a bit of patriotic indignation on behalf of Italian media outlets that pointed at the board as in the conspiratorial hands of “Americans, Opus Dei, and the Germans.”

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CANADA
Huffington Post

Zi-Ann Lum
ziann.lum@huffingtonpost.com

Two sets of doors were always closed before Sen. Don Meredith felt comfortable starting any meeting in his office across Parliament Hill.

The first leads to a shared hallway, the second to Meredith’s desk. Shutting them both seemed to give him a sense of privacy and control.

Staff members found it bizarre, but they did what their boss asked. “Constant paranoia” was a running theme in the office, one former female aide said.

Behind those doors, they claim, the senator began inappropriately touching his female employees. …

Meredith, who is also a pastor, would declare that they should pray together, according to the ex-worker.

“The way that his religion prays is to actually put a hand on the person next to you — and he would use that excuse to touch me more than just putting his hand on my shoulder for the prayer,” she said, alleging the senator used the intimacy of prayer to touch her breast and her bottom.

She said “it was sickening” and made her feel violated “every time.”

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Haidee V Eugenio, heugenio@guampdn.com May 1, 2017

An 11th priest has been added to the list of Guam clergy accused of sexually abusing children decades ago. Monsignor Zoilo L.G. Camacho, who died about a decade ago, is named in a lawsuit filed Monday in federal court. Camacho is the brother of another accused priest, Juan Camacho.

Defrocked priest Raymond Cepeda also sexually abused the same boy, according to the complaint, filed by a man identified in court documents as H.J.C.

H.J.C., now 53 and living on Guam, is represented by attorney David Lujan. H.J.C.’s complaint is the 58th Guam clergy sex abuse lawsuit filed so far in federal and local courts.

The complaint states Zoilo Camacho sexually abused H.J.C from around 1974 to 1978 when he was 11 to 15 years old, and he also was abused by Cepeda from around 1978 to 1980, when he was about 15 to 17.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Times

David Brown
May 1 2017
The Times

The Jehovah’s Witnesses should be forced to hand over a secret dossier of followers accused of child sexual abuse, a senior barrister said yesterday.

Pressure for the organisation to be included in the official inquiry into child abuse has intensified after it was revealed that details of alleged abusers were kept by the church in Australia and America.

The organisation follows rules in the scriptures requiring two witnesses to give evidence against a suspect, meaning many allegations of child abuse can not be pursued, the Sunday programme on BBC Radio 4 claimed.

A royal commission reported in November last year that it had found no evidence of the organisation telling police about a single one of the 1,006 alleged child abusers it had recorded in Australia since the 1950s. It said: “The Jehovah’s Witness organisation relies on, and applies inflexibly even in the context of child sexual abuse, a rule which was devised more than 2,000 years ago.”

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Harry McGee

Minister for Health Simon Harris is to consider options for the partial public ownership of the new National Maternity Hospital.

Mr Harris indicated for the first time on Sunday that the State will seek a stake in the ownership of the National Maternity Hospital (NMH) after its transfer to St Vincent’s University Hospital campus, which is owned by a religious order.

As controversy and public disquiet over the Sisters of Charity retaining ownership of the facility continued, Mr Harris issued a statement on Sunday night pointing to a public ownership element being included in the legal agreement that will be reached by the NMH and by St Vincent’s later this summer.

He pointed to the agreement already brokered by mediator Kieran Mulvey and its reference to the State requiring a “lien” on the new facility.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

Niall O’Connor
May 1 2017

Health Minister Simon Harris has said the issue of ownership of the planned National Maternity Hospital must be addressed as the debacle continues to jeopardise the €300m project.

In a significant shift in stance, the Government is now considering the option of a long-term lease agreement to circumvent current legal prohibitions on the Order of the Sisters of Charity selling or gifting the hospital to the State.

One source last night likened the lease option, which could run beyond 900 years, to the agreement surrounding the ownership of the Guinness storehouse in Dublin.

The minister is also understood to be preparing proposals for Cabinet which are designed to tackle the issue of ownership of other hospitals aside from St Vincent’s.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Road to Recovery

MEDIA RELEASE – APRIL 30, 2017

One Boston Archdiocesan priest from St. Patrick’s Parish, Lawrence, MA, and four Marist Brothers of the Schools from Lawrence, MA, Central Catholic High School are accused of sexual abuse of a minor child, “John Doe,” who is represented by Attorney Mitchell Garabedian of Boston, MA

The Boston Archdiocesan priest, Fr. Paul Rynne, has been publicly named before, and three of the Marist Brothers of the Schools, Br. Edward Michael, FMS, Br. Xavier Leonard Boulanger, FMS, and Br. Albert, FMS, have been publicly named before. The allegations include:

1) Sexual abuse of “John Doe” by Fr. Paul Rynne in approximately the mid 1960s in the rectory of St. Patrick’s Parish, when “John Doe was approximately 10-11 years of age;

2) Sexual abuse of “John Doe” by , FMS, an athletic trainer and teacher, in a room at Central Catholic High School in approximately the late 1960s when “John Doe” was approximately 14-15 years of age

3) Sexual abuse of “John Doe” by Br. Xavier Leonard Boulanger, FMS, teacher, in a room at Central Catholic High School and at least one other location in approximately the late 1960s when “John Doe” was approximately 15 years of age; and,

4) Sexual abuse of “John Doe” by Br. Albert, FMS, in a room at Central Catholic High School in approximately the late 1960s when “John Doe” was approximately 15 years of age

A fourth Marist Brother of the Schools, not previously publicly named and not named herein, is accused of sexually abusing “John Doe” in a room at Central Catholic High School in approximately the late 1960s when “John Doe” was approximately 14 years of age

What
A press conference announcing that the scandal of sexual abuse of minor children at Lawrence Central Catholic High School and St. Patrick’s Parish, Lawrence, continues

When
Monday, May 1, 2017, at 11:00 am

Where
On the public sidewalk outside Lawrence, MA, Central Catholic High School, 300 Hampshire Street, Lawrence, MA 01841 – 978-682-0260

Who
Members of Road to Recovery, Inc., a non-profit charity based in New Jersey that assists victims of sexual abuse and their families, including its co-founder and President, Dr. Robert M. Hoatson

Why
See above

Contact
Robert M. Hoatson, Ph.D., Co-founder and President, Road to Recovery, Inc., P.O. Box 279, Livingston, New Jersey, 07039 – 862-368-2800 – roberthoatson@gmail.com

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IRELAND
Irish Sun

By Michael Doyle
30th April 2017

DOCTORS and maternity groups have blasted St Vincent’s Hospital ‘refusal’ to carry out sterilisation procedures on women.

A letter to GPs claimed the hospital didn’t carry out tubal ligations — but that the same medical experts could carry out such ops in the National Maternity Hospital.

Leading oncologist Professor John Crown described the situation at the Catholic Sisters of Charity-owned Dublin hospital yesterday as “sectarianism”.

He said: “I have first-hand seen some evidence of sectarianism in the way the institution does its business — there is simply no escaping that.”

He told Ivan Yates on Newstalk radio: “This very week; GPs have been ­contacting me showing me letters they’d received saying; ‘No we do not do tubal-ligations in St Vincent’s, we’ll take them someplace else’.”

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IRELAND
Breaking News

30/04/2017

Update 6.20pm:The Minister for Health Simon Harris has asked for “time to pursue solutions” to the ownership controversy of the new National Maternity Hospital.

In a statement issued by the minister this evening, Mr Harris said he believed the State can “devise creative and acceptable solutions” to the ownership of the facilities.

It follows the row over the news that the Sisters of Charity will own the new National Maternity Hospital, which is to be located on the St Vincent’s site in South Dublin.

Mr Harris, who said that the “structure of our health service is diverse and complex”, said that he wanted a broader conversation on the issue which he said “is long overdue”.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Sarah Burns

The Government plans to address the “public concern” surrounding the ownership of the new National Maternity Hospital, Minister for Foreign Affairs Charlie Flanagan said on Sunday.

There was an “issue regarding the ownership that needs to be resolved” and told RTÉ’s Week in Politics the Government “will move towards a position of clarification” on the matter over the next four weeks.

Mr Flanagan said there were various options to resolve the matter, including the possibility a long-term lease.

“I believe it’s important in the context of health and medicine and church and State that there be a separation of interest,” he added.

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IRELAND
The Journal

SINN FÉIN’S DEPUTY leader Mary Lou McDonald TD has said that she thinks the Sisters of Charity should “gift” the controversial maternity hospital site to the State.

The site is on Merrion Road on Dublin’s southside and is part of the wider St. Vincent’s Hospital site.

It’s planned that the new National Maternity Hospital will be built beside St. Vincent’s and the Sisters’ of Charity will own it as it is providing the land.

The State is funding the construction of the €300 million hospital and the proposed deal has sparked objections to the role of the religious order in its future operation.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Patsy McGarry

Priests, religious congregations and committed Catholics in Ireland resent being “unfairly under attack as they live out their faith and their ministry generously and with dedication,” Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin has said.

He said there appeared to be a “culture of relentless reminding the Church of the sins of its members”. He said at time this culture appeared to be “painting every individual and every moment in the history of the Church with the same condemnation,” he said.

“I notice a certain justified resentment among priests and religious [congregations] and committed Catholics at somehow being unfairly under attack as they live out their faith and their ministry generously and with dedication.

“There is a sense in which they feel that it is time to stand up and respond.”

Archbishop Martin was speaking at the ordination of Carmelite priest Fr James Eivers in Terenure College in Dublin.

Although supporters of the Church may be frustrated by this, he said the respond cannot be to deny the mistakes and the wrongdoings of the past or get into unfruitful or polemical quarrel.

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MONTANA
Billings Gazette

By CLAIR JOHNSON cjohnson@billingsgazette.com

The recent bankruptcy filing by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Great Falls-Billings was the “best and only way” it could meet its obligations to all victims with sexual abuse claims and continue its ministry, church officials said.

The bankruptcy filing is part of mediation talks in mid-March in Seattle between attorneys representing 72 people with abuse claims, the diocese and its liability insurance carrier.

The bankruptcy is likely to be complicated and take time. How it could affect the diocese’s operations, along with parishes, schools and other church programs, is not yet clear.

But church officials and attorneys for the victims say they are working to reach a fair and equitable settlement for all claims and avoid fighting in costly and time-consuming jury trials.

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IRELAND
IrishCentral

Ciaran Tierney @IrishCentral April 30, 2017

I met an extraordinary man last week, only he doesn’t really believe he’s so extraordinary. Neither does his country. Its leaders need to meet him.

In recent months, he has found a voice he never realized he had. Now in his 60s, he has learned how to tell his story and speak out against injustice.

This man spent much of his childhood in the Tuam Mother and Baby Home, a place which is now notorious all over the world.

It took him an awfully long time to learn to love and take care of himself.

It’s not easy to care about yourself when you are told you are inferior to others.

When you walk to school in hobnail boots and you are forced to sit apart from the rest of the class.

When you are beaten for the most minor of transgressions, not given enough food, and branded with labels like “home baby” and, worse, “illegitimate”, because your mother committed an alleged terrible crime just by bringing you into the world.

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IRELAND
Newstalk

30 Apr 2017
Stephen McNeice

Consultant oncologist and former senator Professor John Crown has said he has seen some firsthand evidence of ‘sectarianism’ in the way St Vincent’s Hospital operates.

The controversy erupted after it emerged the St Vincent’s Healthcare Group – which is controlled by the Sisters of Charity – will own the new National Maternity Hospital, which is to be located on the site at St Vincent’s Hospital in South Dublin.

The Health Minister and the NMH board have insisted the clinical freedom of the new hospital will be guaranteed – but many commentators, including former NMH Master Peter Boylan – have raised concerns about the arrangement.

The Irish Times has highlighted some of the procedures and treatments banned by the Sisters of Charity.

Prof Crown suggested there is some ‘subtle’ religious influence at St Vincent’s.

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IRELAND
Breaking News

30/04/2017

Update 1pm:There are renewed calls for the deal over the new National Maternity Hospital to be renegotiated.

The plan to hand ownership to the Sisters of Charity in exchange for land at the site at St Vincent’s continues to cause outrage, despite assurances by the Health Minister that there would be no religious interference in the running of the new facility.

Well known consultant oncologist at St Vincent’s, Professor John Crown, says he continues to be troubled by the ownership problem but adds that if the country ends up without a new hospital, nobody wins.

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IRELAND
Kildare Nationalist

SUNDAY, APRIL 30, 2017

The man who brokered agreement between the National Maternity Hospital and St Vincent’s Hospital says a “creative solution” can still be found to resolve the row over the ownership of the new facility.

Kieran Mulvey has told the Sunday Business Post an acceptable solution is possible to keep it in State ownership.

The row erupted after it emerged the Sisters of Charity will own the new National Maternity Hospital, which is to be located on the St Vincent’s site in South Dublin.

“When the issue of ownership comes to the final stage, I have no doubt in my mind that a creative, acceptable solution will be found between them,” he said.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

Dr Ciara Kelly
April 30 2017

The public outcry over the gifting of the proposed new National Maternity Hospital (NMH) to the Sisters of Charity, who own St Vincent’s Hospital, has been described by Dr Rhona Mahony – the current Master of Holles Street – as a storm in a teacup.

She said the clinical independence of the proposed state-of-the-art hospital is unequivocal and that the agreement between the two hospitals – NMH and St Vincent’s – will result in a fully self-governing maternity hospital free from any outside interference.

I could sense her frustration on Morning Ireland last week, on which she gave a strong and emphatic defence of the project, ending with her saying, in no uncertain terms, that the nuns will have nothing to do with the new maternity hospital.

Of course, she is wrong. They will have something to do with the hospital. They will own it. The State will gift it to them in exchange for us being allowed to build the €300m hospital on their land. Some people have described that as a fair exchange – the land for the hospital – except the Sisters of Charity get to keep the land, too.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

Maeve Sheehan
April 30 2017

Ireland is not the only country grappling with a Catholic influence on public healthcare. So are our American cousins.

One in six hospital beds there is Catholic-owned or affiliated, as are four of the top 10 healthcare systems in America, according to a report published by the Catholics for Choice organisation.

The Catholic bodies operate to “directives” written by the Church hierarchy and circulated across all states that forbid procedures ranging from abortions to sterilisations. The Catholic influence on the sector is expanding as Catholic organisations merge with secular facilities, according to the report called Is Your Health Care Compromised?.

Commenting on the US experience, Jon O’Brien, the Irish-born head of Catholics for Choice, told the Sunday Independent: “There is a bit of a problem when you have a religious authority whose antiquated, outdated, unscientific and sectarian perspectives on what services should be provided to whom, get in the way of people getting the services that they need.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

April 30 2017

According to a story told by Dr Peter Boylan, he and Dr Rhona Mahony were not always so divided on the future of the National Maternity Hospital. Dr Boylan, a former master of the hospital, and Dr Mahony, the current Master who also happens to be his sister-in-law, had offices beside each other in the crumbling Holles Street building.

The plan to move the hospital to a new state-of-the-art building co-located on the grounds of St Vincent’s Healthcare Group’s Elm Park campus had started and stalled. St Vincent’s, which is owned by the Religious Sisters of Charity, wanted ownership and ultimate control of the maternity hospital.

St Vincent’s was playing “hardball”, insisting the National Maternity Hospital submitted to ownership and control. “We had a lot of discussions about negotiating with St Vincent’s who were playing very hardball. Minister [Leo] Varadkar was very supportive of the National Maternity Hospital position,” said Dr Boylan. “But then after Simon Harris was appointed [last year], that all seemed to change. Minister Harris, on his first weekend, said: ‘I will deliver this hospital.’ That was all fine. He appointed Kieran Mulvey [a professional mediator].”

Dr Boylan claims that in May last year, Dr Mahony asked him to write to the Minister for Health and to the board of St Vincent’s Healthcare Group “expressing concerns about the nuns’ potential involvement” in the National Maternity Hospital. He says he was asked to write because he was chairman of the Institute of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.

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IRELAND
The Journal

THE PLANNED MOVE of the National Maternity Hospital to St Vincent’s, a site owned by the Sisters of Charity, has opened up a new discussion about religion and health care in Ireland.

The situation of religious orders providing health care services is not unique to Ireland – the Catholic Church is the largest non-government provider of health care services in the world….

The proposed deal for the new National Maternity Hospital would see the Sisters of Charity owning the facility in Dublin 4 as it would be providing the land at no cost.

There has been strong criticism of the financial deal, with objectors pointing out that the Sisters of Charity still owe €3 million to the redress scheme for survivors of Magdalene Laundries, which it ran along with three other congregations.

Almost 100,000 people have signed a petition which demands an apology from the Sisters of Charity and that it pays its share of the redress scheme.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Irena Ceranic

A 73-year-old former Salvation Army church member, who a Perth court heard had a hidden sexual desire for teenage boys, has been found guilty of child sex offences dating back more than 50 years.

In a majority verdict, a District Court jury convicted William Edwin Steele of eight offences including indecently dealing with a child under 14.

The victims were five boys aged between 11 and 18.

The offences happened over a 27-year period from 1963 to 1990 at various places, including a room at the back of the Salvation Army church in Subiaco and a fruit and vegetable market where he worked as the general manager.

Steele, who has a wife and four children, committed the first offence a year before he got married.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Bill Pesch, For PDN April 30, 2017

As I near the end of my series on family-related laws passed by the 33rd Guam Legislature, I turn my attention to statute that’s received tremendous public attention since its passage in September 2016 — Public Law 33-187. This law removed the statute of limitations for acts of sexual assault and allowed long ago sexual assault victims to sue both the abuser and those institutions that failed to stop the abuse.

Since the law passed, more than 50 people have filed lawsuits against the Catholic Church. A few cases have also been filed against the Boy Scouts of America. There is a strong probability more lawsuits will follow.

Those who have filed claims against the Church and the Boy Scouts allege various priests sexually molested them. From what we have learned so far, the abuse appears to have been widespread, frequent and intentionally suppressed by Church officials.

The unfolding events clearly demonstrate the power of laws to address egregious wrongs. For more than 50 years, these alleged acts of sexual abuse and cover-ups went officially undetected and unpunished. Why this is true is the subject of some debate.

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IRELAND
The Irish Sun

By Fergus O’Shea
29th April 2017

RELIGIOUS leaders are unlikely to have any say over the running of the new National Maternity Hospital, a spokesperson has claimed.

The Irish Sun contacted the hospital with a series of questions over the controversy which has seen two high-profile medics quit their board posts in recent days.

Professor Chris Fitzpatrick said on Friday that doctors will find it “very difficult” to have clinical independence working in a hospital that is owned by a religious organisation.

Dr Fitzpatrick stepped down from his role on the project board of the National Maternity Hospital in solidarity with Dr Peter Boylan and expressed his concerns about the Sisters of Charity having ownership of the €300m taxpayer-funded facility.

But, while the hospital would not comment on their decision to step aside, it did move to allay fears of clerical interference on the St Vincent’s site.

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IRELAND
The Sunday Times

Justine McCarthy and Colin Coyle
April 30 2017
The Sunday Times

A former master of the Rotunda Hospital has said the state is “wrong” to grant ownership of the National Maternity Hospital (NMH) to the Religious Sisters of Charity, and fears it could set a precedent for Dublin’s other maternity hospitals.

Michael Darling, a member of the Rotunda’s board of governors, is the third former master of a Dublin maternity hospital to warn against allowing the nuns to own the €300m hospital when it is built in the grounds of St Vincent’s University Hospital.

“I am concerned and I do feel strongly about this,” said Darling. “Regardless of the reassurances that have been given, it is not a cut-and-dried arrangement. There is a grey area about the governance. The provision in the agreement for a golden share [for the minister for health] suggests to me people are aware it is not as clear-cut as it should be, and this is a mechanism to appease them.

“This should have been simple. You have an NMH which works well, but its physical structures are inadequate and it drastically needs to be modernised. A good solution is to have it adjacent to a general hospital but I don’t see why it can’t be moved with its present governance. I believe ownership of the new hospital should be given to the NMH.”

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ROME
Religion News Service

By Josephine McKenna

ROME (RNS) The nearly thousand-year-old Order of Malta is bracing for major reforms in the wake of the election of an Italian nobleman to lead the Catholic chivalric order that carries out charitable works around the globe.

The election of Giacomo Dalla Torre del Tempio di Sanguinetto came in a closed-door vote in a Roman villa on Saturday (April 29) and followed a bitter internal clash that led Pope Francis to oust the previous leader.

That dispute — ostensibly sparked by disagreements over the inadvertent distribution of contraceptives through an aid program in Myanmar — set up a proxy battle between traditionalists opposed to Francis and reformers who want to see the church take a more flexible approach.

It also proved to be a classic Vatican soap opera that featured out-sized personalities while casting a harsh light on a quietly influential church charity — one which is also a bastion of clerical and aristocratic privilege.

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ROME
Reuters

The Knights of Malta, a Catholic chivalric order and global charity, elected a new, interim leader on Saturday to oversee a period of reform and restore calm to the organization after its recent row with the Vatican.

The previous grand master, Briton Matthew Festing, resigned in January after a month-long, highly public spat with the Vatican over the running of the group, which laid bare tensions between a reformist Pope Francis and his conservative critics.

In a secret ballot, 56 electors appointed Italian Giacomo Dalla Torre as Lieutenant of the Grand Master, giving him just a one-year mandate while reforms are carried out.

“Pope Francis has been informed by letter of the election result,” the Knights said in a statement.

The Vatican appointed a special delegate to run the Rome-based body following Festing’s departure and had pushed, behind the scenes, for the appointment of a compromise, interim leader.

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ROME
Yahoo! News

AFP

A 72-year-old Italian medieval art expert was on Saturday elected to head the Order of Malta, the world’s oldest chivalric order.

Giacomo Dalla Torre del Tempio di Sanguinetto takes the reins for one year after Pope Francis ordered the resignation in January of the Order’s Grand Master, Britain’s Matthew Festing, following a power struggle.

A centuries-old lay religious mission, the order provides humanitarian aid in crisis zones around the world.

It comprises 13,500 members ranked by their noble titles and who are expected to lead an exemplary Christian life while participating in the Order’s charity activities.

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IRELAND
The Irish Sun

By Aoife Bannon
29th April 2017

IF you want to cause an unholy row in modern ­Ireland, just mention the ­Catholic Church.

The religion that once ruled supreme now seems to be a dividing force amongst the Irish public.

The hysteria this week over the ­National Maternity Hospital is definite proof of this.

There’s been huge outrage as the public grappled with the fact that the new €300million facility is to be built on land owned by the Sisters of Charity, beside St Vincent’s Hospital.

We are all aware that the religious order has a tainted history when it comes to mothers. The Magdalene Laundries is a sad part of Irish history that we should never forget.

And this week we saw how the contempt many hold the Church in almost derailed the building of the badly needed new maternity hospital.

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IRELAND
Newstalk

The Magdalene Survivors Together group has said that the Minister for Health, Simon Harris is totally out of touch with the majority of people in Ireland over the new National Maternity Hospital.

They said that the proposed ‘gifting’ of the new hospital to the Sisters of Charity has angered many women who passed through the religious order’s institutions in the past.

Chairman Stephen O’Riordan, said they’re now calling for the minister’s resignation.

He said “Their faith and their ethical views and the code of practice of how they operate as an organisation is in complete contrast to how the majority of women might feel in the context of receiving medical care.

“If that is not a reason for us to be really concerned then the Minister doesn’t understand the role or conflict of interest.”

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IRELAND
Breaking News

29/04/2017

The Magdalene Survivors Together group says the Minister for Health is totally out of touch with the majority of people in Ireland over the new National Maternity Hospital.

They say the proposed ‘gifting’ of the new hospital to the Sisters of Charity has angered many women who passed through the religious order’s institutions in the past.

Chairman Stephen O’Riordan, says they are calling for the minister’s resignation.

“Their faith and their ethical views and the code of practice of how they operate as an organisation is in complete contrast to how the majority of women might feel in the context of receiving medical care.

“If that is not a reason for us to be really concerned then the Minister doesn’t understand the role or conflict of interest.”

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AUSTRALIA
Tamut and Adelong Times

By Frances Vinall – April 29, 2017

A former Principal at McAuley Catholic Central School is requesting an apology and a payment from Archbishop Christopher Prowse, for his historic forced resignation on behalf of the Catholic Education Office (CEO) in 1998.

He believes his treatment was the result of his speaking out against the CEO, and it is his hope that the increased scrutiny the Catholic Church has received in the past few years will encourage the Canberra-Goulburn Archdiocese to admit what he says is their mistake in terminating his position.

Lee Borradale, now retired in Queensland, believes there are parallels between his experience with the Archdiocese, and the treatment of Father Brian Hassett that has recently come to light.

“There’s a pattern of behaviour in the Catholic system,” Mr Borradale said.

“They don’t tell the community what’s going on, they move people somewhere else and deal with it out of sight. It’s just wrong.

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MALAWI
Malawi 24

BY BRIGHT MALENGA ON APR 29, 2017

A Roman Catholic Father has been arrested after he was found performing sexual acts on a 17 year-old girl.

Dedza Police spokesperson Edward Kabango has identified the Father as 60-year-old Andrew Timpuza who is based at Mtendere Parish.

He said the Catholic priest was caught red-handed at Malawi College of Forestry campus with the girl who is in Standard 4.

“He packed his car in the bush and was found touching the private parts of the little girl in readiness for sex.

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