ABUSE TRACKER

AUSTRALIA
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

21 February, 2017

On 14 November 2016 the Royal Commission announced a series of public hearings to be held in Sydney to inquire into the current policies and procedures relating to child protection and child safety of various institutions.

Case Study 51 inquiring into the Commonwealth, State and Territory governments will commence on 6 March 2017. The scope and purpose of the public hearing is available on the Royal Commission website.

The Royal Commission will call senior representatives of relevant departments within the Commonwealth, State and Territory governments in relation to the topics set out below.

1. The response of the Commonwealth government to the recommendations of the Child Protection Panel in its report dated 11 May 2016, ‘Making Children Safer – the wellbeing and protection of children in immigration detention and regional processing centres’.

2. The steps taken by the Department of Defence in response to commitments made during the public hearing of Case Study 40 in relation to the current systems, policies and procedures of the Australian Defence Force to prevent, raise and respond to concerns and complaints about child sexual abuse

3. The responses of the States and Territories to the Commonwealth Redress Scheme for survivors of institutional child sexual abuse, announced on 4 November 2016.

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ITALIA
Rete L’Abuso

Gli abusi? Tutta colpa del diavolo, scrive il pontefice nella sua premessa al libro autobiografico della vittima di un prete pedofilo. E pare che secondo Repubblica ci sia del vero.

Non più tardi di una settimana fa ricordavo nel mio blog che secondo papa Francesco il diavolo esiste ed è persona. Questa convinzione è un punto fermo della “nuova” Chiesa di Bergoglio. Dopo aver citato il demonio ben quattro volte nei primi dieci giorni del suo pontificato, Francesco lo ha nominato con cadenza regolare nelle sue omelie. “Vedendo” il diavolo in tutti gli scandali che hanno colpito la Chiesa dall’interno, il papa gesuita gli ha attribuito la responsabilità degli affari illegali targati Ior, della pedofilia clericale, delle guerre intestine che minacciano la stabilità della Curia, delle fughe di notizie riservate sulla Santa Sede.

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ITALIA
Rete L’Abuso

[Don Inzoli was sentenced for acts of pedophilia and proceedings were made against him at the Vatican but then-Pope Benedict XIV stopped the proceedings.]

Inzoli non è un prete qualsiasi. E’ stato per trent’anni uomo di punta di Comunione e liberazione in Lombardia. Tra i fondatori di un’iniziativa importante come il Banco alimentare, rettore al Liceo linguistico Shakespeare di Cremona e parroco della chiesa della Santissima Trinità.

Condannato a quattro anni e nove mesi per cinque episodi di pedofilia accertati (ma sono stati molti di più). I più piccoli tra le vittime avevano tra i 12 e i 13 anni, i più grandi tra i 14 e i 16.

Si comincia col non capire perché il tribunale abbia abbassato la pena richiesta dal procuratore (sei anni) malgrado il procuratore Roberto Di Martino avesse sottolineato: “Ci sono alcuni particolari terribili ! “.

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ITALIA
Rete L’Abuso

[Having sex with an underage boy. Three arrests in Vibo Valentia, including a priest.]

Tre uomini sono stati arrestati a Vibo Valentia per aver fatto sesso mercenario con un ragazzino di 15 anni, straniero. Cinquanta euro la cifra pagata da i tre, tra cui anche un prete e un pensionato

VIBO VALENTIA – Una squallida vicenda è salita alla ribalta della cronaca a Vibo Valentia in Calabria. Qui si è consumato del sesso mercenario ai danni di un ragazzino straniero di 15 anni. In manette sono finiti tre uomini, tra cui un prete e un pensionato.

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GUAM/HAWAII
Guam Daily Post

Neil Pang | The Guam Daily Post

The Vatican tribunal led by Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke, which came to Guam last week to investigate sex abuse allegations against Archbishop Anthony Apuron, is in Hawaii to hear testimony from former Agat Parish altar boy Roy Quintanilla, according to a document The Guam Daily Post has received.

“As this tribunal has been informed of your readiness to be heard in the above-titled case regarding accusations against His Excellency, the Most Reverend Anthony Sablan Apuron, OFM Cap., at the direction of the Presiding Judge, I am forwarding to you his decree of citation by which you are called for said hearing,” Rev. Justin Wachs wrote to Quintanilla.

According to Post files, the tribunal comprises Burke who serves as the presiding judge, Rev. Robert Geisinger who serves as the prosecutor, Rev. James Conn who serves as Apuron’s advocate, and Wachs who serves as the tribunal’s notary and designated recorder.

Series of meetings

Quintanilla’s meeting, which is scheduled for Feb. 20 at 10 a.m. at the Diocesan Chancery of the Diocese of Honolulu in Kaneohe, Hawaii, is the second in a series of meetings scheduled with former Guam altar boys who have accused Apuron of abuse dating back to the 1970s.

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MICHIGAN
Fox 47

ROGERS CITY, Mich. (AP) – A Roman Catholic priest is in jail in northern Michigan in a sexual misconduct investigation.

The Presque Isle County prosecutor says he won’t comment until after an arraignment Tuesday. But radio station WHSB says Bishop Steven Raica discussed the matter Sunday night with members of St. Ignatius Church in Rogers City.

Raica says the Rev. Sylvestre Obwaka denies the allegations. Raica says he’s “searching for the truth.” Obwaka, a native of Kenya, has been pastor at St. Ignatius since July 2013. He’s been a priest since 2010.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

AAP

One case of child sex abuse in the Catholic Church is one case too many, says the apologetic head of the Marist Brothers whose members allegedly abused hundreds of children.

Brother Peter Carroll, the provincial of the Marist Brothers in Australia, says the child sex abuse scandal has undermined confidence in the Catholic Church and the order’s education mission.

“Children and their families have been grievously betrayed by the criminal actions of some of our own, and we too, as Marists, have also been greatly let down,” Brother Carroll said.

“We are justifiably upset and offended.”

More than 20 per cent of Marist Brothers, Christian Brothers and Salesians of Don Bosco and 40 per cent of St John of God Brothers have been the subject of child sex abuse claims to the Catholic Church in Australia.

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FRANCE
La Croix

Céline Hoyeau, le 20/02/2017

Sur la base du rapport que lui a remis la commission mise en place pour étudier les témoignages accusant d’agressions sexuelles ce prêtre psychanalyste très en vue, l’archevêque de Paris a décidé de poursuivre la procédure canonique, délocalisée à Toulouse.

C’était une décision très attendue à l’encontre d’un prêtre en vue, sur lequel des soupçons pèsent depuis une quinzaine d’années. Une procédure canonique va s’ouvrir à l’encontre du P. Tony Anatrella, 75 ans, accusé d’agressions sexuelles dans le cadre de son activité professionnelle de psychanalyste, a appris La Croix.

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FRANCE
Crux

Monsignor Tony Anatrella, a prominent French priest and psychoanalyst who stirred controversy in 2015 when he advised newly appointed Catholic bishops that they were not obligated to report sex abuse allegations to the police, now faces a Church legal procedure for abuse charges himself.

Anatrella has strongly denied the abuse allegations, suggesting in the past that he’s become a target because of his critical views and writings on homosexuality.

The French newspaper La Croix reported Monday that based on the report of a commission created by Cardinal André Vingt-Trois of Paris to examine the charges against Anatrella, a canonical procedure has been opened by the Diocese of Toulouse.

Although suspicions about Anatrella are said to date back at least 15 years, they did not become a matter of public controversy until 2016, when alleged victims aired their allegations in the French media. At the time, Vingt-Trois encouraged those alleged victims to file complaints with the proper legal authorities.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

Australian Associated Press
Monday 20 February 2017

The hypocrisy of the notorious paedophile and Christian Brother Robert Best was “breathtaking and gobsmacking”, exacerbated by his religious affiliation, a judge has said while telling the 76-year-old it was likely he would die in jail.

Victorian county court judge Geoffrey Chettle told Best it was hard not get angry about his abuse, and said he was “blown away” by the fact that his legal fees were still being paid by the Catholic church.

Best pleaded guilty to a further 24 counts of indecent assault on boys aged between eight and 11 years. He molested them between 1968 and 1988 while teaching at St Alipius primary school in Ballarat, St Leo’s college in Box Hill and St Joseph’s college, Geelong.

He is already serving 14 years and nine months jail for sex offences against 11 boys over a 20-year period.

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AUSTRALIA
Busselton Mail

20 Feb 2017

VICTIMS of historic sexual abuse at Bathurst’s St Stanislaus’ College will receive a formal public apology on June 16.

Head of College Dr Anne Wenham announced the date for the apology following the sentencing of disgraced former priest Brian Spillane in the District Court last Thursday.

In a letter to the school community, Dr Wenham said details of Spillane’s crimes had been distressing to read and she was deeply sorry for what his young victims had experienced during their time as students at the college.

Dr Wenham said the college and Oceania Province of the Congregation of the Mission (Vincentians) agreed a formal apology to victims was important.

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

Monday, February 20, 2017

Conall Ó Fátharta

More than €20,000 was spent on carpet for the office of the Mother and Baby Homes Commission by the Department of Children and Youth Affairs (DCYA).

The details are contained in the purchase orders for €20,000 or above made by the DCYA in the first three months of 2015.

The department paid out €21,948 to Carpet Express Ltd to provide carpet for the Mother and Baby Homes Commission on Lower Baggot St in Dublin.

It spent a further €45,928 on the “supply, delivery, and installation of office furniture” for the Commission.

Another €26,575 was spent on the “supply, delivery, and installation of drawer safes” at the offices of the inquiry, while €42,657 went on the “purchase, installation, and configuration of unified communications system”.

This spend also included wifi.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

Rachel Browne

A newly established national oversight body for the Catholic church will have the power to publicly name dioceses or religious orders which fail to meet its robust standards, a royal commission has heard.

The inquiry was told the new body, Catholic Professional Standards (CPS) Ltd, will also give bishops the authority to penalise priests who do not to comply with the new benchmarks.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse heard that the body, formed late last year, would set, enforce and audit new standards on the protection of children and vulnerable people.

Neville Owen, the chairman of the Catholic church’s Truth, Justice and Healing Council, told the hearing CPS would publicly name the dioceses and orders which failed to comply.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

AAP

Catholic priests could face serious penalties if they don’t meet the mark set by a new professional standards body which will publicly name non-compliant dioceses and orders.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse on Monday heard Catholic Professional Standards Limited would audit the church’s authorities, with a view to holding them to account by publishing reports online.

Brisbane Archbishop Mark Coleridge thinks bishops should consider entering formal arrangements with priests so they could be stood aside or have their faculties removed if they repeatedly flout the new standards.

“These are serious sanctions – to stand a man aside or to remove his faculties – but given the seriousness of what we are discussing, they are measures that I would consider,” he said on Monday.

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AUSTRALIA
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

20 February, 2017

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has published more than 40 submissions on Records and Recordkeeping Practices in relation to child sexual abuse in institutions.

The submissions received came from a wide range of government and non-government organisations including state governments, not-for-profit organisations, advocacy groups, professional bodies, research groups, religious organisations, academics and individuals.

They are based on a consultation paper released in September last year titled Records and Recordkeeping Practices.

Royal Commission CEO Philip Reed said the submissions contribute significantly to the Royal Commission’s knowledge and understanding on institutional recordkeeping practices and how these practices could be improved for children in the future.

“The Royal Commission has heard from countless survivors about their painful experiences with poor records and recordkeeping practices in institutions. Many have told us that they had difficulty accessing records, including those who were unable to find records about themselves,” Mr Reed said.

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AUSTRALIA
The Conversation

Xanthe Mallett
Forensic Criminologist, University of New England

Data from the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse recently revealed that, between 1950 and 2010, 60% of all abuse allegedly took place at faith-based institutions. Evidence showed that, in Catholic institutions, 95% of alleged offenders were men. This means the remaining 5% (or 96 of the 1,880 accused) were women.

This may come as a surprise. There is a common misconception that all child sex offenders are men. But women child sex offenders do exist, although they differ from male counterparts in several ways.

How many women abuse?

A study for the Home Office in the UK in 1998 indicated less than 5% of child sex offences were committed by women. This is supported by data coming out of the Royal Commission – that 5% of the alleged abusers associated with the Catholic Church were religious sisters – as well as research based on correctional services data in Australia.

The author of the UK report acknowledged the number may be lower than the reality. A 2015 study looked at virtually every substantiated child sexual abuse case reported to child protective services in the United States in 2010. It concluded more than 20% of child sexual abuse cases reviewed involved a primary female perpetrator – so estimates vary significantly.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By James Hancock

The Catholic Church is continuing to cover the legal bills of convicted paedophile and Christian Brother Robert Best, who has admitted to sexually abusing a further 20 boys in his care, a Victorian court has been told.

Best, 76, admitted on Monday to 24 charges of indecent assault against the boys, mostly aged between eight and 11 years old.

The County Court heard the abuse took place between 1968 and 1988 while Brother Best was a principal, teacher and year level co-ordinator at four schools: St Alipius at Ballarat, St Leo’s at Box Hill, St Joseph’s at Geelong and St Bernard’s at Essendon.

Best was sentenced to 14 years and nine months jail in 2011 for sexual crimes against 11 boys during the same period.

His latest guilty pleas take the total number of victims to 31.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

David Shoebridge
20 Feb 2017

Australia allows the Catholic Church to protect sexual predators, and any information the church holds on its own illegal activity, from the law. We let it do this by granting protections afforded to no other religious group. It is time this ended.

In 1973 the Australian government granted the Vatican (called the Holy See in official channels) formal diplomatic recognition. This protected the Vatican, and gave its senior officials and head office in Australia the same protection we afford embassies and staff of foreign nations. Their documents cannot be subpoenaed and their senior officials cannot be forced to attend court or provide information.

By accepting the Vatican has foreign nation status, we also accept that it can refuse any Australian request or demand to hand over alleged criminals to stand trial in Australia. The only way criminals in a foreign country can be forced to stand trial in Australia is if we have an extradition treaty with that country.

Australia has an extradition treaty with Italy, but hasn’t managed in 44 years to get one in place with the tiny pretend nation-state of the Vatican that exists wholly within Rome. This is why George Pell can’t be forced back to face questioning at the Royal Commission and why, if a senior Vatican official in Rome was accused of child abuse, he could not be forced to face a criminal trial in our country.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Brian Roewe | Feb. 20, 2017

In a matter of weeks, an extreme makeover changed the face of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP).

Gone is David Clohessy, its national director and the relentless force behind the group’s advocacy efforts.

Gone is Barbara Blaine, its president and the former Catholic Worker who founded the support network in 1988, in part through a phone call to the Phil Donahue Show.

What remains, SNAP says, is its wide network of volunteer leaders who perform “the vast majority” of its work outside public view, as well as its longstanding commitment to survivors of sexual abuse.

“I think our core mission has always been to help those who have been hurt and protect the vulnerable,” said Barbara Dorris, now SNAP managing director after 12 years as its outreach director. “We are still doing both and will continue to do both and maybe in kind of different ways.”

The change in personnel didn’t so much spark an examination of SNAP’s future so much as it fueled already ongoing conversations of what the highest-profile advocacy group against clerical sexual abuse of children, with 20,000-plus members, will look like in the future, who and how it will serve, and even what it might call itself.

“I think any organization has to change and grow to remain viable, to remain healthy,” Dorris said.

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NEW JERSEY
Philly.com

by Julie Shaw , Staff writer @julieshawphilly | shawj@phillynews.com

A teacher’s aide at a South Jersey Christian preschool has been accused in a lawsuit with sexually abusing four children under his care.

The aide was recently suspended from the reJOYce Christian School in Hainesport, Burlington County, and a criminal investigation is underway by the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office, according to lawyer Brian Kent, who filed the lawsuit.

The preschool is part of St. Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran Church. The newspaper is not naming the teacher’s aide because he has not been criminally charged.

His suspension was first reported by FOX 29 on Thursday.

Joel Bewley, spokesman for the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office, said in an email Friday: “Our office does not divulge the possible existence of a criminal investigation into a specific person or entity.” He added that there “are no present charges against” the teacher’s aide.

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AUSTRALIA
The Standard

Melissa Cunningham
@MeljCunningham

19 Feb 2017

CLERGY sexual abuse survivors from the Ballarat diocese say a new model of victim support is needed because past systems of compensation have monumentally failed.

Survivor Peter Blenkiron has again implored the Royal Commission into Institutional Response to Child Sexual Abuse and the federal government to mimic the support for soldiers suffering post-traumatic stress disorder.

Mr Blenkiron and survivor Andrew Collins have previously called for victims who have ongoing health issues to receive a health care card, as well as a pension of $252 a week extra, bringing them in line with war veterans.

The Catholic church says its system that has paid $276 million in compensation to thousands of people sexually abused as children is still not fair to victims. There are discrepancies in the average amount authorities pay – from as little as $22,000 to as much as $901,000.

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UNITED STATES
Church Militant

by Juliana Freitag • ChurchMilitant.com • February 19, 2017

Casting a spotlight on sex abuse in the Vatican

Italian author Emiliano Fittipaldi, one of the defendants in the 2016 Vatileaks 2.0 trial, recently published his book Lust: Sins, Scandals and Betrayals of a Church Made of Men, detailing never-before-known facts about sexual scandals in Rome. He recently spoke with Church Militant in this exclusive interview.

Editor’s Note: The author’s opinions are his own and do not necessarily reflect the views of ChurchMilitant.com.

CM: What prompted you to write this book?

EF: Well, it’s actually quite simple. I’m an investigative journalist; I investigate power. In my previous book, Greed, the one that led me to be prosecuted in the Vatican, I tried to understand how far Pope Francis’ reform had gone. And I actually discovered that the Vatican scandals hadn’t been tackled at all. I went after a monsignor who works inside the Vatican, and he advised me to go ahead and find out whether there had been any actual changes regarding procedures to handle sex abuse charges. And this monsignor himself confirmed to me that there hadn’t been any changes.

He showed me information from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, where in the last three years, during the pontificate of Pope Francis, accusations have doubled compared to the period of 2005–2010. More than 1,200 complaints were brought forward. I thought that was interesting and decided to inspect this phenomenon. I wanted to understand if the Church was really doing what She had promised to do, and I found out that no, She’s not doing it.

CM: You wrote an article in La Repubblica stating that you found out there are more than 200 cases of priests accused of sexual crimes in Italy. It’s quite incredible that Italy has never seen a Spotlight investigation akin to what took place in the United States when the Boston Globe exposed the sex abuse crisis in the American Church in 2002.

EF: Well, this is what I tried to do with this book.

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SCHWEIZ
Luzerner Zeitung

[SEXUAL ABUSE ⋅ For days the fall of a Catholic priest who has abused dozens of children has made headlines. But who has covered the 76-year-old all these years? The traces lead to the Vatican.]

SEXUELLER MISSBRAUCH ⋅ Seit Tagen sorgt der Fall eines katholischen Paters, der Dutzende Kinder missbraucht hat, für Schlagzeilen. Doch wer hat den heute 76-Jährigen all die Jahre gedeckt? Die Spuren führen in den Vatikan.

18. Februar 2017, 13:24

Dominik Weingartner

Es ist ein Fall von sexuellem Missbrauch in der katholischen Kirche, der einen erschaudern lässt: Jahrzehntelang hat sich ein heute 76-jähriger Kapuzinerpater an Dutzenden von Kindern vergriffen. Das berichtete der «Blick» diese Woche in einer Artikelserie. Hintergrund ist die Veröffent­lichung des Buches eines Betroffenen, das mit dem Vorwort von Papst Franziskus besondere Aufmerksamkeit erlangt.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Correctiv

[CORRECTIV complains: Where do the churches place their billions? The German churches are rich. But whoever wants to know in which funds and industries the archbishoprics and churches invested their billions encounters a wall of silence.]

Annika Joeres

Die deutschen Kirchen sind reich. Doch wer wissen will, in welche Fonds und Branchen die Erzbistümer und Landeskirchen ihre Milliarden investiert haben, stößt auf eine Mauer des Schweigens. Die wollen wir durchbrechen. Deshalb haben wir nun eine Klage auf Auskunft gegen das Erzbistum Köln eingereicht.

Das Erzbistum Köln ist ein besonderes Erzbistum. Nicht nur wegen des gotischen Doms und der großen Zahl von zwei Millionen Kirchenmitgliedern. Das Erzbistum Köln ist auch besonders wohlhabend. Laut Geschäftsbericht nahm es im Jahr 2015 rund 627 Millionen Euro an Kirchensteuern ein. Rund 2,5 Milliarden Euro hat das Bistum am Finanzmarkt angelegt.

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GUAM
Guam Daily Post

Neil Pang | The Guam Daily Post

The president of a Catholic faith group that has been carrying out weekly protests outside the Dulce Nombre de Maria Cathedral-Basilica told The Guam Daily Post that he sees the signs of progress in the arrival of the Vatican-led tribunal that arrived on Guam last week to hear testimony from those who have accused Guam clergy of child sexual abuse.

“Yes, the combined efforts of the laity of Guam have made the world aware of our problem with clergy sex abuse and the deficient administration of Archbishop Anthony Apuron who abused his authority,” said Dave Sablan, president of Concerned Catholics of Guam.”The Vatican is now paying attention, and they need to because of the civil lawsuits filed against them as well for allegedly knowing (about) the cover ups of clergy sex abuse.”

The tribunal concluded the Guam part of its inquiry Friday, according to the Archdiocese of Agana.

Sablan explained that the protest carried out last week at the Archdiocese Chancery was held both to show support for Roland Sondia, one of those who came forward last year as a former altar boy abused by then-priest Archbishop Anthony Apuron, and a way for protesters to send a strong message to the Vatican.

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GUAM
Guam Daily Post

A cardinal and the rest of the members of a Vatican tribunal that came to Guam to investigate sex abuse allegations against suspended Archbishop Anthony Apuron have concluded the Guam part of their inquiry.

Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke, the judge of the tribunal, and other members of his party, left Friday, according to the Archdiocese of Agana.

The tribunal’s Guam visit is part of the canonical trial for Apuron, who faces penal charges in connection with allegations of sexual abuse of altar boys decades ago when he was a Guam priest.

The tribunal “conveyed their appreciation to all individuals whom they interviewed during their work here and encouraged all of Guam’s faithful to remain grounded in Christ,” according to the archdiocese’s statement.

“Archbishop Michael J. Byrnes is pleased that the Vatican is advancing this process,” the archdiocese further stated. “The archdiocese commends all witnesses who have stepped forward to tell their stories. We will continue to redouble our efforts to combat, root out and address sex abuse in the archdiocese.”

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AUSTRALIA
The Advertiser

Andrew Hough — Exclusive, The Advertiser
February 19, 2017

AN unrepentant former Families SA carer and school Christian pastoral worker has been jailed over his sexual abuse of a student despite his denials and victim blaming.

The Advertiser can reveal how married Wayne Daniel Phillips, 33, “exploited his position of trust” during his time at a country high school, where he targeted the “particularly vulnerable” girl.

The child-sex predator groomed his shy, lonely and naive victim — who came from a “strict religious family” and “lacked self-confidence” — online and showered her with affection, flattery and attention.

The pair communicated via Facebook over a “significant period of time”, a District Court judge said.

“(He) used his position of trust to encourage a rather shy and family-orientated young woman to engage in a lengthy sexual relationship,” said Judge Paul Cuthbertson in sentencing.

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ROME
National Catholic Register

The Cardinal Patron of the Order says he is “stunned” by Von Rumerstein’s account of Albrecht von Boeselager’s dismissal and considers it “a calumny”; also gives interview detailing his recent visit to Guam.

Edward Pentin

Cardinal Raymond Burke has firmly rejected an account given by the acting head of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta who said in an interview this week that the cardinal, and not the Order’s Grand Master, was the one who asked its Grand Chancellor to resign in December.

Here below are Cardinal Burke’s remarks in response to the account given by Fra’ Ludwig Hoffmann von Rumerstein, who is reportedly suffering from ill health and not in possession of all his faculties:

“The account given by Fra’ Ludwig Hoffmann von Rumerstein is not accurate. I had no authority to ask the Grand Chancellor to resign. I simply stated that the person who knowingly permitted the distribution of contraceptives in the Order’s works should take responsibility, and then the Grand Master once again asked the Grand Chancellor to resign which he refused to do. Then the Grand Master proceeded to his dismissal without my involvement at all. The account of the Grand Master and myself stands.

To be frank, I am stunned by what Hoffmann von Rumerstein states in the article. I consider it a calumny.”

More on this story to follow next week.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Sun

BY MIKE SULLIVAN 19th February 2017

EXPLOSIVE emails reveal how the New Zealand judge who lasted less than 18 months as head of Britain’s child abuse inquiry had ‘’no real idea’’ of its size when she took the job.

Dame Lowell Goddard publicly claimed she was well aware of the scale of the inquiry when she was appointed by Theresa May in February 2015.

But she secretly admitted to a Home Office official in email that she had ‘’no real idea of the potential scope’’ of the inquiry.

Emails also reveal how the red carpet was rolled out for Dame Lowell when she arrived in the country to take up her £360,000 a year post.

The messages show how grovelling Home Office flunkeys arranged with UK Borders Agency staff for Dame Lowell to to be waved thorough immigration checks to avoid the media.

Along with the presidential treatment, Dame Lowell and her husband were given first class return tickets from New Zealand for that ten-day visit to the UK costing £23,000 in total.

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SCOTLAND
The Sunday Times

Mark Macaskill
February 19 2017
The Sunday Times

A charity that has supported more than 15,000 victims of child sex abuse has been blocked from playing a key role at a Scottish government inquiry.

Wellbeing Scotland has campaigned on behalf of victims for more than two decades but has been told it does not meet the criteria to be a “core participant” at the Scottish child abuse inquiry.

This means it cannot give evidence at the inquiry or cross-examine witnesses on behalf of victims. More than 30 clients of the Falkirk charity, formerly known as Open Secret, have signed a letter urging Lady Smith, the senior judge chairing the inquiry, to reverse the decision. An appeal has been lodged by a Glasgow law firm.

The decision to block the charity has prompted disquiet in legal circles where it was described last week as “puzzling” and “bizarre”.

One lawyer suggested that the charity has so many clients — in excess of 1,000 — that its contribution could significantly increase the inquiry’s costs. In light of the decision, dozens of victims said they would not engage with the inquiry.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Mail on Sunday

By Simon Walters Political Editor For The Mail On Sunday

One of Britain’s best-known bishops faced controversy last night after it emerged his diocese refused to punish two leading priests in a new church child sex abuse row.

The London diocese, headed by the Bishop of London Richard Chartres – the third most senior Church of England cleric – faced a call by the bishop’s own independent inquiry to consider punishing two priests criticised after a trainee vicar raped two Christian girls.

But the diocese did not take any action, saying it could cause further upset to the victims.

Oxford-educated Timothy Storey was jailed for 15 years last April after a court heard how he groomed hundreds of children on Facebook, using his position as children’s pastor to prey on ‘weak, insecure girls’.

Judge Philip Katz lambasted the ‘utterly incompetent failure’ of ‘arrogant’ church leaders to protect young girls – and accused them of a cover-up. Bishop Chartres apologised and set up an independent inquiry into the scandal.

The Mail on Sunday has established that it was concluded five months ago.

Oxford-educated Timothy Storey was jailed for 15 years last April after a court heard how he groomed hundreds of children on Facebook

Its full contents were kept secret, but this newspaper can reveal the inquiry said both clerics should face disciplinary action – even though both had already been removed from their children’s supervisory roles.

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VATICAN CITY
Huffington Post

By Mary Papenfuss

An arch-conservative American cardinal has denied that his sudden posting to Guam in the wake of a Vatican fake news attack on Pope Francis is a punishment from the liberal pontiff.

The Vatican dispatched Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke to Guam to be the judge at a trial there of an archbishop who was removed from office last year after several allegations of child sex abuse. Burke insisted the trial will likely be finished by the summer and told Mediaset in Italy that the posting was normal and not a punishment from the pope, though the two men have clashed in the past.

Burke was named in a recent New York Times article as a friend of Donald Trump’s top aide Steve Bannon. They’re both members of an emboldened Catholic power base — self-described “rad trads,” or radical traditionalists — pushing for a stricter interpretation of Church teachings, according to the Times. The pope, on the other hand, is one of the more liberal pontiffs of the last several decades. He preaches compassion, has encouraged protesting to achieve justice, is concerned about climate change and has attacked policies of the Trump administration without mentioning the president’s name.

Burke recently angered the pope after reportedly demanding the suspension of a leader of a traditionally conservative Catholic charity organization, the Knights of Malta, for arranging the distribution of free condoms in Myanmar. Francis also was recently the target of a fake publication designed by conservatives to look like the official Vatican newspaper. A phony interview in the paper mocked his liberal views.

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UNITED STATES
Bilgrimage

William D. Lindsey

I’d like to recommend to you Michael Boyle’s four-part series on how the sexual abuse crisis happened in the Catholic church, and what’s to be done about it. As Michael says in the first installment in this series at his Sound of Sheer Silence blog, he was motivated to write these postings in response to the release of the Australian Royal Commission’s report about clerical sexual abuse, which shows one in five members of some Catholic religious communities including the Marist Brothers and Christian Brothers allegedly involved in child sexual abuse.

Michael’s postings (#2 and #3 are here and here) build to the following conclusion in his final posting of the series:

Summing up what was included in the last three posts, I would say that the Roman Catholic clerical sex abuse crisis was caused by:

1. a completely closed and insular clerical culture

2. which prioritized its own autonomy from judgment by non-clerical institutions, and

3. which developed a culture of “don’t ask, don’t tell” with regard to sexual indiscretions

4. formed in light of its own internal struggles around the fact that a majority of its members were closeted gay men, and

5. which was also struggling with shrinking numbers, and thus

6. was incentivized doing whatever possible to keep priests in the fold and on duty

7. while lacking robust tools to recognize the true harm and danger of the sexual abuse of children.

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UNITED STATES
A Sound of Sheer Silence

Michael Boyle

Less than a month ago, I said I would stop talking about Roman Catholicism, and I had every intention of sticking to that. But I am going to break that promise to talk about the release of the report of the Royal Commission in Australia about clerical sexual abuse. The results are shocking–if the reports are correct, the scope of the problem in Australia was even worse than in the United States or in the UK/Ireland. To give an example, there was a reference to a Benedictine monastery in Western Australia in which 17.6% of the monks had an abuse allegation lodged against them at some point in the 1950s. Think about being in a room with a group of monks in which one out of every six of them had someone in the 1950s accuse them of committing a sexual violation on a minor. Think of how many complaints were not made in the culture of the 1950s. One in six. My God.

I had a twitter exchange last night with Maureen Clarke about the report, focusing on what is the obvious question–how did this happen? I’ve gotten this question before from various folks, and I decided it might be worthwhile to lay out my best effort at answering this question. I’ve talked about pieces of my thoughts on this topic in various places, but never in one place in a cohesive way. This is obviously only my own take, based on my own experience–I have no particular expertise other than having seen behind the veil of the Catholic priesthood. So, take this for whatever you think it is worth.

The first way to address this question, I think, is to divide the question “how did this happen?” into two parts, based on two different facets of the “this” at issue. The first “this” is “how did it come to pass that some number of Roman Catholic priests sexually abuse children?” The second “this” is “how did it come to pass that the leadership of the Roman Catholic Church covered up the fact that some number of Roman Catholic priests had and were sexually abusing children, either actively or passively, thus facilitating the abuse?” This distinction is important, I believe, because the causes for the two questions are different, and because much of the discussion around this issue confuses these two questions in a way that makes it difficult to get to the bottom of either of them. In this post, I want to focus on question #1, and leave the more complicated question #2 for future posts.

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UNITED STATES
A Sound of Sheer Silence

Michael Boyle

In the previous post, I framed question #2 of “how did this sex abuse crisis happen?” as “how did it come to pass that the leadership of the Roman Catholic Church covered up the fact that some number of Roman Catholic priests had and were sexually abusing children, either actively or passively, thus facilitating the abuse?” The answer to that question, in my view can be answered in a one sentence response–“because the culture of the Roman Catholic priesthood is sick and broken, and the sex abuse crisis is the most visible manifestation of that pathology.”

It is extremely important here to emphasize the word “culture.” While people contribute to cultures in which they are a part, a culture is a conceptually distinct entity from any particular member of that culture. There are deeply decent and honorable men who are Roman Catholic priests. But the culture in which they swim is not decent and not honorable in the main. And, in what is perhaps the greater tragedy, fundamentally decent and honorable men can become compromised by that culture to do things they would never otherwise do.

Let’s talk about the big picture elements of that culture, and then drill down to the specifics. If you look at the history of the Roman Catholic Church, probably the single most consistent thread post-Constantine is the absolute and uncompromising insistence by the Church that clerics are not, and should never be, subject to the authority of non-clerics. Thomas Becket died, and was named a saint, for standing up for that principle–that he and his clerics could not be tried by the king’s courts in the manner of every other person in England. Gregory VII is acclaimed as a great pope for asserting the same privileges for clerics in the Holy Roman Empire. These fights are often framed as being about protecting the Church from domination by power-hungry kings, and there is truth to that, but the core principle is clerics are to be judged by other clerics, and never by non-clerics.

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UNITED STATES
A Sound of Sheer Silence

Michael Boyle

Any honest discussion of sexuality and the Roman Catholic priesthood must start with the elephant in the room–something approaching a majority of priests are closeted gay men of one form or another. That seems impossible to believe for many people, but no one speaking honestly has ever seriously challenged this premise, at least not to me. And my own experience confirms this assessment.

If you think it through, though, it’s not really surprising. In a pervasively homophobic culture, a priesthood in which you were not allowed, and thus not expected, to enter into a (opposite sex) marriage would be logically attractive to men who understood that such a marriage was not an option for them. It doesn’t even have to work on a conscious level. I remember asking an elderly priest how he knew he had a vocation to the priesthood, and his response was, “I remember being 14 and seeing all my friends starting to get really into girls, and I was never particularly interested, so I took it to mean that I had a vocation to be a priest.” Knowing this man (now deceased), I believe it never occurred to him that he may not have been interested in those girls because he was not straight. Whether or not he was gay I can’t say, but you can imagine how someone who was would be steered toward becoming a Catholic priest by this thought process.

Another factor that encouraged the presence of gay men in the Roman Catholic priesthood is the operation of what writer Libby Anne calls the “Two Boxes” model of sexual morality. The Two Boxes model of sexual morality says that there is one box labelled “acceptable sexual practices”–in the Catholic account, sex between a married man and woman that is “open to the transmission of life”–and one box labelled “unacceptable sexual practices” which is everything else. Critically, in the Two Boxes model, the “everything else” is not differentiated into gradations of more or less unacceptable, but basically lumped together into one mass.

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UNITED STATES
A Sound of Sheer Silence

Michael Boyle

Summing up what was included in the last three posts, I would say that the Roman Catholic clerical sex abuse crisis was caused by:

1. a completely closed and insular clerical culture
2. which prioritized its own autonomy from judgment by non-clerical institutions, and
3. which developed a culture of “don’t ask, don’t tell” with regard to sexual indiscretions
4. formed in light of its own internal struggles around the fact that a majority of its members were closeted gay men, and
5. which was also struggling with shrinking numbers, and thus
6. was incentivized toward doing whatever possible to keep priests in the fold and on duty
7. while lacking robust tools to recognize the true harm and danger of the sexual abuse of children.

In light of this diagnosis, what can be done to rectify it? One thing that will certainly not rectify it is creating a culture of paranoia around homosexuality inside the priesthood. And yet, that seems to be what has happened, and in many respects may be one of the few substantive changes that occurred since the first wave of revelations in the U.S. in 2001-2003. Bill Lindsey points to the infamous “Halloween document” issued in 1986 by then-Cardinal Ratzinger and the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith as a turning point on LGBT issues, and I trust Bill’s insight as he was “on the ground” at that time in a way I was certainly not. I can say, however, that the 1986 document was received and interpreted inside the clerical world as a prohibition on being “out,” at least in terms of outside of the clerical sphere. In other words, it’s fine to be gay so long as you don’t public say so, because by publicly admitting that you are gay you are embracing a “gay identity” or something.

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CITTA’ DEL VATICANO/GUAM
Stanze Vaticane

Il cardinale Raymond Leo Burke è il Patrono dell’Ordine di Malta. Da qualche giorno il porporato americano, 68 anni, considerato da molti un oppositore di Papa Francesco per via delle sue posizioni tradizionali, è stato inviato a 12.000 km da Roma, sull’Isola di Guam per indagare su un caso di pedofilia risalente agli anni 70. Secondo alcuni si tratta di una punizione del Pontefice nei confronti del cardinale, ma a quanto risulta a Stanze Vaticane – Tgcom24, il Papa è stato informato dell’incarico affidato al card. Burke dalla Congregazione per la Dottrina della Fede soltanto a cose fatte, quando il porporato era già sull’isola del Pacifico.

Cardinale Burke come nasce questa missione sull’Isola di Guam?

La missione è nata per una richiesta della Congregazione per la Dottrina della Fede che io servo quale preside del suo Tribunale Apostolico. Dovrò trattare una delicata causa ecclesiastica penale.

Perché è stato scelto lei?

Il Papa ha affidato la causa alla Congregazione, e la Congregazione ha proceduto secondo la giusta procedura a formare i membri del Tribunale. In ogni caso, penso di esser stato scelto in base ai miei studi di diritto canonico e la mia lunga esperienza con i processi ecclesiastici.

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VATICAN CITY/GUAM
Crux

When American Cardinal Raymond Burke was recently dispatched to Guam to preside over a Church trial for an archbishop accused of abusing altar boys in the 1970s, some were inclined to interpret the move as a sort of exile.

Burke, a former president of the Apostolic Signatura, the Vatican’s Supreme Court, is well known as the perceived face of conservative opposition to Pope Francis, and also ran afoul of the pontiff in a recent controversy involving the leadership of the Knights of Malta, the group for which he serves as the ecclesiastical patron.

In an interview with an Italian TV outlet, however, Burke denies that the assignment in Guam is any sort of punishment. In fact, the outlet reports that it was the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, not Pope Francis, who entrusted the assignment to Burke, and Francis didn’t even know about it until Burke was already in Guam.

Translated excerpts from that interview appear below, courtesy of TGCom 24.

How was this mission on the island of Guam born?

Burke: It was born with a request from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which I serve as president of its Apostolic Tribunal. I have to deal with a delicate ecclesiastical penal case.

Why were you chosen?

The pope entrusted the case to the congregation, and the congregation went ahead according to the just procedure to form members of the tribunal. In any case, I think I was selected on the basis of my studies in canon law and my long experience with ecclesiastical processes.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

Australian Associated Press
Saturday 18 February 2017

The Catholic church says it has made a seismic shift in holding its leaders accountable for protecting Australian children after decades of abuse by hundreds of pedophiles.

The church says its new national professional standards body will ensure consistency across its autonomous dioceses and orders.

Each bishop and religious leader will sign a contract agreeing to abide by the standards and be monitored, audited and subject to public reporting, the church’s Truth Justice and Healing Council chief executive, Francis Sullivan, said.

“It is quite a seismic shift for the Catholic church in holdings leaders to account,” Sullivan said. “It is necessary in order to achieve consistency for survivors.

“It is the biggest learning we’ve had over this whole time – that what the church had previously put in place was rather toothless.”

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MASSACHUSETTS
Boston College Chronicle

Colleagues and friends turned out Feb. 2 in Gasson 100 to fete retiring Boston College School of Social Work Continuing Education Director Vincent Lynch, who in his 30 years at BC launched a groundbreaking annual conference on HIV/AIDS and later played a key role in an initiative on clergy sexual abuse issues.

“It was wonderful. I appreciated seeing so many people from just about every chapter of my career,” said Lynch, interviewed the next day, as he reflected on his association with BC – one that began when he arrived in 1980 to pursue a doctorate in social work.

“I’ve seen BC grow in ways I couldn’t have imagined, and I’m glad to have been part of that. But even as we moved in that direction, for me BC has maintained that ‘mom-and-pop’ feel – a place where relationships are important, as are discussions about values and ideas.” …

When the clergy sexual abuse scandal surfaced early this century, Lynch said, it was clear that social work, mental health and other professionals providing care to abuse survivors needed deeper insights to grasp the full dimensions of the problem. In 2004, he co-organized a conference – sponsored by BCSSW and the Church in the 21st Century initiative in collaboration with the Archdiocese of Boston – with workshops and talks on such subjects as family relationships, treatment for various abuse-related conditions such as anxiety disorders and PTSD, and the theological and psychological role of the priest.

“I never felt like I was a maverick, or in over my head,” said Lynch, who also provided consultation to priests and seminarians on issues related to sexual abuse. “Having the support enabled me to feel empowered to address critical areas of need. I always appreciated that.”

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AUSTRALIA
Western Advocate

VICTIMS of historic sexual abuse at Bathurst’s St Stanislaus’ College will receive a formal public apology on June 16.

Head of College Dr Anne Wenham announced the date for the apology following the sentencing of disgraced former priest Brian Spillane in the District Court last Thursday.

In a letter to the school community, Dr Wenham said details of Spillane’s crimes had been distressing to read and she was deeply sorry for what his young victims had experienced during their time as students at the college.

Dr Wenham said the college and Oceania Province of the Congregation of the Mission (Vincentians) agreed a formal apology to victims was important.

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JAMAICA
The Gleaner

This is a submission from Public Theology Forum.

To say that the Church in Jamaica has been rocked in recent months on the matter of sexual abuse of minors by ordained ministers is an understatement. Now it is further compounded with the revelation that pastors and police are the most prevalent high-profile accused in reported cases of sexual abuse of children in our nation. Most of the perpetrators are men, and the victims, women and children, especially girls.

As accusations fly and defences are proffered, many are hurting and lives have been destroyed. Many unhealed wounds have been opened up again as the stories in the media cause many survivors of abuse to relive their violation. As one woman lamented, “I thought I had put it behind me until I heard about the pastor and the little girl in his car. The same thing happened to me!” The stories are as real as they are painful, shameful, shaming, horrifying.

Christian witness has again been dealt another blow as the stereotype of the rapacious/lascivious parson appears once again to have more than a grain of truth in it. The Church is being called out for its hypocrisy at calling out sexual immorality while so many ministers and deacons are embroiled in the said activity. Ultimately, God is called into question as absent, unconcerned, uncaring when the representatives of God do such damage, often without sanction.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Haidee V Eugenio , heugenio@guampdn.com Feb. 19, 2017

Two U.S.-based groups dealing with the Catholic clergy sex abuse cases worldwide are not happy with the Vatican’s choice on who will preside over Guam Archbishop Anthony S. Apuron’s canonical penal trial.

The Vatican sent Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke and other members of a tribunal to Guam to hear from witnesses in the trial of Apuron, who is accused of raping and sexually abusing altar boys in the 1970s. The Archdiocese of Agana, in a statement released late Saturday, said a team of four canon lawyers and another official from Rome worked here Feb. 16-17 and left the morning of Feb. 18.

“From what we know of Burke’s record on abuse, he is an odd and unpromising choice for such a sensitive task,” said Anne Barrett Doyle, co-director of BishopAccountability.orga Massachusetts-based information resource that gathers documents and data about the clergy sex abuse crisis in the Catholic Church.

Doyle said Burke has a “troubling record” in dealing with clergy abuse cases.

“He has consistently defended accused clergy and played hardball with victims,” Doyle told Pacific Daily News.

Burke, in an Associated Press report, said he aims to wrap up the Apuron investigation by the summer. The report also said Burke denied he had been sent to Guam as “punishment,” telling Italy’s Mediaset it was normal for cardinals to take on extra jobs in their areas of expertise.

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JAMAICA
Loop

The businessman and operator of a downtown Kingston funeral home, who is now before the courts on allegations he molested a boy in St Catherine is also a Bishop of a church and a member of the revivalist movement in Jamaica.

Probe by Loop News has found that Shawn Lawrence – who last week identified himself only as a business operator after he was charged with buggery and indecent assault following an investigation by CISOCA detectives, is also a religious leader.

The accused appeared in the St Catherine Parish Court last week on the charges.

Although the full details were not disclosed in open court, Loop News ascertained that it is being alleged that the molestation occurred during visits to Lawrence’s Linstead, St Catherine home by a church sister and the boy.

Lawrence was remanded in custody until next week when he’s due back in court.

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IRELAND
Killkenny People

Sam Matthews 18 Feb 2017

The closing date for people who were residents or workers in – or have specific knowledge of – the Thomastown County Home in County Kilkenny, to speak to a confidential Commission of Investigation is March 1.

The Commission of Investigation was established to investigate the experiences of mothers and children in 14 Mother and Baby Homes and a number of County Homes between 1922 and 1998, including the Thomastown County Home, St Columba’s Hospital.

The confidential committee is continuing to meet with anyone who was resident in, or worked in, these homes between the above years, and with others who have specific knowledge of these homes.

The closing date for applications to meet the confidential committee is March 1, 2017.

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VATICAN CITY
7 News

Vatican City (AFP) – A real-life version of the hit political drama “House of Cards” is unfolding at the Vatican, from cardinals openly defying the pope to anonymous posters sullying his name.

In the latest episode, a group of powerful Princes of the Church released a statement defending Pope Francis — but religious watchers warn the move could backfire and work in the favour of his conservative challengers.

“No pope controls everything,” said Vatican expert Luigi Accattoli. “There has always been some resistance, even from cardinals.”

But this time the critics are “louder and more numerous”.

The root of the row lies with the Argentine pontiff’s calls for the church to be more understanding towards those it considers “sinners”, and in particular his intimation last year that some believers who have divorced and remarried should be able to take communion. …

US cardinal Raymond Burke took on the guise of conspirator-in-chief, warning the 80-year-old pope in November that he could be sanctioned if he does not reply.

Burke has since become a rallying point for conservatives, often giving interviews criticising Francis’s decisions.

Religious watcher Sandro Magister told AFP that inside the Vatican there was “great resistance towards a pope who opens doors in every direction and is ambiguous”.

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VATICAN CITY/GUAM
Associated Press

VATICAN CITY (AP) — American Cardinal Raymond Burke says he’s aiming to wrap up the sex abuse investigation involving Guam’s suspended archbishop by the summer.

The Guam archdiocese said Burke left the Pacific island U.S. territory on Saturday after meeting this week with witnesses.

Burke, a top canon lawyer, is presiding over the church tribunal hearing the case against Archbishop Anthony Apuron, who faces multiple allegations of sex abuse of altar boys in the 1970s. Apuron has denied the claims and has not been criminally charged.

Burke’s presence on Guam had raised eyebrows because he has been involved in some high-profile clashes with Pope Francis.

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VATICAN CITY
International Business Times

By Oli Gamp
February 18, 2017

The chief magistrate for the Vatican has confirmed that the city-state’s authorities have frozen more than €2m (£1.7m) following allegations over money laundering in 2016.

Promoter of Justice Gian Pietro Milano confirmed the news, which is part of an attempt by Pope Francis to clean up the finances of the Holy See, after it was alerted to suspicious activity by the Vatican Financial Intelligence Authority (AIF).

While the exact actions that took place are not currently known, Milano stated that two cases resulted in indictments and three were dismissed.

Reuters said Milano had confirmed the total amount of frozen assets at €13m (£11.1m) from a period between 2013 and 2016 after years of controversy that has seen the Vatican’s banking system riddled with scandal and corruption.

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VATICAN CITY
Deutsche Welle

Vatican officials froze more than 2 million euros ($2.12 million) in cases suspected of being linked to money laundering in 2016. The move is part of the Holy See’s drive to clean up its finances, as mandated by Pope Francis.

The latest disclosure from chief magistrate Gian Pietro Milano, whose official title is Promoter of Justice, came during his annual address on the state of the Vatican’s criminal justice system.

Milano’s speech was short on details, but he added that since 2013 a total of 13 million euros was frozen. The freezing of money followed alerts from the Vatican Financial Intelligence Authority (AIF), which the pope has given enhanced powers.

Milano didn’t reveal how much of the money was subsequently unblocked, following investigations, but he said that last year two cases led to indictments while three were shelved.

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ITALIA
Rete L’Abuso

[Bishop Calogero Marino kept his word. As promised yesterday afternoon he met with the President of the Abuse Network – Francesco Zanardi – a spokesman for those who in the Savona diocese and beyond have been abused by clergy. The interview lasted nearly an hour. Mr. Zanardi said the meeting was positive.]

after the meeting that it was a positive, suffered acts of clerical pedophilia (acts of which he was a victim). The head of the diocese, in Savona since last January 16, welcomed Zanardi in an interview that lasted nearly an hour, without others were present. “An extremely positive balance”, the commentary of the Network Abuse The spokesman, after the meeting. “The way to make the bishop, his gentleness towards me, the attention to detail and the humility with which he acted surp

IN DIOCESI DEL LEADER DELLA RETE “L’ABUSO”. APERTURA AL DIALOGO DA MONSIGNOR MARINO

SILVIA CAMPESE SAVONA.

Il vescovo Calogero Marino ha mantenuto la parola. Come promesso, ieri pomeriggio ha incontrato il presidente della Rete L’Abuso, Francesco Zanardi, portavoce di chi, nella diocesi savonese e non solo, ha subito atti di pedofilia clericale (atti di cui lui stesso fu vittima). Il capo della diocesi, a Savona dallo scorso 16 gennaio, ha accolto Zanardi in un colloquio che è durato quasi un’ora, senza che altri fossero presenti. «Un bilancio estremamente positivo», il commento del portavoce di Rete L’Abuso, al termine dell’incontro. «Il modo di fare del vescovo, la sua delicatezza nei miei confronti, l’attenzione ai particolari e l’umiltà con cui si è comportato mi hanno sorpreso – ha dichiarato Zanardi -. Atteggiamenti a cui, decisamente, non ero abituato all’interno della diocesi savonese, a partire dal predecessore, monsignor Lupi.

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ITALIA
Il Mattino

[con il video]

[The faithful do not trust the church any more. It is said that Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe has a dossier on a bleak scenario confirmed by 28 men who said they had sex with a priest in exchange for money.]

Incontri a luci rosse tra sacerdoti e ragazzi. Questa l’ipotesi contenuta all’interno di un dossier finito sulla scrivania del Cardinale Crescenzio Sepe. Questo scenario fosco viene confermato da un ventottenne che avrebbe dichiarato di avere avuto rapporti con un prelato in cambio di denaro.

Ma cosa ne pensano gli abitanti del quartiere e i membri della parrocchia? «È vergognoso che si verifichino ancora cose simili ai giorni nostri», afferma Elena. «Conosciamo bene questa parrocchia e siamo stupefatti di quanto in queste ore stiamo apprendendo dai giornali. Io qui ho fatto la prima comunione e non posso credere che proprio da questa chiesa sia partito tutto.

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

AUSTRALIA
PerthNow

Kate Campbell, PerthNow
February 18, 2017

A WA Anglican Bishop believes it will take a generation before trust in the church is restored in the wake of the child sex abuse scandal.

And it’s unlikely the community will ever view the clergy in the same way again, Anglican Bishop of Bunbury Allan Ewing concedes.

“In some ways that’s a good thing. If there was ever a way in which the wider community’s regard for the clergy allowed those who had evil intent to prey upon the innocent … then I’m really pleased that’s no longer the case,” he said.

The extent of alleged child sexual abuse within the Anglican Church will be exposed at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Abuse next month.

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

VATICAN CITY
Reuters

By Philip Pullella | VATICAN CITY

Vatican authorities froze more than two million euros in cases of suspected money laundering in 2016 as part of Pope Francis’ drive to clean up the finances of the Holy See, its chief magistrate said on Saturday.

Gian Pietro Milano, whose official title is Promoter of Justice, made the disclosure during his annual address on the state of the Vatican’s criminal justice system.

Milano gave no details in his speech but added that the total amount of suspect money frozen between 2013 and 2016 was about 13 million euros.

The money was frozen following alerts from the Vatican Financial Intelligence Authority (AIF), which Francis has given more operative power.

Milano did not say how much of the money was later unblocked following investigations but that in 2016 two cases led to indictments and three were shelved.

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

UNITED STATES
The Open Tabernacle: Here Comes Everybody

Posted on February 18, 2017 by Betty Clermont

As most already know, preceding the national conventions, “a high volume” of “positive media coverage … propelled Trump to the top of the Republican poll.” After the nominations became official, “Clinton and Trump’s coverage was virtually identical in terms of its negative tone. ‘Were the allegations surrounding Clinton of the same order of magnitude as those surrounding Trump?’” asks Thomas E. Patterson in a report from Harvard Kennedy School’s Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy.

While there is enough blame regarding 2016 polling to go around, as regards the Catholic vote, the Washington Post led with “Donald Trump has a massive Catholic problem” followed by the New York Times “Clinton Challenges Trump for a Traditional Republican Bloc, White Catholics.”

Both inferred that Pope Francis had an effect on U.S. Catholics that was detrimental to Trump. Both ignored that the PRRI polls (here and here) upon which they based their reporting showed that although Clinton led, support for Trump by white Catholics exceeded both the total electorate and white voters in general. Other polls reported that nearly two-thirds of Catholic registered voters are white and that “the IBD-TIPP daily tracking poll – rated by Nate Silver as the most accurate national poll of the last presidential cycle in 2012 – consistently pointed to a Trump win among Catholics.”

In the end, “Trump won the highest percentage of Catholic voters (52%) for a Republican candidate since 2004. White Catholics supported Trump by a wide, 23-point margin (60% to 37%). Both white and Latino Catholics cast more ballots for Trump than for Romney in 2012.” “Evangelicals helped Trump in states he was mostly going to win anyway. Catholics? Now we’re talking about Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin. And that was the election.”

There is no comparison, of course, between the importance of a U.S. president and an inconsequential Catholic official. However, the highly inaccurate reporting about Cardinal Raymond L. Burke further impugns the media’s credibility.

There have been dozens upon dozens of recent articles about Burke, one of 226 cardinals in the Catholic Church. The articles in the New York Times and the Washington Post have been the most influential, so I will concentrate on those.

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

NEW MEXICO
KRQE

[with video]

By Aaron Drawhorn
Published: February 17, 2017

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – A $16 million judgment Friday was awarded to a man who suffered abuse as a child at the hands of a longtime New Mexico pedophile priest.

Father Arthur Perrault fled New Mexico in 1992 and has been hiding out overseas ever since.

“Nobody knew where he was for 25 years,” said attorney Brad Hall.

“We will pursue a pedophile to the ends of the earth, no matter how long it takes us to find him,” Hall said, noting that Perrault was finally discovered living in Tangier, Morocco, last year.

He was working at a school at the time he was located, and since his past was revealed, he no longer works there.

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

NEW MEXICO
Albuquerque Journal

By Olivier Uyttebrouck / Journal Staff Writer
Published: Friday, February 17th, 2017

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A judge handed down a $16 million judgment this week against a former New Mexico priest for failure to respond to a lawsuit filed by a man who alleges he was sexually abused by Arthur Perrault in the early 1990s.

Second Judicial District Judge Denise Barela-Shepherd handed down the default judgment Thursday after she found that Perrault had been properly served with the civil lawsuit, but failed to defend himself against the allegations.

She ordered Perrault to pay $1 million in damages and an additional $15 million in punitive damages. The Archdiocese of Santa Fe was not named as a defendant in the lawsuit.

Perrault, who vanished from his Albuquerque parish in 1992, was tracked last year to Tangiers, Morocco, where he was teaching at an English language school for children.

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

PENNSYLVANIA
Reveal: The Center for Investigative Reporting

By Trey Bundy / February 17, 2017

The Jehovah’s Witnesses settled a lawsuit this week brought by a Pennsylvania woman who says the religion’s leaders covered up sexual abuse she suffered as a teenager.

The settlement came five days into a trial in which Stephanie Fessler, a former Jehovah’s Witness, claimed the religion’s parent corporation violated Pennsylvania’s child abuse reporting laws by instructing local leaders – known as elders – not to report her allegations to police.

According to Fessler, a middle-aged Jehovah’s Witness woman, Terry Monheim, began sexually abusing her when she was 14. At 15, Fessler disclosed the abuse to her parents. Her father was an elder in their congregation.

Fessler’s parents informed other congregation elders, who interrogated Fessler and Monheim but failed to report the abuse to police. As a result, Monheim continued to abuse Fessler for another year, according to court documents.

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

IOWA
Omaha World-Herald

World-Herald News Service Feb 17, 2017

The Rev. Paul Monahan was sentenced Friday to a suspended prison sentence and ordered to register as a sex offender for all five counts of invasion of privacy after he turned down a deferred judgement.

Associate Judge Gary Anderson sentenced Monahan, 83, to a suspended sentence of 30 days in jail per each count to be served concurrently, a year of informal probation and to register as a sex offender for 10 years. A minimum fine was also suspended.

After the year of probation, Monahan will have to be supervised for 10 years on special parole.

Monahan’s attorney, Dan McGinn, said his client plans to appeal.

In December 2016, Monahan was found guilty after a bench trial of invading the privacy of five male high school students who said the retired priest looked at their genitals in a public restroom.

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

JAMAICA
Jamaica Gleaner

Saturday | February 18, 2017

Orantes Moore

Since the beginning of the year, several pastors have been accused of molesting young children. Among them is an elder from the Seventh Day Adventist Church in Haywood Hall, St Mary, Narry Hudson, who recently appeared in court charged with three counts of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl.

While many of the parish’s religious leaders are reluctant to talk about sexual abuse in the Church, ministers such as Claude Williams of the Oracabessa Circuit of Baptist Churches understand the problem must be aired, shared, and discussed.

Speaking to Family and Religion earlier this week, the veteran youth and evangelism director said: “I try to stay away from the court of public opinion, but at the same time, you cannot hide your head in the sand and pretend there aren’t issues floating out there. My thing is, to whom much is given, much is expected.

ABUSE OF POWER

“It is unfortunate that children, who are among the vulnerable in our society, would have gone to those of us who claim to be the moral authority of the nation and we are found to be abusing our powers. In terms of denominations where you have established churches with stricter regulations, I believe great care must be given to the recruitment of our pastors.

“There should be a system of accountability so we can dispose of the pastors found to be in violation of that trust. It is very shameful and scandalous, and I believe it forces the Church to take another look at the way we have been operating and conducting ourselves.”

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

UNITED KINGDOM
East London and West Essex Guardian

Anna Slater, News Editor

A SEXUAL abuse victim whose life was “destroyed” by an MP who told her to “adjust her medication” is demanding an apology four years on.

Teresa Cooper, who now lives in Ongar, says the sting of what Eric Pickles said to her in 2013 has never stopped hurting.

The 49-year-old was 14 when she was used as a guinea pig for drug trials and sexually assaulted while living at the Church of England run Kendall House.

Grandmother Ms Cooper confronted the Ongar and Brentwood MP and a wildlife event, saying: “Nothing has changed…only you have ignored it. You have ignored it.”

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

MALAYSIA
Free Malaysia Today

Nawar Firdaws and Tarrence Tan | February 18, 2017

PETALING JAYA: Paul Pakianathan is no stranger to cases of sexual abuse involving children, having rescued a victim himself.

He told FMT the young girl he rescued was sexually abused by her own brother. Her mother knew about it, but did nothing for several years.

Pakianathan, a senior pastor at the Community of Praise, said the case came to his knowledge when the mother took the girl to his church for a separate matter but his instinct told him that something was not right with the girl, who at the time was in her early teenage years.

“I decided there and then I must speak to her and find out what was going on,” he said. “And that was what I did. Soon after, she opened up to me and spoke of the sexual abuse she was facing.

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

PENNSYLVANIA
Reading Eagle

“Their voices cry out to God and we need to hear them.”

That was the powerful message delivered by Deb Helt in a Reading Berks Conference of Churches-sponsored workshop last week about Samaritan SafeChurch, a Lancaster County group that helps congregations raise awareness about child sexual abuse.

The workshop was part of the first-ever Christian Resource Expo at the GoggleWorks Center for the Arts, 201 Washington St.

Helt, a senior facilitator and congregational support specialist for Samaritan SafeChurch, said, “We want churches to be safe places for people to come.”

To that end, the group wants to inspire churches to become proactive in preventing child sexual abuse in churches and the community.

Helt, who is also a pastor of Hosanna! A Fellowship of Christians in Lititz, said she first got involved with Samaritan SafeChurch after its founder, Linda Crockett, spoke to her congregation. Helt said some members of her congregation initially resisted the idea of talking about sexual abuse.

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

AUSTRALIA
Illawarra Mercury

On the face of it, it appears the Catholic Church has short-changed the region in terms of payments to victims of abuse.

The Illawarra Mercury revealed recently the Wollongong Diocese was named as one of five areas with the highest of proportion of priests alleged to be perpetrators.

Yet in contrast, the region has only received a handful in compensation payments to victims.

The Mercury has revealed only half a million dollars has been paid to Wollongong victims of alleged child sexual abuse by the Catholic Church.

That equates to less than two per cent of the $280 million paid out by the church over the past 35 years to victims.

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

AUSTRALIA
Tamut and Adelong Times

By Frances Vinall – February 18, 2017

The Archbishop of the Canberra-Goulburn Catholic Diocese, which includes Tumut, will testify at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse next week.

Archbishop Christopher Prowse will sit before Justice Peter McLennan on February 21, to discuss what safeguards the church has in place to protect children.

Records have shown that the Canberra-Goulburn Diocese had a rate of paedophile priests higher than the national average, with 8.5 per cent of their priests in the 2000s being alleged perpetrators.

In other words, one in twelve priests in this area are accused of having sexually abused children.

And since less than 20 per cent of survivors are estimated to have come forward, the true numbers could be higher still.

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

RUSSIA
RAPSI – Russian Legal Information Agency

ST. PETERSBURG, February 17 (RAPSI, Mikhail Telekhov) – The St. Petersburg City Court on Friday extended the detention of Russian priest Gleb Grozovsky, who stands charged with sexual abuse of children, RAPSI learnt from the court’s press service.

The hearing was held behind closed doors.

According to investigators, Grozovsky committed several crimes against minors in 2011 and 2013.

In 2013, he fled to Israel and applied for citizenship. However, his application was dismissed.

In April 2014, Grozovsky was put on the international wanted list. Israeli police arrested him in September. In January 2015, a court in Jerusalem ruled that the priest should be extradited to Russia pursuant to the European Convention on Extradition. The ruling was appealed, but rejected. In April 2016, the Justice Minister signed an order on Grozovsky’s extradition.

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

PENNSYLVANIA
Reading Eagle

HARRISBURG, PA
State Rep. Mark Rozzi has officially renewed his push to give victims of child sexual abuse more time to confront their abusers in court.

The Muhlenberg Township Democrat’s bill would eliminate, going forward, the time limits for victims to press criminal charges or file lawsuits against their abusers and organizations that shield them. Now, victims have until age 50 to pursue charges and until age 30 to sue.

The bill would also open a two-year window during which victims of any age would be allowed to sue, regardless of when the abuse occurred.

Rozzi, himself a victim of childhood sexual assault at the hands of a Catholic priest, championed a similar bill last session. The measure cleared the House but fizzled in a stalemate after senators removed the retroactive piece allowing past victims to sue.

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

CALIFORNIA
The Worthy Adversary

February 17, 2017 Joelle Casteix

I love paperwork.

Yesterday, the Diocese of Orange issued a statement responding to the latest sex abuse and cover-up lawsuit against Fr. Richard T. Coughlin. In it, they said:

Richard Coughlin was ordained in the archdiocese of Boston in 1953 and incardinated in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles in the 1960s, predating the Diocese of Orange, which was founded in 1976. Coughlin left parish ministry upon founding the All American Boys Choir in the early 1970s. Coughlin never served as a priest of the Diocese of Orange. (emphasis mine)

They’re parsing words here. The diocese is trying to say that after 1976, when the Diocese of Orange was formed, Coughlin did not serve as a priest in any official capacity. Are they trying to say that he’s the chorus’ responsibility? I don’t know.

But the truth is far different. Here are photos of the 1993 Diocese of Orange Catholic Directory. Yes, I have a copy. I am that weird.

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

MAINE
Portland Press Herald

BY EDWARD D. MURPHY
STAFF WRITER

BIDDEFORD — A former priest from Boston accused of molesting two boys repeatedly in Kennebunk three decades ago entered a plea of not guilty Friday.

Ronald Paquin, who was a key figure in the Boston Roman Catholic Church sex abuse scandal, is charged with 29 counts of sexual abuse in Maine for acts he allegedly committed between 1985 and 1988.

Dressed in an orange shirt and yellow prison jumpsuit, Paquin appeared on a video link from York County Jail in Alfred early Friday afternoon. The 74-year-old former Catholic priest walked with the aid of a cane and remained silent during the brief hearing.

He conferred with his temporary attorney, Randall Bates, after Biddeford District Court Judge Daniel Driscoll ordered him held on $50,000 bail, but the microphone on the video link was turned off so the nature of their discussion could not be heard.

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

MAINE
Seacoast Online

By Donna Buttarazzi
dbuttarazzi@seacoastonline.com

BIDDEFORD, Maine — Former Roman Catholic priest Ronald H. Paquin pleaded not guilty to 29 counts of sexual misconduct in Biddeford District Court Friday.

Paquin’s arraignment Friday was his first court appearance in Maine after being indicted by a York County Grand Jury on Feb. 8 on the allegations of abusing two boys in Kennebunkport in the 1980s.

Paquin was arrested by Massachusetts authorities at a homeless shelter in Boston last Friday. He was turned over to Maine authorities and is being held at the York County Jail.

Paquin, 74, appeared in Biddeford District Court via video feed Friday afternoon in an orange prison jumpsuit and carrying a cane. Judge Dan Driscoll set Paquin’s bail at $50,000 and conditionally appointed Portland attorney Heather Gonzales to represent him.

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

MAINE
NECN

A former Roman Catholic priest who spent more than a decade in a Massachusetts prison for raping an altar boy has made an initial court appearance in Maine on 29 counts of sexual misconduct.

Ronald Paquin appeared before a judge via video conference from jail on Friday. The 74-year-old is now accused of assaulting two boys between 1985 and 1988 in Kennebunkport.

Police say the boys were 11 and 14. Court documents indicate one of them was “substantially impaired” by drugs.

Paquin was defrocked in 2004 and freed from jail in 2015. But now he is back in jail after being ordered held on $50,000 bail.

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

CALIFORNIA
Orange County Register

SANTA ANA – A former member of the All-American Boys Chorus has filed a lawsuit against a disgraced priest and the Diocese of Orange, alleging that church leaders ignored complaints of child sexual abuse.

At the center of the lawsuit is Richard T. Coughlin, the now-defrocked priest who founded chorus in Costa Mesa and who over the years has been accused of sexual abuse by at least a half-dozen people, resulting in more than $3 million in settlements.

Ordained in Boston, Coughlin joined the Diocese of Orange in 1965. The newly-filed lawsuit describes Coughlin as a serial pedophile whose gregarious and charismatic nature and Irish brogue masked decades of abuse.

According to the lawsuit, allegations of sexual abuse involving Coughlin first emerged in 1957, when he was still in Boston. A series of alleged victims of Coughlin’s contacted diocese leaders in both Boston and Southern California over the next several decades.

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UNITED STATES
These Stone Walls

POSTED BY FR. GORDON J. MACRAE ON FEBRUARY 8, 2017

We do not have many headlines like this one on These Stone Walls. It has the look and feel of descending into tabloid journalism, but when the headline is true, there is just no higher road to take. This is a story that must be told.

And I am not the first to tell it. In late January, David F. Pierre, author of several books including Sins of the Press and host of TheMediaReport.com published a report entitled, “Lawsuit by Ex-SNAP Insider Exposes Lawyer Kickback Schemes.” And to the surprise of many, the left-leaning, usually SNAP-friendly National Catholic Reporter broke the story first in a January 18 account by NCR Editor Dennis Coday, “Sex Abuse Advocacy Group SNAP Sued by Former Employee.”

One day later, The National Catholic Register carried the story by Catholic News Agency writer, Kevin Jones entitled, “Did SNAP Receive Kickbacks for Suing the Church?” All three versions of the story have been sent to me by multiple TSW readers who asked me to write about it. A week after these accounts emerged, SNAP’s longtime Executive Director, David Clohessy, has mysteriously resigned. This is a development of immense importance in the arena of Catholic Priests Falsely Accused, one of David F. Pierre’s most revealing books.

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PHILIPPINES
YouTube

Al Jazeera English

Published on Feb 16, 2017

Priests are treated like God in the Philippines – Asia’s largest Catholic nation. But often that trust is exploited by clergymen who are sexually deviant. And, despite a vow of chastity, some priests have children out of wedlock.

Those abuses and misdemeanours within the Church often go unpunished. Critics say investigations are kept secret and those charged with sexual abuse are still active in local parishes.

101 East investigates sexual misconduct inside the most powerful institution in the Philippines: the Catholic Church.

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SWITZERLAND
swissinfo

[with video]

Daniel Pittet was sexually abused by a Catholic priest when he was a child. A book now tells his story, and the preface was written by Pope Francis. (SRF/swissinfo.ch)

Daniel Pittet was nine years old when he was sexually abused by a Catholic priest over a four-year period. Now he has written about his experiences in his book “Mon Père, je vous pardonne” (“Father, I forgive you”).

In the book’s preface, Pope Francis wrote that such assaults were abominable and a terrible crime. Pittet hopes that the papal preface will give hope to other victims like him. The now 57-year-old victim says he’s forgiven his tormentor.

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MAIN
WMTW

BIDDEFORD, Maine —
A former priest was arraigned on nearly 30 sex charges in a York County courtroom Friday afternoon.

Ronald Paquin is charged with 29 counts of gross sexual misconduct.

He pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Paquin is accused of assaulting two victims between 1985 and 1988 in Kennebunkport.

Paquin already served more than 10 years in prison for raping an altar boy while working as a priest near Boston.

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

MEXICO/SPAIN
Associated Press

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Amnesty International and Ligia Ceballos Franco have filed a complaint with Mexican prosecutors, claiming the woman was stolen as a baby in Spain during the dictatorship of Francisco Franco and handed over to a well-heeled Mexican family who raised her as their own.

Ceballos Franco said Thursday she may be among an estimated 30,000 babies who were taken from their real parents under the Franco dictatorship from 1938 to 1975.

She claims the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Merida facilitated the adoption. The Merida archdiocese didn’t respond to request for comment.

After being told she was adopted, Ceballos Franco found a local government document in Madrid saying a baby had been handed over to her Mexican parents in 1968.

She found a birth record for Diana Ortiz Ramirez, which may be her. Her biological parents were apparently told she had died at birth. The targets of such deception were often opponents of the Franco regime.

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

SPAIN
Irish Times

Guy Hedgecoe Madrid

A group of former residents of a seminary are planning to stage a street demonstration on Saturday to demand that a priest who has admitted to sexually abusing boys under his tutelage face the full force of the Spanish legal system.

Some 30 men, who as children lived in the La Bañeza seminary in northern Spain, will take part in the demonstration in the town of Astorga. Among them are expected to be some of the victims of José Manuel Ramos Gordón, a former teacher at the seminary.

La Opinión de Zamora newspaper recently revealed that Ramos Gordón had admitted to abusing several pupils at the school in the academic year 1988-89, following an investigation by the Archbishopric of Astorga last year. In May 2016, he was suspended from his duties as a parish priest for “a period of no less than a year,” according to a decree signed by Archbishop Juan Antonio Menéndez, and he was sent to work in a home for retired clergy.

Letter to Francis

The probe began after a former pupil, identified only as FJ, wrote to Pope Francis in 2014, informing him of the case.

“I want us to be listened to and not to have this horror that we suffer silenced any longer, because we’ve already been ignored other times,” FJ wrote in the letter, detailing how he, his twin brother and two other boys were regularly sexually abused at night when they were 14 years old.

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

KANSAS
National Catholic Reporter

Dennis Coday | Feb. 17, 2017

ANALYSIS

LENEXA, KAN. It was a stump speech. A speech filled with familiar themes for those who’ve been on the beat for a while.

But for a crowd in a packed Catholic high school gymnasium in Lenexa, Kan., on a Friday evening, it was a speech filled with red meat, a reassuring message that the crowd applauded and which explained why they call Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke, “Leo the Lion,” courageous and outspoken.

Burke’s Feb. 9-11 tour of the Kansas City metro area included two public Masses — one each in the extraordinary and the ordinary forms — a public address and a luncheon with the local chapter of the Catholic Medical Association, and was a calm harbor from the storms of controversy that have swirled around the cardinal as of late.

Already buffeted by his calls for Pope Francis to clarify parts of his teaching, Burke found himself in more stormy seas in mid-January over troubles in the Knights of Malta, an ancient chivalrous order that traces its roots to the crusades and today maintains a worldwide prestigious membership and thousands of charitable causes. Burke is the order’s spiritual patron. In January, Francis appointed a papal delegate to oversee the order.

Three days before he arrived in the heartland, a front-page New York Times story linked the American cardinal to the Trump administration through White House chief strategist Stephen Bannon. According to the Times article, the pair met in April 2014 when Bannon was in Rome to cover the canonization of Pope John Paul II and to recruit a Vatican correspondent for his Breitbart News.

Bannon found his correspondent — Thomas Williams, a former priest of the Legionaries of Christ, the international order known for its conservativism and for its founder, the late Fr. Marcial Maciel Degollado, a pedophile who fathered children with two women. Williams, an American, had built a career as a Rome-based academic whose suave, camera-friendly demeanor made him a minor media celebrity.

Williams resigned from the priesthood in May 2013; a year earlier, it became public that he had fathered a child several years before that. In December 2013, he married the child’s mother, Elizabeth Lev, daughter of a former U.S. ambassador to the Vatican, Mary Ann Glendon.

During that 2014 visit, Bannon also met Burke. Bannon would go on to make Breitbart News a platform for alt-right politics and two years later guide Donald Trump to the presidency. Burke, meanwhile, would emerge as a spokesman for the opposition to Francis.

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

AUSTRALIA
Anglican Communion News Service

The Anglican Diocese of Adelaide has issued a statement in response to a damming report by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Australia. A statement issued by Bishop Tim Harris said the report made for “shocking reading” and “the failures of the past have been “clearly identified.” Bishop Harris reaffirmed the diocese’s “sincere apology” to all who suffered and said the diocese was resolved that “such failings must never happen again.”

Here is the full statement:

The Anglican Diocese of Adelaide values and respects the work of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. We have carefully studied the recently released Report of Case Study No. 36: The response of the Church of England Boys’ Society and the Anglican Dioceses of Tasmania, Adelaide, Brisbane and Sydney to allegations of child sexual abuse.

The report makes for shocking reading. The failures of the past have been clearly identified. We recognise that it has taken great courage for survivors of abuse to give evidence, and express our sincere hope that the report in some measure helps those survivors abused by Robert Brandenburg and other CEBS leaders on their journey of healing. We reaffirm our sincere apology to all who suffered as a result of such failures of trust, and the manifestly inadequate responses by church authorities at the time that worsened the sense of abuse and distress. There is much to be learned, and we are resolved that such failings must never happen again.

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

CANADA
CBC News

By Katie Nicholson, Katie Pedersen, CBC News Posted: Feb 17, 2017

The chief of a Manitoba First Nation says the lawyer who misappropriated nearly a million dollars from some of the community’s most vulnerable and traumatized people should face criminal prosecution.

“I think he should be charged,” Sandy Bay Chief Lance Roulette said of disbarred Winnipeg lawyer Howard Tennenhouse.

Tennenhouse misappropriated $960,000 from 55 residential school survivors he represented, the Law Society of Manitoba ruled in 2012. The regulatory body said many of the victims were unaware he had charged excess fees.

Tennenhouse is one of 10 lawyers disbarred in Manitoba over the past six years for financial misconduct whose cases were turned over to Winnipeg police for review. No charges have been laid against any of them, and Winnipeg police won’t say why.

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CALIFORNIA
The Worthy Adversary

[Priest sex abuse lawsuit filed in Orange County – Fox 11 video]

February 16, 2017 Joelle Casteix

Lesson of the day for the Diocese of Orange: Don’t lie to the press and public when I can prove you wrong with your own paperwork.

Last week, another alleged victim of Fr. Richard T. Coughlin, the founder of The All-American Boys Chorus, (who—despite dozens of credible accusations and lawsuits in two states—is still a priest), was sued again in Orange County Superior Court for child sexual abuse. The alleged abuse took place in the 1990s.

The Diocese of Orange (California) and the All-American Boys Chorus were also named as defendants.

Coughlin’s case is awful. He was sent to Orange County in the 1960s from Boston after being accused of abuse there (you can read his entire assignment history here). At the time, Orange County was part of the Los Angeles Archdiocese. When The Diocese of Orange was spun off in 1976, Coughlin came along as an added bonus.

Not longer after Coughlin’s arrival in Orange, he began forming boys choral groups. Eventually, the All-American Boys Chorus was born and allegedly provided Coughlin with a steady stream of victims.

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PENNSYLVANIA
WJAC

by Bryan Carnaggio

JOHNSTOWN – A network for survivors is coming to the Johnstown-Altoona area.

The organization called the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests is starting a new chapter.

“My brother was sexually abused by our parish priest where I grew up in southeastern Ohio,” Judy Jones said.

Jones is the Midwest associate director for SNAP.

It’s an organization designed to help clergy abuse victims.

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SCOTLAND
Herald Scotland

Stephen Naysmith

CHILD abuse survivors have criticised insurers for attempting to derail a law which would give many a fresh chance of justice.

The Scottish Government’s Limitation (Childhood Abuse) Scotland Bill could overcome the time bar which has prevented many victims from taking civil action against the institutions or individuals who abused them, because more than three years has passed since the alleged crimes.

It is currently under consideration at Holyrood’s justice committee, but in written evidence the Association of British Insurers has argued that the new law could see many more than the Government’s initial estimate of 2,200 court claims and costs could spiral. The ABI objected to the law permitting people to raise cases again which were previously blocked by the time bar and said the bill would encourage more cases to come forward.

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SCOTLAND
Scotsman

TOM PETERKIN

Police Scotland has revealed it has at least 5,000 files detailing child abuse alleged to have been carried out in care institutions or by prominent people since 1964.

The figure came to light in a Police Scotland document warning the cost of the Scottish Government’s historical abuse inquiry could rise.

A document produced by Police Scotland for MSPs suggests the cost of removing the time limit for victims of childhood abuse to seek civil damages in court may have been underestimated.

Police Scotland issued the warning in response to the Limitation (Childhood Abuse) Scotland Bill, which intends to remove the current three-year time bar, or limitation, for bringing a civil court claim for damages in some cases of childhood abuse.

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CANADA
The Globe and Mail

GLORIA GALLOWAY
OTTAWA — The Globe and Mail
Published Thursday, Feb. 16, 2017

It may be impossible to identify all of the former students who were abused at Canada’s Indian residential schools but abandoned their compensation claims when they were subjected to a questionable legal manoeuvre by federal lawyers, says the secretariat charged with determining which cases fall into that category.

The Department of Indigenous Affairs recently completed a year-long investigation into the claims that were rejected or reduced as a result of the “administrative split” – a technicality used to disqualify a school from being included in the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement. The department has since produced a list, as yet unpublished, of about 200 survivors whose applications for redress had been affected.

But claimants’ lawyers say many more former students withdrew their claims in the initial stages after being convinced by adjudicators and federal representatives that the administrative split left them no chance of success.

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

Friday, February 17, 2017

By Conall Ó Fátharta
Irish Examiner Reporter

There has been “no decision” to carry out excavations on the site of any other mother and baby home other than Tuam — despite the HSE confirming as far back as 2012 that there had been a higher infant death rate in Bessborough in Cork .

The Mother and Baby Homes Commission is currently carrying out its second excavation of the site in Tuam, where almost 800 children are reportedly buried.

The Irish Examiner put a number of queries to the commission in relation to similar excavations in other mother and baby homes — in particular Bessborough.

A death register for this institution maintained by the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary has been held by the HSE (and now Tusla) since 2011 and records that 478 infants died in the home between 1934 and 1953 — a higher infant death rate than recorded in Tuam.

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VATICAN CITY
ANSA

(ANSA) – Vatican City, February 16 – Pope Francis has sent one of his most vocal opponents, American Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke, to the island of Guam in the Pacific Ocean to investigate a complicated case of suspected paedophilia by the island’s archbishop, 71-year-old Msgr Anthony Sablan Apuron. Apuron denies the charges, brought forth by a seminarian, of abuse in the 1970s.

Burke will remain on the island for the time needed to oversee canonical proceedings on the case, although at the end of the month he is expected to attend a conference in the US.

Catholic News Service said Burke arrived on Guam Wednesday.

Burke is one of four cardinals who signed the “dubia” letter to Pope Francis expressing doubts on his apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia, in particular regarding the issue of giving Communion to the divorced.

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SCOTLAND
STV

David Cowan
Kaye Nicolson

The Scottish Government has pledged to find a solution as soon as possible.

The oldest survivors of child abuse in Scotland fear they are being denied any hope of winning compensation.

The Scottish Government is opening the way for hundreds of victims to seek damages through the courts but the change will not apply to cases pre-dating September 1964.

Ministers considered whether or not the so-called 1964 rule could be changed retrospectively but were advised doing so would contravene the European Convention of Human Rights.

Campaigners say the oldest survivors are dying out with no prospect of receiving justice.

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AUSTRALIA
Church Times

by Muriel Porter, Australia Correspondent

Posted: 17 Feb 2017

THE current Bishop of Tasmania, the Rt Revd Richard Condie, has begun a disciplinary investigation into a retired bishop of the see, the Rt Revd Philip Newell, in response to a report issued by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

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IOWA
Des Moines Register

Molly Longman, mlongman@dmreg.com Feb. 16, 2017

A former Dallas Center pastor pleaded not guilty in a written arraignment Wednesday after being arrested last month on suspicion of sexually assaulting a child multiple times.

Randy Johnson, 52, who faces a total of 13 criminal charges, pleaded not guilty to all of the charges before a Court for Arraignment, waiving a speedy trail, according to court documents.

Johnson reportedly perpetrated multiple instances of sexual abuse on the 12- or 13-year-old girl during a year-and-a-half time period from 2013 to 2014, court records say.

Johnson faces five counts of third-degree sexual abuse, three counts of indecent contact with a child, two counts of assault with intent to commit sexual abuse, two counts of indecent exposure and one count of child endangerment.

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NEW JERSEY
NJ.com

By Greg Adomaitis | For NJ.com

HAINESPORT TWP. — A teacher’s aide with the St. Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran Church has been suspended over sexual abuse allegations as a criminal investigation continues, according to news reports.

FOX29 reports that the unnamed male aide, who worked at the reJOYce Christian School, was suspended without pay in December 2016 after four children made claims of inappropriate touching.

Brian Kent, a Philadelphia-based attorney who is representing the children between the ages of 5 and 6, was not immediately available for comment Thursday afternoon.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Tribune-Democrat

By Dave Sutor
dsutor@tribdem.com

A well-known advocacy group for child sexual abuse victims is setting up a chapter in the Altoona–Johnstown area.

Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests plans to hold its first confidential support meeting in Ebensburg on Feb. 28 from 6 to 8 p.m.

SNAP is establishing its local group in response to the ongoing abuse scandal within the Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona–Johnstown.

“There is so much pain and hurt there that there needs to be support there,” said Judy Jones, the organization’s Midwest associate director.

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AUSTRALIA
Ilawarra Mercury

Kate McIlwain
@kmcilwain

17 Feb 2017

Just over $500,000 has been paid to Wollongong victims of alleged child sexual abuse by the Catholic Church, new data from the royal commission has revealed.

This makes up a tiny proportion (0.18 per cent) of the $280 million paid out by the church over the past 35 years, and puts the Diocese of Wollongong among the 15 Catholic authorities with the lowest average payments to victims.

In contrast, the diocese was last week named as one of the five areas with the highest proportion of priests alleged to be perpetrators.

Claims data released this week by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse shows 33 people made claim of child sexual abuse in the Wollongong diocese.

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AUSTRALIA
The Standard

ANDREW THOMSON
17 Feb 2017

A SOUTH-WEST victim ​of clergy sex abuse wants ​plaques featuring Bishop Ronald Mulkearns removed from Warrnambool schools.

The man, who recently made a statement to police and gave evidence at the Royal Commission, is still a practising Catholic.

He said it was a disgrace the plaques, that recognise Bishop Mulkearns had opened buildings in the region, remained on display.

Those plaques are understood to be at St Joseph’s, Our Lady Help Of Christians and St Pius X primary schools in Warrnambool. One has already been removed from St Pius X primary.

​The​ victim said the child sex abuse Royal Commission released statistics last week that revealed almost 4500 victims of sexual abuse had come forward to report abuse.

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PHILIPPINES
Free Malaysia Today

PETALING JAYA: An explosive documentary by Al Jazeera’s 101 East has revealed that many priests in the Philippines routinely sexually abuse the children in their congregation but are never investigated for their crimes.

The documentary also revealed that many more break the sacred vows of celibacy and even father children, something the Catholic church does not permit.

101 East reporter Drew Ambrose said, “The Catholic Church is one of the most powerful institutions in the Philippines.

“Victims of clergy abuse are under enormous pressure not to report abusive priests. We found that even when they do find the courage to come forward, some are paid to keep quiet.”

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MAINE
WGME

KENNEBUNKPORT (WGME) — A convicted pedophile priest from Massachusetts is in jail in Maine Thursday night, accused of molesting boys in Kennebunkport.

74-year-old Ronald Paquin faces 29 counts of gross sexual misconduct.

Victims say for years, Paquin took boys to his camper in Kennebunkport to sexually molest them.

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PHILIPPINES
Aljazeera

by Tiffany Ang’

Sexual abuse allegations against Catholic priests in the Philippines are on the rise, according to senior church investigators.

But this new 101 East documentary reveals that prosecutions of priests alleged to have committed sexual abuse are extremely rare in Asia’s largest Catholic nation.

Some alleged victims say they have been pressured not to file charges and were paid money in exchange for their silence.

Imelda* was 15 years old when she says the priest in her village sexually assaulted her.

“After he kissed me on the forehead, he hugged me,” she recalled. “It was really painful. Why did he do that to me?”

She says that when her family discovered she had reported the incident to the police, they beat her.

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AUSTRALIA
The West Australian

Tim Clarke, Legal Affairs Editor
Thursday, February 16, 2017

WA was at the shameful heart of the most rampant paedophilia within the Catholic Church, the royal commission on child sex abuse has revealed.

A commission analysis released yesterday of cases and payments covering 30 years showed the Church had paid $276.1 million to victims.

The commission released a list of Australian church institutions where most-reported incidents of alleged child sexual abuse occurred from 1980 to 2015.

The data showed 4445 people made claims. Almost 750 abuse claims were continuing at the time of the survey.

Three of the top four institutions were in WA.

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MICHIGAN
WOOD

KENTWOOD, Mich. (WOOD) — A pastor at a Grand Rapids church accused of trying to meet an 11-year-old girl for sex has been ordered to stand trial.

At a preliminary hearing, David Robert Diehl was bound over to circuit court on child sexually abusive activity and using a computer to commit a crime charges.

Diehl was arrested in November 2016 after he responded to an undercover officer’s post on Grand Rapids Craiglist, which warned about a poster offering “sex with daughters.”

Michigan State Police say Diehl is a pastor at Church on Fire in Grand Rapids at the time of his arrest.

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