ABUSE TRACKER

SCOTLAND
The Scottish Sun

BY DOUGLAS WALKER 30th January 2017

THE former boss of a child abuse investigation is suing the Scottish Government for £500,000 over claims they forced her to quit.

Former chair Susan O’Brien QC stood down saying ministerial interference meant the probe wasn’t able to work independently.

Ms O’Brien’s legal team claim her resignation came as Holyrood forces were attempting to have her SACKED, we can reveal.

The highly respected lawyer says they had earlier threatened to remove her which they called “the nuclear option”.

The Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry into historical abuse has been dogged by controversy and saw Ms O’Brien quit last July.

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OHIO
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: Michael A. Parniuk was ordained for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati in 1981. After several years as an assistant at Our Lady of Visitation, Paraniuk was assigned to St. Bernard’s in Winton Place, where he served until 2005. He was also was a long-time hospital chaplain at Cincinnati Children’s, among other hospitals. In 1995 a man came forward to allege that Paraniuk sexually abused him in 1983, when the man was a young teen. Paraniuk denied the allegation; the archdiocese investigated and said the claim could not be substantiated. The man came forward with the allegation again in 2004, after the archdiocese was indicted for not reporting clergy sex abuse. The man subsequently received money from the archdiocese’s victims’ compensation fund and, as a result, Paraniuk was suspended from active ministry in March 2005. The archdiocese again investigated the man’s claim, again deemed it unsubstantiated, and Paraniuk was returned to ministry. He was named pastor of St. Mary’s in Hillsboro and in 2009 became pastor also of St. Benignus in Greenfield. In 2016 he remained at both parishes.

Ordained: 1981

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UNITED STATES
Catholic League

Bill Donohue

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) has been sued before, and while it has been hurt by those filings, the latest one suggests the end is near. It can’t come too soon.

The Catholic League has been tracking SNAP for years. From news releases to radio and TV interviews, we have kept the media abreast of just how corrupt the outfit is. We’ve sent people undercover to attend its public conferences; we’ve taken out ads in major newspapers; we’ve issued several lengthy reports; we’ve fielded complaints from its clients; and we’ve consulted with bishops and others. SNAP is a fraud.

The lawsuit by a former employee, Gretchen Rachel Hammond, registers several serious accusations against SNAP, all of which are supported by the Catholic League’s own investigations of the group. The two together—an eyewitness account and our research—wholly discredit its reputation and completely disarm its supporters, namely, those in the mainstream media.

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ITALIA
Il Secolo XIX

The story is so crazy and yet is so compact that seems It seems to be invented by a novelist: two parish priests are involved in a round of orgies and parties, with judicial inquiry contour ( private violence and abetting prostitution), suspected embezzlement and a bishop who must precipitously return from a visit to the missions in South America.]

Alberto Mattioli
(ha collaborato Roberta Polese)

Roma – La storia è talmente pazzesca eppure così compattamente tipica che sembra inventata da un romanziere: due parroci coinvolti in un giro di orge e festini, con contorno di inchiesta giudiziaria (violenza privata e favoreggiamento della prostituzione), sospette malversazioni e vescovo che deve precipitosamente rientrare da una visita alle missioni in Sudamerica. Il tutto nella provincia benpensante e malfacente, nel bianco Veneto e nella cattolicissima Padova, a due passi dalla basilica del Santo. Roba da “Signore e signori”, anzi signore e monsignori.

L’inizio

Tutto inizia quando una piacente 49enne si presenta ai carabinieri per denunciare Andrea Contin, stessa età, parroco di San Lazzaro. Gergo militare a parte, la querela sembra scritta dal marchese de Sade. La donna rivela di avere una lunga relazione con il presule, e fin qui sono fatti loro e in ogni caso non reati, ma anche che il reverendo la picchiava (dunque, violenza) e la faceva prostituire (ed ecco il favoreggiamento). I militari indagano. E si apre il vaso di pandora. Don Contin nega le botte e la prostituzione, ma confessa la relazione con la signora e altre cinque donne.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Register

BY ELISE HARRIS, CNA/EWTN NEWS
January 30, 2017

VATICAN CITY – After Pope Francis asked Knights of Malta Grand Master Matthew Festing to resign earlier this week, the Order has accepted the resignation, named an interim leader and reinstated their former Grand Chancellor, Albrecht Freiherr von Boeselager.

According to a Jan. 28 press release from the Order of Malta, their Sovereign Council – in an extraordinary meeting held Saturday to vote on Festing’s request to step down from office – “accepted his resignation” and informed Pope Francis of the decision.

They also announced the appointment of Grand Commander Fra’ Ludwig Hoffmann von Rumerstein as the new “Lieutenant ad interim” until a new Grand Master is elected.

Along with Festing’s resignation, the decision to annul the decrees establishing “the disciplinary procedures” recently taken against former Grand Chancellor Albrecht Boeselager as well as “the suspension of his membership in the Order” was announced.

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AUSTRALIA/UNITED KINGDOM
Daily Mail

By Rachael Burford For Mailonline

Gordon Brown has accused the UK authorities of ­’criminal negligence’ for ignoring the alleged abuse of British children sent to abroad

Thousands of British children, some as young as five, who were sent abroad to start a new life may have been sexually abused – and then moved as part of a cover up.

Former Prime Minster Gordon Brown has accused the UK authorities of ­’criminal negligence’ for ignoring the alleged abuse of children who were relocated under the Child Migrants Programme from the 1920s to the 60s.

Writing in the Mirror, he claimed new evidence suggests many children fell victim to sexual predators before they left the U.K and that the Home Office was warned they were at further risk abroad.

Under the Child Migrants Programme, poverty-stricken youngsters were compulsorily deported to Australia, Canada and other parts of the Commonwealth until it was stopped in 1970.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Times

Sean O’Neill, Chief Reporter
January 30 2017
The Times

The fight against the growth of online child abuse images is about to be transformed by a cyberweapon that scours the web for illegal material and demands its rapid removal.

Project Arachnid has released an army of “web spiders” that crawl across the internet tracking down abuse images, identifying the company hosting them and sending immediate take-down notices.

In a six-week trial by the Canadian Centre for Child Protection, Arachnid processed 230 million pages, located 5.1 million with paedophile material and identified 40,000 unique abuse images. The Internet Watch Foundation, Britain’s trace and removal centre, says it assesses about 1,000 URLs, or web addresses, every week.

Lianna McDonald, chief executive of the Canadian centre, said early feedback from North America indicated that more than 90 per cent of images were being taken down within 48 hours of the removal notice being served. She described the number of child abuse images being located as a “reality check”.

The data harvested by the spiders, from both the open web and the so-called dark web, which is not accessible to standard web search engines, can be shared with law enforcement agencies around the world in seconds. Interpol is supporting the project and Canadian officials will visit Britain soon to share the technology with child protection bodies.

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

By Conall Ó Fátharta
Irish Examiner Reporter

A participant in the Bessborough Mother and Baby Home vaccine trial has made a formal Garda complaint after it emerged files relating to the trial were altered in 2002.

In November, the Irish Examiner revealed the files of mothers and children used in the 1960/61 4-in-1 vaccine trial were altered in 2002 — just weeks after the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse sought discovery of records from the religious order running the home.

Mari Steed was born in Bessborough in 1960 and subsequently adopted in the US.

Her natural mother’s file is one of those listed as having been changed.

Earlier this month, Ms Steed made a formal complaint to the gardaí and Data Protection Commissioner concerning the matter.

In the Garda complaint, which has been seen by the Irish Examiner, she states she has also informed the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes of the complaint as it has requested her to provide documentation to it relating to her participation in the vaccine trial.

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IRELAND
The Cork

29 January 2017
By Tom O’Sullivan
tom@TheCork.ie

Sinn Féin TD for Cork South Central Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire has called on the Justice Minister to address the Dáil to explain the manner in which the Magdalene Redress scheme is being administered.

Deputy Ó Laoghaire made the call following the revelation that the Department of Justice is to be probed by the Ombudsman after evidence suggesting maladministration surfaced.

This follows the adjournment of proceedings by two women suing over their exclusion from the scheme on Thursday.

“When announced, the Magdalene Redress Scheme had a number of serious failings and while redress was not unwelcome, it is not the same as compensation; a great deal of other actions should have been taken for justice to truly be delivered,” he said.

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UNITED STATES
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: Ordained in 1941, Frank Massarella served in parishes of the Cincinnati archdiocese as a member of the Glenmary Home Missioners until 1945. From 1945-1951, with the exception of a year at Our Lady of the Holy Ghost Abbey in Conyers GA, Massarella was a Trappist monk at Gethsemani Abbey in KY, taking the name “Pius.” Thereafter he was a priest of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, working as a hospital chaplain, a high school faculty member, and assisting in a number of parishes. In 1956 Massarella was assigned as resident chaplain to Siena Retirement Home in Dayton, OH. He was on Sick Leave 1958-1959. For the next almost forty years, Massarella resided and ministered at Siena and assisted at St. John’s parish in Tipp City. In 1993 the archdiocese reviewed his personnel file and found that there were complaints that he had inappropriately touched girls in 1952 and in 1953-1954. Massarella admitted to the allegations. He was allowed by Archbishop Pilarczyk to remain in “limited” ministry because, as Pilarzyk said, “it was clear that he no longer posed a threat to anybody.” In 2003, after the U.S. Bishops’ new policy of “zero tolerance” regarding the sexual abuse of minors, Massarella was removed from active ministry. In 2005 the Vatican ruled that he was to live a “life of prayer and penance.”

Massarella died May 3, 2014 at Mercy Siena Woods Nursing Home.

Born: May 16, 1915
Ordained: June 7, 1941
Died: May 3, 2014

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IRELAND
Irish Mirror

BY SAOIRSE MCGARRIGLE
30 JAN 2017

Victims of sex beast Bill Kenneally are willing to meet the paedo’s priest uncle, who quit his role at a local primary school after they called for his dismissal.

Monsignor John Shine, 91, was chairperson of the Holy Cross School in Tramore, Co Waterford, but victims of his abuser nephew said his position was “no longer tenable” after claims he knew about the abuse and did nothing.

He resigned from the school on Saturday, days after they wrote to Pope Francis saying he “played a key role in the shielding of Bill Kenneally after the Monsignor became aware of his nephew’s paedophile crimes as early back as 1987”.

Victim Colin Power told the Irish Daily Mirror: “I am willing to meet him, because I would welcome him disclosing the information he has. We need to know the truth. We need to know who knew what was being done to us and turned a blind eye.”

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

By Evelyn Ring
Irish Examiner Reporter

Rebel Redemptorist priest, Tony Flannery, has called for the papal nuncio to be removed from his post.

Fr Flannery, who is forbidden to minister as a priest, has described the papal nuncio, Archbishop Charles Browne, as the single most destructive factor in the Irish church.

He said the church’s biggest problem and the one thing he would like to change, was the way bishops were appointed. It was why the church did not have proper leadership.

“I would love to see the present papal nuncio being removed because I think he is doing great damage to the Irish church by the policies by which he is appointing bishops,” he said.

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ROME
Crux

Austen Ivereigh January 29, 2017
CONTRIBUTING EDITOR

[Editor’s note: Today, Crux contributing editor Austen Ivereigh comments on the drama surrounding Pope Francis and the Knights of Malta. Tomorrow, Dr. Kurt Martens of the School of Canon Law at the Catholic University of America will provide another perspective.]

ROME – When it came, the skirmish was brief. Despite their aggressive shows of defiance, the rebels’ surrender was unconditional.

Following a tense standoff between the leadership of the Knights of Malta and the Vatican, its Grand Master, Fra’ Matthew Festing, agreed to resign last week following a report by a papal commission that documents serious claims about dysfunction in his leadership.

The report highlights the need for serious reform of the order’s tiny leadership clique, drawn from around 50 “professed” Knights, who take vows, and are traditionally drawn from noble European families.

The pope named another of the senior knights, its Grand Commander, Fra’ Ludwig Hoffmann von Rumerstein, as interim leader until his own legate was appointed.

Some speculated that the order’s ruling Sovereign Council might reject Francis’s intervention. But when it met on Saturday, the council bowed to the need for the change.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

Rachel Browne

The long-serving head master of Trinity Grammar, Milton Cujes, has announced he will retire at the end of the year after a 41-year association with the Summer Hill private boys school.

Mr Cujes and the Trinity Grammar school council made the announcement ahead of this week’s new school term.

The announcement follows Mr Cujes’ appearance at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse last year in which he said the school should have done more to investigate claims students were sexually assaulting each other in 2000. The commission has yet to hand down findings from the public hearing.

Mr Cujes’ retirement follows the sentencing of former Trinity Grammar teacher Neil Albert Futcher, who learned on Friday he would spend 11 years behind bars for sex crimes against six victims as young as 11.

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SCOTLAND
The Times

Mike Wade
January 30 2017
The Times

Campaigners have urged ministers to extend the powers of an inquiry into the abuse of youngsters in care, enabling it to authorise compensation for victims.

The senior judge Lady Smith will tomorrow chair a preliminary hearing of the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry, but her officials have already made clear that it cannot recommend payments to victims.

Campaigners, however, have been encouraged by a report into historical child abuse in Northern Ireland published this month by Sir Anthony Hart, which concluded that victims should receive financial redress of up to £100,000.

Victims groups last night urged Lady Smith to follow suit. Alan Draper, spokesman for In Care Abuse Survivors, said: “What survivors want is justice, accountability and redress.

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IRELAND
The Journal

TWO PRIESTS HAVE said the Vatican should change how it deals with clergy and lay people.

Fr Tony Flannery and Fr Sean McDonagh, co-founders of the Association of Catholic Priests in Ireland, have both been at odds with the Vatican on more than one occasion.

Speaking to Miriam O’Callaghan on RTÉ Radio 1 today, they said the Catholic Church also needs to apologise for how it has treated women and give them more power in the Church.

Flannery (70) said his first public mass in over four years last week to mark 40 years in the priesthood. He was banned from saying mass publicly in 2012, after some people in the Vatican took issue with his stance on certain subjects.

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JAMAICA
Jamaica Observer

KINGSTON, Jamaica — Ninety-four per cent of the 746 respondents to a recent OBSERVER ONLINE poll said that the authorities are not doing enough to tackle carnal abuse in Jamaica.

Since the start of the year, the church has been tainted with the growing sex scandals involving members of the clergy and minors. To date at least four clergymen have been arrested for alleged sexual dealings with minors.

Three, who are a part of the Moravian church, were charged with sexual offences committed against minors while a Pentecostal pastor was last week convicted and is awaiting sentencing in February.

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GUAM
KUAM

Jan 30, 2017

The off-island law firms who represent the Archdiocese of Agana visited the island last week. In a statement from the Archdiocese, they confirm members from law firms Swanson & McNamara, as well as Weintraub Tobin, visited to perform consultative work for the cases on sexual abuse. “We are grateful for their work.”

According to District Court filings, attorneys Mary McNamara, Britt Evangelist, and Paul Gaspari have filed and were approved to represent the Archdiocese alongside local attorney John Terlaje. Last week, six of the fifteen victims moved their cases from the local court to the federal court because each of the judges in the Superior Court of Guam disqualified themselves.

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IOWA
Des Moines Register

Molly Longman , mlongman@dmreg.com Jan. 29, 2017

DALLAS CENTER, Ia. — The arrest of Dallas Center Church of the Brethren’s 14-year pastor on child molestation charges tinged Sunday school and a worship service at the church Sunday, although it wasn’t explicitly referenced.

About 40 people gathered in the wooden pews for worship, four days after Randy August Johnson, 52, was accused of repeatedly sexually abusing a girl from 2013 to 2014 while she was 12 and 13 years old.

Randy Johnson’s wife, the Rev. Kathy Johnson, 54, delivered the sermon on Sunday, reading from Philippians 2:16, about not living a life in vain, and leading hymns.

When she addressed the congregation, she started by saying, “Wowzers, what a week we’ve had.”

In an interview Sunday, Kathy Johnson said her husband resigned officially as pastor two weeks ago after 14 years with the church. Kathy Johnson said he’d stopped delivering sermons on Christmas Eve, when detectives told the family he was being investigated.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Barry Roche

Gardaí have arrested the imprisoned former Waterford sports coach, Bill Kenneally for questioning after three more men have come forward with allegations that he had abused them when they were teenagers in Waterford in the 1980s.

Detectives arrested Kenneally (66) at the Midlands Prison on January 17th and conveyed him to Portlaoise Garda station where they questioned him for over six hours about the latest allegations against him before he was returned to the Midlands Prison. …

Resignation

Meanwhile Kenneally’s uncle, Msgr John Shine resigned at the weekend from his position as chairman of the board of management of Holy Cross National School in Tramore following a letter the victims wrote to Pope Francis questioning his suitability to deal with child protection.

In his statement of resignation issued by the Diocese of Waterford and Lismore on Saturday, Msgr Shine said he had decided to step down, “bearing in mind the wishes, and indeed the distress, of the victims of my nephew, Bill Kenneally”.

Msgr Shine also offered to meet the victims of his nephew when he has recovered sufficiently from a recent operation “to hear their views and to share with them all that I know of events of the past” and he expressed hope that he might “be reconciled with them in their immense suffering”.

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IRELAND
The Sunday Times (UK)

Stephen O’Brien, Political Editor
January 29 2017
The Sunday Times

Enda Kenny has asked Pope Francis to review the cases of five priests disciplined by the Catholic Church, in order to “improve the environment” for the papal visit to Ireland in 2018.

The priests — including Brian D’Arcy and Tony Flannery — were sanctioned over their views on married clergy and women priests on the orders of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) .

The taoiseach spoke to D’Arcy and Flannery before he met the Pope in the Vatican last November, and briefed D’Arcy afterwards.

Kenny gave Pope Francis a number of letters from Ireland, including one from Flannery and another from an alleged victim of clerical sexual abuse.

D’Arcy did not write to the Pope, but briefed the taoiseach about his case and suggested Pope Francis might deal with these “unfair” disciplinary sanctions before his visit.

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NEW YORK
Road to Recovery

MEDIA RELEASE – JANUARY 28, 2017

Jesuits of the Northeast Province, based on the upper eastside of Manhattan and surrounded by a parish, an elementary school, and two high schools, continue to re-victimize Neal E. Gumpel, a childhood clergy sexual abuse victim of Fr. Roy Alan Drake, SJ, a deceased, serial pedophile Jesuit priest, by refusing to reasonably settle his claim

Jesuits admit to having credible information from approximately five (5) persons (besides the victim) about Neal E. Gumpel’s childhood sexual abuse by Fr. Roy Alan Drake, SJ, and still refuse to settle Neal E. Gumpel’s claim reasonably

What
A demonstration and leafleting alerting the media, parishioners of a Jesuit-sponsored parish, and general public that the Northeast Province of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) has insulted and re-victimized a childhood sexual abuse victim of a Jesuit priest by refusing to reasonably settle his credible claim.

When
Sunday, January 29, 2017, from 10:00 am until Noon

Where
On the public sidewalk in front of the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola, 980 Park Avenue, New York, New York 10028 (between East 83rd and East 84th Streets) – 212-288-3588

Who
Neal E. Gumpel; his wife, Helen Gumpel, and members of Road to Recovery, Inc., a non-profit charity based in New Jersey that assists victims of sexual abuse and their families, including its co-founder and President, Robert M. Hoatson, Ph.D.

Why
The Northeast Province of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) knows that Fr. Roy Alan Drake, SJ, was a serial molester of boys. The Province settled at least one public claim against Fr. Roy Alan Drake, SJ, in the past. Neal E. Gumpel’s credible factual account of having been sexually abused as a minor child by Fr. Roy Alan Drake, SJ, at Maine Maritime Academy in Castine, Maine, where Fr. Roy Alan Drake was a professor and Jesuit priest at Maine Maritime Academy, was credibly supported by approximately five (5) individuals, in addition to Neal E. Gumpel. Now, the Northeast Province of the Jesuits, which has found that Neal E. Gumpel’s claim is credible, has insulted and re-victimized Neal E. Gumpel by refusing to reasonably settle his claim. Demonstrators will ask parishioners and the general public to voice their outrage to the Jesuits of their parish and the leaders of the Northeast Province of the Jesuits whose offices are located around the corner on East 83rd Street and demand of the Northeast Province Jesuit leaders that they treat Neal E. Gumpel with compassion, fairness, and justice.

Contact
Robert M. Hoatson, Ph.D. – Road to Recovery, Inc. – 862-368-2800

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ROME
Settimo Cielo

Sandro Magister

Decapitated by the pope of its Grand Master, the Englishman Matthew Festing, the Sovereign Military Order of Malta not only has ratified his forced resignation on Saturday, January 28, but it has turned back the hands of time to the fateful 6th of December, 2016, reinstating in the role of Grand Chancellor the very man who on that day had been removed from it and suspended from the Order, the German Albrecht Freiherr von Boeselager.

What reversed the fortunes within the Order, to the point of driving it to this act of total submission to the bidding of Pope Francis, were three acts carried out in rapid succession by the pontiff himself: the summoning of the Grand Master on January 24 with the order given to him to resign; the letter on the following day from secretary of state Cardinal Pietro Parolin with the specification of the pope’s wishes; and finally two letters on January 27 from the pope himself, with a further specification of the role to be performed by the “pontifical delegate” whose arrival has been announced: “for the spiritual and moral renewal of the Order.”

And it is this last element that is the most newsworthy in the statement released this evening by the Order. As Settimo Cielo had correctly reported, Pope Francis has in effect granted the Order the faculty of proceeding according to its constitutions concerning its interim regency – now assumed by the Grand Commander of the Order, Fra’ Ludwig Hoffmann von Rumerstein – and the appointment of the new Grand Master. So the “pontifical delegate” will neither replace nor overlap the legitimate governance of the Order, as many had hoped or feared. Instead he will accompany it with the task of “spiritual” guide. A task, that is, very similar to the one that already belongs by statute to the cardinal patron.

The decapitation inflicted by Pope Francis on the Order of Malta is therefore twofold. Because what is falling is not only the head of Grand Master Festing, but also, de facto, that of cardinal patron Raymond Leo Burke. Meaning the ones who had brought about the removal of Boeselager in the certainty that they were thereby putting into practice the mandate entrusted to them by the pope, in a December 1 letter to Burke: to “promote the spiritual interests of the order and remove any affiliation with groups or practices that run contrary to the moral law.”

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NEW YORK
Newsday

January 29, 2017

By Bob Keeler

As a priest, in private moments with the ill or the grieving, Bishop William F. Murphy has been admirably pastoral and compassionate.

As a bishop, he’s too often been autocratic, with a knack for committing unforced errors, marring his 15-plus years leading the Diocese of Rockville Centre.

Unfortunately, it was not Murphy the gentle pastor, but Murphy the high-handed, controversial master, who shaped his image.

Less than a week after his installation in 2001, terrorists destroyed the World Trade Center, killing nearly 3,000. In that tragic time, Murphy was at his best, reaching out quietly to comfort bereaved families.

Then, at the start of 2002, The Boston Globe began its Pulitzer Prize-winning series about sexual abuse by priests and negligence by bishops in the Archdiocese of Boston, where Murphy had been Cardinal Bernard Law’s top aide. Though no one has accused Murphy of a crime, that series started a cascade of image-staining news.

The headlines are familiar: his testimony before a Massachusetts grand jury, the same week that a Suffolk County grand jury issued a scathing report about sexual abuse here before Murphy arrived; his refusal to let Voice of the Faithful, a lay group arising from the crisis, meet on church property; his decision to commandeer a space that was to have ho-used six nuns; his taste for pricey appliances and a wine cooler that led then-Newsday columnist Jimmy Breslin to brand him “Mansion Murphy.”

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Haidee V Eugenio , heugenio@guampdn.com Jan. 29, 2017

The Vatican has confirmed Archbishop Anthony S. Apuron’s canonical trial is ongoing, and some leading canon law experts said it could last for years.

Vatican policy dictates that only Rome can investigate bishops and archbishops who are accused of sexual abuse.

Besides undergoing a canonical trial in Rome, Apuron is also facing lawsuits filed in the Superior Court of Guam for allegedly raping and sexually abusing altar boys in the 1970s.

“This is new ground, as no bishop I am aware of, who sexually abused children, has ever finished a canonical trial,” Attorney Patrick J. Wall, a world-renowned expert on canonical trials and the Catholic clergy abuse crisis, said.

Wall is a former priest and Benedictine monk. He left the Catholic ministry after he felt he was used to help cover up other clergymen’s sex abuses. He has since been advocating for hundreds of clergy abuse survivors.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Katholisch

[The church lawyer Nobert Lüdecke has examined the guidelines of all 27 German dioceses dealing with sexual abuse. He came to a clear conclusion. He called for uniformed handling of abuse allegations in the German church.]

Der Kirchenrechtler Norbert Lüdecke fordert eine einheitliche Ordnung für den Umgang der katholischen Kirche in Deutschland mit Fällen von sexuellem Missbrauch durch Geistliche. Bislang gebe es 27 verschiedene, von denen nicht einmal klar sei, ob sie in Kraft gesetzt seien, sagte Lüdecke am Freitag bei einer Veranstaltung an der Universität Bonn. Das Kirchenrecht sehe vor, dass Bischofskonferenzen den Vatikan um eine entsprechende Gesetzgebungskompetenz in dem Fall bitten können. Dies sei zum Beispiel in den USA geschehen.

Lüdecke erklärte, dass bislang jedes Bistum die von der Deutschen Bischofskonferenz 2013 überarbeiteten Leitlinien zum Umgang mit Missbrauch einzeln in Kraft setzen müsse. Dazu reiche es nicht aus, die Leitlinien nur im kirchlichen Amtsblatt abzudrucken. Die Diözesanbischöfe müssten für ihre jeweilige Diözese die Regelungen auf Grundlage der Leitlinien erlassen, wie etwa die 2014 veröffentlichte Ordnung des Erzbistums Köln. Bei mehr als der Hälfte der deutschen Diözesen sei zweifelhaft, ob sie geltendes Partikularrecht seien, so der Professor. Er hatte mit seinen Studierenden überprüft, ob Bistümer die Leitlinien einfach übernommen oder eigene Bestimmungen formuliert haben.

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ITALIA
VEB

[A furious fight broke out in the Maggiore Hospital delivery room in Novara. The fight was between the father of a newborn baby and the parish priest who claimed paternity of the child.]

Nella sala parto dell’Ospedale Maggiore di Novara è scoppiata una rissa furibonda fra il padre di un bimbo appena nato e un parroco che del nascituro rivendica la paternità.

I riflettori che illuminano parrochi e parrocchie non si riescono a spegnere.

Le pagine dei giornali, ancora zeppe dell’episodio di Padova ormai noto come “orge in canonica”, devono occuparsi anche del prete di Novara, padre Giorgio, che candidamente si è recato nella sala parto in cui stava per nascere il bimbo della “colpa”, almeno a detta dell’intraprendente prete che ne ha rivendicata la paternità.

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ITALIA
Rete L’Abuso

[The network of horrors of a pedophile priest who brutalized other children. Trotta is in the dock.]

Per l’ex sacerdote e allenatore di calcio la storia non è ancora finita. Possibile nuovo processo a carico di Giovanni Trotta, 55enne già condannato per pedofilia e violenze nei confronti di minorenni. Ci sarebbero altri 9 presunti casi di abusi sui quali l’uomo dovrà rispondere davanti al giudice in un’aula di tribunale. Appuntamento con l’udienza preliminare il prossimo 7 febbraio al cospetto del gup Roberto Oliveri Del Castillo.

È l’ennesima mazzata per Trotta, già condannato alla pena di 8 anni di reclusione e al pagamento di 64mila euro di multa. L’ex sacerdote ed ex allenatore di una scuola calcio giovanile di Pietramontecorvino, era accusato di violenza sessuale aggravata nei confronti di un 11enne e di produzione, distribuzione, divulgazione, condivisione e pubblicizzazione di materiale pedopornografico ai danni del bambino. I fatti risalgono agli anni 2013 e 2014, commessi a Pietra ma anche a Casalnuovo Monterotaro.

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VATICAN CITY
Daily Mail

By Philip Pullella

VATICAN CITY, Jan 28 (Reuters) – On the afternoon of Jan. 24, a black BMW pulled out of a 16th century palace in Rome, crossed the Tiber River and headed for the Vatican, a short trip to end a brazen challenge to the authority of Pope Francis.

Inside the car was 67-year-old Englishman Matthew Festing, the head of an ancient Catholic order of knights which is now a worldwide charity with a unique diplomatic status.

Festing was about to resign, the first leader in several centuries of the Order of Malta, which was founded in 1048 to provide medical aid for pilgrims in the Holy Land, to step down instead of ruling for life.

The move was aimed at ending a highly-public spat between Festing and the reformist pope over the running of the chivalric institution. The weeks-long conflict had become one of the biggest internal challenges yet to Francis’ efforts to modernize the 1.2 billion member Roman Catholic Church.

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AUSTRALIA
PerthNow

Peter Law, PerthNow
January 28, 2017

CHILD sex abuse is expected to cost the Anglican diocese of Perth more than $1 million over just three years.

Settlement payments to victims of abuse by clergy or church staff in WA soared in the past year, an internal church report reveals.

But the Perth diocese this week refused to say how many complaints of child sex abuse it had received, how many allegations were reported to WA police, how many victims received settlements or what confidentiality restrictions were attached to payments.

The Diocesan Council Report to Synod 2016 shows costs associated with settlement, counselling for victims and legals fees was expected to total $432,800 in 2016-17. The figure is $263,739 more than the original budget.

This was due to “increased claims as a result of referrals” from the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, the document shows.

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GUAM
Guam Daily Post

Neil Pang and Gaynor D. Daleno | Post News Staff

When six of the more than a dozen sexual abuse cases for former local altar boys were moved to the federal District Court of Guam earlier last week, one reason for the transfer of jurisdiction was the lack of local judges who didn’t have a conflict or potential conflict.

But there’s another major significance to the transfer of the six cases to the federal court.

The federal court must take jurisdiction, says David Lujan’s law firm, which is representing the accusers, because this isn’t a Guam issue alone.

The cases filed in federal court directly addresses the seat of the Catholic Church’s global leadership: The Vatican, in Rome.

“This probably already has the Vatican scared. Guam is one big, ugly monster on the Vatican’s radar, and it just got real ugly,” said Tim Rohr, who has been a constant commenter on the turmoil in the local Catholic church leadership over the past few years, and runs a blog with local and international followers.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Sudwest Presse

[Mr Zollner, you are the Center for Child Protection at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. What are you doing? Hans Zollner: We are committed to the prevention of sexual abuse worldwide. That is we are training members of the Catholic Church and beyond. Through e-learning we offer learning units in five languages ​​at present. This is about questions: How to recognize abuse? What to do if you suspect? What is the legal situation in each country? We currently have 25 partner institutions worldwide.]

Vor sechs Jahren löste der Jesuitenpater Mertes eine Lawine aus als er über sexuellen Missbrauch an seinem Gymnasium berichtete. Das stürzte die katholische Kirche in eine Krise. Sie reagierte. Hans Zollner sitzt an einer der Schaltstellen. Er ist Theologe und Psychologe und arbeitet zur Prävention von Missbrauch weltweit.

Herr Zollner, Sie leiten das Zentrum für Kinderschutz an der päpstlichen Universität Gregoriana in Rom. Was tun Sie da?

Hans Zollner: Wir haben uns der Prävention von sexuellem Missbrauch weltweit verschrieben. Das heißt, wir machen Schulungen für Mitarbeiter der katholischen Kirche, aber auch darüber hinaus. Über E-Learning bieten wir Lerneinheiten in derzeit fünf Sprachen an. Da geht es um Fragen: Wie erkennt man Missbrauch? Was tun bei einem Verdacht? Wie ist die Rechtslage im jeweiligen Land? Wir haben im Moment 25 Partnerinstitutionen weltweit.

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OSTERREICH
Kathpress

[Jesuit Hans Zollner: Abuse also has spiritual dimension. The Vatican child protection expert spoke at the Viennese Prevention Conference: “Spiritual wounds” can destroy the faith of victims, he said.]

Wien, 27.01.2017 (KAP) Die Diskussion um Missbrauch in kirchlichen Einrichtungen hat bislang die geistliche Dimension des Verbrechens völlig übersehen: Das hat der Jesuit Hans Zollner, Mitglied der päpstlichen Kommission für den Schutz von Minderjährigen und Leiter des Kinderschutz-Zentrum CCP in Rom, am Mittwoch bei einem Wiener Symposium über die Prävention von Missbrauch dargelegt. Der Theologe, Philosoph und Therapeut bezeichnete den Kinderschutz dabei als “bleibende Aufgabe”, da Missbrauch trotz aller Prävention nie völlig ausgeschlossen werden könne.

Wenn Missbrauch in der Kirche stattfinde, komme zum physischen und psychischen Trauma auch ein spirituelles Trauma hinzu, sagte Zollner. “Eine geistliche Person wird mit der Kirche identifiziert. Geschieht durch sie ein Missbrauch, dann steht dahinter noch eine weitere Dimension, denn sie repräsentiert Gott.” Opfer von Missbrauch seien in Gefahr einer “spirituellen Verwundung”, die den Glauben zerstören könne. Dies sei vielen in der Kirche nicht klar. “Es gibt keine Theologie angesichts des Missbrauchs”, stellte der vatikanische Top-Experte für Kinderschutz fest.

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MALTA
iNews

[Victims of sexual abuse by priests in Malta will go to the European Court.]

Il-vittmi ta’ abbużi sesswali minn tliet qassisin, liema vittmi ilhom 13-il sena jistennew li ssir ġustizzja magħhom billi jingħataw kumpens finanzjarju, issa permezz tal-avukati tagħhom talbu lill-Qorti biex tagħti is-sentenza. Fl-aħħar seduta li kellhom quddiem il-Qorti tal-Appell, huma talbu li tingħata s-sentenza. Il-vittmi issa qed jagħmluha ċara li l-ħsieb tagħhom hu li jkomplu l-ġlieda quddiem il-Qorti Ewropea.

Lawrence Grech f’kumment lil Inewsmalta qal li “fl-aħħar jiem kompla jinstema’ l-appell wara li s-seduti ta’ qabel kienu għal tliet darbiet differiti. L-avukati tagħna talbu li mmorru għas-sentenza. Is-seduta li jmiss hi fil-15 ta’ Marzu. Wara il-ħsieb tagħna hu li niftħu proċeduri quddiem il-Qorti Ewropea”.

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MARYLAND
Baltimore Sun

BALTIMORE (AP) — Lawyers for a Catholic high school girl say they’ve reached a tentative settlement with the Archdiocese of Baltimore in a civil lawsuit alleging she was preyed upon by a lesbian soccer coach.

Attorney Al Scanlan told The Associated Press in an email Friday that the parties have informed the Baltimore City Circuit Court of the pending settlement. Scanlan says the details will be confidential.

Archdiocese spokesman Sean Caine declined to comment on the case.

The civil lawsuit contended that Catherine Czapski (ZAP’-ski) took advantage of the girl’s medical conditions, including depressive disorder and Asperger’s Syndrome, to seduce her at the Bishop Walsh School in Cumberland.

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IOWA
Dallas County News

Brian Johnson, the former pastor from Dallas Center Church of the Brethren who was arrested on several charges involving sexual abuse on a child, is out of jail after posting a $10,000 bond.

According to court documents, 1st Call Bail Bonds posted the $10,000 bond on Friday.

Johnson is scheduled to appear in court on Feb. 6 at 11 a.m.

Beginning in December of 2016, the Dallas County Sheriff’s Office in cooperation with the Dallas Center Police Department began an investigation about a possible sex abuse by Randy Johnson, 52, who resides at 1201 Ash Street in Dallas Center.

Johnson is listed as the pastor at the Dallas Center Church of the Brethren, located at 1207 Ash Avenue in Dallas Center.

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IRELAND
Irish Mirror

BYJAMES WARD
28 JAN 2017

For years Mary Collins has campaigned fruitlessly to have her mum Angela removed from a mass burial site where she lies beside 72 other Magdalene women.

Traveller Angela was “snatched from the side of the road” when her daughter was just two years old, and spent the following 27 years in hellhole St Vincent’s home in Cork, where she stayed until her death.

Mary wants a Commission of Investigation to be set up to provide answers to the children of the Magdalene women but says she has been ignored by the Department of Justice and the nuns from St Vincent’s.

She held a graveside memorial service for her Angela and the other forgotten women.

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FRANCIA
Rete L’Abuso

[In France: Since the late ’60s to today at least 222 children were victims of abuse by Catholic priests.]

In Francia, dalla fine degli anni ’60 ad oggi, almeno 222 bambini sono stati vittime di abusi da parte dei preti cattolici. A svelare questi dati, il primo censimento del Consiglio Episcopale d’Oltralpe (CEF) sul numero di minori finiti nelle grinfie degli orchi dietro i confessionali, che ha raccolto le voci di chi si è rivolto ai centri d’ascolto istituiti nelle diocesi a partire da aprile 2016. Secondo i numeri, il 60% delle testimonianze riguarda fatti antecedenti al 1970, il 35% tra il 1970 e il 2000 e il 4% dal 2000 ai giorni nostri. Molti degli autori degli abusi sono ormai deceduti – si legge nel comunicato stampa della CEF – ma altri stanno già facendo i conti con la legge. Dai dati risulta, infatti, che 9 sacerdoti e diaconi sono attualmente dietro le sbarre. 37 hanno finito di scontare la loro pena, mentre 26 sono sotto processo.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Derry Journal

A former resident of a boys’ home in Derry says he’s furious that the reputations of many “good nuns” have been ruined as a result of false allegations of abuse.

Bernard McEldowney, a retired policeman, spent 18 years under the care of the Sisters of Nazareth in Derry, the majority of which was spent at St Joseph’s Boys’ Home, Termonbacca.

Mr. McEldowney spoke out after the publication of the report of the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry which investigated child abuse in residential institutions in Northern Ireland over a 73-years period, up to 1995.

A former senior policeman in England, Mr. McEldowney gave evidence to the HIA anonymously in 2014 but later waived his right to anonymity to voice his concerns.

He told the ‘Journal’ yesterday that, “like many former residents of Termonbacca, I had a wonderful childhood at Termonbacca and will always be grateful to the nuns who cared for me for all those years.

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IOWA
Des Moines Register

Lee Rood , lrood@dmreg.com Jan. 26, 2017

The Dallas Center pastor charged this week with 13 criminal counts for allegedly sexually abusing a teenage girl was a licensed foster parent.

But Iowa’s Department of Human Services wouldn’t say Thursday whether the child he allegedly abused was under state supervision.

Randy August Johnson, 52, is accused of repeatedly sexually abusing a girl from 2013 to 2014 while she was 12 and 13 years old, according to court records.

Most of the abuse reportedly occurred at his Dallas Center home, next door to Dallas Center Church of the Brethren, where Johnson formerly was the pastor. His next court date is Feb. 6.

Tim Button-Harrison, district executive for the Northern Plains District Church of the Brethren, which oversees the Dallas Center church, declined to say when or how Johnson’s employment at the church ceased.

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

Saturday, January 28, 2017

By Conall Ó Fátharta
Irish Examiner Reporter

The ombudsman has launched an investigation into possible “evidence of maladministration” of the Magdalene redress scheme by the Department of Justice and Equality.

The investigation was revealed in the High Court on Thursday where two women are challenging the department’s decision not to include them in the redress scheme.

The ombudsman, Peter Tyndall, notified the department of its intention to launch an investigation on December 20.

The Irish Examiner understands the investigation will consider whether the application process operated in an open and fair manner and whether the department relied on information that was irrelevant and/or incomplete, when deciding on a person’s eligibility under the scheme.

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ROME
Crux

Nicole Winfield January 27, 2017
ASSOCIATED PRESS

ROME – The Knights of Malta is still insisting on its sovereignty in its showdown with the Vatican, even after Pope Francis effectively took control of the ancient religious order and announced a papal delegate would govern it through a “process of renewal.”

The Knights’ current grand master, Fra’ Matthew Festing, was at work Friday at the order’s swanky Rome palazzo near the Spanish Steps, pending a meeting of his governing council to either accept or reject his resignation.

The Saturday meeting is no rubber-stamp formality: It’s evidence of the order’s sovereign status under international law, which is recognized by the more than 100 countries that have diplomatic relations with the Knights of Malta and essentially consider it a state.

Festing, a 67-year-old British aristocrat, met Tuesday with Francis and said he would resign after he lost an internal power struggle that started with a scandal over condoms. Festing sacked the Knights’ foreign minister, Albrecht von Boeselager, over the condom scandal.

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LOUISIANA
The Advocate

BY JIM MUSTIAN | JMUSTIAN@THEADVOCATE.COM JAN 27, 2017

A sexual abuse lawsuit involving a popular former Jesuit priest survived a legal challenge Friday as a judge rejected arguments by Loyola University and the Archdiocese of New Orleans that a woman waited too long to bring decades-old rape claims against the Rev. Benjamin L. Wren.

Judge Sidney Cates IV, of Orleans Parish Civil District Court, denied a series of defense motions that contended the plaintiff, identified in court papers as Jane Doe, cannot collect damages because she failed to file suit until last year.

The woman claims that Wren raped her repeatedly between 1978 and 1985, beginning when she was 5.

The motions represented the church’s first response to the allegations, even as lawyers for the archdiocese and the Jesuits of the USA Central and Southern Province, another defendant in the case, suggested the proceedings should be sealed.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Haidee V Eugenio , heugenio@guampdn.com Jan. 28, 2017

Citing conflict of interest or appearance of bias, all eight trial court judges in the Superior Court of Guam have filed 84 notices of disqualification from cases related to alleged sexual abuse by Catholic priests.

Among the judges’ reasons for recusals are their relationships with either the alleged victims of clergy sex abuses or the accused priests, including Archbishop Anthony S. Apuron, as well as other defendants, such as the Archdiocese of Agana.

Judge Vernon P. Perez, for example, said he is a friend and former high school classmate of Walter G. Denton, who has accused Apuron of raping him in the 1970s.

Judge Anita A. Sukola said she is personally acquainted with Apuron and is closely related to several members of the Neocatechumenal Way, an organization within the archdiocese.

Judge Elyze Iriarte said a family member claims to have witnessed one of the accused priests, Louis Brouillard, engaging in acts similar to those described in lawsuits filed.

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ARGENTINA
Telam

El cura que el miércoles ofició la misa por los 20 años del asesinato de José Luis Cabezas fue denunciado en 2002 por 13 casos de abuso sexual contra chicos de entre tres y cinco años.

Se trata del padre Félix Alejandro Martínez, a cargo de la parroquia Sagrado Corazón de Jesús, de General Madariaga.

En 2002, fue denunciado junto al profesor de educación física Fernando Melo Pacheco por el abuso sexual de los chicos que asistían al jardín de infantes de la Escuela Nuestra Señora del Camino, de Mar del Plata.

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ESPANA
El Diario

[The judge of Getxo Emilio Lamo de Espinosa has issued a very hard indictment against a numerary of Opus Dei and professor of the Catholic catholic school in Gaztelueta, Spain, which is located in Leioa (Bizkaia). The numerary is accused to sexual abuse of minors.]

El juez de Getxo Emilio Lamo de Espinosa ha dictado un durísimo auto de procesamiento contra un numerario del Opus Dei y profesor del colegio católico masculino Gaztelueta, ubicado en Leioa (Bizkaia), al considerar suficientemente acreditados no sólo graves episodios de abusos sexuales de este docente a un menor, que en el momento de los hechos tenía 12 y 13 años, sino también que aquello provocó al hoy adulto, que denunció el caso ante los tribunales al cumplir la mayoría de edad, un aislamiento total de su entorno. Ese aislamiento propició, según el auto judicial, episodios de acoso por parte de sus compañeros de aula, estrés postraumático, pensamientos suicidas e incluso de fracaso escolar. El magistrado tomará el 14 de febrero declaración al profesor, J.M.M.S, familiar de una alta autoridad política del Estado, y fija para él una fianza de 40.000 euros como medida cautelar, aunque no decreta su ingreso en prisión preventiva.

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GUAM
KUAM

Updated: Jan 27, 2017

By Krystal Paco

The Concerned Catholics of Guam are asking the Presbyteral Council to put more pressure on the issues surrounding the formation of priests at the Redemptoris Mater Seminary in Yona. The CCOG sent a letter to the Council on Thursday.

CCOG Vice President Andrew Camacho states a minor seminary would better suit Guam and its needs. “The main objective is to urge the Presbyteral Council to take the issues of the seminary to Archbishop Byrnes, and kind of stress the importance. If Guam must have a seminary, it needs to follow certain criteria,” Camacho says. “Does Guam need medical doctors? The answer, of course, is absolutely. Can Guam afford to build and maintain its own medical school? Definitely not, even though we have a lot of local people who are in the medical field.”

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BELGIE
Focus WTV

[The Bruge diocese is seeking information regarding former Bishop Roger Vangheluwe.]

Het Bisdom Brugge is vragende partij voor meer duidelijkheid in de zaak Vangheluwe.

Dat meldt het bisdom in een reactie op de confrontatie van gisteren tussen voormalig bisschop Roger Vangheluwe en een slachtoffer bij de federale politie in Brussel. Het bisdom was niet op de hoogte.

“We vernemen uit de pers dat er bij de federale gerechtelijke politie een confrontatie geweest is tussen Roger Vangheluwe en iemand die klacht indiende omwille van seksueel misbruik”, meldt het Bisdom Brugge in een korte reactie. “We zijn mee vragende partij om duidelijkheid in deze zaak te scheppen. En we blijven als kerk, met de opvangpunten voor misbruik in een pastorale relatie, klaar staan om slachtoffers nabij te zijn, ook als blijkt dat de feiten voor het gerecht verjaard zijn.”

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BELGIE
News Monkey

[Chris Dusauchoit has revealed himself as a victim of child abuse to support the many other victims.of child abuse. Mr. Duchauchoit wrote an open letter to De Standaard on the occasional of former bishop Roger Vangheluwe denying the allegation of sexual abuse when he met with one of his alleged victims. Many people were shocked Wednesday to find that the former bishop again denied everything in the confrontation. Mr. Dusauchoit got excited on Twitter, calling the former bishop a coward.]

Na bijna vijftig jaar moest het hem eindelijk van het hart. Chris Dusauchoit is een slachtoffer van seksueel misbruik. Daarover schreef hij een open brief in De Standaard. Aanleiding was de zoveelste ontkenning van oud-bisschop Roger Vangheluwe in een confrontatie met een van zijn slachtoffers.

Veel mensen schrokken woensdag toen Roger Vangheluwe in een confrontatie met een van zijn slachtoffers opnieuw alles ontkende. Ook Chris Dusauchoit liet zich horen op Twitter en noemde de oud-bisschop een lafaard. Joris Van Cauter, de advocaat van Vangheluwe, reageerde daarop dat hij van een journalist objectiviteit verwachtte. “Ik ben slachtoffer van seksueel misbruik, geen journalist”, zei Dusauchoit in een duidelijke reactie.

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BELGIE
Katholiek

[A 34-year-old man from Meulebeke, who claims that Roger Vangheluwe abused him as a child, yesterday confronted the Bruges retired bishop.]

Oudbisschop Roger Vangheluwe was gisteren weer eventjes in het land. Het gerecht confronteerde hem met een vermoedelijk slachtoffer.

BRUSSEL | Een 34jarige man uit Meulebeke die beweert dat Roger Vangheluwe hem als kind heeft misbruikt, keek gisteren bij de federale gerechtelijke politie in Brussel de oudbisschop van Brugge recht in de ogen.

De confrontatie en het verhoor pasten in het gerechtelijk onderzoek ‘Operatie Kelk’, naar seksueel misbruik door geestelijken en mogelijk schuldig verzuim door kerkelijke oversten.

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BELGIE
HLN

[The new Bruges bishop, Lode Aerts, wants to persuade the Vatican to punish former Bishop Roger Vangheluwe who admitted to sexually abusing minors.]

De nieuwe bisschop van Brugge Lode Aerts vindt dat zijn voorganger Roger Vangheluwe alsnog gestraft moet worden voor zijn toegegeven seksueel misbruik. Hij gaat daarop aandringen in het Vaticaan. Dat schrijven Het Nieuwsblad, De Standaard en de Gazet van Antwerpen vandaag.

“Bisschop Aerts is erg begaan met het lot van slachtoffers van seksueel misbruik. Hij merkt ook dat het misbruik door zijn voorganger zware littekens heeft nagelaten. Daarom vindt hij verdere stappen aangewezen”, zegt zijn woordvoerster Inge Cordemans. Het Vaticaan had Vanghe­luwe voorlopig enkel ge­vraagd België te verlaten en geen publieke rol te vervullen, maar dat vindt Aerts te weinig. Hij heeft er een probleem mee dat Vangheluwe officieel nog altijd priester en bisschop is.

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FRANCE
La Croix

]A priest has faced trialin Clermont-Ferrand for sexual abuse of minors. In 2011, Father Michel Chidaine denounced himself to justice for sexual abuse of minors committed in the Central African Republic where he was on mission from 2007 to 2010. In April 2016, the diocese of Clermont-Ferrand (Puy-de-Dôme) had recognized an “error of appreciation” for allowing two years between the priest’s confession and his suspension.]

Gauthier Vaillant, le 26/01/2017

En 2011, le P. Michel Chidaine s’était dénoncé lui-même à la justice pour des abus sexuels sur mineurs commis en Centrafrique, où il était en mission de 2007 à 2010.

En avril 2016, le diocèse de Clermont-Ferrand (Puy-de-Dôme) avait reconnu une « erreur d’appréciation », pour avoir laissé s’écouler deux ans entre les aveux du prêtre et sa suspension.

Le procès du P. Michel Chidaine s’est ouvert jeudi 26 janvier au tribunal correctionnel de Clermont-Ferrand (Puy-de-Dôme). Ce prêtre de 48 ans est jugé pour des « atteintes sexuelles par personne abusant de l’autorité de sa fonction » commises sur deux mineurs de moins de 15 ans entre 2007 et 2010, alors qu’il était en mission en Centrafrique. Il risque jusqu’à 10 ans d’emprisonnement.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

Ava Benny-Morrison

A former Trinity Grammar School teacher who inflicted “systemic and predatory” sexual abuse on young boys will spend at least the next 11 years behind bars.

Wearing a prison issued green T-shirt and grasping a walking stick, Neil Albert Futcher struggled to stand as he was sentenced on Friday for his crimes against six victims as young as 11, committed up to 43 years ago.

Futcher was a primary school teacher at Trinity Grammar School and worked as a swimming coach when he abused his victims between 1974 and 1981.

He had also previously taught at Sydney Grammar School and was also a boarding master at Knox Grammar School.

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SCOTLAND
The National

Kathleen Nutt, Journalist / @kacnutt

THE chairwoman of Scotland’s historical child abuse inquiry is to be urged to hold public evidence sessions across the country when she announces how her work is progressing next week.

Alan Draper, of survivor organisation In Care Abuse Survivors (Incas) made the appeal to senior judge Lady Smith ahead of a key preliminary hearing of the inquiry on Tuesday at Parliament House in Edinburgh.

Draper said: “I hope she will be announcing oral evidence sessions in different parts of the country as it will make it easier for survivors, many of whom are now elderly, to take part.”

“It is to be welcomed that this hearing is taking place, although we would have liked it sooner.”

Draper said he hoped Smith would also respond positively to calls from survivors for interim payments as part of their demands for redress.

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IRELAND
Breaking News

27/01/2017

A High Court case has revealed that the Department of Justice is under investigation by the Ombudsman for its administration of the redress scheme for survivors of the Magdalene Laundries.

The Justice for Magdalenes group says the case has been adjourned while representatives from the Department of Justice explain why the Ombudsman’s investigation was not initially disclosed.

Two women are challenging the department’s decision not to include them in the redress scheme, despite the fact the women worked in the laundries as children.

Katherine O’Donnell from the Justice for Magdalenes research group said: “Because they did not reveal that information to the court, the High Court had to adjourn the case to allow the Department explain why they omitted to bring this to the court’s attention.”

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

Shannon Deery, Herald Sun
January 27, 2017

PROSECUTORS have vowed to continue fighting for the return of a fugitive principal wanted to face dozens of child sex offences here.

Malka Leifer fled to Israel and has been on the run from Victorian authorities since 2008 after allegations of rampant sexual abuse were levelled at her while principal of Elsternwick’s Adass Israel School.

Police have been told the mother of eight molested up to 10 girls, and they say she will be charged with more than 70 child sex offences if she returns to Melbourne.

But extradition proceedings were last year halted after an Israeli judge placed Mrs Leifer on a psychiatric treatment regimen that could last 10 years.

A hearing of the psychiatric panel regarding Mrs Leifer’s case this week recommended the court order for her treatment be extended another six months because she was going through a psychotic phase.

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ITALY
Italy Europe 24

by Carlo Marroni

The process of reform of Vatican finances is a work in progress, that obviously continues (albeit slowly) even if it’s not in the spotlight.

In fact, legal proceedings were initiated in the inner circles of the Vatican against people accused of financial crimes in 2016, for the first time.

The President of the Vatican’s Financial Information Authority René Bruelhart told US newspaper National Catholic Reporter in a recent interview that the first court proceedings began, with no public announcement, in 2016 and will continue at a faster pace in 2017.

“Work is increasing and we are definitely making progress to that effect,” said Bruelhart, speaking about the financial side of the reform process pushed by Pope Francis, but launched by Benedict XVI in 2010 following a judicial inquiry initiated by an Italian Court, that led in recent days to a request for conviction for two former executives of the Institute for Religious works (IOR), also known informally as the Vatican Bank.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Premier

Fri 27 Jan 2017

By Premier Journalist

The victims of a paedophile bishop have called for the letters he received from Prince Charles to be made public.

Peter Ball, the former Bishop of Gloucester, was found guilty of grooming and abusing 18 male victims at a trial in 2015.

Letters from the Prince have been given to an independent inquiry into the case.

The inquiry, which was launched after Ball was convicted, is examining how the Church of England handled the case.

Clarence House said in a statement yesterday that the content of the letters would have no relevance to the inquiry.

A spokesman for the prince said: “We do not believe that the letters have any bearing on the issues before the inquiry, but we have not objected to them being shared for their consideration.”

Phil Johnson, who was abused by Ball and is now chairman of the Minister and Clergy Sexual Abuse Survivors groups told the Daily Mail that he believed the letters should be made public.

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VIRGINIA
WSET

by Elizabeth Tyree

CAMPBELL Co, Va. (WSET) — A former youth pastor has been sentenced for indecent liberties with a child and electronic solicitation of a minor.

Major L. Hillman will spend six years in prison.

Hillman will also have to register as a sex offender.

Prosecutors said a 14-year-old came to Hillman for counseling, and Hillman and the victim ended up sending each other naked pictures.

Hillman called the picture exchange a counseling technique, though he mentioned in his interview with police he knew the girl was underage and it was illegal.

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GUAM
Pacific News Center

Written by Janela Carrera

CCOG Vice President Andrew Camacho wrote to the Archdiocesan Presbyteral Council urging them to bring the matter to the attention of Archbishop Byrnes.

Guam – Further attempts are being made to completely do away with the Redemptoris Mater Seminary. Earlier this week it was revealed that a lawsuit was filed against the organization for legal control over the property the RMS currently sits on and now the Concerned Catholics of Guam is urging the closure of the seminary for good.

It was over four months ago when an ad hoc committee released a report on the Redemptoris Mater Seminary that made several findings about the operations of the institution. Ultimately, the recommendation was made that the seminary be shut down.

That committee was appointed by Archbishop Savio Hon Tai Fai who was temporarily appointed to serve as the apostolic administrator of the Archdiocese of Agana while Archbishop Anthony Apuron faced allegations of sexual abuse.

But now that there is a more permanent archbishop at the archdiocese with Pope Francis’ appointment of Archbishop Michael Byrnes, the Concerned Catholics of Guam is renewing its call for the recommendations of the ad hoc committee to be implemented.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Daily Mail

By TOM KELLY and REBECCA ENGLISH FOR THE DAILY MAIL

Victims of a paedophile bishop last night called for dozens of letters he received from Prince Charles to be made public.

Extensive correspondence is understood to exist between the future king and Peter Ball, the ‘calculating’ former Bishop of Gloucester, who was jailed after admitting exploiting his position to groom and abuse 18 young men.

The prince’s letters now have been handed to an independent inquiry into the case, launched after Ball was convicted two years ago.

It is not clear what role, if any, they will play in the inquiry which is examining the Church’s handling of the Ball case, but Charles has not given any evidence to it either formally or informally nor has he or his team been asked to.

The content of the letters is unknown, but in a statement yesterday, Clarence House said they believed there was nothing in them which pertained to the case.

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UTAH
Capital Journal

SALT LAKE CITY — A fifth person has filed a lawsuit against the Mormon church accusing religious officials of not doing enough to protect Navajo children from sexual abuse in a now defunct church-run foster program that placed thousands of American Indian children with Mormon families.

The new lawsuit was filed Wednesday in Navajo Nation court by a woman who says was sexually abused as a teenager over a three-year period from 1968-1971 by her foster father at a house in Spanish Fork, Utah. She says was 15-years-old when the abuse began.

The woman, who is identified as I.R. in the lawsuit, said she reported the abuse to her caseworker and asked to be placed in another home but nothing happened. She said the abuse ended when her family took her home.

The woman has suffered from emotional and physical problems as a result of the abuse, the lawsuit alleges.

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OHIO
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: Raymond E. Larger was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati in 1977. He assisted at several parishes before being named pastor of St. James in 1991. He left St. Jamesin 2002 to lead Our Lady of Visitation.

In July 2003 Larger was arrested for soliciting sex from a male undercover police officer in a Dayton park. He pleaded no contest, was fined $100 and put on probation for a year. The archdiocese placed him on administrative leave. Also in 2003, Larger was accused of having sexually abused an 11-year-old St. James altar boy during 1995-1997. The accusation surfaced when his accuser filed a claim with the archdiocese’s victim compensation fund. The fund was part of an agreement the archdiocese made with prosecutors after it pleaded no contest to failing to report clergy sex abuse to authorities. Larger’s accuser was denied compensation. In 2005 Larger was indicted on charges related to the 2003 allegations. The man accusing him subsequently filed a civil lawsuit. The criminal charges were dismissed in November 2005 because the judge did not believe Larger’s accuser. The man’s lawsuit also failed. Larger was on administrative leave 2005 to 2008, when he was reinstated to active ministry after review of his case by the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Ordained: 1977

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UNITED STATES
Boston Globe

By Michael Rezendes GLOBE STAFF JANUARY 26, 2017

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, a leading voice in the campaign against clergy sexual abuse, is facing a wrongful-termination lawsuit from a former fund-raiser who says the group “accepts financial kickbacks” from lawyers who represent survivors they find through the organization.

The lawsuit against St. Louis-based SNAP, which provides counseling for victims of clerical sex abuse, says that fund-raiser Gretchen Rachel Hammond was terminated after she raised concerns about money the group received from lawyers representing SNAP members.

“Instead of recommending that survivors pursue what is in their best personal, emotional, and financial interest, SNAP pressures survivors to pursue costly and stressful litigation against the Catholic Church,” the lawsuit says.

Barbara Dorris, SNAP’s outreach director, said the allegation of a kickback scheme between the organization and attorneys who represent its members is untrue.

“We haven’t ever done it, and we won’t do it. It’s absolutely untrue,” she said, noting that “there’s nothing illegal, unethical, or immoral about accepting donations from attorneys.” …

Phil Saviano, a former SNAP board member and founder of the group’s New England Chapter, said the organization has no arrangement under which SNAP makes referrals to attorneys in return for donations.

“If there is a plan, it’s been poorly organized, because as long as I’ve been involved with them they’ve been hurting for money,” Saviano said.

The nonprofit group’s most recent disclosure to the IRS says it had just over $100,000 on hand at the close of 2014. At the time, Clohessy was receiving a salary of $86,000, as was president Barbara Blaine.

Mitchell Garabedian, a Boston attorney who has represented clergy abuse survivors for two decades, said he was puzzled by the filing earlier this month because SNAP has relatively few assets.

“I have to wonder why this lawsuit was filed, given that SNAP would not have any funds to pay a judgment favorable to the plaintiff,” he said. …

At one point, the lawsuit says, SNAP “concocted a scheme” to conceal donations from attorneys by encouraging them to make donations to a “front foundation” called the Minnesota Center for Philanthropy, which in turn would make grants to SNAP.

The Globe could not find a charitable organization with that name but Hammond’s lawyer, Chicago attorney Bruce C. Howard, said it’s possible that plans to start the center never got off the ground. The existence of the alleged scheme, he said, is confirmed by documents retained by Hammond while working for SNAP.

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UNITED STATES
The Kansas City Star

BY JUDY L. THOMAS
jthomas@kcstar.com

David Clohessy, who for more than two decades was the face of a national victims’ advocacy group that pressured the Catholic Church to take a more aggressive stance on the priest sex abuse issue, has stepped down from the organization.

An official with the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests said this week that Clohessy voluntarily resigned as executive director on Dec. 31. The announcement, sent to SNAP volunteers, came seven days after a former employee filed an explosive lawsuit against the organization claiming SNAP was exploiting sexual abuse victims and receiving kickbacks from attorneys for sending clients their way.

Clohessy told The Star on Thursday that the lawsuit had nothing to do with his resignation and called the allegations in the case “preposterous.”

“I told the board in October that I would be resigning,” he said. “We had no idea the lawsuit was coming. It caught all of us completely off guard.”

Clohessy, 60, who lives in the St. Louis area, said he decided it was time for him to step aside. For now, he said, he will remain on the SNAP board. SNAP is based in the Chicago area.

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FRANCE
ENCA

CLERMONT-FERRAND, France – A French court sentenced a priest on Thursday to up to five years in jail after finding him guilty of sexually abusing two young boys in the Central African Republic.

The priest, whose sentence may be suspended after two years, has also been banned from carrying out any professional activity that puts him in contact with minors.

The priest had admitted to one case of abuse in a letter in 2011 to the prosecutor of his home town in central France, Clermont-Ferrand.

But investigators had initially identified a total of four victims.

However they lost track of two of them in the chaos of the Central African Republic’s civil war, which erupted in 2013.

When he set out for Central Africa in 2007, the priest said he wanted to build a hospital and to “fight sorcery”.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Mary Carolan

Two women who claim they were forced, while attending industrial schools, to work in Magdalene laundries have alleged unreasonable exclusion from a State compensation scheme.

Due to their exclusion on a “technicality” from the scheme concerning the laundries, the women view the Taoiseach’s apology over the treatment of those who worked in them as “hollow”, counsel Michael Lynn SC said.

They are suing the Minister for Justice in proceedings that opened in the High Court on Wednesday before Mr Justice Michael White.

The women claim that while attending industrial schools run by religious orders in the 1970s and 1980s, they were forced to work in Magdalene laundries which, they allege, were linked to those schools.

One of the women was aged just two when she was taken from her family for reasons unknown to her and placed in a school. She was then sent to work in a laundry for periods, the court heard.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Mary Carolan

There has been an apparent clash between the Minister for Justice and the Ombudsman, concerning the scope of a compensation scheme for women who worked in Magdalene Laundries, at the High Court.

To address that, David Hardiman SC, for the Minister on Thursday got an adjournment of proceedings by two women suing over their exclusion from the ex gratia compensation scheme administered by the Department of Justice’s restorative justice unit.

Both women claim, as children attending industrial schools in the 1970s and 1980s, they were forced to work for periods in laundries and were unreasonably excluded from the scheme on a “technicality”. They claim the scheme administrators wrongly view the schools and laundries as separate institutions when, the women allege, the laundries were linked to the schools.

In opposing their cases, the Minister pleads the scheme was not established to compensate for alleged forced labour or loss of earnings in the laundries but as part of a scheme of healing and reconciliation.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

Joanne McCarthy
27 Jan 2017

PHOTOS of Newcastle’s Anglican bishops and deans could be removed from Christchurch Cathedral after shocking evidence about church knowledge of child sex offenders in the Hunter region.

The Cathedral board will decide in February if photos, including of defrocked former Dean Graeme Lawrence and Archbishop Roger Herft – the highest-ranking Australian casualty of the church’s dark history of abuse – will be removed under a diocese renewal process.

Bishop Peter Stuart told parishioners that Cathedral picture walls of former bishops and deans were distressing for some survivors of abuse “because it appears as though church is continuing to honour people” who failed to protect children or caused them harm.

Although church buildings told the history of an area’s ministry it was important to consider whether the photos should be removed and the diocese’s leadership story told in another way, Bishop Stuart said in a letter to parishioners on January 19.

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GUAM
Radio New Zealand

Six former altar boys on Guam have filed multimillion-dollar lawsuits against the Catholic Church over historical allegations of sexual abuse.

The lawsuits, filed in the Guam District Court, are against former island priest Louis Brouillard, the Archdiocese of Agana and the Vatican over allegations that Brouillard sexually abused them decades ago.

The lawsuits were filed in the District Court of Guam after at least eight Superior Court of Guam judges excused themselves from hearing any of the 15 clergy sex abuse lawsuits so far filed in that court.

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IOWA
Des Moines Register

Charly Haley and Linh Ta, Des Moines Register Jan. 25, 2017

A former Dallas Center pastor was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of sexually assaulting a child multiple times, authorities said.

Randy Johnson, 52, of Dallas Center faces 13 criminal charges. 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, according to court records. The abuse reportedly occurred at a Dallas Center home and, in one instance, at a farm in Grimes.

Johnson was formerly the pastor of Dallas Center Church of the Brethren, said Tim Button-Harrison, district executive for the Northern Plains District Church of the Brethren, which oversees the Dallas Center church.

Button-Harrison declined to say when or how Johnson’s employment at the church ceased. On Thursday morning, Johnson was still listed as the church’s pastor on its website.

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ROME
La Croix

Nicolas Senèze, Rome

By obtaining the resignation yesterday from the Grand Master of the Sovereign Order of Malta, Pope Francis has made an important point to those who call into question the deep reforms he is undertaking in the Vatican and the Church. Not that Brother Matthew Festing is a personal enemy of the pope, but the conflict between Francis and the Knights of Malta represents the sum of all the opposition he is encountering in his will to reform.

The chronology of events is perplexing. In early December, the Grand Master of the Order demanded the resignation of Grand Chancellor Albrecht von Boeselager, who is accused of being “a liberal Catholic, unfaithful to the teachings of the Church.”

Present at this discussion, was Cardinal Raymond Burke, the pope’s representative to the Order and one of his main opponents, who led a public attack against the exhortation Amoris laetitia, on possible access to the sacraments by divorcees who remarry. With three retired cardinals, he asked the pope to clarify certain points, to force him to return to the text – something that no pope had done for at least two centuries – and to lessen the magisterial scope of the Vatican.

Within the Order of Malta, the attacks against von Boeselager, who was accused of having allowed the distribution of condoms by the Order in Burma in 2005, was a moral issue. The German explained to the grand master that the matter had been settled and refused to resign. Supported, at least in silence, by Cardinal Burke, Matthew Festing insisted that it was “the will of the Holy See.”

Ten days later, von Boeselager’s own brother, Georg, was appointed to the superintendency of the Institute for Religious Works (known as the IOR), or the “Vatican bank”. With two other bankers, he replaced officials of the IOR who, defending the idea of creating a Vatican investment fund in Luxembourg opposed by the Pope, had to resign in May. Seen against this backdrop, the attacks against von Boeselager appear more and more as a challenge to the reform of the Vatican’s finances and those who are implementing them.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Badische Zeitung

[No pope has spoken so severely about abuse of the Catholic Church as did Francis. His verbal condemnations of the perpetrators are numerous and merciless.]

Franziskus nannte die Pädophilie im katholischen Klerus eine “Monstrosität”. Er verglich Missbrauch mit einer “schwarzen Messe”. Bischöfe, die sexuellen Missbrauch durch Priester verheimlichen, sollten zurücktreten, forderte der Papst. Franziskus richtete eine Kommission ein, die den Kinderschutz in der Kirche fördern soll. Und er kündigte ein Tribunal an, in dem Bischöfe für Vertuschung zur Rechenschaft gezogen werden sollten. Es klang wie eine Revolution.

Und tatsächlich hat es Fortschritte gegeben. Ein echtes Vatikan-Gericht für Bischöfe wurde zwar nicht geschaffen. Aber seit September vergangenen Jahres gibt es zumindest eine rechtliche Handhabe gegen Bischöfe, die ihre Sorgfaltspflicht verletzen. Die Entscheidungen darüber fällen Kardinäle und letztendlich der Papst hinter verschlossenen Türen (siehe Hintergrund rechts). Entlassungen in Folge des neuen Gesetzes sind seither aber nicht bekannt geworden. Im Gegenteil. Der italienische Enthüllungsjournalist Emiliano Fittipaldi weist in seinem neuen Buch “Lussuria” (Unzucht) darauf hin, dass die katholische Kirche weiterhin ein Glaubwürdigkeitsproblem hat.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Erzbistum Berlin

[By December 31, 2016 the Archbishopric of Berlin had received 53 reports of allegations of sexual abuse or sexual assaults on minors and adults by clerics and members of religious orders and others in the church. During the past year four new allegations were made. The accusations go back to 1947 and some of the accused are deceased. Suspected abuse cases have been systematically recorded since 2002.]

25. Januar 2017 Stefan Förner Pressesprecher
Bis zum 31. Dezember 2016 lagen im Erzbistum Berlin 53 Meldungen über Vorwürfe sexuellen Missbrauchs oder sexueller Übergriffe an Minderjährigen und erwachsenen Schutzbefohlenen durch Kleriker, vom Erzbischof beauftragte Ordensangehörige und andere Mitarbeiterinnen und Mitarbeiter im kirchlichen Dienst vor. Im Jahr 2016 wurden vier neue Vorwürfe erhoben. Insgesamt gehen die Vorwürfe bis auf das Jahr 1947 zurück, die Beschuldigten sind zum Teil verstorben. Seit dem Jahr 2002 werden Verdachtsfälle sexuellen Missbrauchs systematisch erfasst.

Derzeit ist für einen zum Zeitpunkt des Vorjahresberichts laufenden Fall noch ein staatliches bzw. kirchliches Verfahren anhängig. Das andere laufende Verfahren aus dem Jahr 2015 wurde im Jahr 2016 abgeschlossen. Weiterhin wurde im Jahr 2016 ein Verfahren neu aufgenommen und auch bereits abgeschlossen, so dass es derzeit insgesamt ein laufendes Verfahren gibt.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Times

Kathleen Hallisey

Evidence points towards a sexual abuse scandal in the Jehovah’s Witnesses organisation on a scale which may be comparable to the Catholic Church, Savile or the Football Association, yet they refuse properly to acknowledge it or make effective changes to their safeguarding policies.

This is not a new issue. In 2002, the BBC Panorama programme Suffer the little children focused on allegations of sexual abuse in the Jehovah’s Witnesses. Former members of the religion claimed that the organisation maintained a database of alleged paedophiles, ie a list of names against whom complaints of sexual abuse had been made. Survivors from the US and UK were interviewed. Their stories were tragic in the way that all such stories are. But the details about how the organisation is alleged to have dealt with their claims were particularly disturbing. After summoning the courage to report the abuse to the leaders of their congregations, they claim they were only asked if there was a second witness to the abuse, and it appears none of their complaints were reported to the police by the organisation.

Little has changed since 2002. The Jehovah’s Witnesses continue to operate what is commonly referred to as the two-witness rule: for any sin committed, there must be two witnesses to the sin in order for the elders to take the matter forward and discipline the member. It matters not that the member has admitted to the same type of wrongdoing in the past. These general policies are outlined in the organisation’s in-house manual Shepherd the Flock of God. In cases of sexual abuse, there is seldom, if ever, a witness. For survivors of sexual abuse who finally find the courage to come forward, in my experience as a solicitor acting on behalf of claimants in sexual abuse cases, the application of these policies means that their complaints are usually dismissed unless the perpetrator admits the abuse, which is rare.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
GW Hatchet

By Celine Castronuovo Jan 25, 2017

A proposed bill could end the statute of limitations for sexual abuse crimes in D.C.

The legislation, proposed by Ward 3 Council member Mary Cheh on Jan. 10, would end the current time limit on prosecuting cases of sexual assault, including for rape and child abuse crimes, as well as other felony sex crimes.

Under the current D.C. code, there’s a 15-year statute of limitations for first- and second-degree sexual abuse crimes. Other crimes, like child sex-trafficking, child pronography and incest, have a statute of limitations of 10 years after the victim has turned 21, according to a release on Cheh’s website.

The bill was moved to the Committee on Judiciary and Public Safety and is now under review. Once it passes the committee, it will move to the Committee of the Whole in the Council.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Haidee V Eugenio , heugenio@guampdn.com

Jan. 26, 2017

A group of Catholics is urging the church to consider closing the Redemptoris Mater Seminary in Yona and re-establishing a minor seminary that they said would be of greater benefit to the Archdiocese of Agana.

The Concerned Catholics of Guam cited recommendations by a church ad-hoc committee about four months ago, which stated the seminary should close if it does not clarify its purpose, does not seek formal accreditation to ensure the quality of its formation of priests and does not ensure its financial viability.

“It is our strong belief that the re-establishment of a minor seminary would better serve our archdiocese as it had done for nearly five decades. We urge you to bring these issues to Archbishop Byrnes,” Andrew Camacho, vice president of the Concerned Catholics of Guam, said in a letter Thursday to the Archdiocesan Presbyteral Council.

The council, which consists of nine priests and clergy providing advice to Coadjudtor Archbishop Michael Byrnes, has yet to respond to a request for comment. Byrnes returned to Guam on Monday.

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UNITED STATES
TheMediaReport

In the wake of last week’s blockbuster lawsuit by a former SNAP director, Gretchen Hammond, alleging that SNAP was engaged in an elaborate kickback scheme with Church-suing contingency lawyers, SNAP’s longtime National Director David Clohessy has announced his resignation.

Jesse Bogan at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch was the first to report the news of Clohessy’s embarrassing departure.

Clohessy’s reckless disregard for truth

Clohessy was the ever-present face of SNAP at press conferences issuing crazy, hyperbolic, and often false statements to an all-too-willing media, whether it be wildly accusing Church officials of being evil or recklessly accusing innocent priests of being pedophiles.

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PERU
Sodality of Christian Life

Dear friends,

I am writing to you today to play two very important topics:

First, our position on the first-instance filing of the complaint against Luis Fernando Figari and some members of the Sodalicio and secondly, to make known the detail of the reparations that we have been granting for the moral responsibility that we have against the people who have suffered Because of some members and former members of our organization.

When we received the tax report with the filing of the complaint, we understood that it is a decision based on the strict framework of criminal law. I would like to remind you that this investigation was not intended to demonstrate whether or not there are victims of wrongdoing of people linked to our community, but to prove if we are an illicit association to commit a crime, which has committed abduction and serious injuries. The ruling has ruled out that accusation. Which is why we agree with her.

In addition to the norms of the judicial and canonical fields, there is a necessary moral scope. That is why, with respect to Luis Fernando Figari, we have already pronounced on several occasions recognizing all the damage caused by him, condemning his actions and declaring him persona non grata. We have also requested your separation from our community and have sent all the information about your case to the Holy See.

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PERU
Angelus

Lima, Peru, Jan 25, 2017 / 02:58 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The Sodalitium Christianae Vitae announced Saturday that 66 persons can be considered victims of abuse of mistreatment by members of the community. The superior general of the community, Alessandro Moroni Llabres, also said Jan. 21 that the society has set aside more than $2.8 million in reparations and assistance for victims.

Moroni’s statement followed the Jan. 16 decision of Peruvian public prosecutor María del Pilar Peralta Ramírez to drop charges against the founder, Luis Fernando Figari, and other members of the community. Figari has been accused of sexual abuse, mistreatment, and abuse of power. There was a protest, which included some of the complainants, outside one of the society’s pastoral centers in Lima, rejecting the decision of the attorney general’s office.

The Sodalitium Christianae Vitae is a society of apostolic life which was founded in 1971 in Peru, and granted pontifical recognition in 1997. CNA’s executive director, Alejandro Bermúdez, and its director of operations, Ryan Thomas, are both members of the community.

Cardinal Joseph Tobin of Newark was in May 2016 appointed as the Vatican’s delegate to oversee ongoing reform of the society. The cardinal had previously served as superior general of the Redemptorists, and secretary of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
The Irish Catholic

by David Quinn
January 26, 2017

Another report of another child abuse inquiry was published last week. This time, the inquiry, the Historical Institutional Abuse (HIA) Inquiry, chaired by retired judge Sir Anthony Hart, dealt with abuse in institutions in Northern Ireland.

These institutions were run by the Catholic Church, by the state, and by other voluntary bodies such as Barnardo’s and Protestant organisations. The inquiry covered the period 1922 (when partition occurred) until 1995.

It looked into the case of the notorious Fr Brendan Smyth, one of the worst abusers on this island, Kincora Boys’ Home, which was run by the state, the failure of state authorities to properly regulate or fund the various homes, as well as their failure to properly investigate abuse allegations. It also looked into a scheme, called the ‘Child Migrant Scheme’, that sent at least 138 children under the age of 14 to live and work in Australia. It is a catalogue of shame.

A total of 65 institutions had allegations made against them, but in the end the inquiry settled on 22 institutions, which were the ones against which most allegations were made.

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JAMAICA
Jamaica Observer

FORMER Moravian Church President Dr Paul Gardner and his deputy, Jermaine Gibson, who were on Monday charged with carnal abuse and indecent assault, are set to appear in court on February 1.

Head of the Centre for the Investigation of Sexual Offence and Child Abuse (CISOCA) Superintendent Enid Ross confirmed the court date on Tuesday. The two are to appear in the Manchester Parish Court.

The sex charges were reportedly laid against the clergymen in relation to the alleged sexual assault of a 12-year-old girl years ago.

Both men are currently on bail.

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INDIA
The News Minute

Geetika Mantri| Wednesday, January 25, 2017

In 2013, Pastor George Fernandes of New Hope for Children orphanage in Bengaluru received an e-mail from a British citizen Richard Huckle. Huckle wrote that he was interested in spending time at the orphanage and click photographs.

The unsuspecting pastor allowed George to stay at the orphanage for two days, not knowing that he was a convicted paedophile who had abused and raped up to 200 children in Malaysia.

Pastor George said Richard was never left alone with any of the children at New Hope during his stay there and no case has been filed.

********

Ernest Macintosh, a Nova Scotia businessman was in Nepal when he had 17 child sex abuse related charges against him in the 1970s. When Canadian police were hot on his trail, Macintosh fled to India.

As the Canadian authorities realised he was in India and wasn’t responding to summons, they began the extradition process in 2007. He was convicted of the 17 charges in 2011, pertaining to his abuse of street children in Nepal. No one knows what he did in India.

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GUAM
Guam Daily Post

Neil Pang | Post News Staff Jan 26, 2017

Six of the 15 sexual abuse cases filed in the local court against former Guam priests and the Archdiocese of Agana have been moved to the federal court in Guam, the attorney for the alleged victims confirmed Wednesday.

Attorney Gloria Rudolph said the six civil cases filed in the U.S. District Court of Guam are for Norman Aguon, Anthony Vegafria, James Bascon, Leo Tudela, Bruce Diaz and Vicente Perez. Each of the six has accused Rev. Louis Brouillard – who is no longer a priest in Guam – of sexual abuse.

The cases for these men, who said they were young children when allegedly sexually abused, haven’t found a judge who would hear their cases in the Superior Court of Guam. Several judges have recused themselves because of conflicts or potential conflicts of interest.

“We expect to find a judge in District Court who will hear our cases,” Rudolph said.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Derek Scally

t is Christmas Eve Mass in St Monica’s Catholic Church in Edenmore, on Dublin’s northside. Around me are more memories than people.

So much has changed since I was an altar boy here in the late 1980s: the dwindling, ageing congregation and the appearance of the long, functional building. It was built in 1966 as a temporary church, but by the 1990s it had become permanent. Inside, roof tiles were added and the carpet tiles removed, replaced by a more luxurious pink carpet and blond wood pews.

By the time of the last big renovation in 1998, however, the rot had already set in. The midnight Mass is now at 8pm. What was once long and candlelit is now like a visit to a fast-food restaurant: fluorescent-lit, in and out in 35 minutes – including a three-minute homily. …

St Monica’s is not special-looking, but it was a special place to me. So when did it all begin to fall apart?

In 1997 I was spending a J1 summer in New York when my younger brother wrote to me for the first – and to date last – time. In his excited scrawl, he wrote: “Fr McGennis is on the front of the Evening Herald!”

He meant Paul McGennis, a priest in our parish whose child-abusing past had finally caught up with him. One of his first victims, Marie Collins, has since become the eloquent public face of the clerical abuse survivor movement.

McGennis went through several trials and served time in prison. Yet, for us in St Monica’s, Fr McGennis simply vanished. There was no public discussion about him, and my parents remember no public discussion since. Other parishes took the same ostrich approach, I gather, setting us on the path to the second round of the clerical abuse scandal: exposure of the cover-up.

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UNITED STATES
Headlines from the Catholic World

Chicago, Ill., Jan 26, 2017 / 12:04 am (CNA/EWTN News).- A longtime leader of a controversial advocacy group for clergy sex abuse victims resigned weeks before a former employee filed a lawsuit charging the group was receiving kickbacks from attorneys who filed sex abuse cases, the group has said.

David Clohessy resigned as executive director of the Chicago-based Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests effective Dec. 31, SNAP told CNA on Wednesday.

As of Jan. 17, Clohessy was still listed as executive director on the group’s website.

The organization voiced gratitude for Clohessy’s dedication; he had worked for the organization since 1991.

Clohessy told the St. Louis Dispatch that the lawsuit had nothing to do with his departure.

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MINNESOTA
Star Trbune

By Jennifer Brooks Star Tribune JANUARY 25, 2017

One of the former “maidens” of the River Road Fellowship is suing the elders of the cultlike church for failing to protect her from sexual abuse that began when she was 13 years old.

The Fellowship’s founder and charismatic leader, Victor Barnard, pleaded guilty to raping two young girls in his congregation and is serving a 30-year prison term. Now one of those young women, Lindsay Tornambe, has filed a civil suit in Pine County against Barnard, his wife, and more than a dozen Fellowship elders who stood by and did nothing as Barnard isolated young women from their families and molested them for years.

“I don’t know if they’ll ever realize that what they did was wrong,” she said in an interview this week. “But I want a jury to find them guilty and I want them to deal with the consequences of their actions.”

Tornambe’s lawsuit singles out more than a dozen Fellowship members by name who, she says, were in leadership positions that would have let them observe Barnard’s treatment the 10 girls and young women he called “maidens.” One church elder, Tornambe said, provided the maidens with a sex instruction manual.

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WASHINGTON/MINNESOTA
KREM

Samantha Kubota , KREM January 25, 2017

SPOKANE, Wash. — A woman from a Philadelphia filed a civil lawsuit asking for damages from former cult leaders based in the Inland Northwest after she was sexually abused by a church leader for a decade.

Lindsay Tornambe realized she was abused at a New Year’s Eve party on Jan 1, 2012 after speaking with her friends about her experiences as a child while a member of the River Road Fellowship.

The leader of the cult, Victor Barnard, originally founded his religion in Minnesota. Tornambe’s parents met him when she was just nine, and they uprooted their whole lives to move to join the church.

Tornambe said the sexual abuse began when she was 13. She was chosen, along with other girls who were a part of the religion, to be a “maiden.” The group of girls lived together for years in the compound, serving their leader, Victor Barnard.

“Whenever he talked about having sex with me, he always said that it was a way to show me how much God loved me,” she said of the abuse.

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MINNESOTA
Fox 9

By: Tom Lyden

PINE CO., Minn. (KMSP) – A woman who was sexually assaulted by cult leader Victor Barnard for nearly a decade, beginning when she was 13 years old, is now filing a civil lawsuit against 15 former leaders of his religious group, the River Road Fellowship.

The lawsuit was filed late on Tuesday afternoon in Pine County, Minnesota. The lawsuit claims the group’s leaders “negligently and tortuously exposed the ‘Maidens’ to the sexual perversion of Victor Barnard.” Several of the defendants had already filed motions to dismiss the pending lawsuit, claiming they were unaware of any sexual abuse. The lawsuit will also be filed in Washington where most of Barnard’s former followers now live.

The civil suit is based on the criminal case against Barnard, which police and prosecutors recently opened up for the Fox 9 Investigators.

In October, Barnard pleaded guilty to sexual assault. Charges followed a Fox 9 Investigation of two women who came forward to accuse Barnard of abusing them for a decade beginning when they were 12 and 13 years old.

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WASHINGTON
Spokesman-Review

By Thomas Clouse
tomc@spokesman.com
(509) 459-5495

After a decade of sexual abuse at the hands of a religious cult leader, Lindsay Tornambe boarded an eastbound train out of Spokane in 2010 and fled her life as a “maiden.”

She has returned, seeking legal vengeance.

Tornambe and her attorney, Pat Noaker, traveled to Spokane to announce that they have filed a civil lawsuit this week in Minnesota against church elders of the River Road Fellowship, many of whom relocated to Spokane.

They are connected to Victor A. Barnard, the imprisoned cult leader who eluded an international manhunt for more than a year until he slipped up in Brazil.

“I’m sure a lot of memories will come back,” Tornambe said earlier this week of her return to Spokane. “But I feel like I’m doing something about this situation and holding people accountable. And, letting people know.”

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MINNESOTA
New York Daily News

DAVID BOROFF
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Wednesday, January 25, 2017

A former “maiden” of a Minnesota cult leader who was repeatedly forced to have sex with him for nine years starting when she was a child has filed a lawsuit against Victor Barnard and other elders of the “church.”

Lindsay Tornambe claims in the suit filed this week that Barnard persuaded her to believe her relationship with him was comparable to the one “between Mary Magdalene and Jesus, or King Solomon and his concubines.”

Tornambe was sexually abused starting when she was 13, and the assaults continued until she was 22, according to the suit. She is seeking damages against Barnard, the River Road Fellowship and its leaders for failing to protect her at the compound in Finlayson, Minnesota.

“Since childhood, I was brainwashed into believing that being a Maiden was a way of achieving a higher spiritual state,” Tornambe, now 30, said in a press release. “It wasn’t until years after I left the River Road Fellowship that I realized that the Maidens and the sex was all a lie and a manipulation by Victor Barnard.”

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

Two women who claim they were forced, while attending industrial schools, to work in Magdalene laundries have alleged they have been unreasonably excluded from a State compensation scheme.

Due to their exclusion on a “technicality”, the women view the Taoiseach’s apology over the treatment of those who worked in Magdalene laundries as “hollow”, their counsel Michael Lynn SC said.

They have sued the Minister for Justice in proceedings which opened on Wednesday (Jan 25) before Mr Justice Michael White.

The women claim, as schoolgirls in the 1970s and 1980s in industrial schools run by religious orders, they were forced to work in Magdalene laundries which, they allege, were linked to those schools.

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BELGIE
De Morgen

[Bisdom Brugge is mee vragende partij om duidelijkheid – Kerknet]

[Former Bishop of Bruges Roger Vangheluwe, who has been guilty of sexual abuse of minors, has again surfaced. This morning he was confronted by one of his victims, Vangheluwe denies everything.]

Oud-bisschop van Brugge Roger Vangheluwe, die zich schuldig heeft gemaakt aan seksueel misbruik bij minderjarigen, is nog eens opgedoken. Deze ochtend werd hij geconfronteerd met een van zijn slachtoffers, Kris Verduyn uit het West-Vlaamse Meulebeke. De man beweert dat hij 25 jaar geleden door de geestelijke misbruikt werd. Vangheluwe ontkent alles. “Dit komt zeer hard aan voor mijn cliënt”, zegt advocaat Walter Van Steenbrugge aan VTM Nieuws.

Vangheluwe, intussen 80 jaar, werd deze ochtend rond half 11 het gebouw van de Federale Gerechtelijke Politie in Brussel binnengereden. Het gesprek met zijn slachtoffer en diens advocaat duurde vermoedelijk een paar uur. Rond 14 uur werd de oud-bisschop, die ergens verborgen leeft in Europa, opnieuw naar buiten gereden.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

A ministerial Executive could be formed after Northern Ireland’s elections solely to implement the Hart child abuse inquiry’s recommendations , the UUP leader said.

The public probe found evidence of widespread harm at residential homes run by churches and the state over many decades and recommended compensation be paid. Political uncertainty has left a major question mark over when that will happen.

Some survivors gave evidence to a Stormont committee on Thursday and paid tribute to inquiry chairman Sir Anthony Hart.

Margaret McGuckin, a campaigner and former resident at Nazareth House in Belfast, said: “He is our St Anthony of the sacred heart.”

Sir Anthony’s report recommended compensation worth up to £100,000, funded by state and voluntary institutions responsible for the residential homes where the harm occurred, with payments beginning later this year.

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PHILIPPINES
Inquirer

By: Jhesset Enano, Leila B. Salaverria – @inquirerdotnet

A ranking official of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) on Wednesday said the Church would continue to criticize President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs, after the foulmouthed leader attacked the clergy anew on Tuesday, saying the Church was “full of shit.”

But the Church would also continue to be “understanding” and “very patient” with Mr. Duterte, who also said bishops were “corrupt” and “womanizers” like himself.

“Even before, the Church has been very, very understanding, and very, very patient,” Fr. Jerome Secillano, executive secretary of the CBCP’s Permanent Committee on Public Affairs, told the Inquirer.

“We just need to understand the President. I think [his tirade] was an outburst born out of anger,” Secillano said.

The CBCP desires to end all the bickering between the Church and the President, Secillano said, but added that Church leaders will continue to speak against the methods employed by the Duterte administration in its campaign against illegal drugs.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Catholic Herald

by Ed Condon
posted Wednesday, 25 Jan 2017

The curia remains a place where cliques have more authority than the law. It doesn’t bode well

The most remarkable thing about the Order of Malta controversy is not that the Grand Master, Fra’ Matthew Festing, has resigned. That is extraordinary enough, especially given that it was apparently on the invitation of Pope Francis. No, the most astonishing feature of the story is today’s announcement that the Pope will install an Apostolic Delegate to run the Order. In effect, this abolishes the Order as a sovereign entity. Under international law, what we are seeing is effectively the annexation of one country by another.

How did it come to this? Somehow, the small clique who rallied around the former Grand Chancellor, Albrecht Boeselager, have managed to turn a matter of the Order’s own internal governance into a full-blown diplomatic crisis between the two oldest and most prominent sovereign entities in the western world.

The clique never had much of a case. As I have written before, there is no question that, legally speaking, the commission set up on the recommendation of the Holy See’s Secretariat of State to investigate his sacking of Boeselager was and remains totally illegitimate.

It is clear that Boeselager was dismissed, following his refusal to resign, according to the approved legal process of the Order. It has been alleged that Fra’ Festing “defied” Pope Francis by dismissing Boeselager. But any opinion the Pope may have expressed before the event would have been in the much-rumoured letter on the matter from the Pope directly to Cardinal Burke, the Holy See’s envoy to the Order. This letter has not even been formally confirmed as existing, let alone leaked. Its purported contents remain the great unanswered question at the heart of this whole affair.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

January 26, 2017

MICHAEL MCKENNA
ReporterBrisbane
@McKennaattheOz

The defrocking of a former Anglican bishop for his mishandling of child abuse complaints has been overturned by a ruling that has led to high-level calls for an overhaul of the church’s disciplinary system.

Former bishop of Grafton Keith Slater was deposed from holy orders in 2015 for failing to follow church protocol in handling historical abuse claims at a children’s home in Lismore, northeast NSW, and keeping Newcastle priest Allan Kitchingman in the clergy despite convictions for child sex offences.

Mr Slater, now living in Queensland after retiring as bishop in 2013, was also found to have failed to report abuse allegations to police as recently as 2011. He was deposed after an internal investigation following damning evidence in 2013 at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse over his handling of abuse claims.

Despite admitting most of the alleged misconduct, Mr Slater appealed to the Appellate Tribunal of the Anglican Church of Australia.

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NORTH CAROLINA
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: Justin Paul Pechulis was ordained for the Diocese of Raleigh in 1958. He assisted in Newton Grove before being named pastor of a Tarboro parish in 1962. From there he pastored parishes in North Wilkesboro, Charlotte and Asheville, which became part of the Charlotte diocese when it was established in 1971.

In 2009 Pechulis was accused in a lawsuit of sexually abusing a teenage boy from Philadelphia in the late 1970s. Per the suit, the boy was being abused by Philadelphia priest, John McCole, who took the boy on a trip to Asheville NC where Pechulis was pastor of St. Lawrence parish. McCole and Pechulis were friends from seminary. The alleged victim said the two priests forced him to participate in group oral sex, and a third man watched while masturbating.

Pechulis died unexpectedly at age 53 in April 1983.

Ordained: 1958
Died: April 30, 1983

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UNITED STATES
LifeSite News

Elizabeth Yore

January 25, 2017 (LifeSiteNews) – Recent revelations concerning Pope Francis and negligence over sexual abuse of minors are calling into question his strong words condemning the cover-up of sexual abuse.

In March 2014, in an announcement that received massive publicity, Pope Francis promised a new, more improved Vatican response to the clerical abuse of minors. He reaffirmed that the Vatican would institute zero tolerance for pedophile priests. He announced the creation of a new papal commission on child protection made up of Cardinals, experts, and victims of clergy abuse. This past May, Pope Francis spoke of the scandal again by saying, “This is a tragedy, we must not tolerate the abuse of minors. We must defend minors. And we must severely punish the abusers.” Yet, there appears to be a gulf between his words on reform and the reality.

The following six cases suggest a grave disconnect between Pope Francis’ public gestures on the sexual abuse cover-up and his actions.

1. The Fr. Inzoli case: Shocking papal intervention on behalf of a sexual predator

Earlier this month, Michael Brendan Dougherty reported the troubling case of Fr. Mauro Inzoli, who was accused of molesting children, including in the confessional. In 2012, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) found him guilty and defrocked him. Yet, shockingly, Inzoli won a reprieve from Pope Francis.

According to Dougherty, the Pope’s close collaborators, Cardinal Coccopalmerio and Monsignor Pio Vito Pinto, now dean of the Roman Rota, both intervened on behalf of Fr. Inzoli. Pope Francis reversed the action of the CDF and returned Inzoli to the priestly state in 2014, inviting him to “a life of humility and prayer.” Coccopalmerio is a trusted confidante of Francis. However, the flashy “Don Mercedes,” as Fr. Inzoli was known, did not follow these admonishments. Dougherty reports, “In January 2015, Don Mercedes participated in a conference on the family in Lombardy.”

This past summer, civil authorities concluded the trial of Inzoli, convicting him of eight offenses, while another 15 charges were beyond the statute of limitations. Inzoli was sentenced to 4 years and 9 months by the Italian Court.

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UNITED STATES
CBS Chicago

CHICAGO (CBS) — One of the key leaders of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests has resigned, but he said his departure has nothing to do with a lawsuit filed against the organization this month by a former employee.

For almost 30 years, David Clohessy has been with SNAP. He was national director of the Chicago-based organization.

Clohessy said he told the board in October that he’d be leaving at the end of 2016.

Last week, a former employee filed a lawsuit against SNAP, claiming the non-profit colluded with attorneys who sued the Catholic church over sex abuse in exchange for “kickbacks.” Clohessy said that lawsuit had nothing to do with his resignation.

“I told the board in October I’d be leaving. The lawsuit came completely out of the blue. My last day at work was mid-December. So the lawsuit played no role whatsoever,” he said.

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