ABUSE TRACKER

AUSTRALIA
Catholic Outlook

Transcript of Bishop Vincent Long’s testimony at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

The following is a transcript of Bishop Vincent Long’s testimony at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse on Tuesday 21 February. Participating in the interview are Counsel Assisting the Royal Commission Ms Gail Furness, Commissioner Robert Fitzgerald and TJHC Counsel Ms Jane Needham.

BISHOP LONG: My name is Vincent Long Van Nguyen.

MS FURNESS: You’re the Bishop of the Diocese of Parramatta?

BISHOP LONG: Yes, that’s correct.

MS FURNESS: What did you do before your appointment in Parramatta?

BISHOP LONG: I was an auxiliary bishop in Melbourne for nearly five years, from June 2011 till my appointment to Parramatta, which was in June last year.

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AUSTRALIA
Eternity

JOHN SANDEMAN | FEBRUARY 27TH, 2017

Joanne McCarthy is the brave journalist who spearheaded the Newcastle Herald’s “Shine the light” campaign which, arguably, brought about the Royal Commission into Institutional Response to Child Abuse, and an earlier NSW special enquiry. She interviewed about 200 victims of sexual abuse, many of them scarred by alcohol, drugs and depression. She uncovered no less than 12 suicides or drug overdoses among former students of a priest called John Denham. McCarthy is the current holder of Australia’s highest journalism award, the
Gold Walkley.

“My first involvement was in June, 2006. A man rang me, out of the blue,” McCarthy tells Eternity. “I had been raised in a Catholic family and my parents still went to church.

“He was a victim of a Catholic priest called John Denham. He contacted me. For a lot of male victims, I was a mother figure, that woman who writes about her sons and the cars breaking down and that sort of stuff.”

The man on the phone asked McCarthy why no media had reported on the fact that John Denham had been convicted five years earlier.

He told her that Denham was working in Sydney for a Catholic organisation, located close to a school.

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GUAM
Guam Daily Post

Mindy Aguon | For The Guam Daily Post Feb 27, 2017

A Virginia resident who lived on Guam in the 1970’s alleges he was sexually molested and abused by a former priest and Boy Scout Master on Guam in order to attain Boy Scout badges.

Morgan Wade Paul, 53, is the latest victim to come forward and file a lawsuit against the Archdiocese of Agana and retired priest Louis Brouillard in the District Court of Guam.

The lawsuit states that Paul became an altar boy in 1974 when he was 11 years old at Mongmong Parish of Nuestra Senor De Las Aguas. Paul alleges that he was required by the Agana Archdiocese to join and also become a member of the Boy Scouts Mongmong troop.

A year later, Paul met Father Louis Brouillard, the Boy Scout Troop Master and parish priest at the Mongong church. Paul was proud to be an altar boy and a Boy Scout and motivated to earn his swimming and lifesaving merit badges, the lawsuit states.

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INDIA
Swarajya

“ The Gospel message of mercy is ultimately a source of powerful healing and of grace,” said the Church as it granted mercy to a handful of paedophile priests last week reducing their sanctions. Pope Francis reduced sanctions against priests charged with abusing children, on the grounds of mercy and granted clemency, rubbing many survivors of abuse and his own advisors the wrong way.

This despite the Church’s benevolence backfiring last year with the Italian courts convicting an Italian priest Rev. Mauro Inzoli. Inzoli, despite being found guilty of sexual crimes against children by the Vatican in 2012, had appealed for and been granted mercy by Pope Francis in 2014, on the grounds that ‘No misery is so profound, no sin so terrible that mercy cannot be applied”. The Church has now ordered a second trial, citing emergence of fresh evidence against him, while the Italian courts sentenced him to four years, nine months in prison.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Haidee V Eugenio , heugenio@guampdn.com Feb. 27, 2017

A former altar boy said a priest gave him his Boy Scouts of America swimming merit badge only after the priest subjected him to repeated sexual abuse in the 1970s, bringing to 23 the total number of clergy sexual abuse lawsuits filed on Guam, as of Monday.

Morgan Wade Paul, now 53 and living in Virginia, said former island priest Louis Brouillard sexually abused him as an 11- or 12-year-old boy scout and altar boy at the Mongmong Parish of Nuestra Senora De Las Aguas in or about 1975.

Paul, through attorney David Lujan, filed a lawsuit against Brouillard, the Archdiocese of Agana and up to 50 other unnamed entities who may have helped, abetted, concealed or covered up the priest abuse.

The archdiocese now faces a minimum $115 million in damages in connection with the lawsuits, which could double in the weeks ahead as attorneys for other survivors confirmed they will be filing similar cases.

As an altar boy around 1975, Paul said he also was required to join the Boy Scouts. Brouillard was a scoutmaster in the Guam chapter of the Boy Scouts at the time.

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GUAM
Pacific News Center

Written by Janela Carrera

The Archdiocese of Agana is now facing $115 million from 23 different sex abuse lawsuits filed against them.

Guam – Yet another sex abuse lawsuit has been filed against the Catholic church and once again former Guam priest Father Louis Brouillard is named as the perpetrator.

The latest accuser is former resident 53-year-old Morgan Wade Paul, who served as an altar boy in the 1970s. Paul says the sexual abuse happened when he was around 10 to 11 years old and while he was a part of the Boy Scouts. In addition to a priest, Brouillard was also the Scout Master for the Boy Scouts on Guam.

Paul says the abuse happened when he was trying to earn his swimming merit badge. Brouillard would force Paul to strip naked, tread water and then molest him in the water, the complaint states.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release Sunday, February 26, 2017

Statement by Joelle Casteix of Newport Beach, California, SNAP Volunteer Western Regional Director (949) 322-7434 jcasteix@gmail.com

Once again, church officials have put the needs and feelings of predators over public safety and the needs of children who are the victims of sex crimes.

[Associated Press]

Pope Francis must remember that there is a difference between crime and sin. Child sex abuse is a crime for which the offender must be held accountable. While Francis may feel sorry for a predator, the only person with the right to forgive an abuser is the victim. And even then, the offender must be held accountable for his actions so that he may not go on to hurt others.

The Pope has created window dressing tribunals and commissions, but as far as we know he has yet to take actions that will actually protect children. This latest move is just another indication that it’s just “business as usual” inside the Vatican. We fear that children will continue to needlessly be placed at risk.

The place for mercy is with victims and children, not offending clergy.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Telegraph

Patrick Foster
26 FEBRUARY 2017

A barrister at the centre of a child abuse scandal committed a series of sickening assaults against young men after leading evangelical groups failed to report him to the police, it is claimed.

John Smyth QC, a friend of the Archbishop of Canterbury, is accused of carrying out sadomasochistic attacks on boys he met at Christian camps in Britain and Zimbabwe.

The assaults first came to light in 1982, when a victim attempted suicide after being summoned to a beating in the shed of Mr Smyth’s Winchester home.

But both the Iwerne Trust, the Christian group that Mr Smyth chaired, and Winchester College, the school attended by some of his alleged victims, did not report the claims to police.

The part-time judge then moved to Zimbabwe, where he founded a series of summer camps at which it is alleged he again abused young men.

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UNITED STATES
YouTube

John Cedars

Published on Feb 26, 2017

In the first episode of a new series aimed at shining a spotlight on Watchtower-related news, I discuss the Stephanie Fessler lawsuit in Pennsylvania in which Watchtower’s legal team was forced to reach a settlement after only four days of testimony. Joining me is Covert Fade, JWsurvey’s editor, together with John Redwood, who was present for all four days of the trial.

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UNITED STATES
Times of Israel

Guila Benchimol

In light of ex-Breitbart editor Milo Yiannopoulos’s remarks suggesting that mature 13-year-old boys and adult men can have consensual relationships, I want to share what I recently learned at the Global Summit on Child Sexual Abuse in the Jewish Community convened by Kol V’Oz. Listening to the male sex offender who was convicted of sexually abusing young boys in his Jewish community gave me pause about the areas we may have neglected to consider in our quest to prevent and address abuse when it arises in our institutions.

— He began by explaining that he was completely clueless as to the damage he had inflicted on his victim. Most people have no idea how victimization affects a person’s life, both in the short and long term. Sexual abuse exacts real life, long-lasting, physical, emotional, spiritual, and psychological tolls. Because young perpetrators find this difficult to grasp, he stressed the need to make the impact of the abuse explicit to perpetrators, even if many years have passed since the abuse. Interestingly, Professor. Marci Hamilton suggested that survivors’ stories are not the primary way to reach legislators at this point in history when so many stories have been told in the press. Instead, child sexual abuse must be framed as a quantifiable public health issue to make them pay attention. How, then, should we frame sexual violence in the Jewish community so that people care enough to create systemic and lasting change?

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ROM
Katholisch

[Müller: Abuse not systematically covered up. Has the Church systematically hijacked abuses in its own ranks? Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Mueller vehemently rejects such assumptions.]

Hat die Kirche Missbrauchsfälle in den eigenen Reihen systematisch vertuscht? Kardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller widerspricht solchen Vermutungen vehement. “Die Kirche verdeckt auf jeden Fall nichts”, so Müller.

Missbrauch | Rom – 26.02.2017

Aus Sicht von Kurienkardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller gibt es in der katholischen Kirche keine systematische Vertuschung von Missbrauchsfällen. “Die Kirche verdeckt auf jeden Fall nichts”, sagte er im Interview der italienischen Tageszeitung “La Repubblica” (Sonntag). Es könne in einigen Fällen aus Ahnungslosigkeit geschehen sein, “aber nicht systematisch”, so der Präfekt der vatikanischen Glaubenskongregation. “Die Kirche arbeitet, im Gegensatz zu vielen anderen Institutionen, wirklich für Null-Toleranz.”

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ISRAEL
YNet News

Liran Levi|Published: 23.02.17

Former Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel Yona Metzger was told Thursday afternoon by the courts that his prison sentence of three-and-a-half years would be increased by one year, despite a plea bargain signed in January over a string of corruption offences including bribery, fraud and breach of trust during his tenure as chief rabbi.

In January, the rabbi signed a plea agreement with the Jerusalem district attorney, stipulating that he would serve 3.5 years in jail after pleading guilty to the charges of bribery and fraud. Metzger was also fined NIS 5 million by the court.

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NEW YORK
New York Daily News

BY DAVID J. KRAJICEK
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Saturday, February 25, 2017

On Sept. 5, 1913, neatly bound bundles of body parts sawn with surgical precision began washing up on the New Jersey shore of the Hudson River.

Over several days, authorities pieced together six fragments — minus the head, which never surfaced — into a single human being, a formerly robust young woman.

The slightest clue enabled adroit cops to connect a name to the victim, raising the curtain on a scandalous crime story that stands apart even in New York’s illustrious record of you’ve-got-to-be-kidding murders.

The tipoff was a maker’s label on a pillowcase used to package the upper torso. The tag led police to Robinson-Roders, a Newark bedding firm, where sales books pointed detectives to a store on Eighth Ave. in Harlem.

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UNITED STATES
Progressive Secular Humanist

February 25, 2017 by Michael Stone

A new report reveals Pope Francis is quietly making the Catholic church a safe space for pedophile priests.

The Associated Press reports that Pope Francis is reducing sanctions against pedophile priests, and even refusing to defrock priests found guilty of sexually abusing children, all in the name of mercy.

In one particularly egregious case, Francis let off one notorious pedophile priest, Rev. Mauro Inzoli, with just a lifetime of prayer for abusing five young boys.

The Associated Press reports about the Pope’s leniency towards pedophile priests:

One case has come back to haunt him: An Italian priest who received the pope’s clemency was later convicted by an Italian criminal court for his sex crimes against children as young as 12. The Rev. Mauro Inzoli is now facing a second church trial after new evidence emerged against him, The Associated Press has learned.

The Inzoli case is one of several in which Francis overruled the advice of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and reduced a sentence that called for the priest to be defrocked, two canon lawyers and a church official told AP. Instead, the priests were sentenced to penalties including a lifetime of penance and prayer and removal from public ministry.

The report notes that by refusing to punish pedophile priests Francis is going against the recommendations of his advisers in an attempt to show “mercy.”

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VATICAN CITY
Metro (UK)

Charles White
Sunday 26 Feb 2017

Pope Francis has reduced punishments for paedophile priests who abused children as young as 12.

The leader of the world’s biggest faith wants to apply his vision of a ‘merciful’ church and has changed the punishments for a handful of priests.

Italian priest Mauro Inzoli had been sentenced to be ‘defrocked’ (removed from the priesthood) in 2012, but Pope Francis reversed the decision in, telling him instead to stop public ministry and do penance and pray for the rest of his life.

The Inzoli case is said to be one of several similar cases when harsher sentences had been recommended by the Pope’s own advisory council on this issue, the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

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FRANCE
La Parisien

[Rouen: indictment of a 73-year-old priest suspected of rape of a minor.]

L’homme d’église est poursuivi pour viols et agressions sexuelles.

Un prêtre de 73 ans du diocèse de Rouen a été mis en examen pour des actes de pédophilie, indique France 3 Normandie. Plus tôt dans la journée, on avait appris son arrestation auprès du parquet et de l’archevêché, après que M6 a révélé son placement en garde à vue.
Il est poursuivi pour viols et tentatives de viol aggravés sur mineur de 15 ans par personne ayant autorité, délits d’agressions sexuelles sur mineur de 15 ans par personne ayant autorité et délits d’agressions sexuelles par personne ayant autorité.

Deux jeunes hommes ont dénoncé ces actes, indique le parquet. Selon M6, l’un des deux jeunes hommes est âgé de 21 ans. Ce dernier, qui fréquentait la même paroisse que l’homme d’église, l’accuse d’avoir abusé de lui lors des dix dernières années.

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CANADA
Huffington Post

[Cardinal Lacroix is reported to have turned a blind eye to a case of alleged sexual assault.]

Un homme de Québec poursuit l’Institut Séculier Pie X pour des séquelles permanentes en lien avec des agressions sexuelles qui seraient survenues dans les locaux de la mission apostolique au sein de laquelle a oeuvré le cardinal Gérald Cyprien Lacroix.

Un texte de Marie Maude Pontbriand

André Lachance réclame 370 000 $ à l’Institut Séculier Pie X, situé à Charlesbourg. Il aurait été agressé entre l’âge de 3 et 16 ans par son oncle et membre de l’Institut, Jean-Paul Lachance. Ce dernier s’est enlevé la vie en 2014.

Les sévices sexuels auraient commencé en 1971 et se seraient produits dans différents lieux comme la résidence de la victime alléguée ou encore les locaux de l’Institut Séculier Pie X.

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AUSTRALIA
Vanity Fair

di Monica Coviello

[Stephanie committed suicide. The head priest of the parish youth group that she attended was abusing her. Since then her mother Eileen tries to get justice and an official apology from the church.]

Eileen Piper, australiana, non è ancora riuscita a superare il trauma: continua a raccontare la tragica storia di sua figlia Stephanie, e non si dà pace. Era la fine degli Anni Settanta e da allora quella mamma, che adesso ha 92 anni, non è più riuscita a dormire una notte intera. Quello che sta aspettando sono le scuse, ufficiali, da parte della chiesa. «Ho il cuore a pezzi – spiega a www.abc.net -. Devono aiutarmi a superare questa situazione, devono chiedermi scusa».

Quando Stephanie era un’adolescente è entrata a fare parte di un gruppo di giovani legato alla chiesa e coordinato da un sacerdote, Gerard Mulvale. Quel prete approfittò delle paure della ragazza per ricattarla e abusare di lei. Stephanie l’ha raccontato a sua madre solo tanti anni dopo: «Le diceva che, siccome era stata adottata, era nata nel peccato e doveva pagare per questo». Mulvale approfittava dell’ingenuità della ragazza per violentarla e assicurarsi il suo silenzio.

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VATIKAN
Huffington Post

Oliver Lippert Fan werden
Kritiker, freier Autor

[The pope has cut the penalties for pedophile priests- including one who has received a sentence of lifelong prayer for the abuse of five boys.]

Der Papst hat die Strafen für pädophile Priester gekürzt – inklusive einem, der eine Strafe in Höhe von lebenslangen Beten bekommen hat. Für den Missbrauch an fünf Jungen.

Papst Francis sagte, um seiner Vision einer „barmherzigen Kirche” nachzukommen, hat er die Strafe für Rev Mauro Inzoli von einer Amtsenthebung auf lebenslanges Beten geändert. Aber der Sprecher des Vatikans sagte, das Priester, die Missbrauch verübt haben, auch aus dem Ministerium entfernt werden.

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UNITED STATES
Ground Report

David Trounce Feb 25, 2017

Many reasons have been put forward in an effort to explain a large amount of under-reporting or even undetected incidents of sexual abuse against boys.

Doctoral research conducted by Scott D. Easton hospitalized, ACSW, LMSW Boston College Graduate School of Social Work in March, 2012 demonstrated that the average reporting time was around 20 years.

In those intervening years many adult males report lengthy periods of depression, anxiety, and fear.

There are a number of reasons for the delay in reporting. Those reasons include fear of not being believed or being considered homosexual for having experienced the abuse.

But the differences do to not stop there. There has been significant research in the last 15 to 20 years on the differences between males and females who experience childhood sexual abuse.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

For several decades, the UK sent children across the world to new lives in institutions where many were abused and used as forced labour. It’s a scandal that is still having repercussions now.

Imagine the 1950s, in the years before air travel became commonplace or the internet dominated our lives. Imagine being a child of those times, barely aware of life even in the next town. An orphan perhaps, living in an British children’s home.

Now imagine being told that shortly you would board a ship for somewhere called Australia, to begin a new life in a sunlit wonderland. For good. No choice.

It happened to thousands of British children in the decades immediately following World War Two, and they had little understanding of how it would shape their lives.

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AUSTRALIA
Blue Mountains Gazette

Joanne McCarthy
26 Feb 2017

GOUGH Whitlam wrote a letter to Pope Benedict XVI in October, 2012, nearly four decades after his government granted formal diplomatic recognition to the Vatican, and only weeks before another Labor prime minister, Julia Gillard, established a royal commission that would expose the extent of child sexual abuse within the Australian Catholic Church.

Diplomatic relations with the Vatican from 1973 was a “memorable and significant initiative” of his government, Whitlam told the Pope. The relationship was one “which has always been maintained with deep mutual respect and consideration”.

“The mutual hopes for closer relations between the Holy See and Australia have been fulfilled in abundance. I shall always have fond memories of visiting Pope Paul VI and of the great enchantment of Rome, the Eternal City,” one of the Labor Party’s great reformers wrote.

Whitlam died two years later, on October 21, 2014, only three months after Vatican secretary of state Cardinal Pietro Parolin declined a request from the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse for files of all Australian alleged perpetrator priests held by the Vatican.

Commission chair Justice Peter McClellan said the files would help commissioners understand the extent of allegations referred to the Vatican, and action taken by the church in each case.

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UTAH
Fox 13

FEBRUARY 25, 2017, BY BEN WINSLOW

SALT LAKE CITY — A judge has quashed a deposition subpoena of the leader of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in connection with a series of lawsuits alleging sex abuse in a church-run program on the Navajo Nation.

Court records show that in a hearing earlier this week, Third District Court Judge Su Chon rejected a subpoena to make LDS Church President Thomas S. Monson sit for a deposition. She allowed the church to appoint a representative to give testimony instead.

“The depositions of lower level corporate representatives or officers should be noticed prior to any deposition of President Monson,” Judge Chon’s order states.

“The Court hereby quashes Plaintiffs’ Subpoena Duces Tecum and orders that Plaintiffs are precluded from deposing President Monson or obtaining the documents sought by way of the Subpoena at this time.”

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JAMAICA
The Gleaner

Thursday | January 5, 2017

Canute S. Thompson

The Moravian Church in Jamaica and the Cayman Islands, as well as her sister provinces across the world must be experiencing what may be one of their darkest moments in several decades, on account of the arrest and charge of a senior minister for allegedly having sex with a 15-year-old girl.

Let me declare interest. I am a member of the Moravian Church and once served as a minister in the Church. I, therefore, come to this issue with a bundle of mixed emotions and thoughts, and some for reasons that would not be apparent to some readers. The pain being experienced by so many of us, and especially close friends, family members, the alleged victim and her family, is beyond words.

BASIC THEOLOGICAL ORIENTATION

My basic theological orientation is one that is informed by an ethic of compassion. I hold the worldview that accountability is an absolute essential in relation to all decisions and actions that adults take – whether or not they hold leadership positions. I, however, subscribe to, what I consider to be, a deeper human calling, namely that redemption, reconciliation, and restoration are the duties and opportunities given to all human vessels as part of the journey of human life. Part of the reason these virtues are so essential is that error and failure to do right is part of the human reality.

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JAMAICA
The Gleaner

Sunday | February 26, 2017

In Part 1 of this series, I explored what I regard as the issues facing the Moravian Church. I argued, in the February 5, 2017, In Focus publication, that the current crisis wherein some ministers have been charged for alleged sexual misconduct involving minors is, in some respects, a symptom of a deeper problem.

I acknowledged that there are many dimensions to that deeper problem but chose to focus on one aspect, namely, how the leadership of the Church understands and exercises power and accountability. I further suggested that the Church’s handling of a 2014 report of alleged sexual misconduct involving a minor, or minors, reflected part of the overall culture of how power and accountability were understood.

I offered the painful, but necessary, critique that for far too long, many of us as members of the Church have been willing to explain or justify the actions of our leaders, which, very often, we know to be wrong or unwise.

In this final part, I offer some suggestions on how the Church might deal with the current crisis.

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GEORGIA
Savannah Morning News

Posted February 25, 2017
By Jan Skutch jan.skutch@savannahnow.com

A three-day conference of Catholic church leaders will convene in Savannah beginning Sunday to discuss the church’s ongoing response to protecting children and youth in the wake of priest sex abuse scandals.

The 2017 Child and Youth Protection Catholic Leadership Conference will feature a number of speakers, including Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory of Atlanta who is co-hosting the event with Bishop Gregory J. Hartmayer of Savannah.

Gregory, then bishop in Belleville, Ill., was head of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops when the “Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People” was adopted in Dallas in 2002.

The charter is a comprehensive set of procedures for addressing allegations of sexual abuse of minors by Catholic clergy. It also includes guidelines for reconciliation, healing, accountability and prevention of future acts of abuse.

In comments in a letter prepared for the conference, Hartmayer said the theme for this year’s conference is “hospitality.”

“This year will be the 12th convocation since the passage (of the charter) in 2002,” he said. “Over the years we have worked hard to protect our most vulnerable, but the job is never complete.

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PERU
Associated Press

BY NICOLE WINFIELD AND FRANKLIN BRICENO
ASSOCIATED PRESS

LIMA, Peru (AP) — Victims of Latin America’s latest charismatic Catholic leader-turned-sexual predator are denouncing the Vatican’s handling of the case, saying the six-year delay and final resolution are anything but satisfactory for survivors of his sexual, psychological and physical violence.

“It’s really shameful,” said Pedro Salinas, who blew the whistle in 2015 on the twisted practices of the Peru-based Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, and was himself a victim of Luis Fernando Figari’s psychological abuse.

Figari founded the SCV, or Sodalitium of Christian Life, in 1971 as a lay community to recruit “soldiers for God.” It was one of several Catholic societies born as a conservative reaction to the left-leaning liberation theology movement that swept through Latin America starting in the 1960s.

The group counts some 20,000 members across South America and the U.S.

Figari was a charismatic intellectual, but he was also “narcissistic, paranoid, demeaning, vulgar, vindictive, manipulative, racist, sexist, elitist and obsessed with sexual issues and the sexual orientation of SCV members,” according to a Feb. 10 investigative report commissioned by the SCV’s leadership.

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NEW ZEALAND
Stuff

TALIA SHADWELL
February 26 2017

Spiritual leaders with access to children are not subject to police vetting, a loophole that urgently needs closing, according to a victim of historic sex abuse.

Ann-Marie Shelley, of Upper Hutt, was abused by Catholic priest Peter Hercock, who molested her when she was a teenager, along with three other girls.

“As more voluntary groups become known for their rigorous screening practices, potential child abusers will be put off even applying for work with children.”

As it stands now, the law states that all State-funded organisations have to vet children’s workers. But despite a legacy of child sexual abuse scandals, the law does not cover religious institutions.

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VATICAN CITY
International Business Times

By Priya Joshi
February 25, 2017

Pope Francis’s decision to reduce penalties for paedophile priests has been met with widespread condemnation from church officials and sex abuse survivors.

Applying his vision of a ‘merciful church’ the Pope previously sanctioned weaker canonical sentences for two sex offenders within the church, which were commuted to a lifetime of prayer and penance after they appealed for clemency.

Reverend Mauro Inzoli was found guilty by the Vatican of abusing boys as young as 12, in 2012 and was ordered to be defrocked.

However, following an appeal, in 2014 Francis reduced the penalty to a lifetime of prayer and to continue service in a restricted ministry.

Inzoli is prohibited from celebrating Mass in public or being near children, and is barred from his diocese. He has also been ordered to undergo five years of psychotherapy.

Pope Francis overruled the advice given to him by the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which recommended sterner penalties befitting the heinous crimes against children, but Inzoli was controversially, welcomed back to the priesthood.

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GUAM
Guam Daily Post

Neil Pang | The Guam Daily Post

An alumnus of St. Anthony Catholic School (SACS) told The Guam Daily Post that he was sexually abused by one of his teachers when he was a student at the institution in the 1990s.

Troy Torres, the chief of staff to Gov. Eddie Calvo, spoke to the Post about the incident that occurred more than 23 years ago and the series of events that followed in which he was able to prevent his abuser from obtaining later teaching posts after a complaint filed with the Guam Police Department failed to result in an arrest.

Torres told the Post that he was around 13 years old and in eighth grade when he was abused by a music teacher employed at SACS. He said the teacher was well-liked, trusted and even seen as something as a big deal around the campus as a talented music instructor.

This is not the first time Torres has spoken about the abuse. In his conversation with the Post, he said he first came out about the abuse a few months after the incident when another teacher who had noticed a change in Torres’ behavior got him to break his silence.

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VATICAN CITY
Daily Mail (UK)

By Isobel Frodsham For Mailonline

Pope Francis has been slammed by church officials and sex abuse survivors for cutting penalties for paedophile priests.

The Pope is said to be applying his vision of a ‘merciful church’ to sex offenders by reducing punishments to weaker sentences, such as a lifetime of prayer and penance.

It has been revealed by church officials that Pope Francis overruled advice given to him by the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith about two priests – allowing them to be punished by a lifetime of prayer.

One of the priests was the Reverend Mauro Inzoli, who was found guilty of abusing young boys by the Vatican in 2012 and was ordered to be defrocked.

However, he appealed, and in 2014 Francis reduced the penalty to a lifetime of prayer, prohibiting him from celebrating Mass in public or being near children, barring him from his diocese and ordering five years of psychotherapy.

Rev Inzoli was then convicted by an Italian criminal court for his sex crimes against five children as young as 12.

He is now facing a second church trial after new evidence emerged against him.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Argus

A FORMER priest who is already serving ten years in prison for 36 historic sexual offences has now been sentenced to nine months in prison.

Gordon Rideout pleaded guilty to one charge of indecent assault on a girl under the age of 16 at a children’s home in Reigate when he appeared at Guildford Crown Court on 20 December 2016. The assault took place between 29 July 1969 and 21 July 1974.

Rideout was originally jailed for 10 years in May 2013 at Lewes Crown Court for a series of historic sexual offences between 1962 and 1973, including attempted rape and indecent assaults on both boys and girls, some of whom were under 13 years of age.

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VATICAN CITY
Associated Press

BY NICOLE WINFIELD
ASSOCIATED PRESS

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis has quietly reduced sanctions against a handful of pedophile priests, applying his vision of a merciful church even to its worst offenders in ways that survivors of abuse and the pope’s own advisers question.

One case has come back to haunt him: An Italian priest who received the pope’s clemency was later convicted by an Italian criminal court for his sex crimes against children as young as 12. The Rev. Mauro Inzoli is now facing a second church trial after new evidence emerged against him, The Associated Press has learned.

The Inzoli case is one of several in which Francis overruled the advice of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and reduced a sentence that called for the priest to be defrocked, two canon lawyers and a church official told AP. Instead, the priests were sentenced to penalties including a lifetime of penance and prayer and removal from public ministry.

In some cases, the priests or their high-ranking friends appealed to Francis for clemency by citing the pope’s own words about mercy in their petitions, the church official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the proceedings are confidential.

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COLOMBIA
Solo Paisas

[Sexual abuse of children is the parents’ fault: Archdiocese of Cali. The controversy again puts the Colombian Catholic Church in the eye of the hurricane for this response to the lawsuit filed by families in eastern Cali demanding compensation and reparation due to sexual abuse suffered by their children eight years ago by priest William Mazo.]

Así respondió la defensa del clero católico ante el caso de pederastia más sonado en esa ciudad por cuenta del cura William Mazo.

La polémica vuelve a poner a la Iglesia Católica colombiana en el ojo del huracán por esta respuesta, ante la demanda presentada por familias del oriente de Cali exigiendo la indemnización y reparación debidas por el abuso sexual que sufrieron sus hijos hace ocho años por cuenta del sacerdote William Mazo.

Como reveló El Espectador, el abogado Walther Collazos solicitó al juez 22 penal de conocimiento de Cali que revise si los familiares de los cuatro menores abusados sexualmente “hicieron lo que debían hacer” o si su proceder fue “laxo, permisivo, omisivo, abandonado y desinteresado”, y “hoy concurren ante un juez para aprovechar un hecho dañino a un tercero y fingir como víctimas directas”.

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SPANIEN
Deutschland Funk

[The tragedy began at the time of the Spanish Civil War and continued into the 1990s. Originally politically motivated, the babies soon turned into a lucrative business, involving physicians, lawyers, and above all the Catholic Church. It is estimated that more than 300,000 babies disappeared in Spanish birth hospitals.]

Die Tragödie begann zur Zeit des spanischen Bürgerkriegs und setzte sich bis in die 90er-Jahre fort. Ursprünglich politisch motiviert, wurde der Babyraub bald zu einem lukrativen Geschäft, in das Ärzte, Anwälte, und vor allem die katholische Kirche verwickelt waren. Man schätzt, dass in spanischen Geburtskliniken mehr als 300.000 Babys verschwanden.

Von Margot Litten

Die Tragödie begann zur Zeit des spanischen Bürgerkriegs und setzte sich bis in die 90er-Jahre fort. Ursprünglich politisch motiviert, wurde der Babyraub bald zu einem lukrativen Geschäft, in das Ärzte, Anwälte, und vor allem die katholische Kirche verwickelt waren. Man schätzt, dass in spanischen Geburtskliniken über die Jahrzehnte mehr als 300.000 Babys verschwanden und mit gefälschten Papieren an kinderlose Paare verkauft wurden.

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BELGIEN
cath.ch

[A 57-year-old man said former Bishop Roger Joseph Vangheluwe abuse him in the early 1970s.]

Brüssel, 24.2.17 (kath.ch) Gegen den emeritierten Bischof von Brügge, Roger Joseph Vangheluwe, sind neue Missbrauchsvorwürfe bekanntgeworden. Ein 57-jähriger Mann beschuldigt Vangheluwe, Anfang der 70er Jahre von ihm missbraucht worden zu sein, berichten belgische Medien (Freitag).

Der ehemalige Messdiener beschuldigt auch einen weiteren Priester, an Vergewaltigungen im flandrischen Harelbeke beteiligt gewesen zu sein. Der heute 80-jährige Vangheluwe musste 2010 auf öffentlichen Druck zurücktreten, weil er seinen Neffen über Jahre sexuell missbraucht hatte.

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SCHWEIZ
cath.ch

[An anonymous mail suggested that Mauro Jöhri, currently Minister General of the Capuchin Order, is the main culprit in Pittet’s abuse case.]

Zürich, 20.2.17 (kath.ch) Ein anonymes Mail versetzt die Schweizer Kapuziner in Aufregung. Darin wird suggeriert, Mauro Jöhri, zurzeit Generalminister des Kapuzinerordens, sei der Hauptschuldige im Missbrauchsfall Pittet. Willi Anderau, Informationsbeauftragter der Schweizer Kapuziner, vermutet, dass «konservative Kreise um den Churer Bischof Vitus Huonder» Jöhri als Kandidaten für den Posten eines apostolischen Administrators «abschiessen» wollen. Das Bistum Chur will sich nicht zu den Vorwürfen äussern.

Barbara Ludwig

In dem anonymen Mail, das kath.ch vorliegt, werden einige Fakten im Zusammenhang mit dem Missbrauchsfall Pittet aufgelistet. Dazwischen wird immer wieder auf Mauro Jöhri hingewiesen. Etwa auf die Tatsache, dass der Bündner Kapuziner von 1995 bis 2001 und von 2005 bis 2006 Provinzial der Schweizer Kapuziner war und seit 2006 dem Orden als Generalminister vorsteht. Das Mail verweist auch auf Artikel über das Freiburger Missbrauchsopfer Daniel Pittet im Internet. Es sei «klar, dass Jöhri alles gewusst haben muss», heisst es in dem Mail. Dem Orden wird vorgeworfen, «gerade auch unter Jöhri» kein innerkirchliches Verfahren eröffnet zu haben.

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SCHWEIZ
Neue Zurcher Zeitung

[It is about a hushed abuse scandal among the Capuchins, allegedly manipulated media and the turmoil for the succession in the bishopric of Chur: The latest scandal always draws more circles].

von Simon Hehli 24.2.2017

Es geht um einen vertuschten Missbrauchsskandal bei den Kapuzinern, angeblich manipulierte Medien und die Wirren um die Nachfolge im Bistum Chur: Der neuste Skandal zieht immer weitere Kreise.

Etwas kann man der katholischen Kirche gewiss nicht vorwerfen: dass sie langweilig ist. Derzeit ist es ein Missbrauchsskandal, der für Schlagzeilen sorgt. Der Freiburger Daniel Pittet veröffentlichte vor kurzem das Buch «Mon Père, je vous pardonne», für das Papst Franziskus das Vorwort geschrieben hat. Pittet berichtet darin, wie er von einem heute 76-jährigen Kapuzinerpater aus der Waadt missbraucht worden ist, bereits im Alter von neun Jahren sei er von diesem vergewaltigt worden. Der Pater ist geständig, dass er sich seit 1958 an mindestens vierzig weiteren Jungen vergangen hat, darunter auch sein eigener Neffe.

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PENNSYLVANIA
CBS Pittsburgh

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — A former rabbi from the Yeshiva Boys School of Pittsburgh is under investigation, accused of sexually abusing children.

Word of the probe first surfaced in the Jewish Chronicle. The publication states there may have been more than one victim and that Rabbi Nisson Friedman, 26, was caught in the act in the school library.

Friedman has been with Yeshiva Boys School since 2013. He has been fired, but is not yet charged.

He’s the son of a prominent rabbi in Minnesota.

The school declined to speak on camera Friday, but in a written statement they said: “We swiftly reported this disclosure to the police and the state’s mandated childline.”

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

Michael Short

The Catholic Church, which has presided over a decades-long international cover-up of countless cases, perhaps hundreds of thousands, of child rape and other sexual abuse is arguably guilty of crimes against humanity.

In Australia, the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, launched in 2013, has heard much harrowing evidence that for decades child rapists have been protected by the hierarchy of the Catholic Church. Only a few days ago, the Archbishop of Sydney, Anthony Fisher, told the commission the response of leaders of his church to allegations of child sexual abuse amounted to “criminal negligence”.

And although it beggars belief, such despicable betrayal of natural justice and of the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth continues. Also last week, County Court Judge Geoffrey Chettle declared that evidence the Catholic Church continued to pay – taking the total to as much as $1.5 million – for the defence of one of Australia’s worst paedophiles, Robert Charles Best, “just blows me away”.

Well might he say that, for Best, 76, pleaded guilty in the County Court of Victoria to the sexual abuse of 20 children between 1968 and 1988 at schools in Ballarat, Box Hill, Geelong and Moonee Ponds. With withering understatement, Judge Chettle said he was struggling to contain his emotion at the gravity and extent of Best’s abuse. “It’s hard not to get angry, and I’m trying.” A lot of Best’s victims have died by suicide. Many others have experienced mental ill-health, substance abuse, addiction and difficulty maintaining professional and personal relationships.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Haidee V Eugenio , heugenio@guampdn.com Feb. 25, 2017

Besides adopting a national charter for protecting young people from clergy sexual abuses, Guam’s Catholic Church now also seeks legal background checks for all its adult ministers and volunteers to help prevent future abuses.

The church also now requires all rites and masses to be celebrated in accordance with the Vatican’s general instructions unless they can show proof of exemptions from Rome by March 1, the beginning of the Lenten season.

The Rev. Paul A.M. Gofigan, rector of the Dulce Nombre De Maria Cathedral-Basilica, issued a two-pronged Feb. 14 memo on background checks and unifying the church.

Gofigan asks all current and future adult ministers or volunteers having close contact with minors, at any level, to sign a waiver allowing the cathedral-basilica to perform a legal background check. He said this is not a credit check but is essentially a police clearance.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

Aisha Dow

Victorian child sex abuse victims who receive a capped payout from the Catholic Church should no longer be forced to sign away their rights to future legal claims, a redacted report has recommended.

An independent review into the church’s controversial Melbourne Response scheme was announced by Archbishop Denis Hart in August 2014, but has been suppressed by the church for more than a year.

A heavily edited version was finally submitted to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse on Friday, containing 24 pages of the 176-page document.

It included 17 recommendations from the report’s author, retired Federal Court judge Donnell Ryan, QC, including that victims no longer be obliged to sign a deed of release in order to access monetary payments.

Mr Ryan said this waiver could be made on the condition that if victims were to receive future payouts through civil proceedings, the money already received through the Melbourne Response would be deducted from the final amount.

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JAMAICA
Council on Hemispheric Affairs

By Andrew Lumsden, Research Fellow at the Council on Hemispheric Affairs

To download a PDF version of this article, click here.

On the night of December 28, 2016, police officers patrolling in the town of Santa Cruz in the Jamaican parish of St. Elizabeth, approached a parked car which had aroused their suspicions. Upon further investigations, authorities found 64-year-old Rupert Clarke, the pastor of a church in the nearby parish of Manchester, in what they called a “compromising position” with a 15-year-old girl.[i]

Clarke was arrested and charged with having sex with a minor in a case which has commanded attention as well as shocked the nation.[ii] Unfortunately, this appalling incident is only a small part of a much broader problem in Jamaican society: the prevalence of child sexual abuse.

“A National Crisis”

In 2014, Lisa Hanna, then the Minister of Youth and Culture, described child sex abuse in Jamaica as a “national crisis.”[iii] Between 2007 and 2014 nearly 17,000 cases were recorded by Jamaica’s Office of the Children’s Registry (OCR). [iv][v] The United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) notes however, that “the available data does not necessarily reflect the actual magnitude of the problem” because the vast majority of incidents go unreported.[vi] In all, 40% of Jamaicans have said that their first sexual experience occurred without their consent and before the age of 16.[vii]

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NORTH CAROLINA
Daily Journal

SPINDALE, N.C. (AP) — From all over the world, they flocked to this tiny town in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, lured by promises of inner peace and eternal life. What many found instead: years of terror — waged in the name of the Lord.

Congregants of the Word of Faith Fellowship were regularly punched, smacked, choked, slammed to the floor or thrown through walls in a violent form of deliverance meant to “purify” sinners by beating out devils, 43 former members told The Associated Press in separate, exclusive interviews.

Victims of the violence included pre-teens and toddlers — even crying babies, who were vigorously shaken, screamed at and sometimes smacked to banish demons.

“I saw so many people beaten over the years. Little kids punched in the face, called Satanists,” said Katherine Fetachu, 27, who spent nearly 17 years in the church.

Word of Faith Fellowship, an evangelical church with hundreds of members in North Carolina and branches in other countries, also subjected members to a practice called “blasting” — an ear-piercing verbal onslaught often conducted in hours-long sessions meant to cast out devils.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Church Times

by Tim Wyatt

Posted: 24 Feb 2017

TWO clergy in the diocese of London who were strongly criticised for safeguarding failures in the case of an ordinand who was a rapist will not face proceedings under the Clergy Discipline Measure (CDM).

An independent review commissioned last year by the Bishop of London, the Rt Revd Richard Chartres, considered the diocese’s part in the case of Timothy Storey, who was sentenced to 15 years in prison after being convicted of three charges of rape and one of sexual assault against teenage girls (News, 22 April).

Mr Storey worked first as a youth pastor at St Michael’s, Chester Square, where he met his two victims, before being sent to Wycliffe Hall, Oxford, to train as a priest. Both girls reported Mr Storey to the Church, but there was a “wholesale failure” by the diocesan safeguarding team to stop his offending, Judge Philip Katz QC said during sentencing.

The independent review recommended, among other things, “consideration of whether in light of the findings of the review an investigation under CDM is warranted or appropriate in relation to” two clerics referred to in the report only as “clergy persons A and B”. Clergy person A was the voluntary, unpaid Bishops’ Adviser in Child Protection in the Two Cities and Stepney areas of the diocese. Clergy person B was the Two Cities area director of ordinands. Both have since stepped down from these posts.

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IRELAND
New York Times

SINEAD O’SHEA
FEB. 24, 2017

DUBLIN — Cardinal Desmond Connell, who retired as the Roman Catholic archbishop of Dublin during a furor over the church’s handling of cases of sexual abuse perpetrated by members of the clergy, died on Tuesday. He was 90.

The death, in Dublin, was announced by the current archbishop, Diarmuid Martin.

A theological scholar with training in metaphysics, then-Father Connell was a surprise choice when Pope John Paul II appointed him to lead the archdiocese of Dublin in 1988. John Paul named him a cardinal in 2001, making him the first archbishop of Dublin to be so elevated in nearly 120 years.

During his 16 years as archbishop, Cardinal Connell was a stalwart defender of church doctrine, particularly on social issues like contraception, divorce and homosexuality. …

But he was best known for his handling of a sex abuse scandal that eventually engulfed his archdiocese, as it has others around the world.

The abuses first began to emerge after the Rev. Brendan Smyth, a Northern Irish priest, was convicted of child sex abuse and imprisoned in 1994. The next year Archbishop Connell denied that the archdiocese had paid compensation to victims of abuse by its priests. But in 1998, it emerged that he had quietly lent archdiocesan money to an abusive priest, the Rev. Ivan Payne, who then paid an abuse survivor, Andrew Madden.

Mr. Madden came forward to reveal the loan, but Cardinal Connell initially denied that he had made it. In the ensuing controversy he was accused of tolerating or participating in a cover-up.

In 2002, the national broadcaster RTE published a report by the investigative journalist Mary Raftery exposing the archdiocese’s protection of eight priests who had sexually abused children.

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IRELAND
Herald

Sarah MacDonald – 25 February 2017

The Pope’s representative in Ireland has revealed how he witnessed an anguished Cardinal Desmond Connell in tears at the Vatican over the clerical abuse of children at the turn of the millennium.

Speaking to the Herald after the funeral Mass of the former archbishop of Dublin at St Mary’s Pro Cathedral, the Papal Nuncio, Archbishop Charles Brown, recalled seeing Dr Connell in Rome “filled with anguish about the horrors of the sexual abuse of children”.

Cardinal Connell worked at the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith (1993-2001), where Archbishop Brown served until 2011, when he was appointed to Ireland.

“When I say visible anguish, it was visible in his tears which I witnessed,” he said.

He said the evil of that was “completely inconceivable and unfathomable” to him.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

Andrew Bolt, Herald Sun
February 24, 2017

John Lyons accuses Cardinal George Pell on the ABC’s The Drum of transferring a “known pedophile” priest to another town, where he abused again, and says Pell covered up the reasons for the move.

In fact, the royal commission heard Pell knew nothing of the pedophilia and the transfer was engineered by his bishop. Yet no panelist defended Pell.

Here is yet another example of how the media is so determined to hang Pell that nothing, and certainly not the truth, can save him.

Lyon makes his claims five minutes from the end:

It is so sad and telling that not a single person on the panel, including the Disability Discrimination Commissioner, points out the truth about these allegations, although all seem to claim enough knowledge to offer opinions on the issue.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

Christopher Knaus

Friday 24 February 2017

Every night, as darkness fell around the boarding houses of St Virgil’s College in Hobart, Tony Rayner watched a handful of boys creep into the bedroom of Brother Patrick Timothy Farrell.

It was the 1950s and an eight-year-old Rayner was envious of the boys’ special treatment. Rumours drifted through the halls that Brother Farrell’s chosen few were rewarded with lollies.

Farrell, a member of the Christian Brothers Catholic order, eventually called Rayner in.

“He sat me up on the bed right next to him, and the other boys were down the foot of the bed – when you’re eight years old it was quite a distance,” Rayner told Guardian Australia. “He said, ‘You wanted to come in here.’ And then he told me to suck his dick.”

A confused Rayner said no, telling the brother it would be a sin. He still clearly remembers the odd moment that followed. “He looked at one of the other boys, who I saw as the ringleader … and he said, ‘I told you Rayner was too young.’”

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OREGON
The Register-Guard

By Jack Moran
The Register-Guard
FEB. 23, 2017

A Eugene priest on trial for allegedly paying for oral sex with an underage prostitute is innocent of the charges and ended up arrested after police misunderstood a text message as part of a flawed investigation, his attorney told a jury Friday morning.

Daniel MacKay’s lawyer, Terri Wood of Eugene, acknowledged in an opening statement to her client’s trial in Lane County Circuit Court that MacKay gave a homeless, 17-year-old girl cash on a number of occasions last year.

But the money wasn’t in exchange for sex, she said.

Instead, MacKay agreed to the girl’s repeated requests for cash because she appeared desperate, and the priest has for years “embraced the duty to help those in need,” Wood asserted. She added that the alleged victim told MacKay that she was 21.

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

Australia’s most senior Catholic leaders will ask the Pope to settle the issue of whether the seal of confession can be broken to protect children from sexual abuse as one likened it to bugging the confessional.

Sydney Archbishop Anthony Fisher said for a priest to repeat anything that has occurred during confession would be a very serious breach of trust and the sacrament.

Archbishop Fisher said he could not withhold absolution from someone who confessed to abusing a child and if they were genuinely contrite would forgive their sin, as he would a terrorist or a murderer.

‘What I can’t do is effectively bug the confessional on behalf of the state to use it to a way of reporting crimes retrospective or prospective,’ he told the child sex abuse royal commission.

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CANADA
CBC News

Former Moncton priest Yvon Arsenault has been sentenced to four years in prison after changing his plea to guilty in October on nine counts of molesting boys, dating back to the 1970s.

Arsenault, 74, of Aldouane covered his face with his hand after Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Zoël Dionne imposed sentence on Friday afternoon.

“​I’m not here to promote religion,” the judge said, “but these people wanted a life of faith, and because of incidents, it became something sour.”

He commended Arsenault’s victims for having the courage to speak out and denounce the abuse.

The nine victims ranged in age from nine to 17 when the abuse occurred between 1971 and 1980 in Shediac and Collette, located in Northumberland County.

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CALIFORNIA
The Worthy Adversary

February 24, 2017 Joelle Casteix

The recent lawsuit against Fr. Richard T. Coughlin, The All-American Boys Chorus, and the Diocese of Orange has sparked a flurry of conversation and controversy online.

Why? A whole generation of kids was destroyed by Coughlin.

And of course, a lot of people were quick to defend the chorus and say, “Things are different now.”

But they’re not.

Singers can be Easy Prey

Choruses can be funny things. I am a singer, so I know. I was sexually abused in a chorus, targeted by a director who saw I was an easy mark.

Singing and the teaching of singing are very personal and very hands-on. It’s one-on-one (and before the days of awareness about sexual abuse, it was done behind closed doors). It’s not unusual for a vocal coach to touch a student (in a NON-SEXUAL WAY) to show a concept. It’s very personal and can get very emotional. Your body is your instrument. If a piano is out of tune, you hire a tuner. If your voice is out of tune … well, it’s personal.

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COLOMBIA
Pulzo

El cardenal Rubén Salazar le envió una carta a Cristina Plazas en la que asegura que el cuidado de los niños es prioridad.

En su carta, el arzobispo de Bogotá pide perdón por los casos de abusos sexuales a menores por sacerdotes que han sido denunciados en el país y promete “cero tolerancia” ante cualquier otro caso.

Asimismo, la arquidiócesis de la capital aseguró que tomará “todas las medidas” para que los responsables de los abusos sexuales sean castigados tanto civil como canónicamente.

Si se comprueba el abuso, un sacerdote jamás podrá volver a ejercer su ministerio”,

resaltó la curia bogotana en la misiva, difundida en su página web.

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COLOMBIA
Colombia Reports

written by Miguel Salazar February 24, 2017

Colombia’s top Catholic clergyman told the government on Friday that the church would fight sexual abuse by priests against minors with a “zero tolerance” approach towards affiliated pedophiles.

“The protection of children and adolescents is an absolute priority for the Catholic Church in Colombia,” the Archbishop of Bogota, Cardinal Rubén Salazar, wrote in a letter addressed to the government’s Family Welfare Institute (ICFB) days after the church had come under fire for sexual abuse charges filed against a Colombian priest.

Catholic Church attacks sex abuse victims’ family for seeking reparation

In his letter, the archbishop said that priests that engaged in child sexual abuse would not just be held accountable before the law, but also within the church.

“We applaud all the effort you make from the general direction of the Institute of Family Welfare to protect all the minors of our nation,” he said. “If it is true that the Church bitterly cries out the sin of her children and asks forgiveness, it is also true that we are committed to renewing all efforts so that these atrocities do not happen again among us.”

Earlier this week, Cristina Plazas Michelsen, the director of the ICBF, had sent Cardinal Salazar a letter calling for the Catholic Church to “set a precedent and express ‘zero tolerance’ to anything surrounding sexual abuse, the most atrocious crime of humanity.” It was in response to court proceedings in Cali, Valle del Cauca, against a priest accused of sexually abusing four children in his community.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Telegraph and Argus

Jenifer Loweth

A CHURCH of England vicar has been convicted by a jury of sexually abusing a boy when he was a head teacher in Bradford.

The Recorder of Bradford, Judge Roger Thomas QC, warned David Fletcher he will “almost inevitably go into custody” for indecently assaulting the child in the late 1980s.

Fletcher, 63, whose ministry includes 12 churches in East Yorkshire, was found guilty of two of the eight charges against him by a majority verdict of 11-1.

The jury at Bradford Crown Court cleared him of six further allegations of indecent assault made by the same complainant.

He was bailed to return to the court for sentence on Monday, March 6.

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UNITED STATES
The Daily Caller

MARIA JEFFREY

Lost in the crushing sound of Milo Yiannopoulos’ fall has been the revelation that he was sexually abused by a priest named “Fr. Michael.” In his press conference Tuesday, after his comments on pedophilia were brought to light, the former Breitbart editor said, “Between the ages of 13 and 16, two men touched me in ways they should not have. One of those men was a priest.”

In the video where Milo talks about pedophilia, he states, “I’m grateful to Fr. Michael. I wouldn’t give nearly such good head if it wasn’t for him.”

There has been a lot of ink already spilled over what Milo’s comments on sexual abuse mean for the moral arc of the conservative movement, but no one is paying attention to the revelation that Milo himself was sexually abused as a young teen. Who he was sexually abused by? Who is Fr. Michael? Is he still a practicing priest?

Milo was raised Catholic and is open about his love for the Catholic Church. In Kent, England where Milo grew up, a Catholic priest named Monsignor Michael Smith was arrested in 2010 after sexual abuse allegations were made against him by victim who called Smith a “devious predator.” According to KentLive, a publication in Kent, the victim received compensation from the Catholic Church in a civil suit in 2016.

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AUSTRALIA
The West Australian

EXCLUSIVE, Nick Butterly
Friday, February 24, 2017

The Christian Brothers have taken the extraordinary step of moving the grave of a notoriously brutal brother from the grounds of a WA school as the Catholic Church reels from revelations of past abuse.

The Catholic order has dismantled the grave of Brother Francis Paul Keaney at Bindoon Agricultural College, shifting his remains to a humble plot at Karrakatta, effectively erasing any trace of the Brother from the institution he once ruled over.

Keaney set up the Tardun farm school near Geraldton in the 1920s and was principal at Clontarf and Bindoon Boys Town from 1942 through to his death in 1954.

Child migrants from Britain and Ireland have given evidence to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse telling how Keaney presided over a fiercely brutal regime at Bindoon.

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IRELAND
RTE News

Archbishop Diarmuid Martin has said that Cardinal Desmond Connell was the first leader of the Dublin diocese to recognise, albeit slowly, the extent of the damage inflicted on children by priests who sexually abused.

Dr Martin told his predecessor’s funeral mass that the hurt caused by the scandal has yet to be fully recognised and still remains for victims.

The cardinal’s death was announced on Tuesday. He was 90.

Most of the country’s hierarchy joined the Papal Nuncio and Archbishop Martin in concelebrating the mass at which the Cardinal’s sister-in-law, Peggy Connell, was the chief mourner.

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REUNION
Zinfos974

[The inhabitants of Plaine des Palmistes are shocked after the priest of their parish has been placed in custody for allegations of rape of a teenager. Many of them defend him.].

Interpellé hier dans le cadre de l’enquête pour des viols présumés sur un adolescent, le père Fabrice Ibrahim a passé la nuit en cellule. Il a été présenté au Tribunal ce matin puis transféré de nouveau à la brigade de gendarmerie de Saint-Benoît pour une prolongation de sa garde à vue de 24h, donc jusqu’à 12h30 ce vendredi.

Pour rappel, le père Ibrahim a été interpellé dans le cadre d’une enquête préliminaire pour des viols présumés, après la plainte d’un jeune homme de 18 ans déposée il y a un mois. Le prêtre aurait imposé des rapports sexuels à l’adolescent mineur entre 2013 et 2015. La mère du jeune homme a elle aussi dénoncé des viols présumés.

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AUSTRALIEN
Katholisch

Sydney – 23.02.2017

Die führenden katholischen Erzbischöfe Australiens haben der Einschätzung eines “katastrophalen Versagens” der Kirchenführung im Umgang mit Fällen sexuellen Missbrauchs zugestimmt. Zum Ende der dreiwöchigen letzten Anhörung der Kommission über sexuellen Missbrauch von Kindern durch Priester und Mitarbeiter der Kirche waren am Donnerstag die fünf Erzbischöfe von Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide und Brisbane vor der Kommission erschienen.

“Das war ein Verbrechen, Herr Erzbischof”, sagte Gail Furness, Anwältin der Kommission, laut australischen Medienberichten (Donnerstag) zu Erzbischof Philip Wilson von Adelaide. Der 66-Jährige ist wegen Vertuschung von Missbrauchsfällen vor einem Gericht angeklagt. Wilson habe geantwortet: “Ja, das stimmt.”

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AUSTRALIEN
Domradio

[Australian bishops acknowledge catastrophic failure in dealing with abuse.]

In Sydney ist die abschließende Anhörung zum Umgang der katholischen Kirche mit Fällen sexuellen Missbrauchs in Australien zu Ende gegangen. Die Bischöfe räumten dabei ein “katastrophales Versagen” im Umgang mit Verdachtsfällen ein.

“Ich werde alles in meiner Macht Stehende tun, dass Missbrauch wie in der Vergangenheit niemals wieder passiert und dass die Reformen umgesetzt werden, die meine Bischofskollegen und die Leiter der Orden in den vergangenen Jahren beschlossen haben”, erklärte der Vorsitzende der katholischen Bischofskonferenz, Erzbischof Denis Hart von Melbourne. Die Kirche in Australien werde die Opfer weiter unterstützen.

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SCHWEIZ
Luzerner Zeitung

[The pedophile scandal among the Capuchins has mutated into an internal church policy. Giuseppe Gracia, spokesman of the Diocese of Chur, explains his accusations against the chief Kapuziner Mauro Jöhri.]

KIRCHE ⋅ Der Pädophilieskandal bei den Kapuzinern ist zu einem innerkirchlichem Politikum mutiert. Giuseppe Gracia, Sprecher des Bistums Chur, erklärt seine Anschuldigungen gegenüber dem obersten Kapuziner Mauro Jöhri.
23. Februar 2017

Dominik Weingartner

Wer hat wann was gewusst und dennoch nichts unternommen? Diese Frage beschäftigt den Kapuzinerorden seit den «Blick»-Enthüllungen rund um den pädophilen Pater Jöel. Wie unsere Zeitung am Samstag berichtete, wurde der Pater seit Bekanntwerden seines Falles mehrmals versetzt, zunächst nach Frankreich, 2005 wurde er schliesslich in die Schweiz zurückgeholt. Der Pater, der Dutzende Kinder vergewaltigt und davon auch pornografische Aufnahmen gemacht haben soll, musste sich jedoch nie einem kirchenrechtlichen Verfahren stellen. Er lebt heute zurückgezogen im Kapuzinerkloster in Wil.

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JAMAICA
Jamaica Gleaner

Tamara Bailey, Gleaner Writer

Mandeville, Manchester:
Moravian Ministers Reverend Dr Paul Gardner and Jermaine Gibson, charged for carnal abuse arising from a series of incidents said to have happened in 2002, will have to wait until March 2, to find out whether or not their case will be transferred to the Home Circuit Court in Kingston.

According to attorney-at-law Peter Champaigne the case was today adjourned due to a part heard matter that was before the court.

The application for transfer is expected to be made next Thursday in the Manchester Circuit Court.

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JAMAICA
Jamaica Observer

MANDEVILLE, Manchester — The carnal abuse and indecent assault case of former head of the Moravian Church in Jamaica Dr Paul Gardner and his deputy Jermaine Gibson was adjourned in the Manchester Circuit Court today.

The men will return on Thursday, March 2.

When the names of the men were called this morning for them to enter the courtroom they were not yet present.

The matter was on hold when they arrived because of a trial in progress in the Circuit Court.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

MEGAN NEIL
Australian Associated Press
February 24, 2017

The much-criticised Melbourne Response is independent of the Catholic Church and has given most child sex abuse victims better compensation than they would have otherwise received, a review found.

The retired Federal Court judge whose review led to the Melbourne archdiocese doubling its maximum compensation payments to $150,000 backed the independence of the abuse complaints scheme at the same time as a royal commission criticised its lack of independence.

Donnell Ryan QC criticised the apologies offered under the Melbourne Response but found most victims had received better outcomes than would otherwise have been possible.

“It is reasonable to conclude that most have regarded the package of monetary settlement and the funding of counselling and clinical care as better than any other remedy which they could reasonably have achieved in the absence of the Melbourne Response,” the report said.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

Rachel Browne

An admission that the Sydney Catholic archdiocese provides financial support for convicted paedophile priests has drawn outrage from sex abuse survivors at a royal commission.

Sydney Archbishop Anthony Fisher told the inquiry the church supports convicted Catholic clergy living in the community.

“That would include assistance with housing and some other kinds of assistance,” he told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

“I am so angry at what they have done, I don’t want to give them anything further by way of help, but throwing them back on their family or community … others would say that’s just the church washing its hand again of responsibility.

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AUSTRALIA
Catholic Outlook

Statement from Archbishop Denis Hart, President, Australian Catholic Bishops Conference at the conclusion of case study 50 of the Royal Commission

24 February 2017

As the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse concludes its final hearing into the Catholic Church, I acknowledge the cooperation of witnesses, agencies, religious institutes and dioceses across the Church in Australia.

I particularly want to acknowledge the bravery of the survivors of child sexual abuse who have given evidence, not just in case studies involving the Catholic Church, but across the more than 50 case studies so far that have examined the many different institutions throughout Australia.

Over the past three weeks, more than 70 Church leaders and professionals have appeared before the Commissioners sharing expertise, identifying failings and describing best practice for the future of our Church structure, culture and governance.

The final hearing discussed many aspects and characteristics of Church and clergy life including: Canon Law, the confessional, celibacy, clericalism, formation, professional support and supervision.

What we have learnt from our involvement in the Royal Commission case studies and our own work in coming to a better understanding of the many different issues that have contributed to child sexual abuse in the Church will inform our future policies and practices.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
BBC News

A former Army captain has described the Historical Institutional Abuse (HIA) inquiry findings on the former Kincora Boys’ Home as “a mess”.

The HIA report into child abuse at churches, charities and state institutions was published last month.

It detailed widespread mistreatment of young residents between 1922 and 1995.

However, former Army officer Colin Wallace has criticised its conclusions on Kincora, claiming they were “full of alternative facts”.

Mr Wallace, who served in Northern Ireland between 1971 and 1974, has been a leading voice in claims about an alleged cover-up by intelligence services of sex abuse at the home.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

By Cate McCurry
February 24 2017

The man who attempted to expose the historical sex abuse at the notorious Kincora boys’ home in Belfast has lambasted an inquiry in a scathing 14-page letter.

Former Army captain and intelligence officer Colin Wallace slammed the Historical Institutional Abuse (HIA) inquiry’s report on the Kincora paedophile cover-up in the 1970s.

Mr Wallace, whose attempts to expose the abuse of young boys were overthrown by his superiors, has contacted the inquiry’s solicitor, Patrick Butler, to raise concerns about what he claims are “factual inaccuracies and misleading information” in the report.

He disputes the information contained in the inquiry report about notorious child abuser and Kincora housemaster William McGrath and others in the child-abuse ring.

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

by Rebekah Ison – AAP on February 24, 2017

Sydney’s Catholic Archbishop says he would have to forgive a child sex abuser at confession just as he would a terrorist or a murderer.

Archbishop Anthony Fisher on Friday told the sex abuse royal commission he didn’t think he could make it a condition of absolution that a person incriminate themselves – even though he would strongly encourage them to get psychiatric help and hand themselves in.

“If they are genuinely contrite by every sign that I can see then I’ll forgive their sin as I would a terrorist, a murderer, many other very grave matters,” he said in Sydney on Friday.

“I do so probably feeling terribly sick inside about what might this guy do next.”

Archbishop Fisher was one of the five metropolitan archbishops giving joint evidence at the royal commission.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

By Claire Abraham

The Archbishop of Sydney, Anthony Fisher, has revealed he would not break the Seal of the Confessional and inform authorities if a child during confession told him they had been abused, but instead would try and persuade the child to tell someone.

Senior Counsel Gail Furness drew mixed responses from the five bishops when she asked them what they would do if a fictional child, “Sally”, reported abuse to them during confession.

“I will do everything in my power to persuade the child to come with me to the police,” Archbishop Anthony Fisher said.

“If I can’t persuade that child of that option, having tried everything I can, then I believe I’m bound by the seal of confession to not repeat it.”

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Karen Percy

The Melbourne Archbishop should not oversee the Catholic Church’s scheme to address sexual abuse within the archdiocese, a redacted report has recommended.

A 2015 report into the Melbourne Response by former Federal Court judge Donnell Ryan QC was released by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse late this afternoon, at the conclusion of hearings featuring senior Catholic figures.

The report was suppressed by the Catholic Church for more than a year.

In it, Mr Ryan makes 17 recommendations, several of them suggesting those in charge of the scheme not be under the Archbishop’s power, that files and archives be held separately, and that budget and administrative matters also be separated out.

But he points out “nothing has been revealed … to suggest [anyone] … has ever acted under the direction or influence of the Archbishop or any other church official”.

The Melbourne Response was established by Cardinal George Pell in 1996, when he was Catholic Archbishop of Melbourne.

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UNITED STATES
Salon

NICO LANG

In her first weeks as secretary of the Department of Education, Betsy DeVos faced an extraordinary amount of scrutiny — both for her family’s history of supporting homophobic legislation and her lack of qualifications. A group of students attempted to block DeVos from entering a Washington middle school shortly after her confirmation.

But DeVos, a charter school advocate with a history of donating to anti-gay causes, isn’t the only education appointee that should worry LGBT people, as well as just about everyone else who wants safe, affirming education for America’s youth. Liberty University’s president, Jerry Falwell Jr., who has been tapped by the Trump administration to lead a task force on reforming higher ed, is a nightmare waiting to happen. His appointment — to an undisclosed advisory position — will put at risk every student across the U.S. already vulnerable to harm. With DeVos and Falwell at the helm, all children will be left behind. …

Liberty University hired Ian McCaw, the former athletic director for Baylor University, in the midst of an ongoing rape scandal at his former college. Jasmin Hernandez, a student at the university, claimed McCaw knew that one of his star athletes, Tevin Elliott, had a history of sexually assaulting women and ignored his record. Hernandez further alleged that after not being made accountable for his prior actions, the football player went on to rape her. In a press release, Falwell Jr. personally praised the hiring of McCaw, saying that his example “fits perfectly with where we see our sports program going.”

If it surprises you that Falwell Jr. would applaud someone accused of covering up sexual abuse, know that the Liberty University president also once told CNN’s Erin Burnett that he would vote for a presidential candidate found guilty of rape. When asked about accusations from more than 10 women that Trump, then a White House hopeful, had groped them without consent, Falwell Jr. said, “We’re not electing a pastor. We’re electing a president.”

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JAMAICA
Loop

The expected application to have the sex cases of two Moravian clergymen transferred to Kingston from Manchester for trial has been postponed.

The application is now rescheduled for next week Thursday, March 2, in the Manchester Circuit Court.

The postponement is due to the fact that the accused men — Rev Paul Gardner and Pastor Jermaine Gibson — were late for court.

Gibson, who was vice president of the Moravian church in Jamaica, allegedly had a sexual relationship with the complainant when she was 12 years old.

Allegedly, Gardner, who resigned the presidency of the Moravian church, also engaged in sexual relations with the girl when she was 14.

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OREGON
KAJO

The Grants Pass Department of Public Safety has arrested a former pastor at a now-defunct church for multiple sex crimes with an underage girl.

On Wednesday, 51-year-old Michael Howard Lewis of Grants Pass was lodged in the Josephine County Jail on charges including Rape, Sexual Abuse and Sodomy. His arrest came after an interview conducted at the police station.

On February 1st, Grants Pass Police began an investigation into the reported sexual abuse of a female juvenile by Lewis while he was a pastor at the now-defunct Friends in Christ Fellowship Church, which was located on Rogue River Highway.

Detectives investigating the case learned that between July 2014 and November 2016, Michael Lewis subjected the young church member to sexual contact several times while she was between the ages of 14 and 16 years old. The sexual contact occurred at the church, which was shut down last November.

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MICHIGAN
UpNorthLive

by Connor Hansen
Thursday, February 23rd 2017

CHARLEVOIX COUNTY, Mi (WPBN/WGTU) — A youth pastor from Boyne City was charged Thursday with sex crimes after he was caught taking video of two young girls in the shower at his home.

Police said a family from downstate was visiting their former pastor in Boyne City when their 18-year-old daughter found a camera in the bathroom shower. She realized it had footage of her and her 15-year-old sister on it, and she told her parents.

Benoni Enciso, also known as Jon Enciso, was charged with possession of child sexual abusive material, surveilling people without clothes on, eavesdropping and using a computer to commit a crime.

Boyne City Police are continuing to investigate Enciso.

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CALIFORNIA
Record Searchlight

Jim Schultz , Record Searchlight Feb. 23, 2017

A Redding pastor charged with 31 criminal counts, including 22 felonies alleging he molested three girls over a seven-year span, won’t be having his preliminary hearing anytime soon.

James Gladwell Crawford, who has been released from Shasta County Jail after his bail was set last week at $1 million, was back in Shasta County Superior Court on Thursday where his preliminary hearing scheduled for next week was postponed because his defense attorney will be in trial.

With Crawford now out of jail, he was ordered by Judge Cara Beatty to not have any contact with children under the age of 15 without another adult being present.

He’s due back in Superior Court on March 28 to reset the date of his preliminary hearing.

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AUSTRALIA
Catholic Outlook

My dear people,

Lent is an important season for us Catholics insofar as it reminds us of the need for conversion. We cannot live life to the full if we gloss over the inconvenient truths about ourselves. We cannot grow to full maturity if we ignore the obstacles that prevent us from reaching our potential. Pope Francis always asks people to pray for him because he says he is a sinner. It is characteristic of a true Christian who recognises the darker side of himself and seeks metanoia, a change of heart.

More than ever before, the Catholic Church in Australia needs to recognise the dark crimes of sexual abuse against children and vulnerable people under its care, and the untold damage done to them and their loved ones. The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has delivered a shameful indictment not simply on the perpetrators and their enablers but the Church’s collective and systemic betrayal of the Gospel.

Nevertheless, I believe firmly that the Church must be grateful for the work of the Royal Commission. More importantly, we must seize this Kairos, this moment of grace, this opportunity as a catalyst for change and not treat this period as a temporary aberration. It can never be business as usual again. We must have the courage to see how far we have drifted from the vision of Jesus, repent of our sins, and face up to the task of reclaiming the innocence and the powerlessness of the Servant-Leader.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

Deborah Snow

Catholic schools in the Hunter and mid North coast could, for the first time, be asked to pay rent to the church for the land they stand on under proposals being considered by the diocese of Maitland-Newcastle.

The initiative is encountering resistance from some Catholic educators, who fear such a plan risks diverting a portion of government funds intended for Catholic schooling into the administrative coffers of the church.

Currently no Catholic schools in any of the eleven dioceses in New South Wales pay rent to church authorities. Any decision to proceed would set a new precedent, generating potentially millions of dollars for diocesan funds.

“The majority of Catholic educationalists are privately appalled at the approach being taken” one source told the Herald. “It would not pass in the court of public opinion. Many of us fear that it would imperil legitimate claims for government funding of Catholic education if it was perceived those funds were being diverted to provide a revenue stream for the church.”

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AUSTRALIA
PerthNow

Angela Pownall, PerthNow
February 24, 2017

PERTH’s Catholic Archbishop says the vow of celibacy contributed to “many cases” of child sexual abuse by Australian priests.

Giving evidence to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Sydney on Friday, Timothy Costelloe’s comments were at odds with Sydney Archbishop Anthony Fisher.

Archbishop Fisher said he did not blame celibacy for child sexual abuse in the same way he did not blame marriage for adultery.

But the Perth church leader, speaking on the final day of the royal commission’s public hearing into the Catholic Church, argued that a person’s motivation for choosing celibacy was the key.

“I think many people may have wanted to be a priest and thought, well, celibacy is part of the deal, so I’ll have to go along with it, he said.

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IRELAND
The Journal

IN THE HOMILY given by Archbishop Diarmuid Martin at the funeral of Cardinal Desmond Connell today, Martin credited Connell as being the church figure who “began to drag out information” around abuse allegations inside the Catholic Church.

Martin said that it was “not enough” to make the comment that Connell was slow to recognise the extent of the problem of child sexual abuse when he was Archbishop of Dublin.

He added that Connell marked the beginning of a “new culture” within the diocese by establishing a child protection service.

Martin said:
Cardinal Connell became an Archbishop at a difficult time in this diocese. Many comments in these days noted that he was slow to recognise the extent of child sexual abuse by priests. It is not enough to make that comment now from a distance.

“It must be said that he found himself surrounded by a culture and at times by advisors who were slow and perhaps even unwilling to recognise both the extent of the problem and the enormous hurt that had been done to children, a hurt they still carry with them.

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OREGON
KTVL

by Daniela Jusino
Thursday, February 23rd 2017

GRANTS PASS, Ore. – Grants Pass authorities have arrested a Grants Pass man following allegations of sexual abuse.

Michael Lewis, 51, was reportedly a pastor at now defunct Christ Fellowship Church in Grants Pass when the alleged sexual abuse occurred.

Earlier this month, detectives began investigating the case in which it is alleged that between July 2014 and November 2016, Lewis subjected a juvenile female church member to sexual contact.

“Anytime you have an individual who’s in a position of trust, particularly in a faith-based organization, those are usually pretty shocking to have them happen. It’s not a common thing to happen. It does happen, but it’s not something to happen all the time,” said Deputy Chief Jim Hamilton.

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OREGON
KOBI

Grants Pass, Ore. – Police say a man sexually abused a teenage church member while he was a pastor at a now defunct church in Grants Pass.

The Grants Pass Department of Public Safety said they began an investigation on February 1, 2017 into reported sexual abuse of a juvenile girl by 51-year-old Michael Howard Lewis.

Police said at the time the alleged abuse occurred, Lewis was a pastor at Friends in Christ Fellowship Church, formerly located at 1205 Rogue River Highway in Grants Pass. The girl was a church member.

According to detectives, between July 2014 and November 2016, Lewis sexually contacted the girl several times at the church. The sexual contact occurred while the girl was between the ages of 14 and 16.

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CALIFORNIA
SAT Press Release

Nonprofit Bay Area Women Against Rape (BAWAR) is joining advocacy groups to lead a protest at Whole Foods CEO John Mackey’s San Francisco speech. Advocates urge Mackey to disavow spiritual leader, former rabbi, alleged sex abuser Marc Gafni. The NY Times first reported Mackey’s affiliation with Gafni. Mackey is the scheduled keynote speaker at a Conscious Capitalism Bay Area Conference.

San Francisco, California, February 23, 2017 (Newswire.com) – ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Bay Area Women Against Rape (BAWAR) has joined a consortium of advocacy groups, leading a protest at a speech by Whole Foods CEO John Mackey in San Francisco on February 28, urging “Sexual Violence Accountability.” The advocacy consortium is led by Peaceful Hearts Foundation, a nonprofit organization founded by Matthew Sandusky, one of six adopted children of Jerry Sandusky (former Penn State football coach and convicted pedophile).

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MASSACHUSETTS
Wicked Local Wayland

By Brian Benson
Daily News Staff

NATICK – A Catholic priest and longtime Natick resident, who was implicated in the Archdiocese of Boston priest sex abuse scandal, has died.

The Rev. Anthony J. Rebeiro, 86, died Feb. 15.

Rebeiro, who was born in India, lived in Natick for 40 years and served at several Boston area parishes, including St. Linus in Natick, according to his obituary.

Rebeiro faced allegations he had fondled a 12- or 13-year-old girl in the rectory of St. Linus and made sexual advances on a woman at St. Mary’s Church in Franklin. He denied the allegations, the Boston Globe has reported. The Globe uncovered widespread sexual abuse involving Catholic priests in a Spotlight investigative series around the turn of the century.

Beginning in 2002, Rebeiro was placed on administrative leave after an allegation from about three decades earlier of sexual misconduct with a minor came to light, according to information on the Archdiocese of Boston website.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

Joanne McCarthy
24 Feb 2017

THE Catholic Church is a world organisation “struggling to come to terms with the safety of children and its responsibilities in that area”, two members of Pope Francis’s child protection commission told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

“I think the Pope does understand the seriousness of it and I think there are many other leaders who do, but I think that the organisation, with the leadership that it has, there are some people struggling to come to terms with it,” psychiatrist and Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors member Baroness Sheila Hollins told the royal commission on Thursday.

Baroness Hollins and papal commission member Bill Killgallon told the royal commission they were under-resourced, under-staffed and had not seen evidence of research-based decision-making in the global church on issues relating to child sexual abuse.

“It seems to me that you’ve had a very systematic, well thought out program and you’ve commissioned research widely into some really important topics,” Mr Killgallon told the royal commission at the 16th, and final, public hearing into the Catholic Church.

“We as a commission can follow that example.”

A recent example of the church making decisions directly related to child sexual abuse involved whether child sex offenders within religious orders should be kept within communities or not, Mr Killgallon said.

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AUSTRALIA
Catholic News Service

SYDNEY (CNS) — Five Australian archbishops testified before a government commission on child sexual abuse, reiterating apologies and taking responsibility for actions that occurred before they were church leaders.

They also said they believed the culture of church and society had changed enough that it would help such abuse from occurring in the future.

The abuse of children in the church was “a catastrophic failure in many respects, but primarily in leadership,” Archbishop Timothy Costelloe of Perth told the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse Feb. 23, near the end of three weeks of public hearings.

Gail Furness, the counsel assisting the commission, asked four other archbishops if they concurred with the assessment, and all agreed.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

Australian Associated Press
Thursday 23 February 2017

Sydney’s Catholic archbishop says he can’t pretend there is remotely enough supervision of abusive priests to be certain they won’t sexually assault children again.

Archbishop Anthony Fisher said on Friday the church financially supports known abusers and tries to find out where they live when they want nothing more to do with the institution.

“I can’t pretend we have remotely sufficient supervision for me to be assured that they are not misbehaving again,” he told the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse in Sydney. “I have puzzled about it this now for several years.”

Fisher said he often struggled with the question of whether the church should support abusers. He said some people would think the church was trying to wash its hands of the problem if it didn’t assist them.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Clare Blumer

Sydney’s Catholic Archbishop says reporting abuse to authorities that he heard about during a confession would be like “bugging the confessional”.

The five Catholic archbishops of Melbourne, Brisbane, Sydney, Perth and Adelaide were giving evidence alongside each other for the second day running at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

The church leaders were quizzed by senior counsel Gail Furness about how they might deal with a fictional child called ‘Sally’ reporting abuse to them in a confessional.

There were mixed responses from the archbishops.

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AUSTRALIA
The West Australian

Angela Pownall , Sydney
Thursday, February 23, 2017

Perth’s Catholic Archbishop says child sexual abuse took hold in the Church because the institution and its leaders were a “law unto themselves”.

Timothy Costelloe told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse that a “catastrophic failure” in leadership led to widespread abuse and the Church’s “scandalously insufficient” response to it.

Giving evidence yesterday, he said bishops had behaved “almost like a little monarch in his own diocese” .

“The Church, in a sense, saw itself largely as … a law unto itself; that it was somehow or other so special, so unique and so important it stood aside from the normal things that would be a part of any other body that works or exists in society,” he said.

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AUSTRALIA
Huffington Post

Eoin Blackwell Senior Associate Editor, HuffPost Australia

Survivors of sex abuse at the hands of Catholic clergy thought they were being abused by “a representative of God,” a Royal commission has heard.

Five archbishops from around the country are giving evidence at the sex abuse Royal Commission in Sydney about how the Catholic church responded to decades of sexual abuse against children in its care.

During an at-times philosophical and theological discussion on Friday, commissioner Andrew Murray reminded those listening what the hearings were about.

“We have been told in private sessions that at the moments of abuse, that the child at the time… thought they were being abused by the representative of God, so it has immense and immediate meaning with respect to child sex abuse,” Murray said.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

By Claire Abraham

The young victims of pedophile priests believed they were being abused by a “representative of God” because of what they had been taught in the Catholic church, a royal commission heard today.

Five archbishops from across the country today faced the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Sydney, where the hearing opened to discussion of the power dynamics between priests and the laity.

Commissioner Andrew Murray drew an emotional response from the Archbishop of Adelaide when he revealed one priest’s dominion over an abused child.

“We have been told in private sessions that at the moments of abuse, that the child at the time — because of what they had been taught — thought they were being abused by the representative of God,” Commissioner Murray said.

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PENNSYLVANIA
We Are Central PA

[with video]

Johnstown, Cambria County, Pa. – It has been nearly one year since a grand jury investigation uncovered hundreds of sexual abuse cases, within the Altoona-Johnstown Catholic Diocese and on March 1, there will be a news conference outside of the diocese offices in Altoona.

One victim said progress has not been made.

“It was a normal lifestyle except for one very [un]normal thing,” Shaun Dougherty, a church abuse victim, said.

Dougherty said at 10-years old, he was sexually abused by a catholic priest at St. Clement’s Church in Johnstown. He said it went on for three years, but he never told anyone.

At 21, he joined the U.S. Navy and took an oath for the military.

“That oath spoke to me and ever since then, I felt a burning desire to speak out, to tell what happened,” Dougherty said, but when it came to the abuse that happened to him, no one took him seriously until 2016, when the report uncovered hundreds of cases from the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese over a 40 year span, and Dougherty was one of those cases.

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AUSTRALIA
Courier

Tammy Mills
24 Feb 2017

An alleged victim of a Trinity Grammar teacher has come forward after 40 years, saying the school knew he was abused and they are still protecting the teacher today.

The man, now in his 50s, came forward after Fairfax Media reported on Monday that school heads sent out a letter paying tribute to former teacher Christopher Howell’s “extraordinary legacy”.

“I’ve never been more disgusted with something than that letter,” John*, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said.

“The vision of Howell was enough to make me sick, but what the school was saying about him; it was a lie and the school knew it was a lie and it protected him.

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AUSTRALIA
Illawarra Mercury

Kate McIlwain
@kmcilwain

24 Feb 2017

Two senior Catholic church figures formerly from Wollongong have told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse about their experiences in dealing with the “huge problem” in the diocese in the 1990s.

Appearing during the 16th public hearing on abuse within the Catholic church, long time director of Wollongong’s Catholic welfare agency, Kath McCormack this week spoke about her experiences working with survivors and victims of child sexual assault.

Likewise, Archbishop of Adelaide Philip Wilson, who was the Bishop of Wollongong between 1997 and 2000, described how he and Ms McCormack organised a meeting to hear from victims of child sexual abuse.

Between 1993 and 1996, the Diocese had come under public criticism for its response to child sexual abuse, both from the Illawarra Mercury and in the Wood Royal Commission.

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CANADA
CTV

Ryan Flanagan, CTV Kitchener
Published Thursday, February 23, 2017

A Kitchener teacher was suspended from his job without pay for one month last summer after admitting to professional misconduct.

Matthew Kras was accused of verbally, emotionally and sexually abusing a student.

He pleaded guilty to professional misconduct over the emotional and verbal abuse, but did not admit to sexual abuse and is no longer facing that allegation.

In addition to the suspension, his penalty included a public reprimand from the Ontario College of Teachers and having to take a training course on appropriate boundaries. …

Kras currently works at Resurrection Catholic Secondary School in Kitchener. He did not reply to multiple requests for comment before this story was published.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Daily Mail

By Steph Cockroft for MailOnline

Two mothers who were sexually abused by their Catholic primary school teacher more than 30 years ago joined forces to make sure he stays on the sex offenders register for life.

Kate Taylor, 37, and Kerrie Jones, 35, were among seven schoolgirls who were abused by Gerard Kelly when they were just six years old.

The paedophile, now 59, was convicted of his crimes in February 1999 – 14 years after the attacks took place – and jailed for five years. He was also put on the sex offenders register for life.

But last year, when Ms Taylor contacted police to find out what had happened to her abuser, she discovered he had applied to have his name removed from the register, under a law which was introduced in 2012.

Determined to stop that from happening, Ms Taylor, from Doncaster, then contacted Kelly’s other victims in a bid to block the move.

Ms Jones agreed to help and, together, they launched a successful campaign to ensure his name remains on the register.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Sun

BY HANNAH CROUCH 23rd February 2017,

TWO mums who were sexually abused as children by the same man joined forces thirty years later to ensure their abuser remains on the sex offenders register.

Kate Taylor, 37, and Kerrie Jones, 35, were abused by their Catholic primary school teacher Gerard Kelly now 59, when they were just six years old.

n February 1999, 14 years after the abuse took place, Kelly was convicted of indecent assault against seven underage schoolgirls – including Kate and Kerrie – and was sentenced to five years in prison at Doncaster Crown Court.

He was also ordered on to the sex offenders register for life.

Last year, Kate, an office manager, contacted the police to find out what had happened to her abuser, and discovered he had applied to come off the register following a law change in 2012 which allows sex abusers to apply to come off the register.

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WISCONSIN
CBS 58

[with video]

A priest is facing a number of sexual assault charges involving a child from a local school.

The complaint said Robert Marsicek sexually assaulted a young girl while working as a priest at St. Pius X Grade School in Wauwatosa.

Marsicek said before his first court appearance he hadn’t read the criminal complaint.

Last December, a 15-year-old girl went to the Wauwatosa Police Department and told them that she was sexually assaulted from first to fourth grade.

She said it happened while she was a student St. Pius X Grade School in Wauwatosa and that Father Bob as he was known repeatedly hugged her, had her sit on his lap, and rubbed her thighs and hips and private areas.

In court, the county commissioner ordered him not to have contact with the alleged victim or any unsupervised contact with a minor.

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