ABUSE TRACKER

AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By David Marchese

A Newcastle lawyer has written an open letter to the retiring Anglican Archbishop of Perth, urging him to forfeit his right to a church pension.

Roger Herft announced he was retiring last month, after previously standing aside to hear evidence at the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse.

Archbishop Herft admitted to the commission that he let down abuse survivors when he was bishop of Newcastle between 1993 and 2005.

Peter Kelso grew up as a ward of state before becoming a lawyer and now represents victims of abuse making claims against churches and other institutions.

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

CALIFORNIA
The Worthy Adversary

January 5, 2017 Joelle Casteix

Bad Politicking about Child Sex Trafficking

No, child prostitution is NOT legal in California.

But a new law in California may have some problems. SB 1322, which became law Jan 1, made it impossible for a child to consent to engage in the criminal behavior of prostitution—just like a child can’t consent to sex with an adult.

Therefore, the minor cannot be criminally charged. This is good. We don’t want children being sent to jail for a crime they cannot consent to committing. We need to help these kids, get them out from under their pimps’ control, and save their lives—not slap them with rap sheets and prison records.

The law has good intentions, but there are some potential problems. Unfortunately, those problems are pointed out in stories with headlines like “CHILD PROSTITUTION NOW LEGAL.”

And we all know there is no such thing as child prostitution. It’s child sex trafficking. It’s selling kids for sex.

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

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philly.com

JANUARY 5, 2017

by Joseph A. Slobodzian, STAFF WRITER

A Philadelphia judge has set a hearing for Wednesday to determine if city prosecutors withheld evidence casting doubt on the credibility of a key witness in the 2012 trial that sent Msgr. William J. Lynn to prison for 33 months.

Lynn, who turned 66 on Thursday, was the first Roman Catholic Church official in the U.S. convicted for supervision of priests accused of sexually molesting children.

He was released from his three- to six-year prison term last August after a state appeals court granted him a new trial following protracted appeals that twice went to the state Supreme Court.

At Thursday’s hearing before Common Pleas Court Judge Gwendolyn N. Bright, Lynn’s attorney Thomas A. Bergstrom argued that the evidence he said prosecutors withheld was so egregious that she should bar retrial.

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

MAINE
Bangor Daily News

By Beth Brogan, BDN Staff
Posted Jan. 04, 2017

WEST BATH, Maine — The founder of the Midcoast Youth Theater charged in September 2016 with six counts of unlawful sexual contact and sexual exploitation of children pleaded not guilty Tuesday to those allegations, as well as 10 additional charges alleging similar conduct against two others.

Henry A. Eichman, 56, now of New Gloucester, was indicted by the Sagadahoc County grand jury in December on 16 counts, including seven counts of Class B felony unlawful sexual contact, three counts of Class C felony visual sexual aggression against a child under 12, and six misdemeanor counts of unlawful sexual touching, according to court documents.

The crimes took place between April 2013 and July 2016, according to the indictment.

Eichman, who also taught drama at St. John’s Catholic School in Brunswick, was arrested in September after three young girls, all members of the Midcoast Youth Theater, told police that the incidents occurred during sleepovers at Eichman’s Topsham home, WCSH reported.

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

ARGENTINA
Clarin

[The traditional Cardinal Newman College of Argentina is in the midst of a controversy with a report of sexual abuse that was allegedly suffered by a former student of the institution in the late 1970s. The case involves Father Finnlugh MacConastair, known as Father Alfredo, the Irish chaplain of the college in those years. According to reports Rufino Varela, now 52, ​​married and with two children, said the priest abused him in 1977 at school. Varela told La Nación newspaper that he had been a victim of abuse by his landlord from the age of four. And one day, when he was 12 and was in seventh grade, he approached MacConastair in confessional secrecy to tell him what was wrong: the priest not only did not stop the abuser but he took the boy to his room and abused him. When he was in third year of high school, he told another of the religious, Desmond Finegan what had happened and told him that he had to forgive MacConastair because he was old.]

El tradicional colegio Cardenal Newman quedó en el medio de una polémica al conocerse una denuncia de abusos sexuales que sufrió un ex alumno de la institución, a fines de los 70.

El caso involucra al padre Finnlugh Mac Conastair, conocido como padre Alfredo, capellán irlandés del colegio en esos años. Según denunció Rufino Varela, hoy de 52 años, casado y con dos hijos, el sacerdote lo abusó en 1977, en el colegio. Varela relató al diario La Nación que él había sido víctima de abusos por parte del casero de su casa desde los cuatro años. Y que un día, cuando tenía 12 y cursaba séptimo grado, se acercó a Mac Conastair en secreto de confesión para contarle lo que le pasaba: el cura no sólo no lo contuvo, sino que lo llevó a su cuarto y lo abusó. Cuando estaba en tercer año del secundario, le relató a otro de los religiosos, Desmond Finegan, lo que había pasado y le dijo que tenía que perdonar a Mac Conastair porque estaba viejo.

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

ARGENTINA
Infobae

[The terrible case of a boy who was doubly abused: in the household of his family and by a priest of the school Cardinal Newman.]

Por Alfredo Serra 30 de diciembre de 2016
Especial para Infobae

Rufino Varela es un hombre común.

Tiene 52 años, mujer, dos hijos.

Ningún rasgo, a priori, indica que carga con un drama, salvo cierta ansiedad y desconfianza que cada tanto lo agitan.

Fue profesor de tenis, y ahora importa muebles de jardín. Datos nada relevantes.

Sin embargo, hace 36 años, fines de los años 80, recién cumplidos sus 15 y a solas, puso en su frente el caño de una escopeta cargada, decidido a matarse.

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

CHILE
ADN

[This Friday is the deadline for Minister Juan Manuel Muñoz to deliver judgment in the lawsuit that Jose Murillo, James Hamilton and Juan Carlos Cruz filed against the Archdiocese of Santiago for its responsibility in the acts of sexual abuse committed by priest Fernando Karadima.]

Por Francisca Carvajal, ADN

Este viernes comienza el plazo para que el ministro Juan Manuel Muñoz dicte sentencia en la demanda que José Murillo, James Hamilton y Juan Carlos Cruz, presentaron contra el Arzobispado de Santiago por su responsabilidad en los hechos de abuso sexual cometidos por Fernando Karadima.

El juez había solicitado antecedentes a la iglesia chilena y al Vaticano para cerrar la investigación que lleva a cabo donde declararon más de 30 personas, entre ellos los cardenales Francisco Javier Errázuriz y Ricardo Ezzati, además del propio expárroco de El Bosque .

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

AUSTRALIA
The Australian

January 6, 2017

DAN BOX
Crime reporterSydney
@DanBox10

Catholic leaders across Australia have welcomed a letter from the Pope saying the church “weeps bitterly” over the sexual abuse of children by priests, ahead of a final royal commission investigation into how these crimes could occur.

In what represents one of the most frank admissions of institutional failure by any pontiff, Pope Francis used the letter to say: “We … weep for this sin. The sin of what happened, the sin of failing to help, the sin of covering up and denial, the sin of abuse of power.”

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse will hold a final, three-week hearing next month attempting to establish how widespread this abuse is and what cultural issues allowed it to occur.

About 40 per cent of the thousands of victims who have given evidence in private to the commission say they were abused in Catholic institutions. The hearing is expected to investigate the role of the Vatican, canon law, celibacy and the use of secrecy within the church.

Brisbane archbishop Mark Coleridge said the letter, sent to bishops worldwide and which also talks about the trafficking and starvation suffered by children, was meant to support church leaders “to gather up the tears of the young”.

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

AUSTRALIA
MN News

The truth must be before our eyes daily as we try to be a better church and to do what we can for those who suffered.

BISHOP BILL WRIGHT PUBLISHED JANUARY 05, 2017

I hope that this Year in Review document will be seen by many in the diocese and beyond. Through my working life as a priest, I have struggled to find ways to help people to be aware of the things that go on in their community that are beyond their personal involvements − and it is hard work. On one occasion I was berated by three ladies after Mass for our parish’s lack of a Bible Study group, despite the fact that one had existed for years, was frequently mentioned in the parish bulletin, had a new season beginning that had been advertised for the preceding six weeks and had, in fact, been spoken of in the notices not five minutes before. Until that week, however, the ladies concerned had not ‘needed to know’ and had contrived not to know.

Similarly, in another place, we brought together all the different groups in the parish to speak about what each actually did. We had to take two Sunday afternoons to get through it all and, of course, everyone was astonished by all that went on that they knew nothing about. And these were our most involved and active parishioners! In short, there can never be too much sharing of information about our church community. I hope this annual report makes a good deal available in an accessible form.

This year has had some remarkable features across the diocese. It has been the Year of Mercy proclaimed by Pope Francis and we actually grabbed some international attention through the activity of our travelling ‘Missionary of Mercy’, Fr Richard Shortall SJ, in his mobile home, doing the rounds of our communities. It has been a ministry of great, but largely immeasurable, importance. Fr Richard has been able to preach and exhibit the mercy of God widely, but he has also had to share and bear the pains of many along the way as he has tried to bring them to some reconciliation and peace. Many individual stories of grace will remain unknown to most of us.

In this diocese, while celebrating the sesquicentenary of Bishop Murray’s arrival as our first resident bishop, we have celebrated the contribution of the religious sisters, brothers and priests who began arriving shortly after the bishop. These have been joyous celebrations because so many people have lovingly seized the opportunity to honour the gifts of faith and humanity that the sisters and brothers gave to them over many years. Of course there was also a good deal of wry humour about the personalities and customs of the past. You can read more about this on page 27.

Not all of our past, however, is worthy of our calling in Christ. Dark chapters were exposed again in the case study of child sexual abuse in the diocese held by the Royal Commission this year. Nothing can erase the harm done to those people who were abused as children and to their families. Nothing can erase the shame that these things happened in our community and happened, all too often, despite the knowledge of our leaders. In fact, we do not wish to erase these memories. The truth must be before our eyes daily as we try to be a better church and to do what we can for those who suffered. I have again apologised to the victims of childhood abuse collectively and to many individually, but our apologies will only be as good as our efforts to ensure the safety of our children today and to support the survivors of past abuse as best we can. These commitments are also reflected in this Year in Review on page 5.

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

ROME
Crux

John L. Allen Jr. January 4, 2017
EDITOR

ROME – By now, we already know much of what’s on Pope Francis’s plate in 2017, including two confirmed trips – Fatima in May, and India and Bangladesh probably later in the year – and the likelihood of a couple more, one to Africa (perhaps Congo and South Sudan) and one to Latin America (beginning with Colombia.)

The pontiff will also make quick stops in Milan and Genoa inside Italy, meet bishops from around the world in Rome making ad limina visits, receive dignitaries and heads of state, preside over the usual liturgies for Holy Week, continue meeting with his C9 council of cardinal advisers to wrap up an overhaul of the Roman Curia, and so on.

With Francis, however, it’s often what you don’t see coming that really tells the tale.

Trying to predict what this maverick pope will do is a fool’s errand. Yet we can at least say that in 2017, he’ll have the chance to continue doing something arguably more important than almost anything else in terms of framing his legacy and shaping culture in the Church, which is naming bishops.

As a longtime friend of mine who works in the Vatican likes to say, in the Catholic Church a good bishop can do an enormous amount of good, and a bad bishop can do an even greater amount of harm!

Bishops generally enjoy wide latitude to run their shops as they see fit – a point that’s been given an exclamation point of late by the contrasting ways various bishops have chosen to implement the pope’s document on the family, Amoris Laetita. As a result, perhaps no single thing any pope ever does is more consequential than the kinds of bishops he appoints.

We got another small but telling reminder on Wednesday, when Francis replaced Bishop Fred Henry of Calgary in Canada with Bishop William McGrattan.

Henry is a hero to the strongly pro-life camp in the Church, among other things because of his refusal to permit a government-backed vaccination program against a sexually transmitted disease in Catholic schools because he believed it promoted promiscuity, while McGrattan is seen as a more “Pope Francis” kind of bishop whose focus is generally on dialogue and cooperation over confrontation

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

NEW YORK
Washington Times

By – Associated Press – Thursday, January 5, 2017

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) – New York lawmakers will again face a proposal this year to lift the statute of limitations on sex abuse crimes.

Supporters of the bill gathered at the state Capitol on Wednesday to urge lawmakers to pass the bill, which has faced repeated obstacles in the Legislature.

The proposal would give victims more time to file civil lawsuits or seek criminal charges against their abusers.

In previous years the measure has run into opposition from institutions such as the Catholic Church.

The bill would also create a one-year window for past victims to file civil suits even if the statute of limitations has already run out.

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

UNITED STATES
Verdict

5 JAN 2017

MARCI A. HAMILTON

Republicans would do well to catch up to the rest of the culture on the issues of sex assault and child sex abuse. They are quickly being outpaced by a society that no longer is willing to wink at the rapist or child abuser. Context for rape and child abuse no longer matters: the people are sick of child sex abuse and sex assault, period, whether it occurs in the religious, sports, school, university, or family arena. Smart politicians are seeing that this is a scourge with no political preference.

Yet, too many Republicans—with rare exceptions like Rep. Jason Spencer of Georgia and Rep. Deborah Hudson of Delaware—are responsible for blocking simple legislative change that would identify the hidden predators and provide justice to victims. And they are doing it for all the wrong reasons.

A Case Study: Ken Starr’s Spectacular Fall from Grace

The spectacular fall of Ken Starr in the wake of an ugly Baylor University scandal involving the cover up of sex assault by football team players needs to be studied by ambitious and currently powerful Republicans. This is not like the Dennis Hastert scandal where everyone could pretend his problems from the past don’t affect Republicans now.

Starr, the son of a minister, was a literal star in the Republican firmament: he clerked for Chief Justice Warren Burger, was appointed a federal appellate judge of the powerful Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia (1983-89), and then served as the solicitor general (1989-93). During that time he was on President George H.W. Bush’s short list for the Supreme Court, though the appointment eventually went to David Souter. Starr has been a distinguished litigator for Kirkland and Ellis and also served as Independent Counsel (1994-99) investigating the scandals surrounding the Clintons, including the death of Vince Foster and then-President Bill Clinton’s dealings with Monica Lewinsky, which led to the historic House vote to impeach Clinton in 1998. The investigation was politically charged, and Starr was criticized heavily. He even later expressed regret for having taken on the Lewinsky assignment. Still, in 2004, he landed softly as dean of the Pepperdine University School of Law (2004-2010). As dean, he continued to take on headliner cases, including the defense of billionaire Jeffrey Epstein against statutory rape charges involving numerous girls brought to his home. Epstein eventually pled to one charge of soliciting sex from a minor and served minimal time in jail near his home in Palm Beach, Florida.

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

MASSACHUSETTS
Newchannel 10

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP) – In stories on Nov. 24, 2014; Dec. 1, 2014; and Jan. 2, 2017, about former Bishop Thomas Dupre, The Associated Press reported erroneously that he was defrocked by the Vatican in 2006. The Diocese of Springfield says Dupre was not defrocked.

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

MASSACHUSETTS
Road to Recovery

MEDIA RELEASE – JANUARY 4, 2017

THIS IS THE FIFTEENTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE BOSTON GLOBE “SPOTLIGHT TEAM” COVERAGE OF THE CLERGY SEXUAL ABUSE SCANDAL IN THE ARCHDIOCESE OF BOSTON, MA (2002-2017)

VICTIMS/SURVIVORS, ADVOCATES, AND AN ATTORNEY WILL DISCUSS THE CLERGY SEXUAL ABUSE CRISIS IN THE BOSTON ARCHDIOCESE AND WORLDWIDE, INCLUDING ITS HISTORY DURING THE PAST FIFTEEN YEARS, ITS PRESENT STATE, WHERE IT IS HEADED, AND WHY IT HAS NOT ENDED

What
A press conference featuring victims/survivors , advocates, and an attorney who will discuss the state of the clergy sexual abuse crisis in the Archdiocese of Boston and worldwide, including its history, the present state, where it is headed, and why the Catholic Church has not been successful in ending it

When
Thursday, January 5, 2017, at 11:15 am

Where
Hilton Hotel, 89 Broad Street, Boston, MA 02110

Who
Robert Costello, victim/survivor of a Boston Archdiocesan priest

Barbara Dorris, St. Louis, MO, a victim/survivor of clergy abuse, who is the Victims Outreach Director for SNAP, the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, based in Chicago, IL

Attorney Mitchell Garabedian, whose information about the “secret files” of the Archdiocese of Boston made it possible for the Boston Globe to uncover and publish hundreds of stories about them, and who is featured in the movie, Spotlight, portrayed by actor Stanley Tucci

Robert M. Hoatson, Ph.D., President of Road to Recovery, Inc., a non-profit charity that assists sexual abuse victims, based in Livingston, NJ; former religious brother and priest; a victim/survivor of sexual abuse in Boston by an Irish Christian Brother, and former Assistant Headmaster of Catholic Memorial High School in West Roxbury, MA, who blew the whistle on sexual abuse by a Boston priest in 1981 but was ignored

Why
Despite rhetoric and promises, the Catholic Church has not made significant progress in its efforts to eradicate clergy sexual abuse. Pope Francis’ promise of zero tolerance of clergy sexual abuse has not been realized. In addition, his pledge to fire bishops who have mishandled and covered-up sexual abuse cases has not been fulfilled, and Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston, the Pope’s special consultant on clergy sexual abuse, has not been transparent and open about clergy sexual abuse in the Archdiocese of Boston and in his role as head of the worldwide Papal Commission on Sexual Abuse.

Contacts
Robert M. Hoatson, Ph.D., Road to Recovery, Inc., 862-368-2800 – roberthoatson@gmail.com
Attorney Mitchell Garabedian, Boston, MA. – 617-523-6250 – garabedianlaw@msn.com

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

UNITED STATES
Frum Follies

Rabbi Shraga Feivel Zimmerman, the Gateshead Rav Hair, recently spoke about “The Halachic Obligation of Reporting Abuse to the Authorities” in a telecast aimed at an Australian rabbinical audience.

Rabbi Zimmerman is a Haredi who holds a prominent pulpit as the main posek for Gateshead, a Haredi community centered around the UK’s first kollel formed during WW II by R. Eliyahu Dessler and others.

R. Zimmerman showed courage in the case of Todros Grynhaus by publicly declaring the community erred in the past in trying to manage his abuse by counseling. This was in contrast to the former mashgiach of Gateshead, R. Matisyahu Salomon, who continued to run back channel interference to obstruct the legal process. In the end, Grynhaus was convicted of sexually abusing two minors. Rabbi Zimmerman’s testimony contributed to that conviction.

In this talk he demolishes most of the pseudo-halachic misrepresentations put forth to conceal abuse from the authorities. At one point he declares that those who invoke the shulchan aruch on mesirah to block reporting are either ignorant of choshen mishpat or deliberately misrepresenting it.

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

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Newsworks

BY AARON MOSELLE

Monsignor William Lynn, the first American Catholic Church official to be convicted of covering up clergy sex abuse of children, will be in court Thursday morning with hopes of avoiding a new trial that is currently scheduled for May.

Lynn, 65, was released from prison in August after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court vacated his 2012 conviction. The high court affirmed that jurors were “prejudiced” by hearing hours of evidence about abuse unrelated to Lynn’s actions as a supervisor with the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

During Lynn’s three-month trial, prosecutors presented 21 examples of the Philadelphia archdiocese covering up child sex abuse, some dating back to the 1940s, long before Lynn was in charge of assigning priests.

At the time of his release, Lynn had served nearly three years of a 3-6 year sentence and was slated for parole.

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

MAINE
The Forecaster

By The Forecaster on January 4, 2017

WEST BATH — The founder of the Midcoast Youth Theater in Brunswick pleaded not guilty Tuesday in West Bath District Court to 16 counts of molesting children at his home in Topsham.

Henry Eichman was released on $5,000 cash bail, with conditions that include no contact with any child younger than 16, the court clerk’s office confirmed Wednesday. His next court appearance will be March 8.

Eichman, 56, who was also a teacher at St. John’s Catholic School, was charged Sept. 9, 2016, with unlawful sexual contact and sexual exploitation of a child under 12. He founded MYT in 2003, and was a part-time drama teacher at St. John’s since 2008. He has been suspended from employment and banned from the campus until his court case is resolved, according to spokesman Dave Guthro of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland.

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

WISCONSIN
TMJ4

Casey Geraldo
Jan 3, 2017

A Waukesha pastor will spend four months in jail after he admitted to inappropriately touching a child.

72-year-old Peter Knebel, a pastor at Fox River Christian Church, was charged with first-degree sexual assault of a 10-year-old girl.

He apologized in court Tuesday before the judge handed Knebel his sentence. Knebel has a year total in jail: Four consecutive months, followed by four months where he will be able to leave for counseling or work. The final four months can be used by his probation officer if Knebel breaks the terms of his probation.

That probation will last 10 years, and may be completed in Winnebago County as he has been living in Oshkosh with his brother. The terms of probation include no unsupervised contact with minor girls and no contact with the girl he sexually assaulted, unless she reaches out for therapeutic purposes.

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

CANADA
Roman Catholic Diocese of Calgary

In accordance with canon 401 § ii of the Code of Canon Law, his Holiness Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Most Reverend Frederick B. Henry as Bishop of the Diocese of Calgary due to health concerns.

Most Rev. Luigi Bonazzi, Apostolic Nuncio to Canada, ANNOUNCES THAT THE HOLY FATHER HAS NAMED BISHOP WILLIAM TERRENCE MCGRATTAN, currently the Bishop of the Diocese of Peterborough, as his successor.

The installation of the new Bishop will be on Monday, February 27, 2017 at 7:30 p.m. which will be at St. Mary’s Cathedral.

In the meantime, Bishop Henry has been named Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Calgary.

We thank Bishop Henry for his unstinting service, and we welcome Bishop McGrattan to our Diocese.

To read Bishop Henry’s resignation letter sent to Pope Francis, CLICK HERE.

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

CANADA
Calgary Herald

BILL KAUFMANN

Published on: January 4, 2017

Bishop Fred Henry, Calgary’s leading Catholic authority for 19 years, has resigned from the Calgary Catholic Diocese.

The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops published the news Wednesday morning, but gave no reason for Henry’s departure.

Pope Francis accepted his resignation and has appointed William Terrence McGrattan, Bishop of the Diocese of Peterborough, as his successor.

The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops published the news Wednesday morning, but gave no reason for Henry’s departure.

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

MISSOURI
ABC 17

By: Sarah Bono
Posted: Jan 03, 2017

OWENSVILLE, Mo. – The Owensville Police Department confirmed it was investigating allegations against a priest Tuesday.

According to Bishop John Gaydos of the Jefferson City Diocese, Fr. Bob Duesdieker was put on administrative leave December 28 while the Diocese and law enforcement investigate a report of alleged inappropriate conduct with minors that occurred 25 years ago. At the time, Fr. Duesdieker was serving at Immaculate Conception parish in Owensville.

Bishop Gaydos said Fr. Duesdieker denied any misconduct.

“The Diocese first received information about this complaint earlier last month from a second hand source who was only willing to provide limited information,” said Bishop Gaydos in a statement. “We have, this past week, learned additional information that requires further investigation and caused me to make this decision. The Diocese will cooperate with law enforcement, as appropriate.”

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

MISSOURI
Marshall Democrat-News

Wednesday, January 4, 2017

In a statement from the Catholic Diocese of Jefferson City Tuesday, Jan. 3, Bishop John R. Gaydos announced a Marshall priest had been placed on a temporary administrative leave while an investigation of alleged misconduct was conducted.

Fr. Bob Duesdieker was placed on leave Wednesday, Dec. 28, while the diocese and law enforcement investigate a report of alleged inappropriate conduct with minors approximately 25 years ago, Gaydos states.

The alleged misconduct occurred while Duesdieker was serving at Immaculate Conception parish in Owensville. The bishop’s statement was read during weekend Masses at St. Peter’s Catholic Church.

According to the statement, Duesdieker denies any misconduct.

Gaydos states the Diocese first received information about the allegations from a second-hand source in early December, who provided limited information, and further information was received within the past week giving cause for further investigation.

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

RHODE ISLAND
NBC 10

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) —
The state attorney general is expected to dismiss charges Wednesday against a former Roman Catholic priest who died while awaiting trial on sexual assault charges.

The Rhode Island Medical Examiner’s Office said Barry Meehan died of a heart attack on Dec. 8. He was 67.

Meehan pleaded not guilty in 2014 to five counts of first-degree sexual assault on two young men in the late 1980s and early 1990s while Meehan was a priest at parishes in Providence and Cranston.

He resigned as pastor of St. Timothy’s Church in Warwick in 2013 after state police conducted a joint investigation with the Diocese of Providence beginning in 2012. The Vatican laicized Meehan last year.

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

JAMAICA
Jamaica Observer

Saturday, December 31, 2016

SANTA CRUZ, St Elizabeth — Police say a Moravian pastor based in Manchester, who is alleged to have had sexual intercourse with a 15-year-old girl on Wednesday night, faced more questioning yesterday and was expected to be charged with “having sex with a girl under 16 years old”.

Under Jamaican law, the age of consent for sexual relations is 16. Anyone below that age is a minor and therefore not eligible to consent to sexual intercourse.

Police say that about 9:00 pm on Wednesday, a motorised police patrol in the deep-rural community of Austin in Myersville, south-east St Elizabeth, close to the Alpart plant in Nain, came upon a parked car in a secluded area. Further inspection revealed the pastor and the 15-year-old in what the police describe as a “compromising position”.

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

UNITED STATES
AlterNet

By Peter Montgomery / Right Wing Watch January 2, 2017

Donald Trump’s inaugural committee has announced that six faith leaders will take part in his swearing-in ceremony by offering prayers or delivering readings. Among them are Rabbi Marvin Hier, founder and dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, and Bishop Wayne Jackson, who draped a prayer shawl from Israel over Trump’s shoulders when Trump made a campaign stop at his Great Faith Ministries International church in Detroit for a scripted interview. …

Timothy Dolan

New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan criticized Trump’s nativist rhetoric in 2015, but more recently has praised Trump’s positions on abortion and “religious liberty” and has said since the election he looks forward to the appointment of Supreme Court justices “who will reform the injustice and travesty of Roe v. Wade.” …

Documents released in 2013 showed that Dolan, when archbishop of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee in 2007, had asked for and received permission from the Vatican to, as The New York Times reported, “move nearly $57 million into a cemetery trust fund to protect the assets from victims of clergy sexual abuse who were demanding compensation.”

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

MASSACHUSETTS
Boston Globe

By Lisa Wangsness GLOBE STAFF JANUARY 04, 2017

In many ways, former Springfield bishop Thomas L. Dupre epitomized the sexual abuse scandal in the Roman Catholic Church.

Dupre, who died Dec. 30 at 83, was the first Roman Catholic bishop to be indicted in the scandal, which burst into public view 15 years ago this month when the Globe’s Spotlight team began reporting about the church hierarchy’s protection of priests who abused minors. Advocates for victims say Dupre had cultivated a culture of secrecy that kept such abuse shrouded for years.

But the Vatican never punished him beyond accepting his resignation — at least not publicly. And Dupre was never prosecuted for his crimes because the statutes of limitation had expired, preventing prosecutors from seeking justice.

“This man should have been held accountable,” said Eric MacLeish, a lawyer who represented two men who accused Dupre of abusing them as minors. “He should have died in prison for the damage he did.” …

Terence McKiernan, a spokesman for BishopAccountability.org, an online archive of the clergy sexual abuse scandal, said Dupre’s story reflects the Vatican’s past failures — and ongoing struggles — in holding bishops accountable for the abuse of children.

“Dupre, even though he paid a price in the sense that he did resign once his past was revealed, that’s a pretty mild punishment,” McKiernan said. “And I think most bishops who enabled abuse, and even some bishops who offended themselves, paid no price at all.”

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

MASSACHUSETTS
iObserve – Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield

SPRINGFIELD — In a short statement released on the evening of Jan. 2, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield announced it had been informed of the passing of former diocesan bishop Thomas L. Dupre at the age of 83.

The statement read, “(t)he Diocese of Springfield has been informed of the passing of Thomas L. Dupre, former Bishop of Springfield. He was 83 at the time of his death on December 30. He passed away outside the diocese and funeral arrangements have been scheduled to be private.”

Dupre has resided outside the diocese since his sudden resignation on Feb. 10 2004. Announced at the time as due to health reasons, it was subsequently learned he had engaged in inappropriate behavior with two young boys many years before, abuse that was about to be revealed by The Republican newspaper.

Then-district attorney William Bennett conducted an exhaustive investigation, leading to a grand jury indictment; however, no criminal proceedings were ever brought forward due to the statute of limitations. Dupre did eventually participate in a civil settlement with his two victims.

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

NEW YORK
New York Daily News

GLENN BLAIN
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Tuesday, January 3, 2017

ALBANY — Former model and sexual abuse victim Nikki DuBose is coming to the state Capitol Wednesday with a message for state lawmakers — children need to be protected.

DuBose is the featured speaker at a rally being planned by advocates for legislation that would change New York’s statute of limitations and make it easier for child sex abuse victims to obtain justice in state courts.

“We are talking about kids,” DuBose, 31, told The Daily News.

“Why is it OK for an innocent child to be sexually abused and to have his rights, his soul, his identity, his emotions his life taken away from that very moment and for him to not receive justice?” DuBose continued. “Why is that OK?”

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

UNITED STATES
The American Conservative

By ROD DREHER • January 3, 2017

Michael Brendan Dougherty has published a blockbuster column today. Excerpts:

The Catholic Church has long been plagued by sickening scandals involving priests abusing children. And there is reportedly another scandal coming — this one of the pope’s own making.

Two people with direct ties to the Vatican tell me that Pope Francis, following the advice of his clubby group of allies in the curia, is pressing to undo the reforms that were instituted by his predecessors John Paul II and Benedict XVI in handling the cases of abuser priests. Francis is pushing ahead with this plan even though the curial officials and cardinals who favor it have already brought more scandal to his papacy by urging him toward lenient treatment of abusers.

It has to do with something as seemingly dry as curial reform. But Dougherty contends that what’s really going on is Francis is protecting friends and punishing enemies — and using something as critically important as cleaning up the Church’s handling of abuser priests to do it. …

It brings to mind Francis’s repugnant handling of a case in Chile, relayed in this National Catholic Reporter story in October 2015. Excerpt:

On Oct. 2, a Chilean news channel brought to light a May 6 recording of Pope Francis defending Bishop Juan Barros, who was recently assigned to Osorno, Chile, despite allegations that the new bishop covered up clergy sex abuse by a priest in the 1980s and 1990s.

Though evidence of the priest’s abuse was verified by Chile’s judicial court, statute of limitations allowed Fr. Fernando Karadima to dodge prosecution. When a separate Vatican investigation found the priest guilty of abuse, he was condemned in 2011 to a life of prayer and penance in a convent outside of Santiago.

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

ARGENTINA
La Gaceta Salta

[Pre-trial detention requested for former nun accused of sexual abuse. Alicia Pacheco was part of the institute founded by Father Agustín Rosa. The prosecution also requested that psychological tests be performed.]

La Fiscalía solicitó la prisión preventiva para la ex monja de la congregación Discípulos de Jesús de San Juan Bautista, María Alicia Pacheco, que fue detenida e imputada por el delito de abuso sexual gravemente ultrajante agravado en perjuicio de una menor que formaba parte del instituto fundado por el padre Agustín Rosa Torino.

La Fiscal Penal 2 de la Unidad de Delitos contra la Integridad Sexual, María Luján Sodero Calvet, solicitó al Juzgado de Garantías 1, a cargo de Ada Zunino, la realización de pericias psicológicas y psiquiátricas a la ex religiosa.

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

DEUTSCHLAND
Regenburg Digital

[The vicar general of the Diocese of Regensburg – Michael Fuchs – has published a chronology of his case study (addressed to the victims’ attorney at the Regensburg catsparls Ulrich Weber). Whether this was made by him as a private individual or in an official capacity remains unclear. In the introduction, he notes as a motif: Weber’s work should only be seen as part of the entire reconnaissance work.]

Wenige Tage bevor der frühere Regensburger Bischof Gerhard Ludwig Müller in einbem Interview mit der PNP Kritik an seiner „Aufklärungsarbeit“ zum sexuellen Missbrauch bei den Domspatzen als „postfaktisch“ bezeichnete, wurde von Generalvikar Michael Fuchs eine fragwürdige Chronologie der Ereignisse seit 2010 auf den Internetseiten der Diözese veröffentlicht.

Eine kritische Betrachtung von Alfred Gassner

Der Generalvikar der Diözese Regensburg Michael Fuchs hat (adressiert an den Opferanwalt bei den Regensburger Domspatzen Ulrich Weber) eine Chronologie seiner Fallaufarbeitung veröffentlicht. Ob diese von ihm als Privatperson oder in amtlicher Eigenschaft gefertigt wurde, bleibt unklar. In der Einleitung notiert er als Motiv: Webers Arbeit dürfe nur als Teil der gesamten Aufklärungsarbeit gesehen werden. Diese Zuschreibung legt nahe, dass die Veröffentlichung im Sachzusammenhang mit dem im Frühjahr 2017 zu erwartenden Schlussbericht Webers besteht und diese korrigieren soll.

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

DEUTSCHLAND
Regensburg Digital

[On the occasion of a report on the treatment of the abuse scandal of the Domspatzen, Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller (GLM) reprimands the Bavarian radio for “post-factual allegations.”]

Von Robert Werner

Anlässlich eines Berichts über die Aufarbeitung des Missbrauchsskandals der Domspatzen schmäht Kardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller (GLM) den Bayerischen Rundfunk der „postfaktischen Behauptungen“. Er bemüht dafür eine auf der Bistumshomepage veröffentlichte „Chronologie“, die sich bei Lichte besehen als kontrafaktische Eigenpropaganda entpuppt. GLM sieht sich als Seelsorger und Vater der Domspatzen-Aufklärung. Was ist in Regensburg geschehen?

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

DEUTSCHLAND
NDR

[In 2010 an abuse scandal had occupied those in the diocese of Osnabrück: A Catholic priest confessed to having had sex with a teenager decades before. But there was never a public process.]

von Carsten Ehrbar

2010 hatte ein Missbrauchsskandal das Bistum Osnabrück beschäftigt: Ein katholischer Priester gestand bei Vernehmungen, Jahrzehnte zuvor Sex mit einer Jugendlichen gehabt zu haben. Zu einem öffentlichen Prozess kam es aber nie. Der Priester wurde 2013 vom Kirchengericht schuldig gesprochen und versetzt. Er darf seitdem weder leitende Aufgaben übernehmen noch in der Kinder-und Jugendseelsorge tätig werden. Nun bricht das Opfer sein Schweigen und es wird klar: Es gab damals, in den 90er-Jahren, Versäumnisse des Bistums.

Nicht nur ein Mal, sondern immer wieder
Claudia Meyer* ist damals eine Jugendliche, fast noch ein Kind, mit ihren 13, 14 Jahren. Zierlich, mit hellen leuchtenden Augen. Die dunklen Haare kurz wie ein Junge. Sie hat ein Grübchen, wenn sie lächelt. Im Jahr 1990 – sie kann sich nicht mehr erinnern, wann genau – hat in der Harener Kaplanei ein Priester Sex mit ihr. Nicht ein Mal, sondern immer wieder. Das geht über Jahre so. Wenn sie daran zurückdenkt, spricht sie von sich in der dritten Person. Als wenn sie dadurch das Schlimme, das sie erlitten hat, nur betrachtet, nicht erlebt: “Man war in der Kirche tätig, ist dann mehr oder weniger abhängig geworden und hat sich dann unter Druck setzen lassen, da jeden Tag hinzukommen.”

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

ROME
LifeSite News

Jan Bentz

ANALYSIS

ROME, January 3, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) — A well-informed Vatican analyst has reported that over Christmas Pope Francis personally ordered three priests to be dismissed from their duties in the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith.

According to Vaticanist Marco Tosatti, Pope Francis ordered Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller, prefect of the congregation, to dismiss the priests because of an unknown incident. Maike Hickson, writing for OnePeterFive, discovered that the three priests are of Slovakian-American, French, and Mexican nationality.

Tosatti reported, as translated by Hickson:

The head of a dicastery has received the order to remove three of his employees (all of whom have worked there for a long time), and it was without any explanation. He [the Prefect] received these official letters: “….I request that you please dismiss ….” The order was: send him [each of them] back into his diocese of origin or to the Religious Family to which he belongs. He [the Prefect of the Congregation] was very perplexed because it was about three excellent priests who are among the most capable professionally. He first avoided obeying and several times asked for an audience with the pope. He had to wait because that meeting was postponed several times. Finally, he was received in an audience. And he said: “Your Holiness, I have received these letters, but I did not do anything because these persons are among the best of my dicastery… what did they do?” The answer was, as follows: “And I am the pope, I do not need to give reasons for any of my decisions. I have decided that they have to leave and they have to leave.” He got up and stretched out his hand in order to indicate that the audience was at an end. On 31 December, two of the three [men] will leave the dicastery in which they have worked for years, and without knowing the why. For the third, there seems to be a certain delay. But then, there is another implication which, if true, would be even more unpleasant. One of the two had freely spoken about certain decisions of the pope – perhaps a little bit too much. A certain person – a friend of a close collaborator of the pope – heard this disclosure and passed it on. The victim received then a very harsh telephone call from Number One [i.e., the pope]. And then soon came the dismissal.

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

ROME
The Week

Michael Brendan Dougherty

The Catholic Church has long been plagued by sickening scandals involving priests abusing children. And there is reportedly another scandal coming — this one of the pope’s own making.

Two people with direct ties to the Vatican tell me that Pope Francis, following the advice of his clubby group of allies in the curia, is pressing to undo the reforms that were instituted by his predecessors John Paul II and Benedict XVI in handling the cases of abuser priests. Francis is pushing ahead with this plan even though the curial officials and cardinals who favor it have already brought more scandal to his papacy by urging him toward lenient treatment of abusers.

In 2001, the Vatican instituted a massive reform in how it handled the cases of priests who abused children. The power to deal with these cases was taken away from the Congregation of the Clergy and the Roman Rota (the Vatican’s Court), and placed in the office of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF). Subsequently, the volume and speed with which the Catholic Church defrocked abuser priests went up. This was Pope Benedict’s legacy of trying to confront “the filth” in the Church.

Recently, Pope Francis had the Vatican’s secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, request an opinion from the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts, led by Cardinal Francesco Coccopalmerio, regarding the possibility of transferring competence to deal with abuser priests from the CDF back to Clergy and the Rota. Coccopalmerio’s office responded with a positive answer. …

Rumors of this reform have been circulating in Rome for months. And not happily. Pope Francis and his cardinal allies have been known to interfere with CDF’s judgments on abuse cases. This intervention has become so endemic to the system that cases of priestly abuse in Rome are now known to have two sets of distinctions. The first is guilty or innocent. The second is “with cardinal friends” or “without cardinal friends.” …

Consider the case of Fr. Mauro Inzoli. Inzoli lived in a flamboyant fashion and had such a taste for flashy cars that he earned the nickname “Don Mercedes.” He was also accused of molesting children. He allegedly abused minors in the confessional. He even went so far as to teach children that sexual contact with him was legitimated by scripture and their faith. When his case reached CDF, he was found guilty. And in 2012, under the papacy of Pope Benedict, Inzoli was defrocked.

But Don Mercedes was “with cardinal friends,” we have learned. Cardinal Coccopalmerio and Monsignor Pio Vito Pinto, now dean of the Roman Rota, both intervened on behalf of Inzoli, and Pope Francis returned him to the priestly state in 2014, inviting him to a “a life of humility and prayer.” These strictures seem not to have troubled Inzoli too much. In January 2015, Don Mercedes participated in a conference on the family in Lombardy.

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

ROME
Malta Today

Paul Cocks 3 January 2017

The leader of the Order of Malta has reaffirmed his loyalty to Pope Francis, as the Order faces an investigation by the Vatican over a recent controversy, according to Italian media.

In a letter to mark the World Day of Peace, Fra’ Matthew Festing, the organisation’s Grand Master, told Pope Francis that the Order, even in a difficult and complex time, “seeks to render its service in closely adhering to the teaching of the Church and the directions which come from the Successor to St Peter.”

Festing was referring to the recent dismissal of Albrecht Boeselager, the Grand Chancellor of the order. Boeselager has been accused of allowing the distribution of condoms, as part of a scheme with which the order was linked.

But Festing said Boeselager was removed for allegedly concealing problems in his previous role of overseeing the order’s charitable work. The Order of Malta’s members run hospitals, nursing homes, night shelters and other forms of charitable outreach in 120 countries.

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

ITALY
Daily Mail (UK)

By DARREN BOYLE FOR MAILONLINE

An Italian Catholic priest is being investigated by police over claims he has pimped out up to 15 lovers from his rectory and was planning a weekend away at a French swingers resort.

Father Andrea Contin of San Lazzaro church in Padua was investigated after three of his former lovers went to the authorities.

Police raided Fr Contin’s home beside the church in the northern Italian city and recovered a stash of home-made pornography as well as a range various sex toys.

According to the Il Mattino di Padova newspaper, Fr Contin is accused of living off immoral earnings and psychological violence.

The priest is believed to have offered the services of the women through a range of wife swapping websites.

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

ROMA
La Nacion

ROMA (AFP).- En una carta divulgada ayer por el Vaticano, el papa Francisco les exigió a los obispos que apliquen “clara y lealmente la consigna «tolerancia cero»” frente a los sacerdotes que cometen abusos sexuales.

“Tomemos el coraje necesario para implementar todas las medidas necesarias y proteger en todo la vida de nuestros niños, para que tales crímenes no se repitan más”, instó el Papa en la misiva enviada a los obispos en ocasión del Día de los Santos Inocentes, que se festeja el 28 de diciembre.

“Asumamos clara y lealmente la consigna «tolerancia cero» en este asunto”, recalca el papa argentino. En el texto, Francisco pide en varias ocasiones “perdón” por un pecado que reconoce, lo “avergüenza”, “lamenta” y “llora”, escribe.

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

VATICAN CITY
International Business Times

By Frenalyn Untalan on January 03 2017

Pope Francis addressed issues regarding child abuse through a Dec. 28 letter. The letter, released publicly on Monday, urged bishops worldwide to maintain “zero tolerance” of abuses of the youth.

The leader of the Roman Catholic Church wants to make sure that every child is protected from sexual abuse by its clergy. In the letter, the pope points towards injustices to children. These include slave labour, malnutrition, lack of education and sexual exploitation and even abuse by priests.

The pope also decried “the sufferings, the experiences and pain of minors who suffered sexual abuse by priests.” In the letter, Pope Francis wrote, “It is a sin that shames us. Persons responsible for the protection of those children destroyed their dignity.”

Pope Francis urged bishops to find the courage needed to take all necessary measures so that such crimes will not be repeated. He further urged Catholic leaders to adhere clearly and faithfully to “zero tolerance.”

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

VATICAN CITY
NAN (Nigeria)

Pope Francis has urged Bishops not to tolerate any priest who engages in any form of sexual abuse.

In a letter dated Dec. 28 but released on Monday, Francis said that priests who abused children should not be tolerated when they asked for forgiveness.

“I would like us to renew our complete commitment to ensuring that these atrocities will no longer take place in our midst.”

“The Church recognizes the sins of some of her members: the sufferings, the experiences and the pain of minors who were abused sexually by priests.

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

RHODE ISLAND
Crux

AP

A former priest of the Providence, Rhode Island, diocese, who was arrested on sexual assault charges in 2014 and laicized, meaning removed from the priesthood, in 2015, has died of a heart attack before he could face trial.

PROVIDENCE – A former Roman Catholic priest awaiting trial on sexual assault charges has died.

The Rhode Island Medical Examiner’s Office says Barry Meehan died of a heart attack on December 8. He was 67.

Meehan pleaded not guilty in 2014 to five counts of first-degree sexual assault on two young men in the late 1980s and early 1990s while Meehan was a priest at parishes in Providence and Cranston.

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

MASSACHUSETTS
WWLP

[with video]

By Joel Martinez
Published: January 2, 2017

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) – The Diocese of Springfield announced Monday night that former Bishop Thomas L. Dupre died at the age of 83.

According to Mark Dupont, spokesman for the Springfield Roman Catholic Diocese, Dupre died on December 30, 2016 outside the diocese. He said all funeral arrangements have been scheduled to be private.

Dupree resigned as Bishop of Springfield back in 2004, citing health reasons, and then suddenly left western Massachusetts. Shortly after his resignation, it was revealed that Dupre had been accused of sexually abusing two boys in the 1970’s; a 12-year-old and 16-year-old.

The former Bishop was indicted on two counts of child rape, but prosecutors declined to bring the case to trial because the statute of limitations had expired. The victims also filed a civil lawsuit against Dupre, charging him with assault and battery, and infliction of emotional distress; a settlement was reached in 2008 by the Diocese of Springfield.

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

MASSACHUSETTS
Yahoo! News

Correction: Bishop Thomas Dupre stories
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP) – In stories on Nov. 24, 2014; Dec. 1, 2014; and Jan. 2, 2017, about former Bishop Thomas Dupre, The Associated Press reported erroneously that he was defrocked by the Vatican in 2006. The Diocese of Springfield says Dupre was not defrocked.

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP) — The first Roman Catholic bishop in the United States to be indicted on a sexual-abuse claim during a flood of abuse accusations against church officials has died. Former Bishop of Springfield, Massachusetts, Thomas Dupre was 83.

The Diocese of Springfield says Dupre died Friday. It hasn’t revealed the cause of his death.

Dupre became bishop in the 1990s. He cited health reasons for his sudden retirement in 2004. Months later he was indicted on charges he raped two boys in the 1970s. The case was dropped because the statute of limitations had expired.

In 2009 a man alleged a priest molested him in the 1980s and Dupre and former Bishop Joseph Maguire knew the priest had abused other boys but assigned him to the church anyway.

Dupre was defrocked in 2006. Maguire died in 2014 at age 95.

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

MASSACHUSETTS
The Republican

By Brian Steele | bsteele@repub.com
on January 02, 2017

SPRINGFIELD — Thomas L. Dupre, a former bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield who left his position in disgrace amid The Republican’s reporting of child sex abuse allegations, died Friday at the age of 83.

Dupre was bishop from 1995 to 2004, when accusations made by the mother of an alleged abuse victim became public.

He retired the day after The Republican sought his response to detailed written accounts of alleged child rape. The diocese claimed the timing was a coincidence, saying the pope had allowed Dupre’s months-old request to retire five years early due to failing health.

On Sept. 27, 2004, about seven months after Dupre retired, he was indicted by a Hampden County grand jury on charges that he sexually assaulted two altar boys, ages 12 and 13, more than three decades prior. The same day, then-District Attorney William Bennett announced the case would not go to trial because the statute of limitations had expired on some charges and the grand jury declined to indict on others.

Dupre was the first Roman Catholic bishop to be indicted in a nationwide wave of sexual abuse accusations against priests and other church leaders.

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

ITALY
The Independent (UK)

Italian 48-year-old allegedly hid pornographic home videos in covers bearing the names of popes

Peter Walker @petejohn_walker

An Italian priest is being investigated for allegedly organising orgies in his rectory and pimping out up to 15 lovers.

Catholic Father Andrea Contin, a parish priest in the northern city of Padua in Veneto, is under police investigation on suspicion of living off immoral earnings and psychological violence.

A variety of sex toys and videos, purportedly showing orgies taking place on the San Lazzaro church premises, have been seized after complaints from three female parishioners.

The 48-year-old also allegedly concealed pornographic home videos in covers bearing the names of various popes.

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

UNITED KINGDOM
Raw Story

SARAH K. BURRIS
02 JAN 2017

Several Christian fundamentalist schools have been downgraded in the UK after a government watchdog group followed up on an exclusive report done by The Independent.

As the site reported this summer, LGBT students were being taught that homosexuality was unnatural and girls were being told that they had to obey men. Other students reported other forms of “serious mistreatment,” including “corporal punishment, exorcisms being performed on children and schoolgirls being ‘groomed’ for marriage to much older men.”

These Accelerated Christian Education (ACE) schools were designed to create a Bible-based education for homeschool students, pastors and private religious schools, according to their site. The schools teach thousands of students at over 26 institutions, but now those schools are coming under fire by the institutions responsible rating them. As a result, their score has been downgraded, The Independent‘s exclusive reports.

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

ARGENTINA
El Nuevo Herald

[Several children and young people said that in a small chapel and before an image of the Virgin Mary they were abused by two Catholic priests. Their groans of terror could scarcely be heard: like them the other students of that Argentine school were deaf.

At least 24 students and alumni of the Antonio Próvolo Institute for deaf and hard of hearing children in the province of Mendoza, Argentina, denounced the alleged abuse to justice officials.

The case knocks at the gates of the Vatican, which ignored the warnings of the Italian victims about priest Nicola Corradi, detained in Mendoza. The Italian priest, 82, had been singled out for similar crimes committed since the 1950s at the Antonio Próvolo Institute in Verona.

After ordering an investigation into the allegations in Italy, the Vatican punished four priests, although Corradi was never punished for the crimes committed in that institute.

The scandal intensified after it became known that one of the appointed priests had already been charged with similar crimes at a school in Italy. Anne Barrett, co-director of BishopAccountability.org, an internet portal against clerical pederasty, said that the Argentine case “is distinctively horrifying … the crimes are new, they were preventable, they happened after the Vatican supposedly implemented reforms and under the noses Of Church officials who have boasted of clever anti-abuse policies. “]

Varios niños y jóvenes aseguraron que en una pequeña capilla y ante una imagen de la Virgen María fueron abusados por dos curas católicos. Sus gemidos de terror difícilmente podían ser escuchados: como ellos, los otros estudiantes de esa escuela argentina eran sordos.

Al menos 24 alumnos y ex alumnos del Instituto Antonio Próvolo para niños sordos y con problemas de audición de la provincia de Mendoza denunciaron los presuntos abusos ante la justicia. El escándalo se intensificó luego de saberse que uno de los sacerdotes señalados ya había sido acusado de delitos similares en una escuela en Italia.

En el instituto “hay una capillita chiquita donde está la Virgen… con unas sillitas, donde a los niños los confesaban, les daban la comunión. Allí sucedían algunos de los hechos”, dijo recientemente a The Associated Press el fiscal Fabrizio Sidoti, quien investigó el caso en las últimas semanas.

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

VATICAN CITY
Yahoo! News

Vatican City (AFP) – Pope Francis on Monday defended the Catholic Church’s much-vaunted “zero tolerance” approach to abuse, while admitting the ancient institution had so far lacked the courage to go all out on stopping paedophile priests.

The church “recognizes the sins of some of her members: the sufferings, the experiences and the pain of minors who were abused sexually by priests. It is a sin that shames us,” he said in a letter made public Monday.

“I would like us to renew our complete commitment to ensuring that these atrocities will no longer take place in our midst,” he added in the letter, addressed to the world’s bishops to mark the Massacre of the Innocents on December 28.

“Let us find the courage needed to take all necessary measures” to protect children.

“In this area, let us adhere, clearly and faithfully, to ‘zero tolerance’,” he said.

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

VATICAN CITY
ABC News

By FRANCES D’EMILIO, ASSOCIATED PRESS

VATICAN CITY — Jan 2, 2017

Pope Francis has exhorted Catholic bishops worldwide to do what’s needed to ensure children are protected from sexual abuse by clergy.

The Vatican on Monday released the text of a Dec. 28 letter Francis sent to bishops about injustices to children. They included slave labor, malnutrition, lack of education and sexual exploitation, including abuse by priests.

In the letter, Francis decried “the sufferings, the experiences and pain of minors who were abused sexually by priests.”

“It is a sin that shames us,” the pope wrote. “Persons responsible for the protection of those children destroyed their dignity.”

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

VATICAN CITY
Reuters

By Philip Pullella | VATICAN CITY

Pope Francis has told bishops around the world they must adhere to a policy of zero tolerance for clergy who sexually abuse children and begged forgiveness for “a sin that shames us”.

In a letter sent on Dec. 28 but released by the Vatican only on Monday, Francis said: “I would like us to renew our complete commitment to ensuring that these atrocities will no longer take place in our midst.”

Since his election in 2013, Francis has taken some steps to root out sexual abuse in the Church and to put in place practices to protect children. But victims’ groups say he has not done enough, particularly to hold to account bishops who tolerated sexual abuse or covered it up.

“(The Church) recognises the sins of some of her members: the sufferings, the experiences and the pain of minors who were abused sexually by priests. It is a sin that shames us,” Francis wrote in the letter.

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

CIUDAD DEL VATICANO
El Sol

[Following allegations of abuse of minors at the Antonio Próvolo Institute for children with hearing loss, in Luján de Cuyo, Argentina, a statement was expected from Pope Francis. And although he did not directly refer to the case that moved Mendoza, the Supreme Pontiff finally condemned sexual abuse by priests.]

Tras las denuncias por abusos a menores en el Instituto Antonio Próvolo para niños con hipoacusia, en Luján de Cuyo, se esperaba alguna declaración del Papa Francisco. Y si bien no se refirió directamente al caso que conmovió a Mendoza, el Sumo Pontífice finalmente condenó los abusos sexuales por parte de sacerdotes.

Además aseguró que “la Iglesia pide perdón” y se une “al dolor de las víctimas”, al tiempo que prometió “tolerancia cero”.

“Escuchemos el llanto y el gemir de estos niños; escuchemos el llanto y el gemir también de nuestra madre Iglesia, que llora no sólo frente al dolor causado en sus hijos más pequeños, sino también porque conoce el pecado de algunos de sus miembros: el sufrimiento, la historia y el dolor de los menores que fueron abusados sexualmente por sacerdotes”, aseguró el Pontífice en una carta escrita a Obispos el 25 de diciembre pasado y divulgada este lunes por el Vaticano.

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

VATICAN CITY
Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has written to the Bishops of the world condemning all forms of oppression and exploitation of children. His words come in a letter signed on the Feast of the Holy Innocents, which takes place each year on December 28, during the Octave of Christmas.

In his letter, the Holy Father calls the Bishops to foster in hearts of Christians the joy that comes from the proclamation of the birth of Christ. But in moving words, he notes that the Christmas story is also accompanied by tears. “Today, too,” the Pope said, we hear this heart-rending cry of pain, which we neither desire nor are able to ignore or to silence.” He continued. “In our world – I write this with a heavy heart – we continue to hear the lamentation of so many mothers, of so many families, for the death of their children, their innocent children.”

Pope Francis speaks about the millions of children who are deprived of education and whose innocence is shattered by wars and forced immigation. He also once again begs forgiveness for the sufferings of children who were sexually abused by priests, saying “it is a sin that shames the Church.”

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

VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service – Bulletin

The following is the full text of the letter the Holy Father Francis wrote to the bishops on the feast of the Holy Innocents, held on 28 December 2016:

Dear Brother,

Today, on the feast of the Holy Innocents, as the words of the angel to the shepherds still resound in our hearts – “I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to all the people; for to you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour” (Lk 2: 10-11) – I feel the need to write to you. We do well to listen to that proclamation again and again; to hear over and over again that God is present in the midst of our people. This certainty, which we renew each year, is the source of our joy and hope.

In these days we experience how the liturgy leads us to the heart of Christmas, into the Mystery which gradually draws us to the source of Christian joy. …

To illustrate this point, there are at present 75 million children who, due to prolonged situations of emergency and crisis, have had to interrupt their education. In 2015, 68% of all persons who were victims of sexual exploitation were children. At the same time, a third of all children who have to live outside their homelands do so because forcibly displaced. We live in a world where almost half of the children who die under the age of five do so because of malnutrition. It is estimated that in 2016 there were 150 million child labourers, many of whom live in conditions of slavery. According to the most recent report presented by UNICEF, unless the world situation changes, in 2030 there will be 167 million children living in extreme poverty, 69 million children under the age of five will die between 2016 and 2030, and 16 million children will not receive basic schooling.

We hear these children and their cries of pain; we also hear the cry of the Church our Mother, who weeps not only for the pain caused to her youngest sons and daughters, but also because she recognizes the sins of some of her members: the sufferings, the experiences and the pain of minors who were abused sexually by priests. It is a sin that shames us. Persons responsible for the protection of those children destroyed their dignity. We regret this deeply and we beg forgiveness. We join in the pain of the victims and weep for this sin. The sin of what happened, the sin of failing to help, the sin of covering up and denial, the sin of the abuse of power. The Church also weeps bitterly over this sin of her sons and she asks forgiveness. Today, as we commemorate the feast of the Holy Innocents, I would like us to renew our complete commitment to ensuring that these atrocities will no longer take place in our midst. Let us find the courage needed to take all necessary measures and to protect in every way the lives of our children, so that such crimes may never be repeated. In this area, let us adhere, clearly and faithfully, to “zero tolerance”.

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

VATICAN CITY
Catholic World Report

January 2, 2017

Vatican City, Jan 2, 2017 / 07:49 am (CNA/EWTN News).- In a letter sent to bishops around the world for the feast of the Holy Innocents, Pope Francis lamented the many children who suffer from war, slavery and various forms of abuse, including within the Church.

The Church not only hears the “cries of pain” of her children who suffer from war, slavery and malnutrition, he said, but she also weeps “because she recognizes the sins of some of her members: the sufferings, the experiences and the pain of minors who were abused sexually by priests.”

“It is a sin that shames us. Persons responsible for the protection of those children destroyed their dignity. We regret this deeply and we beg forgiveness.”

Francis condemned the sin “of failing to help,” of “covering up and denial” and the sin of “the abuse of power” that happened in many cases.

In celebrating the Feast of the Holy Innocents, Pope Francis asked his brother bishops to renew “our complete commitment to ensuring that these atrocities will no longer take place in our midst.”

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

ITALIA
Corriere del Veneto

PADOVA Don Andrea Contin è un affare ogni giorno più complicato e sorprendente. Senza facili ironie, l’inchiesta sull’ormai ex parroco del rione San Lazzaro, Padova, indagato per violenza privata e favoreggiamento della prostituzione, pare essere a una prima, importante svolta. Inquirenti blindati e avvocati abbottonati, ma il b-movie del sesso in salsa padovana nato con la denuncia di una parrocchiana di don Andrea, nelle ultime ore sta pian piano prendendo le forme di un kolossal a luci rosse.

Le amanti del parroco Fin qui si è detto di tre donne. Ora pare che il conto possa salire almeno fino a quindici. C’è quella che il sei dicembre scorso ha denunciato, raccontando di rapporti con Contin, di sesso sempre più spinto, coadiuvato da tanti simpatici oggetti del piacere/dolore e sfociato, infine, in orge con più partener maschili «selezionati » dal don, nel doppio ruolo di amante impositore e (se saranno provati eventuali pagamenti) ruffiano.

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

ITALY
International Business Times

By Tom Porter
January 2, 2017

An Italian priest has been accused of pimping some of his 15 suspected lovers and filming orgies in his church’s rectory.

Father Andrea Contin, 48, the parish priest at the church of San Lazzaro in Padua, is under police investigation for living off immoral earnings and psychological violence, following complaints from three female parishioners.

Sex toys and pornographic home videos, some bearing the names on popes on the covers, were seized in police raids, according to local media reports.

He is alleged to have pimped some of his lovers to men on wife-swapping websites, as well as enjoying lavish holidays with lovers, travelling to countries including Croatia, France and Austria.

Among the places he allegedly visited with lovers was the Cap d’Agde naturists and swingers resort in France, according Corriere del Veneto.

Complaints were first made to a local bishop last summer, but church authorities failed to contact police.

One of the priest’s alleged former lovers told the Il Mattino di Padova newspaper in an anonymous interview that Contin had pursued her with messages and phone calls before they had sex.

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

INDIA
New Indian Express

KOCHI: The police on Sunday arrested a 65-year-old priest on charges of sexually abusing an 11-year-old boy.

The police said that Fr Basil Kuriakose, who is also serving as principal of a school, abused the boy in the dormitory of the school’s hostel when the other students had gone home to spend Christmas holidays. He committed the crime while sleeping with the boy on December 21 night.

The school is run by a charitable trust, and is not linked to any religious organisation. The accused had joined the residential school as principal after retiring from an aided school. His wife is a retired professor, and the couple has a son settled in Australia. “Denying the charges, Fr Basil in his statement said though he had shared the room with the boy on the day, he did not abuse him,” said police officials.

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

ITALY
The Times (UK)

Philip Willan, Rome
January 2 2017
The Times

A priest in the northern Italian city of Padua has been accused of organising orgies in his rectory, acting as a pimp to some of his 15 lovers and concealing pornographic home videos in covers bearing the names of popes.

Father Andrea Contin, 48, the parish priest at the church of San Lazzaro, is under police investigation on suspicion of living off immoral earnings and psychological violence, following complaints from three of his female parishioners. A variety of sex toys and videos showing orgies taking place on the premises were also seized.

He is said to have farmed out some of his lovers to male customers on wife swapping websites. The priest is also alleged to have enjoyed lavish holidays with his female friends, including a stay at a naturist village in the French town of Cap d’Agde.

Complaints were first made to the local bishop last summer but church authorities failed to contact the police, saying they had not yet completed their own investigation.

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

MISSISSIPPI
Caller-Times

Rob Boscamp, Special to the Caller-Times January 1, 2017

Msgr. Louis F. Kihneman III will be ordained and installed as bishop of the Diocese of Biloxi on Feb. 17, 2017.

Rev. Msgr. Louis F. Kihneman III didn’t expect an early birthday gift from the Vatican.

In early December, the vicar general and moderator of the curia was getting ready to plan his November 2017 celebration of 40 years of priesthood in the Diocese of Corpus Christi.

A phone call from Archbishop Christophe Pierre changed his plans.

“When I heard the accent and he introduced himself as Archbishop Pierre, I said, ‘Oh my! He knows my name!’ ” Kihneman said, recalling the way he told the story to his congregation at St. Philip the Apostle Parish.

Pierre presented Kihneman with both an early birthday and Christmas present: Pope Francis had named him to serve as the fourth bishop of the Diocese of Biloxi in Mississippi.

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

INDIA
Times of India

KOCHI: A Malayali couple settled in Haryana admitted their son in a boarding school near Moovattupuzha to get him acquainted with the culture of Kerala, police said on Sunday, after arresting the school principal on complaints of sexually abusing the boy.

Identifying the accused as Fr Basil Kuriakose, police said the 65-year-old abused the 11-year-old boy in the school dormitory on night of December 21. The incident happened when the other residents were on vacation.

“The accused stripped the boy before molesting him. He also tried to sodomise him,” police said.
The school was run by a private charitable trust, police said. The accused joined the institution after retiring from an aided school.

The priest denied charges of sexual assault, sub-inspector T Dileesh said. The accused, however, admitted in a statement that he had been with the boy on the date mentioned in the complaint.

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

INDIA
International Business Times

Asmita Sarkar

A 65-year-old priest in Kerala was arrested on Sunday for indulging in unnatural sexual abuse with a 10-year-old boy in Kochi’s Kunnathunad area. The incident took place at a boarding school, King David International School, where the boy studied. Father Basil Kuriyakose was the principal of the school.

Kuriyakose was taken to a court on Sunday after the arrest. He was booked under Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code. Section 377 of IPC criminalises sexual intercourse against the order of nature. It also criminalises homosexual sex.

This was the first time that an incident like this was reported against Kuriyakose, the Kunnathunad police told International Business Times, India. The 10-year-old boy who studied in class five reported the incident to his elder brother who had gone to meet the child and then informed his mother about the incident. The mother lodged a complaint with the police, following which the offender was arrested.

In India, one out of every two children is sexually abused and most of it goes unreported. In most of the cases, the abuser is a male known to the child. National statistics reveal that about 53% children are abused. The highest number of cases were reported in Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Delhi, Andhra Pradesh and Bihar.

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

ISRAEL
Rationalist Judaism

It’s hard to imagine a greater chilul Hashem than this. A former Chief Rabbi of the State of Israel is going to prison. For massive bribery and corruption. The classic antisemitic trope of the cheating, money-grabbing Jew is being displayed to the world in the person who holds the office that represents Judaism.

In case you haven’t seen the news yet, Rabbi Yona Metzger, Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel from 2003 to 2013, is accepting a prison term rather than going to trial. This is for pocketing about two million dollars in bribes and from funds that he was supposed to transfer to charity.

While the responsibility for the crimes is Rabbi Metzger’s alone, the responsibility for the chilul Hashem lies with others. Because long before the revelations of these particular crimes came to light – indeed, before Rabbi Metzger was appointed to the position of Chief Rabbi – there were numerous allegations of severe improprieties. In 1998, when Rabbi Metzger was about to be nominated as chief rabbi of Tel Aviv, a number of allegations surfaced against him, including fraud, sexual harassment, forged signatures on wedding contracts, and threatening other rabbis.

Rabbi Metzger’s certification to serve as chief rabbi of a large city was suspended, and a disciplinary hearing was established, presided over by Rav Eliyahu Bakshi-Doron, Rav She’ar Yashuv Cohen and Rav Simcha Kook. In the end, an agreement was reached whereby the inquiry would not be completed if Metzger would agree not to accept the role of chief rabbi of Tel Aviv.

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

PENNSYLVANIA
Altoona Mirror

JAN 1, 2017

WALT FRANK
Staff Writer
wfrank@altoonamirror.com

Reassessment in Blair County and sexual abuse by church officials were among the top local stories of 2016.

The Mirror’s news staff voted in mid-December on the top stories from a ballot that contained 31 prominent local news items. The following is a look at the top stories, as chosen by the Mirror news staff: …

2. Sexual abuse by church officials

On March 1, then-Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane said that hundreds of children were sexually abused by about 50 priests or church officials over more than 40 years in the Altoona-Johnstown Catholic Diocese, and some bishops attempted to cover up the crimes.

Kane stopped in Altoona to reveal the results of an extensive statewide grand jury investigation into child sexual abuse associated with the local diocese.

When they were in office, Bishops James Hogan and Joseph Adamec used their influence to get reports from victims or their parents, stymie police investigations and ward off inquiries by powerful court officials, Kane said. Adamec even created a chart outlining potential payments for victims based on the type of sexual abuse, the grand jury found.

The grand jury found it was Adamec’s practice not to call police when dealing with child sexual abuse cases involving priests or others.

Kane said 50 diocesan priests over the last 40 years or more have been identified as committing horrendous acts against hundreds of children.

Investigators reviewed more than 115,000 documents, many of them acquired by search warrants from diocesan “secret archives.”

Canon law requires each diocese to maintain such archives, she explained.

As of that point, Kane said, none of the criminal acts outlined in the grand jury report can be prosecuted.

In some cases, the perpetrators were deceased. In other cases, the victims were so traumatized that they could not testify in court, and in many cases, the statute of limitations, which can run up to 30 years for criminal cases, had expired. The grand jury recommended that the state Legislature do away with the statute of limitations.

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

PHILIPPINES
Inquirier

By: Jodee A. Agoncillo – Reporter / @jagoncilloINQPhilippine Daily Inquirer / January 01, 2017

Boston Globe editor-at-large Walter Robinson gave this advice at a gathering of around 370 foreign journalists at the second the Global Investigative Journalism Conference (GIJC), which the Global Investigative Journalism Network (GIJN) stages every two years.

Robinson was the keynote speaker at the conference, held last September 23 to 25 Kathmandu, Nepal, with the theme “Uncovering Asia.”

The GIJN aims to promote the growth of investigative journalism by training and supporting journalists from around 51 countries. The first conference was held in Manila in 2014.

Back in 2001, as Globe assistant managing editor for investigations, Robinson led a Spotlight team in putting out an investigative series on sexual abuses by several Catholic priests. The series had a big impact in countries around the world, including the Philippines, and won for the paper the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service, which Robinson himself accepted.

The series was later adapted into an Oscar-winning film titled “Spotlight,” which starred Michael Keaton.

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

UNITED STATES
Inquisitr

ZACHARY VOLKERT

Jehovah’s Witnesses are confronting allegations of a widespread child sexual abuse coverup, mostly centered around a database of abusers that critics say are managed by their Brooklyn Watchtower Bible and Tract Society headquarters, a property recently purchased by Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.

Trey Bundy, a reporter for investigative radio program Reveal, has spent the last few years following the case, and he recently sat down with WNYC to share some of his most recent findings. Bundy claims that Watchtower Bible and Tract Society is a highly secretive organization with underground tunnels that link it to at least 30 other properties in the area. Inside, he says, leadership can access a roll call of sexual abuse cases involving Jehovah’s Witness members.

“It’s the nerve-center of a multi-billion dollar corporation that has interests in publishing, in real-estate….it’s the head of a religion with eight million members, but it’s this very secretive place.”

Bundy alleges that Jehovah’s Witness leadership has been ordering its congregation to keep incidents of sexual abuse within the church for at least 25 years. He references a series of memos that Watchtower has emitted: one, from 2012, makes the statement, “Not every individual who has sexually abused a child in the past is considered a ‘predator.’” Another recent one from 2014 shows a continued push to keep such inquiries within the organization.

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

UNITED STATES
Gospel Herald

By AUBREY BARTOLOME Dec 21, 2016

Last month, evangelist and spoken-word poet Clayton Jennings was in the middle of a sex scandal that involved him and several women who accused him of seducing them into an intimate relationship before marriage. Due to the scandal, Clayton Jennings stepped away from his from his ministry even as his license was revoked by his home church.

Clayton Jennings also posted a video, entitled “Confessions” on his social media pages where he admitted to the wrongdoings during ministry. Also in the video is an announcement by Tony Nolan, who is a mentor to the celebrity evangelist. In the video, Nolan informed the viewers that Jennings has decided to submit himself to a repentance and renewal process under the guidance of Tony Nolan.

Just weeks later, the video was taken down from Clayton Jenning’s pages, and Tony Nolan announced that Clayton is no longer undergoing the renewal process with him, but has instead opted to use the services of a secular team.

Last week on his Instagram page, Tony Nolan wrote,”To update previous communication, with [a] heavy heart, I inform you Clayton Jennings has chosen to end the repentance/renewal process with me.”

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

UNITED STATES
Christian Post

BY LEONARDO BLAIR , CHRISTIAN POST REPORTER
Dec 1, 2016

Clayton Jennings, a youth evangelist, author and actor who rose to fame in 2011 after his self-produced film “Strayland” became a hit, has stepped away from his ministry after several women came forward alleging he engaged in extra-marital sexual relations with them.

In a series of articles in the Polemics Report, blogger JD Hall highlighted the confessions of a number of women who claim Jennings, 28, wooed them into sexual sin while plying them at times with alcohol and pushing the use of the morning-after pill to limit the possibility of a career-ending pregnancy. The Christian News Network suggested at least six women have come forward so far.

“I told him I had never been in a serious relationship and so had never been with a guy physically that way before. He would then take my hands in an effort to ‘teach me what to do.’ I felt like a broken record telling him that I was a virgin and wanted to save myself for marriage,” one woman alleged of her experience with Jennings before he was married.

“We didn’t actually have sex, but I was pressured into being sexually intimate with him in other ways. I told him that it was my belief that sexual favors (of all forms) outside of marriage is a sin against God. He would stare at me with such a confused look on his face as he assured me ‘No, it’s not the same’ and because of his authority as a ‘minister,’ I believed him and gave in.”

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

INDIANA
Christian News Network

By Heather Clark on December 30, 2016

A self-described evangelist, author and poet who had his ministerial credentials revoked last month after confessing to sexual indiscretions with multiple women, including at least one of his followers, has decided to reject the counsel of his now former elders and found a new church—announcing a comeback.

Clayton Jennings, who stepped down from ministry just last month but changed his mind weeks later, announced this week in a YouTube video that he has “so much planned for next year.” He also advised on Monday that his publisher will soon release his new book and that he has another “huge announcement” in the works.

“For all of you asking about my book, I had the publisher back up the release date to later this year to be launched with another HUGE announcement. Stay tuned! Can’t wait for you guys to read this,” Jennings wrote. “Until then, you can get my poetry cd here…”

Jennings also released a newly-produced new spoken word/poetic video on Tuesday outlining that he has battled depression for 10 years, and advising that he had lied in the past when asked if he was on medication. The video shows clips of Jennings re-enacting holding a bottle of pills, and attempting to drown himself in the bathtub or in the lake, reaching out for a hangman’s noose or cutting his wrist.

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

PENNSYLVANIA
Tribune-Democrat

By Dave Sutor
dsutor@tribdem.com

The Tribune-Democrat is counting down the top stories of 2016, as determined by the newsroom staff who covered them. One story appeared each day in print and e-editions through the end of the year.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona–Johnstown allegedly covered up the sexual abuse of children for decades.

Victims were violated by at least 50 priests and other religious leaders, while the church, led by former Bishops James Hogan and Joseph Adamec, reportedly took steps to protect the accused from facing justice, according to a grand jury report released by the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General in March.

The report, culled from “secret archives” and interviews, rocked the diocese and local Catholic community.

“As wolves disguised as the shepherds themselves – these men stole the innocence of children by sexually preying upon the most innocent and vulnerable members of our society and of the Catholic faith,” the document states.

However, due to Pennsylvania’s statute of limitations laws, many of the living accused priests might never face criminal charges or civil complaints. Victims in Pennsylvania who were under the age of 18 when abuse occurred can file civil charges until age 30. Criminal charges can be brought until age 30 for individuals born before Aug. 27, 2002. The age limit extends to 50 for alleged victims born after Aug. 27, 2002.

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

CANADA
Toronto Star

By The Canadian Press
Fri., Dec. 30, 2016

VANCOUVER—A former elementary school teacher is suing a diocese of the Roman Catholic church, alleging she was sexually assaulted by a priest while working at a church-run school four decades ago in Kamloops, B.C.

The woman alleges in a notice of civil claim that she sought psychological and spiritual advice and counselling from Rev. Erlindo Molon soon after she began teaching at Our Lady of Perpetual Help.

She alleges in the lawsuit filed in British Columbia Supreme Court that Molon, who was about 20 years her senior, exploited and sexually assaulted her several times over several months.

“The sexual assaults … were without her consent, resulting from his abuse of the power and exploitation of the trust and psychological intimacy inherent to the relationship between an older priest and a young pious parishioner,” the statement of claim says.

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

FLORIDA
Daily Record

Friday, December 30

By The News Service of Florida

The state Supreme Court on Thursday declined to hear a case involving allegations about sexual abuse by priests in the 1980s in South Florida.

The plaintiff in the case, identified by the initials W.D., filed a lawsuit in Broward County against the Archdiocese of Miami and the St. Bernadette Home & School Association Inc., alleging he was sexually abused by three priests while he was a child.

A circuit judge dismissed the complaint, at least in part finding the lawsuit was barred by a statute of limitations.

A three-judge panel of the 4th District Court of Appeal upheld the circuit judge’s ruling, prompting the plaintiff to go to the Supreme Court.

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

VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

Thomas Reese | Dec. 29, 2016 Faith and Justice

Pope Francis has talked a lot about reforming the Vatican Curia, but in reality, he should be given only a C+ for his achievements.

True, he has done some important things.

First, he has changed the very nature of the College of Cardinals by ignoring traditional cardinalatial sees and, for the most part, appointing as cardinals bishops who reflect his own views.

In the past, there were certain archdioceses that everyone presumed would be headed by a cardinal archbishop. Even if a pope’s predecessor appointed the archbishop, the new pope was expected to promote the archbishop of a cardinalatial see to a red hat.

Pope Francis has ignored this tradition and passed over cardinalatial sees like Venice, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles to appoint bishops in places that rarely if ever have had a cardinal, like Indianapolis. He chooses the man rather than the place.

This is the most revolutionary thing Francis has done in terms of church governance. He is doing everything possible to make sure that his legacy is continued by insuring his successor is someone who reflects his views. If he had simply promoted the holdovers of John Paul and Benedict, it would have been much harder to protect his legacy, granted that his papacy will probably not be a long one.

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

By Kat Sieniuc
MINNESOTA
Law 360

Law360, New York (December 5, 2016, 4:40 PM EST) — The Diocese of Duluth asked a Minnesota bankruptcy court on Friday to find Liberty Mutual Group and a slew of other insurers liable as it defends a number of sexual abuse claims against local clergy, saying such allegations are covered under its insurance policies.

The diocese, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last December, said the insurers have so far shirked their legal obligations to cover the cost of multiple underlying suits claiming the Minnesota district is liable for damages stemming from alleged negligence related to accusations of sexual abuse within the church.

The various multiyear insurance policies the diocese has with Liberty and the other insurers — Catholic Mutual Relief Society of America, Fireman’s Fund Insurance Co., Church Mutual Insurance Co. and The Continental Insurance Co. — require the companies to pay out on “all sums that the diocese becomes legally obligated to pay as a result of bodily injury, as long as any part of the injury took place during the policy period,” the plaintiff said.

The insurers are also liable, under the various policies, for all defense costs and expenses, including attorneys’ fees, that have built up over the course of the investigation and litigation of the underlying suits, the diocese said in its complaint.

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

GUAM
Guam Daily Post

Neil Pang | Post News Staff

A 15th survivor of child sexual abuse has come forward and filed a lawsuit claiming that a local clergyman sexually molested him when he was an altar boy, and that high-ranking officials within the Archdiocese of Agana did nothing to stop it.

According to court documents filed by attorney David Lujan, Edward Chan became the 15th complainant to file a civil suit under provisions of Public Law 33-187. The 45-year-old Washington resident alleged that the abuse took place while he was an altar boy in the 1980s and named former Guam priest Raymond Cepeda as his abuser.

Statements attributed to Chan in the suit allege that the abuse took place in 1987 when he was 15 years old. At the time, Cepeda was a priest at the Dulce Nombre de Maria Cathedral-Basilica.

Introductory allegations described in court documents state that Cepeda fondled and masturbated Chan at the Pastoral Center of the cathedral where Chan had gone for a scheduled counseling session with Cepeda following morning Mass.

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

VATICAN CITY
Catholic Courier

By Carol Glatz
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Some parts of the world see swift attention paid to victims of sexual abuse and others still experience delays or a mishandling of allegations.

This imbalance, one Jesuit expert has said, reflects how years of papal pleas and Vatican mandates have not been received or implemented consistently everywhere.

Because the church’s typical top-down approach in getting the message out may not be enough, Jesuit Father Hans Zollner is spearheading a complementary course: a global alliance built and grown from the ground up by individual priests, religious and laity along with Catholic universities, religious orders and bishops’ conferences.

Father Zollner, president of the Center for Child Protection at Rome’s Pontifical Gregorian University, told Catholic News Service in late December of the center’s plan to launch the new alliance in the coming months.

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

IRELAND
Irish Times

Sarah Bardon

The commission of investigation into the Mother and Baby homes has cost €3.73 million to date.

The commission, which was established in February 2015, is tasked with investigating allegations of abuse at 14 institutions and four county homes between 1922 and 1998.

Figures released to The Irish Times show the costs of the inquiry, which is chaired by Judge Yvonne Murphy, were €1,485,676 in 2015 and will reach a further €2 million this year.

The majority of the monies has been spent on pay, with salary costs reaching €1.7 million over past two years.

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

MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

Martin Moylan Dec 29, 2016

Sex abuse victims and other creditors of the bankrupt Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis will apparently get to vote on competing compensation plans.

A federal judge has approved summaries of two plans, and such approval is a prerequisite for a vote.

One plan comes from the archdiocese, which says the church provides the maximum financial compensation possible for abuse victims. That would be at least $155 million and potentially more than $160 million, according to the church.

But the committee representing abuse victims backs a different plan, contending the church and its insurers could come up with much more money.

“The survivors get a voice and a vote,” said attorney Jeff Anderson, who represents hundreds of abuse survivors. “It gives them a chance to have a voice and fight the plan that the archdiocese is trying to cram down on them.”

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

ROME
Church Militant

by Christine Niles, M.St. (Oxon.), J.D. • ChurchMilitant.com • December 29, 2016

ROME (ChurchMilitant.com) – Pope Francis is continuing with his investigation into the internal affairs of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, in spite of the Grand Master’s reminder that he has no authority or jurisdiction to do so.

At a private meeting held Thursday in Munich, Albert von Boeselager, the deposed Grand Chancellor of the Knights of Malta, reportedly said, “I’m demoralized by what’s happened, but I want to fight for justice.”

Von Boeselager was removed from his position in a December 6 meeting with Cdl. Raymond Burke, patron of the order, who had discovered von Boeselager had been involved in distributing condoms through Malteser International, the group’s charitable arm. The investigation had been spearheaded by Michael Hichborn of the Lepanto Institute, who presented his findings to Burke in early November.

Von Boeselager has since loudly complained that the termination violated the Knights’ constitution, and Pope Francis established a commission December 22 to look into the matter.

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

CANADA
AM 730

Estefania Duran
December 28, 2016

A former teacher at Our Lady of Perpetual Help School in Kamloops during the 70s, alleges a Reverend sexually assaulted her.

She’s filed a notice of civil claim in B.C. Supreme Court against the Roman Catholic Bishop of the Diocese of Kamloops and the retired priest.

She claims Father Erlindo Molon exploited her and repeatedly performed sexual acts – including intercourse – over a period of approximately eight months.

According to the document, Molon was about 20-years her senior.

The claim says the complainant disclosed the incidents to the Bishop of the Diocese at the time – who allegedly failed to take responsible steps to stop future incidents.

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

CANADA
Kamloops This Week

By Tim Petruk – December 29, 2016

A former elementary schoolteacher is suing the Roman Catholic Diocese of Kamloops and a retired priest, alleging sexual abuse at his hands while she taught at Our Lady of Perpetual Help four decades ago.

The woman has filed an eight-page notice of claim in B.C. Supreme Court, claiming sexual abuse at the hands of Father Lindo Molon and an apparent coverup by then-Bishop Adam Exner.

In the document, the woman claims to have been vulnerable when she began teaching at the North Shore school in 1976.

Her claim describes Molon as her superior at the school.

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

UNITED KINGDOM
The Freethinker

The Pope and the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith are keeping schtum about the arrest in Argentina of a priest arrested on suspicion of child rape.

The Independent reports that Pope Francis had been told as early as 2014 that the Rev Nicola Corradi, 82, had been reassigned to a school in Argentina despite earlier accusations of abuse in Italy.

Corradi was arrested in late November alongside four other men following allegations of abuse at the Antonio Provolo Institute for hearing-impaired children in Mendoza province.

He was named in a scandal that hit the institute’s Verona school in Italy in 2009, when 67 students alleged they had been abused. The Verona diocese apologised to students there and the Vatican sanctioned four priests, though not Corradi.

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

KANSAS
Lawrence Journal-World

By Conrad Swanson
December 29, 2016

More than three months after a Catholic priest in Baldwin City was suspended due to allegations of inappropriate conduct, investigators are still looking into the matter.

FBI spokeswoman Bridget Patton said Thursday morning that the investigation into the activities of the priest, Chris Rossman, is ongoing. Because the case is still active, Patton said she could not release additional information.

Rossman, 44, was suspended from his position at both Annunciation Church in Baldwin City and the St. Francis of Assisi Church in Lapeer in September after the Archdiocese of Kansas City received a report that he had visited “inappropriate websites” that were “depicting minors.”

The Archdiocese did not say where the report came from, nor did it elaborate on the nature of the websites.

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

NEW YORK
WNYC

[with audio]

Dec 29, 2016

A years-long investigation into allegations of child sex abuse in the Jehovah’s Witness organization has also uncovered a culture of secrecy at its Watchtower headquarters in Brooklyn.

Last summer, Donald Trump’s son-in-law, developer Jared Kushner, bought the property. The Jehovah’s Witnesses, meanwhile, have been building a massive compound upstate in Warwick, New York, where they plan to relocate.

Trey Bundy, a reporter for Reveal, from the Center for Investigative Reporting, has been investigating the Watchtower for two years. Watchtower leaders refused to talk to him, but he was able to talk to a former insider about it.

“It’s the nerve-center of a multi-billion dollar corporation that has interests in publishing, in real-estate….it’s the head of a religion with eight million members, but it’s this very secretive place,” he said.

Bundy says the Jehovah’s Witnesses also have a database that potentially contains the names of thousands of child sex abusers.

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

ARGENTINA
Infobae

[One of Mendoza’s priests was also reported for abusing a child in La Plata.]

Se trata del italiano Nicola Corradi, quien se desempeñó en el propio colegio Provolo de la ciudad bonaerense entre las décadas del 80 y 90. El denunciante, de 42 años, aseguró que las vejaciones sexuales se habían convertido en algo cotidiano en la entidad
29 de diciembre de 2016

Nicola Corradi, el sacerdote italiano de 82 años que recibió decenas de acusaciones por abuso sexual infantil en el Instituto Provolo para niños sordos en la provincia de Mendoza, sumó una nueva denuncia. Esta vez se trata de un supuesto delito cometido por el cura durante su paso por la ciudad de La Plata.

Un ex alumno del propio Instituto de la capital de la provincia de Buenos Aires presentó una denuncia en la fiscalía especializada en Trata de Personas y Pedofilia de la ciudad contra el llamado “padre Nicolás”, quien se desempeñó en la entidad platense durante las década del 80 y del 90.

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

UNITED STATES
Office of the Supreme Grand Bishop

I am the OLD but NEW voice for the thousands of silent Blacks nationwide in America, victims of Catholic priests pedophiles. No longer shall We former Black Catholics remain silent from our pains as victims and witnesses. #ALL BLACKS SEXUALLY ABUSED CATHOLIC CHILDREN & ADULTS LIVES MATTER

The Catholic Church has paid out billions, apologized to yourselves, raped, molested, and sexually abused your very own white children, brothers to neighbors children, white women, then turned to finish off Blacks and Hispanics, like savages.

The U.S. government will never pay that forty acres and mule to Blacks as promised. But, the Catholic Church shall compensate and pay ALL Blacks victims and witnesses like me.

We stand against the Catholic Churches of the World. We demand payment for being made Black Children sex slaves, forced on our hands, knees, and backs, crying in pain. My Black mother, the St. Joseph Catholic School teacher was the first victim, because I was a child molested behind her back in the church and school.

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

UNITED STATES
The Jewish Press

By: Rabbi Yakov Horowitz
Published: December 28th, 2016

“Does a guy who committed a sex offense have no place to live for the rest of his life? What should he do now?”

This question, taken from an e-mail I recently received, was just one of the many challenges community leaders are grappling with nowadays as awareness about child safety is (thankfully) growing. Here are some others:

* Should registered offenders be permitted to enter synagogues? And if so, under what conditions?

* What about people who pled guilty to child abuse charges, but were not given the status of sex offenders as part of their plea deal?

* Is it ethical for people to “chase” offenders away from their neighborhood by making things very uncomfortable for them? Isn’t this just passing the problem along, often to unsuspecting communities?

These issues need to be addressed and we would be well served by having respectful discussions of these highly charged topics in our public squares.

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

INDIA
Siasat Daily

TIRUNELVELI: Tirunelveli court sentenced a Christian priest to 14 years of rigorous imprisonment for sexually abusing minor girl children at a home on Wednesday.

The 57-year-old accused clergyman, Fr Stephen Joseph of Nazareth in Thoothukudi district was running a home for the poor and deserted children at Mookkuperi village.

He was charged of sexually abusing the girls at the home. In 2012 the Thoothukudi district administration has closed the home and arrested the priest.

The case came up before second additional district court, Tirunelveli, for judgment after the completion of the trial.

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

OHIO
WKYC

Andrew Horansky, WKYC December 28, 2016

CLEVELAND – When Bishop Richard Lennon first came to Cleveland 10 years ago, he seemed to be leaving one mess behind and inheriting another.

For three years he had served as the Apostolic Administrator to the Archdiocese of Boston. Cardinal Bernard Law had just resigned there at the height of the church’s sexual abuse crisis.

In Cleveland, Lennon found himself facing even more pushback from the community, after being forced to make tough decisions when it came to closing down dozens of parishes.

To the media, he often seemed distant and granted interviews only rarely.

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

GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Dana M Williams , Pacific Daily News December 29, 2016

A 15th accuser filed a civil lawsuit against the Archdiocese of Agana on Thursday, saying he was sexually abused by a former priest in 1987.

Washington state resident Edward Roberto Chan, 45, is suing former priest Raymond Cepeda and the archdiocese. According to the lawsuit, Chan became an altar boy in 1983, at the age of 12. When he was 15, he was scheduled to be counseled by Cepeda, who was the priest at the Dulce Nombre de Maria Cathedral-Basilica. After morning Mass, Chan stayed to help Cepeda clean the church before heading to the pastoral center for counseling. While at the pastoral center, “Edward was sexually molested and abused by Cepeda,” the lawsuit states.

In 2010, the archdiocese reported that Cepeda had been removed as a priest after it investigated “serious allegations” of sexual abuse allegedly committed by him, according to Pacific Daily News files. At the time, the archdiocese said he had also been reported to civil authorities.

The lawsuit contends the archdiocese “knew that Cepeda had sexually abused and molested Edward and other minor children for years, and rather than reporting the matter to law enforcement and without intervening so as to prevent Cepeda from engaging in additional instances of sexual abuse … for years they assisted Cepeda with the specific purpose or design to keep Cepeda’s misconduct hidden and secret.”

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

GUAM
Pacific News Center

Written by Janela Carrera

Raymond Cepeda was stripped of his title and laicized in 2009 after he was accused of sexual abuse.

Guam – A 15th lawsuit has been filed against the Archdiocese of Agana and names a former clergy member who’s been accused of sexual abuse before in the suit as well.

The lawsuit was filed by Edward Roberto Chan who’s now 45 years old against the archdiocese and former priest Raymond Cepeda.

Chan alleges that Cepeda molested him in 1987 when he was just 15 years old. Chan says that it happened at the Cathedral Basilica’s pastoral center where Cepeda was supposed to counsel Chan.

In his lawsuit, Chan says the archdiocese is liable as well because they knew that Cepeda was a sexual predator who molested several other altar boys but did nothing about it.

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

GEORGIA
The Eagle

LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. (AP) — A former youth pastor at a metro Atlanta church remains jailed without bond on child molestation, statutory rape and sexual battery charges.

Gwinnett County police said Nicholas “Nick” Kelley, 34, who worked at New Bridge Church in Lawrenceville, had a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old girl.

Police say Kelley began fostering a relationship with the child as a counselor in December 2015, and that led to sexual contact taking place at the church and in local parks.

Investigators say that after the girl’s parents found out, Kelley on Tuesday told the pastoral staff at New Bridge Church about the relationship, and the staff contacted police.

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

GUAM
KUAM

Updated: Dec 29, 2016

By Krystal Paco

Just days before the new year and yet another lawsuit has been filed against the Archdiocese of Agana for allegations of child sex abuse. Now residing in Vancouver, Washington, 45-year-old Edward Roberto Chan was like the others. As a child, he served as an altar boy. His parish was San Vicente Ferrer-San Roke church in Barrigada.

And like the others, he was a victim of child sex abuse in the church. His alleged abuser was former priest Raymond Cepeda.

According to court documents, Cepeda was removed as a priest in 2009 or 2010. Prior to his removal, he was a priest at the Dolce Nombre De Maria Cathedral-Basilica in Hagatna. According to court documents, Chan was about 15 when he was sexually molested by Cepeda. Chan had attended mass at the Agana Cathedral, which was to be followed by counseling from Cepeda.

Instead of counseling, Chan alleges he was fondled and masturbated in the pastoral center.

He marks the 15th victim to sue the Archdiocese of Agana. He joins Robert Aguon Perez, Norman Aguon, Leo Tudela, Bruce Diaz, Vicente Perez, Vicente San Nicolas, Anthony Vegafria, Walter Denton, Roland Sondia, Roy Quintanilla, Sonny Quinata, Paul Joseph Borja, James Bascon, and Ramon Afaisen De Plata. As the number of victims grows, so does the number of alleged abusers.

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

CALIFORNIA
The Record

By Jason Anderson
Record Staff Writer

STOCKTON – Stockton police have arrested the pastor of a local church on suspicion of sexually assaulting a young girl, and investigators believe there are additional victims.

Oscar Rodriguez-Gutierrez, 51, was arrested on suspicion of lewd or lascivious acts with a child under 14 years of age, authorities said. He is being held at San Joaquin County Jail with bail set at $3.85 million.

Detectives suspect Rodriguez of sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl. The Stockton Police Department identified Rodriguez as the pastor of a local church, but at this time investigators are not revealing the name of the church he is affiliated with, said Community Service Officer Rosie Calderon, a spokeswoman for the Stockton Police Department.

The investigation into the alleged sexual abuse is ongoing, police said. Detectives believe there are more victims. They are encouraging anyone with information regarding the investigation to call the Stockton Police Department at (209) 937-8377, Detective Pilar Battaglini at (209) 937-8165 or Crime Stoppers at (209) 946-0600.

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

LOUISIANA
The Times-Picayune

By Ken Daley, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune

A New Orleans East pastor accused of molesting a young male member of his congregation is set to be tried for a second time in March.

Court records show Kevin Boyd Sr., the 47-year-old “presiding bishop” of The Church At New Orleans, is to stand trial again March 27 on a charge of recurring molestation of a juvenile. The scheduled retrial would come 16 months after a six-person jury deadlocked on the same case after a weeklong trial concluded Nov. 17, 2015.

Verdicts from a six-person jury — used when the charges under consideration don’t necessarily mandate hard labor — must be unanimous under state law. The panel in Boyd’s first trial declared itself hopelessly hung after about four hours of deliberations. Boyd, described in his first trial as a “monster” by state prosecutors, has remained free on a $300,000 bond.

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

IRELAND
The Times (UK)

Seán McCárthaigh
December 19 2016
The Times

Religious orders have yet to transfer properties worth about €15 million to the state under an agreement reached 14 years ago as part of the child abuse redress scheme.

The state is still waiting to take possession of 11 sites out of a total of 64 properties identified under the 2002 agreement, according to new figures from the Department of Education.

The updated data show that 50 properties, worth €48.4 million, have been transferred. It equates to just over 76 per cent of the total monetary value of properties due to be given to the state as redress for the victims of child abuse in former industrial schools run by religious orders.

Seán Ó Foghlú, the department’s secretary-general, said six sites had been transferred since September last year.

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

WASHINGTON (DC)
Kramerbooks and Afterwords

1517 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20036 · Just Above Dupont Circle · Q St. Metro Exit
Tuesday, January 10th 6:30pm

[Facebook]

Catholic Women Confront Their Church tells the stories of nine exceptional women who have chosen to remain Catholic despite their deep disagreements with the institutional church.

From Barbara Blaine, founder of Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP), to Sister Simone Campbell, whose Nuns on the Bus tour for social justice generated national attention, the book highlights women whose stories illustrate not only problems in the church but also the promise of reform. The women profiled span a diverse range of ages, ethnicities, and experiences single and married, lesbian and straight, mothers and sisters. The women profiled share one trait that faith is bigger than the institutional church. The book’s Introduction provides readers with an essential overview of the history of women in the church, and the Conclusion looks at the potential for future change. Ideal for anyone who has struggled with the Catholic church’s relationship with women, this moving book offers hope.

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

OHIO
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: John B. Berning was ordained for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati in 1934. He assisted at parishes in Cincinnati, Hamilton, Middletown and Dayton, then led parishes in Mechanicsburg, North Lewisburg, Lebanon and Waynesville. He retired in 1970 and relocated to St. Petersburg FL.

In 2003 a man filed suit, claiming Berning sexually abused him as a boy from 1957 to 1965, while the priest was pastor of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in the Cincinnati neighborhood of Sedamsville. Five more men subsquently sued, claiming abuse by Berning at two different parishes in the 1950s and 1960s. Berning admitted to archdiocesan officials that he had abused children during his priesthood. He died in FL at age 97 on November 19, 2004.

Born: July 26, 1907
Ordained: 1934
Retired: 1970
Died: November 19, 2004

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

MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

[with audio]

Tom Weber, Jo Erickson Dec 28, 2016

The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis hopes to emerge from bankruptcy in 2017 while continuing to rebuild trust with Catholics dismayed by the priest sex abuse scandal.

In an interview with MPR News host Tom Weber, Archbishop Bernard Hebda said the work to gain trust will never truly end. However, he was pleased with recent statements from the judge in the case and the Ramsey County Attorney’s office that the archdiocese is making progress.

Last weekend, Hebda delivered his first Christmas Mass since becoming the archbishop for the Twin Cities.

He spent a year as a temporary administrator, which many, including Hebda, assumed would last a short time. Then Pope Francis surprised everyone by assigning Hebda to the Twin Cities Archdiocese permanently.

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

GEORGIA
Raw Story

TRAVIS GETTYS
28 DEC 2016

A Georgia teenager was so fearful her parents would learn she was being raped by her youth pastor that she suffered a nervous breakdown.

The 14-year-old girl met Nicholas Kelley through New Bridges Church, in Lawrenceville, when the 34-year-old began counseling her in December 2015, reported WXIA-TV.

The relationship turned sexual over the summer, police said, and the girl snuck out of her home Monday to be with Kelley but was hospitalized due to her anxiety about her parents.

Her parents learned Tuesday that the youth pastor had raped their teenage daughter, and they called church leaders.

Kelley then admitted to the pastoral staff that he had engaged in sexual activity with the girl at church and in local parks, police said.

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

GEORGIA
Gwinnett Daily Post

By Cailin O’Brien
cailin.obrien@gwinnettdailypost.com

Gwinnett County police arrested a youth pastor at a Lawrenceville church Tuesday on charges that he carried on an inappropriate relationship with a 14-year-old girl.

Police said Nicholas Kelley, 34, began his relationship with the girl when he counseled her at New Bridge Church in December of last year. The relationship “turned sexually inappropriate” this past summer, according to Gwinnett County Police Cpl. Deon Washington.

“The sexual contact took place at the church and at various parks in Gwinnett County,” Washington said.

New Bridge Church said in a statement the inappropriate behavior “occurred outside of scheduled church meeting and events, which allowed the accused to circumvent safety procedures established as church policy” to protect students.

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