ABUSE TRACKER

BUFFALO (NY)
Buffalo News

December 28, 2018

The writer of the Dec. 23 letter, “Allowing priests to marry does not solve the problem” is accurate in her opinion that neither celibacy nor homosexuality causes a person to be a pedophile. Pedophilia is an issue that needs addressing as to cause and effect.

I would like to address the question in the reader’s letter as to why 90 percent or more of all children abused by priests are mostly male. It is estimated that about 40 percent of victims of priest abuse are female.

Female victims have a much more difficult time revealing their story. Some have been blamed by their abuser or the organization that has protected the perpetrator. Some have been brainwashed by Catholic guilt.

Some continue to hold guilt as if the crime done to them as a child is their fault and not that of the adult who violated a child.

Women reporting the crime are interviewed by men. These men interviewers have been priests until most recently.

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.

LONDON (ENGLAND)
Irish Post

December 29, 2018

By Gerard Donaghy

THE EXCAVATION of a mass grave in Tuam, Co. Galway that contains the remains of hundreds of young children is to begin in 2019.

The grave at the site of the former mother and baby home is estimated to contain the remains of 796 children.

It is believed the infants were aged from 35 foetal weeks to three years.

The excavation is due to commence in the latter half of 2019, once legislation has been passed to allow the government to carry out the operation.

“So we’ll have to pass that legislation in the New Year, and we’d envisage carrying out the first excavations in the second half of 2019,” said the Taoiseach, according to RTÉ News.

“In the meantime though, we can start appointing the experts and the ground team who’ll be doing the actual work.”

INVESTIGATION
The Tuam home was in operation from 1925 to 1961 and was run by Sisters of the Bon Secours.

Five years ago, local historian Catherine Corless discovered official records showing that 796 infants and children had died at the home.

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.

WINSTON SALEM (NC)
Baptist News Global

December 28, 2018

By Christa Brown

As you pack away the ornaments and the special Christmas dinnerware, imagine a story about a company called Southern Babtoys Corporation, which markets a toy with a pervasive problem.

According to conservative estimates, at least 3 out of every 100 babtoys, and probably more, will blow up in a kid’s hands, hurling tiny fragments far and wide. Typically, the exploding babtoy causes serious injuries, but the pieces are so minuscule that the child often doesn’t realize his injury at the time. He may see only a scratch on his forehead and doesn’t know that some of the pieces have actually penetrated his skull.

To make matters worse, the tiny pieces contain a radioactive compound that releases slowly in continuing ripples of destruction. Over time, the damage in the brain grows worse, but though the damage is real, it manifests so slowly that most people don’t immediately trace it back to the babtoy.

Kids play with babtoys in groups. So a single babtoy will often harm a whole bunch of kids.

Officials at Southern Babtoys Corporation know this is happening, but they don’t do anything about it. They don’t institute quality control measures to prevent the problem, and they don’t even keep records on babtoys that exploded. In fact, when these babtoys are returned, they are often restored and remarketed, but without fixing the problem and without putting even so much as printing a warning on the label. So the same babtoys can explode again and injure still more kids.

You might have one of these warning-never-included, defective babtoys without even knowing it. They look just like all the other babtoys.

“The ‘babtoys’ are Baptist pastors, and the ‘explosions’ are the predatory sexual abuses committed by a percentage of those pastors.”

When someone complains about risky babtoys, SBC officials make minimizing statements, chalk the problem up to other things and blame the complainers. They might say that the kid wore the wrong kind of clothes while playing with the babtoy, or that the parents didn’t properly supervise or that the complainers are just “opportunists.”

The SBC almost never acknowledges the seriousness of its quality control issue, how widespread the problem really is or how devastating the damage is for children. And it certainly doesn’t take any responsibility. In fact, the SBC has been successfully ducking responsibility for so long that it can scarcely imagine any other way to do business. Institutionally, it has simply accommodated to accepting wounded kids as the collateral damage of its business model.

Occasionally, when media reports about exploding babtoys crop up, SBC officials will make such nice-sounding public statements that few can believe such a caring company would ever be remiss for safety. Their official statements reference “precious children” and how terrible the “isolated cases” are.

SBC officials have obviously been well-coached by a whole slew of well-paid public relations professionals and attorneys. They’ve got the talk-thing down. Talk is what they’re good at. But preventive action? Not so much.

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)
Washington Post

December 28, 2018

By Julie Zauzmer and Chico Harlan

The Vatican has begun its long-promised investigation into the crimes allegedly committed by disgraced ex-cardinal Theodore McCarrick, with the intent of determining a punishment for the former high-ranking church leader.

McCarrick, who retired as archbishop of Washington in 2006 but remained a globe-trotting diplomat representing the Catholic Church and occasionally the U.S. State Department, was removed from ministry when the church determined in June that he had groped a teenager at a New York church almost 50 years ago.

Then more allegations came to light: The church had twice settled hushed cases brought by men who said McCarrick harassed them when they were seminarians or young priests. A Virginia man, James Grein, said McCarrick abused him for years, starting when he was 11.

In July, McCarrick resigned from the College of Cardinals, retaining the lower title archbishop, and the Vatican promised that he would stand trial in its internal court system. Then, for months, silence.

On Thursday, Grein said that the Vatican’s judicial process is now underway. He testified before an investigator representing the church, in an office of the Archdiocese of New York, on Thursday morning.

“I had one of the best days of my entire life today. I changed how people are going to think about the Catholic church today,” Grein said to The Washington Post afterward. He expressed confidence that the priest who interviewed him, the Rev. Richard L. Welch, will share the transcript of his testimony about being abused by McCarrick with church leaders at the highest levels, all the way up to Pope Francis. “Francis knows who I am — he can see me and hear me and listen to my voice and hear my emotions. … It’s about time.”

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.

SEDALIA (MO)
Sedalia Democrat

December 29 2018

By Nuria Martinez-Keel

An allegation of inappropriate behavior toward a teenager in Sedalia led to the expulsion of a priest from the Catholic Community of Pettis County.

Deusdedit Mulokozi was one of 35 priests removed from the Diocese of Jefferson City, according to a November announcement from Bishop Shawn McKnight.

In 2015, the diocese deemed Mulokozi “unsuitable for ministry out of concern for the safety of our youth,” according to the announcement. Former Bishop John Gaydos expelled him from the diocese, forcing his removal from ministry in Pettis County.

Mulokozi, known familiarly as Father Deo, served at Sacred Heart Church and St. Patrick Church in Sedalia and St. John the Evangelist in Bahner from 2014 until the allegation emerged in May 2015. He came to Pettis County from Tanzania as a member of the religious order Missionaries of the Precious Blood.

A 15-year-old girl reported to the Sedalia Police Department that Mulokozi had insisted on hugging her after a one-on-one counseling session at the Sacred Heart Church rectory. Before she left the room, he gave her “not a normal hug but a dirty hug,” according to SPD documents.

Detectives investigated her report and later requested the priest be charged with third-degree assault in Pettis County Circuit Court.

Third-degree assault in 2015 involved offensive contact or touching. Pettis County Prosecuting Attorney Phillip Sawyer said his office chose not to file the charge against Mulokozi because evidence in the case didn’t prove criminal conduct.

The girl disclosed details of her encounter with Mulokozi during an interview at Child Safe of Central Missouri.

She said she had been seeing Mulokozi for counseling once every two weeks at the rectory. The girl described the priest as her guidance counselor and a person she trusted, according to police documents.

On May 10, 2015, they stood up to leave at the end of a session, and the girl put out her hand for a handshake. Mulokozi pulled her in for an embrace, saying, “No, I want a hug,” according to SPD documents.

The girl said in her interview that Mulokozi had hugged her before but “not like that.”

“At that point in the interview, (the girl) started crying,” according to police documents. “(She) then exclaimed, ‘Why did he hug me that way? It was dirty.’”

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.

The Globe Post

December 29, 2018

Spain’s cabinet approved a draft law on Friday which will extend the statute of limitations for cases of physical or sexual abuse of children.

Under the bill the statute of limitations for these types of crimes would begin when the victim turns 30, instead of 18 as it currently stands under Spanish law, the government said in a statement.

The proposed change to the criminal code, which still has to be approved by parliament, would affect sexual crimes, physical abuse, human trafficking and attempted murder.

Why This Matters
Campaigners have long argued that many victims take years to digest the abuse they have suffered and report it, meaning that in many cases the offenders cannot be prosecuted.

The bill also includes “a broad definition of violence that encompasses any type of physical, emotional or psychological abuse, including corporal punishment or neglect,” the statement added.

The proposed law also includes new crimes committed online such as incitement to commit suicide, commit sexual crimes or encourage bulimia or other eating disorders.

The government also said it plans to tighten the rules granting conditional release or temporary exit permits from jail for people serving time for sexual assaults against minors.

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.

MARIETTA (GA)
Marietta Daily Journal

December 28, 2019

By Jon Gargis

A former altar boy is suing the Cobb-based Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta alleging that church officials remained silent over the sexual abuse he and others suffered over the span of several decades.

The suit filed by a man using the placeholder name “Phillip Doe” claims that he had been sexually molested by his priest, Father J. Douglas Edwards, in the 1970s. While Edwards’ long career in the archdiocese saw him last serve at St. Catherine of Siena Catholic Church in Kennesaw from 1987 to 1989, the alleged acts of molestation occurred while Edwards was the priest at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Dalton.

Edwards had a house on Lake Allatoona in Acworth, to which “he took groups of boys” from the Dalton church, the suit alleges, including the complainant, who claims to have been molested by Edwards about eight to 10 times from at least 1976 through 1978 during his service as an altar boy from about age 12 to 15.

“As a result of the sexual abuse, Plaintiff has throughout his life suffered from a variety of emotional and psychological problems including but not limited to embarrassment, shame, anger and depression. Plaintiff also experienced a loss of faith and spirituality which were bedrocks of his life prior to the abuse,” the lawsuit states.

Edwards died in 1997, the archdiocese previously announced.

The suit goes on to allege that St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, the archdiocese and its chief executive, Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory, have known about priests such as Edwards but “actively concealed the identities of sexual predators and allowed them to remain in unsuspecting communities, exposed to innocent children, for decades.”

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)
The Georgetown Voice

December 28, 2018

As a prominent Catholic institution, Georgetown has the capability and responsibility to take public, tangible action to address the clerical sex abuse crisis; yet the university has failed to use its power to do so. On Sept. 10, we published an editorial that called for Georgetown to revoke the honorary degrees of Cardinals Donald Wuerl and Theodore McCarrick, two former archbishops of Washington, D.C., who are closely implicated in the Catholic Church’s sexual abuse crisis. Three months after this editorial and despite determined student activism, the university has neither stripped the men of their degrees nor communicated with students on any decision around this subject. With the recent report from the Maryland Province Society of Jesus revealing more connections between Georgetown and this crisis, the university has run out of time to take clear and visible action denouncing predator priests and those who cover them and must immediately revoke Wuerl and McCarrick’s honorary degrees.

In an email to the student body on Dec. 17, university President John DeGioia wrote that four Jesuits who had been accused of sexual abuse of minors in the aforementioned report spent time at Georgetown, although none of the incidents occurred on campus. In that email, DeGioia also wrote: “Our community will continue our work to respond to this moment through dialogue, reflection, and action.” With varying degrees of success, the university has engaged students in dialogue and reflection in its “Dahlgren Dialogue” series and “Liturgy of Music and Prayer for Repentance” events. Action, the most crucial part of the three steps DeGioia outlined, is sorely lacking.

Last summer, allegations became public that McCarrick, archbishop of D.C. in the early 2000s, had abused men and boys for decades. The Vatican removed him from public ministry and the pope accepted his resignation from the College of Cardinals in July. Within two months of McCarrick’s resignation, six of Georgetown’s Catholic peer institutions, Fordham University, Catholic University, University of Portland, St. Bonaventure University, College of New Rochelle, and Siena College all revoked their honorary degrees they granted to McCarrick. Notre Dame did not rescind theirs, but their university president sent an email within one month of McCarrick’s resignation explaining that the university would wait for the Vatican’s trial to conclude to make their decision about the degree.

A report released by the Pennsylvania Attorney General a month later revealed that Cardinal Wuerl, then the bishop of Pittsburgh, had protected abusers by re-assigning them to new parishes and covering up allegations. Pope Francis accepted his resignation as D.C.’s archbishop on Oct. 12. The university has now had months to discuss and reflect on these revelations, but has shown no true action.

The GUSA senate passed a unanimous resolution urging for the revocation of the degrees on Oct. 28. Throughout the semester, student activists have met with university administrators to share concerns and receive updates about Georgetown’s discussions surrounding the degrees. Grace Laria (SFS ’19), one of these students, said the group has been informed that the university’s board of directors is actively debating the issue, but that it has not yet come to a conclusion. One of the reasons given was that Georgetown had never revoked a degree before. However, neither had our neighbor Catholic University until they rescinded the one given to McCarrick, who was a student and later chancellor of the university while he was archbishop of D.C.

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)
Philadelphia Inquirer

December 28, 2018

It is hard to imagine how the Catholic Church and its many individual dioceses would find a way to add insult to the injuries of victims of predator priests beyond what they have already accomplished through their decades of covering up and mishandling the scandal. But they have.

Last month, after the bombshell grand jury report in August about widespread abuse across the state, several dioceses announced they have set up victim compensation funds. These “reconciliation and reparation funds” are intended to compensate those whose claims do not fall within the civil statute of limitations.

These funds have been debated for years, and many see the church’s insistence on them as a way to avoid the true reform that’s needed: allowing a window of time to allow older victims of abuse to sue, and eliminating the criminal and civil statutes of limitations going forward. These reforms have been a hot political potato since 2006, when District Attorney Lynne Abraham released another grand jury report focused on abuses in Philadelphia. State lawmakers ultimately dropped that potato, failing to enact these necessary reforms before leaving Harrisburg for a long break.

Last month, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia announced it had opened a victim compensation fund and would being making settlements. But according to an Inquirer report last week, about a quarter of those filing claims of being abused were told they were not entitled to compensation because the priests in question were from independent religious orders, such as Franciscans or Jesuits — not the diocese. Even though these priests were in the schools and parishes where abuse happened, performing their ministries under the auspices of the church and diocese, they do not fall under the “administrative umbrella” of parish priests.

Various online forums attempt to explain the difference between the two kinds of priests. The major difference is the kind of vows they take, and geography: A diocesan priest is committed to live attached to a parish, and the other doesn’t. Both, notably, take vows of chastity or celibacy. If you’re a child who is taught that all priests carry moral and spiritual authority, these are differences without a distinction.

Most tragically, both kinds of priests are capable of abuse.

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

ALBUQUERQUE (NM)
Albuquerque Journal

December 29th, 2018

By Diane Dimond

During this holiest of Christian seasons, who could ignore the latest statements of Pope Francis speaking about the festering child sex abuse scandal within his church? In a Christmas address, he spoke of priests who “prey like wolves on their flock” and a clergy “ready to devour innocent souls.”

“To those who abuse minors, I would say this,” the Pope declared. “Convert and hand yourself over to human justice, and prepare for divine justice.”

Some saw the Pope’s words as stern and definitive. I saw them as a public relations move and a mealy-mouthed response to criminals who have been protected by the Catholic Church for way too long. Does the Pope truly think offending priests are going to suddenly march themselves down to the closest cop-shop and confess everything? Get real.

As Anne Doyle, of BishopAccountablilty.org – a group that tracks clergy sex abuse cases – put it, “In commanding child molesters to turn themselves in, Francis is pretending. He’s pretending that sick men can suddenly see the light.”

Priestly sex crimes against children are documented to have occurred for countless decades. Prosecutors in the U.S. and countries around the world have unmasked the felonious behavior of innumerable of these so-called “shepherds of Christ.” Yet, still, there are victims who are disbelieved or simply ignored by the very church in which they had worshipped.

Naturally, the Vatican isn’t asking for suggestions, but I’ve got some for the Pope if he’s interested in slowing America’s 60-year slide in Catholic church attendance.

Instead of shipping off predatory pedophilic priests to far-flung retreats in, say, New Mexico or Michigan – only to shuffle them off to other unsuspecting parishes after their “self-reflection” – how about the Pope order his cardinals, archbishops and bishops to gather up all the known clergy sinners and turn them in to authorities? That would finally put the imprimatur of the Church on the right side of this tragedy.

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 CITY (NY)
Catholic News Agency

December 28, 2018

By Ed Condon

The Archdiocese of New York told a California college this month that a local priest had never been accused of sexual abuse, even while the priest was being investigated by the archdiocese for several abuse charges. An administrator at the college called the letter “a lie,” and said she can no longer trust assurances from the archdiocese.

On Dec. 4, the New York archdiocese issued a letter stating “without qualification” that Fr. Donald Timone had “never been accused of any act of sexual abuse or misconduct involving a minor.”

In fact the archdiocese first received in 2003 an allegation that the priest had sexually abused minors, and it reached settlements with alleged victims in 2017.

The archdiocesan letter was received Dec. 13 by John Paul the Great University in Escondido, California, where Timone served. According to the university, the letter was not rescinded until after university officials contacted the Archdiocese of New York, following a Dec. 20 New York Times report on the history of allegations against Timone.

Allegations were first made against Timone in 2003 but they were dismissed as “unsubstantiated” by the archdiocese following an investigation by the archdiocesan review board. New allegations were made against the priest during a 2017 investigation by the Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Program of the Archdiocese of New York.

Last week, a spokesman for the Archdiocese of New York told CNA that the archdiocesan review board had reopened its formal investigation into Timone in early autumn 2018.

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)
Washington Post

December 28, 2019

By Elizabeth Bruenig

Pope Francis did not have the year he thought he was going to have.

It began this way: marked by sniping about his reform tendencies, especially where Catholic Church teaching on the family is concerned. As the Vatican geared up for its 2018 synod assembly — a meeting of bishops from around the world who gather in Rome to advise the pope on different issues, this year on youth and vocations — talk that the 2014 and 2015 synod meetings on the family had been rigged in favor of a reformist agenda circulated among anti-Francis factions. Perhaps the Francis skeptics assumed they would get to press their case against the pope again when the October synod on youth came to pass. But even they couldn’t have predicted what sort of opportunities would present themselves in the meantime.

There have been plenty of those. Today, Francis’s pontificate wavers in the wake of the explosive reemergence of the sex abuse crisis. His popularity has dropped sharply among Americans at large. And though Catholics’ views of the pope are steadier, the faithful are suffering. The pope has been called upon to resign and likewise advised strongly against it.

Pope Francis has — for the most part, though with notable exceptions — said the right things about the crisis. But saying the right things about it is easy, and despite all the encouraging remarks, Francis has taken little action so far. In February he will convene a worldwide meeting of key bishops in Rome to generate actionable solutions to the disaster facing the church. Will it change anything?

A brief recap: After an investigation led by the Archdiocese of New York found accusations of minor sexual abuse against former cardinal Theodore McCarrick to be credible, McCarrick resigned from the College of Cardinals and Pope Francis ordered him into a life of prayer and penance, effectively banishing him from public life. A few weeks later, an explosive grand jury report from Pennsylvania revealed the disgusting, almost unthinkable extent of clergy sexual abuse and its coverup in the state, implicating several prelates, including then-archbishop of Washington Cardinal Donald Wuerl. Roughly a week later, Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano released a long testimonial accusing Francis himself of having known of McCarrick’s abuses and permitting him to continue in public ministry anyhow, loosening restrictions placed on him by Pope Benedict XVI in the process.

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.

SANDUSKY (OH)
Sandusky Register

December 29, 2018

ByTyler Boyd

Deliver us from evil. This should be our prayer as the Church endures the ongoing scandal resulting from clerical sex abuse. I never grew up in the Church not effected by the clerical sex abuse scandal. As I began discerning priesthood several years ago, I became the target of jokes, whispers and disapproval. I never thought, however, that in the years of my priestly formation the scandal could grow to what it is today. Revelations of clerical sex abuse have now reached the highest echelons of the Church. Even seminarians, young men discerning God’s will for their lives, were victims of abuse by the very men they trusted with their futures. Who could I trust?

One afternoon, after reading article after article about the extensive abuse, I asked myself why I was still studying to be a priest. The clerical collar, the badge of the Catholic priesthood, no longer looked noble but dirty. The parish no longer sounded like an oasis of prayer but a crime scene. I began to ask myself why I wanted to become a priest. What was my intention? Did I want the benefits of a priestly life? Did I want to escape the world that was seemingly falling apart around me? Did I have something to hide? Then in an illuminating moment, all of my fears and anxiety faded away.

I was reminded why I wanted to become a priest; I wanted to serve Jesus Christ and his Church. I wanted to be a medic on the battlefield of life, binding the wounds left by sin, carrying my brothers and sisters into the safety of the Father’s arms. This was my vocation, and no sin of any priest or bishop could stop me from pursuing that purpose that God had created me for. Today I look at this crisis and I see the pain and suffering, but I recognize it as a call to arms. As a man studying for priesthood I must “put on the whole armor of God” (Ephesians 6:11) because as an earthy ambassador of Jesus Christ “it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (Galatians 2:20).

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.

[Editorial: Investigate church abuses]

SPAIN
El País

December 22, 2018

La Conferencia Episcopal Española debería seguir el camino marcado por el Papa y acabar con la impunidad

Con mucha más lentitud de lo que la gravedad de los hechos exige y de forma aún parcial e insuficiente, comienzan a verse signos de rectificación en la Iglesia católica española en relación al escándalo de los abusos de menores. El más importante es la decisión de la orden de los jesuitas en Cataluña de abrir una investigación interna que permita depurar los casos de abusos a menores en sus instituciones. La Compañía de Jesús y Jesuitas Educación han respondido así a las informaciones publicadas por este diario que afectaban a la orden, en particular el caso de un profesor del colegio de Sant Ignasi de Barcelona que en 1992 fue condenado a dos años de cárcel, que no llegó a cumplir, por haber abusado de una niña y murió en Bolivia en 2017 sin que se hubiera abierto un proceso canónico. La orden no solo salió en defensa del sacerdote cuando fue condenado, sino que al enviarlo a misiones le despidió con un homenaje. El encubrimiento fue la conducta habitual en la Iglesia en los casos que salían a la luz. Los jesuitas catalanes admiten ahora que no se valoró adecuadamente la gravedad de los hechos y piden perdón por ello.

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[“It was a year that the Church will hardly forget:” Episcopal Conference sums up 2018 marked by abuse cases]

SANTIAGO (CHILE)
Emol

December 27, 2018

By Tomás Molina J.

Expresiones repetidas de dolor y vergüenza, inéditas escenas de incautaciones y sanciones drásticas a obispos y sacerdotes chilenos”, fueron parte de los acontecimientos de los que dio cuenta el organismo religioso.

“Fue un año que la Iglesia en Chile difícilmente olvidará”. Así lo sostuvo la Conferencia Episcopal, organismo que publicó en su página web un resumen con los principales acontecimientos vividos por el clero durante un 2018 marcado por las investigaciones a los abusos sexuales a menores por parte de religiosos y la visita del Papa Francisco al país.

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[Juan Carlos Cruz after testifying for almost 4 hours in prosecutor’s office: “I would not be surprised if Ezzati or Errázuriz end up in jail”]

CHILE
El Mostrador

December 27, 2018

Junto a José Andrés Murillo, aportaron a la Fiscalía de Rancagua una serie de antecedentes sobre el “patrón de conducta” de los cardenales Ricardo Ezzati y Francisco Javier Errázuriz. La investigación del encubrimiento montado en la plana mayor de la Iglesia católica se mantuvo por años bajo la alfombra, pero un hito que reveló cómo operaba esta maquinaria fue develado por El Mostrador en 2015, con un reportaje que mostró el intercambio de correos secretos entre Ezzati y Errázuriz y las operaciones que ambos urdían en conjunto.

Por casi 4 horas declararon en la Fiscalía de Rancagua Juan Carlos Cruz y José Andrés Murillo, dos de las víctimas del Fernando Karadima, en el marco de la investigación que lleva adelante el Ministerio Público por encubrimiento de abusos sexuales que involucra a los cardenales Ricardo Ezzati y Francisco Javier Errázuriz.

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[Bishop emeritus of Ancud: “Many do not find meaning in the Church in their real lives”]

CHILE
La Tercera

December 22, 2018

By María José Navarrete

El prelado Juan Luis Ysern acaba de ser designado por los jesuitas para investigar los eventuales nuevos delitos del sacerdote Jaime Guzmán.

“Mi papel, como delegado del superior general de la Compañía de Jesús, P. Arturo Sosa SJ, es investigar sobre la posibilidad de otros delitos”. Así, directo, se expresa el obispo emérito de Ancud, Juan Luis Ysern, respecto del encargo que asumió esta semana, en relación con el jesuita Jaime Guzmán.

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[The week that shook the Chilean Church]

CHILE
La Tercera

December 28, 2018

By Juan Paulo Iglesias, Editor in Chief

“Este Papa acostumbra a hacer cosas imprevistas”. Cuando habló tras aterrizar en el aeropuerto Fuimicino de Roma, el 12 de mayo, había cierto desconcierto en el tono del cardenal Francisco Javier Errázuriz. Inicialmente no tenía previsto asistir a la convocatoria hecha por el Papa a todos los obispos chilenos. En su calidad de emérito, parecía considerar innecesaria su presencia. Pero un llamado de último minuto lo obligó a embarcarse de urgencia. El Papa quería que estuviera todo el episcopado chileno. Errázuriz, como varios obispos, no parecían entender por qué. “Esto que llame a todos los obispos es muy raro”, comentó algo más relajado al llegar a Roma. “Da la idea de que la Iglesia chilena está muy mal”.

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[Opinion: Let’s not abandon them]

CHILE
La Tercera

December 28, 2018

By Vinka Jackson and James Hamilton

La visita papal marcó un comienzo de 2018 desde las voces de una sociedad civil que expresó su indignación ante abusos sexuales masivos de niños y jóvenes perpetrados y encubiertos por la iglesia católica. La demanda por verdad, justicia y reparación ya no provenía sólo de víctimas y sobrevivientes, sino también de miles de familias, ciudadanos de distintas edades, y también de sacerdotes y religiosas no agresores. El abuso sexual infantil es transversal y del mismo modo necesita ser enfrentado por todos, juntos.

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MICHIGAN
The Legal Examiner

December 28, 2018

By David Mittleman

The Michigan Attorney General’s office announced earlier this year it was joining several other states in investigating allegations of sexual abuse and assault of children and others by Catholic priests from the 1950s till today. All 7 Michigan Catholic Dioceses are being investigated. Bishop Earl Boyea of the Lansing Diocese welcomed the investigation. Church members formed a coalition, and asked the Lansing Bishop for transparency during the investigation. As of October, more than 150 tips were called into a hotline. I don’t know when the final report will be published, but I predict that it will not paint the Michigan Catholic Dioceses as a very pretty picture. Will it be as bad or worse than Pennsylvania, New York, Minnesota, California? Probably.

This prediction is not made on any inside information. But I have seen the movie. In 2010 Greg Guggemos retained me to represent him against the Lansing Diocese to hold them accountable because of what a priest did to him 50 years earlier when he was 5 years old at St. Vincent Orphanage. Greg explained the reason he went public after settling his case with the Catholic Diocese of Lansing for 2 reasons, “One, he hopes if there are other victims, they will have the courage to come forward. Secondly, he hopes Michigan law will change and the statute of limitations will increase so other victims will have their day in court.” Greg has been published in many newspapers and encourages everyone to watch the movie Spotlight.

I couldn’t agree more with Greg. His bravery and courage to come forward, remembering the unthinkable, and the settlement led to me interviewing almost 50 people, mostly men, who all had similar stories to tell me. So I know. I am willing to help. It is part of the process.

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ABILENE (TX)
Abilene Reporter News

December 28, 2018

By Doug Mendenhall

When weighing the size of a story, journalists consider how big a change it represents.

Like, a year ago, both the Religion News Association collectively and me – a single RNA member – voted that the top religion story should be the support of evangelical Christians for President Trump, because that represented a huge change within both American political and religious landscapes.

Which is also why I voted this year that the top story should be the opposition of many religious leaders to Trump’s policies about immigration – because I saw that as just as huge a swing in the opposite direction.

RNA overall, though, went in a different direction, giving its top spot to a Pennsylvania grand jury’s report that accused 301 Catholic priests of abusing at least a thousand minors.

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NAVAL, BILIRAN (PHILIPPINES)
Inquirer.net

December 28, 2018

By Danny Petilla

After years of being sexually abused by an American Roman Catholic priest, a 12-year-old boy is leading the fight against pedophilia in a remote village here where his older brother and many of their friends are also victims.

Police officials here said JVA (the boy’s alias in the criminal complaint) convinced his 22-year-old brother, known in the same complaint as CV, and several other former altar boys who are now of legal age to come out and charge the 77-year-old priest, Kenneth Bernard Pius Hendricks, of sexually abusing them for many years.

“The courage and bravery of this boy is extraordinary. He is the reason why we have this case,” said SPO3 Venus Abrigo, chief of the Women and Children Protection (WCP) desk of the Naval Police Station.

The boy, who is now in Grade 6 here, is said to idolize Coco Martin’s character in the popular television series “Ang Probinsyano.”

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PHILIPPINES
Cebu Daily News

December 28,2018

By Delta Dyrecka Letigio

The parish priest of the Nativity of Mary Parish in Barangay Canduman, Mandaue City, who has been jailed for hitting his household cook’s daughter will not be able to get away from the charges of child abuse despite the mother backing off from the case.

The mother of the 15-year-old victim, who could not be named being the mother of a minor, told Cebu Daily News that she would no longer pursue the charges against Rev. Fr. Decoroso Olmilla, as the situation has been aggravated by the spread of “false” rumors online.

“Dili man unta ko ganahan makahibawo ang daghang tawo. Apan daghan na kaayo ninggawas sa Facebook nga mga storya-storya (I did not want a lot of people to know. However, many stories have spread on Facebook),” she said on a phone call.

She clarified that the situation was not as grave as has been reported and that her daughter was not “beaten” by the priest but was “only hit a few times.”

PO1 Jinelyn Formentera of the Women’s and Child Welfare Desk of the Canduman Police Station said the 15-year-old daughter of Olmilla’s cook has accused the priest of physical and verbal abuse.

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ANCHORAGE (AK)
KTUU

December 27, 2018

By Kalinda Kindle

Decades of past abuse were published in a December 7th report ‘Credible Claims of Sexual Abuse of a Minor or Vulnerable Adult.’ by the Jesuits West Province. In that report, 33 of the claims identify Alaska clergy and volunteers as perpetrators of sexually abusing children.

Jesuits West said its list is the province’s ongoing commitment to transparency and accountability. Many of the claims were made after an accused priest was deceased. Those cases were not able to be investigated, according to the Jesuit West Providence.

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TAHOE (CA)
South Tahoe Now

December 27, 2018

By Paula Peterson

Monsignor Murrough Wallace, who served the South Lake Tahoe community at the St. Theresa Parish from 1993 to 2003, has been accused by a man who said Wallace and another priest sexually abused him in 1985 when he was 17.

The accuser, known as John Doe in court documents, said he was volunteering at Camp Pendola when the alleged abuse took place.

Due to the allegations, Wallace, who is now 82 and retired, had to withdraw from ministry until more facts could be gathered, according to Bishop Soto of the Sacramento Diocese.

Mr. Doe has also accused the late Monsignor Vito Mistretta of sexually assaulting him while rehearsing for prayer at Holy Family two months after the initial allegation at the camp. Mistretta died in 2009.

The Diocese has asked Mr. Doe and his attorney for additional information so that they can investigate the situation.

Father Michael Vaughan, vicar general at the Catholic Diocese of Sacramento, released this statement:

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter

December 27, 2018

Reader responses were in support of making a clear distinction between the word “church” and the word “hierarchy.” First read the original argument from Jesuit Fr. Thomas Reese. The following letters to the editor have been edited for length and clarity.

***

Thank you, Jesuit Fr. Thomas Reese, for a somewhat clarifying article about the use of the word church. It has to be used carefully.

The same is true of the word father. No priest is officially a father in the Catholic Church unless he came into the Roman Catholic Church from the Episcopalian church. Let us do it like some other countries and use the word Reverend or just Mr. or by first name.

It is time to change.

ELIZABETH AVERILL
Madison, Wisconsin

***

I write to support Jesuit Fr. Thomas Reese acknowledging that he and too many others too often use the word “church” when they ought to be using the word “hierarchy.” For a long time, I have been preaching and teaching that the major problems in our church are problems of the hierarchy and not of the “People of God,” including all the baptized.

The recent highlighting of the coverup of the sex abuse in the church reaffirmed my conviction about this. A bishop was proposing that the church needs to ask forgiveness for our failings. I said “No, it is not the church, it is the hierarchy of our church that needs to ask forgiveness. Do not lump the failings and sins of bishops and priests with the rest of the church.”

Another example is the “church’s teaching on birth control.” No, it is the hierarchy’s teaching on birth control. A long time ago the vast majority of lay members of the church came to a different understanding of the place of birth control.

I hope that NCR and your writers will be careful to make that distinction. It may even help to encourage some lay people to see their rightful place in the church.

(Fr.) LOUIS ARCENEAUX, CM
New Orleans, Louisiana

***

Thank you. This is immensely important not just for writers but for lay people. I will do my best to follow his advice. Old habits die hard. Blessings to all

ADDIE STREETER
Portland Oregon

***

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NEW YORK (NY)
The Wall Street Journal

December 27, 2018

By Tom Corrigan

USA Gymnastics, Boy Scouts of America explore chapter 11 to handle victims’ claims

The Archdiocese of Portland was the first to do it. Three months later the Roman Catholic Diocese in Tucson, Ariz., followed suit and three months after that the diocese in Spokane, Wash., did it, too.

They all filed for bankruptcy and since then more than 15 other Catholic dioceses and religious orders have filed for bankruptcy to seek protection from lawsuits by sexual-assault victims, resulting in about 4,000 claims seeking compensation for past wrongdoing.

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NANTUCKET (MA)
Cape Cod Times

December 27, 2018

By Wheeler Cowperthwaite

Recording of court hearing shows questions focused on teen’s behavior.

The video that allegedly shows Kevin Spacey sexually assaulting a teenager on Nantucket in 2016 lasts only a second or less, according to testimony at the show-cause hearing where the actor was charged with indecent assault and battery.

The Dec. 20 hearing in front of Clerk-Magistrate Ryan Kearney featured testimony solely from state police Trooper Gerald Donovan.

The accuser, who was 18 at the time of the alleged incident, appeared in the courtroom but was asked to leave, in keeping with court procedures, according to a recording of the hearing created by Nantucket District Court staff.

During the hearing, Spacey, 59, also referred to by his real name of Kevin Fowler, was represented by Boston attorney Juliane Balliro and Los Angeles attorney Alan Jackson. The prosecution was represented by Donovan, and no prosecutors with the Cape and Islands District Attorney’s Office appear on the recording.

Jackson did not return a call Thursday seeking comment.

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LANSING (MI)
Lansing State Journal

December 27, 2018

By Kara Berg

2018 has been a busy year in the Lansing-area courts. With disgraced former Michigan State University sports doctor Larry Nassar’s January sentencing hearing, and the whirlwind of chaos that followed his case, it’s easy to get lost.

Here’s some cases you may have forgotten about, and where they stand in the justice system.

Rev. Jonathan Wehrle
The trial for a retired priest accused of stealing more than $5 million from an Okemos church is on hold as the priest’s attorneys appeal a decision Ingham County Circuit Court Judge Joyce Draganchuk made.

Rev. Jonathan Wehrle is charged with six felony counts of embezzlement of $100,000 or more. Draganchuk pushed his trial back to at least January after Wehrle’s original attorney withdrew in July. It’s not clear when his trial will begin. He has no pending court dates.

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NEW YORK (NY)
ChurchMilitant.com

December 27, 2018

By Christine Niles, M.St. (Oxon.), J.D.

James Grein: ‘I cried, worse than I’ve ever cried before’

(caution: graphic content)
James Grein, the victim on whom Abp. Theodore McCarrick preyed for 18 years, gave his sworn testimony of abuse in the archdiocese of New York Thursday.

In emotional testimony that lasted just under 45 minutes, Grein met with Fr. Richard L. Welch, judicial vicar for the archdiocese, at the chancery office on 1011 First Avenue Thursday morning. Although Grein’s attorney was present as well as two canon lawyers in Albany representing McCarrick, no one was allowed to speak but Grein and Welch, who had been assigned directly by the Holy See to take down the testimony. An unnamed priest was also present at the meeting to ensure the session was conducted fairly and properly.

“He was there to listen, and not to twist and turn anything,” Grein told Church Militant, speaking of Welch. “He was there to gather information for the Holy See. Period.”

During the session, Welch told Grein he’d been following him ever since he went public with his testimony in The New York Times, reading about him and watching him at the Silence Stops Now rally and in other interviews. He told Grein he believed him.

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SOUTH AFRICA
Times Live

December 27, 2018

By Ntokozo Miya

WARNING: Graphic content. Not for sensitive readers

The rise of unregulated charismatic churches in South Africa has resulted in people being exposed to preachers who often dominate the headlines. And it’s not always good news.

Some problematic church practices led the Commission for the Promotion and Protection of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities (CRL) to conclude that “there must be a regulatory framework”” to curb undignified and sometimes criminal activities in houses of God.

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UNITED STATES
Huffington Post

December 26, 2018

By Carol Kuruvilla

Americans’ confidence in religious leaders’ honesty and ethical standards has been tanking in recent years.

The level of trust Americans have in clergy members has dropped to a record low, a recent Gallup survey suggests.

The polling organization found that only 37 percent of 1,025 respondents had a “very high” or “high” opinion of the honesty and ethical standards of clergy, according to a report published on Thursday. Forty-three percent rated clergy’s honesty and ethics as “average,” while 15 percent had low or very low opinions.

The 37 percent positive rating is the lowest Gallup has recorded for clergy since it began examining views about religious leaders’ ethical standards in 1977.

Currently, only 31 percent of Catholics and 48 percent of Protestants rate the clergy positively, according to Gallup.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Catholic News Service

December 27, 2018

By Dennis Sadowski

A priest who once served in the Diocese of Greensburg, Pennsylvania, was sentenced to prison for sexually molesting a boy in the 1990s.

Father John T. Sweeney, 76, received a sentence of 11 months to five years in state prison and must register as a sex offender for 10 years, a judge in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, said Dec. 21.

The priest pled guilty in July to misdemeanor indecent assault on a minor after he was accused of abusing a 10-year-old boy while counseling him about misbehaving on a school bus.

Fr. Sweeney, who retired in 2016, is the first priest convicted of charges stemming from a Pennsylvania grand jury investigation that focused on allegations of abuse. He was arrested in July 2017 for the incident that occurred during the 1991-92 school year at St. Margaret Mary School in Lower Burrell, about 25 miles northeast of Pittsburgh.

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IJAMSVILLE (MD)
Catholic News Service

December 27, 2018

By Emily Rosenthal

“How can we pray when we feel betrayed?”

The song continues, offering more questions, but no answers.

“How Can We Pray?” was written by Zachary Stachowski, director of music ministry at St. Ignatius of Loyola in Ijamsville, Maryland, moved by the anger he felt immediately after the Pennsylvania grand jury report on clergy sexual abuse was released in mid-August.

After posting the sheet music to his personal Facebook page, nearly 300 people reacted, 67 commented and 80 shared, including the pages of national music organizations such as the National Association of Pastoral Musicians.

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PITTSBURGH (PA)
Pittsburgh Post Gazette

December 28, 2018

Plain­tiff at­tor­neys like Rich­ard Serbin have ev­ery bit as much vested in­ter­est in how clergy abuse claims are dealt with as does the church hi­er­ar­chy (Dec. 21 op-ed, “Church Pay­off Plans Don’t Pass the Smell Test”). But both sides claim to be think­ing pri­mar­ily of vic­tims’ wel­fare.

Law­suits are a huge cash cow for plain­tiff at­tor­neys. The bish­ops are con­cerned about scan­dal, pos­si­ble crim­i­nal li­a­bil­ity and the spec­ter of bank­ruptcy. Nei­ther in­ter­est group points out that there is no rea­son both op­tions should not be open to vic­tims, who could choose which bet­ter suits their needs — court pro­ceed­ings or di­rect rep­a­ra­tion pay­ments — both with­out non-dis­clo­sure agree­ments, leav­ing the par­ties free to pub­lish what they wish about what has tran­spired.

There should be two ro­bust paths for vic­tims to seek rep­a­ra­tions for the dam­age in­flicted upon them. It’s the least we can do.

LINDA HALLER
Mt. Leb­a­non

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VATICAN CITY
The Associated Press

December 27, 2018

By Nicole Winfield

Analysis: Francis’ early missteps weakened his moral authority

It has been a wretched year for Pope Francis, whose blind spot on clergy sex abuse conspired with events beyond his control to threaten his legacy and throw the Catholic hierarchy into a credibility crisis not seen in modern times.

The latest development — a high-profile verdict in a faraway country — cements the impression that Francis simply didn’t “get it” when he first became pope in 2013 and began leading the church.

Early missteps included associating with compromised cardinals and bishops and downplaying or dismissing rumors of abuse and cover-up. Francis finally came around in 2018, when he publicly admitted he was wrong about a case in Chile, made amends, and laid the groundwork for the future by calling an abuse prevention summit next year.

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NEW YORK (NY)
The New York Times

December 25, 2018

A reader says the Catholic church belongs to the faithful, not the hierarchy.

To the Editor:

Re “Dioceses Across U.S. Are Releasing Lists of Priests Accused of Sex Abuse” (news article, Dec. 15):

Let’s call it what it is: The bishops and cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church for decades have been aiding and abetting the rapists of children, rapists who are in their ranks and among the priests who report to them. Let’s not talk of sin and canon law.

These are crimes punishable by law, including potential prison time. Thank God for the attorneys general of several states who are now in pursuit of those responsible for these heinous crimes against young people and those who have covered up for them.

The church belongs to the faithful, not to the hierarchy. If the Catholic Church were a secular organization, a board would have kicked management out and turned over all of its records to law firms and the authorities to prosecute every wrongdoer.

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WATERTOWN (NY)
Watertown Daily Times

December 28, 2018

Information released last week by the attorney general of Illinois should guide officials in other states, including New York, as they investigate the sexual abuse scandal within the Roman Catholic Church.

“A scathing report from Attorney General Lisa Madigan finds the number of Catholic priests accused of sexual abuse against children in Illinois is much higher than previously acknowledged. The report said accusations have been leveled against 690 priests while Catholic officials have publicly identified only 185 clergy with credible allegations against them,” according to a story published Dec. 20 by the Chicago Tribune. “The determination is part of a preliminary report made public Wednesday by Madigan’s office, which has been investigating Catholic clergy sexual abuse of minors following revelations during the summer of widespread abuse and cover-ups by Catholic officials in Pennsylvania. The report was critical of the six Catholic dioceses that govern parishes across Illinois for their lack of transparency and flawed investigations. Although the report says that ‘Clergy sexual abuse of minors in Illinois is significantly more extensive than the Illinois dioceses previously reported,’ it does not estimate how many of the allegations against the 690 clergy should have been deemed credible. Some of the allegations go back decades.”

A report released in August revealed numerous incidents of abuse by more than 300 priests in Pennsylvania. The report, issued by a grand jury, covers six dioceses — which represent 54 of the state’s 67 counties. Pennsylvania’s other two dioceses were previously investigated by other grand juries.

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NEW LONDON (CT)
The Day

December 27, 2018

I’m a retired New Haven detective with 27 years of service following Army military police duty.

The perpetrator of sexual abuse of a child was pursued by my colleagues and me with the intent of putting the felon away for years so another child would not become a victim. I and most did not know the influence of the Catholic Church to make prosecution disappear. It’s taken the likes of The Day reporter Joe Wojtas, “Norwich diocese will release names of priests accused of sexual assault” (Dec. 21), and others to continue to educate the public to the extent of these vicious criminals and the responsible organization and individuals.

What is needed is for Connecticut legislators to eliminate the statute of limitations when it comes to the sexual abuse of a child and provide the tools and support for the prosecution of these offenders. The defensive posture of the Catholic Church on this issue must be exposed.

I called to initiate a one-year digital subscription of The Day.

Keep up the good work.

Tom Morrissey, Jr.
Cheshire

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WASHINGTON (DC)
The Washington Post

December 27, 2018

By Elizabeth Bruenig

Correction: An earlier version of this column incorrectly described the scope of a recent report by the Illinois attorney general into child sex abuse by Catholic priests. The report covered allegations that had gone unreported in Illinois, not just in the archdiocese of Chicago. This version has been updated.

Somehow it doesn’t come as a surprise that the allegations of sexual misconduct that finally brought down former cardinal and archbishop emeritus of Washington, Theodore McCarrick, happened at Christmastime. When he was removed from ministry in June, McCarrick stood accused of molesting a teenage boy while measuring him for a cassock for a special Christmas service in 1971, according to the victim, and then again in 1972, during preparations for that year’s Christmas service. Was there ever a faith for McCarrick other than opportunity?

Once the archdiocese of New York declared those allegations credible, other claims poured forth: The portrait that has emerged suggests McCarrick had been perpetrating sexual abuse against boys and young men for years, without a hitch in his rise through the ranks of the church. Shortly thereafter, McCarrick was moved to a friary on the lonely plains of Kansas.

It was around that time I started receiving emails from despondent Catholics in the D.C. area. McCarrick hadn’t been an anonymous priest, after all; he had been a major public figure, and the revelations about him were as shocking as they were plentiful. Some of the messages I received spoke of a loss of faith, despair, feelings of anger, confusion, emptiness. “There is little encouragement in the constant drama,” one wrote. “They have forgotten the quote, ‘What does it profit a man to gain the world and lose his soul?’ ” And another: “To say that my faith is being tested is an understatement. I’m trying my best now to just work and dedicate myself to truth.” And yet another: “The silence from the Vatican is deafening.” There were so many more. I printed a packet of them and took them along with me when I interviewed former close associates of McCarrick, so I could read some of them aloud. None of those conversations yielded anything, not even a hint of guilt.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Catholic News Service

December 27, 2018

By Carol Zimmermann

2018 will no doubt be remembered as a dark time for the U.S. Catholic Church.

Catholics felt betrayed by church leaders accused of sexual misconduct and cover-up revealed this summer and this cloud still hung over the church at the year’s end.

In June, allegations were made against then-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, retired archbishop of Washington, accused of sexually abusing a minor almost 50 years ago and having sexual contact with seminarians while he was a bishop in New Jersey.

A month later, Pope Francis accepted McCarrick’s resignation from College of Cardinals and suspended him from public ministry, ordering him to a “life of prayer and penance” until the accusations against him were examined in a canonical trial.

The archbishop, who has denied the allegations, now lives in a Capuchin Franciscan friary in Victoria, Kansas.

Since these allegations came to light, Catholic laity and church leaders, including bishops, have been asking who knew about the archbishop’s alleged misconduct and how was it possible for him to move up the ranks in church leadership.

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CHICAGO (IL)
WLS

December 25, 2018

By Alexis McAdams

Cardinal Blase Cupich visited with inmates at the Cook County Jail and led a special mass there on Christmas Day.

The mass and visit was meant to give inmates hope and faith during the holiday season, even as they are locked up and away from their families.

The cardinal assured each inmate they are never too small or unimportant to make a difference.

“It is an opportunity to make sure that we widen the circle of human life and have more room at the table,” he said.

Each inmate had the chance to receive communion as Cardinal Cupich spoke about making small changes to better yourself and the world.

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GUAM
Infosurhoy

December 27, 2018

By Denis Bedoya

Two more Catholic priests on Guam have been accused of sexual abuse, according to a 10 million dollar lawsuit filed this week.

Father Louis Brouillard and Antonio Cruz are accused of abusing the same boy in the 1970s.

Both priests are now dead.

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ANCHORAGE (AK)
KTVA News

December 26, 2018

By Chris Klint

A regional Jesuit organization has cataloged dozens of priests with Alaska service accused of committing sexual abuse, many of them in cases which occurred during their time in the state.

A Dec. 7 listing from Jesuits West includes the names of 33 priests with Alaska service, 29 of whom are accused of sexually abusing minors. All but two of those men allegedly committed that abuse during their Alaska service; another four priests who served in Alaska faced unspecified allegations of abuse at some point during their careers.

Almost all of the listed priests have died, according to Jesuits West.

The list, compiled from records and bankruptcy filings of the Jesuits’ West Province and its former California and Oregon provinces, incorporates what it describes as “credible claims of sexual abuse of a minor or vulnerable adult, dating to 1950.” The group published the list, which includes many priests previously named in public sources, as “part of our province’s ongoing commitment to transparency and accountability.”

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IRELAND
Independent

December 27, 2018

By Elizabeth Bruenig

Somehow it doesn’t come as a surprise that the allegations of sexual misconduct that finally brought down the former cardinal and archbishop emeritus of Washington, Theodore McCarrick, happened at Christmastime.

When he was removed from ministry in June, McCarrick stood accused of molesting a teenage boy while measuring him for a cassock for a special Christmas service in 1971, the victim alleged, and then again in 1972, during preparations for that year’s Christmas service. Was there ever a faith for McCarrick other than opportunity?

Once the archdiocese of New York declared those allegations credible, other claims poured forth: The portrait that has emerged suggests McCarrick had been perpetrating sexual abuse against boys and young men for years, without a hitch in his rise through the ranks of the Church. Shortly thereafter, McCarrick was moved to a friary on the lonely plains of Kansas.

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VATICAN CITY
The Guardian

December 23, 2018

Pope Francis has excoriated his enemies in the church. Is this a sign of weakness, or of strength?

Pope Francis gives an annual Christmas speech to his civil service in the Vatican and he wastes none of it on praising them. From his very first condemnation of their gossip, pride, and “spiritual Alzheimer’s” in 2014 he has found faults to pick with parts of the Roman Catholic church. This year, it was the turn of sexual abuse, a subject on which he has himself been squarely in the wrong before. As if making up for lost time, he gave one of the most ferocious denunciations of his own church’s past, and promised concrete measures and a new start. He even praised the journalists who brought these scandals to light, in the teeth of ecclesiastical denial and obstruction. He demanded that any priests guilty of abuse hand themselves over to the civil authorities, and prepare to face the justice of God as well. This is all excellent stuff and only about 20 years late.

The great problem for the church this century has not been the exposure of contemporary abuse so much as the exposure of the cover-ups of past abusers. Francis himself has been accused by his enemies of protecting a notorious abuser, Theodore McCarrick, once a powerful figure in the US church, whom he sacked as a cardinal in the summer. In fact, Mr McCarrick was the beneficiary of a long-standing Vatican policy of promoting effective fundraisers, and owed most of his rise to the sainted John Paul II. But several US states have published lists of hundreds of men credibly suspected of historic offences, but protected by bishops in the past; Francis’s own order, the Jesuits, is to engage in a similar reckoning with its past.

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ANCHORAGE (AK)
Anchorage Daily News

December 27, 2018

By Kyle Hopkins

Below is the full list of priests who were stationed in Alaska and have been credibly accused of sexual abuse, according to Jesuits West. This list has been supplemented with a report by the Diocese of Fairbanks that lists “all known individuals, including priests, religious, lay employees and volunteers against whom a complaint of sexual abuse has been filed by one or more individuals” and against whom the abuse has been proven, admitted or “credibly accused.”

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NEW YORK (NY)
AFP

December 26, 2018

A young man who accused Kevin Spacey of sexually assaulting him at a seaside restaurant near Boston in 2016 filmed part of the incident, according to court filings obtained by AFP.

The 59-year-old star of the “House of Cards” series, who has won two Oscars, is due to be formally charged on January 7 on the island of Nantucket with “indecent assault and battery on a person over 14 years of age.”

If found guilty, Spacey could face up to five years in jail.

The young man, identified as William Little and aged 18 at the time of the alleged assault in July 2016, told police he had sent messages, including a video, to his girlfriend via the Snapchat app from the “Club Car” restaurant in Nantucket, where he was working as a bus boy for the summer, according to the court filing.

He had remained in the bar after his shift had finished to see Spacey, of whom he was a fan.

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BOSTON (MA)
USA TODAY

December 26, 2018

By Maria Puente

Kevin Spacey has probably walked the last red carpet of his Oscar-winning career, but next month he’ll be doing a “perp walk” to a Massachusetts courthouse to face a sex-crime charge on Nantucket.

Spacey, 59, is due to be arraigned on Jan. 7 on a felony charge of indecent assault and battery in which he is accused of groping the then-18-year-old son of a Boston TV anchorwoman in a Nantucket restaurant bar in the summer of 2016.

Kevin Spacey Fowler (his real last name) will thus be forced to come out from wherever he’s been hiding since October 2017, when a string of men began coming forward to publicly accuse him of various kinds of sexual misconduct dating back decades and crossing jurisdictions from London to Los Angeles.

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BOSTON (MA)
The Huffington Post

December 26, 2018

By Andy Campbell

The felony sexual assault case against Kevin Spacey will include video evidence showing he attacked a young man at a bar in Nantucket in July 2016, according to a police report.

A Massachusetts State Police investigative report, obtained by MassLive.com, states that the victim in the case, the then-18-year-old son of Boston news anchor Heather Unruh, took a Snapchat video at the time that may prove Spacey groped him.

“[Unruh’s son] said the whole thing was embarrassing and has not had a ‘profound emotional effect’ on him,” Trooper Gerald F. Donovan wrote in the report. “[He] called the police because he doesn’t want what happened to him to happen to anyone else.”

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ROME (ITALY)
National Catholic Reporter

December 27, 2018

By Joshua J. McElwee

Three former members of Pope Francis’ commission on clergy sexual abuse are calling on the pontiff’s February Vatican summit on child protection to reevaluate the structure of the group in order to make it more effective in pursuing policy reforms.

In separate NCR interviews, the former papal advisors emphasized the need for the commission to reassert its independence from the Vatican’s bureaucracy, to oversee implementation of its own recommendations, and to meet regularly with Francis.

Several outside experts with long histories in confronting clergy abuse echoed their concerns, and highlighted a lack of clarity and transparency over the purpose and objectives of the now four-year-old group.

Marie Collins, an Irish abuse survivor who resigned from the commission in 2017, said the role of the commission might merit special discussion at the February summit because the frustrations over its work exemplify how the Catholic Church has struggled for decades to address the abuse crisis.

“The commission itself is sort of a microcosm of the global issue … that work that’s being done doesn’t seem to produce results,” she said.

“We need clarity now about the commission, its purpose, its powers, its future, and exactly where it is going and what we can expect from it,” said Collins, who left the group in mid-2017 due to frustration with Vatican officials.

“People put a lot of hope into it, and it has failed to live up to the hope,” she added. “There should be some examination as to why.”

Related: Marie Collins: With Irish survivors, Francis said he’s not considering new accountability tribunal
Krysten Winter-Green, one of six commission members not reappointed by Francis in early 2018 after the end of the group’s first three-year term, said she doubted the summit would have the role of the commission on its agenda, but added: “As far as I am concerned, it really should be.”

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UNITED STATES
PBS

December 26, 2018

[Note: Church in Crisis segment begins around the 24 minute mark]

PBS NewsHour full episode

Airing: 12/27/18
Length: 53m 42s
Expires: 01/25/19
Rating: NR

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BUFFALO (NY)
Buffalo News

December 26, 2018

I want to extend – on behalf of many – a warm and heartfelt welcome back to Msg. Frederick Leising, fondly known as Father Fred. In November of this year, the Buffalo Diocese placed Father Fred on administrative leave as a priest, due to an allegation of sexual misconduct that had been made against him. At the time, this seemed abundantly false and totally out of character for a man who has served so many so faithfully as a priest for 47 years, in his roles as teacher, pastor, celebrant, counselor and consoler. Thankfully, the diocese has expeditiously and fairly reviewed the case, and this week has removed him from administrative leave.

As a Catholic, I am appalled and heartsick over the predatory actions of those priests who abused their positions of authority and trust. It is shameful that bishops acted to protect the institutional church rather the innocents to whom such incalculable harm has been done.

Yet, in an effort to finally atone for the actions of pedophile priests, I am afraid that the Diocese of Buffalo may be erring on the side of caution in a way that can destroy the careers and reputations of good priests who may turn out to be innocent of charges made against them. If we really believe that someone in this country is innocent until proven guilty, we need to fully accept back into the community those who turned out to have been falsely charged.

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NEW YORK (NY)
Crux

December 27, 2018

By Christopher White

In what has been one of the darkest years in the history of the American Catholic Church, it may sound strange to speak of highlights.

Yet, as the storm clouds of the clerical sexual abuse crisis overshadowed much of 2018, and lingers into 2019, looking back on the past year reveals that while there were moments of shame and showdowns with the government, there were also a few moments in which a beleaguered Church managed to sparkle that are worth recounting, too.

1. “A Summer of Shame”
What began in June – when the archdiocese of New York revealed that then-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick had been credibly accused of a sexual abuse of a minor – has now erupted into a full-blown crisis.

The following month, further reports would emerge, revealing that McCarrick had serially abused seminarians during his years in Metuchen and Newark, New Jersey. Pope Francis would take the nearly unprecedented action of removing McCarrick from public ministry and accepting his resignation as a member of the College of Cardinals.

When a Pennsylvania grand jury report was released in August – chronicling seven decades of abuse of over 1,000 minors at the hands of more than 300 predator priests, it would prompt over a dozen states to announce they would begin similar undertakings, with federal authorities hinting that a national investigation may soon be announced.

Cardinal Donald Wuerl of Washington, D.C., one of the most powerful members of the U.S. hierarchy, would have his resignation accepted by Francis in October as a continuing part of the fallout from the Pennsylvania report from his time as bishop of Pittsburgh in the late 1980s and 1990s.

In November, the U.S. bishops gathered in Baltimore hoping to pass new standards and protocols for the accountability of bishops accused in sexual abuse or its cover-up. Their plans, however, were put on hold after a last minute intervention from the Vatican requesting that they wait until after a global summit on the topic in February to be held at the Vatican – extending a long summer of shame over sexual abuse, into what is looking to be a bleak winter.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
The Washington Post

December 26, 2018

By Michelle Boorstein

In response to recent Catholic Church clergy sex abuse scandals, lawmakers in the District of Columbia and Virginia say they will soon propose legislation that adds clergy to the list of people mandated by law to report child abuse or neglect.

Both efforts address the hot-button intersection of child protection and religious liberty, but lawmakers are expected to give them an open reception at a time when recent sexual abuse scandals in churches and others involving athletes have prompted conversation about broadening legal responsibility to extend beyond positions such as teachers and doctors.

The ideas under consideration by D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine include not exempting confidential conversations for any mandatory reporters, possibly including those that occur in the Catholic Church’s confessional. Texas, West Virginia and a few other states do not exclude the confessional in mandatory reporting laws, but it has been a stumbling block in many other places.

Under D.C. law, anyone 18 or over who knows or has reason to believe that a child under age 16 is a victim of sexual abuse is required to report it to civil officials. But the requirements of mandated reporters are more extensive, and Racine is considering taking them much further.

An eight-page presentation of key goals shared in recent weeks by Racine’s office with some D.C. faith groups proposed expanding the law to say mandated reporters must report suspected abuse, even if they don’t know the child themselves, or even if the child is now an adult. It also suggested requiring mandated reporters to tell their own boards of directors so their institutions become responsible, increases the penalties for people who don’t report and requests funding for training so mandatory reporters understand what that term obliges.

A few weeks after circulating the presentation, which was obtained by The Washington Post, Racine’s office emailed some faith leaders to say that the proposal was still a work in process and that a final version would be introduced for consideration by the D.C. Council early in 2019.

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ROME (ITALY)
Associated Press

December 27, 2018

By Nicole Winfield

It has been a wretched year for Pope Francis, whose blind spot on clergy sex abuse conspired with events beyond his control to threaten his legacy and throw the Catholic hierarchy into a credibility crisis not seen in modern times.

The latest development — a high-profile verdict in a far-away country — cements the impression that Francis simply didn’t “get it” when he first became pope in 2013 and began leading the church.

Early missteps included associating with compromised cardinals and bishops and downplaying or dismissing rumors of abuse and cover-up. Francis finally came around in 2018, when he publicly admitted he was wrong about a case in Chile, made amends, and laid the groundwork for the future by calling an abuse prevention summit next year.

But damage to his moral authority on the issue has been done. Before his eyes were opened, Francis showed that he was a product of the very clerical culture he so often denounces, ever ready to take the word of the clerical class over victims.

The year started off well enough: Francis dedicated his annual Jan. 1 peace message to the plight of migrants and refugees. Soon thereafter, he baptized 34 cooing babies in the Sistine Chapel and urged their mothers to nurse, a typical Franciscan show of informal practicality amid the splendor of Michelangelo’s “Last Judgment.”

Then came Chile .

Francis’ January visit was dominated by the clergy abuse scandal there, and featured unprecedented protests against a papal visit: churches were firebombed and riot police used water cannons to quell demonstrations.

Chilean opposition to Francis had actually begun three years prior, when the Argentine-born pope appointed Juan Barros as bishop of the southern diocese of Osorno. Francis had dismissed allegations that Barros ignored and covered up abuse by Chile’s most prominent predator priest, imposing him on a diocese that wanted nothing to do with him.

“The day they bring me proof against Bishop Barros, I’ll speak,” Francis said on his final day in Chile. “There is not one shed of proof against him. It’s all slander. Is that clear?”

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CHICAGO (IL)
Sun-Times

December 26, 2018

By Robert Herguth

After Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich caught heat in August for making remarks regarded as insensitive about the clergy sex abuse crisis, he took the unusual step of ordering Chicago-area Catholic priests to read a prepared statement during weekend masses defending him and insisting his comments had been twisted by the media.

With church officials again under fire — this time for a withering report from Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan that found the Catholic church in Illinois received hundreds more accusations of priests molesting kids than was previously known — Cupich has again sought to steer messaging from his priests on the topic.

Just before Christmas, one of Cupich’s auxiliary bishops, Ronald Hicks, distributed a letter to priests suggesting ways to address the Madigan report and the overall sex abuse scandal during holiday masses. The letter suggests language the priests could use that acknowledges the church’s failures but also pushes back against some of Madigan’s findings.

The letter, obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times, also provides “talking points” priests can use when discussing the crisis with friends, family and parishioners over the holidays.

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Patheos blog

December 26, 2018

By Jeannine Pitas

2018 has not been an easy year for Catholics around the world as more and more cases of sexual abuse of children have come to light. One particularly hard-hit community was my own native Diocese of Buffalo, NY. In October of this year I was shocked to learn that Siobhan O’Connor – former assistant to Bishop of Buffalo Richard Malone – had leaked documents to a local news station revealing that the Catholic Church’s leader in Western New York had allowed known criminals to remain on the job. While first preferring to remain anonymous, in October O’Connor chose to go public, sharing her story on CBS 60 Minutes and thus revealing her identity. Becoming a whistleblower has naturally changed O’Connor’s life, but for her it felt like a necessary leap of faith.

Earlier this month, I had the opportunity to interview O’Connor. Incidentally, we share a personal connection – we are the same age and as high school students had the same piano teacher, so we would regularly perform together in recitals and other events. I am grateful to Siobhan for taking the time to speak with me and share her story of becoming a whistleblower and speaker of truth.

Q: You’ve not had a Facebook account for nearly ten years. I get the sense that you’re a rather private person. Now, you’ve had a kind of instant fame. How has it been going from being a private person to a public person?

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WASHINGTON (DC)
PBS Newshour

December 26, 2018

Now to one of the more difficult stories that resonated throughout this past year.

The Catholic Church, along with its larger community around the world, has been rocked by the church’s long history of sexual abuse. This year, the tragic revelations kept coming, and they exposed even more just how long many dioceses covered up the abuse.

In this very frank conversation, Judy explores what the cover-ups have meant for survivors and for the faithful at large.

But she begins with some background.

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EFFINGHAM (IL)
Effingham Daily News

December 27, 2018

By Bishop Thomas John Paprocki

The sexual abuse of minors by Catholic priests is a disgrace. It demands, and the Diocese of Springfield pledges, continued efforts to bring healing to the victims of these grave sins. The report issued on December 19 by the Illinois Attorney General’s office is, however, highly misleading. Factual clarification is imperative.

Here are the facts specific to the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois:

1) The majority of abuse cases occurred over 30 years ago, and only one has occurred since 2002.

2) Of the approximately 650 diocesan priests who have served here since 1923, 41 (6.3 percent) have been accused of sexual abuse of a minor. Nineteen of those were deemed to be substantiated (2.9 percent of all diocesan priests), of whom all have been publicly identified (www.promise.dio.org); 12 are deceased; four are laicized; and three are removed from ministry.

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ALBUQUERQUE (NM)
KOAT TV

December 26, 2018

By Kay Dimanche

An Albuquerque Catholic priest opens up about blowing whistle on church sexual abuse scandal.

Watch the video above for more on how Vincent Paul Chavez has helped more than 20 victims of clergy sex abuse.

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DENVER (CO)
Colorado Public Radio

December 26, 2018

By Allison Sherry

The ongoing clergy sex abuse scandal goes beyond parish churches — it also includes seminaries, the schools that train priests. Allison Sherry (@AllisonSherry) of Colorado Public Radio reports on one former seminarian who, two decades after being abused by a priest, is still waiting for church leaders to give him closure.

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CHICAGO (IL)
AFP

December 21, 2018

US bishops preparing for a meeting to address the sexual abuse scandal roiling the Catholic Church suddenly find themselves in a high-stakes credibility test following a damning report accusing them of underplaying the crisis.

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan on Wednesday issued an explosive report accusing the states Catholic dioceses of not releasing the names of at least 500 clergy accused of sexually abusing children.

The timing of the report, which said accusations have been leveled against 690 priests, while Catholic officials have publicly identified only 185, was no coincidence.

The Midwestern state’s top prosecutor said it was intended to be “a critical document for discussion” for the bishops as they prepare to meet for a spiritual retreat in Jan at a seminary in suburban Chicago.

The sex abuse crisis is to be the main topic of discussion ahead of a summit in Rome convened for Feb next year by Pope Francis and organized with the help of Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich.

“The Catholic Church itself has yet to undertake policies to ensure accountability of its bishops for their part in covering up clergy sex abuse against minors,“ Madigan’s report said.

Mathew Schmalz, an expert on the Church and religious studies professor at the College of The Holy Cross in Massachusetts, said the Church faced a Herculean task undoing its mistakes.

“Certainly, the bishops will face further pressure to follow through on transparency and reporting requirements,“ Schmalz told AFP.

“But their credibility has been so weakened that they are also facing the possibility that any effort they make will have little to no credibility.”

The increased public spotlight on the Church comes at a time when officials are facing ever more pressure from law enforcement to be more forthcoming.

Attorneys general in around a dozen states have opened criminal investigations.

Earlier this month, officials of the Jesuit order of the Catholic Church overseeing at least 40 US states released the names of more than 240 members accused of abuse dating back to the 1950s.

Report ‘not fair’

“There’s an unprecedented amount of public pressure and legal pressure on the Catholic Church,“ Anne Doyle, co-director of the abuse tracking site Bishop Accountability, told AFP.

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ALBANY (NY)
New York Daily News

December 21, 2018

By Kenneth Lovett

Sexual assault victims have a new “bill of rights” in New York that will spell out the services they are entitled to after an attack.

Gov. Cuomo, who signed the measure into law on Friday, said letting survivors know their legal rights will help ensure they request and receive the information needed to navigate both the medical and criminal justice systems.

Under the law, victims will be alerted that they can consult with a rape-crisis or victim assistance organization, are entitled to health care services at no cost, and receive updates on the status of their rape kits and cases.

Law enforcement agencies, under the law, will be required to come up with policies to ensure they effectively communicate those rights to survivors.

“As the federal government shamefully ignores the voices of sexual assault survivors, New York is doing everything in our power to empower survivors and ensure they are treated with dignity and respect,” Cuomo said. “This legislation will support our work to combat the scourge of sexual harassment and assault, help deliver justice to survivors and make New York a safer state for all.”

The bill was sponsored by Assemblywoman Aravella Simotas (D-Queens) and Sen. Kemp Hannon (R-L.I.).

Selena Bennett-Chambers, of the New York State Coalition Against Sexual Assault, praised the new law, noting that the state Attorney General’s Office recently found that seven New York hospitals had been illegally billing rape victims for their forensic exams.

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ROME (ITALY)
Catholic News Service

December 27, 2018

By Cindy Wooden

Pope Francis marked the fifth anniversary of his election in March in the midst of a firestorm over his handling of clerical sexual abuse and bishops’ accountability in Chile.

He soon apologized for his slow response and invited Chilean abuse survivors to the Vatican and then all the country’s bishops to meet with him in May. By mid-October, the pope had dismissed two Chilean bishops from the priesthood and accepted the resignations of seven others.

The firestorm began when Francis visited Chile and Peru in January, but the trip also included a meeting with the region’s indigenous peoples, marking an important stage in the preparation for the 2019 special Synod of Bishops on the Amazon, which will focus on safeguarding creation and on the pastoral care of the people who live in the region.

Also during 2018, Francis traveled to the Geneva headquarters of the World Council of Churches to celebrate the ecumenical body’s 70th anniversary; he went to Ireland for the World Meeting of Families; and he visited the Baltic nations of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
KMOV TV 4

December 26, 2018

The former owner of a south St. Louis pizza shop has been found guilty of eight separate counts of sex crimes against underage girls.

A federal judge announced the verdict in the trial of Loren Copp, who is also a former pastor, Wednesday in the U.S. District Court.

According to court documents, Copp rejected a plea deal that would have sent him to prison for 15 years. He could now face up to life in prison when he is sentenced April 5.

Copp is the former youth pastor and owner of Dojo Pizza, and at trial, claimed to be a trusted member of the community.

Prosecutors argued he used his position as a business owner, martial arts instructor and community activist to gain the trust of parents and gain access to their children.

He was arrested in April 2016, accused of possessing child pornography and attempting to produce it over a six-year period.

According to prosecutors, several underage girls lived at Dojo Pizza, which is located on Morganford in the Bevo Mill neighborhood. Copp either had sole custody or care of the girls because their parents were incarcerated or homeless, authorities said.

Copp allegedly forced the girls to work at the pizza shop and did not pay them appropriately or provide consistent food. He is also accused of threatening to kick the girls out when they didn’t work, which would leave them homeless.

According to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Copp “groomed” the girls for abuse beginning in 2009.

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GUAM
The Guam Daily Post

December 26, 2018

By Mindy Aguon

The death of a Catholic priest was the “happiest moment” of B.C.D.’s life after years of dealing with the pain of being repeatedly sexually abused when he was 9 years old, according to a lawsuit filed in the Superior Court of Guam against the Archdiocese of Agana.

B.C.D., who used initials to protect his identity, alleges he was sexually molested and abused by the late Monsignor Zoilo Camacho.

The plaintiff, now 55, alleges he was sexually abused once or twice a week for six months in the early 1970s while serving as an altar boy at San Vicente/San Roke Catholic Church in Barrigada, where Camacho served as parish priest.

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BOSCAWEN (NH)
The Associated Press

December 26, 2018

A New Hampshire prep school graduate convicted of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old classmate reported to jail Wednesday to begin serving the remaining 10 months of his jail sentence.

Owen Labrie, 23, turned himself in to the Merrimack County jail Wednesday morning, more than a week after a judge refused to shorten his sentence. Reporters waiting outside the jail did not see him enter.

Labrie, of Tunbridge, Vermont, was acquitted in 2015 of raping a 15-year-old classmate Chessy Prout as part of ‘‘Senior Salute,’’ a game of sexual conquest, at St. Paul’s School. But a jury found him guilty of misdemeanor sexual assault charges and endangering the welfare of a child. He also was convicted of using a computer to lure an underage student for sex, requiring him to register as a sex offender.

Labrie had been free pending appeals, other than the two months he served for curfew violations in 2016.

Merrimack County jail Supt. Ross Cunningham said Labrie was undergoing a medical checkup and other assessments and would move to the general population when that is completed. He said there have been ‘‘no issues’’ so far with Labrie. ‘‘Over time, he will transition to general housing unless something comes up,’’ he said.

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SPOKANE (WA)
The Spokesman-Review

December 26, 2018

By Chad Sokol

Two Jesuit priests, the Revs. Frank Case and Pat Lee, have resigned as vice presidents of Gonzaga University amid questions about the handling of sexual abuse allegations against other clergy.

Gonzaga President Thayne McCulloh made the announcement Friday afternoon in a brief letter to students, faculty and staff.

A school spokesman declined to explain the reasons for the departures, saying he could not discuss the details of personnel matters. But a news report recently revealed that Case recommended a pedophile priest for a job at a Tacoma hospital three decades ago.

It was less clear what had prompted Lee’s resignation. He had served as Gonzaga’s vice president for mission from 2005 to 2008 before being appointed vice president of mission and ministry in 2016.

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ANCHORAGE (AK)
Anchorage Daily News

December 26, 2018

By Kyle Hopkins

The Rev. Rene Astruc died a hero. Awarded a humanitarian prize by the governor and lionized in portraits and biographies, the French-born priest spent a lifetime celebrated as an advocate for Yup’ik culture.

What Alaskans didn’t know at the time of his death in 2002 is that Astruc also sexually abused teenage girls over three decades, according to a newly published list of 33 Jesuit priests and volunteers who face “credible claims” of crimes committed in Alaska. Created by Jesuits West, the Dec. 7 report puts names, places and dates to generations of sexual abuse inflicted by ordained priests, church volunteers and employees in 35 villages and cities across the state.

Many, like Father Astruc, worked in remote Alaska Native schools and orphanages with unfettered access to children.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

December 27, 2018

By Haidee V. Eugenio

A boy confided in his own grandmother on several occasions that a priest at San Vicente and San Roque Church in Barrigada was sexually abusing him, only to be scolded, spanked and told to stop spreading lies about the clergy in the early 1970s, according to a lawsuit filed on Wednesday in local court.

The plaintiff, identified in court documents only as B.C.D. to protect his privacy, said Father Zoilo Camacho sexually abused him for about six months around 1972 to 1973.

The abuses and molestation included rape, and happened once or twice weekly, according to the $5 million lawsuit.

The boy was about 9 or 10 years old at the time, the complaint says.

B.C.D., represented by Attorney David Lujan, said on several occasions, he told his grandmother about Camacho’s sexual abuses.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
The Washington Post

December 25, 2018

By Julie Zauzmer

Two months ago, Cardinal Donald Wuerl stepped down early from his position as archbishop of Washington, faced with a Pennsylvania grand jury investigation that condemned him for his mixed record on handling abusive priests under his supervision.

On Christmas Day, Wuerl was robed in the majestic symbols of the Catholic Church regardless, sitting on a seat designed to resemble a throne with his ceremonial head-covering shaped like a crown.

Pope Francis praised Wuerl in October even as he accepted the cardinal’s early retirement over the abuse scandal and offered him a soft landing by keeping him on as administrator leading the Archdiocese of Washington until his successor is named, which has not happened yet.

On Christmas Day, Wuerl made his return, celebrating Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception as his first major public event after months of staying somewhat away from the limelight.

“We can truly have peace and goodwill and harmony in this world,” Wuerl preached in a homily that stuck to an optimistic message about the power of the Christian faith to heal all ills.

Many in the crowd at the basilica’s noon Mass, who filled every pew and spilled into the aisles, praised Wuerl’s message as well as the soaring orchestral works that filled the glittering shrine. “This is the best Mass I’ve ever been to in my whole 35 years of Catholicism,” Melissa Escobar gushed.

Others said they were bothered to see Wuerl leading the ornate Christmas service. The cardinal had skipped other major events since the Pennsylvania grand jury report was released in August, including the annual back-to-school Mass and the annual Red Mass for the Supreme Court. Both of those are events he would ordinarily have led; at both, protesters outside demanded that Wuerl resign.

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UNITED STATES
National Public Radio/Heard on Morning Edition

December 26, 2018

By Virginia Alvino Young

Length: 4:33

2018 has been an explosive year for the Catholic Church, with renewed revelations of clergy sexual abuse and cover up from one coast to the other. Dioceses across the country continue to deal with the fallout of a stunning grand jury report that detailed decades of abuse in Pennsylvania. For some parishioners and reform advocates, the church as a whole isn’t taking the crisis seriously enough.

At her brick home in a suburb outside of Pittsburgh, Stephanie Pennock spends weekdays entertaining her youngest son Bennott while her older two boys are at school.

Growing up in Erie, Pa., Pennock attended Catholic grade school, Catholic high school, and mass every week. “There was a series of priests that we went through very quickly,” she said. “There were rumors about what actually happened. Nothing ever much came to light about that.”

In August, the grand jury report was released, detailing decades worth of widespread childhood sexual abuse and cover ups in dioceses across Pennsylvania. When Pennock read through it, she saw some familiar names. One of her childhood pastors and a deacon who taught at her school both faced accusations of sexual misconduct.

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CHICAGO (IL)
WLS

December 25, 2018

During Midnight Mass Cardinal Cupich briefly addressed the clergy sex scandal rocking the Church.

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[Statement on today’s statement that in the proceedings against the ex-Jesuit Peter Riedel, a judgment of the Church Court of Berlin has been issue]

BERLIN (GERMANY)
Eckiger Tisch

December 21, 2018

By Kobayashi

Dies ist eine wichtige Nachricht für die vielen Opfer dieses Mannes: In Berlin, im Bistum Hildesheim, in Südamerika. Als Sprecher der Betroffeneninitiative ECKIGER TISCH, als Betroffener und als Kläger bin ich persönlich erleichtert, dass dieses Verfahren nach acht Jahren nun endlich abgeschlossen ist.

Bitter ist jedoch die Erkenntnis, dass es nicht zu einem weltlichen Urteil kommen wird. Das hätte ganz andere Auswirkungen gehabt. Auch wenn das Strafmaß noch nicht öffentlich bekannt ist, so ist dieses Ergebnis wohl das Beste, was im Rahmen eines kirchliches Verfahren überhaupt erreicht werden konnte. Insofern haben sich die enormen Anstrengungen der Betroffenen, die an dem Verfahren mitgewirkt haben, gelohnt. Zugleich sind wir traurig, weil nicht alle Opfer dieses Serientäters diesen Tag mehr erleben können.

Wütend sind wir aber darüber, dass der Vatikan nach monatelanger Beratung unser Anliegen abge­lehnt hat, als Nebenkläger Teil des Verfahrens zu sein und einen − wenn auch symbolischen − Schadenersatz vom Täter selbst einklagen zu kön­nen. Diese Genugtuung wird uns ausgerechnet mit Hinweis auf die kirchlichen Verjährungsfristen verweigert, nachdem die kirchlichen Vorgesetzten durch ihre Praxis des Verdeckens und Versetzens über Jahrzehnte hinweg dafür gesorgt haben, dass die Taten nach weltlichem wie nach kirchlichem Recht verjähren.

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[Canisius scandal: Church condemns the main culprit]

BERLIN (GERMANY)
Berliner Morgenpost

December 22, 2018

By Uta Keseling

Der einstige Lehrer und Priester Peter R. (77) wird aus dem Klerikerstand entlassen und verliert seine Pensionsberechtigung.

Neun Jahre nach Bekanntwerden des Missbrauchsskandals am Berliner Canisius-Kolleg hat die katholische Kirche in Berlin ein Urteil gegen einen der beiden Haupttäter verhängt. Der einstige Lehrer und Priester Peter R. (77) wird aus dem Klerikerstand entlassen und verliert seine Pensionsberechtigung. Dass ein Urteil in den vergangenen Tagen gefallen sei, bestätigt Stefan Förner, Sprecher des Erzbistums Berlin. Nach dem gängigen Verfahren muss der Vatikan in Rom das Urteil noch bestätigen. R. hat zwei Wochen Zeit, in Berufung zu gehen.

Es ist bereits das zweite Kirchen-Urteil gegen R., jedoch das erste, das sich auch auf die Taten am Canisius-Kolleg bezieht. Dort sollen R. und ein weiterer Lehrer in den 70er- und 80er-Jahren bis zu 100 Schüler sexuell missbraucht haben. Strafrechtlich wurde R. nie belangt, weil die Taten, als sie ans Licht kamen, bereits verjährt waren.

2009 hatten sich betroffene ehemalige Schüler des katholischen Gymnasiums dem damaligen Rektor der Schule offenbart. Jesuitenpater Klaus Mertes machte den Skandal öffentlich. In dessen Folge sowie weiterer Fälle in ganz Deutschland wurden 2013 die Verjährungsfristen für Missbrauchstaten an Minderjährigen verlängert.

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LAS CRUCES (NM)
NMPolitics.net

December 21, 2018

By Heath Haussamen

Warning: This column plainly discusses sexual assault and related issues.

COMMENTARY: I remember a Christian Brother who taught at my high school taking us outside to show off a mountain he identified as “Tetilla Peak.” He described, to a group of underage teens in the 1990s, how much he loved tetas — in English, breasts, or more crudely but accurately, tits.

He often told us how much he loved women’s bodies. If he wasn’t a Christian Brother he would have 10 wives and 10 children with each wife, he said.

I had many creepy experiences at St. Michael’s High School in Santa Fe. Another was the reverence with which basketball coaches spoke about the legendary coach Brother Abdon, with no mention of the rape allegations.

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[Pedophile priest must return to court]

GERMANY
Wochenblatt/ABC Color

December 22, 2018

Encarnación: Ein Berufungsgericht hob die Strafe von Pater Felix Miranda wegen sexuellen Missbrauchs eines Kindes teilweise auf. Es dürfte spannend werden, ob das neue Urteil härter ausfällt.

Die Haftstrafe war auf zwei Jahre zur Bewährung ausgesetzt worden und er musste fünf Millionen Gs. an das Krankenhaus von Encarnación bezahlen.

Das Berufungsgericht hob die im Distrikt Edelira (Itapúa) verhängte Strafe des sexuellen Missbrauchs von Kindern durch den Priester Félix Miranda teilweise auf und verwies auf die Bestimmung einer Aussetzung für die Vollstreckung der Strafe. Auf diese Weise wird die Staatsanwaltschaft in die Pflicht genommen, neue Beweise zu präsentieren, damit es zu einem weiteren Prozess in dem Fall kommt.

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SPRINGFIELD (IL)
Riverbender

December 26 2018

By Cory Davenport

During a Friday, Dec. 21, 2018, announcement, the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP) called a press conference to detail five priests with “substantiated” claims of abuse not previously named from the Springfield Diocese – one of whom served in Alton.

The Priests

SNAP named Thomas G. Meyer, who formerly served at the pastor for Sts. Peter and Paul Parish in Alton from 1990-1998, as one of the priests with what SNAP describes as “substantiated” abuse allegations stemming from his previous work at the Minneapolis-St. Paul Archdiocese. SNAP noted no such allegations arose from Meyer’s time as a priest in Illinois, but added the organization “fears he may have hurt Central Illinois children.”

Outside of Alton and Minnesota, Meyer also worked in the Belleville Diocese at St. Henry’s Seminary (1971-1977 with a small gap between 1972-72), King’s House of Retreats (1982-1983) and St. Henry’s Oblate Residence (2007-2012). Meyer died in 2012.

In a release from the Minneapolis-St. Paul Archdiocese, Meyer was in fact named as one of 19 priests acknowledged to have “substantial abuse claims.” He was on the list from the Oblates and Diocese of Duluth as early as 2015 after the diocese was sued under the Child Victims Act in May and June of 2013 – just after Meyers’s death. The diocese filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protections in 2015.

Also named in the Dec. 21 announcement from SNAP was Father Henry Willenborg who was accused of abuse stemming from his time at Our Lady of Angels Franciscan Seminary in Quincy. He is formerly accused of sexually abusing a high school girl and even impregnating an adult parishioner who allegedly came to him for counseling. He moved from Quincy to a treatment center for troubled priests.

Unlike Meyer, Willenborg is still alive, and SNAP believes him to still be a priest somewhere.

SNAP’s Pursuit of Accountability

“Both clerics, along with Fr. Downey, who is also missing from the list, belong to Catholic religious orders who were given permission to work in the Springfield Diocese by Springfield’s bishops,” the announcement stated. “For that reason, SNAP maintains that the current head of the diocese, Bishop Thomas Paprocki, can and must include religious order clerics on his list of accused wrongdoers, as several other bishops have done. These men may have hurt Central Illinois kids and may still work, visit or live in Central Illinois.”

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LANSDALE (PA)
Bucks Local News

December 24, 2018

By Anika Reed

Kevin Spacey is breaking his silence with a bizarre video, and he seemed to time its release to right when news broke that he will face a felony charge tied to a sexual assault allegation.

Spacey posted a video on YouTube Monday, titled “Let Me Be Frank,” which appeared to criticize the #MeToo movement in a “House of Cards”-inspired monologue as his former character Frank Underwood.

“Conclusions can be so deceiving,” he says in the video. “Miss me?”

Spacey will face a criminal charge for an alleged assault that took place in July 2016, District Attorney Michael O’Keefe’s office told USA TODAY in a statement. The actor will be arraigned Jan. 7 at Nantucket District Court.

According to The Boston Globe, which first reported the charge, the incident involved the teenage son of Heather Unruh, a former Boston TV news anchor. Unruh said in a press conference in November 2017 that the Oscar-winning actor was inappropriate with her son, who was 18 at the time, at a Nantucket bar in July 2016 .

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HOLLYWOOD (CA)
The Hollywood Reporter

December 24, 2018

By Ryan Parker

The actor — who posted a bizarre ‘House of Cards’-style video address Monday — will be arraigned in Massachusetts on Jan. 7.

The Cape and Islands, Mass., district attorney announced Monday that Kevin Spacey will face a charge of felony sexual assault, authorities told The Hollywood Reporter.

A public show-cause hearing was held for the case Dec. 20 where Clerk Magistrate Ryan Kearney issued a criminal complaint for the charge “against Kevin S. Fowler, also known as Kevin Spacey,” THR confirmed.

The actor will be arraigned on a charge of indecent assault and battery at Nantucket District Court on Jan. 7, 2019.

The alleged assault on a male victim took place at a Nantucket bar in July 2016.

Last year, former Boston TV news anchor Heather Unruh held a press conference to share her son’s allegation of sexual assault against Spacey. Her then 18-year-old son she said was sexually assaulted by Spacey inside the Club Car Restaurant on Nantucket. Unruh says her son, who was not of legal drinking age, told Spacey he was and that the actor “bought him drink after drink after drink.”

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NEW YORK (NY)
The New York Times

December 24, 2018

By Sopan Deb

Kevin Spacey will be charged with a felony following an accusation of sexual assault made public last year, the authorities in Nantucket said on Monday.

The charge, first reported by The Boston Globe, is in connection with an accusation of misconduct that was made by a former television anchor, Heather Unruh, who said that Mr. Spacey sexually assaulted her 18-year-old son in July 2016 at a bar in Nantucket.

Michael O’Keefe, the Cape and Islands district attorney in Massachusetts, said in a statement that Mr. Spacey would be arraigned on Jan. 7 for one charge of indecent assault and battery, the first criminal charge levied against him as a result of sexual misconduct allegations. The statement also said there was a public show cause hearing in Nantucket District Court last Thursday, after which Clerk Magistrate Brian Kearney issued the criminal complaint.

A representative for Mr. Spacey did not respond to a request for comment. But the actor has apologized for one incident and denied at least one other accusation of wrongdoing.

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[Former Archbishop Zollitsch comments on abuse scandal]

GERMANY
hpd

December 21, 2018

By Florian Meer

“Wir waren alle beteiligt”

In einem bisher unveröffentlichten, vor kurzem aufgenommenen Interview soll sich der ehemalige Freiburger Erzbischof und Vorsitzende der Bischofskonferenz zu Anschuldigungen geäußert haben, die ihm eine wesentliche Mitschuld an der Vertuschung des Missbrauchsskandals in Oberharmersbach vorwerfen.

Während seiner Amtszeit von 1968 bis 1991 missbrauchte der Pfarrer der Gemeinde Oberharmersbach in Baden-Württemberg dutzende Jugendliche und Kinder sexuell. Robert Zollitsch, zu der Zeit Pressereferent in der Region, machte den Fall weder publik, noch wandte er sich an die Staatsanwaltschaft, als er 1991 von den Missbrauchsfällen erfuhr. Stattdessen wurde der Pfarrer in den Ruhestand versetzt, ehe sich Opfer zu Wort meldeten und die Staatsanwaltschaft schließlich doch noch aktiv wurde. Der Pfarrer nahm sich daraufhin das Leben. Dieser Vorfall trug unter anderem dazu bei, dass die Deutsche Bischofskonferenz selbst eine Studie zu sexuellem Missbrauch in der katholischen Kirche initiierte.

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[Did Angela Merkel help cover up the abuse scandal?]

GERMANY
hpd

December 21, 2018

By Michael Schmidt-Salomon

“Wir waren alle beteiligt!”, sagte unlängst der ehemalige Vorsitzende der Katholischen Bischofskonferenz Zollitsch im Hinblick auf die Vertuschung des katholischen Missbrauchsskandals. Meinte er damit auch Kanzlerin Angela Merkel? Das Institut für Weltanschauungsrecht – ifw verlangt nun Aufklärung über die diesbezüglichen Gespräche zwischen der katholischen Kirche und dem Bundeskanzleramt.

Fakt ist: Am 23. Februar 2010 sprach Erzbischof Zollitsch in Sachen Missbrauchsskandal mit Angela Merkel. Über das Gespräch wurde “Stillschweigen” vereinbart. Die FAZ berichtete anschließend, die Bundeskanzlerin habe sich im Streit des DBK-Vorsitzenden Erzbischof Zollitsch mit der damaligen Bundesjustizministerin Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger um die staatlichen Ermittlungsbemühungen “hinter Bischof Zollitsch gestellt.”

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BOSTON (MA)
The Associated Press

December 25, 2018

Kevin Spacey is due in court on January 7 on the resort island of Nantucket to be arraigned on a charge of indecent assault and battery. Spacey could get up to five years in prison if convicted.

Kevin Spacey has been charged with groping the 18-year-old son of a Boston TV anchor in 2016 — the first criminal case brought against the Oscar-winning actor since his career collapsed amid a string of sexual misconduct allegations over a year ago.

Spacey, 59, is due in court on January 7 on the resort island of Nantucket to be arraigned on a charge of indecent assault and battery, Cape and Islands District Attorney Michael O’Keefe said in a statement Monday. Spacey could get up to five years in prison if convicted.

A criminal complaint was issued by a clerk magistrate at a hearing on Thursday, O’Keefe said.

Shortly after the charge became public, Spacey posted a video on YouTube titled “Let Me Be Frank,” breaking a public silence of more than a year.

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BOSTON (MA)
The Associated Press

December 24, 2018

By Mark Pratt and Andrew Dalton 

Kevin Spacey has been charged with groping the 18-year-old son of a Boston TV anchor in 2016 — the first criminal case brought against the Oscar-winning actor since his career collapsed amid a string of sexual misconduct allegations over a year ago.

Spacey, 59, is due in court Jan. 7 on the resort island of Nantucket to be arraigned on a charge of indecent assault and battery, Cape and Islands District Attorney Michael O’Keefe said in a statement Monday. Spacey could get up to five years in prison if convicted.

A criminal complaint was issued by a clerk magistrate at a hearing Thursday, O’Keefe said.

Shortly after the charge became public, Spacey posted a video on YouTube titled “Let Me Be Frank,” breaking a public silence of more than a year.

In a monologue delivered in the voice of Frank Underwood, his character on Netflix’s “House of Cards” who was killed off after the sexual misconduct allegations emerged, he said: “Of course some believed everything and have just been waiting with bated breath to hear me confess it all; they’re just dying to have me declare that everything they said is true and I got what I deserved. … I’m certainly not going to pay the price for the thing I didn’t do.”

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DALLAS (TX)
Dallas Morning News

December 26, 2018

By David Tarrant

This year brought heavy criticism of the Catholic Church over its handling of the clergy sexual abuse crisis.

And in 2019, the church faces a critical challenge as it seeks to restore faith in its future as it divulges the sins of its past.

In Texas, all 15 Catholic dioceses in the state announced plans to — by the end of January — release the names of clergy who have been credibly accused of sexual abuse of children since 1950. The goal is to restore trust to 8.5 million Catholics in 1,320 parishes across the state.

Dallas Bishop Edward J. Burns said at a news conference in October that the lists will be updated as new information becomes available.

“My brother bishops and I recognize that this type of transparency and accountability is what the Catholic faithful want and need,” Burns said.

Burns, whose diocese alone counts 1.3 million Catholics in 74 parishes, said the church needs its Dallas congregants to help rebuild the church. “This can’t be left to the hierarchy of the church to handle alone,” he said in his October news conference.

For some Catholics, the transparency measure is too little, too late. “I’m probably jaded and cynical because there’s been so much of this,” said Lety Martinez Ramirez, a former parishioner at St. Ceclia Catholic Church in Oak Cliff, where the longtime pastor was credibly accused in August of molesting three teenage boys in the parish more than a decade ago.

Ramirez said she is “sickened by the repeated reports of thousands of children being sexually abused by hundreds of priests all over the world.”

“With all that we believe, why is it that when it comes to protecting children we can’t do the right thing?”

Ahead of the name-and-shame efforts, here are five things you should know about the clergy sex abuse crisis and how the Catholic Church is responding to it.

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RAPID CITY (SD)
Rapid City Journal

December 26, 2018

By Arielle Zionts

A former Rapid City priest who pleaded guilty to stealing hundreds of dollars of church donations has left a treatment program and the diocese, going against instructions from the bishop, according to the diocese’s December newsletter.

Marcin Garbacz was suspended from his ministry duties in May after church officials caught him stealing and sent to a six-month treatment program in St. Louis.

In July, he was charged with first-degree embezzlement of property received in trust and first-degree petty theft in the alternative, which means he could only be convicted on one of the counts. Garbacz pleaded guilty to the theft charge on Oct. 26.

He received a suspended imposition of sentence — which means his record will be sealed from the public, but not the courts or police — from Judge Bernard Schuchmann on Oct 31. Garbacz paid $334 in fines and costs, and $620 in restitution to the church, a clerk said.

While Garbacz appears to have complied with the court system, the diocese says he’s not following church orders.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Christian Post

December 25, 2018

By Stoyan Zaimov

Americans’ view of the honesty and ethics of clergy has fallen to an all-time low in a ranking of different professions released by Gallup.

The Gallup poll, conducted between Dec. 3-12 of 1,025 U.S. adults, found that only 37 percent of respondents had a “very high” or “high” opinion of the honesty and ethical standards of clergy. Forty-three percent of people gave them an average rating, while 15 percent said they had a “low” or “very low” opinion, according to the poll that was released on Dec. 21.

The margin of sampling error for the survey was identified as plus or minus 4 percentage points at the 95 percent confidence level.

Gallup noted that the 37 percent “very high” or “high” score for clergy is the lowest since it began asking the question in 1977. The historical high of 67 percent occurred back in 1985, and the score has been dropping below the overall average positive rating of 54 percent since 2009.

“The public’s views of the honesty and ethics of the clergy continue to decline after the Catholic Church was rocked again this year by more abuse scandals,” Gallup noted in its observations.

Sexual abuse claims, involving both children and adults, have rocked churches across the U.S., South America and Europe this year, affecting both Protestant and Catholic congregations.

One of the biggest scandals occurred in August when a Pennsylvania grand jury released a 1,300-page report, revealing that at least 301 priests had abused over 1,000 children in the past several decades. What is more, it was found that many of the perpetrators were protected by the church’s hierarchy and moved to other churches.

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NEW DELHI (INDIA)
News18.com

December 26, 2018

By Aishwarya Kumar

New Delhi: In June this year, a senior nun alleged rape by Bishop Franco Mulakkal, the head of the Latin diocese of Jalandhar. What followed was a vortex of the worst crisis that the church had encountered in recent times.

The nun alleged that she was sexually assaulted multiple times since May 2014 at the church’s guest house in Kuruvilangad. She further said that she had approached the church hierarchy but her repeated pleas were ignored, after which she decided to go the police.

As the country split its opinion on whether to believe the survivor, her fellow nuns took to the streets, staged protests, thus forming what was possibly the biggest rebellion that India’s church had seen from the inside. The nuns called out the male hegemony that existed in the church and demanded Mulakkal be stripped off his position and power. The protesting nuns said they knew of many other cases where women were exploited and yet the higher authorities decided to remain mum.

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ROME (ITALY)
Crux

December 26, 2018

By Inés San Martín

[Editors note: This is part two of Crux Rome Bureau Chief Inés San Martín’s look back at Pope Francis in 2018.]

When he was elected to the papacy in March 2013, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio knew he was chosen on a “reform” mandate. However, it’s been unclear what reform means for Pope Francis: revitalizing the public image of the Church, addressing the global clerical sexual abuse crisis, reforming the Vatican itself or leading Catholics around the world into a “pastoral conversion.”

Francis was forced to address reform on multiple fronts during the past 12 months, all testing him in different ways.

Sex abuse

Long gone are the days in which Pope Francis was elected person of the year by virtually every major news outlet in the world. In fact, for the first time since he was elected to the papacy in 2013, this year marked the first in which his name generated little to no buzz when the Nobel Peace Prize was approaching.

That’s at least partly because 2018 was a year in which the Church had many unfortunate headlines, most of which turned around the clerical sexual abuse crisis: the Pennsylvania report; the case of former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, accused of sexually abusing at least three minors in addition to dozens of seminarians; Chile, where the May resignation of all the bishops was only the tip of the iceberg; and Australian Cardinal George Pell, a former member of the pope’s council of cardinal advisors, facing two trials over historical clerical sexual abuse.

All these scandals meant that this year, much of the pope’s political capital collected over the past four years was squandered. His calls for defense of migrants and protection of the environment, for instance, went largely unheeded.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Washington Post

December 25, 2018

By Julie Zauzmer

Two months ago, Cardinal Donald Wuerl stepped down early from his position as archbishop of Washington, faced with a Pennsylvania grand jury investigation that condemned him for his mixed record on handling abusive priests under his supervision.

On Christmas Day, Wuerl was robed in the majestic symbols of the Catholic church regardless, sitting on a seat designed to resemble a throne with his ceremonial head-covering shaped like a crown.

Pope Francis praised Wuerl in October even as he accepted the cardinal’s early retirement due to the abuse scandal, and offered him a soft landing by keeping him on as administrator leading the Archdiocese of Washington until his successor is named, which has not happened yet.

On Christmas Day, Wuerl made his return, celebrating Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception as his first major public event after months of staying somewhat away from the limelight.

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ROME (ITALY)
National Public Radio

December 25, 2018

By Francesca Paris

Delivering his Christmas Day address to tens of thousands of people gathered in St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City, Pope Francis appealed for fraternity and peace, especially in violent conflicts around the world.

The pope emerged on the balcony of the nearly 400-year-old St. Peter’s Basilica to cheers and trumpets.

“We are all brothers,” he said. “Our differences, then, are not a detriment or a danger; they are a source of richness.”

It was a message of compassion and unity, delivered at a time of rising nationalism and anti-immigrant sentiment across Europe.

In his “Urbi et Orbi” (“To the City and to the World”) address, Francis urged the embrace of fraternity in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the wars in Syria and Yemen, the “clash of arms” in Africa and the conflicts in Korea and Ukraine.

The first Latin American pope in the history of the Roman Catholic Church also offered prayers for two Central and South American countries, Venezuela and Nicaragua.

He called on the international community to find a political solution in Syria, where hundreds of thousands of people have died during seven years of civil war — “so that the Syrian people, especially all those who were forced to leave their own lands and seek refuge elsewhere, can return to live in peace in their own country,” he said.

He also talked about Yemen, urging the international community again to “finally bring relief to all the children, and the peoples, exhausted from war and famine.”

Speaking to “dear” Nicaragua, where the United Nations has reported repression, torture and abuse of protesters by the government, Pope Francis prayed for “reconciliation” and unification toward the “construction of the future of the country.”

He also sent a message of hope for minority Christian communities living in “hostile environments.”

The address came as a moment of respite for a pope whose standing has fallen in recent years, in part because of his response to a widespread sex abuse crisis in the church. Three years ago, 7 out of 10 Americans had a favorable view of the pope. That number has dropped to just half of the U.S. public, according to a Pew Research Center study.

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SALT LAKE CITY (UT)
Intermountain Catholic, newspaper of the Diocese of Salt Lake City

December 21, 2018

[Note: The list, reported here to have been posted on 12/17/18, is dated 12/4/18, and the PDF was created 12/13/18.]

The Diocese of Salt Lake City seeks to shed some light on clergy abuse allegations within the Diocese with the hope that it may further the healing process for those betrayed by men they believed they could trust.

As of Dec. 17, the Diocese has posted on its website, www.dioslc.org, the complete list of all priests against whom credible allegations of sexual abuse involving minors have been reported since 1950.

Bishop Oscar A. Solis first authorized the planned release of the names in August. Before the names could be released, a review by legal counsel was required to ensure victims were not further harmed and to be sure all legal requirements were appropriately met. That review is now complete.

With the release of information, Bishop Solis stated, “The list of credible allegations is one step toward providing the transparency that will help repair at least some of the wounds left by the wrongful actions of priests who abused their sacred trust. We continue to pray for the victims and their families and ask their forgiveness for our failure to protect them.”

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican News

December 21, 2018

Greg Burke, the Director of the Holy See Press Office commented on Pope Francis’ Christmas message to the Roman Curia on Friday. He called it “a kind of preparation for the February meeting on the protection of minors”.

Burke said Pope Francis “did not mince words” in speaking to the Curia about sex abuse.

“The Pope said abuser priests are part of a web of corruption… vicious wolves who devour innocent souls.”

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Washington Post

December 24, 2018

By Elizabeth Bruenig

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-catholic-church-scandal-casts-a-shadow-over-the-season-but-christmas-is-a-time-for-hope/2018/12/24/61bce5ce-0795-11e9-a3f0-71c95106d96a_story.html

Somehow it doesn’t come as a surprise that the allegations of sexual misconduct that finally brought down former cardinal and archbishop emeritus of Washington, Theodore McCarrick, happened at Christmastime. When he was removed from ministry in June, McCarrick stood accused of molesting a teenage boy while measuring him for a cassock for a special Christmas service in 1971, according to the victim, and then again in 1972, during preparations for that year’s Christmas service. Was there ever a faith for McCarrick other than opportunity?

Once the archdiocese of New York declared those allegations credible, other claims poured forth: The portrait that has emerged suggests McCarrick had been perpetrating sexual abuse against boys and young men for years, without a hitch in his rise through the ranks of the church. Shortly thereafter, McCarrick was moved to a friary on the lonely plains of Kansas.

It was around that time I started receiving emails from despondent Catholics in the D.C. area. McCarrick hadn’t been an anonymous priest, after all; he had been a major public figure, and the revelations about him were as shocking as they were plentiful. Some of the messages I received spoke of a loss of faith, despair, feelings of anger, confusion, emptiness. “There is little encouragement in the constant drama,” one wrote. “They have forgotten the quote, ‘What does it profit a man to gain the world and lose his soul?’ ” And another: “To say that my faith is being tested is an understatement. I’m trying my best now to just work and dedicate myself to truth.” And yet another: “The silence from the Vatican is deafening.” There were so many more. I printed a packet of them and took them along with me when I interviewed former close associates of McCarrick, so I could read some of them aloud. None of those conversations yielded anything, not even a hint of guilt.

The notes still come. (“It’s just so bad, and every time I think we’ve hit bottom, we break through and start falling again,” one said recently. “I just put my kids to bed and am just sitting in the dark weeping and furious and sad.”) I understand why. Since this summer’s Pennsylvania grand jury report and the unmasking of McCarrick, there have been more disturbing revelations. Within the past three months, a whistleblower came forward with evidence that the diocese of Buffalo’s list of clergy credibly accused of sexual abuse was woefully short, and that allegedly abusive priests had been allowed to remain in ministry for years; the Vatican commanded a convention of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops not to vote on resolutions intended to respond to the sex-abuse crisis; Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan accused the archdiocese of Chicago of failing to investigate or publicly name more than 500 priests accused of sexual abuse; and several Jesuit priests accused of sexual abuse were found to be housed on Gonzaga University’s campus, unbeknownst to the campus community.

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.

MONTPELIER (Vt)
VTDigger

December 24, 2018

By Kevin O’Connor

Vermont Catholic leaders had talked for hours about the rise in priest misconduct headlines and fall in parishioner attendance when a woman, listening to the recent strategy session to forge a better future, asked a question: Why weren’t they spending more time proclaiming the good news?

The 72 parishes of the statewide Roman Catholic Diocese support more than 170 nonprofit organizations that serve the hungry, poor, sick, homeless or imprisoned, a new survey reveals, with many churches also offering their own emergency aid, soup kitchens, food shelves and thrift shops.

Members of the state’s largest religious denomination, understanding yet weary of seemingly nonstop coverage of child-abuse claims against past personnel, fear the public is forgetting the church has a good side.

“The stories we’ve given the media have been bad ones,” Vermont Catholic Bishop Christopher Coyne says.

Just this past week, the church settled yet another lawsuit involving a former priest, bringing the total number of publicized cases to more than 40 over the past two decades.

In response, Coyne, who just stepped down as communications chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, is stepping up his statewide public relations efforts. Visit a parish anywhere from Burlington to Brattleboro, for example, and you’ll find copies of the new quarterly Vermont Catholic Magazine, with 80 glossy pages spotlighting parishioners’ charitable efforts.

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.

DALLAS (TX)
WFAA

December 21, 2018

By Lauren Zakalik

An affidavit says one victim was just 13 when Darrell Yancey started abusing her and she conceived three children with him

Pastor Darrell Maurice Yancey, 59, was booked into the Arlington jail Thursday for sexual crimes against children that police say happened in the 1990s and 2000s.

The pastor has since been moved to the Tarrant County Jail.

Arlington Police have charged Yancey with seven counts of sexual assault of a child, three of which are aggravated because of the age of the victim.

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.

OAKLAND (CA)
KTVU Fox 2

December 21, 2018

By: Brooks Jarosz

A national massage chain sued for hundreds of alleged sexual assaults by therapists is now being accused of trying to cover things up and prevent cases from being made public.

Massage Envy is facing lawsuits in a handful of states, including California, where the number of women who claim to have been sexually assaulted tops 50 and the case continues to expand.

“This stuff is still happening within the company even though there are all these lawsuits against them,” attorney Bobby Thompson said.

There are fears new cases, or even existing ones, may never become public because buried in the terms and conditions is an arbitration clause that explains customers must agree to take up problems or concerns with a mediator. It’s a way to keep cases out of court and under wraps.

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 (NY)
Rolling Stone

December 20, 2018

By Lilly Dancyger

A preliminary report from the state’s attorney general is part of a new wave of sexual-assault investigations by law enforcement into the Catholic Church

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan released a damning preliminary report Wednesday on her office’s findings that the Catholic dioceses in the state had withheld the names of over 500 priests accused of sexually abusing minors. The investigation is ongoing, though the report says “the Office has reviewed enough information to conclude that the Illinois Dioceses will not resolve the clergy sexual abuse crisis on their own.”

The report found that Illinois dioceses received reports of abuse by approximately 690 clergy, but only reported 185 as having been “credibly” accused, meaning that approximately 75 percent of all reports they received were not investigated. The dioceses often did not investigate if the accused priest was deceased or retired, or if only one victim had come forward, and often “sought to discredit a survivor’s allegations based upon the survivor’s personal life.”

“While the Illinois Dioceses have touted their ‘independent audits’ as evidence that they are adequately responding to clergy sexual abuse allegations,” the report concludes, “the audits are seemingly not designed to discover clergy abuse, but rather are perfunctory.”

“The preliminary stages of this investigation have already demonstrated that the Catholic Church cannot police itself,” Madigan said in a press release about her office’s report. “Allegations of sexual abuse of minors, even if they stem from conduct that occurred many years ago, cannot be treated as internal personnel matters.”

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.