ABUSE TRACKER

TENNESSEE
Local Memphis

[with video]

By Maria Hallas | mhallas@localmemphis.com

MEMPHIS, TN

New information in an a case of sex-abuse allegations at a local church against a man who now works for the Memphis city library. The victims say the abuse happened decades ago.

The three victims, Kenny Stubblefield, Michael Hansen, and Brooks Hansen, who came forward on camera Monday, say they’ve heard from eight people claiming Chris Carwile sexually assaulted them. Of those, six claim abuse while Carwile attended Cherokee Baptist Church.

“Since the story has been told on Channel 24 and on Facebook social media, things like that, we have had people reach out to us and say that, yes, they were abused by Chris Carwile after our abuse story,” said Stubblefield.

Stubblefield claims eight people contacted him or brothers Michael and Brooks Hansen to claim Chris Carwile also abused them. Six of those victims say they were abused while Carwile attended Cherokee Baptist Church. The most recent allegation was in 2003. Stubblefield says none are ready to go on camera.

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AUSTRALIA
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

17 November, 2016

The Royal Commission will hold a public hearing in Sydney commencing on Monday, 28 November 2016.

The scope and purpose of the public hearing is to inquire into:

1. Issues raised in the Royal Commission’s Consultation Paper on Criminal Justice.

2. The experience of a survivor of child sexual abuse in an institutional context in the criminal justice system in a recently concluded prosecution in New South Wales.

3. Any related matters.

The Royal Commission may invite selected individuals or organisations to speak to, or give evidence about, the submissions they have provided, however it is not proposed that leave to appear will be granted to these individuals or organisations, on the basis that they are speaking or giving evidence in this capacity.

It is not essential for others who give evidence in a hearing to apply for leave to appear – witnesses may give evidence without applying for leave.

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SCOTLAND
BBC News

John Swinney is to update MSPs on issues relating to the independent inquiry into child abuse in Scotland.

A ministerial statement has been scheduled at Holyrood for the education secretary to address the chamber.

Mr Swinney recently told MSPs he had spoken to inquiry chairwoman Lady Smith about potentially expanding the remit of the inquiry.

A bill has been introduced at Holyrood removing any time bar on people seeking damages over childhood abuse.

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GUAM
Pacific News Center

Written by Janela Carrera

Two of the claimants say former Guam priest, Father Louis Brouillard, forced the altar boys to perform “oral copulation.”

Guam – More lawsuits have been filed against the Archdiocese of Agana for civil claims of sexual abuse, two of which involve “oral copulation.”

This afternoon, Attorney David Lujan filed an additional three new complaints on behalf of his clients. The three are Bruce Diaz, Vicente Guerrero Perez and the Estate of Joseph Anthony Quinata. There are now a total of seven lawsuits filed against the church since the civil statute of limitations for filing sexual abuse claims was lifted.

Diaz and Perez both allege that they were sexually abused by former Guam priest Father Louis Brouillard while Quinata’s mother claimed that her late son had revealed on his deathbed 11 years ago that Archbishop Anthony Apuron sexually molested him in the 1970s.

Three of the first four lawsuits were also filed against Apuron by Roland Sondia, Roy Quintanilla and Walter Denton, while the fourth lawsuit was filed by Leo Tudela against Brouillard.

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GUAM
Pacific News Center

Haidee V Eugenio , heugenio@guampdn.com November 17, 2016

When Coadjutor Archbishop Michael Jude Byrnes signed documents to regain full control of the Redemptoris Mater Seminary property in Yona, he also cut the seminary’s ties to the Neocatechumenal Way by, among other things, making sure the seminarians will be prepared for priesthood in accordance with the precepts of the Holy Roman Catholic faith.

Byrnes used his authority to take back control of the multimillion property that hosts the RMS and the Blessed Diego Luis de San Vitores Catholic Theological Institute for Oceania, both controlled by the Neocatechumenal Way.

The Neocatechumenal Way is an organization within the Catholic Church founded by Kiko Arguello in Spain in 1964 but its beliefs and practices conflict with Guam’s Catholic faithful.

The Way, as it is also called, came to Guam in 1996 and Archbishop Anthony S. Apuron became one of its members.

“I guess you could say this is the start of the dismantling of the Neocatechumenal Way on Guam,” Concerned Catholics of Guam President David Sablan said Thursday. The group has opposed actions taken by Apuron in recent years, including his decision to deed the seminary to The Way, and has called for his removal. “One can see how the NCW has influenced Apuron and he allowed himself, as archbishop of Agana, to do the bidding of the hierarchy of the Neocatechumenal Way — Pius Sammut, the Gennarinis, Arguello. They destroyed the fabric of our church by creating a division between them and the rest of the Catholics.”

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Haidee V Eugenio , heugenio@guampdn.com November 17, 2016

Archbishop Anthony S. Apuron and former priest Louis Brouillard, along with the Archdiocese of Agana, face three new lawsuits alleging child sex abuse, which were filed Thursday afternoon by two former altar boys and by the estate of a deceased former altar boy.

The lawsuits are possible because of a recently passed Guam law that lifts the civil statute of limitations for those accused of abusing children, as well as the institutions that supported them.

Vicente Guerrero Perez, 51, and Bruce A. Diaz, 47, in their separate complaints, said Brouillard sexually abused them for about four years each, from 1976 to 1980, when they served as altar boys and as members of the Boy Scouts of America.

Brouillard, now 95 and living in Minnesota, also served as scoutmaster in the Guam chapter of the Boy Scouts. He was a priest on Guam from the late 1940s to 1981.

The late Joseph “Sonny” Quinata, through his estate administrator Mary Jane Quinata Cruz, also filed a separate lawsuit against Apuron, the archdiocese and up to 50 others.

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GUAM
KUAM

Updated: Nov 17, 2016

By Sabrina Salas Matanane

Three more cases have been filed in the Superior Court of Guam related to child sex abuse allegations involving local clergy.

The total now stands at seven complaints for damages involving allegations of child sex abuse in the local catholic church filed by attorney David Lujan. Late Thursday afternoon Lujan filed three more cases.

Bruce Diaz alleges he was 8 years old when he was sexually molested multiple times by Fr. Louis Brouillard. Diaz alleges the abuse occurred while he was an altar boy at the catholic church in Barrigada and while he was a boy scout, where Broiullard was scout master. The abuse he alleged occurred over a four year period beginning in 1976.

Vicente Guerrero Perez is next to come forward. He alleges that when he was 11 years old he was sexually molested multiple times by Fr. Brouillard in the 1970’s when he was an altar boy at the Barrigada Catholic Church and as a Boy scout. Additionally he alleges he had made an appointment with Archbishop Anthony Apruon in 2000 and told him about his years of abuse, but nothing was ever done.

As we reported Broiullard in October recorded a video confessing he abused dozens of boys on Guam when he served as a priest here from 1940’s through the 1970’s. Court documents stated he said he even told the head of the Catholic Church at the time about the abuse, but Bishop Apollinaris Baumgartner didn’t do anything except tell him to do “prayers as penance”.

As for the third case it was filed on behalf of Joseph “Sonny'” Quinata. Although he is deceased the plaintiff is identified as Mary Jane Quinata Cruz– the administrator for his estate.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian

Sandra Laville

A public hearing into allegations of child abuse against the late Lord Janner is to be put back to an undisclosed date, the national inquiry into institutional abuse has said.

The first public hearing to be held by the national abuse investigation was to be held in March next year and focus on the institutional responses to allegations made against Janner. But the chair, Prof Alexis Jay, having looked again at the case, and the pace of ongoing investigations by the police and the IPCC, decided the hearing had to be delayed to avoid prejudicing these inquiries.

The development came after news that another lawyer had left the national inquiry, which was set up in 2014 to examine institutional failings to investigate child abuse. Aileen McColgan, who was leading the inquiry’s investigation into abuse in the Anglican and Catholic churches, quit over concerns about the inquiry’s leadership, according to BBC Newsnight.

The latest departure led Yvette Cooper, the chair of the Commons home affairs select committee, to urge the inquiry to be more transparent, and said her committee would seek evidence from McColgan and other lawyers who have quit.

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ALASKA
KTVA

ANCHORAGE — An Anchorage man has been arrested for sexually abusing two young victims and possessing child pornography, according to the Anchorage Police Department.

Police announced the arrest of 56-year-old Bernard Droege on Wednesday. He faces 28 charges — eight counts of second-degree sexual abuse of a minor, 10 counts of unlawful exploitation of a minor and 10 counts of child pornography possession.

Police spokeswoman Renee Oistad said in a statement that the investigation into Droege began after the parent of one of the victims contacted the Office of Children’s Services to report a sexual assault in June. OCS then contacted police.

Droege volunteered as a volleyball coach at the Boys and Girls Club of Anchorage and worked weekends at the Holy Rosary Academy for maintenance and lawn care, according to Oistad.

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UTAH
The Salt Lake Journal

By TOM HARVEY | The Salt Lake Tribune

Attorneys for four Navajos suing the LDS Church over alleged sexual abuse said Wednesday they intend to subpoena the faith’s president, Thomas S. Monson, to testify about the former program that placed children in Mormon homes off the reservation during the school year.

The remarks came after a federal judge in Salt Lake City rejected a church argument that Navajo tribal courts do not have jurisdiction over three lawsuits alleging that the Utah-based religion is liable for damages resulting from sexual abuse to tribal members while they participated in the church’s Indian Student Placement Program between 1965 and 1983.

U.S. District Judge Robert Shelby ruled that there was insufficient evidence to determine whether the tribal court was exercising proper jurisdiction over the lawsuits.

That ruling may clear the way for attorneys to subpoena Monson, the increasingly frail 89-year-old leader of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

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UTAH
Arizona Daily Sun

By LINDSAY WHITEHURST Associated Press

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A federal judge on Wednesday denied a Mormon church push to move a lawsuit claiming sexual abuse of Navajo children in a church-run foster program out of tribal court.

U.S. District Judge Robert Shelby ruled the church hasn’t shown any compelling reasons why Navajo Nation courts should be blocked from considering the suit filed by four people who say the church didn’t do enough to protect them from abuse when they were children.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints wanted the case moved to federal court in Salt Lake City because the allegations do not involve any abuse on tribal land.

Church officials didn’t immediately respond to a message seeking comment.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs contended the case should stay in the Window Rock, Arizona-based court because decisions about where to put children in the now-defunct program had occurred on tribal land as did failures to act on reports of abuse.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

As more individuals step forward with allegations of clergy sex abuse, and the possibility there may be others, we urge the Archdiocese of Agana to adopt a sensible plan to address the claims.

Church officials should consider the seven-point plan recommended by the Concerned Catholics of Guam.

The plan states:

* Petition the Guam Bar Association president to establish a lawyer referral service practice area for child sex abuse.

* Petition the Victims Advocate Reaching Out, Child Protective Services and the Healing Hearts Crisis Center to establish user-friendly procedures to provide help to child sexual abuse victims.

* Petition the Guam Legal Services Corp. to establish a victims of child sexual abuse contact office, which will be a central source for provision of information services available to victims.

* Establish a nonprofit foundation, whose board of directors shall be comprised of Catholic laymen with no interests in any of the Archdiocese of Agana’s affairs, and who are professionals in the area of financial trust management. The foundation would solicit, maintain, and disburse funds pursuant to its rules, to help victims achieve closure for their past ordeals.

* Petition the Guam Crime Stoppers to establish specific procedures to deal with child sexual abuse victims.

* Establish a board of visitors comprised of Catholic laymen having no financial interest in archdiocesan affairs. The board shall conduct inquiries into archdiocesan matters as are appropriate to ensure implementation of plans, agreements and compliance with the provisions of recommendations one through five.

* Commit funds collected through the Archdiocesan Annual Appeal to be allocated to the activities set forth in recommendations one through five.

The plan would go a long way toward preventing and detecting abuse as well as helping victims heal.

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CANADA
Huffington Post

By Aly Thomson, The Canadian Press

KENTVILLE, N.S. — His face streaked with tears, the middle-aged man put his head in his hands and breathed heavily.

Testifying about an alleged sexual encounter with Brent Hawkes as a teen more than 40 years ago, his face was red with emotion. The man declined suggestions, however, that he should take a break from the witness stand.

“I think this is as good as it’s going to get,” the man quietly said of his emotional state Tuesday.

It was his first day of testimony at the well-known Toronto pastor’s trial on charges of indecent assault and gross indecency. The man, the complainant in the case, will return to the stand Thursday after an off-day Wednesday.

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NIGERIA
Nigeria Today

A 48-year-old pastor identified as Micheal Adeniran, has been ordered to be remanded in prison custody by an Abeokuta Chief Magistrates’ Court sitting on Wednesday for allegedly impregnating a 17-year-old girl.

According to a report by Vanguard, Inspector Kayode Emnmanuel, who is the prosecutor, told the court that the accused committed the offence in June at El-Bethel Church, Ita Aka, in Abeokuta, Ogun.

The prosecutor who disclosed further that the accused, a pastor at El- Bethel Church, sexually abused a teenage girl, which resulted into pregnancy, added that the pastor failed to take responsibility of the girl in the last six months of his impregnating her.

Emmanuel who revealed that the pastor who is facing a charge of sexual abuse, added that that the offence contravened Section 32 of the Child Rights Law of Ogun, 2006.

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NIGERIA
Information Nigeria

A 48-year old Pastor identified as Michael Adeniran has been arrested in Abeokuta for impregnating a 17- year old girl. The Pastor who heads the El- Bethel Church is facing a charge of sexual abuse has pleaded not guilty to the offence.

The magistrate presiding over his case ordered that he be remanded in Police custody while the case was adjourned to November 30, 2016.

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

By Rebekah Ison, AAP Updated November 17, 2016

A former Newcastle bishop says the Anglican Church’s morality has been compromised by child sex scandals and it should play no part in decisions to defrock priests.

Bishop Brian Farran on Thursday testified that he thought the church’s professional standards process was too “in-house”” and that decisions would be better made by an independent statutory body.

“I think really the morality of the church has been compromised,” he told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

“There has to be absolute transparency and it needs to move out … of the church and into a body like that.”

Bishop Farran has told the royal commission he felt that a group of influential parishioners were out to get him during the professional standards process that led to the defrocking of influential priest Graeme Lawrence in 2012.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By David Marchese

A former Anglican bishop has told the child abuse royal commission the power to discipline clergy needs to be removed from the church because its morality “has been compromised”.

Brian Farran held the position of bishop of Newcastle from 2005 until his retirement in 2012, and has been questioned about widespread abuse carried out in the diocese over several decades.

Bishop Farran told the commission of how he “agonised” over whether he should defrock his long time friend, the former Dean of Newcastle, Graeme Lawrence.

Mr Lawrence was ultimately defrocked in 2012, along with reverends Bruce Hoare and Andrew Duncan over what were described as “disturbing” allegations of abuse that allegedly occurred in the 1970s and 1980s.

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INDIA
First Post

By Maya Palit

“If it comes out, it will be like a tsunami,” the nun Manju Kulapuram said, earlier this year, about the rampant sexual abuse of women by the men of the Catholic church in India. Evidently, Kulapuram was onto something — and it’s across denominations, nor confined just to the Catholic church. Unlike other work places, which in theory are meant to have set up mandatory internal complaints committees, there is no formal institution in place that addresses sexual abuse inflicted by members of the clergy.

On 14 November, a woman based in Kozhikode registered a police complaint about a parish priest in Nadakkavu St Mary’s English Church. She alleged that he sexually harassed her over email and messages after she contacted him with a request to pray for her daughter on her birthday in August. She complained to the bishop at the Malabar Diocese of the Church of South India, even showing him copies of the interactions with the priest, but was not taken seriously: the bishop said there were plenty of other churches in Kozhikode that she could attend. Although the priest was briefly transferred to Nilambur in September, he was back at Nadakkavu in just over a month. It was only after she contacted the police through Anweshi, a women’s counselling centre that a case was registered and the priest was charged under Section 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman).

Numerous cases have not made it that far. A 2016 report suggested that when higher-ups of the church are alerted to these incidents, they often choose to either ignore them or, at the most, transfer the perpetrator. Sr. Kulapuram says that a fellow nun was videotaped while bathing, by a seminarian, while they were both attending a seminar away from home; she was dissuaded from pursuing the legal route and told that she’d get justice from the church. This never materialised — the priest was sent to Rome to continue his theological studies, and the victim abandoned religious life altogether. A version of the familiar promotion-for-accused and demotion-for-victim model.

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CANADA
CBC News

By Katie Nicholson, CBC News Posted: Nov 16, 2016

A priest convicted of sexual assault is seeking bail following his October arrest on eight new charges involving the alleged sexual abuse of four men.

Ron Léger had just been granted day parole when Winnipeg police took him into custody Oct. 19.

Léger was sentenced to two years in jail in February 2016 for sexually assaulting three men who were youths at the time the abuse began.

The new charges were laid after four more men came forward to police with similar allegations that they were abused after meeting the priest at a youth centre. Léger ran a number of teen drop-in centres from the 1970s to the mid-90s, including Teen Stop Jeunesse and Ron’s Drop-in Centre.

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GUAM
Guam Daily Post

John O’Connor | Post News Staff

While Archbishop Anthony Apuron has been implicated in civil suits filed by victims of alleged sexual abuse, it appears the Superior Court of Guam has been unable to actually serve him the summons to defend against the complaints.

According to documents provided to the Post, when a process server attempted to provide the summons to Apuron at his last known residence – the Episcopal Residence – he was simply met with a sign that stated Apuron vacated the premises. Documents stated that the archbishop was unable to be located and has not been served.

James Brooks, senior paralegal at Law Guam, told the Post that attorney David Lujan “will file a motion with (the) Superior Court for authorization to serve Apuron by publication.”

Meanwhile, Rev. Jeffrey San Nicolas was able to accept service for the Archdiocese of Agana, which is implicated in civil suits filed by Roland Sondia, Walter Denton, Roy Quintanilla and Leo Tudela – all victims of alleged sexual abuse. Three of the men have named Apuron specifically but all four are represented by Lujan, who has indicated that additional suits from other victims will be coming in the following weeks.

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CHICAGO (IL)
Daily Herald

Daily Herald report

The Archdiocese of Chicago has appointed William R. Kunkel as its general counsel.

Kunkel previously served as executive vice president-legal and general counsel of American Equity Investment Life Holding Company and as a partner at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP. He also serves on the board of directors of American Equity and as chairman of the board’s Risk Committee.

“Bill’s impressive background and reputation in the corporate sector is but one of his many assets; he is also a product of Catholic education in Chicago and has carried this foundation through his family life and considerable service to the community.” Archbishop Blase J. Cupich said in a news release.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Patsy McGarry in Athlone

The diocesan priest in Ireland today was “often pitied, patronised, reviled, insulted, disrespected, ignored and resented,” Fr Brendan Hoban said at the Association of Catholic Priests (ACP) annual meeting in Athlone on Wednesday.

“A gale-force wind is now in our faces, it’s the middle of the second half and we’re 6-0 down,” said Fr Hoban, a co-founder of the association.

Priests were “the equivalent of Plymouth Argyle, struggling to stay in the third division.”

They were being bullied and were prone to depression with an increase in suicide rates over recent years, he added.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Patsy McGarry

Many priests at the well-attended annual general meeting of the Association of Catholic Priests (ACP) in Athlone on Wednesday expressed dissatisfaction with the response of the bishops to a meeting last May with a delegation from the association. The bishops were accused of “trying to fob us off”.

Fr Kevin Hegarty of Killala diocese said a letter sent to the ACP last month was “a marvellous illumination of the Seamus Heaney line ‘whatever you say, say nothing’.”

Mill Hill priest Fr Kevin Reynolds, now of Elphin diocese, said “the bishops do not and will not recognise the ACP as an existing reality. They don’t want their exclusive clerical club changed by an association representing 1,000 priests. They least they could do is respect us, acknowledge we exist and that we have something to say.”

Fr Tim Murphy of the Dublin archdiocese warned against a scattergun approach in dealing with the bishops and suggested that “we should go bald-headed for a synod of the Irish church.”

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INDIANA
South Bend Tribune

By Margaret Fosmoe South Bend Tribune

The University of Notre Dame’s campus police department is not a “public agency” under Indiana law and does not have to release information about investigations requested by sports media company ESPN, the Indiana Supreme Court has ruled in a widely watched case.

The ruling was released Wednesday afternoon.

The decision means Notre Dame and other private colleges in Indiana with professional police forces have no obligation to provide details of campus police reports and investigations.

City, county and other professional police forces must make such information available to the public under Indiana’s Access to Public Records law.

ESPN in 2014 sought campus police records from Notre Dame Security Police for cases involving a list of student athletes. The university refused the request, citing its status as a private university, and the sports media company sued.

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CANADA
CBC News

By Rob Antle, CBC News Posted: Nov 16, 2016

The Newfoundland and Labrador government has agreed to pay $750,000 to settle a lawsuit related to the Mount Cashel orphanage, in the latest chapter of a grim story that began decades ago, but continues to have an impact today.

The province confirmed Wednesday morning it is the highest settlement to date for a case related to Mount Cashel.

The plaintiff, named only as John Doe in court documents, had accused the government of negligence.

John Doe alleged that he was sexually abused at the Christian Brothers-run orphanage, beginning more than four decades ago.

“His experiences, they were truly horrific,” said John Doe’s lawyer, Will Hiscock.

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AUSTRALIEN
religion@orf

[Surivors of sexual abuse have criticized plans for a memorial at a cathedral in the Armidale diocese.]

Die katholische Diözese von Armidale in Australien will mit einem Mahnmal an die Opfer sexuellen Missbrauchs erinnern. Missbrauchsopfer üben Kritik an der Entscheidung.

Das Mahnmal vor der Kathedrale Saints Mary & Joseph werde aus einer Statue der Gottesmutter Maria, einer Gebetsbank und bunten Schleifen der sogenannten „Loud Fence“-Bewegung bestehen, berichtete das australische Nachrichtenportal Cathnews am Dienstag.

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PARAGUAY
Cafe Paraguay

[The Catholic priest Estanislao Arévalos Pedrozo was sentenced to six years imprisonment after being declared guilty of the sexual abuse of two children. These children took part in the catechism classes in the parish “Espíritu Santo de San Vicente” in Asunción.]

DANIEL WIENS KEINE KOMMENTARE 15. NOVEMBER 2016

Der katholische Priester Estanislao Arévalos Pedrozo wurde zu sechs Jahren Gefängnis verurteilt, nachdem er als schuldig des sexuellen Missbrauchs von zwei Kindern erklärt wurde. Diese Kinder nahmen teil am Katechismus-Unterricht in der Pfarrei „Espíritu Santo de San Vicente“ in Asunción.

Während dem Gerichtsprozess offenbarten die Staatsanwältinnen Clara Ruiz und Cinthia Espínola, dass der Priester der katholischen Kirche seine Opfer schon im Jahr 2013 mehrmals missbraucht hat. Zu der Zeit waren die Minderjährigen 12 und 13 Jahre alt. Die jungen „Apostel“ nahmen gerade am Katechismusunterricht in der oben erwähnten Pfarrei teil.

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TENNESSEE
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2016

Statement by David Clohessy of St. Louis, Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (314 566 9790, 314 645 5915 home, davidgclohessy@gmail.com)

The Memphis Public library has suspended a former youth minister who is accused of molesting at least three kids. That’s not enough.

[Local Memphis]

Police reports have been filed. An alleged child molester walks free. His reported victims are suffering. And other kids are at risk. So officials at the main public library downtown and the Church at Schilling Farms in Collierville (formerly Immanuel Baptist Church) must take aggressive steps to reach out to anyone else who may have seen, suspected or suffered crimes by Chris Carwile or cover ups by church officials.

Rev. Scott Payne admits he didn’t call police and now asks forgiveness. But forgiveness is premature. Payne must help police, prosecutors and Carwile’s victims first, by doing everything he can to help ensure that Carwile is successfully prosecuted. The same is true of current and former supervisors and colleagues of Carwile’s.

Church officials should make pulpit announcements, use church websites, post notices in church buildings and mail congregants (current and former) begging anyone with information or suspicions to come forward, get help, safeguard kids and call law enforcement.

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GEORGIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release, November 16, 2016

Statement by Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, Outreach Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (314 503 0003 cell, bdorris@SNAPnetwork.org)

Atlanta area church officials admit they had a convicted child molester in their midst but kept this information from their flock. Now he’s hurt more kids. This is alarming. Heads must roll.

[11 Alive]

Mark Greer volunteered in youth ministry at Harvest Baptist Church in Acworth, despite being convicted in Tennessee for sexual battery.

Now, members of the congregation say their church didn’t tell them about Greer’s past and want to know why they were kept them in the dark. The answer is both sad and simple: Church officials who hide abuse are never punished. So they keep doing it, because it’s easy and convenient and self-serving for them. Being brave enough to honor our civic and moral duty to call police is hard.

So three steps must be taken now.

We call on law enforcement officials to investigate church officials and see if any of them can be prosecuted for intimidating victims, threatening witnesses, destroying evidence, endangering kids, obstructing justice or similar charges.

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GUAM
Guam Daily Post

John O’Connor | Post News Staff

Superior Court Judge Anita Sukola has recused herself from hearing a civil case filed by Leo Tudela against former Guam priest Rev. Louis Brouillard and the Archdiocese of Agana, stating that she was “closely related to several members of the Neocatechumenal Way, an organization within the Archdiocese of Hagåtña.”

Sukola added that she is also a regular attendant in the Blessed Diego Luis de San Vitores Church in Tumon, which has exposed her to information regarding the case through prayers, announcements and petitions – specifically, a petition requesting that Governor Eddie Calvo veto Bill 326-33. That measure was ultimately enacted into law, lifting the statute of limitations in child sex abuse cases, allowing Tudela and others to bring civil suits against the church and their alleged abusers.

Moreover, Sukola stated that she knew Archbishop Anthony Apuron personally. The archbishop is implicated in other civil cases from victims of alleged sexual abuse. Tudela, now in his 70s, levied similar complaints against Brouillard.

Brouillard statement

But while Apuron has denied the allegations against him, Brouillard has publicly admitted to abusing boys in his ministry. Supplements to Tudela’s suits include a written statement from Brouillard in which he admitted to abusing boys in the 1950s and that Bishop Apollinaris Baumgartner, the bishop of Guam at the time, and others in the church knew about the abuse.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Michael Sean Winters | Nov. 16, 2016

Watching the USCCB meeting this week was frustrating. The conference seems stuck. At a time when the country desperately needs a strong moral voice, the united voice of the bishops is sidelined, fretting about things that don’t matter and tepidly addressing the things that do. And, it was apparent to all that the concerns of Pope Francis are far from the concerns of the USCCB.

In his update to the body on the work of the ad hoc Committee on Religious Liberty, Archbishop William Lori said they were making a difference. Are they? The centerpiece of their campaign, the “Fortnight for Freedom,” garners little attention. In the popular press, religious liberty is now usually accompanied by scare quotes. In the popular mind, the cause of religious liberty is linked to discrimination against gays and lesbians, and not without reason. If that will be the faultline for religious freedom litigation in the years ahead, I shudder at the prospects for religious freedom.

I heard almost no mention of the environment or Laudato Si’ at the USCCB meeting. Think about that for a minute. The pope issues an encyclical, the only one he has issued so far, and it is dedicated to concern for the environment. And the bishops of the country that has caused more damage to the environment than any other are silent. How is this possible? If they fancy themselves to be pro-life, why are they so unconcerned with one of two threats, the other being nuclear proliferation, that could kill us all? Fighting abortion is a moral thing to do, to be sure, but it makes no sense to defend unborn life so the kids can grow up to live in an increasingly unlivable world. The bishops of other countries are not so reticent. Cardinal Charles Maung Bo of Myanmar gave a recent talk at the Pontifical Academy of Sciences in which he said, “Unless rich countries agree to reduce the global warming, more people will die. This to me is a criminal genocide, when the poor and the weak are exposed violent nature created by unrestricted use of fossil fuels by rich countries.” Criminal genocide. And the U.S. bishops can’t be bothered.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

The government needs to intervene in the inquiry into child sexual abuse in England and Wales, after another of its lawyers resigned, Labour says.

Aileen McColgan quit amid concerns about the inquiry’s leadership.

Labour said the inquiry was facing a “crisis of credibility” but the PM said she had “full confidence” in it.

Meanwhile, the IPCC has confirmed it is investigating officers involved in the Met Police’s investigation into paedophile allegations against VIPs.

‘Clearly not working’

The investigation was set up to examine whether public bodies, including the police, had failed in their duty to protect children from sexual abuse and to examine allegations of abuse involving “well-known people”.

The inquiry has suffered a series of setbacks, including resignations of three chairwomen and senior lawyers.

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NEW JERSEY
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2016

Statement by Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, Outreach Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (314 503 0003 cell, bdorris@SNAPnetwork.org)

A Newark NJ Catholic priest faces child pornography charges and a court hearing this week. We hope he’s convicted. We call on Newark’s top Catholic official, Archbishop John Myers, to aggressively reach out to anyone who may have information or suspicions about his crimes.

And we hope this news prompts others who may have seen, suspected or suffered his crimes to call police so Fr. Kevin A. Gugliotta might be charged with and convicted on other offenses and be kept away from kids even longer.

[Asbury Park Press]

All too often, when child sex offenders are caught, their supervisors and colleagues clam up. But if kids are to be safer, everyone who saw, suspected or suffered child sex crimes must call law enforcement immediately. Those who hire or work with predators must do all they can to find others who have been assaulted and beg them to call law enforcement. This is especially true of Catholic bishops, who recruit, educate, ordain, hire, train and often transfer and cover up for predator priests. These bishops can’t wash their hands of these pedophiles just because they’ve been sent somewhere else or have moved somewhere else.

We hope that no one in the NJ Catholic hierarchy ignored or concealed Fr. Gugliotta’s alleged crimes. But we also hope police and prosecutors have investigated or will closely investigate this possibility. We also hope that officials Newark Catholic officials will find the courage to do what’s right – search for and help anyone else who is in pain because of Fr. Gugliotta.

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NEW MEXICO
Gallup Independent

Published in the Gallup Independent, Gallup, N.M., Nov. 14, 2016

By Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola
Independent correspondent
religion@gallupindependent.com

GALLUP – Although the Diocese of Gallup’s Chapter 11 plan of reorganization was confirmed in June, its formal exit from U.S. Bankruptcy Court is being stalled because of a legal dispute between two other parties.

As a result of the dispute, the Gallup Diocese marked yet another anniversary in the bankruptcy court system Saturday. The diocese filed its Chapter 11 petition three years ago on Nov. 12, 2013.

The two parties in the dispute are the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, the Pennsylvania religious order that founded St. Michael Indian School in St. Michaels, Arizona, and Phoenix attorney Robert E. Pastor, who filed a civil lawsuit in Arizona on behalf of a Navajo woman who claims she was sexually abused as a child at St. Michael Indian School by Brother Mark Schornack, a Franciscan friar. Schornack died in 2012.

The Diocese of Gallup, the Franciscans and St. Michael Mission Church have already entered into a settlement agreement with another Navajo woman for the abuse she was subjected to by Schornack at the St. Michael Parish. That settlement agreement was part of the diocese’s bankruptcy case and confirmation of its Chapter 11 reorganization. As a result, the Diocese of Gallup, the Franciscans and St. Michael’s Church are protected parties and not named as defendants in Pastor’s lawsuit.

However, the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament and St. Michael Indian School did not contribute any funds to the Diocese of Gallup’s settlement; therefore, they are not protected parties under the terms of the Chapter 11 plan of reorganization.

The dispute centers on a claim the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament filed against the Diocese of Gallup on May 9, 2016, related to Pastor’s lawsuit. In documents and brief court hearings, attorneys for the diocese have stated they are “sympathetic to the plight” of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, but they are asking U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge David T. Thuma to disallow the religious order’s claim.

Thuma has scheduled a final hearing on the matter Dec. 12. The deadline for Pastor to file a response with the court is Nov. 28, and the deadline for attorneys for the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament to file a reply is Dec. 9

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LUXEMBOURG
Journal

[After thousands of cases of sexual abuse in the churches of the USA and Ireland, there is a scandal in the Catholic Church of Luxembourg, which has now landed in court.]

Der 60-Jährige bestreitet die Vergewaltigungen

Nach tausenden Fällen von sexuellem Missbrauch in den Kirchen der USA und Irlands gibt es einen Skandal in der katholischen Kirche Luxemburgs, der nun vor Gericht gelandet ist. Es ist damit der bislang aktuellste Fall von sexuellem Missbrauch im Land, denn Fälle die Anfang 2010 bekannt wurden, lagen oft 30 Jahre und mehr zurück und sind verjährt. Auf der Anklagebank des Bezirksgerichts Luxemburg sitzt jetzt ein ehemaliger Pfarrer des katholischen Pfarrverbands Belair-Merl-Zessingen.

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MINNESOTA
KDAL

by Dave Strandberg

MINNEAPOLIS, MN (MNN) – Victims’ attorney Jeff Anderson says a new plan by Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis still doesn’t do enough to compensate priest sex-abuse survivors, because church officials are hiding the truth about their ability to pay. Anderson says the plan, “instead of putting the survivors first, puts the archdiocese first and the insurance companies second, and then the survivors last in line.” Archdiocese attorney Charles Rogers responds there’s “no other asset that hasn’t been brought forward.”

Rogers says to go with another plan will put survivors in legal battles with insurance companies. He says “then there would be an assignment of rights of recovery under those policies, and all that would be ensured is years upon years of litigation.” Victims’ attorney Anderson responds, “The assertion that it will result in years and years of litigation will only be because it was the archdiocese that chooses not to tell the truth, to disclose their assets and to work with the survivors.”

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GUAM
KUAM

Updated: Nov 16, 2016

By Isa Baza

After controversy in Guam’s Catholic church stretched on for years over the Redemptoris Mater Seminary in Yona, the head of the Concerned Catholics of Guam group says he’s cautious, but relieved, that the multimillion dollar property has finally been restored to the Archdiocese of Agana.

“Cautionary elation,” said Dave Sablan of his feelings after yesterday’s announcement at the Hagatna Cathedral. “I’m happy that Archbishop Byrnes has done what he did.” However, Sablan, the head of the Concerned Catholics of Guam, says it’s not over yet. He adds his organization will not rest until the documents are reviewed to ensure that two key aspects have been resolved – one of which is to remove the provision tying the seminary to the Neocatechumenal Way.

“And if he removed that provision, great. Secondly, I wanted to see how he removed the board of directors,” he said.

Meanwhile on Tuesday Mother Superior Dawn Marie of the Carmelite Nuns in Guam also spoke out revealing that her order was asked to lie for Archbishop Anthony Apuron in an attempt to cover-up the misuse of the RMS. Mother Dawn told local media that she was able to secure the $2 million that was used to pay off a loan to purchase the Yona property.

“Mother Dawn Marie, a very courageous person to come out, and speak the truth of what was asked of her of her order of Carmelites to do,” said Sablan.

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UNITED STATES
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

November 15, 2016

BALTIMORE—Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, was elected president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) during today’s annual fall General Assembly in Baltimore. Cardinal DiNardo has served as vice president of the USCCB since 2013. Archbishop Jose Gomez was elected as USCCB vice president.

Cardinal DiNardo and Archbishop Gomez are elected to three-year terms and succeed Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz of Louisville, Kentucky, and Cardinal DiNardo, respectively. The new president and vice president terms begin at the conclusion of the General Assembly on November 15.

Cardinal DiNardo was elected president on the first ballot with 113 votes. Archbishop Gomez was elected vice president on the third ballot by 131-84 in a runoff vote against Archbishop Gregory Aymond of New Orleans.

The president and vice president are elected by a simple majority from a slate of 10 nominees. If no president or vice president is chosen after the second round of voting, a third ballot is a run-off between the two bishops who received the most votes on the second ballot.

Cardinal DiNardo was born May 23, 1949, and ordained a priest of Pittsburgh on June 16, 1977. He previously served as bishop of Sioux City, Iowa, from 1998-2004 before being appointed to coadjutor bishop, then archbishop, of Galveston-Houston. Pope Benedict XVI named him a cardinal in 2007, making him the first cardinal from Texas. Archbishop Gomez was born December 26, 1951, in Monterrey, Mexico. He was ordained a priest on August 15, 1978. He was appointed auxiliary bishop of Denver in 2001, and in 2004, he was appointed archbishop of San Antonio. He was appointed coadjutor archbishop of Los Angeles in 2010, and was installed as archbishop of Los Angeles in 2011.

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UNITED STATES
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

November 15, 2016

BALTIMORE—The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) voted on a new MRS chairman and approved several items, including, establishing a permanent Subcommittee on the Church in Africa and extending the Retirement Fund for Religious Appeal, during their annual Fall General Assembly in Baltimore, November 15.

In November 2015, Archbishop Gomez was elected to chair the USCCB Committee on Migration for a term beginning this week. Since his election as USCCB vice-president prevents him from assuming leadership of the committee, the bishops elected a new chairman. Bishop Joe S. Vasquez of Austin, Texas, was elected chairman of the Committee on Migration in a 109-91 vote over Archbishop John C. Wester.

The bishops voted 155 in favor, 8 against and 1 abstaining, to approve a 10-year extension of the Retirement Fund for Religious Appeal. This annual collection was initiated to address the profound deficit in retirement funding among religious congregations in the United States. The National Religious Retirement Office (NRRO) coordinates the collection and distributes the proceeds to religious communities in need.

The bishops also approved establishing a permanent Subcommittee on the Church in Africa. The proposal received a vote of 164-26-12. The USCCB’s Subcommittee on the Church in Africa works as part of the Committee on National Collections. It administers the voluntary Solidarity Fund for the Church in Africa and allocates the revenue received as grants to African episcopal conferences and their regional associations in Africa for programs that support the growth of the Church, especially in the areas of leadership training, church administration, evangelization, communications, justice and peace.

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WASHINGTON
Yakima Herald

By Jane Gargas
jgargas@yakimaherald.com

Bishop Joseph Tyson of the Yakima Catholic Diocese has lost an election to chair a committee for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Instead, Bishop Timothy Doherty of Lafayette, Ind., is the new chairman-elect of the Committee on Protection of Children and Young People.

Elections were held Tuesday during the fall meeting of the national bishops’ conference in Baltimore.

Doherty received 128 votes to Tyson’s 86.

Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, Texas, was elected president of the national bishop’s group, succeeding Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville, Ky. The bishops also chose the chairmen-elect of five committees and new members of the board of Catholic Relief Services.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

[with video]

Tom McIlroy

A national system to compensate victims of child sexual abuse looks to be in doubt as states and territories withhold their support amid questions about the efficacy of an opt-in redress scheme.

The federal government surprised some states with Social Services Minister Christian Porter’s November 4 announcement of a $4.3 billion scheme, following a recommendation of the royal commission into child sexual abuse.

The government has announced a plan to give victims of institutional sexual abuse compensation and counselling. Courtesy ABC News 24.

No further details have been provided, leaving states including Western Australia and Victoria seeking answers and the development of some state schemes in limbo.

West Australian Premier Colin Barnett told Fairfax Media he’d had no consultation from the federal government, despite Mr Porter saying it would seek national co-operation and even force the ACT and Northern Territory governments to sign up.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Herald Scotland

Martin Williams , Senior News Reporter / @MWilliamsHT

A Scots university graduate is the latest to senior solictior to resign from the struggling national inquiry into child abuse.

It is understood that Aileen McColgan, has quit because of serious concerns over the leadership within The Independent Inquiry into Child Abuse set up by then Home Secretary Theresa May.

Originally from Derry, Northern Ireland, and holding degrees from Trinity College Cambridge and Edinburgh University, Ms McColgan was the barrister leading the inquiry’s investigations into the Anglican and Catholic Church.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Sun

BY FELIX ALLEN 15th November 2016

THE shambolic £100m probe into Establishment child sex abuse was rocked today by the resignation of ANOTHER senior lawyer.

Aileen McColgan – in charge of investigating paedophiles in the Anglican and Catholic Church – quit because of serious concerns over the inquiry’s leadership, BBC Newsnight reports.

The high-profile probe into VIP paedophiles in Westminster, councils, the Church and schools has been blighted by resignations and cover-up claims and is now on its fourth chairman.

It is understood barrister Ms McColgan, who is also a professor of law at King’s College London, had concerns over the competency of the inquiry’s leadership and the way it had responded to the earlier resignation of her colleagues.

Two other lawyers also reportedly plan to quit over similar worries, the BBC reports.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

By Jake Morris
BBC Newsnight

The Independent Inquiry into Child Abuse has been hit by the resignation of another senior lawyer.

BBC Newsnight understands that Aileen McColgan has quit because of serious concerns over the inquiry’s leadership.

She was the barrister leading the inquiry’s investigations into the Anglican and Catholic Churches.
The inquiry said that lawyers come and go according to their professional obligations – and a spokeswoman declined to “comment on specifics”.

It is understood Aileen McColgan had concerns over the competency of the inquiry’s leadership and the way it had previously responded to the resignation of lawyers instructed by it. As well as working on the inquiry, she is also a Professor of Law at King’s College London.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Telegraph

Another senior lawyer has reportedly quit the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse.

Aileen McColgan has resigned from the investigation due to concerns over its leadership, BBC Newsnight reported.

Ms McColgan, who is also a law professor at Kings’ College London, was involved in the inquiry’s investigations into the Anglican and Catholic Church.

Her reported departure follows senior counsel Ben Emmerson’s resignation a day after he was suspended.

Mr Emmerson’s junior colleague, Elizabeth Prochaska, also stood down.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian

Matthew Weaver

The troubled inquiry into historical child sexual abuse is facing further questions from MPs about its future after another senior lawyer resigned and two more are threatening to do so.

Aileen McColgan, who was leading the inquiry’s investigation into abuse in the Anglican and Catholic churches, quit over concerns about the inquiry’s leadership, according to BBC Newsnight.

Two other barristers have told the inquiry of their desire to leave over similar concerns, the programme reported. An inquiry spokeswoman refused to comment on McColgan’s departure.

Yvette Cooper, the chair of the House of Commons home affairs select committee, called on the inquiry to be more transparent and said her committee would be seeking evidence from McColgan about why she quit.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Daily Mail

By PRESS ASSOCIATION

Home Secretary Amber Rudd has said she still has confidence in the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse despite the resignation of another senior lawyer.

Aileen McColgan, a law professor at Kings’ College London involved in the inquiry’s investigations into the Anglican and Catholic Church, reportedly quit due to concerns over the inquiry’s leadership.

Her departure follows the resignation of the inquiry’s senior counsel Ben Emmerson and his junior colleague, Elizabeth Prochaska.

The inquiry has also had four different chairwomen since it was set up in 2014.

Asked about the latest departure, Ms Rudd said: ” Yes, I still have confidence in the inquiry.”

Speaking at a policing conference in London, she said: “I saw the latest news on the inquiry today. I would say it is a matter for the inquiry.

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AUSTRALIA
The Advertiser

Rebekah Ison, Australian Associated Press
November 16, 2016

A former Newcastle Anglican bishop says “vehement” supporters of a priest accused of abusing children were out to get him from the moment a professional standards probe began.

The abuse commission has heard a group of Newcastle parishioners are concerned about the process that led to the highly influential former Dean of Newcastle Graeme Lawrence being defrocked in 2012.

“They were out to get me,” Bishop Brian Farran, who was the head of the diocese from 2005 to 2012 and oversaw the defrocking of Lawrence, said on Wednesday.

“I got this anonymous text … saying, ‘Have a great holiday. Come back and resign’.'”

The royal commission has previously heard Lawrence, who had been the second most senior priest in the diocese, faced allegations of abuse against numerous children.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Daily Mail

By REBECCA CAMBER FOR THE DAILY MAIL

A law professor leading inquiries into child sexual abuse in the church became the latest to desert Britain’s biggest public inquiry last night.

Professor Aileen McColgan has quit the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) amid serious concerns about the competency of its fourth chair, Professor Alexis Jay.

The law professor at Kings College London who was the lead lawyer in the inquiry’s investigation into child abuse in the Anglican and Catholic Church is the seventh lawyer to leave.

Another two barristers are also poised to quit after telling the inquiry that they have no desire to work there any more, BBC Newsnight reported last night.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Sky News

The beleaguered child sex abuse inquiry has been hit by the resignation of another senior lawyer.

Aileen McColgan has reportedly resigned from the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse because of leadership concerns.

The inquiry is not on to its fourth chairwoman, Professor Alexis Jay, after Dame Lowell Goddard resigned at the end of the summer amid claims over her conduct, which she has denied.

Since then the inquiry’s lead counsel Ben Emmerson QC has quit, days after he was suspended. His junior colleague Elizabeth Prochaska also left.

Ms McColgan was leading the inquiry’s investigations into the Anglican and Catholic Church.

Speaking at a policing conference on Wednesday, Home Secretary Amber Rudd said: “I saw the latest news on the inquiry today. I would say it is a matter for the inquiry.

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GUAM
Pacific News Center

Written by Janela Carrera

Mother Dawn Marie Tuesday revealed that Archbishop Apuron asked the carmelite nuns to lie.

Guam – Mother Prioress Dawn Marie confirms that there was a plot against her life after she dropped a bombshell on Archbishop Anthony Apuron.

Mother Dawn Marie revealed yesterday that she, on behalf of the Carmelite Order, was the anonymous donor of $2 million dollars to the Archdiocese back in 2003. The purpose of the donation was to pay off a loan for the acquisition of the Yona property.

Mother Dawn Marie says Archbishop Apuron pressured the Carmelite Order to lie about the what the donation was intended for. The Carmelite Order, she notes, never intended for the seminary to be run as a seminary under the Neocatechumenal Way.

On News Talk K57’s Mornings with Patti, Mother Dawn said she had received word that there is a credible threat against her life.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Haidee V Eugenio , heugenio@guampdn.com November 16, 2016

A group of Catholics seeking Archbishop Anthony S. Apuron’s removal over multiple sex abuse allegations and other leadership decisions they find questionable has recommended a seven-point plan to address child sexual abuse within the Archdiocese of Agana, including tapping the resources of other agencies on Guam.

The Concerned Catholics of Guam reached out to those who believe they are victims of clergy sex abuse, including those who have publicly accused Archbishop Anthony S. Apuron, who has not been charged with any crime, and former priest Louis Brouillard, who admitted to sexually abusing at least 20 minors when he was on Guam.

Andrew Camacho, vice president of the Concerned Catholics of Guam, said the group wants the archdiocese to provide every possible option and opportunity for survivors of child sexual abuse by members of the clergy and officials within the archdiocese and its organizations.

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CANADA
LifeSite News

Pete Baklinski

KENTVILLE, Nova Scotia, November 14, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) — Rev. Brent Hawkes, Canada’s most celebrated homosexual activist minister, is in court for allegedly sexually abusing a 16-year-old boy in the 1970s.

The Court in Kentville heard the first witness testify that he saw Hawkes performing oral-genital actions on a teenage male at the pastor’s Nova Scotia home about 40 years ago.

Witness Douglas Aylward said he was 16 years old when a group of friends returned to Hawkes’ home after drinking at a local tavern. At one point, the minister pulled the teenager inside a small bathroom, told him he had been watching him and was “80 percent sure I was gay.”

“It was pretty uncomfortable,” the witness said.

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TEXAS
Houston Chronicle

By Jay R. Jordan, jjordan@hcnonline.com Tuesday, November 15, 2016

Prosecutors filed additional child sexual assault charges against a Magnolia pastor accused of coercing a 16-year-old congregation member into sex on multiple occasions.

Body of Christ Church pastor Ronald Mitchell, 56, is now facing four second-degree felony counts of sexual assault of a child – one for every time prosecutors say Mitchell had sex with the underage girl over a four-month period from 2015 into 2016. He is facing up to 80 years in prison for those charges, but Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office detectives believe there could be more victims.

“As the investigation goes on in any type of case and you learn additional facts and get information from victims and witnesses, we’re able to potentially add additional charges as things progress,” Assistant District Attorney Tyler Dunman said. “We’ve had people come forward, and we’re still requesting people come forward with more information whether they’re victims or witnesses.”

Court documents show Mitchell had the girl staying with him at his church in the 40200 block of Garwood Court near Magnolia, telling the girl’s mother that she needed to be “watched” and have “more supervision.”

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TENNESSEE
WBRC

[with video]

By Sasha Jones

MEMPHIS, TN (WMC) –
Allegations against a current Memphis Library worker have not only prompted a city and police investigation, but tied a Mid-South church to the case.

The City of Memphis has confirmed a current Memphis Public Library worker is on paid leave while they investigate previous allegations of sexual abuse.

Kenny Stubblefield says he suffered at the hands of Christopher Carwile.

He says it the reason he filed this Police Report with the City of Memphis, and why he is speaking out about the alleged abuse he says he suffered at the hands of Christopher Carwile.

What he told us, is what he says he told police.

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TENNESSEE
Local Memphis

[with video]

By Maria Hallas | mhallas@localmemphis.com
Published 11/15 2016

MEMPHIS, TN

New information tonight on an investigation the Local I-Team broke last night. Three men claim Memphis library worker Chris Carwile sexually abused them as teens nearly 20 years ago when he was an associate youth minister at Immanuel Baptist Church in Germantown.

Victims tell Local I-Team’s Maria Hallas they believe they suffered lasting spiritual and emotional damage in the way the church responded to their claims.

“The coverup of the way the leadership of our church handled our situation created long lasting pain,” says Kenny Stubblefield, one of the victims.

Boz Tchividjian a former prosecutor, grandson of Reverend Billy Graham, and victims’ rights advocate said the three men’s feelings are not unusual.

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GUAM
Crux

Associated Press
November 15, 2016

HAGATNAM, Guam – Guam is preparing a series of events in late November to welcome the man who could become its next archbishop.

Coadjutor Archbishop Michael Jude Byrnes will arrive from Detroit on Nov. 28 and be welcomed by Archbishop Savio Hon Tai Fai and other clergy members, the Archdiocese of Agana told The Pacific Daily News.

Hon was sent to Guam in June to temporarily replace current Archbishop Anthony S. Apuron on an administrative basis.

Apuron, 71, has been Guam’s highest Catholic leader for 30 years but faces a trial in Rome over multiple allegations of sex abuse of altar boys in the 1970s.

Byrnes, 58, will have the right to succeed Apuron if he resigns, retires or is removed. Byrnes was auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of Detroit before Pope Francis appointed him to the Guam post.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

DAN PROUDMAN
16 Nov 2016

FORMER Christian radio station boss and evangelical preacher Dr Gary Alexander Forbes has admitted to a court that he abused two brothers more than 20 years after first admitting his “sins” and 50 years after the abuse took place.

Forbes, 73, was committed on Wednesday to face Newcastle District Court for sentencing on three counts of assaulting a male and committing an act of indecency.

Agreed facts tendered during the committal proceedings said Forbes had abused one brother before moving onto his younger sibling when the older boy started in the workforce.

He had met them at a Christian gospel church in suburban Newcastle and had become friendly with the boys’ family.

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GUAM
Guam Daily Post

By Neil Pang | Post News Staff

The Mother Superior Dawn Marie of the Order of the Discalced Carmelites, an order of cloistered nuns dedicated to prayer, held a press briefing yesterday in which she explained why the sisterhood had left Guam.

After 50 years of prayer for the island’s faithful, the Carmelite order celebrated their final mass on June 14 of this year and, the next day, left for their new home in California, Marie said yesterday.

Marie said she decided to hold the briefing in which she explained the reasons behind the move as an act of responsibility to the truth.

“Because we didn’t have a hope for a viable future, that’s the reason we had to move,” she said.

As Marie tells it, the decision to relocate came after a series of events that eventually resulted in what she called a “toxic environment” that made it too difficult for the nuns to continue in their way of life. That series of events, she said, stemmed from the Archdiocese’s acquisition of the former Hotel Accion property in Yona and the subsequent establishment of the Redemptoris Mater Seminary and the formation of the Blessed Diego Luis de San Vitores Theological Institute (BDTI).

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PENNSYLVANIA
WJAC

BY KODY LEIBOWITZ TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 15TH 2016

HOLLIDAYSBURG — It was reported for years that the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown paid for settlements and fees involving alleged clergy abuse through insurance and investment profits.

The Associated Press reported in May 2004 that “the diocese said it will continue discussions with various insurance companies to recover the cost” of a 21-person settlement that cost the diocese millions.

“To provide for immediate payment, however, it will use the surplus from the Mutual Aid Plan, the deposit and loan fund for parish savings accounts,” wrote the AP. “None of the parish deposits [or] interests will be use, just the investment profits that are owned by the diocese, according to the diocese’ news release.”

The release came in 2004 after the diocese settled with 21 people who claimed sexual abuse at the hands of clergy for $3.7 million.

The diocese acknowledged “there were minors who have been harmed and are entitled to be compensated,” in a released statement.

“The settlement,” the statement at the time read reported on by the AP, “reflects our deep desire both to aid the healing of victims of clergy abuse and to not incur the inordinate financial burden of lengthy litigation.”

Since the release of the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown grand jury report in March, 6 News Investigates began digging into past settlements of our local catholic church and looking into how the catholic church covers costs for child sex abuse allegations.

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NEW MEXICO
Santa Fe New Mexican

November 15, 2016

Associated Press |

GALLUP — A new legal dispute has stalled the final resolution of a bankruptcy case prompted by a sexual abuse case involving the Diocese of Gallup, lawyers say.

The dispute involves a new lawsuit filed by attorney Robert E. Pastor against the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, a religious order that founded St. Michael Indian School in Arizona.

The suit claims a Navajo woman was sexually abused at the school by a Franciscan friar, The Gallup Independent reported.

The Gallup Diocese, the Franciscans and St. Michael Mission Church have already reached a settlement agreement with another Navajo woman related to abuse.

That settlement was part of the diocese’s bankruptcy case that was confirmed in June. As a result, the Diocese of Gallup, the Franciscans and St. Michael’s Church are protected parties and not named as defendants in Pastor’s lawsuit.

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AUSTRALIA
Gippsland Times

Tom McIlroy
16 Nov 2016

A national system to compensate victims of child sexual abuse looks to be in doubt as states and territories withhold their support amid questions about the efficacy of an opt-in redress scheme.

The federal government surprised some states with Social Services Minister Christian Porter’s November 4 announcement of a $4.3 billion scheme, following a recommendation of the royal commission into child sexual abuse.

No further details have been provided, leaving states including Western Australia and Victoria seeking answers and the development of some state schemes in limbo.

West Australian Premier Colin Barnett told Fairfax Media he’d had no consultation from the federal government, despite Mr Porter saying it would seek national co-operation and even force the ACT and Northern Territory governments to sign up.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

IAN KIRKWOOD
16 Nov 2016

A Newcastle solicitor and prominent lay member of the Anglican Diocese of Newcastle has defended his role in pushing against the current and former bishops of Newcastle, and justified his support for the defrocked cleric, Graeme Lawrence.

Robert Caddies, a parishioner at Christ Church Cathedral since 1987 and the holder of various lay positions, including diocesan solicitor from 1996 to 2005, was resuming evidence he began when the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse was adjourned at the end of August.

At that time, he was questioned about letters that he and others had signed in support of the former dean, who was defrocked in 2012 by the previous bishop of Newcastle, Brian Farran, who retired the same year.

Mr Caddies said evidence given by abuse survivor CKH against Mr Lawrence was “impressive and credible” but he still believed the former dean had been denied natural justice by the church.

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AUSTRALIA
Brisbane Times

Michael McGirr

FICTION
Crimes of the Father
TOM KENEALLY
VINTAGE, $32.99

There are a growing number of novels prepared to tell the story of paedophilia within various church communities, not least the Catholic Church. Few of them have needed to stray far from the grim facts. Andrew O’Hagan’s Be Near Me and John Boyne’s The Long History of Loneliness are just two examples. Both these books draw the line between good and bad clergy. But they also have solid reason to call into question an entire ecclesiastical culture. They are valuable books but they don’t make comfortable reading.

Tom Keneally’s new novel, Crimes of the Father, is the same but different. One distinction is the undeniable affection Keneally has for Catholicism, evident in the moving final paragraphs of this novel. This affection can be seen in a number of places in Keneally’s work, including his memoir, Homebush Boy, one of the few kindly portrayals of the Christian Brothers in Australian Literature. At the same time, Keneally has visited clerical sexual abuse before, notably in An Angel in Australia.

Crimes of the Father is based in more recent church history. Much of it is set in 1996, an important year in the history of the awareness of sexual abuse in Australia, the year in which the Towards Healing process came into being. Here, a similar process is called In Compassion’s Name.

A key case in Crimes of the Father concerns a Dr Devitt, whom the church seeks to deny access to an open legal process. Parts of this bring to mind the unfortunate case of Dr John Ellis. But this novel would be diminished if it were treated simply as a roman-a-clef. It is a work of grief at least as much as an account of the perversion of justice. Its interests are more profound than the law. The word Keneally uses in his introduction is “mourn”.

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AUSTRALIA
Brisbane Times

Toni Hassan

“It takes a village…” was perhaps Hillary Clinton’s most memorable line. It was given a macabre twist in the Academy award-winning movie Spotlight, about the cover-up of sexual abuse by Catholic Church clergy in Boston. One of the actors observed that “if it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a village to abuse one”.

We are about to learn more about the NSW “village” of Newcastle, in which an extraordinary number of respected citizens appear, through action or inaction, to have helped cover up allegations of sexual abuse.

Four years after, Julia Gillard announced the royal commission into institutional responses to abuse, the Anglican Bishop of Newcastle, Greg Thompson, will take the stand on Wednesday in Sydney when the commission reconvenes for case study 42. He has already given evidence privately, as perhaps the most senior clergyman to do so. He grew up in the Hunter Valley and was sexually abused while a student in Newcastle. After serving as a priest in many parts of Australia, including Canberra, he returned to Newcastle as bishop in 2014.

He says he was greeted by senior community figures keen to “groom” him. One legal figure recommended a system of internal reviews; an opportunity for the new bishop to “learn” but also, he realised, be potentially compromised. Thompson went straight to the police.

Within months he issued a formal apology to victims and announced he wouldn’t live in the “house on the hill” traditionally occupied by the bishop, as the stately mansion had come to represent all that was wrong with religious power. It’s since been sold.

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MARYLAND
The Baltimore Sun

[with video]

Alison Knezevich
The Baltimore Sun

The Baltimore Archdiocese has paid a dozen settlements for allegations against a priest at Keough, now dead.

The Archdiocese of Baltimore has paid a series of settlements to people who allege they were sexually abused by a priest who worked at Archbishop Keough High School decades ago.

The payments stem from allegations of abuse by A. Joseph Maskell, who denied an initial accusation before he died in 2001.

Sheldon Jacobs, an attorney representing people who have alleged abuse by Maskell, said about a dozen have reached settlements within the past few months.

“There’s no amount of money that could ever adequately compensate the survivors for what they’ve gone through,” he said.

Sean Caine, a spokesman for the Baltimore archdiocese, confirmed that “settlements with victims of Joseph Maskell have been ongoing since at least 2011.” He said he did not have information Monday on how much has been paid to the victims.

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MARYLAND
CBS Baltimore

[with video]

By Rick Ritter

BALTIMORE (AP) — The Archdiocese of Baltimore paid a series of settlements to people alleging they were abused by a local priest decades ago. The alleged acts took place at Archbishop Keough High School.

For some it has been more than 40 years of hiding in the dark – waiting to come forward with their stories of being sexually abused. Now decades later the healing process can begin.

The stories are monstrous:

“He wanted me to touch her between her legs, he was doing like an anatomy lesson,” said one victim.

“I remember him letting me use his bathroom while he watched,” said another victim.

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CANADA
Montreal Gazette

JOE LOFARO, THE OTTAWA CITIZEN, OTTAWA CITIZEN 11.15.2016

More than a decade before the Archdiocese of Ottawa told Jacques Faucher he could no longer be a priest, it paid tens of thousands of dollars to a former altar boy who had accused the reverend of molesting him.

Faucher was convicted in March of historical sex offences against three other children, but newly obtained documents by the Citizen show the diocese wrote a $50,000 cheque to a former altar boy when he was an adult in 1998, more than a year after he told the church about the alleged sexual abuse.

The payment was made on the condition he keep details of the out-of-court settlement confidential.

The 80-year-old former priest was found guilty of six counts of indecent assault and gross indecency to three of five boys who testified against him.

The cheque and other historical documents were filed as exhibits at Faucher’s criminal trial, and Ontario Superior Court Justice Pierre Roger recently granted the Citizen’s request to access the exhibits.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By David Marchese

A former senior member of Newcastle’s Anglican church has told the child abuse royal commission he has not been actively trying to ‘destroy’ the career of a bishop working to uncover child abuse in the diocese.

A hearing into the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse’s 42nd case study has resumed in Sydney after a two-month break, with two former bishops and the current bishop of Newcastle, Greg Thompson, expected to give evidence.

The commission has previously heard of widespread child sexual abuse within Newcastle’s Anglican Church, spanning several decades.

Former diocesan solicitor Robert Caddies resumed his evidence this morning, where he was questioned about a “bloc” within Newcastle’s cathedral seeking to undermine Bishop Thompson.

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MINNESOTA
Duluth News Tribune

By Tory Cooney, St. Paul Pioneer Press on Nov 15, 2016

ST. PAUL—The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis has filed an updated bankruptcy plan with more money for victims of clerical sexual abuse, but critics claim it doesn’t go far enough.

The new plan would raise the proposed trust fund for claimants from $65 million to more than $130 million.

That could amount to nearly $300,000 for each of the 440 victims, archdiocese attorney Charlie Rogers said during a news conference Tuesday in St. Paul.

“Our goal all along has been to promote healing… to express our goodwill in action not words,” Rogers said. “And I hope this is seen as…evidence (of that).”

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

IAN KIRKWOOD
16 Nov 2016

THE Royal Commission has reopened in Sydney with a combative cross-examination of Newcastle solicitor and prominent lay Anglican figure Robert Caddies over letters that he and others signed complaining about the Bishop of Newcastle, Greg Thompson.

One letter was sent to the Royal Commission and others were sent to senior Anglican figures known as the Metropolitan and the Primate.

In the letter to the commission, Mr Caddies had complained that Bishop Thompson had potentially put youth in the church at risk by not reporting an allegation that he had been groomed and sexually abused by Bishop Ian Shevill and another senior priest of the diocese when he was 19 years old.

Under intense questioning from the commission chairman, Peter McClellan, and from counsel assisting, Naomi Sharp, Mr Caddies denied he was trying to “undermine” the bishop, although he agreed he was “drawing attention to” matters he believed were impairing Bishop Thompson’s performance as bishop.

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MARYLAND
ABC 2

[with video]

Dakarai Turner
Nov 15, 2016

BALTIMORE –
For the past several months, the Archdiocese of Baltimore has been holding mediation talks with a group of about a dozen people who said they were sexually abused by the same person.

The abuse is alleged to have stretched over a couple of decades and may have happened some years ago, but the alleged victims are just now beginning to feel what they may call justice.

Before it became what is now Seton Keough High School, during the 1960’s and 70’s it was known by a different name — Archbishop Keough.

Teresa Lancaster, a Baltimore area woman, attended classes at Archbishop Keough in 1970 and endured years of sexual abuse at the hands of Fr. Joseph Maskell who worked there as a chaplain.

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UNITED STATES
Crux

Associated Press
November 15, 2016

BALTIMORE – While one American diocese has paid settlements to end legal challenges related to clerical sexual abuse claims, another currently finds its exit strategy from bankruptcy proceedings stalled in court.

The Archdiocese of Baltimore has paid a series of settlements to people who alleged that they were sexually abused by a priest who worked at a high school decades ago.

The Baltimore Sun reports Tuesday that the payments stem from allegations of abuse by A. Joseph Maskell, who denied an initial allegation before his 2001 death.

Attorney Sheldon Jacobs says about a dozen people, mostly women, have reached out-of-court settlements in recent months. He declined to say how large the settlements are.

Maskell is included on the public archdiocese list of what it calls credibly accused clergymen. Archdiocese spokesman Sean Caine confirmed that “settlements with victims of Joseph Maskell have been ongoing since at least 2011,” but he didn’t have information Monday on how much has been paid.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

IAN KIRKWOOD
16 Nov 2016

THE previous Bishop of Newcastle has told the Royal Commission he had “a terrible time” in the city and only gradually worked out that he had a “significant problem” with child sexual abuse in his diocese.

Brian Farran, who was Bishop of Newcastle from 2005 until 2012, gave about 45 minutes of evidence on Wednesday afternoon before the hearing was adjourned until Thursday.

He said he received no handover from his predecessor, Roger Herft, when he arrived, and said it was only after Michael Elliott, the diocese’s director of professional standards, briefed him and he met some people from the Wallsend parish – where the subsequently disgraced priest Peter Rushton had been – that he realised there must have been “some sort of network”.

Mr Elliott began his job in 2009. Mr Farran said he was “not sure, actually”, if he ever saw the yellow envelopes that contained the misconduct files: he “presumed” some of them contained allegations of child sexual abuse.

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MINNESOTA
Business Insider

By Steve Gorman

(Reuters) – The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis has offered to pay $132 million to settle hundreds of child sex abuse claims against its clergy under a revised bankruptcy reorganization plan filed in court on Tuesday.

The archdiocese, one of 15 U.S. Catholic districts and religious orders driven to seek Chapter 11 protection by the church’s sex abuse scandal, said its plan would mark the second-largest such bankruptcy settlement of pedophile priest claims in America.

The sum is more than double the $65 million previously offered by the archdiocese and rejected by plaintiffs.

But lawyers representing the bulk of nearly 450 claims at stake in St. Paul-Minneapolis denounced the latest proposal as still far too small and accused church officials of trying to conceal their ability to pay much more.

The San Diego diocese settled sex abuse claims in 2007 for a total of $198 million after filing for Chapter 11. The Los Angeles archdiocese, the nation’s largest, reached a $660 million civil settlement the same year, though that was not part of a bankruptcy proceeding.

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MINNESOTA
KAAL

November 15, 2016

The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis has announced an amended plan of reorganization tied to its bankruptcy case.

The case involves financial reorganization and clergy abuse claims.

According to the announcement, the plan raised the proposed trust for claimants from $65 million to more than $130 million.

Court filings indicate most of the new money is coming from settlements with additional insurance carriers. The original plan included settlements with three carriers worth over $33 million. The archdiocese has now reached settlements with 11 of its 13 insurance carrier groups totaling over $92 million. The archdiocese says it still hopes to get “many millions of dollars” from the two remaining carriers that have not settled.

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BALTIMORE (MD)
Catholic Telegraph

Catholic News Service / November 15, 2016

BALTIMORE — Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston was elected president of the U.S. bishops’ conference Nov. 15 for a three-year term to begin at the conclusion of the bishops’ annual fall general assembly in Baltimore.

Cardinal DiNardo collected a majority of votes on the first ballot of voting during the second day of the bishops’ public session. Based on the number of bishops voting, 104 votes were needed for election, and Cardinal DiNardo — the current vice president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops — received 113.

He will succeed Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz of Louisville, Kentucky, whose three-year term as president concludes at the end of the meeting.

Elected vice president was Archbishop Jose H. Gomez of Los Angeles. By virtue of his election, Archbishop Gomez will not take over as chairman of the bishops’ Committee on Migration. He was elected last year as chairman-elect of the committee and was to succeed the current outgoing chairman, Auxiliary Bishop Eusebio L. Elizondo of Seattle, at the end of this year’s general assembly.

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

By Jean Hopfensperger Star Tribune NOVEMBER 15, 2016

The fund for victims of clergy sex abuse would double from a proposed $65 million to $130 million under an amended bankruptcy reorganization plan filed Tuesday by the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

The increase is likely the result of new insurance settlements reached by the archdiocese, which is holding a news conference at 1 p.m. to offer details.

More than 400 individuals have filed claims against the archdiocese in U.S. Bankruptcy Court, alleging its clergy had sexually abused them as children.

In May, the archdiocese filed a reorganization plan which established a $65 million trust fund for victims, a fund that it said would grow as insurance settlements were reached. Victims’ attorneys denounced that amount as inadequate.

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MINNESOTA
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis

Date: Tuesday, November 15, 2016

Source: Tom Halden, Director of Communications

Late this morning, the Archdiocese filed an amended Plan of Reorganization in U.S. Bankruptcy Court. The Plan increases the proposed Trust for claimants from $65 million to more than $130 million. For more information, check www.thecatholicspirit.com and click the links below.

* Amended Plan of Reorganization
* Amended Disclosure Statement

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MINNESOTA
KSTP

November 15, 2016

The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis has announced an amended plan of reorganization tied to its bankruptcy case.

The case involves financial reorganization and clergy abuse claims.

According to the announcement, the plan raised the proposed trust for claimants from $65 million to more than $130 million.

Court filings indicate most of the new money is coming from settlements with additional insurance carriers. The original plan included settlements with three carriers worth over $33 million. The archdiocese has now reached settlements with 11 of its 13 insurance carrier groups totaling over $92 million. The archdiocese says it still hopes to get “many millions of dollars” from the two remaining carriers that have not settled.

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MINNESOTA
Fox 9

UPDATED:NOV 15 2016

ST. PAUL, Minn. (KMSP) – Lawyers for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis have announced a fund of $130 million is now available for victims of sexual abuse, doubling the previous total.

According to court documents, most of the new money is coming from settlements with additional insurance companies. The archdiocese has now reached settlements with 11 of its 13 insurance companies, and still hopes to get millions more from the companies that haven’t yet settled.

The attorney representing the victims, Jeff Anderson, says the new plan is still in adequate and represents less than one percent of the archdiocese’s assets.

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MINNESOTA
Tommie Media

By Associated Press | Tuesday, November 15, 2016

The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis has filed an updated bankruptcy plan with more money for victims of clerical sexual abuse.

The archdiocese said in a statement Tuesday the new plan raises the proposed trust fund for claimants from $65 million to more than $130 million.

Court filings indicate most of the new money is coming from settlements with additional insurance carriers. The original plan included settlements with three carriers worth over $33 million. The archdiocese has now reached settlements with 11 of its 13 insurance carrier groups totaling over $92 million. The archdiocese says it still hopes to get “many millions of dollars” from the two remaining carriers that have not settled.

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MINNESOTA
Jeff Anderson & Associates

11/15/2016

Jeff Anderson to Respond to Plan at 2:30PM
Press Conference Today in Minneapolis

The amended plan also lets the Archdiocese’s insurance companies off the hook and significantly undervalues their exposure

Archdiocese First Amended Disclosure Statement
Archdiocese First Amended Plan of Reorganization
Brownell Affidavit
Declaration of Benjamin Gurstelle

WHAT: At a news conference today in Minneapolis, Attorneys Jeff Anderson and Mike Finnegan will:
• Discuss the details of the amended bankruptcy reorganization plan filed today by the Archdiocese of St. Paul & Minneapolis;
• Demand the Archdiocese uphold its pledge made to sexual abuse survivors to be transparent and accountable throughout the bankruptcy proceedings.

WHEN: Tuesday, November 15, 2016 at 2:30PM
WHERE: Outside the United States District Courthouse – Minneapolis
300 South Fourth Street
Minneapolis, MN 55415

Contact Jeff Anderson: Office/651.318.2650 Cell/612.817.8665
Contact Mike Finnegan: Office/651.318.2650 Cell/612.205.5531

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BALTIMORE (MD)
National Catholic Reporter

Dennis Coday | Nov. 15, 2016

BALTIMORE
Electing a president and vice president from regions with high immigrant populations, the U.S. bishops’ conference could be seen to be doubling down on the pledge to stand with immigrants and refugees.

Meeting in Baltimore this morning for the fall annual meeting, the U.S. bishops elected Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, Texas, to serve as president for the next three years and Archbishop José Gomez of Los Angeles as vice president for a three-year term.

DiNardo’s election was expected. He had been elected vice president three years ago, and by tradition the vice president is elected president. He won with 113 votes, 55 percent of votes cast, on the first ballot.

It took three votes to elect a vice president. Gomez had the plurality of votes in the first two ballots and won with a simple majority on the third ballot with 133 votes. Second place in the three votes was Archbishop Gregory Aymond of New Orleans.

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CANADA
Toronto Star

By ALY THOMSON
The Canadian Press
Mon., Nov. 14, 2016

KENTVILLE, N.S.—Witnesses at the trial of Toronto pastor Rev. Brent Hawkes described the religious leader performing a sexual act on a teenage male and walking down a hallway nude during an alcohol-fuelled party at his Nova Scotia trailer in the 1970s.

One witness said he watched Hawkes perform oral sex on his friend on the floor of his home in the Greenwood, N.S., area during a party sometime in the mid-1970s.

“I couldn’t believe it,” the man testified in Kentville provincial court Monday at the trial of Hawkes, an influential gay rights advocate who officiated at former NDP leader Jack Layton’s state funeral in 2011.

The witness said he knew Hawkes when he was a student and that Hawkes was a basketball coach and teacher at a school in the Annapolis Valley.

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TENNESSEE
Local Memphis

[with video]

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (localmemphis.com)

The City of Memphis is investigating an employee, named Chris Carwile, who works at a Memphis library, and is accused of abusing children while he worked with church youth almost two decades ago.

Three men filed a police report stating Carwile sexually abused them about 20 years ago while he was an associate youth pastor Immanuel Baptist Church in Collierville. Immanuel later changed its name to the Church at Schilling Farms.

The church fired Carwile, but admits it never reported the alleged abuse to law enforcement. Carwile went on to work at another church and is now employed at the city’s main library on Poplar. Last week, a city spokesperson says he was placed on paid administrative leave, pending the outcome of an investigation.

The three men met exclusively with the Local I-Team. They say they are speaking out on social media and in the news now to prevent other children from possibly being victimized. They also say they would like to see changes in the Baptist Church to ensure allegations of child abuse are reported to law enforcement. The Local I-Team has repeatedly attempted to contact Carwile, but he has not responded.

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NEW YORK
Business Insider

Sonam Sheth

Neal Gumpel, a 57-year-old screenwriter, said he was elated when he heard in October that Cardinal Timothy Dolan, archbishop of New York, announced that the church was setting up a fund to compensate sexual-abuse victims. Gumpel said that when he was 16 the Rev. Roy Drake, a Jesuit priest, sexually assaulted him.

The program, called the Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Program (IRCP), is intended to “bring a measure of peace and healing to those who have suffered abuse,” Dolan said.

The IRCP has many phases. The first, which spans from October to January, covers only those who had previously filed claims of sexual abuse against the church. The second phase, for which an implementation date has not been announced, will cover new claims filed against clergy members.

“I thought, finally, they’re acknowledging the victims,” Gumpel told Business Insider. “Finally, they’re admitting the pain they’ve caused us, not just by abusing us, but by turning their backs on us when we tried to come forward.”

But then he heard the bad news. Gumpel’s claims would not be covered and he would not receive a public acknowledgement from the church.

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INDIA
Times of India

KOZHIKODE: A central government employee here on Monday demanded action against Nadakavu St Mary’s English Church parish priest Jain T A for making sexual advances towards her through e-mail and chat communication.

The complainant alleged that the Malabar diocese of the Church of South India, instead of protecting the believer, was trying to protect the accused priest.

“The clergy secretary of the bishop even told me “there are so many other churches in Kozhikode” indirectly telling me to move out of St Mary’s Church instead of seeking action against the offender,” said the complainant woman at a news conference.

The complainant is a widow and is working in a central government office in Kolkata. According to her, she contacted the priest on August 16 to request him to pray on the birth day of her daughter.

“He offered special prayer and I thanked him. But he did not stop there; instead he continued chatting with me even though I tried to avoid it. Slowly he started crossing the limit and I warned him many times. It was a real shocker for me to expect such behaviour from a parish priest,” the woman said amid tears.

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INDIA
The News Minute

A woman central government employee of Kozhikode alleged in a press meet conducted on Monday that a parish priest was making sexual advances towards her through email and chat.

The woman said that she had contacted Nadakavu St Mary’s English Church parish priest Jain TA in August to conduct prayers for her daughter’s birthday. “He offered special prayer and I thanked him. But he did not stop there; instead he continued chatting with me even though I tried to avoid it. Slowly he started crossing the limit and I warned him many times. It was a real shocker for me to expect such behaviour from a parish priest,“ she said in the press meet with tears, The Times of India reports.

The complainant said that though she approached the Malabar diocese of Church of South India under which this particular parish comes, the diocese authorities tried to protect the priest.

She alleged that the secretary of the Bishop asked her to move out of St Mary’s Church instead of taking action against the priest. “The clergy secretary of the bishop told me “there are so many other churches in Kozhikode” she said.

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NEW JERSEY
Robert M. Hoatson

[note: This release does not connect to a web site.]

Advocate for victims of sexual abuse, former Newark Archdiocesan priest and West Orange Town Council candidate, and honored educator to announce a run for the Democratic nomination for Governor of New Jersey

Church reformer and whistleblower to bring “reform” agenda to the State of New Jersey

What
A press conference announcing the candidacy of Robert M. Hoatson, Ph.D., for the Democratic nomination for Governor of New Jersey

When
Tuesday evening, November 15, 2016, from 5:30 pm until 8:30 pm
(Media invited to attend announcement from 6:45 pm until 7:30 pm)

Where
Wilshire Grand Hotel, 350 Pleasant Valley Way, West Orange, NJ, 07052-2918

Who
Robert M. Hoatson, Ph.D., his family, neighbors, and supporters will gather to announce his run for the Democratic nomination for Governor of New Jersey. Robert M. Hoatson, Ph.D., a native and current resident of West Orange, NJ, has lived in New Jersey for more than forty (40) years and has resided and/or worked in many New Jersey cities and towns, including Newark, West Orange, Bayonne, Hackensack, Closter, Midland Park, East Orange, South Orange, Jersey City, Glen Rock, Scotch Plains, and Little Ferry. He served as a deacon and/or priest for thousands of Catholics in parishes and schools throughout the Archdiocese of Newark, New Jersey, and was Principal of three schools; a high school in Newark, and two elementary schools (one in Newark and one in Hackensack). He founded and has served as President of Road to Recovery, Inc., a non-profit charity based in New Jersey, since 2003. Road to Recovery, Inc. assists victims of sexual abuse and their families. Robert Hoatson, Ph.D., has lobbied for years in the New Jersey state legislature for reform of statute of limitations laws regarding sexual abuse of children. He has acted as a whistleblower of numerous cases of sexual abuse against children throughout the State of New Jersey, and was an integral part of the uncovering of facts surrounding the Newark Archdiocesan cover-up of the Fr. Michael Fugee sexual abuse case. In his work with Road to Recovery, Inc., Dr. Hoatson has traveled the State of New Jersey, helping to heal victims of sexual abuse and their families and advocating for justice and fairness for all. Dr. Hoatson’s perseverance in holding the soon-to-be-replaced Archbishop of Newark, John Myers, accountable for his mishandling of cases of clergy sexual abuse was influential in Pope Francis’ appointment of Archbishop Bernard Hebda, as co-adjutor Archbishop of Newark in 2013. Dr. Hoatson will announce his run for the Democratic nomination for Governor and speak about his theories and practices of leadership which will help to restore hope in the leadership of the State of New Jersey.

Contact
Robert M. Hoatson, Ph.D., 862-368-2800 – roberthoatson@gmail.com

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Tuesday, November 15, 2016

By Conall Ó Fátharta
Irish Examiner Reporter
IRELAND
Irish Examiner

Adoption campaigners have called for an audit of all records in the hands of the State but there has been no willingness at official level to comply, says Conall Ó Fátharta

A DOCUMENT showing that the religious order that operated Bessborough Mother and Baby Home altered records is just one of thousands of records the Commission of Investigation will have to examine in order to get to the bottom of how these institutions operated.

Rumours that records were altered in mother and baby homes have been rife in adoption circles for years. These latest revelations raise more questions about the vast number of records now in State hands.

The document, outlining a number of changes made to records relating to vaccine trials, has been in the possession of the HSE — and now Tusla — since 2011.

The changes were made to files in 2002 — just weeks after a discovery order from the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse (CICA). Its examination of the issue was shut down in 2003 following a Supreme Court ruling, but it is being re-examined by the current Mother and Baby Homes Commission.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Patsy McGarry

A call for a commission of inquiry into forced adoptions has been strongly supported by the Coalition of Mother And Baby Home Survivors (CMABS).

The call was made in a letter to Taoiseach Enda Kenny by former assistant national director of child and family services with the Health Service Executive, Phil Garland.

He was also director of child protection in the Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin from 2003 to 2009.

There was “undeniable evidence of cases of forced adoption within the mother and baby homes that had been uncovered as a result of the Magdalene inquiry” which published its report in February 2013, he said.

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GEORGIA
11 Alive

Joe Henke, WXIA November 14, 2016

ACWORTH, GA. – Members of an Acworth church congregation said their church didn’t tell them one of their youth ministry volunteers had a history of sexual assault.

Two parents said their learned of Mark Greer’s criminal history for themselves after he was charged last year with crimes against their teenage girls and also a third victim.

Greer began volunteering at Harvest Baptist Church several years ago, according to the church’s incoming pastor.

During his volunteer work, court records show Greer was charged last year with sexual battery and sexual molestation against three girls, all under the age of 16. He was arrested in Cherokee County in July of 2015.

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GUAM
Pacific News Center

Written by Janela Carrera

Archbishop Byrnes reversed and canceled the deed of restriction that gave the Yona property away.

Guam – It’s his first move but perhaps will be his boldest–newly appointed Coadjutor Archbishop Michael Jude Byrnes annihilated the Redemptoris Mater Seminary boards and reversed the highly contested deed of restriction that gave the RMS property away.

He hasn’t even stepped foot on the island and already coadjutor Archbishop Michael Byrnes is cleaning house from 7,500 miles away. Today at a last minute press conference, Father Jeff San Nicolas made the stunning, but welcome announcement.

“I am pleased to announce that the Archdiocese of Agana, through Archbishop Michael Jude Byrnes and concurred by Archbishop Savio Hon, with advice and support of both the Archdiocesan Finance Council and Presbyteral Council, has acted to transfer complete and unrestricted control and possession of the Yona property back to the Archdiocese of Agaña,” said San Nicolas.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Updated: Nov 15, 2016

By Jason Salas

Prior to today’s press conference given by the Archdiocese of Agana, another one was held – by an unlikely individual who, by the nature of her work, has spent a majority of her life shielded from the public.

But the mother superior of the Carmelite nuns in Guam is speaking out sharing her story about the Redemptoris Mater Seminar property in Yona. Mother Superior Dawn Marie is the last Carmelite standing in Guam. “The move to go to California was a very difficult one,” she admitted to island media.

One month after celebrating their 50th anniversary locally, in June all the remaining Carmelite nuns that were living here in a large house in Tamuning left, except for their mother superior. She cited the ongoing controversies in the local church as some of the reasons for their departure, saying conditions were, as she said, “Pretty toxic environment for the nuns to live in.”

In a rare press conference, Mother Dawn talked to local media to share her side of the story relating to the RMS property in Yona. You see, after years of speculation about who was the mystery $2 million benefactor that allowed for the archdiocese’s acquisition of the RMS property.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Haidee V Eugenio , heugenio@guampdn.com November 15, 2016

The Archdiocese of Agana regained full control of its seminary property in Yona after Coadjutor Archbishop Michael Jude Byrnes used his authority to cancel deeds signed several years ago by Archbishop Anthony Apuron, according to the church.

Byrnes on Nov. 9 signed a decree, canceling, repealing and rescinding a five-year-old declaration of deed restriction that allowed a seminary and theological institute controlled by the Neocatechumenal Way to use the Yona property indefinitely.

The seminary will continue to operate, church officials said.

The Concerned Catholics of Guam, a group that has been pushing for Apuron’s removal, was poised to file a lawsuit to ensure the archdiocese doesn’t lose ownership and control of the Yona property.

Byrnes, who was appointed by the Vatican as Apuron’s successor, also used his authority to sign documents to replace the Redemptoris Mater Seminary’s board of directors, abolish the RMS Corporation’s board of governors, take personal control of the seminary, and sign all rights to the property back to the archdiocese. These include amending the RMS Corporation’s by-laws.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

[with video]

Haidee V Eugenio, heugenio@guampdn.com November 15, 2016

Carmelite nuns donated the $2 million used by the Archdiocese of Agana to buy a former hotel in Yona, and they considered suing the church after finding out the property was not being used by the archdiocese, but for a seminary operated by the Neocatechumenal Way, said Mother Superior Dawn Marie, of the Carmelite Monastery on Guam.

She said Archbishop Anthony S. Apuron, the Rev. Pius Sammut and others in 2014 tried to get the Carmelites to lie, by saying the Carmelites had purposely earmarked their gift for the use of the Redemptoris Mater Seminary and for the Blessed Diego Luis de San Vitores Catholic Theological Institute for Oceania.

The mother superior was the person who got the Carmelite nuns in the United States to donate $2 million to the archdiocese on Guam to buy the Yona property over a decade ago.

She said the identity of the donors at the time was supposed to be anonymous, but Apuron and others violated that agreement from the beginning, she said.

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GUAM
KUAM

Updated: Nov 15, 2016

By Nestor Licanto

The Archdiocese of Agana says it has taken back complete and unrestricted control of the Redemptoris Mater Seminary. Legal documents were filed with the Department of Land Management on behalf of newly-appointed Archbishop Michael Byrnes that repeal a controversial 2011 consent decree by former Archbishop Anthony Apuron that essentially gave control of the multimillion dollar property to a board controlled by the Neocatechumenal Way.

Archdiocese spokesman Father Jeff San Nicolas made the announcement, saying, “The legal filings abolished the RMS Board of Guarantors and replaced the current board of directors with Bishop Byrnes as the sole director, as well as designated him as the chairman, president and secretary of the RMS Corporation.”

The legal authority cited is that Byrnes is now the corporation sole of RMS by virtue of his new appointment as archbishop of Agana. Apuron had used that same power to transfer control to the Neocatechumenal Way-controlled board. And while the seminary is now back with the archdiocese, it has not yet decided what it will do with it.

“While the governance has changed the administration and the day-to-day operation has not changed,” said Father San Nicolas.

But while the church says for now RMS will continue as it has, critics of Apuron and the NCW say the seminary has been used for the formation of off-island priests, not local priests which they believe it was intended for. The seminary is also seen as one of the church’s most valuable assets, with estimates ranging from $40 million to $70 million.

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OREGON
Statesman Journal

Gordon Friedman , Statesman Journal November 14, 2016

Donald Mansell, a former Christian school teacher and athletics coach, will serve 30 days in jail after pleading guilty to two counts of third-degree sexual abuse and two counts of harassment. The misdemeanor convictions stem from incidents where Mansell, 37, fondled two teenage female students and asked them for sex between 2010 and 2013.

Mansell, who worked at Livingston Adventist Academy and who is also the son-in-law of Marion County Judge Vance Day, was sentenced to five years of probation to begin after his release from jail. He’ll also have to register as a sex offender.

The sentencing conditions allow Mansell to have his probation ended two years early if he fully complies with its terms, court documents show. He can also have the convictions erased from his record in time.

The attorneys representing the two victims were not happy with Mansell’s sentence.

Ron Sayer, an attorney representing Mansell’s victims, said the sentence is the “worse miscarriage of justice that occurs in our system.”

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CANADA
Canoe

JOE LOFARO, POSTMEDIA NETWORK
Nov 15, 2016

OTTAWA – More than a decade before the Archdiocese of Ottawa told Jacques Faucher he could no longer be a priest, it paid tens of thousands of dollars to a former altar boy who had accused the reverend of molesting him.

Faucher was convicted in March of historical sex offences against three other children, but newly obtained documents by the Ottawa Sun show the diocese wrote a $50,000 cheque to a former altar boy when he was an adult in 1998, more than a year after he told the church about the alleged sexual abuse.

The payment was made on the condition he keep details of the out-of-court settlement confidential.

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