ABUSE TRACKER

AUSTRALIA
Manny Waks

8 November 2016

Manny Waks

​I welcome the recent announcement by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse that Yeshivah Melbourne and Yeshiva Bondi will be called to a further public hearing in February 2017.

This public hearing will focus on the current policies and procedures of these institutions in relation to child protection and child-safe standards, including responding to allegations of child sexual abuse. This hearing is also expected to include consideration of factors that may have contributed to the occurrence of child sexual abuse in religious institutions and factors that may have affected the institutional response of religious institutions to child sexual abuse. This hearing may also examine the responses of these institutions to relevant case study report(s).

At a previous public hearing held in February 2015, victims and survivors gave evidence of their sexual abuse and the cover-ups perpetrated by the Yeshiva/h institutions. Evidence was also given of the bullying, harassment and demonisation which we, and our families, experienced at the hands of Yeshivah Melbourne and the Chabad community – in Australia and beyond – as a result of seeking justice for the crimes committed against us. It was shown that the religious and lay leadership of Yeshivah Melbourne were responsible for the failures which led to the sexual abuse of dozens of children in their care and that the more recent attacks against us were led by some of those leaders and members of their families. Members of the Orthodox Rabbinate and the Rabbinical Council of Victoria were also involved in attacks against us and our families.

I acknowledge that there are good people within Yeshivah Melbourne who are doing what they can to effect change. In some cases, they too have come under attack by Yeshivah Management. I also acknowledge and appreciate the recent personal apology that I received from Yeshivah. It is also important to note that Yeshivah has made some changes in response to the Royal Commission, although I consider that these have been mostly superficial and intended to address public perceptions as opposed to genuine reform.

Regrettably, in the two years since that public hearing, victims have continued to experience bullying, harassment and ostracism within Yeshivah Melbourne. Despite several incidents having been reported to Yeshivah Management, the institution has failed to deal with the perpetrators.

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CONNECTICUT
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release, November 8, 2016

Statement by Joelle Casteix, western regional director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org), (949) 322-7434, jcasteix@gmail.com

The second-in-command of a Connecticut-based scandal-plagued religious group has been accused of child sexual abuse in a local civil lawsuit filed last week.

[The Daily Beast]

The priest, Fr. Luis Garza, has been accused of sexually abusing a child and trafficking the teen across international borders.

It is time for the George Jepsen and the Connecticut State Attorney General’s Office to take action and investigate the Legionnaires. No organization that cares for children and teens and enjoys nonprofit status should also be allowed to facilitate international child sex trafficking and cover up. The cult-like group has also been accused of financial misdeeds. It is time for law enforcement to use the power of the tried-and-true criminal justice system to stop these crimes.

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GEORGIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release, November 8, 2016

Statement by Joelle Casteix, western regional director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org), (949) 322-7434, jcasteix@gmail.com

A priest who worked in Atlanta in 2012 and was the second-in-command of an influential international religious group—founded by another priest who molested up to 100 children—has now also been accused of child sexual abuse in a lawsuit filed in CT last week.

[The Daily Beast]

We are sad, but not surprised. The Legionnaires of Christ was a religious order founded by a man, Marcial Maciel Degollado, who devoted his career to molesting children. It makes perfect sense that he would attract and recruit men like his second in command, Father Luis Garza.

Garza spent years defending Maciel. Now, he has been accused himself. Garza traveled the world forcing Maciel’s victims into silence with “private vows”—telling them is was a mortal sin to tell anyone that Maciel had sexually abused them. We fear that there could be more Garza victims worldwide forced into the same kind of vows of shame and silence.

Atlanta Archbishop Wilton Gregory must immediately reach out to every parish, home, retreat center, and organization where Garza worked and stayed. There may be victims in Atlanta who have no idea where to turn for help and accountability now that Garza is out of the country. Garza has been sent to the Philippines.

We applaud the brave victim in this case. Coming forward to talk openly about child sexual abuse and demanding accountability is never easy, but it is the only way to ensure that sex crimes against children and the cover-up of those crimes stop. We encourage anyone who has been sexually abused to come forward and get help. It is safe to report and find healing.
We also urge anyone who has seen or suspected abuse by Father Garza or anyone to call law enforcement immediately. We fear that there may be men and women in Atlanta who have information about Fr. Garza, but may not have known whom to tell. Even the smallest of information can help a victim and save a child.

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PENNSYLVANIA/NEW YORK
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, Nov. 9, 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 )

A Philadelphia-based group of nuns is refusing to admit that it ran an orphanage where a man says he was both sexually and physically abused as a child. We call on these nuns to stop ducking and dodging and start helping this victim. If they continue to stonewall, we call on Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput and New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan to insist that they step up, “come clean” and help this struggling survivor.

[New York Daily News]

New York City Catholic officials insist that St. Michael’s Home for Children on Staten Island was run by the Philadelphia-based Sisters of Mercy (Mid-Atlantic branch). That’s where an unnamed man charges he was beaten and molested years ago.

But the nuns’ group refuses to confirm or deny they operated the orphanage, or even respond to a reporter’s phone call about this, leaving the victim in a painful limbo. That’s mean-spirited. And it contradicts the hundreds of promises by hundreds of Catholic officials to be “open” about child sex crimes in the church.

Shame on Sister Patricia Vetrano, the president of the Sisters of Mercy Mid-Atlantic Community (610-664-6650, http://www.sistersofmercy.org/mid-atlantic/) and on every other nun, defense lawyer or public relations staffer in the church who is stonewalling this brave, wounded victim, especially now during Pope Francis’ supposed “Year of Mercy.”

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AUSTRALIA
Washington Post

By A. Odysseus Patrick
November 8

SYDNEY — Like many of their brethren around the world, Catholics in Australia have been rocked in recent years by evidence of systemic child abuse in the church.

One big question remains, though, for the country’s 5 million Catholics: Was one of their top clerics complicit?

Last month, George Pell, now a cardinal and senior Vatican official, was questioned in Rome by Australian police after public allegations in July by two former students that he had inappropriately touched them in a swimming pool back in the 1970s.

“The cardinal does not wish to cause any distress to any victim of abuse,” his office said in July. “However, claims that he has sexually abused anyone, in any place, at any time in his life are totally untrue and completely wrong.”

Pell had faced earlier allegations that he had failed to act on reports of child abuse when he was an up-and-coming priest in the 1970s in the regional city of Ballarat.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian
..
MICHAEL MCKENNA
ReporterBrisbane
@McKennaattheOz

Child abuse victims forced into meagre compensation settlements will have the chance to launch new legal action for the first time in Australia under legislation passed in the Queensland parliament.

Opposition and crossbench MPs secured passage last night of the pioneering reforms to abolish time limits on child abuse legal action.

The minority Palaszczuk government had introduced the legislation in response to recommendations of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse to allow people to sue regardless of when alleged abuse happened.

In Queensland, victims have had until their 21st birthday to sue institutions over their abuse.

But the Labor government had refused calls to extend the bill to children outside institutions, those who suffered physical and psychological abuse, or to pave the way for victims to take legal action if they had already ­received compensation.

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AUSTRALIA
Brisbane Times

Felicity Caldwell

Victims of child sexual abuse will be able to pursue civil legal action in Queensland, regardless of when or where it happened, after new laws passed in parliament.

Previously, survivors could only pursue civil action within three years of their 18th birthday.

The LNP also had a win during the debate, with one of their amendments passing – despite the government opposing it.

Labor MPs did not call a division after losing a vote to amend the bill, meaning victims will be able to apply to courts to reopen past deeds under the amendment proposed by the LNP.

It is understood the government may not have had the numbers in the House to win a division to oppose the amendment to the bill.

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MALTA
The Malta Independent

Neil Camilleri
Tuesday, 8 November 2016

A well-known priest who was dismissed from a Franciscan order says this was the result of dislike harboured against him by the Provincial Minister.

Fr Adrian Cachia, 71, was told by the church authorities that he was being dismissed by the Order of Friars Minor and that he is not allowed to celebrate mass in the archdiocese of Malta. The friar is still currently tied to the OFM and has appealed the decision.

Contacted by The Malta Independent yesterday, Fr Cachia said the Provincial Minister, Fr Richard Stanley Grech, “had it in for him” ever since he was appointed to the post two years ago. “He just doesn’t like my way of doing things. I have always acted out of initiative instead of waiting for someone to tell me what to do.”

The priest said he has been helping troubled youths for over three decades. Rather than staying in some convent, he has spent many years providing shelter, food and company for homeless youths at a Rabat home he converted for the task with his own hands. He says he has lately been helping youths who are discharged from Mount Carmel Hospital but have nowhere to stay. “This is how I have always worked. I have always been close to people and lived with them. I take care of these youths, cook and clean for them and help them find a job or go back to school.”

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

Editorial

The royal commission into child sex abuse has been a gruelling though enormously important process. It has been shocking and disturbing to learn the extent of institutional abuse of children. But we look back at history to learn from it, and it must be hoped that the work of the commission will lead to systemic changes and checks and balances that ensure this appalling abuse can never happen again.

Another crucial goal is of course support and justice for the survivors of abuse, and with this in mind it is welcome news that the federal government is launching a compensation fund for child victims of abuse. But there is a glaring flaw in the scheme.

The national scheme, a key recommendation from the royal commission, will compensate victims of child sexual abuse with payments of up to $150,000, cutting much of the existing red tape. But it will be opt-in only. Those states, churches and charities that do not want to contribute financially won’t have to, dodging their responsibilities.

Spruiking the news last week, Social Services Minister Christian Porter said important features of the scheme included that it would offer specialist psychological support to victims as well as allowing them, if they wish, to have direct contact with senior representatives of the institutions that were responsible at the time of their abuse. These initiatives have been welcomed by abuse survivors and advocacy groups. Having the truth of their experiences validated is a powerful part of the process of working towards healing.

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DEUTSCHLAND
NDR

[In Germany another allegation of sexual abuse has been made against the late Bishop Heinrich Maria Janssen. The abuse, which involved immoral touching, is said to have happened in the late 1950s to the beginning of the early 1960s.]

Das Münchner Institut für Praxisforschung und Projektberatung (IPP) untersucht im Auftrag des Bistums Hildesheim die Missbrauchsvorwürfe eines ehemaligen Messdieners gegen den verstorbenen Bischof Heinrich Maria Janssen. Janssen soll Ende der 1950er- bis Anfang der 1960er-Jahre den Jungen regelmäßig sexuell missbraucht haben. Nun hat sich ein mögliches zweites Opfer an die Forscher gewandt. Ein Sprecher des IPP in München bestätigte dem NDR, dass sich ein Mann gemeldet habe, der in dem Fall Angaben machen wolle. Man werde mit dem Mann Gespräche führen. Was der Mann den Gutachtern bei der ersten Kontaktaufnahme gesagt hat, wollte das IPP nicht kommentieren. Die “Hildesheimer Allgemeine Zeitung” berichtet in ihrer Ausgabe vom Montag, dass sich der Mann auch an die Redaktion gewandt habe.

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UNITED KINGDOM
ITV

Chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee Yvette Cooper MP has called Dame Lowell Goddard’s refusal to give oral evidence about her resignation from the national sexual abuse inquiry “disgraceful.”

Dame Lowell, 67, wrote in a letter which appeared in the media this morning, that she had volunteered detailed written reports instead of oral testimony in a bid to “maintain judicial independence.”

Dame Lowell also wrote: “I am disappointed that there has been no government defence of me in England, despite the fact that information refuting some of the more serious allegations has been held by the Home Office and your committee since the time of my initial recruitment.”

Responding to the letter, Ms Cooper said this was unsatisfactory and an “astonishing response” from a public servant. She added that child abuse survivors “have been let down by the extremely rocky start to this inquiry.”

“Dame Goddard has been paid significant amounts of public money to do an extremely important job which she suddenly resigned from, leaving a series of questions about what has been happening over the last 18 months and why the inquiry got into difficulties,” Ms Cooper said.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Sky News

Dame Lowell Goddard has refused to give evidence about her resignation from the child abuse inquiry and rounded on the Government for failing to defend her.

The New Zealand judge has refused to speak in front of the Home Affairs Select Committee because it would be “unacceptable” for allegations against her to be aired in public, where those who make them are protected from prosecution.

In a letter to the committee, Dame Lowell said she had been the “subject of malicious defamatory attacks” in the UK media and had informed the committee of “the falsity of these and their apparent purpose”.

She added that were she to give evidence via video link from New Zealand she would not be afforded freedom from prosecution in any allegations she might need to make in her defence.

She also heavily criticised the Government for failing to robustly defend her against the allegations of racism and poor treatment of colleagues. Dame Lowell has always denied all the claims made against her.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Telegraph

Michael Wilkinson, political correspondent
8 NOVEMBER 2016

Dame Lowell Goddard, the former chair of the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse, is refusing to answer questions from MPs about her resignation.

The former High Court judge from New Zealand resigned from the beleaguered inquiry on August 4, less than 18 months into the role.

In her post, Dame Goddard received £360,000 a year plus allowances and flight homes to New Zealand, while a committee of MPs heard that she had also secured an £80,000 pay-off.

She is now refusing to answer MPs’ questions about her departure, either by flying back to London or by videolink.

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NEW ZEALAND
Stuff

JOHN EDENS

Kiwi judge Dame Lowell Goddard says it was disappointing there was “no government defence of me in England” when she resigned as chair of the historical sex abuse inquiry.

Goddard quit in August as head of the United Kingdom inquiry (IICSA) into cases of historical sex abuse.

In a letter sent to the UK Home Affairs Committee, Goddard effectively ruled out appearing in person before British MPs and referred to “malicious defamatory attacks” by some media.

In a foreword from her husband Christopher Hodson QC, he said the letters and documents were being released as a final step.

The cache of letters and correspondence was sent to media on Tuesday. The most recent relates to the committee’s oral evidence hearing request to Goddard, who has been providing written correspondence after leaving London and returning to New Zealand.

In a letter dated November 7 to the head of the select committee, Yvette Cooper MP, Goddard writes:

“I wish to make it very clear that I have never declined to provide oral evidence to your committee.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian

Eleanor Ainge Roy in Dunedin and Alan Travis
Tuesday 8 November 2016

The former chair of the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse has accused the British government of failing to defend her when she was accused in the press of racism.

Dame Lowell Goddard, a former high court judge from New Zealand, resigned from the inquiry on 4 August after less than 18 months.

In her resignation letter, Goddard cited the inquiry’s “legacy of failure” in her decision to step down. Goddard was the inquiry’s third chair to resign since it was established in July 2014.

However, in a letter to the chair of the home affairs select committee, Yvette Cooper, Goddard went further, saying she was “disappointed” the British government had not defended her against “malicious defamatory attacks in some UK media”.

But her refusal to appear before the committee prompted further criticism, with Cooper saying it was “disgraceful” and an “astonishing response” from a paid public servant.

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AUSTRALIA
Brisbane Times

Felicity Caldwell

The Queensland government has flagged its support for changes that would remove the statute of limitations for children sexually abused outside of institutions.

Parliament is debating two bills on Tuesday that would remove limitation periods for victims to seek civil legal action.

Attorney-General Yvette D’Ath said she noted the non-government members of the parliamentary committee which considered the bills recommended the limitation period also be removed for child sexual abuse in non-institutions.

“Subject to considering the wording of that amendment, the government indicates its in-principal support,” Ms D’Ath said.

Ms D’Ath said it was important to have bi-partisanship when it came to tackling the issue of child sexual abuse.

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AUSTRALIA
The Courier-Mail

Jessica Marszalek, The Courier-Mail
November 8, 2016

NEW laws to make it easier for victims of child sexual abuse to sue their attackers will likely be extended after the Palaszczuk Government indicated its in-principle support for Opposition amendments.

A Bill introduced by Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk was to drop the three-year statute of limitations for victims of institutional abuse, as recommended by the Royal Commission into Child Sexual Abuse.

It will amend current laws that mean a victim has only three years until after their 18th birthday to commence proceedings.

But Attorney-General Yvette D’Ath today indicated the Government was willing to go further following calls from the Opposition and survivors to extend the laws to victims of all child sexual abuse in all settings, including by family.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

Joshua Robertson
@jrojourno
Monday 7 November 2016

A child abuse victim named by the Queensland premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, as a friend and key inspiration for her government’s push to end time limits on civil claims has attacked her proposed legislation as a betrayal of many victims.

Allan Allaway says he is “absolutely livid” the the bill, which is due to be voted on in parliament on Tuesday, excludes survivors of physical and psychological abuse.

When introducing the bill to parliament in August, Palaszczuk singled out Allaway for thanks and acknowledged his advocacy, describing him as “a friend for many years and whose personal stories have touched my life”.

But Allaway, 76, who suffered serious physical abuse at Neerkol orphanage near Rockhampton after being taken from his mother as a baby, said the legislation abandoned him and thousands of other victims because their abuse was not sexual.

The bill would retrospectively abolish the need for victims of institutional child sexual abuse to file lawsuits by the age of 21.

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AUSTRALIA
Eureka Street

Francis Sullivan | 07 November 2016

The announcement late last week by the Turnbull government that it will establish and run a national redress scheme for the survivors of institutional child sexual abuse is a great decision that has the potential to be one of the most significant social policy reforms in recent history.

Child with teddy bear observed by threatening adultFriday’s announcement has the potential to benefit tens of thousands of people now and into the future who have suffered the most damaging and tragic abuse — institutional child sexual abuse.

The estimates are jaw dropping, more than 60,000 children abused in hundreds of different institutions across Australia for many decades into the past.

But the new scheme will only be truly effective if all institutions and all governments accept their responsibilities and commit to participating.

The Catholic Church has a lot to answer for. For decades up to the 1990s and in some cases beyond, it systematically covered up child sex abuse by members of our clergy. It consistently put the interests of the church as an institution ahead of the welfare and safety of children. Their suffering has been compounded and for many, their lives shattered.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Express and Star

A disgruntled traveller who drove a gypsy pastor to kill himself after a two-month online smear campaign has been jailed for 26 months.

Jamie Jones, 42, uploaded 23 menacing videos to YouTube targeting head minister Davey Jones (no relation) of the Life and Light Christian gypsy church in Union Street, Willenhall, Wolverhampton Crown Court heard.

The clips, posted between May and July last year, accused Davey Jones of covering-up a child sexual abuse scandal at a Romanian orphanage, of corruption over charitable funds, and of being homosexual, Mr Howard Searle prosecuting said.

The pastor, 60, was later found dead in a hotel car park in Walsall on July 11 last year after a ‘meltdown’ caused by abuse attributed to the videos, the court was told.

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FRANCE
Deutsche Welle

The French Catholic Church pleaded for forgiveness after months of revelations of sexual abuse by priests. A commission has been set up to determine the extent of abuse.

French priests and bishops took part in a day of prayer and fasting Monday to plead for forgiveness for the “sexual abuse scandals that have rocked the Catholic Church over the previous months.

Bishop Luc Crepy, who gave the homily during a Mass at the Rosary basilica, said his fellow members of the church will play their part in “this fight against scandalous and criminal actions.”
Crepy, who was appointed as the head of a church panel regarding pedophilia earlier this year, announced a series of measures to fight sexual child abuse in the church. “We had to end the guilty silence, which lasted too long, of both the church and wider society and hear the suffering of the victims…we must have the courage to take every measure possible so that the church becomes a safe place,” said Crepy.

Included in the measures passed by the French Catholic Church was a dedicated, secured email address for victims to report abuse. About 100 emails have been received since the email address was set up in April. Some emails detail abuse dating back as far as the 1960’s. The church said meetings about pedophilia would be held in Lourdes, as well as Masses around the country.

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FRANCE
Inquirer (Philippines)

AFP

LOURDES, France — French bishops pleaded for forgiveness Monday for the “guilty silence” of the Catholic Church following months of damaging revelations over the sexual abuse of children by priests.

The church has been rocked by allegations that the Archbishop of Lyon, Philippe Barbarin, covered up the abuse of scouts and failed to remove a priest despite being aware he had sexually abused the boys a quarter of a century ago.

The scandal was the worst to hit the Church in France since 2001, when a bishop was given a three-month suspended jail sentence for failing to inform authorities about a pedophile priest.

Barbarin, who has protested his innocence, remains in his post, but the scandal has tarnished the image of one of the church’s most media-friendly figures.

Archbishop of Paris Andre Vingt-Trois told worshippers at a “time for prayer and penitence” during the bishops’ autumn conference in the southwestern pilgrimage town of Lourdes on Monday that the Church had failed in its duty to victims of abuse.

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CANADA
The Sudbury Star

By Harold Carmichael, The Sudbury Star
Tuesday, November 8, 2016

A $4.25-million lawsuit filed against a former St. Charles College teacher, the Basilian Fathers of Toronto and the Diocese of Sault Ste. Marie has been settled.

A now 67-year-old man brought the case against the Roman Catholic Episcopal Corporation of Sault Ste. Marie, the Basilians and the now-deceased William Hodgson Marshall.

It dismissed without costs at a Superior Court of Justice pre-trial meeting.

Had the case not been settled, it would have started Monday at the Sudbury Courthouse, said Rob Talach of Beckett Litigation Lawyers in London, Ont.

“The family was involved,” he said in an interview. “There was a lot of fatigue, psychological fatigue. It was resolved at the pre-trial.”

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PENNSYLVANIA
Erie Times-News

Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General agents descend on offices of Erie-based diocese

By Dana Massing Erie Times-News

Special agents from the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General descended Monday on the offices of the Catholic Diocese of Erie, serving a search warrant related to a state probe of clergy sex abuse.

The Erie-based diocese, which covers 13 counties in northwestern Pennsylvania, issued a three-sentence statement: “The Diocese of Erie was served with a search warrant by the Pennsylvania Office of the Attorney General this morning. Attorney General police were on the premises of St. Mark Catholic Center in Erie just before noon. Bishop Lawrence Persico asked all employees to cooperate with the search, which is part of an ongoing statewide grand jury investigation into past cases of sexual abuse in several Catholic dioceses across Pennsylvania.”

A diocese spokeswoman read the statement, which was handwritten because employees at the center weren’t being allowed access to computers at the time.

An Attorney General police truck and an SUV were parked in front of St. Mark Catholic Center, 429 E. Grandview Blvd., as men in shirts proclaiming them to be a “special agent” or “police” went in and out of the building Monday shortly before noon. None was available for comment.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Go Erie

[with video]

Published 11/07 2016

ERIE, Pa. — The Diocese of Erie was served a search warrant by the Pennsylvania office of the attorney general on Monday.

Attorney General police were on the premises of St. Mark Catholic Center in Erie just before noon, according to a news release by the diocese.

Bishop Lawrence Persico asked all employees to cooperate with the search, which is part of an ongoing, statewide grand jury investigation into past cases of sexual abuse in several Catholic dioceses across the state.

Persico was subpoenaed on Sept. 1 to give any information related to past and present allegations of sexual abuse of children in the Diocese of Erie.

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CALIFORNIA
San Francisco Examiner

By Jonah Owen Lamb on November 7, 2016

An Archbishop Riordan High School assistant football coach arrested on suspicion of murder last week is set to appear in court Wednesday for allegedly killing a man in Visitacion Valley last month, according to the District Attorney’s Office.

Salevi Levi, 22, was booked into San Francisco County Jail on Thursday along with co-defendant Dennis Paulo-Tufono.

Levi was hired earlier this year to work as an assistant coach for the private Catholic school’s football team, but Levi did not come to work Oct. 31 and as of last week, he “no longer” works for Riordan, Mike Brown, a spokesperson for the Archdiocese of San Francisco, previously told the San Francisco Examiner

Levi and Paulo-Tufono are accused in the killing of 36-year-old Giovanni Hernandez, a San Francisco resident, who was shot around 4 p.m. Oct. 1 near 26 Burr Ave.

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NEW JERSEY
Religion News Service

By David Gibson

NEWARK, N.J. (RNS) New Jersey’s first cardinal knew he was walking into the global media spotlight and, as Pope Francis’ personal choice for the next archbishop of Newark, into a post that has suddenly taken on unusual significance for the future of American Catholicism.

But at a news conference on Monday (Nov. 7) introducing him to his new flock, Cardinal-designate Joseph Tobin, 64, handled it all with the grace, straight talk and self-deprecating humor that have characterized his varied church career and made him beloved in the places he has served.

“Sometimes I think Pope Francis sees a lot more in me than I see in myself,” Tobin, who has been archbishop of Indianapolis, told reporters who repeatedly asked him why Francis had chosen him last month to be a cardinal and then promoted him to the Newark archdiocese.

Tobin repeatedly said he wasn’t sure why he was moved from his relatively small Midwestern diocese to this more prominent East Coast post, but it became apparent during his inaugural news conference — he took every question and stayed long afterwards to accommodate any interview requests — why he could be such a breath of fresh air.

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FRANCE
France 24

French bishops pleaded for forgiveness Monday for the “guilty silence” of the Catholic Church following months of damaging revelations over the sexual abuse of children by priests.

The Church in France has been rocked by allegations that the Archbishop of Lyon, Philippe Barbarin, covered up the abuse of Scouts and failed to remove a priest when he became aware he had sexually abused the boys a quarter of a century ago.

The scandal was the worst to hit the Church in France since 2001, when a bishop was given a three-month suspended jail sentence for failing to inform authorities about a paedophile priest.

Barbarin, who has proclaimed his innocence, remains in his post, but the image of one of the French Catholic Church’s most media-friendly figures has been tarnished by the scandal.

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NEW JERSEY
The Record

BY MONSY ALVARADO AND MARY JO LAYTON
STAFF WRITERS | THE RECORD

NEWARK — The newly appointed spiritual leader of The Archdiocese of Newark said Monday he will promote joy, transparency and freedom.

“I intend to be in regular and effective communication with people of this Archdiocese, city and state,” said Cardinal-elect Joseph W. Tobin, during a press conference before a throng of reporters, priests and nuns at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark. “I will promote policies that recognize that we preach the Gospel not only with words but with actions.”

Pope Francis on Monday appointed Tobin to succeed retiring Archbishop John J. Myers.

Tobin said he grew up in a multicultural neighborhood of southwest Detroit and was little jealous of classmates who spoke different languages at home.

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NEW JERSEY
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, Nov. 7, 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)

There are 50 publicly accused Newark predator priests. Warning parishioners and the public about them – and keeping kids away from them – should be the top priority of newly-appointed Cardinal Joseph Tobin.

Retiring Newark Archbishop John Myers has been among the very most reckless, callous and deceptive Catholic officials in the US. As recently as three years ago, he withheld information from prosecutors about a predator.

[NJ.com]

But kids won’t necessarily be safer with Myers’ retirement. Tobin has shown no leadership whatsoever in the church’s continuing abuse and cover up scandal.

Just last year, we begged him to do outreach about an Indianapolis predator, Oscar Vasquez-Guzman. We see no sign that he responded or took any helpful action. http://www.snapnetwork.org/in_victims_push_indy_archbishop_to_act_on_abuse

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FRANCE
Washington Post

By Associated Press November 7

LOURDES, France — France’s Roman Catholic Church is trying to make amends for years of silence surrounding pedophilia among priests with a day of prayer and fasting for victims of sex abuse — and to fix the problem, notably with a prevention program for priests.

Bishops who gathered in the town of Lourdes, a leading pilgrimage site, for their biannual plenary assembly prayed on Monday “for forgiveness for the sins committed by clergy members.”

During a Mass at the Rosary basilica, Bishop Luc Crepy gave the homily, exhorting his peers to play their part in “this fight against scandalous and criminal actions.”

Crepy, who was appointed earlier this year as the head of a church panel targeting pedophilia, announced a series of measures to fight child sexual abuse, including giving victims a voice and an ear, and a means to confide an act of pedophilia against. A prevention program starting in seminaries where young men are being trained for the priesthood and extending into individual dioceses is in the process of being set up. Legal procedures in the event a priest is accused of pedophilia are to be taught.

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MARYLAND
Inside Baltimore

Payment Also Requires Recipient To Relinquish Any Future Claims

By Tom Nugent

November 2016 – Reading, Pa. – After more than 40 years of struggling to get the Catholic Church to “acknowledge the crimes” that were committed against her, a Pennsylvania woman who says she was raped by two priests and a policeman while attending a Catholic high school in Baltimore was recently awarded more than $40,000 from an Archdiocese of Baltimore funding program aimed at “promoting healing for . . . victims of abuse.”

The $40,000-plus payment was accompanied by a letter of apology from an Archdiocesan official who wrote to the victim: “I am sorry for the pain you have experienced.”

Most of the money paid to the victim by the Archdiocese of Baltimore came via a check drawn on the PNC Bank of Baltimore. The check number was 313504634, and it was signed by Archbishop William E. Lori.

“This is a huge step forward for dozens of women who have been trying to get the Catholic Church in Baltimore to publicly acknowledge sex crimes that were committed against them during the past several decades,” said the reported childhood rape victim, Donna Wallis VonDenBosch, a nurse practitioner with a master’s degree who is now working on her doctorate. “For the first time that I’m aware of, the Archdiocese is validating our nightmarish experience by confirming on the record that it actually took place.”

In a statement released via email on November 1, Archdiocesan Executive Director of Communications Sean T. Caine said that the money was paid to VonDenBosch as part of a “longstanding practice of promoting healing for victims by offering therapeutic counseling assistance to victims of abuse for as long as it is helpful. . . .

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service – Bulletin

The Holy Father has appointed:

– Archbishop Joseph W. Tobin, C.Ss.R., metropolitan of Indianapolis, United States of America, as metropolitan Archbishop of Newark (area 1,328, population 3,157,000, Catholics 1,459,000, priests 730, permanent deacons 162, religious 1,092), United States of America. He succeeds Archbishop John J. Myers, whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same archdiocese was accepted by the Holy Father.

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NEW JERSEY
NJ.com

By Kelly Heyboer | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

NEWARK — A month ago, Joseph Tobin learned Pope Francis was promoting him to cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. Two weeks after that, he learned the pope was appointing him head of the Archdiocese of Newark.

“I am not sure that my central nervous system can take much more news,” Tobin said as his appointment was announced Monday. “So, you will forgive me the occasional stutter or facial tick.”

Signaling a new era for New Jersey Catholics, Pope Francis officially announced Cardinal-designate Tobin as the new head of the Archdiocese of Newark early Monday. NJ Advance Media first reported Friday that church sources said Tobin was slated to get the job.

Church officials made the announcement at a morning press conference at the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark before members of the media and several hundred priests, church officials and parishioners.

Standing at a podium at the foot of the altar, Tobin said he accepted his appointment with “both shock and sadness” as he leaves his current job as the archbishop of Indianapolis. The relaxed Detroit native stood with a hand in his pocket as he cracked jokes, answered questions and showed off his ability to speak Spanish in a 47-minute press conference.

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NEW JERSEY
Inside Indiana Business

By Alex Brown, Multimedia Journalist

NEWARK, N.J. –
Indianapolis Archbishop Joseph Tobin says while he is saddened to leave Indiana, he is ready to begin his journey as the new Archbishop of Newark. Tobin has served as Archbishop of Indianapolis for the last four years after being appointed to the position by Pope Benedict XVI.

Tobin announced his new position Monday morning and, at a press conference in Newark, said he learned of his appointment two weeks ago. He joked about being named a Cardinal by Pope Francis two weeks prior to that, saying, “I’m not sure that my central nervous system can take much more news.”

Tobin says the phone call he received informing him of his appointment to the Archdiocese of Newark invoked shock and sadness.

“I recently marked four years as the Archbishop of Indianapolis and have come to love deeply the people of central and southern Indiana,” said Tobin. “It is gut-wrenching to think of leaving those wonderful clergy, religious and faithful as well as the many friends I have among peoples of other faiths and those of no faith.”

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NEW JERSEY
San Antonio Express-News

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — The Latest on Pope Francis selecting a new leader of the Archdiocese of Newark (all times local):

12:20 p.m.

The new archbishop of the Archdiocese of Newark, New Jersey, is asking Catholics not to fall prey to the political polarization that has overtaken the country.

Archbishop Joseph Tobin made his first public comments Monday after being chosen to replace Archbishop John Myers, who has reached the mandatory retirement age of 75.

Tobin says he was surprised when he returned to the U.S. after being away since the 1990s by what he termed the “red-state, blue-state stuff” he saw in the country.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Register

BY ELISE HARRIS/CNA/EWTN NEWS 11/07/2016

VATICAN CITY — The Vatican announced Monday that recently nominated Cardinal-elect Archbishop Joseph William Tobin of Indianapolis will soon be taking over as the new head of the Archdiocese of Newark, New Jersey, Archdiocese.

Born in Detroit May 3, 1952, Cardinal-elect Tobin has served as the sixth archbishop of Indianapolis since 2012. He was ordained a Redemptorist priest in 1978 and served as the order’s superior general from 1997 to 2009.

On Oct. 9, Pope Francis named him as one of three Americans on his list of 17 new cardinal-elects, who will be elevated during a special Nov. 19 consistory set to coincide with the end of the Jubilee of Mercy.

Other Americans getting the red hat are Archbishop Blase Cupich of Chicago and Bishop Kevin Farrell, former head of the Dallas Diocese but who recently moved to Rome to carry out his new role as prefect of the Vatican Congregation for Laity, Family and Life.

As head of the Newark Archdiocese, Cardinal-elect Tobin will be taking over for Archbishop John Myers, who will retire after having reached the age limit of 75 in July.

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NEW JERSEY
The Record

BY MARY JO LAYTON AND MONSY ALVARADO
STAFF WRITERS | THE RECORD

Pope Francis on Monday appointed Indianapolis Archbishop Joseph Tobin, a staunch supporter of social justice as the next spiritual leader of the Newark Archdiocese to succeed retiring Archbishop John J. Myers.

Myers is scheduled to hold a press conference, along with Tobin, at 10:30 a.m. today at the Newark Basilica of the Sacred Heart.

Tobin, the oldest of 13 children, is due to be elevated to cardinal in two weeks, which would make him the first cleric of that exalted rank in the 163-year history of the archdiocese, serving 1.2 million Roman Catholics in Bergen, Essex, Union and Hudson counties.

Archdiocese spokesman Jim Goodness said Tobin will likely start in January.

Related: As he exits, Newark Archbishop Myers opens up; criticizes secular culture

Cardinals usually preside over the nation’s largest and most important cities, including New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.

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INDIANA
Indianapolis Star

Kaitlin L Lange and Vic Ryckaert, IndyStar November 7, 2016

Cardinal-designate Joseph W. Tobin, the archbishop of Indianapolis who tangled with Gov. Mike Pence over Syrian refugees, announced Monday that he has been chosen by Pope Francis to lead the Archdiocese of Newark, N.J.

“I immediately thought of you, the people of this great Archdiocese whose pastoral care was entrusted to me four years ago,” Tobin said in a statement posted on the Indianapolis Archdiocese website.

“The thought of leaving you devastated me,” Tobin said. “I have had many sleepless nights and shed more than a few tears.”

Tobin will be officially introduced during a news conference in Newark that starts at 10:30 a.m. Monday and will be live-streamed on the Archdiocese of Newark’s Facebook page. He will be installed in the new post on Jan. 6.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has named the Archbishop of Indianapolis, Joseph W. Tobin, C.Ss.R., to be the new Metropolitan Archbishop of Newark, New Jersey, USA. Archbishop Tobin succeeds Archbishop John J. Myers, whose resignation the Holy Father accepted on Monday.

BIOGRAPHY OF ARCHBISHOP JOSEPH TOBIN, C.Ss.R.
(From the Archdiocese of Newark)

The Most Reverend John J. Myers, fifth Archbishop of Newark, was born in Ottawa, IL on July 26, 1941 to M. W. “Jack” and Margaret Donahue Myers. He is the eldest of seven children.
The Archbishop’s family traces its roots to Ireland, England and France; relatives settled in northern Illinois in the late 1800s.

Earlier ancestors of Mrs. Myers (Spaulding was the family name) served in the Revolutionary War.

The Myers family farmed near Earlville, IL, a town of 1,400 located 20 miles north of Ottawa. The Myers children all worked with their father and shared the family chores; prayer was very much a part of their everyday routine. Young John Myers was an altar server in his parish, St. Theresa, from an early age.

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NEW JERSEY
NJ.com

By Mark Mueller | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

Archbishop Joseph W. Tobin was upending the apple cart, and he was making no apologies for it.

It was 2010, and Tobin was a new archbishop hand-picked by Pope Benedict XVI to serve as secretary of the Vatican congregation overseeing religious orders.

In that role, he had inherited an investigation into U.S. nuns, criticized by conservative theologians as too secular and too quick to steer away from established church orthodoxy. The investigation, Vatican observers said, was meant to send a message to the American sisters to fall in line with Rome.

And then Tobin did the unthinkable. He sided with the nuns, angering his superiors and making his Vatican assignment a short-lived one. Two years into a five-year term, he was reassigned to the Archdiocese of Indianapolis.

“As a result of that dispute, he made a lot of enemies, and he was basically chased out of Rome and given Indianapolis just as a way to exile him,” said the Rev. Thomas Reese, author of the book “Inside the Vatican” and a senior analyst for the National Catholic Reporter.

Six years later — and three years into a new papacy — Tobin is about to become a cardinal and was named Monday as the new leader of the Archdiocese of Newark, a dizzying reversal for the 64-year-old Detroit native.

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VATICAN CITY
CBS 4

NOVEMBER 7, 2016, BY ASSOCIATED PRESS

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis is pressing his campaign to remake the U.S. church more in his likeness, tapping one of his new cardinals, Joseph Tobin, to replace the Newark archbishop criticized for mishandling sex abuse cases and spending lavishly on his retirement home.

The Vatican on Monday announced Tobin would replace Archbishop John Myers, who reached the mandatory retirement age of 75 in July.

Tobin, currently archbishop of Indianapolis, is one of three Americans whom Francis will formally elevate as cardinal Nov. 19.

His new assignment cements evidence of Francis’ high esteem and marks a transition away from an archbishop focused on drawing hard lines about Catholic orthodoxy.

The leadership change also provides a fresh start for an archdiocese that has been battered recently by controversies over Myers’ leadership.

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UNITED STATES
New York Times

By SYDNEY EMBER and GRAHAM BOWLEY
NOV. 6, 2016

Lise-Lotte Lublin started a petition and testified before lawmakers in Nevada last year, part of a successful effort to extend that state’s statute of limitations for sexual assault.

In Colorado, where lawmakers made a similar change this year, legislators had been lobbied hard on the bill by Beth Ferrier and Heidi Thomas.

In California, it was Lili Bernard, Victoria Valentino, Linda Kirkpatrick and Janice Baker Kinney who helped organize a campaign, EndRapeSOL, and rallies as part of a movement that this fall eliminated that state’s statute of limitations for rape altogether.

The seven women live in different places and have different lives. But they were all stirred to activism, they say, by a shared history: They all say they were sexually assaulted by Bill Cosby. And in each case, by the time they decided to come forward, many years after they say they were attacked, their ability to press for criminal charges was precluded by a statute of limitations.

None of the women will benefit directly from changes in the laws, but they said they still felt compelled to get involved.

“If I’m going to be attached to him the rest of my life, then I would like something good to come out of it,” said Ms. Ferrier, who says Mr. Cosby drugged and assaulted her in the mid-1980s.

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FRANCE
Fox News

Published November 07, 2016
Associated Press

LOURDES, France – French bishops are holding a day of prayers and fasting for victims of sex abuse within the Catholic Church.

The bishops, who have gathered in the city of Lourdes for their biannual plenary assembly, prayed Monday “for forgiveness for the sins committed by clergy members.”

During a Mass at the Rosary basilica, Bishop Luc Crepy gave the homily, exhorting his peers to play their part in “this fight against scandalous and criminal actions affecting the smaller ones.” Crepy was appointed earlier this year as the new head of a church panel targeting pedophilia acts.

Following a call from Pope Francis to hold a worldwide day of prayers for victims, the church says meetings about pedophilia will also be organized in Lourdes, as well as Masses across the country.

Several French church officials have been accused in recent months of failing to report pedophile priests to judicial authorities. In August, Cardinal Philippe Barbarin was cleared of allegations he shielded a priest charged with sexual aggression and rape of a minor.

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VATICAN CITY
Crux

Inés San Martín November 7, 2016
VATICAN CORRESPONDENT

ROME- The past month has been a whirlwind for Joseph Tobin: on Oct. 9 Pope Francis surprised the world by including him on the list of the 17 new cardinals he’ll create later in the month. And on Monday, the Vatican announced his new destination: Newark, New Jersey.

“One of my favorite descriptions of the experience of faith is ‘a willingness to be surprised by God’,” Tobin said in a statement on Monday.

“By that standard, the last weeks have been exceptionally ‘faith filled’.”

As of Nov. 19, when the pontiff formally elevates Tobin, 64, to the Church’s most exclusive club in a ceremony held in Rome known as a consistory, the US prelate will become Newark’s first cardinal, in the diocese’s 163-year history.

His fluent Spanish will come useful for leading the city’s 1.2 million Catholics, an estimated half of whom are Hispanic.

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VATICAN CITY
America

Gerard O’Connell

In yet another decisive move to reshape and give a new direction to the church in the United States, Pope Francis has appointed Cardinal-elect Joseph (“Joe”) Tobin, 64, a man of simple lifestyle, committed to dialogue, encounter and the poor, as the new archbishop of Newark.

The Vatican announced this at midday, Nov. 7, confirming the news that was broken some days earlier in the United States. It said the pope accepted the resignation presented by Archbishop John J. Myers and appointed Archbishop Tobin of Indianapolis to succeed him

At the time of his appointment, the Detroit-born archbishop was the leader of the archdiocese of Indianapolis with its 250,000 faithful, which he had served since Oct. 2012. He now moves to the much larger Archdiocese of Newark, whose 1.2 million faithful have suffered many trials in recent years during the leadership of Archbishop John Myers, who now retires having reached the age of 75 last July.

Francis understood well that this diocese needed a new style of leader, and he found the man in Joseph Tobin, C.Ss.R., a member of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, better known as the Redemptorists, a Catholic missionary order of priests and brothers founded by St. Alphonus Maria de Liguori in 1749.

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TEXAS
Stop Baptist Predators

Christa Brown

The media coverage of Baylor University’s sexual assault scandal continues, and I give thanks that the outside world is keeping the world’s largest Baptist university in the spotlight.

In one of the more recent news accounts, the headline proclaims that Baylor’s scandal is “far worse than previously disclosed.” This “far worse” reality should come as no surprise to anyone who read the Pepper Hamilton investigatory report, released last May, because the horror of the scandal’s scope was always right there, both in the lines and between the lines. As one Dallas radio host recently said: “We knew it was all going to come out someday. It was a matter of time.”

With multiple legal claims now pending against Baylor, I predict that still more of the ugly truth will come out via the slow drip of revelations from depositions and discovery. Here are a few common misconceptions that I expect will be completely debunked in the coming months.

Baylor’s failure in dealing with sexual assault is not a recent anomaly.

Many have talked about the Baylor scandal as though it were an anomaly of recent years coinciding with Baylor’s push toward becoming a football powerhouse. This is a mistaken assumption that is not supported by the Pepper Hamilton investigatory report.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Freethinker

Cardinal Vincent Nichols, above, head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales has apologised for its part in the ‘hurt’ caused to young unmarried women who were pressured into handing over their babies for adoption in the 1950s, 60s and 70s.

Nichols acknowledged the “the grief and pain caused by the giving up of a child through adoption”, adding:

Sadly for unmarried mothers, adoption was considered to be in the best interests of the mother and child because of the associated stigma and the lack of support for lone parents.

A documentary telling the stories of some of the women – who gave up an estimated half a million children during a period when the Catholic Church, the Church of England and the Salvation Army ran “mother and baby homes” and adoption agencies in the UK – is to be broadcast on ITV on 9 November.

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AUSTRALIA
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

7 November, 2016

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has released a research report which suggests that up to 14 per cent of children with disability are likely to experience sexual abuse.

The report – Disability and child sexual abuse in institutional contexts – was written by Professor Gwynnyth Llewellyn, Dr Sarah Wayland, and Ms Gabrielle Hindmarsh from the Centre for Disability Research and Policy at the University of Sydney.

The extent of sexual abuse of Australian children with disability is not known and internationally research on prevalence and risk of sexual abuse of children with disability is in its infancy. The researchers also drew attention to the relative absence of children with disability from Australian child protection frameworks and policy documents.

The researchers found the most reliable prevalence data suggesting that between nine and 14 in every 100 children with disability are likely to experience sexual abuse.

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FRANCE
France Inter

[The bishops of France have set aside today, Nov. 7., as a day of prayer and penance for the victims of sexual abuse. About 120 bishops have been invited to fast and will gather at Lourdes for their traditional autumn plenary assembly. Elsewhere in France, dioceses and parishes will join the event.]

C’est une des réponses de l’Eglise aux scandales de pédophilie. La Conférence des évêques de France (CEF) organise ce lundi 7 novembre une “journée de prière et de pénitence” pour les victimes d’abus sexuels. Les quelque 120 évêques français, invités à jeûner, seront réunis à Lourdes pour leur traditionnelle assemblée plénière d’automne. Ailleurs en France, diocèses et paroisses pourront s’associer à cet événement.

Cette idée d’une journée mondiale de prière pour les victimes d’abus sexuels de la part de membres du clergé avait été annoncée le 12 septembre par le Vatican, à l’initiative du pape François. Sa déclinaison en France prend une dimension particulière, alors que l’Église est touchée depuis plusieurs mois par des révélations d’affaires de pédophilie ou d’abus sexuels impliquant des prêtres.

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AUSTRALIA
The Educator

by James Reid
07 Nov 2016

The former principal of a north Queensland school allegedly discouraged the parents of a girl who was raped by four boys from reporting the matter to police, the Royal Commission into Child Abuse has heard.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse is investigating how Townsville’s Shalom Christian College handled the sexual assault of a 14-year-old female student in 2006.

Last week, the school’s former principal, Christopher Shirley, told the Commission that the school – which he said dealt with about 20 sexual assaults a year – was “very under-resourced”, having been forced to divert money from its education budget to health and wellbeing programs to try to look after its students.

However, the parents of the girl told the Commission they believed the school tried to cover up the 2006 rape and that they were treated like “dumb black people” by Shirley.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

Wendy Squires

As someone who has followed the child sex abuse royal commission with horror and fury, my desire (make that demand) has been consistent – make them pay!

My greatest fear was that those innocents, whose dignity, self-esteem and human rights were ripped away by those they trusted, would be abused all over again in their quest for justice. The retelling of their stories would be mere fodder for a news cycle, and then once the hearings concluded, we would all tut tut and go our merry way, grateful that “times have changed” and the culpable institutions had “learnt a lesson”.

But justice has arrived, for living victims at least. Last Friday, the Social Services Minister, Christian Porter, announced a national compensation scheme with payments to victims of up to $150,000. One entity would process claims, with federal backing, thus cutting red tape.

I was jubilant. But I kept reading and my anger returned. Not only is the maximum amount $50,000 lower than the commission’s suggested cap, but a clause allows the (mostly religious) institutions and the states to opt out of contributing.

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NEW YORK
New York Daily News

BY MICHAEL O’KEEFFE
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Monday, November 7, 2016

The beating took place 70 years ago, but the pain is still fresh.

When “Don” told the priest who ran St. Michael’s Home for Children on Staten Island that one of his employees had molested him repeatedly over the previous two years, the clergyman gave the boy a lecture about damaging another man’s reputation.

Then he told Don, who asked the Daily News to withhold his last name, to report to the employee who allegedly sexually abused him for his punishment.

“When he (the employee) got a hold of me, he beat me with a paddle that was three inches wide and about one inch thick,” said the 80-year-old Florida resident, his voice quivering as he recalled the beating during a recent telephone interview.

“He beat the back of my legs like he was really mad. I thought he would never stop.”

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UNITED STATES
Catholic News Service

WASHINGTON (CNS) –- Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Archbishop John J. Myers of Newark, New Jersey, and named Cardinal-designate Joseph W. Tobin of Indianapolis to succeed him.

Archbishop Myers, Newark’s archbishop since 2001, is 75, the age at which canon law requires bishops to turn in their resignation to the pope.

The 64-year-old cardinal-designate, who is a member of the Redemptorist order, has been the archbishop of Indianapolis since 2012 and was named a new cardinal by Pope Francis Oct. 9. He also is former archbishop-secretary of the Vatican Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life. As secretary, he was credited with helping change the tone of a Vatican-ordered apostolic visitation of U.S. women’s religious communities from an investigation into a dialogue.

The changes were announced in Washington Nov. 7 by Archbishop Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States.

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INDIANA
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Indiana

November 7, 2016

Statement of Cardinal-designate Joseph W. Tobin on his appointment as the Archbishop of Newark, N.J.

(Related: A news conference from Newark will be live-streamed this morning, Nov. 7, at 10:30 a.m. EST at this link.)

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

One of my favorite descriptions of the experience of faith is “a willingness to be surprised by God.” By that standard, the last weeks have been exceptionally “faith-filled.” The first jolt came on October 9, when I learned that Pope Francis had named me to the College of Cardinals. The second tremor arrived on October 22, when I received a phone call from the ambassador of the Holy See to the United States, the papal nuncio, who informed me that Pope Francis had appointed me as the Archbishop of Newark, New Jersey. This assignment was announced publicly today and I will be installed in Newark on January 6, 2017.

Receiving that second shock, I immediately thought of you, the people of this great Archdiocese whose pastoral care was entrusted to me four years ago. I remembered how you welcomed me, offered your support in so many ways, forgave my mistakes and limitations and always assured me of your love and the precious backing of your prayer. The thought of leaving you devastated me. I have had many sleepless nights and shed more than a few tears.

I had always understood my vocation as that of a missionary disciple, one whom Jesus called to be with Him so that He might send me out to preach and heal. Becoming your archbishop, I realized that this missionary also had to become a pastor. The model for all pastoral ministry is Jesus the Good Shepherd, who “knows his own” and his “own know him” (Jn 10, 14). Since October 18, 2012, all of you, the beloved People of God, became “my” people. God created among us bonds of love, mercy, forgiveness and joy. Together we accepted our call to work together to respond in love to God, who loved us first. We are an outward-looking Church, asking where God was opening a door.

Now Pope Francis has asked me to become a missionary disciple and pastor in another local Church. I hope that you will commission me—send me forth with your blessing to preach and heal in the Archdiocese of Newark. I know that I will leave a considerable chunk of my heart here in the Catholic communities of central and southern Indiana. I trust that God will fill that void with overflowing gratitude for the gift of sharing a portion of the pilgrimage with you.

The Archdiocese is not helpless in the face of this change. Just as what happened after the resignation of Archbishop Daniel, the Church will provide stable leadership for the Archdiocese until the new Archbishop is named. I believe you will receive a good pastor and you will not have to wait as long as you did before I was named.

You may know that the Archdiocese had already planned a special celebration on Saturday, December 3, to celebrate the feast of our patron, St. Francis Xavier, and to ask a blessing on a new cardinal. Now, that celebration will also be a moment for us to say good-bye in faith. We will remain united in the communion of saints as well as in the breaking of the bread.

Your brother in Christ the Redeemer,

+ Joseph W. Tobin, C.Ss.R.

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VATICAN CITY
Religion News Service

By David Gibson

(RNS) Pope Francis had already delivered the Catholic Church’s version of an October surprise when he included Indianapolis Archbishop Joseph Tobin in the batch of new cardinals he announced last month – promising a red hat to the leader of a relatively small Midwestern diocese of 230,000 Catholics that had never before had a cardinal, nor would ever expect one.

Then on Monday (Nov. 7) the pontiff doubled down with a November stunner as the Vatican announced that Francis was moving Tobin to head the Archdiocese of Newark in New Jersey.

In a statement release early Monday after the Vatican announcement was official, Tobin compared these last few weeks to an earthquake, saying the news on Oct. 9 that he would become a cardinal was his “first jolt” and the phone call on Oct. 22 informing him that he would be going to Newark was a “second tremor.”

Never before has a cardinal been moved from one diocese to another, and church observers across the board also expressed shock at the unprecedented transfer, which seemed to signal a new stage in Francis’ effort to revamp a U.S. church that had become increasingly conservative under the pontiff’s two predecessors.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

Joshua J. McElwee | Nov. 7, 2016

VATICAN CITY

Pope Francis has moved Cardinal-designate Joseph Tobin from Indianapolis to Newark, N.J., giving the New York area two cardinals for the first time and assigning him to take over for an archbishop who has been sharply criticized in recent years for his handling of clergy sexual abuse.

Tobin, 64, was named by Francis as one of three new U.S. cardinals last month and will officially take up that role in a ceremony in Rome Nov. 19. He replaces Archbishop John Myers, 75, who has led the Newark archdiocese since October 2001.

The appointment comes a week before the U.S. bishops’ annual meeting, which will be held in Baltimore Nov. 14-17.

Tobin was the first cardinal in history chosen from the Indianapolis archdiocese and will be the first Cardinal archbishop of Newark. In an NCR interview shortly after his appointment as a cardinal, Tobin reflected at length on Francis’ focus on mercy and said his wish is that the church would become “a sacrament of mercy” in our world.

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NEW JERSEY
New York Times

By LAURIE GOODSTEIN
NOV. 7, 2016

In his latest move to reshape the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States, Pope Francis on Monday named a moderate known for standing up for refugees and nuns to be the next leader of the Archdiocese of Newark, a large and troubled diocese.

Francis’ pick is Joseph W. Tobin, currently the archbishop of Indianapolis. He made national headlines last year when he rebuffed Gov. Mike Pence of Indiana, now the Republican vice-presidential nominee, by refusing to stop Catholic Charities from resettling a family of Syrian refugees.

Archbishop Tobin is so clearly in the pope’s favor that he is among 17 churchmen being made cardinals in Rome later this month. The Archdiocese of Newark has never before been led by a cardinal, the rank of those entrusted to select new popes.

His transfer to New Jersey places a second cardinal in bridge-and-tunnel proximity of the nation’s media capital, where Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York is now the undisputed spokesman on Catholic matters.

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VATICAN CITY
Herald Malaysia

VATICAN CITY: The Vatican announced Monday that recently nominated Cardinal-elect Archbishop Joseph William Tobin of Indianapolis will soon be taking over as the new head of the Newark, N.J. Archdiocese.

Born in Detroit May 3, 1952, Tobin has since 2012 served as the 6th Archbishop of Indianapolis. He was ordained a Redemptorist priest in 1978 and served as the order’s superior general from 1997 to 2009.On Oct. 9 Pope Francis named him as one of three Americans on his list of 17 new cardinal-elects, who will be elevated during a special Nov. 19 consistory set to coincide with the end of the Jubilee of Mercy.

Other Americans getting the red hat are Archbishop Blase Cupich of Chicago and Bishop Kevin Farrell, former head of the Dallas diocese but who recently moved to Rome to carry out his new role as prefect of the Vatican Congregation for Laity, Family and Life.

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NEW JERSEY
Road to Recovery

The Cardinal Archbishop-designate of Newark, New Jersey, Joseph Tobin, will be called upon to reach out to victim/survivors of sexual abuse by Archdiocese of Newark clergy and other clergy, religious men/ women (such as those in religious orders) and personnel who have worked in the Archdiocese of Newark, settle their claims in a fair and timely manner, release all information about cases of sexual abuse by Archdiocesan clergy and other clergy and religious men and women (such as those in religious orders) and other personnel, and pledge to be honest and transparent about ALL sexual abuse in the Archdiocese of Newark, New Jersey

In particular, the Cardinal Archbishop-designate of Newark, New Jersey, Joseph Tobin, will be called upon to fairly settle six claims of childhood sexual abuse in a timely manner against Fr. Michael “Mitch” Walters who allegedly sexually abused children at St. Cassian’s Parish, Upper Montclair, NJ and St. John Nepomucene Parish in Guttenberg, NJ

Road to Recovery, Inc. will call on the Cardinal Archbishop-designate of Newark, New Jersey, Joseph Tobin, to support the passage of statute of limitations legislation in the State of New Jersey that will give victims of sexual abuse their day in court

What
A press conference calling on the Cardinal Archbishop-designate of Newark, New Jersey, Joseph Tobin, to treat victims of sexual abuse by Archdiocesan clergy and other clergy, religious men/women (such as those in religious orders) and personnel who have worked in the Archdiocese of Newark, New Jersey, with fairness, honesty, and transparency by settling their claims in a timely manner. In addition, demonstrators will call on the Cardinal Archbishop-designate of Newark, New Jersey, Joseph Tobin, to support statute of limitations legislation in New Jersey that will give victims of sexual abuse their day in court

When
Monday, November 7, 2016, following the 10:30 am press conference announcing the appointment of Joseph Tobin as Cardinal Archbishop-designate of Newark, New Jersey

Where
On the public sidewalk in front of the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart, 89 Ridge Street, Newark, New Jersey 07104

Who
Members of Road to Recovery, Inc., a non-profit charity based in New Jersey that assists victims of sexual abuse and their families, including its co-founder and President, Robert M. Hoatson, Ph.D., a sexual abuse victim and former priest of the Archdiocese of Newark

Why
The Archdiocese of Newark, New Jersey, has been wracked by allegations of sexual abuse by archdiocesan clergy and by clergy, religious men/women (such as those in religious orders) and personnel who have worked in the Archdiocese of Newark, New Jersey. To this day, information about cases of sexual abuse in the Archdiocese of Newark has been withheld from the victims, their advocates, and the general public. Archbishop John Myers has been secretive about allegations of sexual abuse, the names of the abusers, and the documents associated with the cases that are in the possession of the Archdiocese of Newark. This practice must end. The Cardinal Archbishop-designate, Joseph Tobin, must treat victim/survivors of sexual abuse with compassion, honesty, and transparency. Information about sexual abusers must be made public, and a list of abusive clergy and other personnel must be placed on the Archdiocese of Newark website.

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

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TEXAS
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Victims to leaflet outside Catholic church
The pastor was accused of molesting a boy
And they oppose archbishop’s pending promotion
Soon, it’s likely he will become head of all US prelates
But group says DiNardo should “withdraw from the race & stay home”

SNAP: “For kids’ safety & victims’ healing, he should work on prevention here”

WHAT
Handing out fliers to church-goers as they leave mass, clergy sex abuse victims and their supporters will urge Houston’s top Catholic official to

–end his campaign to become head of all US bishops next week, and
–post names, photos & records of ALL predator priests (not just the ones who are sued), and
— do the same with religious order clerics, so that kids can be protected and victims can heal.

They will also urge
–parishioners to be careful around their pastor who was accused of molesting a boy and
–anyone who has seen, suspected or suffered crimes or cover ups by Houston clerics to “come forward, protect kids, expose secrets, deter wrongdoing and start healing” by calling independent sources of help (therapists, police prosecutors, support groups), NOT church officials.

WHEN
Sunday, Nov. 6, 2016 from 8:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.

WHERE
On the sidewalk outside the Prince the Peace Catholic Church, 19222 Highway 249 (near Perry Road) in Houston TX

WHO
Three-four adults who belong to a self-help group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org). Some were molested as kids; others are concerned Catholics.

WHY
1)Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston is the vice-chair of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, the organization that includes all of the prelates in the nation. According to custom and practice, he is considered to be the front runner to become president when the group meets in Baltimore Nov. 14-16. Nine other bishops are also running for the post.

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ITALIA
Rete L’Abuso

[In 2012, Father Federico Lombardi told journalist Federico Tulli which, according to the Holy See, pedophilia by the clergy in Italy is an intermittent issue. We produced a map showing the known cases. Lombardi’s statement seems to squeak a lot because in Italy we know of about 100 priests currently under investigation and more than 120 have been convicted in the last 15 years. Many of these priests are untraceable, other reappear after year and may be in parishes far from where they committed abuses. Others are said to be healed within the church institutions. There should be an inquiry by parliament.]

Written by Redazione Web on 5 novembre 2016

Nel 2012 padre Federico Lombardi ha dichiarato al giornalista Federico Tulli che secondo la Santa Sede, la pedofilia del clero, in Italia è un problema sporadico.

mappa italiana2A vedere la mappa che abbiamo prodotto raccogliendo i casi noti, quella dichiarazione sembra stridere parecchio perche nella sola Italia si contano la bellezza di circa 100 sacerdoti attualmente indagati e più di 120 condannati solo negli ultimi 15 anni.

Di molti di loro se ne sono perse le tracce, altri invece ricompaiono dopo anni passati non si sa dove in altre parrocchie, lontani da dove avevano commesso gli abusi. Altri vengono invece mandati si dice a curarsi in strutture della chiesa.

Siamo così andati a cercare di capire quanti di questi “rifugi” esistono in Italia. In questi luoghi vengono ospitati sacerdoti con varie problematiche tra cui la pedofilia, spesso per nasconderli da occhi indiscreti in attesa di una futura destinazione, altre volte per scontare la pena agli arresti domiciliari, una permanenza comoda e confortevole che piace anche ai tribunali che si tolgono così il problema di dover proteggere un pedofilo in un carcere.

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NEW JERSEY
Whispers in the Loggia

Fifteen years ago this autumn, at the installation of his successor in Newark, the newly-created Cardinal Theodore McCarrick of Washington memorably tipped his red hat to the North Jersey crowd – a gesture intended to say that he owed the scarlet to them.

And now, it appears Uncle Ted has fully returned the favor, landing a cardinal to lead the 1.3 million-member fold in its own right.

In a watershed decision signaling a new era after the controversial reign of Archbishop John Myers, on Monday the Pope is prepared to name Cardinal-designate Joseph William Tobin CSSR – the 64 year-old archbishop of Indianapolis whose impending elevation at this month’s consistory stoked widespread shock – as head of New Jersey’s marquee diocese, which has been roiled by years of tumult and low morale following assertions of the Newark church’s lax handling of cases of clerical misconduct, coupled with broad distaste over Myers’ austere, distant management style.

To be sure, the reported nod isn’t merely a blockbuster, but even more historic than the Cubs winning the World Series – never before has an American cardinal been transferred from one diocese to another… and with New York just across the Hudson River, the move portends an ecclesiastical scenario heretofore unseen on these shores nor anywhere else in the Catholic world: two cardinals leading their own local churches not just side-by-side, but within the same media market.

While the move was reported late Friday night by the online affiliate of the local Star-Ledger, after credible yet unconfirmed word of the nod was received by Whispers early Thursday, two ranking ops ducked comment on the pick in deference to the pontifical seal, and – as the notoriously leak-prone Newark crowd went into overdrive on Friday – a document from the archdiocese’s Chancery was obtained by these pages bearing Tobin’s name. (Complain all you want, but this house has its due diligence to carry out.) On a separate front, late Friday the archdiocese alerted reporters to a press conference scheduled for 10.30am Monday in the Cathedral-Basilica of the Sacred Heart – keeping with standard practice on a yet-unannounced appointment, the event’s topic was not disclosed.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Telegraph

Jane Mathews
6 NOVEMBER 2016

A London church built by a Victorian sex cult is at the centre of a legal battle over who should receive the proceeds from its sale.

The £1 million grade II* listed building was erected by a sect called the Abode of Love, which was founded by a defrocked priest alleged to have had sex with a virgin on a billiard table in front of his followers.

Henry James Prince started the cult in Somerset in 1846 using donations from wealthy, unmarried women after being expelled from the Anglican church.
As the group gained popularity they built other churches around the country, including the Ark of the Covenant in Clapton, north London.

When Prince died in 1902, he was succeeded by John Hugh Smyth-Piggott, another defrocked priest who gave racy sermons and told his followers that he was the second coming of Christ.

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UNITED STATES
The Daily Beast

Marcial Maciel, once the founder of the Catholic Church’s most lucrative new order, died mired in a massive pedophilia scandal. Now his former number two is also being accused.

JASON BERRY
11.06.16

Roberta Garza felt a familiar tearing this week on reading an Associated Press report that her older brother, Father Luis Garza, 58, had been accused of sexual abuse in a civil lawsuit filed in Waterbury, Conn.

The siblings have not spoken in several years. Roberta is a columnist for Milenio newspaper in Mexico City. Luis, for nearly two decades the second-ranking figure in Rome of the Legion of Christ, now seems to her an exiled figure, cast into an outback as the Philippines regional director of the Legionaries.

In the lawsuit, an adult identified as “John Roe 1” alleges that Father Garza, and two other priests, including the late Marcial Maciel Degollado, the Legion’s charismatic founder, abused the plaintiff as a young adolescent at a center the order ran near Mexico City in the early 1990s.
Father Maciel launched the order in Mexico in 1941, established a campus in Rome in the 1950s, and later an American headquarters in Cheshire, Conn. Maciel, who died in 2008, was the greatest fundraiser of the modern church. He was celebrated by Pope John Paul II for inspiring young men like Garza to become priests, for Maciel’s record in launching prep schools, several universities and religious colleges in Latin America, North America and Europe.

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NEW JERSEY
The Record

BY MARY JO LAYTON
STAFF WRITER | THE RECORD

Newark Archbishop John J. Myers is expected to name as his successor Indianapolis Archbishop Joseph Tobin, an historic appointment of a leader who has close ties to Pope Francis, is a staunch supporter of social justice and has called for a greater role for women in the church.

Tobin, the oldest of 13 children, was already due to become a cardinal in two weeks, which would make him the first cleric of that exalted rank in the 163-year history of the archdiocese, serving 1.2 million Roman Catholics in Bergen, Essex, Union and Hudson counties.

Cardinals usually preside over the nation’s largest and most important cities, including New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.

Myers’ predecessor, Theodore McCarrick, served as archbishop, and was elevated to cardinal after being reassigned to Washington D.C.

Myers is expected to make the announcement, which a noted Catholic blogger called “a watershed moment signaling a new era” at a press conference in Newark Monday morning.

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INDIANA
Indianapolis Star

Kaitlin L Lange, IndyStar

NJ.com reported that sources close to the Newark archbishop said they expect him to announce Joseph W. Tobin, the archbishop of Indianapolis, as his successor.

Cardinal-designate Joseph W. Tobin, the archbishop of Indianapolis, could be the next leader of the Archdiocese of Newark, N.J.

NJ.com, the online affiliate of the Star-Ledger, reported Friday that three people close to the current Newark archbishop told the paper that they expect him to announce Tobin as his successor Monday.

Whispers in the Loggia, a well-known Catholicism blog, also reported the likely successor.

Greg Otolski, the director of communications for the Archdiocese of Indianapolis, did not return phone calls to the IndyStar on Saturday about Tobin’s future.

Newark Archbishop John J. Myers reached the mandatory retirement age of 75 in July. He has a news conference scheduled for 10:20 a.m. Monday at the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark. However, the content of that press conference has not been released.

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AUSTRALIA
The West Australian

Phoebe Wearne, Canberra – The West Australian on November 6, 2016

Churches, State governments and other institutions are under pressure to “opt in” to a national redress scheme for victims of child sexual abuse.

Survivors will be able to access up to $150,000 each in compensation under the Commonwealth-led program, which invites States and institutions to join.

The establishment of a national redress scheme was at the heart of 99 recommendations made by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in a report released last year.

Governments and organisations that opt in will be required to fund the cost of their own eligible redress claims.

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OHIO
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: Ellis N. Harsham was ordained in 1968 for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati. He taught in Catholic high schools in Dayton, Cincinnati and Hamilton while assisting in local parishes. He was also a St. Gregory Minor Seminary faculty member, and director of campus ministry at Wright State University.

In a lawsuit settled in 1994, a man alleged that Harsham sexually abused him as during 1975-1977, when the man was a high school student who met Harsham while attending a pre-seminary program on weekends at St. Gregory’s Minor Seminary. The man said Harsham plied him with alcohol, marijuana and pornography. In a suit filed in December 1993, another man claimed Harsham sexually assaulted him when the man was a Badin High School student; Harsham taught at Badin 1977-1981. Further, former students of Carroll High School in Dayton, where Harsham taught 1968-1973, stated in the 1990s that the priest showed them pornography and seduced or attempted to seduce them.

Harsham was placed on administrative leave by the archdiocese in June 1994, and he resigned from active ministry later that year. His status remained “administrative leave” until sometime in 2006, when he was laicized.

Ordained: 1968
Laicized: 2006

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Gaynor Dumat-ol Daleno , gdumat-ol@guampdn.com November 5, 2016

Editor’s note: The Pacific Daily News this week takes a closer look at government of Guam leases.

Today: Catholic Church is landlord for some mayors.

While most of the landlords to GovGuam offices are in the business of real estate, one stands out for not being a business enterprise at all.

The administrative entity for Guam’s Catholics, the Archdiocese of Agana, makes some money – $55,200 a year – renting separate offices where the Piti Mayor’s Office and the Inarajan Mayor’s Office conduct their official business, bid documents show.

The Inarajan and Piti mayors’ offices’ annual rent falls under one lease agreement, which was signed by Archbishop Anthony Apuron in January 2014 .

The archdiocesan office wasn’t immediately available for comment on how the rent money is being used by the church.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

[with video]

Haidee V Eugenio , heugenio@guampdn.com November 5, 2016

When newly appointed Coadjutor Archbishop Michael Jude Byrnes arrives on Guam Nov. 28, he’ll bring with him hopes of healing the island’s large Catholic church — fractured by multiple priest sex abuse allegations, a multimillion-dollar property dispute and disagreements between different factions of the church over how to worship.

“Especially in times of difficulty or times of challenges, it’s important to go back to the foundation of our faith, which is Jesus,” said Byrnes, 58, in a phone interview from Detroit, where he was born, raised and served as priest and bishop until his appointment to lead the Catholic church on Guam.

Pope Francis last Monday appointed Byrnes as coadjutor archbishop of the Archdiocese of Agana, which gives Byrnes the right to succeed Archbishop Anthony S. Apuron if Apuron, 71, resigns, retires or is removed. Under church law, bishops are required to resign at 75.

Byrnes’ pending arrival on Guam comes at a time when Apuron faces a canonical trial in Rome over allegations that he sexually abused and raped altar boys in the 1970s, when he was parish priest in Agat. Apuron has denied all allegations of sex abuse, and any criminal conduct that may have occurred is long past the criminal statute of limitations. …

Protecting children

Byrnes said he was involved in the actual removal of a priest from office over sex abuse allegations in Detroit. Byrnes has worked with a canon lawyer, among others, who has helped him navigate canon and civil legalities in addressing sex abuse allegations involving the church. He said the U.S. Conference of Bishops also has protocols to better protect children.

“I would hope that we will be able to strengthen all our parishes’ ability .. .the kind of sensitivity and awareness of protecting God’s children,” he said.

Byrnes said the Guam church’s victim response coordination team is “a very good first step.”

Regardless of what happens in the Apuron trial, Byrnes said the initial assumption is that he, Byrnes, will still hold the title coadjutor archbishop.

“It’s all up to the disposition of the Holy Father, of course. But the title of coadjutor bishop assumes that once he (Apuron) retires or resigns, I would be the archbishop,” he said.

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MICHIGAN
WOOD

Ken Kolker
Published: November 4, 2016

BRONSON, Mich. (WOOD) — Every day, Rev. Richard Fritz walked past the Ten Commandments plaque outside his church. And, nearly every day, he walked across the street to the convenience store, workers there said.

Workers at the Viking Express store told 24 Hour News 8 said Fritz, who is under investigation for allegations of embezzlement, spent hundreds of dollars a day on lottery tickets, sometimes up to $500. They say he usually bought $20 tickets.

A woman at a gas station near his other church, St. Barbara in Colon, also said the priest stopped in to buy lottery tickets.

State police confirmed that gambling is the “undertone” of their investigation. They’re investigating allegations the priest embezzled $213,000 since 2010 from both St. Mary’s and from St. Barbara Church about 12 miles away in Colon.

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AUSTRALIA
America

November 14, 2016 Issue
From CNS, Staff and other sources

Australian police questioned Cardinal George Pell, prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy, in Rome regarding accusations of sexual abuse. Cardinal Pell was “voluntarily interviewed” by Victoria police in late October, said a statement on Oct. 26 from the cardinal’s office. “The cardinal repeats his previous rejection of all and every allegation of sexual abuse and will continue to cooperate with Victoria police until the investigation is finalized,” the statement said. Allegations surfaced in July in a report by Australia’s ABC News featuring several people who accused Cardinal Pell of sexual assault; at least one of the accusations had been found to be unsubstantiated by an Australian court in 2002.

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TEXAS
Click2Houston

[with video]

By Keith Garvin – Anchor/Reporter
November 04, 2016

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Texas – A family is in fear for their loved one’s safety after the arrest of a Montgomery County pastor charged with sexually assaulting a teenage girl.

Ronald Wayne Mitchell, 57, remains in jail now on four counts involving a girl who was 15 years old at the time.

Demetrius Ellis said her older sister Angela Edwards, a member of Mitchell’s Body of Christ Ministry in Magnolia, has had no contact with the family for the past 10 years.

She said Mitchell drew her suspicion years ago by constantly demanding church members’ money.

“I don’t care if it’s pennies, if you just got paid. He want it,” recalls Ellis. “He don’t care if your bills were due or nothing. He wanted your money.”

According to the warrant served at Mitchell’s home, which also serves as the church where members live, he allegedly raped the girl on numerous occasions there and at nearby hotels.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Haidee V Eugenio , heugenio@guampdn.com November 5, 2016

A group that has been pushing for Archbishop Anthony S. Apuron’s removal said it’s ready to file a lawsuit between now and Nov. 21 to ensure the Archdiocese of Agana doesn’t lose ownership and control of a $40 million to $75 million Yona property.

David Sablan, president of the Concerned Catholics of Guam, said the five-year statute of limitation expires on Nov. 21, unless the property ownership and control is challenged in court by then.

That’s five years since the declaration of deed restriction on the Yona property, given by Apuron to the Redemptoris Mater Seminary without restriction, was recorded with the Department of Land Management on Nov. 22, 2011, Sablan said.

“The archdiocese is working diligently on the matter of the seminary property,” the Archdiocese of Agana said in a statement. “We will comment in due time.”

Sablan said Concerned Catholics understands Archbishop Savio Hon Tai Fai is giving the community that controls the Redemptoris Mater Seminary and a theological institute an opportunity to return ownership and control without resorting to a lawsuit. Hon said on Tuesday the archdiocese is addressing the issue.

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TEXAS
CW 39

[with video]

NOVEMBER 3, 2016, BY CIARA ROUEGE

MAGNOLIA, Texas — Investigators released disturbing details Friday in the alleged rape of a 16-year-old girl who claims she was forced into a sexual relationship with her pastor, and her mother gave her to the man fearing that if she didn’t, the teen would lose her soul, the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office said.

SWAT officers arrested pastor Ronald Wayne Mitchell, 56, at The Body of Christ Ministry around 7 p.m. Monday and charged him with sexual assault of a child. The church, which sits in the 40200 block of Garwood Court in Magnolia, doubles as the pastor’s home, court documents said.

Investigators said the victim was a member of Mitchell’s church and was sent to live there for at least 21 days at Mitchell’s request in November 2015. The teen’s mother tried to get her daughter back after the time period had passed, but the pastor refused and said “God would kill her.” The teen was forced to live with Mitchell’s wife, her sister and other church members, and was forced to have sex with the pastor on multiple occasions.

The teen girl said Mitchell would lock her in his dimly lit room and would play “old people music” when he was assaulting her.

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CALIFORNIA
Orange County Register

BY KELLY PUENTE / STAFF WRITER

SANTA ANA – In a courtroom, the women addressed their former pastor – a man they once trusted who sexually assaulted them.

“I’m not going to paint every detail of the pain you’ve inflicted on myself and those around me, because you know exactly how much damage you’ve caused,” one victim said.

“We are not here today because of some story we’ve spun, we’re here because of the truth of what you did. … God have mercy on your soul. ”

On Friday, a former Lake Forest 39-year-old youth pastor, Sean Patrick Aday, pleaded guilty to two felonies and two misdemeanors of sexual battery – each count tied to a different victim.

After the plea deal was officially accepted in a courtroom filled with current and former parishioners, three victims and several of their family members addressed Aday while many in the audience cried and wiped away tears.

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TEXAS
KHOU

Michelle Homer, KHOU November 04, 2016

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Texas – A Magnolia teen who said she was sexually abused by a pastor said the suspect told her she would “drop dead” if she told anyone because God would kill her.

She also told investigators the pastor’s wife drove her to a clinic to get birth control shots.

The allegations are part of a graphic court document detailing the alleged sexual abuse by Ronald Wayne Mitchell.

Mitchell was arrested earlier this week and charged with sexual assault of a child.

The victim lived with Mitchell and his wife at the home where he also operated his Body of Christ Ministry. Several other parishioners also lived in the home.

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AUSTRALIA
The Weekend Australian

GERARD HENDERSON
Columnist

If there is to be a media prize for unbalanced advocacy in journalism then last Monday’s coverage by the ABC’s 7.30 of Cardinal ­George Pell deserves to be short-listed at the very least.

Louise Milligan reported on the submission of Gail Furness, counsel assisting the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, which had been released earlier that day for consideration by commission chairman Justice Peter McClellan. For the third time in recent months, the tone of Milligan’s ­report on Pell was hostile. She claimed it was “considered likely” that the royal commission “will make some adverse findings against the cardinal”. Milligan did not say precisely who (allegedly) considers this to be the case.

Early in her report, Milligan said the “royal commission found” that, from 1976, the consultors (who, for a time, included Pell) to Bishop Ronald Mulkearns in Ballarat “had known … that [the Catholic priest Gerald] Ridsdale was abusing children”.

In fact, what was released on Monday was Furness’s submissions to the royal commission. Not the findings of the royal commission.

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AUSTRALIA
The Courier-Mail

Matthew Condon, The Courier-Mail
November 4, 2016

ONE of Queensland’s most prestigious private schools has had at least one pedophile on staff at any given time over the past six decades, it can be revealed.

As the child sex abuse royal commission tours the country hearing evidence, The Anglican Church Grammar School, or Churchie, in East Brisbane, is battling the legacy of its own historic pedophilia.

It can also be revealed the school last year backflipped on naming a building after venerated former headmaster Henry Emmanuel (Harry) Roberts, following complaints from students who were allegedly sexually assaulted by Churchie staff when Roberts was head.

The decision sparked a furious squabble between the school and some Churchie Old Boys who dubbed the decision a “hysterical pursuit of scapegoats” and “a cruel and panicked exercise in revisionism”.

The flashpoint of the debate was former Churchie boarding master Harry Wippell, who allegedly sexually assaulted a 12-year-old boy in 1967.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

Stephanie Convery, Lucy Clark and Steph Harmon
Friday 4 November 2016

Crimes of the Father by Tom Keneally (Vintage)

It’s a sad fact of humanity that abuse in the church is a perennially timely subject, but Tom Keneally’s latest novel seems to be particularly well timed with the ongoing royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse.

Keneally’s story explores faith, marriage, celibacy and the Catholic church through the story of Father Frank Docherty, an excommunicated priest who returns to Australia and finds himself privy to stories of abuse by a now-senior cleric. A dramatic wrestle with conscience – and pursuit of justice – follows.

Available now.

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UNITED STATES
Hevria

BY DINA FRIEDMAN • NOVEMBER 3, 2016

Every year, in the weeks leading up to Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, I think about my rape. It’s not the anniversary of the first time I was sexually assaulted, and it’s not because I will see my rapist at synagogue. It is because even though I – sort of – got what many rape victims want from their attacker(s): an apology; and even though I told him I forgave him (when put on the spot), I am not so sure I did.

I believe in Jewish karma: I want G-d to forgive me, so I have to forgive others. In the Jewish tradition while we need to ask G-d for forgiveness for sins against G-d, forgiveness for sins against other people can only be granted by the person injured. And we are encouraged to forgive. One tradition even holds that if forgiveness is not granted, the sin then belongs to the person not accepting the apology – the injured party!

This requirement to forgive is heavy.

Every holiday season for the past many years, this pressure to forgive filled me with anxiety – because I don’t feel like I truly forgave my rapist when he asked. Each year, I pray with as much devotion I can muster. But I emerge from Yom Kippur feeling as if I emerged from a mikvah holding a dead rat – technically pure, but holding something filthy.

Finally, I had to talk to someone. Gritting my teeth with utter humiliation about telling the gory details to another person, I called my rabbi’s wife. Her response shocked me. First, she said, “I have to double check with my husband, but I don’t think you have to forgive this.”

“What?”

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NEW JERSEY
NJ.com

By Mark Mueller | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on November 04, 2016

In a historic moment for the Archdiocese of Newark, Archbishop John J. Myers on Monday is expected to announce his successor, Cardinal-designate Joseph W. Tobin, NJ Advance has learned.

Tobin, a moderate leader who has supported a greater role for women in the church, has also expressed the need for more dialogue over gay parishioners and sparred with Indiana Gov. Mike Pence over the resettlement of Syrian refugees..

Tobin, the archbishop of Indianapolis since October 2012, was named a cardinal by Pope Francis last month. The designation takes effect. Nov. 18.

The appointment would make him the first cardinal in the 163-year history of the archdiocese, which serves about 1.2 million Roman Catholics in Essex, Union, Hudson and Bergen counties.

He also would be the first member of a religious order to preside in Newark. Tobin was ordained a priest in the Redemporist order in 1978. …

Monday’s press conference is expected to be streamed live on the archdiocese’s Facebook page.

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UNITED STATES
The Mennonite

11.4. 2016 Written By: Barbra Graber

Barbra Graber is a leader of the Anabaptist Mennonite Chapter of SNAP (Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests). She attends Park View Mennonite Church, Harrisonburg, Virginia.

“It is very tempting to take the side of the perpetrator. All the perpetrator asks is that the bystander do nothing. [The perpetrator] appeals to the universal desire to see, hear and speak no evil. The victim, on the contrary, asks the bystander to share the burden of pain. The victim demands action, engagement and remembering.”— Judith Herman

Sometime in the early 1990s, Meetinghouse, a consortium of Mennonite and Brethren in Christ editors, commissioned James Coggins, associate editor of the Mennonite Brethren Herald, to write an article he entitled “Should We Report Scandal in the Mennonite Press?” It appeared in the April 1991 issue. Coggins answers the question with a resounding yes.

Coggins writes: “Why do we name the names of church leaders who have violated and betrayed the trust instilled in them by brothers and sisters of their faith communities? Why drag it all back into the open? Why not let it go? Think of their wives and children. Is it really worth all the embarrassment they will feel?

“Any abuse of power, in any form, must be dealt with publicly, swiftly, with termination of duties, and ongoing support for any victims. These decisions can either pave the way toward a truly vibrant, redeemed and renewed pacifist denomination or continue to promote denial, complacency and inaction.”

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VIRGINIA
Eastern Mennonite University

September 28, 2016Last updated October 17, 2016 by Lauren Jefferson

The fall Sexuality Series at Eastern Mennonite University brings together campus experts with authors and advocates from a variety of settings to address sexuality, spirituality, healing and wholeness.

“With this series, Campus Ministries is contributing to campus conversations with resources to reflect on these themes,” says Brian Martin Burkholder, campus pastor. “Hopefully this approach opens discussion and engagement. We’re eager to see if there is interest in continuing the series into spring semester.”

Adds Ken L. Nafziger, vice president for student life and dean of students, who is one of the speakers: “In the midst of appropriately heightened concern about sexual assaults on college campuses, this sexuality series adds an important perspective and holistic emphasis that moves beyond safe sex towards an exploration of the spiritual and metaphysical aspects of truly knowing your partner.”

The series opens Oct. 5 with Professor Carolyn Stauffer presenting a chapel talk on “Sex & Millennials: #NewScripts,” a spiritual and relational framing for sexuality. Stauffer, who teaches in the Applied Social Science Department and in the MA in Biomedicine program, has spent much of her career listening to women on three continents tell of violence in their lives. Her three-year “Silent Violence” project researched the resilience of domestic abuse survivors from within communities of homeless women, undocumented Latinas and Mennonite women from Old Order or conservative church communities. …

Father Tom Doyle, a Catholic priest who has worked with survivors of priest sex abuse for more than three decades, gives a 40-minute presentation Nov. 7 in Martin Chapel on “The Spiritual Impact of Sexual Abuse in Religious Contexts.”

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MINNESOTA
Albert Lea Tribune

By Sam Wilmes

A local catholic church is protecting its children from abuse.

VIRTUS — a program that has been in place at St. Theodore Catholic Church and school for five years — is a mandatory diocesan program for each church employee and volunteer, and raises awareness of the issues that are caused by child abuse, such as the harm it causes to its victims, the parish and the community, according to the church and school leaders.

An awareness session — led by a trained facilitator — helps adults learn to recognize the warning signs of abuse and shows them the appropriate way to respond to suspicious behavior.

St. Theodore church and school have taken steps to ensure children are safe, such as ensuring that rooms that are not in use are locked.

All church employees and volunteers must pass a background check.

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OHIO
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: Thomas Feldhaus was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati in 1976. He assisted at parishes in the communities of Mt. Airy and Delhi Hills before beginning an eleven-year pastorship in Ripley in 1990, followed by a pastorship in Cincinnati in 2001. Feldhaus also spent several years in the late 1970s-early 1980s in Rome for graduate studies, and was a hospital chaplain for several years in the late 1980s-early 1990s.

In November 2003 a man reported to the archdiocese that Feldhaus had “inappropriately touched” his young son in 1979 while assigned to St. Therese, The Little Flower in Mt. Airy; Feldhaus was placed on administrative leave. In a lawsuit filed in March 2004 another man accused Feldhaus of having sexually abused him as a boy. This accuser, a former student of Our Lady of Victory in Delhi Hills, said the abuse occurred 1986-1991.

Feldhaus remained on administrative leave until October 2014, when his laicization was announced by the Vatican.

Ordained: 1976
Laicized: 2014

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AUSTRALIA
The Courier-Mail

Michael Madigan, The Courier-Mail
November 4, 2016

CHILD rapes, ritual humiliations, sadism and physical violence – Queensland’s known history of child abuse reaches back almost a century, impacting on every demographic and leaving thousands of people emotionally crippled, incapable of conducting a normal life.

Today’s revelation of the number of convicted pedophiles employed between 1947 and 2010 at one of Queensland’s most prestigious schools, the Anglican Church Grammar School, popularly known as “Churchie” is yet another hideous chapter in a story of misery and betrayal.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, the terms of reference for which were established nearly four years ago on January 11, 2013, has played a pivotal role in uncovering hundreds of ugly stories of child abuse which may have remained untold and in reminding us of other cases.

In Queensland, we were reminded of the horrors perpetrated by Toowoomba Catholic primary schoolteacher Gerard Vincent Byrnes – the school’s “child protection officer’’ who, in 2010, pleaded guilty to 44 child sex offences involving young girls, including rape, between 2007 and 2008.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

November 5, 2016

SARAH MARTIN
Political reporterCanberra
@msmarto

A national compensation fund for survivors of institutional child sexual abuse is expected to cost more than $4 billion, with the federal government challenging states, charities and church groups to fund the long-awaited redress scheme for tens of thousands of victims.

NSW and Victoria yesterday welcomed the Turnbull government’s announcement for a ­national opt-in compensation scheme to be rolled out over 10 years from 2018, but victims’ groups warned of a “two-tiered” system dependent on where ­victims were abused if some states refused to sign up.

Announcing the federal government would provide between $550 million and $770m to the fund for cases where it was the ­responsible entity, Social Services Minister Christian Porter said the “best practice” scheme would provide psychological support and individual payments of up to $150,000 for each victim.

He said the “simple and supportive” system would attempt to make the process of redress as easy as possible, and would also provide trauma counselling for survivors and the opportunity for victims to tell their stories to the relevant institution.

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SCOTLAND
Daily Record

BY LUCINDA CAMERON

THE report into allegations of abuse made a number of recommendations but Very Rev Andrew McLellan says bishops are ignoring them.

THE Catholic Church in Scotland has denied suggestions that it is not implementing recommendations made in a report into allegations of abuse.

A commission led by the Very Rev Andrew McLellan made a raft of recommendations in August last year, including that justice must be done for those who have been abused, and the church’s safeguarding policies and practices are rewritten and subject to external scrutiny.

But in a letter sent to the Bishops’ Conference, Dr McLellan said the bishops are “appearing to ignore” the recommendations of the report.

He said he believes the recommendation to put survivors first and introduce an independent element into safeguarding within the church has not happened.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian

Harriet Sherwood Religion correspondent
@harrietsherwood
Friday 4 November 2016

Pressure is mounting for a public inquiry into the adoption of hundreds of thousands of babies born to unmarried women over a 30-year period amid claims from some mothers who say they were coerced into handing over their children.

A letter will be sent to the home secretary, Amber Rudd, next week from solicitors at two eminent law firms calling on her to convene a public inquiry into historical adoption practices in the UK. The solicitors say an inquiry would uncover the truth about the practices – stretching over three decades after the end of the second world war – and hold agencies to account.

Meanwhile more women have come forward to tell their stories of being pressured into having their babies adopted.

The call for an inquiry will be sent to Rudd on Thursday, the day after the broadcast of a television documentary relating the stories of several women. That film has prompted an apology from Cardinal Vincent Nichols, head of the Catholic church in England and Wales, and a statement expressing regret from the Church of England. Religious institutions and agencies handled most adoptions until 1976, after which the process became the responsibility of local authorities.

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AUSTRALIA
Chinchilla News

Janine Hill | 3rd Nov 2016

UPDATE 1.50PM: The principal of Peregian Beach College has become emotional at the conclusion of his evidence to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

Chris Shirley was previously the head of Shalom Christian College, a Townsville school for predominantly indigenous students, where a 14-year-old female boarder was allegedly gang raped in 2006.

Mr Shirley, who has been at Peregian since 2009, blinked and appeared to battle to express himself when asked at the commission how safety concerns had been managed at Shalom following the alleged incident.

“Safety concerns were an ongoing issue and probably still are. It takes a toll on everybody,” Mr Shirley said.

The girl’s parents had told the commission earlier in the week that Mr Shirley had painted their daughter as promiscuous and tried to discourage them from taking the matter further, saying the boys were from influential families.

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AUSTRALIA
Townsville Bulletin

VICTORIA NUGENT, Townsville Bulletin
November 3, 2016

THE principal of Shalom Christian College told a Royal Commision he did not have the resources to guarantee students’ safety just hours before a wild brawl erupted at the school yesterday.

And a former principal told the commision the school dealt with about 20 sexual assaults a year, with a third of students having sexually transmitted diseases when a 14-year-old girl was allegedly gang-raped by four male sudents.

The Townsville boarding school has been under the spotlight this week at the Royal Commission into institutional responses to child sex abuse.

The commission is examining the school’s response to the alleged gang rape in 2006.

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AUSTRALIA
news.com.au

Lauren Martyn-Jones
The Courier-Mail

THE former principal of an indigenous boarding school in Townsville has told the royal commission the school dealt with about 20 sexual assaults a year.

Christopher Shirley, who was the principal of Shalom Christian College in 2006 when a 14-year-old female student was allegedly gang-raped by four boys, told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse that his school was “very under-resourced”.

Mr Shirley said the indigenous boarding school was forced to divert money from its education budget to health and wellbeing programs to try to look after its students.

The parents of the teenage victim told the royal commission on Wednesday they believed the school tried to cover up the 2006 rape and that they were treated like “dumb black people” by Mr Shirley.

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VATICAN CITY/GUAM
National Catholic Reporter

Joshua J. McElwee | Nov. 3, 2016

The papal appointee given authority to take charge of a Guam archdiocese rocked by allegations of sexual abuse against its archbishop has said the Vatican is preparing to put the prelate on trial.

Archbishop Savio Hon Tai Fai, who Pope Francis appointed in June to step-in over Agana Archbishop Anthony Apuron, told reporters Tuesday that “they just formed all the conditions for the trial.”

“I’m going to receive some news, some updates later,” said Hon, who has been serving as the archdiocese’s apostolic administrator while also remaining the second-in-command of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.

Hon, a native of Hong Kong, spoke to journalists Nov. 1 following Francis’ appointment Oct. 31 of Detroit Auxiliary Bishop Michael Byrnes as the new coadjutor archbishop of the Agana archdiocese, the island’s only Catholic diocese.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

Shannon Deery, Herald Sun
November 3, 2016

ONE of Victoria’s most infamous child sex abusers has admitted more evil offending.

Christian Brother Robert Best is currently serving a minimum 11-year jail term for crimes against children.

Today he pleaded guilty to a string of fresh charges laid by Sano Taskforce detectives in August.

The offending relates to abuse of children during the 1960s, 70s and 80s in Ballarat, Box Hill and Geelong.

Best pleaded guilty at the Melbourne Magistrates Court, appearing via video link from prison.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

Adam Cooper

The Christian Brothers have made no moves to expel paedophile Robert Charles Best from their order despite him pleading guilty to another slew of child-sex offences spanning 20 years.

Best appeared before Melbourne Magistrates Court on Friday, via video link from prison, to plead guilty to sexually abusing 15 boys in Ballarat and Box Hill between 1968 and 1982 and in Geelong in 1987 and 1988.

The 75-year-old was in 2011 jailed for 14 years for abusing 11 boys he taught at schools in Ballarat, Box Hill and Geelong between 1969 and 1988.

Soon after his plea, the Christian Brothers Province of Oceania issued a statement reiterating their “unreserved apology” for Best’s “grievous betrayal of trust”, and urging people to contact police if they had been sexually assaulted.

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SCOTLAND
Herald Scotland

Jody Harrison , Reporter / @JodeHarrisonHT

SURVIVORS of sexual abuse at Catholic churches and institutions say they continue to be ignored by Bishops who once pledged to involve them in reforms.

Alan Draper, of the In Care Abuse Survivors group (INCAS), said that many of the 400 people represented by the organisation were still waiting to be approached by the church and had been offered no compensation for the abuse they suffered at the hands of priests, staff and teachers.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By political reporters Dan Conifer and Alexandra Beech

The Federal Government has announced a compensation scheme for victims of institutional child sexual abuse.

The Commonwealth will lead the program, while states, territories and institutions, including churches, will be able to opt in.

Victims will be able to access up to $150,000 each.

The cost for just the Commonwealth over the 10-year period was estimated to be between $570 million and $770 million.

Social Services Minister Christian Porter told reporters in Perth that the scheme would run for 10 years with an option to extend.

He said an advisory council would be established to help oversee its delivery.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Sarah Farnsworth

Convicted paedophile Robert Best, a Christian Brother, has pleaded guilty to more cases of child sexual abuse dating back nearly 50 years.

Best, 75, appeared via video link in the Melbourne Magistrates Court from Ararat Prison were he is serving a sentence for child abuse.

He has now admitted to abusing 15 boys between January 1968 and October 1988, at Box Hill, Geelong and Ballarat.

Dressed in a green prison jumper, Best sat still, blinking slowly before he pleaded guilty to 22 offences including indecent assault and false imprisonment.

Lawyers informed the court 17 other charges against him had been dropped as the matter had been resolved in a guilty plea.

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