ABUSE TRACKER

AUSTRALIA
The Australian

November 4, 2016

RACHEL BAXENDALE
ReporterCanberra
@rachelbaxendale

The Turnbull government has today announced a Commonwealth-led opt-in compensation scheme for victims of institutional child sexual abuse, giving them access to up to $150,000.

Social Service Minister Christian Porter said the scheme would be lead by the Commonwealth, with states, territories and institutions, including churches, strongly encouraged to opt in.

The establishment of a national redress scheme was a key recommendation of the royal commission into institutional child sexual abuse, but Mr Porter said the Commonwealth did not have the jurisdiction to force states or territories to be part of the scheme.

States, territories or institutions which do opt-in will be required to fund the cost of their own eligible redress claims.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

Tom McIlroy, Rachel Browne

States, churches and charities are under pressure to support the federal government’s national scheme to compensate victims of child sexual abuse with payments of up to $150,000.

Social Services Minister Christian Porter announced the national opt-in scheme on Friday, a key recommendation from the child sex abuse royal commission and a long-held demand of victims and advocates.

Advocacy groups have welcomed the announcement but slammed the “opt-in” element.

Care Leavers Australia Network chief executive Leonie Sheedy said states must be compelled to contribute and churches and charities should be penalised if they try to dodge their obligations.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

Elle Hunt
@mlle_elle
Friday 4 November 2016

A new national compensation scheme for survivors of institutional child sexual abuse has been designed to have “maximum reach to Australian victims”, the social services minister has said.

Survivors may be entitled to up to $150,000 each under the scheme, which Christian Porter announced on behalf of the federal government in Perth on Friday.

States, territories and institutions , including churches and charities, will be able to opt in to the scheme, which will be run by the commonwealth.

Members of the scheme would opt in on the understanding that they fund the cost of their own eligible redress claims, in accordance with the recommendations of the royal commission into institutional child abuse made late last year.

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AUSTRALIA
news.com.au

COUNSELLING, individual payments and the opportunity for survivors to tell their story will be available under a new Commonwealth Government scheme to compensate survivors of child sex abuse.

Social Services Minister Christian Porter announced the Commonwealth Redress Scheme on Friday.

The scheme would invite state governments and institutions to “opt-in” to the scheme on the basis that the entity found to be responsible — whether it be church, institution, charity or government — would compensate the individual survivors.

Survivors could seek a maximum payment of $150,000 for the sexual abuse they suffered as children.

The Minister said a guiding principal would be to try to avoid survivors being re-traumatised by telling their stories as they applied to the scheme.

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LOUISIANA
The Times-Picayune

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

The jailed former pastor of a Marrero church was accused of rape and other sex crimes against seven child victims Thursday (Nov. 3) in a nine-count indictment handed up by an Orleans Parish grand jury.

Algiers’ Sherman R. Smith, 56, was a pastor at Marrero’s Second Highway Baptist Church, at 1533 Haydel Drive. Authorities said Smith took advantage of his position of trust to rape or sexually abuse young girls who often were friends of his own children. Seven different victims are named in the indictment, which charges Smith with sex crimes against juveniles alleged to have occurred between September 1989 and November 2001.

Criminal District Court Judge Ben Willard raised Smith’s bond amount from $2.35 million to $5 million after the new indictment was read.

Smith initially was arrested last November on first-degree rape and sexual battery charges after three people came forward. He was booked with additional charges Sept. 13, court records showed, that included indecent behavior with a juvenile, sexual battery and molestation of a juvenile or person with a disability.

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AUSTRALIA
International Business Times

By Anne Lu @chelean on November 04 2016

The Australian government has announced up to $150,000 compensation to sexual abuse victims. The Commonwealth redress scheme was announced on Friday as key recommendation from the child sex abuse commission.

Social Services Minister Christian Porter told reporters in Perth that the Commonwealth will lead the program, with states, territories, churches and institutions allowed to “opt in.” The scheme, which will provide emotional, mental and other support to victims of sexual abuse, will run for 10 years, starting in early 2018, with an option to extend.

The maximum payout for individual victims is $150,000.

“A fair, simple and generous process for redress is the most significant thing that we can do for survivors of sexual abuse,” Porter said.

While the government would like all jurisdictions to opt in, it was unable to compel them to do that. Instead, it would just encourage that opt in is to be clear and transparent. In the case of territories, though, the Commonwealth has the right to legislate to compel them to join if they did not opt in.

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PENNSYLVANIA
WFMZ

EMMAUS, Pa. – A monsignor with the Diocese of Allentown will stand trial in a child pornography case.

John Mraz, 66, waived his preliminary hearing Thursday morning.

In September, Mraz was charged with sexual abuse of children, criminal use of a communications facility and obscene and sexual material and performances.

Mraz was the pastor at St. Ann’s Church in Emmaus, Lehigh County.

On July 25, Mraz asked a friend and parishioner to update his laptop computer. The friend subsequently discovered files in the computer’s recycling bin depicting images of nude males of an unknown age, according to court documents.

After completing the update, the friend returned the computer to Mraz, who asked him to update another laptop. On that laptop, the friend reported finding a file named “naked little boys,” or “something similar to that name,” according to court paperwork.

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GUAM
Guam Daily Post

Chris Wong | Post News Staff

With the Oct. 31 announcement of Bishop Michael Jude Byrnes’ appointment as coadjutor archbishop of the Archdiocese of Agana, the Post contacted Byrnes yesterday morning Guam time and spoke with him to get a better understanding of the newest leader of the Catholic Church on Guam.

Below are the archbishop’s responses to the Post’s questions:

Question: Is there any update on your expected date of arrival on Guam?

Answer: Yes, my initial visit is now scheduled for Nov. 28, 2016. I will stay in Guam for three weeks and return back to Detroit during the holiday season to visit my family. Around mid-January, I will have a specific date set when I arrive on Guam, of when I expect to move into my residence on Guam.

Q: What was your reaction upon being chosen by Pope Francis to head the archdiocese on Guam?

A: I was shocked. The first thing I asked was “Where is Guam?” I had no idea I was appointed for the position.

Q: With news of the appointment, some in the local community feel that an outsider would not be able heal the deep divisions and issues the Catholic Church is dealing with on Guam. Others feel that your appointment is a welcome breath of fresh air. What initial steps will you take to heal the community?

A: First and foremost to listen to and to talk with the congregation. I cannot come in with preconceptions of any issue. I need to listen [about] what we can do to resolve and heal the wounds left in the community.

Q: Have you encountered and experienced controversial issues in the community during your time as a member of the clergy?

A: Yes, in 2011 when a priest in our diocese went before a canonical trial after being accused of sexual abuse and misconduct. I have experience in dealing with financial issues and personal issues that were controversial within our congregation of 1.3 million Catholics, in a metropolitan area of 3.4 million people.

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NEW ZEALAND
Radio New Zealand

3 November 2016

The New Zealand judge who formerly headed a major child sex abuse inquiry in Britain says false and defamatory articles were placed in the media by her political opponents.

Dame Lowell GoddardDame Lowell Goddard Photo: SUPPLIED
In a letter to British MPs explaining her resignation, Dame Lowell Goddard said she decided to quit in August when three members of the inquiry’s panel met her to voice their dissatisfaction with her leadership.

Read the 10-page letter, dated 28 October 2016 (PDF, 140KB)

Dame Lowell told the MPs she was not aware of tensions within the inquiry until then, and believed intense media pressure damaged perceptions of her.

“I have been the subject of extensive, false, and defamatory comment in the British media, and have had to instruct London lawyers in these matters. These are current and not resolved,” she wrote to Home Affairs Committee chair Yvette Cooper.

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CALIFORNIA
Fox 40

OCTOBER 31, 2016, BY SONSEEAHRAY TONSALL

SACRAMENTO — Three and a half months after thieves entered a Sacramento home and left a 60-year-old man dead as they fled, new details are emerging about the last person arrested in the case and what may have motivated the killing.

While the crime, a vicious stabbing, according to witnesses, is alarming enough, the fact that the latest alleged murderer is a Hindu priest is sending shock waves through the Hindu community.

Ashok Kumar was killed in August in his home on Grandstaff Drive.

A month later Sacramento police arrested Tiwan Greenwade, Vicky Rainone and the victim’s wife, Rohini Kumar, for murder.

Last week Raghua Sharma was charged with the same, and officers announced they believed there were no more suspects outstanding.

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CALIFORNIA
AOL News

SACRAMENTO (KTXL) — Three and a half months after thieves entered a Sacramento home and left a 60-year-old man dead as they fled, new details are emerging about the last person arrested in the case and what may have motivated the killing.

While the crime, a vicious stabbing, according to witnesses, is alarming enough, the fact that the latest alleged murderer is a Hindu priest is sending shock waves through the Hindu community.

Ashok Kumar was killed in August in his home on Grandstaff Drive.

A month later Sacramento police arrested Tiwan Greenwade, Vicky Rainone and the victim’s wife, Rohini Kumar, for murder.

Last week Raghua Sharma was charged with the same, and officers announced they believed there were no more suspects outstanding.

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UTAH
The Davis Clipper

by BRYAN GRAY
Nov 02, 2016

I have seldom written about religion or spiritual matters. There are three simple reasons. First, there are people who are more knowledgeable and passionate than I am. Second, religion is deeply personal, not the type of thing to bait in a weekly newspaper column. Third, what someone believes is nobody else’s business!

But as most of you are aware, the number of people attending church services in the U.S. continues to creep lower. Furthermore, the fastest-growing “religious group” in America are the “nones,” comprising people who have fallen away from established religions and found a personal spiritual life apart from church buildings, services, and dogma. Among Americans under age 35, there are reportedly more “nones” than membership in any single organized religion. The Pew Research Group finds a decreased membership and activity in almost every single religious faith.

Utah families recognize the fallout. Every family I meet admits to a son, daughter, or grandchild, sometimes even a spouse – of leaving his or her previous faith. Often, those who leave don’t join a different faith either.

The reasons vary of course. Some would trace it to the urbanization of America. Others point to an anti-religious sentiment from the entertainment industry. Still others blame the publicity surrounding the pedophile priest scandal. Then, of course, some religious stalwarts give all the credit to Satan himself!

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TEXAS
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: John T. Keller was ordained for the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston in 1974. He assisted in parishes in Houston and Spring and, in 1983, became pastor of his first of three Houston parishes. He also spent a number of years on the archdiocesan Presbyteral Council.

In 2002 the archdiocese received a complaint that Keller had sexually abused a 16-year-old altar boy in the early 1980s, while assigned to Christ the Good Shepherd in Spring. The complaint was made by the boy’s father, who had been a parish dean and a friend of Keller’s. He said that on a camping trip with his son, Keller plied the boy with alcohol, then invited him into his bed where he put his hands into the boy’s pants. Keller’s accuser said that in the mid-1990s he and his therapist met with Keller, who reassured him that “he was the only one.” The accuser’s mother wrote to Bishop Fiorenza in Fall 2002 saying, in part, that shortly after the camping trip she found in her son’s room “love letters” to the boy from Keller. She said she confronted Keller, who said he was “dealing with his problem in therapy.” Keller admitted that he “crossed a proper boundary,” but denied his behavior was abuse. The archdiocesan review board determined that Keller “acted very inappropriately” but that his behavior was not sexual abuse. Keller was kept in ministry, including during the investigation.

Ordained: 1974

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TEXAS
Houston Chronicle

By Andrew Kragie and Mike Glenn November 3, 2016

Montgomery County Sheriff’s detectives arrested a Magnolia pastor Tuesday on charges he sexually assaulted a young girl – and officials believe there could be more victims.

Detectives, prosecutors and the MCSO SWAT team raided The Body Of Christ Ministry Church in the 40200 block of Garwood Court and later apprehended 56-year-old Ronald Mitchell.

Police say they found evidence of the alleged sexual assault and a “large cache of weapons and ammunition” in a residence at the church.

MCSO SWAT members made the arrest near Texas 75 and Texas 105 in Conroe, jail records show. Mitchell is being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $250,000 bond.

Since Mitchell led his church from different locations around the greater Houston area, including Tomball, South Houston and Montgomery County, investigators believe there could be more victims who have yet to come forward.

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MISSOURI
The Kansas City Star

Published November 3, 2016

BY KATY BERGEN, LAURA BAUER AND MARÁ WILLIAMS
The Kansas City Star
kbergen@kcstar.com, lbauer@kcstar.com, mdwilliams@kcstar.com

David, 60

For about four or five years as a teenager, I was repeatedly molested by a priest. But I came to realize this only after long-repressed memories surfaced in my 30s, sending me into a sudden downward spiral. (I’d long made inexplicable and self-destructive decisions and struggled with intimacy and self-worth. Learning I’d been sexually violated, however, led to a real emotional tailspin for months and months.)

Fortunately, I had (and still have) a remarkably supportive partner. Though I just turned 60, I’m still in therapy but have also made great strides in healing through my work with an amazing self-help group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. The wisdom and resilience of the hundreds of victims I’ve met inspires me every day and reminds me that it wasn’t my fault, I did nothing wrong, I can recover from this trauma, and I can help prevent other kids from suffering in the same way I have suffered. …

Mark, 56

I was 14 years old when I met Father R. at my high school. He groomed me in the hallways and took me to city parks where gay people met for sex. We partied in his apartment many evenings. The frequency of our visits increased and so did the sexual advances he made. I always froze. It was never pleasurable. This relationship lasted for almost two years. I was told to leave the school when the principal discovered this and accused me of being a drug addict, which I was.

As a teenager, I was preoccupied with trying to survive the numerous expulsions of being gay by the public at large, from family members, followers of the church, and other predators within the gay community. I was not able to determine what was right and what was wrong during those years. I wish I could experience what it would be like to exist as a young gay man with dignity and not have experienced the behaviors caused by a pedophile. I have made so many misguided decisions since then and because of this.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Catholic Philly

By Lou Baldwin • Posted November 3, 2016

New financial statements for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia released Nov. 3 by the Office for Financial Services covering the fiscal year (FY) ended June 30, 2016 show continuing progress on the path to financial stability, especially in addressing the core operating deficit.

The financial statements, which were audited by the independent auditing firm Grant Thornton, show the core operating deficit for FY 2016 to be $0.3 million as opposed to $0.7 million in FY 2015.

That is down from $2.3 million in FY 2014, $4.9 million in 2013 and a whopping $17.6 million in 2012, the first year of Grant Thornton’s audits.

Over the same period, underfunded balance sheet obligations have decreased from $354.4 million to $236.6 million.

“Our recurring deficit of $300,000 shows well and continues our recent trend of a somewhat stabilized result,” said archdiocesan Chief Financial Officer Timothy O’Shaughnessy. “It’s a deficit though and we’re still too fragile. I don’t believe we can sustain even at this slight deficit without further changes. We are committed to achieving a break-even result for our fiscal year ending June 30, 2018 and we are reviewing plans for that. These plans do not include a reduction in staff.”

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PENNSYLVANIA
Lancaster Online

EMMAUS, Pa. (AP) — A Roman Catholic priest in Pennsylvania has waived a preliminary hearing on child pornography charges.

His attorney says Monsignor John Stephen Mraz, of Bethlehem, gave up his right to a preliminary hearing because he committed the crime.

Attorney John Waldron tells The Allentown Morning Call (http://bit.ly/2f5r0uL ) that 66-year-old Mraz downloaded and he viewed pornographic computer files as alleged.

He says “the important thing” is he never tried to contact children.

Waldron says he expects the case to be resolved in a guilty plea and not go to trial.

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PENNSYLVANIA
NBC 10

By Dan Stamm

A lawyer for a Roman Catholic priest in the Lehigh Valley says his client downloaded and viewed child porn but he says “the important thing” is the priest never tried to contact any children.

Attorney John Waldron says Monsignor John Stephen Mraz, of Bethlehem, has waived his right to a preliminary hearing on child pornography charges because he committed the crime.

Waldron tells The Allentown Morning Call he expects the 66-year-old priest will plead guilty and the case won’t go to trial.

Prosecutors said a friend of the priest’s discovered a file labeled with a reference to nude boys while working on Mraz’s computer. Some of the terms Mraz searched for online included “nude boys wrestling,” “teen boys spanked,” “small boy nudes,” “handcuffed nude boys,” “boy bondage” and other terms involving boys and sexual acts, said police.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Birmingham Mail

BY
RICHARD VERNALLS
BEN HURST

A disgraced imam who fled to Bangladesh after being convicted of historical sex attacks on two girls he tutored has been jailed for 11 and a half years in his absence.

Hifiz Rahman was captured on CCTV boarding a plane to Dhaka the day after a Wolverhampton Crown Court jury found him guilty of five counts of indecent assaults on victims as young as six.

During his sentencing it emerged that Rahman had a Bangladeshi passport, which the British authorities knew nothing about, allowing him to flee.

Rahman, who had diabetes, was on bail during the two criminal trials which saw him convicted, and was unable to attend some days after complaining of feeling unwell.

Sentencing the 58-year-old for a “gross breach of trust”, Judge Nicholas Cartwright said Rahman had “deceived” not only the parents of his victims, but also his own solicitors and barrister at trial by lying about being sick.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

An imam who fled the country after being convicted of historical sex attacks has been jailed for eleven and a half years.

Hifiz Rahman, 58, was found guilty of five sexual assaults at Queens Cross mosque in the West Midlands between March 1986 and August 1987.

He took a flight from Birmingham Airport to Bangladesh the day after his conviction last month.
Rahman was sentenced in his absence at Wolverhampton Crown Court.

Judge Nicholas Cartwright said the father-of-seven from Netherton, who had not attended some of his trial because he claimed he was too unwell, had deceived his victims and own solicitors by lying about being sick.

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VATICAN CITY
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. …

Hon explained that Francis had appointed Byrnes to have special faculties over the Agana archdiocese, saying: “This appointment suggests a more permanent solution.”

“As a matter of fact, in this appointment the Holy Father has expressly granted His Excellency Msgr. Byrnes all the faculties, rights and obligations of the archbishop of Aganda, civilly and ecclesiastically without any exception,” Hon continued.

“In other words, as coadjutor archbishop, Msgr. Byrnes has the complete right of responsibility over everything concerning the archdiocese,” said Hon.

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SCOTLAND
BBC News

The Catholic Church in Scotland has denied claims that it has failed to implement changes after the publication of a report into child abuse.

In August 2015, Dr Andrew McLellan made a raft of recommendations following a review into abuse allegations connected with the church.

He said that since then bishops seemed to be “ignoring” his findings.

However, the Catholic Church said it accepted his recommendations and that they would be implemented in full.

Dr McLellan, a former Church of Scotland moderator, was tasked with coming up with proposals aimed at making the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland “a safe place for all” in January 2014.

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UNITED STATES
Daily Mail (UK)

By KELLY MCLAUGHLIN FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

A bishop at one of the largest African-American Christian churches in the United States has been accused of grooming and sexually assaulting a female member of the denomination for more than 20 years.

Kimberly Pollard, who is now 37, filed a $12.2-million lawsuit against the Church of God in Christ (COGIC) and Bishop James L’Keith Jones, accusing the church of allowing her to be sexually assaulted by the high-ranking bishop for 20 years, according to court papers obtained exclusively by DailyMail.com.

Pollard claims that Jones not only groomed her into what became a 20-year sexual relationship and extra-marital affair, but also tried to groom her six-year-old daughter, telling her she looked ‘sexy’ and that he would wait until she was 18 to date her.

The mother-of-one from Lubbock, Texas, says that the relationship between her and Jones turned sexual in or around 1995, when she was still a minor.

She says that during a Holy Convocation in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Jones used his relationship as a then-pastor to sexually assault her and engage in an illicit sexual relationship.

And over the next 20 years, as Jones was promoted to higher rankings and given more responsibility in the church, he continued the sexual relationship through coercion, threats and his position as a spiritual adviser, Pollard claims.

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AUSTRALIA
The Educator

by Heather Jane
03 Nov 2016

A principal of a top private school told the Royal Commission into child abuse that the sensationalist tendencies of the media are a “strong disincentive” for principals to report abuse allegations, Sky News reported.

The comments were made by The King’s School principal, Dr Timothy Hawkes, as he responded to suggestions that his failure to report an indecent assault was influenced by his concern for the school’s reputation.

David Lloyd, the counsel assisting the Commission, referred to an email from Hawkes to other private school heads about his attitude to reporting abuse following negative media reports about sex abuse allegations at Trinity Grammar School in 2000.

In the email tendered to the commission, he wrote:

“If in reporting an incident, it means the broad flapping ears of the press will be allowed to sensationalise the case on the front page of their newspapers, then this will be a very strong disincentive to report anything,” he wrote.

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AUSTRALIA
Townsville Bulletin

VICTORIA NUGENT, Townsville Bulletin
November 2, 2016

THE former principal of a Townsville boarding school said a rape victim was sent to a different campus to prevent the offenders from fleeing the school and escaping investigation.

Christopher Shirley, who was Shalom Christian College’s principal at the time of the 2006 assault, said the 14-year-old girl, referred to during the commission as CLF, was sent to the school’s Crystal Creek campus after disclosing the incident.

He added that he wanted to prevent the boys from “absconding from the school” if they thought the matter was being under investigation.

“My main concern was to make sure CLF was safe,” he said.

“My intention was to keep things calm, let them think no punishment was going to happen.”

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

Two boys at a Queensland boarding school ‘boasted’ to staff they’d had group sex with a female student but it was five days before the incident was formally reported, the abuse royal commission has heard.

Shalom Christian College is under the spotlight at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse over a gang rape in 2006.

A 14-year-old girl, referred to as CLF, was sexually assaulted by four male behind the school, the commission heard.

Counsel assisting David Lloyd said staff in the boys’ and girls’ dormitories noticed students were missing on the night of March 23, 2006.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

A third of pupils at a Queensland indigenous college had sexually transmitted diseases when a 14-year-old boarder alleged she was gang raped by other students, the abuse royal commission has heard.

Shalom Christian College in Townsville has been under the spotlight this week at the commission over its response to claims the girl was assaulted by four boys in March 2006.

As the inquiry delved into the school’s failed handling of the incident, alarming statistics about the prevalence of sexual abuse across the school were revealed.

Former principal Christopher Shirley gave evidence that he made more reports about serious sex-related incidents to authorities in one year at Shalom than in 20 years at other schools.

“In a year at Shalom … it would probably be somewhere about five (reports) a term, 20 a year,” he said.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Ben Millington

The principal of a North Queensland boarding school where a teenage girl was raped says the school still cannot guarantee the safety of its students due to a lack of funding.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse is looking into how Townsville-based Indigenous school Shalom Christian College handled the sexual assault of a 14-year-old female student in the 2000s.

The girl, known to the commission as CLF, was raped by four boys behind a classroom at night when the students were supposed to be in the boarding house.

At a hearing in Sydney, current principal Christopher England was asked if he could provide a safe environment for students in the boarding houses with resource levels.

He replied: “No sir.”

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AUSTRALIA
Goulburn Post

Louise Thrower
@ThrowerLouise

3 Nov 2016

Two former Salvation Army officers have been charged over historic child sex offences allegedly committed in the 1960s and 1970s.

Strike Force Lehmann, comprising officers from the State Crime Command’s Sex Crimes Squad, was established to investigate allegations of sexual abuse by former Salvation Army officers at two boys homes in Bexley and Goulburn.

The allegations were raised at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse.

Following extensive inquiries, Strike Force detectives arrested a 74-year-old man at a property in Waterloo about 7.30am on Wednesday.

He was taken to Redfern Police Station where he was charged with 23 counts of indecent assault upon a male, two counts of buggery, and procure indecent act with male.

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AUSTRALIA
The Advertiser

Australian Associated Press
November 2, 2016

Two former Salvation Army officers have been charged with sexually abusing children at NSW boys’ homes in the late 60s and early 1970s.

A 74-year-old man was arrested at his Waterloo home in Sydney on Wednesday morning and charged with 23 counts of indecent assault, while the second man, aged 77, was arrested in his Windsor home and charged with 13 offences.

Officers from the State Crime Command Sex Crimes Squad allege boys were sexually abused at homes in Bexley and Goulburn between 1968 and 1974.

The 74-year-old has been remanded by police and is due to face Central Local Court on Thursday. The 77-year-old has been granted conditional bail and will face court next month.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

Two former Salvation Army officers have been charged with child sex abuse at boys’ homes in New South Wales, allegedly committed in the 1960s and 1970s.

The allegations, concerning homes at Goulburn and Bexley, were raised at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse.

A 74-year-old man was arrested at a property at Waterloo in inner Sydney yesterday morning.

He was charged with 23 counts of indecent assault on a male, two counts of buggery, and procuring an indecent act with a male.

Police will allege the man assaulted children at boys’ homes in Bexley and Goulburn between 1971 and 1974.

He is due to face Central Local Court today.

A second man, aged 77, was arrested on Wednesday at a home in Richmond in Sydney’s west.

He was charged with two counts of indecent assault upon a male, seven counts of assault occasio

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Mail

By DANIEL PETERS FOR DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA

Two former Salvation Army officers have been charged with a total of 28 counts of sexually assaulting boys in NSW orphanages.

The men, aged 77 and 74, were arrested on Wednesday over allegations of horrific sexual abuse at boys’ homes in Bexley and Goulburn in the 1960s and 1970s.

The allegations were first raised at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse, which took place in early 2014.

A 74-year-old man was arrested at a home in Waterloo, in Sydney’s inner-city, at 7.30am on Wednesday.

He was charged with 23 counts of indecent assault on a male, two counts of buggery (anal intercourse), and one count of procure indecent act with male.

Police will allege the man sexually assaulted boys at orphanages in Bexley and Goulburn between 1971 and 1974.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian

Harriet Sherwood Religion correspondent
@harrietsherwood
Wednesday 2 November 2016

The head of the Catholic church in England and Wales has apologised for its part in the” hurt” caused to young unmarried women who say they were felt pressured into handing over their babies for adoption in the 1950s, 60s and 70s.

Cardinal Vincent 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.

In a statement at the end of the programme, Nichols apologises for the church’s role, saying: “The practices of all adoption agencies, whether religious, charitable or state, reflected these attitudes and were sometimes lacking in care and sensitivity. We apologise for the hurt caused by agencies acting in the name of the Catholic church.”

The documentary, Britain’s Adoption Scandal: Breaking the Silence, relates the stories of several women whose babies were given up for adoption over the 30-year period. Adoption reached a peak in 1968, when more than 16,000 babies born to unmarried mothers were handed over to new families.

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UNITED STATES
Forward

Marc Gafni
November 3, 2016

A few months after the Forward published a searing essay by Sara Kabakov describing how Marc Gafni sexually abused her, Gafni asked to respond. The Forward believes it has a journalistic obligation to allow him to do so. But his essay demands analysis and context, so the Forward asked a number of experts in sexual abuse to analyze Gafni’s assertions. Those experts challenged Gafni’s claims that Kabakov consented to this relationship and that her age was not an issue, and questioned his reliance on polygraph tests. Their responses are published below Gafni’s essay.

Marc Gafni’s Response

Over the last year, I have been attacked in the press and on Internet blogs, falsely accused of everything from sexual harassment to plagiarism. My character and work have been demeaned. These attacks have unfolded as a series of articles reaching back to the end of 2015. I believe that these articles are the result of a highly orchestrated smear campaign.

I want to directly address a particular false story by Sara Kabakov that is being used in an attempt not only to destroy my reputation, but now has become the basis for a wider organized campaign to destroy the reputations of peers and colleagues.

The series of articles and blogs I’m referring to, particularly ones published in Jewish press, cite the alleged “molestation of Sara Kabakov, starting at age 13, by her former Rabbi and spiritual guru, Marc Gafni.” They present this claim as if it were an established and self-evident truth. It is not.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

The Bishop of Oxford has insisted he did act when a priest told him he was raped repeatedly as a teenager.

The Right Reverend Dr Steven Croft, who became Bishop of Oxford in September, was told of the allegation in 2012 by the priest, who has since retired.

Dr Croft said he followed up the allegations and those concerned were “properly supported”.

But the man said Dr Croft “did nothing” and “couldn’t get off the phone quick enough” when he told him.

“I would have thought he would have wanted it sorted out before he was enthroned [in Oxford] but he has persistently not engaged,” he said.

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VIRGINIA
WSET

BY ASHLEY ANN & KATIE BROOKE WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 2ND 2016

CAMPBELL Co, Va. (WSET) — A former youth pastor is facing a minimum of five years behind bars. Wednesday, a jury found Major L. Hillman guilty of indecent liberties with a child and electronic solicitation of a minor.

The Commonwealth’s Attorney says this case is all about an abuse of trust. They say the then 14-year-old victim came to Hillman for counseling about a prior sexual assault.

The counseling sessions led to texting and then “Snapchatting” that quickly turned sexual. The jury saw several naked pictures Hillman sent to the eighth grade girl and she returned naked photos to him.

Hillman called the picture exchange a counseling technique – though he mentioned in his interview with police he knew the girl was underage and it was illegal.

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LOUISIANA
New Orleans Advocate

By James Gill
NOV 3, 2016

After the lawsuit was filed, a trial was scheduled for 2009, but it was called off while an army of attorneys haggled before the judges of four different courts.

We are still waiting for a trial date to set. Only a great deal of judicial bungling could cause such a delay. Indeed, the state Supreme Court, in a decision handed down last week, blamed itself for some of the “widespread confusion” that has left the case to yo-yo around the system for so long.

Surely it is only in complex cases that judges should have to cudgel their honorable brains for seven whole years before a trial can begin. The issue that has held up proceedings here could hardly be simpler. A layman, reading the plain words of the relevant statute, could have resolved it at the beginning. It takes years of legal training to get lost in so many blind alleys.
an’t legally be forced to reveal what’s heard in confessional, Louisiana Supreme Court rules

The suit was filed on behalf of Rebecca Mayeux, who alleged that in 2008, when she was 14, she had been sexually molested on several occasions by George Charlet, an elderly parishioner at her Catholic church in Clinton. Mayeux claimed she complained to her priest, Jeff Bayhi, during confession, but he had given her the brush-off. Bayhi was legally obliged to report Mayeux’s accusations to the civil authorities, according the lawsuit, which was filed after Charlet died.

Just before trial was due to begin before state judge Mike Caldwell, the archdiocese filed a motion to exclude any reference to what had been said in the confessional. Caldwell denied it on grounds that the priest/penitent privilege did not bar Mayeux from waiving her own right to secrecy. He noted, however, that, regardless of secular law, Bayhi would probably refuse to divulge what had been said at confession.

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SCOTLAND
Premier

Wed 02 Nov 2016
By Antony Bushfield

The Catholic Church in Scotland is being accused of ignoring safeguarding recommendations made by a commission in 2015.

Former Church of Scotland moderator Dr Andrew McLellan had carried out an investigation examining Safeguarding Protocols in the Catholic Church.

In an open letter to the Bishops’ Conference he warned the Church was “confirming the worst fears of survivors… by appearing to ignore” the findings of his commission.

The Catholic Church hit back saying “every recommendation will be implemented”.

Dr McLellan’s commission met with survivors of abuse. In the open letter he said: “When will we see action from the Catholic Bishops of Scotland in response to the Report?

“Not only do the Scottish public know nothing of the action taken in response to the Report, as far as we can tell from Catholic friends the members of the church themselves know nothing.

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SCOTLAND
Scottish Catholic Observer

[Implementation Plan of the Recommendations of The McLellan Commission]

The Scottish Church has strongly rejected claims they are being slow to implementing the McLellan Commission’s report into safeguarding children from abuse.

Rev Andrew McLellan (above left) – a former Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland – chaired a two-year long commission into safeguarding procedures in the Catholic Church which concluded 15 months ago. The report made 49 key recommendations, designed to prevent abuse from happening in future.

Rev McLellan and six other members of the commission have now written to the Church claiming that action is not being taken, survivors are not being supported and independent scrutiny is not being introduced.

In response, the assistant general secretary of the Scottish Bishops’ Conference, Fr Thomas Boyle, insisted the Church’s commitment to carrying out the report’s recommendations ‘has not diminished in any way’ and ‘every recommendation will be implemented.’

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SCOTLAND
Herald Scotland

FOR survivors of child abuse within the Catholic Church in Scotland, the McLellan Commission was a great sign of hope and potential change. Not only did the appointment of Dr Andrew McLellan, a former moderator of the Church of Scotland, appear to demonstrate that the Church was prepared to genuinely open itself to independent scrutiny, the hierarchy responded well to the final report. Archbishop Philip Tartaglia offered a profound apology to the victims and the Church said that change was coming.

However, more than a year on from the publication of the report, some of its authors appear to have lost faith in the process. In a letter to The Herald, Dr McLellan and six other members of the commission have suggested the Bishops appear to be ignoring their report. “A year ago the bishops might have used the opportunity of the publication of the report to introduce systemic reform,” says the letter. “Now they are in danger of confirming the worst fears of survivors and observers by appearing to ignore its recommendations.”

The letter also makes a number of specific allegations. One of the report’s recommendations was that the church would publish a timetable for action, to be followed by a progress report within 12 months, but the letter says that has not happened. Another key recommendation was that the church would put survivors first – again, the letter says that has not happened. And on the recommendation the church be transparent and open, the letter writers say they are disappointed: “As far as we can tell from Catholic friends the members of the church themselves know nothing.”

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Lorna Siggins

When PJ Haverty joined a candle-lit walk into Tuam, Co Galway on Wednesday night, he could only think of the distressed steps taken on the very same route by his late mother, Eileen.

“For 5½ years she was in and out of the town on foot to the mother and babies home, begging for me to be returned to her,” Mr Haverty said.

Mr Haverty was one of more than 300 participants in a vigil which began at the unofficial burial grounds for the former Bon Secours home on the Dublin Road and continued to Tuam Town Square.

The vigil, organised by artist Sadie Cramer and local historian Catherine Corless, is part of a series of community events recognising the legacy of the institution which housed unmarried mothers and their children from the 1920s to 1961.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Kate Evans

Catholic priest Father Frank Docherty was expelled from the Sydney Archdiocese in the 1960s for his activism against the Vietnam War and Apartheid South Africa.

After years in Canada, he returns to Sydney and finds himself confronting evidence of abuse within the church. It’s 1996 and the church is flexing its legal muscle.

As familiar as the scenario sounds, there is no Father Docherty. He is a central character in Tom Keneally’s new novel, Crimes of the Father. Nothing too equivocal about that title.

With the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse ongoing, the novel’s timing makes sense, culturally and historically. But why was it the right time for Keneally himself?

It began in 2002, when he was asked to write an article for The New Yorker. A “failed seminarian” and an ex-Catholic, he says the church as an institution still matters to him for its “combination of tribalism, mystery, [its] mytho-poetic corpus”.

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SCOTLAND
Herald Scotland

SCOTLAND’S Catholic bishops appear to be ignoring the findings of an independent report into historic child abuse within the church, a former Kirk Moderator has claimed.

Dr Andrew McLellan, chair of the commission which investigated Catholic abuse following a series of scandals, said the Church had failed to deliver on its promises of acting on his recommendations and claiming it was at risk of “confirming the worst fears of survivors and observers”.

In a letter co-signed by six other members of the commission, Dr McLellan makes a series of criticisms aimed at the Catholic hierarchy, including ignoring abuse survivors.

But the Church has refuted all allegations made by the Commission members, stating it had published its plans, including a public consultation on them, and was close to announcing the progress made since the report was released in August 2015.

It said Dr McLellan had last been in contact with the Church at the beginning of the year and would have provided a progress update had it been requested by the Commission members.

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AUSTRALIA
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

3 November, 2016

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse will hold a public hearing commencing in February 2017 into the current policies and procedures of each religious institution named below in relation to child protection and child-safe standards, including responding to allegations of child sexual abuse.

This hearing is 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 named institutions to relevant case study report(s).

The Royal Commission invites submissions from individuals and organisations concerning the current policies and procedures in place and the response of the institution to the relevant case studies and case study reports.

The Royal Commission may invite selected individuals or organisations to speak to their submissions, however, it is not proposed that leave to appear will be granted.

Those institutions are:

* Catholic Church authorities in Australia;
* Anglican Church authorities in Australia;
* Yeshivah Melbourne and Yeshiva Bondi;
* Uniting Church in Australia;
* Jehovah’s Witnesses and Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of Australia Ltd.

The identity of anyone who provides information will be protected and will be kept confidential.

Submissions should be made by 25 November 2016 in writing to GPO Box 5283, Sydney, NSW, 2001 or via email to solicitor@childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au. Submissions can be anonymous.
If individuals have participated in a private session and would like their session to be recognised as a formal, confidential submission, please contact the Royal Commission at solicitor@childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au.

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VIRGINIA
The News & Advance

Christopher Cole

Update: RUSTBURG — A Campbell County jury found a former youth pastor guilty Wednesday of electronic solicitation and indecent liberties with a child.

Jurors called for a total of six years in prison for Major Lance Hillman, 23, of Lynchburg, after convicting him on two felony counts in a day-long trial.

Prosecutors sought a maximum prison sentence of 40 years for Hillman, with Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Jason Todd calling him “predatory.”

It took the jury of eight women and four men about 45 minutes to return guilty verdicts on both counts.

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OKLAHOMA
Fox 23

by: Hector Mejia Updated: Nov 2, 2016

Witnesses took the stand on the final day of jury selection in the case against an accused child molester.

During opening arguments, prosecutors claimed that Timothy Cato, a Tulsa pastor and youth mentor, molested five children over the course of several years.

However, Cato’s defense claimed the state jumped to conclusions, arguing Cato’s innocence.

The first witness, the senior pastor at Liberty Church, testified Cato admitted to him he had molested at least one child after Tulsa police opened an investigation back in 2014.

He said Cato lived with boys during a Falls Creek church camp and confessed to molesting a child who had nothing to do with the church. Prosecutors also said Cato told police he’d molested one child

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UNITED KINGDOM
Telegraph

Robert Mendick, chief reporter
2 NOVEMBER 2016

Dame Lowell Goddard quit as chairwoman of the national child sex abuse inquiry after panel members including the woman who succeeded her turned against her in an apparent power struggle.

Dame Lowell disclosed in a letter to MPs how she was forced into her sudden resignation in the summer after being confronted by colleagues she previously believed were loyal.

The account given by Dame Lowell of why she quit will put pressure on the new inquiry chairman Professor Jay – the fourth in two years- to explain her role in the resignation that plunged the £100 million inquiry into crisis.

Amber Rudd, the Home Secretary, had previously told MPs that Dame Lowell had resigned because she was “homesick and lonely”.

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TEXAS
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, Nov. 2, 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 gang rape has happened each of the last four years at Baylor University in Texas. On a new website, the school’s president pledges to be “more transparent” about sexual violence on campus. But we’re highly skeptical.

[Los Angeles Times]

[Wall Street Journal]

The very top of the website shows a defensive posting that criticizes one media outlet for its coverage of the Baylor scandal. That’s hardly “transparent” or encouraging. We suspect this new site is essentially the creation of the school’s public relations and legal defense teams, not a genuine effort to prevent sexual violence.

If President David E. Garland is genuinely interested in promoting openness about rape and sexual assault, he should promptly and publicly punish – or at least suspend – at least one school staffer who ignored or concealed sexual violence. That’s the quickest, clearest and most effective way to begin to reform a campus climate that has historically been secretive and unhealthy when it comes to the safety of students. Until he takes this simple step, his words will continue to ring hollow.

No matter what law enforcement, university or church officials do or don’t do, we urge every single person who saw, suspected or suffered child sex crimes and cover ups at Baylor to protect others by calling police, get help by calling therapists, expose wrongdoers by calling attorneys, and be comforted by calling support groups like ours. This is how kids will be safer, adults will recover, criminals will be prosecuted, cover ups will be deterred and the truth will surface.

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IRELAND
Galway Bay FM

Galway Bay fm newsroom – Hundreds are expected to turn out for a special vigil in Tuam this evening to remember the residents of the Tuam mother and baby home.

The event is led by Corrandulla artist Sadie Cramer whose exhibition of memorabillia from the home will also open at Tuam Town Hall.

The vigil begins at the children’s graveyard at 7pm.

The procession will then make its way to the Square, retracing the steps of the children on the route they travelled to school.

A minute silence will also be observed as well as a short poetry recital.

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GUAM
Guam Daily Post

John O’Connor | Post News Staff

Attorney David Lujan expects four civil lawsuits to be filed next week in addition to the four that were filed on Nov. 1 by abuse victims Roland Sondia, Roy Quintanilla, Walter Denton and Leo Tudela. The lawsuits were filed against Archbishop Anthony Apuron, the Archdiocese of Agana and former Guam priest Rev. Louis Brouillard.

The lawsuits are part of at least a dozen suits expected to be filed over the next few weeks. The next four to be filed next week include a suit on behalf of the late Joseph “Sonny” Quinata and three victims who have not yet been named. Lujan said his clients were seeking monetary damages but they have not yet stated the amount.

“Until the case progresses then we’ll decide what it is that we’re asking for,” Lujan said.

Quintanilla, Denton, Sondia and Doris Concepcion – on behalf of Quinata, her son – are also plaintiffs in a separate libel and slander lawsuit against Apuron and the archdiocese. The four are seeking damages of $500,000 each in that suit and Lujan said the intention was to move forward with it.

The defendants in the libel and slander suit filed a motion to dismiss in September, but Lujan said he filed a motion in opposition on Oct. 20. A response from the defendants is expected on a Friday, either this week or next week, according to Lujan.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

Andrew Bolt, Herald Sun
November 2, 2016

THE media last week missed the big story about Cardinal George Pell, target of the most vicious witch hunt. The case against Pell — that he covered up for paedophile priests — is falling to bits.

Last week the royal commission, which grilled Pell for many hours, surprisingly decided to publish the final submissions of its counsel assisting, Gail Furness. I heard Furness go for Pell as he sat in the witness box for four days in March. She treated him with contempt, it seemed to me. Her submissions are not findings — that’s up to the royal commissioners — but do represent Furness’s best case against Pell.

To which I say: is this all you’ve got? Is this all anyone can pin on the man who was branded “scum” in the Tim Minchin song played on high rotation by the ABC? Who was attacked in the media as a “liar”, “sociopath”, “coward” and “dangerous individual”?

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AUSTRALIA
Brisbane Times

Jenny Noyes

Ever since Cardinal George Pell went to Rome in 2014, Australians have been waiting to see him return to front the child sex abuse Royal Commission. But while he’s finally been back in the hot seat again this week (albeit via video link), the anticipation of justice hasn’t made his testimony any easier to listen to.

Not with lines like: “It was a sad story; it wasn’t of much interest to me,” in reference to his awareness of abuse perpetrated by notorious paedophile priest Gerard Ridsdale.

But one thing that has given succour to the audience of this depressing spectacle – whether of abuse victims and their families in the room with her, or those of us watching, listening and reading about it from home – was the job done by Gail Furness SC, the counsel assisting the commission and the hero-woman who won’t take evasion and shrugs for an answer.

Furness has grilled Pell fiercely over the past four days, though always calm; labelling his answers as “implausible” and “designed to deflect blame”.

Her approach has earned her a lot of fans and, this week, made her a household name. News Corp even described her as having “rock star status” – although there are no attention-seeking rock star stylings to be seen here.

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CALIFORNIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2016

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

We’re alarmed but not surprised that a convicted child molesting Catholic priest is back in a parish. We call on LA law enforcement officials to quickly but promptly investigate whether more charges can be brought against this cleric. And we call on Archbishop Jose Gomez to use church bulletins, parish websites, archdiocesan websites and pulpit announcements to warn his flock him and seek out others with information or suspicions about his crimes to call police.

[My News LA]

[Fox LA]

We understand Rodriguez has been defrocked and he’s in some parish that’s reportedly isn’t affiliated with the LA archdiocese. Neither of these facts, however, absolves Gomez and his colleagues of their moral and civic duty to protect the vulnerable from shrewd predators, especially one who has been recruited, educated, ordained, hired, trained, transferred and shielded by Gomez’ predecessors. If your institution protects a child rapist for decade, your obligate to safeguard others doesn’t end the minute you finally stop paying him.

Gomez should also work hard to help make sure every predator priest is prosecuted or put in remote, secure, independent treatment centers far away from the families they’ve duped and betrayed. He should do everything he possibly can to let the police, prosecutors, parents, parishioners and the public know who and where these dangerous men are. He should beg anyone who might be able to help law enforcement charge Rodriguez with more crimes to step forward immediately.

No church officials do or don’t do, we urge every single person who saw, suspected or suffered child sex crimes and cover ups in Catholic churches or institutions – especially in the Los Angeles archdiocese – to protect kids by calling police, get help by calling therapists, expose wrongdoers by calling attorneys, and be comforted by calling support groups like ours. This is how kids will be safer, adults will recover, criminals will be prosecuted, cover ups will be deterred and the truth will surface.

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AUSTRALIA
New South Wales Police Force

Thursday, 03 November 2016

Two former Salvation Army officers have been charged over historic child sex offences allegedly committed in the 1960s and 1970s.

Strike Force Lehmann, comprising officers from the State Crime Command’s Sex Crimes Squad, was established to investigate allegations of sexual abuse by former Salvation Army officers at two boys homes in Bexley and Goulburn.

The allegations were raised at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse.

Following extensive inquiries, Strike Force detectives arrested a 74-year-old man at a property in Waterloo about 7.30am yesterday (Wednesday 2 November 2016).

He was taken to Redfern Police Station where he was charged with 23 counts of indecent assault upon a male, two counts of buggery, and procure indecent act with male.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

November 3, 2016

TESSA AKERMAN
ReporterMelbourne
@TessaAkerman

The Archdiocese of Melbourne has flatly rejected Cardinal ­George Pell’s key evidence to the child sex abuse royal commission that he was purposely deceived by the Catholic Education Office over pedophile priest Peter Searson.

The issue of his handling of Searson has dogged Cardinal Pell, with counsel assisting the royal commission recommending this week that Cardinal Pell’s evidence be rejected.

Searson was the parish priest of Doveton between 1984 and 1997 when he was placed on administrative leave by then archbishop Pell but in 1989 the cardinal played a key role in dealing with serious complaints against Searson.

Searson died in 2009 and was never charged with any offences in relation to sexual abuse of children, but there had been complaints he had sexually abused children, took a handgun to school and showed children a body in a coffin.

When Cardinal Pell gave evidence in March from Rome to the commission he said it was an ­“incorrect assumption” that he was told what the education office knew when he received a delegation from it in November 1989 and agreed it had deceived him.

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UNITED STATES
Irish Times

Dave Hannigan

Six years after taking over at Baylor University, Art Briles was earning $5 million a season, the inflated salary reflecting how he had transformed the Texan college into a national powerhouse and become one of the most coveted coaches in gridiron.

During that time, 19 of the players who made his reputation on the field were accused of sexually assaulting female students off it, including four cases of gang rape. In at least one of those instances, Briles received a full report about the incident but chose not to go to the police. Welcome to the corner of the sporting world where the moral compass points only towards the scoreboard.

After a Philadelphia law firm delivered a report into the litany of allegations surrounding the team back in May, Briles addressed the college’s board of regents about the scandal. At one point, as he struggled to explain how such a culture of rampant sexual violence was allowed to flourish in his locker room, he burst into tears.

Bizarrely, the sight of him crying caused some of those on the other side of the table, his supposed higher-ups, to well up too. Then, he quoted scripture, always a canny move in a college founded by the Texas Baptist Education Society in 1844, and a place that prides itself on remaining devoutly Christian in its ethos.

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PENNSYLVANIA
GoErie

If effective governing is ever to return to Pennsylvania, it will be thanks to reasonable, broad-minded legislators who are smart, independent and focused on the good of their constituents and the commonwealth, not rigid ideology or special interests.

That candidate in the 3rd Legislative District is Democratic incumbent Ryan Bizzarro of Millcreek Township …

A principled, independent streak is also seen in his courageous support for legislation that would extend the statute of limitations for victims of sex abuse by clergy and others to sue private institutions that employed the abusers.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Parliament

Letter from Hon Dame Lowell Goddard QC to Yvette Cooper MP, Chair of the Committee, 28 October 2016

May I first congratulate you on your election as Chair. During my time as Chair of the IICSA, and since, I have had a close experience of the work of the Committee and the important role that it plays in the British Parliamentary structure.

I am today writing separately with my further response to the matters raised in the letters from Mr Loughton MP as Acting Chair.

I made the decision to resign as IICSA chair because I judged that to be necessary in order to protect the Inquiry and its work, and so that the problems I encountered might be overcome. I came to this sad conclusion when I found that, despite my best efforts, I could not achieve what was needed in the Inquiry’s best interests.

In resigning, I put the interests of the victims and their families (and also the wrongly accused) first.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

Dame Lowell Goddard, the former head of the inquiry into child sexual abuse, has blamed “relentless” media pressure for undermining confidence in her.

In a letter to the Commons Home Affairs Committee, the New Zealand judge outlined her reasons for resigning from the role – the third person to do so.

She said campaigners had published articles aimed at forcing her out and dealing a “fatal” blow to the inquiry.

She was succeeded by one of the panel members, Prof Alexis Jay, in August.

Dame Lowell acknowledged in her written submission that there had been tensions within the inquiry team, but said concerns about her leadership qualities had never been raised with her.

She wrote that a “real and increasing strain, particularly for me but in fact for everyone, was the intensifying media criticism of the inquiry” which had begun in March and “developed into widening personal attacks on me and my competence”.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian

Sandra Laville
Wednesday 2 November 2016 1

Yvette Cooper has clashed with the chair of the national child abuse inquiry, warning her that transparency is crucial to maintain public confidence after two years of problems within the investigation.

Cooper, the new chair of the powerful home affairs select committee, has rejected a demand from Prof Alexis Jay – the inquiry’s fourth chair – that MPs desist from calling her or other inquiry members to give evidence before them. In a letter to Cooper published on Wednesday, Jay said it was important for the inquiry to maintain its independence and to be seen to be doing so.

“It is for this reason that I would urge the committee to consider carefully before requesting that anyone from the inquiry attends to give further evidence,” she said.

But Cooper made clear that transparency was vital, and that the committee would call whoever it wished to give evidence as the £100m public inquiry proceeded with its work.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Daily Mail

By TIM SCULTHORPE, MAILONLINE DEPUTY POLITICAL EDITOR

The ex-head of the Child Sexual Abuse Inquiry has blamed a ‘relentless’ media ‘campaign’ for undermining confidence in her leadership and forcing her to quit.

Dame Lowell Goddard has refused to appear before MPs to explain her shock resignation in person, insisting she cab better explain her position in writing.

The New Zealand judge told MPs she believed campaigners published articles in the press in the hope of dealing a ‘fatal’ blow to the inquiry by forcing her to become the third head to resign the post.

In an eight-page written submission to the House of Commons Home Affairs Select Committee (HASC), the New Zealand judge acknowledged there were ‘tensions’ within the inquiry team.
But amid allegations of a string of concerns about her conduct before she resigned, the judge today insisted that concerns about the quality of her leadership were never raised with her.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Herald Scotland

The former head of the Child Sexual Abuse Inquiry has blamed “relentless” media pressure for undermining colleagues’ confidence in her leadership.

Dame Lowell Goddard told a parliamentary committee that she believed campaigners published articles in the press in the hope of dealing a “fatal” blow to the inquiry by forcing her to become the third head to resign the post.

In an eight-page written submission to the House of Commons Home Affairs Select Committee (HASC), the New Zealand judge – who sensationally resigned in August – acknowledged there were “tensions” within the inquiry team but insisted that concerns about the quality of her leadership were never raised with her.

HASC chairwoman Yvette Cooper urged Dame Lowell to give evidence in person to the cross-party committee, to allow MPs to put “precise and specific questions” to her.

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GUAM
KUAM

Updated: Nov 02, 2016

By Krystal Paco

Plaintiffs in the $2 million defamation suit against the Archdiocese of Agana and Archbishop Anthony Apuron have responded to defense’s motion to dismiss. According to filings by Attorney David Lujan, there’s a valid claim for slander.

“The defamatory nature of the defendants’ statements is highlighted by the continual exertion of church status and authority to influence the public, and specifically Catholics on Guam (a predominant population) to turn against the plaintiffs,” the lawyer wrote.

The listed plaintiffs are all alleged victims of Apuron – Roy Quintanilla, Walter Denton, Roland Sondia and Doris Concepcion on behalf of her late son Joseph “Sonny” Quinata. As we reported, defense’s motion to dismiss called the defamation suit unusual as it was sparked by print ads paid for by the Concerned Catholics of Guam organization.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
CBS Philly

By Molly Daly

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — Members of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests held a silent protest in front of archdiocesan headquarters in Center City Monday afternoon to demand that Archbishop Charles Chaput explain why a member of a highly controversial Peru-based society is providing pastoral services to the university communities in West Philadelphia.

St. Agatha and St. James pastor Father Carlos Keen is a member of SCV (Sodalitium Christianae Vitae), an organization whose founder and top aide were found to have engaged in longtime pattern of sexual abuse and other human rights violations. They no longer run the group. SNAP president Barbara Blaine wants answers from the archbishop.

“He’s allowing this extremely dangerous organization into the Archdiocese of Philadelphia,” Blaine said. “We need assurances that those who have been brought in with this organization are not perpetrators themselves.”

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SCOTLAND
Herald Scotland

The Education Secretary has insisted he is still “wrestling” with whether to extend the remit of Scotland’s historical child abuse inquiry.

John Swinney told Holyrood’s Education Committee he has held discussions with the inquiry’s chair, judge Lady Smith, about expanding its scope.

However, he warned MSPs that widening the inquiry will inevitably extend the length of time it takes to conclude.

Ministers set up the inquiry in 2014 to examine allegations of abuse from youngsters placed in children’s homes and foster care, as well as those cared for by faith-based organisations or in long-term hospital care and boarding schools.

Survivor groups have called for the remit to be extended to cover abuse that took place out with residential settings, but in comments made last month Lady Smith said the terms had been set when the inquiry began.

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SCOTLAND
BBC News

John Swinney is “considering” extending the remit of the Scottish child abuse inquiry, he has told MSPs.

The education secretary said he had discussed the matter with the inquiry chairwoman Lady Smith, amid criticism from abuse survivor groups that the remit of the investigation is “fixed”.

Mr Swinney said he was “wrestling” with the issue as an extended remit would “inevitably” prolong the inquiry.

The probe of historical allegations of abuse is expected to last four years.

The inquiry, which is tasked with investigating the nature and extent of abuse of children in care in Scotland, has been dogged by problems from the outset.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Times

Sean O’Neill, Chief Reporter
November 2 2016
The Times

The public inquiry into child abuse in major institutions could drop its investigations into the BBC and the Jimmy Savile case under a review of its workload. The Independent Investigation into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) has begun 13 investigations but said in a progress report yesterday that it will “commission new investigations only if we consider they are necessary”.

The inquiry, now chaired by Alexis Jay, had said that it would undertake 25 investigations under its remit to examine institutional child abuse in England and Wales. Those it has committed to carrying out include the cases of Lord Janner, the Catholic and Anglican churches, abuse of children sent overseas and Cyril Smith, MP, and his involvement with children’s homes in Rochdale.

In its opening statement in July 2015 the inquiry said it would also hold investigations into the media, the NHS, the armed forces, the police and the Crown Prosecution Service. None of those investigations has been formally commissioned and, with the inquiry yet to hear a word of evidence in public, it is unclear if they will ever start.

Abandoning proposals to look at the BBC and abusers such as Savile and Stuart Hall would be a major blow to victims. The Savile case is seen as pivotal in exposing the extent of child sex abuse in Britain and helped to create the momentum that led Theresa May to establish the public inquiry in 2014. Professor Jay, its fourth chairwoman, could drop the BBC strand without breaching her terms of reference, which make no mention of the organisation. She is holding an internal review of the inquiry’s workload with a view to speeding up its work. Professor Jay has said that if it adopted the traditional public inquiry format for all the institutions that it is meant to investigate then the inquiry would never finish.

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MICHIGAN
Detroit Free Press

Niraj Warikoo , Detroit Free Press November 1, 2016

Pope Francis has named a Detroit bishop, Michael Byrnes, to lead Catholics in the U.S. territory of Guam amid accusations that the previous leader in Guam abused children.

Byrnes, who has been an auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of Detroit since 2011, will be the Coadjutor Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Agana in the South Pacific, the Vatican announced Monday.

In June, the Vatican relieved Archbishop Anthony Sablan Apuron of the Archdiocese of Agana of his pastoral and administrative authority. He now faces a church trial on accusations that he allegedly abused altar boys, a church leader said Tuesday, according to the Associated Press. Apuron denies the allegations and hasn’t been charged criminally.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Haidee V Eugenio , heugenio@guampdn.com November 2, 2016

Archbishop Anthony S. Apuron on Wednesday issued a written statement, welcoming the appointment of his likely successor to the leadership of the Catholic Church on Guam, and stating he is preparing to prove his innocence in an upcoming canonical trial over his alleged sexual abuse of altar boys in the 1970s.

The Vatican on Monday announced Pope Francis’ appointment of Detroit Bishop Michael Jude Byrnes as coadjutor archbishop of the Archdiocese of Agana.

Byrnes, as coadjutor archbishop, has the right to succeed Apuron if Apuron resigns, retires or is removed. Under church law, bishops are required to resign at 75.

“It is with great joy that I welcome the news of the appointment of Bishop Michael J. Byrnes as coadjutor archbishop of Agana by the Holy Father. This is a most welcome answer to my requests for help in the governance of the island at this time,” Apuron said in a statement sent Wednesday afternoon by his attorney, Jacqueline T. Terlaje.

Archbishop Savio Hon Tai Fai, who was sent to Guam by the Vatican in June to temporarily replace Apuron, said the pope actually started looking for a coadjutor archbishop in early 2015, after Hon’s visit to the island at that time. …

Advocates and victims’ groups react

Apuron is one of 84 bishops worldwide who have been accused publicly of sexual wrongdoing, according to BishopAccountability.org, a group tracking public records involving bishops.

Canon lawyer Jennifer Haselberger, a Minnesota-based expert in church law, has said there haven’t been enough trials of bishops to reach any conclusion about what penalty is normal, so it will be up to the judges to determine the penalty warranted, which she said could be dismissal from the clerical state or removal from office.

The world’s largest and oldest support group for clergy abuse victims, meanwhile, said the pope’s appointment of Byrnes is a “very good sign that Apuron’s removal is on the horizon.”

“Unfortunately, we will never know what is exposed in Apuron’s canonical trial, but it looks like the Vatican is planning for Apuron’s eventual removal or forced retirement,” Joelle Casteix, Western Regional Director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, said Wednesday.

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AUSTRALIA
The Courier-Mail

Lauren Martyn-Jones, The Courier-Mail
November 2, 2016

THE parents of a women allegedly raped at an indigenous boarding school in Townsville when she was 14, have told a royal commission they believe the school tried to cover up the attack on their daughter.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse is hearing evidence about an alleged sexual assault that took place at Shalom Christian College in Townsville in 2006.

The victim’s mother broke down this morning in the witness box, as she recalled the attack on her daughter and the long-term psychological consequences it has had on her family.

The woman, known to the commission as EAL, said she sent her daughter to the Townsville-based boarding school for indigenous students because she felt inclined to trust a school established to educate Aboriginal children.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Ben Millington

A north Queensland school principal allegedly discouraged the parents of a girl who was raped by four boys from reporting the matter to police, the child abuse royal commission has heard.

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

The girl’s parents gave evidence at a hearing in Sydney on Wednesday, and said the school’s principal at the time, Christopher Shirley, told them the boys involved were from influential Indigenous families in the area.

“At this point I got [Christopher] Shirley’s message, get over it and leave it alone,” said the girl’s mother.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

Timna Jacks

It took time for Ken Mahlab to find his voice as a child abuse victim advocate. The Melbourne businessman and father of two preferred to keep his sexual abuse out of the spotlight.

But the former Geelong Grammar student is coming forward to tell his story, after learning that his abuser could evade criminal charges due to an extraordinary inter-agency blunder.

Fairfax Media revealed in September that Victoria Police was set to charge a 74-year-old paedophile with abusing students at the elite school between the late 1960s and mid-1970s, and in 1980. However, the man, who was an Irish citizen, was deported by the Australian Border Force to Ireland before facing charges under tough new laws introduced in 2014.

Australian Border Force have said they were not aware of the police investigation. It is understood that Victoria Police did not know the man was deported until it was too late.

Ken is raising the alarm about the risk he believes the man poses to children in Ireland, and is urging for the man’s extradition.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Giselle Wakatama

An evangelical preacher and former Christian radio station boss intends to plead guilty to several sexual abuse charges, a Newcastle court has heard.

Earlier this year Doctor Gary Alexander Forbes, 73, was charged with seven offences relating to two men.

The charges include two counts of assaulting a male and two counts of committing an act of indecency.

He was also charged with five counts of performing an indecent act on a male, relating to both men in the Newcastle suburb of Hamilton between 1960 and 1966.

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NORTH CAROLINA
Winston-Salem Journal

By Michael Hewlett
Winston-Salem Journal

For years, Robert Allen Shutt served as a youth leader for Salem Baptist Church and raised money for church camps.

But according to a Forsyth County prosecutor, Shutt also used his position at the church to molest young boys.

On Tuesday, Shutt, 71, of Royalton Street, pleaded guilty in Forsyth Superior Court to 16 counts of taking indecent liberties with a child. The allegations involved three boys, who were between 12 and 16, and occurred in the 1990s at Shutt’s house. In each instance, Shutt would have one of the boys spend the night at his house, then he would sexually abuse that boy.

Assistant District Attorney Pansy Glanton said the abuse occurred on multiple occasions. She also said Shutt molested a fourth boy in the 1990s. That boy, who is now an adult, didn’t want to prosecute but was willing to testify if the case had gone to trial.

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TENNESSEE
Lebanon Democrat

STAFF REPORTS • UPDATED NOV 1, 2016

The 15th Judicial District Child Advocacy Center’s facilitator Amanda Dardy trained 93 volunteers with The Glade Church to prevent, recognize and react responsibly to child sexual abuse using Darkness to Light’s award-winning Stewards of Children program.

It was a pleasure to work with these dedicated adults who are very vested in the safety of the children in their church and community, Nancy Willis, executive director of the CAC, said.

Stewards of Children focuses on adult education because ultimately, it is adults’ responsibility to keep children safe.

This training approaches the difficult topic of child sexual abuse in a way that is empowering, not fear-focused or depressing. It uses a practical, five-step approach to prevention and response that enables adults to protect the children in their lives and youth-serving organizations.

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CALIFORNIA
My News LA

POSTED BY DEBBIE L. SKLAR ON NOVEMBER 1, 2016

A defrocked Roman Catholic priest who was convicted of molesting two boys and sentenced to eight years in prison resurfaced at a non-sanctioned South Los Angeles church, where he resumed leading church services using an alias, according to a broadcast report.

Fox11 reported that former priest Carlos Rodriguez, who was convicted in Ventura County in 2004 of molesting the boys in Santa Paula, was defrocked in 1998 and prevented from having any affiliation with the Catholic church. Despite that, he used the name Carlos Ramirez and began preaching at the small South Los Angeles church, to the surprise of some parishioners.

“I’m shocked,” one parishioner told Fox11 when told of Rodriguez’s past. Another said she was “indignant” and prayed the church community would take the appropriate action.

Following the station’s inquiries, Rodriguez was barred from the church, Fox11 reported.

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GUAM
KUAM

Updated: Nov 02, 2016

By Krystal Paco

In a statement to local press on Wednesday, Archbishop Anthony Apuron welcomes his successor to Guam as the new leader of the island’s Catholic faithful. “It is with great joy that I welcome the news of the appointment of Bishop Michael J. Byrnes as coadjutor archbishop of Agana by the Holy Father,” Apuon wrote.

Apuron’s last known location was in Rome, as captured in a video statement after allegations of child molestation surfaced against him. Although he doesn’t specify, Apuron states he remains on retreat “working with the authorities in the Vatican to establish my innocence.”

As we’ve been reporting, Apuron stands accused of sexually assaulting Roy Quintanilla, Walter Denton, Roland Sondia, and the late Joseph “Sonny” Quinata – all from Agat and all former altar servers at Mount Carmel Parish in the southern village where Apuron was a priest decades ago. In later months, Ramon Afaisen DePlata also publicly accused Apuron, stating he had witnessed the priest engaging in sexual affairs with an altar boy in the 1960s.

Apuron will have the opportunity to clear his name in a canonical trial to be held in the Vatican. Limited information has been made available on when that trial will take place.

Meanwhile, here at home Apuron faces a $2 million defamation suit and most recently a civil case for child sex abuse, which was filed at the Superior Court of Guam on Tuesday. “Despite my necessary absence,” Apuron wrote, “I offer my heartfelt thanks to the Archbishop Designate Byrnes for accepting this appointment. I commend him to the hearts and prayers of all the people of Guam, whom I know will give the warmest of welcomes.”

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AUSTRALIA
New Zealand Herald

WARNING: DISTURBING CONTENT

He was a paedophile, a psychopath and a thief who despised women, had a fetish for children and a sneering hatred for the locals of the tiny community.

The creepy Father Peter Searson, who wore his yellow fingernails long and manicured, liked dressing up in an army uniform and carried a pistol he sometimes pointed at parishioners.

He stole A$40,000 from the parish finances, killed or tortured animals in front of children and showed them a dead body in a coffin.

He got children to touch his penis, made them kneel between his legs, loitered around the children’s toilets and audio-taped primary schoolers in the confessional box when their admissions became “hot”.

Searson was the fifth child-molesting priest sent by the Catholic Church to the working class community of Doveton, 31km southeast of Melbourne.

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FLORIDA
WINK News

SANIBEL, Fla. — An investigation focusing on a Sanibel priest is now closed due to insufficient evidence, the Lee County Sheriff’s Office said.

Father Christopher Senk of St. Isabel Parish was being investigated for allegedly stealing money from an elderly church member with dementia.

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NEW YORK
The Journal News

Jordan Fenster , jfenster@lohud.com October 22, 2016

Actor, comedian and Valhalla native Kevin Meaney died Friday, according to multiple news sources. He was 60 years old.

Meaney, perhaps most famous for the catchphrase “That’s not right!” was also known for his appearances on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, his stint on Saturday Night Live. He also appeared on Broadway in the musical Hairspray.

Meaney was a former altar boy at Cardinal Bernard Law, but found comedic fodder from sex abuse scandals in the Catholic Church.

“Let me just tell you one thing: I was never molested in Catholic school. I had to wait until I got to public school to get molested,” he told The Journal News in 2002.

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CALIFORNIA
Fox 11

By: Gina Silva
POSTED:OCT 31 2016

(FOX 11) – A former Roman Catholic priest was convicted and sent to prison for molesting children during a period lasting many years.

Gina Silva reports that the priest is not only out of prison, but back in church pretending to still be a man of the cloth.

Statement from the Archdiocese of Los Angeles:

The Archdiocese of Los Angeles is committed to providing pastoral care and support to all Catholics and other people of faith in our five pastoral regions covering Los Angeles, Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties. If anyone in the Archdiocese has any questions regarding a persons’ eligibility to minister as a Roman Catholic priest, please call the Archdiocese Catholic Center, at (213) 637-7000 or visit http://www.la-archdiocese.org/org/clergy.

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AUSTRALIA
Western Advocate

Melissa Cunningham
@MeljCunningham

2 Nov 2016,

Clergy sexual abuse victims have called on Cardinal George Pell to reaffirm a commitment he made to help those wounded by the scourge of sexual abuse in Ballarat.

Peter Blenkiron said Cardinal Pell had a moral obligation to stand by the promises he made to survivors in his hometown of Ballarat in the final act of his appearance at the Royal Commission into Child Sexual Abuse in Rome in March.

“Cardinal Pell either knew about the abuse of children did nothing and therefore has a responsibility to fix the damage,” he said.

“Or he knew nothing but still has a responsibility to protect future generations of children and be a part of the solution and not just part of the cause of the problem which allowed paedophiles to flourish.”

His words in comes in the wake of the counsel assisting the child abuse royal commission, rejecting key evidence and accusing the Cardinal of failing to act on sexual misconduct complaints.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Eastern Mennonite University

When Monday November 7, 2016 @ 7:30 PM (6 days away)
Where Martin Chapel, Seminary Building
Duration 1 hour 30 minutes
Gather with Father Tom Doyle for a presentation on The Spiritual Impact of Sexual Abuse in Religious Contexts.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Following the speaker, we invite you to move in and out and from EXPRESSION STATIONS as a way to process, make sense and join the community in expressing ourselves to our university.

Stations will include: facilitated discussion, reflection corner, vigil candle lighting, hymn sing, writing letters to EMU, and word mural. Counselors, pastors and support people will be on scene for chats. Hot chocolate and brownies available too!

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GUAM
Marianas Variety

02 Nov 2016 By Mar-Vic Cagurangan – For Variety

HAGATNA — A new Guam law that lifted the statute of limitation on sex abuse cases has spawned lawsuits against local Catholic Church officials accused of molesting former altar boys almost five decades ago.

“It is each victim’s hope that the filing of the lawsuits will bring positive change in the lives of all victims of abuse resulting in a cleansing and healing of decades-old feelings of fear, embarrassment, shame, hatred, bitterness and blaming of oneself,” said David Lujan, the attorney who represents former altar boys Roland Sondia, Roy Quintanilla, Walter Danton, and Leo Tudela.

Sondia, Quintanilla and Danton filed the civil lawsuit against Archbishop Anthony Apuron, whom they accused of molesting them when he was a priest at Mount Carmel Parish in Agat in the 1970s. Tudela named Father Louis Brouillard as his alleged molester.

“The lawsuits,” Lujan said, “will cause the church to remove the cancer caused by these pedophile priests and restore the Catholic Church to its rightful glory.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
Gazette Live

A High Court trial has begun to decide the first cases in one of the biggest compensation claims involving the Roman Catholic church arising from allegations of historical sexual abuse.

A total of 249 men have lodged claims against the Diocese of Middlesbrough and the De La Salle Institute, which ran the St William’s children’s home in Market Weighton, East Yorkshire.

If the claims are successful the pay-outs are expected to run to millions of pounds.

Earlier this year, the former head of St William’s, James Carragher, was jailed for the third time after he was found guilty of sexually abusing boys.

Carragher, 75, had already been sentenced to 21 years in prison for sexually abusing boys when he was jailed for a further nine years in January.

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CONNECTICUT
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2016

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

Bridgeport Catholic officials have scheduled a “healing service” on Wednesday, Nov. 2. At worst, this is a cynical public relations move. At best, it misses the mark.

Bishop Frank Caggiano’s focus should be on real reforms that actually make kids safer, not symbolic gestures that make him seem nicer or that make a few adults temporarily feel better. And events like this imply that the crisis is past when in fact it’s not.

By focusing on “healing,” Caggiano wants us all to believe that prevention is no longer needed. That’s backwards. Only when every cleric who has committed or concealed child sex crimes is identified, ousted, punished and kept away from kids should bishops concentrate on healing.

Caggiano’s first job should be protecting the vulnerable. And much remains to be done on this front. There are 40 publicly accused Bridgeport diocese predator priests. Where are they now?

Caggiano should permanently and prominently post on parish websites – the names, photos, whereabouts and work histories of these proven, admitted and credibly accused clerics. (About 30 US bishops have done this.)

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MINNESOTA
Raw Story

TRAVIS GETTYS
01 NOV 2016

A Minnesota pastor admitted to taking innocent photos of children that he then turned into sexually explicit images, police said.

Investigators were tipped off Oct. 21 after Facebook and Instagram reported that the same user was suspected of trading child pornography through instant messaging with another user in Finland, reported KAAL-TV.

Facebook, which owns Instagram, identified the American user as 47-year-old William Helker, of Pine City, who served as a youth pastor at All Saints Lutheran Church in Cottage Grove.

The three photos involved girls as young as 5 years old, and investigators identified two of the children as victims of criminal sexual conduct.

Authorities said Helker traded the images from computers at both his home and church.

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AUSTRALIA
The Courier

Melissa Cunningham
@MeljCunningham

1 Nov 2016

Clergy abuse victims are calling for proceeds of a $2.1 million beach house owned by disgraced Catholic bishop Ronald Mulkearns to be used to start a fund to help those still impacted by the scourge of sexual abuse.

The beach house owned by the former bishop at the exclusive Great Ocean Rd enclave of Fairhaven sold at an auction on Saturday.

Mulkearns facilitated the abuse of hundreds of children over decades during his reign as Ballarat bishop. He was the first Ballarat bishop to be denied a crypt burial when he died this year.

Ballarat survivor Peter Blenkiron called for the money to be stored in a trust fund which allowed interest to grow ensuring the funds didn’t dwindle.

“It should be used to start a whole community pot of money,” he said. “This account could be run by medical staff and support workers and could be used for emergency relief fund to help people struggling especially as a result of sexual abuse and mental illness.”

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GUAM
KUAM

Updated: Nov 01, 2016

By Krystal Paco

While his whereabouts remain unknown, Archbishop Anthony Apuron still has an opportunity to clear his name of allegations of child molestation. According to Guam’s apostolic administrator, Archbishop Savio Hon Tai Fai, the process is moving forward and a canonical trial will be held in the Vatican.

“They just formed all the conditions for the trial, so I’m going to receive some updates later,” he announced during a press conference at the Cathedral in Hagatna this morning.

KUAM News did ask newly-appointed Bishop MIchael Byrnes what would happen if Apuron was cleared of any wrongdoing – Bishop Byrnes said he didn’t know the answer to that question.

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NEW YORK
National Catholic Reporter

Oct. 28, 2016

EDITORIAL

New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan may have the purest of motives in designing the new compensation program for victims of clergy sex abuse. He must realize, however, that he is working against a history of activity, including his own, of members of the U.S. hierarchy that hardly inspires trust.

Dolan’s effort, understandably applauded in some quarters as an act inspired by Pope Francis’ Year of Mercy, sets a legal framework for compensating victims outside of court procedures. The process will be administered by respected professionals, by most measures impeccably independent, and the compensation offered will be delivered quickly.

So, what’s not to like about it? Anne Barrett Doyle does a service to abuse victims and to the Catholic community at large in raising serious questions about the process and whether the plan is an unalloyed benefit to all victims.

Doyle is co-director with Terry McKiernan of BishopAccountability.org, a unique repository of data and arguably the most extensive catalogued collection anywhere of newspaper stories, court records, depositions, analyses and internal church correspondence having to do with the Catholic church’s clergy sex abuse scandal.

Consequently, it is not too much of a stretch to say that Doyle knows more detail about the scandal than most people, including bishops, ever will.

The devil, in this instance, is in both the details and the larger context. Two details raise concerns for Doyle:

* Victims are required to sign a legal agreement that appears to bind them to privacy and confidentiality.

* As part of the agreement, victims receiving an award agree, in releasing the archdiocese from future liability, not to sue the church in the future.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC Newsnight

By Jake Morris
BBC Newsnight

A key lawyer for the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse has resigned, BBC Newsnight has learned.

Toby Fisher, one of the first three barristers appointed to the inquiry, said he wanted to stand down in August.

It is understood he was concerned by the inquiry’s “progress and direction” and was not otherwise planning on leaving.

A spokesman for the inquiry would not comment on specifics and Mr Fisher declined to comment.

Mr Fisher had served as first junior counsel – the joint-second most senior barrister on the inquiry – and previously worked on two of the inquiry’s most high profile investigations – into Lord Janner and alleged abuse in Westminster.

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GUAM
Pacific News Center

Written by Rebecca Elmore

Attorney David Lujan holds press conference for sexual assault abuse victims.

Guam – The statute of limitations for sex abuse has been lifted and now, in a series of unprecedented lawsuits, four victims are seeking damages against archbishop Apuron and the Catholic church.

But according to the victims’ legal counsel, Attorney David Lujan, this is only the beginning.

More will come forward – that from Attorney David Lujan in a press conference today addressing the concerns of the victims of abuse within the Catholic church.

According to Lujan, the press conference was called to “remove the cancer caused by these pedophile priests and restore the Catholic church to its glory.”

He reiterated that sentiment stating: “It is each victim’s hope that the filings of the lawsuit will bring positive changes in the lives of all victims of abuse, resulting in a cleansing and healing of decades of old feelings of fear, embarrassment, shame, hatred, bitterness, and blaming oneself.”

Lawsuits were filed by four victims against the Archdioces of Agana, they are Roland Sondia, Roy Quintanilla, Walter Denton, and Leo Tudela. The first three allege that Apuron sexually abused them while Tudela says former Gua, priest Louis Brouillard sexually assaulted him.

Even more concerning, Lujan says “I can tell you that I’ve got an additional 12 clients besides the four here and I can tell you that I’m more aware of more people and that I’m in discussion with others and that its just not the Catholic church.”

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GUAM
Pacific News Center

Written by Timothy Mchenry

The new co-adjutor says he hopes to be on Guam by the end of November.

Guam – Meanwhile, newly appointed co-adjutor archbishop Michael Byrnes responds to some of the biggest issues and controversies surrounding Guam’s catholic church.

Newly appointed co-adjutor archbishop Michael Byrnes responded to some of the most pressing issues and controversies surrounding the church.

One of the biggest issues is what’s going to happen with Archbishop Anthony Apuron?

Archbishop Byrnes says Archbishop Apuron will remain the archbishop until death or the mandatory age of retirement.

“As far as I know, I mean that’s my understanding. I know the difference here is that the holy father has removed his faculty to exercise pastoral care and assigned them to me for the time being,” said Byrnes.

On Tuesday, attorney David Lujan called a press conference to announce that three of the victims who allege that Archbishop Anthony Apuron molested them while he was a priest at Mt. Carmel church in Agat filed a lawsuit against the archdiocese. Byrne responded to the allegations of molestation against archdiocesan priests.

“My first comment is, uh you know uh, is just uh, one of deep concern for the alleged victims and so that’s the first, the second is to uh you know again I only have hearsay and so ill enlist the best help we can,” said Byrnes. “On their mainland the bishops have taken very strong measures to protect God’s children and so I will bring that concern to see if we can implement some of the steps and measure that we’ve taken here on the mainland.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Telegraph

Michael Wilkinson, political correspondent
1 NOVEMBER 2016

A key lawyer for the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse has become the latest figure to quit, it has been reported.

Tony Fisher, one of the first three barristers appointed to the inquiry, was said to be concerned by the inquiry’s “progress and direction”, BBC Newsnight said.

Mr Fisher did not comment on the suggestion that he had left the inquiry.
Asked about Mr Fisher’s departure, a spokesman for the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse said the inquiry had “a large legal team comprising a number of junior counsel, senior counsel and solicitors”.

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GUAM
New York Times

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NOV. 1, 2016.

HAGATNA, Guam — The new leader of the Catholic Church in Guam will immediately assume all responsibilities in the archdiocese while its suspended archbishop faces a church trial for allegedly sexually abusing altar boys.

Pope Francis on Monday named Bishop Michael Jude Byrnes, the auxiliary bishop of Detroit, as coadjutor bishop of the Guam archdiocese. Coadjutors have succession rights when bishops resign, retire or are removed.

At a news conference Tuesday, Archbishop Savio Hon Tai-Fai, the temporary apostolic administrator, said Francis gave Byrnes special rights to carry out all the duties as archbishop effective immediately.

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GUAM
KUAM

[with poll]

Updated: Nov 01, 2016

By Krystal Paco

Not everyone is pleased with the new bishop-designee for the Archdiocese of Agana. According to Attorney David Lujan, he’s offended by Rome’s pick for Guam. He stated, “We’ve got numerous brown priests that were born here, that grew up here, that know the people of Guam and are part of the people of Guam, whether they be Chamorros or Filipinos. But we have more than enough qualified leadership in the local clergy really, who Rome should have contemplated.”

Meanwhile, the Concerned Catholics of Guam say they are supportive and cautious.

Organization president Dave Sablan tells KUAM News they look forward to meeting the new bishop, but remain concerned that Apuron has not be laicized.

Also commenting on Bishop Michael Byrnes’ appointment is Junglewatch blogger Tim Rohr, who tells KUAM News that Rome realizes Archbishop Anthony Apuron is incapacitated and incapable and “confirmation that Apuron is out.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
Catholic Herald

The diocese is subject to a civil claim following the imprisonment of a former principal and chaplain earlier this year

A test court case claiming compensation against a Catholic diocese opens today, after a former principal and a chaplain at a children’s home run by the diocese were imprisoned for historic sex offences earlier this year.

Five survivors have brought a civil claim, due to be heard at the high court in Leeds, against the Catholic diocese of Middlesbrough and the De La Salle Brothers, whose members ran St William’s Home in Market Weighton, east Yorkshire.

If the case is successful, the Catholic Church in the UK could be liable to pay compensation of millions of pounds.

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TENNESSEE
WVLT

TEN MILE, Tenn. (WVLT) — An assistant pastor at a church in Ten Mile is accused of sexually assaulted two minors.

According to reports, two victims ages 17 and 12 were subjected to sexual assault by Hugh McDowell, 62, who served as an assistant pastor at Spoken Words Ministry Church.

The investigation into McDowell started in June when a Department of Children’s Services representative told the Roane County Sheriff’s Office about multiple reported incidents at Spoken Words Ministry Church that went on for an undetermined amount of time.

Officers were told the last possible alleged sexual incident happened on June 21. The incident report says McDowell threatened the family’s lives after he was approached about the alleged attacks.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Yorkshire Press

FIVE child sex abuse victims have launched a High Court bid for compensation over abuse at a Catholic school in East Yorkshire.

A total of 249 men have lodged claims of historical sexual abuse against the Diocese of Middlesbrough and the De La Salle Institute, which ran the St William’s children’s home in Market Weighton.

The trial, at the High Court in Leeds, involves claims from five of the claimants. If the claims are successful the pay-outs are expected to run to millions of pounds.

Earlier this year, the former head of St William’s, James Carragher, was jailed for the third time after he was found guilty of sexually abusing boys.

Carragher, 75, had already been sentenced to 21 years in prison for sexually abusing boys when he was jailed for a further nine years in January.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Belfast Telegraph

By Dave Higgens
PUBLISHED
01/11/2016

A High Court action has begun to decide the first cases in one of the biggest compensation claims involving the Catholic Church arising from allegations of historical sexual abuse.

A total of 249 men have lodged claims against the Diocese of Middlesbrough and the De La Salle Institute, which ran the St William’s children’s home in Market Weighton, East Yorkshire.

If the claims are successful the payouts are expected to run to millions of pounds.

Earlier this year the former head of St William’s, James Carragher, was jailed for a third time after he was found guilty of sexually abusing boys.

Carragher (75) was jailed for nine years in January.

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