ABUSE TRACKER

VATIKAN
Radio Vatikan

Ein des sexuellen Missbrauchs für schuldig befundener Priester des Bistums Aachen ist laisiert worden. Das gab das Bistum an diesem Mittwoch in einer Pressemeldung bekannt. Demnach habe Papst Franziskus nach Prüfung der Akten durch die römische Glaubenskongregation und einem eigenen Entlassungsgesuch des Priesters die Laisierung von Georg K. veranlasst und somit einmal mehr seine Null-Toleranz-Politik gegenüber sexuellen Missbrauchs in der katholischen Kirche bestätigt. Mit der Entlassung aus dem Klerikerstand endet auch die Fürsorge- und Versorgungsverpflichtung, die der Bischof mit dem Tag der Priesterweihe für einen Priester übernimmt Der ehemalige Priester darf keine priesterlichen Handlungen mehr ausüben, und ihm kann kein Amt übertragen werden, das die Priesterweihe voraussetzt.

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DEUTSCHLAND
RP

Aachen/Willich. Papst Franziskus hat einem wegen sexuellen Missbrauchs verurteilten Priester des Bistums Aachen den Priesterstatus aberkannt. Der Mann hatte sein Patenkind missbraucht.

Der Papst bekräftige damit seine Null-Toleranz-Haltung in der katholischen Kirche bei erwiesenen Missbrauchsfällen, teilte das Bistum Aachen am Mittwoch mit. Der 58-Jährige, der in Haft sitzt, darf demnach keine priesterlichen Handlungen mehr ausüben und bekommt auch keine Bezüge von der Kirche.

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DEUTSCHLAND
kath.net

[Convicted of abuse: Pastor dismissed from the priesthood.]

Bistum Aachen: Glaubenskongregation schließt kirchenrechtliches Verfahren mit Laisierung ab – Am 6. Februar hatte das Landgericht Krefeld Pfarrer K. zu sechs Jahren Haft wegen sexuellen Missbrauchs Minderjähriger verurteilt

Aachen (kath.net/iba) Nach Prüfung der Akten durch die römische Glaubenskongregation und einem eigenen Entlassungsgesuch des Priesters aus dem Bistum Aachen hat Papst Franziskus die Laisierung von Pfarrer K. veranlasst. Auch im Heiligen Jahr der Barmherzigkeit bekräftigt der Papst damit seine Null-Toleranz-Haltung in der katholischen Kirche bei erwiesenen Fällen des sexuellen Missbrauchs Minderjähriger durch Priester oder kirchliche Mitarbeiter. „Wir begrüßen, dass der kirchenrechtliche Prozess verhältnismäßig schnell abgeschlossen werden konnte“, betont Dr. Andreas Frick, Ständiger Vertreter des Diözesanadministrators. „Von Herzen wünsche ich den betroffenen Opfern, dass der Abschluss des strafrechtlichen Verfahrens und die Entlassung aus dem Priesteramt bei der Verarbeitung des erlittenen Leids hilft. Wir werden weiterhin das uns Mögliche tun, hierbei zu helfen“, so Frick weiter.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Bistum Aachen

[Pope Francis has dismissed priest Georg K. from the priesthood after the church concluded he was guilty of sexual abuse of minors. A secular court sentenced him to six years in prison last February.]

Aachen, (iba) – After examination of the file by the Roman Congregation and private resignation of the priest from the Diocese of Aachen Pope Francis led the laicization of Father K..

Even in the Holy Year of Mercy, the Pope affirmed that his zero-tolerance

Aachen, (iba) – Nach Prüfung der Akten durch die römische Glaubenskongregation und einem eigenen Entlassungsgesuch des Priesters aus dem Bistum Aachen hat Papst Franziskus die Laisierung von Pfarrer K. veranlasst.

Auch im Heiligen Jahr der Barmherzigkeit bekräftigt der Papst damit seine Null-Toleranz-Haltung in der katholischen Kirche bei erwiesenen Fällen des sexuellen Missbrauchs Minderjähriger durch Priester oder kirchliche Mitarbeiter. „Wir begrüßen, dass der kirchenrechtliche Prozess verhältnismäßig schnell abgeschlossen werden konnte”, betont Dr. Andreas Frick, Ständiger Vertreter des Diözesanadministrators. „Von Herzen wünsche ich den betroffenen Opfern, dass der Abschluss des strafrechtlichen Verfahrens und die Entlassung aus dem Priesteramt bei der Verarbeitung des erlittenen Leids hilft. Wir werden weiterhin das uns Mögliche tun, hierbei zu helfen”, so Frick weiter.

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CANADA
CBC News

By Tim Fontaine, CBC News

A new national survey found three-quarters of non-Aboriginal Canadians believe the residential school system harmed Aboriginal people, yet just 5% believe the federal government should pay compensation to try to heal those wounds.

National Chief Perry Bellegarde believes the survey results show the views of non-Aboriginal Canadians are still tainted by negative stereotypes.

“If you want reconciliation, you need to make space in your mind, your heart and spirit to get rid of the misconceptions you have about Indigenous Peoples,” he said. “The stereotype that Indigenous Peoples are dumb, stupid, lazy, drunk and on welfare — put that aside.”

The Environics Institute telephone survey of 2,001 non-Aboriginal adults from across the country conducted in January and February found 66 per cent are learning about Indigenous Peoples and their issues, but 10 per cent still believe Indigenous Peoples receive “special treatment” from government.

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VIRGINIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, June 8, 2016

Statement by Becky Ianni, Virginia Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (703-801-6044,SNAPVirginia@cox.net)

A Catholic priest who worked in Virginia has been accused of abusing a male child in another state in 1990. Members of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, are grateful to the brave victim who spoke up, but they are disappointed in the response of Catholic officials in the Diocese of Arlington.

[Arlington diocese]

Father Kevin J. Downey has been employed as the pastor of Saint Francis of Assisi Parish in Triangle since 2011. While the priest has denied the allegations, he has been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation.

The survivors’ group expressed gratitude that the diocese notified parishioners about the allegations, and they were relieved to learn that the allegations have been reported law enforcement. However, victims think that the announcement should have included more details. The group is also very disappointed that the bishop is not aggressively reaching out to anyone who may have been harmed by the priest in Virginia.

Becky Ianni, the Virginia Director for SNAP, commented, “As a mother and grandmother, I’m concerned that we don’t know where Father Downey is now. As someone who may be a threat to young people, I can only hope that he is being housed in a remote, secure location away from children while the allegations are investigated.”

The SNAP leader also expressed concerns about what Father John O’Connor had to say in Saint Francis’ parish bulletin.

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KANSAS
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

New abuse & cover up lawsuit is filed
It’s against big Lenexa non-denominational church
Officials there knew man had molested others before
Still, they let him volunteer at Vacation Bible School
And he assaulted two young kids and is now in prison
He told one girl he’d go after her youngster sister if she didn’t comply

SNAP: Independent ‘mega-churches’ are “next frontier” in abuse cases

WHAT
Holding signs and childhood photos at a sidewalk news conference, clergy sex abuse victims and their supporters will

— disclose a new civil abuse and cover up lawsuit against a large KC area mega-church, and

— urge parents and congregation members to require these churches to enact policies to protect children.

The group predicts that more and more sex scandals are emerging and will continue to emerge in large, independent ‘mega-churches’ because their pastors are often very powerful and charismatic and there’s little or no lay oversight or church hierarchy that might hold predatory preachers accountable.

WHEN
TODAY, Wednesday, June 8 at 1:00 p.m.

WHERE
On the sidewalk outside the Westside Family Church, 8500 Woodsonia Drive (off of W. 83rd) in Lenexa

WHO
Three-four victims of clergy sex abuse who belong to a support group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, including a St. Louis man who is the organization’s long time director

WHY
Last October, Kessler P. Lichtnegger was sentenced to 17 years in prison for sexually abusing two girls as a volunteer leader at Vacation Bible School at Westside Family Church (913 422 8257), a large, non-denominational ‘mega-church’ in Lenexa Kansas.

A new lawsuit, brought by those two children and their families, charges that church officials knew Lichtnegger had committed similar crimes years before but still gave him access to kids. Church staff claim they told Lichtenegger that he could be in the building only with his father. But they still let him be a leader in his small group and volunteer in Vacation Bible School.

In April 2012, church officials knew that Lichtenegger pleaded guilty to two counts of lewd and lascivious behavior and one count of battery against an adopted child who found just before dark by police at Windsor Park in Johnson County “catatonic,” with cuts, torn clothes and a fat lip.” At the time of the crimes, Lichtenegger was a freshman at Shawnee Mission East High School.

In the new lawsuit, two youngsters say that Lichtenegger engaged in lewd, lascivious and sexual behavior with them at church after having gotten their contact information in his role as a Vacation Bible School leader and volunteer. The suit charges that one of the girls was raped on church property. Lichtenegger forced her to perform sex acts on him under threat of going after her younger sister if she did not comply.

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IOWA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, June 8, 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)

Sioux City Catholic officials are admitting, for the first time, that Fr. Peter B. Murhpy has been credibly accused of molesting a child. We are grateful for this belated move, made at the request of a brave victim, and hope it will bring comfort to others who were hurt by this cleric. We also hope that Bishop Walter Nickless will be more forthcoming about other predator priests who have lived or worked in his diocese.

http://www.catholicglobe.org/?p=7218

Since this priest worked at several parishes, at a bare minimum, Nickless should also publish notices about him and his crimes throughout the diocese.

Fr. Murphy’s work history and photo are here:

http://www.bishopaccountability.org/assign/Murphy_Peter_B.htm

Here’s our earlier statement about Fr. Murphy:

http://www.snapnetwork.org/ia_group_applauds_victim_prods_bishop_on_abuse

No matter what 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 to protect kids by calling police, get help by calling therapists, expose wrongdoers by calling law enforcement, get justice 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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ILLINOIS
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Press Event:

Victim of former Back of the Yards priest speaks out
Archdiocese, Claretian Order “not truthful” about admitted predator
He was put back in ministry after admitting abuse in 1995
Now, church officials withholding “new information,” possible other victims
Community mislead about risk
Man abused by cleric to hand-deliver “list of questions” to both groups about ongoing cover-up
“Time of ‘passing the buck’” must stop, victim says

What:
At a press conference, the victim of admitted child predator and former Back of the Yards priest Rev. Bruce Wellems, CMF will speak out in Chicago for the first time.

The victim will:
~ Discuss how archdiocese and Claretian officials promised in 1995 that Wellems would not work alone with children
~ Show how the Chicago Archdiocese kept secret for two months their decision to remove Wellems
~ Demand that the Archdiocese and Claretians make public all “new” information about Wellems and any inappropriate sexual activity
He will also hand-deliver a letter to the Archdiocese of Chicago and the offices of the Claretian Order. The letter has ten questions about Wellems and his status, including:
~ Why did they keep their decision to remove Wellems secret from the public?
~ Why was Wellems allowed to act as a priest in Chicago after being booted from Los Angeles?
~ What is the “new information” that pushed a review board to remove Wellems?

Where/When:
Wednesday June 8th at 1:30 pm
Outside of the offices of the Claretian Ministries
205 W. Monroe Street (at Wells) in Chicago
At approximately 2:30, they will then proceed to:
Outside of the offices of the Archdiocese of Chicago
835 N Rush St (at Pearson) in Chicago

Who:
A man who was molested by Back of the Yards priest Bruce Wellems and members of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPNetwork.org), including a California woman who is a bestselling author on child safety.

Why:
In January, the Chicago Tribune published a story about Back of the Yards priest Rev. Bruce Wellems CMF, a Claretian priest who admitted to abusing seven-year-old Eric Johnson when Wellems was 15. Wellems was removed from the Los Angeles Archdiocese in 2014 when church officials there learned of the allegation, stating that Wellems broke their promises of “Zero Tolerance.” When Wellems returned to Chicago in 2015, Archbishop Blase Cupich and the Claretians reinstated him, although as far back as 1995, both groups officials promised Wellems’ victim Eric Johnson that the priest would not have unsupervised contact with children.

When an advocate reported the exact same allegations to DCFS in 2015, Chicago archdiocese officials responded and said that Wellems could not act as a priest. Despite this, Wellems was pictured by the media and others still working and acting as a priest in Back of the Yards.

In March of this year, the Archdiocese review board decided that Wellems could not return to ministry They dwaited two months to inform Johnson, despite his numerous attempts to get an answer from the board and other archdiocese officials. He was told that the archdiocese and the Claretian order, of which Wellems is a member, was given new information, but they refuse to tell Johnson or the public what that information is.

Johnson and members of SNAP believe that this secrecy and the archbishop’s refusal to tell the Back of the Yards community of the risk Wellems poses a significant risk to children.

Contact:
Joelle Casteix IN CHICAGO (949) 322-7434, jcasteix@gmail.com, SNAP Western Regional
Director
Barbara Blaine, (312) 399-4747, snapblaine@gmail.com, SNAP Founder and President

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MINNESOTA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, June 7, 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)

Disgraced Archbishop John Neinstedt of Minnesota, accused of both committing and concealing clergy sexual misconduct, is apparently still on the board of a prominent Catholic seminary in Rome. That’s disgraceful and reckless, especially because he allegedly sexually exploited several seminarians himself.

January 2016 Roman Echoes

http://canonicalconsultation.com/blog.html

Catholic officials should remove him from this post, and all posts, immediately and apologize for their callous and irresponsible behavior. Every person with information or suspicions about Neinstedt’s wrongdoing should call law enforcement and seek help from independent sources.

No matter what lawmakers or 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 to protect kids by calling police, get help by calling therapists, expose wrongdoers by calling law enforcement, get justice 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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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

David Clohessy | Jun. 8, 2016

In the latest installment of an otherwise helpful series of articles, Mary Gail Frawley-O’Dea paints a depressing and incomplete picture of the church’s ongoing clergy sex abuse and cover-up crisis.

Because she’s a therapist, she understandably focuses on the “healing” half of the crisis. But she gives remarkably short shrift, we feel, to the other and more pressing half: “prevention.” And she also offers a very limited portrayal of our organization.

No one doubts Frawley-O’Dea’s sincerity, academic qualifications, therapeutic skills or commitment to making the church a more healthy and safe place for all. But familiarity with individual abuse victims in one-on-one counseling sessions doesn’t necessarily translate into a sophisticated understanding of the ever-growing victims’ movement to, in the words of the SNAP mission statement, “protect the vulnerable, heal the wounded, expose the truth and deter future cover ups.”

Perhaps her most surprising claims are that “the church resolutely ignores SNAP’s voice” and that we have no “organized” approach to healing. Nearly 30 years of our history strongly suggests otherwise.

If one equates “church” with “bishops,” in a very narrow sense, Frawley O’Dea is right: in the short run, bishops often seem to ignore us. I can’t ever recall an instance in which, face-to-face, a Catholic official told a group of SNAP members “Gosh, I guess you’re right. I will take the action you’re seeking.”

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UNITED STATES
New York Times

Editorial

Victims and their advocates are understandably skeptical about Pope Francis’ latest plan for disciplining bishops who schemed for years to protect abusive priests in the church’s devastating pedophilia scandal.

The pope dropped last year’s plan to create a special tribunal to investigate offending bishops. Instead, last week, he handed the task to existing Vatican agencies, accompanied by a personal order to investigate and remove diocesan leaders found guilty of engaging in cover-ups.

The fief-like powers of bishops, plus the Vatican’s failure to act, made cover-ups possible. After Francis became pope, he promised that the Vatican would do more to address a scandal that, as the news media revealed, had reached staggering proportions.

In the United States alone, where more than 700 priests were eventually dismissed, no bishops were punished by Rome as the scandal unfolded. This despite an investigation by lay leaders who warned “there must be consequences” for those who provided refuge for priests accused of raping schoolchildren, which often meant that the accused priests were shifted from parish to parish.

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GUAM
Rappler (Philippines)

AFP

GUAM, USA – The head of the Catholic Church in Guam has denied sexual abuse allegations after the Vatican appointed an administrator to perform his duties while an investigation is underway.

Archbishop Anthony Apuron has handed over his responsibilities to Vatican-appointed Archbishop Savio Hon Tai-Fai, the Archdiocese of Agana said on Tuesday, June 7.

It said Hon would remain in the US Pacific territory “pending the investigation of an abuse allegation.”

The allegations surfaced last month and date back to the 1970s, with former altar boys alleging they were molested by Apuron, then a parish priest.

In an emotional video address from Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome posted to social media Tuesday, Apuron denied any wrongdoing.

“I reaffirm my innocence and I am a victim of these horrible calumnies,” he said, urging “my dear people to pray for me, your shepherd and for our church”.

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ARIZONA
The Arizona Republic

Doris Yamashita Concepcion of Prescott, says her son, Joseph A. Quinata, told her he was molested by Archbishop Anthony Apuron in Guam in the 1970s. Quinata told his mother this just before he died 11 years ago. David Wallace/azcentral.com

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GUAM
KUAM

Posted: Jun 08, 2016

By Sabrina Salas Matanane

Recently appointed Apostolic Administrator of the Archdiocese of Agana Archbishop Savio Tai Fai Hon says he was appointed by the Pope because of his concern ”for the good of the whole church and with due consideration for the good of the faithful in Guam”, a press release stated. He is being assisted by Rev. Fr. Tadeuz Jan Nowak, OMI.

“The priority of the Apostolic Administrator is to take stock of the present pastoral situation of the diocese; to identify the difficulties present among the clergy, religious, and lay faithful and to take urgent measures, at the earliest, in order to promote and restore unity and harmony in the local Church. The Apostolic Administrator, after carefully discerning the needs of the Archdiocese will take all necessary actions to assure that this goal is being implemented. The Holy Father kindly asks for the trust and prayers of the local Church and sincerely hopes that the entire Catholic Community will pull all of its energy in promoting unity, harmony, and stability of the Church,” the release went on to state.

Archbishop Hon and Rev. Fr. Nowak were on Guam in January 2015 for what the Archdiocese at the time described as a pastoral visit to foster reconciliation and understanding within the Archdiocese. Their visit followed multiple controversies which divided the local Church in 2014 which included the removal of Father Paul Gofigan from the Santa Barbara Church, the sudden removal of Monsignor James Benavente as rector because of alleged financial discrepancies, and allegations of sexual harassment against Archbishop Anthony Apuron. While the Archdiocese at the time said it was a pastoral visit, critics claimed the visit was to conduct an investigation.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Times

Sean O’Neill, Chief Reporter
June 8 2016
The Times

A former archbishop of York is under police investigation over his failure to tell the authorities about complaints that a fellow senior Anglican was a child abuser.

North Yorkshire police is investigating Lord Hope of Thornes, 76, for a possible offence of misconduct in public office over his handling of the case of Rev Robert Waddington, the former dean of Manchester.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Christian Today

Mark Woods CHRISTIAN TODAY CONTRIBUTING EDITOR 08 June 2016

The former Archbishop of York, Lord Hope, may be prosecuted for failing to tell the authorities about allegations that a cathedral dean was a child abuser.

He may be charged with misconduct in a public office, according to The Times, the same charge that saw the former Bishop of Gloucester, Peter Ball, imprisoned after he admitted sexual offences.

Hope was criticised in a judge-led inquiry in 2014 over his handling of the case of Robert Waddington, former Dean of Manchester, who abused choirboys and schoolboys for more than half a century. It said Hope’s failure to report concerns had put children at risk and meant opportunities to prosecute Waddington before he died in 2007 were missed.

According to The Times, the North Yorkshire police force has been investigating the case for several months and has consulted the Crown Prosecution Service for advice on how to proceed.

Hope served as Archbishop of York from 1995 to 2005. He was notified of allegations about Waddington in 1999, 2003 and 2004. On the last occasion he stripped Waddington of his permission to officiate at church services but did not report him to police.

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CANADA
The Telegram

Barb Sweet
Published on June 07, 2016

It was the first time she had ever seen her father cry, a woman said of when her brothers were dropped off several decades ago at the former Newfoundland orphanage known as Mount Cashel.

Father Francis Puddister, a vicar general of the Archdiocese of St. John’s, was one of two witnesses who testified at the Mount Cashel civil trial Tuesday.

One of the woman’s brothers is a John Doe who says the Catholic Church should be held liable for abuse by certain members of the lay order Christian Brothers at the infamous orphanage during the 1940s to early 1960s.

The church contends it did not oversee the orphanage’s operations, and therefore is not responsible.

The John Doe — one of four test cases representing about 60 former orphanage residents who say they were physically and sexually abused by the Brothers — has already told the civil trial at the Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador that his once-promising career and marriage were ruined by the after-effects of the abuse, as his life spiralled downward due to alcoholism.

Like others, he’d described life at Mount Cashel as horrific.

The woman who testified Tuesday, however, described her time at the private Littledale girls’ boarding school in St. John’s run by Sisters of Mercy nuns as “wonderful.” She went on to join the convent and receive a post-secondary education before leaving the order in her middle age.

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RHODE ISLAND
Boston Globe

By Bella English GLOBE STAFF JUNE 08, 2016

The headmaster of St. George’s School, which has been embroiled in a sexual abuse scandal, has informed trustees that he won’t seek to renew his contract, which expires June 30, 2017.

Eric F. Peterson, whose resignation had been sought by many alumni, did not mention the scandal in his letter to trustees but referred to recent months as challenging. The controversy at the school became public in December, after Anne Scott and two other alumnae told of being molested or raped by athletic trainer Al Gibbs in the late 1970s.

In a letter sent Tuesday to the St. George’s community announcing Peterson’s departure, board of trustees chair Leslie Heaney referred briefly to the scandal: “Throughout this transition, the school’s commitment to addressing past instances of sexual abuse and to supporting our survivor community will remain steadfast.”

Peterson, 50, was appointed headmaster of the Episcopal prep school in 2004. His letter included a quote from the poem “Ulysses,” in which Tennyson writes of Greek hero Odysseus “and his desire to return to the sea in search of adventure.” Peterson wrote that he loves the poem “because it describes so well the tension between staying home in a familiar, comfortable setting or chasing the horizon towards an unknown, exciting future.”

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RHODE ISLAND
News 24

Providence – The headmaster of a prestigious boarding school has announced his departure days after state police concluded an investigation into dozens of sexual abuse allegations there with no criminal charges.

The St George’s School Board of Trustees announced on Tuesday that headmaster Eric Peterson won’t seek to extend his contract, which ends June 30, 2017. Peterson has been headmaster of the Episcopal school in Middletown, near Newport, since 2004.

In an email to the school community, board chairperson Leslie Heaney expressed profound gratitude for Peterson’s leadership and briefly addressed the abuse scandal.

“Throughout this transition, the school’s commitment to addressing past instances of sexual abuse and to supporting our survivor community will remain steadfast, as will our efforts to advance educational innovation, support our faculty and challenge our students,” she wrote.

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UNITED STATES
Register Citizen

Editorial

Pope Francis has made empathy for the downtrodden and the powerless a hallmark of his papacy, but he has been less deft in dealing with the Roman Catholic Church’s own most defenseless victims — children sexually abused by clergy.

At the outset of his visit last fall to the United States, the pope spoke feelingly of the pain and suffering endured by American bishops who had withstood the ongoing clergy sex-abuse scandal. His words of sympathy for the actual victims of that abuse — those whose lives have been scarred and destroyed by priests — came on the final day of his journey and, to many survivors, seemed nearly an afterthought.

Three years into his papacy, Francis is trying to hit the reset button on his sputtering efforts to add muscle to the church’s stated policy of zero tolerance for clerical abuse. After trying and failing for 12 months to establish a special Vatican tribunal that would hold negligent bishops accountable, he has issued a decree, in the form of an apostolic letter, serving notice that bishops can and should be removed from office if they actively or passively sanction sex abuse in their dioceses.

That Francis is making such a proclamation now, 14 years after explosive revelations of the church’s complicity in allowing and covering up the sexual abuse of minors in the United States, is a measure of how slowly, partially and inadequately the Vatican has come to terms with the scandal. Even after countless disclosures, year after year, Catholic bishops — who in many cases shuffled pedophile priests from one parish to another, allowing them to abuse again and again — continue to enjoy something approaching official impunity from Rome.

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GUAM
KUAM

Posted: Jun 08, 2016

By Sabrina Salas Matanane

One organization accused of being a part of the plot to topple Archbishop Anthony Apuron is the Concerned Catholics of Guam. And the group’s vice president says the archbishop’s decree to ban contact with his group is nonsense.

“I believe he’s lost his moral authority to really tell us what to do,” said Dave Sablan. He maintains that the Concerned Catholics of Guam say they don’t need the archbishop’s blessing, adding, “First off, we’re not formed under any provisions of Canon Law.”

On June 5, just 24 hours before Pope Francis appointed an apostolic administrator to temporarily oversee the local archdiocese, Archbishop Apuron issued a decree accusing the group of promoting opposition, instigating, soliciting and disseminating fraudulent and malicious allegations against him. The archbishop further declared the CCOG a prohibited society and issued a stay away order.

Sablan as CCOG vice president continued, “He’s making a last-ditch effort to put a gag order on us so we don’t do anything further – especially with this new apostolic administrator.”

The organization was formed in December 2014 following controversies that arose that year including the removal of Father Paul Gofigan as pastor of the Santa Barbara Church, the removal of Monsignor James Benavente as rector amid allegations of financial mismanagement and allegations of sexual harassment made by John Toves against the archbishop.

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PENNSYLVANIA
The Intelligencer

By James Boyle, staff writer

The priest at a Bucks County parish received applause at Sunday Mass after encouraging his congregation to fight a bill that would extend the time a person claiming child abuse can file a civil suit.

“Getting involved in political issues is nothing new for this parish,” said Monsignor John Marine, of St. Bede the Venerable in Northampton’s Holland section. “We will speak up on any moral issue, whether it’s the disrespect of human life or restriction on the expression of religious freedom.”

Marine said the call to act came after Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput delivered a sharp rebuke against House Bill 1947, which, if passes, would extend the statute of limitations for child sex abuse victims to file civil lawsuits. In a letter directed to archdiocese parishioners, Chaput says the legislation unfairly places a larger liability on private and faith-based organizations than public institutions.

He urged parishioners to ask lawmakers to oppose the bill, calling it a “clear attack on the church, her parishes and her people.”

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RHODE ISLAND
Boston.com

By MICHELLE R. SMITH

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — The headmaster of a prestigious boarding school has announced his departure days after state police concluded an investigation into dozens of sexual abuse allegations there with no criminal charges.

The St. George’s School Board of Trustees announced Tuesday that headmaster Eric Peterson won’t seek to extend his contract, which ends June 30, 2017. Peterson has been headmaster of the Episcopal school in Middletown, near Newport, since 2004.

In an email to the school community, board chairwoman Leslie Heaney expressed profound gratitude for Peterson’s leadership and briefly addressed the abuse scandal.

“Throughout this transition, the school’s commitment to addressing past instances of sexual abuse and to supporting our survivor community will remain steadfast, as will our efforts to advance educational innovation, support our faculty and challenge our students,” she wrote.

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UTAH
Good4Utah

[with video]

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (ABC4 Utah) A fourth person has come forward claiming they were sexually abused while in the foster care program by run by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The Lamanite Placement Program put Native American children in LDS foster homes from the 1940s to the 1990s. The man filing the lawsuit says he was placed with a family in Roy, Utah and sexually abused by his foster father.

The lawsuit accuses the LDS Church of not reporting the abuse to the proper authorities.

“We believe this was a well-intentioned program, but in a lot of ways it was a pedophiles dream to have basically a captive child from hundreds and hundreds of miles away, separated from their family and their culture,” said David Clohessy, victim advocate.

Attorneys also said officials with the LDS Church have filed motions to move these cases from the Navajo tribal court to Utah.

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PENNSYLVANIA
PennLive

By Ivey DeJesus | idejesus@pennlive.com

One of Pennsylvania’s most prominent rape awareness organizations and nearly 80 faith leaders from across the state have called on members of the Senate to support the child sex crime reform bill that is about to go before the chamber next week.

The Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape and scores of religious leaders have signed a letter urging Senate members to approve House Bill 1947, which would reform the statute of limitations.

“Reform is in the best interest of public safety,” said Kristen Houser

PCAR, chief public affairs officer. “It’s an opportunity to identify offenders who may be perpetrating crimes against children, shift the cost of abuse back to the offender and the institutions that protected them. We know that child sexual abuse does come with a high price for victims. They have ongoing health problems, ongoing health costs…addiction, loss of education attainment. We feel that when an adult is finally in place to come forth they deserve to recoup the losses they’ve incurred. This is a way of shifting the cost to the person who harmed them rather than shouldering it themselves.

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PENNSYLVANIA
ABC 27

[with video]

By Mike Parker
Published: June 7, 2016

HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHTM) — The Roman Catholic Diocese of Harrisburg is preparing to distribute a letter in opposition to child sex abuse reform legislation. The letter takes aim at PA House Bill 1947, which would eliminate statutes of limitations on future child sex abuse cases, and expand statutes of limitations for which both future and past victims of child sexual abuse can file civil lawsuits.

“I can say, regarding the legislation, that the church is not opposed to the criminal statute of limitations being eliminated,” says Joe Aponick, spokesman for the Harrisburg Dicocese. “What we’re opposed to is the retroactive portion of this.”

While HB 1947 addresses all cases of child sexual abuse in Pennsylvania, Aponick says the retroactive portion of the bill is “unfair” due to the potential countless number of lawsuits that could be filed against the church based on findings of previous sex abuse investigations. In most cases, including scathing findings in the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese, the statute of limitations for victims to file suit against alleged abusers has expired.

“Abuse happens everywhere in society, and this is not a Catholic problem,” adds Aponick. “That’s why this legislation is so unfair. Because it just really targets a small section of victims. It really created two classes of victims.”

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NEW YORK
New York Daily News

KENNETH LOVETT
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Wednesday, June 8, 2016

ALBANY — Assembly Democrats have agreed on a new bill that would make it easier for child sexual abuse victims to seek justice as adults.

The bill would extend the time that criminal or civil cases against predators can be brought, treat public and private institutions equally when it comes to sex abuse cases, and provide a window to revive cases barred under current law.

“Child sex abuse victims deserve justice, and this bill will help them find their voice and give them the courage to come forward,” said Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D-Bronx).

The emerging legislation represents a compromise between a more expansive bill pushed by Assemblywoman Margaret Markey (D-Queens) and a more restrictive one by Assemblyman Michael Cusick (D-Staten Island) that is supported by the Catholic Church.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Tom Nightingale

A group of parents in a parish in Melbourne’s south-east are talking to MPs about a bill to clarify the separation of responsibilities in Catholic schools between the priest and principal, following sexual abuse allegations.

The group of parents from the Catholic community have been demanding the removal of Father John Walshe from his Mentone-Parkdale parish.

An internal Church investigation found he sexually abused an 18 year old in the 1980s, although Father Walshe has denied the allegation, saying it was consensual sex.

The victim was paid $75,000 compensation and received an apology.

Angela Sdrinis, a lawyer acting on behalf of the parents group, said the issue could have wider implications for Catholic schools across the country.

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AUSTRALIA
The Cairns Post

June 7, 2016

Kimberley Vlasic
The Cairns Post

ALMOST 10 years ago to the day, Joanne McCarthy received the phone call that would irrevocably change her life and the lives of thousands of others.

It was the call that started to untangle the web of lies spun by the Catholic Church to conceal the ghastliest of secrets.

It was the call that later led to two police strike forces, resulting in the arrests of at least 12 religious brothers and priests on nearly 500 criminal charges.

It was the call that set into motion a series of government inquiries into child sexual abuse, including a Federal Royal Commission, which is ongoing.

Joanne clearly remembers that phone call in early June 2006.

“It was a man who rang me because he knew my name from writing stuff in the paper but also stuff in the paper about my sons. He rang out of the blue and he wanted to know why no media outlet had ever reported the fact that five years earlier, a Catholic priest from the Hunter region west of Newcastle called John Denham had been convicted of child sex offences,” she says.

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GUAM
KUAM

[with video]

Posted: Jun 08, 2016

By Krystal Paco

While Archbishop Anthony Apuron claims it was he who asked the Vatican for a temporary replacement, one local critic disagrees. Self-proclaimed watchdog and blogger Tim Rohr says the recent appointment of an apostolic administrator for the Guam archdiocese means the Vatican is cleaning up house.

In a video message from Rome on Tuesday, Archbishop Apuron says he called on the Vatican for a temporary replacement so an investigation into molestation allegations could proceed. But Rohr says that’s all an act. For the last three years, Tohr has documented the local Catholic church controversies in his blog, JungleWatch. Just last year, Guam’s newly-appointed apostolic administrator, Archbishop Savio Tai Fai Hon, visited Guam with others as part of an apostolic visit.

According to Rohr, they were investigating Apuron then. Hon’s return to the island, Rohr says, could be a cue their investigation is complete. He told KUAM News, “The fact that Archbishop Hon has been assigned to Guam as an apostolic administrator tells us that the results of the investigation, which they began in January 2015, have determined that Archbishop Apuron is incapable of performing his duties as bishop of this diocese. And Pope Francis saw the need to assign someone who would run the diocese.”

According to code of Canon Law, apostolic administrators are appointed due to “special and particularly grave reasons.” In Guam’s case, Apuron has been publicly accused four times of molestation – three of the alleged victims were altar boys at Mount Carmel Church in Agat, where Apuron was a priest. The archbishop has vehemently denied any allegations of sex abuse and has claimed he is the victim of a malicious smear campaign and conspiracy to remove him after uncovering discrepancies with the church’s finances.

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FRANCE
francetvinfo

Que savait Philippe Barbarin ? L’archevêque de Lyon (Rhône) est auditionné mercredi 8 juin par la police lyonnaise, afin de faire la lumière sur l’affaire du prêtre lyonnais Bernard Preynat, suspecté d’abus sexuels sur de jeunes scouts catholiques il y a vingt-cinq ans

Le cardinal Barbarin, figure de la hiérarchie catholique en France, est arrivé, mercredi vers 8 heures, dans les locaux de la Brigade départementale de protection de la famille, à Lyon. Il a été convoqué pour une audition libre –sans placement en garde à vue– dans le cadre de deux enquêtes préliminaires. Il est mis en cause pour des faits de “non dénonciation d’agressions sexuelles sur mineurs” et de “mise en danger de la vie d’autrui”.

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FRANCE
Le Figaro

VIDÉO – Mis en cause pour des faits de «non-dénonciation» d’agressions sexuelles sur mineurs, l’archevêque de Lyon répond aux questions des policiers sous le régime de l’audition libre. Il n’est pas en garde à vue.

Son audition avait été annoncée comme imminente. Depuis 8 heures, ce mercredi matin, le cardinal Philippe Barbarin, est entendu par les policiers de la ville. Mis en cause par deux enquêtes pour des faits de «non-dénonciation» d’agressions sexuelles sur mineurs et de mise en danger de la vie d’autrui, le prélat répond aux questions des policiers sous le régime de l’audition libre. Il n’est pas en garde à vue.

«Il est entendu comme témoin» indique l’un de ses avocats, André Soulier, «et comme à chaque témoin, on lui demande ce qu’il sait». Le conseil du cardinal Barbarin ajoute que cette audition par la Brigade départementale de protection de la famille «ne sera suivie ni par une mesure de comparution, ni par un renvoi, ni par l’ouverture d’une information judiciaire».

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FRANCE
swissinfo

LYON, France (Reuters) – French police questioned the Roman Catholic cardinal-archbishop of Lyon on Wednesday in an investigation into the activities of a paedophile priest in the early 1990s and why they were not reported to the civil authorities.

Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, 65, who has denied covering up the activities of Father Bernard Preynat, was questioned as a witness by officers of the child and family protection brigade at a police station in the central city, his lawyer said.

“Like any witness, he is being asked what he knew,” lawyer Andre Soulier said, adding that the questioning “will not be followed by any obligation to appear in court, any opening of a judicial investigation or any indictment”.

Several victims of alleged paedophile abuse have filed complaints against the prelate, who holds the honorific title of Primate of the Gauls, for failing to report the incidents to the justice authorities and leaving the accused priest in place.

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FRANCE
mo4ch

Cardinal Barbarin arrived at a police station in Lyon early on Wednesday

The Archbishop of Lyon, Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, is being questioned by police over allegations that he failed to act against a priest in his diocese accused of child sexual abuse.

The French Catholic Church has been hit by claims of covering up abuse, though the cardinal has repeatedly denied the allegations.

Pope Francis has approved measures to sack bishops who mishandle such cases.

But it is unclear if the decree will affect Cardinal Barbarin.

Police are investigating whether he failed to take action against a priest, Bernard Preynat, who is accused of abusing boy scouts between 1986 and 1991.

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FRANCE
Newstalk (New Zealand)

French police have questioned the Roman Catholic cardinal-archbishop of Lyon in an investigation into the activities of a paedophile priest in the early 1990s and why they were not reported to the civil authorities.

Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, 65, who has denied covering up the activities of Father Bernard Preynat, was questioned on Wednesday as a witness by officers of the child and family protection brigade at a police station in the central city, his lawyer said.

“Like any witness, he is being asked what he knew,” lawyer Andre Soulier said, adding that the questioning “will not be followed by any obligation to appear in court, any opening of a judicial investigation or any indictment”.

Several victims of alleged paedophile abuse have filed complaints against the prelate, who holds the honorific title of Primate of the Gauls, for failing to report the incidents to the justice authorities and leaving the accused priest in place.

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FRANCE
Columbus Telegram

PARIS (AP) — Police are questioning a prominent French cardinal about alleged failure to report pedophile priests under his watch.

Cardinal Philippe Barbarin has been under pressure for months since he was targeted in France’s highest-profile cases to date of sexual abuse of children by priests.

Barbarin, one of the highest-ranking figures in the French Catholic Church, is accused of failing to report two cases of pedophile priests to judicial authorities. He has denied covering up abuse, but acknowledged some mistakes in handling and appointing some priests.

Barbarin’s lawyer Andre Soulier said the cardinal is being questioned Wednesday in Lyon as part of normal proceedings in the case.

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ISRAEL/AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Middle East correspondent Sophie McNeill and Fouad Abu-Gosh

Israel’s state prosecutor has failed in a bid to see Malka Leifer, the former principal of an ultra-Orthodox girls school in Melbourne, returned to house arrest in Israel.

Leifer is wanted by Victorian police on 74 charges of indecent assault and rape allegedly involving girls at the Adass Israel School in Melbourne, where she was principal from 2003 until 2008.

Last Thursday, Leifer was ruled mentally unfit to face extradition and had her home detention lifted in a move that shocked and deeply concerned Australian officials and outraged her alleged victims and Jewish community leaders in Melbourne.

Legal proceedings around her extradition were stopped for six months, during which time she will undertake court-ordered psychiatric treatment.

The ABC understands Israeli prosecutors had hoped to argue that because the case was an extradition request, the judge had the authority to continue Leifer’s home detention despite proceedings being frozen.

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MINNESOTA
Canonical Consultation

Jennifer Haselberger

06/07/2016

Someone recently sent me a link to the current (January 2016) newsletter of the Pontifical North American College in Rome, and drew my attention to page 4, where the members of the Board of Governors of the seminary are listed. Those of you who follow the link will see that the Vice Chairman is the Emeritus Archbishop of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, Archbishop John C. Nienstedt.

Perhaps not surprisingly, I did not find this information anywhere else on the PNAC website.

I wish I could say I was surprised.

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PENNSYLVANIA
PennLive

By Ivey DeJesus | idejesus@pennlive.com

Efforts by the Catholic church to defeat a child sex crime bill ahead of a Senate hearing next week continued on Tuesday to fuel outrage among the faithful.

Parents of children who attend Catholic schools in Philadelphia were on Tuesday emailed a letter urging them to help the church defeat House Bill 1947, which would reform the statute of limitations. A similar letter was distributed last week to schools in the Harrisburg Diocese.

Gretchen Dahlkemper, whose son attends St. Mary Interparochial School in Society Hill, said she was outraged over the letter.

“We put our trust in the church to heal and to move past what was decades of cover up, really systemic cover-up of widespread abuse,” said Dahlkemper. “The email sent to parents and the effort by the Catholic Church to continue are disgusting.”

The email, which was sent out by the principal of the school and signed by Chris Mominey, secretary of Catholic education, for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, states that the pending legislation in the Senate “has the potential to cripple our schools, catechetical programs, parishes, and charitable works that serve those in need.”

The letter contains documents similar to the ones distributed at Masses on Sunday, including a fact sheet and summary of the negative impact the bill would have on the church.

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NEW YORK
Huffington Post

Courtney M. Soliday
AOL

Hundreds of survivors of childhood sex abuse and their families and friends were joined by advocacy organizations from New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania on June 5th to march across the Brooklyn Bridge to demonstrate broad public support for Assemblywoman Margaret Markey’s Child Victims Act.

The Assemblywoman was joined by Senator Brad Hoylman who sponsors the Child Victims Act in the NY State Senate.

The bill will eliminate the civil and criminal statute of limitations for child sex abuse crimes. It will also create a one-year civil “window” to get justice for adult survivors of abuse and help expose pedophiles and those who have hidden them.

At a rally on the Manhattan side of the Brooklyn Bridge after the “Walk for the Window” march, Assemblywoman Markey said: “My sincere thanks to you and all those who continue to speak out on behalf of survivors and children. Your voices and strong support reflected by this march gives me real hope that the Legislature will, at long last, act in 2016 to bring justice to survivors and help protect children by exposing predators who continue to abuse new generations of kids.”

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UTAH
Fox 13

BY BEN WINSLOW

SALT LAKE CITY — A fourth person has now come forward, alleging they were sexually abused while participating in a program run by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for Native American children.

The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Navajo Nation Tribal Court, accuses the LDS Church of not reporting the abuse to the proper authorities.

“This can’t be swept under the rug,” the man, identified in court papers as “LK,” told FOX 13.

LK claims in court papers that he was taken from his home on the Navajo Nation as a child, baptized into the Mormon faith, and placed with a host family under a program the church ran called the “Lamanite Placement Program.” Also known as the “Indian Placement Program,” the lawsuit claims it was “the LDS Church’s desire to convert Native American or ‘Lamanite’ children and assimilate them into their culture reflects teachings in the Book of Mormon, a book of canonized scripture unique to the Mormon religion.”

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PENNSYLVANIA
Catholic Philly

Posted June 6, 2016

The following letter by Archbishop Charles Chaput, or a similar letter signed by archdiocesan pastors, was read or made available in all 219 parishes of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia during Masses last weekend, June 4-5.

In addition to the letter in English and Spanish, a document explaining HB 1947, a bill that would retroactively lift the statutes of limitation in Pennsylvania for civil lawsuits in cases of child sexual abuse, was also provided to parishioners in English and Spanish to help them understand the issue more fully.

Also provided was a document in English and Spanish detailing steps the Philadelphia Archdiocese has taken to meet the needs of victims of clergy sexual abuse and to prevent future abuse of any child.

***
A bill is currently pending in our state senate, HB 1947, that poses serious dangers for all of our local parishes and for the ministries, charities and schools of our archdiocesan Church. With this letter, I urge you to write or telephone your local state senator and members of the state Senate Judiciary Committee to vote against HB 1947, and especially to oppose any retroactivity provision in the civil statute of limitation covering sexual abuse.

All of us are rightly angered by the crime of sexual abuse. Over the past decade the Church has worked very hard to support survivors in their healing, to protect our children and to root this crime out of Church life. But HB 1947 and bills like it are destructive legislation being advanced as a good solution. The problem with HB 1947 is its prejudicial content. It covers both public and religious institutions — but in drastically different and unjust ways. The bill fails to support all survivors of abuse equally, and it’s a clear attack on the Church, her parishes and her people.

HB 1947 is retroactive for private and religious entities, but not retroactive for public institutions. It places very low caps on damages for sexual abuse in public schools in the future. And it makes it hard for abuse victims to sue public institutions going forward. Meanwhile, private and religious entities face unlimited liability for exactly the same evil actions, and not just going forward, but also in the past.

This is not justice. In fact, HB 1947 actually excludes most victims. And it also targets innocent Catholic parishes and families, like your own, who will bear the financial burden of crimes committed by bad individuals in the past, along with the heavy penalties that always result from these bad bills.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Church Militant

by Joseph Pelletier • ChurchMilitant.com • June 7, 2016

Abp. Charles Chaput argues reform opens church to unlimited liability

PHILADELPHIA (ChurchMilitant.com) – The archbishop of Philadelphia is decrying a proposed law extending the statute of limitations in cases of sexual abuse, calling the legislation a “clear attack on the Church.”

In a letter distributed Sunday to all 219 parishes in the archdiocese of Philadelphia, Abp. Charles Chaput declared that Pennsylvania House Bill 1947, also referred to as HB 1947, “poses serious dangers” for local parishes and Catholic ministries and schools within the state as it exposes religious institutions to “unlimited liability” for clerical sex abuse currently decades past the current statute for legal action.

“All of us are rightly angered by the crime of sexual abuse,” the archbishop affirmed. “Over the past decade the Church has worked very hard to support survivors in their healing, to protect our children and to root this crime out of Church life. But HB 1947 and bills like it are destructive legislation being advanced as a good solution.”

“This is not justice,” he argues.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Commonspace

What is Kincora Boys’ Home?

Kincora’s Boys’ Home was a children’s home that became the centre of a notorious child abuse scandal in Belfast, Northern Ireland from 1958 to 1980. The home provided full-time accommodation for 15-18-year-old boys who faced an abusive or compromised home life. It closed in 1980 following allegations of wide scale child sexual abuse. At least 29 boys were raped, prostituted or otherwise sexually abused by senior care staff while resident in the home. The scale of the abuse remains unclear. There have been allegations of a decades-long cover up involving British intelligence services, prominent political figures, and the aristocracy.

What happened at Kincora?

As soon as the home was opened, warden Joe Mains began abusing boys in his care, and soon recruited his deputy Raymond Semple and housemaster William McGrath to join the daily abuse. Some of the victims allege that they were not only abused at Kincora, but were trafficked to England in order to be subjected to further abuse at locations including the infamous Dolphin Square and Elm Guest House.

Dolphin Square is an apartment block situated in Pimlico, London, near Westminster, that became the centre of a Metropolitan Police investigation in 2014. The inquiry was sparked after two separate witnesses claimed that the block was a venue for routine child sex abuse by groups of men including prominent MPs. …

Was there a cover-up?

There have been constant claims that MI5 and MI6 allowed the abuse at Kincora to continue in order to blackmail politicians and establishment figures during the Troubles.

McGrath was the leader of a rightwing Ulster loyalist movement, Tara, which espoused a brand of evangelical Protestantism, and extreme anti-Catholic views. Author Martin Dillon claimed that McGrath may have been blackmailed by MI5 in return for intelligence on other loyalist groups.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
The Guardian

Press Association
Tuesday 7 June 2016

A former resident from Kincora boys’ home has described being stripped naked and sexually assaulted on his first day at the Belfast facility.

The man, given the cipher HIA199/R3, broke down in tears after telling the Historical Institutional Abuse (HIA) inquiry, how he was singled out and abused over four years.

He said: “When I came to Kincora I was an an innocent 14-year-old boy. I never had a sex education and this is what I had to deal with for four years.”

The witness, who spent his entire childhood in care, had three separate stints at Kincora during the 1960s and 1970s. He left shortly after turning 18.

On the day he was admitted from Purdysburn hospital, he said he was taken into a bathroom and assaulted by warden Joseph Mains during what was supposed to be a medical examination, the HIA was told.

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NEW YORK
Catholic League

Bill Donohue comments on today’s lead story in the Daily News:

The Daily News is back at it again slamming the Catholic Church. But this time they really did themselves in: They floated a front-page story by a notorious anti-Catholic bigot accusing a local bishop of bribery.

Assemblywoman Margaret Markey—the number-one enemy of Catholics in New York—has accused Brooklyn Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio of offering her a $5,000 bribe. He allegedly tried to get her to drop her support for a bill that would lift the statute of limitations on offenses involving the sexual abuse of minors. The bishop vehemently denies it.

Only a fool would believe Markey. First of all, the alleged bribe took place in 2010. Now are we supposed to believe that the same woman who is fixated on the statute of limitations as it relates to sexual abuse didn’t know that the statute of limitations for bribery in New York is three years?

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VATICAN CITY/GUAM
Catholic Herald (UK)

In a video filmed in St Peter’s Square, Archbishop Anthony Apuron said he was a ‘victim of horrible calumnies’

The Archbishop of Guam says he welcomes the appointment of a Vatican administrator to run the Catholic Church on the Pacific island pending an investigation into allegations he sexually abused young boys decades ago.

In a video shot in St Peter’s Square, Archbishop Anthony Apuron spoke to his flock in the US territory, insisting he remained their archbishop and was a “victim of these horrible calumnies.”

Pope Francis on Monday named a high-ranking Vatican official to take over the Agana archdiocese after abuse allegations against Archbishop Apuron resurfaced in recent weeks. A church deacon publicly accused Apuron of keeping the archdiocese’s sex abuse policy weak to protect himself.

The Archbishop has accused the deacon, Stephen Martinez, of being part of a conspiracy to oust him over a soured property deal.

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GUAM
Guam Daily Post

Louella Losinio | Post News Staff

Archbishop Anthony Apuron issued a decree Sunday branding the Concerned Catholics of Guam (CCOG) as a “prohibited society” and forbidding all members of the Catholic Church in the Archdiocese of Agana from associating with the organization.

Apuron said in the decree that the organization has assumed the name and use of the term “Catholic” without the consent of a competent ecclesiastical authority, as required by law.

But, according to David Sablan, CCOG vice president, the word “Catholic” in the organization’s title refers to the faithful who call themselves Catholic – the laity of the church.

“We are not an organization of the Archdiocese of Agana. Otherwise, we would have to have the blessing and sanction of the archbishop. We know that,” Sablan told the Post.

Sablan said if they were to call themselves the “Catholic Society of Guam” or the “Catholic Organization of Guam,” then the use of the term “Catholic” would need the approval of the archbishop.

“But that is not how we are using that term. We are identifying ourselves as Catholics – persons who are baptized Catholics, bound together for a common purpose which is not related to associations needing the approval of the appropriate ecclesiastical authority (the Archbishop of Agana) as defined in Canon Law,” he said.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

A retired Catholic priest has been acquitted by a jury of sexually assaulting nine girls and one boy.

Father Mortimer Stanley, 82, denied 19 indecent assaults allegedly committed in Rochdale between 1977 and 2002.

He was accused of targeting most of the complainants, aged under 11, in his presbytery at St Vincent de Paul RC Church in Norden.

Judge John Potter has recorded not guilty verdicts on two counts at Manchester Crown Court.

‘Totally untrue’

The court heard jurors had been unable to reach a verdict on one of the counts but prosecutor Andrew Mackintosh said the Crown would not seek a retrial and a not guilty verdict was recorded.

The judge said another count involving a 10th female complainant who was too unwell to give evidence during the trial would also be recorded as not guilty.

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UNITED STATES
protectjewishkids

Rabbi Samuel Waldman

I decided to investigate some of the rabbis who worked at the Mesivta of Long Beach. (It was also called Torah High School. After Chaim Weiss’ murder, the name appears to have been changed to Mercaz Hatorah.)

The first name that got my attention was Rabbi Samuel Waldman. In 2014, he was arrested on Federal distribution of child pornography charges by the Department of Homeland Security. At the time Waldman was arrested, he was a teacher at the Bais Yaakov of Boro Park.

Waldman wrote the book “Beyond a Reasonable Doubt” published in 2002. In it, he thanks 2 Mesivta rabbis (Levi Dickstein the rosh yeshiva and Chaim Zelikovitz, a teacher) for hiring him as the yeshiva’s mashgiach. The mashgiach is the equivalent of the dorm counselor, confidant and mentor to the yeshiva boys. It appears that Waldman was the mashgiach for 8 years, all of them when Rabbi Shlomo Lesin was the school administrator. I’ll get to Lesin shortly.

In his book, Rabbi Waldman also acknowledges his former rabbi and Torah teacher, Rabbi Gabriel Bodenheimer. Bodeheimer was convicted of child endangerment when he was principal of a yeshiva in Monsey, NY. Rabbi Waldman also acknowledges Rabbi Yisroel Belsky who reviewed his book. Belsky is notorious for publicly accusing the father of a boy who was molested in Lakewood, NJ of molesting his own son. Belsky also publicly exonerated Rabbi Yosef Kolko who was arrested for the crime.

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AUSTRALIA/VATICAN CITY
The Australian

TESS LIVINGSTONE
THE AUSTRALIAN
JUNE 8, 2016

Australian Cardinal George Pell, the Vatican’s treasurer, today turns 75, the age when Catholic bishops automatically submit their resignations to the pope. Cardinal Pell, however, has been asked by Pope Francis to continue working until 2019.

After Pope Francis visited the office of the Secretariat for the Economy last month, Cardinal Pell’s office said in a statement he would “be continuing with his current role for the full five-year term”. He was appointed to clean up the Vatican’s corrupt financial system in February 2014.

“The Holy Father said he fully supported their work and re-emphasised the ongoing need for transparency in continuing with their reforms,” its statement said. About 4000 Vatican Bank ­accounts of individuals and ­organisations not entitled to hold them have been closed and 200 have been referred to authorities.

Cardinal Pell’s secretariat is also engaged in a battle with the powerful Secretariat of State, after Italian Archbishop Angelo Becciu, the number two official in that office, suspended an external audit of Vatican finances by international accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, which was trying to improve the transparency of Vatican finances to international anti-money-laundering standards.

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NEW YORK
Road to Recovery

New York State legislature has eight (8) days to do the right thing by eliminating the statute of limitations on sexual abuse of children and allowing victim/survivors to hold their abusers accountable

Attorney Mitchell Garabedian of Boston, who was portrayed by Stanley Tucci in the Academy Award-winning movie, “Spotlight,” and whose work with clergy sexual abuse victims is well documented, will stand with two of his clergy childhood sexual abuse clients, Cecilia Springer and Neal Gumpel, to demand reasonable and just settlements of their claims and changes in the New York State statute of limitations concerning childhood sexual abuse

Cecilia Springer is an 85 year-old ex-nun who was abused by her high school Principal, Sr. Mary Andrew, SU, a Sister of St. Ursula, in the 1940s. The Sisters of St. Ursula refuse to help Cecilia in her senior years despite the fact that Cecilia Springer’s father donated a Manhattan building to the Sisters of St. Ursula

Neal Gumpel, 57, originally from Port Chester, NY, was sexually abused by a Fordham Preparatory School (Bronx, NY) Jesuit priest, Fr. Roy Alan Drake, SJ, a serial pedophile, who received permission from his Jesuit superiors to teach at Maine Maritime Academy in the 1970s. The Jesuits have found Neal Gumpel’s story credible but refuse to help him heal by reasonably settling his claim

What
A press conference alerting the media to the cases of two childhood sexual abuse victims, represented by Boston Attorney Mitchell Garabedian, portrayed by Stanley Tucci in the movie, “Spotlight,” who have been re-victimized by two religious orders, the Sisters of St. Ursula, based in Dutchess County, New York, and the Northeast Province of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), based in Manhattan, because of their refusal to help the victims heal. The press conference will also demand that the New York State legislature enact laws allowing childhood sexual abuse victims to gain access to the courts in a fair and just manner.

When
Wednesday, June 8, 2016 at 1:00 pm

Where
On the public sidewalk outside Notre Dame School, 327 West 13th Street, New York, NY 10014

Who
Boston Attorney Mitchell Garabedian, portrayed by Stanley Tucci in the Academy Award’s 2016 Best Picture, “Spotlight,”; Cecilia Springer, a childhood sexual abuse victim and ex-nun; Neal Gumpel, a childhood sexual abuse victim and Hollywood screenwriter; Dr. Robert M. Hoatson of Road to Recovery, Inc., advocate and sexual abuse victim as a young adult in five counties of New York State; Helen Gumpel, wife of Neal Gumpel; friends, and supporters

Why
New York State has one of the most restrictive statutes of limitations on the sexual abuse of children in the country, and the New York legislature is currently discussing ways to change that. Attorney Mitchell Garabedian of Boston will stand with two of his clients, Cecilia Springer and Neal Gumpel, and discuss the injustice of the Sisters of St. Ursula in not reasonably settling credible claims of childhood sexual abuse by a nun, Sr. Mary Andrew, S.U., who was Cecilia Springer’s Principal at Notre Dame School in the 1940s. Sister Mary Andrew, S.U., followed high school student Cecilia Springer up the school stairway from the lunchroom, grabbed her from behind, and hugged and kissed her. Cecilia Springer suffers from the effects of that sexual abuse.

Attorney Garabedian will also stand with Neal E. Gumpel, who was invited by his brother to spend the weekend at Maine Maritime Academy in Castine, Maine in the 1970s. Neal Gumpel was told when he arrived that he would be staying in the apartment of Fr. Roy Alan Drake, SJ, who was a professor of science at Maine Maritime Academy. Fr. Roy Alan Drake plied Neal Gumpel with alcohol and sexually assaulted him during that weekend. The Jesuits of the Northeast Province, based in Manhattan, have found Neal Gumpel’s story credible but refuse to reasonably settle his case.

The press conference will demand that the Sisters of St. Ursula and the Society of Jesus Northeast Province (Jesuits) do the right thing, reasonably settle the two claims, and help the victims heal.

The press conference will also demand that the New York State legislature eliminate the statute of limitations regarding childhood sexual abuse and allow victims of childhood sexual abuse, whenever it occurred, to have their day in court.

Contacts
Robert M. Hoatson, Ph.D., Road to Recovery, Inc. – 862-368-280
Attorney Mitchell Garabedian, Boston, MA – 617-523-6250

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GUAM
Guam Daily Post

Louella Losinio | Post News Staff

After nearly four decades of silence, Walter Denton yesterday spoke to those gathered in front of the Pastoral Office at the Dulce Nombre de Maria Cathedral Basilica in Hagåtña, alleging that he was sexually molested by then-parish priest, now Archbishop Anthony Apuron. The confession followed an announcement that Pope Francis has relieved Apuron of his duties and appointed an interim administrator for the archdiocese.

“I was raped by Anthony Sablan Apuron, who at that time was a priest in Agat,” Denton said at the media conference yesterday.

With family and supporters by his side, Denton – making the third accusation of sexual abuse of altar servers by Apuron within the last three weeks – said the incident “changed the direction of his life,” and described how the abuse started in April 1977 when Apuron asked him to stay overnight at the rectory of Mount Carmel Church in Agat, where Apuron was a priest.

Denton, then a 13-year-old altar boy, said Apuron insisted that he sleep in the bedroom with him. He said that during the night, he was sodomized by Apuron.

Denton, 52, currently lives in Casa Grande, Arizona. He said he spent 23 years 11 months in the U.S. military but over the years, the experience of being raped by Apuron weighed on him.

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VATICAN CITY
Newsday

Updated June 7, 2016

By NICOLE WINFIELD (Associated Press)

VATICAN CITY – (AP) — The Catholic archbishop of Guam is insisting he’s a victim of a campaign to oust him and says he welcomes the appointment of a Vatican administrator to take over pending an investigation into allegations he sexually abused young boys decades ago.

In a video shot in St. Peter’s Square, Archbishop Anthony Apuron addressed himself to his flock in the Pacific U.S. territory, insisting he remained their archbishop and was a “victim of these horrible calumnies.”

Pope Francis on Monday named a high-ranking Vatican official to take over the Agana archdiocese after abuse allegations against Apuron resurfaced in recent weeks. A church deacon publicly accused Apuron of keeping the archdiocese’s sex abuse policy weak to protect himself.

Apuron has accused the deacon, Stephen Martinez, of being part of a conspiracy to oust him over a soured real estate deal.

On Tuesday, the archdiocese posted on its website a decree Apuron signed on the eve of his demotion declaring an association of Catholics who have been critical of his leadership “prohibited.” The decree says the faithful should refrain from associating with it.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Irish News

Kim Pilling, PA
07 June, 2016

A CATHOLIC priest has been cleared by a jury of historical allegations that he sexually abused nine girls and one boy.

Limerick-born Father Mortimer Stanley (82) from Ballybunion, Co Kerry, had denied a string of indecent assaults said to have been committed in Rochdale, Greater Manchester, between 1977 and 2002.

The Crown alleged the priest targeted most of the complainants, aged under 11, in his presbytery at St Vincent de Paul RC Church in Norden, when he would sit them on his knee.

Fr Stanley said children would often climb on his knee of their own accord but nothing inappropriate ever happened.

He dismissed the claims from the male complainant that he was abused after “something like chloroform” was put over his mouth as “totally untrue”.

Fr Stanley retired from the priesthood in 2002 and returned to Ireland.

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NEW YORK
New York Daily News

ROCCO PARASCANDOLA
RYAN SIT
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Tuesday, June 7, 2016

A pastor is charged with molesting a 6-year-old girl his wife was baby-sitting in Queens, the district attorney said Monday.

James Love, pastor of New Mount Zion Baptist Church in Bushwick, Brooklyn, allegedly fondled the girl and exposed himself to her at his Woodside Houses apartment in Woodside on Thursday and March 7, according to the criminal complaint.

The victim’s mother told police Love once “exposed his genitals to her and placed her hand on his genitals,” and on several occasions, “rubbed his genitals against (hers)” while they were both clothed, the complaint read. He also repeatedly tried to put his hand under the little girl’s clothes, the DA charged.

The abuses were reported to police Friday, a cop source said. Investigators arranged a phone call between Love and the victim’s mother in which Love denied the allegations.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Gaynor Dumat-ol Daleno, gdumat-ol@guampdn.com June 7, 2016

Archbishop Anthony Apuron has issued a decree declaring Concerned Catholics of Guam a “prohibited society” and warning island Catholics to avoid associating with the whistleblower group.

Apuron issued the decree on June 5, a day before Pope Francis removed Apuron’s administrative authority over the Archdiocese of Agana and named a high-level official from Rome, Archbishop Savio Tai Fai Hon, as temporary apostolic administrator in Guam.

Apuron has been placed on leave, but gets to keep his archbishop title, while Hon will govern the archdiocese.

Apuron stated his decree would take effect on June 14, but now that a new administrator from Rome is in charge, it’s unclear if his ban on the Concerned Catholics of Guam and its supporters will stand. …

Concerned Catholics responded that the organization doesn’t fall under the authority of the Archdiocese of Agana and doesn’t need the blessing and sanction of Apuron.

“We are identifying ourselves as Catholics — persons who are baptized Catholics, bound together for a common purpose, which is not related to associations needing the approval” of Apuron, according to the organization.

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VATICAN CITY
Catholic News Service

By Carol Glatz Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Francis will set up a panel of legal experts to help him in deciding whether to remove a religious superior or bishop from office for failing to protect minors and vulnerable adults from sex abuse.

Vatican offices will continue to investigate claims of negligence on the part of bishops, ordinaries or religious superiors under their jurisdiction. But the pope — who makes the final decision about a bishop’s removal from office — will now be assisted by a papally appointed “college of jurists,” according to procedures that take effect Sept. 5.

In an apostolic letter given “motu proprio” (on his own initiative), dated June 4, the pope reaffirmed that bishops of a diocese or eparchy and those responsible for other kinds of particular churches can be “legitimately removed” for negligence.

In order for it to be grounds for removal, such negligence — either through omission or commission — will have had to cause “serious harm to others,” including individuals or a community, the letter said, and “the harm can be physical, moral, spiritual” or to property.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Michael Sean Winters | Jun. 7, 2016

The fact that we, as a Church, are still wrestling with how to confront the crime of clergy sexual abuse of minors invites all manner of emotional and programmatic responses. This weekend’s release of a new motu proprio on episcopal accountability makes those invitations clamant.
Some people, as we know, have left the Church: The rise of the “nones” among Catholics in the Northeastern part of the United States is largely attributable to the clergy sex abuse crisis, although this cause melded with the rise of the Religious Right and its involvement with politics. Others, including some leaders of victims’ advocacy groups have become fatalistic about reform: Understandably suspicious, each additional revelation of clergy sex abuse and, even more, of bishops covering that abuse up, only feeds their suspicion that the leaders of the Church will always be more concerned with institutional self-preservation than with protecting children. Still others think the crisis only confirms their suspicions about the hierarchic organization of the Church more generally, that this issue, like all issues, is really only about power.

There is no doubt that the Vatican curia is a unique subculture. I recall many years ago a friend who worked there explaining to me that the curia did not exist to help the Holy Father govern the universal Church, but to get red for the more talented among its employees. I doubt there is more ambition there than one finds at the summit of any large organization, but ambition has less competition: For example, curial cardinals do not have to worry about the kids, as most members of Congress do, nor about advances in technology as captains of industry do.

The Vatican curia, and the episcopacy more generally, have also been operating at major cross-currents to the ambient culture for a couple of hundred years. The dominant fact of political life for the last two centuries has been democratization, while the Church has seen the burial of Gallicanism, the great ideological opponent of Roman centralization, and the separation of Church & State yielding yet more control over local churches by Rome than could have been imagined previously. While monarchies fell, the Church embraced the doctrine of papal infallibility.

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NEW YORK
New York Daily News

Editorial

Brooklyn Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio is a vehement opponent of giving alleged childhood sex abuse victims one year to file civil suits that have been barred by New York’s tight statute of limitations.

Democratic Queens Assemblywoman Margaret Markey has long sponsored legislation that would allow the so-called one-year look back.

Now, stunningly, Markey says that in 2010, DiMarzio offered her $5,000 to drop her push — her account coming as close as possible to describing the New York crime of third-degree bribery.

Through a spokesman, DiMarzio denied ever making such an offer. Regardless, this fan of restrictive sex-offense statutes of limitations has nothing to worry about in terms of a law enforcement investigation.

The New York statute of limitations on bribery third degree is but three years and the federal limit is five years.

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NEW YORK
News 12

YONKERS – Months of tensions over the issue of code enforcement in Rockland’s private yeshivas reached a boiling point Monday when the county threatened to take legal action.

“It is beyond my comprehension what the issues are anymore,” said Rockland County Executive Ed Day just moments after learning several yeshivas refused to let county fire inspectors inside Monday morning to conduct state-ordered safety checks. He added that the schools told the inspectors to make an appointment and come back.

But those yeshivas could soon be forced to let in the inspectors as Day’s lawyers will be at the county courthouse asking a judge for warrants. Soon after the threat of jail time, the schools’ lawyer called the county to say inspectors will be allowed in Wednesday morning.

Although Rabbi Moishe Schwab, of Yeshiva Degel Hatorah, is listed as compliant, he said other school leaders feel they are being targeted because of their religion, prompting them to form the School Religious Freedom Coalition. But Executive Day points out that the county also ordered the reinspection of Catholic schools as well, and that only the yeshivas have turned away inspectors.

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UNITED STATES
Stop Baptist Predators

Christa Brown

On June 3, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests released a letter to top officials of the Southern Baptist Convention, calling on them to create a “safe place” office to which clergy sex abuse survivors can file reports about their alleged perpetrators and predicting that, without action, Baptists will become the next target of a “Spotlight”-style exposé. The letter, from SNAP’s Executive Director David Clohessy and Outreach Director Barbara Dorris, was directed to SBC Executive Committee President Frank Page and SBC Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission President Russell Moore. Here it is.

Dear Dr. Page and Dr. Moore:

With the approach of the Southern Baptist Convention’s 2016 annual meeting, we are writing with two requests:

First Request. We ask for the creation of a denominationally-funded “safe place” office to which Baptist clergy abuse survivors may file a report about their alleged perpetrators and that the “safe place” office be widely publicized.

Reason for First Request. It is flat-out cruel for Baptist denominational officials to persist in telling clergy abuse survivors that they must go to the church of the accused pastor if they want to report him within the faith community. This is like telling abuse survivors that they must go to the den of the wolf who savaged them. It is a response that inflicts additional harm on greatly wounded people and that turns a cold shoulder to those who seek only to protect others. To avoid the hopelessness that often besieges survivors who see no realistic avenue for even making a report, and to encourage Baptist clergy abuse survivors to speak out, the SBC needs to provide a “safe place” where survivors may report their perpetrators to people who have the professionalism and experience to receive those reports with compassion and care.

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UNITED KINGDOM
National Secular Society

Posted: Tue, 07 Jun 2016

Sex abuse victims doubt Pope’s decree on negligent bishops

A new decree issued by Pope Francis on 4 June under which bishops can be removed from office if found guilty of negligence involving grave abuse of minors or vulnerable adults has been greeted with cynicism by the National Secular Society and a victim support group.

The new decree does not equate to a criminal prosecution under secular law and the maximum sanction for bishops found guilty under this decree is removal from office, and even that is subject to Pontifical approval. Those disciplined under the new decree will not have a criminal record as a result and the decree does not apply to those of higher, or indeed lower, rank than bishops. Cardinals have been implicated in such facilitation but appear to be immune from sanction.

In a similar move last year, the Pope announced a Tribunal to discipline such bishops, but it appears never to have met. This decree, and the Tribunal that preceded it, may be a Church response to the growing willingness to prosecute senior clerics, especially in the US, on charges such as child endangerment. By announcing such disciplinary measures, the Church implies that criminal prosecutions are unnecessary and that those suspected of facilitating abuse will be subjected to due process by the Church.

Those states that have signed up to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which includes the Vatican, are subject to a five-yearly review. A review of the Vatican concluded in 2014 that “almost all those who concealed child sexual abuse [were allowed] to escape judicial proceedings in States where abuses were committed”. It recommended that the Church’s archives should be shared in order that “all those who concealed their crimes and knowingly placed offenders in contact with children” were held accountable.

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UNITED STATES
Times of Israel

David Cheifetz

Last week, I visited Israel and met up with my friend Manny Waks. Manny has become a leading spokesperson for sexual abuse victims in the Jewish community. I too came out publicly three years ago as a victim of sexual abuse at an Orthodox Jewish sleep away camp in the United States when I was 13-years-old.

Manny and I spent the day on the beach in Tel Aviv soaking up the rays of the sun, cooled by a comfortable breeze. Afterwards, we retired to the lounge in the Sheraton until late in the evening.

So what did Manny Waks and I talk about in the many hours that we spent together?

In addition to laughing and joking around, we had serious discussions about the whole “awakening” across the various sectors of the Jewish community worldwide around the topic of sexual abuse, particularly of minors. We spoke of the parallels between the very different communities in which we grew up: Me, in the yeshivish and, later, Modern Orthodox communities; and Manny, in the Chabad community in Australia.

One of the core commonalities that we discussed is the fundamental hypocrisy and intellectual dishonestly of much of the institutionalized rabbinic and lay leadership in their failure to adequately address the topic of sexual abuse.

The rabbis describe themselves as messengers of Torah, as the keepers and “Guardians of Halacha.” Even when there are halachic differences, the rabbis stand by the rules that they teach, the Rules of the Divine. And these are indeed the Rules of the Divine, for in the mainstream view of tradition, at least in mainstream Orthodoxy — including Modern Orthodoxy and the Chareidi communities — Torah is indeed Divine. Torah is MiSinai, given at Mount Sinai, and rules not captured in the Torah itself are themselves Halachot LeMoshe MiSinai, laws handed down by the Divine to Moses on Sinai, and passed down orally throughout the centuries.

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GUAM
KUAM

Posted: Jun 07, 2016

By Nestor Licanto

An expert in canon law says there is no specific timetable to complete the investigation of Archbishop Apuron. But in light of Pope Francis’ recent decree against sexual abuse, the results could come sooner than expected. Father Wilmer Rosario is a judge in the tribunal for the Archdiocese of Manila, and a graduate of the Angelicum, a pontifical university in Rome.

He told KUAM News, “We hope that since the issue of sexual abuse is egregious, especially against minors have a special or extraordinary gravity as considered in the church and church law, maybe it would be swifter, it would be quicker to decide on, but of course as always due process is considered.”

Father Rosario says the appointment of a temporary replacement for the archbishop does not necessarily mean he will be replaced. But should there be a removal, nominations for a successor are usually received from the local bishop or clergy and sent to the papal nuncio, the permanent diplomatic representative of the pope to a state. Both Archbishop Apuron and his predecessor the late archbishop Felixberto Flores are from Guam.

But Father Rosario says there is no local mandate, adding, “So all the candidates can come from whoever the clergy is most fit for the position. The papal nuncio conducts an investigation when there are nominations of a candidate, they do an investigation and that is supposedly secret, secreto, they investigate the character, the past ministry and then the papal nuncio, the papal legate submits the nomination to the holy see, to the Vatican.”

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GUAM
Pacific News Center – K57

Interview between Patti Arroyo and Tim Rohr about the appointment of Arch Bishop Savio Tai Fai Hon as the apostolic administrator for the Arch Diocese of Agana.

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GUAM
Pacific News Center – K57

Interview between Patti Arroyo and Joelle Casteix, SNAP, about the appointment of Arch Bishop Savio Tai Fai Hon as the Apostolic Administrator for the Arch Diocese of Agana.

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GUAM
Pacific News Center – K57

Interview between Patti Arroyo and Father Mike Crisostomo about the appointment of a Apostolic Administrator to the Arch Diocese of Agana by Pope Francis.

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GUAM
Pacific News Center

Written by Roselle Romanes

The Archdiocese of Agana issued a general decree.

Guam – Two days before the appointment of another archbishop to oversee the Archdiocese of Agana, Archbishop Anthony Apuron issued a general decree ordering Catholics on island not to associate with the group “Concerned Catholics of Guam.”

The Concerned Catholics of Guam is a nonprofit group made up of mostly outspoken critics of Archbishop Anthony Apuron and they have expressed their opposition time and time again, especially in regards to sexual abuse complaints and financial transparency associated with the archdiocese. In the decree, the Archdiocese of Agana calls the Concerned Catholics of Guam a prohibited society under a particular law of the archdiocese. Also stated in the decree, CCOG instigates public opposition and solicits and disseminates fraudulent or malicious allegations.

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FRANCE
La Croix

[Victims of sexual abuse in the French Catholic Church are beginning to speak out.]

Marie Malzac et Christine Legrand, le 06/06/2016

Depuis la médiatisation des abus sexuels commis par des prêtres dans le diocèse de Lyon, un lent processus de libération de la parole des victimes s’est mis en route. Dans l’Église mais aussi plus largement.

Les révélations d’abus sexuels commis par des prêtres dans le diocèse de Lyon ont réveillé des souvenirs que Luc (1) pensait dépassés depuis longtemps. « Je me rends compte que je suis resté dans le déni pendant des années », reconnaît aujourd’hui ce quinquagénaire, marié et père de famille.

Vingt-cinq ans plus tôt, alors qu’il traversait une période délicate et s’interrogeait sur sa sexualité, il s’en était ouvert à un ami prêtre. « Un jour que je l’avais invité à dîner, il m’a fait des avances explicites. Cet événement a ressurgi dans ma mémoire à la faveur des récentes révélations », confie-t-il à La Croix. Il reconnaît avoir « sous-estimé à quel point cette histoire l’avait perturbé ».

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DEUTSCHLAND
katholisch

[In the fight against sexual abuse in the church, it is not enough to hold the perpetrators to account, says Father Klaus Mertes. Therefore in an interview with katholisch.de he praises the Motu Proprio of Pope Francis, according to which bishops can be punished easier for covering up abuse.]

Pater Klaus Mertes über Missbrauchsaufklärung im Vatikan
St. Blasien – 07.06.2016

Im Kampf gegen sexuellen Missbrauch in der Kirche ist es nicht damit getan, die Täter zur Verantwortung zu ziehen, sagt Pater Klaus Mertes. Im Interview mit katholisch.de lobt er daher das Motu proprio von Papst Franziskus, wonach Bischöfe für Vertuschung leichter bestraft werden können. Die eigentliche Frage sei jedoch noch immer nicht beantwortet, moniert der Jesuit Mertes.

Frage: Pater Mertes, der Papst hat mit seinem Motu proprio bekräftigt, dass Bischöfe, die Missbrauchsfälle verschleiern, ihres Amtes enthoben werden können. Was bringt das aus Ihrer Sicht den Opfern?

Klaus Mertes: Für sie ist das eine wichtige Entscheidung. Gerade die Opfer haben ja ein tiefes Gespür dafür, dass der Missbrauch nicht nur in der Tat im engeren Sinne besteht, sondern auch in der Vertuschung oder im unangemessenen Umgang der Institution damit. Sie fühlen sich von der Institution Kirche im Stich gelassen – und waren es vielen Fällen ja auch. Deswegen sind strukturelle Entscheidungen notwendig.

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OSTERREICH
Austria-Forum

[A survey shows priests want reform in the Catholic Church.]

Paul M. Zulehner: Wie geht’s, Herr Pfarrer ? Ergebnis einer kreuzundquer-Umfrage: Priester wollen Reformen. Styria Verlag Wien, Graz, Klagenfurt 2010. 176 S. € 19,95

“Aus gegebenem Anlass” hat die Religionsabteilung des ORF-Fensehens beim Institut GfK Austria eine repräsentative Telefonumfrage unter den katholischen Pfarrern aller österreichischen Diözesen in Auftrag gegeben. Geleitet und interpretiert wurde die Studie vom prominenten Pastoraltheologen Paul Michael Zulehner. Beruf und Privatleben der Priester sollten erkundet werden, ebenso ihre Erwartungen an die Zukunft. Einige markante Ergebnisse:

* 90 % fordern die Durchführung der Konzilsbeschlüsse
* Drei Viertel fühlen sich stark überlastet
* Zwei Drittel würden wieder Priester werden,
– leben die Ehelosigkeit in “eigenständig gewählten verantwortbaren Formen”

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VATIKAN
Deutschlandfund

[Pope Francis has tightened the rules for the punishment of child abuse in the Catholic Church.]

Von Christiane Florin

Franziskus liebt die Mütter. Glaubt man seinem Reden und Schreiben, sind Frauen, die Kinder großziehen, gütig, gerecht und geerdet. Von Männern hat er keine ganz so hohe Meinung, von Kirchenmännern erst recht nicht. “Wie eine liebende Mutter” – so hat er seinen jüngsten Erlass überschrieben. Motu Proprio heißt das Dokument in der vatikanischen Amtssprache. Es besagt unter anderem, dass sich Bischöfe einer schweren Verletzung der Sorgfaltspflicht schuldig machen, wenn sie nicht entschieden Missbrauchsfällen in ihrer Diözese nachgehen. Als Strafe droht ihnen künftig die Amtsenthebung. Im September wird das Motu Proprio in Kraft treten.

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FRANKREICH
Radio Vatikan

[Alain Christnach, who heads the French Catholic commission against pedophila has shown commitment to analyze objectively each known case of pedophila in the church.]

Der Vorsitzende der französischen katholischen „Kommission gegen Pädophilie“, Alain Christnacht, hat sich entschlossen gezeigt, jeden bekannten Fall von sexuellem Missbrauch in der Kirche objektiv zu analysieren. Es sei notwendig, Abstand von den Ereignissen zu gewinnen und jeden Fall in seiner Komplexität zu betrachten, sagte Christnacht im Interview mit der französischen Zeitung „La Croix“ vom Montag. „Wir müssen eine Stellungnahme zu den Tatsachen und Persönlichkeiten ausarbeiten, ohne dabei Untersuchungsrichter, Psychologen oder Psychiater zu sein“, so Christnacht. Gleichzeitig gab er die Mitglieder der „Kommission gegen Pädophilie“ bekannt. Darunter sind unter anderem die Psychologin Martine de Maximy, der Präsident des katholischen Zentrums für Medizin, Bertrand Galichon, und der Psychiater Bernard Granger. Zudem werde noch eine Mutter ausgesucht. Die Kommission sei multidisziplinär, damit die gewonnenen Informationen aus verschiedenen Blickwinkeln diskutiert werden könnten, so der Vorsitzende.

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FRANCE
La Croix

[Alain Christnacht, who heads an independent commission studying pedophilia in the Catholic Church of France, said there must be zero tolerance of abuse.]

Recueilli par Bruno Bouvet et Céline Hoyeau, le 05/06/2016 à 18h29 Envoyer par email
Président de la mission de la commission nationale d’expertise indépendante sur la pédophilie mise en place par la Conférence des évêques de France, Alain Christnacht explique la mission de cette instance, dont La Croix dévoile la composition en exclusivité.

La Croix : Quel sera le rôle de la commission que vous avez composée ?

Alain Christnacht : Disons d’emblée ce que nous ne ferons pas : nous ne conseillerons pas aux évêques de saisir la justice ou non. C’est de leur responsabilité. Notre mission, bénévole et confidentielle, consiste à rendre des avis uniquement à ceux qui nous le demanderont, avis qu’ils seront libres de suivre ou non.

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PHILIPPINES/UNITED STATES
Sun.Star

Tuesday, June 07, 2016

MANILA Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle will serve as the spiritual director of the 2016 Special Assembly of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) to be held this month in the United States.

In a statement, the Archdiocesan Office of Communications said that Archbishop Joseph Kurtz, president of the USCCB, invited the head of the Archdiocese of Manila to be part of the Special Assembly, which will be held on June 13-17 at the Diocese of Orange in the state of California.

According to Bishop John Barres of Allentown, chairman of the USCCB Special Assembly Planning Committee, “the spiritual director serves as the central figure of the assembly, delivering daily reflections and homilies on a theme central to the episcopal ministry.”

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PENNSYLVANIA
Daily Times

By Phil Heron, Delaware County Daily Times
POSTED: 06/07/16

Down at the Archdiocese of Philadelphia headquarters, they are putting the wagons in a circle.

Again.

And, once again, the issue is the child sex abuse scandal that has dogged the church for a decade.

Specifically, the church is taking aim at legislation being considered in Harrisburg that would change the statute of limitations to allow victims of abuse more time to file civil actions.

That, as you might expect, is raising more than a few eyebrows at the archdiocese. In other words, it could cost them millions in civil lawsuits based on old abuse cases.

House Bill 1947 passed the House by a 180-15 vote. It is now being taken up by the Senate. No vote has yet been scheduled, but a hearing on the bill is expected to be held next week.

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GUAM
KUAM

Posted: Jun 06, 2016

By Sabrina Salas Matanane

Local blogger Tim Rohr says it’s a “complete insult” for Archbishop Anthony Apuron to claim that he was the one who requested Rome to appoint an apostolic administrator for the Archdiocese of Agana. Rohr has been reporting on the controversies in the local Catholic Church for several years on his blog, JungleWatch.

He issued a video statement to KUAM today detailing his thoughts on the matter.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

[with video]

Haidee V Eugenio, Pacific Daily News June 7, 2016

A 52-year-old man on Tuesday accused Archbishop Anthony Apuron of raping him when he was a boy in 1977.

The man’s accusation is the third allegation of sexual abuse against the archbishop in recent weeks. It is the second recent accusation by an alleged victim.

Speaking to media outside the Dulce Nombre de Maria Cathedral Basilica in Hagåtña, Walter Denton, 52, of Casa Grande, Arizona, said that Apuron raped him when he was a boy while sleeping over in the Rectory of the Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in Agat.

A man in his early 50s, Roy Quintanilla, recently came forward to say that Apuron molested him when he was an altar boy in the 1970s. Apuron, at the time, was a parish priest at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish in Agat.

Quintanilla inspired Doris Y. Concepcion to also come forward days later to say that, before her son passed away 11 years ago, he told her that he was molested by Apuron when he was an altar boy in Agat, also in the 1970s.

Pope Francis named on Monday night (Guam time) a new apostolic administrator “sede plena” for the Archdiocese of Agana, pending investigation of allegations of sexual abuse against Apuron.

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GUAM
Pacific News Center

[with video]

Written by Janela Carrera

This brings the number of alleged victims to three.

Guam – Explosive details from another man who says Archbishop Anthony Apuron raped him when he was 13 years old. Now 52, Walter Denton is the third victim to come forward with sex abuse allegations against the archbishop.

“It hurts so much just thinking about it. It’s like it just happened yesterday,” says Denton as he holds back tears.

Denton says it happened on April 16, 1977 at the rectory of Mt. Carmel Catholic Church in Agat. He slept over at the request of Apuron who was a priest at the time. Here are excerpts from his statement, some of which are graphic in nature.

“I said I was going to sleep on the lazy boy chair. He said no and he insisted I sleep in the bedroom with him,” he describes. “Sometime late that evening or early morning I woke up feeling something–.”

At this point, Denton is struggling to maintain his composure.

“I felt something penetrating me. I was pinned down to the bed on my stomach with my legs spread apart. I could not move my arms or my legs. I was crying out to him asking him to please stop. I kept saying that it hurt so much,” he recalls as he wiped away tears.

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GUAM
Jungle Watch

This is the full statement of Walter Denton. An abbreviated version was read to the press on June 7, 2016, on the steps of the Agana Cathedral Pastoral Center. This full statement was delivered to Archbishop Apuron via a Cathedral office staff member.

For 38 years I have carried a heavy burden. This tragic incident that I experienced totally changed the direction of my life and what I wanted to be. I was raped by Archbishop Anthony Sablan Apuron, who at that time was a priest in Agat, and whom I trusted. I worshiped the ground he walked on. He was my mentor, my teacher. He was like a father to me, so I thought. He was the PRIEST I wanted to become but, he took that all away from me.

My name is Walter G. Denton of Agat, Guam. At the young age of 8 years, I did something I have always wanted to do and that was to be an Altar Boy for my church in Agat, Guam. I always attended church services every Sunday morning with my parents. Watching the Alter Boys perform their duties during church service motivated my desires to serve God and to become a priest. I attended Mount Carmel Catholic School and also attended Confraternity of Christian Doctrine (CCD) Classes on the weekends to learn more about God and his teachings. I may have been young but, I knew that was my calling. Going to Church and attending CCD classes was a priority for me. Fast forward to Friday April 15, 1977 on or about 5:30 pm. Father Anthony Apuron (ARCHBISHOP) was to give the Friday evening service. I was on the schedule to assist Father Anthony Apuron during Mass. After Mass, Father Tony asked me to stay at the Rectory on Saturday evening. I told Father Anthony I had to ask my Dad. My Dad told me I could.

When it came to the Church and my duties as an Altar Boy, my Dad never stood in the way. On or about Saturday evening April 16, 1977, I went to the Rectory where Father Anthony was waiting for me. I asked if anyone else was spending the night and Father Anthony said no. I didn’t think anything of it but, in a way I felt kind of weird being there by myself. I have never spent the night there alone in Rectory with Father Anthony let alone any other priest. It’s always been with the other Alter Boys.

We ate dinner and talked a little bit. After dinner I helped Father Anthony wash the dishes. After cleaning up the dirty dishes I went into the living room and sat on the lazy boy chair and watched TV for a little bit. I started to feel tired and sleepy. I pulled the handle of the lazy boy and got it to recline. As I was laying on the lazy boy chair Father Anthony came into the living room and asked me if I was ready to go to sleep. I told yes and that I was going to sleep on the lazy boy chair. He said no and he insisted I sleep in the bedroom with him. I said okay Father. At the same time I did not feel comfortable but, I did anyways. We went into the bedroom and I went straight to bed. I remember feeling so tired and the next thing I was fast asleep.

Please forgive me for what I am about to say. It hurts so much just thinking about it. Whenever I talk about it, I start to break down and cry. It’s like it just happened yesterday.

Sometime late that evening or early morning, I woke up feeling something or someone on top of me smothering me and I felt something going in my ass-hole and it was hurting me. I was pinned down to the bed on my stomach with my legs spread apart. I could not move. I could not move my arms or my legs. I was pinned down. I felt something going into my ass and it hurt so much. I shouted out to Father Anthony to stop. I kept shouting and I tried to move but, all I could feel was him on top of me thrusting something into my ass.

He told me it will be alright. He said he will take care of me and give me straight A’s in Theology. It seemed like forever that Father Anthony stayed on top of me. I was crying out to him asking him to please stop. I kept saying that it hurts and to please stop. I could hear him moaning and him thrusting his penis in me. He finally stopped and he laid down on me like he was resting. He got off me and I immediately got off the bed. I was crying and breathing hard. I can feel my butt was all wet. I asked him why he did that to me. I kept asking why. He said if I said anything to anyone, no will believe me.

I got my clothes and I went out to the living room and I stood by the front door. I opened the door but, I had nowhere to go. It was so dark outside and I was so scared. I remember looking at the clock and it was about 1or 2 in the morning. It was Sunday morning and I remember I couldn’t wait for the sun to come up. I wanted to go home so bad but I couldn’t. If I went home I know my DAD would figure that something was wrong. I was afraid to go home. If my DAD knew what had happen to me, he would have come down and Kill Father Tony. Nobody messed around with my DAD. So I stayed at the Rectory. I stayed in the living room. I could not go back to sleep. I was so afraid of Father Tony.

I remember he came out to the living room and he tried to talk to me. I don’t remember what he was saying to me. All I know is that I wanted to leave. Finally, the sun came up and it was Sunday morning and it was time to go to mass. I did not serve in the mass with Father Tony. I went walking around the school till church ended and then I went home. I remember being distant from my family. I never went back to church as an Altar Boy. I quit serving as an Altar Boy but, I still went to Church. I attended Mass every Sunday so that my DAD wouldn’t know that something was wrong. He knew I wanted to be a Priest. I went to Church during the times Father Anthony wasn’t giving Mass. If he gave the 7:00 am Mass, then I would attend the 9:00 am Mass. It was hard to go back to school because Father Tony was my Theology teacher. I sat in the back of the room and I never made eye contact with him again. He never called on me for anything during class. He just left me alone. I felt so sick every time I went to class.

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CANADA
Metro

By: Sue Bailey The Canadian Press Published on Mon Jun 06 2016

ST. JOHN’S, N.L. — There is one thing the elderly man most remembers about living at the Mount Cashel orphanage more than 60 years ago: fear.

“They had complete control over you,” he said of the Irish Christian Brothers, a Roman Catholic order that ran the once-iconic institution in St. John’s, N.L. “You were beaten continually.

“They’d come to your bed at night,” said the man, now in his ’70s, who can’t be identified under a court-ordered publication ban.

“They’d masturbate you and lie on top of you, rub you and kiss you and all of that. I used to try and say a prayer and, you know, it didn’t work.”

He was in court Monday as a civil trial resumed in provincial Supreme Court involving about 60 claimants. They’re arguing the Roman Catholic Episcopal Corp. of St. John’s should compensate victims for alleged abuse dating back to the 1940s.

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GUAM
Guam Daily Post

Walter Denton, with family and friends behind him in Hagåtña on Tuesday, June 7, describes to members of the media how Archbishop Anthony Apuron allegedly raped him in 1977 when he was 13 years old. Denton, 52, was an altar server under Apuron when he served as a priest at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in Agat. Tony Azios/Post

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GUAM
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Agana

Concerning the Group So-Called “Concerned Catholics of Guam”
For the People in and of the Archdiocese of Agana
In the Territory of Guam

Prot. N. 2016-028

June 5, 2016

WHEREAS The group calling itself Concerned Catholics of Guam, established within the Archdiocese of Agana and purporting to be an association of the faithful therein, has, as an organization conducted itself in the following way:

Setting itself to recruit, by membership or other representation, members of the faithful of this Archdiocese, under the guise of promotion of public worship, Christian virtue, and charitable endeavor without having been erected by competent ecclesiastical authority (c.301 §1);

Assuming the name and usage of the term “Catholic” without the consent of competent ecclesiastical authority, as required by law (c. 300);

Actively promoting opposition, both ad hoc and organized, public and private, to legitimate acts of ecclesiastical governance placed by the Ordinary or those acting in his name (c. 1373);

Instigating manifest and public opposition to the Ordinary, with whom they are obliged to preserve communion (c. 209);

Soliciting and disseminating fraudulent or otherwise malicious allegations against the person of the Ordinary (c. 220);

AND WHEREAS Membership, promotion, or direction of such a society is manifestly detrimental to the communion of the faithful in this archdiocese, the good of souls, and to ecclesiastical discipline;

AND WHEREAS The law provides the general principle that membership of such societies is constituted a delict (c. 1374);

AND WHEREAS It is proper to the office of the Ordinary, as the competent ecclesiastical authority, that this above cited canon be applied to such societies within the territory as seems prudent and necessary to the Ordinary, by means of particular law

BE IT THEREFORE KNOWN, EX DECRETUM GENERALIUM, The group calling itself Concerned Catholics of Guam is, hereby, established as a prohibited society under the particular law of this archdiocese.

CONSEQUENTLY All members of the faithful in and of this archdiocese, clerical or lay, are to:

Avoid association with this organization;
Refrain from signing, or otherwise promoting, acts or other measures of that organization;
Renounce membership, or any other position, within that organization;
Refrain from speaking, publicly or privately, on behalf of that organization.

THIS IS ESTABLISHED AS PARTICULAR LAW IN AND FOR THIS DIOCESE by means of this Decree and shall take effect on midnight on Tuesday, June 14, 2016 (cc. 8, 29).

Such members of the faithful in and of this archdiocese who have heretofore retained membership in this group are paternally and pastorally urged to renounce such membership and avoid the organization, until such time as it be reconciled to competent ecclesiastical authority and this law be repealed.

Given on the 5th day of June, 2016.

Servus tuus,
/s/ Most Rev. Anthony Sablan Apuron, OFM Cap., D.D.
Archbishop of Agana

/s/ Rev. Adrian Cristobal
Chancellor

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NEW YORK
WHEC

Under the current state law, people who have been sexually abused cannot file charges or sue after they turn 23. This bill would change that if passed.

Several religious groups oppose state legislation that would allow people who were sexually abused as children to file a lawsuit after age 23. Republican lawmakers in Albany have blocked the bill.

The Catholic Church as well as other religious groups (including some members of the Orthodox Jewish community) are against the bill, claiming that if it is passed it would put these religious groups in financial jeopardy and open a flood of lawsuits.

The Executive Director at Bivona Child Advocacy Center says this legislation needs to pass. “Most kids who have been sexually abused don’t tell until they are an adult, so if they’re 27 and want to disclose what happened to them when they were 13 and do something about that, they would have no recourse because the statute of limitations has expired,” says Mary Whittier.

The bill has been blocked in the Senate but has support in the assembly. There are 10 days left in the session to pass this bill. Those fighting for the bill to be passed are hoping Governor Cuomo gets involved. They’re calling on him to support the proposal and work to pass a last minute plan to change this law.

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AUSTRALIA/ISRAEL
Herald Sun

June 7, 2016

Shannon Deery
Herald Sun

FUGITIVE principal Malka Leifer could still be extradited to Australia after a fresh bid by prosecutors to force her to face justice.

Ms Leifer is in hiding in Israel where she fled after allegations of child sexual abuse were levelled at her in 2008 while principal of Elsternwick’s Adass Israel School.

Police have been told the mother of eight molested up to 10 girls, and they say she will be charged with more than 70 child sex offences if she returns to Melbourne.

Last week an Israeli judge lifted a home detention condition, halted extradition proceedings, and placed Ms Leifer on a psychiatric treatment regimen that could last 10 years. It came after Ms Leifer failed to appear at court on almost a dozen occasions citing mental illness and anxiety.

While not appealing the decision, prosecutors want a travel ban placed on Ms Leifer to stop her from leaving Israel. They say they want to ensure extradition proceedings can be resumed once she is deemed mentally fit for trial.

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GUAM
KUAM

[with video]

Posted: Jun 07, 2016

By Krystal Paco

It’s the latest of allegations made against Archbishop Anthony Apuron. Early Tuesday afternoon, former Agat resident and altar boy Walter G. Denton publicly accused then-priest Anthony Apuron of rape. Denton is the third alleged victim to surface in the last few weeks. Roy Quintanilla and Joseph “Sonny” Quinata were also Agat altar boys.

“I was raped by Anthony Sablan Apuron, who at that time was a priest in Agat,” said a teary-eyed Denton before island media on the steps of the Agana Cathedral Basilica. Like other alleged victims, Denton was an altar boy at Mount Carmel Church in Agat. Surrounded by dozens of family and friends, he addressed media on a secret he’s been keeping since he was 13 years old.

“Please forgive me for what I’m about to say. It hurts so much,” he said, struggling to hold back tears. It hurts so much just thinking about it. It’s like it just happened yesterday.” It was in April 1977 when then-Father Apuron allegedly asked Denton to sleep over at the rectory. “I told Father Anthony I had to ask my dad. And my dad told me I could,” he recalled.

That night, there were no other boys staying over, just Denton and Apuron. Denton wanted to sleep on the couch. Apuron insisted they sleep together on the bed. Denton recalls waking up pinned down on his stomach, legs spread apart and the Apuron on top of him from behind. “It seemed like forever Father Anthony stayed on top of me. I was crying out to him asking him to please stop. I kept saying that it hurt so much, to please stop. I could hear him moaning and him thrusting himself in me. He finally stopped and he laid down on me like he was resting,” said Denton.

“I kept asking why? He said if I said anything to anyone, no one would believe me.”

The alleged incident was life changing, and spoiled Denton’s dream of becoming a priest. Instead, he joined the US Army and would later come face-to-face with his alleged perpetrator while in Washington State. The confrontation left both men in tears. “I told him he ruined my life and my dreams. I said to him that he raped me. And took something away from me. I told him I would never forgive him for what he did to me. I broke down and cried, and he started to cry as well, but that didn’t matter to me. I was so angry,” he said.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Catholic Herald

by Fr Alexander Lucie-Smith
posted Monday, 6 Jun 2016

The Pope’s new set of canons are significant because they locate the epicenter of the abuse crisis in the episcopacy

The Pope has approved a new set of canons that will facilitate the swift removal of bishops who fail to deal with child abuse in their dioceses, this magazine reports.

The learned Dr Ed Condon has some commentary on this website, that can be read here. He makes the very interesting point that this latest legislation is a sign of centralisation in the Church, and thus runs counter to the perceived decentralising tendencies of the current papacy. Moreover, both the Daily Telegraph and the Guardian have reported on the same story. Their reports make instructive reading about the way the world sees the Church’s handling of the abuse crisis.

I am not a canon lawyer (some readers may wish to stop reading at this point) but the new canons strike me as highly significant, and at the same time perhaps not making much difference. Let me explain.

This move is significant because it locates the epicenter of the abuse crisis in the episcopacy. This is where the heart of the problem lies. It is not in abusive priests and laity per se, but rather in the way abusive priests and laity can get away with their crimes thanks to the failure of bishops to oversee their dioceses properly.

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PHILIPPINES
UCA News

Joe Torres, Manila
Philippines June 6, 2016

The head of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines underscored the “virtue in silence” amid renewed attacks made by incoming President Rodrigo Duterte against church leaders.

“Mine is the silence of respect for those who consider us their enemies but whose good we truly pray for and whose happiness we want to see unfold,” said Archbishop Socrates Villegas of Lingayen-Dagupan, the conference’s president.

The prelate made the statement June 5 after Duterte accused Philippine bishops and priests of corruption, child abuse, and of breaking their vows of celibacy.

The incoming president said the country’s Catholic bishops, whom Duterte claimed campaigned against him during the elections, are hypocrites for receiving luxury cars as charity from a state lottery.

In his message titled “Understanding Silence,” Archbishop Villegas defended his refusal to answer the allegations of Duterte.

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VATICAN CITY/AUSTRALIA
Sky News

Australia’s most senior Catholic cleric Cardinal George Pell will tender his resignation to Pope Francis on Wednesday.

But this does not mean the controversial churchman, who has given evidence three times at the child abuse royal commission, will leave his job as the Vatican’s Prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy – Vatican treasurer – any time soon.

Protocols introduced by the Pope in 2014 oblige cardinals to present their resignations at 75, and Dr Pell reaches this age on June 8.

However, the Pope does not have to accept Dr Pell’s resignation.

Observers say it is a high probability the Australian cardinal will stay on for another few years, given his crucial role in reforming the Vatican’s medieval financial structure.

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VATICAN CITY/GUAM
Guam Daily Post

In a video message from St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican on Tuesday, June 7, Anthony Apuron, archbishop of the Archdiocese of Agaña, responds to Pope Francis’ decision to appoint Archbishop Savio Tai Fai Hon as apostolic administrator – a temporary administrator of the archdiocese while Apruin remains archbishop pending results of an investigation into allegations of sexual abuse.

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GUAM
KUAM

By Nestor Licanto

Archbishop Anthony Apuron continues to deny the accusations lobbed against him. In a message from Rome, Apuron says he remains the Archbishop of Agana, but it was he who requested the Pope appoint a temporary replacement.

“The appointment of an apostolic sede plena means that while the administrator will discharge the archdiocesan pastoral duties, I remain your bishop,” Apuron announced. The Vatican announced Monday that Archbishop Savio Tai Fai Hon will serve as temporary apostolic administrator of the Guam Archdiocese.

Apuron says this allows for an independent investigation of the sexual abuse accusations against him to proceed. “I reaffirm my innocence and I’m victim to these horrible calumnies, and I welcome the assistance provided by the Holy Father in sending us Archbishop Hon. I urge you, my dear people, to pray for me, your shepherd, and for our church.”

Meanwhile, the archdiocese also struck back at its main critics. It issued a decree against the Concerned Catholics of Guam organization, declaring it a prohibited group that church members should renounce and avoid. It accused them of actively promoting opposition to the archdiocese, and soliciting and manifesting fraudulent and malicious allegations.

The decree is set to take effect on June 14.

In response. Concerned Catholics of Guam vice president Dave Sablan issued the following statement:

I read the “Decree”.

First, our organization was organized under Guam corporate law.

Secondly, the word “Catholic” in our title refers to the Faithful people who call themselves “Catholic”; the Laity of the Church, if you will. We are not an organization of the Archdiocese of Agana, otherwise, we would have to have the blessing and sanction of the Archbishop. We know that.

We could have easily called ourselves “Concerned Christians of Guam”; or Concerned Laity of Guam. Our organization has no connection to the Archdiocese. If we formed an organization called the “Graduates of Father Duenas High School Corporation”, should I need the permission of the principal of the school to use the name of the school from which we graduated in this instance? Same difference with “Concerned Catholics of Guam.”

Now, if we are to call ourselves the “Catholic Society of Guam” or the “Catholic Organization of Guam”, then the use of the term “Catholic” would need the approval of the Archbishop. But that is not how we are using that term. We are identifying ourselves as Catholics–persons who are baptized Catholics, bound together for a common purpose which is not related to associations needing the approval of the appropriate ecclesiastical authority (the Archbishop of Agana) as defined in Canon Law.

Thirdly, CCOG, last year, had requested to officially meet with the Archbishop on at least a couple of occasions. He never granted us the audience. So, what are we to do, if he does not seem to want to talk to us to understand our purpose and objectives, which we outlined in our bylaws and articles of incorporation, filed with the Department of Revenue and Taxation?

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

By Wallace R. Johnson JUNE 6, 2016

Jeff Anderson, the lead attorney representing many, if not all, of the plaintiffs in the sexual-abuse cases involving the Catholic Church, insists that the church hierarchy is hiding well more than a billion dollars in assets that should be made available to the victims he is representing. The church has claimed in its bankruptcy filing approximately $65 million in assets. Anderson believes that amount to be totally inadequate for his clients. He insists that the value of individual parishes, schools, cemeteries, etc., be included in the assets available for determining just compensation, despite the fact that these entities are all legally structured as separate corporations.

I certainly do not know if those entities will be legally exempt from inclusion or not. I expect that to be determined by the courts. What I do know is that the parishes, schools and cemeteries were created and paid for primarily by parishioners who had absolutely no responsibility for the sexual abuse but who are emotionally hurting and deeply offended victims. Parishioners had little or no choice as to who would be assigned to their parishes and schools. They had absolutely no knowledge of their assigned leaders’ prior history of improper sexual behavior.

Parishioners are additional victims who have been devastated by the sexual abuse. Humiliation, embarrassment, confusion and disruption to their religious way of life have permeated the entire Catholic community through no fault of their own. Anderson continuously demonstrates his implied sympathy for his clients’ need for increased compensation (currently estimated at $145,000) knowing full well those additional assets would be taken from the thousands of completely innocent Catholic victims. That quest is both shameful and appalling.

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TEXAS
KENS

[with video]

Roma Villavicencio and Kens5.com staff

SAN ANTONIO — A San Antonio youth sports coach has been arrested and charged with sexual abuse of a child, according to the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office.

Investigators said Jeffrey Ramos, 48, is charged with continuous sexual abuse of a child.

BCSO investigators were called to the victim’s school last Tuesday after being contacted by Child Protective Services.

James Keith with BCSO said, “We don’t believe that this is a false claim. There’s evidence that supports that in fact did happen.”

The victim told BCSO investigators that Ramos sexually assaulted her on multiple occasions during the summer of 2015 through December 2015.

Ramos was a coach with the Catholic Youth Organization (CYO) at the time.

The sheriff’s office said it it unknown whether there are other victims in this case. Anyone who may have been victimized is asked to call the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office Tip Line at (210) 335-TIPS.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Tribune-Democrat

By Dave Sutor
dsutor@tribdem.com

Pope Francis’ recently released decree that outlined procedures for investigating bishops who allegedly fail to protect victims of child sexual abuse would not likely apply to former Bishop Joseph Adamec, according to one of Pennsylvania’s prominent Canon law lawyers and the leader of a victims’ advocacy group.

By releasing the document, the pontiff wanted to point out the “grave reasons” a diocese leader can be removed from office include “the negligence of the bishops in the exercise of their office, in particular in relation to cases of sexual abuse of minors and vulnerable adults.”

Earlier this year, the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General released a grand jury report, accusing the Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona–Johnstown of carrying out a decades-long cover-up of child sexual abuse.

Adamec, who served as the diocese’s bishop from 1987 to 2011, was criticized for allegedly protecting accused priests.

However, since Adamec is no longer the bishop, Professor Nicholas P. Cafardi, dean emeritus for the Duquesne University School of Law, cannot see how the pope’s guidelines and punishments would apply to him since “He has no office to deprive him of.”

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NEW YORK
New York Daily News

KENNETH LOVETT
MICHAEL O’KEEFFE
STEPHEN REX BROWN
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Monday, June 6, 2016

The head of the Catholic Church in Brooklyn offered a $5,000 bribe to an Albany politician in exchange for dropping her support for the reform of a state law preventing victims of child sexual abuse from seeking justice, the pol claimed Monday.

Assemblywoman Margaret Markey, who has for a decade advocated for an overhaul of the state’s statute of limitations on claims of child sexual abuse, said she turned down the unholy hush money from Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio in 2010.

“I’m not a billionaire, but I don’t need $5,000 to buy me off,” Markey told the Daily News.

The offer came across as a payoff, not a campaign donation, she added.

The Brooklyn Diocese called the allegation “patently false.”

“The bishop did not, would not and has never attempted to bribe an elected official or anyone else,” said Carolyn Erstad, a diocese spokeswoman. “This is a very serious allegation against a clergyman with an impeccable reputation. It is beyond comprehension that an elected official would not report an alleged crime of this kind to the proper authorities. She did not report it. It is not true. And it would be irresponsible for your paper to print it.” …

Markey (D-Queens) said DiMarzio, who as head of the Brooklyn Diocese presides over 1.5 million Catholics, invited her into his chancery at the now-shuttered Bishop Ford High School on Prospect Park West in early 2010.

A nun was present when he offered the money, she recalled.

Markey’s spokesman Michael Armstrong said that DiMarzio suggested to Markey that the money would go toward therapy for one of her family members who had been sexually abused as a child.

After declining the offer, DiMarzio targeted her with robocalls as she ran for reelection against Republican challenger Anthony Nunziato, saying she did not have Catholic values, Markey said.

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WASHINGTON
ipetitions

Dear Archbishop Sartain:

We, as Catholics of the Archdiocese of Seattle, believe that the profound damage and alienation caused by the clergy abuse crisis remains with us and that our young people continue to be vulnerable because of the incomplete response to this crisis by the Archdiocese. We know of your deep concern for abuse victims and appreciate your willingness to extend pastoral care to them. We also acknowledge that some procedures have been put in place to safeguard our youth. However, we believe that more is needed if we are to truly protect our youth, heal the wounds caused by this horrific evil, and address the continued alienation of Catholics from their Church. We urge you to:

1. Establish and implement a protocol for the release of all files, memoranda, settlements and communications related to credible claims of abuse by all clergy and religious who have ministered in this Archdiocese or will do so in the future (with the names of victims redacted). Doing so would meet the expectation set forth in the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ “Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People” (Dallas Charter) that there be “open and transparent communication with the public.” (Article 7)

2. Consistent with the intent of the Dallas Charter, empower a reconstituted Review Board that would have: a) broad, independent access to all Church files concerning clergy abuse of minors, and b) authority to investigate and make recommendations as to policy and discipline for all matters relating to such abuse in the Archdiocese – past, present and future. The majority of members on this independent Review Board should be selected by the laity and all of its recommendations made public unless the Archbishop explains in writing to the Catholic community the reasons for not doing so.

We urge you to take these actions because the interests of abuse victims must be placed above those of the abusers and those who protected them. A final and definitive revelation of the historical truth regarding clergy abuse, including attempts to cover up acts of abuse and shield abusers, will provide some measure of justice to the victims who have suffered so horribly. Although many victims continue to come forward, we know, too, there are many others who have and will continue to suffer in silence. We must honor them as well by disclosing the whole truth of what has happened.

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WASHINGTON
National Catholic Reporter

Dan Morris-Young | Jun. 6, 2016

An open letter in the form of an online petition asks Seattle Archbishop J. Peter Sartain to address what it charges is the archdiocese’s “incomplete response” to the “clergy abuse crisis.”

Posted late Sunday, June 5, the petition acknowledges the archbishop’s “deep concern for abuse victims” and “willingness to extend pastoral care to them,” but claims “more is needed if we are to truly protect our youth, heal the wounds caused by this horrific evil, and address the continued alienation of Catholics from their Church.”

The letter specifically asks:

* For the public release of “all files, memoranda, settlements and communications related to credible claims of abuse by all clergy and religious who have ministered in this archdiocese or will do so in the future”;
* For the empowerment of “a reconstituted Review Board” that would have “broad, independent access to all Church files concerning clergy abuse of minors,” and the “authority to investigate and make recommendations as to policy and discipline for all matters relating to such abuse in the Archdiocese — past, present and future”;
* That the majority of a new Review Board be “selected by the laity and all of its recommendations made public unless the Archbishop explains in writing to the Catholic community the reasons for not doing so.”

The demands are all “consistent with the Dallas Charter,” the narrative stated, alluding to the U.S. bishops’ Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People issued following the bishops’ historic 2002 gathering in Dallas to deal with explosive clerical abuse revelations. The document was revised in 2011.

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VIRGINIA
Roman Catholic Diocese of Arlington

2016-05-28

Rev. Kevin J. Downey, O.F.M., a priest of the Franciscan Friars of the Holy Name Province, has been placed on administrative leave pending investigation of an allegation of sexual misconduct involving a male minor in 1990 in another state. The investigation is in its early phases, and no final determination has yet been made regarding the allegation.

Rev. Downey denies the accusation. Like all priests, diocesan employees and volunteers who work with children, he underwent an official background check prior to beginning his service in the Catholic Diocese of Arlington.

Law enforcement in the jurisdiction where the incident is alleged to have occurred have been notified, and the diocese and the Holy Name Province will cooperate fully with any law enforcement investigation.

Rev. Downey has served as pastor of St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Triangle since 2011. Previously, he served as pastor of St. Mary’s Parish in Pompton Lakes, N.J., from 2002-2011, as pastor of St. Bonaventure Parish in Allegany, N.Y., from 1999 to 2001, as parochial vicar of St. Mary’s Parish in Pompton Lakes, N.J., from 1993 to 1999, and as parochial vicar at St. Francis Parish in Raleigh, N.C., from 1991 to 1993. He served as executive vice-president and vice-president for development at Quincy University in Illinois from 1983 to 1991.

Rev. John F. O’Connor, O.F.M., has been appointed as parochial administrator of St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church.

The diocese encourages anyone who knows of any information related to this case, or of any misconduct or abuse on the part of any cleric or employee of the diocese, to notify civil authorities, as well as to reach out to the diocesan Victim Assistance Coordinators at 703-841-2530.

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