ABUSE TRACKER

MINNESOTA
WDAY

[with video]

By Kevin Wallevand on Apr 18, 2016

Fargo, ND (WDAY TV) – WDAY 6 News has learned a Federal Lawsuit will be filed in Minnesota against a Catholic Bishop in India, in connection with alleged sexual abuse against a priest while he served in Northwestern Minnesota a decade ago.

News of the federal lawsuit is coming from the office of Twin Cities attorney, Jeff Anderson, who has represented several victims of clergy abuse.

Monday, in Fargo, the woman who says Father Joseph Jeyapaul abused her at her home church in Northwestern Minnesota spoke out about the decision in India to return Jeyapaul to ministry there.

This afternoon, outside the Fargo Diocese offices, women from the group, Snap,an abuse survivors group, tried to get the word out about Father Jeyapaul and his planned return to parish work in India.

Megan Peterson remembers the priest well, from her home church Northwest Minnesota, tomorrow she will be part of a Federal lawsuit against him.

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

UNITED STATES
Catholic Culture

April 18, 2016

The Vatican has indicated that no disciplinary action will be taken against the founder of the Society of Christian Life until an apostolic visitation of the lay movement has been concluded.

Luis Fernando Figari, who founded the movement in Peru in 1971, has been accused of multiple charges of sexual abuse of members. Figari stepped down as leader of the movement in 2011, but has continued to live in a house of the Society in Rome.

Last week Alessandro Morono Llabres, the group’s new leader, demanded Figari’s “immediate separation from our community,” saying that an internal investigation had concluded that the founder was “guilty of the abuses of which he is accused.”

However the Crux news site reports that the Vatican is awaiting a report from Bishop Fortunato Pablo Urcey, who was appointed last year to conduct an apostolic visitation of the movement. That report is believed to be imminent. Until the Vatican investigation is concluded, however, Figari will remain at the Society’s house in Rome, at the Vatican’s request.

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

KENTUCKY
Daily News

LEWIS COUNTY, Kentucky – Former Greensburg minister Duncan D. Aker Jr. was sentenced in Lewis (Kentucky) Circuit Court Friday to one year in jail on five counts of first degree sexual abuse.

Aker pleaded guilty to five counts of first degree sexual abuse on March 4 as part of a plea agreement in which charges of four counts of first degree sodomy were dropped.

Under the terms of the agreement, Aker, 64, will serve a year in jail (with credit for time served) and then be on probation for five years. He will also have to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life and complete a sex offender treatment program.

With time served, that will make him eligible for release about May 3.

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ZIMBABWE
ZimEye

[with video]

Terrence Mawawa, Gutu | In yet another incident of sexual abuse, a pastoral elder of the Reformed Church in Zimbabwe(RCZ) raped his 12 year old niece claiming he wanted to merely feel the experience of having sex with the minor.

The man from Jaravani village in Gutu (name withheld to protect the juvenile’s identity), raped his niece after his wife had gone to the borehole to fetch some water for domestic use last month. The 57 year old man appeared before Gutu Magistrate Edwin Marecha facing rape charges. He pleaded with the courts for clemency saying he was a first time offender and a senior RCZ member.

The man claimed before Magistrate Marecha he only wanted to have first hand experience of how it feels to have sex with a minor.

“I can confirm that I called her(name supplied) in the kitchen when my wife had gone to the borehole. I forced her to sleep on the floor and removed her pants then I had sex with her. I did not enjoy the act as I expected because my manhood did not penetrate her small private parts. I continued until I ejaculated ,” said the accused during the court trial.

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WEST VIRGINIA
WVVA

[with video]

A former youth volunteer at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Bluefield, West Virginia, entered guilty plea Monday morning. He could face between 170 years and 489 years for the 37 counts.

A trial was to begin Monday afternoon for Tim Probert of Bluefield, West Virginia. His list of criminal charges included 38 felony abuse charges, 22 counts of sexual abuse by custodian, six counts of First Degree Sexual Abuse, seven counts of Third Degree Sexual Assault, Distribution and Display of Obscene Matter to a Minor and Use or Sexually Explicit Content with the Intent to Seduce a minor.

In previous stories reported on WVVA, Pastor Jonathan Rockness has told us that Probert has not been involved with the youth group at the church for years and he has since resigned as a member of Westminster Presbyterian Church.

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

MINNESOTA
WDAZ

[with video]

GRAND FORKS, ND (WDAZ-TV) – A sexual abuse survivor is speaking out, and asking regional religious leaders to take action.

Joseph Jeyapaul was recently convicted of sexually abusing a teenager in 2005 when he was serving in the Crookston Diocese. He was deported back to India and a Bishop.

The Pope recently lifted his suspension and a bishop in India may assign him to a church there.

While there is no indication Jeyapaul is coming back to the U.S. his previous victim doesn’t want him to preach at all, anywhere. She is trying to find more potential victims to help build her case.

“I personally would like to say that you’re not alone, help is available, healing is possible,” said victim Megan Peterson.

“There may be children in this community who have been hurt and we’re saying to the bishop, aren’t you at least going to ask, aren’t you going to do anything?” said SNAP outreach director Barbara Dorris. “We’re not asking this bishop to tear down churches or do something, you know, huge, all we’re asking him to do is to put a notice in the newspaper.”

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

MINNESOTA
WDAY

[with video]’

By Kevin Wallevand on Apr 18, 2016

Fargo, ND (WDAY TV) – WDAY 6 News has learned a Federal Lawsuit will be filed in Minnesota against a Catholic Bishop in India, in connection with alleged sexual abuse against a priest while he served in Northwestern Minnesota a decade ago.

News of the federal lawsuit is coming from the office of Twin Cities attorney, Jeff Anderson, who has represented several victims of clergy abuse.

Monday, in Fargo, the woman who says Father Joseph Jeyapaul abused her at her home church in Northwestern Minnesota spoke out about the decision in India to return Jeyapaul to ministry there.

This afternoon, outside the Fargo Diocese offices, women from the group, Snap,an abuse survivors group, tried to get the word out about Father Jeyapaul and his planned return to parish work in India.

Megan Peterson remembers the priest well, from her home church Northwest Minnesota, tomorrow she will be part of a Federal lawsuit against him.

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

AUSTRALIA
Leader

April 18, 2016

Nicholas Payne
Mordialloc Chelsea Leader

PARENTS of students at two Catholic schools are refusing to allow their children to take important sacraments with the schools’ priest.

About 60 per cent of year 2 students at St Patrick’s Parish Primary School in Mentone and St John Vianney’s Primary School in Parkdale will attend other churches as the parents’ push for administrator Father John Walshe to resign continues.

The students were due to take part in sacraments of reconciliation and eucharist.

The Parent Committee Mentone Parkdale — the group calling for Fr Walshe’s dismissal — said “more than 60 per cent” of year 2 families from the schools would go elsewhere, including “32 out of the 44 at St Patrick’s”.

“People don’t want Fr Walshe celebrating Mass with their children,” committee member Andrew Pope said.

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MICHIGAN
WXYZ

[with video]

Jonathan Carlson

DETROIT (WXYZ) – Father Kenneth Kaucheck was forced to resign from the priesthood 7 years ago over a decades old allegation of sexual misconduct.

He was accused of carrying on a relationship with a 16-year-old girl he was counseling at a Clawson parish back in 1976.

The Archdiocese of Detroit barred Kaucheck from public ministry.

While the teen was of age in 1976—and thus—the priest never charged with a crime, it still violated church protocol and raised concerns.

Paula Schnoblen is with the Macomb County based group Turning Point, which advocates for victims of domestic and sexual abuse.

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MINNESOTA
Inforum

By Dave Olson on Apr 18, 2016

FARGO – In hopes of preventing a Catholic priest from returning to the ministry after his conviction for sexually abusing a 16-year-old girl while serving in the region more than a decade ago, a support group is seeking possible victims in the Fargo area.

Megan Peterson and Barbara Dorris, members of a group called Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, also known as SNAP, distributed fliers in a south Fargo neighborhood on Monday, April 18, near the headquarters of the Fargo Diocese.

SNAP is protesting plans by the Catholic Church to remove its suspension of the Rev. Joseph Palanivel Jeyapaul, news reported by numerous media outlets in February. SNAP is concerned lifting the suspension could return Jeyapaul to ministry duties in his native country of India, possibly putting him in contact with children.

When Jeyapaul was a priest in the Crookston (Minn.) Diocese in 2004 and 2005, he was administrator of Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church in Greenbush, as well as St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Middle River and St. Edward’s Catholic Church in Karlstad. He was accused of sexually abusing two girls in his congregation during that time.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

April 19, 2016

A Catholic priest sedated and then raped a boarding student before telling the boy to get out of his office because he was disgusted by the child, a trial has heard.

Michael Aulsebrook​ was the boarding co-ordinator at Salesian College Rupertswood in Sunbury in 1988, when he is alleged to have raped an 11-year-old boy who he had invited to his office one night to play computer games.

Mr Aulsebrook, 60, has pleaded not guilty to one charge of rape.

In his opening address to a County Court jury on Tuesday, prosecutor Andrew Grant said the alleged victim remembered being given a soft drink as he played computer games, while the priest sat next to him.

The student believed he was drugged, as he woke to find himself lying on the floor with his pants around his ankles and Mr Aulsebrook raping him, Mr Grant said.

Afterwards, the jury was told, the man told the boy: “Get out of my sight, you disgust me.”

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INDIA/UNITED STATES
The Indian Express

A 26-year-old American woman will file a lawsuit against a Catholic Indian priest and his church in India for allegedly sexually abusing her during his posting in the US between 2004 and 2005.

The move comes in protest against the recent Vatican decision which announced Diocese of Ootacamund located in Mylapore is reinstating Joseph Jeyapaul to ministry.

Minnesota attorney Jeff Anderson will file suit on behalf of the victim in federal court that claims the Diocese of Ootacamund endangered children by reinstating Jeyapaul.

Jeyapaul who served as a priest in Crookston township of Minnesota in 2004 and 2005 was arrested in India in 2012 and extradited to the US on charges of sexually abusing two girls in a congregation.

He was later deported to India last year, after serving his sentence of one year and one day.
In a statement, advocacy group SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests) announced that one of the sexual abuse survivors would sue the priest and the diocese.

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WEST VIRGINIA
Bluefield Daily Telegraph

By SAMANTHA PERRY Bluefield Daily Telegraph

PRINCETON — As rows of victims and their family members watched in stoic silence, a former church volunteer quietly uttered the words “guilty” when asked how he was pleading to a myriad of child sexual abuse charges before him.

Timothy Probert, 57, of Princeton, pleaded guilty Monday morning to 37 charges related to the sexual abuse of teen boys while he served as an elder and youth volunteer at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Bluefield and as a mentor for the Working to Eliminate Child Abuse and Neglect (WE CAN) program.

Probert entered the plea before retired Fayette County Judge Charles Vickers, who was assigned to the case in 2015 after Mercer County Circuit Court judges Omar Aboulhosn, Derek Swope and William “Bill” Sadler recused themselves citing conflicts of interest.

Probert pleaded guilty to seven counts of first-degree sexual abuse, three counts of third-degree sexual assault, one count of second-degree sexual assault, one count of first-degree sexual assault, 24 counts of sexual abuse by a parent, guardian or custodian, and one count of delivery of a controlled substance.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

A Roman Catholic priest arrested on suspicion of child sexual abuse has been found dead on the day he was due to report to police.

Father Ernest Sands, 67, was found dead on 11 April, it has emerged.

Fr Sands, who lived in Oswestry, was arrested last year by Lancashire Police on suspicion of sexually abusing five boys at a Catholic seminary.

A Lancashire Police spokesman said the death was not suspicious and his alleged victims had been informed.

The offences were said to have taken place in the late 1970s and 1980s against boys aged from 11 to 15.

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UNITED STATES
Huffington Post

Matthew Fox

Radical theologian Matthew Fox is the author of more than 30 books, including Letters to Pope Francis and Meister Eckhart: Mystic-Warrior for Our Times. He lives in Oakland, CA.

Not content to create a strategy for priestly pedophile cover-ups during two papacies, the former Vatican Secretary of State also steals from a children’s hospital

Recently news of Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone’s chutzpah emerged again in Barbie Latza Nadeau’s article “Vatican Bling-Bling: Hospital Funds Diverted to Cardinal’s Villa“ when we learned that, in jaw-dropping contrast to his boss Pope Francis (who lives in a 750-square-foot apartment in a guesthouse at the Vatican), the Cardinal created a penthouse for himself by refurbishing two Vatican-owned rooftop apartments. One of the apartments belonged to a children’s hospital. He shares the elegant space with three nuns who wait on him day and night. According to the Italian newspaper Il Tempo the renovation was worth one million euros (but he got a 50% reduction). Actually, it seems the renovations were paid for twice, thus no discount occurred at all. The Vatican Tribunal opened a criminal dossier on the matter last week.

Where did the money come from to furnish so lavish a penthouse for the “prince of the church” who takes his title so literally? From a fund intended for the Bambino Gesu children’s hospital. …

Why is this story bigger than a story about another greedy establishment figure? The reason is this: Cardinal Bertone was not just another Cardinal in the Roman Catholic Church. Under Pope John Paul II he was plucked out of obscurity as a priest canon lawyer by then-Cardinal Ratzinger, head of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith (formerly the Sacred Inquisition). His assignment? To deflect investigations of pedophile clergy, including and especially the nefarious Father Maciel of Mexico who started a series of seminaries and abused over 20 seminarians. News of this abuse was beginning to leak out and Ratzinger wanted a lid put on the leaks. Maciel also had time to launch his own very well-funded order, The Legion of Christ, which was committed to obedience-based religious ideologies (including a vow never to speak badly about the founder, a unique vow indeed).

Maciel raised untold sums for the Catholic Church and, on the side, was secretly married to two wives and fathered four children, three of whom he sexually abused. Maciel was a favorite of Pope John Paul II, who took him on his airplane when he traveled and personally ordained 50-some of his priests at a gala affair in St Peter’s Square attended by many fawning aristocrats who admired both men.

Bertone’s sins are not limited to greed, alas. To follow Bertone’s career is to see the shadow side to two papacies, the details of which I have recorded in my book The Pope’s War: Why Ratzinger’s Secret Crusade Has Imperiled the Church and How It Can Be Saved.

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NEW YORK
New York Daily News

BY MICHAEL O’KEEFFE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Monday, April 18, 2016

A former New Yorker who says she was sexually abused by a priest reinstated by the Vatican earlier this year – even though he had pleaded guilty to criminal charges – is expected to file a federal lawsuit against the cleric’s diocese in India.

Minnesota attorney Jeff Anderson will file suit on behalf of Megan Peterson in federal court that claims the Diocese of Ootacamund endangered children by reinstating the Rev. Joseph Jeyapaul to ministry.

Anderson and Peterson will speak about the lawsuit at a news conference in St. Paul Tuesday, according to a press advisory released by Anderson’s law firm.

Peterson, a member of the advocacy group SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests), said she could not comment on the lawsuit until after it is filed, but she told the Daily News in February that she believed the decision to reinstate Jeyapaul gave the pedophile priest a green light to molest children in his native India.

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MICHIGAN
Battle Creek Enquirer

TOM WATKINS, GUEST COMMENTARY

Pope Francis inspires me with his message of hope and human decency. His words take me back to my childhood when I was in awe of the church and its teachings.

I learned about love, decency and justice from the nuns, priests and lay people who taught and guided me in my early years of Catholic school education.

Pope Francis gets it even as it seemed to me that the Catholic Church lost its moorings in past decades, spending more time on social moralizing, even as it neglected the teachings of Jesus about caring for the poor and the “least among us.” Pope Francis is a true champion of the poor and a force for positive change in the world.

Yet, to date, the pope has yet to do enough to wash away the child sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic Church.

While Pope Francis has said many things that need to be said about this scandal, he has not gone far enough to address the tentacles of evil that remain. If there are “unforgivable sins,” sexually abusing a child is one. It is wrong morally, spiritually and legally. Yet if there is such a thing as a “worse sin” or a greater crime, it is reserved for those higher up in the church hierarchy, who concealed and covered up this evil. …

“Spotlight,” the Academy Award winning movie about child sexual abuse by priests in America, shone a bright light on this scandal within the Catholic Church.

The BishopAccountablity.com website that tracks reports of sexual abuse in the Church concludes that more than 17,200 Americans have alleged they were abused by more than 6,400 clerics from 1950 to 2013. These are startling numbers and show the depth of the problem and cover-up.

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COLORADO
Clay Center Dispatch

DENVER (AP) — The state Senate has given preliminary approval to a bill to double the amount of time sexual assault victims can seek charges from 10 to 20 years.

Senators gave the measure unanimous approval. One lawmaker pointed out that there is no statute of limitations on forgery.

The bill was inspired by two Colorado women who claim Bill Cosby assaulted them decades ago. The women recently testified that the bill would empower traumatized victims by giving them more time to come forward.

Cosby has denied assault allegations made by women across the country.

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MINNESOTA
KEYC

By Kelsey Barchenger

Two local Diocese of Winona parishes are being sued following claims of sexual abuse involving church ministry.

A letter to Sacred Heart Church members in Waseca was sent out last week, informing members of alleged sexual abuse involving two minors sometime between 1958 and 1961 by Sister Benen Kent. Kent died in 2003.

A second lawsuit has been brought against the church for alleged abuse by Fr. Joseph Mountain from 1988 to 1995. Mountain is no longer serving in any parish in the Diocese.

The Loyola Catholic School has also been named in a suit, however the Diocese says the claims don’t involve anyone who currently works at the school or ministry.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Irish Times

Patsy McGarry in Boston

The media has been criticised at a conference in Boston for contributing to the decline of the Catholic Church in Ireland.

Speaking in Boston College at the weekend, Baroness Nuala O’Loan said “in a country in which the media was once sympathetic to the Catholic Church, it is now aggressively hostile”.

“Papers like The Irish Times now run columns in which things are said about and imputed to Catholics which would not be tolerated in the context of Islam or Judaism, or of homosexuals or humanists,” the former police ombudsman for Northern Ireland said.

“Journalists seem, on occasion, to have abandoned the careful, nuanced use of language in favour of wild sweeping assertions which fuel the lack of understanding of what Catholicism is about, and encourage virulent anti-Catholicism,” she said.

She was at the “Faith in the Future: Religion in Ireland in the 21st century” conference organised by Boston College’s centre for Irish programmes.

“Easy assumptions are made and generalities are the order of the day. For the most part people do not challenge some of the wilder statements, such as those about paedophile priests or widespread savagery in Catholic schools, possibly because they do not want to be seen to do so,” she said.

She acknowledged that it was the media which ultimately forced the Church and State authorities to begin to deal with child sexual abuse. “It became open season for the media though. This led to a situation of profound injustice, as the normal protections of the law, in terms of the assumption of innocence until guilt was proved were abandoned. The victim had to be believed, so the priest must be lying in his denials. Some were, but some weren’t lying. Men who had done no wrong were not, and in some cases still are not, properly treated during the period of investigation.

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CANADA
The Telegram

Barb Sweet

Published on April 18, 2016

Videotaped evidence from only one witness at the Hughes Inquiry nearly 30 years ago will be allowed as evidence in the Mount Cashel civil trial on now at Newfoundland Supreme Court.

Geoff Budden, lawyer for claimants in the trial, had sought to admit videotapes of parts of testimony from four witnesses at the inquiry — a former resident who was abused, the commission investigator, an RCMP officer and a priest. All are deceased.

Lawyer for the church Mark Frederick had objected to the tapes being played on the basis of fairness, in part because of the fact those people can’t be cross-examined.

This morning Justice Alphonsus Faour ruled in a detailed explanation that the testimony of the priest could be admitted and that the others failed to meet the criteria for admissibility.

The 1989-90 Hughes Inquiry was appointed in the wake of the scandal that emerged in the late 1980s about abuse of boys at the orphanage in the 1970s and 1980s, with the mandate to examine justice system failings.

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FRANCE
Lyon Capitale

[Preynat case: Members of the survivors group called La Parole Liberee have written to the 600 priests of Lyon.]

Par Justin Boche

Le collectif La Parole Libérée qui regroupe les victimes du père Preynat a décidé d’écrire une lettre aux 600 prêtres du diocèse de Lyon pour appeler leur aide.

Le 25 avril prochain, le cardinal de Lyon Philippe Barbarin doit rencontrer les curés placés sous son autorité. L’occasion pour La Parole Libérée de faire entendre leur voix auprès des autorités religieuses grâce à leur lettre. “Nous vous proposons et vous remercions de profiter de cette réunion du 25 avril organisée par le cardinal pour initier un renouveau, faire de notre Église une institution engagée, bienveillante, et référente morale, prête à assumer et à combattre ses erreurs avec honneur, dignité et responsabilité pour le salut de son âme. Il nous semble que vous prêtres, comme nous victimes, sommes pris au piège de l’omerta imposée par l’institution et il nous faut mener une action forte et déterminée pour rompre avec un passé impur”, ont-ils indiqué au début de leur courrier rapporte le quotidien Le Parisien.

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MINNESOTA
First Things

by Michael West
4 . 18 . 16

Saint Paul Lives Here (In Minnesota)
by Zach Caia
WIPF and STOCK, 66 pages, $7.50

After years of controversy over the mishandling of sexual predators among the priests of his archdiocese, Archbishop of Minneapolis-St. Paul John Nienstedt resigned last June. Now facing criminal prosecution, the diocese is legally bankrupt. These are among the precipitating events of Zach Czaia’s first book of poems, Saint Paul Lives Here (In Minnesota).

A writer of fiction as well as poetry, Czaia has previously written an appreciation of his fellow Minnesotan J. F. Powers’s novels and stories, which share a style and subject matter with many of these poems. Narratively driven and possessed of clear ­protagonists, they exhibit a seasoned plotter’s sense of timing, pacing, and wholeness.

An especially absorbing sequence of poems, the “Father X” poems, portray a charismatic and trusted priest who was later stripped of his ministry for soliciting a prostitute and sexually abusing a girl in a former diocese. Like Powers depicting his eminently fleshly and fallen clerics, Czaia speaks to the paradox of an embodied, sinful, human priesthood: “death poured out of his mouth along with the gospel.”

Like Dante, Czaia is both loyal son and scourger of ecclesiastical princes, speculating in one poem—“If Dante Were Alive Today”—which circle of hell his archbishop and the archdiocese’s vicar general would be placed in. And equally like Dante, Czaia is too smart not to realize the pitfalls of such a project, how it opens him up to criticism, looking foolish, or worse. As he writes in the same poem, “And I know people in glass homes shouldn’t throw stones./And yes, this poem is a stone/and I aim to hit.”

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TEXAS
KRGV

EDINBURG – A former Catholic priest charged with murdering a Rio Grande Valley woman nearly 60 years ago is set to appear in state court on Tuesday.

John Feit will go before Judge Luis Singleterry at 9 a.m. His attorney wants his bond reduced.

The 83-year-old is in custody under a $1 million bond. Feit is charged with the murder of former beauty queen Irene Garza in April 1960.

Court documents allege Feit killed the 25-year-old when she visited Sacred Heart Catholic Church in McAllen to offer confession.

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WEST VIRGINIA
Bluefield Daily Telegraph

By SAMANTHA PERRY Bluefield Daily Telegraph

PRINCETON — A former Bluefield church youth volunteer pleaded guilty Monday morning to charges he sexually abused teen boys.

Timothy Probert, 57, of Princeton, pleaded guilty to 37 charges, including first-degree sexual abuse, third-degree sexual assault, second-degree sexual assault, first-degree sexual assault, sexual abuse by a parent, guardian or custodian and one count of delivery of a controlled substance.

Probert, a former youth volunteer at Westminster Presbyterian Church and mentor for the Working to Eliminate Child Abuse and Neglect (WE CAN) program, entered the plea before retired Fayette County Judge Charles Vickers.

Vickers was appointed to the case last year after Mercer County Circuit Court judges Omar Aboulhosn, Derek Swope and William “Bill” Sadler recused themselves citing conflicts of interest.

Probert originally faced 50 charges relating to the sexual abuse of children. His trial was scheduled to begin Monday.

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MINNESOTA
Crookston Times

By Jess Bengtson

Posted Apr. 18, 2016

Crookston, Minn.
The cold rainy weather didn’t hold back SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests) members Barbara Dorris and Megan Peterson from handing out fliers outside after Mass at Cathedral of Immaculate Conception in Crookston Sunday morning.

Dorris and Peterson had a goal of reaching out to anyone who may have seen, suspected or suffered harm from former Crookston Diocese priest Father Joseph Palanivel Jeyapaul during this employment there between 2004-2005, and any other church staff or cover-ups by church officials.

Peterson, 26, was sexually abused by Jeyapaul when she was 15-16 years old while she was a member of the St. Joseph Parish in Middle River, Blessed Sacrament in Greenbush and St. Edwards Parish in Karlstad. Five years after the incident with Peterson, Jeyapaul was suspended from ministry and two years later was arrested. In 2014, he was extradited from India and he pled guilty to the charges. In 2015, Jeyapaul was freed due to time served and expelled from the U.S.

In 2011, Peterson settled a civil abuse and cover-up case against the Crookston Diocese for $750,000, said an email from the SNAP Network detailing Jeyapaul’s charges.

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IRELAND
RTE News

A west African man who claims he was abused by an Irish missionary priest today welcomed the filing by the priest’s order of a defence in a High Court civil action arising from the allegations.

Mr Elvis Kuteh began his lawsuit in January 2013, claiming that Henry Moloney had sexually abused him while he was a boarder at a school run by the Spiritan order in Sierra Leone in the late 1970s.

He is suing the Spiritans for damages.

The defence filed late last week was not opened in court but it is understood the order denies all of Mr Kuteh’s claims.

Mr Kuteh, a 50-year-old psychiatric nurse from Sierra Leone, travelled from his home in London to Dublin to pursue his action against the order.

It is believed to be the first time a litigant alleging clerical child sexual abuse in Africa has sued in the Irish courts.

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PHILIPPINES
Crux

By Crux Staff
April 17, 2016

For most Filipinos, the interesting thing about Rodrigo Duterte, the seven-term mayor of Davao City, as a presidential candidate is that he comes off as their country’s version of Rudy Giuliani, known as “the punisher” for his get-tough policies on crime.

Duterte, famed for turning Davao City from the “crime capital” of the Philippines into one of Asia’s most secure cities, recently surged to the top of opinion polls in a tight five-way race for the country’s presidency ahead of national elections May 9.

Yet seen through Catholic eyes, there’s another compelling fact about Duterte’s life story: If he does prevail, he may well become the first survivor of clerical sexual abuse in the Church ever to become a national head of state.

Duterte never went public with the charge he’d been abused by a priest until last year, when he found himself under fire for allegedly publicly “cursing” Pope Francis for his January 2015 trip to the Philippines.

Duterte insisted his irritation wasn’t directed at the pontiff, but at the “incompetence” of government officials who, he charged, failed to manage the traffic gridlock and other headaches created by Francis’ trip, which drew a crowd estimated at six million people to the streets of downtown Manila.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
George Washington University – GW Today

April 18, 2016

To Martin Baron, exposing widespread sexual abuse by Catholic priests and the extraordinary lengths the Boston Archdiocese went to cover it up does not make him a hero.

The former editor of the Boston Globe told an audience of GW students he is “allergic” to the notion of heroics. “The word ‘hero’ gets thrown around a lot.”

“We were doing our jobs,” he said. “Truly, this is the work journalists are supposed to do, particularly against powerful institutions. The more powerful the institution, the greater the obligation to pursue wrongdoing when we discover it.”

Mr. Baron, now executive editor of The Washington Post, spoke to School of Media and Public Affairs students Thursday night, along with his former Globe colleague Walter Robinson, after a special screening of “Spotlight” in the Marvin Center Amphitheatre.

The Oscar-winning film was based on the work of the two (played in the film by Liev Schreibner and Michael Keaton, respectively) and their small team of investigative journalists who produced a groundbreaking series of stories in 2002 on the Catholic Church’s systematic concealment of child sexual abuse in Boston.

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MINNESOTA
Daily Globe

By Jonathan Streetman on Apr 17, 2016

CROOKSTON — SNAP, a support group for victims of abuse, is making its presence known outside area churches in an effort to stop the re-assignment of a former Minnesota priest.

The Rev. Joseph Palanivel Jeyapaul served as a priest in the Crookston diocese in 2004 and 2005. During that time, Jeyapaul was accused of sexually abusing two girls in the congregation.

Jeyapaul, who had since returned to his home country of India, was arrested in 2012 and eventually extradited from India back to the United States to face charges. While one set of charges was dropped, Jeyapaul was convicted in Roseau County in June 2015 of sexually abusing a 16-year-old Minnesota girl and sentenced to one year and one day behind bars–equivalent to time served during the proceedings–and immediately deported back to India.

Now Jeyapaul could be re-assigned to the clergy in India with the recent lifting of his suspension by the Vatican, less than a year after his conviction.

In response, SNAP, or Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, members are handing out leaflets and actively seeking out other individuals who may have been abused by Jeyapaul during his time in Crookston. SNAP members Megan Peterson and Barbara Dorris handed out the fliers Sunday morning just outside the parking lot of the Cathedral of Immaculate Conception in Crookston.

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NORTH DAKOTA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, April 18, 2016

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

The callous comment yesterday by Fargo Bishop John Folda shows that Catholic officials still puts their comfort and careers ahead of kids’ safety.

Folda says his diocese has “no connection with” Fr. Joseph Jeyapaul and would not comment on the convicted cleric, since it “involves a priest outside his diocese,” according to one newspaper.

[Daily Globe]

If no murderer in the Fargo diocese is sentenced to death, will Folda “not comment” on capital punishment? If an abortion facility opens just across the river from Grand Forks, will Folda “not comment” because “his diocese has no connection” with it. If Pope Francis starts ordaining women or insisting that all masses be said in Latin, will Folda “not comment” because the pontiff is “a priest outside his diocese.”

Folda, like nearly all religious figures, often expresses opinions and takes action on matters outside the physical jurisdiction to which he’s tied. The question is not “What are the four boundaries of my diocese?” The question is “What’s the right thing to do?”

We don’t for sure but strongly believe that Fr. Jeyapaul was in North Dakota. And we believe it’s very likely a victim, witness or whistleblower who could help put Fr. Jeyapaul behind bars again is now in North Dakota.

First, Grand Forks is just an hour away from two of Fr. Jeyapaul’s parishes.

Second, it’s the biggest city near each town where Fr. Jeyapaul was assigned.

Third, when he was at meetings at the Crookston HQ, he was a 25 min. drive from Grand Forks.

Fourth, Fr. Jeyapaul very likely went to big, special church events in North Dakota (like a building dedication or ordination) and very likely substituted for an ill or vacationing North Dakota colleague

Fifth, many abuse victims move away from the town where they were abused and many young people move from rural areas to bigger cities.

Finally, let’s assume we’re wrong and that Fr. Jeyapaul never left Minnesota for a minute. Still North Dakota Catholic church officials and members have the ability – and we believe the duty – to spread the word about him, seek out others he hurt, and help protect the even-more-powerless kids in India from him by helping police and prosecutors here pursue him

“But I didn’t bring him here, hide him, or pay him,” Folda will likely claim.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
New York Times

By RACHEL L. SWARNS
APRIL 16, 2016

WASHINGTON — The human cargo was loaded on ships at a bustling wharf in the nation’s capital, destined for the plantations of the Deep South. Some slaves pleaded for rosaries as they were rounded up, praying for deliverance.

But on this day, in the fall of 1838, no one was spared: not the 2-month-old baby and her mother, not the field hands, not the shoemaker and not Cornelius Hawkins, who was about 13 years old when he was forced onboard.

Their panic and desperation would be mostly forgotten for more than a century. But this was no ordinary slave sale. The enslaved African-Americans had belonged to the nation’s most prominent Jesuit priests. And they were sold, along with scores of others, to help secure the future of the premier Catholic institution of higher learning at the time, known today as Georgetown University.

Now, with racial protests roiling college campuses, an unusual collection of Georgetown professors, students, alumni and genealogists is trying to find out what happened to those 272 men, women and children. And they are confronting a particularly wrenching question: What, if anything, is owed to the descendants of slaves who were sold to help ensure the college’s survival?

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UNITED STATES
Times of Israel

Moshe Schapiro

Last week I attended a major three-day conference of hundreds of Jewish funders, where I participated in a panel discussion on how philanthropic foundations such as ours have succeeded in addressing various stigmatized social needs — issues that other funders seem to avoid. I spoke about our pioneering work in the field of mental health, and two colleagues representing other foundations described their groundbreaking work in helping people with disabilities and people with addictions.

The room in which our panel discussion took place was situated at the edge of the hotel grounds, quite a distance from the nerve center of the conference. I don’t doubt that the choice of location was purely coincidental, but the symbolism was hard to miss. Unsavory topics tend to hover on the fringes of Jewish philanthropy’s collective consciousness — perhaps because donors are loath to acknowledge that Jews succumb to the same sordid impulses as do the rest of humanity; or maybe these issues simply depress them.

In the course of my presentation on our work in mental health, I elaborated on our recent activities addressing child sexual abuse within the Jewish community. Statistics point to incidence rates of 1 in 3 among girls and 1 in 7 among boys.

Just over a year ago, our foundation together with two others launched an organization called ASAP. Since that time, hundreds of child sexual abuse survivors in the US have come forward to request our help in accessing therapy, and thousands are being assisted by local NGOs. Similarly, programs that we support in Israel are experiencing an exponential increase in demand for their services. And yet, institutions where children congregate, such as schools, summer camps, synagogues and youth groups, lack effective policies to prevent incidents of child sexual abuse.

During that panel discussion’s question and answer session, while we fielded numerous questions from those in attendance, there was not one question about child sexual abuse. Despite all the publicity this issue has received, such as the movie Spotlight, the Penn State scandal and the current allegations against former House Speaker Dennis Hastert, the subject remains taboo.

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NEW MEXICO
Gallup Independent

Published in the Gallup Independent, Gallup, NM, April 14, 2016

Although the Diocese of Gallup’s Chapter 11 case is finally heading toward a conclusion, it is apparent Bishop James S. Wall hasn’t learned the lessons that U.S. Bankruptcy Court should have taught him.

The lessons, of course, are that decades of sexual abuse of children by several dozen predators in the Gallup Diocese, accompanied by decades of cover-up by diocesan officials, led to more than a dozen clergy sex abuse lawsuits, countless out-of-court claims and now millions of dollars being funneled into a reorganization plan in bankruptcy court. The financial toll of this scandalous story doesn’t even begin to touch the human tragedy of individuals and families being harmed and sometimes even destroyed by these criminal acts.

So what should we expect of the Gallup bishop in light of this terrible legacy? That Wall would do everything possible to weed out anyone who has demonstrated inappropriate sexual interest in children or adults? That Wall would publish on the diocesan website all policies regarding codes of conduct and reporting procedures for abuse and misconduct allegations? That Wall would release truthful public announcements whenever an allegation of sexual abuse or misconduct has been made? That Wall would release similar public announcements at the conclusion of investigations and whenever credibly accused individuals have been removed from ministry? That Wall would regularly update his published list of credibly accused abusers to keep the information accurate?

Although most Catholic parents and grandparents and the general public might expect such common sense responses, Wall has demonstrated he hasn’t learned those simple lessons. Wall does none of those things. As the recently uncovered allegations against the Rev. Eugene Bowski demonstrate, Wall thought it best to keep Catholic parishioners and the public in the dark. That is exactly the kind of thinking that created the clergy sex abuse scandal.

Jason Berry, the Catholic reporter and author who exposed clergy sex abuse in Louisiana more than 30 years ago, recently commented about the ongoing abuse scandal. “The bottom line, where there is darkness there needs to be light,” Berry said. “Catholics are mature enough to accept the truth, but when people conceal the information, that is when people begin to lose faith in a given bishop or church.”

We have lost faith in the bishop of Gallup. We welcomed Wall’s arrival in 2009 because we thought he would make a clean sweep of the Diocese of Gallup. He certainly talked the talk. But seven years later, it is apparent Wall has just swept the truth under the rug.

The Diocese of Gallup needed light, but Wall gave more darkness. People in the diocese needed the truth, but Wall provided more concealment.

Let’s be clear: Wall did not file the Diocese of Gallup’s Chapter 11 petition because the diocese was truly facing a monetary crisis and could not meet its financial obligations. Wall filed the petition to conceal the true extent of clergy sex abuse and misconduct in the Gallup Diocese. The diocese had been named as a defendant in 13 clergy sex abuse lawsuits in Arizona, and the first jury trial was just three months away. Wall had already undergone a deposition in the case — which his attorneys insisted be sealed — and he and other diocesan officials were slated to submit to more depositions. One can only imagine what ugly truths would have emerged in those jury trials. Filing for bankruptcy made all that disappear — like sweeping dirt under the carpet.

Like a two-bit tyrant ruling a banana republic, Wall makes the rules and calls the shots in this unimportant, backwater diocese. He can keep concealing the truth about sexual abuse and misconduct in the Diocese of Gallup because no one below him can stop him, and apparently no one above him cares.

However, the Catholic bishops who oversee Catholic Mutual should care. Catholic Mutual is the Diocese of Gallup’s current liability insurer and the entity that is making the largest financial contribution to help the diocese emerge from bankruptcy court. As long as Wall is allowed to cover up the truth about sexual abuse and misconduct in the diocese, Catholic Mutual will continue to pay out more settlement money to silence more abuse victims.

So perhaps Wall has learned lessons from U.S. Bankruptcy Court after all. He has learned how to evade the accountability of jury trials and conceal past abuse. He has learned no one with any real power will hold him accountable for his current policies of concealment. And he has learned that Catholic Mutual will continue to subsidize his bad decisions.

In this space only does the opinion of the Gallup Independent Editorial Board appear.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Conversation

Brendan Canavan
Lecturer in Marketing, University of Huddersfield

When the chief executive of Goldman Sachs, Lloyd Blankfein, told a newspaper the firm was “doing God’s work”, his appeal on behalf of higher powers was an attempt to rescue the tainted reputation not only of his own investment bank, but of the entire industry. But for the Catholic Church, even this most obvious of strategies might not be enough to stem an inexorable decline.

The Catholic church is one of the oldest and most profitable brands in history. Financial details are kept sketchy, but this vast multinational dwarfs any other. The Economist has estimated that, in 2010, spending by the US branch of the church and its various entities (probably the wealthiest and least opaque of the global organisation’s chapters) was $170 billion. Yet the church is beset by problems.

As many brands have found out (the BBC’s experience of sex abuse claims for instance), handling the fallout from a disgrace is perhaps more important than the scandal itself. The drip feed of negative headlines associated with sexual abuse and its cover up has irreparably tarnished the Catholic brand for many.

There is a more fundamental threat to Catholicism however: irrelevance.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Enfield Independent

Matthew Smith

A man who a priest sexually abused in his teens was sacked because he did not tell his employers.

The victim, who cannot be named due to legal reasons, was targeted by Leonard Skinner at St Peter’s Church in Grange Park, Enfield, from January 1971 to June 1975.

Skinner, 79, of North Tyneside, was jailed for eight years on March 15.

The man only told his wife about the abuse on September 12 before telling the head of the Sixth Form college, which also cannot be named for legal reasons, where he worked part-time.

He said as the abuse took place 40 years ago and as he no longer considered Skinner a threat, he was not planning on pressing charges.

However, this was against the college’s rules on child protection and started a series of events which prompted his sacking.

He said: “Her immediate reaction was not to show concern for me, nor to show any sympathy for what happened to me, but to ask how I knew if other children had not been abused and why I had not reported the abuse at the time.

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ILLINOIS
Columbia Chronicle

Former Speaker of the House, Congressman from Illinois and Yorkville High School wrestling coach Dennis Hastert has been convicted of illegally structuring bank withdrawals to pay for the silence of one of his alleged sexual abuse victims, according to an April 8 New York Times article.

Federal investigators discovered that Hastert was withdrawing large sums of money, which were used to pay off a former student. The prosecution identified at least four victims during this case, each claiming Hastert sexually abused them while he coached at Yorkville, according to the New York Times article.

Hastert will receive six months of jail time at most, but his defense attorneys are arguing he should get probation because he recently suffered a stroke, the article states.

Victims have come forward, but Hastert cannot be prosecuted as a sex offender because the criminal statute of limitations has run out under Illinois law.

Unlike 16 other states, Illinois places limits on the length of time sexually assaulted or abused minors have to press charges. The incident must be reported before the victim is 38, according to The National Center for Victims of Crime. Ordinarily, the 20-year period might be enough time for individuals to recover from trauma and file charges, but that might not be the case when the offender is as powerful and immune from prosecution as Hastert was for much of his career.

In cases of sexual abuse or sexual assault not involving a minor, victims have three years to report the abuse and 10 years following the incident to file charges.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Daily Item

It seems odd to criticize the state lawmakers after a week when they passed landmark marijuana legislation, particularly days after we lauded those very same elected officials in this very same space.

However, lawmakers bolted from Harrisburg without passing a bill that would have allowed victims of sex abuse crimes to seek justice decades later in the form of civil suits. The bill would have given prosecutors more time to bring charges. The state House overwhelming passed the bill on Tuesday, 180-15, with the retroactivity provisions adding to the discussion.

The Senate did not get the bill and now the general assembly is on break until May — after the primary election where most don’t face competition anyway. What happens when lawmakers return next month is uncertain.

Blame it on the limited schedule, or a heavy workload scheduled for last week’s session — they did also wrap medical marijuana and pursue revising the state’s abortion laws — but to let this legislation sit another month, or fall apart completely, is unacceptable.

Any piece of legislation to emerge from Harrisburg on sex abuse must include retroactivity, otherwise it’s useless.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Herald-Standard

Monday, April 18, 2016

By Mark Hofmann mhofmann@heraldstandard.com

A local lawmaker, a local victim advocacy center and district attorneys expressed their support for this week’s vote from the state House to eliminate the statute of limitations for future child sex crimes.

On Tuesday, the state House voted 180-15 to approve a bill that changes the age limit from 30 to 50 for people who were abused as children to bring civil lawsuits.

It applies retroactively so that past abuse victims can sue. It would also prevent organizations from claiming immunity from lawsuits when they have acted with gross negligence.

The proposal also would eliminate the statute of limitations in future criminal cases for a list of more severe crimes that involve child victims. That provision, however, is not retroactive.
State Rep. Peter J. Daley, D-California, said he joined the House majority to approve the legislation after emotional testimony.

“The testimony surrounding the measure was among the most difficult and disturbing I have ever witnessed or ever want to consider,” Daley said. “We can only hope and pray that the horrors inflicted on some of our youngest and most vulnerable citizens can somehow be ameliorated by the legislation.”

Daley said the legislation would abolish the criminal statute of limitations for future criminal prosecutions for serious child sexual abuse crimes relating to human trafficking, sexual servitude, rape, statutory sexual assault, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, sexual assault, institutional sexual assault, aggravated indecent sexual assault and incest.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Washington Post

By Colby Itkowitz April 18

Mark Rozzi dropped out of college and was working at his family’s window and door installation company when a tragic life event inspired him to make a drastic career change. He went into politics.

He did it for one reason: justice.

Rozzi had vowed when he was 13 to never speak of what happened to him when he was a boy. He wouldn’t tell anyone that a priest at his parochial school in Berks County, Pa., had lured him with McDonald’s and beer and pornography for weeks before raping him in a rectory shower. He buried his secret, but the shame and the guilt were always there, haunting his dreams and fueling his depression.

But in March 2009, when a second childhood friend who also had been a victim of the priest’s abuse killed himself, Rozzi was inconsolable. He blamed himself for not telling someone. Maybe then he could have stopped it from happening to his friends and the dozens of others who later accused the Rev. Edward Graff of abusing them. He also worried that the darkness he carried inside him would one day kill him, too.

As he slowly picked himself back up from the throes of his deepest depression, he decided to end his silence. His friends’ memories deserved more.

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PERU
Crux

By Austen Ivereigh
Senior Crux Contributor April 17, 2016

LIMA, PERU – One way of looking at the Francis pontificate is that he’s universalizing what the Latin American Church agreed to at its famous continent-wide gathering in 2007, held at the Marian shrine of Aparecida in Brazil.

The signature tunes of the Latin American Church to come out of that meeting – missionary discipleship, pastoral conversion, an option for the poor– make up the music these days coming out of Rome.

But there’s another version of the Church here, one that can seem at odds with the Church of Pope Francis.

A number of Latin America’s home-grown movements grew rapidly among the upper classes as a reaction to the Second Vatican Council-shaped, social justice-driven Catholicism of the 1970s and 80s.

Admired by many in the Vatican, including St. John Paul II, for their orthodoxy, obedience and evangelizing zeal, Mexico’s Legionaries of Christ, Chile’s El Bosque, and Peru’s Sodalitium of the Christian Life had certain traits in common.

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GUAM
Pacific News Center

Written by Janela Carrera

Guam – Another prayer protest was held in front of the Cathedral Basilica yesterday.

The Laity Forward Movement held the protest as gatherers held signs calling for Archbishop Anthony Apuron’s resignation.

The Archbishop has come under fire in recent years over the disputed ownership of the Redemptoris Mater Seminary in Yona.

The protesters are also calling for the restoration of Father Paul Gofigan as the pastor of Santa Barbara Church and Msgr. James Benavente as rector.

Just last week the Archbishop was criticized for his handling of Father Luis Camacho, the former pastor of the Umatac and Merizo churches, who was arrested last year for picking up a minor from school without consent.

Lou Klitzkie is one of the organizers of yesterday’s silent protest.

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MINNESOTA
Minnesota Daily

By Hannah Weikel Marion Renault April 18, 2016

A thinning window of time remains for survivors of childhood sexual abuse in Minnesota to file suit, in some cases after decades of silence.

With a May 25 deadline approaching, experts say they expect a rush of claims under the Child Victims Act, which for the last three years has lifted the statute of limitations for child sex abuse civil lawsuits.

Under the Act, nine individuals are suing the Children’s Theatre Company and some of its former employees for alleged sexual assault of minors during the ’60s through the ’80s.

Four of those claims name Dinkytown entrepreneur Jason McLean, owner of the Loring Pasta Bar and Varsity Theater.

Other victims have accused the theater’s co-founder and then- art director John Clark Donahue and late sound and lights technician Stephen Adamczak of sexual abuse.

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MINNESOTA
WDAZ

[with video]

By Hayley Crombleholme on Apr 17, 2016

Crookston, MN (WDAY/WDAZ TV) – A woman has returned to Minnesota this week – hoping to find and help victims who suffered abuse at the hands of a priest who pled guilty to sexual abuse in 2015.

This is after she herself became a victim.

After more than a decade, old wounds have reopened for Megan Peterson

“I was horrified for one and absolutely shocked, and felt entirely revictimized all over again, that we could go through all of this for the last ten years, get him extradited, get him convicted, and that the Vatican and the bishop in India is going to allow this man back into ministry,” said Peterson.

Joseph Jayapaul was convicted of sexual abuse stemming from incidents in 2004 to 2005 while he was serving as a priest in the Catholic Diocese of Crookston.

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AUSTRALIA
Insights

The General Secretary Rev. Dr Andrew Williams outlined the work of the Synod with the Royal Commission noting that it is just over a year since the Commission held a public inquiry into the responses of the Uniting Church and Knox Grammar School, to incidents of child sexual abuse.

“During the Royal Commission hearing I was deeply moved by the survivors and what they said about the impact of abuse on their lives and the injustices they experienced. We learned that 22 years is the average length of time for a child who has been a victim of abuse to come forward. And then there are huge hurdles and barriers in their way to achieving justice.”

Following the Church’s experience of the Royal Commission public hearing and in light of the Commission’s recommendations, the Synod made a commitment to provide fair, consistent and compassionate redress for survivors of child sexual abuse.

In 2015 the Synod Standing Committee approved resources for a small team of appropriately skilled people to develop an Interim Redress Policy to ensure that;

* the immediate needs of survivors of child sex abuse following the Knox hearing are met and
* the Church is equipped to respond compassionately and consistently to survivors seeking redress and justice.

Developing an Interim Redress Policy has involved a Synod wide consultation process including Wesley Mission and Uniting, and substantial resources both in time and money. It is the intention that the Policy will operate until such time as a government led national approach is up and running. As an ex-officio member of the Knox Board I can say that it is my observation that the culture at Knox is entirely different in positive way from the period under review by the Royal Commission.

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MINNESOTA
Grand Forks Herald

By Jonathan Streetman

CROOKSTON—SNAP, a support group for victims of abuse, is making its presence known outside area churches in an effort to stop the re-assignment of a former Minnesota priest.

The Rev. Joseph Palanivel Jeyapaul served as a priest in the Crookston diocese in 2004 and 2005. During that time, Jeyapaul was accused of sexually abusing two girls in the congregation.

Jeyapaul, who had since returned to his home country of India, was arrested in 2012 and eventually extradited from India back to the United States to face charges. While one set of charges was dropped, Jeyapaul was convicted in Roseau County in June 2015 of sexually abusing a 16-year-old Minnesota girl and sentenced to one year and one day behind bars—equivalent to time served during the proceedings—and immediately deported back to India.

Now Jeyapaul could be re-assigned to the clergy in India with the recent lifting of his suspension by the Vatican, less than a year after his conviction.

In response, SNAP, or Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, members are handing out leaflets and actively seeking out other individuals who may have been abused by Jeyapaul during his time in Crookston. SNAP members Megan Peterson and Barbara Dorris handed out the fliers Sunday morning just outside the parking lot of the Cathedral of Immaculate Conception in Crookston.

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MINNESOTA
KIMT

By Mike Bunge
Published: April 17, 2016

ROCHESTER, Minn. – Rochester Catholic Schools has been named in 16 new sex abuse lawsuits.

The Diocese of Winona and certain Rochester parishes are also named in the lawsuits, which claim abuse by three men at Lourdes High School, St. Francis of Assisi School and St. Pius X School. The abuse was allegedly committed from the early 1960s to mid 1970s by former priests Thomas Adamson and Joseph Cashman and by the now deceased Jack Krough in the mid 1980s.

“These lawsuits arise out of alleged sexual misconduct that occurred numerous decades ago – 30 to 50 years in the past,” said Michael Brennan, Director of Rochester Catholic Schools. “In that sense these are not new claims and do not reflect the actions of the faithful men and women leading our parishes and schools today. Furthermore, it is imperative to emphasize and reiterate that the priests alleged of abuse are deceased or were removed from the priesthood through the laicization process.”

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MINNESOTA
Valley News Live

By: Jovana Simic

Crookston, Minn (Valley News Live) SNAP, the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, urged other victims to come forward following mass at a Crookston church today.

Weeks ago Vatican officials lifted the suspension of a Minnesota catholic priest who pled guilty to child sex crimes in 2015. Father Joseph Jeyapaul served four years in prison and was sent back to his native country of India.

“I was shocked and felt re-victimized all over again by the Catholic Church,” Megan Peterson said.

Anger is just one of the emotions she feels since the church lifted Father Jeyapaul’s suspension, a man she trusted and fell victim to when she was 14 years-old. Peterson says she can’t sit by anymore.

“Spreading the message about Jeyapaul being placed back into ministry. As a survivor of Jeyapaul, I feel that it’s my obligation to do everything possible to continue to expose him and to reach out to other survivors,” Peterson said.

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MICHIGAN
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Sunday, April 17, 2016

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

A priest who was ousted because he molested a girl now works for a non-profit that reportedly helps girls. And in a stunningly callous and reckless maneuver, top Detroit Catholic officials pretend they’re powerless to stop him.

[Daily Tribune]

Fr. Kenneth Kaucheck works for Gianna House Pregnancy and Parenting Residence, “which he founded last year along with Sister Mary Diane Masson in a former convent,” according to the Daily Tribune.

In 2009, Fr. Kaucheck was ousted from Guardian Angels parish in Clawson because of credible allegations he had molested a girl.

Five years ago, we wrote that Archbishop Allen Vigneron should disclose where Fr. Kaucheck was living, and put him in “a remote, secure treatment center so that kids can be safer and so that he can get treatment.”

Vignernon ignored us.

[SNAP]

As best we can tell, Vigneron evidently told few or no parishioners where Kaucheck was which, we believe, is a violation of church policies and Vigneron’s repeated pledges to be “open and transparent” in clergy sex cases.

Vigneron’s irresponsible secrecy is one reason then non-profit’s board chair, Dr. Robert Walsh, says he was unaware of the accusation against Fr. Kaucheck and Fr. Kaucheck’s suspension.

But shame on him. A simple Google search would have shown that this priest allegedly molested at least one girl. (And we strongly suspect that he molested others.

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

NORTH DAKOTA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Victims to hold 2 ND events about pedophile
Convicted predator will soon be back on the job
Despite priest’s guilt, Vatican officials have lifted his suspension
In 2 weeks, Catholic supervisors will give him a new assignment
So group wants to find other “victims, witnesses or whistleblowers”
SNAP: “Another criminal case is our only chance to protect children”

WHAT
Holding signs and childhood photos at two events, clergy sex abuse victims will

–prod anyone who saw, suspected or suffered clergy sex crimes or cover ups to call law enforcement immediately, (especially by a convicted priest who molested kids in northwestern Minnesota but is being put back on the job),

–urge parishioners to insist that Crookston Catholic officials help with this “outreach effort,” and

–call on “Vatican bureaucrats” to “reverse their decision, re-instate the predator priest’s suspension, and help law enforcement charge and convict him again.”

DATE
Monday, April 18

TIME/PLACE

-IN GRAND FORKS, at 11:00 a.m. – outside two churches: St. Michael’s (524 5th Ave. N. near 6th Street, 701-772-2624, http://www.stmichaelsgf.com/parish/) and St. Mary’s (216 Belmont Road near Second, 701-775-9318, http://www.stmarysgfnd.com/)

–IN FARGO, at 1:45 p.m. – outside the diocesan headquarters (5201 Bishops Blvd., near 52nd Ave. South, 701) 235-6429)

WHO
Two-three members of a support group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, including a Minnesota woman who was raped as a child by a Crookston area priest and a Missouri woman who is the organization’s long time outreach director.

WHY
Weeks ago, Vatican officials lifted the suspension of a Catholic priest who pled guilty to child sex crimes last year in northwestern Minnesota. That move is prompting SNAP to aggressively seek out other victims in seven ND/MN towns hoping that cleric can be prosecuted, convicted and imprisoned again.

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

UNITED STATES
Questions from a Ewe

I recently finished a three month Peace Corps Response assignment in Ghana. Being in Peace Corps required refraining from political commentary and this blog danced along a line regarding that stipulation so I suspended writing during my assignment. However, I’m back.

I actually began writing this article on the plane flying home, having just watched the movie “Spotlight” again. This is the movie about the Boston Globe’s investigative journalism that blew the lid off the systemic nature of the church’s sex abuse scandal.

After spending three months in a culture that has extensive unreported sexual exploitation issues largely facilitated by cultural taboos against pursuing legal action…much like those the Boston Globe’s Spotlight team exposed in the Archdiocese of Boston…I find myself even sadder for the Church than the first time I watched the movie.

The movie ends by listing 203 dioceses around the world that have had major sex abuse scandals exposed. A few more have been exposed since the film’s September, 2015 release. I believe there are probably many, many, many more dioceses that continue enabling abusive priests, especially those in regions with cultural taboos acting as accomplices like in Africa.

Spotlight portrayed the privileged status Boston’s Catholic hierarchy enjoyed which permitted priests to abuse and bishops to cover it up. Beyond even Boston priests’ privilege, many African priests enjoy outright demagogue status. They are untouchable. They are not to be questioned. They are in prime positions to abuse without accountability. I pray that somehow the lid gets blown off of any sex abuses occurring in African Catholic Churches.

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

CANADA
CBC News

By Philip Lee, for CBC News Posted: Apr 17, 2016

When I think about the Mount Cashel story, I often remember Brenda Lundrigan.

In 1974, when she was 17, her cousins and brothers were living at the Mount Cashel orphanage. She had heard stories about what was happening to boys at the hands of the Christian Brothers and was worried sick.

One day, she had heard enough. She put a couple of boys in a taxi and took them to the Social Services head office, demanding that something be done. She wanted to put an end to the abuse right then and there. This admirable young woman paid for the taxi ride with her babysitting money.

She and the boys told their stories in 1974 and were ignored. But 15 years later, when she told her story in public at an inquiry into child abuse at Mount Cashel, her small act of courage shone like a beacon across a landscape of corruption and neglect.

I still remember the morning I first heard the name Mount Cashel. I was in the Sunday Express newspaper office on the phone with a man who had a story that needed to be told.

He told me that in 1975, police had investigated complaints of child abuse by Christian Brothers at the Mount Cashel orphanage, that the investigation had been stopped before charges were laid, that a police report had been scrubbed, and that Brothers accused of serious crimes had been allowed to leave the jurisdiction.

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

PERU
RPP

[Sodalicio Informe Final]

[Commission investigating the Sodality: Yes there was psychological and sexual abuse.]

La Comisión de Ética para la Justicia y la Reconciliación, que investiga los casos de abusos en el Sodalicio cuando Luis Fernando Figari estaba al frente de la misma, emitió este sábado su informe final. En ella determina que tanto Figari como Germán Doig y las demás autoridades que han transitado por el Sodalitium Christianae Vitae (SCV), a lo largo de su existencia, cometieron abusos de índole físico, sicológico y sexual contra los miembros.

Daños contra sus miembros

A los jóvenes, incluso menores de edad, que integraban esta organización cristiana se les apartaba de sus familias, incluso en algunos casos, las autoridades intervenían sus correspondencias para impedir la comunicación con sus seres queridos.

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

TEXAS
Amarillo Globe News

And the Oscar for best picture of the year goes to … “Spotlight,” a movie chronicling a team of Boston newspaper reporters on the quest for answers in a child sex abuse scandal.

It has provided us another way to start conversations about a distasteful subject. The reality is there are children in our community who are being sexually abused as you read this, and we all have a role to play in protecting them.

April is Child Abuse Prevention Month — yet another opportunity to raise awareness and learn how we can each be part of the solution. We must recognize that disclosure is the turning point in any abusive relationship. The fear that stands in the way of that disclosure can only be broken down with awareness, true compassion and genuine honesty. No matter how uncomfortable the topic makes us feel, we must push past that as a community in order to help these victims.

“Spotlight” focused not only the abuse that took place, but the complicity of a respected institution in allowing it to continue for generations. This point was driven home midway through the film when Stanley Tucci’s character (Mitchell Garabedian, an attorney representing victims), states: “If it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a village to abuse them.”

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

ALABAMA
AL.com

By Kyle Whitmire | kwhitmire@al.com

In Alabama there are real problems and there are imaginary problems.

The state’s ban on hunting over baited fields is an imaginary problem, but that hasn’t stopped some lawmakers from trying make it legal to hunt over a big pile of corn.

Lane Cake is an imaginary problem, and yet every year the Alabama Legislature considers the same resolution to make it the Alabama state dessert. If they’d just pass the thing so we could move on to more important imaginary matters, like the state appetizer or the state cocktail.

Religious oppression in schools is an imaginary problem, too, which Rep. Mack Butler solved last year by passing a bill that made things like student-led prayer legal. By Butler’s own admission, everything his bill legalized was already legal, constitutionally protected and fully litigated before the United States Supreme Court. He just wanted to make those legal things even more legal.

Lawmakers love imaginary problems because there’s no cost to them politically and little cost to the state financially, except when they invite federal court challenges.

Real problems, on the other hand, cost money. Real problems take effort to solve. Real problems don’t lend themselves to State House grandstanding, nor do they yield the kind of constituent back-patting lawmakers crave.

Alabama’s negligence when it comes to regulating and licensing religious affiliated daycares is a real problem. Alabama law doesn’t merely neglect state oversight of religious-affiliated daycares, it strains the muscles in its neck looking the other way.

It’s as simple as this: In Alabama, a day care can invoke a religious exemption to the rules and regulations that apply to for-profit and other non-profit child care centers. As a result, hundreds of child care centers throughout the state operate without oversight. In some instances, operators who have been shut down by the state have reopened by hiding behind Alabama’s religious exemption.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Times Herald

By Patti Mengers, pmengers@21st-centurymedia.com, @pattimengers on Twitter
POSTED: 04/17/16

Nearly eight years after John Salveson stood in the state Capitol Rotunda in Harrisburg and entreated Pennsylvania legislators to hold public hearings on House Bill 1137 ‒ the Child Victim’s Act of Pennsylvania, a similar bill passed the House of Representatives on Tuesday.

The 60-year-old Radnor resident, who is president of the Foundation to Abolish Child Sex Abuse, called the passage of House Bill 1947 “a major step forward in our battle to find justice for the victims of child sex abuse in Pennsylvania.”

“House Bill 1947 is not perfect – but it provides an opportunity for justice for child sex abuse victims, who would have the ability, under the law, to bring civil suits against the people who abused them and the institutions which sheltered those abusers,” said Salveson.

The bill, that was approved 180-15 in the House and is now being considered by the state Senate Judiciary Committee, expands the age limit from 30 to 50 for individuals who were abused as children to bring civil lawsuits against their abusers and organizations entrusted with their protection, and would prevent organizations that have acted with gross negligence from claiming immunity. It would be retroactive, allowing past abuse victims to sue.

House Bill 1947 was proposed by state Rep. Ron Marsico,R-105, of Dauphin County but was amended to include past victims by state Rep. Mark Rozzi of Berks County, D-126, who has identified himself as a survivor of Catholic clergy abuse and has been promoting such legislation since he was elected in 2012.

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KENTUCKY
The Daily Beast

BRANDON WITHROW

Pastor C.J. Mahaney and his network of churches faced protests from victims groups this week after the controversial pastor came back in the public eye.

“I know in this room that C. J. Mahaney has 10,000 friends,” said Albert Mohler Jr. at Together for the Gospel 2016 this week, a Calvinist conference that regularly draws big names and large crowds.

The April 12-14 gathering held at the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, KY became the focus of controversy when it invited Mahaney, the senior pastor at Sovereign Grace Church in Kentucky, to speak. He and other pastoral colleagues have been accused of covering-up child sex abuse in their churches. The lawsuit against them was eventually dismissed on a technicality.

Maybe the irony wasn’t lost on Together for the Gospel organizers and attendees, that a conference whose 2016 theme was to celebrate the “Protest” in “Protestants” was itself under protest. Organized by SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (recently featured in the movie Spotlight), the demonstrators included ex-members of Sovereign Grace Ministries. Letters were written; petitions were created.

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TENNESSEE
Tennessean

Andy Humbles, ahumbles@tennessean.com April 16, 2016

Lebanon’s Courtney Greene acknowledges she is still very much a work in progress.

After a period of sexual abuse committed by her youth pastor that stretched over a year when she was a high school teenager, Greene, now 20, is celebrating “little victories” as she continues to put her life back together.

“I didn’t know what had happened because no one talks about it,” Greene said. “I always thought if someone found out I would be the one in trouble. I firmly believed that.”

The Tennessean generally doesn’t identify the victims of sexual abuse, but Greene came forward as a survivor wanting to speak out, hoping her story can help the estimated 68 percent of sexual assault victims who never report the crime to police.

“Sexual assault is a crime of secrecy, which results in a lot of shame and self-blame,” said Cameron Clark, sexual assault training specialist and clinical therapist at the Sexual Assault Center in Nashville. “We also know sexual assault isn’t a crime about sex. It’s about power and control.”

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MINNESOTA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Abuse victims to leaflet Crookston cathedral
Convicted predator will soon be back on the job
Despite priest’s guilt, Vatican officials have lifted his suspension
Group wants to find other “victims, witnesses or whistleblowers”
SNAP: “Another criminal case is our only chance to protect children”

WHAT
As church-goers leave mass and go to mass, clergy sex abuse victims will hand out fliers at Crookston’s biggest Catholic church. “For the safety of kids,” the leaflets urge

–anyone who saw, suspected or suffered clergy sex crimes or cover ups to call police immediately, especially by a convicted priest who molested kids in northwestern Minnesota but is being put back on the job, and

–parishioners to insist that Crookston Catholic officials help with this “outreach effort.”

The group will also call on “Vatican bureaucrats” to “reverse their decision, re-instate the predator priest’s suspension, and help law enforcement charge and convict him again.”

WHEN
Tomorrow, Sunday, April 17 from 9:40 a.m.-10:10 a.m. and again from 11:40 a.m.-noon

WHERE
Outside the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception (702 Summit Avenue, 218-281-1735) in Crookston http://www.crookstoncathedral.com/

WHO
Two-three members of a support group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, including a Minnesota woman who was raped as a child by a Crookston priest and a Missouri woman who is the organization’s long time outreach director.

WHY
Weeks ago, Vatican officials lifted the suspension of a Catholic priest who pled guilty to child sex crimes last year in Minnesota. That move is prompting a support group called SNAP to aggressively seek out other victims in seven MN/ND towns hoping that cleric can be prosecuted, convicted and imprisoned again. http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/queens-woman-shocked-vatican-reinstates-priest-raped-article-1.2542685

Next month, Catholic officials in India say they’ll re-assign Fr. Joseph Palanivel Jeyapaul, despite the fact that he’s accused of molesting two Crookston area girls, was convicted of sexually assaulting one of them, and his bosses settled two civil lawsuits involving his victims (one for $750,000).

“Our goal is to find just one more victim who might be able to file criminal charges and get this proven predator behind bars again,” said Peterson.

“Catholic officials refuse to keep this admitted sex offender away from kids, so our only hope of stopping him is to get him charged and convicted again,” said Dorris. “I’m stunned that top church staff are being so extraordinarily irresponsible, knowing this man is guilty of abusing one girl and is accused of molesting at least two girls.”

The Crookston church hierarchy includes Bishop Michael Hoeppner, Msgr. David Baumgartner (dbaumgartner@crookston.org ), Bonnie Sullivan (bsullivan@crookston.org) and Jim Clauson (jclauson@crookston.org , 218-281-4533, ext. 423).

Fr. Jeyapaul’s current supervisor is Bishop Arulappan Amalraj of the Ootacamund diocese in India (Telephone 0423 2442.366, Fax 0423 – 2441604, 0423 – 2447996,bishopooty@hotmail.com, secretaryooty@yahoo.co.in).

Fr. Jeyapaul has attracted international attention, especially in 2014 when a United Nations panel blasted the Vatican for putting kids’ in harm’s way, citing how the church hierarchy has dealt with the Indian priest.

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MICHIGAN
Daily Tribune

By Jameson Cook, jamie.cook@macombdaily.com, @jamesoncook on Twitter
POSTED: 04/16/16

The Archdiocese of Detroit is seeking to remove a priest from his role at an Eastpointe facility for pregnant teenagers because he was found to have had sexual misconduct with a teenage girl in the 1970s.

The Archdiocese believes the Rev. Kenneth Kaucheck should not continue as development director of Gianna House Pregnancy and Parenting Residence, which he founded last year along with Sister Mary Diane Masson in a former convent adjacent to St. Veronica Catholic Church in Eastpointe.

Kaucheck, while serving as a priest in Royal Oak and Ferndale, was banned in April 2009 from public ministry and placed on “temporary restriction” by the Archdiocese of Detroit after the organization determined that in 1976 he committed sexual misconduct with a 16-year-old girl who he was counseling at Guardian Angels Parish in Clawson. He was removed that parish and transferred to a Dearborn parish.

Kaucheck, 62 when he received the banishment, in 2009 left his post as pastor at St. Mary Parish in Royal Oak and St. James Parish in Ferndale.

Archdiocese spokesman Joe Kohn told The Macomb Daily on Thursday the organization has acted to remove Kaucheck from his position at Gianna House subject to the requirements under the Catholic’s Church’s legal process, the Congregation for Clerk of the Vatican.

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MAINE
Portland Press Herald

BY RACHEL OHM MORNING SENTINEL
rohm@centralmaine.com | @rachel_ohm | 207-612-2386

WATERVILLE — As a government major and member of the varsity hockey team at Colby College in the 1960s, Ben Bradlee Jr. had no intention of pursuing a career in journalism.

But after serving in the Peace Corps for two years following his 1970 graduation, the Manchester, New Hampshire, native landed a job at the Riverside Press-Enterprise in California and went on to work as a reporter, editor and then deputy managing editor at The Boston Globe.

Bradlee left the Globe in 2014 after 25 years.

Bradlee and a team of investigative reporters at the Globe are the subject of the recent film “Spotlight,” which recounts the Pulitzer Prize-winning investigation by the newspaper into decades of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church and its cover-up.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Mark Hilliard

Retired Bishop Willie Walsh has said he used to sit and cry in the aftermath of meetings with survivors of church sex abuse.

Admitting he did not in the beginning fully grasp the extent of the damage caused by abuse, the former Bishop of Killaloe said he found it very distressing to hear the experiences of those who suffered.

But, he acknowledged, he could rely on the ability to discuss the issues and their impact with others whereas this had not always been possible for survivors.

In a wide ranging interview on the Marian Finucane Show on RTÉ radio, publicising his book “No Crusader”, Bishop Walsh said he had spent more time crying as a bishop than during his life beforehand.

“I found the dealing with the whole issue of child sexual abuse and meeting victims, I found it really distressing and at times I just sat when they had gone, I just sat down and cried,” he said.

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UNITED STATES
New York Times

Timothy Egan APRIL 15, 2016

The comedian George Carlin used to say that he was a Roman Catholic “until I reached the age of reason.” For Carlin, that happened sometime in the eighth grade, when all his probing questions about faith were answered with, “well, it’s a mystery.” Of course, as a lifelong contrarian, Carlin also wondered if it was O.K. for a vegetarian to eat animal crackers.

I thought of him while reading the latest institution-shifting document from Pope Francis, “Amoris Laetitia” — the Joy of Love. The title sets the tone for the continuation of a quiet revolution. Note that it’s not called the Job of Love, the Duty of Love or the Unbearable Burden of Love. Instead, the pope implies that there’s considerable fun to be had in human relationships. You can even find in its 256 pages a mention of the “erotic dimension” of love and “the stirring of desire.” Yes, sex. The pope approves of it, in many forms.

And while skeptics were disappointed that the latest apostolic exhortation did not change church teachings regarding Catholics who are divorced or in same-sex marriages, the document signals the end for one particular kind of medieval millstone — Catholic guilt, especially in regard to sex.

He’s not talking here about the guilt that generations of clerics and their enablers should feel for the crimes of sexual abuse against the young, an institutional cancer tied to its own awful pathology.

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MASSACHUSETTS
WWLP

Andy Metzger

BOSTON (STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE) – A man who said he was sexually abused by a now-deceased priest, and a former priest, who said he was fired for speaking out about sex abuse in the church asked lawmakers Tuesday to eliminate the civil statute of limitations for child abuse allegations against the dead so that victims can seek damages from their estates.

Bassam Haddad, who said he is 43 and married with two boys, told members of the Judiciary Committee he was abused as a teenager by a priest at St. Joseph’s in Lawrence who was then transferred to Lebanon, where he died in recent years.

“We can’t do anything now,” Haddad told the committee. He said, “We’re trying to get this law moved so we can go after their estate.”

Robert Hoatson, a former priest and co-founder of Road to Recovery for survivors of sexual abuse, joined Haddad, and said the church had fired him after he testified about sexual abuse to New York lawmakers. Hoatson, who said he worked at Catholic Memorial High School and raised alarms about Monsignor Fred Ryan around 1982, said he was at the hearing to support Haddad.

Hoatson said he was fired from a position directing schools in Newark, N.J. in 2003 after testifying before lawmakers in New York.

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WEST VIRGINIA
The News Center

State Police task force agents raid a residence, arresting a man identified as youth pastor from First Baptist Church in Williamstown.

Law enforcement sources tell The News Center Stefan Delimarich also is a coach of a youth girls soccer team. A source tells WTAP Stefan Delimarich reportedly sent sexually explicit videos to underage girls.

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CANADA
The Telegram

Barb Sweet
Published on April 15, 2016

Early 1950s interaction between the archbishop and the child welfare minister of the day seemed to not include the Christian Brothers in detailed discussions about admission policies for orphanages, questioning by lawyer Geoff Budden of an expert witness indicated Friday in the Mount Cashel civil trial at Newfoundland Supreme Court.

Budden continued to cross-examine historian John FitzGerald, witness for the Roman Catholic Episcopal Corp. of St. John’s.

The trial Friday drilled down into some history of the Brothers establishing the orphanage, but then zeroed in on several letters post-1950, including such things as fundraising, the establishment of sea cadets at the orphanage, as well as discussions between the archbishop and Smallwood-era cabinet minister H.L. Pottle on admissions policy for orphanages.

As part of that, a lengthy letter from Pottle to the archbishop included the suggestion that parish priests be informed of the department’s policies.

“You would acknowledge that’s a fairly detailed discussion with regard to the operations of child welfare, particularly with regard to placing children in orphanages?” Budden asked after FitzGerald finished reading out the letter.

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CANADA
The Telegram

Barb Sweet
Published on April 15, 2016

Correspondence between the 1950s indicates there was a pattern of the Christian Brothers seeking approval from the archbishop for activities like bingos, fairs, garden parties, collections and the Christmas Raffle, suggested lawyer Geoff Budden this morning at the Mount Cashel civil trial in Newfoundland Supreme Court.

Newfoundland Supreme Court Justice Alphonsus Faour is presiding over the Mount Cashel civil trial. — Photo by Barb Sweet/The Telegram

He is continuing to cross-examine today historian John FitzGerald, expert witness for the RC Episcopal Corp. of St. John’s.

But FitzGerald noted the archbishop of the day was concerned with being proper and not having his congregation put upon. FitzGerald has said the seeking of permission speaks to the lay order Christian Brothers and other groups within the faith trying to avoid conflicting fundraising events, so as not to appeal to the parishioners all at one time.

But Budden, who is seeking to establish a role of the archdiocese in the operations of the orphanage, noted the flow of the permissions either denied or approved was one way — from the archbishop to the Brothers.

Budden also questioned FitzGerald on what correspondence exists between the archbishop and the Brothers’ superior from the orphanage founding to pre-1950. There is little, the court heard. Budden said there are three possible reasons why — either it doesn’t exist, it couldn’t be found or it got lost over time.

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TEXAS
The Monitor

The Irene Garza-John Feit case, when an ex-priest was charged with the murder of a former Valley beauty queen, will be featured on the CBS program ‘48 Hours’ at on Saturday, April 16.

The program will showcase updates on the case, including Feit’s trial and life before the trial. The show will also focus on a support group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.

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MINNESOTA
Le Sueur News-Herald

Suzy Rook

Three sexual abuse survivors have identified three priests from the Diocese of New Ulm as child abusers.

The priests, all ordained in the diocese, are being publicly named for the first time.

Fr. Bernard Steiner was ordained in 1964 and worked in several parishes throughout southern and west-central Minnesota during his clerical career, including parishes and schools in Lafayette, Jessenland and Henderson.

Steiner retired from active ministry in 2005. His accuser is alleging the abuse occurred at the Church of St. Paul in Comfrey in the 1970s.

Fr. Richard Gross was ordained in 1962 and worked in parishes in New Ulm, Taunton, Rosen, Hutchinson and Watkins. Gross retired from ministry in 2003. The abuse in the Gross case is alleged to have occurred in the mid-1960s at St. Mary’s parish in New Ulm.

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NEW MEXICO
National Catholic Reporter

Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola | Apr. 14, 2016

GALLUP, N.M.

After weeks full of delays and another insurance dispute, attorneys for the Gallup diocese filed its Chapter 11 plan of reorganization in U.S. Bankruptcy Court March 21.

The plan’s monetary provisions will create a fund that is expected to range from over $21 million to nearly $25 million, much of which will go to compensate 57 clergy sex abuse survivors who filed claims in bankruptcy court.

However, the plan’s nonmonetary commitments remain a thorny, unresolved issue. After months of negotiation, those nonmonetary provisions — commitments by the diocese to real institutional change in its response to clergy sex abuse and misconduct — have yet to be filed with the court.

“It is impossible to overstate the tragedy of the Abuse that was inflicted on the children and teenagers of the Diocese,” diocesan attorneys stated in the plan’s disclosure statement. “Such Abuse was perpetrated by priests or others purporting to do the missionary work of the Roman Catholic Church. Instead of fulfilling their missions, such perpetrators inflicted harm and suffering on the children and teenagers of the Diocese.”

The Gallup diocese, which is mostly rural and covers much of western New Mexico and northern Arizona, filed its Chapter 11 petition on Nov. 12, 2013, after it had been named in 13 clergy sex abuse lawsuits and numerous other abuse claims.

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URUGUAY
Conferencia Episcopal del Uruguay

Los obispos desde hace cuatro años hemos venido prestando especial atención a este tema. Primero elaboramos, con la ayuda de profesionales expertos, el Protocolo de acción frente a denuncias de abuso sexual a menores por parte de clérigos. El año pasado recibimos a los miembros del equipo de prevención de abusos de la Iglesia de Chile, que está integrado por sacerdotes, psicólogos y abogados, y estamos abocados a la creación de una comisión para la prevención de abusos en nuestra Iglesia.

A su vez, cada congregación religiosa e instituto de vida consagrada ha elaborado su propio protocolo para atender denuncias contra sus miembros.

Pedimos perdón a las personas que han sufrido abusos por parte de algunos clérigos y religiosos en nuestro país. Sentimos dolor y vergüenza ya que son personas que habiendo prometido servir a Dios y al prójimo, cometieron actos aberrantes.

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URUGUAY
Christian Daily

Christian Deguit 16 April, 2016

The Episcopal Conference of Uruguay recently published an online letter in their website, apologizing to the victims of sexual abuse by Catholic priests in the country in the past.

“We apologize to people who have suffered abuse by some clergy and religious in our country. We feel pain and shame because they are people who, having promised to serve God and neighbor, committed horrific acts,” the bishops wrote, in a rough English translation of the letter, which was in Spanish.

Last year, the Roman Catholic Church in Uruguay created a commission for the prevention of sexual abuse among their followers. Different religious congregations and institutes of consecrated life in the South American country has since been dealing with reported cases against its members.

Most of the reports that were received were from people who were abused by priests while in their teens.

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UNITED STATES
Rhymes with Religion

Boz Tchividjian | Apr 15, 2016

As I get older, it seems as if I am increasingly reminded that the seasons of life are always changing. Sometimes these changes are welcomed and celebrated, while other times they are all too bittersweet. A few weeks ago, I came to the difficult realization that the season for Rhymes with Religion was coming to an end as I concentrate more on my amazing family, the expanding work of GRACE, and on my awesome law students. Thanks to so many for reading this blog and for the many kind and encouraging words sent my way during this daunting but incredible season of writing.

So LongI was humbled, excited, and nervous when RNS approached me about writing a blog committed to spotlighting issues related to child sexual abuse within faith communities. I was also incredibly encouraged that a major news organization was wanting to invest in a blog focused upon an evil that has been kept in the dark for too long destroying countless lives. Though I never considered myself a columnist, I agreed to dive into this blog world because abused and hurting souls must know that there are those who understand them and who recognize that they have so much to teach us. My hope and prayer is that my written words have protected little ones, encouraged survivors, and changed the hearts of many Christians who will begin stepping forward to confront and end this nefarious epidemic within the Church.

As many of you know, bringing light into the darkness of child sexual abuse in the church can often be a difficult and lonely journey. On those days that I simply want to give up, I am reminded that I am not alone on this journey. I walk alongside some of the most amazing heroes on the face of the earth. Many of these heroes are survivors walking far more difficult and painful journeys that me, but who never hesitate to stop to help lift me up and inspire me to press forward to another day. They are often the truest reflections of Jesus in my life.

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MINNESOTA
KSTP

Jennie Lissarrague
Updated: 04/15/2016

Three priests from the Diocese of New Ulm who have been accused of sexual abuse were named for the first time Friday.

Attorney Jeff Anderson and Associates filed lawsuits against each of the priests under the Minnesota Child Victims Act, which allows survivors of sexual abuse to file claims against their abusers and the institutions involved until May 25.

The priests were identified as Fr. Bernard Steiner, Fr. Richard Gross and Fr. Edward Ardolf.
According to the attorneys, Steiner was ordained in 1964 in the Diocese of New Ulm and worked in several parishes throughout southern and west-central Minnesota. A victim claimed to be abused by Steiner at the Church of St. Paul in Comfrey, Minnesota, in the 1970s.

Gross was ordained in 1962 in the Diocese of New Ulm and worked in parishes in New Ulm, Taunton, Rosen, Hutchinson and Watkins. A victim claimed to be abused by Gross at St. Mary’s parish in New Ulm in the 1960s.

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KENTUCKY
WFIE

[with video]

MADISONVILLE, KY (WFIE) –
14 News received several anonymous tips from people concerned that a convicted sex offender might be working at a Madisonville church.

14 News followed up on those tips and found a convicted sex offender with a lengthy criminal history is working at Truth Apostolic Church, as part of their outreach ministry staff.

That man is Thomas Hopper.

He’s also on the Kentucky Sex Offender Registry, convicted of rape and sodomy of a 13-year-old girl in the early 90’s.

Hopper’s criminal history continued with two other convictions in the early 2000’s.

We’ve brought you stories on Tommy Hopper before, including jail house interviews.

According to a representative at the Kentucky Sex Offender Registry office in Frankfort, Hopper’s only restriction is that he has to get permission before he’s allowed on school property.

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KENTUCKY
Global News (Canada)

[with video]

By Elton Hobson
Video Producer

***WARNING: Story contains details of a sexual assault case which may not be suitable for all readers. Discretion is advised.***

A Kentucky church is facing tough questions from the local community after an investigation by a local TV station found that the church employs a convicted sex offender.

Now the pastor of Truth Apostolic Church in Madisonville is defending his decision to hire the man – but his comments, specifically those suggesting that the woman the man was convicted of sexually assaulting bore some responsibility for the attack, are coming under fire.

The story came to light when NBC affiliate WFIE received several anonymous tips that a convicted sex offender was working at the local church.

Their investigation revealed that Thomas Hopper, working with the church’s outreach ministry staff, was convicted of rape and sodomy in the early 1990s. According to court documents, the victim, a 13-year-old girl, said Hopper held a razor blade to her throat before he sexually assaulted her.

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UNITED STATES
Baptist News

BOB ALLEN | APRIL 15, 2016

A Southern Baptist pastor/blogger has submitted a resolution for consideration at the upcoming meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention calling on leaders to get tough on churches that tolerate or conceal sexual abuse.

Bart Barber, senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Farmersville, Texas, said he is asking the SBC resolutions committee to consider a resolution titled “On Sexual Predation in the Southern Baptist Family” when it reports at the 2016 SBC annual meeting June 14-16 in St. Louis, Mo.

The resolution supports removal of any church that knowingly places a sex offender in a position of leadership over children or other vulnerable participants, or acts to hide alleged misconduct from church members or discourage reporting it to police.

Barber, whose church is aligned with the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, said in an introductory blog March 28 he is raising the issue now because “these days more of the women seeking pastoral counsel from me have been molested than haven’t been. A clear majority.”

“The change has taken my breath away,” Barber said. “No, not nearly all of it is happening in churches, but too much of it is.”

Barber said anecdotal evidence alone is enough to suggest reports of predatory sexual behavior toward both minor and adult members of churches by clergy or church staff are widespread in Southern Baptist life. “Woefully common,” he said, are anecdotes about churches that try to prevent its reporting to legal authorities, hide sexual misconduct from the members of the congregation or suppress the public release of information regarding sexual misconduct on the part of church leaders.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Kirchensite

[Changes are being made in the way priests are formed in the Munster diocese. Abuse of power by the priest is included in the changes.]

Bistum. Der gewählte Vertreter der katholischen Priesterausbilder in Deutschland, der münstersche Regens Hartmut Niehues, verlangt neue Wege in Seelsorge und Priesterausbildung. “Das System, wie es bisher besteht, ist am Ende”, sagt der Vorsitzende der Deutschen Regentenkonferenz der Wochenzeitung “Kirche+Leben”. Das gelte für die Ebene der Gemeinden, die Strukturen darüber sowie für die Priesterausbildung. Niehues äußert sich zum katholischen Weltgebetstag um geistliche Berufe am Sonntag (17.04.2016).

Bei den Priesteramtskandidaten sei die katholische Kirche in Deutschland “quasi an der Nulllinie” angekommen, sagt der Leiter des Priesterseminars Borromaeum. So sei in Münster im März nur ein einziger Kandidat ins Gemeindejahr gestartet. Das werde tiefgreifende Konsequenzen haben. Zugleich gebe es immer weniger Kirchenmitglieder, die den sakramentalen Dienst eines Priesters überhaupt wahrnehmen.

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URUGUAY
NZZ

(ap)
Die katholische Kirche in Uruguay hat sich für ungeahndete Fälle sexuellen Missbrauch durch Priester entschuldigt. Man fühle «Schmerz und Scham» über die «abscheulichen Akte», hiess es in einem am Donnerstag auf der Webseite der Bischofskonferenz veröffentlichten Brief. Dem Schreiben waren Medienberichte über Übergriffe durch Priester vorangegangen. Die Taten sollen vor 20 Jahren begangen sein und wurden wegen Verjährung nicht bestraft.

Die Bischofskonferenz teilte mit, die Kirche habe 2015 Berichte über das Schicksal dreier Opfer erhalten, die in ihren Jugendjahren von Priestern missbraucht worden seien. In der Folge sei ein Geistlicher zurückgetreten, ein weiterer sei nach Ermittlungen entlassen worden, sagte Weihbischof Milton Troccoli.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Regensburg Digital

Beim „Duett mit den Domspatzen“ vergangenen Samstag im Audimax kamen auch drei Ehemalige vorbei, um Info-Blätter an die Besucher zu verteilen. Was sie fordern beschreibt Wolfgang Blaschka in seinem Gastbeitrag für regensburg-digital.

Drei ehemalige Domspatzen, die zum Mitsingkonzert im Audimax der Regensburger Uni mit Flugblättern auftauchten, wollten nicht fröhliche Volksweisen mitsingen, sondern eine andere, eher traurige Melodie von den Dächern pfeifen: Die Anwendung brutaler Gewalt in der Spatzen-Dressur früherer Zeiten. So etwas wird nicht gern gehört. Schon gar nicht, wenn es auch um sexuelle Übergriffe geht: Eltern und Angehörige reagieren auf so etwas verständlicherweise höchst sensibel. Die Verantwortlichen der Einrichtung dulden derartige Thematisierungen erst gar nicht bei ihren Veranstaltungen. Sie möchten am liebsten nichts davon hören, am besten von nichts dergleichen wissen.

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GEORGIA
Georgia Bulletin

ATLANTA—A small group of members of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) held signs as part of a press conference outside the Cathedral of Christ the King, Atlanta, April 4.

The group asked that the Archdiocese of Atlanta publish on its website a list of those priests, deacons and religious who were accused of molesting children and who worked in the archdiocese. They named six deceased or former priests that they say should be on the list.

In its press release, SNAP acknowledged that the named priests were accused in other places and not in Atlanta. However, the release asserted that they had been in Atlanta at one point in time.

In response to the request, the Archdiocese of Atlanta released a statement, “We regret any instance of abuse and take every allegation seriously… none of the six priests listed were ever priests of the Archdiocese of Atlanta. We have no information regarding any allegations of misconduct during the time these men were present here.”

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MAINE
Bangor Daily News

By Shonna Milliken Humphrey, Special to the BDN
Posted April 15, 2016

The Academy Award-winning film “Spotlight” compels audiences to re-think institutionalized child sex abuse and the systemic protections for those responsible. Because of “Spotlight,” it is now impossible to sanction intimate relationships between little boys and clergy members without first considering child safety.

But what about lesser-known, secular or smaller organizations with a similar history? Instead of victims numbering in the thousands, what happens when the victim count is in the mere hundreds? Or dozens?

As the real-life Boston Globe Spotlight news team reported its story in 2002, a lawsuit against the American Boychoir School was working its way through the New Jersey court system with similar details — decades of abuse and systemic protection of perpetrators.

However, whereas the Catholic Church is being held accountable by Mark Ruffalo’s hard-charging investigative “Spotlight” reporting, the American Boychoir School is now fictionalized and celebrated on film via “Hear My Song” with Dustin Hoffman cast as choirmaster to an unwanted and troubled young boy.

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MINNESOTA
Mankato Free Press

By Leah Buletti lbuletti@mankatofreepress.com

NEW ULM — Three new priests from the Diocese of New Ulm with ties to Mankato-area parishes have been named in sexual abuse lawsuits.

Revs. Bernard Steiner, Richard Gross and Edward Ardolf have been named in civil lawsuits brought under the Minnesota Child Victims Act, according to Jeff Anderson and Associates, a St. Paul law firm. The law allows survivors of child sexual abuse to bring cases without having to worry about the statute of limitations.

All three priests were ordained in the Diocese of New Ulm in the 1960s and worked at one time in churches in the Mankato area. All three are still alive and had not been named before Friday.

In late March, the Diocese of New Ulm and Jeff Anderson and Associates jointly released the names of 16 priests who have been credibly accused of sexual abuse of a minor while assigned as priests.

Mike Finnegan, an attorney with the firm, said the release of the list led to one of the lawsuits, while the firm was in the process of filing the other two when the list was released.

“They’re looking for validation that this happened and to make sure that other people out there know that all three of these guys abused them as kids,” Finnegan said.

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TEXAS
2paragraphs

The beautiful 25-year-old schoolteacher Irene Garza went to confession at her church, Sacred Heart in McAllen, Texas, during Holy Week in 1960. She was never seen leaving the church. Five days after she disappeared, her body was found in a nearby canal. She was sexually assaulted, physically assaulted, and she had died of suffocation. The prime suspect was John Feit, the 27-year-old priest who heard Garza’s last confession, but he was never indicted…until now.

[In 2005, when a Texas Monthly reporter asked Father Feit for an interview, before denying the request he told her, “the speculation intrigues me.”]

In 2002 a new witness had stepped forward. Former priest Dale Tacheny says he covered up the evidence out of religious obligation. “I’m sorry for what I did,” he tells 48 Hours. Tacheny was sent to Sacred Heart to counsel Feit who confessed to everything. It took another 14 years to get an indictment. A relative of Garza tells 48 Hours, “The people who are going to feel sorry for him [Feit] do not know the facts of the case. I guarantee you, once they find out there will be absolutely no pity there.” 48 Hours airs Saturdays at 10pm on CBS.

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TEXAS
CBS News

A former monk who says the suspect in the 1960 murder of a Texas beauty queen admitted the crime to him speaks out on Saturday’s episode of “48 Hours.”

In a 2002 letter to San Antonio police, Dale Tacheny said he was in a monastery in the 1960s with former priest John Feit when Feit admitted to him that he had killed a woman. Feit is accused of killing 25-year-old Irene Garza, who vanished 56 years ago after Feit heard her confession at a McAllen, Texas church during Easter weekend.

Days later, she was found dead in a canal.

Though Feit has long been suspected in Garza’s murder, it wasn’t until February of 2016 that a Hidalgo County, Texas grand jury returned a murder indictment against him.Now an 83-year-old grandfather, Feit was arrested in Scottsdale, Arizona and was extradited back to Texas to face the charge.

In the episode “The Last Confession,” which airs Saturday on CBS, Tacheny tells “48 Hours” he kept quiet about Feit’s alleged admission for years.

“I covered up the evidence,” Tacheny says. “I’m sorry for what I did.”

Tacheny reads excerpts of his 2002 letter to police during Saturday’s episode. In it, he says Feit admitted to him during a counseling session at a Missouri Trappist monastery that he had killed a young woman in San Antonio. Feit denies the allegations, and has pleaded not guilty to the murder charge.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Daily Mail

By ABE HAWKEN FOR MAILONLINE

A youth pastor described as being ‘every parent’s worst nightmare’ was today jailed for 15 years after he raped two teenagers he had groomed on Facebook.

Timothy Storey, 35, lived a ‘double life’ preaching the virtues of abstinence at St Michael’s Church in Victoria, central London, while he began his ‘incremental’ and ‘insidious’ manipulation of girls from the congregation.

One of his victims was so brainwashed by what he told her she described him as being ‘more influential than God’.

The court heard the girls had complained about the trainee vicar to the church but their allegations were ‘brushed aside’.

Following his sentence today, Judge Philip Katz QC blasted the Diocese of London for their ‘utterly incompetent’ reaction to the issue.

He said: ‘There was a wholesale failure for those responsible at the time for safeguarding.

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UNITED STATES
JTA

By Sharon Weiss-Greenberg
April 15, 2016

(JTA) — Rabbi Steven Pruzansky, the spiritual leader of Congregation Bnai Yeshurun in Teaneck, New Jersey, is no stranger to controversy. In statements from his pulpit and in blog posts, he has demonized Israel’s late prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, called for the collective punishment of Palestinian “savages” and, after Israel’s withdrawal from the Gaza strip, let it be known that the Jewish state was no longer worthy of his political or financial support.

While many have chosen to ignore him as inconsequential, his statements have been condemned over the years by the Orthodox Union, the Rabbinical Council of America (where he formerly served as vice president) and the Anti-Defamation League. As the past president of the Rabbinical Council of Bergen County in New Jersey, and a former dayyan, or judge, on the Beth Din of America, he has held some of the most prominent positions in modern Orthodoxy and continues to enjoy the support of his large and influential congregation.

From his position of prominence, Pruzansky recently authored a blog post asserting that in many cases, women who report being raped on college campuses are leveling false allegations because they felt spurned by their romantic partners or were intoxicated at the time of the act. Citing no evidence other than “media reports,” he asserts that most reported rapes on campus are “situations in which the couple had a romantic relationship that went sour.” Having treated intimacy as “something casual and cavalier,” he writes, many accusers bear responsibility for the “misunderstandings, miscommunications and gray areas” that are erroneously called “rape” (his quotation marks).

“If indeed there was a ‘rape culture’ on American campuses,” writes Pruzansky, “no intelligent woman would want to attend college. The fact that more women attend college today than men itself belies the accusation.”

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MINNESOTA
Jeff Anderson and Associates

4/15/2016

Fr. Bernard Steiner, Fr. Richard Gross and Fr. Edward Ardolf publicly identified for the first time

Doe 62 Complaint
Doe 172 Complaint
Doe 294 Complaint

(New Ulm, MN) – Three sexual abuse survivors have identified three priests from the Diocese of New Ulm as child abusers. The priests, Fr. Bernard Steiner, Fr. Richard Gross and Fr. Edward Ardolf, are being publicly named for the first time.

Fr. Bernard Steiner: Steiner was ordained in 1964 in the Diocese of New Ulm and worked in several parishes throughout Southern and West-Central Minnesota during his clerical career, including parishes and schools in Springfield, Sanborn, Dawson, Clarkfield, Lafayette, Winthrop, Appleton, Holloway, Comfrey, Madison, Granite Falls, Clara City, Raymond, Benson, Clontarf, Danvers, DeGraff, Lamberton, Green Isle, Faxon Township, Jessenland and Henderson. Steiner retired from active ministry in 2005. Doe 172 was abused at the Church of St. Paul in Comfrey, Minnesota in the 1970s.

Fr. Richard Gross: Gross was ordained in 1962 in the Diocese of New Ulm and worked in parishes in New Ulm, Taunton, Rosen, Hutchinson and Watkins. Gross retired from ministry in 2003. Doe 62 was sexually abused by Gross in the mid-1960s at St. Mary’s parish in New Ulm.

Fr. Edward Ardolf: Ardolf was ordained in 1964 in the Diocese of New Ulm and retired from active ministry in 2012. During his clerical career, Ardolf worked in several parishes and schools in the following locations: Winsted; New Ulm (including Cathedral High School); North Mankato (including Loyola High School); Springfield, Canby, St. Leo, Sleepy Eye, and Nicollet. Doe 294 was sexually abused by Gross at St. Raphael’s in Springfield.

All three lawsuits were brought under the Minnesota Child Victims Act, a law passed in 2013 allowing survivors of child sexual abuse to bring cases against the perpetrators who abused them and any institution who may have covered up the abuse. The deadline to file a legal claim is May 25, 2016.

“We applaud the courage and strength of all three survivors in coming forward and sharing their truths,” said Attorney Jeff Anderson. “Our children and communities are safer because these brave survivors chose to speak out and share their stories.”

Contact: Jeff Anderson: Office: 651.964.3523 Cell: 612.817.8665
Contact: Mike Finnegan: Office: 651.964.3523 Cell: 612.205.5531

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MINNESOTA
West Central Tribune

Three priests in the Diocese of New Ulm have been named for the first time in civil lawsuits accusing them of abusing children.

Revs. Bernard Steiner, Richard Gross and Edward Ardolf were named Friday in a press release through the law firm Jeff Anderson and Associates.

The three victims bringing the lawsuits against Steiner, Gross and Ardolf, named under the anonymous John Doe monikers 172, 62 and 294, alledge they were abused as children in the mid-1960s and 1970s in Comfrey, New Ulm and Springfield.

The three newly-accused priests worked in multiple parishes throughout southern and west central Minnesota from the 1960s up to as late as 2012.

Steiner worked in nearly two dozen communities before retiring in 2005, including Appleton, Madison, Granite Falls, Clara City, Raymond, Benson, Danvers, Dawson and Clarkfield.

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MINNESOTA
Valley News Live

Crookston, Minn. (Valley News Live) Church goers in northwestern Minnesota can expect a protest of sorts this Sunday.

SNAP, the “Survivors Network of those abused by Priests”, plans to hand out leaflets opposing a decision by the church to lift the suspension of Father Joseph Jeyapaul. Jeyapaul was convicted of a sex crime in Greenbush, Minnesota and is now back in his home country of India.

Father Joseph Jeyapaul plead guilty to sexually abusing a teenage girl at his residence, next to the Catholic Church in Greenbush, Minnesota.

Jeyapaul served 4 years in prison and was sent back to his native Country of India. Church officials lifted a suspension against him and it’s expected he’ll soon begin will begin working in a church in India.

Barbara Dorris, SNAP: “And yet, everything we know about a sexual predator is that they will continue to molest throughout their lifetime. And to put this man back is really a slap in the face to victims everywhere.”

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PENNSYLVANIA
The Legal Intelligencer

Max Mitchell and Ben Seal, The Legal Intelligencer
April 15, 2016

If a bill aimed at lifting time restrictions in civil and criminal child sex abuse cases becomes law, a wave of new prosecutions and civil suits could wash over Pennsylvania. But according to attorneys, the litigation wouldn’t be without complications.

HB 1947, sponsored by Rep. Ron Marsico, R-Dauphin, easily cleared the House of Representatives on a 180-15 vote April 12. If enacted, it would increase the statute of limitations from 12 to 32 years upon turning 18 for victims to bring claims for civil damages. It would also eliminate the statute of limitations for criminal prosecutions tied to child sexual abuse.

According to attorneys working in the civil and criminal arenas, opening up new avenues for pursuing decades-old cases could lead to evidentiary complications, potential constitutional challenges and res judicata issues, among other things.

Plaintiffs attorneys lauded the bill, but also noted its complications.

Ross Feller Casey attorney Matthew Casey, who represented several victims of serial child molester Jerry Sandusky, said the bill would be “an enormously positive and just development,” but he agreed with other attorneys that any new cases brought following a change in the statutes would be inherently difficult cases because they would involve much older incidents.

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UNITED STATES
Peoria Journal Star

By Matthew T. Mangino

Pennsylvania has had an agonizing and embarrassing series of scandals involving sexual exploitation of children. The Catholic Diocese of Philadelphia; Penn State; and the indictment of Franciscan friars in western Pennsylvania have whipped the state legislature into a frenzy.

Pennsylvania House Bill 1947 is a byproduct of those frenzied lawmakers. The bill would treat future child sex-abuse crimes like murder, which can be prosecuted any time, by eliminating a recently expanded 32-year statute of limitation.

Traditionally, the statute of limitations for pursuing criminal prosecution of child sexual assault was five years after the victim’s 18th birthday. In 2002, the statute of limitations for child sexual abuse was extended to 12 years after the victim’s 18th birthday. In 2007, the statute of limitations was extended again as part of a comprehensive package of statutes related to child abuse. As a result, Pennsylvania prosecutors have until the victim’s 50th birthday to file criminal charges for abuse that occurred before the victim turned 18. That would change, yet again, under the pending legislation.

The bill would also add 20 years to the 12-year civil statute of limitations for future cases. Such a change would allow child victims to file a civil suit until their 50th birthdays, up from their 30th under current law.

Therein lies the rub. If a lawmaker genuinely believes that sexual abuse of a child is equally heinous and akin to murder, then the families of murder victims should have an equal opportunity to file a civil lawsuit against the killer.

In Pennsylvania, the family of a murder victim has two years to pursue a wrongful death action. In the case of child sexual assault the victim would have — under the new legislation — 32 years to file suit after the victim’s 18th birthday.

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UNITED STATES
Raw Story

TOM BOGGIONI
15 APR 2016

Faced with what appears to be an epidemic of child sex abuse cases, U.S. churches have taken to asking prospective employees if they have ever been sexually assaulted based on the belief that a childhood attack may result in the victim becoming an potential abuser.

Writing at the Daily Beast, activist and journalist Zack Kopplin notes the rising tide of churches requesting the sexual history of job applicants as a condition of employment — including porn-viewing habits.

While churches should be commended for taking a hard look at applicants who might be working with small children, Kopplin points out they have another motive.

Money.

Wary of civil lawsuits when a church employee is arrested for sexually assaulting a parishioner or their child, churches have begun pressing potential employees to divulge answers to questions one would never think would come up in a job interview.

“Have you ever been physically or sexually abused as a child?” reads a question on the job application at the Twin City Bible Church in Urbana, Illinois, before asking: “If yes, when, where, and what were the circumstances?”

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ALABAMA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Friday, April 15, 2016

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

A disturbing new investigation has found that “Alabama offers religious day cares the most freedom of any state, shielding them from most government oversight.” As a result, innocent children suffer.

“More than 900 Alabama day cares say they are affiliated with religious groups, leaving almost half of all child care in the state free from most regulation,” according to licensing documents, the new report says.

The horrifying details are here:

[Reveal: The Center for Investigative Journalism]

It’s time for action.

Surely Alabama’s governor or attorney general have some emergency powers they can use to better protect kids. Surely there’s one Alabama legislator who cares enough to introduce a bill to better safeguard kids. Surely there are a handful of lawmakers who would at least insist on a public hearing to warn parents about these dangers.

Surely there are Alabama religious leaders, agency officials and law enforcement personnel who have the courage to use their bully pulpits and hold a few news conferences to let families know of this troubling situations.

Surely managers of secular Alabama day care centers can do likewise.

Surely Alabama adults care more about kids’ safety than adults’ beliefs.

We urge lawmakers to toughen laws so that kids are safer in every day care facility. The religious beliefs of adults cannot trump the physical safety of children. Adults can believe whatever they like but cannot do whatever they like, especially when innocent kids are at stake.

We urge parents to think long and hard, and do considerable research, before putting kids in religiously-affiliated Alabama day care programs.

We urge religious day care owners to voluntarily comply with or exceed state safety standards for secular day cares and prod other religious institutions to do likewise.

And we urge police, prosecutors, judges to do all they can to deter church employees from endangering kids by exploiting religious exemptions for their own financial benefit by aggressively investigating, charging, convicting and punishing wrongdoers.

No matter what lawmakers, officials or church personnel do or don’t do, we urge every single person who saw, suspected or suffered child sex crimes and cover ups in Alabama day care centers to protect kids by calling police, get help by calling therapists, expose wrongdoers by calling journalists, get justice by calling attorneys, and get comfort 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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PENNSYLVANIA
Church Militant

by Joseph Pelletier • ChurchMilitant.com • April 15, 2016

All three friars accused of aiding and abetting have pleaded not guilty to charges

HOLLIDAYSBURG, Pa. (ChurchMilitant.com) – A hearing is beginning in the case of three Franciscan friars who purportedly allowed a known homosexual abuser to have access to minors.

Five witnesses testified Thursday in the case against Giles Schinelli, Robert D’Aversa and Anthony Criscitelli, the three former provincial ministers of Franciscan Friars, Third Order Regulars, Province of the Immaculate Conception in western Pennsylvania. The trio are charged with permitting Br. Stephen Baker to work with children despite known allegations of abuse, resulting in the molestation of potentially over 100 minors, the vast majority being post-pubescent males.

The first testimony came from Jessica Eger, a special agent with the Pennsylvania Bureau of Criminal Investigation, who asserted that all three friars knew of the allegations against Baker as early as 1977. According to Eger, Giles Schinelli, the first of the three to head the province, assigned the brother to Bishop McCort High School in Johnstown in 1992 in spite of accusations of abuse and a private admission from Schinelli himself that Baker should not have “one-on-one” contact with children.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Dennis Coday | Apr. 14, 2016

WASHINGTON
Tony Spence, director and editor-in-chief of Catholic News Service since 2004, unexpectedly resigned from that position Wednesday at the request of a U.S. bishops’ conference official.

In recent days Spence had been attacked by conservative Catholic blogs for tweets he had posted about controversial religious freedom bills in North Carolina and Georgia. These sites accused Spence of “promoting the LGBT agenda.”

“The far right blogsphere and their troops started coming after me again and it was too much for the USCCB,” Spence told NCR in an interview Thursday.

“The secretary general [of the U.S. bishops’ conference] asked for my resignation, because the conference had lost confidence in my ability to lead CNS,” Spence told NCR.

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ISRAEL/RUSSIA
Rapsi

MOSCOW, April 15 (RAPSI) – Israeli Minister of Justice Ayelet Shaked has signed an order on extradition of Russian priest Gleb Grozovsky who stands charged with sexual abuse of children, his lawyer Haim Azencott told RAPSI on Friday.

“The order was signed. It seems we can’t do much in this situation,” the lawyer said.

According to Azencott, the next move for Grozovsky’s defense is to ensure fair trial and humane treatment for his client by asking a court to encourage Israeli investigators to influence their Russian colleagues in this matter.

No comments from Israeli Ministry of Justice and the Attorney General of Israel are available yet.

According to Russian investigators, Grozovsky committed sex crimes against several minors in 2011 and 2013.

In 2013, he fled to Israel where he applied for citizenship. However, his application was dismissed.

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MINNESOTA
Legal Examiner

Posted by Mike Bryant
April 15, 2016

Time is running out. Survivors of sexual abuse have until May 26, 2016 to seek justice against their attackers. The Window is limited by the statute of limitation that was expanded by the Child Victims Act. Anyone who was sexually abused by an employee of the diocese, or who believes the diocese is liable for their abuse have until May 2016.

Those with claims must act within that time.

Abuse of children and the continued silence by the offenders needs to be prevented. If you suffered, saw, or suspected such events, it is important to know that there is help out there.

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PENNSYLVANIA
WJAC

BY LAUREN HENSLEY THURSDAY, APRIL 14TH 2016

HOLLIDAYSBURG, Pa. — Two witnesses testified Thursday in relation to the diocese investigation throughout Johnstown and Altoona.

Robert D’Aversa, Anthony Criscitelli and Giles Schinelli went into court at 9 a.m. and exited six hours later.

The Attorney General said the three friars took part in an alleged conspiracy that allowed over 80 victims to be sexually abused by Brother Stephen Baker, placing hundreds of other children in danger.

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PENNSYLVANIA
We Are Central PA

[with video]

Altoona, Blair County, Pa.

The bill that would abolish the statute of limitations for the criminal prosecution of sexual abuse crimes is waiting for consideration in the PA Senate.

On Tuesday, the PA House overwhelmingly passed the bill 166 to 28. Five of those no votes came from representatives from our region.

One of the cases that helped pushed this change was the Grand Jury investigation in the Altoona-Johnstown Catholic Diocese and the cover up of dozens of accused pedophiles. This had many in the region asking why Representatives voted against the bill when there are abuse cases here in central PA.

We reached all of the Representatives who voted no, and their biggest concerns seemed to be the constitutionality of the bill and how it will affect organizations.

Representative Cris Dush (R) said, “I’m getting some messages back home as to the constitutionality question on this amendment.”

That question — can the government amend a law to work retroactively? That’s why some lawmakers say they voted against House Bill 1947.

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