ABUSE TRACKER

IRELAND
Herald

BY BARRY DUGGAN – 28 MAY 2014

THE journalist who presented the infamous RTE Mission to Prey’ which seriously defamed a parish priest has returned to airwaves with the State broadcaster.

Aoife Kavanagh resigned from RTE after Prime Time Investigates’ falsely accused Galway priest, Fr Kevin Reynolds, of raping and abandoning a child he fathered.

The allegations were made in May 2011 and Fr Reynolds denied all allegations but agreed to step down from his ministry in Ahascragh, Co Galway, while the claims were investigated. He undertook the paternity test, which came back negative.

SETTLEMENT

Fr Reynolds – who worked in Kenya for 33 years – went to the High Court and accepted an out-of-court settlement from RTE for an undisclosed sum believed to be in the region of €1m.

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UNITED STATES
Religion News Service

Boz Tchividjian | Jan 21, 2014

I recently discovered a video of a convicted female sex offender that was posted by her church. At first glance, some may think this is a wonderful video about God’s love and redemption. However, a closer look exposes something much different.

Though I don’t know the intended purpose of this video, its unintended result is that it provides at least five self-serving responses by sex offenders in the church. So perhaps one redeeming consequence of this highly troubling video is to teach us more about the distorted beliefs and understandings perpetrators have about the crimes they have committed. Let’s take a quick look at these five responses:

1. The “I’m just not that person anymore” response: This is when offenders claim that they have recently “accepted Jesus” and are not the same person that committed the sexual offense. This type of self-serving statement subtly distances the offender from involvement and responsibility in the very crime he/she committed. The offender in the video may be a new person in Jesus, and her position before God may have changed (that is between her and God). However, she remains the person who sexually abused a child and that must never be forgotten by her or those around her.

2. The “I understand” response: Sexual offenders often attempt to convince others that they understand the harm they have caused to the victim. In the video, the offender remarks, “I understand the pain and bitterness I have caused”. Is this any different than a murderer telling the parents of the person he murdered that he understands their pain? Really?? This appearance of empathy for the victim is usually motivated by the desire to develop sympathy for the offender. Such self-centered statements often achieve the desired result from church members, all the while re-traumatizing the victim.

3. The “I was inappropriate” response: Sexual offenders often label their abuse in non-abusive language in order to minimize the gravity of their offense. During the video, this offender repeatedly described her acts of raping a 14-year-old boy as merely, “inappropriate” and “selfish”. At no time does she ever even use the term “abuse” or even refer to her behavior as “criminal”. This is a teacher who was convicted of “engaging in a sexual act or deviant sexual intercourse” with a minor student. We must never allow offenders to get away with trying to water down the criminal reality of their actions. This offender’s behavior was light years beyond inappropriate and selfish. It was a serious felony.

4. The “I am a victim” response: Sex offenders often attempt to gain sympathy by portraying themselves as a victim of their own weaknesses and struggles. This is demonstrated clearly in the video when she says, “I had insecurities, I had pain in my own heart and a void I thought I needed to fill through attention and all kinds of other things.” Such statements victimize the perpetrator while also shifting attention away from the immeasurable damage they have caused. Perpetrators understand that a crime that has two victims, instead of one victim and one perpetrator, makes their life much easier.

5. The “make the victim feel guilty” response: Within the church, it is not uncommon for perpetrators (and others) to infer that the trauma victims experience as a result of the abuse is due to their own spiritual weaknesses. At one point in the video, this offender remarks, “I pray that each of you be free of the pain, bitterness, anger, anxiety…these are not things from God.” Going back to my murder analogy, how would parents react if the person who killed their son tells them that their anger and pain is not of God? Such statements are self-serving attempts by the offender to cause immeasurable guilt in an already traumatized victim. Perpetrators do this in order to silence victims. –

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VIRGINIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, May 28, 2014

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

A Virginia Catholic school volunteer has been arrested on three counts of sexual abuse with a child. We are grateful to the brave victims who spoke up and to law enforcement for arresting this predator. And we are so disappointed in the response by Richmond Catholic officials.

[The Virginian-Pilot]

David Linn Sellers was a volunteer at Christ the King school prior to his arrest. Catholic officials claim the alleged abuse did not occur on church or school property or “when the individual was in a volunteer capacity.”

We wish Catholic officials would spend less time trying to distance themselves from their predators and more time trying to find others who saw, suspected or suffered their crimes.

We feel it is dangerous and self serving to make these claims. In many child sexual abuse cases, more victims with more information come forward as they gain courage from seeing others speaking out.

One of the Richmond bishop’s public relations staffers also refused to confirm that Sellers was the individual charged with sexual abuse when a journalist asked. Shame on her. Catholic officials claim to be “open” in child sex cases. So why won’t they disclose a crucial detail – like the name of the arrested predator – when asked?

We hope there are no other victims, but we beg Bishop Francis Xavier DiLorenzo to personally visit this parish and aggressively reach out to any other possible victims of Seller who might be suffering in silence and self-blame. Anyone with knowledge or suspicions of child sex crimes should immediately call secular officials – not church officials – and protect others and start healing.

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MISSOURI
KMBZ

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – There’s speculation at the Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocese, that Pope Francis may have made a direct reference to Bishop Robert Finn.

The pontiff declared zero tolerance for any member of the clergy who would violate a child. Pope Francis said three bishops are currently under investigation for abuse related reasons, one is already convicted and needs punishment.

Finn was convicted of failing to report suspected child abuse by ex-priest Shawn Ratigan. Lewd images of little girls were found on his computer. Rebecca Randles, represents several plaintiffs in the Ratigan case.

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CONNECTICUT
National Catholic Reporter

Brian Roewe | May. 27, 2014

BRIDGEPORT, CONN. For 492 days, the Bridgeport, Conn., diocese was without a bishop. The void came in May 2012 when Bishop William Lori moved 250 miles south as archbishop of Baltimore. The long interregnum created somewhat of a chasm between past and future for the area’s 400,000-plus Catholics.

On July 31, Pope Francis named Frank Caggiano, an auxiliary bishop from nearby Brooklyn, N.Y., as the fifth bishop of Bridgeport. Installed Sept. 19 — his deceased mother’s birthday — before 1,200-plus people, Caggiano spoke of the transformative power of bridges, both physical and spiritual, to bring together communities and fortify faiths.

“Bridges unite, they open opportunity, they can even transform human life,” he said in the homily.

So it was that the bishop born and bred in the shadow of the Brooklyn Bridge became the leader of a diocese named after such spans. In eight months, Caggiano, 55, has himself gone to work buttressing existing networks, repairing those long abandoned and constructing new connections.

“There’s always the great challenge of allowing people to see that which unites us is greater than that which divides us,” Caggiano told NCR in an April 8 interview.

Bridgeport is a relatively young diocese that presents unique dichotomies. Its borders follow those of Fairfield County, among the wealthiest areas in the country, while its center, Bridgeport, is among the nation’s poorest cities. Its sizeable immigrant population adds to the diversity Caggiano calls “the fabric of life.”

In recent years, the diocese has seen its share of scandals. Allegations of clergy sexually abusing minors have been limited, but two priests in the past seven years have gone to jail for embezzling parish funds. In January 2013, Msgr. Kevin Wallin, aka “Msgr. Meth,” was indicted for his role in a drug distribution ring, for which he laundered money through an adult store.

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AUSTRALIA
Business Spectator

The Abbott government shifted $4 million in unspent money from the child sexual abuse royal commission to the inquiry into a Labor government home insulation program.

The royal commission into the stimulus program, which led to four deaths, began just before Christmas.

It heard from former prime minister Kevin Rudd and his former ministers Peter Garrett, Greg Combet and Mark Arbib earlier in May.

Now the Attorney-General’s Department has revealed $4 million of funding for the 18-month-old Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse was redirected to the insulation royal commission.

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AUSTRALIA
news.com.au

Attorney General Senator George Brandis accused of covering up movement of royal commission funds

THE Attorney-General George Brandis has been accused of attempting to cover up the movement of funds from the Royal Commission into Child Sexual Abuse to Royal Commission into the Home Insulation Program.

In what has been described by Shadow Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus as an “indication of the government’s twisted priorities”, the accusation comes after Senate Estimates revealed the Abbott government shifted millions of dollars in unspent money from the child sexual abuse royal inquiry to the inquiry into the former-Labor government’s home insulation program.

Labor’s disastrous program resulted in the deaths of four young men.

“They [Liberal party] said in Opposition that they supported the royal commission, but they are now taking from it to pay for the royal commission insulation program,” Mr Dreyfus told news.com.au.

“To have deliberately taken money from the child sexual abuse commission and to try to conceal what they’ve done is quite wrong.”

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian (UK)

Daniel Hurst, political correspondent
theguardian.com, Tuesday 27 May 2014

Nearly $7m previously earmarked for the royal commission into child sexual abuse has been redirected into the Abbott government’s $20m inquiry into Labor’s home insulation scheme.

The attorney general, George Brandis, had previously denied that funding for the insulation royal commission had been offset by cuts to any other royal commission.

Brandis told a parliamentary committee hearing in February he understood the funding for the insulation royal commission had been “absorbed by the department itself” and “no money has been taken away from anywhere else”. But he vowed at the time to take the question on notice.

The formal answer provided to the Senate estimates committee shows the Attorney General’s Department, the Department of the Environment and the Department of Industry each contributed $6.7m for the home insulation royal commission, while the Finance Department provided $1m.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC – The World Today

ELEANOR HALL: Labor and the Greens are demanding to know why the Federal Government has taken millions of dollars out of the budget for the Child Sexual Abuse Royal Commission.

The Government has redirected that money into the Royal Commission into the Rudd government’s home insulation scheme.

From Parliament House, James Glenday reports.

JAMES GLENDAY: Harrowing and at times horrific testimony of victims has been the feature of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

But there are fears those in charge may not have enough money to complete their jobs properly.

ADAM BANDT: It seems the Government’s prepared to play politics with anything.

JAMES GLENDAY: Greens spokesman Adam Bandt and shadow attorney-general Mark Dreyfus say they’re alarmed by an Abbott Government decision to redirect millions from the inquiry into the Royal Commission into the Rudd government’s problem plagued home insulation program.

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AUSTRALIA
Coffs Coast Advocate

MILLIONS of dollars in funding for the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse have been redirected to the Abbott government’s home insulation inquiry.

The change in funding was revealed in answers to Questions on Notice posed during February Senate Estimates hearings.

The royal commission chief Janette Dines has resigned.

Dines, praised as the driving force behind the royal commission which began in 2012, will leave the position on June 6.

The answers show the government reallocated $4 million in funds from the child sexual abuse inquiry to fund its Royal Commission on the home insulation program completed under the previous government.

Documents filed with the Senate say the money was redirected from “savings achieved in the 2013-14 capital budget” for the child sexual abuse inquiry.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

[with video]

The head of the Attorney-General’s Department has rejected claims that funding has been taken from the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse to give to the home insulation royal commission.

The child sexual abuse royal commission is operating on a budget of $377 million until mid-2016.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott has described it as “the best-funded royal commission in Australia’s history”.

Documents provided to the Senate have shown that late last year, $6.7 million was redirected from the child abuse inquiry and put towards the home insulation royal commission.

Labor frontbencher Mark Dreyfus had demanded the Government explain “what they’ve done by taking funding away”.

“We need to know that this Government is standing fully behind the royal commission,” he said.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

By JOANNE MCCARTHY May 28, 2014

THE Abbott government’s decision to reallocate money from the child sexual abuse royal commission to its inquiry into the former government’s home insulation scheme is an own goal for a few reasons.

It reinforces the widespread belief this government puts politics before just about anything.

By transferring money from a royal commission that has so comprehensively proven it was needed to another that was too easily labelled a political witch hunt, the government is giving critics a free kick and an easy target.

It reinforces the belief its public statements on sensitive subjects should always be received with a healthy dash of cynicism.

At a Senate committee hearing in February, Attorney-General George Brandis answered ‘‘No’’ when asked if there had been any offsets from other inquiries to fund the government’s $19million home insulation royal commission.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Patsy McGarry

Wed, May 28, 2014

Legislation is being prepared at the Department of Education to preserve testimony given in confidence by abuse survivors to the Ryan commission and the Residential Institutions Redress Board despite earlier assurance such information would be destroyed.

The plan now is to have the documentation retained in the National Archives and sealed for a period of at least 75 years, it has emerged. There would be restricted access to the information after that period.

The move will be of concern to those who gave evidence believing it would always remain secret. Responding to a query from The Irish Times yesterday, a spokeswoman for the Department of Education said “yes, the Government agreed in principle to the Minister for Education and Skills bringing forward legislative proposals to allow the retention of the records of the commission, the redress board and the review committee [of the redress board].”

Strict safeguards

She continued: “These proposals will include amendments to existing legislation where necessary. It is intended that the records will be retained in the National Archives and completely sealed for a period of at least 75 years following which access to them would be subject to strict safeguards. Preparatory work on the General Scheme of the Bill is under way.”

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CANADA
Nunatsiaq Online

DAVID MURPHY

Former priest Eric Dejaeger has violated almost every oath taken by a priest — from celibacy to protecting others — and that should tell the court just how credible his testimony is, Crown prosecutor Doug Curliss argued May 27.

In fact, Dejaeger’s story is “simply unbelievable,” Curliss told Justice Robert Kilpatrick during final arguments at Dejaeger’s trial at the Nunavut Court of Justice.

Curliss tried to poke holes in Dejaeger’s character by emphasizing Dejaeger’s previous 10 convictions for sexual assault stemming from his time in Baker Lake, and the fact that he fled Canada when charges emerged from his residency in Igloolik between 1978 and 1982.

Because of his “unbelievable” testimony and because over 40 witnesses testified against him — alleging rape, inappropriate touching and even bestiality — Dejaeger must be found guilty, Curliss said.

It took the Crown Prosecutor nearly five to summarize his case against Dejaeger, a Belgian-born, ex-priest who faces 68 sex-related charges, mostly involving children.

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UNITED STATES
Boston Magazine

By Eric Randall | Boston Daily | May 27, 2014

Pope Francis announced this weekend that, with the help of Boston’s Cardinal Sean O’Malley, he plans to hold a meeting with victims of sexual abuse in the next few months. And though he offered a strong condemnation of abuse in his press conference, the gesture again reveals the clergy abuse scandal as one area where Francis hasn’t yet forged a reputation as a transformational leader.

On other issues, the Pope has bred his reputation not so much by announcing radical changes to church doctrine as by speaking in a humble, plainspoken tone. “Who am I to judge?” he asked of gay priests without actually changing the church’s policy toward them. This weekend, he brought the same bluntness to his remarks on the abuse scandal.

“Sexual abuse is such an ugly crime … because a priest who does this betrays the body of the Lord. It is like a satanic Mass,” he said.

And yet, he hasn’t pleased everyone. He spoke days after a United Nations report criticized the Vatican’s response to the abuse scandals, accusing the church of failing to require that charges be reported to police, allowing the moving of clergy to evade discipline, and failing to help victims obtain compensation.

David Clohessy, executive director of the U.S. victims’ group, Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, told the Associated Press that Francis hasn’t made real changes in the area of clergy abuse.

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UNITED STATES
dotCommonweal

May 27, 2014
Grant Gallicho

During a press conference on the return flight from the Holy Land yesterday, Pope Francis did that thing he does: he made some news. The pope revealed that he would soon meet with abuse victims, promising to “move forward on this issue with zero tolerance”–and he announced that three bishops were “under investigation.” One of them “has already been found guilty, and we are now considering the penalty to be imposed.” He didn’t name the bishops, nor did he elaborate on the details of their cases.

Naturally, the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests was not impressed. “Francis made three meaningless abuse comments today,” according to Joelle Casteix, western regional director of SNAP. “None of them are significant in any way. All are disappointing because they amount to more public relations instead of real action.” SNAP’s executive director, David Clohessy, echoed that sentiment in his comment to the Boston Globe: “This means nothing,” he said. Francis’s remarks are just “another savvy public-relations move that will protect no kids, expose no predators, prevent no cover-ups, and punish no enablers.’’

Really? I understand that SNAP must ritually denounce anything a bishop has to say about the sexual-abuse crisis. But isn’t this what SNAP wants? To see bishops held accountable for their failures to protect kids from abusive clerics? Did Clohessy absorb what Francis actually said? The pope explained that three bishops are being investigated, that one of them has already been found guilty, and that the Vatican is figuring out what sort of punishment to mete out. This is anything but meaningless. Because, as everyone at SNAP knows, there aren’t many bishops who have been convicted of a crime during this long scandal.

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MEXICO
IOL

Mexico City –

A Mexican priest whose picture was plastered on a billboard asking any child sex abuse victims to report him was suspended by the Roman Catholic church over paedophilia accusations.

After suspending him on the Vatican’s orders, the archdiocese in the northern state of San Luis Potosi filed a child sex abuse complaint with prosecutors against the priest, Eduardo Cordova Bautista, said the Catholic Lawyers Association of Mexico.

Armando Martinez, president of the association who led the investigation, told AFP that Cordova was suspended after the church received claims that he abused a child in 2012. He refused to disclose the child’s age and sex.

Mexican media have published pictures of a billboard signed by a pro-victims group showing the priest’s face and the plea: “Were you a victim? Report him!”

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UNITED STATES
Washington Post

May 27, 2014 9:51 PM EDT — Barbara Blaine, president of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP), criticizes Pope Francis’s meeting with a group of sex abuse victims, calling it a public relations ploy. (AP)

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NEW JERSEY
The Record

MAY 28, 2014

IN THE wake of the sex-abuse scandals that have rocked the Roman Catholic Church, there have been too few cases of diocesan bishops acting in the full spirit of the U.S. bishops’ self-adopted policy to combat future cases of abuse. That makes Paterson Bishop Arthur Serratelli’s recent actions truly worthy of note.

Early last week, Serratelli received a letter complaining that a former priest of the Newark Archdiocese, John Capparelli, had attended an annual Family Festival at Our Lady of the Valley Parish in Wayne. Capparelli had been accused of sexually abusing children, suspended from the priesthood in 1992 and defrocked by the Vatican in March. He should have no contact with children on any parish site.

Yet at the May 12 festival, he was seen talking with Monsignor Chris Di Lella, pastor of Our Lady of the Valley. Capparelli appeared to be at the event with consent of the pastor and did not immediately leave, staying about 30 minutes. On learning of this, Serratelli acted quickly; by week’s end, Di Lella was put on administrative leave and his priestly faculties were suspended. This prevents Di Lella from wearing clerical garb or actively engaging in any ministerial work, such as publicly celebrating Mass.

The punishment may sound harsh — there is no evidence Capparelli had any inappropriate contact with children at the festival — but it is exactly such harsh punishments that are needed to make clear that the men who have been accused of sexually abusing children cannot be given special treatment because they are or once were priests.

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CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Tribune

By George Houde
Special to the Tribune
May 27, 2014

A former volunteer at a northwest suburban church has pleaded guilty to sexually abusing two more developmentally disabled boys, prosecutors said.

Robert Sobczak, 20, of Hoffman Estates, was sentenced in Cook County court Tuesday to seven years in prison after pleading guilty to molesting a 15-year-old at a birthday party and an 8-year-old at Willow Creek Community Church in separate incidents.

The admission followed an earlier guilty plea by Sobczak in a case involving another boy at Willow Creek.

The victims in all three cases were special needs children, prosecutors said.

Other charges, including kidnapping, were dropped in exchange for his new guilty plea to a charge of aggravated criminal sexual abuse. He received the maximum sentence for the Class 2 felony.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

Tony Abbott defends funding of royal commission into sexual abuse, denying it will be short-changed

May 28, 2014

Michael Gordon and Rachel Browne

Tony Abbott has predicted that the inquiry into institutional responses to child sexual abuse will be “best-funded royal commission in Australia history” after conceding that the inquiry had underspent its budget last year.

As the commission insisted it had enough funding to perform its work, advocates expressed alarm that money had been redirected to the “pink batts” royal commission into the Rudd government’s home insulation scheme and concern that the inquiry might fail to meet increasing demand from abuse victims to be heard.

“At the moment, it seems to be adequately resourced, but the main game here will be for governments to appropriately resource the royal commission to finish its job,” said Francis Sullivan, chief executive of the Truth, Justice and Healing Council of the Catholic Church.

The inquiry is expected next month to seek an extension beyond its December 2015 wind-up date, with Attorney-General George Brandis saying any request, and that additional resources that will be required, will be “fully and properly considered”.

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NEW YORK
Newsday

By BART JONES bart.jones@newsday.com

Pope Francis’ decision to meet with church sex abuse victims was met with praise from some Long Island Catholics who view it as a compassionate move, and with criticism from others, including activists who said they believe the plan falls short.

The pontiff, on a return flight from a three-day trip to the Middle East, told reporters Monday that he will celebrate a Mass at the Vatican in coming weeks with a half-dozen abuse victims and hold a private meeting to hear from them.

He also revealed that three bishops are under investigation by the Vatican for abuse-related reasons, though it was not clear if they were accused of committing abuse or of having helped to cover it up.

“There are no privileges,” Francis said, declaring “zero tolerance” for any member of the clergy who violates a child.

Msgr. James McNamara, pastor of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal Church in Point Lookout and an episcopal vicar in the Diocese of Rockville Centre, said Francis is making “a good move, a step in the right direction.”

“I think he is addressing it right on,” McNamara said. “He seems to me to be a very sincere and open man and a very pastoral man. I think he will bring all those qualities to the conversation.”

But John Salveson, 58, who alleges that he was abused by Robert Huneke, who has since died, starting in 1969 when Salveson was a 13-year-old freshman at St. Dominic High School in Oyster Bay and Huneke was a priest at St. Dominic parish, said the pope’s plans fall short. Salveson testified before a Suffolk County grand jury that investigated sex abuse by priests in the Diocese of Rockville Centre and released its report in February 2003.

“I think talk is cheap,” said Salveson, who now lives in Pennsylvania and heads the Foundation to Abolish Child Sex Abuse, a nonprofit advocacy group. “This is trying to put a house on fire out with a garden hose.”

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SOUTH AFRICA
allAfrica

GroundUp

BY JOHNNIE ISAAC, 27 MAY 2014

Supporters and accusers of a pastor accused of rape demonstrated outside the Khayelitsha Magistrates Court during his bail hearing yesterday.

The pastor is facing at least one charge of rape after allegedly molesting a 23-year-old member of his congregation over the past three years.

He was arrested earlier this month following complaints that he sexually assaulted the woman, then 19, fathered her child and forced her to give up the child for adoption.

A group of women from the congregation demonstrated outside the court, raising a banner claiming his innocence. One told GroundUp the allegations “are works of the devil.”

Another said former members of the congregation had made up the accusations “because they can’t live according to the word of God.”

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VIRGINIA
NBC 12

By Laura Geller
By Chris Thomas

The man brought in to lead the Richmond Outreach Center is out after two months on the job.

Joe Donahue released a statement on his departure.

“We understood that it would be difficult (a sea of red-flag warnings) but we never anticipated anything like what has occurred since May 22 2014.,” said Donahue. “Despite ongoing encouragement from the Board of Directors, and without warning, I was terminated.”

Joe Donahue was brought in to lead the ROC in the wake of a scandal surrounding former senior pastor Geronimo “Pastor G” Aguilar. Pastor G and three other pastors resigned from the Richmond Outreach Center last year.

Donahue was brought in to replace Aguilar in late March following an extensive search. He came from Georgia to take over as senior pastor.

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UNITED STATES
Cranach: A Blog of Veith

May 28, 2014 By Gene Veith

Tullian Tchividjian, the pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian and the grandson of Billy Graham, was kicked out of the Gospel Coalition blogging community for what the GC folks are calling a doctrinal issue over sanctification. Others claim other reasons, including Rev. Tchividijian’s criticism of how other GC members handled a sexual abuse scandal. But I take the official statement from the Reformed organization seriously.

As we have posted, Rev. Tchividijian discovered the distinction between Law and Gospel in some Lutheran writers who helped him through a personal crisis in his ministry. The complaints about “anti-nominanism,” being weak on sanctification, and downplaying the role of moral improvement in salvation sound like common Calvinist misunderstandings of Lutheranism. From Tullian Tchividjian Pushes Back Against Tim Keller, DA Carson’s Gospel Coalition Statement on His Exit:

Tchividjian’s theological divergence with others at The Gospel Coalition surfaced earlier this month, after he responded to a post by Jen Wilkin’s post “Failure Is Not a Virtue,” in which she argued that “celebratory failurism asserts that all our attempts to obey will fail, thereby making us the recipients of greater grace. But God does not exhort us to obey just to teach us that we cannot hope to obey. He exhorts us to obey to teach us that, by grace, we can obey, and therein lies hope.”

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VIRGINIA
WVEC

[with video]

WVEC.com
Posted on May 27, 2014

NORFOLK — A volunteer coach at a Norfolk Catholic school has been arrested for sexual offenses against a minor, Catholic Diocese of Richmond spokeswoman Diana Snider confirmed to 13News Now.

Dr. Francine Gagne, principal at Christ The King Catholic School, said in a letter to parents Friday that a “member of the CTK community had been arrested and arraigned.”

Neither Snider nor Gagne named the individual. However, Snider confirmed to 13News Now that David Sellers, a volunteer coach, is no longer with the school.

Court records show 60-year-old David Sellers of Norfolk was arrested on May 21 and charged with object sexual penetration, aggravated sexual battery and liberties with a child by a custodian.

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VIRGINIA
The Virginian-Pilot

By Gary A. Harki
The Virginian-Pilot
May 28, 2014

NORFOLK

A former volunteer at Christ The King Catholic School was arrested and charged with three sexual offenses involving a minor.

David Linn Sellers, 60, of Holly Point Road, Norfolk, was arrested on May 21 and charged with one count each of felony object sexual penetration, aggravated sexual battery, and liberties with a child by custodian, said Officer Daniel Hudson, a spokesman for Norfolk police.

Christ The King Catholic School’s principal, Francine Gagne, sent a letter to parents, letting them know that a volunteer had been charged with sexual offenses involving a child or children.

“As far as we know the alleged misconduct took place in a home setting,” she said. “We do want to respect their privacy and well-being.”

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UNITED STATES
NBC News

BY CHIARA SOTTILE AND CHRISTINA CARON

Pope Francis, 77, showed no signs of exhaustion after his recent three-day trip to the Holy Land, which ended with a lengthy conversation with reporters while on the plane back to Rome. Although his comments about celibacy were largely what made headlines around the world, the pontiff’s no-holds-barred press conference spanned a variety of topics, including the economy and unemployment, divorced Catholics and communion, and the Church’s sexual abuse scandal.

Here are a few highlights: …

‘Door Is Open’ to Future Popes Stepping Down

Pope Benedict XVI led the way for future popes to abdicate when he resigned in 2013. “Will there be others? God knows,” Francis said. “But this door is opened: I think that a bishop of Rome, a Pope that feels his strength is diminishing because now we live much longer, should ask himself the same questions that Pope Benedict did.” …

‘Zero Tolerance’ for Clergy Sexual Abuse

Francis vowed to hold a mass with some of the victims of the clergy sexual abuse scandal and then “go forward, with zero tolerance.”

“A priest that does this betrays the Body of Christ,” he said.

Celibacy and Priests

Greek and Coptic Catholics both allow priests to marry, and because celibacy “is not a dogma of faith, the door is open,” Francis said. “We have stronger things to undertake.”

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MEXICO
Press TV (Iran)

[with video]

The Roman Catholic Church in Mexico has suspended the priesthood of a clergyman over sexual abuse accusations against him.

Eduardo Cordova Bautista’s priesthood was suspended over allegations that he abused a child two years ago. The parents of a 16-year-old boy in Mexico’s San Luis Potosi State had complained of sexual abuse against their son in 2012.

The president of the Catholic Lawyers College of Mexico, Armando Martinez Gomez, said on Tuesday that a child sex abuse complaint against the priest was filed with prosecutors.

Meanwhile, Mexican media outlets have published pictures of a billboard signed by a pro-abuse victims group, showing the priest’s face and asking abuse victims to come forward and testify against the accused pedophile clergymen.

Mexico was rocked by a priest abuse scandal in 1997 after ex-members of the ultra-conservative Legionaries of Christ order accused its founder of sexually abusing young seminarians. Nine former members of the congregation said Marcial Maciel Degollado abused them when they were teenagers. In May 2006, the Vatican ordered Maciel Degollado to give up “any form of public ministry” and retire to a “life of penitence and prayer.”

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VATICAN CITY
The Daily Beast

Barbie Latza Nadeau

In little-noticed remarks aboard the papal plane this week, the pontiff said he wouldn’t rule out following Pope Benedict XVI’s path.

Pope Francis gave a candid midair press briefing to reporters traveling from back from the Middle East to Rome during which he talked about sex, money, and satanic Mass—and retirement.

After a grueling but ultimately successful three day visit to one of the most complicated regions on the planet, the idea of retirement probably sounded pretty good to Francis. So it is no surprise that when reporters traveling with him on the papal plane asked if he would consider resigning like his predecessor Pope Benedict XVI, he said he wouldn’t rule it out.

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PENNSYLVANIA
The Times-Tribune

BY REBEKAH BROWN
Published: May 28, 2014

After the 13-year-old girl helped finish off two, 1-gallon bottles of red wine from Rome, the Rev. Philip Altavilla gave her a ride home.

Now 29, the woman testified at the Rev. Altavilla’s preliminary hearing Tuesday that he pulled the car over during that ride and rubbed her feet and thighs.

Magisterial District Judge John J. Mercuri ruled the suspended priest will go to trial on charges he inappropriately touched the woman 16 years ago.

The Rev. Altavilla’s attorney, Paul Walker, indicated during the hearing that he’ll dispute whether the charges match his client’s conduct. Mr. Walker also raised questions about the statute of limitations on the crime. Police charged the Rev. Altavilla, 48, with indecent assault, criminal attempt to indecent assault and corruption of minors after the now 29-year-old woman came forward in April and told police he gave her alcohol and touched her feet and legs.

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UNITED STATES
POPE FRANCIS the CON-Christ.

Paris Arrow

Opus Dei Beast Deceits Team – PR stunt of the day: Satanic Mass similar to child sexual abuse

In 2010, Benedict XVI blamed the Devil for clergy sexual abuse in his homily for the Year for Priests http://pope-ratz.blogspot.ca/2010/06/eve-and-benedict-xvi-blame-devil.html In 2014, Pope Francis compares child sexual abuse to holding a black Mass or Satanic Mass. Amazing how popes keep trying to escape accountability by always blaming the Devil.

The Opus Dei Beast PR Deceits Team is all over the world’s news media circuit again spewing pathological lies for-and-by Pope Francis but mostly for the Vatican Mammon Beast. Vatican Information Service published in caps, “THE POPE RETURNS TO THE VATICAN AND SPEAKS TO JOURNALISTS ON THE FLIGHT” – and journalists in Italy, Ireland, USA and as far as Australia and New Zealand put in their headlines what the Opus Dei Beast PR Plan for them to publish– see the compilation below.

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MICHIGAN
MLive

By Gary Ridley | gridley@mlive.com
Follow on Twitter
on May 27, 2014

GRAND BLANC, MI — The police investigation into claims that a Grand Blanc priest inappropriately touched the hands and legs of two students will be been turned over to the Genesee County Prosecutor’s Office for review.

Grand Blanc police Lt. Chris Rhind said Tuesday, May 27, that his department has finished its investigation into the allegations against Holy Family Catholic School priest Ken Coughlin and will forward the results to Genesee County Prosecutor David Leyton to determine if charges will be filed.

Leyton said his office will read the investigative reports before making any decision on whether to charge Coughlin. Leyton said there is no timetable for his office’s decision.

Coughlin’s attorney, Frank J. Manley, said his client has done nothing inappropriate.

“We remain confident that after the prosecutor reviews the case, Father Coughlin will be cleared of any wrongdoing,” Manley said.

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MASSACHUSETTS
St. Louis Jewish Light

Uriel Heilman

(JTA) — It’s been a rough few weeks for Conservative Jews in the Boston suburbs known as the South Area.

First, Rabbi Barry Starr, the longtime spiritual leader of Temple Israel of Sharon, resigned amid allegations that he used synagogue discretionary funds to pay about $480,000 in hush money to an extortionist to hide a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old male.

Then came the news that the area’s only Conservative Jewish day school, the Kehillah Schechter Academy of nearby Norwood, will be shutting down at the end of the school year. With the next-closest non-Orthodox day school more than 45 minutes away, it doesn’t leave a whole lot of options for South Area Conservative Jews — notably in Sharon, the single largest source of KSA’s students.

“It’s a double whammy for me personally because I’m a member of the shul,” said Gregg Rubenstein, KSA’s board president. “But the temple will survive. It’s not an institution-threatening incident. The school, on the other hand, is disappearing.”

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UNITED STATES
eNews Park Forest

St. Louis, MO—(ENEWSPF)—May 27, 2014. Statement by Joelle Casteix, western regional director of SNAP, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org), jcasteix@gmail.com

Francis made three meaningless abuse comments today. None of them are significant in any way. All are disappointing because they amount to more public relations instead of real action.

[ABC News]

No child rape will be prevented, no abuse cover up will be prevented and no predator priest will be exposed by anything the pope said today or will do next month. His upcoming and self-serving meeting with victims is more of what we’ve seen for decades – more gestures, promises, symbolism and public relations.

One was his apparent zero tolerance pledge. The other was his announcement of a meeting next month with victims. The third was an announcement that three bishops are being investigated by the Vatican.

Again, we should all be crystal clear: none of this changes anything. It’s not intended to. It’s intended to promote complacency, and complacency is the enemy of reform. It’s intended to mollify the faithful, not safeguard the vulnerable

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Michael Sean Winters | May. 27, 2014 Distinctly Catholic

It was not just that Pope Francis announced he would be meeting with victims next month. Nor was it that he compared the molestation of children to a black Mass, an incarnation of evil. Nor was it that he uttered the words “zero tolerance” without which various Church officials will always find some wiggle room to protect friends. No, the biggest point that Pope Francis made in his press conference on the plane back from the Holy Land was that there are three bishops under investigation, apparently not for actually abusing a child but for failing to enforce church law against abusers. We know about the former nuncio in the Dominican Republic, the Polish Archbishop Wesolowski. Who are the others? Could Kansas City’s long diocesan nightmare be over sooner than we had hoped?

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CALIFORNIA
SF Gate

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California lawmakers have approved legislation that would extend the amount of time victims of childhood sexual abuse have to come forward.

SB926 by Sen. Jim Beall would give victims until age 40 to report alleged abuse they suffered as a child. The current statute of limitations is age 28.

Beall, a Democrat from San Jose, says the current law favors abusers who can simply “wait out the clock” to avoid being prosecuted. He says many child sexual assault victims suppress the memories and do not recall their abuse until years later.

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CANADA
Brandon Sun

By: Kent Driscoll, APTN, The Canadian Press
Tuesday, May. 27, 2014

IQALUIT, Nunavut – The trial of a former Roman Catholic priest charged with 68 counts of sex abuse against Inuit children more than 30 years ago has wrapped up in Nunavut after weeks of lurid testimony and high emotion.

Crown prosecutor Doug Curliss summed up his case against Eric Dejaeger on Tuesday, the day after defence lawyer Malcolm Kempt did his best to shroud it in doubt.

“These people are victims, just not of Eric Dejaeger,” Kempt told Nunavut Justice Robert Kilpatrick.

During the trial, witness after witness told court that Dejaeger used his position as an Oblate missionary to lure and trap them into sex, threatening them with hellfire or separation from their families if they told.

He used the promise of food on some, court heard. On others, he used force. Court was told assaults took place in Dejaeger’s bedroom, the mission’s confessional and in his lap while other children played or coloured a few metres away.

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PENNSYLVANIA
PA Homepage

[with video]

A suspended priest from the Diocese of Scranton will face trial on sex crime charges.

Father Philip Altavilla was in court Tuesday for allegedly having indecent contact with a 13-year-old girl in 1998.

Altavilla’s accuser came forward last month, 16 years after the incident allegedly took place.

The woman came face-to-face with Altavilla in the courtroom Tuesday, where she described how his actions made her feel.

She used words: very uncomfortable, confused, upset and hurt.

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UNITED STATES
Daily Reporter

By PHILIP MARCELO Associated Press
First Posted: May 27, 2014

BOSTON — A Massachusetts man who took part in a private meeting six years ago between Pope Benedict XVI and victims of sex abuse by Roman Catholic priests said Tuesday that he hopes another summit planned soon with Benedict’s successor will be more productive.

The forthcoming meeting at the Vatican between Pope Francis and a half-dozen victims, announced Monday, is being organized by Cardinal Sean O’Malley, the archbishop of Boston. It will mark the first such encounter for Francis, who has won early praise for his concern for the poor but has gotten mixed reviews for his response to church abuse.

The pope said the meeting would take place early next month. But the Archdiocese of Boston said in a statement that the details of the meeting haven’t been finalized and that the meeting was expected to take place “in the coming months.”

Bernie McDaid, of Peabody, Massachusetts, founder of the advocacy group Survivors Voice, said he expected the meeting to be a “dog-and-pony show.”

“I believe it’s always going to be church first, children second,” said McDaid, who has not been invited to the meeting with Francis.

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UNITED STATES
WTOP

By Nick Iannelli

WASHINGTON – Pope Francis announced plans to sit down and talk with a group of clergy sex abuse victims, a move generating mixed reaction in D.C.

The pope has faced criticism for drawing little attention to the issue that has rocked the Catholic Church for more than a decade.

“I think the Holy Father’s announcement that he will meet with victims is very good news,” says Cardinal Donald Wuerl, Archbishop of Washington. “Victims of any type of abuse, certainly victims of clergy abuse, they need to be embraced fully.”

But for others, the Vatican meeting will do nothing to help with the healing process.

“This is just another gesture,” says Becky Ianni, director of the Virginia and D.C. chapters of the victims’ group, Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP).

“How is this going to help victims worldwide?” she asks.

Ianni herself is a victim. She was abused by a priest in Alexandria when she was a child.

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IRELAND
The Journal

EFFORTS ARE UNDERWAY to raise enough funds to build a memorial at an unmarked grave of as many as 800 babies in Tuam.

The site is located at what was a home for unmarried mothers, run by the Bon Secours order, from the 1920s until the 1960s.

Catherine Corless, a local historian and genealogist, was researching the home when she discovered death records for 796 children, ranging from infants to children up to the age of nine.

There was a high infant mortality rate over the forty year period, with many of the children believed to have died from malnutrition and infectious diseases.

She could also find no record of their burial in other graveyards in the county, or in areas where the mothers had been from.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Kansas City Star

May 27
BY JUDY L. THOMAS
The Kansas City Star

This much seems clear: The Vatican is investigating three bishops over issues relating to child sexual abuse.

Beyond that, however, comments made by Pope Francis to reporters during a Monday flight from the Holy Land to Rome have left the world wondering about who those bishops are and what they did.

Some, both in Kansas City and elsewhere are speculating that Bishop Robert Finn is one of them.

“If I were Bishop Robert Finn of Kansas City, I’d be nervous,” wrote Mark Silk, a professor of Religion in Public Life at Trinity College, on his Religion News Service blog on Tuesday.

Finn, after all is the highest-ranking U.S. Catholic Church official convicted of criminal charges related to child sexual abuse at the hands of a priest.

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MISSOURI
Berger’s Beat

. .Will the pontiff soon punish a prelate who was a St. Louis priest? Tongues are wagging in Catholic circles since last night when Pope Francis said the Vatican has investigated a convicted bishop on sex abuse and is pondering what to do next. SNAP leaders believe the Pope is referring to K.C. Bishop Robert Finn who was found guilty almost two years ago for concealing evidence about Fr. Shawn Ratigan’s child sex crimes. . .

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UNITED STATES
Associated Baptist Press

By Bob Allen

A Southern Baptist Convention official has refused to apologize for comments seven years ago that critics of the denomination’s handling of sexual abuse were not really advocating on behalf of children but rather were opportunists motivated by personal gain.

David Clohessy, executive director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, and Amy Smith, a Baptist SNAP leader in Texas, wrote SBC Executive Committee President Frank Page April 23 requesting an apology for his “hurtful comment” when the convention gathers for annual meeting next month in Baltimore.

Page, at the time a pastor and SBC president, wrote a Baptist Press commentary titled “Guarding Against Sexual Abuse” published April 2, 2007. Two weeks later — after Page appeared in an ABC News “20/20” story about the denomination’s shortcomings in curbing sexual abuse by clergy — the article appeared in the Florida Baptist Witness with a new paragraph.

“Let me also share one other word of clarification,” he wrote. “Please realize that there are groups who claim to be one thing when in reality they are another. It would be great if the many groups who are claiming to be groups of advocacy and encouragement in ministry were that which they claim. Please be aware that there are groups that are nothing more than opportunistic persons who are seeking to raise opportunities for personal gain.”

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PENNSYLVANIA
WNEP

May 27, 2014, by Stacy Lange

SCRANTON — A Roman Catholic priest was in Lackawanna County court Tuesday on charges of indecent assault for allegedly fondling a teen some 15 years ago.

That accuser testified during a preliminary hearing.

A magistrate decided that the case against Father Philip Altavilla will now go to trial. Altavilla was arrested back in April when a former parishioner came forward saying that when she was 13, Altavilla molested her feet and legs because he has a foot fetish.

Father Philip Altavilla had his day in court only blocks away from the cathedral parish he presided over in downtown Scranton. Altavilla has been suspended of his priestly duties since he was charged with indecent assault and corruption of minors.

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MEXICO
ABC News

The Roman Catholic Church in Mexico has suspended a priest from the ministry after sexual abuse allegations against him were made public on a billboard.

The president of the Catholic Lawyers College of Mexico says Eduardo Cordova was stripped of his priesthood by the Vatican following an investigation of the allegations.

Armando Martinez Gomez said Tuesday that all the evidence has been forwarded to Mexican prosecutors.

Parents in the central state of San Luis Potosi complained in 2012 that their 16-year-old son had been sexually abused by Cordova. Activists posted a photo of Cordova on a billboard in San Luis Potosi with the slogan “Were you a victim? Report him.”

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VATICAN CITY
Religion News Center

Josephine McKenna | May 27, 2014

VATICAN CITY (RNS) Pope Francis has warned he has “zero tolerance” for child sex abuse in the Catholic Church and revealed that three bishops are currently being investigated by the Vatican.

But the pope did not name names, and Vatican officials on Tuesday (May 27) declined to comment.

So who are the three bishops under Vatican investigation? The speculation is that the pope likely was referring to three clerics, including:

* Scottish Cardinal Keith O’Brien, who resigned in February 2013 on the eve of the conclave that elected Francis. O’Brien later admitted that “there have been times that my sexual conduct has fallen below the standards expected of me as a priest, archbishop and cardinal.”Cardinal Keith O’Brien
* Polish Archbishop Josef Wesolowski, who was accused of child abuse in Poland and during his period as papal nuncio in the Dominican Republic until his dismissal last August;
*Chilean Bishop Cristian Contreras, who has been accused of abuse by other priests in his diocese

Francis made his comments to journalists aboard his return flight to Rome on Monday as he wrapped up his first visit to the Middle East.

“Sexual abuse is such an ugly crime … because a priest who does this betrays the body of the Lord,” the pope said emphatically. “This is very serious. It is like a satanic Mass.”

When the pope said one of the three bishops had been found guilty, that led to immediate speculation he was referring to Bishop Robert Finn from Kansas City-St. Joseph, Mo., who was convicted in 2012 for failing to report a priest for child pornography. But so far there is little indication Finn — who remains in office — is facing Vatican review.

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CANADA
CBC News

The Crown prosecutor questioned Eric Dejaeger’s credibility and character during his closing submission today in Iqaluit.

Dejaeger, 67, is on trial for dozens of charges of sex offences against children dating back to his time as a priest in Igloolik, Nunavut in the 1970s and ‘80s.

This morning, Crown Doug Curliss said Eric Dejaeger is a well-educated, relatively sophisticated person, who used his position of power as a priest to commit various criminal offences.

Curliss said Dejaeger cannot be trusted, and that he has a strong motive to lie.

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MASSACHUSETTS
MetroWest Daily News

By Arthur McCaffrey
Guest Columnist
Posted May. 11, 2014

We don’t wear a stiff white collar, or dress up in fancy robes. We don’t drink expensive whisky and smoke cigars. We don’t fly the expensive seats to Rome. We are not obsessed with sexuality, and, for the most part, lead healthy, balanced lives. By geography, occupation, socioeconomic status, we are a diverse group in Massachusetts: from Lowell, Lawrence, Everett, and East Boston, to Quincy, Scituate, Wellesley, and Framingham, we are plumbers, landscapers, teachers, lawyers, doctors, academics.

Who are we? We are the accidental activists, parishioners of Vigil Parishes all around the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston (RCAB), like our own local parish, St. James in Wellesley. When ill-conceived diocesan policies threatened our religious patrimony and rich heritage of faith in 2004, we were forced to reconfigure our traditionally passive roles inside the Church. Long before there was Occupy Boston, we have been occupying our local churches for the last 10 years in vigils of protest against the misguided efforts of Cardinal O’Malley to close us. Our grass roots resistance movement is the first of its kind in the 200-year history of the diocese. You couldn’t find a less radical group of populist activists – we are middle-aged and elderly, predominantly women, with very few youth in our midst. When a criminal Church lost it moral authority, it lost a whole generation of young people for whom Rome no longer has credibility. When we go, we leave empty pews behind us.

So who are we and what are we up to? We are the Pope’s dirty dozen! In his recent, first apostolic document (“Joy of the Gospels”), Pope Francis said that he prefers “…. a church which is bruised, hurting and dirty because it has been out on the streets, rather than a church which is unhealthy from being confined and from clinging to its own security.” Well, we’ve been there, done that; not so much doing missionary work to spread the good news of the gospels out in the world as leading by example, through actively bearing witness to our faith and foundational beliefs by maintaining an evangelizing presence inside our threatened parishes. A visiting Jesuit called our vigiling a “charism of the Holy Spirit”. The public witness we began in Boston in 2004 has now spread around the country. A Fordham professor has even written a book about us.

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UNITED STATES
Religion News Service

Boz Tchividjian | May 23, 2014

Do you see?
Do you see?
All the people sinking down?
Don’t you care?
Don’t you care?
Are you gonna let them drown?
How can you be so numb?!
Not to care if they come
You close your eyes,
And pretend the job is done
– Keith Green

This past week I found myself grieving. I learned that a former volunteer of a large church was convicted of sexually victimizing three boys under his supervision.

I grieve that when the parents of one of the boys told a pastor about the abuse, he chose not to report the crime to the police and strongly discouraged the family from doing so. I grieve that the failure to report this dangerous sexual offender gave him two decades of freedom to find and victimize more little ones. I grieve that not even one pastor from the church came to court to support the brave victims who eventually came forward and testified. I grieve that many Christian leaders all around the country who don’t hesitate to express open condemnation for abortion, universal healthcare, and the firing of reality television stars who make derogatory statements about gays and African Americans are suddenly silent when it comes to open condemnation for other Christians who choose not to report child sexual abuse to the authorities.

I grieve that there are individuals within certain Christian communities who deliberately choose to remain silent out of a fear of alienating those who have the power to cancel speaking engagements and turn down book contracts. I grieve that friends of those responsible for not reporting this crime would rather spend their days (and nights) vilifying and marginalizing those who have stepped forward to express outrage then grieve over such a horrific failure. I grieve that Christian communities that preach humility and love are often unteachable and too eager to be defensive and condemning when rebuked, regardless of the consequences to human souls. I grieve that many within the Church prefer the sounds of conference speakers, blog posts and tweets about theological nuances to the cries of the abused and marginalized.

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UNITED STATES
Associated Baptist Press

By Bob Allen

A Southern Baptist Convention official criticized bloggers commenting on a recent criminal trial for jumping to conclusions about allegations that a popular Calvinist speaker with ties to SBC leaders conspired to withhold reporting of child sex abuse to police.

Joe Carter, director of communications for the SBC Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, chastised bloggers in Twitter exchanges for slander and trying to exploit a tragedy by intimating that C.J. Mahaney — a co-founder of Together for the Gospel with Southern Baptists Albert Mohler and Mark Dever — was aware of unreported sex crimes while serving as senior pastor of Covenant Life Church in Gaithersburg, Md., during the 1980s and 1990s.

Mahaney’s brother-in-law, Grant Layman, longtime executive pastor at Covenant Life Church, testified under oath that he failed to report sexual abuse by Nathaniel Morales, convicted May 15 of sexually abusing three boys at the church from 1983 until 1981, to police.

Critics said the admission supports allegations in an earlier civil lawsuit alleging that leaders of Covenant Life and other congregations affiliated with Sovereign Grace Ministries, a church-planting network started and formerly led by Mahaney, repeatedly responded to reports of sexual predation of children by teaching that no Christian should bring a brother to court but that the church should mediate through a process called church discipline.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Westfalische Wilhelms-Universitat

[Summary: Dr. Julia Enxing, a theologian, said data published about abuse in the Catholic Church has shaken the church deeply. She said the church is still missing words and gestures of acknowledgment of debt as well as constructive theological approaches. In many cases forgiveness of abuse is required before guilt is admitted. The second step is being done before the first, she said. The church officials must acknowledge the guilt and integrate it into their self-image.]

Pressemitteilung des Exzellenzclusters vom 26. Mai 2014

Nach dem Missbrauchsskandal muss die katholische Kirche der Theologin Dr. Julia Enxing vom Exzellenzcluster „Religion und Politik“ zufolge einen neuen Umgang mit der Schuld lernen. „Die 2010 bekannt gewordenen Missbrauchsfälle haben die Kirche tief erschüttert. Die Auseinandersetzung mit ihrer Schuld fällt ihr aber immer noch schwer. Es fehlen Worte und Gesten der Anerkennung der Schuld ebenso wie konstruktive theologische Ansätze“, sagt die Theologin. In vielen Missbrauchsfällen sei Vergebung gefordert worden, bevor Schuld eingestanden worden sei. „Hier wurde der zweite Schritt vor dem ersten getan.“ Enxing kündigt eine Tagung des Exzellenzclusters für Ende Mai an, auf der sich katholische und evangelische Theologinnen und Theologen mit Schuld als Herausforderung für Theologie und Kirche befassen.

Die Kirche müsse ihre Schuld anerkennen und in ihr Selbstbild integrieren, fordert die Fundamentaltheologin. Anders gewinne sie verlorenes Vertrauen nicht zurück. Auch wenn Maßnahmen wie Telefon-Hotlines für Opfer und Runde Tische ergriffen und Entschädigungen bezahlt worden seien, bestünden weiter Tendenzen, eine kollektive Verantwortung der Kirche zu leugnen. Indem sie jedoch Schuld nur als Verfehlung Einzelner verstehe, relativiere sie deren Reichweite.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Sueddeutsche

Reine Symbolik oder wichtige Geste? Papst Franziskus lädt Missbrauchsopfer in den Vatikan ein. Wie zäh allerdings die Reformbemühungen innerhalb der Kirche verlaufen, zeigt ein Blick auf die vergangenen Monate.

Als am 13. März 2013 aus Jorge Bergoglio Papst Franziskus wurde, waren die Erwartungen der Gläubigen an diesen schüchtern lächelnden Mann enorm. Besonders groß waren die Hoffnungen derjenigen, die in den vergangenen Jahrzehnten in kirchlichen Institutionen zu Opfern geworden waren.

In den Jahren vor Franziskus’ Pontifikat war die Kirche von etlichen Missbrauchsskandalen weltweit in ihren Grundfesten erschüttert worden. Vorgänger Benedikt XVI. entließ 2011 und 2012 etwa 400 Priester wegen des Verdachts auf Kindesmissbrauch. Doch Opferorganisationen beklagten direkt nach dem Amtsantritt des neuen Papstes, dass die katholische Kirche nach wie vor zu wenig tue, um die jahrzehntelange Politik der Vertuschung zu beenden. Eine Reform jener Strukturen, die Missbrauchsfälle begünstigen, Auseinandersetzung und Versöhnung mit den Opfern, verbesserte Prävention: Franziskus stand von Anfang an vor großen Herausforderungen.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Statement by Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, Outreach Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 314-503-0003, SNAPdorris@gmail.com )

The New York Times is now reporting that Francis says Vatican officials are investigating three bishops for alleged child sexual crimes or cover ups and that one of them has been convicted. For the safety of kids, we call on the pope to disclose who those bishops are right now, especially the convicted one.

[The New York Times]

If he hasn’t yet – and we suspect that’s the case – Francis should give information about all three of these allegations to police and prosecutors right now, no matter when they may have occurred.

Again, for the sake of children’s safety, he must reveal who and where these three men are. If the allegations are serious enough to warrant Vatican investigations, they are serious enough to make public.

By delaying these disclosures, Vatican officials may be enabling prelates who have perpetrated or hidden child sex crimes to destroy evidence, intimidate victims, threaten whistleblowers, discredit witnesses, fabricate alibis, and flee overseas. It’s convenient but reckless for Catholic officials to secretly investigate those who commit and conceal sexual violence against kids and disclose their decisions months or years later while more sexual violence against kids happens and is hidden.

Regarding the convicted prelate, we strongly suspect and hope this is Kansas City Bishop Robert Finn. But since Francis refuses to name this bishop, we suspect that millions of Catholics are wondering “Could this be my bishop? Might he have been found guilty years ago somewhere else and no one knows about it?” In fairness to everyone, Francis should disclose the name of this convicted prelate.

Francis must disclose whether these allegations have been turned over to police and prosecutors. If they haven’t been, he must hand over that information immediately. If he doesn’t, he’s telling the world’s bishops that crimes and potential crimes must continue to be quietly dealt with “in house” by biased church staff instead of being addressed by independent, unbiased and experienced secular authorities.

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UNITED STATES
BishopAccountability.org

Statement by Anne Barrett Doyle

May 27, 2014

Pope Francis’s announcement that he soon will meet with victims of clergy sexual abuse is a welcome and overdue change. As Cardinal Archbishop of Buenos Aires, the Pope refused to meet with victims of clergy abuse, and Benedict XVI’s brief and scripted meetings with victims were theatrical. Will Francis’s meeting with survivors be different? Will he open himself to be changed deeply by them, or will he use the encounter to promote the Church’s current message, i.e., that no institution has done more good than the Church in this area?

We’ll know which it will be by three signs. We’ll have some reason for hope if: 1) Activists and strong public critics are included in the guest list, 2) Before the meeting, action is taken to remove complicit bishops, to declare reporting to civil authorities a blanket church requirement, and to respond honestly to the UN calls for transparency and responsibility, and 3) the format for the meeting includes a frank and open press conference afterward, where differences can be publicly aired.

But Francis’s record in Argentina is not encouraging. Before he was pope, he “had declined to meet with victims of sexual abuse, according to the victims and a spokesman for the Buenos Aires archdiocese,” reported the Wall Street Journal last year.

More troubling, as cardinal, Francis showed a convicted priest exactly the kind of preferential treatment that he decried in his Monday interview. In 2010, he mounted a behind-the-scenes campaign to discredit the young victims of a famous priest recently sentenced to 15 years in prison for child molestation. Then-cardinal Bergoglio’s role in the case of Father Julio César Grassi was first revealed in 2011 in the Argentine news outlets Clarín and Página/12 and was confirmed after he became pope in articles in the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal and National Catholic Reporter.

The pope was Argentina’s most powerful Catholic leader from 1998 to 2013, a time when church officials in the US and Europe addressed the epidemic of child sexual abuse by priests, and even Popes John Paul II and Benedict made public statements. Yet the record shows that Bergoglio stayed silent, releasing no information and rarely mentioning the crisis. He released no abuse documents, no names of accused priests, no tallies of accused priests, no policy for handling abuse, not even an apology to victims.

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UNITED STATES
Catholic League

Bill Donohue comments on how the pope’s trip to the Middle East ended:

Pope Francis spent three historic days in the Middle East trying to bring Christians, Jews, and Muslims together, and on the plane ride home he fielded 11 questions on nine issues. Two dealt with his trip: there was one question on Jewish-Muslim relations, and one on the status of Jerusalem. But there were three on sexual issues: priestly sexual abuse, celibacy, and divorced and remarried Catholics.

It’s actually worse than this. On the “Today Show” this morning, only two issues were discussed: sexual abuse and celibacy. In Nicole Winfield’s AP story last night, about half the article was on sexual abuse; in today’s version, this was the only issue covered. Almost all of CNN’s coverage was on sexual abuse. John Allen of the Boston Globe covered many topics, but most of his reporting was on sexual abuse. The Boston Herald showed no interest in anything but sexual abuse.

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UNITED STATES
Spiritual Politics

Mark Silk | May 27, 2014

If I were Bishop Robert Finn of Kansas City, I’d be nervous. At his in-flight press conference on the way back from the Holy Land yesterday, Pope Francis had this to say when asked about the sexual abuse crisis in the church: “At the moment there are three bishops under investigation. One has already been convicted and the punishment needs to be decided.”

Finn, of course, is the one bishop on God’s green earth who has been convicted of failing to report a suspected case of child abuse by a priest. And so far, he has received not so much as a verbal rap on the knuckles from either the Vatican of his fellow bishops. Now, it seems, a punishment is in the works.

Unless, of course, His Holiness was referring not to bishops who cover up abuse, but to bishops who perpetrate it. But so far as I know, no bishop ever been convicted of child abuse in a secular court. Of course, the pope might have been referring to a canonical conviction, correcting himself on the fly. As in: Of three bishops whose cases have been taken up in Rome, one has already resulted in a conviction, punishment to be decided.

Which would still leave open the question of whether these are cases of bishops charged with covering up abuse. I think they are. The next sentence in the pope’s comment was: “There will be no preferential treatment when it comes to child abuse,” followed by a statement about how in Argentina those who receive preferential treatment are called “spoilt children.”

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UNITED STATES
Road to Recovery

MEDIA RELEASE
MAY 27, 2014

Pope Francis:

1) Hasn’t Cardinal O’Malley filled you in on the fact that the vast majority of clergy sexual abuse victims want nothing to do with Church Masses, prayers, and rituals because they are triggering for them? At least one of the clergy sexual abuse victims who met with Pope Benedict in Washington, DC told me that he felt re-victimized after the encounter with Pope Benedict because he felt it was more of a staged show than an outreach.

2) Don’t you understand that clergy sexual abuse victims do not want to meet you on Church grounds surrounded by reminders of their abusers and abuse? Clergy sexual abuse victims are not able to immerse themselves in the facilities and rituals that were used to abuse them.

3) Don’t you realize that comparing sexual abuse of children by clergy to the celebration of a black Mass is triggering and re-victimizing to those children who were sexually abused at black Masses and other eerie and weird liturgical celebrations by pedophile bishops, priests, deacons, and seminarians?

4) Haven’t you concluded yet that the terms and conditions usually used to resolve most the Church’s problems do not apply to clergy sexual abuse victims? You are not in charge of this area of the Church. It would be best for you to take a step back and allow survivors to instruct you, lead you, and convert you. Survivors know what they need; let them tell you.

5) You will be a better shepherd and leader if you say to clergy sexual abuse victims, “Teach me, lead me, and tell me what we have to do to resolve this?”

6) You should realize that the planned meeting with clergy sexual abuse victims should not be cosmetic, and it should be seen as a very small step in educating the Church about the immoral acts it has committed. Further action needs to take place in order to stop clergy sexual abuse, help victims heal, and make the world a safer place for children. Superficial and cosmetic meetings will only serve to re-harm the victims.

Contacts: Robert M. Hoatson, Ph.D., Road to Recovery, Inc. – 862-368-2800
Attorney Mitchell Garabedian, Boston, MA – 617-523-6250

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian

Joanna Moorhead
theguardian.com, Tuesday 27 May 2014

Like every journalist who has ever been on a trip with the pope on board Shepherd One, as his plane is known, I am in no doubt as to the significance of the in-flight press conference. Being part of the Vatican press entourage means you’re up close to the pontiff, but you hardly ever get an unscripted quote – even Francis is very carefully handled by media managers.

But the traditional papal press conference in the clouds is a rare chance for him to speak off the cuff, and yesterday he did. “A priest who has sex with a child betrays God,” he told assembled journalists. “A priest needs to lead children to sanctity, and children trust him. But instead he abuses them, and this is terrible. I compare it to a satanic mass.”

This last comparison is significant. While Pope Francis is a man of gestures, he knows there are some issues on which words really count, and none more so than the vexed, and continuing, issue of child abuse.

The former Argentinian cardinal spelled it out in a way all clerics – however far from Rome and however out of touch with the current clean-up operation – will understand. No Catholic priest in his right mind would think of officiating at a satanic mass, a ritual that inverts the worship of God to pay homage instead to the devil. Satanic masses have their roots in medieval times, and have historically been a way of both ridiculing and undermining the authority of the church. They are also the biggest shock tactic imaginable to any Catholic cleric: they are diametrically opposed to everything the church stands for: the ultimate evil.

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ROME
The New York Times

By ELISABETTA POVOLEDO
MAY 27, 2014

ROME — Pope Francis says he plans to meet soon with abuse victims to underscore the Vatican’s determination to “press forward” with “zero tolerance” toward clergy accused of abusing minors.

In an off-the-cuff news conference as he returned from the Holy Land on Monday night, the pope spent more than an hour addressing a variety of questions from reporters aboard his plane, on topics like papal retirement and priestly celibacy. He also said the Vatican was investigating three bishops over sexual abuse allegations and had found one guilty. “We are studying the penalty he will have to face,” Francis said. “There are no privileges.”

The pope announced that he would celebrate Mass with eight abuse victims in the small church inside the guesthouse where he lives at the Vatican. The victims, from various countries, including Britain and Germany, will be accompanied by Cardinal Sean O’Malley, the archbishop of Boston, one of the eight members of a Vatican commission created last year by Pope Francis to advise him on sex abuse policy. The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said Tuesday that no date for the meeting had been set.

It will be the first time that the pope meets personally with victims of clergy abuse, a gesture his predecessors Benedict XVI and John Paul II made several times. “The abuse of minors is a very ugly” and “serious” crime comparable to sacrilege, Francis said.

But Joelle Casteix, western regional director of a victims’ organization, the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, said in a statement that Pope Francis’ personal overture to victims would change nothing and would allow vulnerable children to remain at risk.

“No child rape will be prevented, no abuse cover-up will be prevented and no predator priest will be exposed by anything the pope said today or will do next month,” Ms. Casteix said. “His upcoming and self-serving meeting with victims is more of what we’ve seen for decades: more gestures, promises, symbolism and public relations.”

Bishop Accountability, a private Boston-based group that documents cases of sexual abuse by priests, called the meeting a “welcome and overdue change,” as long as the pope, who “refused to meet with victims of clergy abuse” as archbishop of Buenos Aires, would “open himself to be changed deeply” by the encounter.

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SCOTLAND
The Courier

By MICHAEL ALEXANDER, 27 May 2014

A West Lothian man who says he was abused at a residential school in Fife during the mid-1960s has backed calls for a full national inquiry into all institutional abuse across Scotland.

The man, who asked to be identified only as John, contacted The Courier after reading that six men with links to a notorious Irish Catholic brotherhood have been arrested and charged in connection with allegations of serious child abuse at the former St Ninian’s School in Falkland, which was run by the Irish Christian Brothers.

John, who said he had “bottled up” his experiences for more than 40 years, said he only now felt able to speak about the “hell” he went through having read on The Courier website that others have come forward.

John, whose family feel they have been “scarred” by those experiences decades ago, said it upset him greatly to recall the abuse but he wants to see justice done.

Born in Edinburgh, the 62-year-old married father-of-three and grandfather-of-five said he was 10 months old when he and his older brother were sent into the care of nuns at Nazareth House in Bonnyrigg — itself the focus of an abuse scandal — where he said conditions were “brutal”.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Statement by Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, Outreach Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 314-503-0003, SNAPdorris@gmail.com )

Last night, Pope Francis claimed that three bishops are under investigation – one of whom has been convicted – regarding the child sexual abuse scandal. We believe and hope one of them is Bishop Robert Finn in Kansas City. (We in SNAP don’t know of another bishop who has been convicted of endangering kids who is still on the job, so we are fairly confident Francis is talking about Finn.)

[Irish Times]

[Vatican Insider]

Finn deserves to be fired or at least demoted because of his deceit, recklessness, callousness and selfishness in pedophile priest cases (Everyone knows about Finn’s wrongdoing in the Fr. Shawn Ratigan case. But he also kept Fr. Michael Tierney on the job in a parish for more than six months, despite multiple allegations against him in at least two civil lawsuits, and has mishandled numerous other cases.)

For decades, Catholic officials have excelled at saying the right things about abuse and cover up. They make grand speeches about how they are going to tackle the on-going crisis. And time and time again they refuse to take real action to stop those who are committing or concealing child sex crimes. This must end if kids are to become safer in the church.

In the past 25 years, we know of just four or five low level church staff who have been disciplined in anyway.

We know of no bishops who have been disciplined. And we’re convinced that this is why the cover ups continue – because those who enable this horror by stonewalling prosecutors, stiff-arming police, shredding documents, and transferring predators are promoted, not punished, in the church.

Almost two years ago, Bishop Finn was criminally convicted in a court of law for not reporting suspected child sex crimes, but he remains on the job today, with just as much power as before. Not one of the world’s 4,000 Catholic bishops and not even one of the Vatican’s hundreds of staffers have denounced Finn. Neither of the last two popes have done or said anything to hold Finn responsible for his egregious and deliberate wrongdoing.

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UNITED STATES
The Washington Times

By Meredith Somers-The Washington Times Monday, May 26, 2014

In February, the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child blasted the Holy See’s handling of the sex abuse scandal, and suggested that the Catholic Church revise its canon to approve homosexuality, abortion, birth control and premarital sex.

The U.N. Committee Against Torture applauded Pope Francis for several steps taken under his papacy, including the creation of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, and a statement he made last month that the church would “not take one step backward” with regards to dealing with the sex abuse cases.

According to the Central Office of Church Statistics in the Vatican Secretariat of State, the church has more than 400,000 priests and 5,000 bishops serving its 1.2 billion followers worldwide.

Archbishop Tomasi said during his appearance before the committee earlier this month that the Holy See had defrocked 848 priests and slapped 2,572 clergy members with lesser sanctions in the last 10 years.

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SCOTLAND
Scottish Catholic Observer

The Vatican’s chief prosecutor of sex abuse crimes has said that the Church needs to do more to develop the process for punishing bishops who fail in their duty to protect children.

Fr Robert W Oliver, (above) promoter of justice in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, said that the Church does have ‘procedures to deal with bishops who are negligent in supervision. It is a crime.’ However, he said more work needs to be done on the procedures.

“We need to move forward on this,” the American priest said. “The law itself is there, the process itself needs to be developed. It is clear that it is a crime, but how we deal with this crime needs to be developed.”

In an interview with an Irish newspaper while in Dublin to meet safeguarding representatives from dioceses and religious orders, Fr Oliver also said that he believed Pope Francis will work quickly on recommendations from the new Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

By JOANNE McCARTHY May 27, 2014

A FORMER NSW judge who studied to be a priest with a future notorious Hunter child sex offender has launched a devastating critique of the Catholic Church’s six popes, including two new saints, who covered up a global child sex abuse crisis for nearly a century.

Popes Pius XI, Pius XII, Paul VI, Benedict XVI and the recently named papal saints John Paul II and John XXIII ‘‘effectively facilitated child sexual abuse’’, retired acting NSW district court judge Kieran Tapsell argues in his new book, Potiphar’s Wife: The Vatican’s Secret and Child Sexual Abuse.

While canon law until 1917 required sex offender priests to be dismissed and reported to police, a series of canon law changes and papal decrees since imposed a ‘‘permanent silence’’ that continues to prohibit reporting of some matters in some Australian states even today, Tapsell said.

He reserved some of his most devastating criticism for Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI, who blamed Irish bishops in 2010 after the release of damning reports into child sexual abuse in that country, but failed to mention bishops were prohibited from reporting cases to police.

‘‘The cover-up of child sexual abuse did not occur because of bad faith or incompetence on the part of bishops, albeit in some cases that existed, but because they were ordered to cover it up through canon law by six popes since Pius XI in 1922,’’ Tapsell said.

Benedict XVI ‘‘knew that he was part of the Roman Curia that was administering, confirming and entrenching a system of privilege of clergy that not only protected child sex offenders from going to jail, but that led to further sex attacks by them on children’’.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 27 May 2014 (VIS) – At the end of his trip, during the flight from Tel Aviv to Rome, Pope Francis spoke for over 40 minutes with the journalists who accompanied him on the flight, answering their questions on various issues linked not only to his pilgrimage to the Holy Land, but also in relation to the abuse of minors, remarried divorcees, his upcoming trips, priestly celibacy, and so on. Below is a summary of some of the Pope’s answers.

The Holy Land and the prayer meeting in the Vatican with Shimon Peres and Mahmoud Abbas.

The most authentic gestures are those that we don’t think about, those that come to us, aren’t they? I thought about suggesting it during the trip, but there were many logistical problems, because each one has to consider the territory, and it’s not easy. So I thought about a meeting, and at the end, I came up with this invitation. It will be an encounter to pray, not for the purposes of mediation. We will pray with the two presidents; prayer is important, it helps. Afterwards, each person will return home. There would be a rabbi, a Muslim, and myself.

Abuse of minors

At the moment there are three bishops under investigations: one has already been found guilty and we are now considering the penalty to be imposed. There are no privileges. … A priest who does this betrays the Body of the Lord, because this priest must lead this child, this boy, this girl, to sanctity, and this boy or girl trusts in him; and instead of leading them to sanctity he abuses them. This is very serious. It is like, by way of comparison, holding a black Mass. You are supposed to lead them to sanctity and instead you lead them to a problem that will last their entire lives. In a few days’ time there will be a Mass at the Domus Sanctae Marthae with some survivors of abuse, and then a meeting with them. … But we must move forward on this issue, with zero tolerance!

Contradiction between the poor and austere Church and the financial scandals within

The Gospel tells us that Lord Jesus once said to His disciples that it is inevitable that there will be scandals, because we are human and we are sinners. And there will be scandals. The key is trying to avoid that there are more of them! Economic administration calls for honesty and transparency. The two Commissions, the one which has studied the IOR and the Commission that has studied the Vatican as whole, have reached their conclusions, and now the ministry, the Secretariat for the economy directed by Cardinal Pell, will carry out the reforms that the two Commissions have advised. … For instance, in the IOR I think that around 1,600 accounts have been closed, belonging to people who were not entitled to hold an account at the IOR. The IOR exists to help the Church, and accounts can be held by bishops, Vatican employees, and their widows or widowers, to draw their pensions. … But other private individuals are not entitled to accounts. It is not open to all.

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Vatican Insider

ANDREA TORNIELLI
ON THE FLIGHT FROM TEL AVIV TO ROME

Pope Francis speaks to journalists on board the flight from Tel Aviv to Rome, answering questions off the cuff for an hour despite his exhausting trip.

Abuse against minors

“At the moment there are three bishops under investigation. One has already been convicted and the punishment needs to be decided. There will be no preferential treatment when it comes to child abuse. In Argentina we call those who receive preferential treatment “spoilt children”. There will be no “spoilt children” in this case. It is a very serious problem. When a priest commits abuse, he betrays the Lord’s body. A priest must guide children towards sainthood. And the child trusts him. But instead, he abuses him or her. This is very serious. It’s like celebrating a black mass! Instead of steering him or her towards the sainthood you create a problem that will stay with him or her for all of his or her life. Soon there will be a mass with some abuse victims in St. Martha’s House. Then I will hold a meeting with them. A zero tolerance approach needs to to be adopted with regards to this issue.”

The 15 million Euros that were embezzled from the IOR and given to Lux Vide and the financial scandals

“The Lord Jesus once told his disciples: scandals are inevitable, we are humans and all of us are sinners. The issue is preventing more from happening. Economic administration requires honesty and transparency. The two commissions, the one which investigated the IOR and the one which looked into the financial and economic situation of the Vatican as a whole, have now reached their conclusions and will carry forward the recommended reforms, along with the ministry and Secretariat for the Economy headed by cardinal Pell. But there will still be incongruities, there always will be because we are humans. And the reform process needs to be ongoing. The Church’s fathers said the Church must be “simper reformanda”. We are sinners, we are weak. The Secretariat for the Economy will help prevent scandals and problems. For example, 1600 illegitimate accounts have been closed down in the IOR. The IOR is there to help the Church, bishops, dioceses, Vatican staff, their widows and embassies have the right to an account with the IOR, but no one else. It is not an open thing. And this was work well done, closing down the accounts of those who were not entitled to have one. I would like to say one thing: the question regarding the 15 million Euros is still being looked into; it is not yet clear what happened.”

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UNITED STATES
CNN

By Dana Ford, CNN

(CNN) — Pope Francis spoke out against sexual abuse by Catholic clergy on Monday and said he plans to meet with victims in early June.

Stressing that such abuse constitutes a horrific crime, he told reporters aboard the papal plane that three bishops are under investigation.

It was not clear whether the bishops are under investigation for alleged abuse, or for purported involvement in some sort of cover-up.

A priest who abuses a child betrays the body of the Lord, the Pope said, according to pool reports. He called for zero tolerance.

Among the expected invitees to the meeting are abuse victims from Germany, England and Ireland, and Cardinal Sean O’Malley, the archbishop of Boston.

Terrence Donilon, a spokesman for the cardinal, said the time and date of the meeting have not been finalized.

“Cardinal O’Malley has been asked by the Holy Father to assist with the planning for a meeting with survivors of sexual abuse in the coming months,” said Donilon. “The cardinal looks forward to supporting this effort by Pope Francis in whatever manner will be most helpful.”

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UNITED STATES
Road to Recovery

MEDIA RELEASE
MAY 26, 2014

Pope Francis announced on the day we in the United States “remember” those whose lives were lost in war, that he will meet with survivors of clergy sexual abuse even though:

1) It has been revealed that approximately 800 babies’ bodies have been discovered on or near the grounds of a facility for unmarried women and their babies in Tuam, County Galway, Ireland run by the Bon Secours nuns.

2) Bishops who covered up and enabled clergy sexual abuse of hundreds of thousands of children are still in office and administering dioceses all over the world.

3) Sexually abusive priests continue to serve in ministry, have not been defrocked, and pose an ongoing danger to children, teenagers, and vulnerable adults.

Road to Recovery calls on Pope Francis to:

1) Have more than “cosmetic” meetings with survivors of clergy sexual abuse and get down to the real business at hand, such as firing bishops who covered up and enabled sexual abuse, defrocking priests who sexually abused children, encouraging governments to enact legislation that will strengthen laws against pedophiles, calling on local law enforcement agencies to arrest and prosecute any priest or religious person who has broken law or covered up clergy sexual abuse, and providing every resource available to help heal sexual abuse victims.

2) Travel to Tuam, County Galway, Ireland, and preside at the exhumation of every one of the 800 babies who died at what was supposed to be a Catholic home for unmarried women and their babies. He should then meet with every family of those babies and offer them whatever resources they need to heal from the trauma.

3) Close every Catholic institution that houses children, teenagers, or vulnerable adults, even temporarily, until independent investigators complete thorough evaluations of each and every institution and declare them safe for children, teenagers, and vulnerable adults.
Road to Recovery, Inc. is a non-profit charity based in New Jersey that assists victims of sexual abuse and their families.

Contacts: Robert M. Hoatson, Ph.D., Road to Recovery, Inc. – 862-368-2800
Attorney Mitchell Garabedian, Boston, MA – 617-523-6250

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BOSTON (MA)
WBUR

By The Associated Press May 27, 2014

BOSTON — Boston Cardinal Sean O’Malley is organizing a meeting between Pope Francis and a group of sex abuse victims at the Vatican that will mark the first such encounter for the pope.

Francis announced the meeting on Monday and declared “zero tolerance” for any member of the clergy who would violate a child.

The Archdiocese of Boston said in a statement that the details of the meeting haven’t been finalized yet, and that O’Malley “looks forward to supporting this effort by Pope Francis in whatever manner will be most helpful.” The Archdiocese said the meeting is expected to take place “in the coming months.”

The Catholic Church clergy sex abuse crisis broke nationally in 2002 after The Boston Globe wrote a series of stories revealing that church officials in Boston shifted pedophile priests between parishes without disclosing their alleged crimes.

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CANADA
Nunatsiaq Online

DAVID MURPHY

The final installment of the Eric Dejaeger trial began May 26 with Dejaeger’s defence lawyer, Malcolm Kempt, destroying the credibility of dozens of witnesses by suggesting they lied, colluded and fabricated absurd stories at the seven-month trial.

Justice Robert Kilpatrick, who is presiding over the trial without a jury at the Nunavut Court of Justice in Iqaluit, has so far heard a multitude of stories about child rape, inappropriate touching and even bestiality — the bulk of which allegedly occurred at St. Stephen Catholic Church in Igloolik between 1978 and 1982.

But most of these stories never happened, argues Kempt.

“These allegations might sell newspapers, but they’re not the truth,” he told Kilpatrick.

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Boston Globe

by John L. Allen Jr. | GLOBE STAFF MAY 26, 2014

ROME — Pope Francis said Monday that he plans to celebrate a Mass with a small group of victims of sexual abuse in the coming weeks and to hold a private meeting to hear from them, a session in which Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley of Boston will also take part.

Francis also revealed that three Catholic bishops are under Vatican investigation for matters related to sexual abuse, citing those inquiries as proof that there will be no “daddy’s boys” in the clergy who enjoy special privileges on his watch.

Francis did not make it clear whether those three bishops are being investigated for abuse they are alleged to have committed or for an alleged failure to respond properly to possible abuse by others.

The pope made the comments in a press conference during his return flight from Jerusalem to Rome, at the conclusion of a three-day trip to the Middle East.

Francis used strong language to denounce the sexual abuse of children by clergy, calling it a “very grave crime” and saying that when a priest subjects a child to abuse, it is as if the priest has celebrated a “black Mass” as part of a Satanic ritual.

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Irish Times

Paddy Agnew

Tue, May 27, 2014

Three Catholic bishops are currently under investigation over allegations of child abuse and one has already been convicted, Pope Francis has said.

Speaking as he returned to Rome after a historic three-day visit to the Holy Land, the pontiff called for a “zero-tolerance” approach to sex abuse within the church.

He also criticised “a global economic system that is centred on money, rather than the human person”.

Not for the first time, Francis’s remarks showed that the Argentine ‘Pope From Afar’ is not just a spiritual leader, he is also a shrewd and informed socio-political analyst.

Asked about the sex abuse question, the pope revealed that three bishops are currently under investigation.

“One has already been convicted and the punishment needs to be decided. There will be no preferential treatment when it comes to child abuse,” the pope said during a press conference on his plane to Rome.

“When a priest commits abuse, he betrays the Lord’s body. A priest must guide children towards sainthood. And the child trusts him. But instead, he abuses him or her.

“This is very serious. It’s like celebrating a black Mass! And you create a problem that will stay with (the victim) for all of his or her life.

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NEW JERSEY
The Record

MAY 26, 2014

BY JEFF GREEN
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD

MAHWAH – After urging people during a Memorial Day Mass to sacrifice for the poor, assistant Archbishop Bernard A. Hebda of Newark said the church needs to reevaluate its spending amid a controversy over lavish upgrades to the retirement home of the prelate he stands to succeed.

The archdiocese has been besieged by criticism, some of it directed at Hebda, for a $500,000 expansion under way at the 8.2-acre property in rural Hunterdon County used by Archbishop John J. Myers. The 4,500-square-foot house is getting a 3,000-square-foot addition complete with fireplaces, a “therapeutic whirlpool” and a second office.

While Hebda did not directly criticize Myers or the use of church money for the archbishop’s personal residence, he said in an interview that Myers and the archdiocese must pay close attention to the words of Pope Francis, who has over the past year used the world stage to focus on the suffering and the impoverished. Asked if Myers needed all the new amenities, Hebda said, “Clearly, all of us have to hear what the Holy Father is saying – that’s not just for priests and bishops, either. It’s for all of us.

“We have to find those ways of being really faithful to the Gospel and figuring out what it is that we need,” he said. “Not always what we want, but what it is that we need.”

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CANADA
The Chronicle-Herald

STEVE BRUCE COURT REPORTER
Published May 26, 2014

A former youth pastor has been sentenced to 90 days in jail for having child pornography on his computer.

Aaron Kenneth Hudgins, 31, of Timberlea pleaded guilty recently in Halifax provincial court to a charge of possession of child pornography.

Judge Bill Digby accepted a joint recommendation from lawyers to allow Hudgins to serve his jail time intermittently.

Hudgins will do his time at the Central Nova Scotia Correctional Facility in Dartmouth on weekends beginning June 6.

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AUSTRALIA
Forbes Advocate

The community of Forbes deserves a pat on the back after helping the Salvation Army reach their target of $7,000 during this year’s Red Shield Appeal.

The Red Shield Appeal doorknock was held yesterday, with about 45 volunteers, including 30 school students, coming together to help raise much-needed funds for the Salvos.

Over $7,000 was raised in Forbes from the doorknock on Sunday, as well as at collection points set up in the week leading up to it, which Forbes Salvation Army officer Troy Munro said was a fantastic achievement.

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El Tiempo

Por: REUTERS
.
El papa Francisco dijo ayer (lunes) que los abusos sexuales cometidos por sacerdotes eran un crimen comparable a una “misa satánica” y dijo que tendrá cero tolerancia con quienes abusaron de niños en el interior de la Iglesia Católica, incluidos obispos.

En una conversación con periodistas a bordo del avión que lo trasladó de regreso a Europa luego de una visita a Oriente Medio, el papa también anunció que se reunirá por primera vez con un grupo de víctimas de abusos en el Vaticano a inicios de junio.

Ante la pregunta de si tomaría medidas contra los obispos acusados de abusos sexuales, dijo que “no habrá hijos de papá” ni privilegios, agregando que tres obispos están actualmente bajo investigación. “El abuso sexual es un crimen tan horrendo (…) porque un sacerdote que hace esto traiciona el cuerpo de Dios. Es como una misa satánica”, dijo, en las declaraciones más duras que ha dado respecto a una crisis que sacudió a la Iglesia Católica por más de una década.

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BOSTON (MA)
Boston Herald

Monday, May 26, 2014

By: Chris Cassidy

Pope Francis will meet with a group of clergy sex abuse victims next month at the Vatican as the pontiff declared “zero tolerance” for any priest who would violate a child.

“On this issue we must go forward, forward. Zero tolerance,” Francis said on his papal plane today while returning from Jerusalem.

The meeting with a half-dozen victims will mark the first such encounter for the new pope, who has been criticized by victims for not expressing personal solidarity with them.

Terrence Donilon, spokesman for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston, said Cardinal Sean O’Malley will help plan the meeting.

“The universal Church and the international community are blessed by Pope Francis continuing a leadership role in the response to the tragic events concerning the sexual abuse of minors by clergy. At this time the date of the meeting and other details have not been finalized. The Cardinal looks forward to supporting this effort by Pope Francis in whatever manner will be most helpful.”

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SCOTLAND
Daily Record

May 27, 2014 00:01 By James Moncur

RECENT revelations in the Daily Record about St Ninian’s school in Fife have reinvigorated the call for action into allegations of attacks on children in the 1960s, 70s and 80s.

PRESSURE is growing on the Scottish Government to launch a full public inquiry into historical institutional abuse across Scotland.

Victims have joined forces with politicians to demand action into allegations of attacks on children in the 1960s, 70s and 80s.

They want a full and transparent probe identical to the HIA – Historical Institutional Abuse inquiry – which is currently taking place in Northern Ireland.

Recent revelations in the Record about St Ninian’s school, in ­Falkland, Fife, have reinvigorated the campaign to bring those responsible to justice and discover how much the state knew.

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VATIKAN
Radio Vatikan

Papst Franziskus ist von seinem dreitägigen Besuch im Nahen Osten nach Rom zurückgekehrt. Am späten Montagabend kurz vor 23.00 Uhr landete er mit einer Sondermaschine der israelischen Fluggesellschaft El Al auf dem römischen Flughafen Ciampino. Damit endet die zweite Auslandsreise von Papst Franziskus.

Nach seiner dreitägigen Nahost-Reise hat Franziskus während des Rückflugs von Tel Aviv am Montagabend vor mitreisenden Journalisten zu verschiedenen Themen Stellung bezogen. Dabei ging er u.a. auf die Themen Kindesmissbrauch durch Geistliche, den Zölibat, den Rücktritt seines Vorgängers Benedikt XVI. und Reisepläne für 2015 ein. Das Gespräch dauerte gut 40 Minuten. Bereits im vergangenen Jahr hatte Franziskus auf dem Rückflug vom Weltjugendtag in Rio de Janeiro eine stundenlange „fliegende Pressekonferenz“ gegeben.

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DEUTSCHLAND
netzwerkB

[Summary: Norbert Denef, who chairs a network of those affected by sexual violence, said the victims no longer pray but want to negotiate on equal terms for compensation and the pope should understand this.]

netzwerkB Pressemitteilung vom 27. Mai 2014

Papst Franziskus hat auf dem Rückflug von seiner Reise durch den Nahen Osten vor Journalisten gesagt:

“Sexueller Missbrauch ist eine schreckliche Straftat (…), weil ein Geistlicher, der so etwas tut, Verrat begeht am Leib des Herrn. Das ist wie eine satanische Messe.“

Der Papst kündigte an, mit acht “Opfern sexuellem Missbrauchs“ in der ersten Juni-Woche im Vatikan eine Messe zu feiern. Anschließend wolle er sich mit ihnen in privaten Gesprächen über ihre Erfahrungen unterhalten.

Norbert Denef, Vorsitzender des Netzwerks Betroffener von sexualisierter Gewalt e.V., kurz netzwerkB, nimmt hierzu wie folgt Stellung:

Wenn Papst Franziskus ankündigt mit “Opfern sexuellem Missbrauchs“ eine „Messe“ feiern zu wollen, dann mag das für gläubige „Missbrauchsopfer“ ein wichtiges Ereignis sein, gemeinsam mit dem Papst beten zu dürfen.

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Sueddeutsche

Seinem Vorgänger Benedikt XVI. werfen Kritiker vor, zu lange geschwiegen zu haben. Papst Franziskus kündigt nun “null Toleranz” gegenüber Kindesmissbrauch in der Kirche an und verurteilt sexuelle Übergriffe scharf. In Rom will er mit Betroffenen sprechen.

Papst Franziskus hat ein entschiedenes Vorgehen der Kirche gegen Verantwortliche sexueller Übergriffe auf Minderjährige versprochen. Der Missbrauch Schutzbedürftiger sei “ein Sakrileg” und vergleichbar mit einer “satanischen Messe”, sagte das Oberhaupt der katholischen Kirche am Montagabend auf der Rückreise von einer mehrtägigen Reise im Nahen Osten nach Rom vor Journalisten.

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Spiegel

Überraschend deutlich hat sich Papst Franziskus zu Fällen von Kindesmissbrauch in der katholischen Kirche geäußert. Auch der Zölibat und ein möglicher Rücktritt kamen bei einer Fragerunde über den Wolken zur Sprache.

Rom/Jerusalem – Nach seiner dreitägigen Nahost-Reise hat Papst Franziskus während des Rückflugs nach Rom zu einigen kontrovers diskutierten Themen der katholischen Kirche Stellung bezogen. Ungewohnt deutlich äußerte er sich unter anderem zu Fällen von Kindesmissbrauch durch Geistliche. Zur Sprache kamen auch der Zölibat sowie der Rücktritt seines Vorgängers Benedikt XVI.

Pädophile Übergriffe seien ein großes Problem, bei dem es für die Kirche nur eine Null-Toleranz gebe, bekräftigte er. “Sexueller Missbrauch ist ein schreckliche Straftat, weil ein Geistlicher, der so etwas tut, Verrat begeht am Leib des Herrn. Das ist wie eine satanische Messe”, sagte Franziskus.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

NICOLA BERKOVIC THE AUSTRALIAN MAY 27, 2014

THE chief executive running the royal commission into child sexual abuse will quit her position at the end of next week.

Janette Dines was appointed to the role in late 2012 and has been a commonwealth public servant for 20 years.

Royal Commission chair Justice Peter McClellan said Ms Dines had been the driving force behind the establishment of the office of the Royal Commission since its announcement in late 2012.

“Ms Dines has successfully created the structure and facilities that have enabled the Royal Commission to achieve a large amount in a short time,” Justice McClellan said.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse will deliver its Interim Report on 30 June.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian (UK)

Australian Associated Press
theguardian.com, Monday 26 May 2014

The chief executive of the royal commission into child sexual abuse, Janette Dines, has resigned.

Dines will leave her position on 6 June.

Justice Peter McClellan, who chairs the royal commission, said Dines had been the driving force behind establishing the commission since its inception in late 2012, but gave no reason for her departure.

“Ms Dines has successfully created the structure and facilities that have enabled the royal commission to achieve a large amount in a short time,” McClellan said in a statement.

“On behalf of the commissioners, I express our great appreciation to Ms Dines for the contribution she has made to our work.”

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

ABC

BY THE NATIONAL REPORTING TEAM’S DAN OAKES, WITH THOMAS ORITI
May 27, 2014

The chief executive of the royal commission into child sexual abuse has resigned.

Janette Dines was appointed to the commission in late 2012 and was previously the director-general of Emergency Management Australia.

Ms Dines, who has been a Commonwealth public servant for 20 years, will leave the position on June 6.

While the circumstances surrounding her departure remain unclear, the ABC understands Ms Dines will be returning to a previous role.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse began hearing evidence from victims of child sexual abuse early last year and has heard from more than 1,500 witnesses, with more than 150 cases of abuse being referred to police for investigation.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

By Jeremy Bowen
BBC Middle East editor

On the plane back to Rome after his Middle East tour, Pope Francis said that the sexual abuse of children by priests was as bad as performing a satanic mass.

Scandals involving priests abusing children sexually and in other ways have caused enormous damage to Catholicism.

Secular people might say that paedophilia is actually much worse than a satanic rite.

But for a pope to compare crimes carried out by Catholic priests to worshipping the devil counts as strong language.

The Pope is saying what many Catholics who have been horrified by repeated child sex abuse scandals want to hear.

But he will have to follow his words with actions if he wants to stop scandals doing any more damage to the Church.

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AUSTRALIA
Christian Today

By: Rachel Ford
Tuesday, 27 May 2014

Pope Francis has announced plans to meet with survivors of clerical sexual abuse.

In a press conference on Monday, the Holy Father said that he plans to celebrate Mass with the survivors in Rome next month, while declaring ‘zero tolerance’ for any member of the clergy who abused a child.

CEO of the Catholic Church’s Truth Justice and Healing Council, Francis Sullivan, has welcome the announcement, saying that meeting directly with survivors is the best way to get a true understanding of the devastation caused by child sexual assault crimes.

“This meeting sends yet another very clear message that sexual abuse within the Church is at the very forefront of the Pope’s thinking,” he said.

“Working with his new Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, the Pope is taking real action to address the horror of clerical sexual abuse.”

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UNITED STATES
Newser

Head of abuse survivors’ group criticizes pope’s meeting with victims as ‘another gesture’

By The Associated Press

Pope Francis says his plans to meet with a group of sex abuse victims at the Vatican is part of an effort to “go forward” with “zero tolerance” in confronting and preventing clergy abuse. But the head of a U.S. victims’ group has dismissed the upcoming session as “another gesture, another public relations coup” that could prove meaningless.

The meeting with a half-dozen victims, announced on Monday, is being organized by Cardinal Sean O’Malley, the archbishop of Boston. It will mark the first such encounter for the pope, who has been criticized by victims for not expressing personal solidarity with them when he has reached out to other people who suffer.

“On this issue we must go forward, forward. Zero tolerance,” Francis said, calling abuse of children an “ugly” crime that betrays God. He said the meeting and a Mass at the Vatican hotel where he lives would take place early next month.

The Archdiocese of Boston said in a statement that the details of the meeting haven’t been finalized yet, and that O’Malley “looks forward to supporting this effort by Pope Francis in whatever manner will be most helpful.” The Archdiocese said the meeting is expected to take place “in the coming months.”

David Clohessy, executive director of the main U.S. victims’ group, Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, said the pope has shown himself to be capable of making real change in other areas such as church governance and finance but hasn’t done so in dealing with sex abuse by Catholic clergy.

“The simple truth is this is another gesture, another public relations coup, another nice bit of symbolism that will leave no child better off and bring no real reform to a continuing, scandal-ridden church hierarchy,” he said.

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Gazzetta del Sud

Rome, May 27 – Pope Francis says three bishops are being investigated in connection with sexual abuse cases, adding that the Church “must go forward with zero tolerance” for abuse and no special treatment for perpetrators. During a press conference as the pope returned from a three-day visit to the Holy Land, Francis said he will meet with sexual abuse survivors from the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Germany in the coming weeks. He described abuse at the hands of Church officials, including priests, as a “grave crime” comparable to a “black Mass” by Satanists.

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Washington Post

Pope Francis’s rollicking plane ride home: Rule of celibate priests ‘always open’ to change

BY TERRENCE MCCOY
May 27

Even for a pope widely recognized as ebullient and spry, the three-day trip to the Holy Land must have been exhausting. It included helicopter rides, hand-kissing, tomb visits, gentle diplomacy that may boost peace talks between Palestinians and Israelis, and even an argument with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over what language Jesus spoke.

So when Francis finally climbed aboard his plane Monday night to return to Rome, a Vatican spokesman told reporters to keep the questions short. The pope had to rest.

But 77-year-old Francis, looking alert, was having none of that. And in what turned into one of the more freewheeling exchanges of Francis’s 15 months as pontiff, he took an hour of questions that touched on sexual assault victims, celibate priests and whether he had plans for retirement. Both the candor and the impromptu nature with which he responded is likely to expand his growing reputation as the most tolerant, iconoclastic pope of the past 40 years.

The church has “zero tolerance” for sexual abuse: Francis revealed the Vatican is investigating three bishops for abuse-related crimes against minors. He said he is planning on meeting a half-dozen sexual assault victims early next month, the first time he has done so.

“There will be no preferential treatment when it comes to child abuse,” he said, adding that one of the bishops under investigation has already been convicted. “It is a very serious problem. When a priest commits abuse, he betrays the Lord’s body. A priest must guide children towards sainthood. And the child trusts him. But instead, he abuses him or her. This is very serious. It’s like celebrating a black mass.”

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CALIFORNIA
Herald Online

BAKERSFIELD, CALIF. — The attorneys at the law firm of Owen, Patterson & Owen have filed suit in the Superior Court of the State of California, County of Kern on behalf of a four-year-old minor by way of her guardian. According to court documents, the young girl was allegedly sexually abused on multiple occasions while in the care of First United Methodist Church of Bakersfield’s First Experiences Preschool in Bakersfield, California.

As recently reported by KERO-TV in Bakersfield, California, and Kern Golden Empire the plaintiff suffered sexual abuse during naptimes that were unsupervised. According to court documents, the abuse also occurred at lunchtime, in restrooms, in the classrooms and/or on the playground. The school staff was allegedly made aware of the occurrences but failed to communicate the sexual abuse to the plaintiff’s parents or to authorities. Teachers and school staff members fall into a category of people that are legally required to report negligence or abuse to law enforcement.

“We ask that the parents of children who attend and/or have attended First United Methodist Church of Bakersfield and First Experiences Preschool contact our office with any information immediately,” said lead attorney Greg Owen of Owen, Patterson & Owen.

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

Article by: KATHERINE KERSTEN Updated: May 23, 2014

The sexual abuse of children is profoundly evil. Over the years, the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis has mismanaged clergy sexual abuse in a way that has led to grievous suffering.

News reports and commentary about the problem may lead some Minnesotans to conclude not just that we’ve seen a grave and reprehensible failure of leadership by a handful of church officials, but that there is an unprecedented epidemic of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church (“How could this happen? A window into the culture that protected pedophile priests,” April 23).

There’s an untold story behind this barrage of headlines.

Sexual abuse of children is an appallingly widespread phenomenon. Studies suggest that as many as 2 million American children ages 2 to 17 are victimized every year. Sexual abuse is indeed rampant, but where is it occurring?

A substantial share of abuse — estimates range as high as 60 percent — takes place in the family setting, with stepfathers and a mother’s live-in boyfriend frequently responsible. Children in foster care are at special risk. Studies suggest they may be four times more likely to be sexually abused than other children.

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Mirror (UK)

May 27, 2014 02:31 By Chris Richards

Pope Francis has likened sex abuse by Catholic clergy to a “satanic Mass” – and has vowed to take a “zero tolerance” approach to paedophile priests.

The pontiff, 77, said three bishops were under investigation by the Vatican, although it is not clear if they were accused of committing abuse itself or of having covered it up.

He was speaking on board the papal plane after visiting Jerusalem, and ahead of a meeting with a group of sex abuse victims at the Vatican next month.

The Argentine-born pope said: “Sexual abuse is such an ugly crime … because a priest who does this betrays the body of the Lord.

“It is like a satanic Mass.

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International Business Times

By Vittorio Hernandez | May 27, 2014

Fresh from his trip to the Holy Land, Pope Francis announced a renewed war against sex abuse, particularly of minors. He declared to media while aboard a plane returning to Rome that he has a zero tolerance for members of the clergy involved in child abuse scandals.

He disclosed that the Vatican is investigating three bishops on abuse-related charges, but the pontiff did not clarify if the bishops were the perpetrators or tried to cover it up.

As part of his zero tolerance policy, the pope has scheduled a meeting with half-dozen sex abuse victims, which would be a first for Pope Francis. The meeting, which would include a Mass, would be held in June at the Vatican dorm where the pontiff is staying.

Boston Cardinal Sean Patrick O’Malley, who heads a commission the pope established to study ways of dealing with the problem, will attend the event.

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Radio New Zealand

The Pope says he will meet a group of sex abuse victims in June after comparing the “ugly crime” to performing “a satanic Mass”.

Speaking after his three-day tour of the Middle East on Monday, Pope Francis said he would show zero tolerance for anyone in the Roman Catholic Church who abuses children.

“Sexual abuse is such an ugly crime … because a priest who does this betrays the body of the Lord,” he said.

The 77-year-old spoke to journalists for nearly an hour on his flight to Rome, the BBC reports, but it was not clear if the zero tolerance policy would extend to bishops accused of turning a blind eye to abuse by priests in their dioceses.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Radio

[with audio]

(Vatican Radio) Despite the grueling schedule of his three day pilgrimage to the Holy Land, on Monday evening Pope Francis held an hour long in-flight question and answer session with the journalists who had accompanied him. The Pope responded to their questions on issues that ranged from the Churches’ efforts in combatting the sexual abuse of minors by clergy, to the reform of the Curia. The Pope addressed questions that have arisen ahead of October’s Synod on the family, regarding the situation of divorced and remarried Catholics, he spoke of future papal travels and dwelt the modern day reality of Christian martyrs for the faith.

Responding to a question on the Churches handling of the abuse crisis, Pope Francis stated that there will be no preferential treatment when it comes to child abuse. That three bishops are currently under investigation for and one has been convicted with punishment pending. Such abuse is a betrayal of the Lord’s body, he said. He then announced that next week he will hold a two day meeting with survivors of abuse and celebrate mass with them at his residence in Casa Santa Marta.

Responding to a question on the issue of communion for divorced and remarried Catholics, which has arisen ahead of next October’s Synod on the Family, Pope Francis lamented that the entire Synod should be boiled down to this one issue. He noted the real issue is the crisis that the family is undergoing today with a drop in the number of young people choosing to marry. However, the Pope did add that the procedure of preparation for marriage and annulments of marriage needed further reflection. He also concluded that divorced Catholics must not be treated as if they had been excommunicated.

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UNITED STATES
Catholic Culture

On his return flight from the Holy Land to Rome, Pope Francis told reporters that the sexual abuse of minors is a “very grave crime” and that three bishops are under investigation for matters related to abuse.

“We must go forward with zero tolerance,” the Pope said, as he compared the clerical abuse of minors to a priest taking part in a satanic ritual.

Pope Francis also said he would celebrate Mass for a group in abuse victims.

According to summaries of the press conference published by Vatican Radio and by John Allen of the Boston Globe, the Pope also confirmed that Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican’s former Secretary of State, is under investigation for financial irregularities and that priestly celibacy, while not a “dogma of the faith,” is a discipline “that I value very much and see as a gift for the Church.”

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UNITED STATES
PopeCrimes& Vatican Evils.

Paris Arrow

To understand the UN Report, go to SNAP and The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) who livestreamed their discussion of the UN report on the Vatican hearing that the Committee Against Torture (CAT) released earlier today:
http://ccrjustice.org/files/CAT_C_VAT_CO_1_17271_E.pdf

CCR and SNAP respond to UN CAT report – YouTube
► 55:05► 55:05
www.youtube.com/watch?v=okE21mDm_wo
3 days ago – Uploaded by SNAPnetwork
CCR and SNAP respond to UN CAT report. … CCR and SNAP respond to UN CAT report. SNAPnetwork·4 …

On May 23, 2014, should the (UN CAT) United Nations Committee Against Torture hand the judgement that the Vatican a.k.a. Holy See is ‘guilty of torture’, it will make an unprecedented declaration that will change forever the course of history for mankind and trump over religion like never before. It will announce the birth of justice for hundreds of thousands of silent Catholic survivors sexually tortured by thousands of pedophile priests of the bestial Vatican JP2 Army worldwide in the 20th century due to the Vatican culture of sexual abuse.

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