ABUSE TRACKER

NEW YORK
Wall Street Journal

By SOPHIA HOLLANDER
March 3, 2014

Last summer, Robert Boynton was strolling through his Brooklyn neighborhood when he was struck by the grades pasted in the windows of every restaurant.

“This is weird,” he remembers thinking. “Why do I know more about the health conditions at my local restaurant than the school I spend $45,000 sending my kid to?”

It was one of the inspirations behind a decision by the Horace Mann Action Coalition, a group of alumni, to create letter grades for private schools in the New York City area based on the strength of their policies to prevent sexual abuse. Mr. Boynton helped found the group to address allegations that faculty and administrators at the elite Bronx private school sexually abused more than two dozen students from the 1960s through the 1990s.

Last May, the school apologized in a letter posted on its website for “unconscionable betrayals of trust,” acknowledging that “it is clear” that former teachers and administrators “in fact did abuse” students.

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

NEW YORK
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Statement by Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, Outreach Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 314 862 7688 home, 314 503 0003 cell, SNAPdorris@gmail.com )

We applaud these compassionate men of the Horace Mann Action Coalition who are devising a system of rating New York private schools on how they handle child sex crimes.

[Wall Street Journal]

For far too long, private institutions – both religious and secular – have evaded scrutiny on child safety issues. Many of these institutions do little to prevent abuse and cover up but spend lavishly on defense lawyers and public relations consultants when abuse reports surface. Many of them write nice-sounding policies but then ignore them.

We offer one caution, however. We urge the group to pay more attention to officials’ behavior and less attention to the formal, written abuse policies of these schools. Over the past 25 years, we’ve seen that such policies almost always sound good on paper but are usually ignored in reality. Most private institutions are answerable to almost no one. So they often not only break secular laws, but also violate their own stated policies.

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

VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 4 March 2014 (VIS) – The Holy Father has appointed Msgr. Peter Leslie Smith as auxiliary of the archdiocese of Portland (area 85,541, population 1,379,000, Catholics 207,300, priests 168, permanent deacons 42, religious 347), U.S.A. The bishop-elect was born in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa in 1958 and was ordained a priest in 2001. He holds a degree in law from the University of Natal Law School, a master’s degree in theology from the Mount Angel Seminary in Saint Benedict, Oregon, a bachelor’s degree in theology from the St. Anselm Pontifical Athenaeum, Rome, and a licentiate in canon law from the Catholic University of America in Washington, U.S.A. He has served in a number of pastoral roles, including: priest of the “St. Rose of Lima” parish in Portland, archdiocesan delegate for the charismatic movement, adjunct judicial vicar, local superior of the Brotherhood of the People of Praise and vice chair of the presbyteral council. He is currently vicar general and moderator of the Curia.

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

AUSTRALIA
The Australian

Brisbane Archbishop Mark Coleridge and Toowoomba Bishop Robert McGuckin tell parents kids are safe from sex abuse at school

TANYA CHILCOTT THE COURIER-MAIL MARCH 05, 2014

CATHOLIC education officials admit their schooling system has been undermined in Queensland because of the way sexual abuse allegations were dealt with.

Brisbane Archbishop Mark Coleridge and Toowoomba Bishop Robert McGuckin have written to every school parent in their dioceses in an attempt to reassure them their children are protected at school.

It comes two weeks after the royal commission into child abuse heard shocking evidence of the abuse of 13 girls at a Toowoomba Catholic school as ­recently as the last decade.

The man who committed the crimes is now behind bars, but the commission heard allegations the school did not alert police to the abuse when it was first reported.

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

DEUTSCHLAND
Katholisch

[Summary: Pope Francis must now decide the fate of former Limburg Bishop Franz-Peter Tebartz van Elst. Archbishop Robert Zollitsch, chairman of the German bishops conference, on Monday presented at the Vatican a report on how money was spent in the diocese. The report findings will only be disclosed once deliberations of the Congregation of Bishops has been completed. Zollitsch said recently he does not expect a decision on the future of Tebartz van Elst before the German bishops assembly to be held March 10-13 in Munster.]

Ppst Franziskus hat nun das wichtigste Papier für eine Entscheidung über die Zukunft des Limburger Bischofs Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst vorliegen. Erzbischof Robert Zollitsch, der Vorsitzende der Deutschen Bischofskonferenz, übergab am Montag im Vatikan den mit Spannung erwarteten Prüfsbericht zu den Kosten für den Limburger Bischofssitz an den Präfekten der Bischofskongregation, Kardinal Marc Ouellet.

Das Rätselraten über die Zukunft von Tebartz-van Elst geht damit aber zunächst weiter. Wie im September vergangenen Jahres mit dem Domkapitel und dem Limburger Bischof vereinbart, würden die Ergebnisse des Berichts erst offengelegt, sobald die Beratungen der Bischofskongregation abgeschlossen seien, teilte die Bischofskonferenz in Bonn mit.
“Fairer und umfassender Beratungsprozess”

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

NEDERLAND
Omroep Gelderland

[Summary: The Klokk Foundation wants quick recognition of complaints from victims of abuse in the Catholic Church.]

BEUNINGEN – De Stichting KLOKK (Koepel Landelijk Overleg Kerkelijk Kindermisbruik) wil dat er snel erkenning komt voor slachtoffers van misbruik van wie de klacht ongegrond is verklaard, terwijl de klachtencommissie het wel gelooft.

De klachtencommissie die zich buigt over seksueel misbruik in de Rooms-katholieke Kerk heeft een kwart van de klachten niet bewezen verklaard, maar vindt wel het grootste deel van de misbruikverhalen geloofwaardig. KLOKK gaat nu de uitspraken inventariseren. De lotgenotenorganisatie verwacht dat zo’n 300 mensen in aanmerking komen voor een speciale regeling.

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

OSTERREICH
Anwalt

[Summary: A monastery is liable if it is negligent in selection of personnel or known abusers, according to the supreme court. The plaintiff attended the Cistercian boarding school of Wettingen-Mehrerau in Bregenz.]

Ein Kloster haftet, wenn sie bei der Personalauswahl fahrlässig ist und einen bekannten Missbrauchstäter einstellt. Ein Missbrauchsopfer hatte vor dem Obersten Gerichtshof mit seiner Klage Erfolg.

Geklagt hatte im Anlassfall ein Mann, der vor rund drei Jahrzehnten das Internat der Zisterzienserabtei Wettingen-Mehrerau in Bregenz besuchte. Missbrauchstäter war Pater Johannes, doch der war im Kloster schon einschlägig bekannt. Bereits Ende der 1960er-Jahre wagte der Pater Übergriffe auf Buben. Karriere machte er trotzdem. So konnte er sich 1982 an dem damals 15-Jährigen, der nun vor Gericht prozessierte, vergehen. Schadenersatzansprüche verjähren grundsätzlich drei Jahre, nachdem das Opfer weiß, wer ihm das Ungemach zugefügt hat. Kann man dem Täter die Straftat nachweisen, dann sind es 30 Jahre. Allerdings ist es oft nicht einfach, dem Täter im Zivilprozess die Straftat nachzuweisen, zumal es nach Jahrzehnten – diesmal wegen der strafrechtlichen Verjährung – auch keine Verfolgung durch die Justiz mehr gibt.

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

DEUTSCHLAND
taz

BERLIN taz | „Es erinnert mich an Konzepte, die wir aus Nazi-Zeiten noch kennen und das in unseligen DDR-Zeiten fortgesetzt wurde: Bindungsfähigkeit zerstören, Strafen und Sanktionen“. So urteilte die Traumatherapeutin Michaela Huber, nachdem die taz Vorfälle in den Heimen der Haasenburg GmbH dokumentiert hatte.

Tatsächlich reihen sich die Haasenburg-Heime ein in eine wenig rühmliche Geschichte von Erziehung nicht nur der DDR sondern auch der wirtschaftsliberal verfassten westdeutschen Bundesrepublik.

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

AUSTRALIA
J-Wire

March 4, 2014 by Henry Benjamin

Bill Doogue is Rabbi Avrohom Glick’s solicitor. He talks to J-Wire following the announcement that Victoria Police are not proceeding with their investigation on allegations made against Rabbi Glick of sexual abuse on a student at Melbourne Yeshiva without foundation.

From Bill Doogue:

We do not name our clients normally. The aim is to provide them with some level of anonymity and to respect their privacy. Often they have been through the judicial system and whether convicted or acquitted, they should be given the opportunity to move on with their lives. The last thing you want is to be ego-surfing (ie looking yourself up on google) or for someone else to be looking you up and a lawyer’s website pops up.

But in this case we have asked our now former client if we can speak about him and he has agreed.
His name is Rabbi Avrohom Glick. He is head of religious studies at the Melbourne Yeshivah College. He is an important figure in his community internationally.

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

NEW JERSEY
Patch

Posted by Joseph M. Gerace (Editor) , March 03, 2014

As the Roman Catholic pope makes headlines for his bold calls to austerity and humble living, one Newark archbishop is being skewered in the news for a half-million dollar addition on his weekend home in Franklin Township.

The archdiocese purchased the 8.2 acre “future retirement home” of John J. Myers for $700,000 in 2002 and is currently renovating the residence. When construction is complete, the home will boast two swimming pools, an elevator, a three-car garage, and stand at some 7,500 square feet.

Local parishioners are “infuriated” by the “tone-deaf show of excess” by Myers and the Newark Archdiocese and may stop donating to the organization, according to a report in the Star-Ledger.

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

AUSTRALIA
ABC News

A retired priest has been charged with a series of sexual assaults at a Sydney church.

The 73-year-old man was arrested at Tweed Heads on the far north coast.

Police allege he sexually assaulted a boy between 1984 and 1991 in a church at St Marys.

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

AUSTRALIA
Sky News

A retired priest has been charged with historical sex offences after a two-year investigation into alleged sex assaults on a boy in Sydney’s west.

The 73-year-old was charged with three counts of aggravated indecency after he allegedly sexually assaulted the boy between 1984 and 1991 while working at a church in St Mary’s.

Detectives from the Manning/Great Lakes region began investigating after receiving information from a local man in 2012.

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

MONTANA
Montana Standard

[poll]

What do you think of the $15 million the Catholic Church of Western Montana must pay to the 362 victims of sexual abuse?

1. It’s too much money
2. It’s not enough money
3, It’s the right amount

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

AUSTRALIA
New South Wales Police Force

Catholic Priest charged over historical child indecent assaults – Strike Force Belle

Tuesday, 04 March 2014

Police investigating the sexual and indecent assault of children at schools in the state’s central west have arrested and charged another man.

Investigators from Strike Force Belle arrested a 61-year-old man at his residence in Marsfield today (Tuesday 4 March).

The priest was taken to Ryde Police Station and charged with 14 counts of aggravated indecent assault which allegedly occurred between 1975 and 1982 at a catholic secondary college in Bathurst.

The man has been granted conditional bail and will appear at Burwood Local Court on Wednesday 23 April.

This is the 11th priest or former priest to be charged by Strike Force Belle detectives, which was formed to investigate allegations of the sexual and indecent assaults of students at two secondary colleges in Bathurst between 1960 and 1993.

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

AUSTRALIA
My Daily News

Jessica Grewal 4th Mar 2014

AN ACCUSED predator priest has been arrested in Northern NSW following a two-year-investigation into historic sexual assault allegations.

The 73-year-old retired priest, who now lives at Tweed Heads, is accused of sexually assaulting a young boy while working at a Catholic church at St Mary’s in Sydney’s west.

An investigation was launched in 2012 after an alleged victim from the Great Lakes region came forward to police.

Detectives travelled to Tweed Heads last week and quizzed the elderly man over sexual abuse allegations spanning several years between the early 80s and 90s.

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

AUSTRALIA
7 News

AAP

A Catholic priest has been charged with child abuse allegedly committed at a church-run Bathurst high school in the 1970s and 1980s.

The 61-year-old is the eleventh priest or former priest to be charged over historic child abuse at the St Stanislaus secondary college dating back to 1960.

He was arrested at his northern Sydney home on Tuesday and charged with 14 counts of aggravated indecent assault, police said.

It’s alleged he abused two boys at the church-run school between 1975 and 1982.

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

UNITED STATES
Bucks County Courier Times

Posted: Tuesday, March 4, 2014

By ROBERT MORRISON

People (or institutions) that live in glass houses should not throw stones. The green glass facade of the United Nations building in New York City came to mind when I read articles regarding recent criticism of the Catholic Church by the UN over the priest child abuse scandal.

In true UN fashion, the report was not only a day late and a dollar short regarding the scandal in terms of ignoring the actions taken by the Church to address the very issues raised by the report, it ignored the lack of action by the UN in correcting its own child sex abuse problems. The report, released the first week of February, accused the Church of protecting itself rather than the victims of the priest sex abuse scandal.

“The Holy See has consistently placed the preservation of the reputation of the Church and the protection of the perpetrators above children’s best interests,” the report stated. In response, the Vatican rightly stated that the UN ignored its efforts to address the abuse crisis in recent years. In fact, Pope Benedict XVI made zero tolerance the universal law of the Church by mandating that every priest who is involved in the abuse of a child be defrocked with approximately 400 priests dismissed from the priesthood prior to his retirement. The policy further requires that churches follow local laws in reporting abuse to civil authorities. In addition, most dioceses require Catholics involved in youth ministry to undergo criminal background checks and receive training on reporting abuse allegations.

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

SCOTLAND
The Times

Jeremy Watson

Cardinal Keith O’Brien, the disgraced Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh, is facing an investigation into financial mismanagement in his former diocese after a former priest claimed that he had bought a jet ski for a friend.

Cardinal O’Brien stepped down a year ago after three priests and a former priest accused him sexual misconduct.

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

IRELAND
Irish Times

Catherine McCann

Mon, Mar 3, 2014

To understand happenings of the past and why situations unfold in the manner they do requires an unbiased knowledge of history. Seeking accuracy necessitates taking into account the views of the various parties involved.

Both before and after the McAleese report, the views of the Magdalene women have rightly been given, but almost nothing is noted from the sisters’ perspective. Recent history gives a clue as to why.

Reporting on the industrial schools’ sad situation was from the start one-sided and largely hostile towards religious sisters. This made it then, and now, almost impossible for sisters to speak publicly, knowing they are likely to be prejudged. The media has failed to offer balanced reporting on the orphanage and the Magdalene situations.

While deeply saddened by what children and the “Magdalene women” had to suffer, I am also saddened at the stressful situation the sisters of the four congregations (who managed the laundries) are going through. Many are old, after a life in the service of others, and are left carrying this “shadow” placed on them.

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

NEW JERSEY
The Star-Ledger

By Tom Moran/ Star-Ledger Editorial Board
on March 03, 2014

It is tragic to hear Catholics say they will boycott Newark Archbishop John J. Myers’ annual appeal this year as a protest against his decision to build a luxurious addition to his retirement home in Hunterdon County.

That will do concrete harm to people in need. It will deny money to the soup kitchens and homeless shelters run by Catholic Charities. And it will worsen the financial pinch at Catholic schools, many of which have already shut down for lack of funds.

It has also drained away any surviving scrap of credibility Myers clung to in the wake of his shameful failure to protect children from abusive priests. This bleeding is likely to continue until Myers finally resigns, or is shoved into retirement by Pope Francis.

Some Catholics, taking a cue from Myers’ playbook, blame all this on the press. “For the love of God, the media is our devil,” one priest in Garfield wrote in his weekly bulletin.

But the press is not in the business of hiding secrets like this. And the facts of this case are unchallenged.

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

MINNESOTA
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: Rev. James P. Stark was ordained for the St. Paul archdiocese February 22, 1964. For thirteen years he moved through a number of parishes in the archdiocese as an assistant priest. In 1977 Stark was named pastor of St. Michael’s in Farmington, where he remained until his removal in 1986. He died March 29, 1999. Stark’s name was included on a February 2014 list released by the archdiocese of priests with “substantiated” claims of sexual abuse of minors against them. The archdiocese did not reveal details of claims against Stark.

Ordained: Feb. 22, 1964
Died: March 29, 1999

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

MINNESOTA
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: Rev. Kenneth LaVan was ordained for the archdiocese of St. Paul in 1958. In the late 1980s two women alleged having been sexually abused by LaVan as teenagers, one of them in the early 1960s beginning when she was 12 years-old, and until she was 17. LaVan was also known by the archdiocese to have had “boundary violation” issues with adult women. He was removed from all active ministry November 30, 2013, yet was not included on the archdiocese’s list released December 5, 2013 of credibly accused priests. LaVan was included on the archdiocese’s February 17, 2014 list of priests with “substantiated” claims.

Ordained: Feb. 23, 1958
Retired: 1998

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

OKLAHOMA
Tulsa World

By DYLAN GOFORTH World Staff Writer

McALESTER — Charges were dismissed last week against a Pittsburg County church elder whose alleged molestation of children more than 30 years ago was claimed by prosecutors to have been covered up.

Ronald Lawrence, 76, was charged in November with 11 counts of lewd molestation, five counts of forcible oral sodomy, two counts of forcible sodomy and one count of rape by instrumentation.

Lawrence, an elder at the Jehovah’s Witness Church in McAlester, was arrested after three accusers said Lawrence had abused them in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

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

NEW JERSEY
Wonkette

So here is a fine kettle of Ichthys — as we mentioned a couple weeks back, John J. Myers, the Archbishop of Newark — which is a pretty fun title to say, we’ll admit — is building himself a new wing on the Barbie’s Dream Bishop Retirement Home, to the tune of half a million dollars. This is not going over especially well with parishioners, who are less than thrilled that Myers’s 4500-square-foot residence is getting a brand new wing at a time when the archdiocese has had to close schools because of budget shortfalls, and for that matter, after New Pope’s call for priests to drive boring cars and knock it off already with the luxurious manses. And so, when the “Archbishop’s Annual Appeal” envelopes were handed out last month, a lot of cheesed-off Catholics have been sending the Archbishop a message, loud and clear, in the form of empty contribution envelopes, to which we say, way to go, pissed-off parishioners who aren’t going to give one more cent for this foolishness.

Except for the part that kind of sucks, which is that the costs of the new additions to Meyers’s residence came from the sale of other property, so withholding contributions won’t slow down the construction by so much as a nail. It’s almost as if the archdiocese carefully planned the building project to insulate it from pissed-off parishioners, isn’t it?

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

UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

POSTED BY BARBARA DORRIS ON MARCH 03, 2014

Bishops consistently claim they aren’t responsible for child sex crimes and cover ups committed by religious order clerics. “They’re totally separate from us,” bishops repeatedly say about the Jesuits, Salesians, Benedictines and the like.

And Vatican officials consistently claim they aren’t responsible for clergy sex crimes and cover ups across the globe. (Their jurisdiction, they want us to believe, is limited to the actual, tiny, physical Vatican city/state.)

But today, the National Catholic Reporter is disclosing that hundreds of treasurers of religious orders have been summoned to Rome by the bishop of Rome, Pope Francis, to talk about money.

[National Catholic Reporter]

Once again, church officials say they’re A, until that’s disadvantageous. Then, they say they’re actually B. And when claiming to be B becomes disadvantageous, then they go back to claiming to be A.

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

NORTHERN IRELAND
Irish Times

Dan Keenan

Mon, Mar 3, 2014

A former resident of St Joseph’s home at Termonbacca in Derry has accused Catholic clergy, state agencies and the police of failing a generation of children in residential care.

The witness, who cannot be named, told the Historical Institutional Abuse inquiry he had received kind and loving treatment from one named nun while he was a resident during the 1970s.

However he alleged many others suffered under a system of childcare which left them vulnerable to physical and sexual abuse by others. He alleged he suffered at the hands of other boys but felt unable to raise it when it happened.

“There was more than an element of collusion between the RUC, social services and the clergy,” he said.

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

CHILE
Bio Bio

Publicado por Alberto Gonzalez

El fallo que condenó al sacerdote Audín Araya por abuso sexual contra menores quedó a firme, luego que su defensa se desistiera del recurso de nulidad presentado y que debía tramitarse este lunes en la Corte de Apelaciones de Concepción.

Fueron los ministro del tribunal de alzada penquista quienes informaron antes de iniciarse los alegatos en la audiencia, que el abogado del religioso, Marcelo Torres, había presentado un escrito desistiendo del recurso que buscaba anular el fallo del Tribunalde Juicio Oral de Concepción.

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

CHILE
Cooperativa

[Summary: The defense of Audin Araya, priest and former rector of the Salesian College of Conception, has decided not to seek a mistrial in the trial that convicted the priest of cases of sexual abuse against students. The priest was sentenced to two years is prison and is forbidden to have contact with minors.]

La defensa de Audín Araya, sacerdote y ex rector del Colegio Salesianos de Concepción, decidió no pedir la nulidad del juicio que lo condenó por uno de los casos de abuso sexual en contra de sus alumnos.

Los alegatos para pedir la nulidad se realizarían este lunes, pero la defensa de Araya desistió alegando cansancio del sacerdote por una posible extensión del proceso judicial.

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

NEW JERSEY
Newser

By Kate Seamons, Newser Staff
Posted Mar 3, 2014

(NEWSER) – It seems like a pretty sweet way to retire: living in a 7,500-square-foot mansion with two swimming pools. But when the soon-to-be retiree is Archbishop John J. Myers, and the construction bill tied to the 3,000-square-foot addition on his existing weekend home will be footed by the Archdiocese of Newark—which the New York Times points out had to close a beloved Catholic elementary school two years ago due to a lack of funds—well, the news isn’t going over so well. It didn’t two weeks ago, when the Star-Ledger reported on the addition to the Franklin Township house, where Myers has spent his weekends since the archdiocese bought it in 2002. And it didn’t go over well this Sunday, which saw parishioners closing their checkbooks, particularly to the ongoing Archbishop’s Annual Appeal, which supports Catholic schools, feeding the poor, and retired priests, among other causes.

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

NEW JERSEY
National Catholic Reporter

Brian Roewe | Mar. 3, 2014 NCR Today

The costs of renovating Newark, N.J. Archbishop John Myers’ weekend residence for his upcoming retirement could exceed the $500,000 estimated for construction — it could also put a dent in archdiocesan donations.

Over the weekend, the Newark Star-Ledger reported on the hundred-plus people who wrote to the newspaper after it first reported Feb. 17 on the ongoing renovations that will expand the 4,500-square-foot home to 7,500 square feet, complete with six bedrooms, five bathrooms, a three-car garage, two pools (one outdoor, another small one indoors for exercise), a library, an elevator and a gallery room. Myers is set to retire in 2016.

The latest Star-Ledger story highlighted Newark Catholics who have pledged to cut off support of the appeal in protest of the construction project:

Parishioners, infuriated by what they call a tone-deaf show of excess at a time when Catholic schools are closing and when the pope has called on bishops to shed the trappings of luxury, say they’re cutting off contributions entirely or sharply curtailing them.

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

NEW JERSEY
Philadelphia Magazine

BY JOEL MATHIS | MARCH 3, 2014 AT

TPM: “Churchgoing Catholics in New Jersey are closing their wallets to the church following reports that the Archbishop of Newark is having a large addition built on the already-large home where he will spend his retirement, The Newark Star Ledger reported on Sunday.”

The Newark Archdiocese’s plan to build a $500,000 addition to the retirement home for Archbishop John Myers received press attention last month, prompting a public backlash. One Star-Ledger reader wrote a letter to the editor dubbing Myers the “Bishop of Bling.”

In its story on Sunday, the Star-Ledger spoke with parishioners, some of whom said they were cutting off contributions to the church entirely, and others who said they would still support local parishes but won’t give to the archdiocese’s annual fundraising appeal. A spokesperson for the archbishop told the newspaper that the annual appeal has in recent years brought in between $10 million and $11 million.

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

VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

Joshua J. McElwee | Mar. 3, 2014

VATICAN CITY
Pope Francis has asked the treasurers of the thousands of Catholic religious orders around the world to meet in Rome this weekend to discuss how they can use their orders’ financial assets “for the service of humanity.”

The first-of-its-kind summit puts an unusual focus on the wealth of the orders. Last fall Francis pointedly asked leaders of religious orders to reevaluate management of their assets, especially empty monasteries and convents which in recent years have frequently been turned over to non-religious pursuits, such as hotels and restaurants.

The event, to be held near the Vatican March 8-9, has not been announced publicly but is expected to draw hundreds of representatives of the estimated 900,000 men and women religious globally. It is to have 15 talks on issues ranging from the use of church property, to financial debts, to economic solidarity.

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

MONTANA
Independent Record

By Derek Brouwer

Bankruptcy will allow the Diocese of Helena to efficiently compensate sex abuse victims, Bishop George Thomas hopes, so it can begin rebuilding a church already in financial straits.

While the bankruptcy case will take several months to sort out, Thomas and diocese attorneys believe they can reach an agreement that will allow the church to emerge financially viable and with parishes intact.

That hasn’t been the case in some other diocese bankruptcies around the country, which have taken years to resolve and with mixed outcomes. Attorneys and church leaders in Helena say cooperation with victims has led to an arrangement that will allow the diocese to move forward.

“Mediation in my opinion benefits the entire group of people that are involved,” Thomas said.

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

TEXAS
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, March 3, 2013

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

In a shocking display of bias, a Catholic prosecutor has impugned a man’s honesty because he left the priesthood.

[The Monitor]

Dale Tacheny says that Fr. John Feit admitted that he murdered Irene Garza. But prosecutor Rene Guerra doesn’t believe Tacheny because, he says, “Anybody that’s a former priest who left the priesthood has broken the vows of the church and now he says he’s the biggest truth-teller in the world. I don’t believe that.”

That’s worrisome and prejudiced. We call on the prosecutor to apologize for his hurtful remarks. Fewer victims and witnesses will likely report known and suspected crimes – especially against Catholic parishioners and staff – fearing that Guerra may also publicly attack their credibility because of choices they have made that he disapproves of.

Millions of Americans get divorced. Hundreds of thousands of men have left the Catholic priesthood for many reasons. Tens of thousands of priests have not honored their pledge to be celibate.

Each could be considered to have “broken” a “vow.” But none of that reflects on the integrity or truthfulness of any of these individuals, especially one like Tacheny who, without any apparent ulterior motives, has voluntarily shared what he knows about a murder with police and prosecutors (and who continues, decades later, to push for justice).

If Rene Guerra has adopted a new standard and now refuses to believe any witness who has ever “broken” a “vow,” we suspect he’ll have a very hard time winning many convictions.

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

NEW JERSEY
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, March 3, 2014

Statement by Mark Crawford, New Jersey director of SNAP ( 732-632-7687, mecrawf@comcast.net )

A Newark Catholic pastor is telling his flock that “the media is our devil.” We believe Fr. Peter Palmisano should be disciplined for this hurtful remark.

[The Star-Ledger]

Fr. Palmisano, who heads Our Lady of Mount Virgin Church in Garfield, didn’t make this awful statement “off the cuff.” He wrote this in his Feb. 28 parish bulletin.

It’s harmful when Catholic officials publicly attack those who expose clergy sex crimes and cover ups – whether they are victims, police, attorneys or journalists – because they deter others from exposing clergy sex crimes and cover ups. (Maybe this was Fr. Palmisano’s intent. We don’t know. But regardless of his motives, the impact is the same – it discourages victims, witnesses, whistleblowers, and advocates from protecting kids by exposing criminals.)

Fr. Palmisano is free to think journalists are devils. He should not be free, however, to use a parish bulletin to spread his venom. Archbishop John Myers should publicly punish him for his irresponsible and mean-spirited behavior. Otherwise, Myers’ is sanctioning irresponsible and mean-spirited behavior and basically encouraging other church officials to follow Fr. Palmisano’s lead.

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

CANADA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, March 3, 2014

For more info: Melanie Jula Sakoda 925-708-6175 cell, melanie.sakoda@gmail.com, Cappy Larson cappy@rlarson.com, David Clohessy 314-566-9790 cell, SNAPclohessy@aol.com

Ministers say they were “deceived”
Fundraiser for convicted predator won’t happen in Ottawa
He was Orthodox Church’s highest ranking cleric in Canada
But in Jan a judge found archbishop guilty of sexually assaulting a boy
Victims’ group calls for investigation into “hurtful & disturbing situation”
SNAP: “Discipline church officials who participated in this callous effort”

Two ministers at an Ottawa parish say that they were “deceived” by a group planning to use their church to hold a fundraiser for a convicted child molesting cleric.

Late last week, leaders at Woodroffe United Church in Ottawa wrote to SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, saying that they did not know the scheduled March 5 event was to benefit Archbishop Seraphim Storheim, who was found guilty last month of molesting a boy. Storheim was the Orthodox Church in America’s (OCA) highest ranking cleric in Canada.

SNAP had written to Woodroffe pastors Rev. Matt Gallinger (613-722-9250 x223, matt@woodroffeunited.org) and Rev. Jan Lougheed (613-722-9250 x226, 613-799-6238, jlough@rogers.com) urging them to block the fundraiser.

Within hours of hearing from SNAP, the pastors cancelled the event and said that it would not be rescheduled in their parish.

(The complete text of the pastors’ letter is pasted below.)

Now, SNAP is asking OCA officials to identify those who allegedly deceived the Woodroffe parish and who they say hurt victims by promoting a public benefit for a child predator. They are also asking that any church officials who participated be severely disciplined.

“Publicly rallying around a proven child predator is morally wrong and intimidates other child sex abuse victims into staying silent,” said Melanie Jula Sakoda of SNAP. “It’s also wrong to lie to other churches. The OCA hierarchy should investigate both parts of this controversy and publicly discipline those responsible so it won’t happen again.”

SNAP sent letters denouncing the proposed fundraiser to the OCA, the OCA’s Archdiocese of Canada, the United Church of Canada, and the Woodroffe parish on the morning of February 27th. The victims’ group asked each to cancel or denounce the event. SNAP pointed out that a public event benefiting a convicted pedophile “hurt at least one child sex abuse victim and deterred other child sex abuse victims from speaking up.”

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

CALIFORNIA
Santa Barbara Independent

Friday, February 28, 2014

by LYZ HOFFMAN

Michael Norris, a 69-year-old man who pleaded guilty last month to molesting his granddaughter in Carpinteria, was sentenced Thursday to three years in state prison per a plea agreement that will require him to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life. Deputy District Attorney Benjamin Ladinig, who handled the case, said the deal stemmed from the fact that Norris could have received only probation, given his age, his poor health — he wore a neck brace in court on Thursday — and his lack of a criminal history.

The District Attorney’s Office, with input from the victim’s parents, also wished to spare her from a trial, Ladinig said. The girl, who was between six and eight years old at the time of the incidents and is now 15, is a “straight-A student” who is doing well “with her studies and her life right now,” Ladinig added.

Ladinig said that the girl told her father in 2012 about what Norris had done years prior. The Sheriff’s Office investigated the allegations and issued an arrest warrant in late 2012 for Norris, who had moved to Costa Rica many years earlier. According to the Sheriff’s Office, Norris agreed to surrender once he learned of the warrant. He was arrested when his flight from Costa Rica landed in Los Angeles in February 2013.

Norris initially faced charges of child molestation, continuous sexual abuse of a child, exhibiting pornographic material to a child, and attempted aggravated sexual assault of a child, the last of which Ladinig said presented some accuracy issues. Norris initially pleaded not guilty to the charges but agreed to the deal in January. Once he is released from prison — he will be required to serve 85 percent of his sentence — he will be subject to “strict monitoring” as part of his sex offender registration, Ladinig said.

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

CALIFORNIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, March 3, 2014

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

We are grateful that a Jehovah’s Witness elder will spend time in prison and register as a sex offender for the rest of his life. Now, JW officials and congregants must aggressively seek out others who may have seen, suspected or suffered his crimes.

[Santa Barbara Independent]

On Feb. 28, Michael Norris pleaded guilty to molesting his granddaughter in Carpinteria, CA. He also spent time in Costa Rica. We worry that there may be other kids who were assaulted by him – in both countries – who are suffering in shame, silence, confusion and self-blame. Jehovah’s Witness officials and members should work very hard to find and help these victims, and beg them to call police.

Anyone who may have seen or suspected Norris’ crimes should also contact police. It’s possible that current or former JW officials or members could be prosecuted for concealing Norris’ crimes.

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

DEUTSCHLAND
Zeit

EIN INTERVIEW VON EVELYN FINGER

Aktualisiert 2. März 2014

DIE ZEIT: Pater Zollner, der Vatikan hat eine Kommission gegründet, die sexuellen Missbrauch von Kindern verhindern soll. Ist das eine Reaktion auf die jüngste Rüge des UN-Kinderrechtsausschusses, die katholische Kirche habe den Ruf der Institution systematisch über das Wohl von Kindern gestellt und verletzte trotz entsprechender Zusagen die Kinderrechtskonvention?

Hans Zollner: Nein. Das neue Gremium hatten die acht Kardinäle, die den Papst beraten, ihm bereits im Herbst vorgeschlagen. Und Franziskus hat zugestimmt. Die Kommission soll dem Schutz von Kindern und Jugendlichen dienen und unter anderem Modelle pastoraler Hilfe für Missbrauchsopfer entwickeln. Angeregt und vorgestellt hat das Kardinal Sean O’Malley, der als Erzbischof von Boston lange Erfahrung mit diesem Thema hat. Die Kommission kann aber nicht alle Erwartungen der UN an den Vatikan erfüllen, zum Beispiel die Missbrauchsfälle weltweit aufzuarbeiten. Das müssen die Bischofskonferenzen und Ordensprovinzen in den jeweiligen Ländern selber tun, am besten mithilfe unabhängiger Experten.

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

UNITED KINGDOM
Derby Telegraph

By zhawley@derbytelegraph.co.uk

Following the child sex abuse case against former Mackworth parish priest Francis Paul Cullen, the Bishop of Nottingham has stepped in to reassure parishoners of his ongoing support.

YOU could have heard a pin drop as the Rt Rev Malcolm McMahon read through his carefully worded sermon during mass at Christ the King Church in Mackworth.

Up to 60 people were at the Prince Charles Avenue church for the regular 5.30pm Saturday mass, which Bishop Malcolm used to offer his apologies to them.

The mass was intended to bring comfort and healing in the wake of the scandal surrounding disgraced Mackworth priest Francis Paul Cullen.

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

MALTA
Times of Malta

The Pope’s personal secretary, Gozitan Mgr Alfred Xuereb, has been appointed prelate secretary general of the Vatican’s new Secretariat for the Economy.

The decree was signed by Pope Francis this morning together with the decree appointing Cardinal George Pell prefect of the same secretariat.

The secretariat’s responsibility includes handling all economic and administrative business of the Holy See and the Vatican state. It has the same level of duties and rights as that of a State Secretariat.

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

SCOTLAND
Herald Scotland

Monday 3 March 2014

Phil Miller
Arts Correspondent

Three priests and an ex-priest whose allegations against Cardinal Keith O’Brien led to his resignation a year ago are appealing directly to the Pope to intervene in the case.

His successor as Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh, Leo Cushley, has insisted that only the Vatican can initiate an inquiry into O’Brien’s sexual behaviour, which lie at the centre of the allegations, but he has agreed to an investigation into his financial actions.

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

SCOTLAND
Scotsman

A FORMER priest whose allegations of sexual misconduct led to the resignation of Cardinal Keith O’Brien has claimed the financial management of the Archdiocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh during the disgraced archbishop’s tenure, is now under ­scrutiny.

Archbishop Leo Cushley, who succeeded Cardinal O’Brien, has agreed to an investigation of the ­financial transactions according to “Lenny”, a former priest who said he had been the victim of an “abusive” sexual relationship with the cardinal.

The former priest said he and the other three diocesan priests whose allegations brought down the cardinal in February last year were now anxious to ensure there had been no mismanagement of church funds.

In an interview Lenny said he would have contacted the charity regulator if Cushley had not launched an investigation.

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

CANADA
Straight

by CHARLIE SMITH on MAR 2, 2014

THE FORMER CEO of the Vancouver Olympics has claimed in several media interviews that journalist and author Laura Robinson went to the RCMP with allegations that he had sexually abused a former student.

But in a statement of defence filed in B.C. Supreme Court, John Furlong revealed that this wasn’t because of any “actual knowledge”.

Furlong’s statement is in response to Robinson’s notice of civil claim alleging defamation.

In it, he declares that he “believes that the plaintiff brought Beverly Abraham’s allegations to the RCMP based on his diligent review of the information available to him and the information provided to him by the RCMP”.

“The defendant Furlong has no direct or actual knowledge of whether the plaintiff initiated a complaint with or otherwise reported Ms. Abraham’s allegations to the RCMP,” the document adds.

Furlong has sued Robinson in connection with an article in the Georgia Straight in September 2012, in which she reported that he had been a teacher at a Burns Lake Catholic elementary school in 1969 and 1970.

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

CANADA
The Tyee

By BOB MACKIN
Published March 2, 2014

In new B.C. Supreme Court documents, the CEO of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics admits he has no proof that a journalist made an abuse complaint about him to the RCMP.

John Furlong filed his statement of defence Feb. 27 in the defamation lawsuit launched a month earlier by Laura Robinson, who wrote a 2012 expose about the Irish-born Furlong’s initial years in Canada as a Catholic school physical education teacher.

In his court filing, Furlong “believes,” based on information he claims was available to him and provided by the RCMP, that Robinson brought Beverly Abraham’s allegations to the RCMP. But it said he “has no direct or actual knowledge of whether the plaintiff initiated a complaint with or otherwise reported Ms. Abraham’s allegations to the RCMP.”

The court filing is different from what Furlong said in an Oct. 28, 2013 interview with Global BC’s Chris Gailus (“she went to the RCMP and made the complaint”) and in an Oct. 29, 2013 statement on his website (“the RCMP have cleared me of the allegations that Ms. Robinson brought to the RCMP on behalf of Beverly Abraham in the summer of 2012”).

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

AUSTRALIA
Canberra Times

March 3, 2014

Michael Inman
Courts reporter for The Canberra Times.

A Canberra catholic priest has been committed to stand trial over allegations he molested a young parishioner in the 1990s.

Father Edward Evans, 84, maintained pleas of not guilty when he appeared before the ACT Magistrates Court on Monday.

Defence lawyers had asked a magistrate to conduct a full committal hearing – so they could cross-examine prosecution witnesses – before sending the matter to the ACT Supreme Court.

But Chief Magistrate Lorraine Walker rejected the application, finding it would not be in the interest of justice.

Ms Walker said the cross-examination of witnesses would be best conducted before a jury.

Ms Walker continued Father Evans’ bail and committed him to stand trial in the higher court on seven charges, including committing acts of indecency and sexual intercourse with a child.

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

UNITED STATES
UCA News

[with video]

Lance Dickie for the Seattle Times
Vatican City
March 3, 2014

Here is how a stunning PBS documentary describes itself:

“In Secrets of the Vatican, FRONTLINE tells the epic, inside story of the collapse of the Benedict papacy and illuminates the extraordinary challenges facing Pope Francis as he tries to reform the powerful Vatican bureaucracy, root out corruption and chart a new course for the troubled Catholic Church and its 1.2 billion followers.”

Viewers might easily imagine they’ve heard it all. Oh that. Why bother? Take everything you have ever heard about the Catholic Church and the global clergy child sexual abuse scandals, the dodgy Vatican bank, add in drug abuse, and multiply it all by ten. A primary insight is that Pope Benedict really did not step down from the papacy so much as flee the job.

No one could make up what this documentary reveals. For all of the horror on display, the reality is basic: arrogance, hubris and insularity will bring down any organization, even one ordained to do God’s work on earth. A human organization manifests all human frailties. Allow it to make its own rules and hide, and the worst happens.

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

DEUTSCHLAND
shz

Ganz still war es im großen Tagungssaal des Travemünder Maritim-Hotels. Hätte ein Mitglied der Landessynode der Nordkirche einen Bleistift fallen gelassen, alle anderen hätten es gehört. „Vertuschung, das ist das Wort, das an der Kirche klebt“, sagte Hamburgs Bischöfin Kirsten Fehrs (Foto) am Rednerpult. „Vertuschung, das wird man schwer los.“ Die Theologin berichtete vor den 156 Synodalen zur Aufarbeitung des sexuellen Missbrauchs in der Nordkirche. „Das Spiel mit der Abhängigkeit war ein Perfides“, sagte Fehrs.

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

DEUTSCHLAND
Die Welt

[Summary: Bishop Kirsten Fehr stood before to lectern to hold a nearly house-long speech when the synod of the north church met this weekend at Travemunde. There was absolute silence and there was no applause. The discussion to too serious because there is still shame of the abuse cases in the Protestant church, especially in Ahrensburg. She lamented the failure of the church in the scandal.]

Von Edgar S. Hasse

In einem schwarzen Kostüm trat Bischöfin Kirsten Fehrs vor das Rednerpult, um eine fast einstündige Rede zu halten. Die ganze Zeit über herrschte unter den Synodalen der Nordkirche, die am Wochenende in Travemünde tagten, absolute Stille. Auch nach dem Bericht der Hamburger und Lübecker Bischöfin schwiegen die Kirchenparlamentarier: Es gab keinen Applaus.

Zu ernst war das Thema, zu stark die Betroffenheit, so tief noch immer die Scham über die Missbrauchsfälle in der evangelischen Kirche – vor allem in der Kirchengemeinde Ahrensburg. Rund vier Jahre nach dem Bekanntwerden dieser Fälle, die juristisch alle verjährt sind, legte die Bischöfin jetzt erstmals einen umfangreichen öffentlichen Bericht über das System Missbrauch in der Institution Kirche vor. Darin beklagte sie das Versagen der Kirche in der Aufarbeitung dieses Skandals, bei dem ein inzwischen aus dem Dienst entlassener Pastor mehr als 20 Jahre lang Jugendliche in einer “letztlich unbekannten Anzahl” sowie Familienmitglieder sexuell missbraucht hat.

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

CANADA
Ottawa Sun

KRISTIN ANNABLE QMI AGENCY

A small but fervent group remains committed to raising funds for convicted sex offender and disgraced archbishop Kenneth (Seraphim) Storheim.

But the group were stopped in their tracks this weekend when an Ottawa church pulled the plug on one of their fundraising events.

An attempt by the group to throw the party March 5 at Woodroffe United Church was thwarted when SNAP, a U.S.-based support group for clergy abuse victims, alerted the church of the group’s true intentions.

It was touted as a chamber music concert on a website devoted to raising money for Storheim’s legal defence.

“We don’t support funding for people who have been convicted of sexual abuse,” explained Rev. Jan Lougheed of her decision to cancel the event.

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

MONTANA
Billings Gazette

Helena Catholic Diocese faces tough decisions as it negotiates bankruptcy

[Part 1: Catholic church will name 50+ priests who abused 100s of children in state]

By DEREK BROUWER Independent Record

Editor’s note: This story is the second of a two-day series on the aftermath of the proposed bankruptcy settlement of sex-abuse cases against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Helena.

HELENA — Bankruptcy will allow the Diocese of Helena to efficiently compensate sex abuse victims, Bishop George Thomas hopes, so it can begin rebuilding a church already in dire financial straits.

While the bankruptcy case will take several months to sort out, Thomas and diocese attorneys believe they can reach an agreement that will allow the church to emerge financially viable and with parishes intact.

That hasn’t been the case in some other diocese bankruptcies around the country, which have taken years to resolve and with mixed outcomes. Attorneys and church leaders in Helena say cooperation with victims has led to an arrangement that will allow the diocese to move forward.

“Mediation, in my opinion, benefits the entire group of people that are involved,” Thomas said.

However, the church still faces difficult decisions in the coming months as the diocese, creditors and a bankruptcy judge negotiate its financial future.

The settlement reached with victims’ attorneys in January will require the diocese to pay at least $2.5 million of $15 million in damages.

But the money the diocese owes to its parishes is much greater, and is the result of several years of financial problems and past sex-abuse claims, Thomas said.

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

MONTANA
Billings Gazette

Plantiffs’ attorneys expect numbers to go up in Great Falls-Billings diocese sex abuse lawsuits

By Susan Olp

The number of plaintiffs in two sexual abuse lawsuits filed against the Diocese of Great Falls-Billings has increased to 50, and lawyers in both suits predict that figure will grow.

Both civil suits have been filed in Cascade County District Court in Great Falls, home of the Roman Catholic Diocese, which had jurisdiction over the churches and the clergy named in the suits.

One lawsuit was filed by the Morales Law Office in Missoula and the Tamaki Law Offices in Yakima, Wash., in June 2012. It was filed on behalf of a Northern Cheyenne woman in her 60s who said she was repeatedly molested and raped as a young girl by the Rev. Emmett Hoffmann, longtime priest at St. Labre Mission School in Ashland. The Order of Friars Minor, Capuchin, to which Hoffmann belonged, also was named as a defendant.

The attorneys filed a second amended complaint in February 2013, which boosted the number of plaintiffs to six women and 11 men who claimed they had been sexually abused by Roman Catholic priests and nuns in central and Eastern Montana. The abuse was said to have taken place from as early as 1943, and included schools, missions, homes and churches in Ashland, Hays, St. Xavier and Harlem.

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

NIGERIA
allAfrica

Vanguard

BY ESTHER ONYEGBULA, 2 MARCH 2014

The peace of Akute, Ogun State was disrupted by aggrieved non-governmental organizations, NGOs, and women protesting the relocation of an orphanage allegedly being run by a pastor standing trial on a four-count charge of sexual abuse.

The protesters, led by Josephine Effah-Chukwuma, Executive Director, Project Alert, and Dr. Joe Okei-Odumakin, founder, Women Arise, were, mostly, lawyers, child right and women activists. They stormed Akute-Ijoko Road at about 12 noon displaying placards with inscriptions: “Say no to child abuse”, “This pastor is a pedophile”, “Orphanage or child abuse center”, “Justice for sexually-abused children”, among others. The protesters lamented that the founder of the orphanage had gone ahead to relocate it when he had not been cleared of the case of sexual abuse hanging on his head.

The protest was prompted by a text message about the relocation of the orphanage allegedly sent by the pastor. The text message read: “RELOCATION OF ORPHANAGE – Beloved, come rejoice with us as we celebrate God’s faithfulness in thanksgiving and dedication of the new place God appointed us at Akute-Ijoko Road on Saturday February 22, 2014, at 11am. Please pray and plan to attend. God bless you.”

The protesters alleged that the orphanage is a killer and “the people of this vicinity must know because we can’t keep allowing these abuses to go on”. They went on: “This place must be closed down. We will not keep quiet and allow a pedophile to truncate the future of our children.

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

COSTA RICA
A.M. Costa Rica

By the A.M. Costa Rica staff

A suspected child molester who has lived in Quepos since 2006 is finally in custody in the United States. The case has religious dimensions because the man, Michael J. Norris, 67, was an elder of the Jehovah’s Witnesses congregation where the long-running molestation is alleged to have taken place.

A warrant for Norris was issued in Santa Barbara, California, in December. The Sheriff’s Office there posted his photo and a request for information. But persons associated with the Carpinteria, California, congregation knew exactly where the man was. They notified sheriff’s detectives and employees at the U.S. Embassy here.

There are conflicting reports on where Norris was detained. One version is that he was arrested when he got off a plane at Los Angeles International Airport. A second version is that he was detained here at a Costa Rican airport and escorted to Los Angeles by law officers where the official arrest took place.

In any event, he is in the Santa Barbara county jail in lieu of $250,000 bail. The allegations include multiple counts of molesting a minor under the age of 14. There also is an allegation of distributing pornography to a minor. The investigation has been going on for a year or more.

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

UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

Cardinal Walter Kasper, a highly respected Cardinal and long time theological rival to the ex-Pope, has challenged Pope Francis to act boldly on women’s roles in the Catholic Church’s hierarchy, as reported here:

[Vatican Insider]

and here:

[Avvenire]

Meanwhile, Mary McAleese, the former President of Ireland, now in Rome studying canon law, has also called for greater Church hierarchical roles for women as reported here:

[Irish Times]

Pope Francis has gotten some additional honest and pertinent assessments recently, including in “From Benedict to Francis”, an extremely informed, insightful and frank interview with the UK Tablet’s Robert Mickens, here:

[PBS]

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

IRELAND
The Journal

MEMBERS OF THE public gathered today in Glasnevin Cemetery in Dublin, to remember and honour all of the women who were incarcerated in the Magdalene laundries.

The annual Flowers for Magdalene event was attended by many who came bearing flowers to place on the graves.

Survivors

Speaking at the remembrance event Sinn Féin Deputy Leader Mary LouMcDonald said that it was one year after Taoiseach Enda Kenny’s apology to the Magdalene survivors and still many surviving women have been excluded from the redress scheme and just a fifth of the eligible women have yet to receive their payments, she said.

She called on the government to introduce the long awaited Restorative Justice Bill.

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

NEW JERSEY
Daily Mail (UK)

Newark Archbishop John Myers is facing an enraged flock as news of his plan to spend $500,000 renovating his retirement home spreads through the pews.

Myers, who prefers to be addressed as ‘Your Grace,’ is using the money to build an expensive addition to the house in New Jersey’s Franklin Township that he now uses as a weekend retreat.

Contractors have already begun adding 3,000 square-foot addition including bedroom with sitting area, large study with attached library, full-floor gallery, two bathrooms, three fireplaces, and an elevator to the three-story house.

The archdiocese purchased the house in 2002 for $700,000 with real estate proceeds.

It currently features five bedrooms, three full-bathrooms, a three-car garage, and a basement office.
Myers, 72, will be at mandatory retirement age in 2017.

Many of the archdiocese 1.3 million Catholics across four counties are now snapping their wallets and purses in protest.

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

NEW JERSEY
Fox News

Angry parishioners in New Jersey are withholding donations following reports that Newark Archbishop John Myers is building a pricey addition to his lavish retirement home.

The faithful are upset that Myers, who likes to be called “Your Grace,” is spending more than $500,000 to expand a palatial home in New Jersey’s Franklin Township that he now uses as a weekend retreat.

The Newark Star-Ledger reports parishioners are cutting off donations or sharply curtailing them “infuriated by what they call a tone-deaf show of excess at a time when Catholic schools are closing and when the pope has called on bishops to shed the trappings of luxury.”

Joe Ferri, 70, told the newspaper he writes a $100 check to the Archdiocese of Newark each year for the archbishop’s annual appeal, but he didn’t send money this year after he read about Myers’ expansion plans.

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

WISCONSIN
Renew America

By Matt C. Abbott

On March 4, 1998, Father Alfred Kunz, a parish priest and canon lawyer – and discreet whistleblower of corrupt clergy – from the Diocese of Madison, Wis., was found in a pool of blood with his throat slit. The murder remains unsolved to this day.

It’s essentially a cold case now, even if the police are reluctant to say so. I’ve been following and writing about the case for the past several years, and, to my knowledge, there haven’t been any significant developments in the investigation as of late. Still, I did recently find out a bit of interesting information that I hadn’t heard before.

More about that later.

For a past column, I had asked two individuals who were friends and supporters of Father Kunz – Catholic attorney Peter Kelly and Catholic businessman Chuck Weigel – to contribute their fond memories of the priest. Those reflections are worth reprinting.

Peter Kelly wrote:

There are a number of points that I recall about Father Kunz. They all deal with his pastoral style which people might characterize as true ‘servant leadership.’ It was that – and so much more.

Father did not have a great deal of financial resources upon which to draw to support his school and his teaching staff. Still, he tried to do what he could to help make life a little easier for his underpaid teachers. One ‘fringe benefit’ that his teachers received from their boss was free auto repair. As a Wisconsin farm boy, he was as good with a wrench as he was with his traditional Catholic theology.

Father was fluent in both Latin and in the language of engine maintenance. He even had a set of coveralls which he would wear that exposed only his Roman collar, lest no one would recognize that the greasy fellow who just slid out from under the car in the parking lot of St. Michael’s was the pastor and chief mechanic of the parish.

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

PUERTO RICO
Metro

[Summary: An ex-seminarian of the Arecibo diocese – Educardo Rivera Ortiz – on Sunday denied he was sexual abused by Father Ovidio Perez Perez when Perez was rector of the Jesús Maestro seminary. Ortiz’ name was mentioned in a publication. He said he was never contacted to confirm the information which he said was false.]

Un exseminarista de la Diócesis de Arecibo, identificado como Eduardo Rivera Ortiz, negó el domingo haber sido víctima de abuso sexual por parte del Padre Ovidio Pérez Pérez, cuando éste era rector del clausurado seminario “Jesús Maestro”, según cuentan informes de prensa.

“Aclaro que mi relación con el rector siempre fue una de rector sacerdote a seminarista formando. Siempre que hablaba con el rector era sobre de los estudios, regaños o advertencias de algún comportamiento que estuviera haciendo mal (comportamientos como dormirme en la oración, olvidar algún compromiso, fallos en la vida social, problemas con el horario, etc.), nada de índole sexual. Eso ni pasaba por mi mente fuera posible en el seminario”, dijo Rivera Ortiz en declaraciones escritas.

En un escrito Rivera Ortiz expresó su sorpresa por la publicación, pues dijo nunca fue llamado para confirmar la información. Además, dijo que entiende que la carta en la que se narra una supuesta conducta impropia con el Padre Ovidio Pérez Pérez, y publicada en un diario del país, es fruto de un exseminarista, a quien identificó como Daniel Collazo.

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

UNITED STATES
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: Gansmann was ordained a priest of the Springfield, IL – based Franciscan Province of the Sacred Heart in 1935.
He ministered in Chicago and Joliet schools and parishes until 1948, when he was transferred to the St. Paul archdiocese. In 1959 he was moved back to Chicago for a year, and then to Nashville, TN, where he pastored a parish until his death in 1974. In 2007 a man reported to the St. Paul-Minneapolis archdiocese that he was sexually abused by Gansmann in Minnesota many decades previously. Archdiocesan officials deemed his allegations credible; documents show they also had reason to believe the man wasn’t Gansmann’s only victim. The allegations against Gansmann weren’t made public by the archdiocese until February 2014.

Ordained: June 24, 1935
Died: May 21, 1974

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

ILLINOIS
Chicago Tribune

Graphic: Sister Peg’s attempts to expose abuse

By Christy Gutowski, Tribune reporter
12:49 a.m. CST, March 1, 2014

Amid the thousands of pages of despair in files documenting how Chicago church leaders in the past shielded pedophile priests, one name emerges repeatedly as a persistent, but frustrated, voice for the victims.

She is, at times, referred to as Sister Siena or by her real name, Sister Ivers, or by the name used by students and parishioners, Sister Peg.

The trove of Chicago Archdiocese records recently made public tell of her first encountering an allegedly abusive priest in the 1970s when she was a young, inexperienced principal at a Northlake parish school. After her pleas for his dismissal were ignored, she eventually resigned in disgust.

A decade later, after another priest with a history of sexual misconduct was reassigned to serve as a college chaplain, leaders moved him again “due to difficulties with (Sister) Peg.”

(See documents on Sister Peg’s reports of alleged priest abuse.)

The files describe the sister later warning church officials about questionable behavior of three other clergymen. Despite frequent references to her, the records do not give her religious order or say what happened to this outspoken woman. So the Tribune set out to find her.

An important clue surfaced in a 1964 story in the newspaper’s archives that detailed how sisters from the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary served as principals at some archdiocese schools, including one in Northlake.

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

IRELAND
An Phoblacht

MARK MOLONEY

OVER 100 people took part in an event in Glasnevin Cemetary on Sunday to honour the memory of the hundreds of women and girls who died while incarcerated in the Magdalene laundries.

The third annual ‘Flowers for Magdalenes’ event was addressed by Martina Keogh, a survivor of the Gloucester Street laundry; Claire McGettrick of Justice for Magdalenes and Mary Lou McDonald of Sinn Féin – a long time supporter and advocate on behalf of the Magdalene survivors.

In February 2013 Taoiseach Enda Kenny apologised to the women on behalf of the Government and the State for the hurt they endured, and promised to put in place “a process in place to help and support the women in their remaining years”.

Mary Lou McDonald TD criticised the failure of the Taoiseach to deliver on his promise. Speaking to those in attendance, she said:

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

DEUTSCHLAND
Mittelbayerische

[Summary: The Catholic Church is struggling with its critics. The Rev. Helmut Shueller was to give a lecture on March 11 in the parish hall of St. Boniface/St. George in Regensburg. Permission was given by the parish priest but permission was withdrawn on instructions of the prelate Michael Fuchs. Schueller is founder of the Pfarrer Initiative which seeks changes in the church.]

VON SUSANNE WIEDAMANN, MZ

REGENSBURG. Die katholische Kirche tut sich schwer mit ihren Kritikern. Das musste nun auch Berthold Starzinger vom Aktionskreis Regensburg (AKR) erfahren, der für 11. März, 19.30 Uhr, eine Vortragsveranstaltung von Pfarrer Helmut Schüller im Pfarrsaal von St. Bonifaz/St. Georg organisiert hatte. Zunächst habe er vom dortigen Pfarrer Dr. Herbert Winterholler ein Okay bekommen, nachdem sich dieser zuvor vom Pfarrgemeinderat Grünes Licht geholt hatte. Letzten Dienstag dann die Überraschung: Winterholler machte auf Anweisung von Generalvikar Prälat Michael Fuchs einen Rückzieher. Die Veranstaltung des Gründers der Pfarrer-Initiative Österreichs über „Katholische Kirche – deine Zukunft?“ sei in Räumen der Pfarrei nicht möglich.

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

ROMA
Publico

[Summary: Jose Ornelas Carvalho, superior general of the Sacred Heart priests, said in an email from Rome that the order will take action against abusive priests if there are grounds for action. He added that investigators from Italy and Mozambique so far have not found basis of the allegations.]

ANA DIAS CORDEIRO 02/03/2014

O padre português José Ornelas Carvalho é o Superior Geral da Congregação dos Sacerdotes do Coração de Jesus (dos Padres Dehonianos), uma congregação religiosa da Igreja Católica Respondeu às perguntas do PÚBLICO a partir de Roma, por email.

A Congregação dos Dehonianos mantém o padre Ilario à frente do Centro Polivalente Leão Dehon, em Moçambique, por não acreditar nas suspeitas que recaem sobre ele?
É um princípio elementar de justiça que uma pessoa, sobre quem se levantam dúvidas, não seja considerada culpada sem que isso apareça claro. Para além disso, nestes casos que têm a ver com a defesa de menores, é necessário ver se há probabilidade de haver veracidade nas acusações e perigo para os menores, mesmo antes de chegar a conclusões definitivas sobre a culpabilidade. Das investigações até agora feitas por nós e, por quanto sei, pelas duas procuradorias que investigam o caso [em Itália e em Moçambique], até este momento, não foi encontrada nenhuma base para essas suspeitas. Se aparecerem dados novos que suscitem preocupação, evidentemente que reagiremos adequadamente. Devo esclarecer, além disso, que temos na Congregação uma organização descentralizada. A decisão de manter o padre Ilario como responsável do Centro Polivalente é uma decisão autónoma do Superior Provincial de Moçambique.

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

MOZAMBIQUE
Publico

[Summary: Joao Paulo de Oliveira Gomes, 38, is a veterinarian who works with international organizations in various countries. He was working in Mozambique on a development project supported by Portugal when he discovered that pupils were being sexually abused by priests responsible for a nearby orphanage.]

ANA DIAS CORDEIRO 02/03/2014

João Paulo Gomes de Oliveira, 38 anos, é médico veterinário e trabalha em cooperação internacional e desenvolvimento desde 2001. Passou por organizações nacionais e internacionais de vários países.

Quando, em 2010, foi colocado como professor pelo Centro Polivalente Leão Dehon, em Gurúè, Moçambique, no quadro de um programa do então Instituto Português de Apoio ao Desenvolvimento (IPAD), financiado pelo Ministério dos Negócios Estrangeiros, denunciou abusos sexuais de alunos seus envolvendo os padres responsáveis pelo centro e por um orfanato ali perto.

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

MOZAMBIQUE
PUBLICO

Moçambique: Padres investigados por suspeitas de abusos dirigem orfanato e escola que teve apoio de Portugal

[Summary: Priests are being investigated for suspected abuse at an orphanage and school in Mozambique that had the support of Portugal. The allegations are being investigated by prosecutors in Italy and Mozambique at a time when the UN is demanding that abusive priests be removed from from their priestly duties.]

ANA DIAS CORDEIRO 02/03/2014

Uma escola do Centro Polivalente Leão Dehon beneficiou de apoios de Portugal através da colocação de professores. Um deles fez uma denúncia por suspeitas de abusos sexuais de menores contra dois padres italianos nessa cidade moçambicana: o director desse centro e o responsável de um orfanato. O caso está a ser investigado por procuradores em Itália e Moçambique, numa altura em que a ONU exige que padres suspeitos de abusos a menores sejam afastados.

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

CANADA
TB Newswatch

By Leith Dunick, tbnewswatch.com

A Catholic priest is facing several sexual assault charges dating to alleged offences against a teenaged male victim between 1987 and 1989.

Now 56, Roger Pronovost was assigned to St. John the Baptist Church in Longlac, Ont. at the time of the incidents.

The suspect faces two counts of sexual assault and a third charge of sexual exploitation.

None of the charges has been proven in a court of law.

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

ILLINOIS
WGN

[with video]

In December, Chicago Archdiocese records revealed that a disturbing number of church leaders protected priests accused of sex abuse.

We’re now learning about one woman who stood up to church officials, in an effort to put an end to the behavior.

According to the documents sister peg’s first report of a priest dates back to the 1970′s when she was a principal at St. John Vianney in Northlake.

Peg alerted church officials about Reverend Thomas Job, after several boys told her they had been sexually abused by him.

Although Sister Peg’s says no one listened to her for many years, her efforts are considered courageous and rare, especially for that time.

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

NEW JERSEY
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Sunday, March 2

Statement by Mark Crawford, New Jersey director of SNAP ( 732-632-7687, mecrawf@comcast.net )

Outraged at their archbishop, many Newark Catholics apparently are withholding their donations.

We are grateful that so many parishioners want to show their disapproval of Archbishop John Myers for his financial and sexual abuse scandals.

[The Star-Ledger]

We urge them, however, to give more generously than ever, but to institutions that protect kids, not institutions that endanger kids.

While it’s a tempting response to a callous, selfish archbishop, keeping money in your pocket won’t make children safer or change Myers. Donating to agencies that protect children, help victims and prevent crimes WILL safeguard kids.

So our message to Newark Catholics is: please DO something to show you care about the vulnerable and the needy. Please be even more generous than you usually are (because many need help). But do it carefully, so your contributions will make a real difference and won’t support, in any way, reckless, selfish Catholic officials that their own comfort and reputations above the well-being of others.

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

VATICAN CITY
eNCA

VATICAN CITY – The Catholic Church should have more women at all levels of administration, according to a senior cardinal who is close to Pope Francis.

I think women should be present at all levels, even in positions of full responsibility.

“I think women should be present at all levels, even in positions of full responsibility,” German cardinal Walter Kasper told the newspaper of Italian bishops Avvenire.

“A Church with no women is like a mutilated body,” he added.

Last month Francis asked Kasper, who is a respected theologian, to give the introductory lecture at a meeting of cardinals that debated controversial family issues, such as the role of women in the church and its approach towards divorcees.

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

CITTA DEL VATICANO
Avvenire

«Il ruolo delle donne nella Chiesa va riconsiderato e integrato nella prospettiva del dinamismo sinodale e della conversione missionaria indicati dal Papa». A partire dalle sue riflessioni sulla famiglia presentate al recente Concistoro, si esprime così il cardinale tedesco Walter Kasper. E parla ampiamente della dibattuta questione della presenza femminile negli ambiti decisionali della Chiesa.

Anticipiamo alcune risposte alla lunga intervista esclusiva di Stefania Falasca pubblicata da Avvenire domenica 2 marzo.

Eminenza, sono in preparazione due Sinodi sulla famiglia. Qual è stato fino a oggi il contributo delle donne nelle assemblee sinodali?

«Finora ai Sinodi le donne sono state presenti generalmente in veste di uditrici e in posizione di scarso rilievo. Ci sono sempre due o tre uditrici che intervengono alla fine dei lavori, quando ormai hanno parlato tutti. Mi domando: come si possono preparare due Sinodi sulla famiglia senza coinvolgere in primis anche le donne? Senza le donne la famiglia semplicemente non esiste. È insensato parlare della famiglia senza ascoltarle. Credo che debbano essere chiamate e ascoltate fin da ora, nella fase della preparazione».

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

VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

[Kasper: per le donne ruoli di responsabilità nella Chiesa – Avvenire]

In his interview with Italian Catholic newspaper “Avvenire”, Cardinal Walter Kasper suggests putting women at the helm of the pontifical councils. According to the cardinal who is against careerism in the Curia and believes in time limits for mandates, “there are too many bishops in the Curia”

ANDREA TORNIELLI
VATICAN CITY

“Women’s role in the Church should be rethought and integrated into the Pope’s ideas for greater synodal dynamism and a missionary conversion”: women should be offered leadership roles within the pontifical councils and in the future Congregation for the Laity given how many bishops the Curia has. Temporary mandates should be introduced in the Curia to prevent careerism, calling priests who already have some pastoral experience. This was the crux of what Cardinal Walter Kasper said in a long interview with Stefania Falasca published in today’s issue of Italian Catholic newspaper Avvenire.

“Up until now, women have generally only attended the synod as auditors, holding roles of little significance,” Kasper said. “There are always two or three female auditors who speak at the end of the meetings when everyone has already spoken. I ask myself how it is possible to prepare two synods on the family without giving a role of primary importance to women? A family cannot exist without women. It makes no sense to speak about the family without listening to what they have to say. I think they need to be called and listen as of right now, as we enter the preparatory phase.”

The German cardinal who gave the opening speech at the recent Consistory on the family went on to say the following: “I think that women need to be present at every level and even given positions of full responsibility. The intuition which the female mind has to offer is a vital resource. A Church without women is a mutilated Church. There are so many of them actively involved in Church bodies. Can we imagine community, charity and cultural centres today with no women? Without them, parishes would close down tomorrow. Women are already ahead and out there in a Church like Francis’ that is “going out”.

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

AUSTRALIA
Broken Rites

By a Broken Rites researcher

Why did Catholic Church leaders, including George Pell, take part in a glowing tribute to a pedophile priest, Father Nazareno Fasciale? Why was the church “immensely proud” of a pedophile?

Father Fasciale (pronounced “Fah-SHAH-lay”) was harboured in the Melbourne Catholic archdiocese for 44 years while he committed sexual crimes against girls and boys. The cathedral authorities continually ignored any complaints from Fasciale’s victims. Fasciale knew that the church would protect him.

Finally, in late 1993, some of his victims contacted the newly-formed Broken Rites Australia victim support group. These victims, with help from Broken Rites, forced the church to remove Fasciale from the ministry, although the church covered up his crimes by announcing that his retirement was because of “health” problems.

Meanwhile, Broken Rites discovered more of Fasciale’s victims and introduced them all to Victoria Police detectives. In a police interview, Fasciale admitted indecently assaulting children.

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

AUSTRALIA
Broken Rites

By a Broken Rites researcher (article posted 2 March 2014)

Australia’s national Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse is examining a 2007 civil legal case, in which Cardinal George Pell’s legal team crushed one of the church’s Sydney victims, former altar-boy John Ellis. This Pell victory later helped the Catholic Church to avoid, or limit, paying compensation to many victims in other parts of Australia. The church’s evasive strategy became known as the “Ellis Defence”, although it could be called (perhaps more appropriately) the “Pell Defence”.

Commission chief executive Janette Dines said in a public statement early in 2014 that the Royal Commission is examining the original complaint made by John Ellis under the church’s internal Towards Healing process “and the circumstances in which the Catholic Church raised what is commonly referred to as the ‘Ellis Defence”’.

The Sydney victim, John Ellis, had been a 14-year-old altar boy in a suburban parish in 1975, when he was sexually abused by Father Aidan Duggan. The abuse (and the church’s breach of trust) seriously damaged John Ellis’s adolescence and his later personal and working life when he was practising as a solicitor during his twenties and thirties.

In 2002, John Ellis (then aged 40) contacted the Catholic Church’s “Towards Healing” office, lodging a formal complaint about how the Sydney archdiocese has disrupted his life and his career by its action giving Father Duggan easy access to children. The archdiocese (through its Towards Healing office) offered John Ellis a relatively small financial settlement, on the condition that he would sign away his right to tackle the archdiocese for the kind of amount that any other corporation would be obliged to pay to a damaged person.

The Sydney archdiocese’s draft settlement document indicated that the Towards Healing offer was being made on behalf of:

1. Archbishop George Pell (for the Sydney Archdiocese); and

2. the Trustees of the Sydney Archdiocese.

John Ellis refused to accept this Towards Healing offer and decided, instead, to tackle the archdiocese in the New South Wales Supreme Court for a more appropriate sum to cover the loss of his professional earnings – and to teach the archdiocese a lesson about its covering up of clergy sexual abuse. In naming the defendants, Mr Ellis cited the names of the same parties who had been listed by the church in its proposed Towards Healing settlement deed – that is Archbishop George Pell and the Trustees of the Sydney Archdiocese.

In 2006 the Supreme Court granted permission for the “Ellis-versus-Pell” case to proceed in court, but the archdiocese successfully applied to the NSW Court of Appeal.

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

NEW JERSEY
The Star-Ledger

By Mark Mueller/The Star-Ledger
on March 02, 2014

Every year, without fail, Joe Ferri writes a $100 check to the Archdiocese of Newark for the Archbishop’s Annual Appeal, a fundraising drive that benefits a variety of religious causes.

This year, Ferri left the empty envelope on his pew at St. Thomas the Apostle Church in Bloomfield. He’s done writing checks.

“If this is the only way I can be heard, so be it,” said Ferri, 70. “I’m disgusted. The archdiocese is not going to get another penny out of me.”

Two weeks after The Star-Ledger disclosed that Archbishop John J. Myers is building a 3,000-square-foot addition on the expansive home where he will spend his retirement, it appears the work will cost the archdiocese far more than the $500,000 allotted for construction.

Parishioners, infuriated by what they call a tone-deaf show of excess at a time when Catholic schools are closing and when the pope has called on bishops to shed the trappings of luxury, say they’re cutting off contributions entirely or sharply curtailing them.

Others said they will continue supporting their local parishes but will ignore the annual appeal, which has been heavily promoted in churches over the past month across the archdiocese, home to 1.3 million Catholics in Essex, Hudson, Union and Bergen counties.

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

TEXAS
CBS News – 48 Hours

[with video of the program]

Mar 01

Produced by Lourdes Aguiar, Peter Shaw and Jennifer Simpson Ashmawy

It’s been more than 50 years, but the shadow of the unsolved murder of Irene Garza still hangs over McAllen, Texas.

“This was an atrocious case,” Noemi Ponce Sigler told “48 Hours” correspondent Richard Schlesinger. “And I couldn’t understand it. To this day, I can’t understand it.”

Sigler, who is part of Irene’s extended family, has never been able to forget this case — especially after she visited her aunt’s house several years ago.

“There was a portrait of Irene that I hadn’t looked at in years,” Sigler said. “So, I went up to the picture and I was mesmerized… And that’s when I said … ‘Irene where did you go?’ … I wanna know what happened to her.”

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

UNITED KINGDOM
Derby Telegraph

By Zena Hawley

TWO women have expressed their anger to a leading clergyman following a Mass intended to bring comfort and healing in the wake of the scandal surrounding disgraced priest Francis Paul Cullen.

They expressed their concerns to the Bishop of Nottingham, the Right Reverend Malcolm McMahon, after the regular Saturday evening service.

It was the first opportunity for Bishop McMahon to speak to the congregation of Christ The King, in Mackworth – where Cullen was formerly the parish priest – following his court appearance last week.

Last Monday, Cullen, aged 85, admitted 21 counts of child sex abuse. Of these, 13 took place between 1957 and 1974 during his time as the parish priest in Mackworth. They involved four former altar boys. He is awaiting sentence on March 24.

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

VATICAN CITY
AsiaOne

AFP
Friday, Feb 28, 2014

VATICAN CITY – The Vatican on Friday said the Archbishop of Cologne Cardinal Joachim Meisner, who has made controversial comments about Muslims, was stepping down from his duties as archbishop after reaching retirement age.

In comments that were widely condemned, the 80-year-old Meisner last month told members of the conservative Neocatechumenal Way Catholic group: “Each of your families is easily worth three Muslim families for me”.

Meisner has been archbishop of Cologne since 1989.

“The Holy Father has accepted the renunciation,” the Vatican said in a statement.

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

FLORIDA
Ocala Star-Banner

By Austin L. Miller
Staff writer
Published: Thursday, February 27, 2014

A part-time student ministry intern at Church at the Springs was arrested Wednesday, accused of lewd and lascivious behavior with a teenage girl on church property.

Daniel A. Dominguez, 21, was booked into the Marion County Jail Wednesday evening and was released on $10,000 bond, according to the Marion County Sheriff’s Office. He has since been fired from that job.

The 15-year-old girl was interviewed at Kimberly’s Center for Child Protection in Ocala, according to a Marion County Sheriff’s Office report. She told an investigator that on Feb. 21, while at the church, she was helping with preparation for an upcoming event.

She said Dominguez asked her to help clean water jugs and she accompanied him into the kitchen. There, she said, while joking around, she called him gay. She said Dominguez told her he was not gay and that he could prove it.

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

FLORIDA
WESH

OCALA, Fla. —A youth pastor intern molested a teenage girl at an Ocala church last week, deputies said.

According to the arrest report, the 15-year-old girl called 21-year-old Daniel A. Dominguez gay in a joking manner on Feb. 21 at the Church At The Springs at 5424 SE 58th St.

Dominguez allegedly said he wasn’t gay and could prove it then grabbed her and tried to kiss her, deputies said. While the teen resisted Dominguez allegedly molested the girl in various areas, deputies said.

Deputies said the teen was able to push Dominguez off of her and told him that what he did was not right.

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

UNITED STATES
Fitsnews

FRONTLINE EXCLUSIVE ROCKS THE VATICAN …

One month before U.S. President Barack Obama pays his first visit to meet Pope Francis at The Vatican, an explosive new report has exposed the seedy side of the Catholic Church.

“Secrets of the Vatican” – a PBS Frontline exclusive which first aired last Tuesday – is a jaw-dropping piece of work, utterly unflinching in its depiction of the church’s ongoing child sexual abuse scandal.

Not only that, it delves extensively into allegations of money laundering on the part of the Vatican Bank – and widespread corruption within the church’s powerful bureaucracy.

“It is unbelievable that this documentary was ever produced and shown on American television, much less by the government’s PBS network,” one source told us in commending it to our attention.

We agree …

The Frontline story begins with the story of Rev. Marcial Maciel Degollado. Maciel was the Mexican priest who founded the Roman Catholic Church’s Legion of Christ, an order which recruited young men for the priesthood.

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

NIGERIA
Osun Defender

The peace of Akute, Ogun State was disrupted by aggrieved non-governmental organizations, NGOs, and women protesting the relocation of an orphanage allegedly being run by a pastor standing trial on a four-count charge of sexual abuse.

The protesters, led by Josephine Effah-Chukwuma, Executive Director, Project Alert, and Dr. Joe Okei-Odumakin, founder, Women Arise, were, mostly, lawyers, child right and women activists. They stormed Akute-Ijoko Road at about 12 noon displaying placards with inscriptions: “Say no to child abuse”, “This pastor is a pedophile”, “Orphanage or child abuse center”, “Justice for sexually-abused children”, among others. The protesters lamented that the founder of the orphanage had gone ahead to relocate it when he had not been cleared of the case of sexual abuse hanging on his head.

The protest was prompted by a text message about the relocation of the orphanage allegedly sent by the pastor. The text message read: “RELOCATION OF ORPHANAGE – Beloved, come rejoice with us as we celebrate God’s faithfulness in thanksgiving and dedication of the new place God appointed us at Akute-Ijoko Road on Saturday February 22, 2014, at 11am. Please pray and plan to attend. God bless you.”

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

MONTANA
Montana Standard

Decades of abuse: Catholic church will name 50+ priests who abused 100s of children in western MT

By Mike Dennison

Editor’s note: This story is the first of a two-day series on the aftermath of the proposed bankruptcy settlement of sex-abuse cases against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Helena

HELENA — Most of the 362 sex-abuse victims who sued the Catholic church of western Montana, saying they were abused years ago by priests and nuns, will get monetary damages from a settlement with the church.

But they’ll see something else they consider vitally important, their lawyers say: Public identification of their abusers.

“They wanted their abusers to be publicly identified and for the Diocese to accept responsibility,” says Tim Kosnoff, a Seattle attorney who co-represents 271 of the plaintiffs in two lawsuits. “By that aspect, I think we’ve succeeded.”

Kosnoff and other attorneys who worked on the cases say more than 50 Roman Catholic priests will be named as sexual abusers of children.

Once the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Butte approves the settlement, the names of the abusers will be posted on the Roman Catholic Diocese of Helena’s website.

Most, if not all, of these priests are dead, attorneys for the plaintiffs say. The bulk of the abuse occurred from the 1940s through the 1970s, although some happened as far back as the 1930s. …

Status of sex-abuse suits against Catholic entities

HELENA – Roman Catholic churches and entities in Montana are dealing with three separate lawsuits accusing church clergy and personnel of sexually abusing children within the church.

Here is the status of these cases:

Helena Diocese cases: On Jan. 31, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Helena, which covers all or part of 23 western Montana counties, filed for bankruptcy protection as part of a negotiated settlement with 362 plaintiffs in two lawsuits filed in Montana state District Court in 2011.

The Diocese of Helena and its insurers have agreed to pay $15 million in damages to the victims and set aside at least another $2.5 million for victims that may come forward in the future.

The U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Butte, with input from church creditors and the plaintiffs, must approve the settlement before it can take effect. Creditors and plaintiffs will vote within the coming months on the settlement.

Ursuline Academy case: One of the lawsuits against the Helena Diocese includes 95 of the 362 plaintiffs and also alleges that nuns at the now-defunct Ursuline Academy at St. Ignatius abused dozens of Native American children.

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

VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 28 February 2014 (VIS) – The Holy Father has accepted the resignation from the pastoral care of the metropolitan archdiocese of Koln, Germany, presented by Cardinal Joachim Meisner, upon having reached the age limit.

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

GERMANY
ABNA

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) – Leader of the Catholic Church has accepted the resignation of a controversial cardinal who had been widely criticized for his anti-Islamic comments.

Pope Francis on Friday accepted the resignation of Cologne’s Roman Catholic archbishop Joachim Meisner.

Meisner’s resignation is said to have been due to his old age but German Muslims’ anger over his anti-Islamic remarks seem to have also played a part.

A few weeks ago he praised the high birth rate among Catholics for making up for large Muslim families.

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

DEUTSCHLAND
NDR

[Summary: Bishop Kirsten Fehr reported on sexual abuse scandals in details at the meeting of the synod in Travemunde. She said she has talked with victims of abuse and has appealed for further changes in the church to prevent such cases.]

Die Bischöfin Kirsten Fehrs hat beim Treffen der Synode der Nordkirche in Travemünde ausführlich über die Aufarbeitung des Missbrauchsskandals berichtet. Sie erzählte in ihrem Vortrag von ihren Gesprächen mit den Missbrauchsopfern, stellte die Arbeit zweier Kommissionen vor und warb für weitere Veränderungen in der Kirche, um zukünftig solche Fälle zu verhindern. Sie rief dazu auf, beim Verdacht auf sexuelle Gewalt Courage zu zeigen. Darüber hinaus regte sie neue Regeln für die Schweigepflicht von Seelsorgern an. Möglichen Opfern müsse vermittelt werden, dass sie die Pastoren auch von der Schweigepflicht entbinden könnten.

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

DEUTSCHLAND
MissBiT

Bistum Münster: 7 Wochen später will das Bistum Münster “immer noch keinerlei Kenntnis von irgendeinem Fall sexuellen Missbrauchs durch Geistliche in Emmerich” haben. Verantwortlicher Pressesprecher: Stephan Kronenburg

28.02.2014

“Die Kommission des Bistums Münster für Fälle des sexuellen Missbrauchs Minderjähriger durch Geistliche hat bislang keinerlei Kenntnis von irgendeinem Fall sexuellen Missbrauchs Minderjährige durch Geistliche in Emmerich.”

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

MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press

By Emily Gurnon
egurnon@pioneerpress.com
POSTED: 03/01/2014

As part of its coverage of child sexual abuse in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and elsewhere, the Pioneer Press talked with Ramsey County Attorney John Choi. The following reflects the interview, edited for space and clarity.

Q. What do you think your office will see in terms of future clergy sex abuse cases?

A. We’re aware of many cases that are coming to us from police. One may be imminent. From my perspective, this is just the beginning.

Q. Some have criticized your decision not to charge officials of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis with failure to meet mandatory reporter requirements in the Curtis Wehmeyer case. (Wehmeyer, formerly a priest at Blessed Sacrament in St. Paul, was sentenced last February to five years in prison for sexually abusing two young boys and possessing child pornography.) Can you give some context for that decision, and for your plans going forward?

A. That was the first case involving archdiocese officials that was presented to our office. But the overall investigation of sexual abuse in the archdiocese and how it’s been handled is going to take a really long time. In fact, if we’re talking about this issue a year from now, I won’t be surprised. It’s that big of a task to get through.

A police agency can’t just cut and paste what’s on the Internet or from a news publication and present that to us as evidence. They need to go out and independently seek that information from all these various sources and then try to make heads or tails of all of that — corroborate it, do what investigators do. We are involved with the police to advise them as they are doing their investigation.

The public has seen a lot of coverage of sexual abuse and the archdiocese in the media. I can totally understand the anger and the frustration and the shock of hearing about all of these horrible things that have been happening in the Catholic Church. I share all of that with the public. But I have to protect the process of how we get to certain decisions in the criminal justice system. It’s not about making a conclusion before we even gather evidence. I’m hoping we can give those investigators an opportunity to work and do what they need to do.

We’ve always said this: The facts will lead the way.

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

UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

Several important new perspectives on Pope Francis were reported recently, including “From Benedict to Francis”, an extremely informed, insightful and frank interview with the UK Tablet’s Robert Mickens, accessible at:

[PBS]

Selections from this full interview were shown recently in a significant USA/TV documentary, “Secrets of the Vatican”. The full documentary is on the PBS Frontine website and accessible here:

[Secrets of the Vatican]

Also, the Irish Times’ reported on the recent Cambridge University lecture on “Governing the Church” by former Irish President, Mary McAleese, accessible at:

[The Irish Times]

These reports arrived against the backdrop of Pope Francis’ pulling Cardinal Pell from Australia and the much anticipated upcoming meeting of President Obama and Pope Francis, discussed at:

[Christian Catholicism]

Robert Mickens studied in Rome in the 1980′s as a seminarian at the top Catholic Gregorian University. He has been The Tablet’s Rome correspondent from 2001 to 2003 and from 2005 to the present. His decade plus of honest and direct reporting from Rome has enabled him to develop a deep team of sources in the Vatican Curia. He also writes the paper’s popular weekly column, ‘Letter from Rome’. Mickens is regularly featured as a Vatican-affairs analyst for the BBC in Great Britain, ABC in Australia and National Public radio in the United States.

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

PERU
La Republica

[Summary: Actor Jason Day today explained the reasons why he decided to tell publicly of an attempt by a priest to sexually abuse him when he was a nine-year-old altar boy. It was the right time, he said. He was just coming from a successful campaign targeted exclusively to stop violence against women and girls. He was urging women and girls to break the silence and he decided it was time he also broke his silence. After making a public acknowledgement of what happened to him, he said many people have begun to acknowledge the problem.]

Después de revelar lo que padeció de niño, Jason Day dijo que en muchas personas despertó la “obsesión por decirle al otro lo que tiene que hacer y cómo tiene que hacerlo”.

Una semana después de revelar que fue víctima de un intento de abuso sexual por parte de un sacerdote, el actor Jason Day explica hoy las razones que lo llevaron a confesar un triste episodio de su niñez.

“Decidí revelar públicamente lo que ya había revelado en privado porque me parecía que era el momento oportuno: venía de una exitosa campaña dirigida exclusivamente a detener la violencia contra mujeres y niñas, que invitaba a hacer lo que yo estaba haciendo: romper el silencio. Y romper el silencio no podía suponer un acto de humillación, así que me mantuve firme”, fue lo que escribió el también activista social en su columna semanal del diario La República.

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

SCOTLAND
The Observer

Catherine Deveney
The Observer, Saturday 1 March 2014

Three priests and one ex-priest whose allegations of sexual misconduct against the archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh, Cardinal Keith O’Brien, led to his resignation a year ago, have appealed directly to Pope Francis for a meeting in a last-ditch bid for justice.

Describing the church as a “formidable machine” that had blocked any investigation, one told the Observer: “The abuse we received at the hands of Keith O’Brien is dwarfed by the systematic abuse we have received from church officials. They have passed the buck, misrepresented the truth, engaged in cover-up and, having asked for our trust and co-operation, shamelessly procrastinated and hidden behind a veneer of diplomacy and charm. I want to ask Pope Francis, can you sort this out?”

Secret negotiations have been going on between the men and the cardinal’s successor, Archbishop Leo Cushley, since last November. The archbishop insists that only Rome can initiate an inquiry into O’Brien’s sexual behaviour, but he has agreed to an investigation of the cardinal’s financial transactions. In an email to the complainants last December, the archbishop’s vicar general, Philip Kerr, confirmed: “The archdiocesan auditors have been asked to examine the financial accounts which Keith O’Brien personally operated.”

“Lenny”, an ex-priest who rebuffed O’Brien’s advances at a seminary, says that the diocese is a charity and he would have contacted the charity regulator if Cushley had refused the audit. “Keith O’Brien was essentially the CEO of a £9m charity. We want to assure ourselves that this institution is not totally corrupt.”

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

TEXAS
Podles.org

Leon J. Podles

Murder Case Study

John B. Feit, a native of Chicago, had an uncle, also named John, who was a priest in Detroit.1

His parents sent John to a seminary in San Antonio when he was thirteen; he studied for the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate and was ordained on September 8, 1958. He is a published poet. He was attending a pastoral school of the Missionary Oblates at San Juan, Texas, in 1960. In nearby Edinburg, Texas, Feit often helped out at Sacred Heart Church where Rev. Charles Moran was the pastor.

Maria America Guerra

At 4:30 P.M., on March 23, 1960, Maria America Guerra, age 20, just back from nearby Pan American College, was at her home across the street from Sacred Heart Church in Edinburg.

She went to the outside bathhouse to get cleaned up and noticed a man observing her. He had black hair and horned-rimmed glasses and sat in a blue-and-white 1956 or 1957 car.2 After dinner, Guerra crossed the street. The car was still there. She entered the church and saw the same man sitting in the back; he was wearing black pants and a tan t-shirt. She knelt at the altar rail and was saying her rosary when he looked around the church and walked toward her.

She said

“The next thing I know, he had turned very quick, come to my rear and grabbed me around the head.

He placed a small cloth over my mouth, and I fell backward to the floor. I began to scream now as when I fell, the rag fell free from my mouth. Then while I was on the floor, he tried to cover my mouth with his hands to stop me from screaming and when he did this, one of his fingers went into my mouth and I bit hard. I know I bit very hard because I could taste blood in my mouth.

When I bit him, he threw me toward the south door of the church and ran out the north side door.”3

Maria Christina Tijerna was walking past this church at 6:20 P.M. She heard screams and saw a man hurry from the church clutching a white towel and enter the church sacristy.4 Tijerina saw Guerra run out of church and knock on the rectory door. After Moran’s voice from inside said “Wait a minute,” Tijerina asked Guerra what had happened. Guerra went home and reported theincident to the police that night.5

Feit later said that he had visited Sacred Heart that day, and had been in the church praying until 5:15 P.M., when he left to discuss with Moran the personal problems of a boy he knew. He returned to his blue-and-white 1956 Ford Tudor and went back to San Juan in time to ring the bell at 5:30 P.M. But witnesses in San Juan said he had not rung the bell.6 Moran remembered that Feit was wearing horn-rimmed glasses, a tan shirt, and black pants that day, but had no memory of a discussion about a boy.7

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

ROME
Headlines from the Catholic World

Rome, Italy, Feb 28, 2014 / 03:04 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- At the conclusion of the Legion of Christ’s general chapter, the order’s recently elected general director, Fr. Eduardo Robles Gil, confirmed their commitment to Christ and his reign.

“The center of our spirituality will be Christ, as it always has been. We are Christ-centered; the ‘Regnum Christi’ is the kingdom of Christ,” Fr. Robles Gil told CNA Feb. 25, the concluding day of the order’s general chapter.

“Christ is our life; he is the ruler. We look at him for inspiration. As the Gospel says, he is the way, the truth and the life of every Christian, every priest, and every religious — especially of every Legionary.”

Fr. Robles Gil expressed his gratitude to Cardinal Velasio De Paolis, who was appointed governor of the Legion by Benedict XVI in 2010 after an apostolic visitation determined the order needed “profound re-evaluation.”

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

WISCONSIN
Wisconsin Public Radio

[Full video presentation – Secrets of the Vatican]

UPDATED:
Friday, February 28, 2014

By Chuck Quirmbach

Clergy abuse victims are concerned that the re-broadcast of a public television program criticizing the Catholic Church is being limited to the nighttime.

This week, the show “Frontline” aired the episode “Secrets of the Vatican” three times on Milwaukee Public Television (MPTV) at 7, 8, and 11 p.m. Wisconsin Public Television (WPT) aired the episode at 8 and 10 p.m.

MPTV was scheduled to air the show four times during daytime hours, on its public television World Channel. Those airings have been cancelled at the request of World.

Milwaukee Public TV General Manager Ellis Bromberg said he was happy with the program but agreed that the sexual abuse by clergy described on the show was inappropriate for daytime audiences.

“There was adult content,” said Bromberg. “It was inappropriate, we felt – once we got to see it, once we got to screen it – for daytime audiences.”

Peter Isely of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests is one of several Milwaukee abuse victims featured on the “Frontline” episode. He said Bromberg’s explanation does not seem credible.

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

DEUTSCHLAND
Frankfurter Allgemeine

[Summary: The commission that investigated the financial management of “Bling” Bishop Franz-Peter Tebartz van Elst has completed its work and has sent a report to Archbishop Robert Zollitsch, chairman of the German Bishop’s Conference. The archbiship did not say what is in the report but said he would study the findings.]

Die Kommission zur Prüfung des Finanzgebarens des Limburger Bischofs Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst hat ihre Arbeit abgeschlossen. Der Vorsitzende der Deutschen Bischofskonferenz, der vormalige Freiburger Erzbischof Robert Zollitsch, bestätigte am Freitag in Frankfurt, den Prüfbericht des fünfköpfigen Gremiums unter Leitung des Paderborner Weihbischofs Grothe erhalten zu haben. „Ich bin dabei, ihn intensiv zu studieren und dabei, mich mit Rom abzustimmen,“ sagte Zollitsch.

Über den Inhalt des Berichts sagte Zollitsch nichts. Auch wolle er „keine einseitigen Festlegungen“ über das weitere Vorgehen treffen, bevor er sich mit dem Vatikan abgesprochen habe. Mit einer Entscheidung über die Zukunft des Limburger Bischofs ist nach seinen Worten nicht vor der Frühjahrs-Vollversammlung der Deutschen Bischofskonferenz zu rechen. Diese findet vom 10. bis zum 13. März in Münster statt.

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

IRELAND
Irish Central

Patrick Counihan @irishcentral March 01,2014

Former Irish President Mary McAleese has demanded more influence for women in the Catholic Church.

The well-known politician and now a theologian told a Cambridge University gathering that women, the laity and the Bishops must be given more power by the Vatican church leaders.

McAleese said bishops should not be yes men for those who run the Church from Rome, the Irish Times reports.

She said: “Bishops should be encouraged not to be yes men but leaders who can speak freely, who consult with rank-and-file Catholics and then make decisions along with the pope.

“Senior church leaders have until now believed the church could only survive through unquestioning obedience to the exclusively top-down teaching magisterium.

“That tight-grip approach has had very damaging consequences for the church in the modern world.”

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

IRELAND
Irish Times

Mark Hennessy

Sat, Mar 1, 2014

Bishops and the laity, particularly women, must be given greater influence in the Catholic Church, the former president of Ireland, Mary McAleese, has said. She was speaking at Cambridge University.
Bishops should be encouraged not to be “yes men” but “leaders who can speak freely”, who consult with rank-and-file Catholics and then make decisions along with the pope, she said.

Senior church leaders have “until now” believed the church could only survive through “unquestioning obedience to the exclusively top-down teaching magisterium.

“That tight-grip approach has had very damaging consequences for the church in the modern world”, she said, in a lecture on church governance to the Van Hugel Institute in Cambridge last night.

The pope could give a synod of bishops decision-making powers even though “no pope has ever done so and Pope Benedict is on record as being against doing so. Yet this is by far the most straightforward way of creating at least an embryonic form of collegial episcopal decision-making in the Catholic Church, she said.

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

KENTUCKY
Christian Post

BY MORGAN LEE , CHRISTIAN POST REPORTER
February 28, 2014

A Kentucky pastor has been accused of exposing himself to a teenage girl in a department store in Russellville earlier this month.

Kevin Lohse, who police say is the acting pastor at Woodlawn Baptist Church, was arrested Wednesday on charges of exposing himself to a 15-year-old girl in Burkes Outlet. Police posted a still mage from video surveillance camera footage of the suspect on social media in an attempt to indentify the man.

“In the video [not disclosed to the public], you can clearly see Mr. Lohse manipulating his zipper, then exposing his penis to the 15-year-old girl,” Russellville Police Detective Samantha Reeser told WBKO.

Even though the suspect had left the scene before police arrived, once his image was posted on the police department’s Facebook page and was shared more than 600 times, he later turned himself in to authorities.

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

KENTUCKY
Sedalia Democrat

Chris Cooper Managing Editor

An arrest was made Wednesday, Feb. 26th in connection with an indecent exposure case that played out in a local department store on Feb. 13.

According to a police report, Kevin Lohse, pastor at Woodlawn Baptist Church in Russellville, confessed to investigators that he inappropriately exposed himself to a young girl in Burke’s Outlet on Feb. 13, with his seven year old son in tow.

The Russellville Police Department had received a report of indecent exposure at the store after a mother reported that her juvenile daughter was subjected to Lohse’s inappropriate behavior while shopping. The female stated that Lohse had a small child with him and that he possibly left the scene in a van.

Video surveillance from Burke’s Outlet was obtained by the police, and a still image of Lohse was posted to the Russellville Police Department’s Facebook page asking for the public’s assistance in identifying the male. The photo quickly garnered a response of over 600 “shares” and resulted in Lohse turning himself into authorities on Feb. 21st.

According to police, the video showed footage of Lohse with his seven year old son at Burke’s on the day of the incident. He can clearly been seen manipulating the zipper of his pants to expose his genitals, and presenting himself to the juvenile female who was shopping in the junior’s section of Burke’s.

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