ABUSE TRACKER

A digest of links to media coverage of clergy abuse. For recent coverage listed in this blog, read the full article in the newspaper or other media source by clicking “Read original article.” For earlier coverage, click the title to read the original article.

November 15, 2019

Catholic clergy abuse survivor traces rocky path from abuse to action

MILWAUKEE (WI)
Wisconsin Watch

Nov. 15, 2019

By Erica Jones

In the living room of his Marshall, Wisconsin, home, 62-year-old Ted Lausche has a clock that reads aloud Bible verses every hour.

For Lausche, these readings trigger memories of the years of physical and sexual abuse he endured at a Catholic orphanage in Louisiana. But he chooses not to shut them off because the readings also remind him of his late partner, a spiritual woman who loved him despite his personal demons.

In the decades since he escaped from the orphanage at age 13, Lausche has suffered from alcohol abuse, drug addiction, mental health problems, three failed marriages and homelessness. Now, he said he is choosing to “take the best and leave the rest,” looking for positivity in an often tough life.

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.

Sex abuse survivor: ‘I’m still on the rise’

TOLEDO (OH)
The Blade

Nov. 15, 2019

By Allison Dunn

Despite years of sexual abuse at the hands of her church pastors, Taniece Temple never lost her faith in God.

Her trust in God helped her through some of her darkest days, when she was passed around solely for her body between Toledo pastors Anthony Haynes, Kenneth Butler, and Cordell Jenkins. Faith kept Ms. Temple on the right path and now leads her to help others through their struggles.

“I still called on God’s name even when I was in church and they would be up there preaching and they were sexually abusing me. I would pray to God in those moments,” Ms. Temple said. “… we all have free will and that is one of the things society needs to capitalize on — a person who chooses to hurt you, to set your house on fire, to kill somebody, to molest you, to do anything that is ungodly — that is on them because He gave them the choice to do right or wrong, and they chose wrong.”

While The Blade does not normally identify victims of sexual assault, Ms. Temple agreed to identify herself and publicly share her story in the wake of the criminal case against the pastors concluding.

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.

Burnsville church investigating sex abuse claims against pastor

MINNEAPOLIS (MN)
Star Tribune

Nov. 15, 2019

By Erin Adler

Allegations that a Burnsville pastor had inappropriate sexual relationships with two 18-year-old women 17 years ago in Indiana have shaken the congregation at his south metro megachurch, resulting in a leave of absence for him and his removal from consideration for hire by a church in Tennessee.

“We understand the nature of these claims and we take them very seriously,” Berean Baptist Church elders said in a statement released on Twitter and given Sunday at the church. Berean Baptist has been noted in recent years as among the nation’s fastest-growing Protestant congregations. A neutral party has been enlisted to investigate, the statement said.

The Rev. Wes Feltner, now 41, is being accused of simultaneously dating the congregants in 2002 when he was a youth pastor in southern Indiana. The accusations have been deemed credible by Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kentucky, where Feltner taught and has been suspended, and came to light after he applied for a position this fall at a church in Clarksville, Tenn.

In an e-mail to the Star Tribune, Feltner said he had permission from their parents to date both women but that he deeply regretted the hurt he caused. He said that he’s offered to speak to the women multiple times, including with a mediator, which he said was how the Bible says such accusations should be addressed.

He said that he and his family are facing “a withering barrage of online attacks,” some of them threatening.

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.

WNY Survivors of Clergy Sex Abuse Meet to Share Stories, Start Healing

BUFFALO (NY)
Spectrum News

Nov. 14, 2019

By Fadia Patterson

After suffering in silence for decades, survivors of clergy sexual abuse are now speaking out and have formed a peer support group to help others do the same.

While doing so, the Buffalo Survivors Group hopes to educate the public about the signs of abuse.

The group met for the first time Thursday at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in East Amherst, at a time when many are watching to see whether Bishop Richard Malone is going to resign.

For many in that room, the abuse they endured may have happened years ago, but the wounds are still fresh.

“We’re all in a club that I don’t think we signed up for,” said Angelo Ervolina, one of five founders and an abuse survivor.

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.

Pope’s new clerical abuse investigator allegedly abused an altar boy

Patheos blog

Nov. 15, 2019

By Barry Duke

Last month Pope Francis put Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio, head of the Brooklyn Diocese, in charge of investigating a sex-abuse scandal in the Buffalo Diocese.

This happened after Bishop Joseph Malone had come under fire for allegedly bungling that investigation.

Now its reported that DiMarzio is himself an abuser and that his alleged victim – Mark Matzek, 56 – had repeatedly been molested when he served as an altar boy at St Nicholas Church and a student at St Nicholas School in Jersey City between approximately 1974 and 1975

Matzek’s lawyer Mitchell Garabedian, told the New York Post that, at the time, Matzek was between 11 and 12 years old and DiMarzio was a parish priest in New Jersey in his 30s.

A second priest, the late Rev Albert Mark, also allegedly participated in the abuse, Matzek said. He and his lawyer are preparing a lawsuit against the church over the alleged abuse.

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.

Accused Kansas City area priest to be retried this spring

KANSAS CITY (MO)
KMBC 9 TV

Nov. 14, 2019

By Emily Holwick

A priest who served in Kansas City, Kansas and Overland Park is being retried on charges of sexual misconduct with a child, stemming from incidents that prosecutors say happened in 2015. Fr. Scott Kallal faces two counts of aggravated indecent liberties with a child. KMBC 9 spoke with the attorney representing one of his accusers, who says the process is grueling for her client.

Attorney Rebecca Randles has represented hundreds of alleged clergy abuse victims in her career, including one who testified against Fr. Kallal at his first trial in September. Randles says the mistrial was a shock. “Our client was devastated, she was absolutely devastated,” she said, “and I think the other witnesses were as well.”

Fr. Kallal had ties to St. Patrick’s Church in Kansas City, Kansas, but was most recently Associate Pastor at Holy Spirit Church in Overland Park.

Randles says the best-case scenario would be a plea deal. “Sometimes with a plea agreement, you can also include into it the terms of the probation, that could include not being with children, to a longer probation,” 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.

November 14, 2019

The Backstory: ‘I’ve had it with ‘victims.’ Why we won’t stop reporting on sexual abuse

ARLINGTON (VA)
USA Today

Nov. 15, 2019

By Nicole Carroll

I’m USA TODAY editor-in-chief Nicole Carroll and this is the Backstory, insights into our biggest stories of the week. If you’d like to get the Backstory in your inbox every Friday, subscribe here.

Reporter Lindsay Schnell and her editor, Cristina Silva, heard a disturbing story. A man told a state lawmaker that a Catholic school teacher had abused him 30 years earlier – and the teacher was still in the classroom.

How was that possible?

The answer is found in our investigation into former priests, Catholic brothers and Catholic school officials credibly accused of sexual abuse,but never brought to trial in part because so many state statute of limitation laws make it nearly impossible for victims to pursue criminal charges decades after alleged abuse.

The majority of U.S. Catholic dioceses have released names of credibly accused priests – many of whom were defrocked, or laicized, meaning they no longer work with the church. But neither the government nor the church keeps track of (or are required to keep track of) the credibly accused.

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.