ABUSE TRACKER

International Cultic Studies Association

Background of an ICSA conference track entitled, “Are there cultic aberrations in the Catholic Church?”

The Roman Catholic Church, the largest religious organization in the world, has more than one billion adherents. For this reason, if for no other, what happens in the Catholic Church matters to non-Catholics as well as Catholics.

In recent decades, some Catholic movements and organizations have generated controversy because outside observers have called them “cultic” or “sect-like.” …

The sexual, financial, and organizational scandals surrounding Marcial Maciel, founder of the Legion of Christ and Regnum Christi, gave impetus to this special track because the Maciel controversy caused Church authorities to pay more attention to the sectarian spirit within the Church . Many who were fooled into thinking that Maciel was headed for sainthood asked, “How could we have been so wrong?”

People affiliated with ICSA are not so surprised. They know of many instances in which seemingly benign leaders or organizations turned out to be very different from their public faces. As with Maciel, this duplicity masked the strategic application of social-psychological pressures to prevent members from discussing, or even acknowledging to themselves, disagreement with the beliefs and/or practices of leaders or organizations. Groups such as the Legion may claim allegiance with a mainstream religion in a sly attempt to “hide” themselves in orthodoxy by shifting the meaning of key theological terms. One might view them as “ideological frauds.”

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SCOTLAND
Clydebank Post

Published 4 Jun 2013

FORMER Clydebank priest Archbishop Philip Tartaglia recently told local Catholics “Don’t shoot the messenger just because you don’t like the message”.

He also urged his flock to become actively engaged in traditional and new media, from Facebook to Twitter to newspapers and television and stressed the importance of communications in the life of the Church – “and in our own everyday existence”.

He said Catholics had been “dismayed, hurt and embarrassed” to read headlines and hear news bulletins bringing shameful revelations about the Church in recent times.

He added: “We have experienced the power of the media, and sometimes felt under siege from the harsh glare of rolling news.”

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UNITED STATES
Greek Orthodox Christians for Truth and Reform

(Or: who are those among us that have the courage of conviction)

These are strange and interesting times, especially as they concern our Church. There is something missing……… “We are in need of heroes.” They shape the identities of those who aspire to grow with a sense of noble character and/or purpose. Heroes can help shape not only individual identities, but communities as well. Typically these heroes are stereotypically leaders, or other prominent public figures, like teachers, clergymen, soldiers, politicians, or successful businessmen (to name only a few). But sometimes these heroes that are often unsung. The fact is that there are more unsung heroes than prominent ones.

When the people that we expect to act as heroes compromise their responsibility as role models, there sometimes emerge voices, daring voices, voices that are willing to risk everything for the sake of truth, by altruistically speaking up. It is reminiscent of Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Emperor’s New Clothes”. The sole voice that shouted that the Emperor had no clothes was not otherwise a hero but was compelled to shout the naked truth. Initially this shouting was held in suspicion; until a consensus was reached that the Emperor was indeed naked. Perhaps the youngster’s voice itself was briefly held suspect. However, some might say that this voice was the voice of a hero that saved the subjects from an egomaniacal despot who was in pursuit of vainglory at the expense of truth. …

Cappy Larson, Greta Larson and Melanie Jula Sakoda
founders of www.Pokrov.org

The welcome page states that Pokrov.org “is a resource for survivors of abuse in the Orthodox Churches. Pokrov.org is proud to be under the umbrella of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. Abuse can take place whether you are a child, a teenager or an adult. Adults can be married, single or divorced, male or female. Even clergymen, seminary students and clergy-wives can be abused. Abusers can be clergymen, Monastics, clergy-wives, or just members of the laity”.

No institution is immune from elements of a fallen humanity. This site has ministered to the needs of those abused and exploited. It also documents names of alleged perpetrators.

Unfortunately, we need this “ministry”. Sweeping things under the rug can allow improprieties to continue and wounds to remain unhealed. This site has striven to a variety of injustices and improprieties. This has come with the risk of retribution from those who feel this should be hidden from view. Violent threats and character malignment are just a few examples of the measures that these fine people have had to endure.

We applaud these advocates of the abused and the hurt. We thank them for their courage and persistence in standing up for what is right.

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FLORIDA
NBC 6

South Florida Priest on Leave of Absence as Sexual Misconduct Allegations Investigated: Official

By Justin Finch | Tuesday, Jun 4, 2013

A prominent South Florida priest has taken a temporary leave of absence as allegations of sexual misconduct against him are investigated, Archdiocese of Miami spokeswoman Mary Ross Agosta said Monday.

A civil complaint was filed against Father Daniel Kubala of Miami’s St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church and Parish last month. In the complaint, the unnamed plaintiff alleges Kubala made two unwanted sexual advances towards the plaintiff, identified as “John Doe,” back in April.

An adult male worker at the church has made the accusations, Ross Agosta said in a statement.

The complaint does not include the plaintiff’s age, but does note that he is 5 feet 1 inches tall, weighs 125 pounds, and has the appearance of a teenaged male. His attorney said his client has a female companion, and that the two share a child.

Kubala denies the accusations against him, but has requested a leave of absence so he is not a distraction while a full investigation is conducted, Ross Agosta said.

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VERMONT
Bennington Banner

NEAL P. GOSWAMI
Senior Staff Writer

BENNINGTON – With lawmakers, law enforcement and prosecutors by his side, Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin signed legislation in Bennington Monday extending the statute of limitations for sexual crimes committed against children.

Sexual crimes committed against a child now have a 40-year statute of limitations. Until Monday’s signing ceremony, Vermont law only allowed for prosecution of sexual assault, lewd and lascivious conduct and sexual exploitation of a minor within 10 years after the crimes were reported, or until a child turned 24.

Bennington County Chief Deputy State’s Attorney Christina Rainville pushed for the legislation following the conviction of former assistant Penn State football coach Jerry Sandusky. Rainville noted that eight of the 10 victims who came forward against Sandusky, would have been barred from seeking justice in Vermont because of the state’s shorter statute of limitations.

“The result is phenomenal”

“It really took a lot of people, but the result is phenomenal. We’re now going to be able to better protect today’s children because when we have someone who committed crimes 40 years ago still having contact with children today, we can’t protect today’s children. This eliminates that huge problem with our law, so I’m very, very grateful for everyone’s effort,” Rainville said.

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VERMONT
Times-Argus

June 04,2013

BENNINGTON — Under new legislation, which Gov. Peter Shumlin signed into law in Bennington on Monday, the statute of limitations for certain sex crimes committed against children has been extended so the crimes can be reported up to 40 years after they were committed. Shumlin, who signed the bill at the Bennington County Child Advocacy Center, thanked the legislators and prosecutors who “saw a wrong and chose to right it.”

“We all know that with a crime like this … it often takes years and years and years and years before the victim is able or ready or willing to talk about their trauma and ensure that justice is served,” he said.

Among those who attended the signing of the bill were Bennington County State’s Attorney Erica Marthage, Bennington County House representatives Ann Mook, Mary Morrissey and Alice Miller and Detective Anthony Silvestro of the Bennington Police Department, who is assigned to investigate sexual crimes in Bennington.

However, Shumlin said special thanks should go to Christina Rainville, Bennington County’s chief deputy state’s attorney, and Sen. Richard “Dick” Sears, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

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VERMONT
Bennington Banner

It’s no coincidence that Gov. Peter Shumlin chose Bennington on Monday as the place to sign legislation that extends the statute of limitations for sexual crimes committed against a child in Vermont.

The idea for the law originated here. It was proposed by Bennington County Sen. Dick Sears, Democratic chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, after Christina Rainville, Bennington County Chief Deputy State’s Attorney, approached him seeking changes to the state law.

Sexual crimes committed against a child now have a 40-year statute of limitations, whereas before the law only allowed for prosecution of sexual assault, lewd and lascivious conduct and sexual exploitation of a minor within 10 years after the crimes were reported, or until a child’s 24th birthday.

Rainville was moved to do so following the much-publicized trial and conviction of former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky last year. She told The Banner that the Sandusky case was a “watershed moment” for her.

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POLEN
Deutschlandfunk

Die katholische Kirche Polens tut sich schwer, sexuellen Missbrauch durch Geistliche aufzuarbeiten
Von Holger Lühmann

Wegen ihrer Rolle im Kampf gegen den Sozialismus genießt die katholische Kirche in Polen noch immer hohes Ansehen. Umso schwieriger ist es, sexuellen Missbrauch, der von Geistlichen ausgeht, öffentlich anzusprechen. Eine neue Stiftung will das ändern.

Vielen Opfern geht es nicht um finanzielle Entschädigung. Sie wollen eine Entschuldigung hören und Zeichen sehen, dass die Kirche die Täter ausfindig macht.

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AUSTRALIA
Courier Mail

TERRY SWEETMAN THE SUNDAY MAIL (QLD) JUNE 02, 2013

IT IS a sad state of affairs when even the faithful send me jokes and cartoons reinforcing coarse images of priests as pedophiles and adulterers.

But that’s one measure of the harm done to the institution of the Catholic Church by its lax oversight of its servants, its infamous attempts to cover up their sins and its need to put its own reputation above the care of children and the delivery of justice.

Like many, I was pretty unimpressed with evidence and the demeanor of Archbishop George Pell before the Victorian parliamentary inquiry into the handling of child sexual abuse.

Suffice to say, it will be interesting to see if he can demonstrate more conviction when he appears before the Federal Royal Commission with its powers of coercion.

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ICELAND
Pressan

Iceland: Bishop’s daughter: ‘Sexual assaulter once came to power – It can’t happen again’

Guðrún Ebba Ólafsdóttir – daughter of the late Ólafur Skúlason, previous bishop – wants that every preventative measure be taken to ensure that no sexual offender is able to reach the highest position of any church ever again. Guðrún has invited the Church council (“Kirkjuráð) – the highest executive authority of the Church in Iceland – to a meeting, after her request for a hearing.

As the newspaper DV has discussed in the previous week, Guðrún supported Sigríður Pálína Ingvarsdóttir’s claims, accusing bishop Ólafur of sexual abuse and a rape attempt.

Sigríður had a meeting with the Church Council and presented her side of the story. Guðrún requested to meet the bishop last Spring but never received a reply. She lobbied her claim to the entire Council this Spring and will be allowed another meeting this Fall.

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AUSTRALIA
Canberra Times

[the petition]

June 4, 2013

Stephanie Anderson
Breaking news reporter at The Canberra Times.

Bishop Pat Power has thrown his support behind a petition calling for the Pope to address the systemic causes of abuse in the Catholic Church.

The former Auxiliary Bishop of Canberra-Goulburn was joined by retired auxiliary bishop of Sydney Geoffrey Robinson in Sydney to officially launch the world-wide petition, which has already attracted around 15,000 signatures.

Addressing media on Tuesday, Bishop Power said it wasn’t indifference from the church community blocking progress on sexual abuse cases.

“I don’t think there’s apathy there,” he said.

“I think it’s really frustrating that they can’t be heard. That’s why I applaud this petition. It gives ordinary, grassroots Catholics a voice.”

Bishop Robinson said the petition urged Pope Francis to consider issues such as the lack of a “strong feminine influence” in the Church, as well as the part celibacy plays in abuse.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Hong Kong Standard

(06-04 11:43)

Experts investigating abuse in Northern Ireland children’s homes appealed for victims living abroad, chiefly in North America and Australia, to provide testimony so that the full scope of trauma can be documented.

Northern Ireland’s Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry said it already has received abuse complaints from 271 former residents of about 35 orphanages and state-funded homes where children allegedly suffered sexual or physical harm. The investigation started this year and is supposed to publish findings and recommend compensation for victims by January 2016. It seeks evidence of abuse from 1922, the year of Northern Ireland’s foundation, to 1995, AP reports.

Investigators particularly suspect Western Australia could be a venue for much testimony, because scores of boys and girls in Northern Ireland state care were resettled there while they were still children.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

JANET FIFE-YEOMANS THE DAILY TELEGRAPH JUNE 04, 2013

A GROUP of rebel Catholic bishops have today launched a petition to tell the people at the top – the Pope and the Vatican – to act to stop the abuse of children within the church.

Bishop Geoffrey Robinson, emeritus auxillary bishop of the Archdiocese of Sydney, said the national royal commission into institutionalised child sex abuse could bring healing and change laws but it could not force the church hierarchy to make fundamental changes.

“Millions of good Catholics have been deeply disillusioned, both by the revelations of widespread abuse and even more by what they have perceived as the defensive, uncaring and unchristian response on the part of many who have authority in the church and claim to speak in God’s name,” Bishop Robinson said today.

“Catholic people all over the world are sick of the scandal and this is a chance for them to speak up and join a collective voice that will be heard in Rome.”

The bishop, who resigned from the church in 2004 partly because of its lack of recognition that it had a massive sexual abuse problem, launched the petition today with the support of Bishop Pat Power, the retired bishop of Canberra and Goulburn, and Bishop Bill Morris.

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AUSTRALIA
Australian Times (UK)

A RETIRED Sydney bishop says the federal government’s royal commission into child sex abuse will not eradicate abuse from the Catholic Church.

Bishop Geoffrey Robinson, who designed Australia’s Catholic clergy sex abuse response, wants a “people-powered revolution” to force the Vatican to make the changes needed to banish sexual abuse.

He says the Australian royal commission is limited because it will not have the power to fully eradicate the causes of abuse in the church.

“It’s really the church itself that needs to take a hard look at itself and see what we could find there in the way of causes and the systemic factors which may have contributed to the abuse,” he said.

On Tuesday, Bishop Robinson launched his new book, For Christ’s Sake, End Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church, in Sydney, with the backing of former NSW premier and Catholic Kristina Keneally.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC Sydney

[with audio]

By Emma Crowe

Retired Sydney bishop Geoffrey Robinson is calling for a ‘Catholic Spring’.

Speaking to Hamish Macdonald on 702 Drive on the day of the launch of his new book*, Robinson joined former New South Wales Premier, Kristina Keneally in a frank and open discussion about the need for ordinary Catholics to help confront the Vatican on the issue of child sexual abuse.

Bishop Robinson, 75, believes that real change can only come from a groundswell movement of ordinary Catholics, working together to take their views to the top.

‘Some bishops are much better than others and some of them are dragging their feet, but they do not have the authority to change the things that I’m looking to change. Only the Pope or a council of the church would have the authority to do that’.

Kristina Keneally, well known as former Premier of New South Wales, is a committed Catholic. She believes that the response to allegations of abuse would have been very different had there been women and parents in the leadership of the church.

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INDIA
Nagaland Post

Following interaction with families in Manipur who had sent their children to a Jaipur-based illegal children’s home, social activists have alleged that batches of children went back home with severe physical deformities, sexual abuse – and in one case even pregnant. Four children reportedly died on their way back home.

Ukhrul District Alliance for Child Rights has filed a report to the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, pointing out over 30 cases of physical and sexual abuse of children lodged in Grace Home in Jaipur, said a report by The Indian Express.

Grace Home, run by Pastor Jacob John, was raided on March 12. In two other following raids, 53 children were rescued by an NGO FXB India Suraksha, Rajasthan Commission for Protection of Child Rights and Jaipur Police.

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ILLINOIS
WUIS

Posted on June 3, 2013 by WUIS

Victims of sexual abuse in Illinois have a limited amount of time in which to file charges.

But a proposal on its way to the governor would back some of those limits.

Tiffany Denmark of Chicago said she was sexually abused not once, but twice, by a pastor – with the second encounter resulting in her becoming pregnant.

Denmark said she was pressured into having an abortion. Afterwards, she says she fell into a state of depression, and attempted suicide.

DENMARK: “My mother’s pastor was aware of what happened and even visited me in the hospital, but said because I didn’t say anything when I was younger it was too late.”

Illinois currently has a 10-year window where criminal sexual charges can be filed against an alleged attacker.

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AUSTRALIA
Maroondah and Yarra Ranges Weekly

By DAVID SCHOUT June 4, 2013

A HEALESVILLE father whose son was sexually abused by a Catholic priest in the 1990s has described Cardinal George Pell’s apology as “full of criminal cliches”.

Last week Cardinal Pell appeared before the Victorian inquiry into child abuse, giving testimony in a gruelling four-hour session.

But Ian Lawther, who himself made a submission to the state inquiry in November last year, said Pell’s comments were disingenuous.

“An absolute disgrace,” he said.

“It was a kick to the groin of every Australian Catholic, maybe even Christian. His behaviour has been far from Christ-like.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
Northern Echo

THE ARCHBISHOP of York is back at home after undergoing surgery for prostate cancer.

Dr John Sentamu underwent surgery for locally-advanced cancer at St James’s Hospital in Leeds.

Today (Sunday June 2) he was recovering from his operation at his residence, Bishopthorpe Palace, in York.

The 63-year-old has said he will be “out of action” for some time.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Times

Sean O’Neill, Michael McKenna

The Church of England was accused last night of delaying its inquiry into a clergyman exposed as a serial child abuser, as another victim came forward.

Dr John Sentamu, the Archbishop of York, promised an independent inquiry last month after The Times and The Australian uncovered the activities of Robert Waddington, the former Dean of Manchester Cathedral .

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NORTHERN IRELAND
The Republic

By SHAWN POGATCHNIK Associated Press
June 03, 2013

DUBLIN — Experts investigating abuse within Northern Ireland children’s homes appealed Monday for victims living abroad, chiefly in North America and Australia, to provide testimony so that the full scope of trauma can be documented.

Northern Ireland’s Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry said it already has received abuse complaints from 271 former residents of about 35 orphanages and state-funded homes where children allegedly suffered sexual or physical harm. The investigation started this year and is supposed to publish findings and recommend compensation for victims by January 2016. It seeks evidence of abuse from 1922, the year of Northern Ireland’s foundation, to 1995.

Virtually all testimony so far has come from people living in Britain or Ireland. But investigators believe many hundreds of former residents have made their homes in the United States, Canada and Australia and want to hear their stories. They particularly suspect Western Australia could be a venue for much testimony, because scores of boys and girls in Northern Ireland state care were resettled there while they were still children.

The lead investigator, Sir Anthony Hart, said his fact-finding team was willing to travel overseas to collect testimony or cover witnesses’ travel expenses to come to Belfast.

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UNITED STATES
Associated Baptist Press

High-profile friends of a Calvinist leader accused of covering up the molestation of children continue to endorse the embattled pastor despite calls urging them to refrain until the facts are known.

By Bob Allen

Members of Pastor C.J. Mahaney’s Kentucky church plant “don’t fully grasp” their privilege, the embattled Calvinist leader’s defender and friend Mark Dever told the congregation of Sovereign Grace Church in Louisville June 2.

Dever, senior pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, D.C., spoke at the church that meets in a Louisville hotel days after joining Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President Albert Mohler and Presbyterian Church of America minister Ligon Duncan in a joint statement expressing confidence in Mahaney, who is named in a lawsuit being described as the largest evangelical sex-abuse scandal to date.

The trio, who with Mahaney lead a biennial preaching conference called Together for the Gospel, originally posted the statement on Facebook, but after more than 100 negative comments appeared in the first 24 hours it was moved to the T4G website.

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MAINE
Bangor Daily News

By Judy Harrison, BDN Staff
Posted June 03, 2013

PORTLAND, Maine — Two brothers who were altar servers at a South Berwick parish in the late mid- to late 1970s have sued the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland claiming the bishop at the time knew the priest who sexually abused them was a danger to children but did not remove him from ministry.

Mitchell Garabedian, a Boston attorney known for representing victims of clergy sexual abuse, filed separate lawsuits May 15 in Cumberland County Superior in Portland on behalf of Frederick Sean Conroy, 46, of Essex County, Mass, and Jeffrey Patrick Conroy, 45, of Bexar County, Texas. The men claim that they were sexually assaulted between 1976 and 1979 by the Rev. James Vallely, now deceased, when he was pastor at St. Michael Catholic Church.

The lawsuits name the bishop of the diocese as the defendant. Maine Catholics currently are waiting for Pope Francis to appoint a new bishop. The former leader of the diocese, Bishop Richard J. Malone, 67, now head of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Buffalo, N.Y., left in July after eight years in Maine. Answers to the complaints have not yet been filed. Gerald F. Petruccelli, the Portland attorney who represents the diocese, declined to comment on the lawsuits Monday. Efforts to reach Garabedian last week and on Monday were unsuccessful.

The diocese previously acknowledged that there were credible abuse allegations against Vallely. In 2005, the diocese said that Vallely would have been fired if he had lived. The priest died in 1997 in Florida.

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UNITED STATES
The Courier-Journal

[Statement from Mark Dever, Ligon Duncan, and Albert Mohler]

Posted on May 29, 2013 by Peter Smith

Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President Albert Mohler and other leading New Calvinist figures have issued statements of confidence in one of their partners in ministry, C.J. Mahaney — ending their months of silence over a lawsuit alleging that Mahaney and his denomination conspired to cover up claims of sexual abuse.

The statements by Mohler and others came days after a Maryland judge dismissed, on legal grounds, what had been a growing lawsuit alleging a cover-up by Mahaney and other leaders in Sovereign Grace Ministries and its congregations. (Two of the 11 plaintiffs can re-file in the same court, and their lawyers say they’ll appeal the rest to the next level.) That decision in itself came just days after the lawsuit was amended for a second time, alleging a series of sex crimes allegedly committed by various people associated with the denomination. (Previous coverage is here.)

Sovereign Grace Ministries, which recently relocated to Louisville, was until last year based in Maryland, and many of the alleged incidents are said to have occurred in the D.C. area.

Mohler’s statement was co-signed by two other men who — along with Mohler and Mahaney — head up a cross-denominational group, Together for the Gospel (T4G). It hosts conferences every two years in Louisville drawing thousands of mostly male attendees, many of them pastors or seminarians. The other two are Mark Dever, pastor of a Southern Baptist congregation in Washington, D.C., and Ligon Duncan, a Jackson, Miss., pastor in the Presbyterian Church of America.

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ROME/AUSTRALIA
lewisblayse.net

[Domus Australia]

Lewis Blayse

Domus Australia (“Australia House”) is a palatial building in Rome which the Catholic Church purchased and renovated for about $30 million (see photo above). Cardinal “Georgie” Pell stays there six or seven times a year, according to the rector of the on-site chapel, Father Andrew James.

Victorian Parliamentary enquiry into clerical child sexual abuse committee member, Andrea Coote caused a sensation when she suggested the Catholic Church could sell it to raise funds for compensating victims. Father Brendan Arthur sprung to the defence of what he fondly calls an “Australian Oasis” saying that selling the place would be a crime since “for people like that [victims] it’s never going to be enough.” Father Brendan said, “Where do you stop? Sell off St Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney next? Or St Patrick’s in Melbourne?” Probably wouldn’t fetch as much as Domus Australia, though.

Cardinals of the Catholic Church are fondly known (by some) as “Princes of the Church”, so it is fitting that Prince Pell should have his own palace. Like all impoverished nobility, he is forced to rent it out to the hoi-polloi occasionally, for a mere $250 per night per room and $120 per meal. When he stays, if there are other “guests”, poor Prince Pell only occupies two rooms. A current guest, Father Brennan, who is on holidays there from his parish in Dandenong North, in Victoria, likes to slip out for a quiet cigarette in the internal courtyard (see photo below).

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UNITED STATES
The Catholic Tipping Point

Sponsoring Organizations

Call to Action
Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good
CORPUS
DignityUSA
FutureChurch
National Coalition of Nuns
New Ways Ministry
Voice of the Faithful
Quixote Center
Women’s Ordination Conference

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Dennis Coday | Jun. 3, 2013 NCR Today

“A Catholic Tipping Point: Conversations with Fr. Helmut Schüller” is a summer speaking tour of the United States by Fr. Helmut Schüller, founder of the Austrian Priests’ Initiative, a group of Austrian priests pushing for institutional reforms in the Catholic church.

The tour starts July 16 in New York City and ends Aug. 6 on Long Island. Along the way, Schüller will be stopping at Boston; Philadelphia; Baltimore; Washington, D.C.; Chicago; Cleveland; Detroit; Cincinnati; Denver; San Diego; Los Angeles; Portland, Ore.; and Seattle. See this website for details: The Catholic Tipping Point.

Watch the NCR website throughout the tour for updates and news on the trip.

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PHILIPPINEN
Kipa

Manila, 3.6.13 (Kipa) Die katholische philippinische Bischofskonferenz hat sich gegen den Vorwurf einer Vertuschung von Missbrauchsfällen verwahrt. Ermittlungen gegen mutmassliche pädophile Mitarbeiter seien «vertraulich», die Ergebnisse müssten nach Rom gemeldet werden, sagte der Generalsekretär der Bischofskonferenz, Joselito Asis, laut dem asiatischen katholischen Pressedienst Ucanews (Montag).

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PHILIPPINEN
Kathweb

Bischöfe: “Vertrauliche” Ermittlungen gegen mutmaßliche pädophile Mitarbeiter – Menschenrechtsaktivist ortete “grassierenden sexuellen Missbrauch von Kindern durch Kleriker”

03.06.2013
Manila, 03.06.2013 (KAP) Die katholische Philippinische Bischofskonferenz hat sich gegen den Vorwurf einer Vertuschung von Missbrauchsfällen verwahrt. Ermittlungen gegen mutmaßliche pädophile Mitarbeiter seien “vertraulich”, die Ergebnisse müssten nach Rom gemeldet werden, zitiert die deutsche katholischen Nachrichtenagentur KNA den Generalsekretär der Bischofskonferenz, Joselito Asis im Interview mit dem Pressedienst “Ucanews” (Montag). Zuvor hatte ein Ordenspriester und Aktivist gegen Sextourismus Bischöfe beschuldigt, einen “grassierenden sexuellen Missbrauch von Kindern durch Kleriker” weiterhin zu verschleiern.

“Wir haben hier diese Bischöfe, die sehr viel von dem Missbrauch vertuscht haben, und wir wissen, dass das immer noch passiert”, sagte der aus Irland stammende Ordensgeistliche Shay Cullen dem Pressedienst. Die Kirchenleitung müsse “entschieden handeln”. Täter müssten aus dem Kirchendienst entfernt und “der Justiz und zivilen Gerichten übergeben” werden. Cullen, seit 1969 auf den Philippinen tätig, wurde für sein Engagement im Jahr 2000 u.a. mit dem Menschenrechtspreis der thüringischen Stadt Weimar ausgezeichnet.

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UNITED STATES
Mary DeMuth

Something is wrong when the church protects perpetrators and marginalizes victims. In recent months, we’ve seen a bit of the underbelly of covering up sexual abuse, demanding victims forgive and forget instantly for the sake of the poor offenders whose lives might be ruined if they were found out. (See this article at Christianity Today that summarizes a recent case).

(Note: This post isn’t about the Sovereign Grace Ministries situation particularly as much as it is about any church that listens more to the perpetrators than to the victims. I believe this is a universal problem.)
Cover up that exalts the “ministry” or a ministry personality over the well being of one who has been sinned against does not represent the Jesus I follow.

Jesus looked for the outcasted. He dignified the marginalized. He stooped (in the sweetest, gentlest way) to side with the woman caught in adultery, against her prosecutors and (perhaps) her sexual partner. He confronted sin in his closest group of ministry partners, even telling Satan to take a backseat. He noticed the woman with the issue of blood—a victim of biology and the probably shunning of the crowd. He clearly listened to the downtrodden. He identified, by coming to earth, with those bent beneath their loads. He welcomed scampering children while the disciples scoffed. His lap was safe.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

POSTED BY DAVID CLOHESSY ON JUNE 03, 2013

Usually, when Catholic officials try to deny child sex abuse victims their day in court, I moan or cry or shake my head in dismay. But a sentence in a new National Catholic Register article on statute of limitations reform had the opposite effect on me. It made me laugh out loud.

Here’s the background: Gradually, more lawmakers are proposing civil “window” laws that temporarily suspend the civil statute on child sex crimes.

The laws enable child sex abuse victims to protect kids, stop predators, expose wrongdoing, and deter cover ups by seeking justice in court.

But Catholic officials claim these laws are unfair because they sometimes exempt public institutions.

So here’s the line that made me snort with laughter. Dennis Poust of the New York State Catholic Conference says window laws are “fundamentally flawed and unjust” because they “effectively discriminate against victims based solely on where the abuse occurs.”

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UNITED STATES
Christianity Today

[Click here for the story.]

(UPDATED) Mark Dever, Ligon Duncan, and Albert Mohler also defend friend C. J. Mahaney, while Scot McKnight joins Boz Tchividjian in criticism.
Jeremy Weber

Third Update (May 24): Scot McKnight disagrees with the many prominent Reformed supporters of C. J. Mahaney. “There is blatant failure here to recognize the complicity of a leader in what transpired under his watch,” he writes.

McKnight supports the view of GRACE’s Boz Tchividjian who, noting that the now-dismissed lawsuit’s allegations are “one of the most disturbing accounts of child sexual abuse and institutional ‘cover up’ I have read in my almost 20 years of addressing this issue,” writes:

These leaders have once again, and perhaps unwittingly, demonstrated the art of marginalizing individual souls for the sake of reputation and friendships.
…
Does this mean that a jury is required in order to determine the existence of evil? … Such an approach to sin is incredibly damaging to so many precious individuals who were sexually victimized for years and manipulated by perpetrators and church leaders into remaining silent. It tells them that their voice and experience doesn’t matter nearly as much as the voice of a judge or jury.
…
Many of these men have not hesitated to write (or tweet) on the Penn State horrors, homosexuals in the Boy Scouts, and universal healthcare, but have been conspicuously quiet on this issue. And when they finally speak, what is omitted speaks more than what is said.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia

The Archdiocese of Philadelphia announced today that Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M. Cap. has reviewed recommendations of the Archdiocesan Strategic Planning Committee and made decisions to merge parishes in Philadelphia and Delaware County.

These mergers are the result of ongoing restructuring that will ultimately strengthen parish communities throughout the Archdiocese positioning them for future growth and sustainability. It is hoped that the result will be revitalized parishes throughout the Archdiocese that are better equipped to meet the spiritual and pastoral needs of future generations.

The recommendations and resulting mergers are an outcome of the Archdiocesan-wide Parish Pastoral Planning Area initiative, which began in 2011. Parishioners at all affected parishes learned of the final decisions through letters mailed to all registered parishioners as well as announcements made at all Masses this weekend.

The mergers announced today were based on a combination of factors, including, but not limited to, demographic shifts in Catholic populations, concentrated density of parishes in a limited geographic area, history of declining Mass attendance and sacramental activity, increasing economic challenges that threaten sustainability, a decrease in the availability of clergy to staff parishes and a review of facilities.

In each instance of a merger, parishioners will attend daily and Sunday Mass at the church of the newly formed parish. The church of the former parish will remain open and be maintained as a worship site. At the discretion of the pastor, this site will be utilized for weddings, funerals and feast days, as well as traditional and ethnic devotions for the time being. Sunday Mass may also be celebrated at a worship site at the discretion of the pastor and the newly formed pastoral council.

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PENNSYLVANIA/DELAWARE
Philadelphia Inquirer

JONATHAN LAI, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
POSTED: Sunday, June 2, 2013

Linda Fleming was baptized at St. Leo the Great on Father’s Day in 1958, exactly two weeks after she was born. She received the sacraments of communion and confirmation there, and attended the church’s grade school. The Funeral Masses for her parents were said at St. Leo’s.

And even after moving to Bustleton in 2010, Fleming still attended services at the church in Philadelphia’s Tacony section.

In short, Fleming said Sunday outside the church on Keystone Street, “This is our home.”

That home is set to be incorporated into Our Lady of Consolation parish less than a mile away, also in Tacony, as part of an ongoing Archdiocese of Philadelphia initiative to merge parishes.

In all, mergers affecting 27 parishes throughout Northeast, Northwest, and West Philadelphia, as well as Delaware County, were announced Sunday in conjunction with the archdiocesan effort to cut costs and achieve greater efficiencies in light of declining membership.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

June 4, 2013

Gerard Henderson
Executive director, The Sydney Institute

Cardinal George Pell in Sydney and Archbishop Denis Hart in Melbourne have become public targets for criticism concerning sexual abuse by priests and brothers within the Catholic Church in Australia. The evidence suggests that paedophiles have been active in religious and secular institutions and elsewhere over the years, particularly between the 1950s and the 1980s. The situation within the Catholic Church has been particularly serious.

During their recent appearances before the Victorian parliamentary inquiry into child abuse, Pell and Hart were subjected to hectoring by some parliamentarians, along with occasional demonstrations and generally hostile media coverage, particularly on the ABC and in The Age. Yet it appears they were among the first Catholic leaders in the world to address the issue in a serious way.

A lot of the commentary on this issue has been replete with an ignorance as to how the Catholic Church operates by those who should know better. For example, on ABC1’s News Breakfast last week Wayne Chamley of Broken Rites said the Church “runs on anarchy”. It doesn’t. Last July, the Four Corners program ”Unholy Silence”, by Geoff Thompson and Mary Ann Jolley, failed to make the point that Pell is not responsible for archdioceses or dioceses other than his own. Each bishop reports direct to the Pope in what is an authoritarian structure.

More seriously, Four Corners refused to run Pell’s comment to this effect, either in the program itself or in the extended interview which is on the Four Corners website. The latter omission looks like censorship. This was important since the cases of sexual abuse covered in the program pertained to crimes committed by a one-time priest identified as “F” in the dioceses of Armidale and Parramatta, which are outside Pell’s immediate control.

The bishops of Armidale and Parramatta commissioned a report into the management of F by retired Federal Court judge Antony Whitlam, QC, (a non-Catholic).

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UNITED STATES
Voice of the Faithful

Fr. Helmut Schuller, the charismatic founder of the Austrian Priests’ Initiative (Pfarrer-Initiative), is visiting the United States this summer. Invited by a coalition of 10 church reform organizations for a 15-city tour, July 15 to August 7, Fr. Schuller will discuss initiatives taken by the Austrian priests, why they took action, and how the international reform movement is faring.

The Austrian Priests’ Initiative was organized in 2006 to address a deepening shortage of priests, which has forced many Austrian parishes to close. The priests’ initiative is calling for inclusive and transparent changes to Church governance, including greater lay leadership and lay preaching in parishes without a priest. Fr. Schuller’s work inspired priests to establish similar priest groups in Germany, Ireland, France, and the United States.

The coalition of Church reform organizations that invited Schuller to the United states is calling his tour a Catholic Tipping Point because priests and people worldwide are creating a critical mass to transform the Church from the bottom up. An alternate title for his talk is: “Creativity, Courage and Conscience: Re-imagining Church Governance and the Voice of the Laity.”

Voice of the Faithful® is collaborating with other groups to sponsor the kick-off event in Fr. Schuller’s tour. This will take palce Tuesday evening, July 16, at Judson Memorial in Greenwich Village, New York City. VOTF also is sponsoring two addtional talks. The first will be on Wednesday evening, July 17, at St. Susanna’s Parish in Dedham, Massachusetts, and the second will be on Wednesday evening, August 7, in Manomet on Long Island, New York. Mark your calendars now. We will have much more information as the dates come closer.

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UNITED STATES
The Catholic Tipping Point

Fr. Helmut Schüller, founder of the Austrian Priests’ Initiative, a movement organized in 2006 to address an increasing shortage of priests, will be on a national speaking tour this summer.

His “Call to Disobedience,” signed by a majority of Austrian priests, has brought worldwide attention and momentum to addressing the crises in the Catholic Church. Today, he leads a practical movement that recognizes the Holy Spirit among the laity and the necessity of reforming church governance. Join Helmut Schüller and Catholics across the country in a new season of dialogue.

July 16 New York City
Judson Memorial Church
55 Washington Square South
7:00 PM
Contact: Francis X. Piderit francis@piderit.com C: 917-916-7575 T: 212-826-3118
Art McGrath artmcgrath@aol.com

July 17 Boston, MA
St. Susannah’s
262 Needham St. Dedham MA
7:00 PM
Contact: Ron DuBois debber@beld.net 781-843-1676

July 19 Philadelphia, PA
Chestnut Hill College
7: 00 PM
Contact: Regina Bannan reginab317@gmail.com 215-545-9649
Joe Boyle josephboyleoil@comcast.net

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FLORIDA
New Times

By Terrence McCoy Mon., Jun. 3 2013

No matter what, Violeta Maczynski wants you to know that her Boca Raton company, US Passport Services, is most definitely not a scam.

So ignore the 190 complaints filed against it with the state Better Business Bureau alleging misdeeds from failure to reimburse customers to not honoring its verbal contracts with customers.

Ignore that the Better Business Bureau has allotted the passport company on NW 77th Street an ‘F’ rating, and hasn’t granted it accreditation.

Ignore that US Passport Now — an offshoot of US Passport Services — claims on its site that it’s housed in a swank and official-looking office building – when its actual accommodations are pedestrian.

Ignore that the company’s president, Marek Maczynski, is a former priest booted from the the Orlando diocese, according to the Orlando Sentinel. Maczynski was removed from his duties at Holy Name of Jesus in Indialantic in 2005 after more than $10,000 went missing from the church’s coffers. (Maczynski apologized and returned the money, the newspaper reported, and no charges were filed against him.)

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RICHMOND (VA)
WRIC

Posted: Jun 03, 2013

The executive pastor at the Richmond Outreach Center appeared in court in Richmond Monday morning.

Jason Helmlinger is accused of threatening Allen Caldwell, a former pastor at the ROC.In court Monday, a follow-up court date was set for June 21.

The alleged threats were made after Caldwell spoke out to 8News about ROC founding pastor Geronimo Aguilar, known as “Pastor G.” Aguilar is facing multiple child sex abuse charges in Texas, where, if convicted, he could face up to a year in prison.

Caldwell says soon after his interview with 8News, Helmlinger called him and yelled profanities and threatened to do bodily harm to Caldwell, who called police to report the incident.

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RICHMOND (VA)
NBC 12

[with video]

Updated: Jun 03, 2013

By Mike Valerio
Posted by Phil Newsome

RICHMOND, VA (WWBT) –
The Roc’s top pastor will fight charges of threatening phone calls Monday morning.

Jason Helmlinger stepped down last week, and is the second Roc leader to face criminal charges. His friend and fellow pastor, Geronimo Aguilar, faces sexual abuse charges in Texas.

There has been a lot of confusing controversy at the Roc, but things could start to get back to normal if Executive Pastor Jason Helmlinger beats this charge of making threatening phone calls.

When a former church member last week said Aguilar, who founded the Roc, had inappropriate relations with church wives, police say Helmlinger called the former church member and threatened to harm him. That’s what the case is all about Monday morning.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Ben Feuerherd | Jun. 3, 2013

NEW YORK A group calling itself “Catholic Whistleblowers” celebrated its launch at a Manhattan news conference May 22.

The group’s message:

*Catholics who blow the whistle on the sexual abuse of minors in the church deserve a network they can turn to for support;
*A decade after the church issued “zero tolerance guidelines” for abuse, it is still mishandling these cases;
*The bishops who mishandle these cases must be held accountable.

Founding member Dominican Sr. Sally Butler of Brooklyn, N.Y., said the creation of a nationwide “whistleblower protection program” is necessary. “Clearly, the women and men who work for the church now fear reprisals for speaking out,” she said.

Attorney Marci A. Hamilton, the Paul R. Verkuil Chair in Public Law at Cardozo Law School in Manhattan, N.Y., said that she and her team of five law students have promised to defend any whistleblowers who come forward.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

SARAH MACDONALD – 03 JUNE 2013

A NEW Catholic group formed to give lay people a bigger say in the running of the Irish church is seeking an urgent meeting with the hierarchy to discuss the critical shortage of priests here.

The Association of Catholics in Ireland (ACI), which has committed itself to reform and renewal of the church, was formally launched in Dublin on Saturday.

During the meeting, members discussed the role of the laity in shaping the future church here.

According to ACI spokesman Noel McCann, the objectives of the new group include working towards greater inclusion of the laity in decision making in the church, as well as fostering dialogue and transparency.

The group also wishes to address issues such as the effect on young people of the archaic language in the church’s liturgy.

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VATICAN CITY
Chiesa

The president of the “bank” of the Holy See, in this interview with Vatican Radio, opens his campaign to restore credibility to the controversial institution. With more integrity, more transparency, more communication

by Ernst von Freyberg

Q: President Ernst von Freyberg, do you like your job, coming from Frankfurt down to Rome, working inside the Vatican?

A: It is a great privilege to work here; it is the most inspiring environment you can imagine: working at the Vatican. And it is a great challenge to serve the pope in re-establishing the reputation of this institute.

Q: What did you imagine your work to be, prior to starting here?

A: Different from what it is. When I came here I thought I would need to focus on what is normally described as cleaning out and dealing with improper deposits. There is – until now – nothing I can detect. That doesn’t mean that there isn’t anything, but it means that it is not our biggest issue.

Our biggest issue is our reputation. Our work – my work – is much more communication than originally thought. And it is much more communication inside the Church. We haven’t done enough of that in the past. It starts a home, with our own employees, with those who work for the Church in Rome, with those in the Church around the world. To them we owe first of all transparency and a good explication of what we do and how we try to serve.

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

The Department of Justice has said it has received the report about a potential redress scheme for survivors of the Magdalene laundries.

Mr Justice John Quirke’s recommendations are expected to be considered by the Government this week.

Last week, the United Nations Committee Against Torture criticised the McAleese report into the Laundries as “limited” and “not sufficiently independent”.

The UN’s response gave voice to some of the concerns held by Magdalene Survivors Together.

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AUSTRALIA
Brisbane Times

June 3, 2013

Amanda Vanstone
Former Howard government minister

Surely there can be no one in Australia who wants to give an easy ride to those who abused children or those who helped cover it up. Hopefully the state inquiries and the royal commission will not only uncover some perpetrators but serve to put a stop, if not completely to the crime, then at least completely to institutional cover-up.

Abhorrent as we find both the crime and the cover-up, our shared revulsion in no way entitles or excuses any diminution of our own obligation to conduct inquiries in an exemplary manner.

The more serious the allegation the higher standard there must be on an inquiry. If the gravity of the offence doesn’t stir us into exemplary behaviour then the consequences for the accused should certainly do so. Naturally enough the more odious the allegation the higher the penalty and public opprobrium for the alleged perpetrator. Imposing penalties and opprobrium of a deep and long-lasting kind on our fellow citizens is not something we should take lightly. And we don’t.

Your freedom and mine rests on the simple principle that we are each innocent until proven guilty. We demand that the state makes its case before a penalty is imposed or someone’s liberty is restrained.

In that context, coverage of the Victorian parliamentary hearings at which Cardinal George Pell appeared were a cause of some concern. Parliamentary inquiries of course are not courts. Direct allegations are generally not being made; rather, information is being sought. Those appearing before inquiries do not have the opportunity to test either the relevance or veracity of what is said about them by others.

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AUSTRALIA
Courier Mail

Cardinal George Pell stonily impassive giving testimony at the Victorian parliamentary inquiry into institutional child sexual abuse

SUE WIGHTON THE COURIER-MAIL JUNE 03, 2013

I WATCHED most of Cardinal George Pell’s evidence to the Victorian parliamentary inquiry last week about child sexual abuse by members of the clergy and its subsequent cover-up by the church.

I didn’t mean to watch the whole thing, but I was transfixed.

I was struck by Pell’s seeming lack of emotional engagement during his testimony. He sat stonily impassive in the face of stringent questioning by the panel members. His tone was largely defensive and even combative at times.

Although there was a reluctant and measured intellectual response from Australia’s most senior Catholic, the man seemed unable to show visible empathy or any true emotion for the victims, mostly innocent children.

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AUSTRALIA
PR Web

Sydney, NSW, Australia (PRWEB) June 03, 2013

Father Kevin Lee has been a Catholic priest for twenty years. For fourteen of those years he was chaplain to the NSW Police. For the last nine he was founding pastor of the Western Sydney parish of Padre Pio Glenmore Park.

Allegations by Father Lee are that widespread alleged sexual abuse of minors were covered up and not reported to the police by the Catholic Church during a period of over 20 years of his career.

Kevin’s book “Unholy Science” has information about alleged paedophilic priests within the church. These and other matters are of a concern of the current federal Royal Commission into Child Sexual Abuse in Australia. The final reporting date with over 5,000 witnesses was originally set down for the end of 2015, with another interim report due sometime next year.

Read more: [NEWS.com.au]

Kevin’s diaries were used as a key source for the Australian TV current affairs show “Four Corners”. The Logie Award nominated episode called “Unholy Silence” (1 July 2012) revealed the Church’s alleged knowledge of serial abuser “Father F” and highlighted their apparent inaction.

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SERBIA
NFTU

Originally reported on in April 22, 2013, the Serbian Patriarchate has had to accept the resignation of Bishop Vasilije Kacavenda, a prominent Serbian Patriarchate Bishop in Bosnia. The resignation came after a graphic video surfaced of Bp. Vasilije engaged in immoral acts with men By the term of his formal resignation, Bp. Vasilije had already left off many clerical duties as allegations continued to emerge that he had used his office in, according to one source ,”engage in sexual orgies involving young girls and boys.”

According the Spera News article:

According to VOA news, Bojan Jovanovic said he witnessed numerous sexual orgies provided by the 74-year-old Bishop Kacavenda that were attended by fellow priests, along with prominent businessmen. Jovanic is a former theological student in Bijeljina, the seat of Kacavenda’s diocese. According to Jovanovic, Bishop Kacavenda personally asked him to provide young children for perverted sexual pleasure, while also calling on church officials to organize sexual liaisons with young theological students.

“They tried on many occasions to put me in a compromising situation myself or to pull me into their circle,” Jovanovic said. “[The bishop] also suggested that I should use the school where I was teaching science to bring him children up to the age of 10, but of course I refused. I was also a witness when abbots from other monasteries would bring theology students who would spend the night with the bishop.

“One morning, one of them called me and asked me to unlock the bishop’s room so he could get his things. I said, ‘What are your things doing in the bishop’s room?’ He said, ‘Come on, it’s not like you don’t know. Don’t pretend to be stupid.’”

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Ruadhan Mac Cormaic

The United Nations torture watchdog has criticised the McAleese inquiry into the Magdalene laundries, saying it lacked many elements of a “prompt, independent and thorough” investigation.

The UN Committee Against Torture wrote to the Government last month asking for information as to measures the State was planning to take “to ensure there is a full inquiry into all complaints of abuse”, as the committee had originally recommended.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny apologised to women who had spent time in Magdalene laundries after the inquiry, chaired by former senator Martin McAleese, found that the State played a significant role in sending thousands of young women to the institutions.

However, groups representing the women believe the report did not fully capture the prevalence of abuse and ill-treatment in the laundries.

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MISSOURI
Berger’s Beat

. . .St. Louis Archdiocesan staffers now say that Fr. Kevin Hederman is “retired.” Back in 2009, he was tremporarily suspended for child abuse allegations. . .

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MISSOURI
Berger’s Beat

According to the National Catholic Reporter, the U.S. bishops’ conference has picked a Jesuit from Kenrick-Glennon seminary to replace Capuchin Fr. Thomas Wienandy as head of their doctrinal office. The conference is headed by St. Louis native Cardinal Timothy Dolan who oversees the New York archdiocese. .

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IRELAND
RTE News

The Department of Justice has confirmed that it has received the report prepared by Mr Justice John Quirke in relation to a redress scheme for survivors of the Magdalene laundries.

A spokesman said the report was being considered and would be submitted to Government shortly.
The department also confirmed that it has received a letter from the Rapporteur from the United Nations Committee Against Torture in relation to the report by Martin McAleese on the laundries.

A senior United Nations official has criticised the Report of the Inter-Departmental Committee to establish the facts of State involvement with the Magdalene Laundries (McAleese Report).
The UN official described it as limited and not sufficiently independent.

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AUSTRALIA/UNITED KINGDOM
The Australian

[with video]

MICHAEL MCKENNA AND AMANDA GEARING From: The Australian June 01, 2013

THE Church of England banished serial pedophile priest Robert Waddington to Australia, where he abused children across a decade, after suspicions were raised about him molesting choirboys in his London parish.

In an alleged church cover-up spanning almost 60 years, Waddington was suddenly and unexpectedly sent to a small school in regional Queensland in 1956 amid claims he was molesting the son of an English politician.

Last month the Church of England ordered an independent inquiry into the handling of allegations against Waddington, after a joint investigation by The Australian and The Times of London.

But it can now be revealed that Waddington – who died in 2007, facing allegations he abused students in Australia in the 1960s and English choirboys in the 80s and 90s – was molesting children as soon as he joined the church in 1953. The latest allegations have been made by Ray Munn, 70, who was recruited by Waddington, then a curate at St John’s church in Bethnal Green, East London, to sing in the choir in 1953.

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AUSTRALIA
lewisblayse.net

Lewis Blayse

The Poor Sisters of Nazareth ran many Orphanages around the world, all called Nazareth House. Their crimes at their Wynnum facility, at the Brisbane suburb of Wynnum, were reported in the late 1980s by a very brave woman, “Bobby”. [Her last name is not given because of some vicious attacks on her character – see, for example, the ad2000.com ref. below].

There were the usual terrible incidents of all forms of abuse. There were all of the usual attempts to silence victims, including legal threats. There were the usual apologies to victims for having “unhappy memories” of Nazareth House. There were the usual pathetic payments to victims. There were, however, some new twists in the usual attempts to avoid culpability.

When the media tried to contact the main perpetrator, Sister Brendan Mary, her order refused to reveal her whereabouts. As the order’s Australian head said, “I just don’t think it’s fair to be telling people where she is at this stage”. Eventually, the Sister was tracked to Wellington in New Zealand by the “60 Minutes” television program last night, but she refused comment. In New Zealand, where she was the local head of the Order, she was involved in negotiations with victims at the Nazareth House there, but her order saw no problem with her involvement

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AUSTRALIA
lewisblayse.net

Lewis Blayse

Nazareth House Aberdeen “carer”, Sister Alphonso (pictured above) found herself in court, and convicted, of “cruel and unnatural treatment of children” because of a comment she made to a former victim 20 years after the abuse. This was that “I was young at the time and I was just following orders.” This so outraged the victim, she went to police.

Following the brave efforts of “Bobby” in outing the abuses at the Nazareth House in Wynnum (see yesterday’s posting), cases arose around the world. Nazareth House is the generic name of all orphanages operated by the Sisters of Nazareth Order, from the 1820s until the 1980s.

In the U.K. alone, complaints have come from victims at the Nazareth Houses in Cardonald, Aberdeen, Glasgow, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Plymouth, Swansea, Manchester, Sunderland, Midlothian, Kilmarnock, Middlesbrough, Carlisle, Tyneside and Belfast. The facility at Christchurch in New Zealand is also under the cloud. While sexual abuses occurred, violence was the main complaint. It should be noted, all the same, that violence is often a way sexual abuses can be enabled, and covered up.

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AUSTRALIA
lewisblayse.net

Lewis Blayse

A little bit of heresy today.

If the government had appointed a quiz-show compere to head the Royal Commission, it would seem silly. We would see lots of flashing lights, loud buzzers, and over-acting.

The head sets the tone and style. Judges automatically establish a court environment. That is not necessarily the best environment to tackle the tasks at hand. For victims, it is an intimidating environment. Lawyers, not victims, get to quiz people like Pell. Sometimes it is just a lawyer speaking on behalf of people like Pell. Sometimes it is just two lawyers facing off in front of the judge. The advantage is with the side which can afford the most lawyers. The victims can be forgotten in the quasi-judicial process.

Of the above reasons for not having a mock-up of a court, the most important one is that the abusers and their protective organisations are not confronted with the reality of their crimes. Does anyone really expect Justice McClellan to let a victim, or victims’ rights activist, to directly question Pell? Would Pell be able to keep his cool if questioned directly by victims, rather than through someone’s lawyer?

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AUSTRALIA
lewisblayse.net

Lewis Blayse

Gerald Ridsdale, Australia’s worst clerical child sexual abuser, is eligible for parole from Ararat Prison (pictured below) later this month. Victoria’s Adult Parole Board chair, Elizabeth Curtain, and her board, will decide if he is to be freed. It would be expected that she would turn down Ridsdale’s parole application, but this cannot be guaranteed. Since the process is not transparent, however, we will not know the reasons for her board’s decision.

The Catholic Church’s insiders rag, CathNews, reports that Ridsdale “helps counsel and care for other paedophiles in Ararat Prison.” Apparently this will help with his parole bid. They further note that he “attends mass every Friday and organizes an annual Christmas dinner.” What further proof of rehabilitation could the CathNews require?

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UNITED STATES
Catholic Whistleblowers

This week a group of Catholic nuns and priests joined forces to form Catholic Whistleblowers; their goal is to hold the church accountable for the ongoing child sex abuse scandal. Most of the founding members have themselves blown the whistle about abuse in the church. Brooke visits one of them, Sister Sally Butler, to talk about the role of truth-telling, transparency and honor among the faithful.

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AUSTRALIA
lewisblayse.net

Lewis Blayse

Apologies serve a very valid purpose. They indicate the truth of the events. They indicate that the events were wrong and they are an indication of humility. They assume the wrong-doing will not be repeated.

Many apologies have been given, and many people have been encouraged by those apologies, as expressions of the points indicated above. It is usually assumed that the apology is sincere. If it is not, then the benefits do not exist.

It is hard to really tell when an apology is sincere. A lot of victims have not been convinced of the apologies they have received. Yet even an insincere apology is a statement of truth of an allegation, so it still has some point.

Admittedly, some clerics have tried to have it both ways by apologizing but still saying that the apology is not an admission of guilt. This kind does not rank as an apology at all. People who have made this kind of apology must still be pursued for a real apology.

These fake apologies fall into the category of criminals who say sorry, but are really feeling sorry for themselves at being caught.

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UNITED STATES
Gallup

by Frank Newport
PRINCETON, NJ — Over three-quarters of Americans (77%) say religion is losing its influence on American life, while 20% say religion’s influence is increasing. These represent Americans’ most negative evaluations of the impact of religion since 1970, although similar to the views measured in recent years.

Americans over the years have generally been more likely to say religion is losing rather than increasing its influence in American life. In addition to the previous peak in views that religion was losing its influence measured in 1969 and 1970, at least 60% of Americans thought religion was losing its influence in 1991-1994, in 1997 and 1999, in 2003, and from 2007 to the present.

Americans were more likely to say religion was increasing rather than decreasing its influence when the question was first asked in 1957, in 1962, at a few points in the 1980s during the Reagan administration, after the 9/11 terrorist attacks in late 2001 and early 2002, and in 2005. The high point for Americans’ belief that religion is increasing its influence, 71%, came in December 2001.

These perceptions of religion’s influence in American society are not related to Americans’ personal religiosity, as measured by church attendance or the self-reported importance of religion in one’s life. In general, highly religious Americans are neither more nor less likely to say religion is losing its influence than those who are not religious. There is, however, a modest relationship between Americans’ ideology as well as partisanship and their views of the influence of religion, with liberals and Democrats more likely than conservatives and Republicans to say religion’s influence is increasing in American society.

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UNITED STATES
Times of India

WASHINGTON: While most Americans say religion is losing influence in the country, 75 per cent say American society would be better off if more Americans were devout.

According to a new Gallup survey, over three-quarters of Americans (77 per cent) say religion is losing its influence on American life, while 20 per cent say religion’s influence is increasing.

These represent Americans’ most negative evaluations of the impact of religion since 1970, although similar to the views measured in recent years, Gallup said.

“It may be happening, but Americans don’t like it,” Frank Newport, Gallup’s editor in chief, said of religion’s waning influence. “It is clear that a lot of Americans don’t think this is a good state of affairs.”

According to the Gallup survey released this week, 77 per cent of Americans say religion is losing its influence. Since 1957, when the question was first asked, Americans’ perception of religion’s power has never been lower.

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AUSTRALIA/UNITED KINGDOM
The Australian

SARAH ELKS From: The Australian June 03, 2013

NEW and “extremely concerning” allegations of child sexual abuse against serial pedophile priest Robert Waddington, who molested children in Australia for a decade, have been urgently referred to the Church of England’s Archbishop of York.

North Queensland Bishop Bill Ray said he phoned Archbishop John Sentamu at the weekend after the fresh claims — that the now-deceased senior clergyman began abusing children as early as 1953 — were revealed in The Weekend Australian.

“I think he should know that, and that it should be a part of his inquiry,” Bishop Ray said.

Last month, Dr Sentamu launched an independent inquiry into the allegations against Waddington and the church’s response to the abuse complaints.

The probe, which will be led by a retired judge, was sparked by a joint investigation by The Australian and The Times.

It revealed English church officials, including a former archbishop of York, and senior Australian Anglicans failed to report to police allegations of abuse made in Queensland in 1999 and England in 2003 by former students of Waddington.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

02 JUNE 2013

Historic abuse allegations not covered by the remit of an ongoing public inquiry in Northern Ireland must still be thoroughly investigated, a UN body has urged.

The recommendation by the UN Committee Against Torture will add further pressure on the Stormont Executive to widen the remit of its Historical Institutional Abuse (HIA) inquiry.

Clerical abuse victims and some former residents of Magdalene laundry-type institutions in the region have demanded to know why the crimes inflicted on them are not being examined by the Stormont commissioned investigation headed by retired judge Sir Anthony Hart.

The inquiry, which is currently gathering victim testimony, is examining alleged child abuse perpetrated inside residential institutions from 1922 to 1995.

However, the probe’s remit does not cover abuse inflicted on victims who were over 18 when they were inside residential facilities, such as woman forced into Magdalene style laundries, or clerical abuse committed outside of an institutional setting.

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IRELAND
Irish Central

By PATRICK COUNIHAN, IrishCentral Staff Writer
Published Sunday, June 2, 2013

Irish Catholics have set up a new lay group for those committed to the reform and renewal of the Church in Ireland.

The Irish Times reports that 15p attended the launch of the Association of Catholics in Ireland (ACI).

The report says that new group intends to provide a voice for lay Catholics in the same way that the Association of Catholic Priests (ACP) does for the clergy.

The group was initiated by the ACP along with organiser Noel McCann who has spent 12 months setting up a steering committee and website.

McCann told the paper that there is a realisation among many Catholics that the Church was in crisis and that the pews on Sundays were emptying of young people.

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TEXAS
Daily Mail (United Kingdom)

Relatives cry cover-up in 1960 murder of Texas beauty queen as the main suspect, a priest, has never been charged and continues to live comfortably

The relatives of a beauty queen murdered in Texas in 1960 have said officials helped cover-up for a priest who has been a suspect in the murder since the initial investigation.

Former Miss South Texas, Irene Garza, was found lying in a canal in her hometown of McAllen after having disappeared the day before Easter. She had went to Sacred Heart Catholic Church to give confession to Rev. John Feit.

Feit, a then-27-year-old, priest was immediately a suspect in Garza’s death because less than a month earlier her had found guilty of attacking another young woman at a nearby church. He did not serve any jail time and was fined $500.

But Feit was never arrested in the case and was quietly transferred to a monastery before leaving the priesthood in the late 1960s.

He continues to live a comfortable life in a affable neighborhood in Phoenix. He has steadfastly denied ever killing Garza in interrogations with police and interviews by the media, including CNN.

But after the case was reopened in 2002, two witnesses came forward to investigators to say Feit allegedly confessed to them.

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DOMINIKANISCHE REPUBLIK
Dom-Rep

Santiago.

Ein Priester der Katholischen Kirche, der ursprünglich aus Polen stammt, wurde in der Dominikanischen Republik von mindestens 14 Familien angezeigt.

Wojciech Gil (Foto) wird vorgeworfen, dass er dutzende Kinder sexuell belästigt haben soll. Nur einige der Eltern von betroffenen Kindern haben sich zusammengefunden, um bei der Staatsanwaltschaft in Santiago de los Caballeros Anzeige gegen den Priester zu erstatten.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Helmut Jacob

„Freie Arbeitsgruppe JHH 2006“ fordert: Bezahlt die Opfer direkt
Behinderte Heimopfer erhalten keine Mittel aus dem Opferfonds

Von 2008 bis 2010 tagte der „Runde Tisch Heimerziehung“ (RTH) unter Vorsitz der Pastorin Antje Vollmer. Die meisten Opfer, die sich öffentlich zu Wort melden, fühlen sich von ihr und dem RTH „über den Tisch gezogen“ und erneut gedemütigt. 120 Millionen Euro wurden auf Empfehlung des RTH vom Bund, den Ländern und den Kirchen in den Opferfonds eingezahlt, 10% davon für die Verwaltung des Fonds wieder einkasssiert. Auch diese Lösung findet unter den Opfern nur geringe Zustimmung. Die Gruppe der behinderten Heimopfer war am „Runden Tisch“ unerwünscht und wurde schriftlich abgewiesen. Sie erhält aus diesem Fonds keine Mittel.

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AUSTRALIA
Courier Mail

Terry Sweetman From: The Sunday Mail (Qld) June 02, 2013

IT IS a sad state of affairs when even the faithful send me jokes and cartoons reinforcing coarse images of priests as pedophiles and adulterers.

But that’s one measure of the harm done to the institution of the Catholic Church by its lax oversight of its servants, its infamous attempts to cover up their sins and its need to put its own reputation above the care of children and the delivery of justice.

Like many, I was pretty unimpressed with evidence and the demeanor of Archbishop George Pell before the Victorian parliamentary inquiry into the handling of child sexual abuse.

Suffice to say, it will be interesting to see if he can demonstrate more conviction when he appears before the Federal Royal Commission with its powers of coercion.

Time (and cross-examination) will tell if the representatives of other institutions (including other churches) are any better at explaining the betrayal of children and others and their failure to properly atone or make amends.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

YONI BASHAN STATE POLITICAL REPORTER THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH JUNE 02, 2013

MAJOR Australian personalities including James Packer, John Howard and Cardinal George Pell – plus a minor British royal – have been giving political pep-talks to Liberal MPs during secret luncheon meetings held across Sydney.

The exclusive gatherings, known as the “Chartwell Society”, have seen a cross-factional band of ambitious MPs taking tips from major figures on the world stage during regular, invite-only gatherings.

Among those who have addressed the Chartwell MPs – whose group is named after former British prime minister Winston Churchill’s country home – are former prime minister John Howard, former chief of army Peter Cosgrove and even Prince Richard, the Duke of Gloucester.

The most recent function was held on Friday at the Australian Hotels Association plush Macquarie St boardroom with Cardinal George Pell attending as the guest of honour at a gathering of 11 Coalition MPs.

The gatherings aim to “critically evaluate policy”, the group’s organiser David Elliott, a Liberal MP, told The Sunday Telegraph.

Separate gatherings have been held at universities, churches and corporate boardrooms.

The precise nature of the discussions are kept strictly confidential.

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AUSTRALIA
Sunday Herald Sun

EDITORIAL SUNDAY HERALD SUN JUNE 02, 2013

THE highly unusual confession from Melbourne Archbishop Denis Hart of his personal feelings of shame and burden over the Catholic church’s handling of child sexual abuse cases, makes for compelling reading.

In an interview published in the Sunday Herald Sun, Victoria’s most senior Catholic frankly admits his faith has been tested – but ultimately reaffirmed – as the church finally faces up to decades of child abuse within its ranks.

Archbishop Hart reveals he feels sad, hurt and betrayed by members of his fellow clergy and their sins of the past in either abusing children or covering up the crimes that stole the innocence of countless children and teens.

He also admits he made some mistakes with his own personal response to the crisis, despite being horrified from the moment he, after being promoted to vicar general in 1996, realised his predecessors had systematically shielded paedophiles and that he had inherited a mess.

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AUSTRALIA
3News

[with video]

By Rachel Morton
Australia Correspondent

Melbourne’s Catholic Church has released the names of 29 priests it acknowledges are guilty of child sex abuse.

It comes the same week as an inquiry heard there was a systematic cover up of child sexual abuse, which went on for decades.

Cardinal George Pell is Australia’s most senior Catholic, and this week he fronted a Victorian inquiry into sex abuse, confessing to the sins of the Church.

He says the systemic cover up allowed paedophile priests to prey on innocent children. He says the fear of scandal led to the cover up, but in some cases where the Church should have acted, it did.
Cardinal Pell was the last witness at the inquiry into sex abuse within the Church and non-governmental organisations. He spent four-and-a-half hours giving evidence, during which time he acknowledged the cover up went on for decades.

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UNITED STATES
The New York Times

By THE EDITORIAL BOARD
Published: May 31, 2013

The Rev. Andrew Greeley, who died this week in Chicago, gained fame and lots of money writing best-selling novels combining Catholicism, Irish America and sex.

Time has dimmed the appealing novelty of a priest writing pulpy lines about lusty seminarians and nuns with secret sorrows. What made Father Greeley a writer of influence and heroism was far more serious: his early effort to raise an alarm about what he called the gravest crisis in the Catholic Church since the Reformation, the sexual abuse of children.

From the mid-1980s to the early 1990s, years before the scandal metastasized in Boston and engulfed the church worldwide, he sounded a prophetic warning about predator priests and bishops who protected them. He wasn’t alone: parents and victims had been battling the church hierarchy for years by then, and journalists like Jason Berry had done much to expose those crimes. But Father Greeley was among the first and most effective critics from within, defying his fellow priests on behalf of the betrayed laity. He had a pulpit, a column in The Chicago Sun-Times, and he used it often.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Ronan McGreevy

Some 150 people turned up this morning to the launch of a new lay organisation for Irish Catholics.

The Association of Catholics in Ireland (ACI), a new group for Irish Catholics committed to reform and renewal in the Church, was formally launched today having been in the offing for a year.

The organisation aims to provide a voice for lay Catholics in the same way that the Association of Catholic Priests (ACP) does for the clergy.

The idea of it for came from the ACP and from organiser Noel McCann who has spent the last year setting up a steering committee and website.

Mr McCann said there was a realisation among many Catholics that the Church was in crisis and that the pews on Sundays were emptying of young people.

He said lay people had “very good reasons not to be happy” but he was hopeful that Pope Francis could signal a different approach which would involve the laity in the way envisaged by Vatican II.

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UNITED STATES
Stop Baptist Predators

David Clohessy, the national director of SNAP, took Southern Baptist leaders to task for publicly throwing their support behind pastor C.J. Mahaney, who was accused in a lawsuit of covering up numerous sex crimes against children.

SNAP is the largest international support organization for people who were sexually abused by religious authority figures – i.e., by priests, preachers, ministers, deacons, nuns and others. Clohessy himself is widely recognized as one of the world’s top experts on the subject of clergy sex abuse. He has appeared on numerous television news programs, including the Oprah Winfrey Show, Sixty Minutes, the Phil Donohue Show, and Good Morning America. In 2002, People Magazine named Clohessy as one of the “25 Most Intriguing” people of the year. (Also included in that 2002 list were such other prominent names as Jimmy Carter, George Clooney, and Pat Tillman.)

So suffice it to say that Clohessy is the world’s number 1 go-to-guy for reliable information about the dynamics of clergy sex abuse and church cover-ups.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Alfred Friendly Press Partners

By Emran Hossain

He stutters and cannot speak English fluently. Yet, whenever the 70-year-old man comes across a priest of the Vatican’s United States Embassy, he introduces himself: “My name is John Wojnowsky. What is your name?”

Wojnowsky cannot say how many times he’s asked that question in the last 15 years, when he has spent a part of each of his days, weekends and holidays included, in front of the Holy See’s diplomatic mission, known as Apostolic Nunciature, in Washington, D.C.

Not a single priest, he says, will give Wojnowsky his name, just as the Vatican’s U.S. envoys never have replied to the letter he sent in August, 1997. His letter seeks a church investigation of his claim that a Catholic priest overseas molested him when he was age 15.

Though the issue of Catholic clerics’ sexual abuse of children has dominated headlines across the Western world, resulted in giant settlements and won accolades for U.S. media organizations, Wojnowky waited more than six months for a reply to his letter. Then one morning he decided to picket the Washington embassy. That is how his one-man protest began.

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

[the letter]

By Conall Ó Fátharta
Irish Examiner Reporter

In a letter to Irish UN representative Gerard Corr, the vice-chair of UN Committee Against Torture (Uncat) hit out at the inquiry headed by former senator Martin McAleese.

Felice Gaer said the probe was not independent and failed adequately to examine allegations of physical abuse, forced labour, and arbitrary detention. She also called on the Government to ensure that “that there is a full enquiry into all complaints of abuse”.

“However, the committee also noted that while the inquiry conducted by the McAleese Committee had a broad mandate ‘to establish the facts of State involvement with the Magdalene Laundries’, it lacked many elements of a prompt, independent and thorough investigation as recommended by the committee in its concluding observations,” Ms Gaer wrote.

“Specifically, the committee has received information from several sources highlighting that the McAleese Report, despite its length and detail, did not conduct a fully independent investigation into allegations of arbitrary detention, forced labour or ill-treatment.”

Ms Gaer hit out at the Government’s response to Uncat, which encouraged victims to report any evidence of wrongdoing directly. She said that the Government had already been presented with “extensive survivor testimony” by the Justice for Magdalenes group and was “aware of the existence of possible criminal wrong-doings, including physical and psychological abuse”.

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IRELAND
The Journal

A survivor of abuse tells a priest it is time he comes forward and tells the truth.

A FORMAL INQUIRY into child sex abuse by clergy of the Catholic Church in Australia heard from a number of survivors this week who say their lives have been blighted by the offences against them and the organisation’s response to it. The following letter was written and sent to a Catholic priest earlier this year. The writer is a woman pleading with the recipient to tell the truth about an alleged historic rape. She outlines the difficulties she has had in later life. She has granted TheJournal.ie permission to reproduce it here, with some details changed and omitted to ensure anonymity.

Dear Fr. X,
As I write this I wonder if you remember me. My father befriended you while you were visiting our parish.

My family invited you into our home; you played sport with my dad. You swam with my sister and brothers. My sister remembers your car fondly.

Let me try to help you remember me. My dad got very ill…I believe he went to the hospital on a Sunday. Monday, I came home to find no one home. I called the hospital and they said he was “still in surgery” and that made me very upset. I knew my mother would call for a priest so I ran to the rectory hoping to get a ride to the hospital and see my dad. The monsignor was surprised to see me when he answered the door.

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UNITED STATES
Huffington Post

Michael Bullock

“All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead is purely coincidental.”

This is the standard phrase that most publishers use to protect themselves against lawsuits. For my book Roman Catholic Jacuzzi, a story recounting my accidental discovery of a retreat for closeted gay Catholic priests, Brendan Dugan, owner of independent book publisher Karma (a name that could not be a better match), decided that it was important to do the exact opposite, proudly proclaiming “a true story” on the cover. Since the book launch last month, that is the question I’m asked the most: “Is it really true?” I explain that the only embellishment is in my in portrayal of the priests as both more attractive and more likeable than they were in reality.

In October 2010 I discovered the secret retreat where these priests meet in private once a year to let their hair down and be openly gay together for the week. I was not on a mission to find and expose such a retreat; I booked a cabin with the aim of being alone to concentrate on writing, and it happened to be at the same place and time as the priests. The disorganized resort allowed my stay without realizing what else they were hosting. As a gay former Catholic altar boy, I could not believe both the luck and horror of this discovery: Here I was, in the heart of the hypocrisy of the Catholic Church, face to face with gay men whose teachings give a moral backbone to homophobia and discrimination against their fellow gay and lesbian brothers and sisters, men who uphold a value system that made me feel terrible as a teenager and made the process of admitting to myself that I’m gay torture because of its unbearable moral dilemma: Repress your sexuality or be damned! I immediately knew how politically important this retreat was and wrote down my experience with the priests as it was happening. Roman Catholic Jacuzzi is the document of my weekend with these men, which resumed in their disco-drag party, during which I witnessed the hilarious irony of watching gay priests freak out on the dance floor to every Lady Gaga and Madonna hit, including “Like a Prayer.”

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DEUTSCHLAND
Hamburger Abendblatt

Ahrensburg. Es ist ein einmaliger Vorgang in der Nordkirche: Die Disziplinarkammer des Kirchengerichts tritt geschlossen zurück. Der Reinbeker Amtsgerichtsdirektor Bernd Wrobel hat den Vorsitz bereits niedergelegt, drei seiner Kollegen sind ebenfalls gegangen. Das fünfte Mitglied der Kammer hat diesen Schritt angekündigt.

Auslöser ist das Disziplinarverfahren gegen den Ruhestandsgeistlichen Friedrich H. im Zuge des Ahrensburger Missbrauchsskandals. Friedrich H. hatte von den sexuellen Übergriffen seines Kollegen Dieter K. auf Jugendliche gewusst. Die Kirche wollte Friedrich H. wegen “erheblicher Amtspflichtverletzungen” aus dem Dienst entfernen, doch Wrobels Kammer stellte das Verfahren ohne Anhörung von Zeugen ein.

Daraufhin legte das Landeskirchenamt Rechtsmittel ein und lehnte sämtliche Richter aus “Besorgnis der Befangenheit” ab. Bernd Wrobel äußert nun den Verdacht, das Landeskirchenamt habe ihn und seine Kollegen gegen willfährige Richter austauschen wollen, um den Fall in gewünschter Weise zu lösen – mit H.s Entfernung aus dem Dienst. Für das Landeskirchenamt sind diese Vorwürfe unhaltbar. “Alle Entscheidungen basieren auf dem Kirchenrecht und sind demokratisch legitimiert”, sagt Mathias Benckert, stellvertretender Sprecher der Nordkirche.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Katholisch

Der Missbrauchsbeauftragte der Bundesregierung, Johannes-Wilhelm Rörig, hat sich für eine verlängerte strafrechtliche Verfolgbarkeit bei sexuellem Missbrauch ausgesprochen. Dafür solle die sogenannte Ruhensregelung geändert werden, sagte Rörig am Mittwoch in Berlin. Er plädierte dafür, das Alter, ab dem die Verjährungsfrist läuft, auf mindestens 28 Jahre anzuheben.

Im Gesetz zur Stärkung der Rechte von Opfern sexuellen Missbrauchs, das im April vom Bundesrat verabschiedet wurde, war diese Frist vom 18. auf das 21. Lebensjahr des Betroffenen verlängert worden. Diese “Mini-Veränderung” sei keine Antwort auf die Forderungen der Betroffenen, so Rörig weiter.

Notwendig sei eine umfassende Verlängerung dieser Frist. Er begründete dies damit, dass die Betroffenen lange bräuchten, bis sie über das an ihnen begangene Unrecht sprechen könnten. Häufig sei das erst in der Lebensmitte der Fall. Am 6. Juni beschäftigt sich ein Hearing in Berlin mit dem Thema einer Verlängerung der strafrechtlichen Verfolgbarkeit.

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DEUTSCHLAND
MissBiT

“Unser Ausgangspunkt war die Idee, einen Beirat zu gründen, der die Umsetzung der Präventionsordnung begleitet.“ Daraus sei dann die Idee entstanden, ein Fachnetzwerk mit den vielen Akteuren innerhalb des Bistums und über den Rand der Kirche hinaus zu knüpfen. Das hat der Trierer Bischof Dr. Stephan Ackermann beim ersten Netzwerktreffen am 24. Mai in Trier erklärt. „Denn wir brauchen die Impulse von außen”.

Rund 30 Expertinnen und Experten unterschiedlichster Institutionen wie etwa der Polizei, des Gesundheitsamtes, Fachberatungsstellen für Opfer, aber auch Psychiater und kirchliche Verbands- und Berufsgruppenvertreter hatten sich angemeldet, um mit dem Bistum und der gastgebenden Fachstelle Kinder- und Jugendschutz zum Thema Prävention ins Gespräch zu kommen.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Berliner Morgenpost

Von Philip Volkmann-Schluck und Ulla Reinhard

Es ist ein Fall, der so klar erscheint, dass er wütend macht. Trotzdem wirft er schwierige Fragen auf nach dem richtigen Umgang. Das Erzbistum Berlin hat vor einem verurteilten Missbrauchstäter gewarnt, der auf Bewährung auf freiem Fuß ist.

Einerseits könnte er versuchen, im Umfeld der katholischen Gemeinden der Stadt erneut Kontakt zu Minderjährigen zu finden. Andererseits ist der Mann seit seiner letzten Verurteilung im vergangenen Jahr offenbar nicht mehr auffällig gewesen. Nach Informationen der Berliner Morgenpost wurden keine Strafanzeigen gegen den etwa 80-Jährigen erstattet.

Auch ermittelt die Staatsanwaltschaft seit seiner Verurteilung nicht mehr gegen den Mann. Ebenso ist im Umfeld des Erzbistums zu hören, der verurteilte Täter habe sich seitdem nicht erneut verdächtig aufgeführt.

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CHICAGO (IL)
The Republic

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
June 01, 2013

CHICAGO — Funeral arrangements have been announced for the Rev. Andrew Greeley, who died this past week at his Chicago home.

His longtime publicist, June Rosner, says a wake will be held Tuesday from 3-8 p.m. at Christ the King Church, where Greeley spent his first years as a priest.

Visitation will be Wednesday at 9:30 a.m., followed by a funeral Mass at noon at the church in the South Side neighborhood of Beverly.

Greeley was an outspoken Roman Catholic priest, best-selling author and longtime Chicago newspaper columnist who even criticized the hierarchy of his own church over the child sex abuse scandal.

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DEUTSCHLAND
shz

Der Zwischenbericht über die Missbrauchsfälle von Ahrensburg liegt vor. Darin wird die Nordkirche aufgefordert, klare Regeln aufzustellen, die sexuellen Kontakt im Rahmen der Seelsorge strikt untersagen.

Hamburg. Die seit dem Jahr 2010 in Ahrensburg bekannt gewordenen Fälle sexuellen Missbrauchs sind “eindeutig bestätigt”. Das geht aus dem Zwischenbericht der “Unabhängigen Kommission zur Untersuchung von Missbrauchsfällen in der Evangelisch-Lutherischen Kirche in Norddeutschland” hervor, der Freitag in Hamburg der Öffentlichkeit vorgestellt wurde.

Der Bericht erhebt schwere Vorwürfe an die Adresse der ehemaligen Nordelbischen Evangelisch-Lutherischen Kirche. In der Kirche hätten Seelsorger “unter dem Deckmantel einer fortschrittlichen Sexualität oder der Ausnutzung der emotionalen Bedürftigkeit junger Menschen” sexuelle Beziehungen zu Jugendlichen begonnen, um ihre sexuellen Fantasien auszuleben. “Die ehemalige Nordelbische Kirche hat sich immer als progressiv und modern verstanden”, so Kommissionsmitglied Dirk Bange. Dies haben einzelne Täter ausnutzen können, um sich hinter einer “Maske der Liberalität” zu verstecken.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Rhein-Neckar-Zeitung

Von Diana Deutsch

Mosbach. Am schlimmsten, sagt Stefan Wagner, waren nicht die Schläge. Am schlimmsten waren auch nicht die Vergewaltigungen und der Hunger. Am schlimmsten war, sagt Stefan Wagner, dass man keine Ausbildung bekam. “Obwohl ich einen Intelligenz-Quotienten von 108 habe, durfte ich nur eine Schule für geistig Behinderte besuchen.” Das Schicksal eines Heimkinds in den Sechziger Jahren. In den Mosbacher Johannes-Anstalten ist Stefan Wagner aufgewachsen. Unter schrecklichsten Bedingungen, wie er behauptet und deshalb seit Jahren um Wiedergutmachung kämpft (wir berichteten).

Am kommenden Dienstag nun will die Johannes-Diakonie eine Studie vorstellen, die den Missbrauchs-Vorwürfen auf den Grund geht. Im Vorfeld erzählen wir die Geschichte aus Stefan Wagners Sicht.

Der Bahnhof von Mosbach im Jahr 1961. Mit einer Mitarbeiterin des Jugendamts und einem Köfferchen kletterte der fünfjährige Stefan Wagner, der in Wirklichkeit anders heißt, aus dem Zug von Freiburg.

Seine Eltern hatte der Junge nie kennengelernt, so wenig wie seine beiden Brüder. “Das Jugendamt entzog meinen Eltern schon früh das Sorgerecht und brachte uns Brüder in verschiedenen Heimen unter”, erzählt Wagner, der heute 57 Jahre alt ist. Seine ersten fünf Lebensjahre hatte er in einem Freiburger Säuglingsheim verbracht. Dann schickte man ihn nach Mosbach.

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IRELAND
The Journal

[Read the letter]

THE UNITED NATIONS committee that put pressure on the Irish government to investigate the Magdalene Laundries system and provide redress to survivors has criticised Martin McAleese’s investigation and subsequent report.

The UN Committee Against Torture (UNCAT) said it was pleased that an inquiry was finally established and a report published. It also noted that the government had made a full and public apology to residents of the laundries, acknowledging the State’s involvement in their incarceration.

However, UNCAT’s rapporteur for follow-up on concluding observations said the probe “lacked many elements of a prompt, independent and thorough investigation as recommended by the committee”.

“Specifically, the committee has received information from several sources highlighting that the McAleese Report, despite its length and detail, did not conduct a fully independent investigation into allegations of arbitrary detention, forced labour or ill-treatment,” wrote Felice Gaer in a letter to Gerard CORR, the Irish UN representative.

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IRELAND
Broadsheet

The UN Committee on Torture has responded to the investigation by Martin McAleese (centre) in to the Magdalene Laundries.

The McAleese report, warmly received by religious commenters here, stated that no evidence exists that abuse took place in the laundries.

This despite hundreds of pages pf testimony documenting incidents of of physical and mental cruelty available to Mr McAleese and his team.

Felice Gaer (top) head of the UN Committee on Torture in a letter, revealed in today’s Irish Examiner (above, not available online), to the UN representative in Ireland, writes:

The report lacks many elements of a prompt, independent and thorough investigation…specifically the committee has recieved information from several sources highlighting that the McAleese Report despite its length and detail did not conduct a fully independent investigation into allegations of arbitary detention, forced labour or ill treatment.

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UNITED STATES
Minnesota SNAP

By Vinnie Nauheimer

Can a person unschooled in Roman Catholic theology take a noted 20th century theologian and 21st century Pope’s letter deriding homosexuality and turn it into a stinging rebuke of today’s hierarchy simply by changing key words and adding direct quotes from Jesus as found in the Gospels? If so, can the hierarchy honestly accept one version and deny the other? Only at the expense of their own integrity and by denying the words preached by Jesus Christ in three of the four Synoptic Gospels! The ramifications of this revised document are enormous because they speak to homosexuality, hypocrisy and heresy.

On October 1, of 1986, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, later Pope Benedict XVI, promulgated a letter of instruction to the bishops of the world in his official capacity as Prefect of the Congregation of Catholic Faith, “Letter To The Bishops Of The Catholic Church On The Pastoral Care Of Homosexual Persons1” In that letter, he called homosexuality, “Objectively Disordered.”

What follows is a parody of that letter, which maintains Benedict’s structure, logic and reasoning. However unlike Benedict’s version this version uses Sacred Scripture quoted directly from Jesus himself. Benedict XVI could not and can never use the words of Jesus to admonish homosexuality because these words were never spoken by Him in the Gospels. The revised letter uses several direct quotes from Jesus because they exist and have been recorded by the three out of four evangelists. The direct quotes from Jesus make a stronger case for the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church being “Objectively Disordered,” sacrilegious, heretical and hypocritical than all of Ratzinger’s arguments against homosexuality. Admonitions against child abuse have a strong biblical linkage going all the way back to Exodus and continuing on from Jesus to Paul and throughout the Church’s own Catechism and Canon Law. Using the noted theologian Cardinal Ratzinger’s logic, this extended linkage makes the admonitions for and penalties against child abuse ironclad. The Prefect of the Congregation of the Faith’s has been hoisted upon his own petard. Read the revised text and judge for yourself.

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AUSTRALIA
NEWS.com.au

Shannon Deery
From: Sunday Herald Sun
June 02, 2013

EXCLUSIVE: ARCHBISHOP Denis Hart says he feels personally shamed and burdened over the Catholic Church’s handling of child sexual abuse.

The state’s most senior Catholic said in a frank interview his faith had been tested, but had not wavered, in the wake of shocking revelations of decades-long child abuse within the church.
He is now vowing to do whatever it takes to tackle the evil scourge.

The Archbishop said he was horrified to learn of the widespread extent of the clergy abuse crisis after becoming vicar general in 1996 when he realised his predecessors had systematically protected paedophiles.

In his most wide-ranging interview since giving evidence at the Victorian parliamentary inquiry – in which he conceded sexual attacks were covered up and the church’s reputation was put ahead of victims – Archbishop Hart said he:

TOOK responsibility for the church’s handling of abuse complaints

FELT betrayed and let down by members of the church who had abused children and by those who had covered up their “heinous crimes”

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NEW JERSEY
National Catholic Reporter

NCR Editorial Staff | Jun. 1, 2013

Five people have resigned in New Jersey in the wake of revelations that a priest who was supposedly on a supervised lifetime ban from ministering to minors was indeed ministering to youth and wasn’t being monitored. Fr. Michael Fugee is out on bail after his arrest for violating terms of an agreement he signed with the local county prosecutor when investigators found that he had been attending youth group events, including an overnight pilgrimage to Canada.

Fugee had confessed to groping a 14-year-old boy, and a jury had convicted him of sexual assault in 2003. That conviction was overturned on a technicality, and Fugee entered into the agreement with the prosecutor to avoid a retrial.

As the local newspaper, The Star-Ledger, revealed all this, Fugee resigned his assignment in the Office of Continuing Education and Ongoing Formation of Priests. The pastor and two lay ministers who had invited Fugee to help with youth ministry resigned their positions. Now “as a result of operational failures,” the vicar general, Msgr. John Doran, “has resigned his post and will no longer hold a leadership position with the Archdiocese,” said a letter that Newark Archbishop John Myers sent to pastors to read at Mass Memorial Day weekend. “The strong protocols we presently have in place [to handle cases of sexual abuse of minors by clergy] were not always observed,” Myers wrote.

This chain of events raises serious questions about accountability and transparency in Newark.

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ROME
NEWS.com.au

Angus Hohenboken
From: Sunday Herald Sun
June 02, 2013

FATHER Brendan Arthur takes a swig of his beer. “It’s plush isn’t it,” he says, his gaze sweeping across the courtyard of the grand Domus Australia, a boutique guesthouse in Rome.

The priest, who is residing at the former seminary while on holiday from his parish of Dandenong North, is enjoying a nightcap after a day accompanying Pope Francis on the annual Corpus Domini procession through the streets of Rome.

After sharing stories and a quick cigarette with a group of Australian travellers, Father Brendan bids the party goodnight and climbs the marble stairs to his room, his soft footsteps fading below the trickle of an ornate fountain featuring a gold mosaic of Mary.

This is Domus Australia, the dwelling Cardinal George Pell, Australia’s most prominent Catholic, uses as his “holiday” home or his “casa per ferie”.

The $30 million residence has been drawn into the Catholic Church’s child sex abuse scandal, with Victorian MP Andrea Coote suggesting the church sell its “splendid residence” to help pay compensation to victims.

The cost of the Rome property could have been enough to provide $75,000 – the cap the church places on compensation – to 400 abuse victims, she said.

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TEXAS
CNN

May 31st, 2013
CNN’s Gary Tuchman reports the remarkable case of Irene Garza, a young school teacher and beauty queen was brutally raped and murdered 53 years ago in McAllen, Texas. Today, the one man who local and state police still believe is her murderer, remains free and living a normal life in Arizona.

Years ago, a controversial grand jury session failed to lead to an indictment of the man, who, at the time of the murder, was a Catholic priest. He is believed to be the last person to have seen Irene Garza alive, when he heard her confession on the day before Easter. Garza’s short, accomplished life which was an inspiration for many – her death, and the lingering questions are examined in this one-hour Anderson Cooper Special Report documentary.

Anderson Cooper Special Report: Beauty & The Priest debuts on CNN at 10:00pm ET & PT on Friday, May 31. This program encores on Saturday, June 01 at 8:00pm and 11:00pm ET & PT.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

By Nic Rigby
BBC News

Three ex-residents of a former Catholic orphanage have spoken out about their “brutal” treatment at the hands of a priest, who is at the centre of a police investigation.

The men were residents at St Francis Boys Home, in Shefford, near Bedford, in the 1950s and 1960s.

The three allege physical abuse by Father John Ryan, who died in 2008.

The Catholic church says it “deeply regrets” any hurt caused, but stresses the “claims are not proven”.

The home, which closed in 1974, was run by the Catholic Diocese of Northampton.

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TEXAS
CNN

[Police: Evidence in killing of former beauty queen points to ex-priest]

(CNN) — The killing of former Texas beauty queen and schoolteacher Irene Garza has remained unsolved for more than 50 years. Investigators and the Garza family say all evidence points to a former Catholic priest named John Feit, who told CNN he did not kill Garza.
Below is a timeline of key events surrounding the case:

Garza’s body and key evidence were found in this canal.

March 23, 1960: John Feit, a Roman Catholic priest, attacks Mara Guerra, a 20-year-old woman, in a church. Feit pleads no contest. He is found guilty of aggravated assault and pays a $500 fine.

April 16, 1960: McAllen, Texas, schoolteacher and former beauty queen Irene Garza, 25, visits Sacred Heart Catholic Church to offer confession on the day before Easter.

Easter Sunday, April 17, 1960: Garza’s father files a police report alerting authorities about his missing daughter.

In 2002, then-Texas Ranger Lt. Rudy Jaramillo reopened the Garza case.

April 21, 1960: Police find Garza’s body face down in a McAllen canal, along with a candelabra from Sacred Heart and a Kodak slide photograph viewer that police say belongs to Feit.

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TEXAS
CNN

[timeline]

By Scott Bronstein and Gary Tuchman, CNN Special Investigations Unit

McAllen, Texas (CNN) — All evidence pointed police to one conclusion: A priest had killed a beautiful 25-year-old schoolteacher.

Searchers had found the lifeless body of former Miss South Texas, Irene Garza, face down in a canal in her hometown of McAllen. She’d disappeared on the day before Easter after going to Sacred Heart Catholic Church for confession.

An autopsy determined Garza had been raped while in a coma, and then had died from suffocation. Near Garza’s body investigators found items that belonged to the church, including a candelabra.

One item, a metallic Kodak slide photo viewer, belonged to a 27-year-old priest who was assigned to the church: the Rev. John Feit.

To say the scandal rocked McAllen is an understatement.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

COLM KELPIE – 01 JUNE 2013

THE United Nations’ torture watchdog has criticised the McAleese inquiry into the Magdalene Laundries and has called on the Government to set out plans for a full-scale independent investigation.

The United Nations Committee Against Torture said it received information from several sources that the inquiry, chaired by former Senator Dr Martin McAleese, did not conduct a “fully independent investigation into allegations of arbitrary detention, forced labour or ill treatment.”

In a letter to Gerard Corr, Ireland’s ambassador to the UN in Geneva, the Committee questioned whether the state would set up an independent inquiry.

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NEDERLAND
Reformatorisch Dagblad

De kerkverlating in Nederland gaat in een hoog tempo door. Op dit moment behoort ongeveer 30 procent van de bevolking nog tot een kerk. Onderzoeker Jos Becker verwacht dat percentage in 2025 is gehalveerd. „De bodem is echt nog niet in zicht.”

Hoe gaat het met de kerken, de religieuze betrokkenheid en het christelijk geloof aan het begin van de 21e eeuw in Nederland? Deze vragen stonden vrijdag centraal tijdens het symposium ”Ontkerkelijking: nou en? Oorzaken en gevolgen van secularisatie in Nederland” op de Radboud Universiteit in Nijmegen. De organisatie ervan was in handen van deze universiteit en het tijdschrift Religie en Samenleving.

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CANADA
Anglican Diocese of New Westminster

All around the Diocese of New Westminster communities are praying, learning, and organizing in anticipation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Indian Residential Schools National Event in September.

St. Hilda’s By the Sea and St. John’s Sunshine Coast (United Church of Canada), together with survivors of the Sechelt and St. George’s Lytton schools and leaders of the Sechelt band learned about the history and legacy of the Indian Residential School in Sechelt through the Project of Heart, a community based collaborative art project.

In late May, Vancouver School of Theology hosted the Regional Advisory Council to the TRC as they met with Chief Commissioner Justice Murray Sinclair to plan events for September. Church involvement includes an archival display, words and gestures of reconciliation from our leaders, a birthday party for former students, and a church listening area.

Churches in the North Vancouver deanery have taken part in a Sunday morning program which includes liturgy, Sunday school curriculum, music, guest speakers and educators from the Indian Residential School Survivors Society, the NFB film Muffins for Granny, the travelling resource library and time for reflection and sharing.

St. James’, Vancouver reconciliation group is promoting a free showing and discussion of the film We Were Children, June 11, 7pm, 149 West Hastings.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Lancaster Online

By JOAN KERN
Correspondent

When the Rev. Deb Helt’s granddaughter was born 26 months ago, the pastor vowed that little Emma would be safe — and know about her body.

So two years ago she helped lead the yearlong Safe Church Project: Protection of Children and Youth from Sexual Abuse at Hosanna! A Fellowship of Christians, in Lititz, where she serves as pastor of congregational life. Hosanna was among nine congregations in that first Safe Church Project.

Last year Helt shadowed Linda Crockett, director of education and consultation at the Samaritan Counseling Center, who developed and designed the project, as Crockett led nine more congregations and the Warwick Released Time Program through the project. In those two years, Safe Church reached 3,000 children and 3,800 adults.

Now this year, Helt will take over for Crockett locally while Crockett takes the project on the road to three locations across the country.

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ROME
GlobalPost

Jason Berry
May 30, 2013

Analysis: In his candid speeches and sermons, the new pope “forges a moral vocabulary on economics” to remind church leaders — and followers — of their responsibility to the poor.

“The globalization that makes everything uniform is essentially imperialist and instrumentally liberal, but it is not human. In the end, it is a way to enslave nations.”

Those blunt words from spoken by Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio in 2010 speak to the plight of millions who are jobless in Spain and Greece, their economies yoked to a European Union bank system meshed with globalized finance.

The statement appeared in On Heaven and Earth, a dialogue book with Buenos Aires Rabbi Abraham Skorka, which is now available in English.

In the two months since the cardinals’ conclave in Rome elected the little-known Argentine and the first Jesuit pope, Francis has taken to his pastoral role as Bishop of Rome. Refusing to live in the Apostolic Palace, he has made his home in a religious hotel in Vatican City, and he has replaced the pope’s golden throne with a wooden chair. He has dispensed with the ornate red stole with filigrees of gold that Pope Benedict wore, instead presenting himself in white, wearing a metal cross without the customary papal jewels and regalia. Benedict wore red shoes; Francis’s are black and workmanlike.

This pope has also fashioned a symbolic language of shaming, and the candor in his statements and sermons aim to remind the clerical establishment — accustomed to lordly status — of the church’s core commitment to the poor. He has yet to make major personnel changes in a Roman Curia whose scandals riveted media coverage at the conclave, yet his rhetoric is that of a world leader endorsing purgative change.

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