ABUSE TRACKER

JOLIET (IL)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

POSTED BY DAVID CLOHESSY ON MAY 20, 2013

A convicted predator priest who headed a Joliet Catholic school in the 1990s before moving to Florida has been sentenced to life in prison after molesting again.

Fr. William C. Wert was sentenced last Thursday in Florida for molesting a boy for five months in the Venice diocese.

In 2007, he was convicted of molesting a Washington DC child but served only 15 days in jail. In 2001, he was living at a Catholic retirement home in Venice when he was arrested on the more recent abuse charge.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Sussex Express

BREAKING NEWS: Polegate priest receives 10 year sentence for the “systematic” sexual assault of young boys and girls.

A former priest has been sentenced to 10 years imprisonment for the “systematic” sexual abuse of vulnerable children.

Gordon Trevor Rideout was found guilty of two attempted rapes and 34 counts of indecent assault on young boys and girls in care homes over a 10 year period.

The 74-year-old stood motionless in the dock today (Monday) as one of his victims wept uncontrollably as the verdict was read out in Lewes Crown Court.

He hung his head as the jury foreman gave the guilty verdict to 36 of the 37 counts he stood trial for.

His Lord Justice Anthony described the evidence against Rideout as “clear and compelling” but had to sentence him under the sentencing regime as it was at the time the crimes were committed.

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AUSTRALIA
Canberra Times

May 21, 2013

Barney Zwartz
Religion editor, The Age.

Paedophile priests in Melbourne were moved from parish to parish in a culture of secrecy and cover-up in which the Catholic Church was slow to act, Melbourne Archbishop Denis Hart said on Thursday.

A predecessor, Sir Frank Little, dealt with all complaints secretly, keeping no records. He moved paedophiles such as serial abusers Wilfred Baker and Kevin O’Donnell to “innocent parishes” where they blighted more lives, Archbishop Hart conceded at the Victorian inquiry into how the churches handled child sexual abuse.

“It was an awful blight on the church. I want to put my anger and pain and anguish about this to the committee.”

He said before 1996, when he became Vicar-General in Melbourne and Cardinal George Pell became Archbishop, the church was “too keen to look after herself and her good name and not keen enough to look after the terrible anguish of the victims. Since the 1990s, that has changed – slowly and with agony, but it has changed.”

In a public statement, Archbishop Hart said he took responsibility, but he told the inquiry the only person responsible was the archbishop at the time.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

EDITORIAL HERALD SUN MAY 21, 2013

WHEN Archbishop Denis Hart replied “better late than never” after being asked why the Catholic Church had taken 18 years to defrock a paedophile priest, there was what might be called a disbelieving silence.

A moment’s reflection might have allowed Archbishop Hart to reconsider what was at least offensive and at worst suggested his own attitude to child sex abuse might need to change.

“Better never” such crimes were committed.

As reported in the Herald Sun, the Archbishop was being questioned over the case of Father Desmond Gannon, who was jailed in 2009 for having molested an altar boy on several occasions between 1968 and 1969. Accusations had been made against the priest in the late 1980s, but no request had been made to Rome to have him defrocked until 2012.

Archbishop Hart’s response that reporting the paedophile priest was hampered because the priest had been sent to jail and because of changes to church law do little to explain what the church’s critics regard as a cover-up.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC – Lateline

[with video]

The Archibishop of Melbourne, Denis Hart, has admitted the church covered up sexual abuse claims against priests and has been slow to act on abuse claims.

Transcript

EMMA ALBERICI, PRESENTER: The Archbishop of Melbourne has admitted the Church covered up allegations of sexual abuse by priests.

Denis Hart told Victoria’s parliamentary abuse inquiry that the Church takes full responsibility for its actions, but his contrition provided little comfort for abuse victims and their families.

Hamish Fitzsimmons reports from Melbourne on Archbishop Hart’s long-anticipated appearance.

HAMISH FITZSIMMONS, REPORTER: Much of the focus of this parliamentary inquiry into abuse by organisations has been on the crimes committed by clergy in the Ballarat region of Central Victoria. But the state’s most senior Catholic was today addressing the situation in the nation’s second largest city.

DENIS HART, ARCHBISHOP OF MELBOURNE: My evidence today will solely refer to the Archdiocese of Melbourne.

HAMISH FITZSIMMONS: The inquiry was told that of the 1,748 priests who’ve worked in Victoria, less than four per cent have been sexual offenders – 59 priests according to Archbishop Hart. At the same time, the Archbishop recognises the damage that’s been done to the 300 victims recorded in Melbourne so far

DENIS HART: I acknowledge that our incapacity to see and to react to this situation in a timely way has given rise to the need for this inquiry. I understand that the community is looking for someone to take responsibility for the terrible acts that occurred. I take responsibility.

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AUSTRALIA
Perth Now

EXCLUSIVE BY JANET FIFE-YEOMANS THE DAILY TELEGRAPH MAY 20, 2013

THE country’s top Anglican, Archbishop Phillip Aspinall, personally intervened days before the shock resignation of the Grafton bishop over his mishandling of abuse claims at a notorious children’s home.

In an indication of how seriously churches are taking the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, Archbishop Aspinall last week sent the commission an internal church review of the scandal.

The review into the treatment of victims of sexual, physical and mental abuse at the North Coast Children’s Home at Lismore in northern NSW from the 1940s to the 1980s was brought to the Archbishop’s attention after an approach by The Daily Telegraph.

Archbishop Aspinall and the national general secretary of the Anglican Church, Martin Drevikovsky, on May 10 met with Bishop Keith Slater, the head of the Grafton Diocese for the past 10 years who resigned last week after apologising to victims “who bravely came forward to tell their story of abuse and were turned away”.

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SCOTLAND
Herald Scotland

Rosemary Goring
Literary editor/columnist

Monday 20 May 2013

It was in many ways admirable of Richard Holloway, former Bishop of Edinburgh, to leap to the defence of the disgraced Cardinal Keith O’Brien.

Speaking of the Cardinal’s banishment from Scotland by the Vatican, he expressed his disgust. Never mealy-mouthed, he likened the cleric’s forced exile for what Rome has termed “the purpose of spiritual renewal, prayer, and penance” to the CIA’s tactics of extraordinary rendition. Decrying this draconian act, Mr Holloway urged compassion towards the elderly Cardinal O’Brien, who should be allowed to return to Dunbar, where he had hoped to spend his retirement.

“Doubtless,” he said, “a time will come when Cardinal O’Brien will want to be reconciled with those he has offended”. That could only happen, though, when the hullabaloo has died down, and the cardinal is allowed to live peacefully in his own home. Mr Holloway was in no doubt, however, that forgiveness would be forthcoming, that being the essence of Christianity.

I agree that the Vatican’s long reach is disturbing. That it can make a priest pack his bags and leave the country, in the knowledge that he cannot return without the Pope’s approval, is decidedly sinister. As Mr Holloway points out, even in the Middle Ages steps were taken to prevent this sort of interference from Rome.

The Vatican insists that the cardinal’s compulsory expulsion is “not a banishment order”, but few would interpret it otherwise. Indeed, it is simply another indication that the church behaves today, as in the past, as if it were above the laws of any nation. Although some of those who accused the cardinal of abuse are said to be content with the action taken to remove him from the scene, others are far from happy. While no complaint has been made to the police about the alleged incidents, it does not appear that the church has instigated any official investigation into the events. If it has, then it is remaining tight-lipped. In this, as in spiriting the cardinal out of Scotland, the Vatican is acting in an imperious manner better suited to medieval times than our supposedly transparent age.

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AUSTRALIA
The Courier

By DANIEL FOGARTY AND GENEVIEVE GANNON May 21, 2013

Melbourne’s most senior Catholic has admitted child sexual abuse was covered up and the church was slow to act against pedophile priests.

Archbishop Denis Hart says a knighted former archbishop kept reports of sexual abuse to himself and that the church was keen to look after itself when addressing complaints, placing its reputation ahead of victims.

“The question of confidentiality of these matters was probably kept in one sense too much in that the church was too keen to look after herself and her good name and not keen enough to address the terrible anguish of the victims,” Archbishop Hart told a Victorian parliamentary inquiry yesterday.

He said Archbishop Sir Thomas Francis “Frank” Little had covered up abuse reports.

“Archbishop Little kept all these things to himself and there were no records,” Archbishop Hart said.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

STUART RINTOUL From: The Australian May 21, 2013

MELBOURNE archbishop Denis Hart has admitted the crimes of pedophile priests were covered up by former long-time Melbourne archbishop Frank Little, who dealt with complaints confidentially, kept no records and moved offending priests to new parishes.

In a three-hour interrogation by a Victorian parliamentary inquiry, it was also revealed Archbishop Hart last year warned the Vatican of the possibility of a “scandal for the faithful” if it did not defrock a pedophile priest.

Archbishop Hart also said the church would support the extension of mandatory reporting to ministers of religion, except for the sanctity of the confessional.

Archbishop Hart said the Catholic Church had for too long been “too keen to look after herself and her good name”.

Under examination by MP Frank McGuire, Archbishop Hart agreed that Little, Melbourne archbishop from 1974 to 1996, “covered up” abuse by priests, and moved at least two pedophile priests, Kevin O’Donnell and Wilfred Baker, to what Mr McGuire called “innocent parishes and innocent children”.
Archbishop Hart said he could not justify Little’s actions, but had inherited the pain caused by his inaction.

He said he believed Little, who died in 2008 and was succeeded by George Pell, was a sensitive man who found it hard to believe that priests could do such “evil, evil things”.

Giving evidence on the church’s failure to defrock pedophile priests, Archbishop Hart said he had attempted several times to have convicted pedophile Desmond Gannon defrocked.

Archbishop Hart said Gannon, who has been sentenced five times since 1995 for sexual crimes against children committed between 1957 and 1979, had his faculties as a priest withdrawn in 1993, but until Vatican changes in 2002 it had been “an onerous process” to defrock priests against their will and Gannon was in jail, but he was “resolute” in trying to have him defrocked in 2011 and last year.

He was “not very happy” when the Vatican ruled that because of Gannon’s extreme age, and unwillingness to be laicised, he should have a “penal precept” imposed on him instead, restricting his activities.

Inquiry head Georgie Crozier read a letter from Archbishop Hart to the Vatican in December last year, in which he said: “The media in Victoria have been active in reporting the information and allegations made before the parliamentary inquiry, often concentrating on those cases involving the Catholic Church. I am gravely concerned that the steps taken in the case of Rev Desmond Gannon, in the light of this new situation and also the possibility of further allegations against him, be seen to be inadequate and the cause of scandal for the faithful.”

When it was put to him that the church had failed to defrock Gannon for 18 years, Archbishop Hart replied, to groans in the public gallery, “Well, better late than never.”

Cardinal Pell is due to give evidence next week.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Daily Echo

A retired Church of England priest has been found guilty of a catalogue of historic sex attacks on young children at a Barnardo’s home for vulnerable youngsters.

Canon Gordon Rideout, 74, abused more than a dozen girls and boys at the now closed home at Ifield Hall in Crawley, West Sussex, over a four-year period.

The former Anglican clergyman also indecently assaulted two girls at an Army site in Middle Wallop, Hampshire, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said.

At Lewes Crown Court, Rideout was found guilty of 34 counts of indecent assault and two counts of attempted rape on 16 children between January 1962 and January 1973.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

Disgraced clergyman Canon Gordon Rideout was a serial sex offender who preyed on young children across the south of England – but he could have been stopped more than 40 years ago.

Rideout, now 74, was convicted at Lewes Crown Court earlier of two attempted rapes and 34 indecent assaults on 16 boys and girls in Hampshire and Sussex in the 1960s and 1970s.

The jury heard many of his victims were too afraid to report his behaviour for fear of being beaten.

And he was one of several priests to whose alleged misdeeds the Church of England turned a blind eye.

In the 1970s he got as far as court but was cleared by a military hearing of allegations of indecent assault relating to his time as forces chaplain at St Michael’s Church on a military base in Middle Wallop, Hampshir

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Times

Philippe Naughton
Last updated at 2:06PM, May 20 2013

A retired Anglican priest has been found guilty of abusing vulnerable boys and girls at a Barnardo’s children’s home in the 1960s and 1970s.

Canon Gordon Rideout, 74, of Polegate, East Sussex, was convicted at Lewes Crown Court of 34 indecent assaults and two attempted rapes between 1962 and 1973.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Brian Roewe | May. 20, 2013

Ten years after the Dallas Charter, the U.S. Catholic church has made progress in the protection of children from clergy sexual abuse, but high-profile cases from coast to coast in the past year underscore the need for continued vigilance.

Those conclusions came as part of the annual compliance audit of the nation’s dioceses conducted by an independent contractor, a requirement established as part of the “Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People,” which the U.S. bishops adopted at their 2002 meeting in Dallas.

“From my standpoint, I think children are safer,” Al Notzon III, chairman of the National Review Board, told NCR. “I think that we have institutionalized the whole idea of safe environment training, victim assistance. And that’s, to me, critical.”

Released in early May, the 2012 “Report on the Implementation of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People” found that the past year represented the lowest levels of new allegations by minors of priest sex abuse (397) since data collection began in 2004. It also saw new lows reached in the number of victims who came forward (390), and the number of offenders (313). Each figure denotes less than half those reported in 2004, and 20 percent decreases from 2011.

In 2012 alone, 34 minors brought forth allegations, six of which were deemed credible accusations, 12 determined unfounded and 15 remaining under investigation at the time of the audit. During the same period, 887 adults who claimed abuse during their childhood came forward with allegations for the first time.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Catholic League

[The ad: FOUR CATHOLIC MEN FRAMED]

Bill Donohue issued the following remarks today:

There are two scandals going on in Philadelphia, and both involve injustices done to the Catholic Church. One is legal, and the other is journalistic.

The legal scandal involves the prosecution of three Catholic priests, and one Catholic layman, in a case so incredible that it would be turned down as too fictional a script for a TV crime show. The other involves the Philadelphia Inquirer’s decision to keep the public in the dark about this case.

The statement that I wrote was submitted to the Philadelphia Inquirer on May 14, 2013; it was to run as a two-page ad on May 20. On May 15, we were told that a decision was made by those “at the top” not to run it; when we asked for an explanation, we were told there would be none.

By turning down the ad, the newspaper forfeited $58,000, not an insignificant sum, especially for a paper that filed for bankruptcy in 2009. It suggests that those “at the top” would rather forego the money before ever disseminating a defense about the way three Catholic priests, and one Catholic layman, were treated in court.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

An Anglican priest who abused children in the 1960s and 70s has been convicted of 36 separate sex offences.

Canon Gordon Rideout, 74, from East Sussex, who is now retired, was found guilty by a jury at Lewes Crown Court.

The attacks took place between 1962 and 1973 in Hampshire and Sussex, although most of them were carried out at Ifield Hall children’s home in Crawley, when Rideout was an assistant curate.

The charges related to 16 different children. He will be sentenced later.

Rideout, from Polegate, had denied 34 indecent assaults and two attempted rapes.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Argus

By Anna Roberts, Crime reporter

A former priest has been found guilty of a total of 36 charges of historic sexual abuse, including two charges of attempted rape, many of them carried out at a children’s home in Sussex.

Gordon Rideout was found guilty by the jury at Lewes Crown Court of two attempted rapes and 34 indecent assaults on boys and girls as young as five years old.

He was acquitted of one charge of indecent assault.

Rideout was the assistant curate at St. Mary’s Church in Southgate, Crawley from September 1962 to September 1965 and during that time, he would regularly visit a Barnardo’s children’s home, Ifield Hall, which has since been demolished.

The majority of the offences took place there, although he was also convicted of four charges of indecent assault on two girls at the Middle Wallop army base.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Eastbourne Herald

Published on 20/05/2013

The Bishop of Chichester said former priest Gordon Rideout had been the cause of ‘immeasurable and destructive suffering’ after he was found guilty of 36 counts of child sex abuse today (May 20).

The Bishop said, “Our primary concern today is with the people who have had to live for a very long time with the consequences of the shameful abuse they suffered from Gordon Rideout.

“We should pay tribute to those who, at considerable personal and emotional cost, have been able to come forward, to provide evidence, and to substantiate accusations as witnesses in the trial which has led to a guilty verdict.

“Gordon Rideout has been the cause of immeasurable and destructive suffering over a long period of time; he has also betrayed the trust and respect of many who have valued his ministry. Today’s verdict will have repercussions in many different ways across Sussex and beyond.

“The Diocesan Safeguarding Adviser, Colin Perkins, and his team have continued their close working relationship with the Police throughout this investigations. On behalf of the Diocese of Chichester I would like to put on record our gratitude to them and all those involved in this case.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Eastbourne Herald

Published on 20/05/2013

After former priest Gordon Rideout was found guilty of 36 charges of child sex abuse today (Monday, May 20), a Barnado’s boss has praised the courage of the victims in speaking out.

Barnardo’s director of children’s services Sam Monaghan, said, “We are extremely saddened by this case and our deepest sympathies go out to those who have suffered; it has taken great courage for them to step forward and relive their experiences.

“We are glad that justice has been served and believe it is critical that abusers are held to account for their crimes, regardless of when they took place.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Eastbourne Herald

Published on 20/05/2013

Former priest Gordon Rideout has been found guilty of 36 out of the 37 child sex abuse charges he was on trial for – including two of attempted rape.

The jury returned to Lewes Crown Court this lunchtime (Monday, May 20) after spending three days considering their verdicts. He was found guilty of abusing boys and girls as young as five between 1962 and 1973.

Rideout was the assistant curate at St. Mary’s Church in Southgate, Crawley from September 1962 to September 1965 and during that time, he would regularly visit a Barnardo’s children’s home, Ifield Hall, which has since been demolished.

The majority of the offences took place there, although he was also convicted of four charges of indecent assault on two girls at the Middle Wallop army base.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

[2012 report]

Patsy McGarry

Fewer than one in 12 priests accused of child sex abuse has faced prosecution, according to latest annual report of the Catholic Church’s child protection watchdog published today.
The National Board for Safeguarding Children (NBSC) report also disclosed that it was notified of 242 “allegations, concerns and suspicions of abuse” brought to the attention of Church authorities in 2012.

Most were of a historica nature and related to alleged incidents of abuse between the 1940s and 1990s, with the biggest number relating to the 60s, 70s, and 80s. All have been notified to relevant civil authorities.

The NBSC was also notified in 2012 of two allegations of abuse having taken place since 2000 and one allegation of abuse taking place in 2012. “This would underline the continued need for vigilance, good safeguarding practice and prompt action when the allegation or concern is notified to Church authority.”

It noted that following completion of its first two tranches of reviews, involving 10 dioceses and three religious congregations, “some striking trends” emerge.

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SCOTLAND
Catholic Herald

By FR ALEXANDER LUCIE-SMITH on Monday, 20 May 2013

This is the sort of headline that no Catholic can want to read: “Three months on, a cardinal is banished but his church is still in denial.” The subtitle goes on: “Cardinal Keith O’Brien has been told to leave Scotland for ‘prayer and penance’, after resigning over charges of sexual misconduct. But his accusers still wait for a proper inquiry.” You can read the whole article, by Catherine Deveney, who first broke the story, here and a further article here.

What is depressing about the article in contained in the words “three months”. It is three months since the Cardinal O’Brien story broke, and still it rumbles on. In other words, three months have passed, and still the Church has not formulated an adequate response to the crisis occasioned by the cardinal’s fall. The Church needs to take control of this story and assure the faithful that the matter is being dealt with firmly and with reasonable speed. We also need the assurance that adherence to the truth is paramount.

Instead, reading what Ms Deveney has to say, we get the impression that headless chickens are still ruling the roost, partly as a result of the way power is devolved in the Catholic Church. Who deals with this? Is it the Scottish bishops? Is it their media office? Is it the Nuncio in Wimbledon? Is it Cardinal Ouellet in Rome? Is it the Pope himself? This sorry state of affairs is compounded by the fact that three of the complainants are serving priests. If priests can’t get a hearing, who can?

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

[with video]

Archbishop of Melbourne Denis Hart has told Victoria’s parliamentary inquiry into child sex abuse that the Church was slow to act on alleged abuse by clergy.

Transcript

LEIGH SALES, PRESENTER: One by one, the leaders of Australia’s Church hierarchy are being held to account over the decades of child sex abuse that occurred around the country.

Today it was the turn of Melbourne Archbishop Denis Hart to be grilled at the Victorian parliamentary inquiry on its second last day of public hearings.

Under intense questioning, Archbishop Hart was forced to admit to a cover-up and years of delay in dealing with perpetrators in his diocese.

National affairs correspondent Heather Ewart reports.

HEATHER EWART, REPORTER: These victims have been waiting years for this day to come. They’ve travelled together by train from Geelong to see the Catholic Church’s Archbishop Denis Hart face some tough questions.

What do you want from this inquiry today?

CHRIS PIANTO: Justice for the survivors of sex abuse. … Catholic clergy or abusers of children to be brought to justice.

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Telegraph

PATRICK CARLYON
HERALD SUN MAY 20, 2013

FORMER Melbourne archbishop Frank Little died and was buried in 2008. Yesterday, at the parliamentary child abuse inquiry, he was buried again.

Little “covered up” the abuses of paedophile priests, incumbent Archbishop Denis Hart conceded under sustained questioning.

Little arranged confidential agreements. He kept no records of complaints. And, as in the case of paedophile priest Father Wilfred Baker, it appears that Little moved offending priests from one parish to the next.

“I’m not responsible for his actions but I certainly feel the pain as a result of those failed actions,” the Archbishop said.

For almost 3 1/2 hours, he fronted a tough crowd. When his inquisitors momentarily dropped their scepticism, which wasn’t often, those in the gallery – many of them victims or families of victims – scoffed at his answers.

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IRELAND
National Board for the Safeguarding of Children in the Catholic Church in Ireland

Report of the Chief Executive Officer

A significant number of achievements and developments took place in 2012, proving it to be another busy year for the National Board.

The year witnessed the increasing development of the National Case Management Reference Group
(NCMRG) as a major new addition to the work of the National Board. This initiative was originally intended to provide an advice and support service to a limited group of dioceses and religious over the course of a year to assess its usefulness. It proved to be an outstanding success and as a consequence an increasing number of dioceses and orders have become members. Of the 26 dioceses, 15 are involved and there is a growing number of religious.

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

Monday, May 20, 2013

There has been a slight increase in the number of allegations of abuse being reported to the National Board for the Safeguarding of Children in the Catholic Church in Ireland.

The group says 242 new allegations of abuse were reported to the Board between April 1 last year and the end of March this year.

That is five more than what was reported to the group the previous year.

Most allegations relate to abuse allegedly having taken place between the 1940s and 1990s, with the biggest number of allegations relating to the 60s, 70s and 80s.

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ARGENTINE
la Croix (France)

Tandis qu’une partie du clergé soutenait le régime militaire et qu’une autre s’engageait dans des mouvements contestataires, la majorité des clercs et des laïcs préférait se tenir à distance.

En 1970, alors que le général Juan Perón est exilé depuis 1955 et que la situation économique ne cesse de se dégrader en Argentine, deux grands mouvements contestataires se créent : l’Armée révolutionnaire du peuple, d’inspiration marxiste-léniniste, et les « Montoneros », d’inspiration péroniste, qui rassemblent de nombreux jeunes chrétiens. Ces deux mouvements, pour secouer le pays et le gouvernement déliquescent, lancent des actions violentes contre l’armée, la police et certains hommes d’affaires. Avec l’appui des institutions argentines, les militaires arrêtent, puis condamnent les responsables de ces mouvements et autres groupes armés

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ARGENTINA
Buenos Aires Herald

Santiago Del Carril
Herald staff

After his death, many were quick to point out the that the former dictator Jorge Videla was taking many of his secrets to the grave, but one thing that hasn’t remained a mystery is the relationship that the leader had with the Catholic Church during his reign. From the very beginning of Videla’s rise to power, the dictator had developed a close friendship with the highest ranking leaders.

On the night before the declaration of the March 24, 1976 military coup, General Jorge Videla with Admiral Emilio Massera, had met with leaders of the Church hierarchy in their office and followed it up on the day of the coup d’état, with a long meeting with the military vicariate. When Archbishop Adolfo Tórtolo came out of the meeting he stated “the Church has its own specific mission.. there are circumstances in which it cannot refrain from participating even when it is a matter of problems related to the specific order of the state.”

As can be interpreted from the statements above, Videla’s led junta had a close alliance with the Church where they served as a confidants to the military in that period. Throughout the military dictatorship there were several incidents that highlighted the links between Videla and ecclesiastical authorities. This relationship was first documented in the late Human Rights activist and CELS founder Emilio Mignone’s book Witness to the Truth, which detailed the Catholic Church’s complicity with the military in this era.

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UNITED STATES
Chicago Now

By Christoffer Bell, Sunday

In the Name of the Pope, the Cardinal, and the Priest who Touched Little Timmy

As white smoke billows out of the chimney chute of the conclave, 1.2 Billion Catholics around our cerulean globe raise their hands in celebration of the dawning of a new era and the appointment of a new Pontiff; Pope Francis. “Out with the old and in with new” is a technique utilized by corporations to assuage the contemporaneous concerns of shareholders in times of trouble. And similar to the smoke and mirrors act thrown out by capitalists is the one being thrown out by the theologians. What is being talked about is the new pope, but what isn’t being talked about is what happened to the old one.

Two months have passed, and rumors continue to circulate as to why Pope Benedict XVI abdicated his responsibilities and the papal throne; the first pope to do so in over six centuries. Was it his health? Did divine intervention from the Pope’s boss give him a sign that he was needed somewhere else? The questions and requests for explanation became lost in the cries of a crowd who cheered for their new leader, but I find the Vatican’s response of, “Well we don’t know why he resigned, but look, here is our new leader let’s talk about him” sitting inside my stomach about as well as a three day old Cool-Ranch taco.

Think about it. How dirty does a corporation have to be in order for a person who has dedicated his entire life to it, to look at clandestine reports that he has received as the head of the organization and say, “You know what…nope…can’t do it.” Compounding concerns is the fact that the leadership of some of the most nefarious companies in the word decided to go down with ship instead of abandoning it. For instance, look at the hegemony of Enron. Even with the feds breathing down the Carlo Franco adorned necks of the executive board, they decided to play the scene out until the final curtain fell.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

May 20, 2013

Henrietta Cook

Melbourne Archbishop Denis Hart says the Catholic church has been slow to act on child abuse and admits there has been a culture of “secrecy and cover-up”.

Archbishop Hart told a packed gallery at the parliamentary inquiry into child abuse by churches that taking 18 years to act on ejecting a convicted paedophile priest was “better late than never”.

He said paedophile priests had been moved on to innocent parishes but practices had improved since 1996.

Melbourne Archbishop Denis Hart fronts the parliamentary inquiry into child abuse by churches.

“I believe that is an awful blight on the church.”

He said the church was “too slow to realise what was going on” because they were dealing with cunning and devious criminals.

He told a packed gallery at the parliamentary committee that he was expressing his “anguish and pain”.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

MICHELLE AINSWORTH, ANNIKA SMETHURST From: Herald Sun May 20, 2013

THE CATHOLIC Church has been more interested in protecting its reputation and fortune than caring for the victims of child sex abuse, Melbourne Archbishop Denis Hart has admitted.

Archbishop Hart fronted the parliamentary inquiry into child sex abuse for the first time in a gruelling three-hour questioning session today.

When asked about the secrecy surrounding pre-1990 abuse claims, Archbishop Hart admitted that former archbishop Frank Little had kept all allegations confidential.

“The church was too keen to look after herself and her good name, and not keen enough to address the terrible anguish of the victims,” Archbishop Hart said.

But he shocked the inquiry’s public gallery when he said it was “better late than never” that the church had taken 18 years to write to Rome to have a priest excommunicated after he was convicted of child molestation.

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AUSTRALIA
Brisbane Times

May 20, 2013

Daniel Fogarty and Genevieve Gannon

Melbourne’s most senior Catholic has admitted the church covered up child sexual abuse, was slow to act against abusing priests and placed its own interests ahead of victims.

Archbishop Denis Hart says a knighted former archbishop kept reports of sexual abuse to himself and that the church was keen to look after itself when addressing complaints, placing its reputation ahead of victims.

He described the sexual abuse scandal as “one of the darkest periods” in the church’s history and conceded victims had committed suicide.

“The question of confidentiality of these matters was probably kept in one sense too much in that the church was too keen to look after herself and her good name and not keen enough to address the terrible anguish of the victims,” Archbishop Hart said on Monday.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

The Special Commission of Inquiry into alleged cover-ups of sexual abuse within the Catholic Church will require an extra week after two weeks of evidence in Newcastle.

The focus of the first two weeks was on allegations made by Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox that senior members of the police force ordered him to stop investigating paedophilia within the Maitland-Newcastle Diocese.

The second lot of sittings, scheduled to start on June 24, will focus on allegations that senior members of the church concealed sex offences committed by members of the clergy.

However, before those allegations are examined, Commissioner Margaret Cunneen is expected to hear from a number of witnesses who she was unable to hear from in the first two-week sitting.

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AUSTRALIA
J-Wire

May 20, 2013

Perth Rabbi Dovid Freilich told “The Australian” that he believed 95% of Australian rabbis dealt with sexual abuse matters internally…a claim challenged by the Rabbinical Council of Victoria.

The RCV has issued the following statement:

The RCV is the largest State Rabbinic body in Australia and has stated on numerous occasions that all cases of child abuse must be reported immediately to the Police. The Council’s resolution to this effect was adopted by the Rabbis of Victoria unanimously and bears the name of each Rabbi.

Rabbi Meir Shlomo Kluwgant, President of the RCV said that for several years now the RCV has been contributing to the fight against child sexual abuse. “The RCV’s widely publicised position that any and all cases of child abuse must be reported immediately to the Police and relevant authorities has appeared numerous times in Jewish and wider Australian media”, said Rabbi Kluwgant.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

Nick Ralston

An Anglican bishop has resigned over his failure to properly pass on child sex abuse complaints at a children’s home on the NSW north coast.

Keith Slater has stood down as the Bishop of the Diocese of Grafton, apologising for his ”past failings” in the management of claims of abuse at the North Coast Children’s Home in Lismore.

”I apologise to those who bravely came forward to tell their story of abuse and were turned away,” he said in a statement. ”I acknowledge the pain and further damage that this response may have caused.”

In 2006 the Anglican Diocese of Grafton received a number of claims alleging acts of ”physical, psychological and sexual abuse” at the home between the 1940s and the 1980s.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

A man who says he was abused at a north coast Anglican children’s home says the local bishop ignored his concerns for years.

Last Friday the Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Grafton resigned, saying he failed in his duty to pass on complaints about the Lismore home to the church’s Professional Standards Director.

Bishop Keith Slater says the legal liability of so many complaints from residents at the Church of England North Coast Children’s Home, initially clouded the matter.

But former home resident and abuse survivor, Richard ‘Tommy’ Campion says the bishop didn’t want to hear his complaints.

“I would have written all up about a thousand letters.

“This man I knew he was doing wrong. Under the rules of the church he should listen to us.

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AUSTRALIA
North Queensland Register

20 May, 2013

MICHEL O’SULLIVAN

I’ve seen lonely times when I could not find a friend …

By a campfire at a school retreat, a 10-year-old boy sings Fire and Rain, James Taylor’s sad and sweet ballad of the times. It is 1972. The boy is John Saunders, the youngest of nine children from a Catholic family that loves to sing. Listening are schoolmates from Marist Brothers Primary, Mosman, and a lay teacher in whom John has found a friend, a man he has come to love and trust.

Twenty-five years later, in March 1997, Saunders will recall this evening while making a statement to police, detailing how the teacher betrayed that trust. And in December that year, Saunders will describe his spiral into depression to an eminent clinical psychologist commissioned by the Marist Brothers.

The psychologist will report that ”it appears Mr Saunders was ‘groomed’ over time to become the teacher’s pet”. The teacher would invite ”favoured students” to approach his desk and sit on his lap. With Saunders, he would ”place his hand in his trousers, fondle his penis, blow into his ear and kiss him. This took place once to twice daily over a period of eight months”.

For the past 13 years, Saunders has been been fighting the Catholic Church for the right to see this report. The church changed its mind only in February. Reading the document at last, Saunders finds its conclusions galling.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

Melbourne Archbishop Denis Hart has taken responsibility for the sexual abuse of children by priests and says hearts are heavy with a deep sense of shame about their crimes.

Archbishop Hart says the scandal is one of the saddest times in his priesthood and one of the darkest chapters in the church’s history.

He told a Victorian parliamentary inquiry on Monday he would work with the community on “the eradication of this awful evil”.

“Hearts are heavy with a deep sense of shame and dismay about the crimes of sexual abuse by those who were supposed to represent Christ to them,” Archbishop Hart said.

“Disappointment mixes with anger and disgust at the very thought that some who were consecrated to serve could ever molest a child.”

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

Melbourne’s most senior Catholic has admitted the church covered up child sexual abuse, was slow to act against abusing priests and placed its own interests ahead of victims.

Archbishop Denis Hart says a knighted former archbishop kept reports of sexual abuse to himself and that the church was keen to look after itself when addressing complaints, placing its reputation ahead of victims.

He described the sexual abuse scandal as “one of the darkest periods” in the church’s history and conceded victims had committed suicide.

“The question of confidentiality of these matters was probably kept in one sense too much in that the church was too keen to look after herself and her good name and not keen enough to address the terrible anguish of the victims,” Archbishop Hart said on Monday.

He agreed former archbishop, the late Sir Thomas Francis “Frank” Little, had covered up abuse reports.

“Archbishop Little kept all these things to himself and there were no records,” Archbishop Hart told the Victorian parliamentary inquiry

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AUSTRALIA
SBS

20 MAY 2013, 8:18 PM – SOURCE: AAP

Melbourne’s Catholic archbishop has apologised to abuse victims over what he says is one of the darkest periods in the church’s history.

Melbourne Archbishop Denis Hart has taken responsibility for the sexual abuse of children by priests and says hearts are heavy with a deep sense of shame about their crimes.

Archbishop Hart says the scandal is one of the saddest times in his priesthood and one of the darkest chapters in the church’s history.

He told a Victorian parliamentary inquiry on Monday he would work with the community on “the eradication of this awful evil”.

“Hearts are heavy with a deep sense of shame and dismay about the crimes of sexual abuse by those who were supposed to represent Christ to them,” Archbishop Hart said.

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Telegraph

MICHELLE AINSWORTH HERALD SUN MAY 20, 2013

MELBOURNE’S Catholic archbishop has faced the Parliamentary child sex abuse inquiry for the first time today.

Archbishop Denis Hart said it was “better late than never” when questioned why the Church had taken 18 years to excommunicate a priest convicted of child molestation.

The inquiry heard accusations against Father Desmond Gannon surfaced in the late 1980s.

The priest refused to be laicised, which would have removed his church rights, but in 1993 he was stripped of his privileges to perform as a priest.

In 2009 he was jailed for 25 months for molesting an altar boy three times between 1968 and 1969.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

[with video]

By Cath McAloon

Victoria’s most senior Catholic has told a parliamentary inquiry into child sex abuse the church was too slow to act in the past when dealing with paedophile priests.

The Archbishop of Melbourne, Denis Hart, has given evidence at the inquiry, which is investigating the church’s response to allegations of abuse.

He apologised for the church’s failure to recognise and deal with allegations of sexual abuse, describing it as one of the darkest periods in the church’s history.

He told the committee there had been terrible failings in the church’s response to sexual abuse allegations.

Archbishop Hart admitted that a former Archbishop of Melbourne, Frank Little, covered up allegations of abuse and moved known paedophiles to other parishes.

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AUSTRALIA
eNCA

SYDNEY – The most senior Catholic in the Australian state of Victoria on Monday admitted the church had been too slow to act on paedophile priests, but insisted things had changed.

Melbourne Archbishop Denis Hart was speaking at a state government inquiry into the handling of child sex cases by religious and non-government bodies after hundreds of children were abused by clergy.

The Church has previously told the hearing that about 620 children had been abused since the 1930s.

“I would certainly say that the church has been slow to act,” Hart said, with the inquiry hearing that it took 18 years for paedophile priest Desmond Gannon to be defrocked.

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AUSTRALIA
Courier Mail

AAP May 20, 2013

MELBOURNE Archbishop Denis Hart says the Catholic Church taking 18 years to petition for a pedophile priest to be defrocked is “better late than never”.

Father Desmond Gannon was convicted and jailed for sexual offences in 2009 but remains an ordained priest.

A Victorian parliamentary inquiry into child sex abuse has heard he offended from 1957 to 1979 and was identified to then-Melbourne archbishop George Pell in 1998 as “high risk”.

Yet it wasn’t until 2011 that the Catholic Church in Victoria petitioned Rome for Fr Gannon to be laicised.

Asked at the inquiry on Monday why it had taken so long, current Melbourne Archbishop Denis Hart replied “better late than never”.

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SCOTLAND
Scotsman

By STEPHEN MCGINTY
Published on 20/05/2013

CARDINAL O’Brien should have been ordered to undergo psychological treatment instead of three months of prayer and penance according to the four priests whose accusations of sexual misconduct led to the ­resignation of the Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh.

In the wake of the Vatican’s decision to order Britain’s most senior cleric to leave Scotland, the men insisted that the cardinal remained a danger and that stripping him of his red hat should not be ruled out by the Pope.

One of the priests said: “Keith is extremely manipulative and needs help to be challenged out of his denial. If he does not receive treatment, I believe he is still a danger to himself and to others.”

The four men are demanding an investigation into O’Brien’s “predatory behaviour” and insist that despite making formal complaints to the Papal Nuncio three months ago they have not been told if there is a formal investigation into the cardinal.

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AUSTRALIA
J-Wire

May 19, 2013 by  

One of the brothers of child sex abuse advocate Manny Waks was involved in a bitter altercation with a senior rabbi over Shavuot.

Chaim Waks admitted to ripping the glasses from Rabbi Zvi Telsner’s face at the end of the service at Yeshivah’s main synagogue in Melbourne last Tuesday night, according to a report by JTA.

Rabbi Telsner, the Yeshivah’s spiritual leader in Melbourne, offered festive greetings to Chaim Waks at the end of the service.

But Waks, 24, admitted to replying: “How dare you f***ing wish me a good Yom Tov?”

His brother confirmed that he also admitted throwing Telsner’s glasses on the floor.
Telsner confirmed to JTA that the incident happened, but declined to comment.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

Updated Sun May 19, 2013

The New South Wales legal aid service has come under fire for its decision not to fund any compensation cases for institutional child sexual abuse.

Legal Aid NSW says it is expecting a large number of compensation applications as a result of the Federal Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

However, it has decided it will not fund the applications, saying they will impact disproportionately on its budget.

It follows the State Government’s recent changes to the Victim’s Compensation Scheme which means most victims of institutional abuse would not be eligible for compensation.

Greens MP David Shoebridge says it is a double blow for victims.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

DAN BOX From: The Australian May 20, 2013

POLICE investigating an alleged cover-up of child abuse committed by Catholic priests discussed an in-house treatment centre run by the church for clergy suspected of sex offences.

More than 1000 people, including hundreds of priests, attended the Encompass Australasia program at centres in Sydney and Melbourne before it was wound down in 2010.

In a 2010 diary entry recording a conversation between two senior officers involved in the investigation, Detective Inspector Paul Jacob wrote: “‘Encompass’. Retreat for clergy. Method of moving s/off’s” (sex offenders).

The diary entry, tendered in evidence to the NSW Special Commission of Inquiry, also notes that police were expecting to interview a “significant rollover”, a church employee prepared to give evidence to police.

“Links to SA (South Australia) Archbishop,” the note continued. “Appears on surface that good info will be provided on way the Cath Church suppressed or minimised, moved s/off’s”.

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NEW HAMPSHIRE
Patch

By Tony Schinella

A family from Pembroke has settled its lawsuit against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Manchester, according to the Associated Press.

The parents accused a priest, The Rev. George Desjardins, of making inappropriate comments to their teenage son, a St. John Regional School student, during confession.

A spokesman for the diocese said the family would get $2,000 and the settlement was not an admission of guilt.

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VATICAN CITY
euronews

By Catherine Hornby

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – Pope Francis warned the Catholic Church to not close in on itself at a Mass to mark Pentecost Sunday attended by more than 200,000 people, urging the faithful to be open and present in a new and changing world.

The Church should ask itself daily whether it is resisting new challenges and remaining “barricaded in transient structures which have lost their capacity for openness to what is new,” he said.

“Newness always makes us a bit fearful, because we feel more secure if we have everything under control,” Francis said in his homily in front of a packed St. Peter’s Square, adding that change can bring fulfilment.

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AUSTRALIA
The Jewish Daily Forward

JTA

A senior Australian Orthodox rabbi had his glasses ripped from his face during a synagogue altercation with a relative of a prominent advocate for sex abuse victims.

Rabbi Zvi Telsner, the spiritual leader of the Yeshivah Center, which houses the city’s Chabad headquarters, offered festive greetings to Chaim Waks at the end of the Shavuot holiday service on Tuesday night inside Chabad’s main synagogue in Melbourne.

But Waks, 24, whose brother, Manny, has been at loggerheads with Chabad since he first went public in 2011 with claims he was sexually abused when he was at the Chabad-run school in the 1980s, admitted to asking the rabbi: “How dare you f***ing wish me a good Yom Tov?”

Manny Waks confirmed his brother also admitted throwing Telsner’s glasses on the floor.
Telsner, who was born in New York, declined to comment but confirmed to JTA that the incident happened.

Manny Waks said in a statement: “I have informed Chaim that this type of behavior is completely unacceptable. It makes no difference what an individual has done – in this case the ongoing attacks by Rabbi Telsner and some within his community against my family. The use of violence is never an option and needs to be unequivocally condemned.”

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NEW HAMPSHIRE
Fox 44

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) – The Roman Catholic Diocese of Manchester is paying $2,000 to settle a lawsuit accusing a priest of making inappropriate comments to a 14-year-old boy during confession.

The Rev. George Desjardins of Concord was accused of talking about pornography and rape during a December 2012 confession.

Diocese spokesman Kevin Donovan said the settlement is not an admission of guilt and described the payment as “a means to an end, so the community can move on.”

Peter Hutchins, lawyer for the Pembroke family, told the Concord Monitor (http://bit.ly/18Tkgrx ) that the comments were unacceptable.

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IRELAND
The Irish Sun

By ELAINE KEOGH

A PRIEST who flashed gay porn images at a First Communion meeting has a new job.

Fr Martin McVeigh took a sabbatical after exposing his shocked flock to the graphic pictures a year ago. The cleric insisted the snaps — which popped up in a Powerpoint presentation to primary school parents in Pomeroy, Co Tyrone — were not his.

And now he has been appointed parish priest in Clogherhead, Co Louth, in a move that has angered some people.

One parishioner said: “He wants us to give him a chance and he seems to be sincere but we are still very angry at the way this happened.”

The congregation was told by Cardinal Sean Brady that Fr McVeigh was going to be their new parish priest this month.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

ELAINE KEOGH – 19 MAY 2013

A CLERIC who accidentally showed gay porn to parents of schoolchildren in the North has been appointed parish priest of Clogherhead.

It is nearly a year since Fr Martin McVeigh decided to take a sabbatical after the images flashed up on a screen as he made a presentation to the parents of children preparing for confession in advance of their First Holy Communion.

“He wants us to give him a chance, and he seems to be sincere about it, but we are still very angry at the way this has happened,” said one parishioner.

At a meeting in the village last week, Fr McVeigh maintained his innocence, insisting that he had no idea where the gay porn images had come from.

Parishioners were told earlier this month by Cardinal Sean Brady that Fr McVeigh was going to be their new parish priest.

It is believed he had expressed a wish to return to Pomeroy, Co Tyrone, where the incident happened.

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SCOTLAND
Daily Record

By Lynn McPherson
19 May 2013

SHAMED Cardinal Keith O’Brien would be “broken” if he is banned from returning to Scotland, according to a friend.

The Vatican last week announced O’Brien would leave the country for several months “for the purpose of spiritual renewal, prayer and penance”.

But a parish priest who has spoken on his behalf said he had become extremely depressed by his enforced exile.

Canon John Creanor said: “The last time I spoke to the Cardinal he was utterly defeated.

“He loves Scotland. He’s made his life and his name here. I can be certain that if he were denied to come back to Scotland again he would be broken.”

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UNITED STATES
Richard Sipe

by Pulitzer Prize winning author Michael D’Antonio, was recently released.
Available: Amazon.com: Books
Reviewed by AW Richard Sipe

It is the most comprehensive and complete history of the clergy abuse crisis and survivor movement ever written.

“The main thing people should know about the sexual abuse crisis in the Catholic Church is that it is a confrontation between those who would tell radical truth, in all its messy, disturbing, and seemingly contradictory forms, and an institution devoted to secrecy and hierarchy.

Mortal Sins covers the movement that sprang up around the problem of clerical abuse and follows it from its beginnings in Minnesota and Louisiana to Pope Benedict’s resignation. Along the way it reveals the transformation of its leaders –especially lawyer Jeff Anderson of St. Paul–and the gradual shift inside the church.”

The narrative exposes the dynamics of the greatest crisis the Catholic Church in America has ever faced. The story weaves together the metamorphosis of a cast of characters who took on the corruption of one of the most powerful institutions in the world.

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UNITED STATES
Richard Sipe

This links to a chart listing bishops throughout the world who have resigned because they allegedly abused or were complicit. The chart was revised April 29.

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AUSTRALIA
Broken Rites

The Broken Rites victim support group helps victims of church-related sexual abuse in Australia.

Here is a list of the most recent articles (written by Broken Rites researchers) published on this website:

This “spiritual director” was abusing children: Brother Colgan Taylor had an exalted role as a “spiritual director” for the Catholic order of Marist Brothers in Australia while he was committing sexual crimes against young children. The reverend brother’s Catholic status gave him access to children and it protected him from exposure until police finally learned of some (but not all) of his crimes (posted 19 May 2013).

Church leaders and the Father McAlinden cover-up: Broken Rites has expanded its article about how Catholic Church authorities protected the paedophile priest Father Denis McAlinden for 40 years while he repeatedly committed sexual crimes against young girls in parishes around Australia. This Broken Rites research (begun in 1994) eventually helped to bring about the New South Wales government’s Commission of Inquiry in 2013, which is investigating how church officials and police handled allegations of child-sex crimes by Father McAlinden and other priests in the Maitland-Newcastle diocese (updated 19 May 2013).

Church kept a priest after a “confidential” settlement: A New South Wales police document (submitted to the state government Commission of Inquiry into church child-abuse in the Maitland-Newcastle Catholic diocese) alleges that the church appointed a priest (Father Guy Hartcher, of the Vincentian Fathers) to administer a parish in this diocese after the church had paid a “confidential” settlement to a former pupil from St Stanislaus College, a school conducted by the Vincentian Fathers in Bathurst. The police document indicates that, under the church’s settlement agreement, the church ordered the former pupil to remain totally silent about his alleged abuse — or he would have to give the settlement money back to the church (updated 13 May 2013).

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AUSTRALIA
Broken Rites

By a Broken Rites researcher
Article posted 19 May 2013

Brother Colgan Taylor had an exalted role as a “spiritual director” for the Catholic order of Marist Brothers in Australia while he was committing sexual crimes against young children.

The reverend brother’s Catholic status gave him access to children and it protected him from exposure until 2002, when police finally learned of sexual crimes that Taylor had committed, more than 20 years earlier, against two very young girls.

Broken Rites Australia knows that these two girls were not Brother Colgan’s only victims, nor were they his first victims. They are merely two who happened to come to the attention of police, unexpectedly, after a long delay. How many other victims did Brother Colgan Taylor have?

Lancelot Kenneth Taylor was born in Sydney on 18 March 1922. He was taught by Marist Brothers while he was a pupil at Sacred Heart school in Mosman (Sydney). When he finished his schooling, the 1930s depression limited his career choices but he had the opportunity of becoming a Marist Brother. In 1940, aged 18, he began training as a Marist Brother. In accordance with Marist policy, he was given a religious alias, becoming Brother “Colgan” Taylor (“Colgan” is an old Irish-Catholic name).

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GHANA
My Joy

The Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit of the police service has taken over investigations into an alleged sexual abuse case against the head pastor of the Abokobi branch of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, Reverend Kingsford Kusi-Kyere.

The church said yesterday it would investigate claims by seven male members of the church that they were sexually abused by the pastor.

Dr. Emmanuel Osei Acheampong, the Public Relations Manager of the Presbyterian Church, confirmed to Joy News that the issue has been reported to the authorities of the church.

“As part of our disciplinary structures, we have asked a committee to look into the matter and report to the church for the appropriate action to be taken. For now we will treat it as a story but we will investigate it and inform the public accordingly.”

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NEW JERSEY
The Star-Ledger

By Mark Mueller/The Star-Ledger
on May 19, 2013

Late in 2007, members of a secretive review board in the Archdiocese of Newark began the task of determining whether the Rev. Michael Fugee had committed sexual abuse by groping the genitals of a 13-year-old boy during two impromptu wrestling matches.

If the allegations were found credible — and if Archbishop John J. Myers concurred — Fugee would be banned from ministry forever in keeping with a landmark zero-tolerance rule adopted by the nation’s bishops in 2002.

The board, composed mainly of lay people appointed by Myers, had at its disposal Fugee’s police confession, documents from his criminal trial and a copy of an agreement he signed with law enforcement pledging he would never again work with children. It also had evidence of Fugee’s entry in a state rehabilitation program, itself an acknowledgment of wrongdoing.

Yet the panel found no sexual abuse occurred, clearing the way for the priest’s eventual return to ministry.

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

SCOTLAND
Scotsman

By DANIEL SANDERSON
Published on 19/05/2013

THE men whose allegations of sexual misconduct prompted the resignation of Cardinal Keith O’Brien have criticised the Vatican for telling the cleric to leave Scotland for a period of “prayer and penance”.

It was announced last week that the cardinal, Britain’s most senior Catholic, would spend several months out of the country “for the purpose of spiritual renewal” after he admitted in March that his sexual conduct had fallen below expected standards.

The three priests and a former priest, who made the accusations against O’Brien in February relating to incidents in the 1980s, attacked the move and said O’Brien should have instead been sent for psychological treatment.

They also reiterated calls for a full investigation into O’Brien’s behaviour and said stripping him of his status as a cardinal should not be ruled out.

One of the priests said: “Keith is extremely manipulative and needs help to be challenged out of his denial. If he does not receive treatment, I believe he is still a danger to himself and to others.”

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

SCOTLAND
The Observer

Catherine Deveney
The Observer, Saturday 18 May 2013

When news came last week that Cardinal Keith O’Brien was being exiled from Scotland for “prayer and penance”, memories came flooding back to Lenny, the former priest who has accused O’Brien of inappropriate behaviour.

He remembered being a young priest in the 90s and telling O’Brien, then an archbishop, that he could not pledge allegiance to him and was leaving. The cold chill of O’Brien’s disapproval followed him down the path of the archbishop’s official residence and seeped into him in the dole office where he queued for benefits.

Years later, the two were forced to meet again. O’Brien was a cardinal. Lenny reminded him of an unfortunate prank O’Brien had organised when he was spiritual director at Lenny’s seminary. Ah, the cardinal admitted, other staff had later chastised him for bad judgment. “But these days,” he smiled, “I can do what I like.”

In February, O’Brien resigned after complaints of sexual misconduct, not just from Lenny but from three serving priests in his own diocese. His statement admitted inappropriate conduct “as a priest, archbishop and cardinal”, a clear indication that his sexual choices had been a lifestyle and not isolated indiscretions. Three months on, there has been no official Vatican investigation and is no prospect of one. Some interpreted last week’s statement of O’Brien’s exile as Vatican “action”. To the four complainants, it was another smokescreen. So what has really been going on for the last three months, behind the scenes of the Catholic church?

The trigger for the four complainants going public was not, as some suggested, the resignation of Pope Benedict and the ensuing papal conclave. Their statements were with the nuncio on 8 February. Benedict resigned on the 11th. It was, instead, a message from the nuncio, via an intermediary, that the cardinal would retire to a life of “prayer and seclusion”. It was “Vatican-speak”. The complainants knew that everything was about to be swept under the clerical carpet. Last week’s statement was uncannily familiar. The cardinal would undergo “a period of prayer and penance”. But if the Vatican really wanted that, why had they not insisted on it immediately? Clearly, it wasn’t his sexual misconduct that triggered this statement. So what was it?

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

SCOTLAND
The Observer

Catherine Deveney
The Observer, Saturday 18 May 2013

The four men whose accusations of sexual misconduct led to the dramatic resignation of Britain’s leading Catholic cleric as archbishop have attacked a Vatican announcement last week that he will leave the country for a period of “prayer and penance”. The three priests and one ex-priest, whose complaints were first reported in the Observer in February, say Cardinal Keith O’Brien should have been sent for psychological treatment instead.

One of the priests warns: “Keith is extremely manipulative and needs help to be challenged out of his denial. If he does not receive treatment, I believe he is still a danger to himself and to others.”

The four men are demanding an investigation into O’Brien’s “predatory behaviour” and say that stripping him of his cardinal status should not be ruled out. Despite making statements to the papal nuncio three months ago, they have heard nothing about a formal investigation into the cardinal, who was a vociferous public opponent of homosexuality.

“Removing O’Brien from Scotland might temporarily reduce the embarrassment to the church authorities but this story has not been fully told yet,” says Lenny, the ex-priest complainant. “We have been patient but I’m still waiting to be told what, if any, process the church has in mind.”

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

NORTH DAKOTA/NEBRASKA
Seattle PI

GRAND FORKS, N.D. (AP) — A report by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops shows that the former diocese of the incoming Fargo bishop refused to take part in the group’s annual sexual abuse audit in 2012.

The Lincoln, Neb., district was the only diocese to reject the audit, which began in 2004 over allegations of sexual abuse by priests.

Monsignor John Folda, the bishop-elect for the Fargo diocese, has been a priest in Lincoln for two decades.

A spokeswoman for the Fargo diocese tells the Grand Forks Herald (http://bit.ly/13CBXsU) that Folda is not commenting on specific issues until he becomes bishop.

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

VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

This was the Pope’s message at this morning’s mass in the Sanctae Marthae residence. “The Christian must overcome the temptation to “interfere in the lives of others”

VATICAN INSIDER STAFF
ROME

“We all chat in Church! As Christians we chat!” Pope Francis said during the mass he celebrated in Saint Martha’s House this morning. “The chatter is hurtful. We hurt one another. It is as if we want to put each other down” and “talk and envy do so much harm to the Christian community,” the Pope stressed.

Bergoglio said Christians must overcome the temptation to “interfere in the lives of others.” According to the Vatican Radio’s report, the Pope was keen to underline that envy seriously harms the Christian community and that it is not right to “ tell only half [of the story] that suits us.” …

“On this road, the Holy Father said, “we become Christians of good manners and bad habits.” But how do we do this? Normally, Pope Francis noted, “we do three things”: “We supply misinformation: we tell only half that suits us and not the other half, the other half we do not say because it is not convenient for us. You smile at that … Is that true or not? Did you see that thing? It goes on. The second is defamation: When a person truly has a flaw, it is big, they tell it, ‘like a journalist’ … And the character of this person is ruined. And the third is the slander of saying things that are not true. It is like killing ones brother! All three – disinformation, defamation and slander – are sins! This is sin! It is to slap Jesus in the person of his children, his brothers,” the Pope emphasised.

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

SCOTLAND
Herald Scotland

Saturday 18 May 2013

Hugh Dougherty

Three months of agony may well be over for the Scottish Catholic in the pew, now that the Vatican has finally taken action on the Cardinal Keith O’Brien affair.

But uncertainty remains over what may happen at the end of his six-months’ purdah, and there are disturbing questions about what really went on in seminaries in the past. And why was Cardinal O’Brien made both archbishop and cardinal when his failings must have been well known to many in the Scottish hierarchy and in the Vatican?

But, above all, ordinary Catholics are hurting. It has been shaming, embarrassing and faith-challenging to watch the whole sorry tale staggering on over three months, as the church ties itself in knots over its internal procedures, giving credence to the charge of it keeping parishioners and media alike guessing. There has been a lack of leadership and a woeful lack of appreciation of the damage done by the whole affair to the church’s reputation and, by association, to that of all Christian denominations in Scotland.

What has been lacking, from day one, has been a statement to parishioners, an apology for failings, and a clear indication of how matters will be put right. Instead, ordinary Catholics have been gleaning what they can about their church’s discomfort and actions, or lack of them, by scouring the media for crumbs of conjecture. The church has committed the ultimate sin of public relations, by failing to communicate, first and foremost, directly with its own stakeholders.

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BELGIEN
Grenzecho

Aus Brüssel berichtet Gerd Zeimers

„Die Zeit ist vorbei, dass sexueller Missbrauch durch Geistliche einfach unter den Teppich gekehrt wurde“, hieß es estern in Brüssel, als der erste Tätigkeitsbericht der zehn Kontaktstellen vorgestellt wurde, die die Kirche für Opfer von sexuellem Missbrauch in einem pastoralen Umfeld eingerichtet hatte. Mehr als 300 Opfer meldeten sich im Laufe eines Jahres.

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AUSTRALIEN
Gayosterriech

NSW: Unzählige Kinder sollen ab den 1940er- bis in die 1980er-Jahre in einem Kinderheim der anglikanischen Kirche von England in Lismore bei Brisbane an der Nordküste von New South Wales misshandelt und sexuell missbraucht worden sein. Jetzt verkündete der anglikanische Bischof der Diözese Grafton deshalb seinen Rücktritt.

Bekannt geworden sind die Vorwürfe bereits im November 2005, als eines der Opfer – ein bekannter Fotograf – in einem Interview mit ABC North Coast Radio seine Geschichte erzählte: “Ich lebte im Kinderheim der Kirche von England von 1949 bis 1964”, schilderte ein Opfer. “Die meisten Jahre waren voller Hass, es gab blutig-brutale Auspeitschungen, Bashing, Hunger und sexellen Missbrauch. Es war ein Haus der Hölle und der Wut.” In der Zeit, in der er im Heim war, sollen mehr als 200 Kinder verbal, körperlich und sexuell missbraucht worden sein. “Angst beherrschte unser Leben”, schilderte das Opfer weiter. Die mutmaßliche Täter sollen Mitarbeiter, auf Besuch befindliche Geistliche und andere Personen gewesen sein. Nach dem Bekanntwerden der Vorwürfe kündigte Premierministerin Julia Gillard im November letzten Jahres die Bildung einer königlichen Kommssion zur Prüfung der Vorwürfe an.

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OSTERREICH
Kurier

Ein möglicher Kindesmissbrauch könnte ungesühnt bleiben, weil ein Staatsanwalt lasch ermittelt haben soll.

3. September 2012, Andreasgasse 4 in Wien: Marian beschreibt gegenüber der Polizistin, wie ihn sein Vater schwer sexuell missbraucht haben soll. Irgendwann sagt der Zehnjährige: „Aber er hat mir in den Popo gegriffen.“ Eine Kamera und ein Tonband laufen mit. Das Material landet bei der Staatsanwaltschaft Korneuburg. Die Beamten empfehlen eine kontradiktorische (Anmerkung: schonende) Einvernahme und die Beiziehung einer Kinderpsychologin. In solchen Fällen ist das Usus. Nicht für einen Staatsanwalt in Korneuburg, der das Verfahren einstellte.

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IRELAND
The Journal

CHILDLINE RECEIVED ALMOST 800,000 calls in 2012, but 34 per cent of phonecalls to the service go unanswered.

The ISPCC’s Childline is a a member of Child Helpline International (CHI), which is marking the seventh annual International Child Helpline Day today.

CEO Ashley Balbirnie said that without helplines like Childline, children’s voices would not be heard.

Childline receives no government funding and relies on the generosity of corporate partners and members of the public to maintain the service. ISPCC would like to take this opportunity to thank our dedicated, enthusiastic volunteers throughout the country for their commitment and support, without them we would not be able to provide a helpline for children.

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AUSTRALIA
Special Commission of Inquiry

Friday, 17 May 2013: Transcript – Day 10 [PDF, 806kb]

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JOLIET (IL)
Patch

By Karen Sorensen May 17, 2013

A former assistant principal and athletic director at Joliet Catholic Academy will spend the rest of his life in prison for having sex with a teenage boy in Florida,

William Wert, 56, was living in Sarasota, Fla., when he was arrested for having a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old and charged with seven counts of sexual battery of a minor and four counts of lewd behavior, according to a story in the Joliet Herald News. He was not working as a priest at the time of his arrest.

A jury found Wert guilty, and he was sentenced Thursday, the story said.

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AUSTRALIA
SBS

SOURCE: AAP

A lawyer says the Catholic Church and other organisations that contributed to child sex abuse problems should have to pay for the royal commission.

Catholic Church officials have been likened to the mafia, outlaw motorcycle gangs and drug cartels by a legal activist.

Lawyer and lobbyist Bryan Keon-Cohen said the church, currently at the centre of a royal commission into the handling of child sex abuse complaints, saw itself as above the law and resisted governmental responses to child sex abuse.

Dr Keon-Cohen, the president of community lobby group COIN (Commission of Inquiry Now), said the church’s own mechanisms for investigating abuse, such as Towards Healing and the Melbourne Response, were insufficient and objectionable.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

[with video]

The NSW Special Commission of Inquiry has been told a police investigation into alleged concealment of child sexual assault by senior clergy in the Hunter Valley region had been very thorough, but that a senior serving clergyman had refused to give an interview to investigating officers.

Transcript

EMMA ALBERICI, PRESENTER: The NSW Special Commission of Inquiry has been told that a police investigation into alleged concealment of child sexual assault by senior clergy in the Hunter was very thorough.

Ian Lloyd QC was brought into the inquiry to assess the three briefs of evidence presented to the NSW Director of Public Prosecutions by Strike Force Lantel.

Mr Lloyd’s report revealed that one very senior serving clergyman has refused to give an interview to the strike force.

Suzie Smith reports from Newcastle.

SUZIE SMITH, REPORTER: In the witness box former senior Crown Prosecutor, Ian Lloyd QC. He’s the Commission’s independent witness called in for his professional opinions. Today he was asked about the claim by whistleblower police officer, Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox that Strike Force Lantel was set up to fail. Mr Lloyd told the inquiry the strike force’s briefs were of an excellent standard. He said:

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AUSTRALIA
Brisbane Times

Sitting quietly in the public gallery of a Newcastle court, the man who sparked a royal commission on child sex abuse following a set of explosive, scathing and accusatory claims about the police force and his colleagues has this week watched a queue of his former colleagues paint a very different picture.

One by one, former and serving officers in the Newcastle-Maitland area and from the elite Sex Crimes Squad in Sydney have rejected Detective Inspector Peter Fox’s claims at the Special Commission of Inquiry, one even describing his allegations as ”disgusting”, ”crazy” and that he had ”destroyed” the reputations of good, hard-working officers.

Inspector Fox propelled himself onto the national stage with allegations that a strike force set up to investigate allegations of abuse cover-up within the church had itself failed because of a whitewash by senior officers.

He alleged that his superiors ordered him to stop investigating the alleged cover-up of abuse committed by a priest, Father Denis McAlinden – however, Commissioner Margaret Cunneen, SC, has been told he was in fact never part of the police strike force, code-named Lantle, established to investigate the so-called cover-up.

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AUSTRALIA
Failed Messiah

“…Saturday in the synagogue Australia Chabad’s] senior spiritual leader, Rabbi Zvi Telsner, delivered a stern sermon from the pulpit. “Who gave you permission to talk to anyone? Which rabbi gave you permission?” he thundered, without mentioning any names. Zephaniah and his wife Chaya walked out in a spontaneous protest with six others. Rabbi Telsner insists his remarks were not directed at any individual. “It’s like calling someone fat,” he tells me. “If you think you’re fat that’s up to you.…”

The Australian has a very long article today on the Chabad child sexual abuse scandal and the impact it has had on the Waks family. What follows are excerpts from that article:

Manny Waks pays the price for speaking about sexual abuse in an Orthodox Jewish community
KATE LEGGE • The Australian

…[Zephania Waks] prays on the Sabbath. He walks to the synagogue. He studies the Torah. He observes the rituals of the Chabad. Why has this solid pillar of his community become persona non grata? Waks believes his so-called sin was supporting his eldest son Manny, 37, who went to the media in July 2011 with allegations he was sexually abused as a teenager at the Yeshivah Centre, where school and synagogue squat in the heartland of this tight-knit group of worshippers.

The fears that choke child-abuse victims in every community cast an even darker shadow in orthodox circles, where dirty laundry is typically dealt with in-house. The archaic concept of Mesirah – the prohibition on reporting another Jew’s wrongdoing to non-Jewish authorities – still exerts a powerful hold. Zephaniah began to feel a bristling towards him from the first Sabbath after his son’s disclosures. That Saturday in the synagogue the most senior spiritual leader, Rabbi Zvi Telsner, delivered a stern sermon from the pulpit. “Who gave you permission to talk to anyone? Which rabbi gave you permission?” he thundered, without mentioning any names. Zephaniah and his wife Chaya walked out in a spontaneous protest with six others. Rabbi Telsner insists his remarks were not directed at any individual. “It’s like calling someone fat,” he tells me. “If you think you’re fat that’s up to you.” He had dismissed as “absolute rubbish” any suggestion he sought to discourage witnesses from stepping forward.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

KATE LEGGE From: The Australian May 18, 2013

TO outsiders, Zephaniah Waks blends in with other bearded orthodox Jewish men dressed in black on the footpaths of the East St Kilda neighbourhood where he has dwelt for almost three decades.

But to insiders who live, work, gossip and pray here, his presence reminds them of things they’d rather forget. He is a stone in their shoe: uncomfortable, irritating, difficult to extract. For the past two years he has been singled out for the kind of shunning that others not as stubborn or as flinty or as sure of their stand would sooner flee than endure.

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Examiner

THE Anglican Diocese of Grafton said while it regretted Bishop Keith Slater’s “error in judgment”, it commended “his honest acknowledgment of mistakes in this regard”.

Following the resignation of the Right Reverend Keith Slater as Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Grafton yesterday, Archdeacon Greg Ezzy will fulfil the role of administrator until the appointment of a new bishop.

Archdeacon Ezzy said the diocese was satisfied that action had been taken to fix past mistakes and it will act on any identified in the future.

“We regret the serious error of judgment made by Bishop Keith Slater when he responded to complaints of abuse which occurred at the North Coast Children’s Home some decades ago but we commend our bishop for his honest acknowledgement of mistakes in this regard,” Archdeacon Ezzy said.

“We support the genuine apology he has made to survivors of abuse. We affirm him in his generosity and courage in resigning his episcopate as an expression of the serious effects that these decisions may have brought about for some of those survivors.

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

AUSTRALIA
Daily Examiner

THE Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Grafton has resigned because some victims of sexual abuse who came to the diocese for support or compensation were turned away.

The Right Reverend Keith Slater yesterday issued a statement admitting he failed in his duty to follow protocol by not referring sexual abuse cases at Lismore’s North Coast Children’s Home to the professional standards director “as they should have been”.

The abuse took place at the home over a number of decades between the 1940s and 1980s.

The bishop’s comments relate to cases reported to the diocese from 2006 on.

Yesterday he apologised to victims who were not given access to the professional standards director which could have helped with ongoing police investigations.

Abuse cases allegedly occurred at the home between 1940 and 1980

In 2006, complainants started to come forward

In 2007 the diocese settled 39 claims through payments. Two others were not ready to settle.

“After the majority of claims had been settled, seven more people came forward,” Rev Slater said.

“The Diocese received these additional claims between 2008 and 2011.

“A few, but not all, alleged sexual abuse while resident at the home.”

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Bruce MacKenzie

The Anglican Diocese of Grafton says it is developing a new approach to better support victims of abuse following the shock resignation of a local bishop.

The Right Reverend Keith Slater resigned as bishop yesterday over his handling of about 50 claims of acts of physical, sexual and psychological abuse at the North Coast Children’s Home in Lismore, on the New South Wales mid-north coast.

The abuse took place between the 1940s and 1980s.

Reverend Slater acknowledged that he did not pass on some matters to the church’s professional standards director for investigation.

He has apologised to those involved, and says the question of legal liability clouded the issue.

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

ILLINOIS
Southtown Star

By Janet Lundquist jlundquist@stmedianetwork.com May 17, 2013

A former athletic director at Joliet Catholic High School was sentenced to life in prison by a Florida judge Thursday for having sex with a teenage boy.

A Sarasota County jury convicted William Wert, 56, of sex abuse charges in February.

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KENTUCKY
Herald-Leader

By Josh Kegley — jkegley@herald-leader.com

A support group for clergy sex abuse victims is urging the Roman Catholic Diocese of Lexington to investigate and punish a priest suspended over sex abuse allegations. The priest is living in McCreary County.

David Clohessy, executive director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), recently sent a letter to Lexington Bishop Ronald Gainer asking that the diocese take action against Carroll Howlin, a Roman Catholic priest living in Whitley City who was suspended by the Joliet, Ill., diocese on accusations of abusing teenage boys.

“We want you to take real steps — now — to get this suspended, credibly accused serial predator priest away from children,” the letter said.

However, a spokesman for the Lexington diocese said there was little it could do, since Howlin was employed and suspended by a different diocese.

“He’s not an employee of the Diocese of Lexington, nor is he a priest of the Diocese of Lexington,” spokesman Tom Shaughnessy said.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Catherine Clifford

A 59-year-old former Catholic priest has been charged with 64 additional offences relating to alleged historical child sexual abuse.

The charges were laid by officers from Strike Force Glenroe, which comprises detectives from the Sex Crimes Squad, New England Local Area Command and Barwon Local Area Command.

In October 2012, 25 charges were laid against the ex-priest connected to the alleged sexual abuse of three girls in the 1970s and 80s.

Detectives continued their investigations and, in January, laid a further 35 charges against the ex-priest in connection with the alleged sexual assaults of six alter boys in the Catholic dioceses of Moree and Armidale.

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AUSTRALIA
Advertiser

Read Bishop Keith Slater’s full statement
Read the Diocese’s full statement

By Nick Ralston May 18, 2013

An Anglican bishop has resigned over his failure to properly pass on child sex abuse complaints at a children’s home on the NSW north coast.

Bishop Keith Slater has stood down as the Archbishop of Grafton apologising for his ”past failings” in the management of claims of abuse at the North Coast Children’s Home in Lismore.

”I apologise to those who bravely came forward to tell their story of abuse and were turned away,” he said in a statement. ”I acknowledge the pain and further damage that this response may have caused.”

In 2006 the Anglican Diocese of Grafton received a number of claims alleging acts of ”physical, psychological and sexual abuse” at the home between the 1940s and the 1980s.

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UNITED STATES
Dickinson Press

GRAND FORKS — An annual report, sponsored by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, says an independent audit and study found 2012 had the biggest drop in allegations of sexual abuse by priests in a decade.

By: Stephen J. Lee, Forum News Service

GRAND FORKS — An annual report, sponsored by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, says an independent audit and study found 2012 had the biggest drop in allegations of sexual abuse by priests in a decade.

But the report also singles out one diocese as the only one that refuses to take part in the annual audit and data collection of compliance with the conference’s own 2004 Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People: the Diocese of Lincoln, in Nebraska.

That may be of interest to people in eastern North Dakota since the bishop-elect for the Fargo diocese, Monsignor John Folda, is coming from Lincoln, where he has been a priest for two decades.

Appointed last month to replace now-Archbishop Samuel Aquila, who is in Denver, Folda is to be ordained bishop in Fargo on June 19.

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AUSTRALIA
The Right Reverend Keith Slater – BISHOP OF THE ANGLICAN DIOCESE OF GRAFTON

Following is a public statement by the Right Reverend Keith Slater regarding the management of claims of abuse by the Diocese of Grafton at the North Coast Children’s Home in Lismore NSW.

Since 2006 the Diocese of Grafton has received a number of claims alleging acts of physical, psychological and sexual abuse at the North Coast Children’s Home in Lismore NSW. The abuse
took place over a number of decades (1940’s to 1980’s). The alleged perpetrators included staff at the Home, visiting clergy, members of holiday host families and other residents.

When the claims were initially received it was necessary to clarify the Diocese of Grafton’s legal liability for the actions at the Home. Legal opinion stated that the Diocese did not have a legal responsibility. However, given the Church’s recognised connection with the Home, the Diocese resolved that it did have a moral responsibility to respond to these claims and chose to settle them as expediently as it could.

In 2007 the Diocese settled thirty-nine of these claims through a payment negotiated with the solicitors acting for the claimants. Two other claimants were not ready to settle at that time.

In the cases of sexual abuse, and where the perpetrators were identified, the Diocese informed
the Police and received advice that Police investigations had been instigated. This related specifically to allegations against two members of clergy who were still alive at the time the claims were presented.

After the majority of claims had been settled, seven more people came forward. The Diocese received these additional claims between 2008 and 2011, some through a solicitor; some complainants chose to write directly to me as Bishop. A few, but not all, alleged sexual abuse while resident at the Home.

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AUSTRALIA
Anglican Diocese of Grafton

Following the resignation of the Right Reverend Keith Slater as Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Grafton today, Archdeacon Greg Ezzy will fulfil the role of Administrator until the appointment of a new Bishop.

On behalf of the interim leadership Archdeacon Ezzy stated today “We regret the serious error of judgment made by Bishop Keith Slater, when he responded to complaints of abuse which occurred at the North Coast Children’s Home some decades ago but we commend our Bishop for his honest acknowledgement of mistakes in this regard.

We support the genuine apology he has made to survivors of abuse. We affirm him in his generosity and courage in resigning his Episcopate as an expression of the serious effects that these decisions may have brought about for some of those survivors.

Along with our Bishop we grieve for those who continue to suffer as a result of past abuse.

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Examiner

THE Right Reverend Keith Slater has resigned as Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Grafton.

Read Bishop Keith Slater’s full statement
Read the Diocese’s full statement

Bishop Slater said he accepts full responsibility for the incorrect management of claims of abuse alleging acts of physical, psychological and sexual abuse at the North Coast Children’s Home in Lismore.

The Bishop said the Diocese had adopted a Professional Standards Ordinance and Protocol in 2004 which outlines the obligations and processes for managing complaints of sexual abuse.

Initial findings from an audit in January indicated that the Professional Standards Protocols had not always been applied, specifically in matters associated with claims of abuse at the North Coast Children’s Home.

“I acknowledge that I was responsible for ensuring full compliance with the Protocol and that I failed in this duty,” Bishop Slater said in a media statement.

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AUSTRALIA
Northern Star

Peter Weekes 18th May 201

THE resignation of Grafton’s Anglican Bishop yesterday over mishandling allegations of physical and sexual abuse at a Lismore children’s home has “come too late” for victims, one said last night.

“He has been misbehaving, doing the wrong thing, not acknowledging children of abuse and not doing what he was supposed to do to help them for a very long time,” said Tommy Campion, who was a resident for 14 years from the age of two at North Coast Children’s Home.

In a statement Bishop Keith Slater yesterday apologised for his past failings in managing allegations of physical, psychological and sexual abuse at the home between 1940 and the 1980s.

“As a sign of my recognition of these matters and in the hope that it may contribute towards healing and wholeness for those who are abused I forthwith resign from being the Bishop,” he said.

He said the diocese had received a number of allegations of abuse.

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VERMONT
Bennington Banner

Wednesday May 15, 2013

NEAL P. GOSWAMI
Senior Staff Writer

BENNINGTON — The Legislature agreed Tuesday to extend the statute of limitations on crimes committed against children after a local prosecutor sought changes following the trial of former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky.

40-year statute of limitations

Sexual crimes committed against a child will now have a 40-year statute of limitations. Current law only allows for prosecution of sexual assault, lewd and lascivious conduct, sexual exploitation of a minor within 10 years after it is reported or until a child turns 24.

Bennington County Chief Deputy State’s Attorney Christina Rainville said the Sandusky case was a “watershed moment” for her and led her to seek a change in Vermont law. She approached Bennington County Democratic Sen. Dick Sears, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, to seek an extended limit.

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VERMONT
Bennington Banner

Wednesday May 15, 2013
I grew up in State College, Pa., home of Penn State University and its fabled football program. In high school I walked the halls and attended classes with the children of Penn State football royalty: A couple of Paternos, some Sanduskys. We were the Little Lions, a play on the college mascot the Nittany Lion.

In 2011 when it came to light that former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky had been sexually abusing boys for a number of years, I simply didn’t believe it. It seems that as I wrapped up my journalism degree at Penn State, children were being irrevocably harmed by a predator whose face we’d all seen on the sidelines at Beaver Stadium for years.

Later, as I read the 23-page grand jury report about the alleged abuse, my heart fell and my stomach turned. There were too many victims for these allegations not to have some truth to them. I read that fellow State High alum Mike McQueary had witnessed Sandusky raping a 10-year-old boy in a football building in 2002. I felt physically sick. McQueary reportedly followed the chain of command, and within the scope of the law reported what he saw to his superior, Penn State Football Coach Joe Paterno.

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VERMONT/NEW YORK
WNYT

[with video]

By: Abigail Bleck

BENNINGTON and ALBANY–Mark Lyman lives and breathes the Statute of Limitations in New York. Both as an advocate for people who have been sexually abused and as a victim himself. Prosecutors in the Empire State have a five year window after a sexual abuse victim turns 18 or five years after it is reported–whichever comes first.

“A significant number of people go into their 30s, 40s and even 50s before they decide to come forward or even remember of the sexual abuse,” explains Mark Lyman of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, in Albany.

Vermont, however, accomplished what New York has not. Just this week in Montpelier, the House and Senate increased the statute of limitations for sexual abuse against a child from 24 years to 40.

“This is clearly having an effect on our ability to protect today’s children and really to do something about it,” says Christina Rainville, Bennington County’s Chief Deputy State’s Attorney and the prosecutor who helped legislators draft the bill.

Rainville believes the change was necessary because children are often too fearful to report abuse at the hands of an authority figure. They also don’t always realize–or remember–that it occurred, especially with young children. And for those who do, reliving the pain necessary for a successful prosecution isn’t always possible.

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AUSTRALIA
Special Commission of Inquiry

Transcripts

Thursday, 16 May 2013: Transcript – Day 9 [PDF, 1222.438kb]

Wednesday, 15 May 2013: Transcript – Day 8 [PDF, 702kb]
Tuesday, 14 May 2013: Transcript – Day 7 [PDF, 1170kb]
Monday, 13 May 2013: Transcript – Day 6 [PDF, 1130kb]

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NEW HAMPSHIRE
Concord Monitor

By TRICIA L. NADOLNY
Monitor staff
Friday, May 17, 2013

The Pembroke parents who accused a Concord priest of making inappropriate sexual comments to their son during the sacrament of confession will be paid $2,000 to settle the lawsuit they filed in February, according to a spokesman from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Manchester.

The settlement, reached Wednesday, stipulates that the money will go to future educational costs of the 14-year-old boy, who is a student at St. John Regional School.

Spokesman Kevin Donovan said the settlement is not an admission of guilt by the Rev. George Desjardins, who was accused of talking about pornography and rape in a December 2012 confession held during the school day. Donovan called the payment “minimal” and a “means to an end, so the community can move on.”

The parents, who are not being named to protect the name of their son, maintain that Desjardins’s comments were unacceptable, their lawyer, Peter Hutchins, said. In the lawsuit filed at Hillsborough County Superior Court, they accused Desjardins of asking the boy whether he had “engaged in watching pornographic material and masturbating.” When the boy said that he hadn’t and that he had a girlfriend, Desjardins told the boy to use “rubbers” and warned him to be careful because a girl can “yell ‘rape’ ” during sex, the lawsuit continued.

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BRIDGEPORT (CT)
CT Post

The Diocese of Bridgeport has been without a bishop for longer than one year and now “a buyout offer to 60 employees” raises questions about diocesan financial health. The past two men who held this office were promoted to grander positions, in some way acknowledging the value of this episcopal position as a stepping stone to political advancement. Fairfield County is known for its overall wealth and income per capita as well as for the glaring gap between those at the top and bottom of such demographics.

In recent years the diocese has decreased from 87 to 82 parishes. Schools have been closed and the number of priests and religious serving has decreased while the average age of those serving has increased. The diocese suffered episodes of sexual abuse claims with settlements exceeding $37.7 million 10 years ago as well as several other publicized clergy scandals more recently. Bishop William Lori organized a very disciplined financial reporting system. He was personally instrumental in annual appeal fundraising as well as endowment activity. (In a way it is strange that diocesan statistics continue to reference 460,000 Catholics while local observers note fewer faithful in the pews. Is it also curious there seem to be no statistics or stories regarding the healing journeys of those who were abused by clergy as youth whether there were settlements or not?)

What Bishop Lori failed to accomplish was to be open, accountable and transparent when it came to financial details of the diocese. There is no publication of any audits or other financial reports on the diocesan site since June 30, 2008. The three specific reports available (as examples of financial stewardship) are not close to comprehensive representation of the entirety of Catholic activity in the boundaries of the diocese, but merely a few slices of the dollars at work or at rest. The latest announcement of retirement offers to employees at Jewett Avenue provides a confirmation to rumors in recent months about extremely tight budgets, school finances under pressure, and division of full-time positions into multiple part-time jobs to avoid the expense of benefits, particularly healthcare.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

MICHAEL MCKENNA, AMANDA GEARING From: The Australian May 18, 2013

MORE victims have made child-sex allegations against senior Anglican clergymen at a shut-down north Queensland boarding school, as church officials confirmed they had sat on a 2004 report about complaints from Britain into one of the suspected serial abusers.

Former students Mark McClintock and Greg Shaw have this week come forward with allegations against Robert Waddington, headmaster at St Barnabas boarding school, in Ravenshoe southwest of Cairns, in the 1960s. Waddington later returned to Britain and rose to become head of education for the Church of England and Dean of Manchester.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

STUART RINTOUL From: The Australian May 18, 2013

BARRISTER Bryan Keon-Cohen has likened the Catholic Church to outlaw motorcycle gangs, drug cartels and people-smugglers over its treatment of child-abuse victims.

Speaking at a legal conference yesterday, Dr Keon-Cohen, president of abuse organisation Commission of Inquiry Now, said the church had put the welfare of priests above concern for child rape victims, treated abuse as a sin rather than a crime, and its protocols for dealing with abuse were insufficient and objectionable.

Dr Keon-Cohen, who came to prominence as a barrister in the Mabo case, said the church hierarchy had put Catholic doctrine before the law.

“(This) places these officials . . . in the same smelly bed as outlaw motorcycle gangs, the mafia, drug cartels and people-smugglers,” Dr Keon-Cohen said.

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AUSTRALIA
Illawarra Mercury

By CYDONEE MARDON May 18, 2013

The man co-ordinating the Catholic Church’s response to the royal commission into child sex abuse visited Wollongong this week.

Francis Sullivan, chief executive of The Truth, Justice and Healing Council, met Bishop Peter Ingham, clergy, religious school principals, and employees of the Catholic Education Office, CatholicCare and Office of the Bishop.

Mr Sullivan walked through the process of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse and “gave an understanding of the public and private hearings”.

“This is our opportunity not to let down people who have been damaged by the Church,” Mr Sullivan said.

Bishop Ingham again apologised to anyone in the diocese “who has been harmed”.

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CANADA
CBC News

Residential school survivors in Williams Lake, B.C., are reuniting this weekend to remember and heal.

Though St. Joseph’s Mission School was torn down in the 1980s, the painful memories are still fresh for the school’s former students.

Esketemc Chief Fred Robbins was taken to the residential school when he was six years old.

“My aunt and uncles brought me, dropped me off, and said, ‘We’ll see you in 11 months’ and left,” he said. “Then they shuffled me into the dormitory. The first week all I did was cry. All I wanted to do was go home.”

Yesterday, a commemorative monument was unveiled in the cemetery at the former school — a tribute, Robbins says, to those who died at the school and those who are still healing.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

The “black pope” has been placed in charge of the International Union of Superiors General for the next three years

GIACOMO GALEAZZI
VATICAN CITY

Fr. Antonio Nicolas (Superior General of the Society of Jesus since 2008) is the new President of the International Union of Superiors General. The UISG represents the superior generals of more than 200 male religious congregations.

In 2006 and 2009, when the Vatican would not do anything its Salesian Secretary of State, Tarcisio Bertone was not okay with, his fellow Salesian Fr. Pascual Chávez Villanueva, Rector Major of the Society of St. John Bosco, served two mandates as head of the Union. Not long after the first Jesuit in history was elected Pope, the world leader of the Society of Jesus has now been appointed as head of the UISG.

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