ABUSE TRACKER

AUSTRALIA
The Age

May 3, 2013

Barney Zwartz

The Christian Brothers Catholic order spent more than $1 million defending serial paedophile Robert Best, the order has told the Victorian inquiry into how the churches handled child sexual abuse.

The order also paid $10,000 to a private investigator to spy on a victim of another abuser, Ted Dowlan.

It paid for legal advice to protect Dowlan’s assets from being paid to victims in civil lawsuits, and gave him $125,000 when he left the order.

But the brothers appearing on behalf of the order denied there were cultural problems within it.

It apologised for the “repulsive” and “inexcusable” betrayal by the abusers, and said most of the offenders had themselves been abused earlier.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC – The World Today

[with audio]

The Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse has been told the first alleged instance of abuse by a Christian Brother in Victoria was in 1934, but it wasn’t reported until 65 years later. The inquiry has been hearing testimony this morning from the Christian Brothers religious order. It ran some of the institutions where abuse was reported in Victoria, including St Alipius Primary School in Ballarat, and St Vincent’s orphanage.

Transcript

ASHLEY HALL: The Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse has heard that the first alleged instance of abuse in that state by a Christian Brother was in 1934, though it wasn’t reported for 65 years.

The inquiry has been hearing this morning from the Christian Brothers religious order.

The order ran some of the institutions where abuse has been reported including at St Alipius Primary School in Ballarat and at St Vincent’s orphanage.

Madeleine Morris has been monitoring the inquiry and she joins us now from Melbourne.

Madeleine, much of the questioning this morning related to whether the Christian Brothers had covered up for a number of paedophile brothers who worked in its institutions in Victoria. Just remind us, first of all, about who some of those brothers were.

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AUSTRALIA
Brisbane Times

May 3, 2013

Patrick Caruana and Daniel Fogarty
AAP

The Christian Brothers say it was an “accident of history” that four pedophiles taught at a small Victorian school at the same time.

The Catholic order denies having a culture which encouraged pedophilia, despite confirming more than 200 cases of abuse in Victoria and that four of their members abused children at Ballarat’s St Alipius primary school in the 1970s.

The order’s deputy province leader, Brother Julian McDonald, said he had no explanation for why the pedophiles emerged at the same place.

“It’s certainly an accident of history,” he told a Victorian parliamentary inquiry on Friday.

“Was there a culture that encouraged that? I don’t believe there is evidence that there was.”

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

Four paedophiles in same parish an accident of history, Christian Brothers tell parliamentary inquiry

A CATHOLIC order at the centre of Victoria’s child abuse inquiry says the existence of a cluster of paedophile priests in Ballarat at the same time was “an accident of history”.

At least four Christian Brothers at Ballarat’s St Alipius Parish School in the early 1970s were child sex offenders, as was parish priest Gerald Ridsdale.

But the order’s deputy province leader Brother Julian McDonald told the parliamentary inquiry there was nothing to suggest a cultural problem.

“I have no explanation for that … It’s certainly an accident of history. Was there a culture that encouraged that? I don’t believe there is evidence that there was.”

The inquiry heard six brothers had been jailed, four of whom remain in the order.

Brother McDonald said a further six, none of whom now had any contact with children, had been investigated by police without conviction.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

THE Christian Brothers admit they were aware of abuse complaints against two brothers at Ballarat in Victoria but failed to tell police.

The Catholic order had at least four confirmed pedophiles working in Ballarat in the 1970s, deputy province leader Brother Julian McDonald told a Victorian parliamentary inquiry.

He had no explanation for why so many pedophiles served in the Ballarat parish at the same time.

“It’s certainly an accident of history,” Brother McDonald said.

“Was there a culture that encouraged that? I don’t believe there is evidence that there was.”

But Brother McDonald admitted the order’s failure to alert police was because leaders in those days saw offending as a “moral failure”, and abusers were merely reprimanded.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Heute

Missbrauch auch in evangelischen Heimen

Lange Zeit musste sich fast nur die katholische Kirche für Missbrauch in Kinderheimen verantworten. Aber auch in evangelischen Heimen wurden Kinder schikaniert, geschlagen und sexuell missbraucht. Die Uni Bochum arbeitete die Fälle in einer Studie auf.

Trotz erster positiver Schritte gegen sexuellen Missbrauch fehlt nach den Worten des Missbrauchsbeauftragten Johannes-Wilhelm Rörig eine umfassende, wirkungsvolle Ächtung des Verbrechens. Notwendig sei auch der Ausbau des Hilfesystems, sagte Rörig am Donnerstag auf dem 34. Deutschen Evangelischen Kirchentag in Hamburg. “Da liegt noch ganz viel Arbeit vor uns.” Eine Aufklärung über sexuellen Missbrauch ist nach Auffassung der früheren Missbrauchsbeauftragten Christine Bergmann nur mit eigener emotionaler Beteiligung möglich. Um Kinder zu schützen, müsse man das Leid an sich herankommen lassen.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

SHANNON DEERY From: Herald Sun May 03, 2013

Frank Klep at the Magistrates Court. Picture: John Hart Source: Herald Sun
FIVE new complainants have accused a former Salesian college principal of assaulting them, a court has heard.

Frank Klep, 69, was charged with multiple counts of indecent assault allegedly committed between 1974 and 1984 earlier this year.

At a Melbourne Magistrates Court committal hearing today the court heard five new alleged victims had made allegations of indecent assault by Mr Klep to police.

It is alleged the former Rupertswood College sexually assaulted students during the 1970s and 1980s at the school and another school in Chadstone.

The Salesians have previously denied allegations they moved Mr Klep to Samoa after investigations into sex assault allegations began.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

May 3, 2013

Belinda Merhab
AAP

More complainants have come forward alleging they were sexually abused by two accused pedophile priests, a Melbourne court has heard.

Former Rupertswood College principal Frank Gerard Klep, 69, of Burwood, appeared for a committal mention on Friday over six charges of indecently assaulting a male at Sunbury and Chadstone in 1974.

The hearing was adjourned to May 31 after the Melbourne Magistrates Court was told another five complainants had come forward with allegations against Klep.

Eleven fresh charges have also been laid against former Eltham parish priest Wilfred James Baker.

The 76-year-old, who appeared in court clutching a walking frame, is now facing 25 charges after several new complainants came forward.

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NEW JERSEY
San Francisco Chronicle

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — The New Jersey priest who attended youth retreats and heard confessions from youngsters in defiance of a lifetime ban has resigned.

The Rev. Michael Fugee submitted his request and it was promptly accepted by Newark Archbishop John Myers on Thursday evening.

Archdiocese spokesman Jim Goodness tells The Star-Ledger of Newark (http://bit.ly/10wiDrZ ) Fugee remains a priest but no longer can say Mass, perform sacramental work or represent himself as an active member of the clergy.

The 52-year-old was convicted in 2003 of fondling a teenage boy. However, that verdict was vacated because of judicial error.

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NEW JERSEY
Asbury Park Press

Editorial

It’s time for Newark Archbishop John J. Myers to step down. He has turned a blind eye to legally binding agreements that forbid the Rev. Michael Fugee, who was convicted of groping a teenage boy, from working with children.

Myers has shown an appalling lack of judgment and willful misreading of a binding agreement Fugee entered into with the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office six years ago. The agreement said he would not work in any position involving children, would have no affiliation with youth groups or attend youth retreats, and would not hear the confessions of minors.

Fugee agreed to the deal to avoid being retried on charges that he fondled the genitals of a 14-year-old boy during wrestling matches on two occasions.

And yet, despite the clear order, he has been working with children, attending weekend youth retreats in Marlboro and at Lake Hopatcong, according to The Star-Ledger. Fugee also has traveled with members of the youth group of St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church in Colts Neck on an annual pilgrimage to Canada. At all three locations, he reportedly heard confessions from minors behind closed doors.

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SOUTH CAROLINA
Greenville Online

Written by
E. Richard Walton
Staff Writer

A 58-year-old Greenville man faces five new charges in a sex case involving children while he was employed at a local church authorities said.

Timothy Lee Anders, of 6 Concord St., had already faced 31 charges in a sex abuse case that was revealed earlier this week, said Lt. Mike Hildebrand, a spokesman for the Greenville County Sheriff’s Office.

The new case against Anders charges him with criminal sexual conduct with a female under age 11, according to warrants. The charges are both first-degree and second-degree charges, according to warrants.

The several depicted acts were alleged to have occurred at the victim’s house or other places between April, 1984 and April, 1988, according to the warrants.

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VIRGINIA
WAVY

CHESAPEAKE, Va. (WAVY) – A youth leader at a Suffolk church charged last year with sexual assault has been identified as 18-year-old Jemell Joe.

Joe is facing allegations of sodomy and aggravated sexual assault. Police said one victim came forward to police about the abuse, and several others followed. Joe was arrested in December 2012.

The alleged abuse took place while the victims were in the care of Joe at Suffolk’s Gates of Heaven Church.

He is currently behind bars at Western Tidewater Jail, where he has been denied bond.

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AUSTRALIA
Radio Australia

The Christian Brothers of the Catholic Church have apologised to victims for what it calls an “indefensible” record on child sexual abuse.

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AUSTRALIA
Canberra Times

May 3, 2013

Opinion

Wokkapedia

Admit nothing. The phrase, dead and colourless, was the match that ignited a slow burn of anger and indignation.

The words were mentioned in hearings this week at the Victorian inquiry into child sexual abuse by churches. The speaker was the Bishop of Ballarat, Paul Bird. He was asked by committee member Andrea Coote about a document from 20 years ago by Australian bishops in which the priorities for churches in child abuse matters were to avoid scandal, protect the priest, concede nothing and, after all that, treat the victim as secondary. Bishop Bird replied: “We were listening to insurers and lawyers, who said ‘admit nothing’.”

Things had now changed. The diocese had settled 107 of 166 claims.

Also at the hearing, committee member David O’Brien asked former Ballarat Bishop Peter Connors:

Was there a persistent disregard for victims?

Yes.

Peter Rush, the CEO of Catholic Church Insurance, told the inquiry that “admit nothing” had been the strategy – “wrongly” – in advising officials. It was the “way insurers ran liability”. It had ceased doing so from the mid-’90s.

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AUSTRALIA
Health Canal

Young girls are just as likely as young boys to be sexually abused by a member of the clergy, a new QUT study has shown.

The report, ‘They Did Not Believe Me’: Adult Survivors’ Perspectives of Child Sexual Abuse by Personnel in Christian Institutions, is the first of its kind in Australia relying on personal experiences rather than church data.

Dr Jodi Death from QUT’s Crime and Justice Research Centre said the results, published yesterday, contradicted previous studies showing young boys were more likely to be sexually assaulted in the church.

“Past studies, which have relied on the church’s data, have shown that boys are represented in about 80 per cent of sexual abuse cases, but we saw an almost even split (49 percent male and 51 per cent female),” Dr Death said.

“It may be because traditionally women and girls had a lesser position and voice in the church so the abuse against girls is less likely to be recorded.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

The organisations in charge of compensating Victorian Catholics abused by clergy have denied trying to buy the silence of victims and say they have nothing to hide.

Between them the Melbourne Response and Towards Healing have dealt with more than 700 sexual abuse complaints and say they have the interests of victims at heart.

The organisations admitted at a Victorian parliamentary inquiry on Friday there have been mistakes, but said their job was to make recompense by compensating victims.

Melbourne Response compensation panel chairman David Curtain QC said he was for victims, not against them.

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TEXAS
The Dallas Morning News

By MEGAN GRAY Denton Record-Chronicle mgray@dentonrc.com

The lead pastor at the Church of Corinth has posted bond and is free after spending hours behind bars on suspicion of having sexually abused a girl.

The Rev. Jeffrey Dale Williams, 47, faces a charge of attempted sexual performance of a child, a third-degree felony. According to the arrest affidavit, he tried to persuade a girl, whose age has not been disclosed, to take off her clothes. He was arrested Wednesday.

On Thursday, the church said in a statement that “we have no knowledge of nor any reason to suspect any inappropriate behavior. We intend to and will fully investigate the allegations, and we will fully cooperate with the authorities.”

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CANADA
CBC News

The financially-troubled Diocese of Moncton could soon face even more problems with several lawsuits in the works, says an Ontario lawyer.

Robert Talach says he has about 15 clients who don’t want to go through the church’s compensation process.

At least one lawsuit has already been filed, but the litigation could drag on for years, he said.

“I mean, there’ll be disclosures the rest of this year, the rest of this decade,” said Talach.

“It’s an individual consideration when a person comes forward,” he said.

“You know, a victim who may only be in their 20s or early-30s now is probably not prepared to speak about this … to anybody.”

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CANADA
CTV

[with video]

Kevin Bissett, THE CANADIAN PRESS
Published Thursday, May 2, 2013

MONCTON, N.B. — The archbishop of a Roman Catholic diocese in New Brunswick says he has been forced to sell assets and reduce staff in order to cover the costs of about $5 million in compensation to people who allege they were sexually abused by priests.
The number of employees within the Moncton Catholic diocese will be cut to 14 from 20 and the diocese will sell its office and a vacant piece of land, both in Dieppe, Archbishop Valery Vienneau said Thursday.

Vienneau said the office, which costs about $60,000 per year to operate, will be appraised and the diocese will seek a fair market price for it.

“We’re not going to sell it at a sacrifice price,” Vienneau said.

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UNITED STATES
Public Catholic

May 2, 2013 By Rebecca Hamilton

“Whoever harms one of these little ones that believes in me, it would be better for him that a millstone were hung about his neck and he was cast into the sea.”

I support the bishops.

How many times, over how many issues, have I said that?

I support them whenever and however they teach and preach the Gospel of Christ. I support them in their battles against secularism and the social dissolution around us. I support them in their efforts to evangelize this great Church and inspire the people of God to stand up and speak out for Jesus.
I support the bishops.

Except when I don’t.

When a bishop stops preaching Christ and Him crucified and starts parsing legalities in order to get around rules he wrote himself and which he gave us his word he would keep, I take a look at him. When a bishop does this in order to excuse another violation of the promises to stop endangering children by placing them in the care of priests who are known child abusers, I don’t follow him.

A case in point is Archbishop Myers of New Jersey. Archbishop Myers has evidently placed a priest who is a convicted child abuser in a position where he will be in extensive contact with children.

Let me repeat that: Archbishop Myers put a convicted child abuser in ministry to children.

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DELAWARE
The News Journal

Written by
BETH MILLER
The News Journal

CLAYTON — It was a summer Sunday in 2002 and Paul Mast had a message that required special delivery. It wasn’t a song, though this tenor could have done that. It wasn’t a sermon or a liturgy or a prayer or anything that would arrive in formal wrapping.

It was a lament, a heart cry, a burden of the soul – and he would not smother it.

So after celebrating Mass with the congregation in Ocean City, Md., the soft-spoken priest – who grew up in Clayton and had served the Catholic Diocese of Wilmington for three decades – sat down for the closing prayer.

That posture was unusual enough, but more surprising to those in the pews were the words that came next – and the weeping that accompanied them.

“If anyone here has ever been sexually abused by a priest, I sincerely apologize to you,” Mast said. “If you are the parents or grandparents of someone who was abused, I sincerely apologize to you. I need to tell you that so that you know I am hurting, too.”

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NEW JERSEY
The Record

BY JEFF GREEN
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD

The Rev. Michael Fugee, the Catholic priest who allegedly groped a Wyckoff boy a decade ago and who has been at the heart of a raging controversy that has engulfed the Newark Archdiocese, has resigned from the ministry, the archdiocese said Thursday.

Fugee, 52, wrote a letter to Archbishop John J. Myers on Thursday afternoon announcing his resignation from his two positions within the archdiocese. Jim Goodness, Myers’ spokesman, said the archbishop accepted the resignation.

“He is no longer active as a priest, that’s effective today,” Goodness said of Fugee.

Fugee, whose 2003 conviction on a charge of aggravated criminal sexual contact was overturned by an appeals court, was recently revealed to have attended several youth group retreats in apparent violation of an pre-trial agreement with prosecutors barring his work with children.

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NEW JERSEY
National Catholic Reporter

Michael Sean Winters | May. 1, 2013 Distinctly Catholic

When will the Holy See devise a means of dealing with bishops who ignore the Dallas Charter, that they created themselves and promised to abide by? Perhaps now.

At Morning Briefing, NCR links to a report in the Asbury Park Press, that Bishop David O’Connell of Trenton was not given any heads up by Newark Archbishop John Myers that a priest who had been convicted of child molestation was coming to the Trenton diocese and would be working around children. Nor did Fugee tell anyone. If Abp Myers wishes to ignore the Dallas Charter, shame on him. But, he certainly has no right to spread his indifference into neighboring dioceses, so that the stench of complicity spreads. If I were the Bishop of Trenton – and I think we can all agree that it is a good thing I am not! – I would be furious at Abp Myers. The average person in the pew does know about the procedures by which a priest can or should move between dioceses. People who think their children are in danger are not likely to paint their anger in narrow strokes. And, these kinds of incidents will continue until Rome comes up with a means on punishing bishops like Myers who have violated the Dallas Charter so that the whole bench gets the lesson: You pledged your word that you would enforce the Dallas Charter. If you decline to do so, you should be removed from your see.

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NEW JERSEY
The Star-Ledger

By Mark Mueller/The Star-Ledger

on May 02, 2013 at 8:54 PM, updated May 02, 2013 at 9:09 PM

The Roman Catholic priest at the center of a public furor enveloping Newark Archbishop John J. Myers has been removed from ministry, a spokesman for the archdiocese said tonight.

The Rev. Michael Fugee, who attended youth retreats and heard confessions from minors in defiance of a lifetime ban on such behavior, submitted his request to leave ministry today afternoon, said the spokesman, Jim Goodness. Myers promptly accepted Fugee’s request, Goodness said.

Fugee, 52, will remain a priest — only the Vatican may grant a leave from that role — but will no longer have authority to represent himself as a priest, say Mass or perform any Sacramental work, Goodness said.

Asked if Myers had requested that Fugee step aside, Goodness said, “I only know that he offered to leave ministry and the archbishop accepted.”

Under the terms of a 2007 agreement with the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office, Fugee is not permitted to have unsupervised contact with children, minister to children or hold any position in which children are involved.

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IRELAND
Church Times

by Gregg Ryan, Ireland Correspondent

Posted: 03 May 2013

THE Ven. Leslie Stevenson, who was to have been consecrated this week as Bishop of Meath & Kildare, in the Irish Republic, withdrew on Sunday after a press campaign against him.

His decision to step aside followed two newspaper articles. One in the Dublin-based Sunday Business Post noted that he would be the first divorced bishop in the history of the Church of Ireland, and that he had had a relationship after his first marriage failed.

The second appeared last Friday in the Belfast-based Nationalist daily Irish News, which suggested that Archdeacon Stevenson’s consecration was in doubt. It named the woman with whom he had had a relationship, who is now a serving priest in the diocese of Connor.

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CALIFORNIA
EGP

By City News Service

A settlement has been reached in a lawsuit by a young man who alleged he was sexually abused by the former pastor of a Lutheran church in Bell Gardens.

Attorneys for the unidentified plaintiff filed a notice of settlement April 26 with Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michelle Rosenblatt. Iglesia Luterana de San Pedro y Pablo and the Pacific Southwest District of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod are the defendants. Last summer, the judge tossed all claims against a third entity, the Lutheran Church- Missouri Synod, finding that its leadership had no knowledge of the actions of the former pastor, Franklynn Brundige.

The terms of the resolution were not divulged in the plaintiffs’ court papers.

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SCOTLAND
Paisley Daily Express

May 2 2013 by Lynn Jolly, Paisley Daily Express

A woman yesterday claimed she was dragged into a detention room at an approved school run by nuns and left there without food or drink for two days.

At Paisley Sheriff Court, 58-year-old Barbara Young claimed that one of the nuns who put her in the locked room was Mother Martin.

Miss Young was giving evidence at the trial of Anne Kenny, 79, known as Mother Rosaria, and Agnes Reville, 77, known as Mother Martin, who deny assaulting girls at Dalbeath Approved School in Bishopton, Renfrewshire, in the 1970s.

Prosecutor Douglas Hamilton asked Miss Young, who was sent to Dalbeath in 1971: “What did Mother Martin do to you?”

She replied: “I couldn’t say it was just her, there were others. I was pulled into a room. She just dragged me and her nails cut into me.”

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SCOTLAND
Scotsman

By STEPHEN MCGINTY
Published on 03/05/2013

CARDINAL Keith O’Brien has admitted the scandal that saw him driven from office has been a “difficult” and “humbling experience”.

The former Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh, who was forced by Pope Benedict XVI to retire after admitting “inappropriate behaviour” with four priests and a seminarian, said in his first interview since returning to Scotland that he was now trying to live a “good Christian life”.

O’Brien, who as a cardinal remains the most senior Catholic in Britain, has moved his belongings from his former official residence in Edinburgh to a church-owned property in Dunbar in East Lothian where he had always planned to retire. The surprise move is said to have angered the hierarchy of the Catholic Church who would have preferred him to remain outside Scotland.

It is understood that Philip Tartaglia, the Archbishop of Glasgow, acting as President of the Bishop’s Conference of Scotland, has now written to the Papal Nuncio in London informing him of the cardinal’s return and the subsequent publicity.

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SCOTLAND
The Times

Tom Farmery

May 2 2013

The cleric who until recently was the best known in Scotland has started a new life in the town of Dunbar, near Edinburgh.

Cardinal Keith O’Brien, who resigned after admitting sexual misconduct, has returned from France and Portugal to prepare for retirement to the small East Lothian fishing port.

He was seen moving possessions from his home in Edinburgh into a red sandstone property next to Our Lady of the Waves Catholic Church.

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SCOTLAND
The Scottish Sun

Cardinal Keith O’Brien: I’ve said sorry… now I’m trying to live best Christian life I can

By KEVIN DUGUID and DOUGLAS WALKER

CARDINAL Keith O’Brien vowed to be a “good Christian” as he begged forgiveness over his gay sex scandal.

The disgraced churchman — who emerged from hiding this week — confessed to The Scottish Sun he has failed to live his life according to his OWN religious teachings.

But he claimed he has been swamped by messages of support despite lurid revelations that saw him axed as the country’s top Catholic cleric after plunging the Church into crisis.

O’Brien, 75, said: “I’m just trying to do my best to live a good Christian life myself now. Many people have been helping me to go back on the right path and that’s what I have to do.

“But I haven’t always managed to live that in my own life.”

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SCOTLAND
Herald Scotland

Thursday 2 May 2013

Scotland’s Catholic leadership has appealed to the Vatican to take action on Cardinal Keith O’Brien after it emerged the disgraced cleric had returned to live in Scotland.

Within hours of revelations that the Cardinal had been seen publicly for the first time since the scandal surrounding his gay relationships and abuse allegations broke, senior figures in the Church called on Rome to initiate moves to keep him away from public life.

The return has also angered one former trainee priest who claims to have been abused by the Cardinal, telling The Herald of his determination to unsettle the 75-year-old churchman’s “nice little retirement plans” with legal action.

The Church fears Cardinal O’Brien’s re-emergence in Scotland could deepen the crisis brought on by the revelations, with no cleric having the authority to instruct him to either remain silent, retire to a monastery or move from Scotland.

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SCOTLAND/ROME
The Tablet (UK)

The Archbishop of Glasgow met the Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops in Rome to discuss the future of the Church in Scotland following the resignation of Cardinal Keith O’Brien.

Archbishop Philip Tartaglia met Cardinal Marc Ouellet last week in Rome and it is understood that they discussed the dioceses in Scotland – five out of eight – that need new bishops now or imminently.

It is understood that no appointments will be made until the Vatican is satisfied there are no further allegations against the cardinal, who stepped down in February after admitting that his sexual conduct had fallen below that which was expected of a “priest, bishop and cardinal”.

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SCOTLAND
STV

The Catholic Church in Scotland has appealed to the Vatican amid concerns that Cardinal Keith O’Brien’s high profile is damaging the church.

A source in the church told STV News there was “frustration and disquiet” that the Cardinal was back in the public eye after he was photographed moving into the parish house in Dunbar.

Cardinal O’Brien always intended to move to the East Lothian town when he retired as Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh, but the plan was cast into doubt after several former priests made allegations of “inappropriate behaviour” against him.

The cardinal resigned the following day and later admitted his sexual conduct had “fallen below the standards expected of me as a priest, archbishop and cardinal.”

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OHIO
Pink News

by Scott Roberts
1 May 2013

A Catholic bishop in Ohio is defending the decision to fire a gay teacher.

Bishop Frederick Campbell said that maintaining the Catholic values of the institutions under his guidance explained why Carla Hale had to go.

She was dismissed from Bishop Watterson High School last month when officials found out she was gay through her mother’s obituary.

Following the death of her mother in March, Ms Hale took time off work, and during that time she wrote an obituary for her late mother in which she named her partner, Julie, as a survivor.

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OHIO
The Columbus Dispatch

By JoAnne Viviano
The Columbus Dispatch Thursday May 2, 2013

Critics of the firing of a gay Catholic-school teacher have threatened to withhold donations from a fundraiser that kicks off this weekend and pulls in millions each year for Diocese of Columbus programs.

The Bishop’s Annual Appeal aims to raise $6 million in pledges from parishes across the 23-county diocese. Last year, the appeal received pledges from more than 24,000 households, raising $6.7 million to exceed the 2012 goal by nearly 15 percent.

But some backers of Carla Hale, the physical-education teacher who was fired from Bishop Watterson High School in March, say they won’t be tossing money into Bishop Frederick Campbell’s coffers this year.

Amanda Finelli, a 2005 alumna who runs the #halestormOhio advocacy group, said she won’t donate because “money speaks to the diocese.” Goals of the group are to get Hale reinstated and to encourage the diocese to revise employment policies.

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CALIFORNIA
The Worthy Adversary

Posted by Joelle Casteix on May 2, 2013

It’s not surprising that new Orange County Bishop Kevin Vann has put the Marywood Center up for sale. The 15-acre site (sitting on prime property in the swanky hills above the City of Orange) is redundant now that the ink is dry on the diocese’s purchase of the Crystal Cathedral (now Christ Cathedral) in Garden Grove.

What is surprising is one of the links on the listing. CBRE, who is representing the Diocese of Orange in the sale, has a convenient Non-Disclosure Agreement available for easy download right on the site.

Want to know the price? Better sign on the dotted line …

One would think that in these era of “transparency” and “openness” that Bishop Vann would consider his parishioners’ money public information (you know, the same money that paid for the purchase and upkeep of the property, as well as the salaries of everyone who worked there). Or that he would at least inform Orange County’s 1.2 million Catholics about the details of the sale. Catholics have earned the right to know what Vann is doing with their money.

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MISSOURI
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

POSTED BY BARBARA DORRIS ON MAY 02, 2013

This is an utterly heartbreaking case brought by incredibly kind but wounded parents on behalf of their child and other children who have been assaulted by priests. We are deeply moved by and grateful for their tremendous courage.

For years, these parents fought valiantly to help and save their son. They have suffered immeasurably. We hope and believe this action will bring them some measure of comfort and justice. Because they are speaking up and exposing corruption, they are helping to protect others. From this day forward, they can take some consolation in knowing that they’re doing all they can to prevent more devastating clergy sex crimes and cover ups.

Kuchar is in his 40s. He could still be charged, convicted and kept away from kids. There are, we believe, several of his victims who are young enough to still pursue criminal cases. For the safety of children, we desperately hope they will do so.

And we hope that every single current and former church employee or member who saw, suspected or suffered crimes or misdeeds – by Kuchar or other clerics – will find courage and speak up. That’s what protects kids – when adults care enough to call police and prosecutors about known or suspected child sex crimes.

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MISSOURI
TheMediaReport

[court document]

For the past several years, a regular tactic of the anti-Catholic group SNAP has been to angrily accost and hassle prayerful Catholics as they attend Mass on Sunday.

While protesting various aspects of the Church’s handling of the abuse scandals, SNAP members have provoked Sunday Mass goers to such an extent that judges have been forced to issue restraining orders and SNAP leaders have been subsequently arrested for violating such orders.

Protecting the rights of innocent Mass goers

SNAP members in the state of Missouri have also sought to disturb and disrupt the Mass, but they have been concerned about Missouri’s House of Worship Protection Act, which protects worshipers from angry disruptions such as those instigated by SNAP.

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UNITED STATES
Spiritual Politics

Mark Silk | May 2, 2013

After going to the mat to defend Kansas City Bishop Robert Finn, who was convicted of failing to report a suspected abusive priest, Catholic League president Bill Donohue has now taken up cudgels on behalf of Newark Archbishop John J. Myers, who is under scrutiny for violating a court order restricting a priest’s access to minors.

In Finn’s case, Donohue spent much of his energy attacking the Kansas City Star and, true to form, it’s the Newark Star Ledger that draws his ire this time — above all last Sunday’s editorial calling for Myers’ resignation. In his “special report,” entitled ”Star-Ledger’s War on Archbishop Myers,” Donohue argues that the newspaper’s claim that the archbishop abrogated his agreement with prosecutors regarding Fr. Michael Fugee’s is “patently false.”

He also chastises the newspaper for failing to mention that “in addition to being cleared by the civil courts, the archdiocesan review board cleared Fugee of any wrongdoing. Nor did it mention that the case was sent to Rome for review; no charges were brought against him. In other words, Fugee’s case was thrice thrown out. Also, the newspaper failed to mention that there has not been one allegation made against this priest in the past 12 years.”

Before considering whether the agreement was abrogated, let’s briefly review how the conviction of Michael Fugee happened to be thrown out.

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NEW JERSEY
The Record

THURSDAY, MAY 2, 2013
BY JEFF GREEN AND MICHAEL LINHORST
STAFF WRITERS
THE RECORD

The leading Democratic candidate for governor on Wednesday called for New Jersey’s highest-ranking Roman Catholic bishop to step down amid a growing furor over church officials’ defense of a priest who confessed to groping a Wyckoff boy.

In a clash of politics and religion, state Sen. Barbara Buono, D-Middlesex, set off a verbal battle with Governor Christie by questioning Newark Archbishop John J. Myers’ ability to lead amid revelations that a former assistant pastor was hearing one-to-one confessions during youth retreats in spite of restrictions barring him from working around children.

Although Christie said he was “disturbed” by the allegations, he called Buono’s intervention “irresponsible” and said he will talk to Myers “to find out his side of the story” before judging the archbishop’s actions. During a press conference in Camden, he accused Buono of poor leadership and for issuing her statement “purely based upon media accounts.”

In response, Buono said “leadership is protecting our children from sexual predators, no matter who they are.”

Jim Goodness, Myers’ spokes¬man, said Buono’s remarks “represent a reckless rush to judgment without having a competent or thorough understanding of all of the facts.”

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CONNECTICUT
The Hartford Courant

By CHRISTINE DEMPSEY, cdempsey@courant.com
The Hartford Courant

3:52 p.m. EDT, May 2, 2013

NEW BRITAIN—
A Berlin priest who was accused of having child pornography on his computer and of engaging in sexually-charged conversations with boys pleaded guilty Thursday to possession of child pornography, obscenity and three counts of risk of injury to a minor.

The Rev. Michael Miller faces five years in prison when he is sentenced July 9 in Superior Court in New Britain.

Miller was arrested on July 12, 2011, after allegations surfaced that he had inappropriate conversations with a boy who was then 13. But Berlin police discovered more cases as their investigation progressed.

[Sample Our Free Breaking News Alert And 3 P.M. News Newsletters]

Police said a search by forensic examiners at the New Britain Police Department turned up evidence of chats via Facebook with two 16-year-old boys, a 17-year-old boy, three 15-year-old boys and the 13-year-old boy. Police said they focused their efforts on the Facebook chats with boys younger than 16.

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CONNECTICUT
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Hartford

May 2, 2013

Michael Miller’s guilty plea to possession of child pornography, publishing an obscenity, and three counts of risk of injury to a minor comes after many months of personal deliberation, reflection and prayer. During this time, Miller has received medical treatment and undergone therapy.

Two years ago, when the Berlin Police Department contacted the Archdiocese of Hartford and Miller’s Order, the Franciscan Friars Conventual, about the charges, Miller was immediately suspended from performing any priestly duties. Now that Miller has pled guilty, he will never function as a priest again.

We hope that Miller’s plea will give some solace and closure to the minors he violated — and their families. We will continue to pray for them so that they will continue to heal from this regrettable experience.

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CONNECTICUT
Patch

By Robert Mayer

St. Paul Priest Father Michael Miller pled guilty to possession of child pornography, publishing an obscenity, and three counts of risk of injury to a minor in a New Britain court today.

This plea came after 21 court continuances.

According to a New Britain court clerk, will serve at least five years in prison as part of a deal made by his attorney.
…
In a statement from the Hartford Archdiocese, Maria Zone said. “Michael Miller’s guilty plea to possession of child pornography, publishing an obscenity, and three counts of risk of injury to a minor comes after many months of personal deliberation, reflection and prayer. During this time, Miller has received medical treatment and undergone therapy.

“Two years ago, when the Berlin Police Department contacted the Archdiocese of Hartford and Miller’s Order, the Franciscan Friars Conventual, about the charges, Miller was immediately suspended from performing any priestly duties. Now that Miller has pled guilty, he will never function as a priest again. We hope that Miller’s plea will give some solace and closure to the minors he violated — and their families.

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CONNECTICUT
The Berlin Citizen

Olivia L. Lawrence
A former St. Paul Church priest, Michael Miller. plead guilty today to possession of child pornography, publishing an obscenity and three counts of risk of injury to a minor during a court appearance at New Britain Superior Court. He will no longer function as a priest, according to church officials.

Miller was first arrested on July 12, 2011. When he appeared in court later that month he plead not guilty to all charges which included inappropriate contact with more than one minor. The Archdiocese of Hartford said since that time he has received medical treatment and therapy.

A statement from the archdiocese said, “Two years ago, when the Berlin Police Department contacted the Archdiocese of Hartford and Miller’s order, the Franciscan Friars Conventual, about the charges, Miller was immediately suspended from performing any priestly duties. Now that Miller has pled guilty, he will never function as a priest again.”

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CONNECTICUT
NBC Connecticut

Michael Miller, a suspended priest from St. Paul’s Roman Catholic Church in Berlin, pleaded guilty to charges including child pornography possession on Thursday and will serve a five-year sentence as part of a plea deal.

Miller was in court on Thursday and pleaded guilty to risk of injury, obscenity and child porn charges.

His attorney said Miller is “terribly upset” about charges, but wants to get this behind him and took a plea.

Court documents stated that authorities looked through two of Miller’s computer and found numerous files showing obscene pictures of kids and child porn.

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CANADA
Global News

MONCTON, N.B. – The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Moncton says the diocese is reducing staff and selling properties to help pay about $5 million in compensation to people who allege they were sexually abused by priests.

Archbishop Valery Vienneau says the number of employees will be cut to 14 from 20.

Vienneau says the diocese will also sell its office and another piece of land, both in Dieppe.

He says the office costs about $60,000 per year to operate.

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WISCONSIN
Janesville Gazette

By NICO SAVIDGE ( Contact ) Thursday, May 2, 2013

ELKHORN–A Walworth County jury has found a former pastor not guilty of failing to report sexual assaults between young boys, clearing the Milton man of the final charges he faced.

Joseph Fultz resigned his position as pastor of the Grace Evangelical Free Church in Walworth when he was charged with five misdemeanor counts of not reporting child abuse in June 2011.

Judges dismissed charges against Fultz on two occasions, and a jury delivered not guilty verdicts April 25 on the two remaining charges.

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KENTUCKY
Harland Daily Enterprise

Joe P. Asher

The trial of Jeremy Caraway wrapped up Wednesday with the defendant being found guilty of rape.

The jury recommended a sentence of five years on each count to run concurrently, for a total of 20 years in prison. This was the maximum sentence allowed.

Caraway, 38, of Loyall, is the former pastor of Loyall Church of God. He was indicted on two counts of second-degree rape, two counts of second-degree sodomy, two counts of first-degree sexual abuse, two counts of first-degree unlawful transaction with a minor and one count of use of an electronic communications system to procure a minor for a sexual offense. He was arrested on the charges in May 2011.

The second day of testimony began in front of Judge Robert McGinnis at 9 a.m., with the defense presenting their case.

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KENTUCKY
San Francisco Chronicle

HARLAN, Ky. (AP) — A jury has found a former pastor in eastern Kentucky guilty of sex charges involving a girl younger than 14.

The Harlan Daily Enterprise (http://bit.ly/10uVPZm) reports the jury returned the verdict Wednesday against 38-year-old Jeremy Caraway.

Caraway is the former pastor of Loyall Church of God in Harlan County.

Jurors found him guilty on charges of rape, sodomy and sex abuse and recommended the maximum 20-year prison sentence.

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SCOTLAND
Lez Get Real

Posted by: Bridgette P. LaVictoire on May 2, 2013.

It is not expected that the Vatican will take any further action to punish Cardinal Keith O’Brien following his admission of sexual relationships with four priests and a seminarian. The Archbishop of St. Andrews and Edinburgh was forced to resign from his post early by Pope Benedict XVI after admitting that his “sexual conduct [had fallen below the standards expected of me as a priest, an archbishop and a cardinal.”

The Vatican is only keeping a loose “watching brief” on O’Brien’s case, and that he is not likely to be asked to give up his rank unless Pope Francis I hands over the rank to a new cleric. The senior clerics in the Vatican no longer believe that there is any need for any further investigation given that O’Brien has admitted his behavior and apologized.

Once source close to the Roman Curia stated anonymously that “When an investigation takes place people expect some kind of public result of the investigation, but there is just no way there is going to be some kind of public examination and a published report on this matter. The Church doesn’t work that way.”

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AUSTRALIA
The Age
April 30, 2013

Barney Zwartz
Religion editor, The Age.

An inquiry into sexual abuse has been told a Catholic Church spokesman made comments that were inappropriate, disingenuous and possibly in contempt of Parliament.

The deputy chairman of the inquiry, Victorian state MP Frank McGuire, criticised the church for taking an ”umbrella” approach at the inquiry but said it did not do so when discussing compensation or remedies.

”Before you’ve even come before the inquiry it looks as though the church is trying to minimise” the abuse problem, Mr McGuire said at the inquiry, held on Monday in Ballarat.

Criticising remarks by Father Shane Mackinlay that clergy sexual abuse coincided with the social and moral collapse of the 1960s and ’70s, including an attempt to lower the age of consent to 12, Mr McGuire said: ”Is the church going to try to blame society?”

Brother Tim Graham, the head of the Hospitallers, Order of St John of God, denied earlier evidence by victims group Broken Rites that there were paedophile rings in the order that gang-raped children, and that a child died after being thrown down stairs, but admitted there had been ”deplorable and indefensible” abuse of vulnerable children in homes formerly run by the order.

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LOUISIANA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

POSTED BY DAVID CLOHESSY ON MAY 02, 2013

Ex-priest Mark Broussard is seeking a reduction in his bond. His attorney was working to get confidential medical information about the victims prior to the start of the trial and Broussard’s taped police interview where he admits to fondling children thrown out.

Broussard was originally booked on 224 criminal charges, including child sex crimes and rape. He is a dangerous predator and should be kept away from children. His attorney should stop exploiting legal technicalities and we are glad that so for the judge has ruled in favor of victims.

We hope this encourages others to come forward. Anyone who saw, suspects, or suffered abuse by Broussard – or any other church official – should come forward, report to police and start healing.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC

[with video]

29/04/2013

Introduced by Caroline Jones

In a career spanning 35 years, Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox has forged a reputation as a police officer who will go out of his way to care for victims.

He rose to national prominence late last year when he defied police rules and disclosed explosive allegations that the Catholic Church had consistently covered up the crimes of paedophile priests in the Newcastle-Hunter region of NSW.

The decision to speak out occurred on the spur of the moment during an emotional public forum. Fox says he thought at the time that the consequences would be ‘fairly heavy’.

But he walked onto the public stage anyway, and addressed hundreds of abuse victims and their supporters.

Other appearances followed and within weeks, the Prime Minister announced a far reaching Royal Commission into the sexual abuse of children in institutions. Fox, along with others, is credited with helping to trigger it.Call Of Duty features exclusive footage of Peter Fox at the meeting that changed his life.

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PENNSYLVANIA
The Patriot-News

By Jan Murphy | jmurphy@pennlive.com
on May 02, 2013

The Pennsylvania Catholic Conference described Bishop Joseph McFadden as a strong advocate for legislation of interest to state’s Catholic bishops and its dioceses.

In addition to his advocacy for expanding the state’s Educational Improvement Tax Credit program and the Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit program to help students pay tuition to attend Catholic schools, the conference, which is the church’s public affairs arm in Pennsylvania, noted his leadership in getting laws passed to apply the same standards to abortion clinics that ambulatory surgical facilities must heed, increased support for alternatives to abortion programs, and assist the poor.

Here is the organization’s full statement:

Bishop Joseph McFadden passed away on May 2, 2013, after three years of service as the president of the Pennsylvania Catholic Conference. The conference is the public policy agency of Pennsylvania’s bishops.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Today’s Catholic News

PHILADELPHIA (CNS) — Bishop Joseph P. McFadden of Harrisburg died May 2 in Philadelphia where he was attending a meeting of Pennsylvania’s Catholic bishops.

According to a Facebook posting from the diocese, Bishop McFadden awoke at the rectory where he was staying and felt ill. He was taken to a hospital and was pronounced dead at about 7:40 a.m.

No cause of death was immediately available. He was 65 and had been the bishop of Harrisburg for three years. He was also chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Catholic Education.

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UNITED STATES
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: A California province Jesuit ordained in 1954, Bradley was accused in a 2003 lawsuit of having sexually abused a 17 year-old girl in Fresno in the early 1960s. The girl was said to have been pregnant and had been sent by her family to Fresno to live with friends who attended St. Agnes Mission, where Bradley was serving. Bradley’s accuser said the abuse went on for five months. Bradley is not indexed in the Official Catholic Directory after 1970.

Ordained: 1954

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DEUTSCHLAND
3sat

Der Missbrauchsbeauftragte der deutschen Bundesregierung fordert eine unabhängige Kommission. Die Bundesjustizministerin lehnt den Vorstoß ab.

Die Bundesregierung sollte Anfang 2014 eine solche Kommission berufen, erklärte Beauftragter Johannes-Wilhelm Rörig am 29. April 2013. “Die Weichen hierfür könnten noch in diesem Jahr gestellt werden.” Nach Rörigs Vorstellungen soll Aufgabe der Kommission sein, Betroffene anzuhören und Missbrauch umfassend wissenschaftlich aufzuarbeiten.

Heute fand auf Rörigs Einladung ein Hearing zum derzeitigen Stand der Aufarbeitung der Missbrauchsskandale statt. Zu den geladenen Experten gehören der Jesuitenpater Klaus Mertes, durch den der Missbrauch in der katholischen Kirche öffentlich wurde, und Rörigs Vorgängerin als Missbrauchsbeauftragte, Christine Bergmann.

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AUSTRALIEN
dradio (Deutschland)

Von Andreas Stummer

Es geschah in der Kirche, in Waisenhäusern, bei den Pfadfindern: In Australien wurden seit dem Zweiten Weltkrieg Hunderttausende Kinder und Jugendliche psychisch und sexuell misshandelt. Nun soll eine Kommission das ganz Ausmaß der Vorfälle untersuchen – und das möglichst schonungslos.

Sonntag früh in der St. Aloysius Kirche von Cronulla, im Süden von Sydney. Die katholische Morgenandacht hat begonnen. Durch die schweren Bleiglasfenster des Backsteinbaus fällt gedämpftes Licht, Kerzen brennen, es riecht nach Weihrauch. In den Sitzreihen verlieren sich nur ein paar Dutzend Gläubige. Die Kirche ist halb leer.

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AUSTRALIEN
Katholisch

Die Versicherungsgesellschaft der katholischen Kirche im australischen Bundesstaat Victoria hat rund 23 Millionen Euro als Entschädigung an 600 Missbrauchsopfer ausgezahlt. Wie der Fernsehsender ABC am Dienstagabend berichtete, teilte dies die Versicherungsgesellschaft CCI vor einer staatlichen Untersuchungskommission zum Missbrauchsskandal mit.

Die CCI beteuerte, sie habe niemals Täter aus den Reihen der Kleriker gedeckt. Die Entschädigungszahlungen betrafen laut Bericht Missbrauchsfälle aus den 60er, 70er und 80er Jahren.

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CANADA
CBC

The Diocese of Moncton is shedding staff and selling off one church property in order to cover the roughly $5 million in compensation owed to victims of sexual abuse.

The diocese has been forced to deal with a series of sexual abuse controversies in the last year.

Retired Supreme Court of Canada Justice Michel Bastarache was hired to help deal with the sex abuse compensation process. It is estimated the diocese will pay out $5 million to victims of sexual abuse.

Those bills have caused the diocese to cut the number of staff to 14 from 19. As well, the diocese’s office in Dieppe, which was once the home of the bishop, is being sold because it can no longer afford to pay the annual $50,000 in operating costs.

Archbishop Valéry Vienneau said the diocese’s growing deficit and dropping church attendance factored into the decision to cut staff and sell off the property.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Big Trial

By Ralph Cipriano
for Bigtrial.net

Here are the questions from National Catholic Reporter that District Attorney Seth Williams declined to answer:

1. At the plea bargain hearing of Edward V. Avery, why didn’t the district attorney ask the former priest if he had raped Billy Doe?

2. What is the district attorney’s explanation for why he was able to charge Msgr. Lynn with endangering the welfare of a child [EWOC] when a previous district attorney, Lynne Abraham, and a previous grand jury, looked at the same state law and declared that Msgr. Lynn couldn’t be charged with EWOC?

3. Why did the district attorney deem Billy Doe a credible victim when he gave wildly varying accounts of the alleged rapes, and told a fantastic story about being raped by three different predators, without any corroborating witnesses or physical evidence? A story contradicted by Billy Doe’s mother, his older brother, and priests, nuns and teachers from St. Jerome’s?

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IRELAND
Association of Catholic Priests

We have received the following from the ACP solicitor, Robert Dore, and he has asked us to inform all the members of the ACP. The message goes as follows:

“Recently I have been consulted by a number of priests who are members of the Association.

Prior to meeting with me they have been requested by their bishops to undergo assessments, and they have all done so.

To a man the findings of these assessments have been hugely prejudicial.

It is my earnest advice that, in future, should any of your members be asked to undergo an assessment, and if they are minded to do so, they should insist on being assessed by a completely independent eminent professional, preferably a psychiatrist.”

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IRELAND
Association of Catholic Priests

On Wednesday, February 20, 2013, about 250 priests ­ members of the Association of Catholic Priests (ACP) ­ met in Athlone to discuss the challenges faced by priests in Ireland today.

During a discussion on the rights of priests, the meeting was reminded that the 1971 Synod on Justice produced the document, the Practice of Justice, which emphasised that the Catholic Church must act justly towards all its members, if it to have credibility in preaching on Justice.

The Synod document stressed that everyone has a right to suitable freedom of expression and thought and affirms that in any form of judicial procedure the accused should have the right to know his accusers and also the right to a proper defence.

Seán McDonagh proposed the following motion:

In the light of the above teaching from the Synod of Bishop in 1971, we the undersigned ask the Irish Bishops¹ Conference to meet, as soon as possible, with those Irish priests who have been censured by the Vatican in recent year.

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IRELAND
The Impartial Reporter

Sarah Saunderson • Published 2 May 2013

A victim of clerical abuse in the Clogher diocese has revealed the settlement he received would not be enough “to buy a good second hand car”.

Mr. Michael Connolly, abused by a priest in the early 1970s in Donagh, was speaking after the Diocese said it would not reveal the amount it has paid out in compensation to victims.

Bishop Liam MacDaid last week made public “The Review of Safeguarding Practice in the Diocese of Clogher”, an audit by the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church (NBSCCCI). In it, case files from 1975 to 2012 were examined. It showed there were 23 allegations about clerical sex abuse made to police authorities.

The diocese is refusing to reveal the level of compensation made to victims of abuse here. Bishop MacDaid explained: “It has been our policy that it is the perogative of the victim to give any information on settlements that have been made”.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Norwich Evening News

Thursday, May 2, 2013

A Norwich priest arrested in a child sex probe has been re-bailed.

Father Tony McSweeney was arrested in February by detectives probing allegations of child sex abuse centring on a guesthouse and a children’s home in London.

He was bailed until April and has now been bailed until July.

The 66-year-old, from St George’s Church in the north of Norwich, was arrested on suspicion of sexual offences.

Fr McSweeney, who has been a priest for 29 years, was appointed a director at Notre Dame High School in April last year but resigned after his arrest.

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LOUISIANA
NECN

May 2, 2013, 8:45 am

LAKE CHARLES, La. (AP) — State District Judge David Ritchie says prosecutors can use the recorded interview of authorities’ initial questioning of former priest Mark Broussard.

Broussard is accused of molesting young male parishioners in the late 1980s and early ’90s.

His attorney, Tom Lorenzi, asked the court to throw out the interview because he said Broussard told detectives he needed a lawyer 10 minutes and 30 seconds into the recorded portion of the interview.

Broussard was originally charged with 224 counts of child molestation, but the prosecution is taking him to trial on five counts.

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TEXAS
The Dallas Morning News

By Megan Gray Denton Record-Chronicle mgray@dentonrc.com
Published: 02 May 2013

Corinth police arrested the lead pastor of The Church of Corinth on Wednesday on sex-related charges, investigators said.

The Rev. Jeffrey Dale Williams, 47, was charged with attempted sexual performance of a child, a third-degree felony, police said.

Capt. Greg Wilkerson said the alleged incident took place at the victim’s home on March 30 and the investigation is continuing.

“We have been working on the case since April 3, and there is potential there may be more victims,” Wilkerson said.

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TEXAS
WFAA

by JOBIN PANICKER
WFAA
Posted on May 1, 2013

DENTON COUNTY — Jeffrey Dale Williams, the senior pastor at The Church of Corinth, has been accused of trying to persuade a girl under 18 to take her clothes off.

He was jailed on charges of “attempted sexual performance of a child.” Bond was set at $10,000.
Police said the alleged incident was captured on a two-hour audiotape.

“He tried to entice her to take her clothes off so he could see her naked body,” said Corinth police Capt. Greg Wilkerson.

Police said the complaint came in from a social worker at the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services on April 3, four days after the alleged act.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 2 May 2013 (VIS) – Today, the Holy Father:

– appointed Fr. Raymond Browne as bishop of Kerry (area 5,300, population 149,514, Catholics 143,300, priests 113, religious 215), Ireland. The bishop-elect was born in Athlone, Ireland in 1957 and was ordained a priest in 1982. Since ordination he has served in several pastoral and judicial roles, most recently as pastor in Ballagh and the Diocese of Elphin’s designated contact for the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church in Ireland (NBSCCCI) as well as for assistance for elderly and ill clergy. He succeeds Bishop William Murphy, whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same diocese the Holy Father accepted, upon having reached the age limit.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 2 May 2013 (VIS) – On 13 April, the news that Pope Francis had established a group of eight cardinals to advise him on the government of the universal Church and to study a plan for revising the Apostolic Constitution on the Roman Curia, “Pastor Bonus” was made public. The decision generated great interest and, at the same time, more than a few speculations. Yesterday, 1 May, Archbishop Angelo Becciu, substitute of the Secretariat of State, gave an interview on this topic to the Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, from which ample extracts are given below.

Osservatore Romano: Much speculation has been heard regarding the reform of the Curia: the balance of power, economic “super-ministers”, revolutions, etc…

Archbishop Becciu: “Actually, it is a little strange. The Pope has not yet met with the group of advisers who have been chosen and already advice is raining down. After having spoken with the Holy Father, I can say that, at this moment, it is absolutely premature to put forward any hypothesis about the future structure of the Curia. Pope Francis is listening to everyone but, in the first place, he will want to listen to those whom he has chosen as advisers. Following that, a project of reform of the ‘Pastor Bonus’ will be outlined, which will obviously have to follow its own process.”

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 2 May 2013 (VIS) – Shortly before 5:00pm this afternoon, Pope Francis will go to receive Pope emeritus Benedict XVI who is returning to the Vatican after his two month stay at Castel Gandolfo.

Benedict XVI will leave Castel Gandolfo by helicopter around 4:30pm and will arrive some 20 minutes later at the Vatican heliport. From this afternoon on, the Pope emeritus will take up permanent residence at the “Mater Ecclesiae” convent, which has been recently restored. Joining him will be his secretary, Archbishop Georg Ganswein, prefect of the Prefecture of the Papal Household, and the four women of the “Memores Domini” lay association who have been part of the Papal Household for years, cleaning and cooking. The monastery, built over 20 years ago at the bequest of Blessed John Paul II, has housed four different cloistered orders over the years: Poor Claires, Discalced Carmelites, Benedictine nuns, and Visitandine nuns.

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NEW JERSEY
Waiting for Godot to Leave

So you want to be the Archbishop of Newark, New Jersey, do you? (See Bad Bishops: Same Old Spin – Different Day). Submit your resume and answer the question below.

Given the following scenario …

A priest under your control and care admits to having homosexual or bisexual desires.
This priest likes to wrestle with 14-year-old boys. Let me repeat that: this priest likes to wrestle with 14-year-old boys.
This priest admits that while wrestling with a 14-year-old boy, he grabbed his genitals, on two different occasions. The second time he did so, the boy became enraged and refused to talk to the priest the rest of the day, at an event for the boy’s family.
The priest is indicted, tried and convicted on a charge of aggravated sexual conduct. The conviction is overturned on a technicality. The appellate court orders a retrial.
To avoid a retrial, you strike a deal with prosecutors, agreeing to remove said priest from any ministry involving youth and from any contact with youth.

Years pass. Now what do you do? Do you ….

A. Blow off the deal with prosecutors and allow your priest back into youth ministry and unsupervised contact with youth, without telling any of the parents this priest’s history?

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LOUISIANA
KPLC

[with video]

By Theresa Schmidt

One of ex-priest Mark Broussard’s accusers says he did not remember the sexual assault until deputies questioned him just over one year ago.

Broussard is accused of sex crimes against children, including rape, some 25 years ago.

One of the alleged victims said the memory of the sexual assault against him didn’t surface until deputies contacted him in March 2012.

First Assistant District Attorney, Cynthia Killingsworth, opposes the release of personal medical records of victims.

“That goes to what he’s trying to get at which is the credibility of witnesses and you can’t test that pre-trial. And that’s what this would do. It would give him an opportunity to take these victims apart when they shouldn’t be, with their private information. And I really object to that,” said Killingsworth.

She said repressed memory is common with child victims of sexual assault.

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NEW JERSEY
Why I Am Catholic

It appears that this might be the case, if I’m reading the letter that Archbishop Meyers wrote to the priests of the Archdiocese of Newark back in February correctly. Of course, he may not have known that Fr. Fugee was violating the agreement with the local Prosecutors Office, though there seems to be plenty of evidence pointing in that direction.

That letter to priests, along with a links to the confession Fr. Fugee gave police in 2001, and the Memorandum of Understanding between the Archdiocese and the Bergen County Prosecutors Office, are included in another of a series of articles published recently in The Star Ledger. Yesterday, Mark Meullar reported the following,

Greeting the deepest crisis of his 12-year tenure with silence, Newark Archbishop John J. Myers faced new calls for his resignation yesterday from two New Jersey lawmakers, who blasted him for allowing a priest to minister to children despite a lifetime ban on such interaction.

Sen. Joseph Vitale (D-Middlesex) and Assemblywoman Valerie Vainieri Huttle (D-Bergen) said the archbishop has displayed “arrogance” and a lack of common sense over his handling of the Rev. Michael Fugee, 52, who admitted fondling a 14-year-boy in 2001.

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SCOTLAND
Daily Record

THE victim at the centre of the Carfin Grotto sex abuse probe yesterday revealed he was snubbed by Cardinal Keith O’Brien after begging him to investigate his tormentors.

Devout Catholic Pat McEwan sent a hand-written letter to O’Brien, then Scotland’s most senior churchman, in 2010 after undergoing years of counselling about his experiences.

The 63-year-old described in harrowing detail how he was raped by two priests and asked the then-Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh to help him.

But O’Brien washed his hands of the matter and sent it back to Bishop Joseph Devine of Motherwell, who Pat claims had previously asked him to forgive the alleged abusers.

A church spokesman denied O’Brien had turned a blind eye to Pat’s complaints.

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IRELAND
Westmeath Independent

Athlone native Fr Raymond Browne has been appointed the new Bishop of Kerry by His Holiness Pope Francis today.

The 56-year-old has been Parish Priest of Kilgefin in Roscommon in the diocese of Elphin for the last five years.

The new bishop takes over from Bishop William Murphy, who has held the position for the last 18 years. He had previously announced his resignation after reaching the retirement age of 75.

Born in Chapel Street, Athlone, Fr Browne was first ordained a priest back in 1982 in the Church of Saints Peter and Paul, Athlone. He has previous served as a priest in Sligo and Roscommon town.

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NEW JERSEY
The Worthy Adversary

Posted by Joelle Casteix on May 1, 2013

It’s not like he stole money or anything … because then he would have gone to jail AND been excommunicated.

Eleven years after the U.S. Bishops’ Conference promised to “Mak[e] prompt and effective response to allegations; Cooperat[e] with civil authorities; and Disciplin[e] offenders,” we are offered this charming nugget from the New Jersey Star-Ledger:

“Six years ago, to avoid retrial on charges that he groped a teenage boy, the Rev. Michael Fugee entered a rehabilitation program, underwent counseling for sex offenders and signed a binding agreement that would dictate the remainder of his life as a Roman Catholic priest.

Fugee would not work in any position involving children, the agreement with the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office states. He would have no affiliation with youth groups. He would not attend youth retreats. He would not hear the confessions of minors.

But Fugee has openly done all of those things for the past several years through an unofficial association with a Monmouth County church, St. Mary’s Parish in Colts Neck, The Star-Ledger found.

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SCOTLAND
Scotsman

By STEPHEN MCGINTY
Published on 02/05/2013

THE bishops of the Catholic Church were not warned of Cardinal Keith O’Brien’s return to Scotland, with sources saying they are angry at his ­decision to continue with his retirement plan to move to East Lothian.

The former Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh, who scandalised the Church by ­admitting to having inappropriate relations with four priests and a seminarian, was photographed moving into a Church property in Dunbar.

Cardinal O’Brien was quoted as saying: “I’ve had a busy life as a priest, a bishop and a cardinal and it’s a nice place to relax. My own home is in the north of Ireland at the present time.

“All my friends are here in Scotland. I’ve been coming down here for weekends for some years as a retreat. It’s a nice little place. My plan is to move here ultimately to relax and enjoy my retirement.”

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NEW JERSEY
The Star-Ledger

By Nyier Abdou/The Star-Ledger

Advocates for victims of child sex abuse are calling on church officials to investigate Newark Archbishop John Myers over his handling of the Rev. Michael Fugee, who in 2001 confessed to groping a teenage boy. In an agreement with the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office, Fugee and the Newark archdiocese agreed that Myers would be barred from working with children, but the priest has been attending church youth events, including retreats. At a protest next to the archdiocese headquarters in Newark, New Jersey director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests Mark Crawford called for Myers to step down or be removed. (Video by Nyier Abdou/The Star-Ledger)

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CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Sun-Times

BY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter fspielman@suntimes.com May 1, 2013

Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s City Council floor leader lashed out at the Catholic Church on Wednesday for rejecting the mayor’s compromise offer on water fees for nonprofits even after, the alderman claimed, failing to clean its own house on the priest sex abuse scandal.

“They’re clearly not owning up to the fact that there are people out there damaged by the church and they’re talking about free water. Really?” said Ald. Pat O’Connor (40th).

Describing himself as “a Catholic, not a happy one these days,” O’Connor said, “The church has so many internal problems, they ought to satisfy their own problems and they ought to address the things that are in the paper every day and stop talking about free water. Quit saying that they handled things right in the past or . . . or, even worse, saying mistakes were made in the past, but they’re not correcting those mistakes.”

Earlier this week, Cardinal Francis George jumped into the controversy caused by Emanuel’s decision to cut off the free water spigot to struggling churches and nonprofits that provide a safety net of social services to needy Chicagoans.

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MISSOURI
KSHB

By: Associated Press
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) – A Missouri House committee is considering legislation that would make it a crime for clergy to have sexual contact with adults whom they are counseling.

It would be a felony for a member of the clergy to have sexual contact within 120 days of a meeting for religious, spiritual, marital or relationship advice, counseling or therapy. The bill also covers instances in which a clergy member uses a position of trust or authority to engage in sexual contact.

Consent would not be a defense. Violators could face up to seven years in prison.

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SCOTLAND
Evening Times

A WOMAN has told a jury she was dragged into a detention room at an approved school run by nuns and left there without food or drink for two days.

At Paisley Sheriff Court, Barbara Young, 58, claimed one of the nuns who put her in the locked room was Mother Martin.

Miss Young was giving evidence at the trial of Anne Kenny, 79, known as Mother Rosaria, and Agnes Reville, 77, known as Mother Martin, who deny assaulting girls at Dalbeth approved school in Bishopton, Renfrewshire, in the 1970s.

Prosecutor Douglas Hamilton asked Miss Young, who was sent to Dalbeth in 1971: “What did Mother Martin do to you,” and she replied: “There were others.

“I was pulled into a room. She just dragged me and her nails cut into me.”

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SCOTLAND
The Gazette

Published 2 May 2013

A GRANDMOTHER who was sent to Dalbeth Approved School in Bishopton aged 13 has told a jury “it was a hellhole worse than prison”.

Paisley Sheriff Court heard that 57-year-old Josephine Hanlon was sent to the school by a court in 1970 because she was outwith parental control.

In evidence she alleged that one of the nuns Mother Martin and a fellow nun forced her to drink some kind of liquid.

Miss Hanlon told the jury: “Mother Martin and another nun poured something liquid down my throat and I went to sleep. That happened more than once.”

The witness, who has convictions for crime of dishonesty and assault, also said that on one occasion Mother Martin and two other nuns dragged her to a punishment room and left her there for two or three days without anything to eat.”

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SCOTLAND
Paisley Daily Express

May 1 2013 by Lynn Jolly, Paisley Daily Express

A nun accused of physically abusing girls at an approved school more than 40 years ago admitted to police that there was a punishment room on the premises, a court was told yesterday.

But 79-year-old Anne Kenny, known as Mother Rosaria, claimed it was only used for “cooling off” badly-misbehaved pupils.

And she said that none of the girls had been hit.

Kenny and 77-year-old Agnes Reville, known as Mother Martin, deny assaulting eight girls at Dalbeath Approved School in Bishopton, in the early 1970s.

Four former pupils have claimed in evidence that they were physically abused during their time at the school.

Yesterday at Paisley Sheriff Court, DC Moira Fyfe told the jury that she travelled down to Manchester on January 27, 2009, with DC Lesley McAuley, to interview Kenny.

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SCOTLAND
Herald Scotlant

Thursday 2 May 2013
A WOMAN told a jury she was dragged into a detention room at an approved school run by nuns and left without food or drink for two days.

Barbara Young, 58, claimed at Paisley Sheriff Court that one of the nuns who put her in the locked room was known as Mother Martin.

Ms Young was giving evidence at the trial of Anne Kenny, 79, known as Mother Rosaria, and Agnes Reville, 77, known as Mother Martin, who deny assaulting girls at Dalbeth approved school in Bishopton, Renfrewshire, in the 1970s.

Ms Young also claimed she was forcibly given some kind of drug by a nun and Mother Martin assisted.

Under cross-examination by Robert Anthony, QC, defending Mother Martin, the jury heard Ms Young was sent to Dalbeth for shoplifting and has theft convictions.

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NEW YORK
The Jewish Daily Forward

By Paul Berger
Published May 02, 2013, issue of May 10, 2013.

It has been more than four months since Yeshiva University hired an international law firm to investigate allegations of emotional, physical and sexual abuse at a Y.U.-run high school.

Yet investigators working for the firm of Sullivan & Cromwell still have not contacted several former Y.U. school staff and students who described the abuse in a series of articles published in the Forward last year.

Meanwhile, many other former students who have been contacted say they refused to cooperate with investigators because they do not trust Y.U.’s motives. Such mistrust has only increased since Y.U. retained another international law firm, Greenberg Traurig, to fight a possible multiparty civil lawsuit.
Click for more stories about abuse at Y.U.

Barry Singer, a former student who has spoken to a Y.U. investigator, said the investigator “made it clear that she had nothing to do with any sort of defense that Yeshiva might mount.” But, Singer added, she also told him that Greenberg Traurig “can use whatever they gather” to defend against a civil lawsuit.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Williamsport Sun-Gazette

May 2, 2013
From Staff Reports , Williamsport Sun-Gazette

WELLSBORO – Thomas Shoback, 66, of Wilkes-Barre, a former Tioga County priest charged with sexual abuse of a child, was convicted in Tioga County Court Wednesday, according to a report from WETM teleision in Elmira, N.Y.

Shoback was found guilty on nine counts. He originally faced 32 counts, but most had passed the statute of limitations, the report said. According to state police, the incidents took place between 1991 and 1997 while he was a priest at St. Mary’s Parish in Blossburg. The victim is a former alter boy.

Shoback now could face up to 100 years in prison, the report said. He will be sentenced at a later date.

In earlier testimony reported in the Sun-Gazette, the victim told the court that Shoback began abusing him when he was 11 or 12 years old and that the abuse would happen three out of four Sundays each month when he stayed after Mass to help count the collection.

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CONNECTICUT
New Britain Herald

By LISA BACKUS
STAFF WRITER

A suspended Berlin priest accused of using the Internet to have inappropriate online relationships with young male parishioners is expected to enter into a plea agreement in New Britain court today.

Michael Miller, 43, was first arrested in July 2011 on charges he made inappropriate comments during conversations on Facebook with a 13-year-old boy whose family attended St. Paul’s Church, where Miller worked as a priest.

As part of the investigation, police seized several of Miller’s computers. Arrest warrants detail the results of the computer examination, which revealed that Miller was having inappropriate conversations with several teenage boys, most of whom were parishioners who met him through the church, according to police.

In the talks on Facebook, which were retrieved by the Digital Forensics Unit at the New Britain Police Department, Miller described for one 15-year-old boy the pornographic movie he was watching and said he preferred boys “because they know how the parts work.”

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UNITED STATES
Waiting for Godot to Leave

There is a pattern and it’s a sick and strange one.

Over the months, I have written at length about Kansas City Bishop Finn’s dreadful handling of a sex abuse case in his diocese, and have taken quite a bit of heat from the True Believers, who swallow uncritically the cult-like notion that criticizing a bishop who endangers children is the equivalent of hating Jesus Christ and His Catholic Church. (If you really want to have fun, read the whole series here).

Now we have Archbishop Myers in New Jersey and sex abuser Fr. Michael Fugee. The case is so much like the Finn case that it’s weird. Frank Weathers and Mark Shea have articles on the case, in which they link to local New Jersey reports, which themselves link to the original source documents at the heart of the matter, including this one, which apparently nobody wants to read.

I won’t go into details, since if you’re interested you can find the details at this link and elsewhere. But let me point out a few similarities.

Bishops, apparently, have unlimited hubris. Bishop Finn spent $1.4 million of diocesan funds to defend himself from criminal charges that threatened only a few thousand dollars in fines and that could easily have been plea bargained away, but that resulted in his conviction in criminal court. This is not because Finn was bravely defending the Church, for part of the case, in one Missouri county, involved a plea agreement, in which Finn glibly handed over ecclesial authority to a governmental entity so as to avoid prosecution. Bishop Myers, likewise, is going to the matt on this one, in a case where a cursory investigation shows he behaved without any regard to the safety of the children under his care and without any concern for an agreement he had made with prosecutors to keep child molester Fr. Fugee out of jail. Does it appear as if Bishop Myers is standing firm to protect the Church? No, as in Finn’s case, it’s to protect his own pride.

Bishops, apparently, don’t give a damn about the truth. The most liberating words ever spoken on earth are “The truth will set you free” (John 8:32). But in a February letter to priests, Bishop Finn defends his decision to allow Fugee to disregard the agreement the bishop made with prosecutors by claiming that Fugee was “acquitted” of the charges against him. Fugee was in fact acquitted of one charge, “endangering the welfare of a child” but convicted of “aggravated criminal sexual conduct”. While this conviction was reversed on appeal over a technicality, a new trial was ordered and was avoided because of a plea agreement, the terms of which the archdiocese is now thumbing its nose at. In other words, had the defendant indeed been acquitted of the charges against him, none of this would be an issue.

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AUSTRALIA
Advertiser

By Paul Bibby May 2, 2013

The abuse of children by priests and church workers often begins between the ages of six and 10, and generally only stops when victims take action to stop it or avoid it, a new study has found.

The report, They Didn’t Believe Me: Adult Survivors’ Perspectives of Child Sexual Abuse by Personnel in Christian Institutions, is the first Australian research drawing on church abuse victims’ experiences that doesn’t rely on church data.

The majority of the 81 participants reported that they had been abused repeatedly, often over several years, and that they were ”re-victimised” by the church and the criminal justice system when they reported the abuse.

Forty-four per cent of participants said their abuse began between age six and 10, with more than half of the women participants falling into this category.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Standard Speaker

BY MICHAEL P. BUFFER (STAFF WRITER)
Published: May 2, 2013

Diocese of Scranton Bishop Joseph C. Bambera issued a statement Wednesday on a Tioga County verdict convicting a priest from Wilkes-Barre of sexually abusing an altar boy for six years.

Thomas Shoback, 66, who once served as an assistant pastor at St. Joseph’s Church in Hazleton, was found guilty Tuesday of nine counts, according to a news report from WETM-TV in Elmira, N.Y. In his statement, Bambera said Shoback “is permanently removed from ecclesiastical ministry and his status as a priest will be referred to the Holy See for a final determination.”

The Holy See is headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church in Vatican City. The diocese cooperated with the investigation and prosecution of the criminal case against Shoback, a diocese news release said.

“At this time, I express my personal sorrow for the pain endured by those who suffered this abuse and extend my apology for any way in which the Church, and particularly its bishops, priests and deacons have failed them,” Bambera said. “I also reaffirm my personal commitment to exercise vigilance in our protection of children and young people and offer my sincere gratitude to all who worked so diligently to resolve this case.”

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UNITED STATES
Justia Verdict

Marci A. Hamiltoni

The movement to eliminate the child-sex-abuse statutes of limitations (“SOLs”) so that victims can obtain justice is stronger and more impressive than ever. Never before has there been so much activity in so many states at once. Last year, Hawaii enacted a 2-year window, and a few other states expanded their SOLs. (Such bills allow claims that would otherwise have been timed out, to be revived and brought to court during a specified period of time.) This year, windows, the extension, or elimination of SOLs are pending in many states, including Minnesota, Illinois, New York, Massachusetts, California, Pennsylvania, New Jersey. Plus Arkansas already eliminated its criminal SOL. This is progress!

Minnesota

The Minnesota House passed a statute of limitations (SOL) window bill yesterday. (Such bills allow claims that would otherwise have been timed out, to be revived and brought to court during a specified period of time.)

Illinois

Illinois let a bill that would eliminate the civil statute of limitations for child sex abuse out of committee this week.

New York

And in New York, Assemblywoman Marge Markey’s Child Victims Act, which has been improved, and introduced for the seventh time, has the most co-sponsors in history.

Massachusetts

There will also be a hearing on a child-sex-abuse statute of limitations window, and a generous extension bill, before the Massachusetts Joint Committee on the Judiciary on May 7.

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PENNSYLVANIA
The Sunday Dispatch

By Steve Mocarsky – smocarsky@civitasmedia.com – 570-970-7311

A Diocese of Scranton priest who was once assigned to several parishes in Luzerne County, including a Catholic high school, has been convicted of sexually assaulting an altar boy.

Diocese officials on Wednesday confirmed that the Rev. Thomas Shoback, 66, of Wilkes-Barre, was convicted Tuesday in Tioga County Court of Common Pleas on nine of the 32 counts with which he had been charged. Most of those counts exceeded the statute of limitations. Still, he reportedly could face essentially a life sentence.

State police had said the assaults took place from 1991 through 1997 when the boy was 11 to 17 years old, while Shoback was assigned at St. Mary’s Parish in Blossburg, Tioga County.

The diocese suspended Shoback in November 2011 when the allegations of sexual misconduct surfaced.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Citizens Voice

BY MICHAEL P. BUFFER (STAFF WRITER)
Published: May 2, 2013

Diocese of Scranton Bishop Joseph C. Bambera issued a statement Wednesday on a Tioga County verdict convicting a priest from Wilkes-Barre of sexually abusing an altar boy for six years.

Thomas Shoback, 66, was found guilty Tuesday of nine counts, according to a news report from WETM-TV in Elmira, N.Y. In his statement, Bambera said Shoback “is permanently removed from ecclesiastical ministry and his status as a priest will be referred to the Holy See for a final determination.”

The Holy See is headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church in Vatican City. The diocese cooperated with the investigation and prosecution of the criminal case against Shoback, a diocese news release said.

“At this time, I express my personal sorrow for the pain endured by those who suffered this abuse and extend my apology for any way in which the Church, and particularly its bishops, priests and deacons have failed them,” Bambera said. “I also reaffirm my personal commitment to exercise vigilance in our protection of children and young people and offer my sincere gratitude to all who worked so diligently to resolve this case.”

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NEW JERSEY
CBS New York

COLTS NECK, N.J. (CBSNewYork) — A New Jersey state assemblywoman is among those calling to have Newark Archbishop John Myers held accountable, after a once-accused pedophile priest suddenly popped up at Colts Neck Church youth retreats.

The Rev. Michael Fugee, a Newark Archdiocese priest, was convicted in 2003 of molesting a boy. The conviction was overturned by an appeals court, CBS 2’s Lou Young reported earlier this week.

Fugee, 52, entered into an agreement with the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office to avoid retrial on the abuse conviction after the groping incident six years ago. The agreement required Fugee, 52, never again to have unsupervised contact with children under the age of 18.

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TEXAS
KTRK

HOUSTON (KTRK) — The former pastor of a church in Chambers County is in jail, accused of sexually assaulting a child.

Eddie Shauberger, 58, was arrested in San Antonio, and is awaiting extradition back to Liberty County, where he used to live. He is charged with two counts of sexual assault of a child.

Shauberger is the former pastor of Oak Island Baptist Church in Chambers County. In the late 90s, he unsuccessfully ran for state representative.

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NEW JERSEY
Politicker NJ

By Matthew Arco | May 1st, 2013

CAMDEN – Controversy surrounding the state’s highest-ranking Catholic official spurred Gov. Chris Christie to blast his likely gubernatorial challenger as “irresponsible.”

The governor called reports about Newark’s archbishop allowing a priest who admitted groping a boy to continue working with children “disturbing,” but fell short of joining the call from several state lawmakers for Archbishop John Myers to resign.

“I will say this, leaders who make decisions purely based upon media accounts are irresponsible and they are grandstanding, and we don’t need more of that,” Christie said during a Camden news conference Wednesday.

Christie was asked whether he would join the ranks of multiple lawmakers – including his likely Democratic challenger, state Sen. Barbara Buono – who have called on Myers to step down. …

“All I know about this situation is what I’ve read in the paper and so that makes me very nervous,” he said. “Being written about in the paper all the time, I recognize that sometimes it’s accurate and sometimes it isn’t, sometimes it’s a complete story and sometimes it’s slanted by the people who write it to try to get a certain point across.”

The governor went on to say that what he’s read “is disturbing” and that he has “serious concerns,” but stopped short of joining Buono and others in calling for Myers to step down.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Roman Catholic Diocese of Scranton

On May 1, 2013, Diocesan Officials confirmed the outcome of the trial of Father Thomas Shoback. Since November 2011, the Diocese of Scranton has cooperated with law enforcement’s investigation and prosecution of this criminal case. Now that the criminal justice system has brought this case to closure, the Diocese of Scranton recognizes that the announcement of this verdict will serve as a very painful reminder of the wounds many survivors carry with them, most especially those who were harmed by Father Shoback.

In response to the verdict, the Most Reverend Joseph C. Bambera, D.D., J.C.L., Bishop of Scranton, reacted, “At this time, I express my personal sorrow for the pain endured by those who suffered this abuse and extend my apology for any way in which the Church, and particularly its bishops, priests and deacons have failed them. I also reaffirm my personal commitment to exercise vigilance in our protection of children and young people and offer my sincere gratitude to all who worked so diligently to resolve this case. With the civil law process completed, in accordance with The Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, Father Shoback is permanently removed from ecclesiastical ministry and his status as a priest will be referred to the Holy See for a final determination. While Church law has been and will continue to be exercised with regard to this situation, anyone who believes that they have been the victim of child sexual abuse is encouraged to contact law enforcement. Finally, I ask the faithful of the Diocese to join their prayers with mine to pray for the continued healing for all those impacted by child sexual abuse and all who search for healing, reconciliation and peace during this difficult time.”

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PENNSYLVANIA
WNEP

May 1, 2013, by Dan Ratchford

SCRANTON — The Diocese of Scranton put out a statement Wednesday afternoon saying the verdict against this priest accused of child sex abuse serves as a “painful reminder of the wounds” victims still carry.

According to a New York State TV station, Fr. Thomas Shoback of Wilkes-Barre, who once served at a church in Jermyn and other parishes in the diocese, was convicted Tuesday of sexual abuse at a parish in Tioga County.

The diocese suspended Fr. Shoback in 2011 when accusations against him were made.

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CALIFORNIA
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: Ordained a Jesuit priest of the California Province in 1985, Speciale’s post-ordination ministry was short-lived. He was accused in a 2004 lawsuit of having sexually abused an 11 year-old boy in 1985, at a Santa Barbara parish. Another lawsuit with accusations against him was settled in 1993. Speciale appears to have left the priesthood after 1989.

Ordained: 1985

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