ABUSE TRACKER

UNITED STATES
Sound Cloud

Judy Jones, SNAP Midwest Associate Director, radio interview on FOX News 1460 AM/101 FM, Salinas, California regarding new pope, Pope Francis I. March 14, 2013.

( SNAP, The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, is the world’s oldest and largest support group for clergy abuse victims. SNAP was founded in 1988 and has more than 12,000 members. Despite the word priest in our title, we have members who were molested by religious figures of all denominations, including nuns, rabbis, bishops, teachers, Protestant ministers and preachers, and, increasingly, victims who were assaulted in a wide range of institutional settings like orphanages, summer camps, athletic programs, Boy Scouts, etc. The SNAP web address is: www.snapnetwork.org )

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

MILWAUKEE (WI)
WTMJ

By Jay Sorgi

CREATED Apr. 4, 2013

MILWAUKEE – A spokesman for the Milwaukee Archdiocese told Newsradio 620 WTMJ’s Gene Mueller the reasons why it released thousands of pages of records about sex abuse cases involving members of the clergy.

“This, the Archbishop thought, is a way to say ‘Let’s give the complete picture. Let’s open up these files and documents and let people judge for themselves,” said Milwaukee Archdiocese Chief of Staff Jerry Topczewski on Newsradio 620 WTMJ’s “Wisconsin’s Morning News.”

“People are wondering, ‘What else don’t we know?’ I think this will give people the assurance that this is it. These are the stories.”

He told Gene that the stories are upsetting, but that the church worked proactively to help heal victims.

“Who wouldn’t be upset when you learn of some innocent child being harmed by someone who should have had the trust of the child, the family, the parishioners in the pew?” said Topczewski.

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

MILWAUKEE (WI)
Wiscosin Public Radio

By Chuck Quirmbach

Clergy abuse victims in Milwaukee say they want more documents from the Catholic Church than the church is promising to release.

The St. Stanislaus Catholic Church in downtown Milwaukee. The Milwaukee archdiocese plans to publicly release thousands of documents regarding child molestation this summer.

As part of the Catholic Church’s two-year-old bankruptcy case in Milwaukee, Archbishop Jerome Listecki says that on July 1, he will release thousands of pages of documents regarding clergy sex abuse

But the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP) says it also wants information about abuse committed by religious order clerics, deacons and Catholic school employees. SNAP Midwest Director Peter Isely says those other cases may represent at least half of all church-related molestations.

“And so when you talk about half a glass, that may be okay with some things, but it’s not acceptable when it comes to child molesters. The archbishop knows right now that there are 10 child molesters in this neighborhood. Why would he only tell you about five of them?”

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

MILWAUKEE (WI)
58 News

by Matt Doyle

Milwaukee—“This is a historic day for child sexual abuse victims,” SNAP Midwest Director Peter Isely said.

The Milwaukee Archdiocese’s decision to release thousands of documents about sex abuse spells temporary relief for some.

“We are halfway to the goal,” Isely said.

It comes as the Archdiocese bankruptcy case continues. A spokesman said this will help move the bankruptcy case forward as well as help victims.

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

OSTERREICH
ORF

Der Fall eines ehemaligen Paters des oberösterreichischen Stiftes Kremsmünster, der Zöglinge missbraucht haben soll, könnte nun – gut drei Jahre nach Bekanntwerden – bald vor Gericht landen.

Der Akt über die Missbrauchsvorwürfe gegen den ehemaligen Pater ist nach der Prüfung durch das Ministerium auf dem Weg zurück zur Staatsanwaltschaft Steyr. Opfer üben jedoch immer wieder Kritik an der Justiz, weil das Verfahren so lange dauert.

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

MILWAUKEE (WI)
Neue Zurcher Zeitung

(ap) Das Erzbistum Milwaukee in den USA will nun doch die umfassenden Akten zu den Fällen von sexuellem Missbrauch durch Geistliche veröffentlichen. Bisher hatte sich das Bistum dagegen gesträubt. Die Ankündigung erfolgte am Mittwoch – einen Tag vor einer Anhörung vor einem Insolvenzgericht. Anfang Januar 2011 hatte die Erzdiözese bekanntgegeben, wegen Entschädigungszahlungen an Missbrauchsopfer zahlungsunfähig zu sein.

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

UNITED KINGDOM
Lancashire Evening Post

Canon Stephen Shield, 53, who was dean at the Roman Catholic cathedral in St Peter’s Road, Lancaster, was arrested by police on March 23.

He was later charged with three sexual offences relating to one male and bailed to appear before Preston magistrates on Wednesday, April 17.

The offences are alleged to have been committed more than two decades ago when the alleged victim was aged between 17 and 24.

A Lancaster diocese spokesman this week confirmed that Canon Shield had withdrawn from the ministry pending the outcome of the court proceedings.

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

AUSTRALIA
Western Advocate

THE Australian public should prepare to be shocked, disgusted and saddened by the revelations of a Royal Commission into the institutional sexual abuse of minors.

The commission got under way in Melbourne this week, but already dozens of victims have told their haunting tales of abuse during public hearings in regional Victoria.

In many cases this abuse took place decades ago but, as the sight of grown men and women breaking down while giving evidence shows, their pain is still very real.

We have already heard from victims who say the appalling sexual abuse inflicted on them as children changed their lives forever.

Many have grown into adults leading dysfunctional lives, suspicious of others and unable to love.

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

AUSTRALIA
Western Advocate

VICTIMS of sexual abuse will have to wait for some time yet to learn if they will be able to give evidence in Bathurst as part of the new royal commission which started this week.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse began hearings in Melbourne on Wednesday.

It will examine all institutions in a far-ranging inquiry that will last at least three years.

A spokesman for the Royal Commission said yesterday dates and venues for hearings had yet to be determined.

“Following its opening yesterday, the Royal Commission has now gone into a series of private sessions, which will help determine where and when hearings will be held,” he said.

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

PENNSYLVANIA
PhillyBurbs

Posted: Friday, April 5, 2013

By Danielle Camilli Staff writer

MOUNT HOLLY — A Pemberton Township deacon pleaded not guilty to charges that he molested two girls at Calvary Baptist Church during separate alleged incidents over the last three years.

Joseph V. Pullen Jr., 59, of Whispering Pines Boulevard in Pemberton Township, entered the plea at his arraignment in Burlington County Superior Court on Monday. Earlier this year, a Burlington County grand jury indicted him on three counts of first-degree aggravated sexual assault and other related charges, said county First Assistant Prosecutor Raymond Milavsky.

Pullen was arrested last July after a girl and her family reported she had been sexually assaulted during a service at the Scrapetown Church where he served as a deacon, authorities said.

A second victim told police she was molested at Calvary Baptist back in 2010, according to court documents. Authorities also allege he sexually abused the same child in 2009 and 2011.

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

MILWAUKEE (WI)
WISC

MILWAUKEE —Victims of sexual abuse by Catholic priests are praising the church’s decision to release thousands of pages of previously sealed documents, but they said it’s not enough.

Archbishop Jerome Listecki is trying to prepare people for what they may see in the records detailing cases of child sexual abuse.

The records also include sworn depositions by former Milwaukee Archbishop Rembert Weakland and New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan.

The promised release of documents marks a turning point in the long legal battle between abuse survivors and the Catholic Church.

“Let’s shed the light where it needs to be shed and let people understand what happened,” Milwaukee Archdiocese spokesman Jerry Topczewski said.

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

UNITED STATES
The Indypendent

By
Nicholas Powers.

April 4, 2013
Issue #
185

It comes out of the dark. Memories like steam leave the person confused, ashamed and scared. Survivors of childhood sexual abuse won’t know for years what happened to their bodies. The hot hands of the pedophile are folded into the depths of forgetting until some jarring moment, some odd connection opens a passageway to daylight. When the pedophile’s face becomes visible in the mind, the next shock is that it’s someone they know.

And what if that face is supposed to be the face of God? It is a learned fear and respect for figures of authority that creates silent victims of abuse. Their mute suffering deepens to the degree that the sexual predator has social status, which is why for decades, pedophile priests were invisible: above them was the blinding light of God. It has only been in the past two decades that the mystique of the Catholic Church has been eroded enough for everyone to see the shifty shuffling of pedophiles from one parish to another by church leaders in Rome, including former Pope Benedict Ratzinger.

The Catholic Church, with its 1.2 billion followers, is the largest Christian denomination in the world. It’s a top-down hierarchy: standing at the summit is the Pope, an elderly man who is God’s representative on earth; next are the dioceses, which are led by a bishop; below them are the parishes, which are overseen by priests, deacons or lay ministers. Ornate Catholic churches can be seen in every country, sometimes nestled between tall modern skyscrapers, sometimes in the tangled foliage of the country. For hundreds of years, millions of people have gone through those doors in search of salvation and now we learn, many have emerged scarred with guilt and shame.

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

ILLINOIS
Chicago Tribune

By Stacy St. Clair and Christy Gutowski, Chicago Tribune reporters
10:01 p.m. CDT, April 4, 2013

The Joliet Diocese acknowledges church officials allowed a Roman Catholic priest to serve as a hospital chaplain even though the bishop declared him unfit for parish ministry because of “inappropriate behavior” with a boy years earlier.

The Rev. Thomas Corbino was not charged with a crime, but Bishop R. Daniel Conlon placed him on “restricted ministry” in 2012 and barred him from having unsupervised interactions with children before he became a part-time volunteer chaplain at Central DuPage Hospital in Winfield, a diocese spokesman said.

The hospital fired Corbino on Tuesday after learning about the misconduct allegation against him, Central DuPage spokesman Christopher King said. The diocese had not mentioned the allegation when it recommended him for the volunteer post, King said.

“The information that we received on Tuesday was very concerning,” King said. “It was new to us, and we dismissed him that afternoon.”

Corbino could not be reached for comment.

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

UNITED KINGDOM
Darlington & Stockton Times

Exclusive By Joe Willis, Regional Chief Reporter

THE Catholic Church has been criticised for failing to reinstate a popular parish priest who The Northern Echo can reveal was accused – but never charged – of child sexual abuse.

Parishioners continue to stand by Father Michael Higginbottom after he was suspended from St Augustine’s Roman Catholic Church, in Darlington, in December 2004.

An Echo investigation today reveals that the Catholic Church paid out £35,000 to a man who claimed he was sexually assaulted by Fr Higginbottom while the priest was teaching at St Joseph’s College, in Upholland, near Wigan, in the late 1970s.

The Northern Echo put the allegations to Fr Higginbottom, he denied knowing the nature of the claims and said he could not discuss the reasons for his suspension for “legal reasons”.

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

UNITED KINGDOM
Littlehampton Gazette

A jury trying a retired Church of England priest from West Sussex and his former organist and choirmaster over alleged historic child sex abuse has retired to consider its verdicts for a second day.

Father Keith Wilkie Denford, 78, is accused of using the respectability of his cassock to molest two boys over an 18-month period from when they were aged around 13.

Hove Crown Court heard that one time Denford, who was the vicar at St John the Evangelist Church in Burgess Hill, West Sussex, abused one of the boys aided by organist and choirmaster Michael Mytton, 68.

Following a meal at a restaurant in Cuckfield, Denford asked Mytton to pull his Jaguar over into a layby where he went on to molest the “inconsolable” boy on the back seat, jurors heard.

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

ILLINOIS
Daily Herald

David Sharos For The Sun April 4, 2013

Central DuPage Hospital has removed the Rev. Thomas Corbino, a Catholic priest who was a chaplain at the facility, due to allegations he had inappropriate contact with young people in the past.

Corbino had been serving as a chaplain at the hospital in Winfield for the past year after being reassigned from St. Pius X Church in Lombard.

In an email, the hospital announced it would no longer use the services offered by Corbino, who served as a volunteer chaplain. The hospital has been receiving pressure from the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests group to get rid of Corbino.

SNAP President Barbara Blaine said there have been concerns raised about Corbino within the group during the past few weeks and that an article she read a few months ago about the Joliet Diocese’s practice of reassigning priests that have been charged with inappropriate conduct “proved to be the trigger.”

“The Diocese’s decision to put a priest in another position after he has been accused of inappropriate conduct was of interest to me since that’s what my home parish — the Diocese of Toledo — did with one perpetrator,” Blaine said. “They told me then that the priest would be monitored and that this was safe for kids, and yet things got worse. I was concerned when I learned Corbino had been moved to this position after he resigned on April 11 of 2012 from St. Pius.”

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

DEUTSCHLAND
Volkskrant

De Rooms-Katholieke Kerk moet alle klachten en schadeclaims over seksueel misbruik zo veel mogelijk voor het einde van dit jaar afhandelen. En dat moet met ‘warmte en ruimhartigheid’, vindt een overgrote meerderheid in de Tweede Kamer van in elk geval VVD, PvdA, PVV, SP, CDA en D66.

De Rooms-Katholieke Kerk zegt doordrongen te zijn van het ‘belang om het leed te erkennen van slachtoffers van seksueel misbruik en hen ruimhartig tegemoet te komen’. Volgens een woordvoerster van de Rooms-Katholieke Kerk hebben bisschoppen en hogere oversten bijvoorbeeld nu al persoonlijke ontmoetingen met slachtoffers en worden klachten voortvarend afgehandeld. Ze zegt dat er vertrouwen is dat alle klachten voor het einde van dit jaar zijn afgehandeld.

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

DEUTSCHLAND
Die Welt

Im Prozess gegen einen ehemaligen Kirchenmusiker hat die Mutter eines Opfers ausgesagt. Der Mann soll drei Kinder sexuell missbraucht haben. Angeblich hatte die Frau keine Hinweise auf die Taten.

Die Mütter von drei sexuell missbrauchten Kinder haben nach eigenen Aussagen nichts von den Taten bemerkt. Die Staatsanwaltschaft wirft einem Kirchenmusiker aus Nordenham (Landkreis Wesermarsch) vor, die Kinder von Anfang 2011 bis März 2012 sexuell missbraucht zu haben.

In dem Prozess gegen den Mann vor dem Landgericht Oldenburg sagte eine 44 Jahre alte Frau jetzt als Zeugin aus. Die Mutter sagte, es habe keine Hinweise auf sexuellen Missbrauch ihres Sohnes gegeben.

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

ILLINOIS
Chicago Sun-Times

By David Sharos For The Sun April 4, 2013

Central DuPage Hospital has removed the Rev. Thomas Corbino, a Catholic priest who was a chaplain at the facility, due to allegations he had inappropriate contact with young people in the past.

Corbino had been serving as a chaplain at the hospital in Winfield for the past year after being reassigned from St. Pius X Church in Lombard.

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

IRELAND
National Catholic Reporter

by Paige Brettingen,Shweta Saraswat | Apr. 4, 2013

Dublin —
Reform-minded Irish Catholics say Pope Francis is unlikely to improve the reputation of the Roman Catholic church as inflexible and out of touch, especially among the young.

“The majority of young people would say they don’t hate the church,” said Dublin Archbishop Diarmuid Martin. “It’s just that the church is irrelevant to them.”

Shortly after Francis’ election last month, Martin spoke with U.S. student journalists in Ireland on a reporting trip.

Though still a bastion of European Catholicism, Ireland has seen a significant decrease in the percentage of residents who identify as Catholic. In 1920, nearly 93 percent of the Irish population described themselves as Catholic, according to census data. By 2011, that number had dropped to 84 percent.

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

UNITED STATES
Herman Law

The silence about childhood sexual abuse is finally breaking.

In a Baptist Church, the Pastor and Church leaders are often revered by members of the congregation, especially the young children. It is this enormous power combined with the influence that the Church has over the lives of its members that creates such a dangerous atmosphere for childhood sexual abuse in the Baptist faith.

Studies reveal that childhood sexual abuse is as prevalent in the Baptist Church as it is in the Roman Catholic Church. Yet this denomination often has no procedures for tracking abusive clergy who are transferred out of state, for removing accused abusers from ministry, or for informing congregants that their officials have been accused of violating children. Numerous Baptist clergy have been arrested and convicted for criminal sexual misconduct. The absence of a central agency for Baptist Churches to report known or suspected child molesters has resulted in preachers moving from one church to another without their new congregation ever learning about the history of sexual abuse.

For decades, victims of childhood sexual abuse in Baptist Churches have been silenced by shame, false instruction, and the bully tactics of the Church’s leaders. Most egregiously, abuse survivors have been taught that scripture requires them to forgive their perpetrator and not to make reports to law enforcement. These tactics serve to foster an environment of abuse and allows perpetrators to go unpunished. In a Baptist congregation, the Pastor and church leaders have enormous power and influence over the lives of the Church’s members, which can create a dangerous environment for children. In most Baptist churches, there is a deacon board or committee of church elders who decide whether to hire or retain the Pastor and Church staff. These deacons and elders are responsible for doing background checks and implementing appropriate protocols to protect children. When the Church deacons and elders are negligent in their duties and children are harmed, the Church can be liable.

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

MILWAUKEE (WI)
National Catholic Reporter

by Brian Roewe | Apr. 4, 2013

Thousands of documents related to clergy abuse cases in Milwaukee will be released by summer.

Archbishop Jerome Listeki made the announcement Wednesday in an email to Milwaukee Catholics, which was later posted on the archdiocesan website. In the message, he begs forgiveness from the victims, and “for myself and in the name of the Church I give those abuse survivors and their families my sincere apology.”

“My hope is by making these documents public, we will shed much-needed light on how the archdiocese responded to abuse survivors over the past 40-plus years when confronting this issue and that they will aid abuse survivors and others in resolution and healing,” Listeki said.

The documents will go public on the archdiocesan website by July 1. The archbishop’s chief of staff Jerry Topczewski told the Associated Press that time is needed to redact victims’ identities

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

ROME
WHEC

(AP) ROME – Italian police have arrested a Catholic priest accused of pocketing 4 million euros ($5.1 million) from the coffers of a Catholic hospital he ran and helping run up 600 million euros in debts that forced the clinic into bankruptcy and prompted the Vatican to intervene.

Italy’s financial police placed the Rev. Franco Decaminada, until 2011 the CEO of the IDI dermatological hospital in Rome, under house arrest Thursday and detained two other people while seizing a Tuscan farmhouse police say he purchased with stolen money.

The plight of IDI workers, who haven’t received paychecks for months, prompted Benedict XVI in one of his last acts as pope to name a delegate to take over the religious order that owns the hospital, though he ruled out providing financial assistance.

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

UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

The jury in the trial of a Church of England priest and a church organist accused of historical child sex abuse has retired to consider its verdict.

Father Wilkie Denford, 78, from Shoreham-by-Sea, has pleaded not guilty to four charges of indecently assaulting two boys.

Michael Mytton, 68, from East Chiltington, East Sussex, has denied aiding and abetting indecent assault.

The pair are accused of abusing the boys between 1987 and 1990.

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

ARGENTINA
National Catholic Reporter

by John L. Allen Jr. | Apr. 4, 2013

Buenos Aires, Argentina – A former top aide to Pope Francis said yesterday that a little-known aspect of his record as the archbishop of Buenos Aires lends credence to speculation that sooner or later, he may shut down the Vatican Bank.

On Tuesday, the Reuters news agency quoted two Vatican officials anonymously who said that closing the bank, formally known as the “Institute for the Works of Religion,” is an option Francis might consider.

Yesterday Federico Wals, a layman who served as the future pope’s spokesperson in Buenos Aires since 2007, told NCR he believes that may well be the case.

“I think he’ll move everything to the Bank of Italy, or something like that,” Wals told NCR, citing as a precedent a key decision made by then-Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio when he arrived in Buenos Aires in the late 1990s.

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

MILWAUKEE (WI)
New York Daily News

Cardinal Timothy Dolan’s deposition to be released among files on alleged sexual abuse by priests, the Archdiocese of Milwaukee says

By Daniel Beekman / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Thursday, April 4, 2013

Timothy Cardinal Dolan’s lawyer said he answered questions in February about his decision to publicize the names of priests who were accused of molestation. Lawyers for those who filed lawsuits believe the disclosure will expose abuse and coverups.

The Archdiocese of Milwaukee will release thousands of documents related to priest sexual abuse lawsuits, including a deposition from its former head, Timothy Cardinal Dolan.

Lawyers for the men and women who filed the suit believe the documents will help expose alleged abuse and coverups.

Dolan, who served as Archbishop in Milwaukee from 2002 to 2009, said Wednesday he welcomes the July 1 disclosure. His lawyer said Dolan answered questions in February about his decision to publicize the names of priests who were accused of molestation.

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

AUSTRALIA
The Australian

Catholic Church ‘lacking leadership’ to deal with child sex abuse, professor says

PIA AKERMAN
From:The Australian
April 04, 20131

A LACK of decisive leadership within the Catholic church has thwarted a cultural shift which would better address problems of child sexual abuse, a parliamentary inquiry has been told.

Professor Caroline Taylor, social justice foundation chair at Edith Cowan University, today told the Victorian child abuse inquiry that there had not been significant change within the church hierarchy despite the raft of allegations revealed over the past five years.

“Unfortunately I don’t see anything that would have me jumping for joy,” said Professor Taylor who has specialised in research relating to sexual offences.

“I think that there has been no leadership to take this forward, that is what’s missing.

“There hasn’t been that leadership that can grab the community, take the community forward with them and say that we need to have an open discussion, we need to have an exchange of views and opinions.”

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

AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By state political reporter Peta Carlyon

Victoria’s parliamentary inquiry into child abuse has heard confronting evidence about child sex offenders.

Emeritus Professor Freda Briggs from the University of South Australia said she had come across sex offenders aged as young as four.

She told the hearing that schools are failing to deal with the issue….

Professor Briggs also criticised the Catholic Church’s ongoing handling of offenders within its ranks.

“They still regard child sexual abuse akin to a traffic offence,” Professor Briggs said.

Earlier, an expert on child abuse victims says ongoing public ignorance is allowing offenders within the Catholic clergy to continue grooming children.

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

AUSTRALIA
Brisbane Times

April 5, 2013

Barney Zwartz
Religion editor, The Age.

Catholic Church leaders in Australia were contributing to the ostracism and scapegoating of child sex abuse victims, showing little leadership and little ”will to know”, the inquiry into how churches handled sex abuse has heard.

Edith Cowan University social justice professor Caroline Taylor said church leaders, as well as judges and lawyers, too readily followed misleading stereotypes that minimised child abuse.

”The greatest insurance policy offenders have is the ignorance of the community,” Professor Taylor said on Thursday. ”I don’t believe the Catholic hierarchy has changed its attitude … I haven’t seen that probity and will to know, which means setting aside preconceived ideas and being open to learn. It takes courage.”

When she had suggested ways to help educate the community, she had been ”severely rebuffed”.

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

AUSTRALIA
The Australian

Janet Fife-Yeomans
From:The Daily Telegraph
April 05, 2013

THE child sex abuse royal commission is being urged to look at religious protections that have insulated the Catholic Church from ever being found liable in a court for abuse by its priests or at its schools.

The church has become notorious for hiding behind what has become known as the “Ellis defence”, a NSW Court of Appeal ruling that means the church does not exist as a legal entity that is capable of being sued.

The Australian Lawyers Alliance and other lawyers contacted yesterday by The Daily Telegraph said they were not aware of a single court judgment against the Catholic Church, although numerous cases had been settled.

Former altar boy John Ellis, a solicitor who lost his case to sue Cardinal Pell and the Archdiocese of Sydney in the landmark case, described the defence yesterday as a loaded gun.

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

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Big Trial

By Ralph Cipriano
for Bigtrial.net

At 8:11 p.m. on June 9, 2010, the district attorney’s star witness in the case against the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, a man subsequently identified in a 2011 grand jury report as “Billy Doe,” was walking on the 200 block of Allegheny Avenue when he caught the eye of Police Officer Cesar Torres.

At the time, Torres was on patrol in a marked police car, the officer subsequently testified.

Assistant District Attorney Katie Brown asked the officer what caught his eye about Billy Doe:

Q. What was the defendant wearing when you saw him?

A. I believe he had [on] sweatpants with a hoodie that had a jacket over it …

Q. Did something draw your attention to the defendant that brings you here today?

A. Yes, ma’am. I was traveling eastbound and I observed a large bulge coming out of the right side of the defendant’s waist area.

Q. What happened after that?

A. At that time, myself and the defendant made eye contact and he looked very surprised … um, just like, you know a look of shock. His eyes opened wide.

That large bulge turned out to be 56 bags of heroin. This is the story of how a smart criminal lawyer made that heroin disappear.

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

MILWAUKEE (WI)
WUWM

WUWM NEWS | Apr 4, 2013

A years long attempt to access church documents related to the sex abuse scandal by victims and others will end this summer. The Milwaukee Archdiocese says it will release 3,000 pages of material on its website July 1.

Archdiocese spokesperson Jerry Topczewski says officials hope the release of the material will help victims of sexual abuse heal. He says the documents are not being released immediately because the church wants to ensure victims names are not included.

Documents will include depositions from top church officials,including sworn statements made by New York Cardinal, former Milwaukee Archbishop Tim Dolan. Dolan gave a deposition in February as part of a Chapter 11 bankruptcy case against the archdiocese. The Milwaukee archdiocese faced a hearing today in U.S. bankruptcy court in Milwaukee.

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

AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Kerrin Thomas

A former priest from Armidale has had his bail continued during a brief appearance at Armidale Local Court on Wednesday.

The 59-year-old man, who cannot be named to protect the identity of his victims, is charged with 25 historic child sex offences against three girls in the 1970’s and 80’s.

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

MILWAUKEE (WI)
SNAP Wisconsin

Major court victory for victim/survivors: Milwaukee Archdiocese will release half its priest offender files July 1st

WHAT
Victim/survivors of childhood sexual assault by clergy, employees and volunteers of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, including the long time Milwaukee based Midwest Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPwisconsin.com/SNAPnetwork.org) will be joined by Fr. James Connell, pastor and former Vice-Chancellor of the Milwaukee Archdiocese, to:

–discuss the announcement by victims’ and church lawyers that the Archdiocese will release approximately half the priest offender files from the Archdiocese of Milwaukee on July 1st and its importance for public safety,

–discuss the possible importance of the depositions also to be released of former Milwaukee Archbishop Rembert Weakland, Bishop Richard Sklba, and current New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan,

–urge the release of all church child sex abuser files including documents and files related to religious order clerics, employees, permanent deacons,

–insist that the archdiocese disclose all legal costs related to preventing abuse document release.

WHEN
THURSDAY, April 4, 1:00 p.m.

WHERE
Front steps of the Milwaukee Federal Courthouse, 517 E Wisconsin Ave

WHY
After two years of legal battles to prevent any public release of documents and key depositions related to the sexual abuse of children by clergy of the Milwaukee Archdiocese, it has been filed late Wednesday in the Milwaukee Federal Bankruptcy Court a public notification that the church lawyers will cease their legal efforts to keep secret internal church documents pertaining to 45 Milwaukee clergy known to have assaulted children.

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

IRELAND
Limerick Post

by Kathryn Hayes

Thursday, 04 April 2013

A LIMERICK priest has stepped aside from his ministry and duties pending the outcome of an investigation into allegations of child abuse.

The issues alleged against the priest who is currently attached to a parish in county Limerick relate to the mid nineties when he was located in a different part of the diocese.

Gardai say they are aware of the matter but they have not yet received a complaint to instigate an investigation.

However, the church, who were made aware of the allegations via a third-party, is to proceed with its own inquiry into the alleged abuse.

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

AUSTRALIA
The West Australian

By Genevieve Gannon, AAP
Updated April 4, 2013

Children of devout religious families are an attractive target for pedophile priests because they are less likely to report abuse, a parliamentary inquiry has heard.

Exposing an abusive religious leader puts such a child at risk of isolation from their community, their peers and their family, experts said.

Even if children do muster the courage to tell their mother or father that a priest has abused them, there is a chance they won’t be believed.

This hsd happened in the past, Professor Caroline Taylor told the Victorian inquiry into the handling of child abuse by religious and other organisations.

Pedophile priests know this and they exploit their position of power in the community to get away with their crimes, she said.

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

IRELAND
Irish Independent

A PRIEST has stepped aside from his ministry pending the outcome of a church inquiry into an allegation of child abuse dating back to the mid-1990s.

The priest is currently serving in a rural part of Co Limerick but the issues relate to an allegation when he was based elsewhere. It’s understood that while gardai are aware of the issue they have not yet received a complaint. The church has proceeded with its own inquiry nonetheless.

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

MILWAUKEE (WI)
NY1

[with video]

By: Mahsa Saeidi

The Archdiocese of Milwaukee will soon release thousands of pages of documents on the child sex abuse scandal that rocked the Catholic Church, including the deposition given by Cardinal Timothy Dolan in February. NY1’s Mahsa Saeidi filed the following report.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan’s handling of the child sex abuse scandal that rocked the Catholic Church will soon be public.

The cardinal’s deposition is among 3,000 documents being released on July 1.

All of the documents relate to the alleged sexual abuse of children by clergy in Milwaukee.

“I think the Catholic Church has learned a very painful lesson on what not to do in terms of dealing with sexual abuse,” said Joseph Zwilling, spokesperson for the Archdiocese of New York.

Prior to coming to the city, Dolan was Archbishop in Milwaukee from 2002 to 2009.

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

ISRAEL
Failed Messiah

Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com

Breslov leader Rabbi Eliezer Berland, the head of Yeshiva Shuvu Banim in Jerusalem’s Old City, has gone underground and disappeared, the haredi news website Behadrei Haredim reports.

Berland allegedly sexually abused many young Breslov women, some married, some not, some of age and some apparently minors. He fled Israel for Miami weeks ago after it became clear that he and what are often described as his henchmen and thugs could no longer contain the scandal within the Shuva Banim community after violence related to the alleged coverup became a police matter.

Police opened an investigation into Berland’s alleged sexual abuse, but Berland had already fled to Miami.

When Berland realized that he was wanted for questioning in Israel and could possibly be extradited, he left Miami and went to Switzerland, where he met with his Israel attorney, Dr. Jacob Weinroth.

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

MILWAUKEE (WI)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

By Annysa Johnson of the Journal Sentinel

In a major development in its bankruptcy, the Archdiocese of Milwaukee announced Wednesday that it will make public thousands of pages of documents detailing its handling of clergy sex abuse cases dating back decades.

The decision – a reversal for the archdiocese – came on the eve of a scheduled hearing at which U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Susan V. Kelley was expected to order the release of at least some of those records, which are under seal.

The release of documents has been a primary objective of victims in the hundreds of clergy sex abuse cases around the country, including the Milwaukee bankruptcy. Both the archdiocese and attorneys for victims heralded the decision as a significant step toward transparency and healing for abuse survivors.

“My hope is by making these documents public we will shed much-needed light on how the archdiocese responded to abuse survivors over the past 40-plus years, and that they will aid abuse survivors and others in resolution and healing,” Archbishop Jerome Listecki said in a letter to parishes, schools and church leaders on Wednesday.

Attorney Jeffrey Anderson, who represents most of the 570-plus men and women with sex abuse claims in the bankruptcy, called it “a great day for survivors and a giant step for child protection.”

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

MILWAUKEE (WI)
Houston Chronicle

MILWAUKEE (AP) — A lawyer representing people who say they were sexually abused by priests in the Milwaukee Archdiocese says he’s glad the archdiocese has agreed to release thousands of sealed documents.

Attorney Jeff Anderson said Wednesday he’s grateful to the hundreds of abuse survivors who stayed strong in their fight to have the documents released.

The archdiocese says it’ll post about 3,000 pages of documents online by July 1.

Anderson says the victims have been seeking disclosure, exposure and closure. He says Wednesday’s announcement fulfills the first two, and the focus will soon shift toward the third.

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

MILWAUKEE (WI)
Seattle PI

MILWAUKEE (AP) — One of the plaintiffs suing the Milwaukee archdiocese says he has mixed feelings after learning the archdiocese will release thousands of documents related to sex-abuse allegations.

Billy Kirchen of Milwaukee says he’s glad people on the outside will get a chance to see what happened behind the scenes. But the 46-year-old says the documents won’t reveal anything he didn’t already know about how church officials mishandled abuse claims.

The Associated Press generally doesn’t identify people who say they were victims of sexual abuse, but Kirchen granted permission to use his name.

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

AUSTRALIA
Christian Science Monitor

By the Monitor’s Editorial Board / April 3, 2013

On Wednesday, Australia set an example for the world by opening an official inquiry that will allow people who were sexually abused as children in institutions to finally tell their stories.

At least 5,000 Australians are expected to be heard by the commission, many of them able to recount their experiences in private before the six-member panel. They will shed light on a half century of abuse in orphanages, churches, schools, detention centers, and child-care centers, and groups such as the military, Scouts, and organized sports.

Up until now, many were too ashamed to speak out. Or their stories were neglected by authorities. As children, they suffered for years in silence.

It is noteworthy that a woman prime minister, Julia Gillard, set up this panel.

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

AUSTRALIA
NEWS.com.au

Patrick Caruana
AAP
April 04, 2013

THE royal commission into institutional child abuse should be given the time and money it needs to do its job, Opposition Leader Tony Abbott says.

At the commission’s first hearing, chairman Justice Peter McClellan said the inquiry would be unlikely to meet its deadlines because of the volume of evidence and the scope of the terms of reference.

The commission was due to provide an interim report by the middle of next year and complete its work before the end of 2015, Justice McClellan said on Wednesday.

Justice McClellan said the commission, which has so far cost $22 million, would continue to require “very significant sums of public money”.

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

AUSTRALIA
NEWS.com.au

FOR years they waited.

They waited to be heard, they waited to be believed, they waited for compensation and they waited for justice.

For many victims of institutional child sex abuse, the wait was too long, and they died in anonymous silence – a lot of them by their own hand.

But for their families, and for the survivors, the opening of a royal commission was a landmark.

The outpouring of emotion immediately after the brief hearing was testament to the fact that so many victims never thought the day would come.

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

UNITED KINGDOM
Manchester Evening News

Scandal-hit Chetham’s school has been given a month to clean up its act after two damning inspection reports.

Government education chiefs have given the £31,000-a-year institution until May 10 to come up with a plan of action before ministers decide whether to take further action.

The move comes after the school was hit by allegations of abuse stretching back decades – and the jailing of former choir master Michael Brewer.

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

ALABAMA
AL.com

By Jon Reed | jreed@al.com
on April 03, 2013

MONTGOMERY, Alabama — A former youth pastor in Wetumpka was sentenced to 10 years in prison in the sexual abuse of a child.

John A. Astorga, 38, of Titus, was convicted in Cullman County Circuit Court in December 2012 on one count of first-degree sexual abuse of a child who was less than 12 years old. Astorga received the maximum sentence, according to a news release from Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange.

Astorga, a former youth minister at the Bethel Assembly of God in Wetumpka, was convicted in April 2012 on two counts of first-degree sexual abuse in Elmore County. He was sentenced to 36 months on those charges. He has appealed that conviction.

Astorga will serve the sentences consecutively.

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

MILWAUKEE (WI)
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee

Most Reverend Jerome E. Listecki
Archbishop of Milwaukee

It has been more than 10 years since 2002, when the news about clergy sexual abuse of minors dominated news headlines across the country and changed forever the way the Catholic Church would be viewed because of this issue. I’m sorry this Love One Another is a little longer than usual, but there is so much ground to cover with this topic that I ask your patience. And, although you usually receive my email on Tuesdays, I send this today because I wanted you to hear this news directly from me.

This has been an especially poignant topic in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee as hundreds of courageous abuse survivors have come forward to tell their story. I beg the forgiveness of those who have been harmed. For myself and in the name of the Church I give those abuse survivors and their families my sincere apology.

The challenges facing the archdiocese are many. First, acknowledging the scandalous and embarrassing facts about how men, who were trusted priests, shattered that trust through their sinful and criminal behavior. Second, learning how some in advisory and leadership roles made ill-advised decisions, even if that only became clear in hindsight. Then there have been financial challenges – settling lawsuits, failed mediation attempts and, ultimately, my decision to file for Chapter 11 financial protection in 2011.

However, there are things the archdiocese can be proud of. In the 1990s, the archdiocese was one of the first in the country to implement a formal response to abuse survivors, to hire staff to support their needs, and to publish a Code of Ethical Standards for church employees. The archdiocese has supported legislation to include clergy as mandatory reporters of abuse from the time a bill was first introduced in the mid-1990’s until it was eventually signed into law. Even before this legislation was passed, the archdiocese had its own policy requiring employees, including clergy, to report suspected child abuse to the proper civil authorities. Our policies and protocols ensure that all abuse allegations involving someone who is still alive are immediately reported to civil authorities. Safe environment education programs were developed and are now mandatory for children and youth in every parish and school. Criminal background checks and sexual abuse awareness training are required for every bishop, priest, deacon, staff member and volunteer who works with minors. Most importantly, no priest with a substantiated allegation of sexual abuse of a minor can in any way exercise public ministry in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee.

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

MILWAUKEE (WI)
Fox 6

April 3, 2013, by Katie DeLong and Henry Rosoff

MILWAUKEE (WITI) — The Archdiocese of Milwaukee announced on Wednesday, April 3rd on its website and via Archbishop Jerome Listecki’s blog — it WILL release thousands of pages of documents detailing clergy sexual abuse in the Milwaukee Archdiocese as part of its Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings. SNAP, the Survivors Network for Those Abused by Priests has asked that these documents be unsealed and released to the public.

The Archdiocese made its announcement the day before the matter was to be decided in bankruptcy court. The Archdiocese filed for bankruptcy in 2011 to deal with sex abuse claims. Lawyers representing the men and women who filed the claims had been seeking the documents’ release.

The documents that will be released include depositions of Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Archbishop Weakland and Bishop Sklba.

SNAP has urged the Attorney General’s Office to step in and force the Milwaukee Archdiocese to turn over hundreds of pages of documents detailing child sex abuse claims as the Archdiocese goes through bankruptcy proceedings.

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

UNITED KINGDOM
Lancaster Guardian

Published on 04/04/2013

A Priest based at Lancaster Cathedral was this week charged with three counts of indecent assault.

Canon Stephen Shield, 53, who was dean at the Roman Catholic cathedral in St Peter’s Road, Lancaster, was arrested by police on March 23.

On Tuesday he was charged with three sexual offences relating to one male and bailed to appear before Preston magistrates on Wednesday, April 17.

The offences are alleged to have been committed more than two decades ago when the alleged victim was aged between 17 and 24.

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

MICHIGAN
The Oakland Press

By CAROL HOPKINS
carol.hopkins@oakpress.com Twitter: @opcarolhopkins

An investigation into whether a priest mishandled more than $400,000 at Troy’s St. Thomas More Catholic Church is now being conducted by the FBI, according to Troy Police.

Rev. Edward Belczak was asked to temporarily step aside from his duties at the church on North Adams Road in Troy in January during the probes that he mishandled at least $429,000 in church money. The 67-year-old remains a priest but left parish housing.

Sgt. Andy Breidenich said the FBI came to the Troy Police Department about two weeks ago and took over the case. Troy police are continuing to investigate whether healthcare fraud occurred.

FBI Detroit spokesman Simon Shaykhet declined to comment on the case, and the Detroit-based U.S. Attorney’s Office would not confirm or deny they were involved with the case.

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

CALIFORNIA
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: A priest of the Oakland diocese, Tollner has been accused of sexually abusing at least six children. In 1982 his sister-in-law reported that he had sexually abused her mentally retarded young adult son who had the mind of a twelve year-old. Bishop Cummins was informed of this, and of the fact that parishioners were complaining that Tollner was engaged in “suspicious behavior” with young boys involving alcohol and drugs and a hot tub Tollner had installed on the rectory roof. Tollner was kept in ministry. He was sent to St. Luke’s Institute in Maryland for treatment in 1985, but refused to stay. In 1987 a man reported that Tollner began to sexually abuse him in 1966 when the man was 11 years old, and that the abuse continued into adulthood. From 1985 to 1995 Tollner was allowed to reside at a parish, which had a school, and to hold several Chancery positions. He died in 1999.

Ordained: 1961
Died: Feb. 17, 1999

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

MILWAUKEE (WI)
CBS New York

MILWAUKEE (CBSNewYork/AP) — Timothy Cardinal Dolan said Wednesday that he welcomes the upcoming release of documents related to sexual abuse lawsuits filed against the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, where he previously served.

Dolan gave a deposition in February in the Chapter 11 bankruptcy case involving the Milwaukee Archdiocese. The deposition is among some 3,000 pages of documents that the archdiocese announced on Wednesday that it would post by July 1.

The Archdiocese in Wisconsin’s largest city had been fighting release of the documents, and faced a hearing Thursday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Milwaukee. It declared bankruptcy two years ago as it dealt with about 500 sex abuse claims.

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

MILWAUKEE (WI)
San Francisco Chronicle

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Retired Bishop Richard Sklba (SKIL’-buh) says he agreed to have the Archdiocese of Milwaukee release a deposition he gave in sexual abuse cases as a way of getting out the truth.

The archdiocese announced Wednesday that it would release about 3,000 pages of documents by July 1, including depositions given by Sklba, New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan — who previously led the Milwaukee archdiocese — and former Milwaukee Archbishop Rembert Weakland.

The documents had been sought by attorneys representing about 500 people who say they were sexually abused by priests. Their advocates have accused church leaders of moving the priests around and covering up their crimes.

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

IRELAND
National Secular Society (UK)

Catholic Church to lose control of some schools in Ireland – could this be the start of a seismic shift?

Posted: Wed, 03 Apr 2013

Following a survey of parents by the Irish Department of Education, 23 primary schools across the country will be divested of their Catholic Church patronage. The move is part of the drive to encourage more choice and diversity in the types of primary schools inIreland. At present 96% of primary schools are under the patronage of religious denominations – 90% of which are Catholic.

In 2011 the Minister for Education established an expert group to consult with people and to make recommendations on how primary schools can become more inclusive of different traditions, religions and beliefs.

In April 2012 the Minister Ruairí Quinn accepted and published the Report of the Advisory Group to the Forum on Patronage and Pluralism in the Primary Sector.

In June last year he started the process to look at the possible transfer of some schools run by the Catholic Church to other school patron bodies in 44 areas around the country.

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

MILWAUKEE (WI)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

By Annysa Johnson of the Journal Sentinel

April 3, 2013

Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome Listecki has authorized the release of a cache of documents related to its handling of sex abuse cases as part of its bankruptcy.

The decision is the result of negotiations between attorneys for victims and the archdiocese. It comes a day before what was expected to be a contentious hearing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court over the release of the documents.

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

MILWAUKEE (WI)
WISC

The Milwaukee Archdiocese says documents related to ongoing sexual abuse lawsuits will be released by July 1.

The archdiocese said Wednesday it will post about 3,000 pages of documents on its website. It says it’s not posting them immediately because it wants to ensure victims’ names are not included.

Archdiocese spokesman Jerry Topczewski (top-CHES’-kee) says one goal in releasing the documents is to help the hundreds of sexual abuse survivors heal.

The documents contain depositions from top archdiocese officials and content from priest personnel files. Victims’ advocates have been seeking the documents’ release for several years.

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

MILWAUKEE (WI)
Newsday

Published: April 3, 2013 6:04 PM
By The Associated Press

MILWAUKEE – (AP) — New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan says he welcomes the upcoming release of documents related to sexual abuse lawsuits filed against the Archdiocese of Milwaukee.

Dolan gave a deposition in February in the Chapter 11 bankruptcy case involving the archdiocese that he once served. That deposition is among some 3,000 pages of documents that the archdiocese announced on Wednesday that it would post by July 1.

The archdiocese had been fighting release of the documents, and faced a hearing Thursday in U.S. bankruptcy court in Milwaukee. It declared bankruptcy two years ago as it dealt with about 500 sex abuse claims.

In a statement Thursday, Dolan says he was glad to give his deposition and hopes the release of the documents will help in the healing of abuse survivors.

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

MILWAUKEE (WI)
KTAR

MILWAUKEE (AP) – The Archdiocese of Milwaukee said Wednesday it will publicly release thousands of pages of documents tied to sexual abuse lawsuits, including depositions with some of its former top officials.

The archdiocese had been fighting the release of the documents, and it made its announcement the day before a hearing on the matter was to be held in U.S. bankruptcy court in Milwaukee. The archdiocese filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in January 2011 to deal with about 500 sex abuse claims filed by men and women. Lawyers representing those people had been seeking the documents’ release.

The documents to be released include depositions given by New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan, who previously led the Milwaukee archdiocese, former Milwaukee Archbishop Rembert Weakland and retired Bishop Richard Sklba. Victims’ advocates have accused archdiocese leaders of transferring abusive priests to other parishes and concealing their crimes for decades.

Jerry Topczewski, chief of staff for Archbishop Jerome Listecki, said the archdiocese plans to post the documents on its website by July 1. Along with the depositions, the cache will include documents from priests’ personnel files and the files of bishops and other church leaders.

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

AUSTRALIA
Los Angeles Times

By Emily Alpert
April 3, 2013

Australia launched a sweeping national inquiry Wednesday into the sexual abuse of children, holding its first public hearing in a Melbourne court to start what a government statement called “a healing process for survivors and their families.”

Prime Minister Julia Gillard said the newly opened Royal Commission into the Sexual Abuse of Children will hear the stories of abuse victims and make recommendations about stopping such crimes, and can refer suspected abusers to the police for possible prosecution. It will cover a vast array of institutions including schools, churches, child-care centers, recreational groups and detention centers.

“We’ve let children down in the past as a country,” Gillard said in an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. “We need to learn what we can do as a nation to better protect our children in the future.”

The inquiry follows the revelation last year that hundreds of children had been abused by Roman Catholic clergy in Victoria state since the 1930s. The government was also galvanized by an open letter from a New South Wales police detective who accused the church of concealing abuse.

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

AUSTRALIA
Sunraysia Daily

By Graeme O’Neill
April 4, 2013

ONE of the first known victims of a notorious Mildura paedophile priest has warned that the Royal Commission into the sexual abuse of children, which opened yesterday, would confront Mildura with uncomfortable questions about the role of some of its citizens and institutions in covering up the priest’s abuse of children over 15 years.

As a 16-year-old schoolgirl in 1971, “Nancy”, who now lives under an assumed name in South Australia, believes she was the first person in Victoria to make a formal complaint of sexual abuse against a Catholic priest.

Interviewed by former Mildura detective Denis Ryan, she described how the then-head of Mildura’s Sacred Heart Catholic parish, Monsignor John Day, had molested her when she was a 12-year-old boarding-school student at Mildura’s Convent of Mercy in 1967.

Day, who died in 1978, had an ally and protector in the person of Senior Detective J. P. Barritt, head of the local office of the Criminal Investigation Branch in Mildura during Day’s term in the parish.

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

PENNSYLVANIA
The Palladium-Times

Posted: Wednesday, April 3, 2013 2:54 pm | Updated: 4:01 pm, Wed Apr 3, 2013.

Associated Press

The Associated Press has withdrawn its story about a priest-abuse lawsuit accusing church and local authorities of letting a Philadelphia-area priest flee to Poland during a stalled investigation. The lawsuit has not been filed. A substitute story will not be published.

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

MASSACHUSETTS/NEW YORK
Post-Star

DON LEHMAN — dlehman@poststar.com

A Massachusetts state appeals court has rejected the appeal of former local priest Gary Mercure, who was convicted for molesting two young male parishioners.

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts Appeals Court found that Mercure was not entitled to a new trial, rejecting arguments that the trial judge erroneously allowed evidence of “uncharged sex crimes” and improper testimony and other technical errors during Mercure’s 2011 trial

The former Queensbury resident, who served as a priest at Our Lady of Annunciation Church in Queensbury and St. Mary’s in Glens Falls, was found guilty of child rape and indecent assault for sexually assaulting teens he met through the local parishes when he took them to western Massachusetts for outdoors outings.

“There is no basis for the defendant’s claim that the cumulative errors at trial require a new trial,” the court opined in a decision released Tuesday.

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

MASSACHUSETTS/NEW YORK
YNN

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — An appeal for a new trial in the case of an Albany priest convicted of four counts of rape has been denied by a Massachusetts appellate court.

Gary Mercure was found guilty in 2011 of raping two altar boys in Berkshire County in the 1980s. Mercure was a priest with the Albany Roman Catholic Diocese in Queensbury at the time of the incident.

The two boys said he raped them while on a trip to the Berkshires.

In his appeal, Mercure’s lawyer says the trial judge should not have allowed the jury to hear testimony about uncharged sex crimes from the two victims who were raped or from four other alleged victims who testified about incidents of sexual abuse by Mercure.

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

MASSACHUSETTS/NEW YORK
Post-Star

A Massachusetts state appeals court has rejected the appeal of former local priest Gary Mercure, who was convicted for molesting two young male parishioners.

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts Appeals Court found that Mercure was not entitled to a new trial, rejecting arguments that the trial judge erroneously allowed evidence of “uncharged sex crimes” and improper testimony and other technical errors during Mercure’s 2011 trial

The former Queensbury resident, who served as a priest at Our Lady of Annunciation Church in Queensbury and St. Mary’s in Glens Falls, was found guilty of child rape and indecent assault for sexually assaulting teens he met through the local parishes when he took them to western Massachusetts for outdoors outings.

“There is no basis for the defendant’s claim that the cumulative errors at trial require a new trial,” the court opined in a decision released Tuesday.

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

PENNSYLVANIA
Sharon Herald

By Melissa Klaric Herald Staff Writer

MERCER COUNTY — Sexual abuse by teachers and coaches was brought to the forefront in Pennsylvania as a result of the high profile cases of Brother Stephen Baker and Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky.

Baker, a Franciscan friar, killed himself in January after being accused of sexually abusing students at John F. Kennedy High School, Warren, Ohio, in the late ’80s and early ’90s and at Bishop McCort High School in Johnstown, Pa.

Sandusky, a retired coach, was sent to prison last year for 30 to 60 years for sexually assaulting 10 boys.

Locally, Jamestown High School teacher Kevin A. DeFrancesco was sentenced in November to three nine-month sentences, to be served consecutively, for sexual abuse of children, unlawful contact with a minor, and attempt to commit sexual abuse with children after he sent inappropriate text messages to two female students, ages 13 and 14.

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

CONNECTICUT
Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport

When a priest falls, it wounds the entire Church. As a family of faith, we are sorry for those who have been hurt by Msgr. Wallin’s actions, and we also remember that that he did much good work in his ministry.

Msgr. Wallin’s guilty plea represents an important step in his coming to terms with his own actions and their impact on others. It is a difficult moment for all of us but we hope it is also the first step in rebuilding his life. We pray that he moves toward healing and wholeness.

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

CONNECTICUT
The Daily Voice

FAIRFIELD COUNTY, Conn. — A Roman Catholic priest from Fairfield County who reportedly made more than $300,000 by selling methamphetamines pleaded guilty Tuesday to a federal drug charge, according to a report in Newsday.

Kevin Wallin, 61, admitted to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine and was scheduled to be sentenced June 25. The prosecution and defense agreed on a sentence of 11 to 14 years in prison.

He had previously served as pastor of St. Augustine Parish in Bridgeport for nine years until he resigned in June 2011, citing health and personal reasons. He also served six years as pastor of St. Peter’s Church in Danbury until 2002.

“Msgr. Wallin’s guilty plea represents an important step in his coming to terms with his own actions and their impact on others,” the Diocese of Bridgeport said in a statement on its website. “It is a difficult moment for all of us, but we hope it is also the first step in rebuilding his life. We pray that he moves toward healing and wholeness.”

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

NEW MEXICO
KOAT

[with video]

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. —A New Mexico Catholic priest is accused of molesting a young boy in the late 1980s.

The civil suit, filed Tuesday, accuses the church of negligence in training, or checking the background of Father Michael O’Brien, who served at St. Anthony’s Parish in Questa.

According to the suit, O’Brien “groomed” the altar boy by giving him massages.

Soon after, the priest is accused of sexually assaulting the boy for more than a year.

That alleged victim is now 37, and didn’t come forward about the abuse until last year, but his attorney said there could be more victims out there.

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

UGANDA
The Africa Report

By Godfrey Olukya

A top Ugandan Roman Catholic Church bishop has apologised to victims of sexual abuse by the church’s priests in the East African country after a priest exposed the scandal.

Cyprian Kizito Lwanga, the leader of the church in Uganda made the apology after a letter written by Father Anthony Musaala exposing the abuse found its way into Facebook.



Last month Father Musaala wrote a letter to Lwanga complaining that many Catholic priests and bishops in the country had wives and children.



He also called on the church to allow Ugandan clerics to marry.

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

DEUTSCHLAND
dbk

Vorwort
Im Jahr 2002 wurden durch die Deutsche Bischofskonferenz für alle Diözesen verbindliche Leitlinien zum Umgang mit sexuellem Missbrauch innerhalb der katholischen Kirche erlas-sen. Im Folgejahr wurde im Vatikan auf einem Kongress internationaler Experten zum Thema „Sexueller Missbrauch in der katholischen Kirche – wissenschaftliche und juristische Perspektiven“ (Hanson, Pfäfflin & Lütz, 2004) unter anderem festgehalten, dass für die indi-viduelle Risikobeurteilung der beschuldigten Geistlichen eine Nutzung der in der forensi-schen psychiatrischen Psychiatrie etablierten Methoden und Standards unabdingbar ist.

Im Bereich der Deutschen Bischofskonferenz wurden daher seit 2004 in entsprechenden Fällen vermehrt forensisch-psychiatrische Gutachten in Auftrag gegeben. Es etablierten sich bundesweit drei Zentren, in denen der überwiegende Teil dieser Gutachten erstellt wurden, nämlich in den Instituten für Forensische Psychiatrie der Universität Duisburg-Essen (Leiter: Prof. Dr. med. N. Leygraf) und der Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin (Leiter: Prof. Dr. med. H.-L. Kröber) sowie in der Sektion Forensische Psychotherapie der Universität Ulm (Leiter: Prof. Dr. med. F. Pfäfflin). Im Rahmen gemeinsamer Gespräche der drei Institutsleiter mit dem Vorsitzenden der Deutschen Bischofkonferenz über die im Zusammenhang mit den Be-gutachtungen gemachten Erfahrungen entstanden erste Überlegungen, die gutachterlich gewonnenen Erkenntnisse systematisch zu erfassen und wissenschaftlich auszuwerten.

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

AUSTRALIA
Telegraph

Royal Commission into Catholic Church child abuse should run as long as needed, says cop

Tory Shepherd
News Limited Network
April 03, 2013

THE police officer whose revelations sparked the Royal Commission that began today says he has ”no problem” that the deadlines are already likely to blow out.

Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox’s explosive revelations about child sex abuse and cover ups in the Catholic Church and police force started the momentum for a federal Royal Commission.

The commission began in Melbourne today and chairman Justice Peter McClellan warned that they will struggle to meet their deadlines as more than 5000 people are expected to want to tell their stories.

The final reporting date was initially set for the end of 2015, with an interim report due next year.

Insp Fox said it was a ”wise decision” to let the commission run as long as it needs to.

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

AUSTRALIA
The Courier

ANOTHER important day in the history of institutionalised sexual abuse was reached yesterday with the first sitting of the royal commission in Melbourne.

As uncomfortable and lengthy as the royal commission is predicted to be, it promises to provide an opportunity for ultimate discovery of the truth.

Through the state government’s own inquiry, Victorians have seen that the impact of institutional sexual abuse continues to adversely affect victims, their families and the wider community. As we have heard in recent months, Ballarat remains an epicentre of the issue.

While the Catholic Church is not the only institution facing scrutiny through the royal commission, its response will be watched with considerable interest.

The church, through its Truth, Justice and Healing Council chief executive Francis Sullivan yesterday suggested it was time for full disclosure: “People have to brace themselves, but the reality is that unless we know what the facts are we won’t be able to get justice for victims. A lot of ordinary Catholics, though, want to see the church stand up here in this process, reveal its story and its truth,” he said.

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

AUSTRALIA
The West Australian

AAP
April 3, 2013

Parents of abuse victims say they hope to see legal changes to right the wrongs of the past start as early as this year.

Anthony Foster said it was important for governments to introduce laws that will enable the Catholic Church and other organisations to be brought to task for what they have done in the past.

He and his wife Chrissie hope the Victorian parliamentary inquiry into institutional abuse, which is already well underway, will enable this to happen sooner rather than later.

“We can start to see that action being taken this year,” Mr Foster said after the first hearing of the royal commission into institutional sexual abuse in Melbourne on Wednesday.

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

AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

Editorial
From:Herald Sun
April 04, 2013

HARROWING evidence of the abuse they suffered is being heard from witnesses at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

It is a time for soul-searching, but it is also a chance to expose the cover-ups that have kept these abuses secret for so long.

The Catholic Church is not the only one guilty of protecting the predators. Other churches and state institutions are also culpable.

The preliminary report of the commission is expected in 18 months. This is ambitious when it is remembered a similar inquiry in Ireland took nine years to present its damning findings.

The Australian royal commission was established after Victorian and New South Wales inquiries started hearing evidence, not only from victims of abuse but police, who for years found their investigations frustrated by the churches and institutions where such crimes took place.

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

AUSTRALIA
WA Today

April 4, 2013

Barney Zwartz
Religion editor, The Age.

Analysis

Twenty years ago Bill Nelson left court a crushed man, his solicitors telling him to give up his quest for redress as a child sex abuse victim because the Catholic Church had all the power.

On Wednesday he sat in room 3.3 of the County Court awaiting the opening hearing of the royal commission on child sex abuse and reflected: ”Now I’m in court, and it’s on our side. It’s huge, it’s historic!”

His eager anticipation exemplified the mood of the victims who filled the courtroom to hear commission chairman Peter McClellan outline the plans, processes and priorities for the coming years.

And what they heard was highly encouraging. Justice McClellan was frank and forthright. The commission will be expensive. It will struggle to finish by the end of 2015. It is an enormous and complex undertaking that will hear from thousands of victims, and from many institutions, mostly taking a highly defensive posture.

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

AUSTRALIA
The Voice of Russia

A historic royal commission in child sex abuse has started in Australia. The six commissioners will have to hear to over 5,000 testimonials, look into multiple organizations, including religious, and elaborate recommendations for the future.

Speaking at the opening ceremony Julia Gillard, the Australian Prime Minister, said it was an “important moral moment” for Australia as “some very uncomfortable truths” will be revealed.

The first announcement of the commission’s formation appeared in November last year, following persistent claims from police that the Roman Catholic Church had concealed evidence of paedophile priests.

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

AUSTRALIA
The Australian

Patrick Carlyon
From:Herald Sun
April 03, 2013

IT was the start of the end of the silence, and wasn’t it a racket? Yet officially at least, the “survivors” of child sex abuse who have waited decades to be unburdened of their stories must wait a little longer.

Inside the Royal Commission, where the hands on the wall clock were missing, chair Justice Peter McClellan announced that evidence was unlikely to start being heard in public until October.

Outside the County Court, however, where trams tinkled and the wind bit, some survivors rushed to tell their secrets now.

They wore bright scarves and waved placards. Hearty greetings and outbreaks of laughter disguised a united grief.

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

AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

By MICHELLE HARRIS, State Political Reporter
April 3, 2013

DETECTIVE Chief Inspector Peter Fox has questioned the adequacy of whistleblower laws after being told his public allegations of interference with police investigations, which sparked two inquiries into child sex abuse, did not qualify him for protection.

Mr Fox said NSW Police representatives told him that his publicly aired concerns – which included allegations members of the Catholic Church in the Hunter had sought to cover up sex abuse and senior police removed him from investigations into such matters – were not protected as public-interest disclosures.

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

AUSTRALIA
Canberra Times

April 4, 2013

Thomas McIlroy

The administrator of Canberra’s Catholic archdiocese welcomed the opening hearings of the royal commission on child sexual abuse on Wednesday.

Speaking while on leave, Monsignor John Woods said he hoped the inquiry ”would be for the good of all Australians, especially our children”.

Monsignor Woods will serve as the administrator of the archdiocese until the appointment of a new archbishop. His predecessor, former archbishop of Canberra and Goulburn Mark Coleridge, was this week appointed to a newly created Catholic body dealing with the commission. The 13-member truth justice and healing council will oversee the engagement with the royal commission, assisted by lay staff.

Council chief executive Francis Sullivan said council members were selected for their expertise, including across sexual abuse, paedophilia, trauma, mental illness, suicide and public policy.

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

AUSTRALIA
Telegraph

Janet Fife-Yeomans
The Daily Telegraph
April 04, 2013

THE long-suffering victims of child sex abuse will finally be given a voice after decades of suffering in silence.

It’s expected more than 5000 will relive their harrowing ordeals as the royal commission into institutionalised sex abuse against children began yesterday.

The six commissioners, headed by Justice Peter McClellan, said the victims – of all ages and backgrounds – would no longer be ignored and the commissioners were expecting to hear “serious and often shocking allegations”.

“Part of the task given to us is to bear witness, on behalf of the nation, to the abuse and consequential trauma inflicted on many people who have suffered sexual abuse as children,” he said.

The commission has chosen the non-threatening surroundings of regional motel function rooms for the victims to open their hearts and reveal their most agonising and painful secrets.

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

AUSTRALIA
Telegraph

DECADES of pain and torment are set to be revealed with the first steps in the government’s royal commission into institutionalised child sex abuse.

Thousands of childhood abuse victims are preparing for the hopefully liberating process of explaining the crimes they endured.

As stressful as this will be, the challenge of giving evidence does not compare to the ordeals many have already suffered. These Australians remain physically and emotionally scarred by the cruelty inflicted upon them and their numbers are such that the royal commission will continue for years.

The commission’s first task is to listen, but listening will not be enough. Beyond the gathering of evidence and the agonies of revelation, action is required.

This will be the true test of the royal commission. While even the hearing of victims is to be applauded, this will be undercut unless it is supported by a meaningful legal response.

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

AUSTRALIA
ABC News

[with video]

The Royal Commission into child abuse has warned that it expects to run longer than its allotted time and is likely to hear the stories of over five thousand victims.

Hamish Fitzsimmons

Transcript

TONY JONES, PRESENTER: In its historic first sitting, the national Royal Commission into child abuse has already warned that it’s likely to overrun its 2015 deadline because of the scale of the job ahead.

From Melbourne, Hamish Fitzsimmons reports.

HAMISH FITZSIMMONS, REPORTER: The commission says it’s already received 1,200 calls about submissions. It expects many more to come forward.

PETER MCCLELLAN, COMMISSION CHAIRMAN: It has been made clear to us that it is likely that there are thousands of people throughout Australia who want to give an account of their experience to the commission. It seems likely that at least 5,000 people will want to talk to the commission.

HAMISH FITZSIMMONS: Some think the real number of people wanting to tell their story will well exceed that figure.

VLADIMIR SELAKOVIS, ABUSE SURVIVOR: Thousands upon thousands – not just hundreds; there are thousands upon thousands of these people who are in exactly the same situation as all of us. Our stories may seem the same, but we all travelled the same road, but it was a different situation for all of us.

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

AUSTRALIA
The Australian

Pia Akerman
From:The Australian
April 04, 2013

COSTS and deadlines for the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse have blown out before any evidence has been heard, with nearly $1 million spent for each week since the inquiry was announced.

At the commission’s opening session in Melbourne yesterday, chairman Peter McClellan warned the timelines for the inquiry were “unlikely” to be met, though legal processes to elicit documents from the Catholic Church were already under way.

“The task we have is large, the issues are complex,” Justice McClellan said. “But we are now in a position to actively begin the work of gathering the stories and examining the responses of institutions.” He said the commission had spent or committed to spend $22m in the 25 weeks since it was announced by the Gillard government, with the money spent on start-up costs such as fitting out premises and buying an IT system.

“The running costs, including the cost of travel and resourcing commissioner hearings throughout Australia, will have the consequence that the work . . . will continue to require the commitment of very significant sums of public money,” Justice McClellan said.

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

AUSTRALIA
The Australian

Stuart Rintoul
From:The Australian
April 04, 2013

“THE task we have is large, the issues are complex,” royal commissioner Peter McClellan said, after setting out the magnitude of the inquiry into child-sex abuse.

The first hearing day was brief, a first step towards a dark and ominous mountain. It heard no evidence and none will be heard until the last quarter of the year at least, although Justice McClellan revealed that the cost of the commission was already at $22 million and notices had been served on “particular bodies within the Catholic Church in Australia and its insurer, the Salvation Army and the NSW Director of Public Prosecutions, seeking the production of documents”.

Justice McClellan and senior counsel assisting the inquiry Gail Furness warned repeatedly that evidence given to the commission would be traumatic, but victims’ advocates left the Victorian County Court grimly satisfied with what they had heard.

Broken Rites researcher Wayne Chamley, who had pressed for a royal commission for 15 years as the organisation pursued pedophile priests who were in many cases shielded by the church, was feeling “rapt”.

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

AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

April 4, 2013

Barney Zwartz

The royal commission into child sex abuse is now operating. It expects more than 5000 people to share their experiences, has already spent more than $22 million, and is unlikely to complete its task by the end of 2015 as requested.

Victims can now contact the royal commission to register to tell their stories because trained staff are ready, chairman Justice Peter McClellan said at the first public hearing, in Melbourne.

He said the commission had served notice to produce documents on the Catholic Church, its insurer, the Salvation Army and the NSW Director of Public Prosecutions.

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

MALTA
Malta Today

Nestor Laiviera

Archbishop Paul Cremona has refused to react to allegations that a prominent priest has abused of an emotionally and psychologically vulnerable person for sexual purposes.

Over the past few days, two police reports were filed against the same priest by two different people. While separate, both reports tie in as they deal with the same case.

The most serious of the two police reports deals with accusations by a person who alleges that she was abused by a prominent priest for sexual purposes despite being vulnerable both emotionally and physically.

She alleges that the abuse took place over a number of months, and that it involved sexual acts which he either persuaded her to perform on him, or her performed on her.

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

NEW MEXICO
ABQ Journal

By T.S. Last / Journal Staff Writer on Wed, Apr 3, 2013

A 37-year-old man filed a lawsuit in Second Judicial District Court in Albuquerque on Tuesday alleging that a Roman Catholic priest in Questa sexually molested him over a 1 1/2-year period in the 1980s.

The lawsuit alleges that the Rev. Michael O’Brien abused the plaintiff, identified only as “John Doe” in the complaint, beginning when he was about 10 or 11 years old and while he was in training to become an altar boy at St. Anthony Parish in Questa, north of Taos.

According to the complaint, the alleged abuse began with what the now-deceased O’Brien, known as “Father Mike,” called “massage time” and “escalated to the point that Fr. O’Brien committed many counts of criminal sexual contact and penetration against Plaintiff.”

The lawsuit states that the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, which oversees parishes in northern New Mexico, and St. Anthony Parish knew or should have known that O’Brien was a pedophile priest and had “unbridled access to children.” It further alleges that the archdiocese placed O’Brien and other pedophile priests into New Mexico parishes and “deliberately chose to conceal the fact of the priest’s problems.”

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

MICHIGAN
Deadline Detroit

April 3rd, 2013

Three months after a Troy parish priest was abruptly suspended and kicked out of his St. Thomas More Catholic Church home, FBI agents have taken over an inquiry into his handling of more than $400,00, Carol Hopkins reports in The Oakland Press.

Rev. Edward Belczak was asked to temporarily step aside from his duties at the church on North Adams Road in Troy in January during the probes that he mishandled at least $429,000 in church money. . . .

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

AUSTRALIA
WA Today

April 4, 2013

Karl Quinn
National Film Editor for Fairfax Media

The Catholic Church’s handling of abuse allegations will soon face the full glare of Hollywood’s publicity machine, with Steven Spielberg’s DreamWorks studio backing a feature based on a true scandal involving paedophile priests in Boston.

As yet untitled, the film will be based on a year-long series of reports by investigative journalists at The Boston Globe, which earned a Pulitzer prize in 2003.

The Catholic Church’s handling of the abuse scandal is increasingly rich territory for filmmakers. In 2006, Amy Berg’s documentary Deliver Us From Evil looked at the case of a paedophile priest repeatedly moved around the US by church authorities well aware of his offending. Now showing is Alex Gibney’s Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God, which examines the abuse of boys at a deaf school in Wisconsin from the 1950s to the 1970s.

A Polish feature film, In The Name Of, first shown at the Berlin Film Festival this year, takes a more sympathetic approach to the story of a homosexual priest.

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

IRELAND
Limerick Leader

By Mike Dwane
Published on 03/04/2013

GARDAI have been made aware of an allegation of child sexual abuse made against a priest of the Limerick diocese.

The allegation is one of sexual impropriety involving a minor and dates back to the 1990s when the priest was serving in a parish in the city.

Mass-goers in the priest’s County Limerick parish were told at the weekend that the cleric had voluntarily stepped aside from ministry on being made aware of the complaint last week. A canonical investigation into the matter has now been set in motion.

A source familiar with the priest involved described the allegation as being “at the lower end of the spectrum” and said the priest would “strenuously deny” any wrongdoing.

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

AUSTRALIA
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

Latest news
•3 April 20113 – Image gallery from first Hearing
See images from the first Hearing held on 3 April 2013.
•2 April 2013 – First Hearing webcast
The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (the Commission) will hold its first sitting at 10.00 am on Wednesday 3 April 2013 at the County Court of Victoria, 250 William Street, Melbourne.

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

AUSTRALIA
The Australian

AAP
April 03, 2013

THE peak national body supporting adults abused as children says the royal commission’s off to a great start, but is concerned about how well trained its support staff are.

Adults Surviving Child Abuse (ASCA) president Cathy Kezelman says the commission’s willingness to communicate and inform while setting reasonable expectations is positive, adding that a very thorough process had been undertaken.

She wants to ensure, however, all support personnel have had adequate training, particularly to prevent victims from being retraumatised.

“It’s very important for the health and wellbeing of everyone coming forward, but also for everyone involved in the commission,” Dr Kezelman told AAP.

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

OREGON
OPB

OPB | April 02, 2013

Portland has a new archbishop. The Most Reverend Alexander Sample leads an archdiocese of approximately 400,000 Catholics.

He was installed at a formal ceremony at the University of Portland Tuesday.

A Vatican delegate read out the apostolic letter of appointment in front of the public and representatives from around the world.

Once Sample took a seat in the bishop’s throne, he officially assumed his new position.

In the Archbishop’s sermon, he spoke explicitly about the Catholic church’s recent sex abuse scandals.

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

UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by David Clohessy on April 02, 2013

“He’s done something unusual/unexpected practically every day.” That’s how an anonymous but high ranking Vatican official describes Pope Francis.

[click here]

Except, however, in clergy sex abuse and cover up cases. So far in that arena, tragically, we see no changes whatsoever.

Pope Francis is being proclaimed as a master of the touching and unexpected gesture. He’s known for his simple lifestyle, and his openness and willingness to meet with “regular” people by doing things like taking the bus to work.

But the sole gesture he’s made regarding the church’s central crisis has been a hurtful one: meeting with disgraced Cardinal Bernard Law.

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

NIEDERLANDE
Short News

Das Berufungsgericht in Leeuwarden hat am heutigen Dienstag das Verbot gegen den Pädophilen-Verein “Martijn” wieder aufgehoben. Der Verein würde nicht für soziale Unruhen sorgen, hieß es unter anderem in der Urteilsbegründung. “Martijn” wurde 2012 verboten (ShortNews berichtete).

In der Urteilsbegründung gab das Gericht weiter an, dass die Texte und Bilder auf der Vereinswebsite nicht strafbar wären. Auch könne man den Verein nicht verbieten, nur weil einige Mitglieder wegen Kindesmissbrauch vorbestraft sind.

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

LOS ANGELES (CA)
News

Los Angeles – Das von Steven Spielberg mitbegründete Hollywood-Studio DreamWorks greift einen kontroversen Stoff auf.

Zusammen mit der Produktionsfirma Participant Media hat sich DreamWorks die Rechte zu einer Enthüllungsgeschichte über sexuellen Missbrauch durch katholische Priester in der Erzdiözese Boston gesichert. Wie das US-Branchenblatt «Hollywood Reporter» berichtete, übernimmt Tom McCarthy («Station Agent», «Ein Sommer in New York – The Visitor») die Regie.

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

DEUTSCHLAND
WZ

Von Peter Korall

Bischof Stephan Ackermann soll das Gespräch mit Georg K. suchen, der vor Gericht steht.

Willich. Johannes Heibel, Vorsitzender der Initiative gegen sexuellen Missbrauch, versucht, Bewegung in den Fall des gebürtigen Willicher Geistlichen Georg K. zu bringen. K. steht in Johannesburg vor Gericht (die WZ berichtete). Ihm wird vorgeworfen, sich zwei Jugendlichen während eines Kommunioncamps genähert zu haben. Zudem hat er massive Missbräuche in Deutschland eingestanden. Das Verfahren in Johannesburg kommt unterdessen nicht voran, immer wieder wird es von Anträgen der Verteidigung verzögert.

Heibel hat sich an den Trierer Bischof Stephan Ackermann gewandt. Der ist Missbrauch-Beauftragter der katholischen Kirche und reist demnächst nach Südafrika. Dort trifft er unter anderem auf Pfarrer Hippler, der Georg K. derzeit betreut.

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

AUSTRALIA
Telegraph

AN abuse victims advocate says nobody should be spared punishment for crimes against children, be they a charity, church, government or a 99-year-old individual.

On the first day of the royal commission into child sex abuse, Leonie Sheedy of the Care Leavers of Australia Network fought back tears as she called for the royal commission to “get it right”.

She described the abuse of children in care as “Australia’s grubbiest little secret”, and said she wanted justice for victims.

“I want to see people who have sexually used children … be made accountable,” Ms Sheedy said.

“I don’t care how old they are. I think if you’re 99 and you’re still alive you should face the full force of the courts of this country, you should be sentenced to appropriate sentences.

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

AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse: Banners said ‘You have the records of our abuse’

Erin Marie
Herald Sun
April 03, 2013

VICTIMS of child sex abuse wept openly in the street as the Royal Commission commenced its long-awaited hearing this morning.

More than 20 advocates wielding placards rallied outside the County Court in Melbourne as The Royal

Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse commenced its long-awaited inquiry.

Victims gathered descended outside the court eagerly awaiting the outcome of the first hour-long hearing, some armed with signs which read: “You have the records of our abuse” and “Government OK’S abuse in state-run orphanages”.

Victims, organisations and advocates poured onto William St following the hearing, with some openly embracing and others appearing teary-eyed by the emotion of the inquiry’s launch.

Leonie Sheedy of the Care Leavers of Australia Network (CLAN) – a network for people raised in the nation’s orphanages, Children’s Homes and foster care – said the first day of proceedings had been “overwhelming” for the organisation’s members.

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