ABUSE TRACKER

UNITED STATES
Christian Post

By Jeff Schapiro, Christian Post Reporter

October 19, 2012

A class action lawsuit was filed against Sovereign Grace Ministries on Wednesday accusing the church of habitually covering up child sexual assault and abuse over an extended period of time.

The complaint, filed in Montgomery County, Md., claims the ministry led by C.J. Mahaney “cared more about protecting its financial and institutional standing than about protecting children, its most vulnerable members.”

Founded in 1982 in Gaithersburg, Md., Sovereign Grace Ministries is a family of about 90 churches that are located primarily in the United States, but also in Australia, eastern Asia, Africa, Western Europe, Bolivia, Mexico and Canada. Mahaney is named as just one of the defendants in the lawsuit, along with other church leaders including Gary Ricucci, David Hinders, Louis Gallo, Frank Ecelbarger, John Loftness, Grant Layman and Lawrence Tomczak.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

October 19, 2012

Barney Zwartz and Jane Lee

CATHOLIC clergy commit six times as much abuse as those in the rest of the churches combined, ”and that’s a conservative figure”, a child protection expert says.

Patrick Parkinson, a Sydney University law professor, told the state inquiry into how the churches handle sex abuse yesterday that the figures for the Catholic Church were strikingly out of proportion.

He proposed a 12-month amnesty from charges of perverting the course of justice if the church opened all its files on offenders alive and dead, but said those involved in cover-ups would have to resign.

Earlier, Victoria Police Deputy Commissioner Graham Ashton set the inquiry’s opening day alight with more broadsides against the Catholic Church’s systemic obstruction of police inquiries over five decades.

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UNITED STATES
Wichita Eagle

[Search the Boy Scout ‘perversion files’ database]

WASHINGTON — The publication Thursday of 20 years worth of secret records kept by the Boy Scouts of America reveal a widespread effort by the organization to cover up a scandal involving allegations of sexual abuse against 1,200 scout leaders.

The records, known within the Boy Scouts itself as the “perversion files,” cover the years 1965-1985 and detail the names of the alleged perpetrators, their hometowns and other information.

The list contains the names of 14 men in Kansas, with dates when the files on them were started, from 1961 to 1985. Six of the men were living in Wichita, one in Newton and one in Arkansas City. Also: two in Leavenworth, and one each in Hoisington, Manhattan, Olathe and Kansas City, Kan.

Three of the names listed from Wichita and Arkansas City matched names of men who years later were convicted of sex crimes, including crimes against children, according to an initial check of state corrections records.

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UNITED STATES
Associated Baptist Press

By Bob Allen

A controversial church-planting network with ties to a Southern Baptist Convention seminary has been sued in Maryland for allegedly covering up allegations of sexual abuse of children in the 1980s and 1990s.

According to the Associated Press, the lawsuit filed by three unnamed female plaintiffs claims that Sovereign Grace Ministries did not report abuse allegedly committed by church members to police. The lawsuit says church leaders counseled suspected pedophiles about how to avoid prosecution and forced victims to meet with and “forgive” their abuser.

Sovereign Grace Ministries, which moved its headquarters recently from Gaithersburg, Md., to Louisville, Ky., released a statement saying officials had not yet received a copy of the lawsuit and were in no position to comment on the allegations.

“Child abuse in any context is reprehensible and criminal,” said Tommy Hill, the organization’s director of finance and administration. “Sovereign Grace Ministries takes seriously the biblical commands to pursue the protection and well being of all people, especially the most vulnerable in its midst, little children.”

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UNITED STATES
JD Journal

On Wednesday, a lawsuit was filed against Sovereign Grace Ministries by three female plaintiffs. The church is 30-years-old and has 100 congregations. The majority of the churches are located in the United States. The plaintiffs accuse the lawsuit of covering up claims of sexual abuse against children, discouraging its congregants from cooperating with law enforcement and for failing to report claims of misconduct to police. The lawsuit was filed in Maryland state court.

The lawsuit claims that there is a conspiracy that covers two decades and hides sexual abuse that was committed by members of the church. The abuse reportedly occurred in Maryland and northern Virginia in the decades of the 1980s and 1990s. Representatives of the church have been accused of allowing suspected pedophiles to interact with children, giving them free legal advice to prevent prosecution and forcing victims to forgive those who molested them.

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UNITED STATES
WJLA

[with video]

By Greta Kreuz

Sovereign Grace Ministries, a group that runs about 100 churches, including some in Maryland and Northern Virginia, is alleged to have covered up sexual abuse against children and failed to report accusations to police.

“I remember just him, like, taking me to the bathroom,” says a 17-year-old victim. She remembers how she was molested repeatedly when she was three years old by a 15-year-old babysitter. Both were members at the time of Sovereign Grace in Fairfax, but when her parents confronted the church pastors, they were told not to speak about it.

“We were told that we should not talk to any church member about it. Do not tell anyone,” she says.

Charges that churches within Sovereign Grace Ministries turned a deaf ear to child sex abuse committed by church members are laid out in a class action lawsuit. Three female plaintiffs detail repeated abuse in the 1980’s and 90’s ,but say the church covered up child molestation, worked with sexual predators to mislead enforcement and even blamed the victims.

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LOUISVILLE (KY)
The Courier-Journal

Written by
Peter Smith
The Courier-Journal

An international church group now based in Louisville allegedly fostered a climate of fear and unquestioning obedience that allowed sexual abuse to persist among members, according to a new lawsuit.

Three plaintiffs filed suit Wednesday in Montgomery County Circuit Court in Maryland alleging that Sovereign Grace Ministries “created a culture in which sexual predators were protected from accountability and victims were silenced.”

The denomination moved its headquarters to Louisville from Montgomery County earlier this year. Less than a month ago, it launched Sunday services at its new congregation, Sovereign Grace Church of Louisville, led by longtime President C.J. Mahaney.

The plaintiffs, using pseudonyms, allege that church elders mishandled the sexual abuse of children at congregations in Maryland and Virginia between the late 1980s and 1990s.

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AUSTRALIA
Courier Mail

By Paul Mulvey
From: AAP
October 19, 2012

THE Catholic Church has put its own reputation ahead of the welfare of victims by destroying evidence of sexual abuse and failing to report accusations against the clergy, Victoria Police says.

Victoria’s deputy police commissioner Graham Ashton says the church has hindered justice and not reported any case of abuse in more than 50 years, while a legal expert claims cover-ups went to the “highest level”.

In damning evidence to a parliamentary inquiry on Friday, Mr Ashton said that of the 620 cases of abuse the church has internally upheld in Victoria since 1956, none had been reported to police.

He said in those 56 years, police had investigated 2110 offences committed by clergy and church workers against 519 victims, of which 370 were committed by Catholic priests or brothers. He said 87 per cent of the victims were boys aged 11 or 12.

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RHODE ISLAND
Providence Journal

By Richard C. Dujardin

A newly-released trove of confidential papers collected by the Boy Scouts of America to help weed out men and women suspected of sexual abuse shows that over decades Scout leaders in Rhode Island expelled at least 47 individuals who were placed on their “ineligible volunteer list.”

The 14,500 pages of secret files were ordered released Thursday by the Oregon Supreme Court.

Although nearly all names of suspected individuals were redacted before being released, the records show that those listed in Rhode Island had been dropped from the rolls or denied participation in at least 52 Scout packs or troops statewide over several decades until early 2005.

Two names left unredacted belong to men who would later face accusations of sexual abuse: the Rev. Edmond C. Micarelli, a chaplain at the Camp Yawgoog Boy Scout reservation in Hopkinton during the 1970s, and William Lazzareschi, who was an assistant scoutmaster for Troop 22 in Providence.

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IOWA
Quad-City Times

Kay Luna

Born into a devout Catholic family, in a Davenport neighborhood full of Catholic households, Mike Uhde was raised to respect priests.

But as an adult, he bravely spoke out publicly in court — using his real name — about the sexual abuse he endured at the hands of a priest. His testimony came against the Catholic Diocese of Davenport, hoping to prevent that kind of abuse from happening to anyone else, his Davenport attorney, Craig Levien, said Thursday.

Uhde, 62, died of cancer Wednesday, more than seven years after becoming the second person to file a lawsuit against the diocese after it made 37 settlements with sex-abuse victims for $9 million in October 2004.

He later represented other sex-abuse victims during the church’s subsequent bankruptcy proceedings, Levien said.

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NEW JERSEY
New Jersey Herald

By BRUCE A. SCRUTON and ASSOCIATED PRESS
bscruton@njherald.com

An array of local authorities — police chiefs, prosecutors, pastors and town Boy Scout leaders among them — quietly shielded scoutmasters and others nationwide who allegedly molested children, according to a newly opened trove of confidential files compiled from 1959 to 1985.

At the time, those authorities justified their actions as necessary to protect the good name and good works of Scouting. But as detailed in 14,500 pages of secret “perversion files” released Thursday by order of the Oregon Supreme Court, their maneuvers protected suspected sexual predators while victims suffered in silence.

The files document sex abuse allegations across the country, from a small town in the Adirondacks to downtown Los Angeles.

The only Sussex County individual on the list is the Rev. William N. Cramer, who, according to the entry, was “Catholic priest who admits to fondling two boys in the bedroom of their home (ages 11 and 14).”

At the time, Cramer was an associate pastor with Our Lady of the Lake Church in Sparta, where he was first assigned in 1977.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC – PM

[with audio]

One of Victoria’s top police officers says the Catholic Church is more interested in protecting its reputation than helping victims of sexual abuse. Deputy Police Commissioner Graham Ashton has told a Victorian parliamentary inquiry he won’t believe that the church’s priorities have changed until it starts reporting sex abuse cases to authorities.

Simon Lauder

Transcript

BRENDAN TREMBATH: One of Victoria’s top police officers has accused the Catholic Church of being more concerned about its reputation than the interests of sexual abuse victims.

The Victoria Police Deputy Commissioner Graham Ashton told a State Parliament inquiry the church’s lack of cooperation and its internal system for dealing with abuse claims is hindering police investigations and helping to hide the problem.

He says until the church starts reporting abuse allegations to police he doesn’t have any faith that it’s serious about tackling the problem.

Simon Lauder reports from Melbourne.

SIMON LAUDER: Opening the inquiry into abuse within religious organisations, committee chair Georgie Crozier promised the inquiry is not intent on singling out any institution.

One of the first witnesses to give evidence, Deputy Police Commissioner Graham Ashton, made it clear that his focus is firmly on the Catholic Church, which, from his description, is in a type of exclusion zone.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Barbara Blaine on October 18, 2012

In light of the Jimmy Savile scandal, every mom and dad must stress to themselves and their families this simple fact: child molesters come in every shape and size and occupation. Neither prominence and power, nor charm and charisma, means an adult is “safe.”

When we see a masked man with a gun and a sack fleeing a bank, we assume he’s a robber. When we see a furtive-looking man trying repeatedly to open cars in a dark parking lot, we assume he’s a thief.

But when we see a glib, charismatic man violating kids’ boundaries and excessively hugging them and making sexual jokes, we assume he’s “odd” or “affectionate” or “harmless.” We just can’t seem to bring ourselves to believe he may be a molester. And thus, we continue to fail our children.

We fail our children by our ignorance and our inability to use our common sense and good judgment. We fail our children when we refuse to act prudently and honor our gut feelings. We fail our children when we put our own comfort level above our children’s’ safety.

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CANADA
SooToday

NEWS RELEASE

LEDROIT BECKETT
LITIGATION LAWYERS

Victims of sexual abuse by clergy call on the Roman Catholic Church to do more

The law firm of Ledroit Beckett Litigation Lawyers will hold a press conference on:

Date/Time: Friday, October 19, 2012, 1 p.m.

Location: Radisson Hotel – Downtown Sudbury, Conference room, 85 Ste. Anne Road

This press conference represents a demand from victims of local Catholic priests for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sault Ste. Marie to do more to support victims.

Fifteen victims who were abused by Catholic priests in the local area demand a simple trinity of actions by the Diocese, as follows:
• Defrocking/ laicization of convicted sex offenders – “Terminate them”;
• The creation of a sexual abuse policy with victim input – “Confront it”; and
• The commitment to fund victims’ psychological therapy – “Help them heal”.

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UNITED STATES
Waiting for Godot to Leave

A friend of mine has just relayed to me in depth the story of how he and his family were abused by the Church. It’s not a tale of sexual abuse, but it is a horror story nonetheless – an unimaginable assault by power hungry clergy and laity, complete with cover up by bishops and filled with a kind of spiritual darkness that makes you feel sick. It has taken this family several years to begin to heal. He has asked me not to spread his story around – at least not in the written form in which he has expressed it, but I can say this much – it rings quite true. It is both rather funny and also the kind of thing that would make the pit of your stomach drop and your faith dry up.

And the villains in the piece are not the liberals. The villains are the meticulous OCD sado-masochistic “conservatives”, the Latin Mass crowd, who, God bless them, will probably end up in a lower pit of hell than the Stanford Nutting-type libs, who at least have the humanity left to enjoy their sins.

And it’s all about sin.

I knew a young woman who was psychologically knocked about by a similar “Super-Catholic”, who practically left her at the altar without a pang of compunction. I know a certain blogger who dared to question the sanctity of a Catholic TV host and who soon learned that the Faith is far less important to most “Devout Catholics” than their politics and their own self-interest.

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UNITED STATES
Waiting for Godot to Leave

You know, the sex scandal was typical. I don’t mean that priests typically molest kids and bishops typically let them get away with it. What I mean is, the way the Church handled the sex scandal is the way they handle everything.

For example: below are all things I can vouch for in my twelve short years as a Catholic, though the names have been changed to protect the guilty – if any names are used. Some of these events I was involved in; others happened to friends.

A teacher at a Catholic grade school handles a situation very poorly in class. Mom and Dad complain to the principal. The principal responds by circling the wagons, threatening the parents, and bullying them behind closed doors. The parents complain to the pastor. The pastor responds, “I have full confidence in Principal Raw-Knuckle. This matter is entirely hers to handle as she sees fit.” The problem recurs and is not fixed. The parents move their kids to another Catholic grade school,which is run by a principal who is even worse, and by a pastor who is even more hands off. Eventually, the parents remove their children from the Catholic grade school system entirely (to save their faith, for one thing. The best indicator of adult apostasy – twelve years of Catholic education). A problem arises with a teacher at the public grade school (she was telling the kids in class to tell their parents to vote yes in the next election to allow embryonic stem cell research in our state). The parents complain to the public school principal, who sincerely apologizes and promises that he will handle the situation with the teacher, and that the issue will not arise again. “She should not be campaigning in class,” he simply and plainly admits. The parents are treated professionally and courteously. No threats, no circling the wagons, no bullying. The problem does not recur.

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FLORIDA
WSVN

SOUTHWEST MIAMI-DADE, Fla. (WSVN) — The Archdiocese of Miami is trying not to lose faith in one of its priests after more disturbing allegations were revealed against him.

Father Rolando Garcia from St. Agatha Catholic Church has been accused of sexually abusing three different boys in the 1980s.

A man has come forward to say one of his friends was abused by another priest, and said that Father Garcia paid the boy to cover it up. “I’m upset. This man is preaching to hundreds of people out there, and he’s wearing a mask … he abused me, and he’s continued to do it to other children,” said the victim only identified as “John Doe.”

The victim said, “He’s was paying me to keep quiet when Christobal de Jesus Puertas was raping me.”

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UNITED STATES
Los Angeles Times

[Note: The records can only be accessed by using Firefox, Chrome or Safari.]

This data­base con­tains in­form­a­tion on about 5,000 men and a hand­ful of wo­men who were ex­pelled from the Boy Scouts of Amer­ica between 1947 and Janu­ary 2005 on sus­pi­cion of sexu­al ab­use. The dots on the map in­dic­ate the loc­a­tion of troops con­nec­ted in some way to the ac­cused. The timeline be­low shows the volume of cases opened by year; however, an un­known num­ber of files were purged by the Scouts pri­or to the early 1990s.

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NEW JERSEY
Patch

By Rick Burchfield and Zak Koeske

The name of a former Sparta priest is among thousands of Boy Scout leaders across the country, and more than 100 in New Jersey, on a confidential list kept for decades by the organization to document suspected molesters within their ranks.

Rev. William Cramer’s name appears on the list, known colloquially to Boy Scouts executives as the “Perversion Files.”

Cramer pleaded guilty in 1988 to two count of endangering the welfare of a child. Cramer was a priest at Our Lady of the Lake in Sparta when he was indicted during the 80s on charges he touched two township boys.

Catholic Church officials also said in 2002 they had reassigned him to St. Joseph’s Medical Center in Paterson after the case, but then removed him from the position later that year.

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UNITED STATES
National Survivor Advocates Coalition

There has been a growing number of news stories in recent days about the Vatican naming a coadjutor bishop for the Diocese of Armagh in the Republic of Ireland –a bella figura approach to packing the Primate of All Ireland Cardinal Sean Brady off into retirement for his role in the sexual abuse scandal.

Here’s a link to one of those stories: Read the story here.

There have been no news stories about the possibility of the Vatican removing Robert Finn, the criminally convicted Bishop of the Diocese of Kansas City – St. Joseph, Missouri.

It’s a puzzlement.

There was news last week that Pope Benedict accepted the resignation of a bishop in Chile, Marco Antonio Ordenes Fernandez of Iquique, following the allegation that the bishop had sexually abused a minor.

There were no news stories last week that Bishop Finn had tendered a resignation for the Vatican to accept.

It’s a puzzlement.

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UNITED STATES
Los Angeles Times

[with video]

The veil was lifted Thursday on decades of confidential sexual abuse allegations in the ranks of the Boy Scouts of America with the court-ordered release of more than 1,200 of the organization’s “perversion files.”

The files offer the public an unprecedented look at how suspected molestations were handled by one of the nation’s leading youth organizations from the early 1960s through 1985, a time when awareness of sexual abuse was evolving rapidly.

“The secrets are out,” said Kelly Clark, one of the plaintiff’s lawyers in an Oregon lawsuit that resulted in a nearly $20-million judgment against the Scouts in 2010. “Child abuse thrives in secrecy and secret systems are where it breeds. And these secrets are out.” …

In recent months, The Times has published an investigation of those files and thousands of case summaries from 1940 to 2005. The files and summaries were obtained from Seattle attorney Timothy Kosnoff, who has sued the Scouts on behalf of dozens of abuse victims.

The Times investigation has revealed a broad range of patterns in the Scouts’ handling of abuse allegations that echo similar revelations about the Catholic Church and, more recently, the Penn State scandal involving assistant coach Jerry Sandusky.

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UNITED STATES
Chicago Tribune

[with video]

Chris Francescani and Teresa Carson
Reuters

3:06 p.m. CDT, October 18, 2012

NEW YORK/PORTLAND, Oregon (Reuters) – A popular Colorado Boy Scout leader named Floyd Slusher allegedly had a strategy when it came to molesting boys: He first plied his victims with alcohol, then abused them and threatened to kill anyone who talked.

On one occasion in 1976, according to police, Slusher told a Scout as he undressed the child that “what I’m going to do now, if I get arrested, after I get out of jail, I’ll come after you and your family.”…

But in scores of other cases, local Boy Scout leaders urged accused and admitted pedophiles to quietly resign without notifying authorities, or allowed them to return to scouting after being treated by doctors or clergy.

In one case, the files show that after a volunteer in Texas was expelled when he confessed to molesting Scouts in 1965, a local Scouting official wrote to the national office and said a minister that knew the man “is doing his best to protect Boy Scouting and trying to keep this incident as quiet as possible.

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DELAWARE
Newsworks

October 18, 2012
By Mark Eichmann

After eight years and more than 100 clients who accused the Catholic church of sexual abuse, Tom Neuberger has written a book about his cases and some of the lessons learned.

Last December, 14 victims of sexual abuse reached a $7 million settlement with St. Edmonds Academy, the Capuchin friars, and the Brothers of the Holy Cross. In February 2011, the Catholic Diocese of Wilmington reached a $77 million settlement with 146 abuse victims. Nearly 100 of those victims were represented by Neuberger.

Neuberger details the court battles and the long-lasting impact of abuse in his 427-page book, When Priests Become Predators: Profiles of Childhood Sexual Abuse Survivors. “We’ve got testimony from mothers about how they were tricked, wives [describing] what it’s like living with people who have two personalities,” Neuberger says. The book describes the testimony of victims on the stand in somewhat graphic detail.

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UNITED STATES
Los Angeles Times

Decades of confidential sexual abuse allegations from within the Boy Scouts of America will spill into public view later today when more than 1,200 of the organization’s “perversion files” are released by order of the Oregon Supreme Court.

The files will offer the public an unprecedented look at how suspected molestations were handled by one of the nation’s leading youth organizations from the early 1960s through 1985, a time when awareness of sexual abuse was evolving rapidly.

At 11:30 a.m., the Los Angeles Times will begin incorporating the court files into its own online database, which contains information on nearly 5,000 such cases spanning 1947 to January 2005. The database offers a complete record of files during that period except for an unknown number of files that have been purged by the Scouts over the years. In more than 300 cases, the allegations involve someone with ties to a troop or unit in California.

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VATICAN CITY
The Economist

Oct 20th 2012

RENÉ BRÜLHART made his name as head of Liechtenstein’s financial-intelligence unit. Thanks to his diligence in rooting out financial crime over the past eight years, the tiny European principality, nestled between Switzerland and Austria, is no longer widely condemned as a haven for dirty money. This success, combined with his good looks, led one magazine to dub the 40-year-old Swiss lawyer the James Bond of the financial world.

His latest job might unnerve even 007: Mr Brülhart has been recruited to clean up the Vatican’s reputation. For years allegations of financial shenanigans have swirled around the Institute for Works of Religion, commonly known as the Vatican Bank. The bank is modest in size: as of last November it had just €6.3 billion ($8.3 billion) in assets, 33,400 accounts and 13 ATMs (for use by its own clients, which comprise religious organisations and individuals, Holy See lay employees and foreign countries’ embassies). But it also has features that make it alluring to money-launderers: an evaluation in July by Moneyval, the Council of Europe’s anti-money-laundering group, pointed to high volumes of cash transactions, global activities and limited information on many organisations operating in the Vatican.

In the latest scandal, its president, Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, was sacked in May. He and his former employer are now caught up in a money-laundering investigation led by Naples prosecutors. Mr Gotti Tedeschi has denied wrongdoing, saying the reason he was fired was that he got “too close to the truth” about the bank’s dealings. Only in December 2010 did Pope Benedict XVI issue a so-called Motu Proprio outlawing money-laundering and the financing of terrorism.

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TULSA (OK)
The Republic

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
October 18, 2012

TULSA, Okla. — A clergy abuse watchdog group is accusing a Tulsa megachurch of doing damage control to protect the ministry’s image instead of showing concern for a 13-year-old girl who was allegedly raped on its property.

Barbara Dorris, the outreach director for the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said Thursday that ministers at Victory Christian Center “put their reputation ahead of the safety of the children.”

Five Victory employees are facing misdemeanor charges of waiting two weeks to report the alleged rape. They’ve pleaded not guilty.

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PORTLAND (OR)
The Dallas Morning News

Associated Press

Published: 18 October 2012 10:33 AM

PORTLAND, Ore. — Local Boy Scout leaders, police officials, prosecutors and mayors helped hush up numerous child sex abuse allegations against scoutmasters and other volunteers, according to details in a trove of nearly 15,000 pages of so-called “perversion files” compiled by the Scouts from 1959 to the mid-1980s.

Portland attorney Kelly Clark released the files on Thursday.

The Associated Press obtained copies of the files weeks in advance and conducted an extensive review of them. …

For example, a number of alleged pedophiles were able to continue in Scouting because of decisions by local Scout leaders and sometimes pressure from community leaders. In multiple cases, judges, pastors, county attorneys and others intervened to keep the name of Scouting out of the courts or off the front page.

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ITALIA
Liguria Notizie

SAVONA. 18 OTT. L’ex parroco di Mallare, nel Savonese, don Martin Varkey Parappillil è stato condannato in rito abbreviato a sei anni di reclusione e una multa di 30 mila euro.

L’ex paroco è accusato di atti sessuali su minori, possesso di materiale pedopornografico e appropriazione indebita per un ammanco di 44 mila euro dai conti della parrocchia di Mallare.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

by John L. Allen Jr. | Oct. 18, 2012

Analysis — Rome —
In the small world of the Vatican, personnel is always policy. Two recent personnel moves, therefore, have fueled speculation about whether policy shifts are also under way in the fight against sex abuse and the Vatican’s relationship with American nuns.

Msgr. Charles Scicluna, the Vatican’s top prosecutor on abuse cases, was named an auxiliary bishop in his native Malta on Oct. 8. On Thursday, the pope was also set to name American Archbishop Joseph Tobin, the Vatican’s leading voice for reconciliation with women religious, as the new archbishop of Indianapolis.

The question now is whether the positions these two figures represent are also on the way out. Some are reading their departures as classic cases of promoveatur ut amoveatur, meaning promoting someone to get rid of them and, by extension, their ideas. Vatican officials say it’s not so, insisting there are more effective ways of muzzling someone than the new gigs both men are getting.

Especially with Tobin, it’s hard not to see office politics at work. He’s only served as secretary of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life (popularly known as the Congregation for Religious) since August 2010, while Vatican officials normally have at least a five-year term. When rumors of his move to Indianapolis heated up in October, several commentators speculated it was related to his “soft” line on religious women in the United States.

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INDIANAPOLIS (IN)
Daily Reporter

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
First Posted: October 18, 2012 – 10:46 am

INDIANAPOLIS — The new leader for Roman Catholics in the Indianapolis archdiocese says he doesn’t know that he was moved from a high-ranking position in Rome for openly seeking to mend the Vatican’s frayed relations with U.S. nuns.

The Vatican announced the appointment of Archbishop Joseph Tobin on Thursday. Tobin is replacing Archbishop Daniel Buechlein (BEEK’-lyn), who retired last year because of health problems.

The 60-year-old native of Detroit has been the No. 2 official in the Vatican’s office for religious orders.

Tobin said after his introduction at Saints Peter & Paul Cathedral in Indianapolis that it wasn’t easy to leave his post in Rome and that he didn’t seek to leave.

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
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Barbara Dorris on October 18, 2012

We are disappointed that Rev. Dr. John Cameron would make such ignorant and hurtful claims about the alleged victims of Jimmy Savile. To publicly proclaim that the multitudes of victims making allegations against Savile are only doing so for a “cash-grab” is both obtuse and callous.

We urge Cameron’s colleagues or supervisors and supporters to censure or demote or discipline him for his insensitive comments and to stand in solidarity with the victims who are courageously coming forward. It is always difficult for abuse victims to speak up, especially when their alleged abuser is a man who held massive popularity and sway. Comments like Rev. Cameron’s only make it more difficult for future victims to expose predators and protect others.

Wonder why and how thousands of child sex crimes and cover ups have happened, and are happening, in churches worldwide? In part, it’s because of comments by men like Cameron and their timid supervisors who refuse to punish them for such insensitive comments.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

by NCR Staff | Oct. 18, 2012

The Vatican announced Thursday that Archbishop Joseph Tobin, secretary of the Congregation for the Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life (more commonly known as the Congregation for Religious), will become the sixth archbishop of the Indianapolis archdiocese.

A Detroit native who was ordained a priest in 1978, Tobin is a Redemptorist and the former Superior General of his religious order, serving in Rome as its leader from 1997-2009.

After spending most of the past 15 years in the Vatican, the assignment back to the states will place Tobin, 60, as head of a diocese for the first time. He was named archbishop in August 2010 when he became the Congregation for Religious’ No. 2 official.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by David Clohessy on October 18, 2012

Today, thousands of pages of long-secret Boy Scout files about child sex crimes and cover ups are being released. Our heart aches for every child who was assaulted by Scout personnel, especially those who were sexually violated after Scout executives knew or suspected that the assailant was a child molester.

In response to these revelations, Scout executives will offer up a range of carefully-crafted claims largely designed to make excuses, dodge responsibility, shift blame, and proclaim progress. The public should be very wary of these claims.

Scout executives will claim ‘we’re adopted reforms.’ But they’ve only done so very belatedly, after lawsuits and pressure. (Background checks were adopted by Scout executives only in 2008, for example.)

Scout executives will claim ‘our reforms are working.’ But thus far, these alleged reforms are largely untested.

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PENNSYLVANIA
New Jersey Herald

SMETHPORT, Pa. (AP) – A judge says a jury had more than enough evidence to convict a suspended Catholic priest for his relationship with a 15-year-old northwestern Pennsylvania boy whose mother told the priest to stop contacting the teen.

Sixty-year-old Samuel Slocum, of Cyclone, remains suspended by the Erie diocese and is serving two years’ probation for his January conviction. Slocum’s Superior Court appeal argues he didn’t illegally conceal the boy’s whereabouts nor did he “corrupt” the youth because the priest never encouraged him to do anything illegal or inappropriate.

But the Bradford Era (http://bit.ly/TfhmrC) reports Senior Judge William Morgan, who presided at the McKean County trial, says in a court filing that the priest secretly contacted he boy and enticed him to visit with gifts, including a phone and computer he used to contact the boy, despite knowing his mother forbade that.

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JACKSON (MS)
Clarion-Ledger

A Jackson minister has temporarily stepped down as pastor of his church amid allegations of sexual misconduct with a teen girl.

There are reports that Rev. Danny Hollins of Greater Fairview Baptist Church is being investigated by the Jackson Police Department involving the girl.

Hollins, who is married and they have two daughters, has been pastor of Greater Fairview since 2001.

Hollins hasn’t been charged with any crime.

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JACKSON (MS)
WAPT

JACKSON, Miss. —
A Jackson pastor is accused of having a relationship with an underage girl at his church, 16 WAPT News has learned.

Greater Fairview Baptist Church leaders said Pastor Danny Hollins has taken a temporary leave of absence.

16 WAPT News called Hollins, who referred reporters to his attorney, Precious Martin.

“My client vehemently denies all of the accusations and allegations,” Martin said.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

DAN BOX
From:The Australian
October 19, 2012

NSW POLICE have declined to rule out further arrests as they investigate an alleged cover-up by the Catholic church, following the arrest of a former priest over alleged child sex offences.

Senior detectives privately say a royal commission is now needed to investigate child sex abuse within the church, although that was dismissed yesterday by Premier Barry O’Farrell.

The priest, who is from Armidale in northern NSW and who cannot be named, was yesterday charged with 25 child sex offences against three girls aged as young as five, which allegedly took place over 13 years, dating back to 1975.

The 59-year-old moved between a number of parishes in northern NSW during the 1980s and ultimately to the Sydney diocese of Parramatta, before being removed from public ministry. The decision to remove him followed a 1992 meeting with three current senior clerics, at which it was alleged he had sexually abused children.

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VATICAN CITY
ABC 9

By NICOLE WINFIELD
Associated Press
VATICAN CITY (AP) – Pope Benedict XVI on Thursday transferred to the United States a high-ranking Holy See official who had ruffled feathers at the Vatican by openly seeking to mend its frayed ties with U.S. nuns.

Archbishop Joseph Tobin, an American Redemptorist priest, was named archbishop of Indianapolis, where he succeeds Archbishop Daniel Buechlein who retired last year.

Pope Benedict XVI had tapped Tobin, a two-time superior general of the Redemptorist religious order, to be the No. 2 official in the Vatican’s office for religious orders in 2010. At the time, the Vatican had initiated two separate investigations of U.S. nuns, looking into both their quality of life and their doctrinal orthodoxy. The investigations were initiated following years of complaints from theological conservatives that American nuns had grown too secular, liberal and political while abandoning traditional doctrine.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, (VIS) – The Holy Father appointed:

– Archbishop Joseph W. Tobin C.SS.R., secretary of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, as archbishop of Indianapolis (area 35,768, population 2,595,000, Catholics 246,000, priests 236, religious 715), U.S.A.

– Fr. Paul Terrio of the clergy of the archdiocese of Edmonton, Canada, pastor of Holy Trinity parish in Villeneuve and archdiocesan director for vocations, as bishop of Saint Paul in Alberta (area 155,916, population 131,500, Catholics 57,635, priests 30, permanent deacons 10, religious 29), Canada. The bishop-elect was born in Montreal, Canada in 1943 and ordained a priest in 1970. He has worked in pastoral care in a number of parishes, as professor at Montreal College and as formator at the Saint Joseph Seminary of Edmonton.

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PHOENIX (AZ)
ABC 15

[with video]

• By: Corey Rangel

PHOENIX – The Catholic Church in Phoenix has taken a step to help with the healing for those sexually abused by priests.

The Catholic Diocese of Phoenix released a list of names of priests accused and convicted of abuse.

It has nearly 29 names on it and shows where the clergy members once served but it does not give details on what the priests and deacons are accused of doing.

Joe Baca, a victim of priest abuse, said it’s a step towards the church taking responsibility.

“I think what they’re doing is they’re cleaning up the damage. I think this is one of the steps to get to the acknowledgment,” said Baca.

Baca is the Arizona Director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests , a support group for victims.

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AUSTRALIA
Otago Daily Times

Thu, 18 Oct 2012
News: Australia

Police say anyone with information about an alleged cover-up by the Catholic Church should come forward following the arrest of a former priest.

The 59-year-old man was arrested at his home in Armidale about 6.30am (AEDT) today and he was set to appear at the local court at 3pm.

He has been charged with 25 sex offences against three girls.

Police allege the offences took place in the 1970s and 1980s and were discovered after they formed Strike Force Glenroe in July this year.

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INDIANAPOLIS (IN)
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Indianapolis

Pope Benedict XVI has appointed Archbishop Joseph W. Tobin, C.Ss.R., the Archbishop Secretary of the Vatican Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, the sixth archbishop of the Archdiocese of Indianapolis. The Holy See made the announcement today in Rome.

Archbishop Tobin, 60, succeeds Archbishop Daniel M. Buechlein, O.S.B., who was granted early retirement by Pope Benedict on September 21, 2011 for health reasons. Since Archbishop Buechlein’s retirement, Bishop Christopher J. Coyne has served as the archdiocese’s Apostolic Administrator.

A press conference introducing Archbishop Tobin will be held today at 10 a.m. at SS. Peter and Paul Cathedral in Indianapolis. Watch it live here

Archbishop Tobin, a Redemptorist priest, is a native of Detroit. He was born May 3, 1952 and is the oldest of 13 children. He was educated at Catholic schools. He studied at Holy Redeemer College in Waterford, Wis., where he earned a bachelor’s degree in philosophy in 1975. He also studied at Mount Saint Alphonsus Seminary in Esopus, N.Y., where he received a master’s degree in religious education in 1977 and a master of divinity degree in 1979.

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INDIANAPOLIS (IN)
Indianapolis Star

Written by
Tim Evans and Peter Smith

6:25 a.m. update

Joseph W. Tobin has officially been appointed the next archbishop of Indianapolis by Pope Benedict XVI, according to the Archdiocese of Indianapolis website.

The announcement was made in Rome. Tobin will succeed Archbishop Daniel M. Buechlein, who is leaving for health reasons.

The press conference in Indianapolis to introduce Tobin will be streamed live at http://www.archindy.org/archbishop/conference.html.

9:06 p.m. Oct. 17 post

A high-ranking Vatican official, seen as a moderate who is sympathetic to American nuns in their ongoing tensions with the hierarchy of the Catholic Church, is expected to be named Thursday as the next archbishop of Indianapolis.

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CROATIA
Times Colonist (Canada)

By The Associated Press
October 18, 2012

ZAGREB, Croatia – Police in Croatia say they have arrested a Catholic priest who allegedly made off with more than a million euros of church money.

Police said Thursday they launched a criminal probe against priest Sime Nimac after the Church accused him of illegally selling church land for €1.3 million ($1.7 million) and taking the sale money. They said Nimac was arrested on Wednesday in the capital of Zagreb.

The case has drawn much public attention in Croatia. Local media have reported that Nimac also ran off with a married woman who had allegedly helped him draw the money from the bank.

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WHITINSVILLE (MA)
Telegram & Gazette

By Lee Hammel TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
lhammel@telegram.com

The former House of Affirmation at 120 Hill St., Whitinsville, has been sold to a Northbridge businessman.

James M. Knott Sr., of 456 Hill St., Whitinsville, bought the property for $800,000 last week. Mr. Knott, owner and CEO of Riverdale Mills Corp. in Northbridge said he intends to use the 89-room, 26-acre property as a conference center and wedding facility.

The property is the subject of a Worcester Superior Court civil suit filed by two gay men who accused Diocese of Worcester officials of discriminating against them on the basis of sexual orientation while they were negotiating to buy it. James Fairbanks and Alain J. Beret, a married couple from Sutton, said they planned to renovate the mansion and turn it into a banquet hall to host weddings and other functions as well as their personal residence.

Their suit alleges they were turned down by church officials solely because they are gay and might have held same-sex weddings on the property.

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PHOENIX (AZ)
What They Knew

…Or How to Deceive a Bishop: From the Jesuit Guide to Everything.

In a surprise move the Catholic Diocese of Phoenix released a list of 29 clerics accused of sexual abuse, joining only 25 other diocese in the United States to do so. One name that stands out on that list is the familiar Donald McGuire SJ of the Chicago Province of the Society of Jesus. You can visit the Diocese of Phoenix’s site listing the clerics HERE.

The Bishop of Phoenix Thomas J. Olmsted has been issuing statements and community warnings about the Chicago Jesuit since 2007 when he was first informed that the child abusing cleric had been operating in his jurisdiction. A very responsible move given that he was never informed of McGuire’s presence by the Chicago Jesuits.

According to the Bishop:

The Diocese of Phoenix has no record of Fr. Donald J. McGuire asking for or receiving faculties to administer sacraments in the Diocese at any time. However, the Diocese is aware that Fr. Donald J. McGuire conducted several privately-sponsored retreats for adults over the age of 21 at Mt. Claret Retreat Center in Phoenix in 1996, 1998, 1999, and 2001. Those retreats were not sponsored by or conducted by the Diocese of Phoenix, but were held at a Diocesan facility, which was rented out by a private association not affiliated with the Diocese. Fr. Donald J. McGuire is believed to also have conducted privately sponsored retreats in Casa Grande, Arizona, in the 1980s and 1990s as well as a privately sponsored retreat in Payson, Arizona, in 2002.

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VATICAN CITY
DFW Catholic

Vatican City, Oct 18, 2012 / 12:13 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Ireland’s delegation to the Synod of Bishops on the New Evangelization presented ways to re-evangelize a country shaken by abuse scandals, undermined by poor catechesis and assaulted by secularism.

“(T)he Church must now speak with a voice which is hopeful yet humble, confident yet compassionate, with a claim to authority that must be more evidently rooted in the Gospel and the love of Christ,” said Bishop Kieran O’Reilly of Killaloe during the Oct. 16 afternoon session of the synod.

“This is the context in which the new evangelization will take place” in Ireland, he stated.

Referring to the abuse scandals, Bishop O’Reilly said the Church in Ireland is living the “recent crises in a dramatic way.”

But he expressed hope for renewal through a 10-year program of re-evangelization that the bishops’ conference will be implementing. It will emphasize catechesis and deep appreciation for Christ’s message.

Bishop O’Reilly also said the New Evangelization must involve a “fuller and significant biblical apostolate.”

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AUSTRALIA
Adelaide Now

Paul Mulvey
AAP
October 18, 2012

MORE victims of church sexual abuse will kill themselves unless Victoria’s parliamentary inquiry acts swiftly to protect the men who still contemplate suicide every day, one campaigner fears.

Up to 50 men taught in the 1960s and 70s by convicted pedophiles Brother Robert Best, Brother Edward Dowlan, Brother Stephen Farrell and Father Gerald Ridsdale at Catholic schools in Ballarat and elsewhere in Victoria have taken their own lives and many more former students suffer from the long term impact of abuse.

Survivor Peter Blenkiron says the inquiry into the handling of child abuse by religious organisations, which opens on Friday, cannot afford to take too long to recommend action and has called for a government-run, church-funded support system to help keep these men alive.

“What I’m worried about is that it’ll take too long and people will die before there’s any sort of resolution,” he said.

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UNITED STATES
Fox 8

By Michael Martinez and Paul Vercammen, CNN

(CNN) — More than 20,000 confidential Boy Scout documents will be released Thursday identifying more than 1,000 leaders and volunteers banned from the group after being accused of sexual or inappropriate conduct with boys.

The public release of the Scouts’ 1,247 “ineligible volunteer files” from 1965 to 1985 will not contain the identities of the boy victims and witnesses. The national files are being distributed with the approval of the Oregon Supreme Court by a law firm that won an $18.5 million judgment in 2010 against the Boy Scouts in a case where a Scoutmaster sexually abused a boy.

Wayne Perry, president of Boy Scouts of America, said the group is deeply committed to youth protection, but he acknowledged that in some cases, the organization’s response to allegations of abuse by volunteers “were plainly insufficient, inappropriate or wrong.”

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OHIO
WSAZ

[with video]

GALLIPOLIS, Ohio (WSAZ) — A trust betrayed — that was the feeling in Gallia County Wednesday night where a man of the church is now in jail, charged with sexual assault.

Police believe there may be more than one victim.

The news is really hitting home for church members at Simpson Chapel United Methodist.

“It’s a beautiful church, and it has a lot of beautiful people in it,” said Ginny Showalter of Rio Grande, Ohio.

Showwalter is still proud to call herself a member. She’s just ashamed of what her pastor’s accused of doing.

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OHIO
Daily Tribune

RIO GRANDE — A Gallia County pastor was arrested on Tuesday afternoon and is being charged in relation to allegations that he had sexually assaulted a teenager who had been his student.

David Young, 46, was taken into custody by deputies with the Gallia County Sheriff’s Office with the assistance of agents with Crimes Against Children Unit of the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation (BCI) at the Simpson Chapel United Methodist Church in Rio Grande where he is the pastor.

According to a press release issued by the Ohio Attorney General’s Office, Young has been accused of sexually assaulting a teenager between the ages of 13 and 14 who was part of a class he had been teaching through the church.

“These allegations are extremely distressing because Ohioans should be able to trust people in positions of authority,” Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine commented about the case. “We will go to all lengths necessary to hold those who commit crimes against children accountable.”

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AUSTRALIA
NEWS.com.au

A FORMER priest sacked by the Catholic church in 2005 has been arrested in northern NSW over a number of historic sex offences against young girls.

A 59-year-old man, known as Father F, is expected to be charged with a number of child-sex offences against three girls in the 1970s and 1980s, a police source has told AAP.

He was arrested at an Armidale home at 6.30am (AEDT) today after an almost three-month investigation into allegations of child sexual abuse by a priest based in the area, police said.

The man has been taken to Armidale Police Station, where he is assisting police.

Father F was implicated in other abuse cases the Catholic Church was accused of covering up, ABC TV’s Four Corners reported in June.

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AUSTRALIA
The Border Mail

By BEVAN SHIELDS
Oct. 18, 2012

A FORMER Catholic priest arrested this morning has been charged with 25 serious sexual crimes against three girls, one as young as five.

The 59-year-old man appeared in court this afternoon after officers from Strike Force Glenroe apprehended him in an early-morning operation at his home in Armidale, in northern NSW, today. He was refused bail.

Police allege the man sexually abused three girls in the 1970s and 1980s. The charges include indecent assault, acts of indecency and sexual intercourse without consent. The girls were aged between 5 and 18 years old when the alleged crimes were committed.

The trio contacted police earlier this year, the commander of the NSW Police Sex Crimes Squad, Detective Superintendent John Kerlatec, told reporters in Sydney today.

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AUSTRALIA
Coolum News

APN Newsdesk |
18th Oct 2012

A FORMER Catholic priest is facing 25 charges relating to historic child-sex offences after he was arrested in Armidale on Thursday morning.

The state’s Sex Crimes Squad formed Strike Force Glenroe in July to investigate allegations of child sexual abuse.

About 6.30am on Thursday detectives attached to Strike Force Glenroe and New England Local Area Command arrested a 59-year-old man.

He was taken to Armidale Police Station and later charged with a string of offences.

The alleged acts were committed against three girls in the 1970s and 1980s.

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

A former priest has been charged with 25 historical child sex offences, with police set to inquire into whether the Catholic Church took part in a cover-up.

The man was denied bail when he appeared in Armidale Local Court, in northern NSW, on Thursday, accused of repeatedly molesting three girls between 1979 and 1988.

Detectives from Strike Force Glenroe arrested him at his Armidale home about 6.30am (AEDT) following an ongoing investigation that began in July.

He faces up to 10 years in jail if found guilty of the offences.

Magistrate Mark Richardson denied his bail application and ordered the man’s name not be published to protect the anonymity of the alleged victims.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Daily Star

18th October 2012

By Daily Star reporter

A VICAR was slammed by support groups last night after accusing Jimmy Savile’s victims of trying to make money.

The Rev Dr John Cameron, from St Andrews, Fife, alleged the victims had “the clear intention of being compensated” by the late DJ’s charities.

“I don’t like witch-hunts,” he said.

“I’m not saying that it didn’t happen but some of the claims are strange. I think it’s gone too far now.’’

But Marnie Collins, manager at the Kingdom Abuse Survivors Project, said: “Victims are not looking for money but to have their experience validated.’’

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

October 18, 2012

A Catholic priest stood down amid child sexual abuse allegations has declined to comment about the case, while his parishioners say they are in disbelief.

Father Peter Grasby, parish priest of St Mary Magdalen, Jordanville, near Chadstone, told The Age this morning that he did not want to discuss the alleged incidents involving a boy aged 10 to 14 in another parish more than 30 years ago.

“No, I don’t want to talk about it with anybody, sorry,” Father Grasby said, before hanging up.

Earlier, six people gathered for mass in his church, which borders St Mary Magdalen primary school.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

DAN BOX
From:The Australian
October 18, 2012

A FORMER NSW priest has been arrested by detectives investigating alleged child sex abuse, almost 30 years after church authorities were first warned about his alleged behaviour.

Father F, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was arrested this morning at his home in Armidale. Police anticipate charging him today with a number of offences relating to three girls during the 1970s and 80s.

The former priest was removed from public ministry after a meeting with three senior clergy in 1992, at which he allegedly admitted to child sexual assault, although this information was not passed on to the police.

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AUSTRALIA
Farm Weekl

LEESHA MCKENNY

18 Oct, 2012 08:11 AM

A former NSW priest who allegedly told three senior Catholic clergy a decade ago that he had repeatedly sexually abused altar boys has been arrested in Armidale for historic offences against girls.

Detectives arrested the man known as Father F in the state’s New England region today in relation to a number of child-sex offences against three female children in the 1970s and 1980s.

The State Crime Command’s sex crimes squad set up Strike Force Glenroe in July to investigate allegations of that Father F had abused altar boys while a priest based in Armidale and Parramatta.

Father F, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was removed from public ministry after a meeting with three clergy in 1992, following continued allegations of abuse after he was moved from the Armidale diocese to Parramatta.

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AUSTRALIA
Perth Now

A FORMER priest who the Catholic church sacked in 2005 has been arrested in northern NSW over a number of historic sex offences against young girls.

A 59-year-old man, known as Father F, is expected to be charged with a number of child-sex offences against three girls in the 1970s and 1980s, a police source has told AAP.

He was arrested at an Armidale home at 6.30am (AEDT) on Thursday following an almost three-month investigation into allegations of child sexual abuse by a priest based in the area, police said.

The man has been taken to Armidale Police Station where he is currently assisting police.

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VATICAN CITY
Catholic Culture

The archpriest of St. Peter’s basilica has angrily denied that he had any involvement in the “Vatileaks” scandal.

During his trial for theft of confidential papal documents, Paolo Gabriele testified that he had spoken with Cardinal Angelo Comastri, among other Vatican officials, about his concerns that Pope Benedict XVI was being misled by subordinates. But Gabriele said that he acted alone in taking the Vatican documents, and Cardinal Comastri has vigorously rejected the idea that he was associated with the thefts.

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ROME
The Tablet (United Kingdom)

16 October 2012

Cardinal Velasio De Paolis, the papal delegate charged with reforming the scandal-stained Legion of Christ (LC), has removed the conservative order’s director-general four years before the end of his 12-year mandate.

In a letter on 10 October to members of the Legion and their Regnum Christi (RC) lay movement, the cardinal announced that Fr Álvaro Corcuera had agreed to take “a sort of sabbatical year”, ostensibly for health reasons.

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ROME
CathNews

Cardinal Velasio De Paolis, the papal delegate charged with reforming the scandal-stained Legion of Christ (LC), has removed the conservative order’s director-general four years before the end of his 12-year mandate, reports The Tablet.

In a letter on October 10 to members of the Legion and their Regnum Christi (RC) lay movement, the cardinal announced that Fr Álvaro Corcuera had agreed to take “a sort of sabbatical year”, ostensibly for health reasons.

Fr Corcuera, 55, was elected head of the two groups in 2005 after the Vatican blocked their founder, the late Marcial Maciel, from re-election.

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MISSOURI
Lake News

Stover — A year after being acquitted of child molestation, the pastor of a small Baptist church in Stover is back in court.

Travis Smith, 42, was arraigned in Moniteau County this week on charges of rape, sexual abuse and sodomy. The charges stem from allegations relating to incidents that allegedly took place in 1998, 1999 and 2005. The allegations involve two different victims.

Smith is currently free on $70,000 bond. He is scheduled to return to court in November.

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OHIO
10 TV
GALLIPOLIS, Ohio – Agents arrested a Gallia County pastor at his church on Tuesday.

According to the Ohio Attorney General’s Office, David Young was arrested at his church, the Simpson Chapel United Methodist Church, in Rio Grande, by agents with the AG’s Crimes Against Children Unit.

Young is accused of sexually assaulting a teenager between the ages of 13 and 14. The teenager was a member of a class Young taught, according to the AG’s Office.

“These allegations are extremely distressing because Ohioans should be able to trust people in positions of authority,” said AG Mike DeWine. “We’ll go to all lengths necessary to hold those who commit crimes against children accountable.”

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OHIO
WSAZ

GALLIPOLIS, Ohio (WSAZ) — A Gallia County pastor is facing charges after investigators say he sexually abused a teenager.

According to a press release from Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine, agents with the Crimes Against Children Unit, which is part of the Attorney General’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation, assisted deputies with the Gallia County Sheriff’s Office in the arrest of David Young Tuesday afternoon.

Investigators took Young into custody at the Simpson Chapel United Methodist Church in Rio Grande, Ohio, where he is the pastor.

According to the release, Young is accused of sexually assaulting a teenager between the ages of 13 and 14 who was part of a class he taught through the church.

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MOBILE (AL)
Fox 10

Chasity Byrd

MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) – The jury hearing the case of former pastor Cederick McMillian found him guilty of sex abuse and sodomy after deliberating for an hour Wednesday morning.

The jury chose not to take a lunch break before they began deliberations on Wednesday, Oct. 17. McMillian was convicted sodomy and sex abuse involving his step-daughter, who the prosecution said was 14 years old at the time the abuse happened.

Defense attorney Jeff Deen said he’s disappointed with the verdict.

“I think it was a good cross section of the community, and they heard the evidence and worked hard on the case but they have to make the decision,” said Deen.

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MOBILE (AL)
AL.com

By Brendan Kirby | bkirby@al.com

MOBILE, Alabama – A jury today convicted a local pastor of sexually abusing a teenage girl.

The jury found Cederick McMillan, 27, guilty of second-degree sodomy and first-degree sexual abuse.

The Eight Mile man is pastor of New Birth Community Church in Mobile and helped found Prichard Preparatory Academy.

Law enforcement authorities accused him of sexually touching and having oral sex with a girl when she was 14 years old in 2007.

“I’m very upset with the jury verdict,” defense attorney Jeff Deen said. “But he had a good cross-section of the community, and I’m a very strong believer in the jury system.”

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AUSTRALIA
New South Wales Police Force

Former Catholic priest arrested in relation to historic child-sex offences – Strike Force Glenroe

Thursday, 18 October 2012 08:19:17 AM

***Editors’ note: Footage of today’s arrest will be sent to media later today via YouSendIt. Still images are available by contacting State Crime Command Media on 0417 004 101. We also anticipate holding a media conference at the Police Executive Offices in Elizabeth Street, Sydney, at 1pm today. Stand by for a Media Advisory.***

Detectives have arrested a former Catholic priest in the state’s New England region in relation to a number of historic child-sex offences.

State Crime Command’s Sex Crimes Squad formed Strike Force Glenroe in July 2012 to investigate allegations of child sexual abuse by a priest based in Armidale.

About 6.30am today (Thursday 18 October 2012), detectives attached to Strike Force Glenroe and New England Local Area Command arrested a 59-year-old man in Armidale.

He was taken to Armidale Police Station, where he is currently assisting police with their inquiries.

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AUSTRALIA
Perth Now

A PROMINENT NSW Catholic priest has been arrested in the state’s north this morning following allegations of sexually assaulting a number of children under 16.

Police raided the priest’s Armidale home this morning during a dramatic raid, removing several items from inside.

Armidale Police Inspector Greg Steer confirmed his officers had made an arrest this morning.

“We’re certainly not denying it but we don’t wish to comment on it at this time,” he said.

“He is very well known in Armidale, but well known in Sydney as well.”

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

By police reporter Sean Rubinsztein-Dunlop, ABC
October 18, 2012, 9:11 am

A former Catholic priest known as Father F has been arrested over child sex allegations at Armidale in northern New South Wales.

New South Wales Police launched an investigation into Father F after allegations were aired by the ABC’s Four Corners program.

It is understood the man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was arrested at dawn at a home in Armidale in the state’s north.

He was arrested as part of Strike Force Glenroe, formed in July to investigate the allegations.

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

A former Catholic priest has been arrested in northern NSW over a number of child-sex offences dating back to the 1970s and 80s.

The 59-year-old is expected to be charged with a number offences against three girls, police said.

He was arrested at an Armidale home at 6.30am (AEDT) on Thursday following an almost three-month investigation.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Barbara Dorris on October 17, 2012

It’s the structure, not the membership, of this board that’s the problem. As long as the archbishop picks every single member and as long as the board depends almost strictly on church officials for information, it will lack effectiveness, objectivity and credibility.

It continues to be a ‘garbage in, garbage out’ system in which a corrupt hierarchy cynically exploits well-meaning Catholics who naively lend their reputations to an inherently flawed structure.

There’s one good way to deal with child sex abuse reports – through the time tested, open American justice system, both criminal and civil. And there’s one good way to deal with older child sex abuse reports – through reforming the statute of limitations so that these cases are dealt with by impartial secular professionals, not biased religious amateurs.

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MARYLAND
Huffington Post

By ERIC TUCKER

WASHINGTON — Three female plaintiffs claim in a lawsuit filed Wednesday that an evangelical church group covered up allegations of sexual abuse against children, failed to report accusations of misconduct to the police and discouraged its members from cooperating with law enforcement.

The lawsuit was filed in Maryland state court against Sovereign Grace Ministries, a 30-year-old family of churches, with about 100 congregations. Most of its churches are in the U.S., but it also has planted churches in about 21 countries.

The plaintiffs allege a conspiracy spanning more than two decades to conceal sexual abuse committed by church members. The alleged abuse happened in Maryland and northern Virginia in the 1980s and 1990s. The lawsuit accuses church representatives of permitting suspected pedophiles to interact with children, supplying them with free legal advice to avoid prosecution and forcing victims to meet with and “forgive” the person that had molested them.

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UNITED STATES
International Business Times

[with video]

Beware all those who fall under the scrutiny of Alex Gibney. The documentary filmmaker first came to mass attention with his acclaimed 2005 documentary Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, a movie that from initially looking at the sudden bankruptcy of the American energy company provided a prescient examination of the greed and corruption that can occur inside modern financial institutions.

It was followed by winning an Academy Award in 2007 for Taxi to the Dark Side, a film that used the death of an Aghan taxi driver at the Bagram Internment Facility to examine the ways the United States policy on torture defies the Geneva Convention.

His new film, Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God, goes straight for the Vatican jugular.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia

Former Philadelphia prosecutor Robert Spinelli to serve as chair;
former Philadelphia First Assistant District Attorney Arnold Gordon to serve as vice chair;
Reverend Stephen Leva and Christine Campbell to serve as Review Board members

The Archdiocese of Philadelphia announced today that Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M. Cap. has appointed former Philadelphia prosecutor Robert Spinelli as the new chair and former Philadelphia First Assistant District Attorney Arnold Gordon as the new vice chair of the Archdiocesan Review Board. Both Mr. Spinelli and Mr. Gordon have served on the Review Board since June of 2011.

Dr. Ana Maria Catanzaro and Rev. Msgr. Thomas Owens recently completed their terms of service on the Review Board. Archbishop Chaput has appointed Christine Campbell, RN, the Trauma Program Manager at Saint Christopher’s Hospital for Children, and Rev. Stephen Leva, Pastor of Saint Timothy Parish in Philadelphia to fill the seats they vacated.

In making these announcements, Archbishop Chaput said, “The work of the Archdiocesan Review Board is critical to our efforts to protect children and young people. Our Archdiocese is privileged to benefit from the talent of its members, each of whom serves with dedication and passion. I’m grateful to Dr. Ana Maria Catanzaro and Msgr. Thomas Owens for their extraordinary service during a very difficult time in the life of our local Church.”

He continued, “I’m confident that Mr. Spinelli and Mr. Gordon have the right mix of leadership skills, professional background, and energy to serve as chair and vice chair. Lastly, I’m pleased that Father Steve Leva and Christine Campbell have agreed to serve on the Review Board. It’s a position that will demand much of their time and talent and I know they have the expertise necessary to make positive, impactful contributions to the Board’s work.”

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
NECN

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The Archdiocese of Philadelphia has appointed a former prosecutor as the new chair of its 12-member board that investigates allegations of sexual abuse and other complaints involving priests.

The archdiocese announced Wednesday it was appointing former Philadelphia prosecutor Robert Spinelli as the new chair of the Archdiocesan Review Board. Former First Assistant District Attorney Arnold Gordon will be the new vice chair. Both have been on the board since June 2011.

Ana Maria Catanzaro and the Rev. Thomas Owens recently completed their terms of service on the board.

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UNITED STATES
Reasonably Catholic

[with audio]

The Oct. 16 episode of Reasonably Catholic: Keeping the Faith goes to Boston to attend the 10th anniversary conference of Voice of the Faithful, a lay organization that formed in reaction to revelations of clergy sexual abuse.

We hear from attendees and speakers who look back at VOTF’s beginnings and ahead to its future. Suffice it to say, VOTF has found its voice.

Those heard in this episode include:

Rev. James Connell, pastor of Holy Name of Jesus and St. Clement Parishes in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, a canon lawyer who advocates on behalf of victims/survivors of clergy sexual abuse of minors.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

A meeting with all papal representatives across the world is to be held next June in Rome

Vatican Insider staff
Rome

The Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone announced this during his speech at the Synod on the new evangelisation that is currently taking place in the Vatican. The cardinal explained that the meeting is one of the initiatives planned for the Year of Faith and was inspired by a similar gathering held in the year 2000 on the occasion of the Jubilee.

In agreement with the Episcopates, the Holy See uses “instruments of diplomatic dialogue with civil authorities,” to ensure that its action “is not aimed at guaranteeing anachronistic privileges but guaranteeing the Church as much freedom in internal government and in the exercise of its mission, to which it lays legitimate claim as possible. When this freedom exists, it also benefits members of other religious faiths and fosters social harmony,” Bertone told Synod Fathers.

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UNITED KINGDOM
News & Star

By Phil Coleman

The Bishop of Carlisle has apologised for the church’s handling of a vicar guilty of child sex crimes.

Perverted Ronald Johns first admitted abusing children in 1993.

But he did not face a criminal prosecution until this year because his boss, the then Bishop of Carlisle, The Right Reverend Ian Harland, chose to transfer Johns from his job as a canon at Carlisle Cathedral to a new post at Caldbeck.

The Bishop did not report the matter to the police.

The Bishop’s decision appears to have been based on the unwillingness of the victims – by then adults – to speak to police themselves and on the report of a forensic psychiatrist who judged Johns was unlikely to reoffend.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Times & Star

By Phil Coleman

Caldbeck villagers have spoken of their shock after learning how a former Bishop of Carlisle saddled them with a vicar who admitted sexually abusing children.

Related: Bishop of Carlisle’s apology for sex case vicar

Former Carlisle Cathedral canon Ronald Johns is awaiting sentence for a string of child sex crimes.

Justice finally caught up with him at the city’s crown court last month, when he pleaded guilty to 10 offences against three boys between 1983 and 1991.

In a highly unusual move this week, the current Bishop of Carlisle, the Right Reverend James Newcome, offered a personal apology for how the church handled the affair, particularly the failure of the late Bishop Ian Harland, who was Johns’ boss, to report the abuse to the police.

In a letter to church officials sent out this week, Richard Pratt, the Archdeacon of West Cumberland, spelled out the depth of the failure.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

October 18, 2012

Barney Zwartz

THE Catholic Church has stood down a priest in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs while it investigates serious allegations of child sexual abuse.

Father Peter Grasby, parish priest of St Mary Magdalen, Jordanville, near Chadstone, was put on administrative leave on August 31, and the parishioners and school families were notified by letter the next weekend.

The allegations are about incidents more than 30 years ago in another parish involving a boy aged 10 to 14 at the time.

Monsignor Greg Bennet, vicar-general of the Melbourne archdiocese, told The Age that Father Grasby was helping independent commissioner Jeff Gleeson, QC, in his inquiries, and that he denied the allegations.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

Dan Box
From:The Australian
October 18, 2012

QUEENSLAND police are investigating whether a Catholic priest sexually abused schoolchildren during the 1970s and 80s, despite at least one family warning the then archbishop of Brisbane about his alleged assaults.

One alleged victim of Father Dermot Casey said she was serially abused by the priest over several months as a nine or 10-year-old pupil at St Joseph’s Tobruk Memorial School during the mid-70s.

The girl’s family reported their concerns to church authorities at the time, during a meeting at which they say the late archbishop of Brisbane, Francis Rush, was present, although the church was unable to confirm this.

Father Casey was subsequently moved to another parish, Salisbury, where police are investigating whether he abused other children at a second school.

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INDIANAPOLIS (IN)
The Courier-Journal

Posted on October 17, 2012 by Peter Smith

A high-ranking Vatican official, seen as sympathetic to American nuns in their ongoing tensions with the church hierarchy, is reportedly to be announced as the next archbishop of Indianapolis.

The American-born Archbishop Joseph W. Tobin, a Redemptorist priest, has been secretary of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life. The Italian paper La Stampa, the British-based Catholic publication, The Tablet, and the blog Whispers in the Loggia are reporting the announcement by Pope Benedict XVI will take place later this week.

There are 151 parishes and about 225,000 Catholics in the archdiocese, which extends from Indy down to the Kentucky line, including such Louisville-neighboring counties as Clark, Floyd and Harrison. Archbishop Daniel Buechlein retired early due to health problems.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

A retired priest from Suffolk has admitted he carried out several sex assaults on teenage boys.

Father Haley Dossor, 71, of Kirton near Felixstowe, pleaded guilty at Ipswich Crown Court to six charges of indecent assault against boys aged 13 to 17.

He retired as a priest at St Mary-at-the-Elms church, Ipswich in 2007. The abuse happened between 1990 and 2004.

Dossor is due to be sentenced some time after 12 November and the judge warned him he could face prison.

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SCHWEIZ
kath.ch

In Feldkirch hat der Prozess wegen sexuellen Missbrauchs und Gewaltanwendungen im Kloster Mehrerau begonnen. Die Klosterleitung wusste angeblich sehr wenig über die Entgleisungen des tyrannisierenden Paters.

CHRISTIANE ECKERT, FELDKIRCH. 1982 wurde ein Bub vom Internatsleiter in der Mehrerau schwer missbraucht und stundenlang vergewaltigt. Dafür will das Opfer zumindest 135 000 Euro finanziellen Ausgleich. Sein Leben geriet nach diesen Übergriffen aus den Fugen. Doch das Kloster will nicht zahlen. Vorläufig dreht sich der Prozess noch um die Frage der Verjährung. Immer wieder kreisen die Fragen um die Stellung des pädophilen Paters. War er leitend oder hatte er wenig zu entscheiden, das ist wichtig …

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KORATIEN
Express

Belgrad –
Ein katholischer Mönch soll heimlich Kirchenbesitz verkauft und sich dann mit einer Frau aus dem Staub gemacht haben. Der 34-Jährige sei in Kroatien mit umgerechnet rund 1,3 Millionen Euro verschwunden, bestätigte die Diözese Split-Makarska am Dienstag.

Der Mann verkaufte vier Hektar Kirchenland und hob unerlaubt Bargeld ab. Zuletzt gesehen wurde er Medienberichten zufolge vor zwei Wochen: in einem teuren Cabrio mit einer Frau auf dem Beifahrersitz.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Die Rheinpfalz

(gana). In der Debatte um die Missbrauchsfälle am Homburger Gymnasium Johanneum hat ein neues Kapitel begonnen. Der Vermittler zwischen der Ordensleitung der Hiltruper Missionare, die die Schule gründeten, und Missbrauchsopfern, die dort zur Schule gingen, hat sein Amt niedergelegt.

HOMBURG

Mehrere Missbrauchsopfer haben sich in der ”Initiative Ehemaliger Johanneum Homburg” zusammengeschlossen. Ihnen teilte der sogenannte Mediator Bernd Haupert mit, dass er nicht mehr weiter als Vermittler zwischen den beiden Seiten zur Verfügung stehe. Nach Bekanntwerden der Vorfälle am ehemaligen Internat der katholischen Privatschule hatten die Hiltruper Missionare Martin Kleer zum Missbrauchsbeauftragten ernannt. Er ist selbst Mitglied der Herz-Jesu-Missionare, wie die Ordensgemeinschaft offiziell heißt. Haupert fungierte als Ansprechpartner für Opfer, die nicht direkt mit dem Orden in Kontakt treten wollten. Er arbeitet als Professor an der Mainzer Fachhochschule.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Die Rheinpfalz

Am Homburger Johanneum gab es mehr Missbrauchsfälle und Täter als bislang bekannt. Das sagt Bernd Haupert, der bis vor Kurzem zwischen den Opfern und den Hiltruper Missionaren vermittelte. Die geistliche Gemeinschaft hat das Gymnasium gegründet und das inzwischen geschlossene Internat betrieben, in dem die Übergriffe stattfanden.

Haupert meldete sich gestern bei der RHEINPFALZ, nachdem er von einer Dienstreise zurückgekehrt war. Er erläuterte im Gespräch, warum er sein Mandat als Mediator niederlegte (). Haupert spricht von einem ”schockierenden Brief”, den er von einem Anwalt eines Ordensmitgliedes erhalten habe. In dem Schreiben ”wurde mir mit einem Gerichtsverfahren gedroht”. Haupert kritisiert, dass Ordensmitglieder Inhalte aus vertraulichen Gesprächen nach außen getragen hätten. ”Das widerspricht dem Wesen der Mediation. Das ist unmöglich”, ärgert sich der Mainzer Professor. Daraufhin habe er dem Orden und der Opfer-Initiative mitgeteilt, dass er unter diesen Umständen nicht mehr als Mediator zur Verfügung stehe.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Munstersche Zeitung

HILTRUP Die Debatte um die Missbrauchsfälle durch die Hiltruper Missionare vom Heiligsten Herzen Jesu (MSC) in einem Internat im Saarland geht in eine neue Runde: Prof. Bernhard Haupert, der bislang als Mediator zwischen dem Orden und den Missbrauchsopfern vermittelte, hat sein Amt niedergelegt. Ein Anwalt habe ihm gedroht.Von Inga Tawadrous

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DEUTSCHLAND
MissBiT

HILTRUP Die Debatte um die Missbrauchsfälle durch die Hiltruper Missionare vom Heiligsten Herzen Jesu (MSC) in einem Internat im Saarland geht in eine neue Runde: Prof. Bernhard Haupert, der bislang als Mediator zwischen dem Orden und den Missbrauchsopfern vermittelte, hat sein Amt niedergelegt. Ein Anwalt habe ihm gedroht.

Dass er den Missbrauchsopfern als Ansprechpartner nicht mehr zur Verfügung stehen wird, habe Haupert bereits Ende Juli per E-Mail „als direkte Reaktion auf die Drohungen eines Anwalts“ angekündigt, sagt Florian S., Sprecher der „Initiative Ehemaliger Johanneum Homburg“ gegenüber unserer Redaktion. „Offiziell bestätigt hat er uns seine Entscheidung auf Nachfrage am 13. September“, so Florian S.

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NORTHBRIDGE (MA)
Daily Voice

by Deborah E. Gauthier

NORTHBRIDGE, Mass. – James Knott, owner of Riverdale Mills on Riverdale Street in Northbridge, confirmed Tuesday that he purchased Oakhurst Retreat and Conference Center on Hill Street.

The property has been owned by the Catholic Diocese of Worcester for many years and was formerly the House of Affirmation, a facility for troubled priests.

It has been a center of controversy since August when the church refused to sell the property to Alain Beret and James Fairbanks, a gay married couple from Sutton who planned to restore the mansion and host weddings and other social events there.

Church officials said they rejected the sale because the couple could not show solid financing; Beret and Fairbanks said the church backed away from their agreement after learning they were a gay couple and they are suing the church.

Knott said he paid $800,000 for the mansion, outbuildings and approximately 30 acres. His plan is to restore the historic 89-room mansion built by Chester Whitin Lasell in 1890. Lasell was president of Whitin Machine Works from 1887 to 1932 and the home’s 44 bedrooms were used for mill workers.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
Fox 6

[with video]

Posted on: 7:56 pm, October 15, 2012, by Jenna Sachs

MILWAUKEE — A break down in talks between Milwaukee’s Archdiocese and victims of sex abuse by priests means they’re all headed back to court — as the Archdiocese approaches its second year of bankruptcy.

The church and its 575 victims have been in court-ordered mediation since July, trying to hammer out what one judge called “astronomical costs.”

An advocacy group for those abused by priests says the Archdiocese has refused to accept responsibility.

“This is a really sad day for victims and their families. What this is about — and what it’s been about since they day they filed bankruptcy — is secrets,” John Pilmeier with Survivors Network for Those Abused by Priests said.

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UNITED STATES
What They Knew

In our previous post we examined former Chicago Provincial Robert Wild SJ’s reaction or inaction when it came to reports of his “mentally unbalanced” priest. Now a year after those reports, in 1991 we have Donald McGuire SJ and Robert Wild SJ talking about the real issue, sexual abuse of children and young men by Don. Fr. Wild decided to let McGuire take a walk on this charge.

In the documents below, Fr. Wild received a call from an alert Christian Brother. In February of 1991, The Chicago Province was contacted by Br. Ricardo Palacio, Director of the Christian Brother Retreat House in St. Helena, California. McGuire had been at the center conducting a retreat to a youth group from Kolbe Academy, a private Catholic school in Napa Valley.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC Ballarat

[with audio]

By Margaret Burin

Father Paul Bird has been ordained as the new bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Ballarat. He hopes to improve the image of the Catholic Church by showing it has changed the way it handles abuse allegations.

Sworn in with the presence of 30 bishops and 95 priests from around Australia and abroad, Father Bird is the eighth Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Ballarat.

His leadership role oversees a large part of central and western Victoria.

Music written by father Bird was used in the ordinance ceremony, which ended with a welcome parade outside St Patrick’s Cathedral.

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AUSTRALIA
Australian Teacher Magazine

PERTH, Oct 16 – A former school chaplain on trial for child pornography offences has told a court he believes someone set him up but denied he was trying to implicate three men connected to the school.

Matthew David O’Meara, 42, is on trial in the WA District Court on four child pornography charges related to explicit images and video files on two thumb drives.

The married father of two had been working as a chaplain at Perth College for nearly eight months in 2010 before he was charged and fired from the school.

The court has heard that one thumb drive was found by a teacher on her desk in August 2010 and the other was seized by police from O’Meara’s trouser pocket during a search of his office.

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AUSTRALIA
WA Today

October 17, 2012

Rania Spooner
Court and crime reporter

The wife of a chaplain accused of collecting child pornography while working at an elite girls’ school has taken to the stand in defence of her husband.

Karina O’Meara described her husband Matthew O’Meara, 42, as an “honest”, “dignified” and “respected” man who preferred to avoid conflict, speaking at his Perth District Court trial today.

Mr O’Meara has pleaded not guilty to four counts of possessing child pornography in relation to two portable thumb drives discovered at Perth College in August 2010.

The father-of-two was linked to one device – found on a neighbouring teacher’s desk – when scanned copies of his electoral roll forms were found inside one of its folders – next to thousands of images of illicit material, the court has heard.

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UNITED KINGDOM
EADT 24

Colin Adwent
Wednesday, October 17, 2012

A 71-year-old retired priest today admitted six indecent assaults on two youths dating back to the 1990s.

Father John Haley Dossor, of Kirton, near Felixstowe, denied a further eight indecent assaults – including one on a third male, and another charge of sexual assault by touching.

Dossor’s pleas were accepted by the prosecution when he appeared before Judge David Goodin at Ipswich Crown Court.

Three of the assaults Dossor pleaded guilty to were on a victim aged between 13 and 15.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Jerry Topczewski of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee said this week that Catholic Church officials “remain hopeful a consensual resolution will ultimately be reached” in the dispute between the archdiocese and sexual abuse victims despite the failure of court-ordered mediation. We share that hope if the result serves the twin causes of truth and fair compensation for victims.

As it is, with both sides returning to bankruptcy court to continue what one observer has described as a scorched earth battle, resolution of the issues will only be further delayed. That does not seem to do anyone any good, least of all victims who have waited years for justice.

Nothing against lawyers or the work they have done so far, but with attorney fees already beyond $7 million and rising, and the archdiocese on the hook for those, it seems to us that reaching a just settlement would best serve both the archdiocese and victims.

Because of court orders, no one can say why the talks broke down, and those outside the fight don’t really know what’s in the claims and court documents. So it’s difficult to judge whether victims’ attorneys are pushing for too much, perhaps including frivolous claims in an effort to get even more money, or whether the church is dragging its feet to keep its secrets intact, perhaps to make this bankruptcy proceeding so difficult that victims elsewhere won’t try that venue.

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
Huddersfield Daily Examiner

A retired priest has admitted a series of sex assaults on youths over more than a decade.

Father John Haley Dossor, who retired as priest-in-charge at St Mary at the Elms in Ipswich, Suffolk, in 2007, pleaded guilty at Ipswich Crown Court to six indecent assaults against two boys aged between 13 and 17.

The 71-year-old, of Kirton, near Felixstowe, had denied a further nine charges relating to attacks on men and boys.

These will remain on the file but prosecutor Charles Myatt said a decision had been taken not to proceed on these counts.

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.