ABUSE TRACKER

NORTH DAKOTA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by David Clohessy on September 20, 2012

It’s heartbreaking to learn of the extent of child sex crimes at Sprit Lake Indian Reservation in North Dakota and the woefully inadequate response to it from authorities.

Poverty, discrimination and historic maltreatment by governmental figures in no way excuses child sex crimes and cover ups. While we sympathize with Native Americans who have been neglected and oppressed in many ways, we sympathize even more with their children, especially those at Spirit Lake, whose innocence has been shattered while police, prosecutors and federal officials have moved slowly and ineffectively to stop these heinous crimes.

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OHIO
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by David Clohessy on September 20, 2012

We are grateful to police for pursuing these charges. It is sad that with the advent of modern technology, the reach of child predators has grown exponentially. Because of the easy access to children that the internet provides, we urge parents to be careful to monitor their children’s online activity and report any suspicious messages or conversations to secular authorities.

We hope that the church officials at The Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church in Columbus, OH will immediately and aggressively seek out others in their congregation who may have seen, suspected, or suffered crimes at the hands of Fr. Patrick Nicholas Hughes. The fact that Fr. Hughes was allegedly setting up meetings with these boys leads us to believe that there may be others who were contacted by him.

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POLAND
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Barbara Dorris on September 20, 2012

We are deeply concerned over photographs showing an “initiation” ritual posted on the St. Dominika Savio Silesian School’s website. No matter what you call it, the pictures are clearly showing inappropriate behaviour with minors.

We applaud Polish officials for getting in an uproar over the pictures and launching an investigation.

Father Marcin Kozyra, who is head of the school and shown in the photos, insisted that there is nothing wrong with the pictures. According to him it is a long running tradition at the school and no one has ever complained before.

Just because no one has ever complained, does not mean it is not abuse. We demand the Fr. Kozyra be fired from his position and a full investigation started.

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ORANGE (CA)
The Worthy Adversary

Posted by Joelle Casteix on September 20, 2012

From my SNAP statement:

Today, the Diocese of Orange has announced the retirement of Orange County, California Bishop Tod D. Brown. We will learn the name of his successor tomorrow.

Simply put: we are grateful to see him go. Why? The facts of his tenure are shocking for victims of abuse, Catholics and the Orange County community.

For more than ten years, Brown cultivated an environment that fostered and rewarded the cover-up of clergy abuse. Need some examples? Since he became Bishop of Orange, he:

– Sent his former highest ranking priest out of the country to avoid a sex abuse and cover-up deposition and then faced criminal contempt of court charges,

– Used an over-priced PR stunt to announce “reforms” in his diocese – reforms that he never took seriously,

– Kept numerous priests in ministry who had been accused of abuse, and then removed them in events that deceived parishioners and shamed victims about the true nature of the abuse,

– Currently keeps an accused priest in ministry, even transferring him to a wealthy south county parish without giving complete information to parishioners, and

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MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press

By Emily Gurnon
egurnon@pioneerpress.comtwincities.com
Posted: 09/20/2012

An Oakdale priest has been charged with criminal sexual conduct involving a 12-year-old boy.

The boy reported to his mother that Curtis Carl Wehmeyer, 47, pastor of the Church of the Blessed Sacrament in St. Paul, had been sexually abusing him in a camper trailer in the church parking lot, according to a criminal complaint.

The priest owned the trailer.

Church officials went to the rectory June 21 after the mother called police and “advised defendant that he was immediately relieved of his duties and instructed to leave the premises,” said the complaint, filed late Thursday, Sept. 20, in Ramsey County District Court.

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OHIO
The New York Times

By ERIK ECKHOLM

Published: September 20, 2012

Samuel Mullet Sr., the domineering leader of a renegade Amish sect, and 15 of his followers were convicted of federal conspiracy and hate crimes Thursday for a series of bizarre beard- and hair-cutting attacks last fall that spread fear through the Amish of eastern Ohio.

The convictions of Mr. Mullet, along with several relatives and others from his settlement who carried out the assaults, could bring lengthy prison terms. The verdicts were a vindication for federal prosecutors, who made a risky decision to apply a 2009 federal hate-crimes law to the sect’s violent efforts to humiliate Amish rivals.

Defense lawyers in the case and an independent legal expert had argued that the government was overreaching by turning a personal vendetta within the Amish community, and related attacks, into a federal hate-crimes case. But the jury accepted the prosecutors’ description of the attacks as an effort to suppress the victims’ practice of religion, finding Mr. Mullet and the other defendants guilty on nearly all the multiple charges they faced of conspiracy, hate crimes and obstruction of justice.

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ORANGE (CA)
Orange County Weekly

By Gustavo Arellano
Thu., Sep. 20 2012

Just got word that tomorrow, Diocese of Orange Bishop Tod D. Brown is going to announce his retirement, and his successor will also be named.

HELL YA! ABOUT DAMN TIME!!!

This represents only the second good thing Brown has done in his 14 years heading Orange County Catholics–the first, of course, being his decision to buy the Crystal Cathedral instead of building a $100 million cathedral up the street from South Coast Plaza.

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ORANGE (CA)
Times-Standard

The Associated Press
Created: 09/20/2012

ORANGE, Calif.—The bishop of the Diocese of Orange is retiring after 14 years as head of the nation’s 10th largest Roman Catholic diocese.

Bishop Tod D. Brown will introduce his successor at a news conference Friday.

Brown was ordained in 1963 and installed as Bishop of Orange in 1998.

As head of the 1.2-million person Orange County diocese, Brown oversaw a $100 million settlement to victims of sexual abuse in 2004.

At the time, the settlement was the largest ever.

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WISCONSIN
SNAP Wisconsin

CONTACT: Peter Isely SNAP Midwest Director, 414.429.7259 , John Pilmaier SNAP Wisconsin Director, 414.336.8575

In what is being called by critics as an “explosive” new documentary by Oscar winning filmmaker Alex Gibney about child sex crimes and cover up in the Catholic Church, “Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God,” will make its US premier October 5 at the Milwaukee Film Festival.

The film (see trailer) will be shown at the Oriental Theater Friday October 5th at 7:00 p.m. Information about purchasing tickets can be found online at the Milwaukee Film Festival website. HBO is scheduled to air the documentary on cable next year.

Gibney’s film alternates between the story of child sex crimes by Fr. Lawrence Murphy at Milwaukee’s St. John’s School for the Deaf, the cover up of those crimes by the Vatican and officials at the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, and the vast, unfolding dimensions and implications resulting from the still continuing revelations of tens of thousands of such crimes from around the globe.

Critics are calling the film “chilling”, “eye-opening” and “a powerful movie which could galvanize audiences “around the world.” Variety says the film weaves” a “meticulously researched” and “staggering arsenal” of interviews, documents, and archival materials into a “uniquely devastating account of priestly pedophilia into an excoriating indictment of the entire Vatican power structure.”

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IRELAND
The Irish Catholic

Date:
20 Sep 2012

Exclusive

Garry O’Sullivan

There is growing pressure from influential political and Church figures to stall an attempt by the Irish bishops and religious congregations to let Ian Elliott step down next summer this newspaper can reveal. Mr Elliott is CEO of the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church (NBSCCC) whose shareholders and funders are the bishops’ conference, the Conference of Religious in Ireland (Cori) and the Irish Missionary Union (IMU).

Earlier this month questions were raised about the continuation of Mr Elliot’s contract beyond next summer – Mr Elliot reaches retirement age – but the Chairman of the Board John Morgan refused to say whether it would be renewed or not.

However The Irish Catholic has learned that there has been pressure brought to bear on the Board by some at shareholder level to ensure that Mr Elliot would step down as CEO next summer and his contract would not be renewed. This paper has also learned that there is a growing political consensus North and South that Mr Elliot should continue in the job and this view has been communicated informally to the Board.

Adding her voice to this consensus, Baroness Nuala O’Loan writing in this newspaper asks why Mr Elliot’s age is cited as a reason to seek his retirement when bishops and many who hold high office in Ireland are much older than him, and concludes that his age is immaterial given his record. She writes: “The question must be asked: Why is Mr Elliott’s contract not going to be renewed to enable him to finish the audit of the dioceses and religious congregations?

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OHIO
NBC4

By: Alex Mazer | NBC4

COLUMBUS, Ohio — A Columbus Priest was arrested Wednesday evening for soliciting sex from a minor online, according to the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office.

Patrick Hughes, 56, has been arrested by the Franklin County Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task force for attempted rape and attempted unlawful sexual conduct with a minor.

Detectives say the investigation began early Wednesday morning after Hughes posted an ad on an adult social networking site. The nature of the ad indicated he was looking for sexual relations with children. A detective responded to the ad and began communicating with Hughes.

During the conversation, Hughes believed he was setting up a meeting with two young boys, ages 9 and 14, to engage in sexual activity, according to the sheriff’s office.

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POLSKA
Gazeta

Marzena Żuchowicz

Musimy bardzo intensywnie pracować nad tym, by dzieci w Polsce zaczęły zdawać sobie sprawę z tego, że autorytet nie może sobie pozwolić na wszystko – uważa rzecznik praw dziecka Marek Michalak

Zdjęcia z otrzęsin pierwszoklasistów z Gimnazjum Salezjanów w Lubinie obiegły internet i wywołały oburzenie. Widać na nich ks. Marcina Kozyrę, dyrektora szkoły, siedzącego w krótkich spodenkach i klęczące przed nim dzieci. Na kolanach ksiądz ma bitą śmietanę (niektórzy uczniowie podają, że był to krem do golenia), a dzieci są w pozach, które sugerują, że ją zlizują. Buzie mają umazane pianą. O sprawie pisaliśmy w “Gazecie” w środę i w czwartek. Sprawą zajęły się kuratorium i prokuratura. Ks. Marcin Kozyra przyznał, że rytuał dotykania przez dzieci ustami piany na jego nogach to szkolna tradycja – forma hołdu oddawanego mu podczas otrzęsin. “Do tej pory nikt nie zgłaszał zastrzeżeń” – tłumaczył.

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POLSKA
Gazeta Wroctawska

Ewa Chojna

Skandal w Salezjańskim Gimnazjum im. Dominika Savio w Lubinie. Na wyjeździe integracyjnym przed rozpoczęciem roku szkolnego uczniowie pierwszych klas zlizywali bitą śmietanę z kolan księdza Marcina Kozyry, dyrektora tej szkoły.

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POLAND
New York Daily News

Polish police in a lather over creepy ‘initiation’ photos showing teens licking whipped cream off priest’s knees

By Corky Siemaszko AND Philip Caulfield / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Polish authorities have launched a probe about a possible perv priest after photos surfaced showing teenage boys and girls licking whipped cream off his knees during a bizarre “initiation ceremony.”

The priest’s school, however, doesn’t see what all the fuss is about.

The creepy snapshots were taken during an initiation ceremony for freshmen at St. Dominika Savio Silesian School in Lubin, southeast Poland.

The shots show a group of boys and girls on all fours – some of them in cat make-up – taking turns licking white foamy cream off Father Marcin Kozyra’s knobby knees.

In one set, Kozyra is sitting in a battered armchair with a rod across his lap.

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ORANGE (CA)
The Orange County Register

By DOUG IRVING / THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

ORANGE – The Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange has scheduled a press conference on Friday morning to announce the retirement of Bishop Tod D. Brown and to announce his successor.

Brown has served as bishop for 14 years. The diocese described him in a brief press advisory as instrumental in the recent decision to buy the Crystal Cathedral and rename it Christ Cathedral. But Brown has also been dogged in recent years by the Catholic Church’s child sex-abuse scandal, and questions about what he knew.

Brown’s successor will be introduced at the press conference, scheduled to begin at 11:30 a.m. Friday, according to the diocese. He will oversee a diocese of 1 million Catholics, the 10th-largest and fastest-growing in the nation.

The diocese declined further comment beyond what was in its brief press advisory.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Catholic Sentinel

Catholic News Service

PHILADELPHIA — Philadelphia archdiocesan officials said a new round of civil lawsuits filed Sept. 18 “are not the best mechanism to promote healing in the context of the very private and difficult circumstances of sexual abuse.”

“We have not received copies of the cases that the plaintiffs have said they intend to file, so we cannot provide more detailed information on those particular lawsuits at this time,” said a brief statement posted on the archdiocesan website the same day.

“We will work to assure all victims of sexual abuse receive appropriate assistance,” the statement said.

A total of nine plaintiffs filed eight lawsuits against the archdiocese and its priests, according to an Associated Press story. The plaintiffs claim the Philadelphia Archdiocese covered up abuse allegations made against seven priests decades ago.

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NEW YORK
Catholic Online

[with video]

A former Bronx priest is suing the Archdiocese of New York for libel. Charles Kavanaugh was accused of sexual abuse by a teenage boy who later admitted he made up the allegations. However, Kavanaugh says the archdiocese persisted in libeling him anyway.

NEW YORK, NY (Catholic Online) – Specifically, Kavanaugh was convicted in a secret court trial of the misconduct and stripped of his position, despite the recantation. Later, the Archdiocese repeated the allegations in a press release.

The allegations against Kavanaugh were made in 2002 by Daniel Donohoe, who said the priest jumped into a bed with him and rubbed against him. He also claimed Kavanaugh held his hands during prayer in a manner that made him feel uncomfortable.

However, the now-adult Donohoe has recanted his allegations saying, “The statement was not true and I apologize for it.” The apology was submitted to a federal court in a sworn statement.

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OHIO
10TV

COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Franklin County Internet Crimes Against Children Unit is investigating a central Ohio priest accused of soliciting sex.

According to the ICAC Unit, Father Patrick Nicholas Hughes is accused of trying to meet two underage boys to engage in a sex act.

Hughes, a priest at the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church on North High Street, was arrested on Wednesday and is currently jailed on $100,000 bond.

Hughes is charged with two felony counts of attempted rape.

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CALIFORNIA
Loyolan

Posted: Monday, September 17, 2012

by Editorial Board

Transparency. It’s a common theme in Loyolan board editorials about the University’s actions. But the current Loyolan staff has never been more serious in its call for transparency than now.

News broke last Tuesday, Sept. 11, that Brother William Farrington, S.J. – who worked at LMU for 15 years, from 1987 to 2002 – has been accused of sexually molesting a former student at San Jose’s Bellarmine College Preparatory and of “improprieties” involving two former students at Jesuit High School near Sacramento – both schools that Farrington worked at prior to arriving at LMU (See “Jesuit accused of sexual molestation spent 15 years working at LMU,” Page 1). Although no lawsuit has been or is currently filed against Farrington, both Bellarmine Prep and Jesuit High’s presidents have called the accusations “credible.”

Both schools made sure to inform hundreds of alumni who attended during Farrington’s tenure, urging anyone who may have been abused by Farrington to come forward. Both presidents wrote letters about the situation, apologizing for the potential harm done. Spokesman for Jesuit High School Jordan Blair is quoted in the Sept. 12 Sacramento Bee article “Ex-Jesuit High teacher accused of inappropriate conduct with student” as saying, “We are acting with full transparency. … We wanted to make sure this information was out there.”

When the Loyolan asked LMU’s Vice President for Communications and Government Relations Kathleen Flanagan whether the University would follow suit, she said, “As far as I know, there was nothing that happened at LMU, so there would be no reason to do it.”

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UGANDA
The Africa Report

Parents and children rights organisations in Uganda have urged the authorities to act following an upsurge in cases of sexual abuse of minors.

The African Network for the Prevention and Protection against Child Abuse and Neglect (ANPPCAN) said it had received 17 cases of minors who were raped in just two weeks.

According to the country’s annual crime and traffic safety report for 2011 7,690 cases of rape were recorded that year.

“If we are to go by the police statistics, at least 21 children are defiled everyday in Uganda,” said Marlon Agaba, an ANPPCAN information officer. “These reported cases are however a tip of an iceberg as many cases aren’t reported due to a multiplicity of factors.”

“One absurd case is of a seven year old girl who was defiled and her uterus damaged, she is currently recovering at a Kampala Hospital.”

“Another case is one involving a Pastor in Mukono who was caught in a lodge with a 17 year old girl.

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ROME
National Catholic Reporter

Sep. 20, 2012
By Daniel Burke and David Gibson, Religion News Service

In a surprise announcement that seemed scripted by the novelist Dan Brown, a Harvard professor revealed an ancient scrap of papyrus Tuesday that purports to refer to Jesus’ wife.

The so-called “Gospel of Jesus’ Wife” presents a dialogue between Jesus and his disciples, said Karen King, a well-respected historian of early Christianity at Harvard Divinity School.

The fourth-century fragment says, “Jesus said to them, ‘My wife …,'” according to King. The rest of the sentence is cut off. The fragment also says “she will be able to be my disciple,” according to King.

The discovery that some ancient Christians thought Jesus had a wife could shake up centuries-old Christian traditions, King suggested.

But even King acknowledged that questions remain about the receipt-sized scrap, which contains just 33 words and incomplete sentences. Here are five of the biggest questions.

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POLAND
The Sun (United Kingdom)

A POLISH Catholic priest has been forced to defend himself after pictures emerged of children licking cream off his legs.

The photos show an “initiation ceremony” at the Salesians’ high school in Lubin, southern Poland.

In them 13 year-old pupils, both male and female, are seen licking whipped cream off a priest’s bare knees as well crawling up a flight of stairs.

The priest in the images, who is the school’s principal, has defended his actions by saying such ceremonies for first year pupils have been an annual event for many years.

Adding that no one has ever complained, he said he saw nothing wrong in his actions.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Frankfurter Rundschau

Opfer erheben Vorwürfe wegen sexuellem Missbrauch in einem katholischen Kinderheim in Rüdesheim. Die Kirche sieht dafür jedoch keinen „zweifelsfreien Beweis“.

Das Bistum Limburg kennt fünf Personen, die den Vorwurf erheben, vor Jahrzehnten im katholischen Kinderheim St. Vincenzstift in Rüdesheim-Aulhausen sexuell missbraucht worden zu sein. Das teilte Bistumssprecher Martin Wind der Frankfurter Rundschau auf Anfrage mit. Diese Menschen hätten sich beim Missbrauchsbeauftragten des Bistums, Guido Amend, gemeldet.

Ob sie tatsächlich Opfer von Übergriffen geworden seien, könne aber nicht „im Sinne eines zweifelsfreien Beweises der Vorwürfe“ aufgeklärt werden, teilte Wind mit. Dieser Beweis könne „schon deswegen nicht erfolgen, weil der Hauptbeschuldigte, der ehemalige Leiter des Stiftes, Müller, seit 1970 nicht mehr am Leben“ sei.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Die Welt

Die deutschen Bischöfe haben Sanktionen für Kirchenaustritte beschlossen: Wer keine Kirchensteuer zahlt, wird faktisch exkommuniziert. Die Oberhirten reagieren mit klarer Kante auf ein heikles Thema. Von Lucas Wiegelmann

Die Frage ist so alt wie das Christentum selbst. Schon die Apostel Petrus und Paulus haben sich darüber in die Haare bekommen. Und wenn es stimmt, was im Katechismus steht, dann wird diese Frage spätestens nach unserem Tod noch einmal ziemlich wichtig werden: Wer gehört eigentlich zur Kirche? Wer ist Mitglied in der Gemeinschaft der Gläubigen – und wer muss draußen bleiben?

Diese Frage ist unter deutschen Katholiken derzeit umstritten wie lange nicht mehr. Seit einigen Jahren vertreten manche Gelehrte die Auffassung, man könne auch katholisch sein, ohne Kirchensteuer zu zahlen. Es müsse möglich sein, aus der Kirche als Körperschaft öffentlichen Rechts auszutreten, damit die Steuer zu umgehen – und sich trotzdem weiterhin als gläubig und als Mitglied der Kirche zu empfinden.

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CALIFORNIA
The Sacramento Bee

REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK: A story about an ex-Jesuit teacher William Farrington – accused of improper conduct with a student – has sparked controversy here and in Los Angeles.

The Bee story outlined how Jesuit High and San Jose’s Bellarmine College Preparatory School sent emails to alumni telling them that “credible” accusations had been made against Farrington, who had taught at both schools. It asked anyone who may have been victimized to contact authorities.

The editorial board of the “Los Angeles Loyolan” – Loyola Marymount University’s student newspaper – cites the story and asks university officials why they have not issued a similar letter to alumni who may have come in contact with Farrington when he worked in the registrar’s office there between 1987 and 2002. The editorial demands “transparency.”

The editorial says the case is even “more troubling” because the Jesuit brother reportedly was barred from working with minors in 1987- the year he was removed from Jesuit.

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IRELAND/VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

[Enda Kenny’s speech regarding the Cloyne Report]

Irish Prime Minister, Enda Kenny, who attacked the Vatican for its failure to intervene to prevent child abuse by priests, will meet the Pope this week

Gerard O’Connell
Rome

Ireland’s Prime Minister (Taoiseach) Enda Kenny, will meet Pope Benedict XVI next Saturday, September 22, together with other European political leaders of the Centrist Democrats International Group, that is the global international political group dedicated to the promotion of Christian democracy. There is some speculation in Ireland that Kenny may use the occasion to invite the Pope to visit the country.

It will be their first encounter since Kenny openly attacked the Vatican in a speech to the Dail (the Irish Parliament’s lower house) on 20 July 2011 for failing to intervene in ways that could have prevented the sexual abuse of children by priests in the Republic.

He then accused the Vatican of putting the institution before children, dissuading Irish bishops from reporting abuse cases to the civil authorities, and attempting to obstruct a Government Commission of Inquiry into the abuse of children by priests in Cloyne diocese in recent years. He said the Cloyne report revealed “the dysfunction, disconnection, elitism, the narcissism, that dominate the culture of the Vatican to this day”.

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ROME
Vatican Insider

A recently discovered scrap of papyrus dating back to the 4th century, presented at a conference in Rome, makes reference to Jesus having a wife

Andrea Tornielli
Rome

A piece of papyrus written in Sahidic, a Coptic dialect of Lower Egypt, has rekindled the Jesus marriage debate. Professor Karen King of Harvard Divinity School presented the scrap of papyrus at a conference in Rome. It reads: “Jesus said to them, ‘My wife ….’”.This is the first and only explicit reference to Jesus having a wife, the New York Times reported.

In her study, which will be published in the Harvard Theological Review in January 2013, Professor King warned that this finding does not constitute definitive proof of Jesus having been married, although everything indicates that the fragment is genuine: various experts have excluded the possibility of the text having been added later on, to an ancient piece of papyrus. The fragment is small, it only measures 4 by 8 centimetres and only bits of longer sentences are legible.

Professor King stated: “It is not evidence, for us, historically, that Jesus had a wife,” but it highlights that the question of his possible marriage and his sexuality were often the subject of intense debate. The writing on the papyrus suggests the text was written in the second half of the 4th century. But its contents could have been copied form a 2nd-century Greek text. There could be a link with between this text and other texts of the time, known as the Gospels of Thomas and Mary – texts which were born out of a Gnostic context.

As is known, the Church only recognises the “canonical” Gospels of Evangelists Matthew, Mark, Luke and John as authentic texts. These date back to the 1st century: Matthew and John were apostles while Mark and Luke were followers of Peter and Paul. Although the common belief is that ecclesiastical authorities imposed the canonical gospels over other texts which were rejected as “apocryphal”, this is not quite true. The canonical gospels were the most widespread among Christian communities, which recognised the apostolic origin of these texts and thus their link with eye witnesses of Jesus’ life. So the canonical gospels were canonical well before they were actually defined as such. A fragment discovered in the Vatican Library by Ludovico Muratori proves that these gospels were being read and venerated as far back as the year 157.

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BOSTON (MA)
Boston Globe

By Bob Hohler
Globe Staff / September 20, 2012

Six months ago, the Boston College football team suspended Jaryd Rudolph after he was charged with violating a female student’s privacy by audiotaping her having consensual sex with his teammate in a campus suite the players shared. But Rudolph never missed a game.

With the criminal charge pending, Rudolph has played all three games this season for the Eagles. The 6-foot-4-inch, 295-pound junior, a graduate of Silver Lake Regional High School in Kingston, has emerged as BC’s starting defensive right tackle despite a team spokesman saying before the season that Rudolph’s football future would remain uncertain until the case was adjudicated.

The female student is hurt and angry, according to her attorney, Mitchell Garabedian. He said the woman, who is undergoing counseling because of emotional distress stemming from the incident, believes BC acted insensitively by clearing Rudolph to play and not informing her of its decision.

According to Garabedian, the woman was stunned to learn by watching a televised game that Rudolph had returned to the football field.

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UNITED STATES
CNN

By Patrick Boyle, Special to CNN

updated 8:04 AM EDT, Thu September 20, 2012

Editor’s note: Patrick Boyle is a veteran journalist who serves as communications director for the Forum for Youth Investment, a nonprofit that helps communities improve their services for youth, and a parenting blogger for the Huffington Post. He served as editor of Youth Today for 13 years and is the author of “Scouts’ Honor,” which examines sex abuse in the Boy Scouts of America.

(CNN) — After being smacked in the face by wave upon wave of sex abuse scandals for the past decade, it’s easy to feel nothing but angry or numb.

So Joe Paterno’s statue came down, a slew of dioceses went bankrupt, and thousands of once-secret documents about molesters in the Boy Scouts will soon be made public. It’s fair to ask: Have we learned anything?

That makes it a good time to step back and look beyond individual villains to the big picture. When you put together the stories of Penn State, the Roman Catholic Church, the Boy Scouts and other organizations hit by abuse scandals, you see they reacted in much the same way. Their behavior was shocking, but it was more common than we knew.

Thanks to lawsuits and news reports, we now see this: For decades, some of our most trusted institutions — from schools, camps and sports leagues to correctional facilities, foster care agencies and religious groups — have inadvertently enabled child molesters at the expense of victims. While leaders in many youth-serving organizations have confronted the abuse problem head-on, others routinely erred on the side of molesters, ignored the extent of abuse in their ranks, hid abuse from authorities and misled the public.

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POLAND
The Huffington Post UK

The Huffington Post UK | By Jessica Elgot Posted: 20/09/2012

A Polish catholic priest has been forced to defend himself after pictures emerged of children licking cream off his legs.

The photos show an “initiation ceremony” at the Salesians’ high school in Lubin, southern Poland -which Father Marcin Kozyra, who is also the school’s principal, said was entirely innocent, and such ceremonies for first year pupils had taken place for years.

In the pictures, 13 year-old pupils, both girls and boys, are seen licking whipped cream off a priest’s bare knees as well crawling up a flight of stairs.

Father Kozyra said he saw nothing wrong in his actions or the pictures being posted on the school’s website.

Parents of some pupils have come out in support of the priest in a letter, where they claimed that the whipped cream was actually shaving foam and nobody was forced to eat it.

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POLAND
Daily Mail (United Kingdom)

Probe launched into Polish priest who gets young children to lick whipped cream off his knee in creepy school initiation

By Jill Reilly

PUBLISHED:05:41 EST, 20 September 2012

A police investigation has been launched after a series of photos emerged showing schoolchildren licking whipped cream from the knee of a Polish priest.

The images – which are apparently part of an ‘initiation ceremony’ at Salesians High School in Lubin, southern Poland – show both male and female 13-year old pupils taking part in the bizarre practice.

Father Marcin Kozyra, who is also the school’s principal, has defended his actions by saying such ceremonies for first year pupils have been an annual event for many years.

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PHILADLEPHIA (PA)
CNN

By Sarah Hoye, CNN

Philadelphia (CNN) – Defense attorneys for a senior Roman Catholic official convicted in the child sex abuse scandal said this week that prosecutors persuaded a defrocked priest to falsely admit to sexually abusing a 10-year-old boy in exchange for their client’s conviction.

Monsignor William Lynn, 61, was found guilty in June of one count of child endangerment, and is serving a sentence of 3 to six years at a minimum-security facility. The trial judge denied bail pending his appeal.

The trial marked the first time U.S. prosecutors charged not just the priests who allegedly committed abuses, but also a church leader for failing to stop them.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Catholic Philly

Father Michael Chapman, 56, pastor of Ascension of Our Lord Parish in Philadelphia, has been placed on administrative leave by Archbishop Charles J. Chaput following allegations of sexual abuse of minors.

The priest was suspended in March 2011 for an alleged violation of the Standards of Ministerial Behavior and Boundaries, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia’s guidelines for conduct by all church personnel.

After a probe of the allegation by a team of investigators and evaluation by the Archdiocesan Review Board, Archbishop Chaput found Father Chapman suitable for ministry in May 2012 (background).

The archdiocesan Office for Child and Youth Protection, as part of the Honesty, Healing and Hope in Christ parish restoration initiative, consequently began working with Ascension Parish to prepare for Father Chapman’s return to ministry. Before he returned, the Archdiocese received allegations of sexual abuse of minors against Father Chapman in May 2012.

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CALIFORNIA
KGO

Carolyn Tyler

SAN JOSE, Calif. (KGO) — The family of the Jesuit priest who died in San Jose eight years ago is offering a reward for information about his death. Police ruled the death of James Chevedden a suicide, but the family is not convinced of that. They believe it was a homicide and they want police to take a second look.

James Chevedden, a Jesuit priest, died on his birthday, May 19, 2004. Authorities say Father Chevedden, who was on jury duty that day, committed sucide by jumping from the roof of a parking structure across the street from the Santa Clara County Hall of Justice. His family doesn’t believe that’s the case. ” I question whether he was hurled over because hee seemed to be motionless,” Chevedden’s brother John told ABC7 News.

In the years before his death, Father Chevedden had accused another priest living at a church facility in Los Gatos of sexually abusing him. The Jesuits reached a $1.6 million settlement with the family following Chevedden’s death. A spokesperson Wednesday said, “We are not going to comment. It’s a settled legal matter.”

Still, the family and supporters are asking the Jesuits to turn over any information they have to police and they are asking law enforcement to open a new investigation. “There’s so many inconsistencies& Suicide jumpers don’t land on their back. They land on their feet or their head. There’s just so many questions,” said Joelle Casteix with the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP).

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RHODE ISLAND
Valley Breeze

By GERRY GOLDSTEIN, Valley Breeze & Observer Correspondent

SMITHFIELD – As a devout Catholic, the late millionaire Gabrielle Mee entrusted her faith – and her finances – to the Rev. Marcial Maciel Degollado.

According to court documents, she “worshipped him nearly as a saint.”

But in the end, Father Maciel, as he was commonly known, was unmasked as a sexual predator who disgraced the religious order he founded in 1941, the Legionaries of Christ.

For years, Mee, who knew Maciel personally, gave his international order millions of dollars, joined it as a “consecrated woman” in her old age, and then willed it all her assets.

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HAMMOND (IL)
The Christian Post

By Stoyan Zaimov, Christian Post Reporter

Jack Schaap, former pastor of First Baptist Church of Hammond in Indiana, has signed a plea agreement in the U.S. District Court in Hammond admitting his relationship with a young woman when she was just 16. Schaap was charged with inappropriate behavior and taking a minor across state lines for the purpose of sex, and may be facing up to 10 years in prison.

“I have agreed, as set forth in a separate filing with the Court, to wave my right to Indictment by a federal Grand Jury with respect to the charge of transporting a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity and to plead guilty to that charge,” reads Schaap’s plea agreement in court documents obtained by The Christian Post.

The court document also states that the expected sentence for such a crime could be up to 120 months, or 10 years incarceration.

Schaap, who was removed from his position at the end of July, admitted to committing adultery with the girl, now 17 and a church member. First Baptist Church of Hammond relieved the pastor of his duties last month after a deacon apparently found a text message on his cell phone that showed the pastor and the girl kissing.

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HAMMOND (IL)
NWI Times

Marc Chase marc.chase@nwi.com, (219) 662-5330

HAMMOND | An Apple iPad, iPhone, digital camera and digital voice recorder belonging to a disgraced former Baptist pastor are among the evidence showing he had a sexual relationship with a minor, according to court documents made public Wednesday.

Federal prosecutors allege former Pastor Jack Schaap used those — and other — electronic devices when he carried on a sexual relationship with a minor, driving the girl to both Illinois and Michigan between June and July to commit the acts.

Schaap, who signed a plea agreement with prosecutors Tuesday admitting to the charge of transporting a minor across state lines for sexual acts, appeared at 3 p.m. Wednesday in Hammond federal court. Schaap was taken into custody by U.S. Marshals to await a plea hearing set for 1 p.m. Sept. 26.

During Wednesday’s hearing, U.S. District Magistrate Judge Paul Cherry asked Schaap if he understood the possible sentences he could face if convicted of the charge.

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UNITED STATES
Daily Mail (United Kingdom)

‘Child prostitute’ links Jerry Sandusky to Brooklyn prep school abuse scandal and football coach who ‘paid him for sex’

By Daily Mail Reporter

A man, describing himself as a former child prostitute, claimed to have had sex with a football coach who belonged to a pedophile ring which included Jerry Sandusky.

Greg Bucceroni, now 48, said he was paid for sex as a teenager by former Brooklyn Poly Prep coach Phil Foglietta in 1979.

Foglietta, who is now dead, has been accused of raping and assaulting students at the New York prep school over a 20-year period.

In a letter sent to authorities at Poly Prep this week, Bucceroni said he met Foglietta as a teenager through Second Mile charity in Pennsylvania.

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NEW YORK
New York Daily News

Self-described ‘child prostitute’ connects Jerry Sandusky to Poly Prep sex abuse scandal and coach Phil Foglietta

By Christian Red / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

A Philadelphia man who claims to have been paid to have sex with former Poly Prep football coach Phil Foglietta in 1979 as part of an alleged pedophile ring that included Jerry Sandusky sent an email to several Poly Prep officials Monday – including current headmaster David Harman – detailing the explosive allegation.

Greg Bucceroni, 48, was a teenager when he said he met Foglietta at a Second Mile fund-raiser near State College, Pa. The Second Mile organization, which helped at-risk youths, was founded in 1977 by Sandusky, the former Penn State football coach who was convicted on 45 counts of sexual abuse of minors in June. Sandusky, who is scheduled to be sentenced next month, is expected to spend the rest of his life in prison.

In the email to Poly Prep, Bucceroni said he was “a child prostitute” and was associated with a pedophile ring that included Sandusky, Foglietta, now-deceased Philadelphia businessman Ed Savitz and former Wharton School of Business professor Lawrence Scott Ward, who is serving a lengthy prison sentence for trafficking in child porn and smuggling photos and videos of himself having sex with a teenage Brazilian boy.

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ROME
Chiesa

In Slovakia, Archbishop Bezák has the support of the media. He is seen as open and modern. But Benedict XVI has removed him. For bad management of the assets of the diocese and for infidelity to doctrine and discipline

by Sandro Magister

ROME, September 20, 2012 – At the end of last spring, an article from www.chiesa focused on the many cases of bishops asked to resign by the Vatican because they were seen as no longer capable of fulfilling their office, or, in the case of refusal to resign, “relieved” of their posts personally by the pope:

> Vatican Diary / The “who’s who” of the deposed bishops

A few days after the publication of this article, another case of this kind emerged in Slovakia.

The news is in a terse statement from the Vatican dated July 2:

“Il papa ha sollevato dalla cura pastorale dell’arcidiocesi di Trnava (Slovacchia) S.E. Mons. Róbert Bezák, C.SS.R.”.

The deposed archbishop, 52 years old, a Redemptorist, has left his post and has also been obliged to reside outside of the archdiocese. But his case appears to be far from closed. It is invading the Slovakian media and dividing public opinion, Catholic and not. Leading intellectuals and artists have closed ranks in defense of this “bishop with a human face,” according to them unjustly driven out for having wanted to expose the malfeasance of his predecessor Jan Sokol, who retired in 2009 after reaching the age limit.

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IRELAND
Cork Independent

Posted on 20/09/2012

by Brian Hayes Curtin
@BHayesCurtin

A graveyard in the former Magdalene laundry in Sunday’s Well under the control of NAMA is “neglected, forgotten and discarded – just the way these women were treated during their lives”, according to Katherine O’Donnell of the organisation Justice for Magdalenes.

“The Sunday’s Well site is now in NAMA with very neglected graves without proper headstones. The graves are untended and not properly marked.”

According to Ms O’Driscoll, a senior lecturer in UCD, when the women entered the institutions, they were given a generic name, often based on a saint like Mary of Knock or Mary of Fatima and the gravestones may not have had the women’s real names.

The Sunday’s Well institution was run by the order of The Good Shepherd.

“We would hope that the sisters have proper records of who is in the graveyard,” she said, adding that the victims deserved their graves to be well tended.

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WORCESTER (MA)
Telegram & Gazette

By Bronislaus B. Kush TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
bkush@telegram.com

Historians and religious scholars said they are intrigued about the discovery of an ancient Egyptian document suggesting that Jesus Christ had a spouse, but they stressed that the faded, fourth century piece of papyrus doesn’t provide conclusive proof that the rabbi from Nazareth had been married.

“This is a fascinating find but there are a lot of questions that need to be answered before one can definitely say that Jesus was married,” said Virginia C. Raguin, a professor of art history at the College of the Holy Cross.

On Monday, Karen L. King, a historian of early Christianity at the Harvard Divinity School, announced that she had in her possession a fragment of papyrus written in Coptic with the words: “Jesus said to them, ‘My wife. . .’ ”

The eight-lined fragment — smaller than a business card — further states, “She will be my disciple.”

The revelation by Ms. King, Harvard’s Hollis Professor of Divinity, caused a buzz in the academic world and reignited debates that go back to the early days of Christianity about whether or not Jesus was married.

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GEORGIA
LaGrange News

“Stewards of Children,” a child sexual abuse preventive program, was presented to adults from a variety of area agencies who provide services to children Tuesday at the First Presbyterian Church of LaGrange,.

The program introduced and reinforced practical steps that adults could take to help them to prevent, recognize and react responsibly to child sexual abuse.

This program was offered through the partnership of the Governor’s Office for Children and Families and the Georgia Center for Child Advocacy, working with Darkness to Light, an international nonprofit organization. The “Stewards of Children” course is approved for three hours of continuous education by both the National Association of Social Workers, and the National Board for Certified Counselors. The two facilitators of the program were very knowledgeable and skilled in the presentation of the day’s informative, and at times sensitive, material.

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CANADA
CNews

By Jane Sims, QMI Agency

GODERICH, ONT. – A United Church minister said he forked over $26,000 to a man accusing him of childhood sexual abuse to keep the allegations from going public.

“False allegations of sexual abuse when they go forward destroy people’s lives,” said David Woodall, 56, at his Superior Court trial.

Woodall, the former executive secretary of the London, Ont., Conference of the United Church of Canada, flatly denied Wednesday morning he sexually abused two boys by putting his hand down their sleeping bags. The boys were at a sleepover at a Clinton, Ont., church two decades ago.

He said he didn’t remember either boy at one of the Clinton church’s youth group annual sleepover between 1991 and 1993.

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VATICAN CITY
U.S. Catholic

By Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The senior Vatican official with authority for investigating priests accused of sexual abuse said that, in such cases, “always and everywhere the most important concern is for those who have been the victims of this terrible abuse.”

Archbishop Gerhard L. Muller, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, said the congregation also has an obligation to ensure that the process of justice does not “become a lynching.”

The archbishop, who was appointed to his office in July, spoke about the doctrinal congregation and its work in an interview with the German service of Vatican Radio. The broadcaster’s English and Italian programs published translated excerpts of the interview Sept. 19.

The German archbishop said he believes he was appointed to the job because he is a theologian and, as a theologian, he will “try to understand what is ailing the church today. In many countries there is a strong polarization: traditionalists against progressives or whatever you would call them.”

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CANADA
Huron Bullet News

HEATHER BOA Bullet News GODERICH – David Woodall says he did not put his hands down the pyjamas and touch the penises two young boys during a church sleepover in Clinton two decades ago.

So when he received an email in March 2008 from a man who accused the minister of touching his and another boy’s penis, saying he would go the church and the police if he weren’t paid thousands of dollars, “I was actually flabbergasted. I felt like I was going to have to somehow deal with [the complainant] and what he had to say,” Woodall told the jury during the third day of a trial in Superior court in Goderich.

Woodall, 56, faces a number of charges related to sexual assaults on two male complainants who were young boys when a youth group sleepover was held at the Ontario Street United Church – which is now Clinton United Church – between 1991 and 1993. He was the church’s minister from 1985 to 1994. The two complainants, now in their early 30s, cannot be identified.

Woodall started two youth groups at the church: one for boys and girls in Grades 9 to 13 and one for boys and girls in Grades 7 to 8. Depending on the size of group and the year, there were as many as five adults involved. During sleepovers, the church followed the Camping Association of Canada’s standard of one adult per four youth.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

Thirty-two men from Ballarat, in central Victoria, will allege extensive physical and sexual abuse by members of the clergy in a submission to a state parliamentary inquiry.

The statement to the parliamentary inquiry into the handling of abuse by religious organisations details the experiences of 11 victims.

It has also been signed by 22 men who did not want to detail their abuse but who say the cases presented reflect their experiences.

The statement also names the alleged perpetrators of the crimes.

An author of the submission, Stephen Woods, says it lists an extraordinary number of physical attacks on children.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC Ballarat

Submissions for a parliamentary inquiry, which will look into how the church handled abuse allegations, close this week. Stephen Woods is calling on other victims to come forward.

Stephen Woods talks about the abuse he encountered from the age of 11 as freely and openly as he would discuss his first car or where he grew up.

Abused by two Christian Brothers and a priest while attending Ballarat’s St Alipius Christian Brothers School and St Patrick’s College, he says it’s just part of his history.

“This was not my fault, that was one of the things I had to decide years ago.”

In April this year, the Victorian Government announced a parliamentary inquiry into the handling of alleged criminal abuse of children by religious and other organisations.

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IRELAND
The Platform

As a historian of early modern Irish and British history, there aren’t many things that capture my attention quite like the potential for a schism, and the events currently unfolding on Ireland are impossible to ignore.

To say that it has been a difficult time for the Catholic Church in Ireland is somewhat of an understatement; clerical abuse, sex scandals, Papal tyranny, and archaic notions of society that have finally begun to catch up with those who once knew absolute power on the island.

Some say the Church has headed down a road of terminal decline, “haemorrhaging previously committed members and surrendering its moral authority”, all the while refusing to acknowledge the gravity of the issue and remaining unwilling to alter the status quo.

And needless to say the press is all over it with articles like: ‘Church in Need of New Direction to Avoid Drift Towards Oblivion’, and ‘Republic of Ireland Abandoning Religion Faster Than Almost Every Other Country’

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PENNSYLVANIA
The Patriot-News

By IVEY DEJESUS, The Patriot-News

Reports that a member of a church community has been charged with sexually molesting boys who were under his charge raise troubling scenarios for child sexual abuse experts.

Authorities allege that William Jackson, 57, a former music teacher at Bible Baptist Church in Shiremanstown, began molesting boys in his music class two years ago, court documents state.

Sean McCormack, chief deputy district attorney and head of the child-abuse unit in Dauphin County, said child predators usually get away with their crimes for a longer period of time than law enforcement initially suspects.

“It doesn’t surprise me when we begin investigating a case to find out that somebody has abused someone else in the past,” he said. “The statistics show that when someone gets caught, they’ve usually had X number of other victims prior to getting caught.”

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NEW YORK
NBC New York

[with video]

By Jonathan Dienst and Joe Valiquette

Thursday, Sep 20, 2012

A one-time leading Bronx priest is suing the Archdiocese of New York for libel, claiming the sex abuse allegations he once faced are false, and that church officials knew it when they repeated them in a public news release.

In his court filing, Charles Kavanagh says his chief accuser recanted allegations he made in 2002 that Kavanaugh molested him when he was a teen during a church trip to Washington, D.C.

“The statement was not true and I apologize for it,” one-time accuser Daniel Donohue wrote in a sworn statement submitted in federal court.

Donohue had claimed Kavanaugh jumped into his bed in the D.C.-area hotel room and rubbed against him. Donohue also said that when Kavanaugh held his hands during prayer, it made him uncomfortable.

“The pointed finger has come back. He has withdrawn the only allegation against Monsignor Kavanaugh,” said Kavanaugh’s attorney John Dearie.

For 10 years, Kavanaugh fought to clear his name. He originally filed a lawsuit against Donohue, but dropped it after Donohue admitted his story about what happened 30 years ago was false.

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NEW YORK
The Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — A defrocked Roman Catholic monsignor who once led fundraising for the Archdiocese of New York has sued the church for libel.

Charles Kavanagh’s lawsuit was filed Wednesday in federal court in Manhattan. Kavanagh accuses the archdiocese of libeling him by saying he had sexually abused a teenage student in the 1980s even though the now-middle-aged man admits he lied.

The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages.

The church defrocked the 74-year-old Kavanagh in 2010, eight years after the accuser claimed the clergyman touched him inappropriately during a trip to Washington D.C.

Kavanagh was the archdiocese’s vicar of development in the 1990s.

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NEW YORK
NY1

A defrocked priest who once led fundraising for the Archdiocese of New York has filed a libel lawsuit against the church.

Charles Kavanagh was dismissed by the Vatican in 2010 after a church court found him guilty of sexually abusing a minor.

The accuser, now a middle-aged man, claimed Kavanagh touched him inappropriately during a trip to Washington in the 1980s but now admits he lied.

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NEW YORK
The New York Times

By SHARON OTTERMAN

Published: September 19, 2012

A once-prominent Roman Catholic monsignor who was removed from the priesthood in 2010 for sexual abuse of a minor took the unusual step on Wednesday of filing a federal lawsuit against the New York Archdiocese, claiming he had been libeled in a church statement.

Lawyers for the former monsignor, Charles M. Kavanagh, now 75, filed the lawsuit in Federal District Court in Manhattan, citing what they said was a startling turn of events that took place earlier this year. In April, Mr. Kavanagh’s accuser, Daniel Donohue, told a federal judge that he had not been truthful in one of the most damaging parts of his testimony to a secret church tribunal that considered sexual abuse charges against Mr. Kavanagh in 2006.

Mr. Donohue, now 48 and living in Portland, Ore., alleged in 2002 that Mr. Kavanagh had repeatedly molested him in the late 1970s, when he was a high school student at Cathedral Preparatory Seminary in Manhattan and Mr. Kavanagh was the rector there.

According to the civil complaint filed on Wednesday, the 2006 church tribunal, whose findings were never fully disclosed publicly, found Mr. Kavanagh guilty of holding hands with Mr. Donohue while Mr. Donohue’s hand was in his lap, and judged that to be sexual abuse of a minor. The church tribunal also found “to a moral certainty” that Mr. Kavanagh, wearing only underwear, had pressed up against Mr. Donohue in bed on a trip to Washington when Mr. Donohue was a high school senior, the complaint said.

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MIAMI (FL)
NBC South Florida

By Diana Gonzalez

Wednesday, Sep 19, 2012

A group of parents at a South Florida Catholic school are taking action after their parish priest was allowed to remain on the job following sexual abuse allegations.

Some parents at the St. Agatha Catholic Church and school in southwest Miami-Dade have banded together to try to get Father Rolando Garcia removed.

A man sued Garcia and the Archdiocese of Miami recently, alleging childhood sexual abuse dating back to the 1980s, when Garcia was attending seminary in Palm Beach County. The man wants to remain anonymous.

“The parents are asking if he can be transferred to a church that has no school attached to it, so there’s no interaction with children at all,” parent Sebastian Rejon said. “That’s the overall consensus as a group.”

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NEW YORK
New York Post

By BRUCE GOLDING

Last Updated: 6:01 AM, September 20, 2012

A defrocked priest sued the Archdiocese of New York for libel today over claims that a recent press release suggested “multiple accusers” had levelled sex-abuse allegations against him.

Charles Kavanagh was booted from the priesthood in 2010 after a secret church court found him guilty of sexually abusing a teenage boy about 30 years earlier.

Kavanagh later filed a defamation suit against accuser Daniel Donohue, who recanted his allegations during a mediation session earlier this year.

Kavanagh’s Manhattan federal court filing says church officials subsequently issued a “false and deliberately misleading” statement that “deliberately implied there were multiple accusers when they knew Donohue was the only accuser.”

The suit — which seeks unspecified damages — also alleges the Archdiocese “deliberately withheld the information that the ‘crime’ the plaintiff was found guilty of was ‘handholding in the lap during prayer,’ something no reasonable person would consider ‘sexual abuse of a minor.'”

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CALIFORNIA
The Press-Enterprise

As we reported on PE.com yesterday, the Rev. Alejandro “Alex” Castillo faces another civil lawsuit alleging sexual abuse.

Castillo is the Ontario priest who served eight months in jail for molesting a 12-year-old boy. The sentence could have been up to 22 years in prison but the parents of the victim agreed to a plea deal to spare the boy the pain of testifying.

One question that attorneys for the alleged victims have asked me is why Castillo continues to be a priest.

Anthony De Marco, the Pasadena attorney representing the man who filed the lawsuit on Monday, said the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Bernardino isn’t doing enough to strip Castillo of his priesthood. The diocese should urge the Vatican to laicize Castillo, he said.

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JOLIET (IL)
Southtown Star

September 20, 2012

Editorial

After a disturbing decision to return a priest accused of child sexual abuse to ministry, Joliet Diocese Bishop R. Daniel Conlon changed his mind this week and returned the priest to permanent leave.

It’s clearly the right move, but we’re left wondering why the Catholic Church made it necessary — the priest never should have been brought back.

Conlon last week assigned the Rev. F. Lee Ryan to a limited ministry for homebound parishioners in the Watseka area after the Vatican had ruled that Ryan did not violate church law, apparently because the alleged victim of abuse was not younger than 16 — the age of consent under church law.

Ryan was removed as an active priest in May 2010 by Conlon’s predecessor after a diocesan review panel found credible evidence that he had a sexual relationship in the 1970s with a student at Providence Catholic High School in New Lenox.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

By Mark O’ Regan and Patsy McArdle

Thursday September 20 2012

AN 84-year-old Irish priest extradited from the United States to face sexual assault charges against teenage boys has died while awaiting trial.

Fr Francis Markey was due to appear in court in Monaghan later this year for allegedly raping a 15-year-old boy in 1968 during a religious pilgrimage to Lough Derg. It was claimed the priest subsequently abused the same teenager after the funeral of the boy’s father in Co Galway the following November. In November 2005 the man told his wife and a councillor after reading a copy of the Ferns Report into allegations of sexual abuse in the Catholic Diocese of Ferns, Co Wexford, when it all came back to him.

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IRELAND
Galway News

September 20, 2012

It’s reported that an 84 year old priest charged with the alleged sexual assault of a boy in County Galway over 40 years ago has died while awaiting trial.

The priest was due to appear in court in Monaghan for allegedly raping a 15-year-old boy in 1968 during a religious pilgrimage to Lough Derg.

It’s also claimed he abused the same teenager after the funeral of the boy’s father in County Galway.

The former cleric was arrested by US marshals at his home at Miller Court in South Bend, Indiana in 2009 and was extradited to Ireland in July 2010.

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NEW YORK
New York Post

By ANDREW STRICKLER

Last Updated: 6:39 PM, September 19, 2012

An explicit video of an underage girl having sex with her boyfriend will remain locked in a safe at the Brooklyn district attorney’s office — for now.

The tape is a point of contention in the ongoing case against Nechemya Weberman, 53, a Hasidic spiritual counselor charged last year with sexually abusing the same girl.

His attorneys want the video and related investigative files made available to jurors in Weberman’s trial, scheduled to begin next month.

They argue that the tape, secretly recorded by the girl’s father with Weberman’s involvement, triggered her “extreme” anger at Weberman, and a vengeful accusation that he forced her to have sex with him.

Supreme Court Judge John Ingram today denied the request, citing the “very sensitive nature of that videotape.” He also noted that Weberman’s name only appeared once in the case file, and that investigators never interviewed Weberman about the video. The boyfriend was never charged.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter

Sep. 18, 2012
By Dennis Coday

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A national advocacy group for survivors of childhood sexual abuse has called for the resignation of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Mo., Bishop Robert Finn, who was convicted Sept. 6 of failing to report suspected child abuse.

About 15 people joined the leaders of the National Survivor Advocates Coalition on Sunday in a public square three blocks from the diocesan cathedral for a demonstration calling for Finn’s resignation.

“A criminally convicted bishop cannot lead. Bishop Finn should resign or be removed,” said Kristine Ward, chair of the coalition, on the steps of Barney Allis Plaza in downtown Kansas City.

Ward, who is from Dayton, Ohio, said the leaders of the coalition came to Kansas City to be in solidarity with local Catholics and urge them to action.

“The courts have acted and now must the church,” Ward said. “The moral issue of a criminally convicted bishop who sits as chief teacher in the diocese must be confronted head on.”

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CALIFORNIA
Los Angeles Times

December 14, 1989

JOHN H. LEE | TIMES STAFF WRITER

A former Roman Catholic priest sought by Los Angeles police on child pornography charges has been arrested by sheriff’s deputies in Spokane, Wash., authorities said Wednesday.

John Bauer, 53, who Los Angeles police said led a four-man ring that produced pornographic videos of boys in Hollywood and Mexico, was arrested late Tuesday night.

Authorities said Bauer is being held without bail on federal charges that he fled California to avoid prosecution. He probably will have an extradition hearing next week.

Spokane County sheriff’s deputies stopped Bauer and a friend on an interstate highway on the outskirts of the city, said Sheriff’s Detective Mark Henderson. A source had informed deputies that Bauer was in town for a day and was apparently headed to Seattle, Henderson said.

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MONTANA
Bozeman Daily Chronicle

Whitney Bermes, Chronicle Staff Writer
Posted: Wednesday, September 19, 2012

This headline jumped out at me when I was flipping through the archives today. Quite an interesting story. Enjoy.

“‘Porno priest’ John Bauer dies in California prison” – By Joan Haines, Oct. 29, 1992

John Bauer, the former Catholic priest who opened Bozeman’s only adult book store and became known as the “porno priest,” died Monday night in a medium-security federal prison i San Luis Obispo, Calif.

Bauer, 55, a Bozeman native, was serving an eight-year term in the California Men’s Colony after pleading guilty in 1990 to three counts of producing and distributing child pornography.

Prison authorities told Pete Ramsey of Santa Barbara, a friend of Bauer’s Monday evening that he died of a massive heart attack. Ramsey said Bauer had been ill, suffering from high blood pressure. Chief Deputy Coroner Don Hines said today Bauer died of coronary artery disease.

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SPRINGFIELD (IL)
BishopAccountability.org – Assignment Record

Summary of Case: Ordained a priest of the Joliet diocese in 1956, Ryan held a number of chancery positions before being appointed auxiliary bishop in 1981. In 1983 he was elevated to Bishop of Springfield, IL where he served until his abrupt retirement in 1999, at age 69. His retirement was announced the day after a civil lawsuit was filed which claimed Ryan knew one of his priest was sexually abusing a child, but did nothing. Ryan had long been the subject of rumors that he engaged in “sexual improprieties” with adult men, including prostitutes and priests. In 1986 Ryan announced he was an alcoholic and underwent three months of treatment. He stepped down from public ministry in 2002 after accusations surfaced that he had sexually abused a 15 year-old boy in 1984. He is last known to be living in an assisted living facility in Joliet.

Ordained: May 3, 1956
Consecrated: Auxiliary Bishop of Joliet IL, Sept. 30, 1981
Appointed: Bishop of Springfield IL, Nov. 22, 1983
Retired: Oct. 19, 1999

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
KCUR

By Stephen Steigman and Steve Kraske

The Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph is still reeling from Bishop Robert Finn’s conviction this month for failing to report child sexual abuse.

Members of a national Catholic organization — the National Survivor Advocates Coalition — on Sunday demanded that Finn resign. A spokeswoman for that group said simply, “A criminally convicted bishop cannot lead.”

The bishop is the highest-ranking U.S. Catholic cleric to be convicted in the church’s decades-long child sexual abuse scandal.

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CANADA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Barbara Dorris on September 19, 2012

Today is the last day for aboriginal Canadians, who suffered abuse while in the residential school system, to file a claim. After today the only way to file a claim will be through court action.

The Canadian Independent Assessment Process was created to handle compensation cases regarding sexual and, other kinds of abuse, of children in the residential school system.

While we applaud the Canadian government for creating the IAP and for extending the deadline last year, we believe putting time constraints on reporting sexual abuse to be insensitive and dangerous.

We hope that anyone who suffered abuse in the residential school system finds the courage and the strength to report their abuse before the deadline at 11:59 tonight. We also hope that since the number of abuse cases reported have “increased exponentially in the past three months”, that the Canadian government will extend the deadline.

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ILLINOIS
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Yesterday I received a call from the Diocese and learned that the Bishop has changed his decision about returning Fr. Ryan to ministry. The spokesperson, Molly Fara, told me she wanted me to be the first to know so that I would not learn about the Bishop’s new stance from the press.

I told her that while I think the Bishop is finally exercising good judgment regarding Fr. Ryan, I was curious to know what Fr. Ryan has been doing and where he has been since he was removed in the first place. I asked her if Fr. Ryan was just an unemployed priest free to roam the streets with now more time on his hands.

She told me that he just returned from Europe where he was vacationing and that he just returned home recently. I told her that made no sense at all but she said he would be supervised.

Because of how the Joliet diocese has treated me, I’m not very confident that in fact he will be.

I also wanted her to be aware of a recent incident that happened to my mother this past Sunday while she attended Mass. I told her my mother frequently attended Mass and that she usually met and sat near a regular group of acquaintances. And at the end of Mass she and her friends would normally greet the priest with a handshake or a hug and they would express their gratitude for his message.

However, last Sunday was different in that the priest approached the group before mass started and said hello to everyone individually in the group except my mother. She extended her hand to the priest but he refused to acknowledge her, turned his back and walked away.

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ISRAEL
NBC News

By Paul Goldman , NBC News

TEL AVIV – The ultra-Orthodox community in Israel, known as Haredim, has a closed and secluded way of life. They look at the secular population with a degree of suspicion and try to manage their own affairs. To that end, rabbis try to deal with cases of violence and sexual misconduct internally – without alerting outside authorities.

That cultural mentality makes it even harder to tackle sensitive subjects like the sexual abuse of children.

Now, for the first time, a book published in Hebrew tackles the growing problem of sexual abuse among children in the ultra-religious community, trying to break the silence in the closed community.

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NEW HAMPSHIRE
National Catholic Reporter

Sep. 19, 2012
By Michael Sean Winters

PLYMOUTH, N.H. — Plymouth is a small college town of just under 5,000 souls. It is located near the geographic center of the state, where the New England Uplands give way to the White Mountains. Main Street hosts some of the old buildings of Plymouth State University, a white clapboard church, and a variety of storefronts. On the August morning when I drove into town, it was anything but sleepy, filled with people buying coffee and reading their papers, 20-somethings loading a beer keg into the back of a pickup truck, hikers emerging from a sporting goods store with last-minute additions to their gear.

Fran Taylor was decidedly unhurried as she made her way into Cafe Monte Alto. A retired school teacher, Taylor is now the chair of the Democratic Town Committee in the neighboring town of Holderness. She greeted a woman who was sitting outside. “She’s a Democrat too!” Taylor told me. The woman excitedly told Taylor that when making phone calls on behalf of the Obama campaign, almost everyone she spoke with wanted tickets to an upcoming event with the president. …

Catholics make up about one-quarter of the state’s population, but the church is not a dominant force in politics. “It is the least churched state and even that is dwindling,” Taylor told me. She said that the religious liberty issue is “not really on the radar screen” as far as she can tell from conversations with neighbors. Last year, Bishop John McCormack of Manchester, the diocese that covers the entire state, attended a rally to protest budget cuts. “What he said was entirely legitimate,” Taylor said, but his intervention was not well-received because of his reputation as a one-time aide to Boston’s Cardinal Bernard Law. Indeed, the House Republican leader, D.J. Bettencourt, who led the fight to cut the budget, got nasty in denouncing McCormack. “Would the bishop like to discuss his history of protecting the ‘vulnerable’?” Bettencourt wrote on his Facebook page. “This man is a pedophile pimp who should have been led away from the State House in handcuffs with a raincoat over his head in disgrace. He has absolutely no moral credibility to lecture anyone.” Bettencourt later apologized for his comments. He has since resigned, after it was revealed he had falsified documents regarding a required legal internship as part of his obtaining a law degree.

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UNITED STATES
COGIC Abuse Watch

New ground has been broken in favor of COGIC clergy sexual abuse survivors. The three victims of Bishop Charles Brown are telling their story publicly for the first time. Brown, who currently sits as pastor of the Williams Temple COGIC in Houston escaped prison earlier this year on a legal technicality.

Four days after that ruling, the General Board immediately reinstated Blake’s longtime friend to office. The previous suspension was lifted “without further comment”. This left the impression that Brown was not guilty. But Brown was never exonerated of his sexual crimes against three young girls, thus he should have never been reinstated. Report COGIC Abuse also published an exclusive report exposing the General Board who secretly paid off the victims.

But now, they are speaking out in an exclusive interview with Dunamis Word blog which has helped to document the coverup and complicity by the Blake administration.

The time has come to hold Bishop Charles Blake, Sr. accountable for his role in these matters. According to one of the victims only one other person knew them as well as Brown knew them.

[…]one of the survivors states that until the interviews, which can be heard above, only ONE other person in the church has ever made contact with any of them. That was the Bishop Charles E. Blake, who spoke to one of the victims, as he knew them very well for a number of years. Unfortunately, that conversation was over some 15 years ago before Bishop Blake became Presiding Bishop.”

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MIAMI (FL)
WSVN

[with video]

MIAMI (WSVN) — Several parents protested after a Catholic school pastor who was allegedly named in a sexual lawsuit remains at the school.

Parents protested at St. Agatha Catholic School Tuesday night. One side wants Father Rolando Garcia removed from the Catholic School, while the other side supports Garcia. “Simply put, I don’t feel comfortable with him at the school, and I think it is appropriate for him to be moved,” said parent Erica Garcia.

The two sides are at odds because Father Garcia was named in another lawsuit alleging he abused a young boy at another church in the 1980s. “My position is we are judging a priest without having anything from a court,” said a supporter.

Archdiocese of Miami previously settled a lawsuit against Father Garcia in 2007.

Garcia, who is the pastor of the school’s Catholic church, regularly interacts with children and parents are concerned.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

By John P. Martin
Inquirer Staff Writer

Philadelphia prosecutors scoffed Tuesday at a new claim by defense lawyers that they withheld evidence that might have helped Msgr. William J. Lynn at his landmark child-sex abuse and endangerment trial.

The District Attorney’s Office never received a formal statement or polygraph results suggesting that Lynn’s codefendant, former priest Edward Avery, lied when he admitted sexually assaulting an altar boy, according to Hugh Burns, chief of the appeals unit.

The accuser’s testimony about the 1999 attack became a cornerstone of Lynn’s trial.

“To say that we knew [Avery] was innocent was, I’m sorry, it’s insane,” Burns said. “What we know is that he formally pleaded guilty because he had evidence that made him guilty.”

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HAMMOND (IL)
Chicago Sun-Times

BY Teresa Auch Schultz Sun-Times Media tauch@suntimes.com

The recently fired pastor of a Hammond megachurch will plead guilty to taking a minor across state lines for sexual activity, federal prosecutors in Indiana said Tuesday.

Jack Schaap, former pastor of First Baptist Church in Hammond, was fired in August because he allegedly had a relationship with a 17-year-old girl. The church initially said its deacon board fired Schaap because he committed a “sin.”

The church has said the 17-year-old girl and her family are members of First Baptist, which was one of the first megachurches in the country. The church has a congregation of more than 15,000.

Schaap, 54, of Dyer, is scheduled to have his initial appearance Wednesday afternoon before U.S. Judge Paul Cherry in federal court in Hammond.

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IRELAND
JOE

The Catholic Church isn’t exactly the most popular organisation in the country at the moment, neither are Fine Gael so it’s the perfect time for them to come together then…

By Brian Moss

Taoiseach Enda Kenny will be bumping into Pope Benedict the 16th at the weekend. Now we’ve all experienced that awkward moment when you meet someone you’d rather not. Remember that time at the bar in Coppers, when you realise you were next to the girl you scored the week before and yet, have a better chance of guessing Rumplestilskin’s name? Or there’s pretending to recognise a distant relative at a family wedding. Those moments can make you sweat a bit so spare a thought for the Taoiseach.

Enda received widespread praise over his damning speech on the Vatican in the Dáil last year when discussing the Cloyne report on child abuse in the church and no doubt the Pope got wind of it. The coalition also got The Vatican’s goat up when they closed the embassy in the papal city and there has been some strained relations with the Vatican’s representatives in Ireland.

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IRELAND
Irish Central

By
DARA KELLY,
IrishCentral Staff Writer

Published Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Irish leader Enda Kenny will meet Pope Benedict this Saturday at the papal retreat at Castle Gandolfo.

Kenny is in Rome to meet the Italian Prime Minister and will go on to meet the Pope along with other European Union leaders.

Soon after taking office, Kenny made a major statement strongly criticizing the Vatican’s handling of sex scandals involving their priests in Ireland.

The Vatican refuted his allegation that they had stalled inquiries into suspected pedophile and relations since have been at a low ebb.

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UNITED STATES
Pocono Record

Editorial

September 19, 2012

Cults are nothing new. Religious or secular, their leaders seek power and often employ the same techniques: isolation flacked as exclusivity, fear — and sex.

Amish splinter group leader Samuel Mullet Sr., of eastern Ohio, appears to be no different. A jury is now deliberating whether Mullet and some of his fellow believers are guilty of hate crime charges involving the beard- and hair-cutting of other Amish they allegedly don’t consider worthy. But even before the trial, former members of the group told federal officials that Mullet had locked them into chicken coops for punishment and instructed adult members to correct each other with heavy wooden paddles. Mullet also held himself out as a couples counselor, preferring to work with women. Part of the counseling, The New York Times reported, involved having them live with him — and have sex with him.

That’s just Mullet. Remember Charles Manson? He attracted a following of addled women and men in the late 1960s who specialized in random murders, including the brutal killings of actress Sharon Tate and Folgers coffee heiress Abigail Folger. Manson believed in an approaching race war he called “Helter Skelter,” and directed the murders to hasten the battle. Sex played a big role in the sway Manson, who’s still in jail, held over his female followers.

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CALIFORNIA
The Press-Enterprise

BY DAVID OLSON The Press Enterprise STAFF WRITER
dolson@pe.com
Published: 18 September 2012

An Ontario priest convicted last year of molesting one boy has been sued for allegedly sexually abusing another.

The Rev. Alejandro “Alex” Castillo was released from jail in April after serving eight months for sexually abusing a then-12-year-old parishioner at Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic parish in Ontario in 2008.

The civil suit filed Monday, Sept. 18, in San Bernardino County Superior Court alleges that in 2003 and 2004, Castillo also repeatedly sexually abused a teenaged boy in the same parish.

The parish, the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Bernardino, and the Riverside-based Western Province of the Society of the Divine Word, an order of priests and brothers, are also named in the suit. They are accused of negligence for not doing enough to protect the boy.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

HARRY McGEE, Political Correspondent

TAOISEACH ENDA Kenny will be among a group of European political leaders who will meet Pope Benedict in Rome on Saturday.

Mr Kenny will visit the pope’s residence at Castel Gandolfo on Saturday afternoon with a small group of prime ministers and presidents drawn from other EU countries.

The visit will occur during the course of a two-day meeting of the Centrist Democrats International group hosted by Italian prime minister Mario Monti. The group is affiliated with the European People’s Party, of which Fine Gael is a member.

The visit will draw attention because it will represent the first meeting of the pope and the Taoiseach since Mr Kenny’s speech in the Dáil in July 2011 that severely castigated the Vatican for its inaction in dealing with the issue of child abuse in Ireland.

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CHICAGO (IL)
Catholic News Agency

Chicago, Ill., Sep 19, 2012 / 02:09 am (CNA).- A Massachusetts-based Catholic lay group, Voice of the Faithful, is making efforts to sway the selection of Chicago’s new archbishop by getting feedback from local church-goers.

Colleen Dolan, director of communications for the Chicago Archdiocese, says that it may be helpful for the group – which has no official affiliation with the archdiocese – to encourage participation, but that locals should “send their responses directly to the Apostolic Nuncio.”

Following Church procedure, Cardinal Francis George, who has served as Archbishop of Chicago since 1997 and is currently undergoing four months of chemotherapy, submitted his retirement Jan. 16, 2012 upon reaching his 75th birthday.

However, “Cardinal George understands that his retirement will not be accepted for two years,” Dolan told CNA Sept. 18.

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CANADA
Nunatsiaq News

Former residential students have only one more day to file for compensation under the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement, said Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada in a Sept. 18 news release.

The Common Experience Payment is paid to eligible former students who resided at a recognized residential school.

The deadline to apply for a CEP was Sept. 19, 2011, but “in cases of disability, undue hardship and exceptional circumstances,” applications can be accepted until Sept. 19, 2012, the news release said.

For Inuit, the CEP had processed 4,371 applications, and Nunavummiut received $41.2 million through the CEP as of June 30, 2012.

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CANADA
CBC News

Posted: Sep 19, 2012

Aboriginal Canadians who suffered physical or sexual abuse in residential schools have until the end of today to apply for federal compensation.

Applications for claims under the Independent Assessment Process must be sent electronically or postmarked no later than 11:59 p.m. PT on Wednesday.

Compensation under the Independent Assessment Process is different from the Common Experience Payments that many former students received in recent years.

The Common Experience Payment gave eligible former students $10,000 for the first year they had to attend residential schools and $3,000 for each successive year.

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TULSA (OK)
News On 6

TULSA, Oklahoma –
Victory Christian Center issued a statement Tuesday addressing the charges against two former employees accused of child sex abuse.

The Tulsa church says Israel Castillo, 23, and Chris Denman, 20, both passed a screening process that included a nationwide background check and personal references.

They found no history of any criminal activity.

Both men are accused of having sexual relationships with three underage girls who attended camp at Victory Christian.

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CONNECTICUT
New Canaan News

Martin B. Cassidy

A former long-time music director at Christ Church Greenwich, Robert F. Tate, 70, has been released from the federal prison term he was serving following a 2008 child pornography conviction and has moved to a New Canaan apartment.

At his sentencing hearing in 2008, Tate, admitted to a 40-year history of sexual abuse of minors overseas as well as viewing hundreds of sexually-explicit photos of children dating back to the 1960s. Tate was not charged criminally for those acts, but did acknowledge having sex with boys in Thailand, the Philippines and Costa Rica.

According to the state Sex Offender’s Registry, Tate is living at 279 Elm St., Apartment 2, following his release from federal prison last week.

Attempts to reach Tate for comment Tuesday were unsuccessful.

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TULSA (OK)
Tulsa World

By JARREL WADE World Staff Writer
Published: 9/19/2012

The investigation into alleged sexual abuse at Victory Christian Center has revealed more possible victims who are not cooperating with the ongoing investigation, police said Tuesday.

Two former employees are charged with child-sex offenses after police received reports involving underage girls nearly two weeks after the girls reported the allegations to Victory Christian officials, court records show.

Chris Denman, 20, is jailed on charges of raping a 13-year-old girl at the church, court records show. Israel Shalom Castillo, 23, is charged with making a lewd or indecent proposal to a child and using a computer to facilitate a sex crime.

Castillo had not been arrested by Tuesday night, jail records indicate.

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SAN FRANCISCO (CA)
Catholic San Francisco

September 19th, 2012
By George Raine

A group of survivors of sexual abuse by clergy and the Archdiocese of San Francisco have jointly created a first-of-its-kind policy on how the archdiocese can better serve victims, one that aims to engage and empower them in the healing process.

The policy is the result of collaboration, not negotiation, and to the archdiocese’s knowledge it has not been replicated in any Catholic diocese in the nation, said Auxiliary Bishop Robert W. McElroy, who with Auxiliary Bishop William J. Justice joined six survivors of clergy abused to create the plan. It was approved by Archbishop George Niederauer.

In meetings over six months, the process was by design democratic, to the point there was no chairperson of the joint committee, everyone with an equal say. One product of the policy, already being implemented but only announced last week, is a wellness program that offers traditional therapeutic counseling along with alternative approaches some survivors said are very helpful, from acupuncture to nutrition to meditation to chiropractic. All are covered by the archdiocese. The policy offers mediation in lieu of a lawsuit as an option for addressing claims, and it also creates opportunities for the archdiocese to support survivor groups to further work on the healing process and expands outreach to parishioners about abuse that has occurred and what is being done to accommodating healing. Indeed, the policy is entitled “Healing the Wounds of Clergy Sexual Abuse.”

“It was an effort at empowerment for the survivors, in a way really bringing them into the policy formation process in a collaborative way,” said Bishop McElroy. “It makes the survivors part of our policy formation and the solution to this terrible problem in the church.”

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Main Line

Nine alleged victims of clergy abuse have filed eight lawsuits against the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, Cardinal Justin Rigali, the Rev. Msgr. William Lynn and seven individual priests and former priests, including two with ties to Delaware County.

Attorney Jeff Anderson and co-counsels Marci Hamilton and Dan Monahan announced the filings at a 1 p.m. press conference in Center City.

“Bringing these cases is important because until there is accountability it is difficult to begin a journey of healing,” said Anderson, who is also representing victims of former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky. “With the filing of these cases today, these courageous survivors can start to heal.”

Priests named as defendants in the lawsuits include Edward Avery, a defrocked priest who ministered at St. Bernadette Church in the Drexel Hill section of Upper Darby from June 1970 to June 1972 and at Immaculate Heart of Mary Church in Chester from 1972 to 1976 and the Rev. John P. Schmeer, a former pastor at Sacred Heart Church in Haverford Township who also had ties to St. Anastasia School in Newtown Square.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
The New York Times

By JON HURDLE

Published: September 18, 2012

PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia district attorney’s office on Tuesday challenged a claim by lawyers for a convicted Roman Catholic monsignor that prosecutors had persuaded another priest, now defrocked, to falsely admit to sexually abusing a 10-year-old boy in order to obtain the conviction.

Lawyers for Msgr. William J. Lynn, a former senior official in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia who was convicted in June of child endangerment, filed a motion Monday in Pennsylvania Superior Court claiming that Edward V. Avery, the former priest, had not in fact abused the boy but had been pressured by prosecutors into signing a plea deal saying he had done so, in return for a lighter prison sentence than he might otherwise have received.

Monsignor Lynn was found guilty of endangering children by failing to stop abuse by priests under his supervision. He is the most senior official of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States to be convicted of charges relating to sexual abuse of children by priests. The conviction was for lax oversight of Mr. Avery, who spent six months in a church psychiatric center in 1993 after an abuse episode. Doctors said he should be kept away from children. But Monsignor Lynn sent him to live in a rectory and did not warn parish officials.

Mr. Avery’s alleged abuse of the boy was central to the conviction of Monsignor Lynn, whose lawyers are asking the court to reconsider its previous denial of bail. The lawyers said in the motion that they received evidence in late August that Mr. Avery denied assaulting the boy, or even knowing him, and that he had passed a polygraph exam testing whether he was lying about the abuse.

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ONTARIO (CA)
San Bernardino Sun

Melissa Pinion-Whitt, Staff Writer dailybulletin.com

ONTARIO – The man behind black sunglasses occasionally tugged at the rosary around his neck as he spoke to a small group of reporters Tuesday in front of Our Lady of Guadalupe Church.

He only identified himself as being in his 30s and a Pomona resident, but the man claimed he also is one of the six known victims who was molested by former Ontario priest Alejandro Castillo just a few months after he turned 18 years old.

“You gotta talk to your kids,” he said. “Give them the benefit of the doubt.”

The man came to the church in support of another victim who filed a lawsuit Monday against the Diocese of San Bernardino and Castillo, claiming sexual abuse by the priest and a cover-up by the diocese.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

By Joseph A. Slobodzian
Inquirer Staff Writer

Breaking with anonymity – but not loosening the tenacious hold of childhood sexual abuse – two men announced Tuesday that they had sued the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, church officials, and three priests.

The emotional statements by Andrew Druding and Michael W. McDonnell highlighted a Center City news conference where their lawyers also announced six other lawsuits on behalf of seven victims purportedly abused as children by archdiocesan priests.

“What you did didn’t define me,” said Druding. “I may be damaged goods, but I’m not going to allow you to beat me.”

Druding, 51, of Holmesburg, struggled to control his voice as he said he had been sexually abused in the early 1970s by the Rev. Francis S. Feret, then choir director at St. Timothy parish in Mayfair.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Daily Times

By TIMOTHY LOGUE
tlogue@delcotimes.com
@timothylogue

Nine alleged victims of clergy abuse have filed eight lawsuits against the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, Cardinal Justin Rigali, the Rev. Msgr. William Lynn and seven individual priests and former priests, including two with ties to Delaware County.

Attorney Jeff Anderson and co-counsels Marci Hamilton and Dan Monahan announced the filings at a 1 p.m. press conference in Center City.

“Bringing these cases is important because until there is accountability it is difficult to begin a journey of healing,” said Anderson, who is also representing victims of former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky. “With the filing of these cases today, these courageous survivors can start to heal.”

Priests named as defendants in the lawsuits include Edward Avery, a defrocked priest who ministered at St. Bernadette Church in the Drexel Hill section of Upper Darby from June 1970 to June 1972 and at Immaculate Heart of Mary Church in Chester from 1972 to 1976 and the Rev. John P. Schmeer, a former pastor at Sacred Heart Church in Haverford Township who also had ties to St. Anastasia School in Newtown Square.

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HAMMOND (IL)
NWI Times

By Times Staff

HAMMOND | A local megachurch’s former leader signed a plea agreement in federal court Tuesday admitting he took a minor over state lines with the intent to engage in sexual activity.

Jack Schaap was charged with interstate transportation of a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity.

Schaap, 54, of Dyer, was dismissed from his leadership role at First Baptist Church in Hammond in late July after telling church officials about an explicit relationship with a young girl.

The FBI began looking into the relationship between Schaap and the girl, who was 17 when the allegations surfaced.

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JOLIET (IL)
Patch

By Karen Sorensen

Joliet Bishop Daniel Conlon has reversed his decision to allow a priest accused of having a sexual misconduct with a teen in the 1970s to return to ministry, according to a published report.

Last week, Conlon had allowed the Rev. F. Lee Ryan to do limited religious work by ministering to homebound parishioners in Watseka and Crescent City, despite having been removed from the ministry in May 2010 in light of allegations that he had a relationship with a teenage boy 28 years earlier, the Chicago Tribune reported.

Conlon said his decision was based on the fact that the allegation did not meet the criteria of a crime under church law at that time. The ruling stirred a huge amount of controversy, especially in light of Conlon’s earlier statement that the church’s credibility was “shredded” because of how the chuch sex abuse scandal has been handled.

“Subsequent discussions that have occurred since that decision have highlighted that any action needs to fulfill the larger need of the Church to confront the scandal of child abuse in its midst and work to diligently restore trust,” Conlon said in a statement, which was cited in the Tribune story.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Chicago Tribune

[link to court documents – Jeff Anderson & Associates]

Natalie Pompilio
Reuters

3:56 p.m. CDT, September 18, 2012

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) – Eight men and a woman publicly accused Roman Catholic priests and the Archdiocese of Philadelphia on Tuesday of child sex abuse, saying they found courage to come forward after the conviction in June of a top church official in the wide-ranging pedophilia scandal.

The nine filed civil lawsuits accusing the Archdiocese and church officials of conspiring to conceal incidents of sex abuse, failing to address the problem and ignoring complaints about abusive clergy, according to attorneys who announced the cases at a news conference in Philadelphia.

Problems with abusive priests in the Philadelphia diocese had been flagged in a 2003 grand jury report that found church leaders failed to report abuse to authorities. These lawsuits cite alleged abuse dating back to 1970.

The alleged victims opted to come forward after the conviction of Monsignor William Lynn, a top official found guilty of covering up sex abuse allegations, often by transferring priests to unsuspecting parishes, said Marci Hamilton, an attorney in the case.

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UNITED STATES
What They Knew

With the Boy Scouts of America in the news recently it would seem that the barking and howling from Bill Donohue would be at a fevered pitch. The Los Angeles Times this week uncovered abuse in the Boy Scouts, HERE.

Leaving aside the anthropology and history of the Boy Scouts (and the Jesuits for that matter) as an imperialist / colonial institution… what happens when you combine a Jesuit with a Boy Scout?

The answer is a disaster of epic proportions, or otherwise known in the California Province as Fr. Jerold Lindner SJ. Besides being an epic abuser of children and still a Jesuit to this day, Lindner was active in the Boy Scouts for seemingly 50 years. One wonders where his boy Scout files are… any complaints there?

Jerold Lindner SJ application to the Society of Jesus was initially rejected by the order, according to members of his family. They said the Jesuits told him he needed to broaden his life. So he took a job as a courier for a title company and became leader of a Boy Scout troop in Phoenix. Good training for being a Jesuit one has to assume, and it worked.

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JOLIET (IL)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by David Clohessy on September 18, 2012

Joliet Bishop Conlon has reversed himself, putting a suspended, credibly accused child molesting cleric back on the job last week and removing him again this week.

Last week, Conlon acted selfishly and deceptively, blaming the Vatican for his own decision to put the predator priest back in parish ministry. It’s clear that Conlon wanted the priest back to work but has changed his mind, citing some vague “subsequent discussions.”

While we’re grateful that, for now, Fr. Lee Ryan won’t be visiting parishioners in their homes. He belongs behind bars or in a remote, secure treatment facility. Instead of using his public relations staff to do “damage control” after his reckless move, Conlon should be using them to aggressively seek out others who’ve been hurt by this child molesting cleric.

We strongly suspect that another allegation against Ryan has come in and that Conlon is refusing to acknowledge it.

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OREGON
Fox 12

By FOX 12 Webstaff

WOODBURN, OR (KPTV) –
A judge has removed himself from the case of a Woodburn priest accused of sexually abusing a 12-year-old boy.

Judge Thomas Hart recused himself without reason from the case of Father Angel Perez on Monday, according to the judge’s office.

Marion County Circuit Court Judge Susan Tripp will now be assigned to the case.

The alleged victim called police early in the morning Aug. 13 to report inappropriate contact from Perez, the head priest at St. Luke’s Catholic Church in Woodburn.

According to court documents filed by Woodburn police, the alleged victim told detectives he was spending the night at the priest’s home in Woodburn and woke up to flashes, possibly from a cell phone camera.

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JOLIET (IL)
The Daily Journal

The Daily Journal staff reports

According to media reports, Bishop R. Daniel Conlon of the Joliet Diocese, has withdrawn the reinstatement of the Rev. F. Lee Ryan.

Conlon announced last week that Ryan could minister to homebound parishioners of St, Edmund Catholic Church in Watseka and St. Joseph Mission in Crescent City.

In a prepared statement Tuesday, Conlon said, “Subsequent discussions that have occurred since the decision have highlighted that any action needs to fulfill the larger need of the Church to confront the scandal of child abuse in the midst and work to diligently restore trust.

“For the sake of the greater good of the Church, I have decided to revoke my earlier permission and once again place Fr. Ryan on full administrative leave.”

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

Analysis by Claire O’Sullivan

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

THE 145 pages of Justice for Magdalene’s submission to the inter-departmental committee investigating State involvement in the Magdalene Laundries makes you ashamed to be Irish.

Reading it, you can’t help but feel repulsed, sickened and deeply ashamed — disgusted that any human being, let alone religious organisation, could treat another human being in such a way and that the Irish State could stand idly by and let it happen.

JFM describes from testimony how the women suffered abuse of various kinds — their hair was forcibly cut, they were beaten with belts until they bled and once the door to the outside world was shut on them, they were referred to by number not by name.

Over the course of the submission, JFM hold religious orders and the State directly and indirectly responsible for systematically humiliating, imprisoning and enslaving thousands of young Irish girls.

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ROME
The New York Times

By LAURIE GOODSTEIN

Published: September 18, 2012

The faded papyrus fragment is smaller than a business card, with eight lines on one side, in black ink legible under a magnifying glass. Just below the line about Jesus having a wife, the papyrus includes a second provocative clause that purportedly says, “she will be able to be my disciple.”

The finding was made public in Rome on Tuesday at an international meeting of Coptic scholars by the historian Karen L. King, who has published several books about new Gospel discoveries and is the first woman to hold the nation’s oldest endowed chair, the Hollis professor of divinity.

The provenance of the papyrus fragment is a mystery, and its owner has asked to remain anonymous. Until Tuesday, Dr. King had shown the fragment to only a small circle of experts in papyrology and Coptic linguistics, who concluded that it is most likely not a forgery. But she and her collaborators say they are eager for more scholars to weigh in and perhaps upend their conclusions.

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