ABUSE TRACKER

UNITED STATES
National Survivor Advocates Coalition

Editorial

Yesterday helped.

The sentencing of former PennState assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky and its accompanying media coverage sharpen the focus of the criminality of sexual abuse and its consequences for society at large.

Nothing returns a sexual abuse victim’s normal childhood and for their testimonies about what was so viciously and cruelly taken from them, the survivors of Jerry Sandusky deserves everyone’s gratitude for their courage.

Justice has been served but no one should believe that this solves the problem of sexual abuse in sports – or in the Roman Catholic Church and other denominations – or in the Boy Scouts. Secretive, powerful, hero worship laden organizations are fertile ground for perpetrators.

Children are protected only when strong, clear messages, like the Sandusky sentence, are sent. Then and only then will those who have been raped and sodomized feel that there will be more comfort than censure from the world if they do find the strength to come forward.

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NIEDERLANDE
taz

ARNHEIM taz | Kinder und Jugendliche, die aus ihren Familien herausgenommen und in Heimen erzogen wurden, wurden mehr als doppelt so häufig sexuell missbraucht als solche, die in ihren Familien aufgewachsen sind. Die zuständigen Behörden wussten, dass Minderjährige nicht ausreichend geschützt waren vor sexuellen Übergriffen.

Das sind die Ergebnisse der Untersuchungskommission Samson. Sie hat am Montag in den Niederlanden ihren Abschlussbericht über sexuellen Missbrauch in stattlichen Einrichtungen und Pflegefamilien veröffentlicht.

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SCHWEIZ
ref.ch

Von: ref.ch News/kipa

Das unerwartet grosse Echo auf die Pfarrei-Initiative Schweiz zeigt, «unter welcher Spannung die katholische Kirche derzeit steht». Dies betont die vierköpfige Sprechergruppe in einer Medienmitteilung vom 10. Oktober.

Gegenwärtig haben über 340 Seelsorger und Seelsorgerinnen die am 10. September erstmals öffentlich vorgestellte Initiative unterschrieben. Auch zählt das Begehren derzeit über 180 Sympathisanten.

Wer die Pfarrei-Initiative als «Aufruf zum Ungehorsam» interpretiere, der habe die Initianten missverstanden, heisst es in der Medienmitteilung. Die Initiative wolle nämlich «ein Aufruf zu Ehrlichkeit und Wahrhaftigkeit» sein. Es werde jedoch offensichtlich, «dass wir als Kirche auch einen Dialog zum Gehorsam gegenüber dem Gewissen nötig haben».

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DEUTSCHLAND
netzwerkeB

Das Bundesministerium verteilt Geldmittel für Studien im Rahmen der Fördermaßnahme “Missbrauch, Vernachlässigung und Gewalt”.

Eine Übersicht der Verteilung der Geldmittel findet sich hier:
http://www.gesundheitsforschung-bmbf.de/de/4543.php

Beteiligung von Opfern

Es wird um die Teilnahme geworben, auch werden ein paar Euro für die Teilnehmer geboten. Bei der Universität Heidelberg geht es zum Beispiel um Substanzmissbrauch und um das Anzeigeverhalten der Opfer.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Regensburg-Digital

Erst Messwein und Hostien, dann Freibier und Bratwurst: Gerhard Ludwig Müller ist am Sonntag nun offiziell aus Regensburg verabschiedet worden. Er hinterlässt eine Diözese mit einschlägigem Ruf.

Er ist nicht eben frenetisch der Applaus, der auf dem Domplatz aufbrandet, als der frisch ernannte Großinquisitor kurz nach 17 Uhr mit seiner Entourage aus Bischöfen, Fahnenträgern von Kolping bis hin zu diversen Burschenschaften und natürlich der nicht wegzudenkenden Domspatzen über den Vorplatz am Regensburger Dom vorbeizieht. Rasch stimmt die Blaskapelle zu einem mitreißenden Marsch („So klingt’s aus Stadt und Land“) an. Bei den Bischofshof-Ständen wird mit der Verteilung von Freibier, Kaffee und Bratwurstsemmeln begonnen. Das lockt auch den einen oder anderen Nicht-Katholiken.

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DEUTSCHLAND
MissBiT

Unter den genannten „rund 30“ Weihejubilaren von 1962 befindet sich mindestens ein der Vertuschung sexuellen „Missbrauchs“ bezichtigter Priester.

Die Jubiläumsberichte im Trierischen Volksfreund (9.10.2012) und auf der Homepage des Bistums (Bistumspressestelle 5.10.2012) verschweigen diesen und weitere prekäre Fakten. Erneut wurde die Perspektive der Opfer unterschlagen – eine kommentierungsbedürftige Auslassung: durch vorliegende Zeugen- u. Opferaussagen wurde das Bistum Trier wohlinformiert über die krassen Sexualvergehen namhaft gemachter „Täter“ dieses und nachfolgender Weihejahrgänge der 1960er Jahre. In seiner Predigt zum Festtage aber würdigte Bischof Ackermann die Verdienste der Jubilare in höchsten Tönen, er sprach sogar von „ausgeprägten Persönlichkeiten“.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

Wednesday October 10 2012

Public relations should never become central to how the Catholic Church goes about its business.

What it believes and espouses should always come before how its spins or delivers its message.

But there are obvious presentational pitfalls that it should avoid and the badgering of an ageing liberal priest has to be questioned.

The silenced Redemptorist and Association of Catholic Priests founder, Fr Tony Flannery, has come under increased scrutiny and pressure from the new head of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

by Phyllis Zagano | Oct. 10, 2012
Just Catholic

I think it was the late Jeane Kirkpatrick, a former UN ambassador and sharp-tongued conservative, who said it. True quote or not, the thought remains: “There’s no shortage of people willing to spend a week in Paris talking about poverty.”

Now 262 bishops and 94 hand-picked others are spending three weeks in Rome talking about evangelization.

Pasta, anyone?

The 13th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on “The New Evangelization for the Transmission of the Christian Faith” will cost who-knows-what and give the various attendees an opportunity to talk about talking about church. Seven of the bishops and 10 experts and auditors are from the United States. The entire crowd presents all the outlooks in the church from right to far right.

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MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press

By Ruben Rosario
twincities.com
Posted: 10/09/2012

It’s time to start holding people other than the predator accountable for the rapes and sexual molestation of children.

I’m talking here about those whose instinct is to protect the institution and its reputation rather than protecting children. Examples abound this week and in recent months.

On Tuesday, Oct. 9, former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky was sentenced to a 30- to 60-year prison term — by normal estimates a life stint, considering he’s 68 — for sexually molesting 10 boys over a 15-year period while operating on the side a foundation for underprivileged children. …

Sandusky’s sentencing followed Monday’s charges against a former drama teacher and “dorm parent” at elite Shattuck-St. Mary’s School in Faribault, Minn. Lynn Seibel, 70, is facing charges he sexually assaulted at least six former students during his 10-year teaching stint at the school. Again, what’s intriguing here is the alleged conduct of school officials in the aftermath of Seibel’s resignation in 2003 after not one or two but 14,000 child porn pictures were found on his work computer.

Shattuck-St. Mary’s said Monday that “after consultation with the school’s attorneys, the school confirmed that the material did not trigger a reporting requirement.” As a result, police were never notified.

Perhaps, the school needs to add a criminal justice course to its curriculum. Possession of child pornography is a federal crime. School officials are mandated reporters of suspected child abuse. You don’t need to be a vice cop to understand that possession of child pornography by a person with access to children or in a position of trust and authority over children is a volatile mix and more than reason enough to open a case.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

Police have accused the Catholic Church in Victoria of hindering its efforts to investigate child abuse by clergy.

The damning assessment of the Catholic Church’s conduct is contained in a submission Victoria Police has made to a state parliamentary inquiry into child abuse.

It says the Church appears to have dissuaded victims from reporting child sex abuse, alerted suspects to allegations and either moved or protected offenders who were known or suspected of committing sexual offending against children.

Police say one of the Church’s own complaint systems, the Melbourne Response, has been detrimental to police investigations into those suspected of sexually abusing children.

Police have also criticised the role played by the church’s lead investigator Peter O’Callaghan QC.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

October 11, 2012

Barney Zwartz

THIS IS the worst nightmare made real for the Catholic Church, its careful defences of its handling of clergy sexual abuse reduced to ruins by Victoria Police.

The police submission to the parliamentary inquiry explodes the careful strategy the church has run for years that, yes, it had made terrible mistakes, but these have been corrected by new protocols since 1996, and they can be trusted.

But the police say that even after 1996 the church hindered police investigations, protected paedophile priests and never reported a single complaint to police.

Despite constant church claims that all victims are encouraged to go to police, the police submission suggests that in fact, many are dissuaded from doing so and that the church’s independent commissioner, Peter O’Callaghan QC, has a conflict of interest. Where the church says abuse has almost disappeared – only 13 of the 618 confirmed cases the church admitted to in its submission to the inquiry occurred after 1990 – the police suspect the victims have merely been slow to come forward, in the usual pattern.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

October 11, 2012

Jane Lee

VICTORIA Police has launched a scathing attack on the Catholic Church, accusing it of deliberately impeding its investigations into child abuse.

In a submission to the parliamentary inquiry into the handling of child abuse by churches, signed by Chief Commissioner Ken Lay, police recommend that some of the church’s actions to hinder investigations be criminalised.

The submission lists a number of ways in which the church has hindered the criminal justice process, including dissuading victims of sexual crimes from reporting them to police, failing to engage with police and alerting suspects of allegations against them, ”which may have resulted in loss of evidence”.

It says the church moved or protected known or suspected sexual offenders. While the submission notes the church has recently improved co-operation with police, in some cases it has been reluctant to provide information even when a warrant was issued.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

Stuart Rintoul
From:The Australian
October 11, 201212:00AM

THE Catholic Church says it is committed to facing up to a shameful history of child abuse by priests, and has admitted it was slow to respond, slow to believe victims and wrongly believed the denials of “predators”.

But Victoria Police has accused the church of hindering investigations in its submission to the Victorian government inquiry into the handling of child abuse by religious and other non-government organisations.

VicPol says it had “serious concerns” about the church’s internal inquiry process, which had resulted in a number of ex gratia payments to victims, but not a single referral to police.

Recurring issues included the church appearing to dissuade victims from reporting allegations to police, alerting suspects of allegations and the movement or protection of known or suspected offenders.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

By Garry O’Sullivan

Wednesday October 10 2012

A HIGH-PROFILE priest is coming under increasing scrutiny from the Vatican’s theological watchdog for expressing liberal views.

Silenced Redemptorist and Association of Catholic Priests (ACP) founder Fr Tony Flannery has been contacted by the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), the Irish Independent can reveal.

It emerged earlier this year that Fr Flannery was silenced by the Vatican and put under investigation for his “liberal” views on women’s ordination.

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NEDERLAND
NOS

Mattijs van de Wiel sprak met Rieke Samson, die onderzoek heeft gedaan naar seksueel misbruik in de Jeugdzorg.

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NETHERLANDS
Radio Netherlands

The Samson Committee investigating the abuse of children in state care in the Netherlands since 1945 is accusing the entire system—from the government to the foster care service to care homes themselves—of failing to do enough to protect children against sexual abuse.

In releasing its final report Monday, tellingly titled “Surrounded by care, still not safe”, the Committee said it would send 42 sexual abuse files to public prosecutors for consideration—this out of the 800 claims it received in the two years since it’s been investigating sexual abuse cases of children in care.

“We don’t have any insight into the criteria they used for sending cases to the public prosecutor, but they must have reason to think they can still make cases after all these years,” says Jolien Verweij, spokesperson for the Dutch NGO Defence for Children International. “But any chance to do something is good.”

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BELGIE
De Standaard

Yves Delepeleire

BRUSSEL – De arbitragecommissie maakt slachtoffers van seksueel misbruik in de Kerk monddood door hen te verplichten afstand te doen van een proces voor schuldig verzuim, zegt Renaat Landuyt (SP.A).

Nu door het Centrum voor Arbitrage aan de eerste slachtoffers van seksueel misbruik in een pastorale relatie een schadevergoeding wordt toegekend, blijkt er discussie te rijzen over de contracten.

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BELGIUM
The Front Page

An independent arbitration commission established by the Belgian parliament in 2010, in order to process compensation claims for child sexual abuse within the Catholic Church, is accused of silencing the victims. It obliges those who are awarded damages never to speak publicly of the facts and never to sue the Church. Socialist MP Renaat Landuyt accuses church officials on the commission to have lobbied for this. Original article in De Standaard

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HAMMOND (IL)
NWI Times

By Chelsea Schneider Kirk
chelsea.schneider@nwi.com, (219) 933-3241

HAMMOND | Layoffs have hit the First Baptist Church of Hammond with a quarter of the church’s staff estimated to be let go, a church spokesman confirmed Tuesday.

The layoffs come in the wake of a federal guilty plea by the church’s former head Pastor Jack Schaap, who admitted to a sexual relationship with an underage parish girl he had been counseling.

Church officials said incoming donations to the parish have been “pretty much the same” since the July firing of Schaap.

However, church leaders decided to wrap an approximately $1 million per year loan payment into its budget, which forced the layoffs, said Eddie Lapina, the church’s interim pastor.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Kansas City Star

Kansas City Star reporter Judy L. Thomas has been named the Religion Reporter of the Year for metropolitan newspapers.

The award was announced at the Religion Newswriters Association’s 2012 annual conference in Bethesda, Md.

Thomas was recognized for her coverage of a priest sex abuse scandal involving Father Shawn Ratigan, Bishop Robert Finn and the Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocese, and stories about the Rev. Jerry Johnston and the former First Family Church of Overland Park.

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UNITED STATES
What They Knew

We here at What They Knew have a lot of stories to tell. We have child sex abuse by clergy and the ensuing coverup, dirty real estate deals, police investigations, crooked politicians and attorneys, private investigators hunting victims, diversion of federal funds, funny loans from colleges run by Jesuits, off-shore shell companies, wire transfers to the Cayman Islands and in the end lots of money and lots of victims of the Jesuits.

We also have Donald J. McGuire SJ at the heart of it all. McGuire knew many people, many of which want to pretend they didn’t know him. He knew hundreds of priests (many of them also convicted of child sex abuse – we believe they call that a “ring” of criminals). He also knew many people who knew what he was doing to children and never called the police. That list includes bishops, Provincials, Jesuit Roma Curia, Jesuit Generals, Cardinals, the head of the Legionaries of Christ Marcial Maciel (more later on this), at least three candidates for sainthood and two Popes, who knew him personally, one who then simply wrote to him as “Your Friend, Joe Ratzinger“.

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CANADA
Times-Colonist

By Jeff Bell, timescolonist.com October 9, 2012

Leona Huggins travelled to Victoria from the Lower Mainland on Tuesday to follow an alleged case of child abuse by a priest.

Huggins, a 50-year-old Coquitlam teacher, said the Victoria case hit close to home: her own past involves abuse by a priest in the 1970s, when she was a teenager. That man was eventually convicted in 1992 after pleading guilty and served 10 months in prison, but Huggins found out last year that her abuser had re-emerged in a parish across the country.

Discovering that he had been “recycled” by the church was devastating, Huggins said.

“It sort of threw me back to the beginning.”

The situation prompted her to speak up, Huggins told members of the media outside the Victoria courthouse. She said she hoped that making her voice heard would help children.

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WASHINGTON
The Spokesman-Review

John Stucke
The Spokesman-Review

The Catholic Diocese of Spokane has accused its own lawyers of mishandling its historic bankruptcy, which exposed decades of clergy sex abuse and cost parishioners and insurers $50 million.

A malpractice lawsuit filed this week by the diocese seeks more than $12 million from the venerable Spokane law firm Paine Hamblen Coffin Brooke and Miller.

The claim is the latest bombshell in a bankruptcy that staggered along from December 2004 until May. The diocese settled with 180 people who claimed they were sexually abused by priests and other Catholic clergy.

The diocese, now under the leadership of Bishop Blase Cupich, says in court documents that bankruptcy lawyers Shaun Cross and Greg Arpin failed to explore other means of ending the abuse scandal.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Channel 4 – Gurublog

Jimmy Savile was my first ever interviewee when I became presenter of the BBC’s “yoof” discussion programme Open to Question. I was 18, rather naive and had not heard the rumours of his sexual preferences.

But he was a big disappointment: cold, aggressive, slightly menacing in his reaction to tough questions from teenagers in the audience – and I’ve never forgotten the creepy feeling he left me with.

The format of Open to Question was simple – a group of teenagers, encouraged to ask cheeky and tough questions, grill a public figure with questions that professional interviewers tend to avoid.

At school I had been one of the cheeky questioners, and now the BBC had asked me to step into the presenter’s chair. Jimmy Savile had a mixed reputation in those days – he was well-known as a charity fundraiser and supporter of Stoke Mandeville hospital. But his support for psychiatric patients like the Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe was more controversial.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Philadelphia Inquirer

Bishop Charles E. Bennison Jr. of the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania said Tuesday that he would retire at the end of the year.

Bennison, 68, a supporter of gay clergy and same-sex marriage, was elevated to his position in 1998. His tenure has been marked by many controversies over his support of gay rights and disputes over church property. He was suspended for mishandling his brother’s sex abuse of a teen girl in the 1970s, but was reinstated.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Sky News

Sir Jimmy Savile’s gravestone is going to be broken up and dumped after being removed from a cemetery in Scarborough amid new sexual abuse claims.

Scotland Yard says up to 25 young girls were allegedly targeted by the late television star over a period dating back to 1959.

His family said it took the decision to remove his headstone, which bears Savile’s image and lists his accomplishments, as a mark of respect to others buried in the cemetery. It had only been in place for three weeks. …

There have also been calls for Saville to have his papal knighthood removed – although as for the civil order it also ceases to exist after death. He was awarded this in 1990, the same year as he was knighted in the Queen’s Birthday Honours.

A spokesperson for the Catholic Church in England and Wales told Sky News: “If the allegations prove to be true and the Church had known about it at the time, the papal knighthood would not have been awarded.”

The NSPCC is urging anyone abused or harmed by Savile to speak out and contact them and the police.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian

Dan Sabbagh
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 10 October 2012

The BBC is preparing to launch its own inquiry into the Jimmy Savile affair, after criticism of its slow response to the unfolding scandal and claims that the Jim’ll Fix It star was apparently able to get away with sexual abuse over several decades.

The inquiry is expected to begin before the end of the year, once the police have given the green light to the BBC that any separate activity by the broadcaster will not compromise the developing Metropolitan police investigation, which, it emerged on Tuesday, is pursuing 120 lines of inquiry involving rape and sexual abuse.

An announcement about the planned review is likely to be made by the BBC today, but with few other details. A independent person will lead the review – although the BBC is less likely to be ready to unveil a name today. Its exact terms of reference are likely to be announced in a few days.

It has taken a week and half since the first cluster of allegations about Savile emerged for the BBC to confirm something approaching an inquiry into its former star’s conduct, its context and what lessons the corporation can learn from the torrent of revelations about him and claims about the wider culture at the corporation of the time.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian

Posted by
Roy Greenslade
Wednesday 10 October

With the BBC taking a bashing from the tabloids over the Jimmy Savile affair, Michael White wonders why the “tough tabloids” themselves didn’t nail the man.

It’s a fair question. After all, many people have said Savile’s predilection for young girls was something of an open secret. Former Sunday Express editor Brian Hitchen admitted knowing about it 45 years ago.

He was not alone. There were plenty of rumours. We all thought Savile was weird and probably up to no good. As White writes: “I always thought he was a dodgy bugger.”

But what about evidence as distinct from suspicion? Would any of it have been good enough as a defence should Savile have sued for libel?

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Times

The Roman Catholic Church will consider stripping Jimmy Savile of his papal knighthood after a police review confirmed that he was a prolific sex offender who travelled the country abusing young girls.

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales said that the knighthood Savile was granted in 1990 by the late Pope John Paul II “may have to be reviewed” after the police had considered all the evidence against the dead star.

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

ABC
October 10, 2012

Police have accused the Catholic Church in Victoria of hindering its efforts to investigate child abuse by clergy.

The damning assessment of the Catholic Church’s conduct is contained in a submission Victoria Police has made to a state parliamentary inquiry into child abuse.

It says the Church appears to have dissuaded victims from reporting child sex abuse, alerted suspects to allegations and either moved or protected offenders who were known or suspected of committing sexual offending against children.

Police say one of the Church’s own complaint systems, the Melbourne Response, has been detrimental to police investigations into those suspected of sexually abusing children.

Police have also criticised the role played by the church’s lead investigator Peter O’Callaghan QC.

They say his methods have effectively dissuaded victims from going to authorities.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

Deliberate actions by religious institutions to hide child sex abuse allegations rather than expose suspected offenders should be regarded as a crime, Victoria Police says.

In its submission to the Victorian government’s inquiry into the handling of child abuse by religious and other organisations, Victoria Police says it is concerned the Catholic Church, instead of encouraging sex abuse victims to go to the police, is providing a financial incentive to keep the matter within the church.

In the past 15 years more than 30 religious leaders have been convicted of child sexual offences in Victoria.

Police have had recurring problems in dealing with religious organisations, such as victims of sexual crime being talked out of reporting to police and suspected offenders being moved to a different diocese or sent overseas.

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JAMAICA
The Gleaner

By Dr Wendel Abel

I write this article in response to the extensive concerns regarding sexual abuse in the Church and the wider society.

It is important to discuss abuse within the Church for the following reasons:

1. Church leaders have been accused of sexual abuse.

2. Abuse takes place in families that are very active within the Church and, when it does, the Church should take appropriate steps to deal with the matter.

3. Many churches do not handle sexual abuse issues very well. They force the victim into silence and press for forgiveness without allowing the victim the opportunity for therapy and healing.

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CHILE
Catholic News Agency

Vatican City, Oct 9, 2012 / 04:03 pm (CNA).- On Oct. 9, Pope Benedict accepted the resignation of Bishop Marco Antonio Ordenes Fernadez of Iquique, Chile, who has been under investigation by the Vatican since April for alleged sexual abuse.

The Holy See’s Press Office said the bishop resigned in conformity with a specific code in canon law, which allows for resignation “because of ill health or some other grave cause.”

The Apostolic Nunciature in Chile also announced that Archbishop Pablo Lizama Riquelme of Antofagasta has been named Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Iquique.

On Oct. 2, the Nunciature confirmed that the Vatican was investigating Bishop Ordenes.

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CANADA
North Bay Nugget

By MARIA CALABRESE, North Bay Nugget

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

NORTH BAY – A Roman Catholic priest faces more charges of historical sexual abuse while serving at a North Bay church, court heard Tuesday.

John Edward Sullivan, 87, remains in hospital in Montreal where he lives, and did not have to appear for his latest court date.

Sullivan is accused of sexually abusing a boy dating back to 1958 and during various times until 1979 while he was an ordained priest at the Pro-Cathedral of the Assumption.

Sullivan was arrested in June in Montreal on a North Bay warrant for gross indecency following an investigation into a complaint of historical child sexual abuse.

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UNITED STATES
Modesto Bee

By Cynthia Hubert
chubert@sacbee.com

They were as close as brothers.

The Rev. Uriel Ojeda and the Rev. Angel Perez took their spiritual training together at Mount Angel Seminary in Oregon beginning in the late 1990s, and they shared a bond forged by similar cultural backgrounds and spiritual philosophies.

Both had roots in Mexico and ministered to heavily Latino congregations, Ojeda’s in Northern California and Perez’s near Salem in Oregon. Both were revered by their parishioners, who praised them for their tireless work on behalf of children and the poor and sick.

Both entered the priesthood at a time of turmoil in the Catholic Church over sexual-abuse scandals, and as the church eagerly sought to accommodate a growing Spanish-speaking congregation.

In the changing Catholic church, Ojeda and Perez were rising stars.

Until it all fell apart.

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AUSTRALIA
The Telegraph

MELISSA IARIA
AAP
October 10, 2012

AUSTRALIA’S most powerful Catholic, Cardinal George Pell, was present when a boy raped by a Christian Brother described to another priest what happened, a parliamentary inquiry has been told.

The Victorian government’s inquiry into the handling of child abuse by religious and other organisations has been told Cardinal Pell was present when the grade three student at a Ballarat school in the 1960s described to another priest what happened to him.

Cardinal Pell may be asked about the incident after indicating in August he will attend the inquiry if asked.

The Archdiocese of Sydney’s communications office spokeswoman said it cannot comment while an inquiry is under way.

The victim, a student at St Alipius school in Ballarat, was raped by principal and teacher Christian Brother Robert Charles Best in 1969.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Berger’s Beat

NEW “STAR WARS” GAME, DR. HELEN NASH DEAD AT 91, SEN. SCOTT BROWN IN OUR TOWN

. . .That was noted journalist Brendan Roberts of Nine Network poking around various Catholic charities in our town the other day. He and his cameraman were trying to track down Marianist Brother Bernard Hartman who’s on the rum from secular authorities for alleged child sex crimes. As recently as 2008, he was in active ministry, despite having apologized in writing almost a decade earlier to a girl he’s molested. Parishioners in Dayton, Ohio, his last residence, told Roberts that Hartman is now living at a church property in St. Louis. . .

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CALIFORNIA
Courthouse News Service

By JONNY BONNER

(CN) – A California man claims in court that the Catholic priest who abused him as a child had been previously singled out for “pedophilic” tendencies.

The plaintiff named in the complaint as John C.C. Doe says he is a 24-year-old resident of Sacramento, Calif.

Michael Kelly, as pastor of St. Andrew Parish in San Andreas, sexually abused Doe for three years beginning in 2000, according to the complaint in San Joaquin County Superior Court.

Doe says he was a 12-year-old altar boy when Kelly started visiting his home “unannounced and uninvited.”

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VATICAN CITY
Saanich News

By Staff Writer – Saanich News
Published: October 09, 2012

The trial of a former priest charged with molesting minors will start next week if the case can move past a number of procedural hurdles.

Philip Jacobs, 62, appeared in Victoria Supreme Court this morning, charged with sexual assault, two counts of sexual interference of a person under 14 and touching a young person for a sexual purpose.

The charges involve three minors under the age of 14, with alleged incidents spanning September 1996 to June 2001, all within Saanich. Jacobs was arrested Aug. 4, 2010 and released on $25,000 bail.

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FLORIDA
ABC News

By ALYSSA NEWCOMB (@alyssanewcomb)

Oct. 9, 2012

The Penn State scandal helped shape a new Florida sexual abuse reporting law that has been called the toughest in the nation, holding universities and individuals financially and criminally liable for failure to report suspected abuse.

Under the law, which went into effect Oct. 1, colleges and universities that “knowingly and willfully” fail to report known or suspected child abuse or prevent another person from doing so will be slapped with a $1 million fine for each failure.

“We learned is we didn’t want to take a chance on [them],” said Ron Book, president of Lauren’s Kids, a nonprofit that helped spearhead the legislation.

That began with mandating schools report all allegations, not just conduct their own investigations. Book pointed to allegations from Penn State, Syracuse University and The Citadel that were known to administrators but not reported to authorities.

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VATICAN CITY
Huffington Post

By NICOLE WINFIELD 10/09/12

VATICAN CITY — The pope on Tuesday accepted the resignation of a Chilean bishop who is under investigation by the Vatican for the alleged sexual abuse of a minor.

The resignation of Bishop Marco Antonio Ordenes Fernandez of Iquique, Chile, marks one of the few times that the Vatican has acknowledged publicly that it was investigating a bishop for sex abuse allegations. Advocates for clerical sex abuse victims have long complained that the Vatican has looked the other way when bishops have been accused of abuse or of covering it up.

The Vatican said Tuesday that the pope has accepted Ordenes’ resignation under the code of canon law that says a bishop must resign if he is sick or because some other “grave” reason makes him unsuitable for his job.

The 47-year-old Ordenes suffers from a liver ailment and has been seeking medical treatment. But the Vatican Embassy in Santiago confirmed Oct. 2 that it had been investigating Ordenes since April, and was offering psychological and other care to “those affected.”

The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said that the link between the resignation and the investigation “can be considered obvious.”

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SAN FRANCISCO (CA)
dotCommonweal

October 9, 2012

Posted by Rita Ferrone

I’ve been waiting to read that the newly-installed Archbishop of San Francisco, Salvatore Cordileone, has offered a warm and sincere apology to the Episcopal Bishop of San Francisco, Marc Andrus. But as of today, I’m still waiting.

Here’s what happened, as far as published sources have revealed it. Andrus issued a letter
to his own people, dated the first of October, stating that he looks forward to working with Cordileone on issues of common concern. He cited global development and immigration as especially pressing subjects on which they would join in making common cause. He acknowledges their differences over Proposition 8 (gay marriage) and promises that his own stand will remain firm. In light of the obvious disquiet among some over Cordileone’s appointment, he reminds his people in closing to “welcome as brothers and sisters” any who might turn up on the doorstep of the Episcopal Church. I found his message charitable, sober, and honest.

Bishop Andrus had been invited to the installation, which was held on October 4 at 2:00. He was told that he must arrive by 1:45 in order to be seated. He arrived, by his own account, at 1:40, and waited, chatting with some Orthodox bishops. The Orthodox were led away, and he was told to remain waiting. Two o’clock arrived and he was still waiting. It became evident to him that he was not going to be seated. He left. A spokesman for the Catholic Archdiocese claimed that Andrus arrived late, and was not seated so as to not disturb the ceremony. Andrus’s own account clearly denies this.

The incident has been reported in the Huffington Post, CNN, the website of the Episcopal Church of San Francisco, US Catholic, NCR, and a number of news sources and blogs since that time. Conspicuous by its absence is any statement from Cordileone, clarifying the matter.

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ROME
We Are Church

French

German

Italian

Portugese

Spanish

Press Conference

Rome, Oct 9, 2012

On the Occasion of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Opening of the Second Vatican Council, the International Movement We Are Church (IMWAC) and the European Network Church on the Move (EN/RE), Witness to and Hope for a Church Ever More Free and Human, Built on Communities of Baptized Christians Deeply Committed to Ministry in the Church and Justice in the World

1. The Second Vatican Council endorsed a profound renovation of the Catholic Church, both in its own structures and in its relationship to the world. The transformation in the liturgy was one of the central and most visible fruits of the Council, especially in its use of vernacular languages and its celebration based on the local community. The constitutions “Lumen Gentium” and “Gaudium et Spes” contain definitions of the Church itself (now seen as the People of God) and of the value of the secular world and how we might minister to it.

2. The encyclical “Pacem in Terris”, written by John XXIII while the Council was in session and, indeed, while he was dying, must be considered a part of the whole conciliar experience. Other very important questions were proposed with new perspectives: ecumenism, inter-religious dialogue, liberty of freedom and of conscience. These documents most especially generated the progressive movement that exists in the Church today and invited a dialogue with the Magisterium on all issues that are part of Catholic life.

3. During the last fifty years a tension has developed concerning the proper interpretation of the Council and its application to contemporary concerns. This tension was already present in the documents of the Council itself: for some, the Council called for significant change; for others, continuity was paramount.

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National Catholic Reporter

by John L. Allen Jr. | Oct. 9, 2012

As the Synod of Bishops on the New Evangelization wraps up its second day of work, participants today got two fresh reminders of just how steep a hill they face — one that speaks to a tough external climate for the church’s message, and the other reflecting divisions within the Catholic community itself.

Today, the Pew Forum released a new study showing that the number of Americans who have no religious affiliation is at an all-time high, including a full third of Americans under the age of 30. This cohort of “nones” is, in percentage terms, the most rapidly swelling movement on the American religious landscape.

Also today, “We Are Church,” the most visible Catholic reform group in Europe, issued a new call for “profound renovations” in church structures and its relationship to the world, including a more “collegial and democratic church”, “gender equity and the acceptance of diverse sexual orientations,” and “the ordination of women and married people.”

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

by Tom Roberts | Oct. 9, 2012

Bethesda, Md. —
Alexis de Tocqueville’s 19th-century observation that “the Christian religion” had a greater influence on America than any other country in the world might still be true, but if he were visiting today, he’d find Americans dropping their formal religious affiliations in unprecedented numbers.

In the last five years, the number of people who claim no religious affiliation has increased from slightly more than 15 percent to just under 20 percent of all U.S. adults, according to a new study by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, one of seven projects that make up the Pew Research Center. The study was done in partnership with the PBS program “Religion & Ethics Newsweekly.”

According to the report, titled “ ‘Nones’ on the Rise,” the almost 20 percent (33 million people) who are unaffiliated include 13 million self-described atheists and agnostics, or almost 6 percent of the U.S. population. …

How long denominations will be around to provide such benefits is the question. In fact, the only religious groups to remain relatively unchanged are Black Protestant (8 percent), other minority Protestant (6 percent), Orthodox (1 percent), Mormon (2 percent) and Catholic (23 percent). The stability in the Catholic population has largely to do with the influx of Latin American immigrants, previous Pew studies have documented.

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VATICAN CITY
Yahoo! News

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – Pope Benedict accepted the resignation on Tuesday of a bishop in Chile accused of sexually abusing a minor, the latest in a series of such scandals to rock the Roman Catholic Church.

The Vatican did not specify the reason for the resignation of Bishop Marco Antonio Ordenes Fernandez of the city of Iquique but it followed a complaint by a local man, Rodrigo Pino, who said he had been abused by the prelate when he was 15.

The Vatican, as it has done in similar cases, said only that the resignation was in conformity with an article of Church law which says bishops must step down if they are unable to fulfill their duties because of health or “another serious reason”. …

Ordenes’ resignation as bishops from around the world met at the Vatican to discuss how to woo back lapsed Catholics in developed countries, where the Church is battling increasing secularism in places where it was once strong.

Many Catholics say they have left the Church in disgust over the sexual abuse scandals of the last 12 years.

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MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press

By Emily Gurnon
egurnon@pioneerpress.comtwincities.com
Posted: 10/09/2012

Prosecutors who charged a local priest with child sex abuse now allege he also possessed child pornography.

The Ramsey County attorney’s office charged Curtis Carl Wehmeyer, a priest formerly assigned to Blessed Sacrament Church on the East Side of St. Paul, with 17 counts of possession of child pornography.

Wehmeyer, 48, of Oakdale, will make his first court appearance on both sets of charges Wednesday, Oct. 10.

In the criminal complaint filed Tuesday, Oct. 9, in Ramsey County District Court, prosecutors alleged the following:

During the investigation of the alleged sexual abuse, two boys reported that Wehmeyer showed them pornography on a laptop computer. This would happen before and during the molestation, they said.

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

Article by: JOY POWELL , Star Tribune
Updated: October 9, 2012

Court documents say the Rev. Curtis Wehmeyer kept 17 pornographic images of boys in the rectory.

A priest who had been charged with criminal sexual misconduct has been charged again with 17 counts of possessing child pornography, Ramsey County authorities said Tuesday.

The Rev. Curtis Wehmeyer, 48, of Oakdale, was removed as pastor of Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church in St. Paul in June amid an investigation into child sex assault.

During the summer of 2010, Wehmeyer allegedly brought two young brothers to his camper trailer, parked in the lot of the church, and showed the boys, then 12 and 14, pornographic movies. He gave them alcohol and marijuana as he allegedly molested one and exposed himself to the other, according to the complaint filed in late September.

After he was arrested in June at the church rectory, Wehmeyer saw the boys’ mother and told her that he intended to plead guilty.

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MINNESOTA
KSTC

Additional charges have been filed against a former St. Paul pastor who is accused of abusing two young boys.

According to the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office, Curtis Carl Wehmeyer was charged with 15 counts of possession of child pornography.

After conducting a forensic exam on a seized laptop, investigators found a number of “still images and video clips depicting sex acts involving prepubescent males”.

Wehmeyer was previously charged with criminal sexual conduct after he was accused of molesting one boy and exposing himself to another.

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ST. PAUL (MN)
KMSP

Posted: Oct 09, 2012

by Mike Durkin

ST. PAUL, Minn. (KMSP) –
Additional charges of child pornography have been filed against a former St. Paul priest accused of sexually abusing two young brothers.

Curtis Carl Wehmeyer, 48, has been charged in Ramsey County with 15 counts of possession of child pornography. Those charges come on top of second and fifth-degree criminal sexual conduct charges filed last month for the alleged sexual abuse of two boys who were part of Blessed Sacrament Catholic parish in St. Paul.

Wehmeyer will make his first appearance on all charges Wednesday afternoon in Ramsey District Court.

According to the criminal complaint, a search warrant was executed on the rectory of the church as part of the sexual abuse investigation. After conducting a forensic exam on a seized laptop, investigators found a number of “still images and video clips depicting sex acts involving prepubescent males”.

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LAS VEGAS (NV)
KLAS

LAS VEGAS (AP) — The Clark County district attorney’s office is fighting a judge’s decision to name a veteran Las Vegas defense lawyer to prosecute a former storefront church pastor accused of sexually assaulting at least four young girls in his Las Vegas-area congregation.

Court records show that attorney Robert Langford was named Friday to replace the Clark County district attorney’s office in former United Faith Church leader Otis Holland’s case.

Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson wants Judge Stefany Miley to reconsider.

Miley named Langford because before becoming district attorney, Wolfson was Holland’s criminal defense lawyer.

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ROM
Kipa-Apic

Rom, 9.10.12 (Kipa) Der Vorsitzende des Europäischen Bischofsrates (CCEE), Kardinal Peter Erdö, sieht in Europa “besorgniserregende Anzeichen” für eine “systematische Christenfeindlichkeit”. Es seien viele Fälle von Diskriminierung und Gewalt gegen Christen zu registrieren, sagte Erdö am Montagnachmittag während der Weltbischofsynode im Vatikan. Diese beträfen fast alle europäischen Länder.

Zugleich kritisierte der Budapester Kardinal eine oft verzerrte Darstellung des christlichen Glaubens und der katholischen Kirche in den Massenmedien. Diese präsentierten den Inhalt des Glaubens und die kirchliche Wirklichkeit häufig auf verleumderische Weise, so Erdö. Der Kardinal gab zu Beginn der Synode einen Überblick über die gegenwärtige Lage der Kirche und des Glaubens in Europa.

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VATIKAN
Deutschland Today

Vatikanstadt (AFP) – Angesichts des Verdachts auf Missbrauch von Minderjährigen hat Papst Benedikt XVI. den chilenischen Bischof Marco Antonio Órdenes Fernández entlassen. Der Bischof von Iquique habe seinen Rücktritt nach Artikel 401 Paragraph 2 des Kanonischen Rechts eingereicht, erklärte der Vatikan. Dieser Paragraph bezieht sich auf Rücktritte “aus gesundheitlichen oder anderen schweren Gründen”. Órdenes Fernández steht im Verdacht, mindestens zwei Jungen sexuell missbraucht zu haben.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Frontal 21

[Video]

Frontal 21 berichtet in der nächsten Sendung unter anderem über falsche Versprechen der Lebensmittelindustrie, Krankenhausärzte mit Prämienvereinbarungen, den Mangel an Erzieherinnen, den Redner Peer Steinbrück sowie über sexuelle Gewalt am Aloisius-Kolleg.

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DEUTSCHLAND
MissBiT

Mehr als vierzig Jahre lang konnte Quintus D. (Name geändert) nicht darüber sprechen: Er und seine Brüder wurden vom 12. Lebensjahr an von einem Jesuiten-Pater immer wieder vergewaltigt. Am Aloisius-Kolleg in Bonn gab es über Jahrzehnte sexuelle Übergriffe von Priestern und Erziehern gegenüber ihren Schülern. Doch die Taten wurden verschwiegen, berichtet Prof. Julia Zinsmeister, die die Vorgänge am Aloisius-Kolleg untersuchte. Der eigene Ruf sei dem Orden immer wichtiger gewesen als der Schutz der Kinder, sagt Zinsmeister heute. Vor Gericht haben die Opfer kaum Chancen, gegen ihre Peiniger vorzugehen: Die Taten sind verjährt. Jetzt wollen ehemalige Aloisius-Schüler die Bezirksregierung zur Schließung der Schule zwingen und klagen auf Schmerzensgeld.

Es ist aber auch das Kolleg, von dem der ehemalige ARD-Fernsehpfarrer und Kommunikationsdirektor im Bistum Trier, Monsignore Stephan Wahl, behauptet, er habe von den jahrzehntelangen Übergriffen “nie etwas mitbekommen”. Weder als Schüler. Noch als Erzieher.

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NIEDERLANDE
Der Standard (Osterreich)

8. Oktober 2012

Regierungskommission legte Bericht vor

Den Haag – Hunderte Kinder sind in niederländischen Heimen und Pflegefamilien oft jahrelang sexuell missbraucht worden. Das hat eine Regierungskommission in einem am Montag vorgelegten Bericht über Missbrauch in staatlichen Heimen seit 1945 festgestellt. “Ministerien, Heime und Jugendämter haben beim Schutz der Kinder versagt”, sagte die Vorsitzende der Kommission, Rieke Samson, in Den Haag. Der Bericht schockierte die Niederlande.

800 Fälle von sexueller Gewalt waren bei der Kommission gemeldet worden. 42 Fälle wurden der Staatsanwaltschaft übergeben. Opferverbände wollen von den Behörden Schadenersatz fordern.

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UNITED STATES
The New York Times

By JACOB BERNSTEIN

Published: October 5, 2012

Of course, this isn’t exactly how Thomas Roberts — a fairly down-to-earth guy and the 11 a.m. host of “MSNBC Live” — describes himself.

But it is what happened back in September 2000. Mr. Roberts was 27, living in Norfolk, Va., working at an NBC affiliate, and not even fully out of the closet. A friend invited him to Charlotte, N.C., for a party one weekend, where he met someone who gave him a total schoolboy crush.

“I was warned, ‘He has a face that will slay you,’ ” Mr. Roberts said in a phone interview. “And it did. I remember thinking, ‘I’ve never met or seen anybody like this.’ I was very nervous around him. I didn’t know how to compose myself.”

As it happened, the man in question, Patrick Abner, also 27, felt the same way. …

As bright as their relationship was, Mr. Roberts had dark clouds to vanquish. For a decade and a half, he had kept a big secret: he was abused by his parish priest in Baltimore, where he had grown up and attended high school. But once he became involved with Mr. Abner, Mr. Roberts did not want to keep secrets buried.

“Because I fell so hard for Patrick,” Mr. Roberts said, “I wanted him to know me, and know my scars and bruises, the good, the bad.”

With Mr. Abner’s help, Mr. Roberts sought counseling and in 2005 went to the police. The priest, Jerome F. Toohey, was charged with sexual abuse of a minor. He was convicted in February 2006 and served 18 months in prison.

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CHILE
Santiago Times

Tuesday, 09 October 2012
Written by Emily Green

On recommendations of Vatican representative, Órdenes sends official resignation.

Pope Benedict XVI accepted the resignation of Chilean Bishop Marco Antonio Órdenes Fernández Tuesday, according to the Apostolic Nunciature in Chile. Pablo Lizama Riquelme, Archbishop of Antofagasta, has been appointed Apostolic Administrator in the northern city of Iquique, where Órdenes served, and will take up all responsibilities until a new bishop is appointed.

“My decision to leave the bishopric of Iquique was not painless,” Órdenes told local press. “I have made the decision so it will affect me and not affect the rest of the community.”

The first Chilean bishop to ever be investigated by the Vatican, Órdenes’s resignation comes after being investigated for allegations of sexual abuse to a minor brought forth in 2008. Órdenes, 47, was also the youngest bishop to be ordained in Chile.

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VATICAN CITY
Irish Independent

Tuesday October 09 2012

WITH the Pope’s butler now convicted of theft and under Vatican house arrest awaiting a probable pardon from Pope Benedict XVI, the Vatican will be hoping that the Vatileaks scandal can be put behind it. Yet it is not clear that it can.

Even the most conservative of Catholics living here in Rome yearn for transparency and real reform, their initial scepticism of corruption in the Vatican beaten down by years of evidence to the contrary.

The Pope’s spokesman, Federico Lombardi, believes that the media goes too far and presents the normal human frailties in the Vatican’s government as fights, divisions and interest group struggles, which he says goes well beyond reality.

Yet it is precisely the efforts at transparency that seem to cause the Vatican to shoot itself in the foot on a regular basis. …

Transparency around the long-awaited clean-up of how the Vatican dealt with child abuse came in the form of Monsignor Charles Scicluna, who for over a decade took a tough line on abusive priests, many of whom were Irish. Msgnr Scicluna once criticised the “deadly culture of silence” or “omerta” in the church which, he said, “is in itself wrong and unjust”.

Yet now Msgnr Scicluna is being sent back to Malta and no successor has been named.

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PENNSYLVANIA
PA Homepage

Bellefonte, Centre County — A Centre County judge has sentenced former Penn State assistant coach Jerry Sandusky to 30-60 years in prison. That’s essentially a life sentence for the 68-year-old.

Yesterday Jerry Sandusky spoke out from behind prison walls, just hours before he would learn his fate. He recorded a statement and then it was given by his lawyer to Penn State student radio. You can read the complete statement below.

Sandusky, the one-time Penn State football defensive coordinator and national title winner is now a convicted child sex molester. A jury convicted him in June of molesting 10 young boys for more than a decade.

David Clohessy is a child sex abuse victim and now speaks out on behalf of all sex abuse victims, many who remain silent for years like he did. “He’s clearly the most high profile predator ever in history. The fact that justice has been done encourages many other victims to come forward and break their silence get help and call the police,” said Clohessy of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.

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IRELAND
Herald

Tuesday October 09 2012

A FORMER priest who indecently assaulted five boys 30 years ago has been given an 18-month jail sentence.

The 76-year-old man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to five counts of indecent assault between 1979 and 1981. The court heard two 11-year-old boys were invited into the accused’s house on the premise of delivering leaflets and were abused.

A 13-year-old boy was indecently assaulted after being photographed for a parish magazine. One victim, aged about 12 years old, was abused at school.

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VATICAN CITY
Edmonton Journal

By The Associated Press October 9, 2012

VATICAN CITY – The pope has accepted the resignation of a Chilean bishop who is under investigation by the Vatican for allegedly sexually abusing a minor.

The resignation of Bishop Marco Antonio Ordenes Fernandez of Iquique, Chile, marks only the second known time that a bishop has resigned amid sex abuse allegations. In 2010, the then-Bishop of Bruges, Roger Vangheluwe, quit after admitting he had molested his nephew for years starting when he a young boy.

The Vatican said Tuesday that the pope has accepted Ordenes’ resignation under the code of canon law that says a bishop must resign if he is sick or because some other “grave” reason makes him unsuitable for his job.

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CHILE
IOL (South Africa)

October 9 2012
By SAPA

Santiago, Chile – A Chilean bishop accused of sexual abuse of a minor has resigned his position, saying he never meant to harm anyone.

Monsignor Marco Antonio Ordenes, the bishop of the city of Iquique, was the highest ranking Roman Catholic priest to be caught in a series of child sex abuse scandals that have so far implicated about 20 priests.

“God is my witness, I have always tried to serve without interest. Many times I erred, but I never sought to hurt, offend or manipulate anybody,” he said.

The Vatican issued a statement Tuesday saying Pope Benedict XVI had accepted his resignation.

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UNITED STATES
Richard Sipe

by A.W. Richard Sipe

September 13, 2012

Isn’t it time for the Catholic Church to have an intelligent and informed dialogue about homosexuality? Headlines about same-sex marriage, widespread sexual abuse of minor boys by clergy, hate crimes and continuing condemnations by the Vatican—even to the point of questioning the validity of ordinations of gay oriented men—make homosexuality and related issues more confused and urgent than ever.

In 1969 I was on a flight from Baltimore to Chicago to participate in an American Medical Association committee meeting to develop a handbook on Human Sexuality (eventually published in 1972). I had in hand the current issue of Time Magazine that featured a cover story on the Stonewall riot in Greenwich Village where the clients of the gay bar rose in protest against police harassment.

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CHILE
The New Age (South Africa)

Pope Benedict XVI on Tuesday accepted the resignation of Chilean bishop Marco Antonio Ordenes Fernandez, who is suspected of sexually abusing children, the Vatican said in a statement.

Fernandez is suspected of abusing more than one adolescent when working as a rector in the Tarapaca region in northern Chile, according to the religious information agency I.Media, which said the Vatican was investigating the claims.

On Saturday, the 47-year-old bishop gave an interview with La Tercera daily in which he admitted having had an “imprudent” attitude in his relations with one adolescent, but insisted that he had not been a minor.

Fernandez was ordained by Benedict in 2006.

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UNITED STATES
The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life

[Download the Full Report (1.37MB, 80 pages)]

The number of Americans who do not identify with any religion continues to grow at a rapid pace. One-fifth of the U.S. public – and a third of adults under 30 – are religiously unaffiliated today, the highest percentages ever in Pew Research Center polling.

In the last five years alone, the unaffiliated have increased from just over 15% to just under 20% of all U.S. adults. Their ranks now include more than 13 million self-described atheists and agnostics (nearly 6% of the U.S. public), as well as nearly 33 million people who say they have no particular religious affiliation (14%).3

This large and growing group of Americans is less religious than the public at large on many conventional measures, including frequency of attendance at religious services and the degree of importance they attach to religion in their lives.

However, a new survey by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life, conducted jointly with the PBS television program Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly, finds that many of the country’s 46 million unaffiliated adults are religious or spiritual in some way. Two-thirds of them say they believe in God (68%). More than half say they often feel a deep connection with nature and the earth (58%), while more than a third classify themselves as “spiritual” but not “religious” (37%), and one-in-five (21%) say they pray every day. In addition, most religiously unaffiliated Americans think that churches and other religious institutions benefit society by strengthening community bonds and aiding the poor.

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UNITED STATES
Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly

WASHINGTON DC (October 9, 2012) — Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly, the national PBS television program produced by Thirteen/WNET, is launching a three-part mini-series, “None of the Above: The Rise of the Religiously Unaffiliated,” based largely on a new survey about the views of the 46 million Americans who say they are not affiliated with any particular religion.

According to the Pew Research Center, one in five American adults — nearly 20 percent of the US population — now describe themselves as religiously unaffiliated, the highest percentage ever in Pew’s polling. Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly partnered with the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life in a survey to delve more deeply into the theological, social and political views of these Americans, who are often called “the nones.”

“We’re getting a growing group, as much as one-fifth of the adult population, that do not identify with some kind of organized religion, and that has a lot of implications for religion, for politics, for society,” Prof. John Green, director of the Bliss Institute at the University of Akron, told Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly. “It represents a very significant change.”

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UNITED STATES
USA Today

9:30AM EST October 9. 2012 – Rebecca Cardone, 21, who grew up Methodist in Texas, is president of the student body at California Lutheran University.

But don’t call her Protestant or even Christian. Cardone is one of the new “Nones” — atheists, agnostics and folks like her who believe “nothing in particular.”

“I like the ambiguity” of going without a label,” she says. “I prefer to stress the importance of acting with compassion rather than choosing a predetermined system of beliefs.”

The big news about people with no religious identity, the Nones, isn’t that they’re No. 2 now in the USA, 19.6% and climbing.

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CIUDAD DEL VATICANO
EFE

Ciudad del Vaticano, 9 oct (EFE).- El papa Benedicto XVI ha cesado al obispo de Iquique (Chile), Marco Antonio Órdenes Fernández, investigado a raíz de una denuncia por abusos sexuales a un menor, informó hoy el Vaticano.

“El Santo Padre ha aceptado la renuncia al Gobierno pastoral de la diócesis de Iquique (Chile), presentada por monseñor Marco Antonio Órdenes Fernández, en base al artículo 401/2 del Código de Derecho Canónico”, señaló el Vaticano en un comunicado.

Esta es la fórmula que el Vaticano usa cuando exige a un prelado que presente su renuncia.

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CHILE
Emol

SANTIAGO.- La Conferencia Episcopal de Chile informó este martes que el Papa Benedicto XVI aceptó la renuncia al gobierno pastoral de la diócesis de Iquique, presentada por el monseñor de esa ciudad Marco Antonio Órdenes Fernández, quien afronta una investigación eclesiástica en su contra por abusos sexuales.

La Nunciatura Apostólica comunicó además que, a partir de la misma fecha, monseñor Pablo Lizama Riquelme, arzobispo de Antofagasta, fue nombrado Administrador Apostólico “sede vacante” de la diócesis de Iquique, con facultades de Obispo diocesano.

Anoche, Órdenes ofreció una conferencia de prensa en la que explicó “no sin dolor”, su determinación de dimitir. “Tomé la decisión de renunciar al obispado de Iquique, de manera que esto, que me afecta de manera, no perjudique al resto de la comunidad”.

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CHILE
La Tercera

Papa Benedicto XVI acepta renuncia de obispo Ordenes y nombra administrador apostólico para Iquique

El Papa Benedicto XVI aceptó la renuncia del obispo Marco Antonio Órdenes y nombró a Monseñor Pablo Lizama Riquelme, arzobispo de Antofagasta, como Administrador Apostólico “sede vacante” de la diócesis de Iquique, con facultades de Obispo diocesano, según señaló la Nunciatura Apostólica en Chile.

La decisión del Santo Padre fue adoptada luego que Órdenes presentará su renuncia al gobierno pastoral de la diócesis de Iquique, en conformidad al canon 401 2 del Código de Derecho Canónico, luego de las denuncias en su contra por supuestos abusos sexuales.

El canon 401 2 del Código de Derecho Canónico establece que “se ruega encarecidamente al Obispo diocesano que presente la renuncia de su oficio si por enfermedad u otra causa grave quedase disminuida su capacidad para desempeñarlo”.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, (VIS) – The Holy Father accepted the resignation from the pastoral care of the diocese of Iquique, Chile, presented by Bishop Marco Antonio Ordenes Fernandez, in accordance with canon 401 para. 2 of the Code of Canon Law.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, (VIS) – A note released today by the Office of Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff provides details concerning the taking of possession of the following titles and diaconates:

– At 11.30 a.m. on Sunday 14 October Cardinal Timothy Michael Dolan, archbishop of New York, U.S.A., will take possession of the title of Nostra Signora di Guadalupe a Monte Mario, Piazza Nostra Signora di Guadalupe 12, Rome.

– At 6 p.m. on Tuesday 23 October Cardinal Thomas Christopher Collins, archbishop of Toronto, Canada, will take possession of the title of San Patrizio, Via Boncompagni 31, Rome.

– At 5 p.m. on Thursday 25 October Cardinal Edwin Frederick O’Brien, grand master of the Equestrian Order of the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, will take possession of the diaconate of San Sebastiano al Palatino, Via di San Bonaventura 1, Rome.

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IRELAND
BBC News

Former Irish President Mary McAleese has said she supports gay marriage.

In an interview with Irish state broadcaster RTE, Mrs McAleese said that she had “no problem with it at all”.

“I’m just thrilled anyone wants to get married,” she said, describing marriage as a “great grace”.

Mrs McAleese said many gay people had endured “interminable loneliness” and praised campaigners who had emphasised that gay people were as entitled as heterosexuals to live on their terms.

Mrs McAleese also described her reaction to the accusation by Cardinal Bernard Law, who was archbishop of Boston at the time, that she had been “a very poor Catholic president”.

She said that she had told the cardinal: “I am not a Catholic president, I’m president of Ireland” where “there were all sorts of people. I’m their president. I happen to be Catholic”.

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IRELAND
Irish Indeendent

By Paul Melia and Barry Duggan

Tuesday October 09 2012

A SENIOR bishop has rejected claims that a paedophile priest admitted to him in jail that he continued to abuse children after a parish transfer.

Bishop of Confert John Kirby insisted allegations that he knew the man known as ‘Priest A’ had abused eight more children after he was moved in 1990 amid allegations of abuse were “incorrect”.

The claims relate to a priest who was sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment in 1994.

It is understood the priest, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was charged with 57 counts of abuse. He served five years. But a newspaper has claimed the priest made a full admission to Bishop Kirby after he was convicted.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

Mon, 10/08/2012

by
Cindy Wooden,
Catholic News Service

Catholic efforts to reach out to lapsed members must show them the relevance of faith today, but “must do so without losing its rootedness in the great living faith tradition of the church,” Cardinal Donald W. Wuerl of Washington told Pope Benedict XVI and bishops from around the world gathered at the Vatican.

Wuerl, appointed by the pope as relator of the world Synod of Bishops on the new evangelization, introduced the synod’s work Oct. 8 with a global overview of the challenge of evangelization today, and laid out the values that he said must be the foundation of the church’s outreach.

Speaking in Latin, the cardinal addressed the pope, synod members, experts and observers for more than 45 minutes. …

At a news conference following his speech, Wuerl was asked if the synod would examine and acknowledge ways, such as the clerical sex abuse crisis, in which the church has alienated Catholics.

“The church is always called to reflect on herself,” the cardinal said. “Every member of the church is called to ask, ‘Am I living out the faith to the fullest?'”

The synod members must ask themselves: “How well are we proclaiming Christ?” he said. “It’s not a matter of words; it’s also a matter of actions, it’s a matter of how we respond to others, it’s also a matter of our prayer life.”

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VATICAN CITY
Chiesa

The spiritual director. Cardinal Sardi. Former manager Ingrid Stampa. All in support of the pope, in words. But Benedict XVI is the first victim of the disaster

by Sandro Magister

ROME, October 8, 2012 – Three years in prison, reduced with attenuating circumstances to a year and a half. This is the penalty to which the tribunal of Vatican City-State has sentenced the pope’s former butler, Paolo Gabriele:

> Sentenza del Tribunale…

But Gabriele’s sentence for the theft of documents from the pope’s apartment does not at all remedy the disorder into which the central government of the Catholic Church has been plunged.

On the contrary, his trial has brought into even greater focus how vulnerable the pope’s sphere of activity is, even when it should have the greatest protection.

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IRELAND
RTE News

Former president Mary McAleese has said she is not troubled by the idea of gay marriage.

She has also revealed that when Cardinal Bernard Law accused her of being “a very poor Catholic president” in front of dignitaries she told him it was none of his business to tell her whether she was or not.

Mrs McAleese made her comments in a pre-recorded television interview with Gay Byrne.

On The Meaning of Life programme, to be broadcast tonight, she reaffirmed her strong support for marriage and the family.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

RITE & REASON: It is right we celebrate the last Vatican council but there were significant failings also, writes GERARD MOLONEY

NEXT THURSDAY marks a momentous anniversary for the Roman Catholic Church as 50 years ago, October 11th, 1962, the opening session of the Second Vatican Council began.

Bishops gathered to consider the great issues affecting the church. Nothing would be quite the same again. It is still difficult to credit the impact and scale of the council’s achievements.

To have lived through that period of change and hope must have been extraordinarily exciting. It was a good time to be alive and to be Catholic. …

Fifty years on, it is right that we celebrate the many insights and achievements of Vatican II but it is clear that there were significant failings also. The council didn’t address adequately major issues around sexual morality, especially contraception, second unions and homosexuality, which have become a source of increasing division within the church.

It failed to address the problem of clericalism and clerical culture, now brought into sharp relief by the sex abuse scandals.

The church failed to put into practice the principle of subsidiarity – in other words, to devolve power to local churches and not centralise everything in Rome. And so there was a failure of collegiality and a failure to give any real voice or authority, not only to lay people and clergy, but also even to local conferences of bishops.

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IRELAND
Leitrim Observer

Published on Monday 8 October 2012

A bishop has rejected allegations that a paedophile priest confessed to him in jail to the continued abuse of children after a parish transfer.

Bishop of Clonfert John Kirby was forced to issue the denial following reports that he moved a known abuser from one parish to another in 1990 and that the convicted cleric went on to attack.

“I am not aware of an acknowledgement by ‘Priest A’ that he abused any child subsequent to October 1990, the date when I first learned of his sexual abuse of a child,” Bishop Kirby said.

The long-serving senior cleric, heavily criticised by the Catholic Church’s own watchdog for mishandling allegations in his diocese, insisted last month that he did not know if the priest went on to abuse after a parish transfer.

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IRELAND
The Sun (United Kingdom)

By CLAIRE GORMAN

Published: 10 hrs ago

SHAMED bishop John Kirby must be prosecuted, furious abuse survivors declared last night.

The call came after reports the bishop was aware a priest he had moved after allegations of child sex abuse went on to target children in a new parish.

Last month he had insisted the cleric did not assault children in the new parish he switched him to.

Abuse survivor Christine Buckley, below, said: “Bishop Kirby needs to be prosecuted by the gardai because he has broken the law.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Altoona Mirror

October 9, 2012

By Zach Geiger (zgeiger@altoonamirror.com) , The Altoona Mirror

HOLLIDAYSBURG – David Clohessy stood alone Monday morning on the side of South Logan Boulevard with a handful of laminated portraits of smiling children clutched tightly in his hands.

At times pausing to wipe tears from his eyes, Clohessy, the director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), said the children in the pictures – his own childhood photo included – were all abused by members of the clergy.

Clohessy said he wants the Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown to share its own portraits: portraits of diocesan priests accused of sexual misconduct and abuse involving children.

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CHILE
Prensa Latina

Santiago de Chile, Oct 8 (Prensa Latina) The Bishop of Iquique, Marco Antonio Ordenes, the youngest of Chile, resigned after being investigated by the Vatican for sexual abuse of a minor.

Ordenes announced his decision in a letter to Pope Benedict XVI, through the apostolic nuncio Ivo Scapolo, representative of the Holy See in the southern country, reported the newspaper La Tercera.

Sources from the clergy confirmed that Scapolo advised the bishop to submit his resignation at a meeting they held in early October.

After the Vatican accepts the request, one of the bishops of the Great North could assume his duties temporarily, as apostolic administrator.

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PENNSYLVANIA
We Are Central PA

By: Kevin Flanigan

Updated: October 8, 2012

ALLEGHENY TOWNSHIP, BLAIR COUNTY – A demonstration to draw attention to child sexual abuse was set up outside the Altoona -Johnstown Catholic Diocese office near Hollidaysburg by a national group on Monday morning.

The national director of “Survivors network of those Abused by Priests” organized the event. David Clohessy says he was the victim of abuse at the hands of a Priest when he was a child. He stood outside the Church Offices holding a sign with photos of children he said were a few of the victims of child sexual abuse at the hands of priests.

Clohessy, as representative of “SNAP” is calling on Bishop Mark Bartchak to seek out victims of abuse and publicize the names of other priests suspected of abuse. The demand comes after an investigation into allegations that another local priest, Father George Koharchik, is responsible for molesting a number of young victims. That case is now in the hands of the Cambria County District Attorney. No criminal charges have been filed.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

PATSY McGARRY

BACKGROUND: IT IS over six weeks since this reporter was first contacted by a known and trusted source with information indicating that the Bishop of Clonfert, John Kirby, had been aware since the mid-1990s that a priest he had moved following a report of child abuse, continued to abuse children in the new parish.

In subsequent discussion with this and other sources it also emerged that the priest, who was sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment for the sexual abuse of one child, told Bishop Kirby in the mid-1990s that he had abused 17 children in the diocese. Five of those children, it was indicated, had been abused in Creagh parish, to which the priest had been moved by Bishop Kirby in 1990.

This was contrary to statements issued by the bishop on September 5th and at weekend Masses in Clonfert diocese on September 15th and 16th last. In each he suggested that the priest did not abuse in the parish to which he moved him. The Irish Times remains confident of the credibility of its sources in preparing this story.

But there is another matter. Three weeks ago, on September 17th last, Bishop Kirby was facilitated with all the details published in The Irish Times yesterday by way of a number of specific questions. On receipt of those details, through the Catholic Communications Office in Maynooth, he asked to meet this reporter to discuss same. That was agreed. He was also informed that the meeting would be on the record. It was suggested it take place coincident with the Irish Episcopal Conference’s autumn meeting at Maynooth, on September 25th and 26th last.

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VATICAN CITY
Irish Times

PADDY AGNEW

In a surprising development, Pope Benedict has appointed Msgr Charles Scicluna of the Congregation For The Doctrine Of The Faith (CDF) to the post of auxiliary bishop of his native Malta.

In his role as Chief Prosecutor at the CDF, Msgr Scicluna (53) for much of the last decade has been the Holy See’s senior man with regard to priests and allegations of sexual abuse.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

PATSY McGARRY, Religious Affairs Correspondent

THE BISHOP of Clonfert, John Kirby, has denied reports in this newspaper yesterday that he “had knowledge or suspicion” that a priest known as “Priest A” continued to abuse children subsequent to him learning of the cleric’s conduct in October 1990.

He also stated that contrary to what was reported, he had not been “aware of an acknowledgement by Priest A that he abused any child subsequent to October 1990”.

Bishop Kirby said this was the date when he first learned of the priest’s sexual abuse of a child.

He denied also that he (Bishop Kirby) was in receipt of any complaint and said: “I have neither knowledge nor suspicion that Priest A abused a child in either of the parishes of Kiltormer or Creagh subsequent to October 1990.”

Yesterday’s report in The Irish Times said Bishop Kirby “has been aware since the mid-1990s that a priest he moved following allegations of child sex abuse continued to abuse children in his new parish, contrary to statements by the bishop last month.”

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IRELAND
Irish Times

A FORMER priest who indecently assaulted five schoolboys 30 years ago has been given an 18-month sentence.

The 76-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to five counts of indecent assault on the boys on dates between 1979 and 1981.

The boys were aged between 11 and 13 years at the time of the offences, which took place in the then priest’s home and at a nearby school. The man has no previous convictions. The court heard two 11-year-old boys were invited into the accused’s house on the premise of delivering leaflets, and were abused there. Another boy, also 11, was told by the accused he had been selected for a trip abroad, and was abused when he went to meet the man to find out about the trip.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by David Clohessy on October 08, 2012

Below is a letter sent today by fax and email to Bishop Matt Bartchak of the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown:

Survivors Network of those Abused By Priests
Chicago, Illinois 60622-5474
312-455-1499

10/8/12

Dear Bishop Bartchak:

We and belong to a support group called SNAP (the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests). Our mission is to heal the wounded and protect the vulnerable.

We are calling on you to take a simple, inexpensive, common sense and long overdue step toward these goals: post the names of all credibly accused priests within his diocese on your website, in you diocesan newspaper, and in parish bulletins.

This is a minimal step that helps parents, parishioners and the public know who and where these predators are, so that kids can be kept away from them.

Roughly 30 US bishops have done this (almost always after considerable public pressure.) None, as best we can tell, has regretted it. You’ve had ample time to do so without external prodding. Please use your considerable resources and ‘bully pulpit,’ Bishop, to at least let parents, public and parishioners know who and were these child molesting clerics are and were, so that the vulnerable may be safeguarded and the suffering may be validated.

In addition, we also beg you to

— seek out others who may have seen or suspected child sex crimes by a recently arrested priest, Fr. George Koharchik,

— personally visit each parish there Fr. Koharchik worked, begging other victims to come forward, get help, and call police.

Last month, law enforcement officials announced they’re investigating this priest. You, your staff and your flock have both a moral and civic duty to help them. Your actions – or inaction – could lead to a potentially dangerous sex offender walking free on a technicality or getting a short sentence and later hurting others. Please take clear public steps to help police and prosecutors do their jobs effectively in this case.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Voice from the Desert

What: A media conference on behalf of a Penn State University/Jerry Sandusky sexual abuse victim from Massachusetts.

Where: Outside the Centre County, PA Courthouse, North Allegheny and High Streets, Bellefonte, PA, 16823

When: Tuesday, October 9, 2012 immediately following the Jerry Sandusky sentencing hearing.

Who: The co-founder and President of Road to Recovery, Inc., the agency that currently is helping a Jerry Sandusky victim heal from the ravages of horrific sexual abuse on the campus of Penn State University. Road to Recovery has been assisting with the daily needs of the victim since his release from a Massachusetts prison.

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NIEDERLANDE
Der Standard (Osterreich)

Regierungskommission legte Bericht vor

Den Haag – Hunderte Kinder sind in niederländischen Heimen und Pflegefamilien oft jahrelang sexuell missbraucht worden. Das hat eine Regierungskommission in einem am Montag vorgelegten Bericht über Missbrauch in staatlichen Heimen seit 1945 festgestellt. “Ministerien, Heime und Jugendämter haben beim Schutz der Kinder versagt”, sagte die Vorsitzende der Kommission, Rieke Samson, in Den Haag. Der Bericht schockierte die Niederlande.

800 Fälle von sexueller Gewalt waren bei der Kommission gemeldet worden. 42 Fälle wurden der Staatsanwaltschaft übergeben. Opferverbände wollen von den Behörden Schadenersatz fordern.

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AUSTRIA
National Catholic Reporter

Mon, 10/08/2012

by
Christa Pongratz-Lippitt

Vienna, Austria
The Vienna archdiocese, which is one of the largest in Europe and extends from the Czech frontier down to the southern Alps, will undergo radical parish reforms, reducing its 660 parishes to 150 in the next 10 years.

“This is the most comprehensive reorganization of the Vienna archdiocese since that of Austrian Emperor Joseph II [1765-1790] 200 years ago,” Cardinal Christoph Schönborn told journalists at a Sept. 19 media reception in the archbishop’s palace in Vienna.

The main reasons for these measures were the increasing shortage of priests and the steady decline in the number of Catholics, especially of those who regularly attended Mass and were involved in their local parishes, the cardinal explained.

“I am fully aware that these reforms denote a far-reaching change of perspective,” Schönborn said. “We must take leave of the traditional concept that the church is only present where there is a priest. That is a restricted view that has developed over time but which must now be corrected. Church is community, and leading offices in the church should in principle be carried out collaboratively, even if the parish priest has the final responsibility according to canon law.”

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VATIKAN
Nachrichten (Osterreich)

ROM. Papst Benedikt XVI. hat die deutsche Mystikerin, Äbtissin und Autorin Hildegard von Bingen am Sonntag zur Kirchenlehrerin ernannt. Sie habe als “bedeutende weibliche Gestalt des 12. Jahrhunderts” einen wertvollen Beitrag zur Entwicklung der Kirche ihrer Zeit geleistet.

Das sagte der Papst bei einem Gottesdienst auf dem Petersplatz in Rom. Hildegard habe sich als eine Frau von “lebhafter Intelligenz, tiefer Sensibilität und anerkannter geistlicher Autorität” erwiesen.Die Benediktinerin und Medizinerin (um 1098 bis 1179) wirkte als Visionärin, Mystikerin und Heilkundlerin. Sie wurde bald als Heilige verehrt, aber erst im Mai in den Heiligenkalender der katholischen Kirche aufgenommen. Zum Kirchenlehrer erhob der Papst auch den heiligen Johannes von Avila.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Der Tagesspiegel

Vor 50 Jahren begann in Rom das Zweite Vatikanische Konzil. Zum Feiern besteht aber kein Anlass, sagt der Theologe Hans Küng. Im Interview spricht er über den Zustand der katholischen Kirche, Papst Benedikt – und den Islam.

Am 11. Oktober feiert die katholische Kirche den Beginn des Zweiten Vatikanischen Konzils vor 50 Jahren. Feiern Sie mit?

Zum Feiern besteht meiner Ansicht nach kein Anlass, eher zu einem Bußgottesdienst oder einer Trauerandacht. Überall auf der Welt empfinden viele Katholiken eine tiefe Trauer über die Entwicklung unserer Kirche und nicht wenige haben deshalb der Kirche den Rücken gekehrt. Die Restaurationspäpste Johannes Paul II. und Benedikt XVI. haben das Konzil rückwärts interpretiert.

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SCHWEIZ
Kipa

Luzern, 7.10.12 (Kipa) Nach Luzern wollen auch die Kantone Uri und Nidwalden die Missbrauchsfälle in ihren Kinderheimen aufarbeiten lassen. Das schreibt die Neue Luzerner Zeitung (6. Oktober). Konkrete Missbrauchsfälle sind aber gemäss der Zeitung aus diesen Kantonen bisher nicht bekannt.

In Nidwalden gab es um 1930 sechs Kinderheime. Was dort geschah, soll im Rahmen der Erarbeitung einer Nidwaldner Kantonsgeschichte beleuchtet werden.

In Uri führten Ingenbohler Schwestern seit 1887 ein Kinderheim. Zunächst sollen mehr Informationen gesammelt werden dazu, ob es zu Missbrauch gekommen ist, bevor man allenfalls überlegt, ob eine ähnliche Studie wie in Luzern angebracht ist.

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BELGIEN
BRF

Bei der Aufarbeitung der Missbrauchsfälle kommt die katholische Kirche ihren Verpflichtungen nicht nach. Das schreibt heute die Zeitung De Standaard unter Berufung auf den sozialistischen Abgeordneten Renaat Landuyt, der Mitglied des zuständigen Parlamentsausschusses ist .

Die Kirche mache die Opfer sexuellen Missbrauchs mundtot, so der Vorwurf. Sie versuche alles, um Prozesse wegen Vertuschung und Amtsmissbrauch zu verhindern. Zwei Klauseln in der Vereinbarung zwischen den Missbrauchsopfern und der Kirche haben Renaat Landuyt aufhorchen lassen.

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

IRELAND
Irish Independent

By Ed Carty

Monday October 08 2012

A BISHOP has rejected allegations that a paedophile priest confessed to him in jail to the continued abuse of children after a parish transfer.

Bishop of Clonfert John Kirby was forced to issue the denial following reports that he moved a known abuser from one parish to another in 1990 and that the convicted cleric went on to attack.

“I am not aware of an acknowledgement by ‘Priest A’ that he abused any child subsequent to October 1990, the date when I first learned of his sexual abuse of a child,” Bishop Kirby said.

The long-serving senior cleric, heavily criticised by the Catholic Church’s own watchdog for mishandling allegations in his diocese, insisted last month that he did not know if the priest went on to abuse after a parish transfer.

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

SAN FRANCISCO (CA)
Virtue Online

By David W. Virtue & Mary Ann Mueller
www.virtueonline.org
October 8, 2012

Episcopal California Bishop Marc Andrus is livid. A few days ago, he gave the new San Francisco Roman Catholic archbishop a backhanded welcome to the neighborhood stressing the wonders of The Episcopal Church’s Millennium Development Goals. and Then he turned on the high level cleric for not showing appropriate pain for gays and his church’s alleged “oppression” of gays.

At the installation of the new Archbishop, Andrus showed up late and missed the procession of interfaith clergy who were to be seated up front. The enthronement was held at the Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Assumption, a sweeping paraboloid geometric type structure with a saddle roof. It seats more than two thousand. Representatives from the Jewish community, the Buddhists, and the Mormons in addition to Orthodox and Protestant Christians were seated. Church staff said they were looking for an opportunity to bring the bishop in without disrupting the service, according to diocesan spokesperson George Wesolek. When they went to retrieve him, he had already left.

Andrus got into a snit and plastered the Internet with his own interpretation of events.

He issued multiple press releases about his poor treatment. The Episcopal press took to fainting in their couches. The archdiocesan communications director said, “He wants a fight.”

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

IRELAND
Herald

Monday October 08 2012

A bishop has rejected allegations that a paedophile priest confessed to him in jail to the continued abuse of children after a parish transfer.

Bishop of Clonfert John Kirby was forced to issue the denial following reports that he moved a known abuser from one parish to another in 1990 and that the convicted cleric went on to attack.

“I am not aware of an acknowledgement by ‘Priest A’ that he abused any child subsequent to October 1990, the date when I first learned of his sexual abuse of a child,” Bishop Kirby said.

The long-serving senior cleric, heavily criticised by the Catholic Church’s own watchdog for mishandling allegations in his diocese, insisted last month that he did not know if the priest went on to abuse after a parish transfer.

Amid reports that the priest confessed in jail, the bishop said he had not received the information. “Again, contrary to what is claimed, I am not in receipt of any complaint and I have neither knowledge nor suspicion that ‘Priest A’ abused a child in either of the parishes of Kiltormer or Creagh subsequent to October 1990,” Bishop Kirby said.

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

IRELAND
RTE news

Bishop of Clonfert John Kirby has denied an Irish Times report that he knew or suspected that a priest he moved following allegations of child abuse continued to abuse children.

Bishop Kirby said: “Contrary to what is stated in today’s Irish Times, I am not aware of an acknowledgement by ‘Priest A’ that he abused any child subsequent to October 1990, the date when I first learned of his sexual abuse of a child.”

The bishop said he had not received any complaints that ‘Priest A’ has abused a child in either of the parishes he was transferred to.

He said: “I have neither knowledge nor suspicion that ‘Priest A’ abused a child in either of the parishes of Kiltormer or Creagh subsequent to October 1990.”

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