ABUSE TRACKER

IRELAND
Irish Times

BARRY ROCHE, Southern Correspondent

BOARDING SCHOOL: GARDAÍ HAVE confirmed that they expect to forward a file to the DPP before the end of the month on allegations of clerical child sexual and physical abuse at a former boys’ boarding school run by the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart.

Gardaí in Cobh and Glanmire in Co Cork have spent the past year investigating complaints of abuse made by former pupils of the Sacred Heart College in Carrignavar relating to the 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s.

The complaints are of a historical nature and relate to when the college was a boarding school run by the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, whose members were among the teaching staff involved in the education at the time of about 200 boarders and 150 day pupils.

Originally a seminary, the school, which became coeducational in 1987, ceased taking boarders in 1995, the same year that the first lay principal was appointed.

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 Times

PATSY McGARRY

SACRED HEART: THE NATIONAL Board for Safeguarding Children review of the Sacred Heart Missionaries (MSC) found the congregation’s child protection policies were “deeply flawed”.

It said it was “difficult to express adequately the failure of this society to effectively protect vulnerable children”.

The congregation “failed to take account of admissions by perpetrators by passing them on to the appropriate authorities. It even failed to alert other church authorities of the risks posed by identified individuals.”

Leaders at the congregation “failed to discharge their responsibilities to protect vulnerable young people who would come in contact with members against whom credible allegations had been made or who had admitted to abuse”.

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

IRELAND
Irish Times

[Safeguarding Reviews 2nd Tranche – September 2012]

FIONA GARTLAND

DOMINICANS: ALLEGATIONS OF sexual abuse have been made against 27 Dominican friars since 1975, a review of that order has found.

Some 52 allegations were reported to gardaí, concerning the 27 friars, and two friars were convicted of offences against children.

One friar who had allegations made against him in 1990 was allowed to continue in ministry until 1995 and took part in national church initiatives aimed at improving responses to allegations of abuse.

The Review of Safeguarding Practice in the Irish Province of Dominican Friars, by The National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church in Ireland, said 12 of the 27 friars with allegations against them were alive at the time of the review.

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 Times

JOHN FALLON

CLONFERT: THE BISHOP of Clonfert Dr John Kirby has said it never occurred to him that he should consider resigning after it emerged that he had moved two priests at the centre of child sex abuse allegations to other parishes in the 1990s.

He also dismissed a suggestion that it was unwritten church policy in the early 1990s to move priests suspected of abusing children to other parishes rather than report them to the Garda.

Dr Kirby (73) said he “hadn’t a clue” about how paedophiles operated 20 years ago and thought that it was a case of “a friendship that crossed a boundary line”.

Dr Kirby, who has been bishop of Clonfert since 1988, said he would handle matters differently now if complaints emerged about a priest and, while he felt moving the suspected priests to other parishes might solve the problem, he denied it was church policy at the time.

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 Times

CARL O’BRIEN

SUMMARY: The audits point to common themes in the way abuse allegations were mishandled

AUDITS INTO Catholic dioceses and religious orders have revealed that hundreds of schoolchildren were exposed to serial abusers over a 35-year period in many communities across the State.

The reports into three religious orders and four dioceses have uncovered at least 335 child abuse allegations against more than 150 priests or members of religious orders.

The audits also found a higher proportion of abuse allegations against members of religious congregations than against priests in the dioceses that were audited.

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 Times

MARY MINIHAN

REACTION: A STATUTORY inquiry into child abuse could be considered “if it fulfils the purpose of protecting children” once ongoing investigations are completed, Minister for Children Frances Fitzgerald has said.

Fianna Fáil called on the Government to establish an independent inquiry with full statutory powers into child abuse in dioceses around the country.

Ms Fitzgerald said a comprehensive picture of how child protection was being practised by the Catholic Church would be provided by the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church’s ongoing review of dioceses and religious orders and a HSE national audit.

“If there is a need, if we feel that it fulfils the purpose of protecting children, we can examine whether we need to do something on a statutory basis,” she said.

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

IRELAND
Irish Times

[Safeguarding Reviews 2nd Tranche – September 2012]

PATSY McGARRY, MARY MINIHAN and JOHN FALLON

A LEADING advocacy group for victims of child sexual abuse has called for a Garda investigation of senior Catholic Church figures in Ireland following new disclosures concerning child protection practices in four dioceses and three congregations published yesterday.

The findings followed reviews of the dioceses of Clonfert, Cork Ross, Kildare Leighlin and Limerick, and the congregations of the Sacred Heart Missionaries, the Spiritans (formerly Holy Ghost Fathers) and the male congregation of the Dominicans.

The reviews were conducted by the Catholic Church’s own child protection watchdog, the National Board for Safeguarding Children (NBSC). Its chief executive Ian Elliott, who led the reviews, described the findings as “disappointing”.

Maeve Lewis, executive director of the One in Four group, said after publication of the findings yesterday it was “as if certain senior churchmen continue to believe that child protection procedures are optional, and they are above the law of the land”.

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

UNITED STATES
Huffington Post

Religion News Service | By David Gibson Posted: 09/05/2012

(RNS) The U.S. Catholic bishops’ point man on sexual abuse has said that the hierarchy’s credibility on fixing the problem is “shredded” and that the situation is comparable to the Reformation, when “the episcopacy, the regular clergy, even the papacy were discredited.”

Bishop R. Daniel Conlon of Joliet, Ill., last month told a conference of staffers who oversee child safety programs in American dioceses that he had always assumed that consistently implementing the bishops’ policies on child protection, “coupled with some decent publicity, would turn public opinion around.”

“I now know this was an illusion,” Conlon, chairman of the bishops’ Committee for the Protection of Children and Young People, said in an address on Aug. 13 to the National Safe Environment and Victim Assistance Coordinators Leadership Conference in Omaha, Neb.

His talk was published in the Aug. 30 edition of Origins, an affiliate of Catholic News Service.

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.

KANSAS CITY (MO)
KMBZ

Bishop Robert Finn goes to trial tomorrow. The Jackson County prosecutor’s office announced the criminal case has been reset from it’s original September 24th date.

Finn and the Kansas City-St Joseph Diocese are accused of failing to report suspected child abuse based on lewd photographs of children found on Father Shawn Ratigan’s laptop. Rebecca Randles represents several of the families in a civil case. She tells KMBZ a bench trial is risky.

“Sometimes it favors the prosecution and sometimes it favors the defendant. It kind of depends on what the parties want to get out of the trial, as to whether you choose to do a jury trial or you choose to do a bench trial.”

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.

KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter

Sep. 05, 2012
By Joshua J. McElwee

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The first Catholic bishop criminally charged in the decades-long clergy sex abuse crisis will not go before a jury, instead facing judgment from a local judge Thursday, according to court documents filed Wednesday.

The change indicates that Bishop Robert Finn, his Kansas City-St. Joseph, Mo., diocese, and county prosecutors have negotiated a set of “stipulated facts” they will present to the judge, who could rule the same day, said Mike Mansur, a spokesperson for the Jackson County, Mo., prosecutor’s office, where the bishop and diocese are charged.

Finn and the diocese had been set to go to trial by jury Sept. 24 on misdemeanor charges of failing to report suspicions of child abuse for their handling of Fr. Shawn Ratigan, a Kansas City priest who pleaded guilty earlier this month to federal charges of producing and attempting to produce sexually graphic material of minor girls.

“The parties in the case have been negotiating stipulated facts and testimony that will be presented tomorrow to the judge,” Mansur said. Following that presentation, he said, “we would expect then that the judge might rule in the case.”

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

UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Barbara Blaine on September 05, 2012

The head of the US bishops abuse panel admits he and his colleagues have no credibility because of recent scandals in Philadelphia and Kansas City. He’s half-right.

The real reason bishops’ credibility is “shredded” is because decades of secrecy, recklessness and callousness have been followed by one full decade of broken promises and continued deceit. It’s not because of one or two local scandals. It’s because bishops pledged real reform but have delivered only superficial change. They promised, in 2002, to change their actual behavior, but have only changed their formal policies.

Just recently, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the head of the US bishops’ conference, attacked a 16 year old victim on his website. Months ago, Archbishop Robert Carlson of St. Louis filed court papers trying to get private emails of a 19 year old victim.

It’s hundreds of on-going hurtful moves like these that have “shredded” bishops’ credibility. It’s not one or two bishops’ misdeeds.

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.

KANSAS CITY (MO)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Barbara Dorris on September 05, 2012

Bishop Finn is smart to ‘fast track’ this to limit the number of witnesses who will testify and expose his deceit and wrong doing. He knows that the more evidence that’s presented, the worse he’ll look.

We suspect Finn has arranged a plea deal so that the extent of his corruption will remain hidden.

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.

KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Kansas City Star

By JUDY L. THOMAS and MARK MORRIS
The Kansas City Star

Kansas City Bishop Robert W. Finn and the diocese he serves will appear in court Thursday for a bench trial on charges they failed to report suspicions of child abuse.

The unusual move, made public this afternoon in a court filing, will take a decision on their guilt out of the hands of a jury, and it avoids a lengthy trial that was to begin Sept. 24. The action also spares diocesan employees and victims and their families from testifying.

Prosecutors and lawyers representing Finn and the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph are sorting through a series of facts about the case, a spokesman for Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker said.

“This means that all the parties in the case — the diocese, Bishop Finn and the prosecutor’s office — are negotiating what the facts and testimony will be,” said Mike Mansur. “Those will be presented to the judge.”

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

UNITED STATES
Huffington Post

Tom Rastrelli

The condemnations and apologies have been forthcoming since Father Benedict Groeschel, a founder of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, told the National Catholic Register that some teenage victims of sexual abuse seduce their priest perpetrators. He also referred to convicted sex felon Jerry Sandusky as “this poor guy” before implying that Sandusky’s victims should have spoken out sooner.

The National Catholic Register removed the interview from its website and posted an apology explaining the publication of Groeschel’s “comment was an editorial mistake.” In addition, the Register “sought clarification from Father Benedict,” as if Groeschel’s 468 word “comment” wasn’t clear enough.

The Archdiocese of New York quickly condemned Groeschel’s statements, acknowledging the harm that such comments cause victims of sexual abuse and offering “profound sympathy” and prayers to those hurt by Groeschel’s words. Their communications director stated, “The Archdiocese of New York completely disassociates itself from these comments. They do not reflect our beliefs or our practice.”

As I write this post, Father Groeschel is listed on the faculty of St. Joseph Seminary in the Archdiocese of New York, where he is entrusted with the task of teaching pastoral psychology to future priests. The website of Trinity Retreat House (also in the archdiocese) greets visitors with a letter penned by Groeschel. If their statement of disassociation had any merit, would they not fire Groeschel?

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.

KANSAS CITY (MO)
WGEM

Posted: Sep 05, 2012

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – Jackson County prosecutors and attorneys for Bishop Robert Finn and the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph have agreed to have a judge hear their case weeks before their scheduled jury trial date.

Finn and the diocese are each charged with a misdemeanor count of failing to report suspected child abuse to the state. The charges stem from the Rev. Shawn Ratigan’s child porn case, in which church officials knew about photos on the priest’s computer but didn’t turn him in until six months later.

Finn has argued that he was not the diocese’s mandated reporter. He and the diocese also have challenged the constitutionality of the reporting law.

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

MAINE
Journal Tribune

By DINA MENDROS and TAMMY WELLS
Staff Writers

Published:
Wednesday, September 5, 2012

BIDDEFORD — The work of the New Beginnings Christian Mission on Main Street will continue, despite the arrest of the mission’s director, James Napier, 60, of Alfred. Napier, a former Biddeford middle school music teacher, was arrested at his home on Saturday on child pornography-related charges.

State Police detectives uncovered more than 100 images of child pornography on Napier’s home computer, according to a statement by Maine State Police spokesman Steve McCausland.

“The leaders of the mission are completely committed” to continuing the work of the mission, said Pastor Barry Judd, the chief executive officer of the mission’s board of directors. Judd is the pastor of the Oak Ridge Bible Church on Oak Ridge Road. The church has no affiliation with New Beginnings, he said.

“The congregation was stunned and saddened at the news of the arrest of Mr. Napier,” said Judd.

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 Times

Born in Dublin, Ian Elliott has worked for most of his adult life in Northern Ireland before being head-hunted by the Catholic Church to be chief executive of its new child protection watchdog, the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church in Ireland (NBSC).

The NBSC was set up by the Catholic Church to monitor its child protection practices.

It is funded by sponsoring bodies the Conference of Irish Bishops, the Conference of Religious of Ireland and the Conference of Religious in Ireland but operates independently.

Mr Elliott has been chief executive since July 2007.

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 Times

The following is a summary of previous reports on abuse in the Catholic Church

FERNS REPORT (OCTOBER 2005)

Investigated complaints made by 100 people against 21 priests, among them Seán Fortune. It strongly criticised the Catholic Church’s handling of allegations of child sexual abuse over a period of 40 years. From the 1960s until 1980, the report found Bishop Donal Herlihy regarded priests who sexually abused children “as guilty of moral misconduct” but said he did not seem to recognise “the wrongdoing was a serious criminal offence”. His successor, Dr Brendan Comiskey, “failed to recognise the paramount need to protect children, as a matter of urgency, from potential abusers” and the report accused him of providing erroneous information to one Garda inquiry and failing to co-operate fully with another.

MURPHY REPORT (NOVEMBER 2009)

Investigated cases involving 46 priests and more than 320 children, most of them boys. It found four successive archbishops of the Dublin archdiocese had handled allegations of child sexual abuse with “denial, arrogance and cover-up” and did not report the abuse to gardaí. It said the structures of the church facilitated the cover- up of abuse.

RYAN REPORT (MAY 2009)

Found that thousands of children suffered physical and sexual abuse over several decades in 216 residential institutions run by religious orders, implicating more than 800 priests, brothers, nuns and lay people. The Department of Education was found to have failed to carry out its “statutory duty of inspection” out of deference towards the religious congregation. The report said the religious congregations were not prepared to accept responsibility for the sexual abuse carried out by their members and did not listen to or believe people who complained of sexual abuse.

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

IRELAND
Irish Times

MARY MINIHAN

Minister for Children Frances Fitzgerald said she was shocked at some of the findings of the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church.

Ms Fitzgerald said best practice in child protection was ignored up until last year.

Seven reviews were conducted by the board into safeguarding practices at both diocesan and religious congregation level.

“The scale of past abuse recounted in these reviews is horrific, in particular as we know it took place, in many instances, in schools. But the extent of cover-up and the failures to safeguard children, whether by acts of commission or omission, is equally shocking,” she said.

Ms Fitzgerald was critical of the management of allegations of abuse and the alleged offenders.

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 Examiner

Wednesday, September 05, 2012

Barnardos chief executive Fergus Finlay has described as “a childish excuse” comments from Bishop of Clonfert John Kirby that he previously regarded paedophilia as a “friendship that crossed a boundary line”.

Seven audits into child safeguarding practices in the Catholic Church and religious orders were published today.

The reviews found a higher incidence of allegations of abuse within the three orders than in the four dioceses – and that there is still a failure to fully comply with child protection guidelines.

NBSCCC Chief Executive Ian Elliott has said the audits found some instances of very bad practice and described his shock and disappointment at some of the findings against the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart in particular.

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
BBC News

By Shane Harrison
BBC News

The audit was carried out for the Catholic Church by the National Board for Safeguarding Children
The Catholic bishop of Clonfert in east Galway has apologised for moving two priests from one parish to another in the 1990s after they had abused children.

Dr John Kirby has said he did not understand the nature of paedophilia at the time.

Bishop Kirby’s remarks follow the publication of the latest independent audit of child protection practises in four Catholic dioceses, mainly in the south and west of Ireland, and three religious orders.

He described his decision to move the priests on as “a grave mistake” but said he was no’t aware at the time of the sinister nature and repeat behaviour of the abuser or of the life-long damage caused to the child.

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
Belfast Telegraph

A long-serving bishop has sparked a storm of controversy over his fitness for the job after revealing he used to think paedophilia was friendship gone too far.

Ian Elliot, head of the Catholic Church’s child abuse watchdog, called into question the competency of Bishop John Kirby over the remarks following his audit of the Diocese of Clonfert.

“Care needs to be taken when appointing a bishop that you do not appoint a bishop with these attitudes,” Mr Elliot said. “These are basic competencies that everyone should have in authority. I’m not calling for anyone to resign but, for me, that’s an absolute basic requirement.”

Bishop Kirby, in charge of the diocese since 1989, made the ill-judged revelation on the back of apologies to survivors of two abusive priests he moved from one parish to another in 1990 and 1994. Although he signed off the transfers, he also notified gardai of the allegations.

Bishop Kirby claimed he did not understand paedophilia in an attempt to explain why he adopted the standard church response of the time to transfer clerical child abusers.

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 Examiner

Wednesday, September 05, 2012

A long-serving bishop has sparked a storm of controversy over his fitness for the job after revealing he used to think paedophilia was friendship gone too far.

Ian Elliot, head of the Catholic Church’s child abuse watchdog, called into question the competency of Bishop John Kirby over the remarks following his audit of the Diocese of Clonfert.

“Care needs to be taken when appointing a bishop that you do not appoint a bishop with these attitudes,” Mr Elliot said.

“These are basic competencies that everyone should have in authority. I’m not calling for anyone to resign but, for me, that’s an absolute basic requirement.”

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

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Weekly

The church is far from candid about its supposed price tag for responding to its sex-abuse charges.

By Tara Murtha

With the trial against ex-priest Father Charles Engelhardt and former schoolteacher Bernard Shero beginning yesterday, the Philadelphia Archdiocese is making headlines yet again. The archdiocese has been in the news constantly lately, between the landmark conviction of Msgr. William J. Lynn; the battle over statute of limitations on child-sex abuse; the closing of many Catholic schools; and all the brouhaha surrounding the incipient sale of a few lavish real-estate holdings—including Villa St. Joseph, a 19-room, 9,800-square-foot house on the Jersey shore featuring two elevators and assessed at $6.2 million.

And in article after article, the figure $11.6 million pops up.

The $11.6 million—you may have seen it in the news as $11 million, $10.6 million or $10 million—is, reporters inform us, the price the church has paid so far responding to “the current clergy sex-abuse scandal” or, to use ever-so-slightly clearer language, “the latest grand jury investigation into clergy sex-abuse and the criminal prosecution of Msgr. William J. Lynn.”

The figure is never attributed. It just hangs there, as if it is confirmed fact. Trouble is, it’s not. So where’s it from?

This past June, amid international headlines about the case against Lynn, the Archdiocese published a document titled the “Financial Report of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.”

The introduction to the report was written by Archbishop Charles Chaput: “The cost of responding to the grand jury report, the investigations related to priests on administrative leave, the subsequent criminal and civil legal proceedings and the investigation into the embezzlement has been heavy.” Chaput states that “roughly $1.6 million” of these “extraordinary costs” occurred fiscal 2011, with the remaining $10 million or so accruing in the time period ending March 31, 2012.

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.

KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter

by Bill Tammeus on Sep. 05, 2012 A small c catholic

As the Catholic church works through the horrific, dispiriting priest abuse scandal and attendant cover-up by bishops, there’s been little to applaud. But when something does go right — or at least mostly right — it’s worth noting.

That’s especially true in the Kansas City-St. Joseph, Mo., diocese. There, Bishop Robert Finn and the diocese are scheduled for a trial starting Sept. 24 on misdemeanor charges of failing to report suspected child abuse by Fr. Shawn Ratigan, who has pleaded guilty to using five girls to produce or try to produce child pornography.

Finn created a five-point plan for the diocese to respond to abuse allegations. The second point called for “appointment of an independent public liaison and ombudsman to field and investigate any reports of suspicious or inappropriate behavior.”

That ombudsman turned out to be Jenifer Valenti, a former assistant prosecuting attorney in Jackson County, Mo. After a year on the job, she issued her first report in July describing the 79 cases brought to her attention, 20 of which had to do with sexual abuse.

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

IRELAND
The Irish Catholic

6 Sep 2012

Michael Kelly

The latest audits into the Irish Church’s handling of abuse allegations reveal that while substantial progress continues to be made, there are still worrying areas of non-compliance with agreed procedures.

The reviews – carried out by the independent watchdog the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church (NBSCCC) – revealed that one religious congregation was not reporting such allegations to the civil authorities as recently as July 2011. The reports also show that religious congregations were not following the Vatican’s procedure on reporting all allegations to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) as recently as 12 months ago.

Chief Executive of the NBSCCC, Ian Elliott said that the “reviews indicate that full compliance has not yet been achieved by all of those reviewed, although many examples of excellent practice were found”.

According to Mr Elliott, good practice and sound development, found across the different Church authorities, has been welcomed by the board, which also noted the need to learn from examples of poor practice.

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
Breaking News

Bishop of Clonfert John Kirby said today that he had previously regarded paedophilia as a “friendship that crossed a boundary line”

He told Galway Bay FM that he has learned “sadly since” and it was a very difficult experience.

The bishop was speaking after the publication of seven audits into child safeguarding practices in the Catholic church and religious orders.

Three religious orders were also examined – the Dominicans, the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart and the Spiritans.

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
Leinster Leader

Published on Wednesday 5 September 2012

Some 18 allegations of sexual abuse were made against 10 priests in the Kildare and Leighlin Diocese between January 1975 and May 2012.

That is according to the review published on Wednesday morning by the Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church.

Just two of these priests connected with the report are still alive, but neither are still ministering within the church.

“My thoughts today are with the survivors of abuse and with their families and I respectfully apologize to them for the hurt and offence they have carried and are still carrying,” said Monsignor Brendan Byrne, Diocesan Administrator, in a statement Wednesday lunchtime.

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.

AUSTRIA
Catholic San Francisco

September 5th, 2012
By Sarah MacDonald

DUBLIN – The leader of the Austrian Priests’ Initiative said the dissident group’s call to disobedience reflects the lack of accountability among those who exercise power and authority in the Catholic Church.

Msgr. Helmut Schuller told Catholic News Service that reform and substantive structural change are “essential for the future of the church” in Europe and the wider world.

The Priests’ Initiative, which now represents 500 clergy in Austria, wants the Vatican to revive the “Lex Ecclesiae Fundamentalis” project initiated by Pope Paul VI following the Second Vatican Council. The project, which sought to establish a common fundamental code or church constitution similar to the U.S. Bill of Rights for church members, was shelved by Pope John Paul II in 1981.

“We are talking about providing basic rights for the people of God and a structure of participation in decision-making and feedback between the top, center and base of the church. We also want to establish a system of control for those who hold power and authority in the church,” said Msgr. Schuller, former vicar general of the Archdiocese of Vienna and former director of Caritas Austria.

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.

MISSOURI
The Turner Report

A Friday, September 7, meeting has been scheduled in U. S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, to hear arguments from Kanakuk officials and the family that is suing them about Kanakuk’s refusal to turn over names of sexual abuse victims of former camp director Pete Newman.

Lawyers representing the victim, referred to in court records as John Doe, are asking for the names to reveal a pattern of abuse by Newman that Kanakuk officials allegedly allowed to continue for years.

Newman is now spending two life sentences in a Missouri prison.

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

UNITED KINGDOM
Eastbourne Herald

Published on Wednesday 5 September 2012

THE ORGANISATION which runs churches across Eastbourne and was heavily criticised in a new report, has said it will do all it can to change.

The Diocese of Chichester was described as dysfunctional, arrogantly in denial, its history of safeguarding young children had fallen woefully short and a place where priests were able to officiate without up-to-date CRB checks.

The report was penned after intervention by the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams.

It also followed the arrests of retired Canon Gordon Rideout from Polegate who now faces more than 30 charges of sex abuse and priest Robert Coles from Upperton Road who is also facing allegations of sexually abusing young children.

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

IRELAND
Irish Independent

By Barry Duggan

Wednesday September 05 2012

THE Diocese of Limerick received 45 separate complaints of child abuse concerning 26 priests from 1975 to the present.

State authorities including the gardai were notified of all complaints, but not a single criminal conviction was recorded.

Some complaints refer back to the 1940s and the last date of alleged abuse took place in 1994.

When the complaints were made in relation to the 26 priests, 14 were already dead.

Of the 12 priests that were investigated – despite the fact that all were cleared of any criminal wrongdoing – the Diocese took the decision to remove five elderly priests from their ministry.

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 Ralph Riegel

Wednesday September 05 2012

THREE Irish priests who retired to a Cork diocese from overseas were found to have been convicted of child abuse in another country, according to a report by Catholic Church’s own watchdog.

The revelation came as the Bishop of Cork and Ross, Dr John Buckley, said that priests feel “very demoralised” by the clerical abuse controversies that have rocked the Irish church over recent years.

Dr Buckley’s comments came at the National Board for Safeguarding Children (NBSC) published their review of child protection practices in the diocese.

The report found that the Diocese of Cork & Ross now boasts one of Ireland’s best child protection regimes – and was found to have fully or partially complied with all 46 safety criteria.

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 Louise Hogan

Wednesday September 05 2012

Eighteen allegations of sexual abuse have been made against 10 priests in the Catholic Diocese of Kildare and Leighlin over the past 37-years, a report revealed today.

The review by the church’s child safety watchdog, the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church (NBSCCC), issued 12 recommendations to make child safety structures “more robust”.

The report stated it was “regrettable” that not all of the suggestions about actions to improve child safeguarding outlined in a report in July 2006 had not been followed up by the time of the review.

Monsignor Brendan Byrne, Diocesan administrator, said work was underway on fulfilling the recommendations as soon as possible including the appointment of a lay person as a designated person on the child safeguarding team.

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
98 FM

The latest reports from the National Board for Safeguarding Children have been released, dealing with over 300 allegations of abuse against 146 priests and members of various religious congregations.

The four dioceses reviewed are Cork and Ross, Limerick, Clonfert and Kildare and Leighlin. The three religious orders are the Dominicans, the Spiritans and the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart.

The damning report says that while good practices were observed in places, there were too many examples of a blind eye being turned to abuse.

An audit in the parish of Kildare and Leighlin found that 18 allegations of sexual abuse were made against 10 priests from the diocese since 1975. Only one of those was convicted.

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
Galway News

September 5, 2012
The report states that this was a significant shortcoming that had a knock on effect in safeguarding structures and practices in the diocese.

The National Board for safeguarding children is now recommending the safeguarding policy and procedures be finalised as a matter of urgency.

It’s also recommending that Bishop John Kirby divest himself of the responsibility for dealing with allegations alone, by ensuring all new allegations are referred to designated persons.

There were three priests incardinated into the diocese of Clonfert against whom allegations have been made since 1975.

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
Newstalk

CLONFERT

The Bishop of Clonfert in Galway has apologised for moving two priests who sexually abused children to different diocese.

John Kirby says while he did notify civil authorities at the time he profoundly regrets moving the priests concerned to different parishes thereby placing others at serious risk.

Both of the changes took place in the early to mid-1990s.

He says he ‘utterly condemns’ the actions of the priests concerned.

The Bishop says this was “a grave mistake” on his part and that he would operate very differently now and will continue to do so in future.

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

Seven reports reviewing child protection practices in a number of Ireland’s Catholic dioceses and religious orders have been published.

The audits have found a higher incidence of abuse allegations against members of religious congregations than against priests in a number of dioceses that have been audited.

Reports on the audits say full compliance with child protection guidelines is still some way off.

The audits were conducted by the National Board for Safeguarding Children in four dioceses and, for the first time, three religious congregations.

They deal with more than 330 allegations of abuse against 146 priests and members of those congregations.

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
Breaking News

An audit of child safeguarding practices at the diocese of Cork and Ross has found that 26 priests had allegations of abuse made against them between 1975 and 2011.

Three priests against whom allegations were made remain in ministry, while seven have retired.

The National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church raised concerns about priests retiring into the geographical area of the diocese of Cork and Ross from dioceses in Britain.

The board said that information on the status of these priests was not as forthcoming as it should have been from their home dioceses, which resulted in a lack of awareness of potential risk to children.

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

IRELAND
The Southern Star

BISHOP of Cork and Ross, John Buckley, has offered his apologies ‘to all who have suffered as the result of abuse by Church personnel’ following a review by the Church’s child protection watchdog, the National Board for Safeguarding Children.

‘No apology, no gesture of repentance or sorrow can ever make up for the suffering caused to children and their families’, said Bishop Buckley, who prayed ‘that the Lord’s healing power will give them peace.’

‘Every single victim has been offered access to counselling support and therapy offered by the diocese. They were let down by people who professed the Gospel of Jesus Christ. There is no place in the Church for those who would harm the young.’

The purpose of the review was to confirm that the diocese manages all complaints in accordance with the guidelines issued by the National Board, said Bishop Buckley. The diocese of Cork and Ross was one of four dioceses and three religious congregations to be the subject of reviews.

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 Times

Bishop Donal Buckley has been told to ensure that the diocese of Cork and Ross reviews and, if necessary, revises its safeguarding children policy document.

The National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church (NBSCCC) audit found that the advice was written in 2009, two years before the Diocesan Child Protection Committee had sight of two important national documents, Children First, and the HSE Child Protection and Welfare Practice Handbook.

Another issue it flagged up was that the diocese does not set out timeframes for resolving child abuse complaints.

The audit stated that allegations have been made against 26 priests in the diocese since 1975, and eight of the clerics have died.

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 Times

Allegations have been made against 26 priests in the diocese of Limerick, 14 of whom have since died, an audit has found.

Eight priests who faced allegations are out of ministry or left the priesthood, but no clerics have been convicted of an offence since 1975.

Some 34 complaints of child abuse were received by gardaí and 41 by health authorities, the report said.

Overall, Limerick was found to have met 44 of the 48 criteria for safeguarding children in the church.

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 Times

ALISON HEALY in Co Carlow

Some 18 allegations of sexual abuse were made against 10 priests in the diocese of Kildare and Leighlin between 1975 and May of this year, according to a report published by the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church.

The diocese covers 56 parishes in Co Carlow and parts of Kildare, Laois, Offaly, Kilkenny, Wicklow and Wexford.

Two of the priests against whom allegations were made are still living. One of those, Fr Peter Cribben, was convicted of the abuse of a 14-year-old boy in March 2009.

The second priest was not subject to a criminal charge. Monsignor Brendan Bryrne, diocesan administrator, said both were “completely out of ministry” and receiving diocesan supervision.

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 Times

Telephone numbers and websites of support services

HSE national counselling service

Information line for adults who have experienced childhood abuse or neglect

Freephone: 1800-235234 (Mon to Fri, 9am-5.30pm) hse-ncs.ie

Connect – National Adults Counselling Service

Freephone: 1800-477477 (Northern Ireland or UK: 0800-47747777) Wednesday-Sunday: 6-10pm; connectcounselling.ie

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 Times

FIONA GARTLAND

Allegations of sexual abuse were made against 27 Dominican friars since 1975, a report published this morning has said.

The Review of Safeguarding Practice in the Irish Province of Dominican Friars, carried out by the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church in Ireland found 52 allegations had been reported to gardaí and the Health Service Executive.

Two friars have been convicted of offences against children since 1975.

Some 12 of the 27 friars against whom allegations were made were still alive at the time to the review.

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 Times

PATSY MCGARRY, Religious Affairs Correspondent

A review of child safeguarding practices in the Holy Ghost congregation has found that 142 abuse allegations had been made against 47 Spiritan or Holy Ghost priests since January 1st 1975.

Eight of the priests are still alive, with three out of ministry.

Three Spiritan priests have been convicted of abuse in the courts.

The review found that that Spiritan case files made for “very sad reading”, with evidence that there were serial abusers who worked in school communities in Ireland who “went undetected and unchecked giving them unmonitored access to children during the 1960s, 70s and 80s.”

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 Times

PATSY McGARRY, Religious Affairs Correspondent

The Bishop of Clonfert has apologised for moving two priests from one parish to another in the 1990s after they abused children.

Dr John Kirby said he had a lack of understanding about the sinister and recidivist nature of the child abuser and the lifelong damage that the destructive behaviour has on victims.

“Most of all – whilst I did notify the civil authorities at the time of these complaints – I profoundly regret and apologise for moving the priests concerned to different parishes, thereby placing others at serious risk,” he said.

Dr Kirby said the decision to transfer the abusive priests in the early to mid-90s was a grave mistake.

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 Times

Bishop Donal Buckley has been told to ensure that the diocese of Cork and Ross reviews and, if necessary, revises its safeguarding children policy document.

The National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church (NBSCCC) audit found that the advice was written in 2009, two years before the Diocesan Child Protection Committee had sight of two important national documents, Children First, and the HSE Child Protection and Welfare Practice Handbook.

Another issue it flagged up was that the diocese does not set out timeframes for resolving child abuse complaints.

The audit stated that allegations have been made against 26 priests in the diocese since 1975, and eight of the clerics have died.

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 Ralph Riegel

Wednesday September 05 2012

THREE Irish priests who retired to a Cork diocese from overseas were found to have been convicted of child abuse in another country, according to a report by Catholic Church’s own watchdog.

The revelation came as the Bishop of Cork and Ross, Dr John Buckley, said that priests feel “very demoralised” by the clerical abuse controversies that have rocked the Irish church over recent years.

Dr Buckley’s comments came at the National Board for Safeguarding Children (NBSC) published their review of child protection practices in the diocese.

The report found that the Diocese of Cork & Ross now boasts one of Ireland’s best child protection regimes – and was found to have fully or partially complied with all 46 safety criteria.

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
The National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church in Ireland

See Safeguarding reviews of the Dioceses of Clonfert, Limerick,Cork & Ross,Kildare & Leighlin and the congregations of the male Dominicans, Spiritans & MSC’s

Diocese of Clonfert
Diocese of Limerick
Diocese of Cork & Ross
Diocese of Kildare & Leighlin
Male Dominican
Spiritans
Missionaries of the Sacred Heart (MSC)

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
The National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church in Ireland

Conclusions
1. It is difficult to express adequately the failure of this Society to effectively protect vulnerable children. Their actions indicate a disregard for the suffering of victims and a misunderstanding of the nature of the problem within the Society.

2. As a result of the abuse that should have been prevented, it is reasonable to speculate that a great deal of suffering has occurred. In the assessment of the NBSCCCI it could have been prevented but those who should have taken action to prevent it either chose not to do so or were effectively blocked from doing so by a wall of secrecy which did not permit child protection information to be shared. This worked very much in the favour of those who had caused harm to children and wanted to continue to prey upon them.

3. People who were aware that abuse had been admitted to saw no need to report that fact to the Garda Síochána. The internal communication that took place with the Superior General in Rome, we are told, was verbal in nature and not recorded. Although it seems extraordinary that such serious matters should be dealt with in such an informal way, this must be seen as yet another example of the lack of understanding that existed in this Society and that what they were dealing with actually mattered very much.

4. Two basic principles underpin the current Church safeguarding policies in force in the Catholic Church in Ireland today. They are that children should be protected from harm and those that cause harm to them or allow it to happen, should be held accountable for their actions. The investigation of the child protection practice in this religious community is an excellent example of why those principles are now in place in the Church in Ireland, and why they must be adhered to by everyone within the Church without exception.

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
The National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church in Ireland

Recommendation 1: The Designated Person develops posters and leaflets as suggested within the NBSCCCI training manual for display in all houses of Spiritan ministries, highlighting current information on policies, procedures, reporting information, along with a list of who to contact within the Spiritan Congregation, An Garda Síochána and HSE, if there is a safeguarding concern.

Recommendation 2: The Provincial Leadership Team must extend an invitation to people to come forward who have not yet disclosed their abuse (using approaches which may include notices on the website and public notices and where there is identifying information, letters through, for example, An Garda Síochána, solicitors or other relevant third parties). These complainants should be offered counselling and support.

Recommendation 3: The Designated Person must record all contacts relating to the management of cases and contact with survivors, irrespective of whether the respondent is alive or deceased. This should also include contact with the families of survivors.

The files are stored in a fireproof strong cabinet, in the Provincial’s office. Access to the records is by the designated person and two other members of the Provincial Leadership Team. In discussion with the advisory panel, which was re-constituted in July 2011, they have been given access to the records, following the signing of a Data Processing Deed and agreements around confidentiality. It must be noted that the congregation did not have an advisory panel for many years and the fact that this has now changed is to be commended. Prior to the fieldwork, a Provincial Chapter took place and a new Provincial Leadership Team was appointed. The new team should familiarise themselves with the content of the files to ensure continuity of decision making and management of risk.

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
The National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church in Ireland

To improve communication in this area, NBSCCCI recommends:

Recommendation 1: That in order to communicate more openly, there should be a safeguarding icon on the Dominican website, with information relating to the policy and procedures and guidance on how to make a complaint.

Recommendation 2: That posters located in all Dominican properties need to be refreshed with current information on policies, procedures, reporting information, along with a list of who to contact within the Dominican Order, An Garda Síochána and HSE, if there is a safeguarding concern.

Recommendation 4: The designated person must ensure that all new files contain a narrative account of action and copies of all correspondence, criminal prosecutions, civil actions and other relevant documentation.

Recommendation 5: In the four 4 cases of men out of ministry, the designated person should seek to set up a master file with a chronology of events from the first reported allegation to current day. This file should detail all complainants and responses made to them by the order, investigations undertaken by the civil authorities, enquiries/assessments undertaken by the order, risk management plans and reviews of these as well as any advice obtained whilst managing the case.

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

IRELAND
The National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church

Recommendation 1:

That when the Kildare and Leighlin Diocesan Child Protection Committee’s current review of the Diocesan Safeguarding Children Policy and Procedures is completed, Monsignor Byrne will ensure that they are consistent with Children First, 2011, and with the HSE guidance document, Child Protection and Welfare Practice Handbook, 2011.

In his Introduction to the August 2009 document, the then Bishop stated that the Diocese of Kildare and Leighlin is committed to “working in partnership with the civil authorities to ensure that all aspects of child welfare are managed promptly, professionally and justly”. He underlined the principle that the diocese and the diocesan community have an obligation “to create and sustain a culture of safety”. He also undertook on behalf of the diocese to ensure that the document would be reviewed and revised regularly and would always be “‘a work in progress’“. This policy and procedures document is available on the website of the Kildare and Leighlin Diocese, www.kandle.ie/safeguarding.

The quality and clarity of the information and guidance contained in the Diocese of Kildare and Leighlin Safeguarding Children Policy and Procedures and on its dedicated website page is commended.

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
The National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church

Recommendation 1:

Bishop Buckley needs to ensure that the Cork and Ross Diocesan Child Protection Committee reviews and if necessary revises, the current Safeguarding Children in the Diocese of Cork and Ross to satisfy himself that they are consistent with Children First, 2011 and with the HSE guidance document, Child Protection and Welfare Practice Handbook, 2011.

The production of the revised policy and procedures document was one of the outcomes of a full diocesan review of safeguarding initiated by Bishop Buckley in 2011. The following elements or functions were included as part of this internal review process:

The engagement of an external consultant to plan and facilitate the process A diocesan consultation process A review of all safeguarding publications A review of training A review and refreshing of the membership of the Diocesan Advisory Panel A review of the work of the diocesan Relapse Prevention Group A review of the deployment and work of Local Parish Representatives

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
The National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church in Ireland

Recommendation 1

 The Administrator and the Director of Safeguarding should consult with NBSCCCI to ensure that the redrafted policy and procedures adhere to national guidelines.
 The Administrator and the Director of Safeguarding must ensure that awareness-raising of the diocesan policy and procedures takes place, and that implementation of the redrafted procedures is audited on an annual basis.

The review team met two diocesan priests, one directly involved in safeguarding and one a parish priest with responsibilities within his parish for safeguarding children. They both stated their continued commitment to ensuring the safety of children in the Church, but felt that the scandals of the last few years, the loss of their bishop and constant negative media attention contributed to their lack of confidence in working with children. They feel that the appointment of a lay safeguarding director has helped give them an assurance that the policies, procedures and systems in the diocese are effective, but that it will take

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
The National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church

Recommendation 1.
 Bishop Kirby must ensure the finalisation of the Clonfert Diocese Safeguarding Policy and Procedures as a matter of urgency. A reader-friendly summary version should accompany the full procedures.
 Bishop Kirby, with assistance from his committee, priests of the diocese and those with communications skills in the diocese, should launch, distribute and ensure the implementation of the policy and procedures.
 As Clonfert is within the metropolitan Area of the Tuam Archdiocese, Bishop Kirby should consider seeking the support of safeguarding personnel of that Archdiocese in completing this essential work in the shortest possible time.

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
Breaking News

05/09/2012

Allegations of abuse were made against 18 priests of the Diocese of Limerick between 1975 and March of this year, a news report has revealed.

The National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church in Ireland report said that 34 claims were reported to gardaí, while 41 were brought to the attention of health boards.

None of the priests in the Diocese have been convicted of having committed an offence against a child, since 1975.

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
Gorey Guardian

Wednesday September 05 2012

The Bishop of Clonfert has apologised for moving two priests from one parish to another in the 1990s after they abused children.

John Kirby said he had a lack of understanding about the sinister and recidivist nature of the child abuser and the lifelong damage that the destructive behaviour has on victims.

“Most of all – whilst I did notify the civil authorities at the time of these complaints – I profoundly regret and apologise for moving the priests concerned to different parishes, thereby placing others at serious risk,” he said.

Bishop Kirby said the decision to transfer the abusive priests in the early to mid-90s was a grave mistake.

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

UNITED STATES
Seasons of Grace

September 4, 2012 By Kathy Schiffer

Thank you, Father Groeschel. Through the years, your steadfast teaching has kept us on a steady course in our Christian walk. By your humility and your love, you have taught us how to embrace Christ in the people we meet along life’s journey. Through your wise counsel, you have helped us to grow in understanding of the Catholic faith. May God bless you for your faithful service, and may He comfort you as you seek to do His will in the seclusion of monastic life.

This is a sad day for people who have listened spellbound to the no-frills message of a great man of God, Father Benedict Groeschel. Today Father Groeschel, age 79, has stepped down as host of EWTN’s “Sunday Night Prime” television show.

You probably know why: The Internet has been a-flurry with news of his recent inflammatory comment regarding children who have been abused by Catholic priests. In an interview which was published August 27 in the National Catholic Register, Father Groeschel opined, “Suppose you have a man having a nervous breakdown, and a youngster comes after him. A lot of the cases, the youngster—14, 16, 18—is the seducer.”

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

ROME
Corriere della Sera

ROMA – Il suo ruolo nello Ior e lo scontro con la segreteria di Stato vaticana sulla normativa antiriciclaggio. Le paure per la propria incolumità. Ma soprattutto i suoi rapporti di amicizia e di affari con l’amministratore delegato di Finmeccanica Giuseppe Orsi che gli confidò di aver affidato «consulenze false» alla moglie di Vittorio Grilli, l’attuale ministro dell’Economia, e di aver così «risolto alcuni problemi» della signora. Sono le clamorose rivelazioni contenute nei verbali del banchiere Ettore Gotti Tedeschi che confermano l’ampia collaborazione dell’ex presidente dell’Istituto opere religiose con i magistrati di Roma e Napoli. E svelano quali siano i nuovi filoni d’inchiesta aperti dopo le sue dichiarazioni.Il 5 giugno scorso il banchiere ha subito una perquisizione ordinata dai magistrati napoletani Vincenzo Piscitelli e Henry John Woodcock che indagavano proprio sulla natura del legame con il manager al vertice di Finmeccanica.

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.

ITALY
Reuters

MILAN, Sept 5 | Wed Sep 5, 2012

(Reuters) – Finmeccanica head Giuseppe Orsi denied press reports on Wednesday that he had ordered faked consultancy services from the wife of Vittorio Grilli, who is currently Economy Minister.

“I have never in my life ordered consultancy services from the wife of Professor Grilli, neither as Chief Executive of Finmeccanica nor in the past as CEO of AgustaWestland,” Orsi said in an emailed statement in response to media reports.

A report in the Il Corriere della Sera alleged that wiretaps by prosecutors indicated that the former head of Vatican bank IOR Ettore Gotti Tedeschi had said that Orsi had told him he had contracted for “false consultancy services” from Grilli’s wife.

The newspaper said Gotti Tedeschi’s comments were contained in the minutes of judicial inquiries.

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

CONNECTICUT
Patch

By Paul Petrone

At his court date Tuesday, it was revealed Fr. Dennis Carey is a patient at St. John Vianney Center in Downington, PA, “a faith-centered community that specializes in the treatment of behavioral health issues that are unique to Catholic clergy,” according to the center’s website.

Carey was formerly the head pastor of Waterford’s St. Paul in Chains Rectory until he was arrested in July when police found 338 files of child pornography on computers he owned inside the Roman Catholic Church. Carey had his third court appearance Tuesday, where his case was continued until October 15.

At the appearance, Judge Susan B. Handy confirmed that Carey is a patient at the center, although she said he would be discharged soon to live either with his sister in Westchester, NY, or his parents, who live near Boston. Carey met $100,000 bail in July and was released on several conditions, including mandates to not to interact with children, to avoid the Internet and to not possess any pornography.

The center, according to its website, is a member facility of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and offers a “multi-disciplinary, research-based approach to the behavioral health issues of Catholic religious and priests.”

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

WASHINGTON
The Columbian

By Laura McVicker
Columbian Staff Reporter

A former Bible camp counselor was sentenced Tuesday to 35 years in prison for sexually abusing two children he knew through church.

Michael Scott Norris’ sentencing in Clark County Superior Court has been a long time coming. The Vancouver man, 46, was jailed in August 2006 on the sex abuse allegations, but his case remained in limbo for years over an evidence dispute.

In addition, Clark County prosecutors had to wait until federal prosecutors completed their child pornography case this spring against Norris.

On Tuesday, Judge John Wulle imposed the maximum sentence for Norris, noting how disturbing the case has been. “The cruelty you have shown these children … just boggles the mind,” Wulle 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.

IOWA
Nonpareil

Posted: Wednesday, September 5, 2012

By Mike Brownlee
mbrownlee@nonpareilonline.com

A former church volunteer faces up to 30 years in prison over allegations of sexual abuse committed 14 years ago in Council Bluffs.

Bobby E. Smith, 68, of El Dorado Springs, Mo., faces three counts of third-degree sexual abuse and one count of indecent contact with a child. He’s accused of sexually abusing a 12-year-old boy in Council Bluffs during the summer of 1998, according to the Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office.

Assistant County Attorney Dan McGinn said Smith met the boy through First Baptist Church in Harlan, where Smith was a volunteer. After the boy was unable to come on a church-sponsored fishing trip, Smith offered to take the boy on a separate, non-church sponsored fishing trip.

The pair went to Lake Anita in Cass County and after the trip traveled to Council Bluffs, where Smith told the boy they’d go shopping. While in route Smith allegedly fondled the victim. Once in the city Smith booked a room at a local hotel.

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

NEW YORK
Patch

By Bob Marrone

Even within the free speech venue that is WVOX, some subjects require special handling, if you will. Religion, race and the subject of Israel, when not articulated carefully, can bring a lot of negative feedback and result in suspension or even the loss of one’s job.

Yes, speech in such matters is free; the consequences, however, can be very costly.

Nonetheless, I have charted a course on the radio of criticizing the Catholic Church’s problems with respect to sexual abuse and what I believe to be, at minimum, the contributing factor of celibacy. As I prepared to return to the air from my break, I began to wonder if I didn’t have a little of Joe Paterno in me.

The local papers noted the fall from grace of Iona College’s former president Brother James Liguori; the recent arrest of the former leader of the Salesians, Reverend Richard McCormick, on rape charges; and the comments of Father Benedict Groeschel, also of Westchester, that it is young people who seduce clerics into child abuse. Indeed, maybe I—we—have grown too tolerant and too respectful of the church to acknowledge this problem, even as it has manifested itself right here in Westchester.

At times, when I have introduced this subject on the air, I have been met with the accurate, though irrelevant, feedback that I am picking on the church and that the issue of child abuse exists in proportion throughout society and in other religious organizations. I buy that it exists all over society and I have written about it here. But I no more accept the notion of proportionality than I do the argument from my liberal friends that there is just as much crime in suburban areas as there is in the inner city. Both are either polite notions of political correctness or undue deference to the status of religion.

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

ILLINOIS
KZIM

A Southern Illinois pastor charged with having a sexual relationship with a minor will get a new fitness hearing! 74-year-old Billy Vandergraph of Alto Pass was arrested in July 2010. He is charged with predatory criminal sexual assault of a child and two charges of aggravated criminal sexual abuse. Police contend he committed two sexual acts with a 4-year-old girl between January and May 2010. Vandergraph underwent a treatment plan and the judge ruled in April 2011, he is fit to stand trial.

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

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

By Joseph A. Slobodzian
Inquirer Staff Writer

Tuesday’s scheduled start of jury selection in the trial of a former Philadelphia priest and a Catholic schoolteacher on charges they sexually abused a 10-year-old altar boy was postponed after deaths in the extended family of a defense attorney.

Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Judge M. Teresa Sarmina set a status hearing Friday but announced that her trial schedule made it impossible for her to continue presiding.

Sarmina, one of nine judges assigned to handle only homicide trials, had been specially designated in 2011 to preside over the trials of four priests and one teacher charged after the Philadelphia grand jury report about the sexual abuse of minors by some priests in Philadelphia and efforts by archdiocesan officials to cover up the abuse.

Sarmina handled the three-month trial, which ended in June with the conviction of Msgr. William J. Lynn, the first church official charged for his supervisory role in dealing with priests accused of sexually abusing children.

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

UNITED STATES
Friendly Atheist

September 2, 2012 By Hemant Mehta

Rev. Thomas P. Doyle, O.P. is not a popular guy within the Catholic Church. Mostly because he has this nasty habit of calling them out on their shit.

In the video below, he speaks with host Allison Hope Weiner on the online show Media Mayhem about “Abuse, Cover-Up and the Catholic Church“:

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.

MAINE
WABI

[with video]

by Carolyn Callahan – September 4th 2012

Alfred – A pastor who works in Biddeford has been charged by State Police with possessing child pornography.

Police arrested Pastor James Napier, 60, at his home in Alfred on Saturday.

He is the pastor associated with New Beginnings Christian Mission, which, according to police, ministers to the poor and homeless in downtown Biddeford.

Police say they found more than 100 images of child porn on Napier’s computer. Police say the children depicted in the pornography appear to be under the age of 12. ” There is no indication that any of the images found on his computer were from Maine,” said Maine Department of Public Safety spokesman, Steve McCausland, via a press release.

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.

MAINE
Bangor Daily News

By Ryan McLaughlin, BDN Staff

Posted Sept. 04, 2012

BIDDEFORD, Maine — A York County pastor who works with homeless children is facing child pornography charges, according to police.

James Napier, 60, was picked up by police at his Alfred home by members of the State Police Computer Crimes Unit, according to a news release from Public Safety Spokesman Stephen McCausland.

Napier, the pastor associated with the New Beginnings Christian Mission in Biddeford, was charged with possession of sexually explicit material after a search of his computer turned up more than 100 child porn images, McCausland said in the statement.

The New Beginnings Christian Mission ministers to poor and homeless people in downtown Biddeford.

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.

MAINE
The Portland Press Herald

By Eric Russell erussell@pressherald.com
Staff Writer

BIDDEFORD — A local pastor who ministers to the homeless in downtown Biddeford has been charged with possession of child pornography.

James Napier, 60, was arrested Saturday at his home in Alfred by Maine State Police after detectives searched the residence and found more than 100 pictures on his computer of children, some under the age of 12, engaged in sexual activity.

Members of the state police computer crimes unit received a tip that led them to search Napier’s home, according to spokesman Stephen McCausland.

Napier is the pastor of New Beginnings Christian Mission, which ministers to the poor and homeless in Biddeford.

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.

MAINE
Sun Chronicle

Posted: Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Kate Irish Collins kcollins@keepmecurrent.com

ALFRED – A pastor from Alfred who works with the poor and homeless in downtown Biddeford is barred from having contact with anyone under the age of 18 and from using the Internet after being arrested this past weekend and being charged with possessing images of child porn, according to Steve McCausland, spokesman for the Maine Department of Public Safety.

James Napier, 60, who is associated with the New Beginnings Christian Mission in Biddeford, was arrested at his home in Alfred after the State Police Computer Crimes Unit received a tip on Aug. 31 about the more than 100 sexually explicit images later found on his home computer, McCausland said.

Napier was taken to the York County Jail in Alfred following his arrest on Sept. 1, but has since been freed on bail. His first court appearance is set for Oct. 23 at the Springvale District Court.

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.

MAINE
NECN

[with video]

(NECN) – A pastor who works with homeless people in downtown Biddeford, Maine has been charged by State Police with possessing child pornography.

Pastor James Napier, 60, was arrested at his home Saturday in Alfred, Maine by members of the State Police Computer Crimes Unit.

He was charged with possession of sexually explicit material. The charge is a felony because the children in the images appear to be under the age of 12.

Napier is the pastor associated with New Beginnings Christian Mission, which ministers to the poor and homeless in Biddeford.

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.

MAINE
WLBZ

[with video]

Written by
Caroline Cornish

BIDDEFORD, Maine (NEWS CENTER) — A pastor known for his work with the homeless in Biddeford has been arrested on charges he possessed child pornography. 60-year old Jim Napier was the director of New Beginnings Christian Mission in downtown Biddeford. State Police say Napier had more than 100 images of child porn on his computer at home. None of the photographs appear to have been taken locally, but the children do appear to be under the age of 12.

Police say the investigation started when they received a tip about Napier last Friday. He was arrested Saturday.

Pastor Barry Judd, the President of New Beginning’s board, said Napier called him to say what happened Saturday night. Judd would not say what Napier told him, only that Napier resigned his post and has lost his ordination with the Mission’s non-denominational church.

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

AUSTRALIA
ABC News

The founder of an advocacy group for victims of child abuse says she was ecstatic when she heard a Hunter priest had been charged with concealing a sex offender.

“Bravehearts” staff are in the region presenting their education show as part of National Child Protection week.

In an Australian first last week, police charged 74-year-old Father Tom Brennan with failing to report child sex offences committed by a defrocked priest in the 1970s.

“Bravehearts” Executive Director, Hetty Johnston says the charges are a significant step forward which she is hoping will have far reaching implications.

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.

CHICAGO (IL)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Melanie Sakoda on September 04, 2012

We are grateful that Bishop Matthias Moriak has addressed the rumors about him that have been swirling in Orthodox circles. The bishop of Chicago and the Midwest confirmed yesterday that he has been placed on a paid leave of absence while he is investigated by the Orthodox Church in America (OCA) for “inappropriate” behavior with a woman.

While we are grateful that the OCA appears to be handling the matter in accord with their sexual abuse policy, the group still appears reluctant to be transparent and open about such allegations. To date, no information about the charges or the investigation has appeared on the website of the OCA. The Church should be using every outlet available to them to publicize the allegations and to ask those with information to come forward.

Let’s hope that every person who can shed light on these allegations will find the courage and strength to speak up so that the truth can be known. If anyone has been the victim of a crime, or witnessed or suspected criminal behavior, they should report to the police before going to church authorities.

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

PENNSYLVANIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Barbara Dorris on September 04, 2012

We are glad that federal prosecutors are taking the child porn charges against Fr. Bartley Sorensen seriously. Children are always safer when predators are behind bars, and lengthy prison sentences teach predators that their actions are not without serious repercussions.

It is disingenuous to say that there is no evidence that Fr. Sorensen ever hurt a child, because due to the very nature of child porn, abuse must occur for this obscene material to be created in the first place. The possession and consumption of this type of pornography encourages its creation, and, by extension, the abuse of children worldwide. We hope that the judge sees through this hollow defense and will keep kids safe in the Pittsburgh area for years to come.

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

LOMBARD (IL)
My Suburban Life

By Sarah Small, ssmall@mysuburbanlife.com
Suburban Life Publications

Posted Sep 04, 2012 @ 01:56 PM

Lombard, IL —

Prior to the October meeting of the Montini Catholic High School Board of Directors, the executive committee will meet to discuss Rev. James Nowak’s position on the board, said James Segredo, president of the school.

Last week, Nowak was placed on temporary administrative leave after allegations were made that he sexually abused a minor more than 25 years ago.

Since the Board of Directors was formed at Montini Catholic in the mid 1990s, Nowak has served in an advisory capacity, said Segredo.

As an advisory member, he does not have an official vote.

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.

IOWA
U.S. Catholic

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

By Barb Arland-Fye
Catholic News Service

DAVENPORT, Iowa (CNS) — Two different standards for determining credibility of clergy sexual abuse claims compelled a bankruptcy judge to order the names of three deceased priests to be posted on the Diocese of Davenport website.

Diocesan leaders believe the 40-year-old accusations against the three priests are not substantiated by clear and convincing evidence. Davenport Bishop Martin J. Amos decided Sept. 4 not to appeal the judge’s decision. However, the list will include an explanation that accusations against the three priests were not substantiated by clear and convincing evidence.

“The names had already been made public in the press and the judge told us to post the names, so we will comply,” Bishop Amos said. “We will also provide our rationale for the conclusion we reached about the accusations.”

Kathleen Bowman, the Iowa woman who made the accusations, received a settlement from the bankruptcy court’s special arbitrator based on her claims. She said she was abused as a young child by the three priests: Fathers John Bonn, Michael Broderick and William Dawson, and she identified them by name in articles published in the Quad-City Times this summer.

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

UNITED KINGDOM
Chichester Observer

Published on Tuesday 4 September 2012

Dr Martin Warner, newly appointed Bishop of Chichester responded to the damning report on child abuse within the Chichester Diocese by saying there was much to learn from past mistakes, and hopes that the diocese will now enter a new era.

Dr Warner said: “We have much to learn from all that has happened and must be humble in doing so, accepting our failures, responding with honesty and penitence, and demonstrating proper and appropriate engagement with those who are the victims of criminal and sub-Christian behaviour.

“But the future of the diocese cannot be determined by the failures of the past. Review and vigilance will be required of us at all times in the matter of safety and welfare for those who are young and vulnerable.

“We are determined that this is a diocese in which the vulnerable will feel safe and will be safe. A new era has begun.”

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

UNITED STATES
Catholic News Agency

Irondale, Ala., Sep 4, 2012 / 10:42 am (CNA).- Franciscan friar Father Benedict Groeschel has stepped down as host of EWTN’s Sunday Night Prime television show following his apology for making comments about the sexual abuse of minors.

“Father Benedict has led a life of tremendous compassion and service to others and his spiritual insights have been a great gift to the EWTN family for many years. We are profoundly grateful to him and assure him of our prayers,” Michael P. Warsaw, president and CEO of EWTN Global Catholic Network, said Sept. 3.

“At the same time, we ask our EWTN family to pray for all those who have been affected by this painful situation and in particular those who have been victims of sexual abuse.”

Fr. Groeschel decided to step down from the program after consulting with EWTN and with his religious community, the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, Warsaw 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.

MILWAUKEE (WI)
Catholic Sentinel

Catholic News Service

The Milwaukee archdiocese will close or consolidate 103 of its 203 parishes through 2020.

Church officials pointed to three principal factors during the next decade:

•The number of priest retirements will exceed ordinations, resulting in a projected 40 percent reduction in the number of priests serving in parish ministry.

•The costs of operating parishes and funding ministries are escalating rapidly and parishes can gain economies of scale by collaborating with other parishes.

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

UNITED STATES
The League of Ordinary Gentlemen

by Kyle Cupp on September 4, 2012

As you’ve probably heard by now, an iconic priest named Father Benedict Groeschel depicted clerics involved in sexual abuse as the victims of seductive youngsters in a now-removed interview with the National Catholic Register. Both he and his religious order apologized for the comments, explaining that he did not intend to blame victims and that his mind and way of expressing himself are not as a clear as they used to be, and acknowledging that the remarks were untrue, insensitive, inappropriate, and hurtful. I’m familiar but not well acquainted with Father Groeschel’s work, but from what I gather, the words were out of character for him.

When I first read about this interview, I remembered that I had a book on the shelf by Father Groeschel, on the sex abuse scandal of all things. I’d never read From Scandal to Hope, which was published in 2002, but with his name in the news I picked it up and read most of it, while skimming a few sections here and there. Nowhere in the book did he blame the victims, I’m happy to report, but nor is the work about the victims. Instead, Father Groeschel charted a path for reform in the context of the abuse scandal, admitting that his course would lead to a Catholic ghetto, which he said would offer protection and be a cause of great identity. “One man’s ghetto is another man’s hometown,” he wrote.

In From Scandal to Hope, Father Groeschel complained a lot about the media feeding frenzy (warning Catholics to be loyal and not join in), which he labeled the work of Satan (along with the sins of abusive priests), and he devoted an entire chapter to how his church is being persecuted by its cultural enemies. He blamed the abuse scandal on mistakes, serious and egregious errors, negligence, bad psychology, and the “gay scene” in seminaries, while tracing the scandal’s root causes to relativism, skepticism, and dissent. “Today’s mistakes are not about misbehaving clerics,” he wrote. “That’s over. Today’s mistakes in the Church are about the continuing appointment of people who openly dissent from Church teaching.”

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.

ITALY
National Catholic Reporter

by John L Allen Jr on Sep. 04, 2012 NCR Today

Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini died in Varese, northern Italy, on Aug. 31 at the age of 85. Two weeks earlier, on Aug. 8, Martini gave a final interview to his fellow Jesuit Fr. George Sporschill, with whom Martini had collaborated on a book titled Nocturnal Conversations in Jerusalem, and an Italian friend named Federica Radice Fossati Confalonieri. Radice has told Italian media outlets that Martini read and approved the text of the interview, intending it as a sort of “spiritual testament” to be published after his death.

The following is an NCR translation of the interview published in Italian by the newspaper Corriere della Sera.

How do you see the situation of the church?

The church is tired, in the Europe of well-being and in America. Our culture has become old, our churches and our religious houses are big and empty, the bureaucratic apparatus of the church grows, our rites and our dress are pompous. Do these things, however, express what we are today? … Well-being weighs on us. We find ourselves like the rich young man who went away sad when Jesus called him to be his disciple. I know that we can’t let everything go easily. At least, however, we can seek people who are free and closest to their neighbor, like Archbishop Romero and the Jesuit martyrs of El Salvador. Where are the heroes among us who can inspire us? By no means do we have to limit them by the boundaries of the institution.

Who can help the church today?

Father Karl Rahner often used the image of the embers hidden under the ash. I see in the church today so much ash under the embers that often I’m hit with a sense of impotence. How can we liberate the embers from the ash, to reinvigorate the fires of love? For the first thing, we have to seek out these embers. Where are the individuals full of generosity, like the Good Samaritan? Who have faith like the Roman centurion? Who are enthusiastic like John the Baptist? Who dare the new, like Paul? Who are faithful like Mary Magdalene? I advise the Pope and the bishops to seek out twelve people outside the lines for administrative positions, people who are close to the poorest, who are surrounded by young people, and who try new things. We need to be with people who burn in such a way that the Spirit can spread itself everywhere

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.

VATICAN CITY
The Telegraph (United Kingdom)

At least 20 people were involved in stealing and leaking compromising documents from the Vatican, the Pope’s butler has claimed.

By Nick Squires, Rome
4:10PM BST 04 Sep 2012

Paolo Gabriele, who has been charged with aggravated theft and is likely to face a Vatican trial next month, told an Italian television programme that there were “at least 20 people” involved in the scandal.

The assertion contradicts the Vatican’s repeated insistence that the plot was small-scale and confined only to Mr Gabriele and a second person who has been charged with complicity, a Vatican computer expert named Claudio Sciarpelletti.

“The Pope wants to clean up (the Vatican) but is encountering difficulties,” Mr Gabriele, 46, told La7 television.

He said he had collaborated with more than 20 other people “who, like me, want to contribute to transparency.”

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

UNITED STATES
Americans United for Separation of Church and State

September 2012
Perspective
By Barry Lynn

Most summers, Americans United is happy to welcome three law clerks from three different law schools to join our legal staff for a few months and learn a little about what it’s like to work at an advocacy group.

Summer 2012 was no exception, and this year I had the opportunity to work personally on projects with each of them. I had been asked to be on a panel at the “Take Back The American Dream” conference organized by former Obama staff member Van Jones, give the keynote address at the annual convention of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) and do a workshop for Save Our Schools, a grassroots public education group. …

On to the next speech. I tapped Ben Birney to assist with my keynote address to SNAP. I wanted to make the point that the Catholic hierarchy’s demands to be exempt from otherwise applicable laws often goes too far, especially in areas dealing with child abuse reporting statutes, laws dealing with statutes of limitations for sexual assault and even job discrimination.

This can be heady stuff. It required Ben to research the institution’s efforts to have civil courts use canon law – official doctrinal stands of the church – instead of standard legal principles to decide cases (a path only a few courts have taken so far).

We constructed that speech to begin with references to the recent flap over birth control and, after laying some groundwork there, segued into the issues of most direct importance to this audience of abuse survivors and their families. The reception there was good as well, and I had plenty of interesting discussions afterward.

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

UNITED STATES
Huffington Post

Michael D’Antonio

In an interview that would appall any mature adult, a Catholic friar named Benedict Groeschel has explained that many of the priests guilty of sexually abusing minors are themselves victims of adolescents who “seduce” them. The 78-year-old Groeschel went on to question the criminalization of sex between these men and boys, and to argue that priest offenders “should not go to jail because their intention was not committing a crime.”

Although it’s hard to fathom that after 30 years of scandal any churchman would still be so confused about the criminality of adult priests committing sex acts with juveniles, we should also be grateful that Groeschel gives us the chance to review the Church’s problem with sex and power.

As long ago as 1970, psychiatrists Conrad Baars and Anna Terruwe warned about the sexual and emotional immaturity of celibate Catholic clergy, bringing their studies directly to authorities in Rome and to the American bishops. When the U.S. hierarchs then asked Eugene Kennedy and Victor Heckler to investigate, they found that too many priests “do not relate deeply or closely to other people” and use the institution and their status as “cover-ups for psychological inadequacy.” Their report described them as men whose “growth had been arrested” and who “function at a pre-adolescent or adolescent level of psychosexual growth.”

Coming, as it did, in an era of openness, the work of these experts could have prompted serious efforts to address the developmental problems of priests. Instead the Church turned away from the issue under Pope John Paul II. Given one last chance by the groundbreaking research of former priest Richard Sipe, who reported rampant sexual confusion among priests in a 1990, the authorities closed their eyes again. What followed were abuse scandals around the world, the incarceration of nearly 500 American priests, billions of dollars in settlements paid to victims and the collapse of public respect for the Church.

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

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
New York Daily News

By Victoria Cavaliere / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

The trial of a former priest and a parochial school teacher accused of molesting the same young boy was abruptly postponed Tuesday after a death in the family of a defense attorney.

A new trial date for Father Charles Engelhardt, 65, and ex-teacher Bernard Shero, 49, will be decided on Friday and the case will be turned over to a new judge because of scheduling conflicts.

The delay was likely to frustrate both the prosecution and the alleged victim, identified only as “Billy Doe.” Billy was allegedly repeatedly molested and raped by Shero, Engelhardt, and a third priest beginning in 1998 — one of the most disturbing complaints of child sex abuse to come out of the Philadelphia Archdiocese.

This was the second time the trial of Shero and Engelhardt had been delayed. The two men have pleaded not guilty.

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

UNITED STATES
The Buddhist Channel

The Buddhist Channel, July 22, 2012

Zen Studies Society’s controversial land deal with Nature Conservancy

New York, USA — This week, Gallup, Inc., a US, research-based performance-management consulting company issued a report entitled “U.S. Confidence in Organized Religion at Low Point.” It appears that confidence in “Organized Religion” in America has been is steady decline since the early 1970’s.

While the Gallup report deals primarily with “Christian” denominations, Catholic and Protestant, there is ample evidence that even relatively new, and somewhat obscure, organized religious traditions in America are also being questioned by adherents.

In America, everybody’s got to pay the rent, and the Zen Studies Society , a Zen Buddhist organization based in New York, with its two multi-million dollar centers, is no different. Upkeep is required if the two centers — Dai BosatsuZen monastery set on a 1,400-acre tract in the town of Hardenburgh, N.Y., and New York Zendo Sho Bo Ji, a converted carriage house on East 67th Street in Manhattan — are to survive.

But the Zen Studies Society has been feeling the crunch of late not just because of hard economic times but also because of a variety of scandals centering on the former abbot, Eido Tai Shimano – a man who, over a period of 46 years, stands credibly accused of a variety of depredations, including lying, character assassination, sexual misconduct and financial improprieties.

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

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Newsworks

September 4, 2012
By Associated Press

A former altar boy is slated to return to court to testify in a second priest-abuse trial in Philadelphia.

The 24-year-old says he was raped as a boy by two parish priests and his sixth-grade teacher. He’s spent much of his later life addicted to drugs, but his lawyer says he’s recovering.

Update, 10 a.m. The trial has been postponed after a lawyer in the Philadelphia case had a death in the family. The Rev. Charles Engelhardt and Bernard Shero are due back in court Friday to get a new trial date.

The other person accused, defrocked priest Edward Avery, is in prison after pleading guilty to sexual assault.

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

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
CBS Philly

By Tony Hanson

PHILADELPHIA (CBS)- The second part of the landmark clergy abuse case was scheduled to begin today with the trial of two men, a priest and a lay teacher, charged with sexually assaulting the same young boy when he was in 5th and 6th grade. But, the trial has been delayed indefinitely, because one of the defense attorneys suffered a death in the family and will be unavailable for several days.

The case will be assigned to a new judge and may be delayed by weeks or even months.

Father Charles Engelhardt, 65, is charged with sexually assaulting the then-fifth-grade student in the church sacristy at St. Jerome’s in the Northeast.

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

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

By Joseph A. Slobodzian
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

The trial of a former Philadelphia priest and a Catholic schoolteacher on charges they sexually abused a 10-year-old altar boy in 1998 and 1999 was abruptly postponed this morning because of deaths in the family of a defense attorney.

The Philadelphia Common Pleas Court room was set up for jury selection when Judge M. Teresa Sarmina announced the delay because of deaths in the family of Michael J. McGovern.

Court officials said that over the past several days, a sister-in-law died in Florida and McGovern’s uncle died in Philadelphia.

Sarmina set a status hearing for Friday but said the case would be transferred to a different judge because she has back-to-back homicide trials scheduled through the rest of the year.

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

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
CNN

By Sarah Hoye, CNN

updated 9:33 AM EDT, Tue September 4, 2012

Philadelphia (CNN) — A judge has postponed the trial of a Philadelphia Catholic priest and a parochial school teacher, both accused of raping the same altar boy in separate incidents.

The trial, scheduled to start Tuesday, was postponed due to a family emergency for a defense attorney. A new trial date could be set by the end of the week.

The Rev. Charles Engelhardt, who was a priest at St. Jerome Parish in northeast Philadelphia, and Bernard Shero, a teacher at the parish’s school, have been charged with rape, indecent sexual assault and other criminal charges in the alleged assaults that occurred more than a decade ago.

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

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
WPVI

Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA (AP) – September 4, 2012 (WPVI) — The Philadelphia rape trial of a Roman Catholic priest and a former Catholic school teacher has been postponed after a lawyer in the case had a death in the family.

The Rev. Charles Engelhardt and Bernard Shero are due back in court Friday to get a new trial date.

Their case has been severed from the high-profile trial earlier this year of a church official charged over his handling of abuse complaints. The Rev. William Lynn is appealing his landmark child-endangerment conviction while starting a three- to six-year prison term.

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

PENNSYLVANIA
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Tuesday, September 04, 2012

By Rich Lord, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

A suspended Catholic priest should serve eight to 10 years in prison for receiving and possessing child pornography, federal prosecutors wrote in a court filing Sunday.

Bartley Sorensen, 63, was caught viewing a pornographic image by an employee at Saint John Fisher Parish in Churchill a month after he was transferred there from Saint Anne Parish in Castle Shannon. He pleaded guilty in May, and is set to be sentenced Sept. 13.

Mr. Sorensen “searched for and acquired images of children being sexually abused for at least 10 years,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Craig W. Haller wrote in a sentencing memorandum. “Regardless of whether Mr. Sorensen ever commits another crime, he should be sentenced to a serious prison term for the serious child exploitation crime he has already committed and the corresponding harm he has already caused his victims.”

Mr. Haller said that federal sentencing guidelines suggest an term of 97 to 121 months, calling that “a reasonable sentence.”

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.

VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

The Pope’s butler speaks

Giacomo Galeazzi
Vatican City

He describes himself as a benefactor of the Catholic Church and refers to the “centrality” of the Holy Spirit to explain his actions. Last night, L’Infedele, a political talk show on Italian television channel LA7, broadcast a comprehensive interview with Paolo Gabriele, the Pope’s former butler who was arrested in May, on charges of stealing confidential documents from Benedict XVI’s apartment. Part of the interview had already been broadcast on LA7 without, however, revealing Gabriele’s identity. The former butler has provided a description of the individual that made the publication of the documents possible: there are at least twenty or so people involved, none of whom have any ties with powerful figures but who “share their leader’s [that is, the Pope’s] desire for purity.”

“It is an act of anger, because there is a sort of code of silence that is preventing facts from being brought to light, not because of power struggle but because of fear. In our country, one can carry out a massacre and leave undisturbed and 24 hours later, no one can talk about what happened,” Gabriele said, referring to the Estermann case. “Or a little a girl disappears for 30 years and there is no one who can give any information about what happened,” the former butler added, alluding to the Emanuela Orlandi case. The popular Pope Ratzinger Blog comments: “To think that it has been years that in our own small way we have been saying that the Pope wants to clean house but is finding it difficult, or rather, there is someone who is constantly trying to put obstacles in his way in the Curia and in the various dioceses.”

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

UNITED STATES
Bilgrimage

William D. Lindsey

On the weekend, a reader, Boltingmadonna, posted an extremely valuable response to my posting about Fr. Groeschel and his statement (for which he later apologized) that pubescent youths seduce priests who are then accused of abusing minors. As Boltingmadonna predicts at the end of her comment, Catholic blog sites are now seeing an avalanche of comments defending Groeschel. I myself am receiving emailed defenses of Groeschel and outraged denunciations of anyone who dares to question the wisdom of an elderly priest with a degree in psychology who has had such a high profile in American Catholicism through his EWTN program.

Because I think it’s critically important that American Catholics keep looking in the mirror and asking ourselves how we’ve become the kind of people, many of us, who are willing to defend a statement by a powerful priest that the abuse crisis boils down to teens seducing priests, I want to highlight Boltingmadonna’s comments in a stand-alone posting. They’re superb, and they deserve attention. She writes:

I keep trying to comment on this, and then giving up and walking away because it’s so disturbing that I fear I won’t be coherent. We used to have friends who knew Groeschel and thought he was a real saint. (And I’m not calling him “Father” Groeschel because he isn’t my father, and it is no longer my policy to let the Church dictate my honorifics.) I took their opinion at face value. And then I started listening to his talks. Holy moly, what a load of misinformation and bad faith. What a demonstration of good intentions swamped by the number of lies swallowed and spewed. This is what happens when people enslave themselves to the institution and destroy their own integrity in the process.

Then I learned that Groeschel was one of the counselors to whom rapist priests were sent for “evaluation.” He was responsible for sending a good number of abusers back into the population, where most if not all of them abused again. He was one of the pet “experts” who told the bishops these men were redeemable, one of the “experts” at whom they now point their fingers to direct blame away from themselves. Of course he told them what they wanted to hear! He was paid to do exactly that.

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

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
New York Daily News

By Victoria Cavaliere / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

A former priest and a parochial school teacher stand trial in Philadelphia on Tuesday, facing charges of molesting a 10-year-old boy in separate incidents more than a decade ago.

The victim, identified by prosecutors as “Billy Doe,” was allegedly repeatedly molested and raped by two priests and a teacher beginning in 1998, in one of the most disturbing complaints of child sex abuse to come out of the Philadelphia Archdiocese.

Now, one of those priests, Father Charles Engelhardt, 65, and ex-teacher Bernard Shero, 49, will be tried on multiple counts of rape and indecent sexual assault for the 1998-1999 attacks on Billy, a fifth-grader who was passed among his abusers, prosecutors allege.

The two men have pleaded not guilty.

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.

INDIA
DNA

Published: Tuesday, Sep 4, 2012, 8:00 IST
By Manish K Pathak

The Amboli police on Saturday arrested a father who had allegedly been sexually abusing his 17-year-old daughter for the past few months.

The arrested accused has been identified as Shantaram Gaikwad, 48, a resident of Amboli and a priest at a temple in Andheri (W).

According to the police, the victim, in her complaint, stated that her father had been touching her inappropriately over the past few months. Initially, she did not tell anyone as her Gaikwad had asked her to keep mum about it, threatening her with dire consequences.

“Then, around ten days ago, the mother walked in on them and saw what was going on. The girl then told her mother everything, after which the two of them came to the police station to lodge a complaint against Gaikwad. Gaikwad, however, pleaded with his wife and daughter and said that he would not do such a thing again,” said a police officer.

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.