ABUSE TRACKER

IRELAND
Vatican Insider

The Catholic bishop of Clonfert has publicly apologised for moving two priests to another parish after they were accused of committing sexual abuse against minors in the 90’s

Giacomo Galeazzi
Vatican City

Moving the two priests on to another parish was “a grave mistake”. The decision was completely inadequate given the seriousness of the accusations against him – John Kirby now admits -. “I was not aware at the time of the sinister nature and repeat behaviour of the abuser or of the life-long damage caused to the child,” the Irish bishop said.

So it seems the “unfaithful clergy” crisis has not yet come to an end, as Benedict XVI reiterated in his concluding video message for the International Eucharistic Congress in Dublin.

After a thousand-year-old history of loyalty to the Gospel, Ireland and the Irish Catholic Church have “recently been shaken in an appalling way by the revelation of sins committed by priests and consecrated persons against people entrusted to their care.”

The Pope denounced their actions, stating: “Instead of showing them the path towards Christ, towards God, instead of bearing witness to his goodness, they abused people and undermined the credibility of the Church’s message.” Under Benedict XVI, the Holy See’s response to the plague of paedophilia in the Catholic Church of Ireland has been tough.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

By David O’Reilly
Inquirer Staff Writer

A year after the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia passed into his hands, Archbishop Charles J. Chaput is arguably within his rights when he avows, “It’s hard to say I love it here.”

Since his installation on Sept. 8, 2011, the drama has been unremitting.

He has: closed nine parishes and 27 schools; laid off 18 percent of the archdiocesan administrative staff and shut down the 117-year-old newspaper to shrink a $17.5 million operating deficit; turned over management of the high schools to a private foundation; sold the cardinal’s mansion and put the retired priests’ Shore villa up for sale; led a fervid religious-freedom crusade against President Obama’s health-care law; seen his chief financial officer convicted of embezzling nearly $1 million; weathered the child-endangerment trial and conviction of the former head of the clergy office; removed seven sexually abusive priests from ministry – and in his words, “It’s still not finished.”

The problems have been so grave that any one of them “would be enough for one year, without being all in one year,” Chaput said recently.

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BOSTON (MA)
Boston Globe

[CORRECTED ONLINE VERSION – The Boston Globe posted this story online with 1,246 words missing, including the account of the second survivor to accuse Foley. This material appeared in the print edition, but not in the online edition. The incomplete posting also omitted a photo caption which stated that “Cardinal Joseph A. Ratzinger, then head of the Vatican office dealing with sexual abuse and now the pope, recommended that Foley be given an opportunity to defend himself.”

The Globe corrected its online version at approximately 10:25 a.m. on September 9, 2012, to include the omitted material. In order to view the complete article, click on the link above and refresh your browser window.]

September 9, 2012
By Lisa Wangsness

[Excerpt from the omitted portion:]

As the second alleged abuse victim describes it, there were any number of reasons why he didn’t bring an abuse claim to the archdiocese when so many other victims did, in 2002 and 2003. It was a time when he was busy establishing himself in his profession, and in his family life.

He also did not recognize what had happened to him as sexual abuse, he says. He blamed himself for allowing his relationship with Foley to continue for so long, into young adulthood.

But a couple of years ago, the man found himself reading the website of Bishop Accountability, an online archive of the abuse scandal, and came across the first complaint about Foley. It sounded so familiar. [See the material regarding the first allegation in BishopAccountability.org]

Foley had also approached him gradually, he said in an interview with the Globe, asking the then 12- or 13-year-old boy to show him his developing body, including his genitals.

The second alleged victim came from a large, working-class family. He was highly intelligent, and Foley could talk to him about academics in a way his parents couldn’t. The priest lavished him with attention and advice.

“He was like a teacher, he had real power,” the man said. “Especially because I was really believing all the church stuff.”

Foley began to take him into his private room at the Holy Name rectory and molest him, the man said. He cast the sessions as part of confession, saying they were necessary so that “there are no barriers between us.”

The man recalled standing in Foley’s private sitting room in the rectory one afternoon, staring at a closed door to the hallway, as Foley abused him. He was no more than 13.

“If someone even opens that door a crack,” he says he remembers thinking, “they are going to see me standing right here with no clothes on.”

But no one, he says, ever did.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Boston Globe

15 Boston priests facing abuse allegations have awaited a verdict for years, leaving both sides mired in a frustrating legal limbo

By Lisa Wangsness
Globe Staff / September 9, 2012

The Archdiocese of Boston has spent more than $22.5 million since 2000 on salaries and health benefits for clergy awaiting a resolution of their sexual abuse cases from the church’s internal legal system.

The majority of cases, which can determine whether a priest is restored to ministry or cast out for good, have been concluded. But some have sat unresolved for more than a decade. And the cost of supporting accused clergy continues to mount.

The archdiocese attributes the delays in part to the inherently slow penal process in the church’s justice system, known as canon law, and the deluge of cases after the church’s sexual abuse coverup was exposed.

But the long waits have delayed a resolution for both priests and victims, prolonging the crisis.

Fifteen Boston priests who were removed from ministry in 2004 or earlier still await the conclusion of their canonical cases, in the meantime earning as much as $40,000 a year, plus health benefits. One — the Rev. Paul F. Manning, who turns 72 this year — has not worked in the ministry since 1996.

In each of those cases, an archdiocesan investigator has made an initial finding that at least one abuse allegation against the priest appears credible, and the priest has been suspended from public ministry pending the outcome of his canonical proceeding.

Nicholas P. Cafardi, a prominent canon lawyer and professor at Duquesne University School of Law in Pittsburgh, said that trials conducted by the Catholic Church should not take more than three or four years.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Boston Globe

By Lisa Wangsness
Globe Staff
September 09, 2012

The Rev. James J. Foley Jr.’s fall from grace came swiftly. In 1999, while on temporary assignment in New Mexico, he was ordered to return home to Boston right away: A former parishioner had accused him of sexual abuse. Within days, Foley was removed from public ministry, then placed on leave.

Thirteen years later, he is a practicing attorney in the secular world — and still on the church’s payroll, having earned about $400,000, plus full health benefits, while his case has languished in the church’s internal legal system.

Foley, now 60, has survived in a kind of purgatorial state for years. The church has not yet decided whether to dismiss him.

Casting himself as an innocent victim of the church’s zero-tolerance policy on sexual abuse, he has fought removal from ministry relentlessly.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Chichester Observer

Published on Sunday 9 September 2012

A retired priest appeared in Chichester Magistrates’ Court on September 5, after being charged with 29 counts of sexual offences against three boys under the age of 16.

Reverend Robert Coles, 71, of Upperton Road, Eastbourne, is alleged to have committed 13 sexual assaults in Chichester on a boy then aged between 15 and 16, from 1982 to 1984, Sussex Police said.

There are a further 16 counts regarding two other boys aged between ten and 13 in West Sussex, Cornwall, Devon, Somerset and the Isle of Wight.

Mr Coles will appear in Chichester Crown Court on October 26, and remains on conditional bail until that date.

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IRELAND
Irish Central

By
DARA KELLY,
IrishCentral.com Staff Writer

Published Sunday, September 9, 2012

The Irish Catholic newspaper has predicted a 75 percent decrease in Ireland over the next 30 years, which means only 450 priests will be serving in Irish parishes by 2042.

According to TheJournal.ie, the figure was reached by examining imminent retirements and current ordination rates. Currently, there are 1,965 priests serving Ireland’s 26 dioceses.

Just 12 men entered the national seminary in Maynooth last month. On average, 50 percent of these men would be expected to drop out of the program.

The president of Maynooth said “massive changes” will be necessary within the church due to the lack of priests.

Right now there are 32 priests under the age of 34 working in Ireland, which is just 1.6 percent of the total number of active priests.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

Bishop Kirby’s remarks bring into question the kind of man who is called to the priesthood, says Emer O’Kelly

When I was about 12, I was sitting on a crowded bus not paying too much attention, when a voice said: “Sorry, excuse me.” It was a pleasant looking man wearing a dog collar.

He was gesturing to my skirt which was spread a bit wide. “Sorry, Father,” I apologised and tucked it in. “That’s okay,” he said. “I just didn’t want to crush it.” Then, as he sat down, he smiled and said, “Actually, it’s Rector.” And he buried himself in his newspaper.

Back home, I was repeating my embarrassment at my assumption. A friend of my mother’s was there, a retired hospital matron who had spent her working life in England.

She nodded knowingly, “Of course,” she said through pursed lips. “Up to no good. A priest would have sat somewhere else.” The old bag is long dead, but I can’t help wondering how she would have dealt with the scandals in the Catholic Church which have destroyed thousands of lives. Sadly, I think I know.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
God Discussion

[Stipulation of Testimony – via BishopAccountability.org]

In Kansas City, Missouri, Bishop Robert Finn, of the Roman Catholic Church, was convicted for not reporting suspected child abuse. He is the highest-ranking American Catholic clergy criminally charged with not reporting child sexual abuse by clergy, as well as found guilty. The jury acquitted him on a second count of not reporting child abuse.

However, Finn will serve two years probation, suspended, and his record will be free of charges if he adheres to conditions that include “mandatory abuse reporting training, setting aside $10,000 in diocese money for abuse victim counseling, and instructing all diocesan agents to report suspected criminal activity involving minors”. Reporters say this is an unprecedented decision by the judge.

The verdicts came after a short nonjury trial in Jackson County Circuit Court. Judge John Torrence immediately sentenced Finn to two years’ of probation, then suspended the imposition of the sentence. That means that if Finn finishes the probation without incident and completes nine steps as part of his sentence, the bishop’s criminal record will be expunged.

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TUCSON (AZ)
BishopAccountability.org – Assignment Record

Summary of Case: A priest of the Tucson diocese, Robert Trupia was promoted twice during the sixteen years after the first complaint of child sexual abuse was made against him. Reports that Trupia was molesting boys were for years repeatedly dismissed by diocesan officials. Trupia held a number of chancery positions and was named “Monsignor”. He was awarded a scholarship to pursue a doctorate in Canon Law from Catholic University. He taught sex education and ran a “Come and See” program for high school boys considering the priesthood. Trupia is said to have sexually abused at least 30 boys, and was nicknamed “Chicken Hawk” by other priests of the diocese due to his reputation as a child predator. He was finally suspended in 1992 after the mother of an alleged victim appealed to Santa Fe’s Bishop Sanchez in a letter and sent a copy to Tucson’s Bishop Moreno. Trupia threatened to expose the sexual improprieties of high-ranking Tucson diocesan officials if he wasn’t allowed to retire on his own terms. The diocese later called Trupia a “notorious and serial sexual predator” and sought his laicization. He moved to Maryland and worked as a consultant for the Monterey, CA diocese; that contract was terminated in 2001, just after Trupia was arrested on charges of molesting children in AZ in the 1970s. He was jailed but released after one night due to the expiration of the statute of limitations. Although he fought it for twelve years, Trupia was laicized in 2004.

Ordained: 1973
Incardinated: Tucson

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UNITED STATES
dotCommonweal

September 8, 2012

Posted by Grant Gallicho

It has never seemed the best hill to die on, but apparently Catholic League president Bill Donohue doesn’t know how to quit defending Bishop Robert Finn, who was found guilty this week of one misdemeanor count of failing to report suspected child abuse. (Be sure to read David Gibson’s post on the devastating Times story.) Back in November, Donohue declared that Finn was “an innocent man,” and flew all the way to Kansas City just to show how much he meant it. “In an ideal world,” Donohue claimed, “there would have been no charges whatsoever: there was no complainant and no violation of law.” Yes, and in an ideal world, when a U.S. bishop learns — nearly a decade after the 2002 wave of scandals broke — that one of his priests has crotch shots of kids on his computer, after having learned about a detailed letter of complaint about the guy from a Catholic school principal, the bishop would report the priest to the proper authorities, in accordance with civil and canon law. But that’s not the world Bishop Finn was living in. So now he stands convicted of failing to report suspected child abuse. In other words, Finn is not an innocent man. That’s why he issued a statement — both through his lawyer (.doc) and on his own behalf (.doc) — that contains apologetic-sounding words arranged in a way that avoids actually accepting responsibility for his failure to report the pornographer priest Ratigan. (Do yourself a favor and read Mark Silk on that and more here.)

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

He is misguided but Bishop Kirby doesn’t deserve a Chinese whispers campaign, writes Eilis O’Hanlon

Think of it as the Irish bishops’ raffle. Every month they all put their names into a hat, then whoever’s name is drawn out has to say something incredibly stupid to draw the ire of the anti-Catholic brigade and take the heat off the rest for a while.

This week’s losing raffle ticket belonged to Bishop John Kirby of Clonfert who, in the course of apologising for moving two paedophile priests to different parishes in the Nineties where they went on to abuse further victims, tried to explain his decision by saying in retrospect: “I saw it as a friendship that crossed a boundary line.”

His words naturally provoked howls of protest, not only from victims of clerical abuse, who have every right to be outraged, but also from a host of the usual suspects who really should try harder to conceal their glee at fixing another Catholic priest in the firing line lest it start to look as if they’re enjoying the blood sport too much. They wanted Bishop Kirby to resign. They wanted him censured. Some even wanted him sent to jail. How, they demanded to know, could a bishop fail to understand the difference between child abuse and an inappropriate friendship?

The short answer is: of course he knows the difference. He’s not an idiot. When he spoke to Galway Bay FM about the cases in Clonfert which have been brought to light by the internal audit into the handling of child abuse recently carried out by the National Board for Safeguarding Children, that’s exactly what he was talking about: the two specific cases which came to his attention during the period in question: “I literally thought … that if I separated the priest and the youngster, that it was a friendship that crossed the boundary line. I literally thought if I separated them I would have solved the problem. I have learnt sadly since that it was a very different experience.”

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UNITED STATES
SCNow

By: Ellen Meder | SCNow

Published: September 08, 2012

CHERAW, S.C. —
When the movie “The Prince of Tides” debuted in the early 1990s, Dr. Mary Gail Frawley-O’Dea’s phone started ringing off the hook.

Frawley-O’Dea is a licensed psychologist, psychoanalyst and trauma specialist who serves as counseling director at the Presbyterian Samaritan Center in Charlotte, N.C. “The Prince of Tides” is the Hollywood version of Pat Conroy’s best selling novel about a dysfunctional South Carolina family with a dark secret to hide.

The connection?

Frawley-O’Dea’s practice deals primarily with patients who suffer from long-repressed memories, so a movie about someone revealing their buried secrets unleashed a flood of memories in Frawley-O’Dea’s patients.

It sounds a little strange but the human mind is a strange place. Frawley-O’Dea said a variety of sensory experiences can trigger memories of childhood trauma that the brain didn’t record normally, and she has seen them come into play many times. In her work with victims of clergy sexual abuse, the smell of incense, the sight of candles at the altar or the sounds of organ music have triggered painful memories of assault.

The concept of repressed traumatic memories has been coming back into the psychoanalytic lexicon during the past two decades, and since 2000 more scientific research has appeared supporting the theories behind it. But the concept remains a source of debate.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Kansas City Star

By LAURA BAUER and JUDY L. THOMAS
The Kansas City Star

Bishop Robert Finn stood before a circuit court judge last week and said he was sorry for the pain that children in his diocese had suffered.

Then, moments before the judge sentenced him to two years of probation for failing to report suspected child abuse, Finn said he was grateful the case was over.

Yet child and family advocates, as well as sexual abuse therapists and investigators, say they don’t want it to be over. They want the impact of Finn’s guilty verdict, and the frank dialogue it has spurred, to create a culture where adults finally stand up for children who can’t speak for themselves.

It’s not just Kansas City, where Finn and other church officials failed to immediately report a priest who took pornographic pictures of young girls.

It’s Philadelphia, where a monsignor was sentenced in July for covering up the sexual abuse of children by priests.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

BY JESSE BOGAN • jbogan@post-dispatch.com AND TIM TOWNSEND • ttownsend@post-dispatch.com

KANSAS CITY • Before a Mass started early Friday morning at St. Patrick Parish, the Rev. Justin Hoye pulled an elderly woman to the side and asked her to take her time when reading from St. Paul’s letter to the Corinthians to the small congregation.

Hoye planned to frame his homily from the Bible passages.

So when it was time, the woman stood, walked to the front of the chapel, and read slowly from Scripture used worldwide Friday in Roman Catholic churches:

“It does not concern me in the least that I be judged by you or any human tribunal; I do not even pass judgment on myself; I am not conscious of anything against me, but I do not thereby stand acquitted; the one who judges me is the Lord.”

Hoye went on to preach about judgment, saying people are incapable of admitting the absolute fullness of their own sins.

What he didn’t do was mention Bishop Robert Finn, shepherd of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph. On Thursday, a judge in Jackson County found Finn, 59, guilty of one misdemeanor count of failing to report suspected child abuse, including the fact that Finn knew child pornography was on the computer of the Rev. Shawn Ratigan, who used to be pastor of St. Patrick’s.

But it was clear that Hoye’s caution against judgment and prayers for healing were about Finn and the wounded congregation.

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STATE COLLEGE (PA)
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

September 8, 2012

The Associated Press

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — A new Catholic center on the Penn State campus has been dedicated to Sue Paterno, wife of veteran football coach Joe Paterno.

A local bishop on Saturday blessed the Suzanne Pohland Paterno Catholic Student Faith Center, which then celebrated its first Mass with Sue Paterno and her children and grandchildren in attendance.

The Rev. Joseph Adamec, bishop emeritus of the Altoona-Johnstown diocese, praised Sue Paterno and her late husband for helping to raise money for the $6.5 million center.

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UNITED STATES
The Guardian (United Kingdom)

By Matt Williams and agencies
guardian.co.uk, Saturday 8 September 2012

Pressure is mounting on the highest ranking US catholic official yet to be convicted of covering up clerical child sex abuse to resign from the church.

Bishop Robert Finn was found guilty Friday of failing to report suspected child sexual abuse to authorities, prompting calls for him to step down or be booted from office.

Advocates for the victims of clerical sex abuse have challenged the Vatican directly, calling on the Pope to step in and dismiss Finn from his position as bishop of the diocese of Kansas City-Saint Joseph.

But despite a growing campaign to force his ouster, church officials have maintained that he isn’t going anywhere – despite the conviction.

“The bishop looks forward to continuing to perform his duties, including carrying out the important obligations placed on him by the court,” diocese spokesman Jack Smith said in a statement.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
U.S. Catholic

[Stipulation of Testimony – via BishopAccountability.org]

Saturday, September 8, 2012

By Bryan Cones

Today in The New York Times, Laurie Goodstein provides both an excellent summary of the evidence that led to the conviction of Kansas City, Missouri Bishop Robert Finn, noting that he is the first bishop in the U.S. to be held “accountable” for his failure to report a credible allegation of abuse to authorities. That accountablility, limited to a short, suspended term of probation, will leave him with a clean record when it’s completed.

I’m not sure that’s “accountability” for a failure of this magnitude–and if you doubt Finn’s full knowledge of Father Shawn Ratigan’s behavior, just read Goodstein’s account of the submitted testimony that both prosectuion and defense agreed to. What is still lacking is Finn’s canonical accountability. In short, we must wonder why the man is still the bishop of Kansas City.

As canonist and former National Lay Review Board member Nicholas Cafardi points out, both in his interview with U.S. Catholic and in comments to Religion News Service’s David Gibson, there is ample evidence that Finn violated canon law, specifically canon 1389, which provides for removal of a bishop for dereliction of duty. (Recall, for example, that even after Finn had assigned Ratigan to a women’s monastery as chaplain, he still allowed Ratigan to preside at youth event liturgies connected to the monastery.) Since the norms on sex abuse adopted by the U.S. bishops in 2002 have the force of canon law, and Finn clearly violated them, I see no reason why he shouldn’t be removed on those grounds, as I argued in my August 2010 column.

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OSTERREICH
Katholische Kirche in Osterreich

Neue Website kirchenfinanzierung.katholisch.at legt Finanzgebarung der Kirche in Österreich offen – Gesamteinnahmen liegen bei rund 500 Millionen Euro – Kirchenbeitragshöhe beläuft sich auf 395 Millionen Euro

Wien, 07.09.2012 (KAP/Katholisch.at) Das Gesamtbudget der katholischen Diözesen in Österreich beträgt rund 500 Millionen Euro pro Jahr. Der Kirchenbeitrag macht dabei rund 393 Millionen Euro aus. Rund 107 Millionen Euro an Einnahmen stammen aus Miet- oder Pachteinnahmen und aus staatlichen Leistungen zur Abgeltung von NS-Schäden. Diese Zahlen sowie weitere Kennzahlen zur kirchlichen Finanzgebarung nennt die Website kirchenfinanzierung.katholisch.at. Die seit heute freigeschaltete Seite informiert im Namen der österreichischen Bischofskonferenz über die finanzielle Lage der Kirche, über ihre Einnahmen, aber auch über ihre Ausgaben.

Haupteinnahmequelle für die neun katholischen Diözesen ist demnach der Kirchenbeitrag. Er erbrachte im Jahr 2010 rund 393 Millionen Euro – was einem Anteil von rund 80 Prozent am kirchlichen Gesamtbudget entspricht. Daraus werden laut Website “die Kernaufgaben der Kirche” in den Bereichen Soziales, Bildung, Kultur und Entwicklungszusammenarbeit finanziert.

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SOMERVILLE (MA)
WBUR

By The Associated Press September 8, 2012

SOMERVILLE, Mass. — A Boston priest, formerly of St. James Episcopal Church in Somerville, was arrested Friday on sexual assault charges involving a child who was once a parishioner along with his family at the Somerville church, authorities said.

The Rev. Paul A. LaCharite, 65, was arrested on one count of assault to rape a child and three counts of indecent assault and battery on a child, Middlesex District Attorney Gerry Leone and Somerville Police Chief Thomas Pasquarello said in a news release. They alleged the abuse occurred over a 10-year period, beginning in the 1990s when the child was in elementary school. The victim told authorities this week of the alleged abuse. …

A man who answered a phone number for LaCharite and identified himself as Bruce Shaw said he does not expect LaCharite to be released from police custody until Monday. He said the abuse allegations are false.

“I don’t believe a word of it,” Shaw said.

Shaw said he has been LaCharite’s partner for 31 years and they have been married for six.

He said LaCharite was nothing but kind to the boy, who Shaw said came from a troubled family.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
dotCommonweal

[Stipulation of Testimony – via BishopAccountability.org]

September 8, 2012

Posted by David Gibson

In the New York Times, Laurie Goodstein has the chronology and narrative of the Father Ratigan case in Missouri that led to Thursday’s conviction of Bishop Robert Finn for failing to report a suspect abuser. Most of the facts have been public, but set out like this they tell a devastating story that sounds like it was discovered in a time capsule buried pre-2002.

But it was in December 2010 that Finn and diocesan officials were told about suspected child porn on Ratigan’s laptop — and that news came after they had received repeated warnings about his behavior. Following the pornography discovery, Ratigan attempted suicide. And yet…

He [Ratigan] left messages apologizing to his family for “the harm caused to the children or you.” When he survived, he was sent first to a hospital, and then to Dr. Rick Fitzgibbons, a psychiatrist in Pennsylvania selected by Bishop Finn. The bishop testified that he was told by the psychiatrist that Father Ratigan was not a risk to children, and had been falsely accused by the school principal.

During this period, two women on staff in diocesan headquarters were urging their superiors to turn Father Ratigan in. Rebecca Summers, then the director of communications, told Monsignor Murphy to call the police, according to the testimony. And Julie Creech, the technology employee, said in a deposition in a related civil suit that she went to see Bishop Finn in his office to make sure he understood what she had seen on the laptop. …

I’m not sure how the bishops can regain their credibility unless Bishop Finn resigns, but in my RNS story on Finn’s fate his spokesman says the bishop intends to stay. The Vatican declined to comment, and Bishop Conlon, the USCCB point man on abuse, reiterated the hierarchy’s commitment to following the civil and canon law requirements that Finn violated.

My sense is that the powers that be are waiting to see how the public and diocese will react. Maybe they will act quickly. Maybe they hope it’ll blow over sufficiently to allow Finn to stay on, or to be “promoted” some place in a couple years to save face.

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SOMERVILLE (MA)
My Fox Boston

A former Somerville priest has been arrested amid allegations that he indecently assaulted a child over a span of several years.

Massachusetts officials announced that Reverend Paul A. LaCharite of Boston has been arrested on assault to rape a child and indecent assault and battery on a child charges.

In a press release on Friday, District Attorney Leone explained the allegations.

“We allege that this defendant, holding a trusted position within the Episcopal Church, indecently assaulted and touched the victim over several years, only ending his 10 year long predatory abuse of the victim when the defendant left the church,” said District Attorney Leone. …

The diocese released the a statement on Friday night that reads in part:

“The diocese is cooperating fully with the investigation, and is making arrangements for pastoral care for the congregations where Paul LaCharite had affiliations. The Episcopal Church’s canonical disciplinary process has been initiated, and we remain committed to making our congregations safe through transparency, diligence, care for victims and due process. We face this situation with real sorrow and concern for everyone affected.”

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by David Clohessy on September 07, 2012

Below is a copy of a letter that leaders of SNAP are sending to Pope Benedict, urging him to step in and punish Bishop Finn following his conviction yesterday on child endangerment charges.

*****
Dear Pope Benedict XVI;

Yesterday, Kansas City Bishop Robert Finn was found guilty of endangering kids by refusing to report suspected child sex crimes to police.

He and his lawyers admitted, in a written court filing, that several top diocesan staff saw, knew about or suspected that Fr. Shawn Ratigan had or created child porn photos of young girls at the parishes where he worked.

The secular justice system has spoken. Now you must act.

When wrongdoing is ignored, wrongdoing is repeated. When top Catholic officials refuse to punish complicit bishops, complicity is encouraged.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

By David O’Reilly
Inquirer Staff Writer

St. Joseph’s University announced Friday that it would acquire the cardinal’s residence on City Avenue from the Archdiocese of Philadelphia for $10 million.

The stone mansion, on 8.9 acres, has served as the home of the archbishops of Philadelphia since 1935, when the church bought it for Cardinal Dennis Dougherty for $115,000.

Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, who assumed leadership of the archdiocese one year ago, put the 16-room residence on the market in January. In June, he reported that the archdiocese faced a $17.5 million operating debt.

Sources said Chaput, a Franciscan Capuchin friar, was not comfortable living in a baronial-style mansion as he was preparing his flock for school and parish closings to trim the deficit. He has also put the retired priests’ summer home in Ventnor, N.J., up for sale, with an estimated value of $6 million.

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CANADA
Metro

REGINA – The head of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission says former students at two Metis boarding schools in northern Saskatchewan should be afforded the same recognition as residential school survivors.

Ottawa refuses to place the boarding schools that operated in Timber Bay and Ile-a-la Crosse under the list of facilities approved in the Indian Residential School Agreement.

Chief Commissioner Murray Sinclair says the TRC is even coming back to Saskatchewan for hearings next week to give those Metis a chance to be heard.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

By Deborah McAleese
Saturday, 8 September 2012

A Catholic priest has been arrested and charged with defrauding his diocese out of almost £150,000 over a two-year period.

Fr Conleth Byrne (78) allegedly made a number of payments to a woman with funds belonging to the Diocese of Down and Connor.

He was parish priest in the village of Loughinisland, Co Down, at the time of the alleged fraud.

Fr Byrne appeared before Downpatrick Magistrates Court and was remanded on bail to appear before the town’s Crown Court next month.

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UNITED STATES
Right Wing Watch

Submitted by Brian Tashman on Fri, 09/07/2012

In another shameful episode of the Catholic League’s Bill Donohue apologism of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, Donohue played down the crimes of a Catholic priest, who in August “pleaded guilty to four counts of producing child pornography and one count of attempting to produce child pornography using girls as young as 2 years old,” and the Bishop who was convicted yesterday of shielding the priest. “The case did not involve child sexual abuse—no child was ever abused, or touched, in any way by Father Sean Ratigan,” Donohue said. “Nor did this case involve child pornography.” Following Bishop Robert Finn’s conviction, Donohue claimed that the “chorus of condemnations targeting Bishop Finn” are “as unfair as they are contrived.”

Let’s get rid of some myths. Bishop Finn was not found guilty of a felony: he was found guilty of one misdemeanor, and innocent of another. The case did not involve child sexual abuse—no child was ever abused, or touched, in any way by Father Sean Ratigan. Nor did this case involve child pornography. Here’s what happened.

On December 16, 2010, a computer technician found crotch-shot pictures of children, fully clothed, on Ratigan’s computer; there was one that showed a girl’s genitals exposed. The next day Ratigan attempted suicide. The Vicar General, Msgr. Robert Murphy, without seeing the photos, contacted a police officer about this matter. The officer, after consulting with another cop, said a single photo of a non-sexual nature would not constitute pornography. After a few more of the same types of photos were found, an attorney rendered the same judgment: they were not pornographic.

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MISSOURI
The Turner Report

In an order issued today, U. S. District Court Judge Irma Carrillo Ramirez rejected a request from a Texas family suing Branson-based Kanakuk for the names and addresses of sexual abuse victims of former Kanakuk camp director Pete Newman.

It was not a complete victory for Kanakuk however. Judge Ramirez ordered Kanakuk to send letters to the parents of Newman’s victims “that advises of the current litigation and provides the contact information for the parties’ attorneys. The parties shall confer regarding the form of the letter, and the final draft or drafts must be submitted to the Court for approval before it is sent.”

The attorneys for the plaintiff had argued that the names were needed to find more information about the patterns of Newman’s abuse and what Kanakuk officials might have known during the decade that Newman had access to the children.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
The New York Times

Editorial

The verdict was long overdue in the pedophile priest scandal, but a Roman Catholic bishop has become the highest-ranking church official found criminally guilty of shielding a priest known to be a threat to children. In a brief nonjury trial, Bishop Robert Finn, head of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Mo., was pronounced guilty on Thursday and sentenced to two years of probation for failing to alert law enforcement authorities about a predatory priest he knew was addicted to taking lewd photos of schoolgirls.

The conviction was evidence of the growing resolve of secular authorities, however belated, to venture up the hierarchical ladder in their search for accountability. The scandal has led to the dismissal and criminal investigation of more than 700 priests, even as their superiors have been spared — despite years of diocesan scheming to buy off victims and rotate rogue priests to new parishes.

Bishop Finn’s conviction was hardly encouraging for the cause of reform, however, since it involved very recent misdeeds — years after church leaders promised tough new policies aimed at preventing cover-ups.

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SOMERVILLE (MA)
Boston Globe

By Melanie Dostis, Globe Correspondent

An Episcopal priest in Somerville was arrested this afternoon on charges of repeated indecent assault of one of his child parishioners over a 10-year period, the Middlesex District Attorney’s office said.

Reverend Paul A. LaCharite, 65, of Boston was arrested on one count of assault with intent to rape a child and three counts of indecent assault and battery on a child, said the district attorney’s office.

“We allege that this defendant, holding a trusted position within the Episcopal Church, indecently assaulted and touched the victim over several years, only ending his 10-year-long predatory abuse of the victim when the defendant left the church,” Middlesex District Attorney Gerald T. Leone Jr. said in a statement.

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SOMERVILLE (MA)
Boston Herald

By Richard Weir
Saturday, September 8, 2012

An Episcopal priest was arrested yesterday on charges he sexually assaulted a Somerville parishioner over a 10-year span that allegedly began when the young boy was in elementary school, prosecutors said.

The Rev. Paul A. LaCharite, 65, former longtime rector of St. James Episcopal Church near Teele Square, turned himself in to Somerville police who booked him on one count of assault to rape a child and three counts of indecent assault and battery on a child. He faces life in prison if convicted.

LaCharite left St. James in 2005 after 16 years and recently served as priest associate at the Old North Church in Boston’s North End. …

The Rev. Canon Mally Lloyd of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts said church leaders were not aware of the investigation until learning of the priest’s arrest.

She added: “We take these allegations very seriously. … We don’t know who the victim is but we offer our apologies. It’s a terrible thing to happen to any child and family.”

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CHILE
Emol

SANTIAGO- El fiscal de la zona Oriente, Ignacio Pinto, que investiga las denuncias por presunto abuso sexual en contra del sacerdote John O’Reilly, decidió interrogar al suspendido capellán del Colegio Cumbres de Las Condes.

Según informa hoy “El Mercurio”, el persecutor accedió a la solicitud realizada por el propio abogado defensor del religioso, Luis Hermosilla, al inicio de las indagaciones.

El matutino informa que si bien el persecutor oirá el testimonio de O’Reilly, aún no decide en qué momento de la investigación realizará la diligencia.

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NEW YORK
WHEC

By: Lynette Adams | WHEC.com

One of the victims of a former church leader convicted of molesting three boys is speaking out.

On Friday, Joe Flowers was sentenced to one and a third to four years in state prison. He was sentenced to seven years on Thursday for taking one of the victims across state lines to Florida and abusing him. Flowers is currently in prison for abusing one of the boys from his church. In total, he’ll serve 14 years in prison.

The young man that News10NBC spoke with Friday had left Rochester and was in college when he heard people were questioning the story of the nine-year-old victim who came forward last spring. He says he broke his silence to support the boy because he too had been molested by the pastor for four years.

Joachiem Bradley closed a chapter in his life. In Friday in a Monroe County courtroom, Joe Flowers was sentenced for molesting him and his brother. He told the court how the former pastor used the word of God to win him over.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
Fox 4

[with video]

September 7, 2012, by Michelle Pekarsky and John Pepitone

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — There are renewed calls for Catholic Bishop Robert Finn to step down after his conviction for failing to report child abuse.

“It matters to us less what sanctions the pope issues, it matters to us more that the pope take some action against a proven criminal,” said David Clohessy, executive director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.

Some Catholics are divided over who should be leading the diocese in Kansas City-St. Joseph now that Bishop Finn is the highest ranking Catholic leader ever to be convicted as part of the church’s child sex abuse scandal.

Defenders of the bishop say they are relieved the criminal case against him is finally over. But opponents say they will continue to push for change in the Catholic church as victims of abuse move forward with civil suits against the diocese.

Bishop Finn’s apology in court wasn’t enough for families who say their children were victims of sexual abuse at the hands of one Finn’s priests, Father Shawn Ratigan. It was Bishop Finn’s failure to report suspicions about Ratigan in a timely manner that led to his criminal conviction.

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APPLETON (WI)
Post-Crescent

APPLETON — A lawsuit brought by two childhood victims of clergy sexual abuse against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Green Bay will go before a jury for the second time next year.

Judge Nancy Krueger this week scheduled a May trial in Outagamie County Court in the civil case brought by brothers Todd and Troy Merryfield.

A jury found in the Merryfields’ favor in May and awarded the brothers $700,000. Krueger, however, granted the diocese a new trial after concluding that one of the jurors was biased. The Wisconsin Court of Appeals this week declined requests from both sides seeking review of decisions made after the verdict.

The Merryfields claim the diocese knew the Rev. John Feeney had a history of sexual misconduct when it installed him as a priest at Freedom’s St. Nicholas Church and falsely portrayed him as safe even though church officials knew he was a danger to children.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Rye and Battle Observer

[interim report]

Published on Saturday 8 September 2012

THE Archbishop of Canterbury has slammed the local diocese for its child protection failings claiming many lives have been “blighted”.

The report branded the child abuse as “wicked and shameful”.

Former Brede vicar Roy Cotton died before he could face fresh charges relating to child abuse, but there was outrage that he was allowed to carry on as a priest, by the Church of England, despite the fact the church knew of earlier criminal convictions for child abuse.

Cotton served at Brede and Udimore for a number of years and had access to the village primary school.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
The New York Times

By LAURIE GOODSTEIN

Published: September 7, 2012

On the surface, the Rev. Shawn Ratigan was just the kind of dynamic new priest that any Roman Catholic bishop would have been happy to put in a parish. He rode a motorcycle, organized summer mission trips to Guatemala and joined Bishop Robert W. Finn and dozens of students on a bus trek to Washington for the “March for Life,” a big annual anti-abortion rally.

But in December 2010, Bishop Finn got some disturbing news: Father Ratigan had just tried to commit suicide by running his motorcycle in a closed garage. The day before, a computer technician had discovered sexually explicit photographs of young girls on Father Ratigan’s laptop, including one of a toddler with her diaper pulled away to expose her genitals.

The decisions that Bishop Finn and his second-in-command in the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Msgr. Robert Murphy, made about Father Ratigan over the next five months ultimately led to the conviction of the bishop in circuit court on Thursday on one misdemeanor count of failing to report suspected child abuse. It was the first time a Catholic bishop in the United States had been held accountable in criminal court in the nearly three decades since the priest sexual abuse scandals first came to light.

Both Bishop Finn and Monsignor Murphy, as ministers, were required by law to report suspected child abuse to the civil authorities. But they were also required to report under policies that the American bishops put in place 10 years ago at the height of the scandal — policies that now hold the force of canon law.

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SOMERVILLE (MA)
Boston Globe

SOMERVILLE, Mass. (AP) — Authorities say an Episcopal priest, formerly of St. James Episcopal Church in Somerville, has been arrested on sexual assault charges involving a child.

The Somerville police chief said the 65-year-old Rev. Paul A. LaCharite of Boston was arrested Friday on one count of assault to rape a child and three counts of indecent assault and battery on a child. Authorities allege the abuse occurred over 10 years. The child and his family were parishioners at the church.

Police would not say if LaCharite was in jail Friday evening.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Globe and Mail (Canada)

BILL DRAPER

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Associated Press

Published Friday, Sep. 07 2012, 7:24 PM EDT

Calls for Bishop Robert Finn’s resignation intensified the day after he became the highest-ranking U.S. church official to be convicted of a crime related to a child sexual abuse scandal.

Soon after a Missouri judge found Bishop Finn guilty Thursday of one misdemeanor count of failing to report suspected child sexual abuse to the state, unhappy Roman Catholics began discussing ways to get the bishop out of office on a Facebook page titled “Bishop Finn Must Go.”

Among the posts was one that listed contact information for the Vatican and urged parishioners to voice their displeasure with Bishop Finn at the highest levels. Pope Benedict XVI alone has authority over bishops. Through the decades-long abuse scandal, only one U.S. bishop has stepped down over his failures to stop abusive clergy: Cardinal Bernard Law – who, in 2002, resigned as head of the Archdiocese of Boston.

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SOMERVILLE (MA)
WCVB

SOMERVILLE, Mass. —
An Episcopal priest, formerly of St. James Episcopal Church in Somerville, has been arrested and accused of abusing a child.

The Rev. Paul A. LaCharite, 65, of Boston, was arrested Friday on one count of assault to rape a child and three counts of indecent assault and battery on a child.

“We allege that this defendant, holding a trusted position within the Episcopal Church, indecently assaulted and touched the victim over several years, only ending his 10-year-long predatory abuse of the victim when the defendant left the church,” Middlesex District Attorney Gerry Leone said.

The victim and his family were longtime parishioners at St. James Episcopal Church. In the 1990s, beginning when the victim was in elementary school, LaCharite began inappropriately touching the victim in his office, police said.

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SOMERVILLE (MA)
CBS Boston

SOMERVILLE (CBS) – A former Somerville priest was arrested Friday on child rape charges. Reverend Paul LaCharite, formerly of St. James Episcopal Church, is alleged to have abused a child for more than 10 years.

“We allege that this defendant, holding a trusted position within the Episcopal Church, indecently assaulted and touched the victim over several years, only ending his 10 year long predatory abuse of the victim when the defendant left the church,” District Attorney Leone said.

Authorities say the victim and his family were longtime parishioners at the Somerville church, and the priest began inappropriately touching the victim in his office during the 1990s. The abuse is alleged to have progressed over a ten year period to include several indecent assault and batteries and assaults with the intent rape a child.

The victim says the abuse ended when he was a teenager and left the church.

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UNITED STATES
Irish Times

THE FIRST American bishop criminally charged in the US clerical sex abuse scandal was found guilty of a misdemeanour count of failing to report suspected child abuse, a conviction described as “historic” by campaigners.

Catholic Bishop Robert Finn was acquitted on a second count.

He received two years of probation but that sentence was suspended and will be wiped from his record if he adheres to conditions that include mandatory abuse reporting training, setting aside $10,000 (€7,800) in diocese money for abuse victim counselling, and instructing all diocesan agents to report suspected criminal activity involving minors.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Previous reports into child abuse by clergy showed poor children were especially vulnerable. But the latest audit indicates that the middle classes were also at risk, writes CARL O’BRIEN

THEY ARE BASTIONS of privilege that for generations have taken in the sons of Catholic middle-class families and moulded them into the leaders of tomorrow. The Spiritan Congregation, formerly known as the the Holy Ghost Fathers, runs schools – including Blackrock College, St Michael’s, St Mary’s and Templeogue College in Dublin, and Rockwell College in Co Tipperary – that have produced lawyers, doctors, politicians, senior members of the judiciary and other members of the establishment.

For some people they are schools that have represented academic excellence, sporting endeavour and moral guardianship over the past century or more. For others they are schools that have bred a rock-solid certainty and confidence among students that to outsiders can seem like arrogance.

“Fearless and bold,” reads the title of a recent book celebrating Blackrock’s 150th anniversary. That reputation makes this week’s revelations of abuse at the schools all the more jarring.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

By Joseph A. Slobodzian
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

Philadelphia prosecutors confirmed Friday that they were considering calling defrocked priest and admitted pedophile Edward Avery as a witness in the trial of a Philadelphia priest and a former Catholic schoolteacher accused of sexually assaulting a 10-year-old altar boy.

The information was made public at a hearing where the delayed Sept. 4 trial of the Rev. Charles Engelhardt and teacher Bernard Shero got a new date – Oct. 22 – and a new judge in Common Pleas Court, Ellen Ceisler.

Avery, 70, is serving a 21/2- to five-year prison term after pleading guilty to sexually assaulting the same 10-year-old altar boy in 1999 when Avery, then chaplain at Nazareth Hospital, lived in the rectory of St. Jerome’s parish in Northeast Philadelphia.

But of more significance to Engelhardt and Shero is the prosecution’s allegation that Engelhardt, the parochial vicar at St. Jerome’s, first molested the child in 1998 and “passed him along” to Avery and then Shero.

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SOMERVILLE (MA)
Patch

By Chris Orchard

A former minister at Saint James Episcopal Church in Teele Square has been arrested and accused of sexual assault on a child, according to an announcement from the Middlesex District Attorney’s office. The alleged assault began in the 1990s and took place over the course of 10 years, the announcement says.

According to the announcement, Somerville police are investigating the case and are asking that anyone with information contact them at 617-625-1212 x 7220 or the Middlesex District Attorney’s child abuse unit at 781-897-8400.

No one answered the phone at Saint James Episcopal Church Friday evening.

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SOMERVILLE (MA)
Wicked Local Somerville

By Staff reports
Wicked Local Somerville

Posted Sep 07, 2012 @ 07:21 PM

Somerville —

The following is a press release:

An Episcopal Priest, formerly of St. James Episcopal Church in Somerville, has been arrested on assault to rape a child and indecent assault and battery on a child charges, Middlesex District Attorney Gerry Leone and Somerville Police Chief Thomas Pasquarello informed the public today.

Reverend Paul A. LaCharite, 65, of Boston, was arrested this afternoon on one count of assault to rape a child and three counts of indecent assault and battery on a child.

“We allege that this defendant, holding a trusted position within the Episcopal Church, indecently assaulted and touched the victim over several years, only ending his 10 year long predatory abuse of the victim when the defendant left the church,” District Attorney Leone said. “Our office will continue to prosecute those who harm or exploit children, as they are our most vulnerable victims and most deserving of our protection.”

Somerville Police Chief Thomas Pasquarello said, “The Somerville Police Department will continue to work with the District Attorney’s Office as we investigate these serious allegations.”

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Olympian

By BILL DRAPER | Associated Press • Published September 07, 2012

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Calls for Bishop Robert Finn’s resignation intensified a day after he became the highest-ranking U.S. church official to be convicted of a crime related to the child sexual abuse scandal.

Soon after a Missouri judge found Finn guilty Thursday of one misdemeanor count of failing to report suspected child sexual abuse to the state, unhappy Roman Catholics began discussing ways to get the bishop out of office on a Facebook page titled “Bishop Finn Must Go.”

Among the posts was one that listed contact information for the Vatican and urged parishioners to voice their displeasure with Finn at the highest levels. Pope Benedict XVI alone has authority over bishops. Through the decades-long abuse scandal, only one U.S. bishop has stepped down over his failures to stop abusive clergy: Cardinal Bernard Law, who in 2002 resigned as head of the Archdiocese of Boston.

Jackson County Judge John M. Torrence sentenced Finn to two years of supervised probation. If the bishop abides by a set of stipulations from the judge, the conviction will be wiped from his record in 2014.

“Now that our justice system says he’s guilty, he has lost his ability to lead our diocese,” Kansas City Catholic Patricia Rotert said Friday. “He’s lost his credibility. There is turmoil and angst around him and I don’t think he can bring people together.” …

“I said for years that we wouldn’t be in the mess we were in today if about 30 bishops had said ‘I made a mistake, I’m sorry, I take full responsibility and I resign,'” said the Rev. Thomas J. Reese, a senior fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University. “I think we’re at a state in the life of the church when a bishop is convicted of a misdemeanor, found guilty of not doing what he was supposed to do, I think he should resign for the good of the diocese and the good of the church.”

Support for Finn’s resignation is far from unanimous. Some say they agree he made a mistake, but it’s not one that should force him out, especially with even more stringent safeguards in place to protect children.

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UNITED STATES
The Age (Australia)

An American Roman Catholic bishop was found guilty on one count of failing to report suspected child abuse, becoming the first US bishop in the decades-long sexual abuse scandals to be convicted of shielding a paedophile priest.

In a hastily announced bench trial in Kansas City that lasted a little over an hour, a judge found the bishop, Robert Finn, guilty on one misdemeanour charge and not guilty on a second charge, for failing to report a priest who had taken hundreds of pornographic pictures of young girls. The counts each carried a maximum penalty of one year in jail and a $US1000 fine, but Finn was sentenced to two years’ court-supervised probation.

The verdict is a watershed moment in the priest sexual abuse scandal that has plagued the church since the 1980s. Bishops, eager to turn the page on this era, put in place extensive abuse prevention policies, including reporting suspected abusers to law enforcement authorities. But this case has served as a wake-up call that the policies cannot be effective if bishops do not follow them.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
USA Today

By David Gibson

(RNS) Catholic Bishop Robert W. Finn was found guilty Thursday of failing to tell police about a priest suspected of sexually exploiting children, an unprecedented verdict that is being hailed as a landmark in the effort to bring accountability to the church’s hierarchy.

Finn, leader of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph and an outspoken conservative in the American hierarchy, was convicted of a single misdemeanor count for not telling police that one of his priests, the Rev. Shawn Ratigan, had taken hundreds of lewd images of children in Catholic schools and parishes.

But even as he became the first U.S. bishop ever convicted in criminal court for shielding an abusive priest, Finn’s standing inside the church appears uncertain, and the subject of intense debate.

Should he stay or should he go? Finn has indicated that he wants to tough it out.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Times Online

Associated Press

The Archdiocese of Philadelphia is selling the cardinal’s residence to an adjacent Roman Catholic university for $10 million.

Saint Joseph’s University announced Friday that it signed a letter of intent with church officials to acquire the nearly 9-acre property. The purchase is expected to close in a few weeks.

The land includes a three-story main building with more than 23,000 square feet, and two additional buildings. The university did not specify how the property would be used.

The residence is one of several properties being sold by the archdiocese as it tries to close a budget deficit. Next week, officials will auction a sprawling beachfront villa in New Jersey that had been used as a vacation home for priests.

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CONNECTICUT
Greenwich Times

David Hennessey

Published 11:05 p.m., Thursday, September 6, 2012

The former pastor of a Greenwich church sentenced in July for federal obstruction of justice has reported to a Brooklyn, N.Y., prison, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

Michael Moynihan, 59, who was sentenced to five months in jail followed by two years of supervised release, is now at the Metropolitan Detention Center.

Located near the Gowanus Bay, the prison is classified as an administrative facility, a type of institution intended for the detention of pretrial offenders, dangerous or escape-prone inmates, or for treatment of inmates with medical problems, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

The Brooklyn facility is capable of holding male and female inmates in all security categories.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
Washington Post

Trial switch of bishop guilty of protecting priest was PR move to help the church, critic says

By Diana Reese

The switch from a jury to a bench trial for Bishop Robert Finn, convicted Thursday of trying to protect a priest by failing to report suspected child abuse, was a “masterful” public relations move to resolve the

Finn, the highest-ranking Catholic cleric in the United States to face criminal charges in the church’s child sex abuse scandal, was found guilty Thursday of on one misdemeanor count of failure to report suspicions of child abuse and was acquitted on a second count. He was sentenced to two years’ probation, which will be suspended under specific conditions.

On the plus side, the joint move by the defense and prosecutors to switch the trial with just 24 hours’ notice spared victims and their families the agony of testifying at a long, drawn-out jury trial that had been predicted to go on for two weeks or longer later this month.

But David Clohessy, the St. Louis-based director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), said he believed the bishop’s motive was to spare himself more humiliation.

“This was masterful public relations by a desperate bishop,” Clohessy told me. “It was clearly designed to minimize public input and public awareness.”

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
Star Tribune

Article by: BILL DRAPER , Associated Press
Updated: September 7, 2012

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Parishioners in Missouri and observers across the U.S. say Bishop Robert Finn should resign after being convicted of failing to report suspected child sexual abuse to the state.

Supporters say Finn made a mistake, but not one that should result in him being booted from his role as leader of the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph.

Finn was found guilty Thursday of one misdemeanor charge and sentenced to two years of probation. If he abides by all the conditions, the conviction will be removed from his record in 2014.

Congregation member Patricia Rotert says Finn has lost his credibility and should step down.

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UNITED STATES
Anti-Catholic League

By David Fortwengler

Let’s get rid of some myths. The Catholic League is not a civil rights organization as they claim. The Catholic League does not “defend the right of Catholics to participate in American public life without defamation or discrimination” as they claim.

That is because there is no discrimination of Catholics to participate in public life. The two vice-presidential candidates are Catholic, six Supreme Court justices are Catholic, dozens of U.S Representatives and Senators are Catholic (including the Speaker of the House who is third in line to the Presidency), and thousands of other elected officials across this country are Catholic. If Cardinal Dolan or Bill Donohue want to run for office they are welcome to try.

When Donohue and his league of misguided membership refer to defamation and discrimination what they really mean is some people disagree with them. They hate that.

With that being said, the least of my problems are the fabricated rants of a delusional organization and their bombastic leader. My problem is the deliberate pain he inflicts on survivors of sex crimes committed when they were minors, including me. Donohue is free to manipulate his own mind when it comes to portraying the Catholic Church as a victim of an anti-Catholic conspiracy regarding the sex abuse scandal. But when he LIES about the facts he offends and rightly outrages all who don’t practice his form of mental gymnastics.

Today Donohue published his response to yesterday’s conviction of Kansas City Bishop Robert Finn for failing to report suspicion of child sexual abuse. In Bill’s press release titled “Assessing Bishop Finn’s Guilt” he concludes the “condemnations targeting Bishop Finn to be as unfair as they are contrived.” Why would it be unfair to be disgusted and outraged at the actions of Bishop Finn? He was not targeted, he was convicted. The facts weren’t contrived, they were stipulated to by Finn’s own attorney’s. (paid for by the fine catholics of Kansas City)

I will now take a deep breath and detail the absolute, dangerous, and hurtful LIES Donohue spews in release. His comments are in blue and my response follows in black.

The case did not involve child sexual abuse—no child was ever abused, or touched, in any way by Father Sean Ratigan. Nor did this case involve child pornography.

Father Shawn Ratigan has been convicted of possessing and producing child pornography which was on the computer that Bishop Finn was aware of. According to the stipulation of facts when a computer technician examining Ratigan’s computer on December 16, 2010 discovered alarming pictures, they included close up photos of a little girls naked vagina. The series of eight photos showed the girl’s panties being moved aside in each picture. The girl was estimated by police to be three or four years old. Does Donohue think she moved the panties herself to give Ratigan a better shot?

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OHIO
The Plain Dealer

By Plain Dealer staff

CLEVELAND, Ohio — The Rev. Samuel Ciccolini was re-sentenced this afternoon in federal court — ending up with a six-mohth jail term and $830,000 fine after having an earlier sentence overturned, officials said.

Ciccolini, an an associate priest at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Akron, appeared before U.S. District Judge Games Gwin just after noon today.

Ohio.com reported that Gwin also sentenced Ciccolini to two years of supervised release and probation following the prison stay.

The report said that Gwin fined Ciccolini $584,272 on an income tax charge and another $250,00 on a bank fraud charge.

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NEDERLAND
Reformatorisch Dagblad

UTRECHT (ANP) – De Congregatie voor de Geloofsleer heeft besloten een 59-jarige priester, die voor misbruik van kinderen is veroordeeld, uit de clericale staat te zenden en hem dispensatie van al zijn ambtelijke taken op te leggen. Voor een priester is dit de zwaarste kerkrechtelijke sanctie, aldus het aartsbisdom Utrecht vrijdag.

De priester zit 10 maanden gevangenisstraf uit wegens misbruik van een 12-jarige jongen uit Oldenzaal vorig jaar op een camping in Frankrijk. De man was op dat moment voornamelijk werkzaam als legeraalmoezenier.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Welt

Die 51-Jährige zieht damit die Konsequenz aus Ermittlungen der Staatsanwaltschaft wegen Alkohols am Steuer. Käßmann war am Samstagabend mit 1,54 Promille Alkohol im Blut am Steuer ihres Dienstwagens in Hannover angehalten worden.

Käßmann erklärte am Mittwoch in Hannover, sie haben einen “schweren Fehler” gemacht, den sie “zutiefst” bereue. Amt und Autorität seien beschädigt. Respekt und Achtung vor ihrer eigenen Person hätten sie zum Rücktritt bewogen. Sie bleibe aber Pastorin der evangelischen Landeskirche, sagte sie.

Mit Bedauern reagierte Günther Beckstein, Vizepräses der Synode der Evangelischen Kirche in Deutschland (EKD) und ehemaliger bayerischer Ministerpräsident. “Es ist ihre Entscheidung, die ich respektiere”, sagte Beckstein.

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UNITED STATES
Catholic Culture

By Phil Lawler | September 07, 2012

So now an American bishop is a convicted criminal. Do you suppose there’s any chance the other bishops will finally get the message?

Bishop Robert Finn has been convicted in a court of law for doing what scores of other American bishops have done in the recent past. It’s true that Bishop Finn will not serve actual jail time, and his criminal record will be erased after he completes a term of probation; but the judge had the authority to put him behind bars for a year.

In Pennsylvania, meanwhile, Msgr. William Lynn is already behind bars, for doing what his cardinal-archbishop apparently told him to do.

Some intelligent observers argue that Bishop Finn (and Msgr. Lynn, for that matter) should not have been convicted. But I am inclined to accept the judgment of the courts—as Bishop Finn, at least, has apparently done. Any loyal Catholic should also be troubled by the prospect of a secular court passing judgment on a bishop’s exercise of episcopal ministry. But in this case there is no doubt in my mind that civil officials are emboldened to police the bishops because the bishops have so calamitously failed to police themselves.

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IRELAND
Irish Central

By
CATHY HAYES,
IrishCentral Staff Writer

Published Friday, September 7, 2012, 1:10 PM

The Bishop of Clonfert Dr John Kirby has admitted he made out-of-court settlements in the 1990s to two victims of sexual abuse at the hands of a Catholic priest in his diocese.

Kirby spoke yesterday after the publication of seven reports by the National Board for Safeguarding Children (NBSC) into child safeguarding practices in the Catholic Church. He said, as he remembers, the payments were made in 1994 and 1998. Including legal fee they totaled “circa IR£130,000”.

Earlier this week Kirby shocked with comments about his understand of what pedophilia was. He said he had thought this sexual abuse was just “friendship that crossed a boundary line”.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
Jeff Anderson & Associates

Gregg Meyers

Today, Jackson County Judge John Torrence found Bishop Finn of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph guilty on one count of failing to report child abuse. Bishop Finn’s trial arises out of his own actions and the Diocese’s actions surrounding the December 2010 discovery that a Diocesan priest, Rev. Shawn Ratigan, produced child pornography with young parishioners of the Diocese.

This verdict follows the disturbing report last week that when Bishop Finn was first alerted by a Diocesan staffer about the child pornography found on Shawn Ratigan’s computer, he reacted by merely saying, “boys will be boys.” As a further indication of the Bishop’s callous indifference, Bishop Finn and the Diocese sat on this crucial information and did not report it to law enforcement for six months.

For Finn’s key role in protecting a known child predator to the detriment of children in the Diocese, Judge Torrence sentenced him to two-years of suspended probation with eight conditions. This sentence is light given that Finn was facing a maximum sentence of one year in jail and a $1,000 fine.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
ABC News

By MARYCLAIRE DALE Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA September 7, 2012 (AP)

Prosecutors have subpoenaed an imprisoned former Roman Catholic priest to testify for the government at an upcoming church-abuse trial in Philadelphia.

The rape trial of the Rev. Charles Engelhardt and a former Catholic school teacher has also been rescheduled for next month before a new judge.

Engelhardt and ex-teacher Bernard Shero are charged with raping the same boy in the late 1990s at a northeast Philadelphia parish.

Defrocked priest Edward Avery is in prison after admitting he sexually assaulted the boy. Prosecutors disclosed Friday they’ve subpoenaed Avery to testify at the upcoming trial.

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CHILE
La Tercera

Niegan perito privado y mantienen secreto de investigación por supuesto abuso de colegio Cumbres

por Felipe Passi y Paulo Muñoz – 05/09/2012

La investigación que realiza la Fiscalía Oriente a propósito del presunto abuso sexual ocurrido en el recinto en contra de un menor del colegio Cumbres tuvo hoy un nuevo capítulo en el Cuarto Juzgado de Garantía de Santiago.

La defensa del sacerdote del colegio, John O’Reilly, acusado como el autor de los delitos y quien fue separado de la institución, pidió la revisión de medidas cautelares que apuntaban al secreto de la investigación y que un perito del equipo de abogados de O’Reilly esté mientras se le hacen pericias a la supuesta víctima.

Ambas solicitudes fueron negadas por el tribunal encaabezado por la jueza Daniela Guerrero.

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CHILE
Emol

Por Andrea González Schmessane, Emol

SANTIAGO.- El Cuarto Juzgado de Garantía de Santiago ordenó este miércoles mantener el secreto de la investigación respecto a las indagatorias que realiza la Fiscalía Oriente sobre el presunto abuso sexual contra una menor ocurrido al interior del Colegio Cumbres.

Esto, luego que la defensa del sacerdote John O’Reilly -quien es sindicado como responsable del hecho- solicitara la revisión de cautelas de garantías para pedir tener acceso a la carpeta de antecedentes y que un perito privado esté presente al momento de la declaración de la supuesta víctima.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

September 8, 2012

Barney Zwartz

MELBOURNE and Sydney’s most senior rabbis are at loggerheads over the unexplained sacking of a rabbi from Melbourne’s Yeshivah Centre, with Melbourne leaders accused of ”desecrating God’s name”.

The centre’s chief rabbi, Zvi Hirsch Telsner, has defied an order by the Sydney Beth Din (the rabbinical court) to stay the sacking, prompting an ultimatum from the court to back down by Tuesday or be shamed worldwide.

According to Jewish community figures, Rabbi Telsner overruled the injunction and instructed Yeshivah Centre chairman Don Wolf to sack Rabbi Mordechai Engel, 42, who has nine children, including a newborn baby, and has worked there for 14 years.

The Yeshivah Centre – the headquarters of the Orthodox Chabad movement, with two schools and many other facilities – has been controversial within the Jewish community for its handling of sexual abuse allegations from the 1980s to the present. Police were highly critical of community leaders in the Melbourne Magistrate’s Court last year.

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UNITED KINGDOM
West Sussex County Times

[interim report]

The Bishop of Chichester has said he is ‘profoundly ashamed’ of the church in Sussex following the publication of a report on the safeguarding of children in the diocese.

The report by the Archbishop of Canterbury’s office comes after an internal inquiry prompted by the convictions of Roy Cotton and Colin Pritchard who abused children in Diocese of Chichester in the 70s and 80s.

This year three other former priests were charged with child sex abuse offences, of which cases are still ongoing, and Lambeth Palace is now overseeing all clergy appointments in Sussex ‘until better practice can be assured’.

Dr Martin Warner, the new Bishop of Chichester, agreed with the report that there was ‘dysfunctionality’ in the structure of the Diocese of Chichester and said that all bishops needed to work together better and said he will seek reconciliation with all survivors.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Church Times

Posted: 07 Sep 2012

Managing people decently is an essential part of Christian work – no a bureaucratic luxury, argues Jon Kuhrt

The organisational dysfunction exposed by the Archbishop of Canterbury’s commissaries’ interim report on the diocese of Chichester is shocking. This case is focused on safeguarding children and vulnerable adults, but in many ways it is an extreme example of a wider problem in the Church: that of poor management of people.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Church Times

by Ed Thornton

Posted: 07 Sep 2012

“DYSFUNCTIONALITY” within Chichester diocese is preventing adequate child-safeguarding, and must be “urgently addressed”, the interim report of the Archbishop of Canterbury’s commissaries, published on Thursday of last week, says.

The archiepiscopal visitation, the first for more than 100 years, is being carried out by a former Bishop of Chelmsford, the Rt Revd John Gladwin, and Canon Rupert Bursell QC (News, 30 December).

The Archbishop of Canterbury said in a statement, issued the same day as the report, that there remained “several areas of concern” in the diocese, and that he had therefore decided that the visitation “should continue, and that both safeguarding and appointments matters should be conducted under the supervision of this office until uniformly better practice can be assured”.

The interim report says that “dysfunctionality . . . continues to impinge upon the adequacy of safeguarding within the diocese.” Such dysfunctionality – which includes clerics’ officiating without permission – demonstrates “a failure to appreciate the connection between safeguarding and the proper structures of the Church”.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Huffington Post

Jonathan Wheeler

A human response from the C of E hierarchy contrasts with the attitude of the Catholic Church

The Rt Rev Dr Martin Warner, the Bishop of Chichester, has said he is “profoundly ashamed” by the fact that the Church’s safeguarding procedures failed vulnerable children in the Chichester diocese. He said an apology to the victims was “too light a word”, and that he will do all he can to ensure that such vile practices do not happen again within the Church.

The Bishop’s comments come days after an interim report was issued by Lambeth Palace, following an inquiry into a paedophile ring within the diocese which has seen five arrests (three this year) and two former priests convicted for a string of sexual offences against children. The Archbishop of Canterbury’s response to the report was also one of deep regret that matters had been so badly handled in Chichester. He expressed hope that the victims will believe that the Church of England would take their experiences seriously. He said:

“We owe them not only our words of apology but our best efforts to make sure that in the future our churches will be safe places for children and vulnerable people of all ages”.

The Archbishop admitted that the report showed “many and longstanding failures in implementing a robust and credible safeguarding policy in the Diocese of Chichester” and he assured those individuals affected that the Church was committed to learning lessons from the past.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
Waiting for Godot to Leave

There’s something about Christ and how we fail Him that we can learn from Kansas City / St. Joseph Bishop Finn.

Here’s what Bishop Finn did –

He was informed by letter by a Catholic School Principal at St. Patrick’s Parish in Kansas City that parents and teachers were concerned about the behavior of their pastor, Fr. Ratigan, who was trying to spend time alone with students, who insisted on giving a little girl a massage at a church event, who was taking a lot of pictures of little girls, and in whose garden a pair of little girl’s underwear was discovered. Bishop Finn ignored the letter.

A year later, a computer technician finds hundreds of photos on Fr. Ratigan’s computer – photos of little girl students at the parish school, and one of a sleeping two year old, with her diaper moved to the side to reveal her genitalia – all taken by Fr. Ratigan. In fact, the photos of the students were taken surreptitiously on the playground, at the cafeteria and elsewhere, and included close-ups of girls’ crotches, and some where their underwear or genitals were showing. Also on the computer were links to sites that sell spy cameras. The computer is taken to Msgr. Murphy, the vicar general, who before seeing the photos, (that’s right, before seeing the photos) calls an off-duty police officer and asks him if a few photos of a mostly-clothed children could be pornographic. The off-duty police officer says, “Maybe.” This is the only contact the diocese makes with the police, until they are forced to contact them again six months later. Some of the photos are downloaded from the computer by the chancery, but Bishop Finn gives the computer to a relative of Fr. Ratigan’s, who then promptly destroys it.

Fr. Ratigan attempts suicide but survives. He is sent to a counselor in Pennsylvania for a very brief evaluation. The counselor says, “This man is fine. He just needs the principal of the school to stop picking on him.” Bishop Finn does not allow the parishioners to know what has happened; they are only told of the suicide attempt. No effort is made to determine who the victims were. No effort is made to contact their families, to see if the children were physically assaulted as well as photographed. No counseling or outreach or intervention of any kind is offered. The victims and their families are kept entirely in the dark.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
Catholic League

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on a judge’s decision yesterday finding Kansas City-St. Joseph Bishop Robert Finn guilty in a case involving Father Sean Ratigan:

Let’s get rid of some myths. Bishop Finn was not found guilty of a felony: he was found guilty of one misdemeanor, and innocent of another. The case did not involve child sexual abuse—no child was ever abused, or touched, in any way by Father Sean Ratigan. Nor did this case involve child pornography. Here’s what happened.

On December 16, 2010, a computer technician found crotch-shot pictures of children, fully clothed, on Ratigan’s computer; there was one that showed a girl’s genitals exposed. The next day Ratigan attempted suicide. The Vicar General, Msgr. Robert Murphy, without seeing the photos, contacted a police officer about this matter. The officer, after consulting with another cop, said a single photo of a non-sexual nature would not constitute pornography. After a few more of the same types of photos were found, an attorney rendered the same judgment: they were not pornographic.

Finn then asked a psychiatrist to evaluate Ratigan. The bishop was given the judgment of a professional: the priest was not a risk to children (he was diagnosed as suffering from depression). Finn then placed restrictions on Ratigan, which he broke. When it was found that Ratigan was again using a computer, upon examination more disturbing photos were found. Murphy then called the cops (Finn was out of town) and a week later Ratigan was arrested. Yesterday, Finn was found guilty of one misdemeanor of failing to report suspected child sexual abuse.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
Pitch

Posted by Ben Palosaari on Fri, Sep 7, 2012

Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph Bishop Robert Finn was convicted of one misdemeanor count of failing to report suspected child abuse on Thursday. Presiding over an hour-long bench trial, Judge John Torrence found Finn not guilty of a second charge. Finn was given two years of probation, but Torrence suspended the sentence. If Finn completes his probation, the conviction will be removed from his criminal record. The conviction makes Finn the highest ranking Catholic church official in the country to be found guilty of a charge related to a sex abuse scandal.

Finn was charged in the wake of a scandal surrounding priest Shawn Ratigan. Sexual images of young girls were found on Ratigan’s laptop computer in late 2010. The diocese knew of the images on the computer for several months before telling authorities. Ratigan pleaded guilty in August, but hasn’t been sentenced yet.

Finn had been scheduled for a jury trial. But Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker says the bench trial saved the victims’ families the pain of testifying. The New York Times reports that Finn told the court, “I truly regret and am sorry for the hurt that these events have caused.”

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CALIFORNIA
Sacramento Bee

A popular Catholic priest accused of molesting a 13-year-old girl waived his preliminary hearing today and was scheduled for a Dec. 6 trial in Sacramento Superior Court.

The attorney for the Rev. Uriel Ojeda said the overwhelming odds that his client would be ordered to stand trial anyway made the decision to bypass the preliminary hearing an easy one.

“The burden of proof on a prelim is so low that an accusation by itself is going to be enough to hold him to answer,” defense attorney Jesse Ortiz said. “So it didn’t make any sense for us to go through this process.”

Ojeda, 33, is accused on seven counts of molesting the girl while he served at parishes in Woodland and Redding.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

By Joseph A. Slobodzian
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

The trial of a Philadelphia priest and a former Catholic schoolteacher on charges they sexually abused a 10-year-old altar boy in 1998-1999 will begin Oct. 22 before Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Judge Ellen Ceisler.

The new trial date and judge were announced today by Judge M. Teresa Sarmina. Sarmina, who presided over the earlier trial of Msgr. William J. Lynn, was forced to relinquish the case Tuesday when the trial was delayed by deaths in the family of one defense attorney.

Sarmina, one of nine judges assigned to handle only homicide trials, said she has back-to-back murder trials through next May.

Sarmina was specially designated in 2011 to preside over the trials of four priests and one teacher charged after a 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.

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NETHERLANDS
Dutch News

A 59-year-old Catholic priest has been stripped of his priesthood by the Vatican following a string of offences against young boys.

Ron van der V is currently in jail following his conviction for abusing a 12-year-old boy on a campsite in France. The priest has several convictions for abusing boys and possessing child pornography over the years, Nos television said.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
KTVU

By MARYCLAIRE DALE
The Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA —

The rape trial of a Roman Catholic priest and a former Catholic school teacher has been rescheduled for next month before a new judge.

The Rev. Charles Engelhardt and ex-teacher Bernard Shero are charged with raping the same boy in the late 1990s at a northeast Philadelphia parish.

Defrocked priest Edward Avery is in prison after admitting he sexually assaulted the boy. Prosecutors disclosed Friday they’ve subpoenaed Avery to testify at the upcoming trial.

The 65-year-old Engelhardt and 49-year-old Shero have pleaded not guilty. Engelhardt’s lawyer says his trial defense will take more than a week.

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

Posted by Barbara Dorris on September 06, 2012

Only jail time would have made a real difference here and deterred future horrific cover-ups, anything less will not produce any meaningful reform.

The catholic hierarchy is notoriously secretive. When they backslide again it will be hard to catch them, everyone involved must be hyper vigilant if kids are truly to be safe. We are modestly hopeful about this arrangement, but only if prosecutors are extraordinarily vigilant and determined. Bishops are tyrants and tyrants rarely honor deals. Kansas City may now be tempted to become complacent, but now more than ever victims, witnesses, and whistleblower cannot give up and stay silent. Now more than ever anyone who saw, suspected, or suffered clergy sex crimes and cover-ups should step forward.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
Daily Mail (United Kingdom)

Guilty: Kansas City Bishop Robert Finn was convicted of one misdemeanor count of failing to report child sex abuse within the church

Kansas City Bishop Robert Finn was found guilty on Thursday of one count of covering up child pornography, becoming the highest-ranking American cleric convicted in the Roman Catholic Church child sex abuse scandal.

Bishop Finn, 59, was charged in 2011 with two misdemeanor counts of failing to alert authorities about a cache of lewd images depicting young girls that were found on the computer of Reverend Shawn Ratigan.

Jackson County Court Judge John Torrence acquitted Finn on a second count of covering up child sex abuse.

Finn received two years of probation, but that sentence was suspended and will be wiped from his record if he adheres to a set of conditions that include mandatory abuse reporting training and setting aside $10,000 in diocese money for abuse victim counseling.

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FLORIDA
Huffington Post

The child sex abuse saga plaguing South Florida’s Catholic church has spawned yet another lawsuit against the Archdiocese of Miami — this one centered on fresh allegations against a priest previously accused of molestation.

Father Rolando Garcia is accused of inappropriate sexual contact in the 1980s with a litigant referred to “John Doe 94”. The lawsuit, according to CBS Miami, says Garcia fondled the child and other salacious acts over a period of 18 months at St. John Bosco in Little Havana, but the Archdiocese of Miami knowingly failed to act — and had even “actively concealed” a previous allegation brought in the early 1980s.

“[He would] kiss me, abuse me, touch me,” John Doe 94 told local media. “It’s like a nightmare — a person I’m thinking is going to be there for me.”

Last month, after the church received notice the suit would be filed, Garcia read a statement to his current parishioners at St. Agatha Church in Southwest Miami-Dade that was also issued by the Archdiocese.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
Courthouse News Service

By JOE HARRIS

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (CN) – Bishop Robert Finn on Thursday became the highest-ranking Catholic official convicted of protecting a pedophile priest: he was found guilty of failing to report suspected child abuse, a misdemeanor.

Finn was acquitted of a second count of failing to report, in Jackson County Court.

Finn, bishop of the Diocese of Kansas City, was sentenced to 2 years probation, suspended.

He also was ordered to receive training on reporting abuse.

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WASHINGTON
Seattle PI

VANCOUVER, Wash. (AP) — A former Bible camp counselor was sentenced Tuesday in Vancouver to 35 years in prison for sexually abusing two children he knew through church.

Forty-six-year-old Michael Scott Norris of Vancouver was convicted in July of child rape and molestation.

The Columbian reports (http://is.gd/3Lae5M) Norris was a volunteer pastor and counselor at Open Bible Church in Portland when he was arrested in 2006.

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POLEN
Fronda

Sollte das Wohlergehen der homosexuellen Straftäter wichtiger sein als das Schicksal von Kindern und Jugendlichen und das Schicksal der Kirche im Ganzen? Sollte das bewusst geschehen, dann wäre das kirchlicher Standesverrat, kirchlicher Verrat am jungen Menschen!

Bereits vor mehreren Wochen ist in Polen die Diskussion zum Thema „homosexueller Untergrund in der Kirche“ laut geworden, die durch Äußerungen des Priesters Tadeusz Isakowicz – Zaleski in seinem neuen Buch „Es geht mir nur um die Wahrheit“ hervorgerufen wurde.[1] Manche leugnen, dass ein solcher Untergrund existiert und verbreiten zugleich Thesen, die in tiefem Widerspruch zur Lehre der Kirche stehen; beides weicht deutlich von der Wahrheit ab.[2] Das Problem ist jedoch von großer Bedeutung, deswegen fühle ich mich verpflichtet, das Wort zu ergreifen, denn mir geht es auch um die Wahrheit, vor allem aber um das Gute, um das fundamentale Wohl des Menschen und der Kirche, die die Grundgemeinschaft seines Lebens ist.

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USA
diesseits

Die britische Wochenzeitung “The Economist” widmet sich in der aktuellen Ausgabe dem „unheiligen“ Finanzgebaren der katholischen Kirche in den USA. Dies sei derart undurchsichtig, dass die Autoren nicht ausschließen wollen, dass eines Tages amerikanische Steuerzahler für die Entschädigungen der Missbrauchsopfer der katholischen Kirche aufkommen.

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BELGIEN
kathweb

Kirche kündigt weiteren Schritt in Missbrauchs-Prävention an

27.08.2012

Brüssel, 27.08.2012 (KAP) In Belgien sollen Priesteramtskandidaten künftig Kinderschutz-Kurse besuchen. Wie belgische Medien am Montag berichten, sollen Psychiater die zukünftigen Priester für problematische Situationen sensibilisieren.

Der Missbrauchsbeauftragte der Belgischen Bischofskonferenz, Bischof Guy Harpigny von Tournai, erklärte den Berichten zufolge, Ziel der Kurse sei die Prävention und der Schutz von Kindern und Jugendlichen. Die Kirche wolle aus der Vergangenheit lernen. Genauer Inhalt und Aufbau der Kurse stehe noch nicht fest.

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DEUTSCHLAND
MissBiT

das dokumentartheater berlin
das dokumentartheater berlin positioniert sich.

Mit den Opfern der von den Jesuiten am Bonner Aloisiuskolleg jahrzehntelang verübten Sexualverbrechen. das dokumentartheater berlin wird die Opfer auf dem Weg ihrer Klage im Rahmen seiner künstlerischen Aktion begleiten.

Presseerklärung

Sieben mutige Menschen, sieben Kläger, der jüngste 27, der älteste 72. Alle von derselben Tätereinrichtung vergewaltigt. Sechs Jahrzehnte lang. Von den Jesuiten am Aloisiuskolleg….Am 26. September 2012 fordern sie ihr Recht ein.

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VATIKAN
Aktuell

Wegen des Verdachts auf sexuellen Missbrauch Minderjähriger hat die vatikanische Glaubenskongregation im vergangenen Jahr rund 400 Untersuchungen gegen Kirchenleute eingeleitet.

27.08.2012 | epd

Die Zahl der Fälle sei gegenüber dem Vorjahr leicht zurückgegangen, berichtete Radio Vatikan am Montag unter Hinweis auf den Jahresbericht über die Aktivitäten des Heiligen Stuhls. Im Vergleich zu den Jahren 2005 bis 2009 sei die Zahl jedoch “deutlich gestiegen”.

Die vatikanischen Missbrauchsrichtlinien sehen vor, dass ein Geistlicher, dem Missbrauch von Kindern oder Jugendlichen nachgewiesen wird, aus dem Klerikerstand entlassen wird. In 125 Fällen legte die Glaubenskongregation Papst Benedikt XVI. dem Bericht zufolge 2011 einen Antrag zur Versetzung eines Klerikers in den Laienstand vor.

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IRELAND
Paddy Doyle – The God Squad

This piece was written by Fergus Finlay many years ago. I did have it on my website but lost it. Fergus was kind enough to send it to me. I’m pleased to publish it on my website again, not because it’s about me but because it reflects on what happened to thousands and thousands of Irish Children.

I can remember a lot of the things that happened when I was eight years old. Times were tough. We had just moved to a new house in Bray, it was a very hard winter, and my father wasn’t finding the going easy in relation to work. I can remember that pocket money was in short supply, and we had to make a lot of our own entertainment.

But it was a happy time. We all got on well in school, and we had friends. I didn’t know Paddy Doyle then – I was only to get to know him, and to come to regard him as a friend, many years later.

While I was complaining about the lack of pocket money, Paddy was standing in the dock in Wexford District Court. According to the Court records, he was the defendant. He was four (not fourteen or twenty four – he was four), utterly lost and utterly alone. And he was guilty – guilty, according to the Court, of being “found having a guardian who does not exercise proper guardianship”.

Because he was guilty, he had to be sentenced. This lonely four year old boy was sentenced to eleven years incarceration in an industrial school in Cappoquin, Co. Waterford. Cappoquin was picked because “the religious persuasion of the said child appears to the Court to be Catholic”, and Cappoquin was “conducted in accordance with the doctrines of the Catholic Church”.

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IRELAND
National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church

Overview

On the 5th September a further seven Safeguarding Review Reports are being published. They comprise four dioceses and three religious congregations. The dioceses included are Kildare and Leighlin, Limerick, Cork and Ross, and Clonfert. The religious congregations are the Congregation of the Holy Spirit (Spiritans), the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart (MSC), and the male Dominicans. The inclusion for the first time of three religious bodies represented an important development for us which threw up a number of issues.

Overall, the findings are mixed with some examples of good practice and sound development across the different Church authorities. This is to be very much welcomed and built upon in the coming months. However, there were also situations discovered that were very poor and these have to be learnt from. All allegations that were examined within the Review process have been reported to the appropriate statutory authorities. Sadly, some of these had been very much delayed. (All seven reports are posted on our website.)

Experience drawn from the first tranche of Reviews highlighted the benefits of openness to scrutiny. The willingness of each of the dioceses to share the findings of their individual reports and to be available to be questioned on them was welcomed by many. This transparency was matched by a commitment to implement fully any recommendations that had been made through the review process. It is gratifying to report that these have been acted upon and each of those dioceses are now in a stronger position with regard to their safeguarding capacity and practice than was the case when the reviews were undertaken initially.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
Spiritual Politics

Mark Silk
Sep 7, 2012

As I suspected, yesterday’s bench trial conviction of Kansas City Bishop Robert Finn was a guilty plea in all but name. The “Stipulation of Testimony” presented by prosecution and defense to Jackson County Circuit Court Judge John Torrance concludes by identifying the bishop as a “mandatory reporter” under Missouri Law, responsible for notifying civil authorities when there is “reasonable cause to suspect” one of his subordinates of child abuse.

By stipulating that, Finn gave up what would have been the cornerstone of his defense. Had a jury found that he was indeed a reporter (as the judge ruled in April was its business to decide), it would have had little choice but to convict.

Moreover, the requirements of Finn’s two-year probationary sentence make clear that establishing reporting responsibility was precisely what Jackson County prosecutor Jean Peters Baker was aiming at. The first requirement is: “Ensuring ‘mandated reporter’ training for clergy and diocesan administrative staff, and instructing all teachers, counselors, clergy and other diocesan agents to report suspected crimes against children, as required by state law.” The last: “Personally complying with mandated reporter laws.”

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
Fox 4

September 6, 2012, by Mary Pulley and Jason M. Vaughn

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The reaction to the conviction of Kansas City-St. Joseph Catholic Diocese Bishop Robert Finn was mixed, as some people thought that the penalty wasn’t tough enough – while others say that they still stand behind the embattled bishop.

Finn was found guilty of one misdemeanor count of failure to report suspected child abuse, and acquitted of another similar charge, in a Jackson County courtroom on Thursday afternoon in connection to the child porn case involving former Northland priest Shawn Rattigan. He was sentenced to two years probation, which was suspended, and forced to implement a number of new child abuse reporting programs within the diocese.

The Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP) said that they applaud the guilty verdict, but wish that victims had the opportunity to speak out in court, and had asked prosecutors to not be sentenced right away.

“It’s huge that there finally has been a ruling in an American court that a bishop has concealed and ignored and enabled child sex crimes,” said David Clohessy of SNAP. “We certainly think it would have been more just and more healing if the victims of Father Ratigan’s crimes and Bishop Finn’s crimes had a opportunity to address the court.”

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CANADA
CBC News

A Cape Breton addiction recovery centre is one step closer to reopening after reinstating its executive director, Rev. Paul Abbass.

John Gainer, the chair of the board of directors for the Talbot House Recovery Centre in Frenchvale, announced Thursday the board members had also decided to make a submission to resume operations at the recovery centre.

The trouble for Talbot House — the only addiction recovery centre outside the Halifax area — began more than six months ago, when unspecified allegations were made against Abbass.

Abbass resigned in February; a subsequent police investigation determined there was no evidence of wrongdoing on his part.

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AKRON (OH)
Beacon Journal

By Rick Armon
Beacon Journal staff writer

It’s sentencing Part Two for the Rev. Samuel Ciccolini.

Ciccolini, a well-known Catholic priest, will appear today before federal Judge James Gwin in Cleveland to be resentenced for banking and income tax crimes.

His original sentence — one day in custody, a $350,000 fine and a $3.5 million restitution order — was overturned this year. The appeals court ruled the judge had no authority to order restitution.

Unknown is how Gwin will handle the new sentence, especially because he had eased up on the prison sentence in favor of the costly restitution.

Federal prosecutors want Ciccolini, 70, popularly known as “Father Sam,” to be sent to prison for at least 18 months and to receive a hefty fine. The defense wants leniency and cites Ciccolini’s decades of service running the Interval Brotherhood Home, a nonprofit alcohol and drug treatment center in Coventry Township.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Altoona Mirror

September 7, 2012

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

The Cambria County District Attorney’s office is investigating claims of sexual misconduct leveled against a priest suspended by the Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown after several alleged victims went to authorities.

The DA’s office launched an investigation earlier this month after multiple individuals approached court officials with allegations of sexual misconduct involving the Rev. George D. Koharchik, Assistant District Attorney Beth Bolton Penna said.

“We have had [alleged] victims come forward,” Bolton Penna said, adding that at least two people have alleged Koharchik committed sexual misconduct.

An attempt to reach Koharchik for comment Thursday was unsuccessful.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
Jackson County Circuit Court

September 6, 2012

By Bishop Robert W. Finn and Prosecuting Attorney Jean Peters Baker

[See also the 5/19/10 memo to the diocese by Principal Julie Hess; the 5/19/11 Probable Cause Statement of Detective Maggie McGuire; the 8/31/11 Graves report; the complaints of Jane Doe 173, Jane Doe 49, and Jane Doe 186; the 8/9/11 indictment of Rev. Shawn Ratigan; the 10/14/11 indictment of Bishop Finn and the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph; and Bishop Finn’s Terms of Probation.]

Robert W. Finn, and the State of Missouri, hereby stipulate that the following evidence would be adduced through witnesses who would be called to testify at trial:

1. The Catholic Diocese of Kansas City – St. Joseph (hereafter Diocese) is a benevolent corporation organized under the laws of the State of Missouri. At all times relevant to this case it was a corporation in good standing with the State of Missouri. The headquarters for the Diocese has been located in Kansas City, Jackson County, Missouri at all times relevant to this case.

2. Robert Finn is a priest of the Roman Catholic Church. In 2005, he became the Bishop of the Diocese and as such is the head priest and the head of the Diocese. Finn is the ultimate authority at the Diocese and all employees of the Diocese report to him. Finn is a mandated reporter.

3. Finn acknowledges that both the “Code of Ethical Standards for Priests, Pastoral Administrators, Deacons and Diocesan Officers” and the Diocesan “Policy regarding Sexual Misconduct” require that all church leaders follow proper reporting requirements of suspected abuse of children under Missouri law as well as reporting to the Vicar General and to the appropriate Diocesan office responsible for the ministry of the alleged abuser.

4. Robert Murphy is a priest of the Roman Catholic Church and an employee of the Diocese. In 2005, Robert Murphy was appointed by Finn to the position of Vicar General and given the title of Monsignor. Murphy is a mandated reporter.

5. On February 21, 2007, Finn drafted “Blessed Are the Pure in Heart – A Pastoral Letter on the Dignity of the Human Person and the Dangers of Pornography.”

6. On August 21, 2008, Finn signed a Settlement Agreement and Memorandum of Understanding. The Settlement Agreement and Memorandum of Understanding includes Non-Monetary Commitments, including “the Diocese will continue to follow mandatory state reporting requirements in Virtus guidelines in reporting the suspected sexual abuse of minors to law enforcement to child protection authorities.”

7. On May 19, 2010, Julie Hess, Principal of St. Patrick’s School, drafted a memo to be presented to Murphy outlining concerns expressed by parents and staff of St. Patrick’s School regarding “boundary issues” between Ratigan and children. Hess notified Murphy of her concerns because “[p]arents, staff members, and parishioners are discussing his actions and whether or not he may be a child molester.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

By Caroline Crawford, Tom Brady and Majella O’Sullivan

Friday September 07 2012

THE bishop at the centre of the controversy over his remarks on paedophilia is refusing to consider his position — despite the growing public outcry over his comments.

Dr John Kirby remained silent on the matter yesterday as calls for his resignation grew.

The bishop, who is chairman of Trocaire, would not answer media queries yesterday following his remarks that he had believed paedophilia to be “a friendship that had crossed a boundary line”.

While he apologised for his role in moving two priests to new parishes after they had abused children in the 1990s, his claims that he was unaware of the true nature of paedophilia have been met with outrage by many members of the public.

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CANADA
The Ottawa Citizen

By Andrew Seymour, Ottawa Citizen September 6, 2012

OTTAWA — An 81-year-old pedophile priest and retired high school teacher who asked a male student “if you can’t trust a priest, who can you trust?” before indecently assaulting him has been sentenced to house arrest.

Father Kenneth O’Keefe was a teacher at Ottawa’s St. Pius high school when he touched the 16-year-old during a sleepover at his apartment in 1974.

The Grade 11 student had been fighting with his parents when he went to see the priest, who was also his homeroom teacher. O’Keefe invited him to stay.

O’Keefe told his victim not to be “foolish” when he suggested sleeping on the floor. Instead, O’Keefe offered to share the bed.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
AFP

By Mira Oberman (AFP)

CHICAGO — Bishop Robert Finn was found guilty of failing to report suspected child abuse, becoming the highest-ranking US Catholic Church official convicted in clergy sex abuse scandals.

Jackson County Circuit Court Judge John Torrence issued the ruling in Kansas City, Missouri after Finn, 59, declined to fight the charges and instead agreed to a stipulated finding of facts in the case.

Finn will not serve jail time or pay a fine for the misdemeanor charge. He was instead placed on probation, which requires him to ensure the diocese trains staff and clergy to detect and report abuse, as well as create a $10,000 fund for counseling abuse victims.

The ruling comes weeks after Monsignor William Lynn was sentenced to up to six years in prison for covering up child sex abuse by priests in Philadelphia.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Kansas City Star

[stipulation of testimony]

[probation conditons]

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

Once relatively anonymous in the Roman Catholic world, the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph on Thursday made an unwelcome piece of history for the 2,000-year-old institution.

A judge convicted the diocese’s bishop and spiritual pastor, Robert W. Finn, of failing to report child abuse suspicions, making him the highest-ranking U.S. Catholic cleric convicted in the church’s decades-long child sexual abuse scandal.

Finn, 59, was acquitted of one other misdemeanor count of failing to report. And with Finn’s conviction, Jackson County prosecutors dismissed two similar counts that had been pending against the diocese.

The verdicts came after a short nonjury trial in Jackson County Circuit Court. Judge John Torrence immediately sentenced Finn to two years’ of probation, then suspended the imposition of the sentence. That means that if Finn finishes the probation without incident and completes nine steps as part of his sentence, the bishop’s criminal record will be expunged.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Kansas City Star

Kansas City Star Editorial

The criminal conviction of Bishop Robert Finn sends a clear message to the Catholic Church that those responsible for the safety of children will be held accountable, no matter how high their post in the hierarchy. Yet at the same time, the sentence on one count of failing to report suspicion of child abuse, is disconcertingly light: Two years of unsupervised probation.

Nevertheless, Finn has the unwanted distinction of becoming the highest-ranking U.S. Catholic official to be convicted in the long-running abuse scandals. Finn said he was “truly sorry for the hurt these events have caused.”

Yet perhaps “these events” could have been avoided had the diocese strictly followed the terms of a settlement it signed four years ago. In that case, the diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph put to rest a $10 million lawsuit involving several dozen people who said they had been sexually abused by priests.

The settlement included a series of pledges by the diocese to institute tougher policies covering priests and those in contact with children. Priests and other adults were warned: Any contact with children beyond a handshake “should only occur under appropriate public circumstances.” Significantly, the diocese vowed to strictly follow state law covering the reporting of child abuse.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Kansas City Star

By MARY SANCHEZ
The Kansas City Star

Courtroom benches are virtually identical to church pews.

Eerily appropriate then that it was from such wooden benches on Thursday that a crowd heard a Jackson County judge declare Bishop Robert Finn guilty. The diocese’s highest figure failed to protect children. And his rank didn’t allow him to get away with it. Not completely.

The court actions were a procedural, unsatisfactory cap to the most painful saga that has ever faced local Catholics. And be clear, they are among the damaged. Their church, the place where they tithed and placed their faith and the care of their children, has been symbolically on trial through the decades-long scandals. Finn is just the figurehead who finally had to face the legal system. That’s the scope of the passion behind the proceedings.

But within the confines of the law, Finn’s guilt on one count only makes sense. The charges were never more than misdemeanors. And even though they were powerful by virtue of being leveled against a sitting bishop, there were limits.

Nothing that could feasibly happen in that courtroom would have ever satisfied the church’s strident critics or its most faithful supporters. The bench trial route that the Jackson County prosecutor took was judicious, expedient and considerate to the families of the victims of Shawn Ratigan. He sits in federal prison, convicted of pornography charges. Had Finn’s case gone to trial, parents faced the possibility of having to appear in court and identify their children in Ratigan’s pornographic photos.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Kansas City Star

A condensed version of evidence that Bishop Robert W. Finn and prosecutors agreed to in Thursday’s court action:

May 19, 2010: Julie Hess, principal of St. Patrick’s School, meets with Vicar General Robert Murphy about concerns of parents and school staff over “boundary issues” between the Rev. Shawn Ratigan and children. Murphy that month informs Finn about the concerns.

June 2010: Finn follows up on the issue with Ratigan, Finn later testifies.

Dec. 16, 2010: A computer technician examines a laptop owned by Ratigan and observes alarming pictures of children. He takes the laptop to a parish official, who calls Murphy and takes him the laptop. Before receiving the laptop, Murphy calls a Kansas City police captain, describing a single photograph of a naked child in a nonsexual pose. The captain says that was not likely considered child pornography.

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