ABUSE TRACKER

AUSTRALIA
ABC News

[with video]

A Sydney lawyer representing victims of sexual abuse in claims against the Maitland-Newcastle Catholic Diocese says out-of-court settlements made by the church could be in excess of $15 million.

The Australian newspaper reports that the diocese has settled cases with around 100 sexual abuse victims.

The Diocese will not confirm the reports and Bishop Bill Wright says it is not in anyone’s best interest to make known the total number of settlements or the amount involved.

But solicitor John Ellis from Sydney firm David Beggs and Associates says he has acted on behalf of victims and believes the number could be higher.

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

CALIFORNIA
Daily Bulletin

Melissa Pinion-Whitt, Staff Writer
sbsun.com
Created: 08/16/2012

Rialto police have arrested a Compton church pastor suspected of molesting two Rialto girls for several years, one of whom was 11 years old when the alleged sexual abuse began.

Anthony Lavon Smith, 47, of Rialto was taken into custody at Carter High School about 11:30 a.m. Wednesday while he was picking up a family friend, police Capt. Randy DeAnda said.

“We do believe that there are other victims at his church, and we’ll be contacting the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department detective bureau to let them know about our investigation,” DeAnda said.

Smith has been a pastor at Jericho Baptist Assembly in Compton since April 2001, following in the footsteps of his father, Willie L. Smith, who also preached at the church, according to the church’s website.

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

HARLAN (KY)
Harlan Daily Enterprise

Joe P. Asher
Staff Writer

Jeremy Caraway was back in Harlan Circuit Court on Thursday.

Caraway, 37, of Loyall, is awaiting trial on multiple charges including two counts of second-degree rape. The state has filed a motion to amend Caraway’s bond conditions to include he stay away from children with the exception of immediate family.

Judge James Bowling inquired about the status of the state’s case.

Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Jason Jackson told Bowling the state is “waiting for the lab analysis.”

Jackson pointed out in a later interview the state believed the bond amendment was a necessary step after Caraway’s wife had allegedly attempted to offer daycare services to children.

Read more: The Harlan Daily Enterprise – Former pastor makes court appearance

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

OREGON
Catholic News Agency

[Woodburn police report – The Oregonian]

By Michelle Bauman

Portland, Ore., Aug 17, 2012 / 02:19 am (CNA).- A priest in the Archdiocese of Portland, Ore., has been arrested and is facing accusations of sexually abusing a young boy, stunning the local community.

“This is a very tragic and sad situation for all involved,” said Bud Bunce, spokesman for the Archdiocese of Portland.

Bunce told CNA on Aug. 16 that the archdiocese is asking for prayers for everyone affected by the incident and for all parishioners during this difficult time.

Fr. Angel Perez, the 46-year-old pastor of St. Luke Catholic Church in Woodburn, Ore. was arrested on Aug.13 following a complaint to police about alleged inappropriate contact early that morning.

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

CALIFORNIA
Pasadena Star-News

By Maritza Velazquez, SGVN
twitter.com/MaritzaSGVNsgvtribune.com
Posted: 08/16/2012

ROSEMEAD – The University of the West terminated its director of student life after learning of a history of sexual abuse allegations lodged against the former Catholic Franciscan brother, an official with the university said Thursday.

Thomas Thing, 53, was placed on administrative leave last month following news reports that he was involved in a 2011 legal settlement with a Nevada man who accused Thing of sexually molesting and assaulting him in the mid-1980s when he was in the seventh-grade.

Thing has since been terminated from his post at the University of the West, Mason Yost, an attorney representing the Buddhist university said Thursday.

“We’ve read newspaper accounts and heard about lawsuits and settlements,” Yost said. “There has never been any complaints while he was employed at University of the West, but it was decided that he would leave and that he is no longer employed there as of Aug. 3.”

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

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Priest Abuse Trial Blog

Ralph Cipriano

Msgr. Lynn’s lawyers are asking the state Superior Court to let their client out on bail pending appeal.

In a brief filed this week, Lynn’s lawyers say the monsignor was convicted on June 22 of one count of endangering the welfare of a child [EWOC] “based upon a novel and controversial theory of liability that held him criminally responsible for inadequately supervising a priest … alleged to have sexually abused a child.”

The state’s 1972 child endangerment law was usually applied to parents, guardians, and those in direct contact with children, say defense lawyers Thomas A. Bergstrom, Allison Khaskelis, and Alan J. Tauber. Lynn is the first supervisor in the history of Pennsylvania to be charged under the old child endangerment law, even though he never had any direct contact with the child, the lawyers argue.

The defense lawyers say they have a “substantial legal claim” because in 2005, then-District Attorney Lynne Abraham agreed that the old state endangerment law did not apply to Lynn, Cardinal Bevilacqua or other members of the hierarchy of the archdiocese of Philadelphia.

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

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Daily News

BY MENSAH M. DEAN
Daily News Staff Writer

THREE FELONY sex charges were thrown out Thursday against Andrew McCormick – a Catholic priest arrested last month and charged with sexually assaulting a 10-year-old altar boy in 1997 – after a dispute in court over the definition of “penetration.”

The alleged victim, now 24, testified that when McCormick was assigned to St. John Cantius Church in Bridesburg, the priest straddled his chest and tried to force him to perform oral sex. But Municipal Judge Karen Yvette Simmons discharged the most serious counts: involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, statutory sexual assault and felony sexual assault.

After Thursday’s preliminary hearing, Simmons let stand misdemeanor counts of indecent assault, child endangerment, corruption of a minor and indecent exposure. McCormick now has a trial date of Oct. 18 in Municipal Court on those charges.

City prosecutors quickly announced they would refile the felony charges against McCormick, 56, who dressed in his clerical collar and black uniform despite having been placed on leave by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

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

SEATTLE (WA)
O’Dea High School

Thursday August 16, 2012

August 10, 2012

Dear O’Dea School Community,

I am writing to inform you that I have been appointed the acting principal of O’Dea High School.

I learned on Thursday, August 9th, that Brother Walczak was called by the Christian Brothers to assist in resolving a proof of claim filed in the Christian Brother’s Institute bankruptcy proceedings. Brother Walczak asked if I would serve as the acting principal during his absence and I agreed. Brother Walczak regrets that this action was necessary so close to the beginning of the school year. He asks for your prayers and patience as the Brothers work toward a resolution of the bankruptcy process.

During Brother Walczak’s absence I am honored to serve O’Dea in this capacity. As you are no doubt aware, we have wonderful families, an excellent faculty and staff, celebrated academic and co-curricular programs, and most importantly great young men. I have served O’Dea for 22 years and I am confident that we will continue to build on the foundation and traditions of O’Dea High School.

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

NEW MEXICO
Courthouse News Service

By EVAN PRIESKOP

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (CN) – A former Catholic school student claims in court that his principal sexually assaulted him “several times a week … under threat of withholding his diploma.”

John Doe claims Cathedral High School principal Stephen Furches sexually assaulted him repeatedly during his last two years at the school in El Paso, Texas, in the late 1980s.

Doe sued NOSF Inc. fka the Brothers of the Christian Schools of Lafayetta, La., the Catholic Diocese of El Paso, and Furches, in Santa Fe County Court.

Doe claims that Furches “sought out John Doe on a regular basis, using his authority as principal to call him out of class or approach him in the school locker in order to engage in inappropriate contact. Several times each week, Furches would isolate John Doe in his office or the shower after swim practice to sexually abuse him by reaching into his pants and touching his genitals.”

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

MISSOURI
Bilgrimage

William D. Lindsey

Father Shawn Ratigan recently pled guilty in Kansas City to four counts of producing child pornography and one of attempted production of child pornography. Ratigan’s bishop, Robert Finn, is facing charges of having failed to report that Ratigan had pornographic photographs of little girls on his computer, after Finn became aware of this fact.

At Talk to Action, Frank Cocozzelli wonders how Finn’s fierce defender Bill Donohue of the Catholic League can be so strangely silent now that Ratigan has pled guilty. Donohue went ballistic when the Kansas City paper, the Star, refused to print an expensive pro-Finn ad he and the Catholic League crafted to defend Finn. As Jerry Slevin has noted, Donohue’s anti-Star activities were an attempt to punish the paper for its excellent coverage of the Ratigan-Finn case. Donohue flew to Kansas City to stage a pro-Finn publicity stunt after the Star refused to print his ad.

And now Ratigan has pled guilty, proving that Donohue was wildly wrong in his defense of Ratigan-Finn. And Donohue appears to have nothing at all to say in response. Frank writes,

Bishop Finn has many powerful friends on the Catholic Right. As a hard charging leader of what he has called “the church militant” and one of four American Opus Dei bishops, Finn is clearly one of their own. The fact that these activists want to save Finn’s position as bishop at almost any cost, suggests that their goals for the Church as a bastion of religious and political authoritarianism takes precedence over everything else — including the safety and well being of children.
Silence might be a legitimate legal consideration for some in light of Finn’s pending trial. But it soon will be time for Donohue and his cohorts to announce their penance.

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NEW YORK
Forbes

Neal Rodriguez, Contributor

A lone tear falls from my eye. Tell me G-d, How many times can one die? – Debbie Teller

A sexual assault survivor is using her blog to expose sexual assaults in her community and elsewhere. She blogs by the pseudonym, Debbie Teller. The graphic and specific way that she exposes the horrors of being abused in a secretive and closed community on her website, has helped her secure a television interview on NY1; and the site welcomed as much as 13,000 unique readers in a day. Debbie now writes that it is read by 3,000 people a day.

Debbie was molested by her father at the age of five. The abuse continued until she was 10. Her blog narrates the graphic tale of a time when Debbie was forced to perform oral sex by her father, while she thought it was all a dream. …

“There was no one for me to ask, so I went to this Rabbi,” Debbie said. “I said to him, ‘What do you think I should do?’ and he said, ‘Well, did he touch you?’ He couldn’t even say the words, ‘Did you have sex?’ or ‘Did he rape you?’ or anything, he said, ‘Did he touch you?’ and I said, ‘Yes.’ ‘Well, then you have to get married.’ ”

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

BUFFALO (NY)
The Buffalo News

Updated: August 16, 2012, 4:31 PM

By Jay Tokasz
News Staff Reporter

The Catholic Diocese of Buffalo has reached a financial settlement with a 37-year-old woman who accused a priest of sexually assaulting her inside the rectory of a downtown Buffalo church in 2009, according to the woman’s lawyer.

The incident led to the removal in January of the Rev. Secondo Casarotto, longtime pastor of St. Anthony Church.

The settlement means the woman will not file a lawsuit in federal court, said her lawyer, Adam Horowitz.

Horowitz would not disclose the monetary terms of the settlement, although he said those terms were not confidential.

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

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
NBC 10

Prosecutors plan to appeal a judge’s decision to dismiss the most serious sexual assault charges against a Philadelphia priest after the accuser described the alleged 1997 encounter at a preliminary hearing Thursday.

The Rev. Andrew McCormick, 56, remains on leave from the church, with a misdemeanor trial set for October.

But Philadelphia prosecutors, who recently prosecuted a landmark case over the church’s handling of abuse complaints, vow to have the felony charges against McCormick restored.

The accuser’s credibility was not at issue at the preliminary hearing, but the judge found the acts described did not meet the legal definition of sexual assault and deviant intercourse.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
CNN

By Sarah Hoye, CNN

updated 4:35 PM EDT, Thu August 16, 2012

Philadelphia (CNN) — A judge dismissed felony sexual assault charges Thursday against a Roman Catholic priest arrested in July on allegations of sexually abusing a 10-year-old boy in 1997.

At Thursday’s preliminary hearing, Philadelphia Municipal Court Judge Karen Yvette Simmons dismissed felony involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and sexual assault charges against Andrew McCormick, 56.

Simmons still remanded the case for trial on the misdemeanor charges of indecent assault, corrupting the morals of a minor and endangering the welfare of a child, according to the Philadelphia district attorney’s office.

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BELGIEN
Kathweb

Gegen früheren belgischen Bischof liegt erneut Anzeige wegen sexuellen Missbrauchs ein

16.08.2012

Brüssel, 16.08.2012 (KAP) Der Anwalt des früheren Bischofs von Brügge,

Joris Van Cauter, Anwalt des früheren Bischofs von Brügge, Roger Vangheluwes, hat eine öffentliche Vorverurteilung seines Mandanten beklagt. Die Möglichkeit, dass Vangheluwe auch zu Unrecht des sexuellen Missbrauchs beschuldigt werden könnte, zögen Medien und Öffentlichkeit überhaupt nicht in Betracht, sagte Van Cauter der belgischen Tageszeitung “De Standaard” (Donnerstag). Zudem veröffentlichte er in mehreren belgischen Zeitungen einen Gastbeitrag, in dem er die Berichterstattung über Vangheluwe als voreilig kritisiert.

Anfang der Woche war bekanntgeworden, dass gegen Vangheluwe bei der Staatsanwaltschaft vor vier Wochen erneut eine Anzeige wegen sexuellen Missbrauchs eingegangen war. Vangheluwe hatte im April 2011 in einem umstrittenen TV-Interview den Missbrauch eines anfangs fünf Jahre alten Neffen zwischen 1973 und 1986 sowie den Missbrauch eines zweiten Neffen eingeräumt.

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UNITED STATES
BBC News

A retired Church of England priest from Eastbourne has been charged with 29 sexual offences against three boys.

Robert Coles, 71, of Upperton Road, is alleged to have committed the acts from 1978 to 1984 in West Sussex, Cornwall, Devon, Somerset and the Isle of White.

He was arrested on 6 March following a nine-month investigation and released on conditional bail – but charged on Thursday following further interviews.

He is due to appear at Chichester Magistrates’ Court on 5 September.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Moment Mal

16. August 2012Hinterlasse einen KommentarKommentare lesen

Opferverband fordert die Ablösung von Bischof Zollitsch – netzwerkB » (9.6.2011) – UPDATE
Netzwerk Betroffener von Sexualisierter Gewalt e.V. (Sexueller Missbrauch)

Die Zeit: ” Ein Opfer sexuellen Missbrauchs durch einen Pfarrer wendet sich nach Jahren vertrauensvoll an das Erzbistum Freiburg. Und bekommt plötzlich Post – vom Täter. “
netzwerkB: bezweifelt, dass eine gründliche Abkehr und Aufklärung unter Zollitschs Führung möglich ist, die schon seit den siebziger Jahren für Personalpolitik und auch für Verdrängungsstrategien über den Missbrauch von Kindern und Jugendlichen verantwortlich war.

netzwerkB fordert die Absetzung von Zollitsch als Bischof des Erzbistums Freiburg. “

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DEUTSCHLAND
MissBiT

Der Pfarrer von St.Wendel hat Vorwürfe zurückgewiesen, er habe Drohbriefe an den ehemaligen Pfarrer von Köllerbach geschrieben. Auf den Briefen befänden sich keine Fingerabdrücke von ihm. Das sagte sein Anwalt dem SR.

Der ehemalige Pfarrer von Köllerbach erneuerte gegenüber dem SR seine Vorwürfe, dass der St.Wendeler Pfarrer ihn in Briefen massiv bedroht habe. Dies sei geschehen, nachdem er versucht habe, Fälle sexuellen Missbrauchs in der Köllerbacher Gemeinde aufzuklären. Die Staatsanwaltschaft machte wegen des laufenden Verfahrens keine Angaben.

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UNITED STATES
The Economist

Aug 18th 2012 | BOSTON, NEW YORK AND SAN DIEGO

OF ALL the organisations that serve America’s poor, few do more good work than the Catholic church: its schools and hospitals provide a lifeline for millions. Yet even taking these virtues into account, the finances of the Catholic church in America are an unholy mess. The sins involved in its book-keeping are not as vivid or grotesque as those on display in the various sexual-abuse cases that have cost the American church more than $3 billion so far; but the financial mismanagement and questionable business practices would have seen widespread resignations at the top of any other public institution.

The sexual-abuse scandals of the past 20 years have brought shame to the church around the world. In America they have also brought financial strains. By studying court documents in bankruptcy cases, examining public records, requesting documents from local, state and federal governments, as well as talking to priests and bishops confidentially, The Economist has sought to quantify the damage.

The picture that emerges is not flattering. The church’s finances look poorly co-ordinated considering (or perhaps because of) their complexity. The management of money is often sloppy. And some parts of the church have indulged in ungainly financial contortions in some cases—it is alleged—both to divert funds away from uses intended by donors and to frustrate creditors with legitimate claims, including its own nuns and priests. The dioceses that have filed for bankruptcy may not be typical of the church as a whole. But given the overall lack of openness there is no way of knowing to what extent they are outliers.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Independent

A former parish priest has been charged with historic sexual offences against three young boys.

Robert Coles, 71, is charged with 13 counts of sexual assault on a boy aged between 15 and 16 in Chichester, West Sussex between 1982 and 1984; eight offences of indecent assault on another boy aged between 10 and 13 in Broadbridge Heath in West Sussex, Devon, Cornwall and the Isle of White between 1978 and 1981; and eight offences of indecent assault on another boy aged between 10 and 13 in Broadbridge Heath, Somerset and Devon between 1978 and 1982.

Coles, of Upperton Road, Eastbourne, East Sussex, was arrested on March 6 and was on conditional bail since then, a Sussex Police spokeswoman said.

He was charged following further police interviews after he answered bail.

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

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
CBS Philly

WARNING: THE FOLLOWING REPORT CONTAINS GRAPHIC DESCRIPTIONS THAT MAY OFFEND SOME READERS. EXTREME READER CAUTION IS URGED.

By Tony Hanson

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — A Philadelphia judge today dismissed the most serious charges against a local priest after a former altar boy testified he was sexually assaulted as a fourth grader 15 years ago.

The judge ordered defendant Father Andrew McCormick to face trial on the remaining misdemeanor charges, but prosecutors say they will refile the felony charges against the priest.

The alleged victim, now 24, testified that Father McCormick took him back to the rectory after mass and guided the boy upstairs to his living quarters.

The witness testified there was touching, groping, and McCormick tried to force him to perform oral sex.

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

UNITED KINGDOM
Chichester Observer

An Eastbourne man has today (Thursday, August 16) been charged with sexual offences against boys, including 13 alleged assaults in Chichester.

The charges allege that Robert Coles, 71, of Upperton Road, Eastbourne committed 13 assaults on a boy, then aged 15 and 16 at a location in Chichester between 1982 and 1984. They comprise three offences of buggery, one of attempted buggery, and nine of indecent assault.

They also include eight offences of indecent assault on another boy then aged between ten and 13 at locations in Broadbridge Heath in West Sussex, Devon, Cornwall and the Isle of White between 1978 and 1981; and;

eight offences of indecent assault on another boy then aged between ten and 13 at locations in Broadbridge Heath in West Sussex, Somerset and Devon between 1978 and 1982.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
San Francisco Chronicle

MARYCLAIRE DALE, Associated Press

Updated 8:38 a.m., Thursday, August 16, 2012

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A judge has dismissed the three most serious sexual assault charges against a Philadelphia priest after hearing details of the alleged contact from the priest’s accuser.

Father Andrew McCormick was bound over for trial Thursday on misdemeanor charges including endangering the welfare of a child and indecent assault, but had the three felony counts against him tossed at a preliminary hearing.

The now-24-year-old accuser, a former altar boy, told the court McCormick groped and molested him inside a rectory bedroom in 1997. But the judge dismissed charges of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, statutory sexual assault and sexual assault after determining the contact didn’t include penetration.

McCormick is free on bail and due back in court Oct. 18.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

By John P. Martin
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

A judge today threw out the most serious charges against the former pastor of a Montgomery County Catholic Church who was accused of sexually assaulting a 10-year-old altar boy in Philadelphia in 1997.

Philadelphia Municipal Court Judge Karen Simmons said testimony from the victim did not show that the Rev. Andrew McCormick, 56, committed felony sexual assault or involuntary deviate sexual intercourse in the incident.

But she ordered McCormick to stand trial on misdemeanor indecent assault, endangerment and corruption charges.

The ruling stunned prosecutors. Minutes after the preliminary hearing ended, they returned to Simmons’ courtroom, a sign they would seek to refile the felony charges against McCormick.

McCormick, 56, was arrested last month at his parents’ home in Pottstown.

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BUFFALO (NY)
WGRZ

Written by
Kim DeGeorge-Pike

BUFFALO, NY – An attorney for a woman who claimed a Buffalo priest sexually assaulted her says the woman and the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo have come to a settlement.

Father Secundo Casarotto was removed from St. Anthony of Padua church in early January after an investigation into inappropriate contact with a female parishioner in 2009. The 70-year-old had been a priest there for more than 25 years.

Attorney Adam Horowitz announced the settlement with the Diocese of Buffalo and the Scalabrinians prior to the filing of a federal lawsuit.

Channel 2 News obtained a copy of the police report filed in June. In it, the alleged victim, who’s in her 30s, says the sexual assault took place in the bedroom of the St. Anthony of Padua parish rectory in August of 2009.

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MISSOURI
KCTV

[with video]

PLATTE CITY, MO (KCTV) –
A Platte City pastor has been accused of peering into the bathroom window of a woman about to take a shower.

Prosecutors talked to KCTV5’s Amy Anderson at the Missouri Bar Association Wednesday afternoon about the arrest of a man a lot of people trusted.

“You’re freaked out and you’re upset and you’re upset for your neighbors because they’re upset,” neighbor Nancy Wakefield said.

Wakefield lives near the home at Northwest 136th Street and Running Horse Road in Platte City where the incident happened.

The Platte County Sheriff’s Department was called to the Timber Park neighborhood near Platte City about 6:30 a.m. Tuesday after a witness reported a man running between houses in the neighborhood, according to court documents.

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MISSOURI
The Sacramento Bee

The Associated Press

Published: Wednesday, Aug. 15, 2012

PLATTE CITY, Mo. — A western Missouri pastor is accused of peeping into the bathroom window of a woman around the time she was taking a shower.

Platte County prosecutor Eric Zahnd says 39-year-old Kelvin B. Lambert was charged Wednesday with trespassing and attempted invasion of privacy.

Zahnd says Lambert was taken into custody Tuesday after a witness saw him standing on a plastic lawn chair and looking into a bathroom window in Platte City, where he is pastor at Second Baptist Church.

Deputies were called to the Timber Park neighborhood around 6:20 a.m. Tuesday after someone saw a man running between houses.

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MISSOURI
Wichita Eagle

Prosecutors on Wednesday accused a Platte City, Mo., pastor of window peeping on a woman about the time she was taking a shower.

Kelvin B. Lambert, 39, pastor of the Second Baptist Church, was charged with attempted invasion of privacy and trespass.

According to court documents, Lambert stood on a plastic lawn chair early Tuesday to peer into the woman’s house. He reportedly fled after being seen by a witness and was seen running between houses in the Timber Park neighborhood near Platte City.

The alleged victim told authorities she did know the suspect and he did not have permission to be on her property.

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

MISSOURI
Fox 4

[with video]

PLATTE CITY, Mo. — A Platte City pastor has been charged with allegedly peeping on a woman in her bathroom while she was taking a shower.

Kelvin B. Lambert, 39, faces trespassing and attempted invasion of privacy charges in connection to the incident at a Platte City home on Tuesday morning. Lambert is the pastor of the Second Baptist Church in Platte City.

According to court documents, a witness allegedly saw a man, later identified as Lambert, standing on a plastic lawn chair and peering into the bathroom window of a home in the Timber Park neighborhood around 6:30 a.m. Authorities say that Lambert allegedly fled the scene after being seen by the witness.

Prosecutors say that the adult female resident of the home said that she had taken a shower that morning. She also said that she did not know Lambert and he didn’t have permission to be on her property.

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NEW JERSEY
NJ.com

By Matt Friedman/Statehouse Bureau

TRENTON —The state Senate on Monday is scheduled to vote on a bill that would lift the statute of limitations on civil sexual abuse claims.

Under current law, victims have a maximum of two years to file suit from the point when they realize the abuse has damaged them. The bill (S1651) would allow them unlimited time, and make institutions — including those in the nonprofit, religious and charity sectors — liable if they knew an employee was engaging in abuse and did nothing to stop it.

“It’s important to victims of child sex rape that they are provided with access to the courtroom in civil matters against those individuals or institutions who are culpable in their abuse,” said the bill’s sponsor, state Sen. Joseph Vitale (D-Middlesex).

The legislation, which draws support from many childhood sexual abuse victims and is opposed by Catholic bishops, cleared committee in both the Senate and Assembly in the last legislative session but stalled before either house voted on it.

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MISSOURI
Courthouse News Service

By JOE HARRIS

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (CN) – The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests may not shield certain documents from an accused priest’s attorney, the Missouri Supreme Court Ruled.

The state’s high court on Tuesday upheld a Jackson County judge’s order granting the document request.

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) will have to release those records.

Defense attorneys argued that documents held by SNAP could raise doubts about repressed memories and whether a gag order was violated.

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COLOMBIA
Caracol Radio

Preocupadas se declararon las víctimas del pastor de Salem Álvaro Gámez Torres, al conocer que éste salió del país el pasado 12 de agosto con destino a Florida, en Estados Unidos, en compañía de su familia.

Para las afectadas es evidente que el líder investigado por abusos sexuales no comparecería a la audiencia prevista para el próximo 30 de agosto, lo que se constituye en motivo de desconcierto por la afectación psicológica que ha generado a varias mujeres que acudían a su iglesia y que aparentemente fueron convencidas por Gámez Torres para sostener relaciones sexuales en grupo utilizando como pretexto supuestos lineamientos divinos.

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BELGIUM
Expatica

The disgraced former Bishop of Bruges Roger Vangheluwe has dismissed the further allegations of sexual abuse that emerged earlier this week.

The disgraced former Bishop of Bruges Roger Vangheluwe has dismissed the further allegations of sexual abuse that emerged earlier this week. Bishop Vangheluwe’s solicitor Joris Van Cauter writes in an open letter published in Thursday’s editions of the dailies ‘De Standaard’ and ‘Het Nieuwsblad’ that “my client is being put down in the media without any investigation having been carried out.”

“It won’t make me more popular by publicising the fact that I’m Vangheluwe’s brief. I’m not happy having to react, but it was all becoming too much.”

Mr Van Cauter added that the discussion surrounding the fresh allegations made against Bishop Vangheluwe has centred solely on whether he can still be tried (as the alleged crime may have happened too long ago to bring a prosecution) and, if tried, what sentence the disgraced clergyman should receive.

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SALINA (KS)
LJ World

Salina — A Salina priest has pleaded no contest to misdemeanor battery after being accused of inappropriately touching an adult male.

The Salina Journal reports the Rev. Allen Scheer, of Sacred Heart Cathedral, was accused in April of inappropriately touching a man. Scheer had been scheduled for trial Wednesday on a misdemeanor charge of sexual battery before the plea.

A statement on the website of the Catholic Diocese of Salina said Scheer pleaded no contest Friday to the lesser charge of misdemeanor battery. The diocese also says Scheer was sentenced to six months’ probation.

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PENNSYLVANIA
WPXI

[with video]

SEWICKLEY, Pa. —

A Sewickley priest officially held his final mass Wednesday night, even after investigators said no charges would be filed against him following a complaint about Facebook postings to a minor.

The Rev. Daniel Valentine of St. James Catholic Church began his leave of absence on May 19 because of a complaint about online posts.

Following an investigation by the Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office, which ended late in June, officials said no criminal charges were warranted.

In a letter published on the St. James website, Pittsburgh Bishop David Zubik said the DA’s office “informed the Diocese that while the postings were a matter of poor judgment, there was no criminal activity involved.”

The Rev. Ronald Lengwin said Valentine decided to resign “for the good of the parish.”

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PENNSYLVANIA
WTAE

SEWICKLEY, Pa. –
Pittsburgh’s bishop is speaking out Wednesday night in support of a man who used to be the pastor of a parish.

Hundreds of parishioners poured out of Sewickley’s Saint James Catholic Church on Wednesday to honor a Catholic holiday and also to say goodbye to Pastor Dan Valentine.

“I think he’s been dragged through the mud, and people formed horrible opinions until he was cleared and now everybody coming tonight, but damage is done,” parishioner Renee Cunningham said.

Members of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests said they were met mostly with resistance as they urged churchgoers to question why the church is allowing Valentine to give a farewell mass, after inappropriate Facebook messages to a boy.

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PENNSYLVANIA
CBS Pittsburgh

[with video]

SEWICKLEY (KDKA) — More than 1,000 people turned out at St. James Roman Catholic Church in Sewickley for a farewell mass for Rev. Daniel Valentine.

He’s resigning after six years as the pastor of that church. Bishop David Zubik attended the service.

Valentine, 63, recently came under scrutiny for some questionable website postings to a juvenile. The district attorney’s office said the postings were not criminal, but inappropriate

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PENNSYLVANIA
Patch

By Larissa Dudkiewicz

Hundreds from the local community attended a farewell mass Wednesday night to say good-bye to a Sewickley priest they say reached across the aisle and made a lasting impression on many, both Catholics and non-Catholics.

A standing-room-only crowd, estimated at 1,000 people, filled St. James Catholic Church to capacity as a show of support for the Rev. Dan Valentine, who resigned last month in the midst of an investigation that began over Facebook messages he posted to a minor.

Valentine delivered his final mass after six years as pastor of St. James. Those who attended described the atmosphere as electrifying. They said Valentine received two prolonged applauses during the service, each lasting at least five minutes. One came when Pittsburgh Catholic Bishop David Zubik introduced Valentine.

“The applause was astonishing,” said Bill Boswell of Glen Osborne, a parishioner since 1978. “We’re sorry to lose him.”

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PENNSYLVANIA
Times Online

By Jenny Wagner jwagner@timesonline.com

SEWICKLEY — A Sewickley priest who was accused of posting inappropriate messages to a minor on Facebook celebrated his last Mass at St. James Catholic Church on Wednesday.

While many parishioners packed the Walnut Street sanctuary to show their support for the Rev. Dan Valentine, who resigned as pastor effective Wednesday, some individuals outside the church protested the holy day service.

Fran Samber, Pittsburgh leader of the non-profit group Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, and a few others handed out leaflets and encouraged churchgoers to ask questions regarding the investigation into Valentine’s actions.

“We found out about (Valentine) and we were concerned with the fact that he’s resigning but no information was given to the parishioners,” Samber said.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Kreuz

(kreuz.net, Berlin) Der altliberale Nuntius in Deutschland, Erzbischof Jean-Claude Perisset, hat das katholische ‘Netzwerk katholischer Priester’ kritisiert.

Mons. Perisset äußerte sich vor der morgigen Ausgabe der Beilage ‘Christ und Welt’ in der Zeitung ‘Zeit’.

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BELGIEN
BRF

16. August 2012, 08:15

In Belgien sind mittlerweile 800 Klagen von Opfern sexuellen Missbrauchs durch einen kirchlichen Amtsträger eingereicht worden. Das berichten mehrere Zeitungen.

Noch immer gehen sowohl bei der föderalen Staatsanwaltschaft als auch bei den lokalen Staatsanwaltschaften und den Bistümern regelmäßig Klagen ein.

Allein die föderale Staatsanwaltschaft registrierte bisher in diesem Jahr mehr als 200 Klagen. Bei den lokalen Staatsanwaltschaften haben sich bisher mehr als 70 Opfer gemeldet. Beim Bistum Gent liegen etwa 30 Klagen vor.

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BELGIEN
Tageblatt

Alleine in diesem Jahr seien mehr als 200 Klagen von Gewaltopfern eingereicht worden, heisst es am Mittwoch in den belgischen Medien.

Unterdessen ist gegen den ehemaligen
Bischof von Brügge, Roger Vangheluwe, eine neue Klage wegen sexuellen Missbrauchs eingegangen. Der 74 Jahre alte Geistliche hatte im April in einem Fernsehinterview gestanden, über Jahre hinweg zwei Neffen sexuell missbraucht zu haben. “Wie in allen Familien kamen sie zu Besuch, schliefen bei mir”, sagte der Geistliche damals. Er stritt ab, Gewalt angewendet zu haben. Die Vorfälle liegen über 25 Jahre zurück.

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NEW MEXICO
Albuquerque Journal

A former youth program volunteer at a Santa Fe Catholic church who pleaded guilty last year to a felony sex charge faces new sex abuse indictments.

Anthony J. Martinez, 36, was indicted last week on three counts of criminal sexual penetration — rape — of a child under 13 years old….

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CALIFORNIA
EGP

By City News Service

(CNS) – A judge has cleared the way for trial of a young man’s lawsuit alleging he was sexually abused by the former pastor of a Lutheran church in Bell Gardens.

Ruling on a defense motion to dismiss some or all of the allegations, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michelle Rosenblatt said both Iglesia Luterana de San Pedro y Pablo and the Pacific Southwest District of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod will remain as defendants.

But she tossed all claims against a third entity, the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, finding that its leadership had no knowledge of the actions of the former pastor, Franklynn Brundige.

In total, eight young men – five of them relatives of Brundige – claim they were molested as children by Brundige. They also maintain that as early as 1991, church officials knew of Brundige’s routine sleepovers with young boys and did nothing.

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COLOMBIA
Colombia Reports

Wednesday, 15 August 2012 15:45 Joey O’Gorman

A pastor charged with sexually abusing five women and suspected of abusing dozens more in the south of Colombia has fled the country, reported radio station Caracol Wednesday.

Reverend Alvaro Gamez allegedly deceived women and minors into engaging in sexual acts with him, threatening “the curse of Judas and the seven plagues of Egypt,” upon any who should betray him.

Gamez’ crimes were exposed when members of his Apostolic Evangelical Ministry of Salem congregation planted a hidden camera in a room he called “the nursery” and captured footage of him having sex with two teenage girls simultaneously.

The pastor surrendered to police at the beginning of July after one month on the run. Despite this, the judge granted Gamez bail, saying there was no merit in keeping him behind bars during the trial which was scheduled to begin August 30th.

On Sunday, however, the pastor and his family flew from Colombia’s capital, Bogota to Florida in the U.S., after which they are expected to travel to El Salvador and Honduras according to newspaper Diario Del Sur.

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CALIFORNIA
Orange County Weekly

By Gustavo Arellano
Wed., Aug. 15 2012

Right before I went to Kentucky two weeks ago to whittle wood with the good ol’ boys and live in a haze of Mellow Corn, I met with a Catholic Church sex-abuse victim from Orange County. He had just unleashed a firestorm back East, where he finally gathered the courage to come out publicly and reveal that the Christian Brother who had molested him more than 40 years ago was none other than James Liguori, the former president of Iona College and the man who headed Fordham University’s Westchester campus–or, at least he did after resigning in disgrace after John Doe came out.

The story actually broke last month, when the victim filed a claim against the Christian Brothers. He had previously accused Liguori in 2008, but his superiors said there wasn’t enough evidence against him, and so nothing ever happened.

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VATICAN CITY
The Guardian (United Kingdom)

Catherine Pepinster
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 15 August 2012

It has all the makings of a Hollywood adaptation of a Dan Brown novel. Secrets of the Vatican exposed, documents stolen from the pope’s desk, rows and rivalries between cardinals, vast sums of money, the involvement of the cultish organisation Opus Dei. And then the so-called Vatileaks scandal, which has had Rome agog for months, went a bit Da Vinci Code meets Cluedo: the butler allegedly did it.

Paolo Gabriele, who has worked for Pope Benedict XVI as one of his most personal aides for six years, has now been charged and sent to trial by a Vatican judge for leaking papal documents, including papers containing allegations of corruption and other financial problems.

The Vatileaks scandal has been a deeply embarrassing saga for the most senior echelons of the Catholic church, and it is surprising that it has attracted so little attention in Britain. The plight of 46-year-old Gabriele himself, for instance, has shocked Catholic observers. After his arrest he was incarcerated for 50 days, initially in solitary confinement in a cell deep inside the Vatican; then under house arrest in his apartment within the Vatican City State. Despite the Catholic church still using Latin as an official language, it didn’t appear to understand habeas corpus. Yet human rights experts barely reacted to what was happening: when my publication, the Tablet, contacted Amnesty International about the butler’s situation, it had nothing to say.

Only the LSE’s Prof Conor Gearty, writing in the Tablet, pointed out the scandal of it, particularly given how vocal Rome usually is about human rights. But Vatileaks is a much more disturbing episode than just the treatment of one individual. First a television programme, then leaks in the press and eventually a book by the investigative journalist Gianluigi Nuuzi exposed thwarted efforts to deal with corruption within the Vatican City State, which the Catholic church runs.

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VATICAN CITY
The Daily Beast

Barbie Latza Nadeau

An indictment published by the Vatican on Monday indicates that a computer technician may have protected the pope’s former butler, who stands accused of leaking papal documents.

The pope’s erstwhile butler—Paolo Gabriele—will not be pardoned, the Vatican said on Monday, and instead will face a three-judge Vatican tribunal for allegedly stealing papal documents and leaking them to an Italian journalist. Yet in a surprise twist, in a 60-page indictment, which the Holy See published on Monday, the Vatican accused a second man–Claudio Sciarpelletti, a 48-year old computer technician–of aiding Gabriele by obstructing justice.

The two will be codefendants some time this fall. The date of the trial, which the Vatican says will be open to the press, will be set after September 20, when the Vatican’s judicial offices reopen following a summer recess, though a Vatican spokesman speculated that it will begin in October and last just a few days.

The surprise announcement in what’s known as the Vatileaks scandal underscores the Holy See’s ongoing ability to keep a secret, despite apparent fractures in the church’s once-impenetrable shield. For months, the Italian press has speculated that bishops, cardinals and nuns had served as Gabriele’s alleged accomplices. But no one had even heard of Sciarpelletti until Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi announced his alleged involvement at a press briefing on Monday.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
The Republic

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
August 15, 2012

PHILADELPHIA — An imprisoned Roman Catholic monsignor is again seeking bail while he appeals what defense lawyers call his novel and controversial child-endangerment conviction.

The lawyers say Monsignor William Lynn has a good chance of having his landmark case overturned because of alleged trial errors.

In a Superior Court petition filed Wednesday, they complain the judge let in weeks of evidence about accused priests not on trial.

And they say Philadelphia Common Pleas Judge M. Teresa Sarmina botched jury instructions.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Gloria.tv

(gloria.tv/ KNA) Der Botschafter des Papstes in Deutschland hat die Position des konservativen «Netzwerks katholischer Priester» bei der Bewältigung des Missbrauchsskandals scharf kritisiert. Das Netzwerk hatte sich gegen die Auswertung personenbezogener Daten von Priestern für die Missbrauchs-Studie der Deutschen Bischofskonferenz ausgesprochen. Die Datenerhebung setze die Mehrheit der Priester, Diakone und Ordensleute «einem öffentlichen Generalverdacht im Hinblick auf sexuellen Missbrauch» aus, lautete das Hauptargument des Netzwerks.

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DEUTSCHLAND
MissBiT

Wenn Eure Exzellenz die Inhalte der Drohbriefe an Pfarrer Ittmann duldet und keinerlei Konsequenzen zieht, dann schäme ich mich für Eure Exzellenz, Bischof Dr. Stephan Ackermann

Zugegeben: Dass Bischof Ackermann verzweifelt versucht, sich medial in Szene zu setzen, um von den traurigen Fakten in seinem Bistum abzulenken, sind wir gewohnt. Dies betrifft sowohl den innerhalb weniger Stunden inszenierten Auftritt im Schwulen- und Lesbenzentrum in Trier , die Einweihung der “Fachstelle für Kinder- und Jugendschutz in Trier” , die angeblich neue Information, dass nun auch Pressesprecher Stephan Kronenburg das Bistum verlässt (nachdem bereits der Kommunikationsdirektor Stefan Wahl, und Generalvikar Georg Holkenbrink – tja, wie soll man das jetzt formulieren – versetzt wurden? Ausgetauscht wurden? Ihr bisheriges Tätigkeitsfeld aufgaben? – nun gut, nachdem sich bereits schon diese beiden Herren neuen beruflichen Herausforderungen zugewandt haben.) – Fakt ist: Sobald eine neue Meldung über das Vergehen eines Priesters aus dem Bistum Trier publik wird, setzen Eure Exzellenz, Bischof Dr. Stephan Ackermann sich innerhalb weniger Stunden in Szene, um offensichtlich verzweifelt zu versuchen, zu retten, was überhaupt noch zu retten ist…

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OSTERREICH
Nachrichten

WIEN. Die Vorwürfe gegen 35 Priester auf einem internen Papier reichen von sexueller Nötigung im Beichtstuhl über Kindesmissbrauch im Knabenseminar bis zu Übergriffen an Ministranten. Die Kirche findet eine Amtsenthebung trotz schwerster Vorwürfe “nicht zielführend”.

Die geheime Liste der Sex-Täter im Talar wurde den Bezirksblättern Niederösterreich zugespielt.

35 Missbrauchspriester sollen in Österreich noch Dienst versehen. Dies behauptet zumindest ein Mitglied der Plattform Betroffener kirchlicher Gewalt gegenüber den Bezirksblättern Niederösterreich. Der Experte legte auch eine namentliche Liste der Verdächtigen vor. Darunter ein ehemaliger Rektor eines Knabenseminars, ein Pfarrer, der bereits wegen Kindesmissbrauchs zu zwei Jahren Haft verurteilt wurde und ein Ordensmann, der allerdings vorübergehend verschwunden ist. Es gibt Priester, die sich durch sexuelle Gewalt im Rahmen der Ministrantenbetreuung schuldig gemacht haben sollen. Ein Mitglied des Opus Dei soll behinderte Frauen im Beichtstuhl bedrängt, ein anderer Geistlicher einem Ratsuchenden Alkohol eingeflößt haben, um ihn anschließend sexuell zu nötigen. Auch ein Prälat soll unter den einschlägig tätig Gewordenen sein. Die Namen der Verdächtigen liegen der Redaktion vor. Es gilt die Unschuldsvermutung.

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DEUTSCHLAND
SWR

Der Trierer Bischof Ackermann hat erstmals einen Priester wegen des sexuellen Missbrauchs von Kindern aus dem Klerikerstand entlassen. Das ist die kirchenrechtliche Höchststrafe. Die Ermittlungen ins Rollen gebracht hat Benedikt Maria Trappen, der Neffe des von Ackermann gefeuerten Priesters.

Als Vierzehnjähriger wurde er sexuell missbraucht. Der Täter: Sein Onkel, ein katholischer Priester und angesehener Theologieprofessor, dem auch noch andere Missbrauchsfälle vorgeworfen werden. Über das Erlebte konnte Trappen lange Zeit nicht öffentlich reden, aus Angst vor dem mächtigen Kirchenmann und aus Rücksichtnahme auf seine strenggläubigen Eltern.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

BY JOANNE MCCARTHY

16 Aug, 2012

A crusading American Catholic priest has urged the Hunter Region to “do all you can to get a royal commission” into the Catholic Church’s handling of child sex abuse.

Dominican Order priest and canon law expert Father Tom Doyle joined Hunter civic leaders yesterday in backing a royal commission, and criticising politicians for their timidity on the issue.

“In the US the grand juries are the equivalent of royal commissions and in Ireland the statutory commissions are the equivalent,” Father Doyle said.

“They have proven to be the best way to get at the truth.”

Governments had to act because in the past 30 years the only change within the church had been the result of “media exposure, public outrage and pressure from the civil court system. What the institutional Church has done, it was forced to do.”

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

By John P. Martin
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

Lawyers for Msgr. William J. Lynn on Wednesday asked an appeals court to do what his trial judge would not: free the former Archdiocese of Philadelphia official on bail while he fights his child-endangerment conviction.

In a motion filed in Superior Court, the lawyers renewed their claims that the 61-year-old cleric poses no public danger or flight risk, has deep local roots, and a better-than-average chance to win his appeal.

“It would be a manifest injustice for Appellant Lynn to serve much, if not all, of his prison term, where there is a substantial possibility of reversal,” lawyers Thomas Bergstrom, Allison Khaskelis and Alan Tauber wrote in their brief. “The chance of unjust incarceration is simply too great not to grant bail.”

The filing marked the first salvo in a battle the lawyers have long said will be won or lost in the higher courts.

The archdiocese is paying Bergstrom and Khaskelis, of the Buchanan, Ingersoll & Rooney law firm, to lead the appeal. Tauber and his partner, Jeffrey Lindy, were part of the monsignor’s defense team during his landmark trial earlier this year.

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MISSOURI
Lez Get Real

Posted by: Bridgette P. LaVictoire on August 15, 2012

The Missouri Supreme Court has ruled that the Catholic Church can go on a fishing expedition in the archives of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. The judges let stand a lower court order that SNAP comply with a subpoena associated with the civil suit filed against Father Michael Tierney. The priest has been accused of molesting a minor in the early 1970′s. He denies the allegation.

SNAP and other victims-rights groups have fought the subpoena stating that it jeopardizes the privacy of alleged victims. They also have stated that this would allow church attorneys to use these confidential files to obstruct the work of victims’ rights groups. Certainly it would intimidate people into not wanting to come forward.

Lawyers for Tierney, who is no longer active in the Church, feel that the files could explain how the alleged victims have recovered repressed memories of abuse. The lawyers have not asked specifically for the files in the case of Tierney, nor have they apparently requested to interview the accuser, but rather they have requested access to all of SNAP’s files.

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MEXICO
MSN

The story of an influential Mexican priest accused of rampant child sex abuse will be featured in a new movie — secretly filmed in Mexico this summer.

Marcial Maciel founded the Legionaries of Christ over six decades ago. It is now active in 22 countries, and in particular at schools and universities.

But starting in 1997, a number of students began to come forward to accuse the high-profile priest of molesting them.

After years of denials, the Vatican finally opened an investigation in 2004, culminating two years later with Maciel’s resignation from the top post at the Legionaries.

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NEW YORK
YNN

[with video]

By: Alexandra Weishaupt

SOUTH FALLSBURG, N.Y. — “The camp takes what happened extremely seriously,” said Attorney Y. David Scharf, camp spokesperson.

It’s a case of alleged sex abuse at Camp Shalva, an Orthodox summer camp in South Fallsburg, according to the New York Post.

“The age of the kids who are at camp range from grade through middle school,” said Scharf.

The paper says in the early hours Wednesday morning, it was one particular group that was singled-out by an alleged registered sex offender.

“He showed up at the camp on a particular morning and was out of the camp relatively quickly,” said Scharf.

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NEW YORK
Forward

By Simi Lampert

Published August 14, 2012.

New York State Police are investigating a possible case of sexual abuse at a camp for Orthodox Jewish boys in upstate Monticello, N.Y.

A kosher food truck driver has been captured on camera sneaking onto campus of Camp Shalva early on the morning of August 8 and entering bunkhouses of 13-to-14 year old boys, according to JTA.

The campers reported the incident later the morning to camp supervisors, and were told not to tell their parents immediately, the New York Post reported.

Three days later, the camp contacted a prosecutor, and he put them in touch with the district attorney and state police.

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NEW YORK
The Jewish Week

JTA

New York State Police are investigating allegations of sexual abuse by a truck driver making a delivery to a Jewish camp, The New York Post reported.

Surveillance video captured footage of a kosher-food truck driver entering bunks for seventh-and eighth-grade boys at Camp Shalva near South Fallsburg, N.Y., early on Aug. 8, according to the newspaper. The suspect is accused of molesting several of the campers.

Unnamed sources told the Post that the boys reported the incidents in the morning to supervisors of the Orthodox Jewish camp but were told not to tell their parents.

The 5 Towns Jewish Times reported that the alleged intruder is Golden Taste employee Yoel Oberlander, a convicted molester and registered sex offender from Monsey, N.Y., who pleaded guilty to molesting an 11-year-old girl in 2002. He was sentenced to six years of probation.

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CANADA
Leader-Post

Statement by Bishop Keith Elford, of The Free Methodist Church in Canada, regarding Criminal Charges against Rev. Kris Gowdy

“The Free Methodist Church in Canada and its member congregations were shocked and deeply grieved to learn through media reports of the recent criminal charges brought against Rev. Kris Gowdy.

As followers of Jesus Christ, we are committed to seek justice, love mercy and to walk humbly with our God. We wish to affirm our desire for truth and justice to be known and served. We want our congregations and communities to be safe and healthy places for all ages. This is why we insist that all congregations have child and youth protection plans in place. Our congregations have been asked to use the “Plan to Protect” program provided by Winning Kids Inc.

The Free Methodist Church in Canada and its member congregations have zero tolerance for any activity related to sexual abuse. Any complaints of sexual abuse or sexual exploitation of minors are to be reported to the police immediately.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

Dan Box
From:The Australian
August 16, 2012

A CATHOLIC priest may have abused up to 80 young girls in a lifetime of assaults dating back to the 1950s, according to evidence collected by church officials who, for decades, failed to report the alleged offences to police.

Church records confirm the existence of about 20 alleged victims of the former priest, Denis McAlinden, and contain anecdotal evidence that there may have been up to 60 more.

The late John Toohey, then bishop of Maitland, in the NSW Hunter Valley, spoke to McAlinden about the allegations in 1956, but it is understood the diocese did not officially contact the police until 2003.

Other alleged victims — from Western Australia, South Australia and NSW — have recently contacted detectives investigating what police describe as “alleged cover-ups by current and former serving senior members of the Catholic Church” relating to McAlinden.

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MISSOURI
The Chronicle of Philanthropy

August 15, 2012

The Missouri Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that a support group for alleged victims of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy must turn over more than two decades of records to attorneys for an accused priest in Kansas City, The Wall Street Journal writes.

The judges let stand a lower-court order for the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, to comply with a wide-ranging subpoena in connection with a civil suit against the Rev. Michael Tierney, who has been accused of molesting a minor in the early 1970s. He denies the allegations.

SNAP, with backing from other victims-rights groups, has fought the subpoena, saying it jeopardizes the privacy of alleged victims of abuse and is a pretext for church attorneys to use the organization’s confidential files to obstruct the work of bringing abuse cases to light.

Nearly two dozen groups, including the National Organization for Women Foundation and the National Center for Victims of Crime, said jointly in an amicus brief that the subpoena “has the capacity to set the survivor community back a minimum of 10, if not 20, years.”

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

A gold nugget and a cheque for 100,000 euros made payable to “His Holiness” were found in his house

GIACOMO GALEAZZI
Vatican City

He may not have been after money, but his home was like a “branch” of the Vatican archive or an extension of the Vatican Museums. What with the gifts taken from the pope and the documents stolen from the Apostolic Palace, Paolo Gabriele’s apartment in the Curia had become a warehouse for precious secret objects. International Catholic institutions and groups of Italian followers had sent presents and money towards papal charitable activities, but on the way, from the sender to the receiver, there was an unexpected obstacle: the butler.

In the Vatican however people do not believe that the actions of the former butler were inspired by “greed”. Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman, said: “No one mentioned money as a motive, not even the magistrates”. Beside the three items found in the butler’s abode (a cheque for 100,000 euros, a gold nugget and a sixteenth century copy of the Aeneid that were all presents for the pope from South America and Italy), there has been no mention, in any of the documents released by the Holy See yesterday, of any profit that might have been gained from the theft. Fr. Lombardi pointed out that one could perhaps glimpse a “moral” purpose, but definitely nothing pointing towards a “financial interest”. In fact, the former aide declared: “ I didn’t even know I had a cheque for 100,000 euros payable to the pope at home”.

And what about Benedict XVI’ s stolen presents? The butler defended himself: “In my degenerating chaos, such instances might have occurred”. He described in detail his everyday life: “ I was in charge of taking some of these presents to storage and some to the office. Some were used for the charity prize -draws of the Gendarmerie, of the Swiss Guard and other charity events”. In another (disarming) declaration to the examining magistrate Gabriele described “ his special passion for books”. As far as the copy of the Aeneid is concerned he said “ I remember that since my son had started studying that poem, I asked Fr. Georg if I could show that book to my son’s teacher, he said yes and the book remained at mine waiting to be returned”. He then admitted that he lost some of his “self restraint” and chose to cause a scandal “to bring the Church back on the right track.”

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CANADA
Global Saskatoon

David Giles, Global News : Monday, August 13, 2012

Lakeview church has brought in counselors after a former youth pastor was arrested last week in Ontario.

Kris Gowdy, 42, was arrested by Durham Regional Police and charged with trying to lure a child online and attempted aggravated assault.

Gowdy is also HIV-positive and police fear there could be more victims.

On Friday, church leaders told families with youth about the arrest and the rest of the congregation was informed of the news during Sunday’s service.

Gowdy worked at the church as a youth pastor until July 22nd.

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CANADA
Leader-Post

By Betty Ann Adam, The StarPhoenix August 14, 2012

Free Methodist Church leaders were “in shock” and “deeply concerned” after learning a youth pastor, who recently worked in Saskatoon, is charged in Ontario with attempted aggravated sexual assault and luring a child by means of computer.

Kris Allan Gowdy, 42, now of Newcastle, Ont., was arrested Thursday at a residence after allegedly making arrangements on a social media forum to meet a 15-year-old male for a sexual encounter.

Investigators with the OPP Internet child exploitation unit had posed as a teen in an online sting.

Durham Regional Police also reported Gowdy was diagnosed with HIV in 2009.

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

NEW YORK/CANADA
Democrat and Chronicle

Written by
David Andreatta
Staff writer

An HIV-positive former youth pastor at New Hope Free Methodist Church in Rochester has been accused by Canadian authorities of luring what he believed was a teenage boy online for a sexual tryst.

Kris Allan Gowdy, 42, now a youth pastor with a church 40 miles east of Toronto, allegedly used the profile name “collegetoy2003” in various Internet chat rooms and befriended an undercover police officer posing as a 15-year-old boy, according to Durham Regional Police.

Police spokeswoman Sgt. Nancy Van Rooy said investigators apprehended Gowdy at a pre-arranged meeting spot last Thursday and charged him with luring a child via computer and attempted aggravated sexual assault. Gowdy is in custody and will face a bail hearing later this week.

Van Rooy said investigators suspect there are underage victims. She said Gowdy lived in Rochester from 2003 to 2005, but that there was no evidence that he was visiting Internet chat rooms at that time.

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VATICAN CITY
AFP

By Ella Ide (AFP)

VATICAN CITY — The Vatican has hailed its report on the decision to put the pope’s butler on trial as proof of its transparency, but critics suspect the secretive state of diverting attention from its scandals.

The Church has been plagued by controversy in recent years, from allegations of money laundering and criminal associations to child sex abuse, and has been repeatedly accused by critics of covering up its sins to protect insiders.

To prove its commitment to openness, the Vatican marked its decision to charge butler Paolo Gabriele for leaking secret papers to the media by releasing the full statements made by the magistrate and others concerned.

Details were also revealed about another Holy See employee, who has been charged with aiding and abetting Gabriele. Only the names of the witnesses who were interrogated during the inquiry were obscured for the sake of due process.

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ARKANSAS
KAIT

CHEROKEE VILLAGE, AR (KAIT) – A youth pastor, charged with sexually assaulting a teenager, appeared in court Monday.

According to Prosecutor Henry Boyce’s Office, Paul Kevin Hendrix pleaded not guilty and had his pre-trial court date set for October 4 with a tentative trial date set for October 15.

According to an arrest affidavit in Sharp County, , Hendrix who serves as youth pastor at First Baptist Church of Cherokee Village, touched a 14-year old girl in a room used for youth services after church June 27.

The teen told police Hendrix touched her breast and between her legs.

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CANADA
The StarPhoenix

By Betty Ann Adam, The StarPhoenix August 15, 2012

The Free Methodist Church in Canada never received any complaints about its ordained minister, Kris Gowdy, prior to his being charged Thursday in Ontario with Internet luring and attempted aggravated sexual assault, Bishop Keith Elford said in a statement Tuesday.

Gowdy, 42, worked at Saskatoon’s Lakeview Church for 14 months until leaving for another job in July. He was visiting Newcastle, Ont., when he was arrested at a residence after allegedly making arrangements on a social media forum to meet a 15-year-old male for a sexual encounter.

Investigators with the OPP Internet child exploitation unit had posed as a teen in an online sting.

“The Free Methodist Church in Canada and its member congregations have zero tolerance for any activity related to sexual abuse. Any complaints of sexual abuse or sexual exploitation of minors are to be reported to the police immediately,” Elford said in the statement.

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IOWA
KCCI

[with video]

ADEL, Iowa –
The first witness took the stand Tuesday in the trial of a former Pella pastor charged with sexual abuse.

Patrick Edouard is charged with three counts of third-degree sexual abuse and four counts of sexual exploitation by a counselor, therapist, school employee or clergy.

A woman accusing Edouard of sexual abuse was the first witness called by prosecutors.

The woman said she went to Edouard for help with her family life and sorrow.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Pittsburgh-Post Gazette

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

By Ann Rodgers, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

A Benedictine priest who was once a popular retreat leader and professor at Saint Vincent College has been permanently banned from ministry due to child pornography and other materials found on his computer.

The Rev. Mark Gruber, 57, maintains his innocence but acknowledged the church’s authority in an email.

“My innocence of the charges made by my abbot is no longer the issue. There is a whole theology of the Office of St. Peter that I have always upheld. I won’t disparage it now simply because it operates to my disadvantage. Those who have supported me in prayer I remain to them grateful to the end. But the other matter of faith and community life impeded by these troubles must go on. I only hope for my family some relief from the pressures of media coverage,” he wrote.

The decision appears to bring the tortuous case to an end. Father Gruber taught anthropology at the Benedictine college in Latrobe for 23 years, while establishing a national reputation as a spiritual writer and retreat leader. But he was suddenly removed from his position in August 2009, after technicians found pornography on the computer in his office.

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OREGON
The Oregonian

[Woodburn police department report]

By Maxine Bernstein, The Oregonian

It was close to midnight Sunday when Woodburn resident James Curths saw the 12-year-old boy running down the street toward him. Curths said the child, panting and out of breath, begged for help, telling him a man was chasing him.

Moments later, a man rounded the corner wearing only underwear. He stood a short distance away, trying to wave the boy over as Curths and his sister-in-law prepared to drive the boy to relatives.

“He was staring at us,” said Heather Rodriguez, 28, Curths’ sister-in-law, who was also outside. “Then he stood there with his hands on his hips like, ‘You’re really not going to give him to me?'”

Rodriguez and Curths, 35, told the man they were calling the police. Only then, they said, did the man jog away.

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OREGON
KPTV

[with video]

[Woodburn police department report – The Oregonian]

By Natalie Brand

WOODBURN, OR (KPTV) –
The Archdiocese of Portland called the sex abuse allegations at a Woodburn church tragic and sad when reached for comment by FOX 12 on Tuesday.

Father Angel Perez, the head priest at St. Luke’s Catholic Church in Woodburn, is accused of sexually abusing a 12-year-old child. The alleged victim called police at 1:30 a.m. Monday to report the inappropriate contact.

Detectives investigated the complaint and then arrested Perez on Monday.

“It’s sad; it’s surprising to a lot of people,” said parishioner Nancy Guerrero. “He was well known in the community. He was liked by a lot of people.”

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

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MISSOURI
KMBZ

A group that advocates for victims of clergy sexual abuse has lost an effort in Missouri to shield some documents from lawyers for an accused priest. The Missouri Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld a Jackson County judge’s order for the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests to release some records.

The issue stemmed from lawsuits against a Roman Catholic priest by accusers who say they repressed memories of begin abused decades ago. The defense argued that documents held by SNAP could raise doubts about such memories and whether a gag order was violated.

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MISSOURI
The Wall Street Journal

By BEN KESLING and MARK PETERS

Missouri’s Supreme Court let stand a lower-court ruling that a support group for alleged victims of the Roman Catholic Church sexual-abuse scandal must open its records in a case raising questions about the privacy rights of crime victims.

The high court on Tuesday denied a petition filed by the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, forcing the group to comply with a subpoena to turn over more than two decades of records sought by lawyers for the Rev. Michael Tierney. The Kansas City-area priest has been accused in civil court of sexually abusing a minor in the early 1970s. He denies the accusations.

The group, known as SNAP, has been fighting the subpoena since last year, saying it is an invasion of the privacy of victims and jeopardizes the group’s work. “We’ll continue to do everything possible to protect the privacy and safety of victims,” said Barbara Dorris of SNAP. “We’re in uncharted waters for us, and we’re taking it a step at a time,” she said.

Nearly two dozen groups, including the National Organization for Women Foundation and National Center for Victims of Crime, jointly said in an amicus brief that the subpoena “has the capacity to set the survivor community back a minimum of 10, if not 20, years.”

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OREGON
KATU

[Woodburn police report – The Oregonian]

By KATU.com Staff and Dan Cassuto KATU News

WOODBURN, Ore. – Court documents released Tuesday afternoon reveal the alleged sexual abuse of a 12-year-old boy by a Woodburn priest happened at his house following a church event.

Father Angel Perez, 46, a priest at Saint Luke Catholic Church, made his first court appearance in the afternoon after his arrest early Monday morning. Police began an investigation after they received a report that a child said Perez had inappropriately touched him.

Perez faces one count of first-degree sexual abuse, which is a felony. He’s also accused of giving alcohol to a minor.

Court documents say Perez invited the boy to spend the night at his house after a party. The boy told police Perez touched his genitals and took pictures using a cell phone very early Monday morning. The documents also say Perez was naked from the waist down.

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MISSOURI
Sacramento Bee

The Associated Press
Published: Tuesday, Aug. 14, 2012

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — A group that advocates for victims of clergy sexual abuse has lost an effort in Missouri to shield some documents from lawyers for an accused priest.

The Missouri Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld a Jackson County judge’s order for the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests to release some records.

The issue stemmed from lawsuits against a Roman Catholic priest by accusers who say they repressed memories of begin abused decades ago. The defense argued that documents held by SNAP could raise doubts about such memories and whether a gag order was violated.

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

OREGON
The Oregonian

[police report]

By Maxine Bernstein, The Oregonian

A Salem boy told authorities that the Rev. Angel Armando Perez gave him a beer and touched his genitals when he was sleeping over at Perez’s house on an air mattress following a community church event Sunday night, according to court records released Tuesday.

A probable cause affidavit says the child, either age 11 or 12, awakened to find Perez touching him. The document says the priest had a cell phone in one hand, and the boy was awakened by flashes that he believed were from the cell phone’s camera.

Perez, the parish priest at Saint Luke Catholic Church in Woodburn, made his first appearance in Marion County Circuit Court Tuesday afternoon on allegations of sexual abuse, abuse of a child in the display of sexually-explicit conduct, furnishing alcohol to a minor and driving under the influence of intoxicants.

The boy told investigators that he had gone to a community church event party with his family, and planned to spend Sunday night at Rev. Perez’s house. Perez had asked the boy’s parents a few days earlier if he could take the boy to the mountains for a trip, the affidavit said.

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BELGIE
Knack

“Slachtoffers seksueel misbruik in de kerk moeten zich melden want kunnen worden vergoed” (Bethune)

dinsdag 14 augustus 2012

Tielt – Norbert Bethune die het opneemt voor de slachtoffers van seksueel misbruik in de Kerk heeft al verschillende van hen in contact gebracht met het bisdom. Telkens zijn ze er ontvangen en ook vergoed voor het doorstane leed. Dat zegt hij naar aanleiding van de nieuwe klacht tegen Roger Vangheluwe. Bethune roept mogelijke slachtoffers van seksueel misbruik in de Kerk op om zich nog voor eind oktober aan te melden. Sommigen zijn vergoed tot 25.000 euro.

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BELGIE
HLN

[mit video]

Er is een nieuwe pedofilieklacht ingediend tegen Roger Vangheluwe, die twee jaar geleden ontslag nam als bisschop van Brugge omdat hij twee neven seksueel had misbruikt in hun kindertijd. Hier vind je een overzicht van de zaak-Vangheluwe en de Operatie Kelk, het gerechtelijk onderzoek naar seksueel misbruik van kinderen en een mogelijke doofpotoperatie daaromtrent binnen de katholieke Kerk.

– 22 april 2010: De Brugse bisschop Roger Vangheluwe (74) neemt ontslag, nadat hij bekend heeft dat hij een neefje seksueel misbruikt heeft. Vangheluwe was meer dan 25 jaar de bisschop van Brugge en de bisschop met de langste staat van dienst.

– 24 juni 2010: In het kader van Operatie Kelk laat de Brusselse onderzoeksrechter Wim De Troy speurders van de Brusselse federale gerechtelijke politie binnenvallen in het aartsbisdom Mechelen-Brussel, de Sint-Romboutskathedraal, de kantoren en de privéwoning van kardinaal Godfried Danneels in Mechelen. Tegelijkertijd worden huiszoekingen gehouden in Leuven bij de Commissie Adriaenssens, de opvolger van de Commissie Halsberghe, alsook in Brussel bij het Rijksarchief.

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OREGON, U.S.A.
Reformatorisch Dagbld (Nederland)

WOODBURN – De rooms-katholieke pastoor Angel Armando Perez (46) uit de Amerikaanse staat Oregon is maandag gearresteerd nadat de politie een klacht ontving over seksueel misbruik. Op 36-jarige leeftijd zou hij een toen 12-jarige jongen hebben misbruikt.

De pastoor van de St. Lukaskerk in Woodburn wordt beschuldigd van seksueel misbruik, seksuele handelingen met de jongen en het geven van alcohol aan een minderjarige.

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BELGIE
NOS

In België is bisschop Vangheluwe opnieuw beschuldigd van seksueel misbruik van een minderjarige. Dat bevestigt het Belgische Openbaar Ministerie.

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BELGIE
HLN

[mit video]

De Kerk neemt “uitdrukkelijk afstand” van het gedrag van voormalig bisschop Roger Vangheluwe en andere daders van seksueel misbruik. Dat zegt Paul Quirynen, advocaat van de Belgische bisschoppen, op Radio 1 naar aanleiding van de nieuwe klacht tegen Vangheluwe. Het tehuis Huize Godtschalck is dan weer verbaasd over de klacht van een van zijn oud-bewoners tegen Roger Vangheluwe.

De nieuwe klacht is volgens Quirynen “schokkend nieuws”. De Kerk neemt volgens de advocaat afstand van het gedrag van daders van seksueel misbruik en kiest “de kant van de zwakkeren en de slachtoffers”. Ze toont ook de bereidheid om de wonden van de slachtoffers zowel emotioneel als financieel te verzorgen, klinkt het.

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IOWA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Steve Theisen on August 14, 2012

We are grateful that victims of Rev. Edouard are stepping forward and seeking justice in the courts. When victims stay silent, nothing changes. But when victims find the courage to take action, there’s at least a chance for prevention, healing and justice.

If you were hurt by a clergy member, suffering in shame, isolation and self-blame won’t fix it. Only by stepping forward, speaking up and getting help can you both recover personally and help others. Now’s the time to do it.

Let’s hope that every person who has any information or suspicions that could shed light on these allegations will find the courage and strength to call police so that the full truth might become clear.

If you have knowledge or suspicions – however old, small or seemingly insignificant – about clergy sex crimes, it’s your moral and civic duty to call police. Please summon the courage to do what’s right, call law enforcement right away.

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SALINA (KS)
The Register

Written by Doug Weller

Tuesday, 14 August 2012

Salina — Father Allen Scheer pleaded no contest Aug. 10 to a lesser charge of misdemeanor battery and was placed on six months probation.

Father Scheer, 50, was charged April 18 with a misdemeanor count of sexual battery involving inappropriate sexual contact with an adult man in Salina. He pleaded not guilty April 20 in Saline County District Court and requested a jury trial, which was set for Aug. 15.

Bishop Edward Weisenburger, in a statement released Aug. 10, said, “It grieves me to learn that Father Scheer may have undertaken an activity that was illegal as well as inconsistent with our faith. However, I appreciate his acceptance of responsibility.

“It is my hope that the Church can be a source of healing for anyone who may have been harmed by this incident. Father Scheer will be provided emotional and spiritual assistance. Father Scheer’s possible return to ministry will be determined in time following evaluation by health-care professionals and diocesan leadership,” the statement said.

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OREGON
The Oregonian

By Kimberly A.C. Wilson, The Oregonian

The Rev. Angel Armando Perez made his first court appearance on Tuesday in a case involving allegations of sexual abuse, use of a child in a display of sexually explicit conduct and furnishing alcohol to a minor.

According to jail records, Perez now also faces an accusation of driving under the influence.

Parishioners filled the benches of the courtroom in Marion County Circuit Court. Several dozen recited the Lord’s Prayer in Spanish before the proceeding began. Perez appeared via video from the Marion County Jail during the 10-minute court session and listened to attorneys and judicial staff discussing scheduling of additional hearings.

A release hearing, to consider bail for Perez, was scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Aug. 20. A preliminary hearing hearing was scheduled for Aug. 22.

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SALINA (KS)
Salina Journal

8/14/2012
By ERIN MATHEWS

A Salina man who reported to police that he had been inappropriately touched by a Catholic priest was equipped with a listening device when he visited the Rev. Allen K. Scheer’s office and received an apology, according to an arrest affidavit.

According to the affidavit, when later contacted by police, Scheer initially denied touching or making any sexually explicit comments to the man, until he was informed of the recording device. Then he admitted touching the man’s upper thigh to see if he was receptive to sexual advances, according to the affidavit.

The arrest affidavit was opened to the public following resolution of the case Friday, when Scheer entered a plea of no contest to a reduced misdemeanor charge of battery in connection with the April 12 incident. He initially was charged with sexual battery, which also is a misdemeanor.

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MISSOURI
National Catholic Reporter

Aug. 14, 2012
By Joshua J. McElwee

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Following denial Tuesday of an appeal to the Missouri Supreme Court, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests will have to decide whether to comply with a local judge’s order to grant access to more than 23 years of internal documents to attorneys representing accused priests.

The denial, issued by the court Tuesday afternoon, is the latest in a months-long saga of SNAP, the leading advocacy group for clergy sex abuse victims, to stop access to the documents.

The group had filed a writ of prohibition to the court in late July, alleging that the order, which requires it to hand over a range of eight categories of documents, violates the freedom of speech and the rights of association of SNAP’s members and volunteers.

Several groups — including 24 victims’ advocacy and church reform groups and six former and current local, state and federal prosecutors — filed amicus briefs with the court that supported SNAP’s position, saying the order could lead to further victimization and ultimately “intimidate, harass, and silence victims of sexual abuse.”

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IOWA
Des Moines Register

Aug 14, 2012 | by Jeff Eckhoff |

A former Pella pastor used his position to spin a web of secrets and manipulate four of his troubled, deeply religious parishioners into sex, jurors were told this morning.

Iowa prosecutors say Patrick Edouard, then the brilliant, popular leader of Pella’s Covenant Reformed Church, raped three of the women and manipulated all four in violation of a state law that prohibits sex between people who provide mental health counseling and the people they counsel.

Assistant Iowa Attorney General Laura Roan said Edouard’s pursuit of vulnerable women in his congregation stretched from 2006, when he pushed a Des Moines lawyer to the floor of his basement study after she sought advice over infertility issues and what motherhood might mean for her career, to 2010, when the woman’s brother-in-law came home early one day. Edouard’s van was in the man’s driveway, Roan said, and the man’s wife – the lawyer’s sister-in-law – was buttoning her blouse.

In both those instances and two others, Edouard used a combination of flattery and concern over the women’s personal problems to lure the women in, Roan said. Each woman then was told that they were obligated to keep the relationship secret for the good of their families, Edouard’s wife and the church. Most soon found themselves in long-term illicit affairs.

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OREGON
The Oregonian

By Noelle Crombie, The Oregonian

A priest who knew the Rev. Angel Perez in his final year at Mount Angel Seminary said he never saw the 46-year-old show “any tendency toward children in an inappropriate way.”

“I am sitting here in absolute shock,” said Monsignor Richard Paperini, now the parish priest at Christ the King Catholic Church in Milwaukie. Paperini was president of the Mt. Angel Seminary in 2001. Perez was ordained the following year.

On Monday, Perez, now the parish priest at Saint Luke Catholic Church in Woodburn, was arrested after police responded to a complaint at about 1:30 a.m. Monday alleging inappropriate contact between the priest and a 12-year-old boy.

He faces accusations of sexual abuse, use of a child in a display of sexually explicit conduct and furnishing alcohol to a minor. Perez was booked into Marion County Jail Monday evening and remains held without bail. He is scheduled to be arraigned at 3 p.m. in Marion County Circuit Court, according to the jail.

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LAS VEGAS (NV)
Mynews3

Reported by: Elizabeth Donatelli
Email: EDonatelli@Mynews3.com

LAS VEGAS (KSNV MyNews3) — The Franciscans have released the personnel file for a former Las Vegas Catholic friar after they settled a lawsuit in which he was accused of sexually abusing an 11-year-old boy.

Brother Thomas Thing’s personnel file begins as a psychological evaluation in 1978. It recommends therapy and says he fears his impulses are “dirty and destructive.” Yet he goes into the brotherhood and is in Las Vegas in the mid-1980s when he meets Tim Coonce at St. Christopher Catholic Elementary School, where the boy was in seventh grade and the alleged sexual abuse took place.

A quarter of a century later, Barbara Blaine — president of Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests — and fellow victims and friends stood outside the Catholic Diocese of Las Vegas.

“We believe that he should not be any position of power or authority,” she said. “They did not warn anyone here in Las Vegas, and these parents trusted and allowed their son to be around Brother Thing, and the impact has been devastating for that boy.”

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MISSOURI
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Barbara Dorris on August 14, 2012

The Missouri Supreme Court has denied our writ seeking to stop the intrusive and intimidating legal maneuvers by Kansas City Catholic officials who want 24 years of communications between our support group and victims, witnesses, whistleblowers, police, prosecutors, journalists and others who seek our help.

We’re disappointed but we know that very few writs are granted. We’ll continue to do everything possible to protect the privacy and safety of victims, witnesses, whistleblowers, police, prosecutors, journalists and others who seek our help. We’re in unchartered waters for us and we’re taking it a step at a time.

We’re especially disappointed because our position is supported by two dozen children’s and crime organizations, four ex-prosecutors and two current prosecutors. If Kansas City Catholic officials prevail, those who work at or are served by rape crisis centers, domestic violence shelters and other non-profit agencies will be severely hurt.

Here’s what the court said today:

SC92716 State ex rel. David Clohessy, in his capacity as Director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, Relator, vs. The Honorable Ann J. Mesle, Respondent.

Petition for writ of prohibition denied.

To see the ruling:
1. Go to https://www.courts.mo.gov/casenet/base/welcome.do

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NEW YORK/CANADA
Huffington Post

Kris Allen Gowdy, HIV Positive Youth Pastor, Allegedly Attempted To Arrange Sexual Encounter With 15-Year-Old Boy (VIDEO)

Kris Allen Gowdy, an HIV-positive youth pastor at a church in Courtice, Ontario, has been arrested after Canadian authorities say he attempted to arrange a sexual encounter with a 15-year-old boy.

According to a press release, Gowdy befriended an undercover investigator online under the username “collegetoy2033” on a social media website, allegedly for the purpose of having sex.

When the 42-year-old showed up at the presumed 15-year-old’s house on August 9, he was arrested and charged with luring a child via computer, and attempted aggravated sexual assault.

“He’s all over chat rooms and social media,” said police spokeswoman Sgt. Nancy Van Rooy to the Democrat and Chronicle. “He’s quite narcissistic. He’s out there and has been for some time.”

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OREGON
The Oregonian

By Nancy Haught, The Oregonian

The arrest of the Rev. Angel Armando Perez, pastor of St. Luke Catholic Church in Woodburn, is the first real-time accusation against a priest of the Archdiocese of Portland in many years and, perhaps because of the Catholic clergy sex scandal, the complaint about him went first to the police, not the archdiocese.

Perez, 46, was arrested Monday afternoon after a complaint alleging inappropriate contact between the priest and a 12-year-old boy. Perez faces arraignment today in Marion County Circuit Court on accusations of sexual abuse, use of a child in a display of sexually explicit conduct and furnishing alcohol to a minor.

When police arrived to take Perez in for questioning, a member of the parish staff called the Archdiocese of Portland, according to Bud Bunce, a church spokesman. Perez immediately was placed on administrative leave as required by the archdiocese’s child protection policy. He is not allowed to say Mass or perform any priestly duties, Bunce said. The archdiocese will complete its own investigation once the legal process is complete, he said.

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UNITED STATES
BishopAccountability.org – Assignment Record

Summary of Case: A priest of the St. Cloud diocese ordained in 1956, Rausch started his career as a high school teacher and spiritual director. He earned a PhD in pastoral psychology in Rome, and went on to become General Secretary of the U.S. Catholic Conference of Bishops. Rausch was known as a champion of social justice issues. He was ordained Auxiliary Bishop of St. Cloud in 1973, then Bishop of Phoenix in 1977, where he served until his sudden death in 1981, at age 52 . Rausch was accused in a lawsuit that was settled in 2002 of sexually abusing 17 year-old boy in 1979. His accuser, who is said to have had incriminating photographs of Rausch, claimed that Rausch then “passed him on” to two other priests.

Born: Sept. 4, 1928
Ordained: June 2, 1956
Died: May 18, 1981

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VATIKAN
DW

Paolo Gabriele, der Ex-Kammerdiener des Papstes, hatte eine Mission. Er wollte sich als “Verbindungsmann des Heiligen Geistes” gegen das Böse in der Kirche erheben, wie es in nun veröffentlichten Unterlagen heißt.

Die Anklage wirft Gabriele vor, vertrauliche Unterlagen vom Schreibtisch des Papstes gestohlen und einige davon an die italienische Presse weitergegeben zu haben. Darin ging es um ein angebliches Mordkomplott gegen Benedikt XVI. und um umstrittene Geschäfte der Vatikan-Bank IOR.

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VATIKAN
Tagesschau

[mitt Audio]

Von Stefan Troendle, ARD-Hörfunkkorrespondent Rom

Paolo Gabriele war kein Einzeltäter. Die wohl entscheidende Information aus dem Vatikan ist, dass der ehemalige Kammerdiener des Papstes beim Dokumentenklau Helfer hatte. Es waren also auf jeden Fall mehrere Personen in die Weitergabe der vertraulichen Schreiben vom päpstlichen Schreibtisch an Medienvertreter beteiligt. “Vor einigen Tagen haben wir ja selbst erklärt, dass Dokumente an die Öffentlichkeit geraten sind, während Gabriele im Gefängnis war”, sagte Papstsprecher Federico Lombardi. “Mit anderen Worten: Es ist unmöglich zu sagen, dass er die einzige Person war, die Journalisten Dokumente übergeben hat.”

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AUSTRALIEN
Moment Mal

National Catholic Reporter, Australien:
Drei leitende, hochgestellte Amtsträger der katholischen Kirche sind Gegenstand der Untersuchung einer angeblichen Vertuschung priesterlicher, sexueller Übergriffe auf junge Mädchen, berichtet The Sydney Morning Herald auf Grund einer Reihe von Zeugenaussagen.

Laut The Sydney Morning Herald wurde Pater Brian Lucas von der New South Wales Polizei als ein Beschuldigter bezeichnet. Er ist der Generalsekretär des Australischen Katholischen Bischofskonferenz und gilt als Beschuldigter hinsichtlich einer angeblichen Verschleierung der Verbrechen des pädophilen Priesters Denis McAlinden. Weitere beschuldigte Personen sind, Erzbischof Philip Wilson von Adelaide und Bischof iR Michael Malone von Maitland-Newcastle.

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DEUTSCHLAND
SWR

Der Pfarrer der saarländischen Wallfahrtskirche St. Wendel hat einem Kollegen offenbar Drohbriefe geschickt. Hintergrund sind Missbrauchsfälle von Priestern an Minderjährigen. Der betroffene Kollege hatte diese zur Anzeige gebracht.

Nach Informationen des SWR haben Ermittlungen der Kriminalpolizei in Völklingen ergeben, dass sich an verschiedenen Schreiben, die an den Geistlichen in der Gemeinde Köllerbach gegangen waren, zweifelsfrei Fingerabdrücke des Pfarrers von St. Wendel befinden. In den Drohbriefen wurde der Köllerbacher Kollege als schlimmster Volksverhetzer seit Goebbels und Himmler bezeichnet und ihm körperliche Gewalt angedroht.

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