ABUSE TRACKER

BELGIEN
kathweb

Kirche kündigt weiteren Schritt in Missbrauchs-Prävention an

27.08.2012

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

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

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.

DEUTSCHLAND
MissBiT

das dokumentartheater berlin
das dokumentartheater berlin positioniert sich.

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

Presseerklärung

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

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.

VATIKAN
Aktuell

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

27.08.2012 | epd

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

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

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

IRELAND
Paddy Doyle – The God Squad

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

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

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

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

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

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

IRELAND
National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church

Overview

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

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

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

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

KANSAS CITY (MO)
Spiritual Politics

Mark Silk
Sep 7, 2012

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

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

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

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

KANSAS CITY (MO)
Fox 4

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

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

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

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

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

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.

CANADA
CBC News

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

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

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

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

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.

AKRON (OH)
Beacon Journal

By Rick Armon
Beacon Journal staff writer

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

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

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

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

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

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

PENNSYLVANIA
Altoona Mirror

September 7, 2012

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

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

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

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

An attempt to reach Koharchik for comment Thursday was unsuccessful.

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

KANSAS CITY (MO)
Jackson County Circuit Court

September 6, 2012

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

IRELAND
Irish Independent

By Caroline Crawford, Tom Brady and Majella O’Sullivan

Friday September 07 2012

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

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

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

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

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.

CANADA
The Ottawa Citizen

By Andrew Seymour, Ottawa Citizen September 6, 2012

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

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

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

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

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

KANSAS CITY (MO)
AFP

By Mira Oberman (AFP)

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

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

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

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

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

KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Kansas City Star

[stipulation of testimony]

[probation conditons]

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

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

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

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

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

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

KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Kansas City Star

Kansas City Star Editorial

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

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

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

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

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

KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Kansas City Star

By MARY SANCHEZ
The Kansas City Star

Courtroom benches are virtually identical to church pews.

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

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

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

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

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

KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Kansas City Star

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

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

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

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

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

KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Kansas City Star

By JUDY L. THOMAS and LYNN HORSLEY
The Kansas City Star

In finding Bishop Robert Finn guilty on Thursday, Jackson County Circuit Judge John Torrence said he hoped his verdict could bring to a close a case that has caused upheaval in the diocese for nearly a year.

Some are ready to move ahead, but not everyone.

As the guilty verdict of Kansas City’s Catholic bishop resonated around the world Thursday, strong reaction flooded in from both supporters and critics of Finn. It showed a division that opened with pornography charges against a priest, the Rev. Shawn Ratigan, in 2011.

Some called for Finn to resign.

“I think a bishop with a criminal conviction has impaired his ability to function as bishop and should consider for the good of his diocese allowing someone else to lead it,” said Nicholas Cafardi, a law professor at Duquesne University and former chairman of the U.S. Bishops’ National Review Board for the Protection of Children and Youth. “This destroys his credibility and seriously impairs his ability to lead the diocese.”

Others, however, had sympathy for Finn.

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

KANSAS CITY (MO)
Arizona Daily Sun

Associated Press

A judge’s conviction of the first American bishop criminally charged in the clergy sex abuse scandal spared young victims in the case from a longer, emotional jury trial and church leaders from embarrassing evidence, attorneys said.

The bench trial on misdemeanor charges of failing to report suspected child abuse, while still damaging to Bishop Robert Finn, wrapped up in a day Thursday, and the split verdict came in about an hour. Finn, the highest-ranking U.S. Catholic official charged with shielding an abusive priest, was convicted of one count and acquitted on a second.

Prosecutors dropped similar misdemeanor charges against the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, and the judge is expected to sign off Friday on the dismissed counts.

The charges stemmed from allegations that Finn and the diocese failed to report to authorities that pornographic images of children had been found on the laptop computer of the Rev. Shawn Ratigan.

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.

CANADA
The Link

Kendra Paré — Published September 6, 2012

Residential schools, where Catholic priests and nuns educated First Nations youth about Christianity and European culture, left scars of abuse behind on the communities whose children they sought to fix. That reality is honored in the play Where the Blood Mixes, starting next week at the Centre Culturel Calixa-Lavallée.

“He’s dealing with the aftermath of being told to be ashamed of being First Nation,” said actor Jeremy Proulx of his character. “These schools would brainwash the children to believe that their heritage and culture was something to be ashamed of.”

Proulx comes from Neyaashiinigmiing, ON and is of Ojibwe and Oneida descent. Preparing to play Floyd, a reserved middle-aged man who represses his past, he spoke to his own relatives about their experiences in residential schools, and examined how different generations coped with their abuse.

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

BELGIE
hbvl

De zusters van het Lommelse tehuis Tamar verkochten in de jaren zeventig en begin jaren tachtig baby’s voor grof geld aan welgestelde gezinnen. Dat verklaren twee nieuwe getuigen, nadat de Lommelse Elise (61) gisteren in Het Belang van Limburg vertelde over haar gedwongen adoptie.

Cyrella Vanseer (54) uit Maaseik verbleef in 1981 in Tamar en moest net als Elise haar pasgeboren baby afgeven. “Ik werd naar een ziekenhuis in Lommel gebracht toen ik mijn weeën kreeg”, vertelt ze. “Daar pakten ze mijn dochter af en verkochten haar aan een gezin met veel geld. Na de bevalling hebben ze mij ook gesteriliseerd, zonder dat ik dat wist.”

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.

BELGIE
de Stentor

door Koen Snoekx | vrijdag 07 september 2012

In België zijn verschillende vrouwen op zoek naar hun kind dat zij gedwongen moesten afstaan. De zusters in het tehuis Tamar in Lommel regelden dat.

Elise (61) werd op haar 23ste verkracht door een priester, raakte zwanger en werd vervolgens in het Lommelse tehuis Tamar gedwongen haar baby af te staan. “Ik wilde het kind houden, maar omdat het van een priester was, mocht dat absoluut niet van de zusters.”

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.

BOSTON (MA)
Boston Globe

By Lisa Wangsness
Globe Staff / September 7, 2012

The Archdiocese of Boston’s top liaison to victims of sexual abuse and their families is stepping down this month. Barbara Thorp, a licensed social worker, has directed the Office of Pastoral Support and Child Protection since the clergy abuse crisis erupted in Boston a decade ago. She has worked for the church for 35 years. Thorp is among a small circle of advisers who have helped Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley navigate the church’s response to the abuse crisis.

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
WHAM

Rochester, N.Y. – A former church leader who pleaded guilty to a federal charge of transporting a minor with the intent to engage in criminal sexual activity was sentenced Thursday to seven years in prison.

Prosecutors say in 2004, Joe Flowers drove a child younger than 15 to Florida to visit an amusement park. While there, Flowers engaged in sexual activity with the child.

Flowers is already serving a seven year sentence for repeatedly sexually abusing a boy between 2007 and 2010. The victim attended Flowers’ church, The Walk of Life Christian Center.

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
Digital Journal

New York, NY (PRWEB) September 06, 2012

A complaint was recently filed with the Supreme Court of the State of New York County of Kings on behalf of a man who, when he was 14 years old, was allegedly molested by one of the staff members at Freedom Village, a home for troubled teens in Upstate New York (Complaint Index No. 17412/12). The victim is being represented by the attorneys at Hecht Kleeger & Damashek, PC. The assailant pled guilty to first degree sexual abuse and endangering child welfare in 2008, according to the U.S. Department of Justice Sex Offender Registry.

Freedom Village is a non-profit organization run in conjunction with Gates Community Chapel of Rochester. Both institutions as well as the lead pastor acted as the employer of all staff members at the time of this incident and had the duty to ensure that all employees were competent to perform their job duties and were also responsible for investigating their backgrounds for criminal behavior.

Hecht Kleeger & Damashek, PC alleged in their complaint that their client was actually at Freedom Village when he was approached by one of the staff members who then proceeded to assault, molest and cause him to be seriously injured. The firm is alleging negligence, recklessness and carelessness that led to the incident happening. The complaint alleges that, if Freedom Village had properly supervised its employees and properly screened them before hiring, then the incident would not have happened.

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

KANSAS CITY (MO)
CNN

By the CNN Wire Staff

(CNN) — A judge in Kansas City, Missouri, has sentenced a Catholic bishop to two years on probation for failure to report suspected child abuse, officials said Thursday.

Bishop Robert W. Finn, 59, is the highest-ranking Catholic official to be convicted during the church’s long sexual abuse scandal.

Finn won’t serve any jail time or pay a fine, the Jackson County Prosecuting Attorney’s office said. The misdemeanor charge had a maximum penalty of one year in prison and a fine of as much as $1,000.

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

KANSAS CITY (MO)
Wichita Eagle

Terms of Bishop Robert Finn’s two-year probation include:

• Ensuring “mandated reporter” training for clergy and diocesan administrative staff, and instructing all teachers, counselors, clergy and other diocesan agents to report suspected crimes against children, as required by state law.

• Instituting, with FBI help, a program to train clergy and administrative staff on what constitutes child pornography and child obscenity, and how to identify signs that a child is being groomed for it.

• Establishing a $10,000 fund to provide counseling services to abuse victims.

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

IRELAND
Irish Times

MARY MINIHAN

SEXUAL CRIME UNIT: THE GARDA sexual crime unit is examining the reports published this week containing new disclosures on child protection practices in four dioceses and three congregations, Minister for Justice Alan Shatter has revealed.

Mr Shatter yesterday said he had discussed the reports produced by the Catholic Church’s child protection watchdog, the National Board for Safeguarding Children (NBSC), with the Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan.

“He has informed me that the Garda Sexual Crime Management Unit is examining those reports in the context of establishing what further action may be necessary on the part of An Garda Síochána in relation to them,” Mr Shatter said.

The Minister praised the “courageous and important” work of NBSC chief executive Ian Elliott, who led the reviews. He said Mr Elliott’s ongoing work was crucial to ensure that in future all possible action was taken to protect children from “sexual predators”.

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

IRELAND
Irish Times

JOE HUMPHREYS

THE PAST is slowly catching up on Irish missionaries. As the one group within the Catholic Church that had escaped direct condemnation over the child sexual abuse scandals, they now sit uncomfortably in the spotlight.

The first three religious congregations to be investigated by the Irish church’s child protection watchdog all have significant missionary operations. The Spiritans (formerly Holy Ghost Fathers), the Dominican Friars and the Sacred Heart Missionaries were criticised to varying degrees by the National Board for Safeguarding Children (NBSC), the latter especially so.

While the board’s terms of reference are limited to investigating congregations’ compliance with child safeguarding standards in Ireland, its work is also helping to shed light on practices overseas.

Taken together with previous inquiries, it points to a serious catalogue of abuse and cover-up in mission countries – but one that has yet to be fully investigated.

One of the worst cases cited in the 2009 Murphy report, which examined abuse by priests in the Dublin diocese, was that of convicted paedophile Fr Patrick Maguire. The Columban Father worked in Japan between 1961 and 1974, where his abusing was first reported to the congregation by a nun. In 1997, Fr Maguire admitted to having abused about 70 boys in a number of countries, 13 of whom were in Japan.

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

KANSAS CITY (MO)
CNBC

(Reuters) – The Catholic Bishop who leads a large Kansas City diocese was found guilty Thursday for failing to alert authorities to a trove of child pornography found on a priest’s computer, becoming the highest-ranking U.S. clergyman convicted in the Roman Catholic Church child sex abuse scandal.

Bishop Robert Finn, 59, was found guilty of one misdemeanor charge of failing to report the wayward priest, Father Shawn Ratigan, to authorities. Ratigan pleaded guilty to federal child pornography charges last month and admitted to taking lewd photographs of many young girls.

Finn was acquitted of a second misdemeanor charge.

“I hope this begins a new chapter in the book in this community and other communities and that, truly, children will no longer be subjected to this kind of treatment,” said Jackson County Circuit Court Judge John Torrence, who found Finn guilty.

Torrence sentenced Finn to two years of probation and suspended a sentence that could have amounted to one year in prison and a $1,000 fine. …

“Only jail time would have made a real difference here and deterred future horrific cover-ups, anything less will not produce any meaningful reform,” said Barbara Dorris, outreach director for the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP).

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

IRELAND
Irish Times

PATSY McGARRY, Religious Affairs Correspondent

BISHOP of Clonfert John Kirby made out-of-court settlements in the 1990s with two victims of an abuser priest in his diocese.

He said yesterday he believed the settlements were made in 1994 and 1998, and, “from memory”, these, including legal fees, totalled “circa IR£130,000”.

Both settlements arose from child abuse by the priest identified as “priest A” in a National Board for Safeguarding Children (NBSC) review published on Wednesday.

The review said “five separate complaints were made against priest ‘A’ between 1990 and 1997”. Priest A was convicted in the courts and served a jail sentence. The review established that when he became aware of child abuse allegations against A and another priest, “Bishop Kirby moved the priests against whom allegations were made to different parishes”.

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

KANSAS CITY (MO)
Fox 4

September 6, 2012, by Michelle Pekarsky and John Pepitone

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas City-St. Joseph Catholic Diocese Bishop Robert Finn was found guilty of one misdemeanor charge and not guilty of another in a Jackson County Circuit Court on Thursday.

Finn was found guilty of failure to report suspected child abuse and not guilty on another failure to report child abuse charge by Judge John Torrence in connection to the case of former Northland Priest Shawn Ratigan. …

On Thursday evening, Finn released the following statement through the Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocese:

I am pleased and grateful that the prosecutor and court have allowed this matter to be concluded. The protection of children is paramount. Sexual abuse of any kind will not be tolerated. Diocesan process and procedures in place at the time did not adequately identify the necessity to inform the Children’s Division of Shawn Ratigan’s behavior in a more timely manner. For this I am truly sorry.

I have provided for the establishment of an independent Ombudsman to report any known or suspected abuse by any clergy, employee or volunteer of the Diocese as required by law. I also have established the Diocesan Director of the Office of Child & Youth Protection to develop and implement any policies in this regard. I will pledge, both personally and in my capacity as Bishop, to take every reasonable step to protect children from any abuse or misconduct perpetrated by clergy, diocesan employees or volunteers. I regret and am sorry for the hurt that these events have caused. I appreciate this opportunity to express my commitment and that of the Diocese to continue working cooperatively with law enforcement authorities and the community to resolve these issues.

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.

GREEN BAY (WI)
NBC 26

By Mike Conroy

GREEN BAY, Wis.–A new trial date has been set in the civil fraud case against the Green Bay Catholic Diocese.

The lawsuit was brought on by the Merryfield brothers. The two were molested by former Priest John Patrick Feeney in1978.

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.

FLORIDA
NBC Miami

By Sharon Lawson

Thursday, Sep 6, 2012

On Thursday, a man announced he filed a lawsuit against a priest and the Archdiocese of Miami claiming sexual abuse.

“i know what he did to me, and I’m pissed what he did to me,” said the man, who wanted to remain anonymous.

The man said the priest would “kiss me, abused me touch me. It’s like a nightmare.”

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

KANSAS CITY (MO)
Catholic News Agency

By Kevin J. Jones

Kansas City, Mo., Sep 6, 2012 / 04:32 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- A Kansas judge has convicted Bishop Robert W. Finn of Kansas City-St. Joseph on one misdemeanor count of failure to report suspected child abuse and acquitted him on another count, while charges against the diocese have been dismissed.

“I regret and am sorry for the hurt that these events have caused,” Bishop Finn said in a Sept. 6 statement provided to CNA.

“The protection of children is paramount. Sexual abuse of any kind will not be tolerated.”

The bishop pledged to take “every reasonable step” to protect children from abuse and misconduct committed by clergy, diocesan employees or volunteers.

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

KANSAS CITY (MO)
The New York Times

By JOHN ELIGON and LAURIE GOODSTEIN

Published: September 6, 2012

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Bishop Robert W. Finn was found guilty on Thursday on one count of failing to report suspected child abuse, becoming the first Roman Catholic bishop in the United States in the decades-long sexual abuse scandals to be convicted of shielding a pedophile priest.

In an abruptly announced bench trial that lasted a little over an hour, Judge John M. Torrence of Jackson County Circuit Court found Bishop Finn guilty of one misdemeanor charge, and not guilty on a second. The charges each carried a maximum penalty of one year in jail and a $1,000 fine, but Bishop Finn received a sentence of two years of court-supervised probation. …

The prosecutor, Jean Peters Baker, told the judge in opening arguments that Bishop Finn had been given ample warning that Father Ratigan was a danger to children. She said that the priest had even admitted to Bishop Finn that he had “a pornography problem.”

The prosecutor said, “Defendant Finn is the ultimate authority. The buck does stop with him.”

In May 2010, the principal of the Catholic elementary school where Father Ratigan was working sent a letter to the diocese raising alarm about him. The letter said he had put a girl on his lap on a bus ride, encouraged children to reach into his pockets for candy and parents discovered girls’s underwear in a planter outside his house. Bishop Finn has said he did not read the letter until a year later.

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

KANSAS CITY (MO)
U.S. Catholic

By Catholic News Service

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (CNS) — Bishop Robert W. Finn of Kansas City-St. Joseph was convicted Sept. 6 of one count of failing to report suspected child abuse and acquitted on another count in a brief bench trial.

Jackson County Circuit Judge John M. Torrence issued the verdict and quickly set and suspended a sentence of two years’ probation. The charges carried a possible maximum sentence of one year in jail and a fine of up to $1,000.

In a courtroom statement following the verdict, Bishop Finn said he truly regretted and was sorry for the hurt the events caused.

Bishop Finn was indicted last October on the misdemeanor charges of failing to report suspected child abuse to state authorities.

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

KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Kansas City Star

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

Kansas City Bishop Robert Finn today became the highest-ranking U.S. Catholic official convicted during the church’s decades-long child sexual abuse scandal.

Following a short non-jury trial, Jackson County Circuit Court Judge John Torrence convicted Finn of one misdemeanor count of failing to report suspicions of child abuse but acquitted him on another count of failing to report. …

Lawyers limited the case to a narrow range of facts, which were expressed in 69 paragraphs submitted to Torrence at the hearing.

Torrence listened to about 25 minutes of summary from attorneys then took a half-hour break before finding Finn guilty of one count based on those facts.

Those facts included an acknowledgement from Finn that he is a mandated child abuse reporter under Missouri law. The stipulation also contained a long recitation of the now-familiar facts of the case with a few new insights.

Those included:

• A June 2010 conversation between Finn and Ratigan, in which the bishop told his priest that “we have to take this seriously,” after a Northland Catholic school principal complained to the chancery that the priest was behaving inappropriately around school children.

• A chancery computer manager’s determination in December 2010 that only four or five of the hundreds of lewd photos found on Ratigan’s laptop had been downloaded from the Internet. The rest appeared to have been taken with a personal camera.

• Ratigan’s denial, while hospitalized for a suicide attempt, that he ever had sexual contact with children.

• A statement from a Pennsylvania mental health professional, who found that Ratigan was not a risk to children, which appeared to support the priest’s contention that he was the victim of mistreatment by a school official who complained about his conduct around children.

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

KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Kansas City Star

Yael T. Abouhalkah

The conviction of the highest ranking Catholic official in the Kansas City area Thursday is not a cause for any rejoicing. At all.

Bishop Robert Finn got off with a slap on the wrist – even after being found guilty of one count of failing to report suspicions of child abuse.

And the children he was expected – no, demanded – to protect can only watch the bishop walk away with two years of probation.

The legal system tried but ultimately failed to send the message that it would work aggressively to protect children from this outrage.

Jackson County Circuit Court Judge John Torrence actually suspended the probation sentence.

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

KANSAS CITY (MO)
Wall Street Journal

Associated Press

A Missouri bishop who became the nation’s highest-ranking Catholic official charged with shielding an abusive priest was found guilty Thursday of one misdemeanor count of failing to report suspected child abuse.

Bishop Robert Finn was acquitted on a second count. He received two years of probation, but that sentence was suspended. He is required to have mandatory abuse reporter training.

Bishop Finn argued he shouldn’t face charges because he wasn’t the diocese’s mandated reporter under the law. At the time, the responsibility rested mainly with Vicar General Robert Murphy. …

Attorneys for both Bishop Finn and the diocese also have argued that the state’s law is unconstitutional.

A computer technician found child pornography on Rev. Ratigan’s laptop in December 2010 and reported it to the diocese. Of the hundreds of images found, many focused on the crotch areas of clothed children and one series showed the exposed genitals of a girl believed to be 3 or 4 years old.

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

KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter

Sep. 06, 2012
By Joshua J. McElwee

Thursday’s trial of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Mo., Bishop Robert Finn comes as a new report commissioned by his diocese estimates the costs of its legal fees in the cases to total about $1.4 million.

That report, which appears in the issue of The Catholic Key, the Kansas City-St. Joseph diocesan newspaper, that was printed Wednesday, also estimates that the costs paid by the diocesan insurance program on all issues dealing with sex abuse in the diocese in the past year totaled almost $4 million.

On Aug. 2, former Kansas City priest Shawn Ratigan pleaded guilty to five of 13 federal counts of producing and attempting to produce sexually graphic material of minor girls. He has yet to be sentenced, but each charge separately carries between 15 and 30 years in prison.

Finn and the diocese stood trial Thursday on two charges each of failing to report suspected child abuse, a misdemeanor. Finn was found guilty of one charge and given a suspended two years’ probation. A motion for the dismissal of the diocese’s charges will be decided upon Friday.

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

KANSAS CITY (MO)
Catholic Culture

CWN – September 06, 2012

Bishop Robert Finn of Kansas City, Missouri, has been found guilty of failing to report evidence of sexual abuse by a priest in his diocese.

After a brief bench trial, Judge John Torrence pronounced the bishop guilty on one of two misdemeanor charges, acquitting him of the other charge. Bishop Finn thus becomes the first American bishop convicted of a criminal offense for mishandling sex-abuse complaints.

Judge Torrence sentenced Bishop Finn to two years of probation, suspending thee sentence. If the bishop completes his probation, his conviction will be stricken from the record.

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

KANSAS CITY (MO)
St. Joe Channel

By: Andy House, Alex Hassel

Updated: September 6, 2012

(KANSAS CITY, Mo.) A verdict comes against the highest ranking Catholic official ever to face criminal charges in a child sex abuse case.

A judge found Bishop Robert Finn guilty in a sex abuse case involving a former St. Joseph priest.

Bishop Finn was convicted of one misdemeanor charge for failing to report suspected child abuse. He was found not guilty on a second charge.

A verdict came during a one day trial Thursday in Kansas City.

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

KANSAS CITY (MO)
KMBC

Bishop Robert Finn has been found guilty of 1 misdemeanor count of failure to report suspected child abuse in Jackson County Court Thursday afternoon.

Finn, speaking to the court this afternoon, apologized.

He is the first sitting US Bishop to be criminally charged in the child sex abuse scandal that’s rocked the Catholic Church for decades.

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

KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Republic

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
September 06, 2012

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Text of statement by lawyers for Bishop Robert Finn of the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph after a Missouri judge on Thursday found him guilty of one count and not guilty of another count of failing to report suspected child abuse, and a county prosecutor moved to drop the same charges against the diocese:

“Bishop Finn is grateful that the court and prosecutor have allowed this matter to be resolved. This could have been a lengthy and emotionally difficult trial for all persons affected. The bench trial, with a stipulation of testimony, has avoided the need for live testimony from diocesan employees, parishioners and others. This process has also resulted in the charges against the Diocese being dismissed by the state. The diocesan process and procedures as previously existed failed to adequately identify the necessity to inform the Children’s Division of Shawn Ratigan’s behavior in a more timely manner. For this, the bishop is truly sorry.”

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

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

Posted by Barbara Dorris on September 06, 2012

There’s a reason Bishop Finn’s trial is happening on 24 hours notice, with few or no witnesses, before a judge, and on the day when President Obama speaks.

It’s the same reason that hundreds of thousands of children across the globe have been sexually assaulted by Catholic priests, nuns, seminarians, brothers and bishops.

The reason is church officials continuing obsession with protecting their reputations above all else.

For months, Bishop Finn has been masterful with public relations – revamping policies, hiring staff, shuffling titles and pledging reform.

He’s made another masterful public relations stroke today, making this proceeding shorter and quicker and more likely to prevent exposing just how complicit he and perhaps a dozen or more top Catholic officials are in the crimes of Fr. Shawn Ratigan.

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

KANSAS CITY (MO)
KCUR

By Frank Morris

UPDATE at 3:30 pm: Bishop Robert Finn: Guilty on one of two counts.

On Thursday afternoon, Judge John Torrence convicted Finn on one misdemeanor count of failing to report suspicions of child abuse. He was acquitted on another count.

The highest ranking U.S. Catholic Church official ever to face criminal charges related to child sexual abuse is set to go to trial on Thursday in Jackson County Circuit Court.

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

KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter

Sep. 06, 2012
By Joshua J. McElwee

The first Catholic bishop criminally charged in the decades-long clergy sex abuse crisis was found guilty Thursday of one misdemeanor count of failing to report a priest known to be in possession of lewd images of children.

Bishop Robert Finn of the Kansas City-St. Joseph, Mo., diocese was sentenced to serve two years unsupervised probation, which was then suspended.

Finn and his Kansas City-St. Joseph, Mo., diocese went to trial today before Jackson County, Mo., Circuit Court Judge John Torrence. Each charge against Finn carried a maximum penalty of one year in jail and a $1,000 fine.

When the trial started at 2:30 p.m., Torrence severed the parties, allowing Finn and the diocese to be charged separately. Torrence began with Finn’s trial, and testimony ended at about 2:50 p.m. Torrence handed down the verdict at 3:30 p.m.

Jean Peters Baker presented evidence on behalf of the prosecutors, arguing that there was a period of time between May 2010 and May 2011 that Finn should have become aware of a problem with former Kansas City priest Shawn Ratigan, who pleaded guilty to federal child pornography charges in August.

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

KANSAS CITY (MO)
KCTV

[with video]

KANSAS CITY, MO (KCTV) –
Kansas City Bishop Robert Finn was found guilty of failing to report an abusive priest to state authorities.

A Jackson County judge acquitted him of a second similar charge. The charges involved different time frames.

Finn apologized for his actions in court following the judge’s decision. He was placed on probation.

“I truly regret and am sorry for the hurt these events have caused,” Finn said.

Judge John Torrence issued the verdict after hearing opening remarks from Finn’s attorneys and prosecutors and reviewing documents.

“I hope this ends a chapter of history that has been a long and dark chapter,” Torrence said.

Finn was the top-ranking Catholic official in the U.S. to be charged with shielding an abusive priest. The case came to a surprising end after both sides agreed to waive a trial by jury and allow Torrence to reach a decision

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

KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Associated Press

By BILL DRAPER, Associated Press

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A judge has found a Missouri bishop guilty of one misdemeanor count for failing to report suspected child abuse by a priest, and acquitted him on a second count.

Robert Finn is the nation’s highest-ranking Catholic official charged with shielding an abusive priest. He received two years of probation, but that sentence was suspended.

The charges stem from the child pornography case of Rev. Shawn Ratigan, in which Finn and other church officials knew about photos on the priest’s computer but didn’t turn him in for six months.

Ratigan pleaded guilty in August to child porn charges.

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

KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Kansas City Star

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

Kansas City Bishop Robert Finn today became the highest-ranking U.S. Catholic official convicted during the church’s decades-long child sexual abuse scandal.

Following a short non-jury trial, Jackson County Circuit Court Judge John Torrence convicted Finn of one misdemeanor count of failing to report suspicions of child abuse but acquitted him on another count. Though the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph also was to be tried Thursday on the same two counts, Torrence severed the cases shortly after the proceedings opened.

The charges stemmed from the church’s handling of the Rev. Shawn Ratigan, on whose laptop a diocesan vendor found hundreds of lewd photos of young girls in December 2010. Finn’s second-in-command at the diocese, Monsignor Robert Murphy, did not report the photographs to police for five months.

Finn is the first bishop in the country, and is believed to be one of only two bishops in the world, convicted of failing to report suspected child abuse. The other case happened in France.

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.

WORCESTER (MA)
Sergio E. Carvajal – Carvajal & Nielsen, P.C.

Who: James Fairbanks and Alain Beret; Attorney Sergio Carvajal, Carvajal & Nielsen, P.C.

What: Press Conference
When: 11:30 a.m., Monday, Sept. 10, 2012

Where: Worcester Superior Court, 225 Main St., Worcester, Mass. In case of rain, the press conference will be moved to the fifth floor of the Worcester Law Library, 184 Main St. Parking is available behind the courthouse.

Why: An important announcement will be made relating to the decision of the House of Affirmation, Inc., an affiliate of the Diocese of Worcester, to pull out of the sale of Oakhurst in Northbridge, Mass., to Fairbanks and Beret after learning that the two men are gay and would potentially hold gay marriages at Oakhurst.

Visuals: Several speakers will be on hand to address the press outside the Worcester Superior Court.

Directions: 225 Main St., Worcester, Mass.

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

IRELAND
Irish Examiner

By Conor Ryan

Thursday, September 06, 2012

An abuser from within the Dominican Friars played a role in national initiatives of the Catholic Church to improve responses to child abuse.

The man was alleged to have abused children in the late 1950s and early 1960. The accusations were not made until 1990. He stayed in his ministry until 1995, during which time he took part in the anti-abuse measures.

In another case a prolifically abusive priest, labelled Fr X, was told about an allegation made by a pupil in 1973.

However, the report of the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church (NBSCCC) said this only led to further torment for the child. “[The boy] was sent to the headmaster and was further abused by [Fr X]. The boy then advised that this second abuse had happened, but he was not believed because the abuse was denied by Fr X.”

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

VATICAN CITY
Catholic News Service

By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The “most tragic wound” of clerical sexual abuse will not heal without a response from the entire Catholic Church — hierarchy and laity together — said the chief Vatican investigator of abuse cases.

“I think that slowly, slowly, slowly we are getting toward a response that is truly ecclesial — it’s not hierarchical, it’s the church. We are in this together, in suffering (from) the wound and trying to respond to it,” Msgr. Charles Scicluna told Vatican Radio.

The monsignor, whose formal title is promoter of justice in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, spoke to Vatican Radio during a Sept. 4-5 conference in England titled “Redeeming Power: Overcoming Abuse in Church and Society.”

The European Society of Catholic Theology sponsored the conference at St. Mary’s University College in Twickenham as part of the International Network of Societies for Catholic Theology’s three-year research project on “the power of theology to overcome power abuse in church and society.”

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.

SOUTH DAKOTA
San Francisco Chronicle

CHET BROKAW, Associated Press

Updated 12:39 p.m., Thursday, September 6, 2012

PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — The South Dakota Supreme Court ruled Thursday that nearly 20 former students who allege they were sexually abused decades ago at an American Indian boarding school cannot continue their lawsuits against the Catholic Diocese of Sioux Falls and the religious organizations that ran the school.

In two rulings, the high court upheld a trial judge’s decision to dismiss the lawsuits against the diocese and several groups that ran St. Paul’s School in Marty at the time of the alleged abuse more than 35 years ago.

The Supreme Court said the students waited too long to sue Blue Cloud Abbey of northeastern South Dakota, Pennsylvania-based Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, and the Oblate Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament of Marty, which the school and provided priests, nuns and others to work there.

The justices also said the students cannot sue the diocese because it did not operate or control the school and it was not acting as custodians of the school’s students.

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.

NEDERLAND
de Stentor

donderdag 06 september 2012

UTRECHT – De klachtencommissie voor seksueel misbruik in de RK Kerk heeft een van de twee klachten tegen de Maastrichtse pastoor Jan Schafraad ongegrond verklaard. Er is voor de beschuldiging van seksueel misbruik te weinig ondersteunend bewijs is, blijkt uit een uitspraak van de commissie.

Twee mensen hebben tegen de pastoor een klacht ingediend. Schafraad zou hen vroeger als muziekleraar in jongensinternaat Bleijerheide seksueel hebben misbruikt. De pastoor heeft altijd ontkend. De andere klacht wordt later behandeld.

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

IOWA
WCF Courier

WAVERLY, Iowa — A former pastor is scheduled to report Friday morning to the Bremer County Jail, first stop on his way to prison.

Dennis Brown, 67, of Eldora, pleaded guilty in June to third-degree sexual abuse, admitting illegal contact with a 15-year-old boy. On Tuesday, the court ordered Brown to serve up to 10 years in prison but suspended a $1,000 fine.

The boy and Brown met online, according to court documents, and then in person in Waverly. The teenager’s family found out, however, and reported the incident to authorities.

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

KANSAS CITY (MO)
KMBC

KANSAS CITY, Mo. —
A bench trial is under way for Kansas City Catholic Bishop Robert Finn.

The trial in Jackson County Court is a trial by judge and not by a jury. It started at 2:30 p.m. A decision in the case is expected this afternoon.

The bishop faces a misdemeanor count of failing to report suspected child abuse to the state in the case of the Rev. Shawn Ratigan, who was charged with taking indecent pictures of children.

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

KANSAS CITY (MO)
KCUR

By Frank Morris

The highest ranking US Catholic Church official ever to face criminal charges related to child sexual abuse is set to go to trial in Jackson County Circuit Court.

The case will be decided by a judge alone, not a jury, and could be over today.

Whose responsibility to alert officials?

Bishop Robert Finn and the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph face charges of failing to report a priest who they knew had taken hundreds of lewd pictures of children. Two misdemeanor counts. Prosecutors say Bishop Finn was responsible for alerting state officials, but didn’t do it, until months after finding out about the photographs. Finn’s lawyers say that duty fell to a lower church official. That’s a key point of contention. The priest in question has already pleaded guilty to federal charges of producing child pornography. Many related civil suits are pending.

Bench trial avoids publicity, shields witnesses

Yesterday it came to light that lawyers and prosecutors had agreed to a one-day bench trial. Giving up a jury trial allows the diocese to avoid what would likely have been a solid week of bad publicity, and from having to find a pool of unbiased jurors. It shields witnesses from having to testify in public.

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

KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Kansas City Star

Almost a year after Bishop Robert Finn and his diocese were charged with failing to report child-abuse suspicions, they will appear in court today to lay their case before a judge and not a jury. Members of SNAP, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, spoke with the media on the courthouse steps Thursday morning to discuss their feelings about possible verdicts and how they want the case to be handled. (Video by Todd Feeback – Sept. 6, 2012)

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

UNITED STATES
Voice from the Desert

From Tom Doyle: CLERGY SEXUAL ABUSE BIBLIOGRAPHY OF SELECTED SOURCES RELATED TO CLERGY SEXUAL ABUSE, ECCLESIASTICAL POLITICS AND THEOLOGY AND CHURCH HISTORY, Revised September 5, 2012

First is a note from Tom Doyle, introducing the last update of his bibliography. Then is the latest version of the bibliography.

* * *
I am sending out another edition of my bibliography because I received several valuable suggestions after the last go-around. I am most grateful to Christopher Pett from the UK for his suggested entries. I have not read the books he suggested…but I just ordered them from Amazon so I’ll get to them soon.

Another plug for Ray Mouton’s IN GOD’S HOUSE. I’ve started it and have also read some reviews from Europe…..all I can say is that if you want to know how it all started and if you want to get a glimpse of the byzantine world Ray, Mike Peterson and I stumbled into, this is the place to go. I haven’t finished it yet so…..hold on for my final review.

Christopher was kind enough to suggest books by Alice Miller on the consequences of childhood abuse. I have always admitted that the weakest link in my bibliography is the section on psychology and trauma for which I depend heavily on the input of others more knowledgeable than myself. I checked on Alice Miller and find that she has published a number of books on the subject. Before adding any I want to take a closer look and also get the publication information…but they will be in the next version.

Tom

* * *

CLERGY SEXUAL ABUSE
BIBLIOGRAPHY
OF
SELECTED SOURCES RELATED TO CLERGY SEXUAL ABUSE,
ECCLESIASTICAL POLITICS AND THEOLOGY AND CHURCH HISTORY

Thomas P. Doyle

Revised September 5, 2012

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

CANADA
The Ottawa Citizen

By Andrew Seymour, Ottawa Citizen September 6, 2012 1:01 PM

OTTAWA — A priest and former high school teacher admitted Thursday he indecently assaulted a male student in 1974 at Ottawa’s St. Pius high school.

Kenneth O’Keefe, 81, touched the 16-year-old when the boy slept over at his apartment.

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

“If you can’t trust a priest, who can you trust?,” O’Keefe asked.

Once in bed, the teen woke up to the priest grinding against him from behind. O’Keefe was also reaching around with his hand in the boy’s underwear, touching him.

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.

CANADA
24 Hours

By Megan Gillis, QMI Agency

OTTAWA – The Crown is seeking six months behind bars for an 81-year-old priest who admitted Thursday to molesting a 16-year-old boy who was his student four decades ago.

Father John James Kenneth O’Keefe pleaded guilty to indecent assault on a male. He’s expected to be sentenced on Thursday afternoon.

The victim was a Grade 11 student at at St. Pius High School in the fall term of 1974 when he had a fight with his parents and went to his homeroom teacher, O’Keefe – who told students they could talk to him any time – for help.

They went to O’Keefe’s bachelor apartment, where there was only one bed so the victim said he’d sleep on the floor. O’Keefe told him not to be foolish.

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

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

Posted by David Clohessy on September 06, 2012

A support group for clergy sex abuse victims is urging a Kansas City judge and prosecutor to delay any sentencing of embattled Bishop Robert Finn today, should he plead guilty or be found guilty of concealing child sex crimes. A copy of the letter, sent this morning by fax and e mail, is below:

*****
Dear Judge John M. Torrence:
Dear Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker:

We respectfully urge that Bishop Robert Finn not be sentenced today. Essentially he is guilty of a crime involving secrecy. He ignored and refused to listen to people who should have been listened to. It would be a shame if his case was resolved in a way that also involved secrecy and the ignoring of people who should have been listened to.

Bishop Finn wants this over as soon as possible with the least amount of public scrutiny and public input. While sentencing the Bishop today serves his interests, it does not serve the public’s interest. Nor does it help bring justice, healing and prevention.

Normally, weeks transpire between a guilty finding or plea and a criminal’s sentencing. That’s what should happen here. Bishop Finn should receive no special consideration or privileges. Doing so would only undermine public trust and faith in our justice system.

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

UNITED STATES
Bilgrimage

William D. Lindsey

According to Bishop R. Daniel Conlon, chair of the U.S. Catholic Bishops Conference’s Committee for the Protection of Children and Young People, the credibility of the Catholic bishops vis-a-vis the abuse crisis has been “shredded.” And the Catholic church now finds itself at a moment akin to the Reformation moment, in which “the episcopacy, the regular clergy, even the papacy were discredited.”

And how can things be otherwise, I wonder, when it has been revealed that the president of the USCCB, His Eminence Timothy Cardinal Dolan, knew of and then lied about payoffs to pedophile priests in his former diocese of Milwaukee? And when, instead of coming clean and facing questions from the public after his lie was exposed, he chose the equally shameful path of shifting blame to the media and abuse survivors?

And when he then walked away from the media’s questions and hasn’t addressed them since? Though that hasn’t stopped him from attending the conventions of both major political parties in the capacity of a kingmaker, one mediating between the two sectors of power as if he’s a medieval prince of the church anointing monarchs.

Shtick ill-befitting a moral leader whose own moral credibility is in shreds–or so it seems to me as a very little person living in a faraway, powerless little place, and observing the doings of princes and kingmakers from afar. Because I’m one of those little people in faraway, powerless places who was taught–over and over again–by parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, teachers, and ministers that telling a lie brings shame to myself and my family and is immoral in the extreme, I have to admit that I just don’t get the posturing. The chutzpah. The failure to address one’s loss of moral credibility even as one asserts the right to make or break kings!

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

KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Survivor Advocates Coalition

For Immediate Release 9/6/12

Contact: Kristine Ward, Kristineward@hotmail.com, 937-272-0308

We believe Bishop Finn should be jailed for failing in his duty as a mandatory reporter in the child pornography case of Shawn Ratigan.

A strong and clear message needs to be sent to protect children. Bishops above all should stand to protect the innocent and the vulnerable. Indeed to whom much is given, much is expected.

Mandatory means mandatory not delegate, look the other way, or shield the perpetrator or protect a church’s reputation.

Bishop Finn should not seek to slide off, shrug off, or duck responsibility in this case. He should set an example. When failure in duty occurs, it should be set right. Bishops should go above and beyond what is expected.

Child pornography is a serious crime. Those who know about it should stop it.

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

IRELAND
Irish Independent

Thursday September 06 2012

The audits of child protection practices in four dioceses and three religious orders, which were published yesterday, show that the Catholic Church still has some way to go before it fully grasps the enormity of the wrong done by priests and religious to innocent and defenceless children.

While the audits of the dioceses of Cork and Ross, Kildare and Leighlin, and Limerick were broadly positive, the same cannot be said of the diocese of Clonfert, where the current bishop, Dr John Kirby, was found to have transferred two priests against whom allegations of abuse had been made to other parishes.

Dr Kirby’s defence, that he did not know the true nature of paedophilia at the time he transferred the two priests, one in 1990 and the other in 1994, is absurd. His claim that he believed in the early 1990s that paedophilia was a case of “a friendship gone astray” is quite frankly incredible.

By the early 1990s, the full extent of the sexual abuse of children by Catholic priests and religious was beginning to emerge. The notorious paedophile priest Brendan Smyth had been arrested in 1991. Delays in processing his extradition to Northern Ireland led to the collapse of the Fianna Fail/Labour coalition in November 1994.

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

IRELAND
Irish Independent

Thursday September 06 2012

IT’S almost 20 years since the Irish Catholic Church hierarchy established an ‘advisory panel’ to deal with the scourge of clerical sexual abuse.

They were on a ‘learning-curve’ then, the argument goes, and they didn’t know that the abuse of a child was a crime.

It must have been one hell of a learning curve if Bishop John Kirby’s comments on paedophilia are to be taken at face value.

Yesterday, as a report was published that showed how he had moved two priests accused of abuse to another parish in the early 1990s, the Bishop of Clonfert said he thought at the time that the abuse of a child was a “friendship that crossed a boundary line”.

Dealing with abuse, Bishop Kirby told Galway Bay FM, had been a “very difficult experience” for him.

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

KANSAS CITY (MO)
Fox 4

September 6, 2012, by Michelle Pekarsky

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A decision could come Thursday on the charges against Kansas City Bishop Robert Finn and his diocese that they failed to report to authorities their suspicions of child pornography.

Finn and the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph face two misdemeanor counts of failing to report suspicions of child abuse. Prosecutors say they found lewd photographs of children on Shawn Ratigan’s laptop computer, but didn’t report it for six months.

On Wednesday, Finn and the diocese agreed to allow a judge to decide their guilt or innocence rather than a jury, which will avoid a lengthy and public trial. It was scheduled to begin Sept. 24.

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

MAINE
Courier

By Marc Filippino
Staff Writer

BIDDEFORD – A pastor who works with homeless residents has resigned from a local mission in downtown Biddeford after being charged with possessing child pornography.

James Napier, 60, a pastor and director of New Beginnings Christian Mission located at 137 Main St. in Biddeford, was arrested at his home in Alfred on Saturday, Sept. 1 and was charged with possession of sexually explicit material, according to a press release from Steve McCausland, spokesman for the Maine Department of Public Safety.

According to the release, members of the State Police Computer Crimes Unit were tipped off on Friday, Aug. 31, when a search of Napier’s computer found more than 100 images of child pornography. The charge is a felony since the children depicted appear to be younger than the age of 18, according to the release.

There was no indication any of the children in images on his computer were from Maine, according to the release.

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

IRELAND
Catholic News Service

By Michael Kelly
Catholic News Service

DUBLIN (CNS) — The latest audits of the Irish church’s handling of abuse allegations show that, while substantial progress continues to be made, as recently as a year ago there were still areas of noncompliance with agreed-upon procedures.

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

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

Four dioceses and three religious congregations published the results of their independent audits Sept. 5, looking at incidents back to 1975.

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

UNITED KINGDOM
Daily Echo

By Katie Clark

MEMBERS of a church congregation will be demonstrating against the suspension of their priest in Christchurch town centre tomorrow.

People from St George’s Church in Jumpers will be meeting in Saxon Square to publicly object to the “undemocratic and unchristian manner” in which Reverend Andrew Hawthorne has been suspended.

In May, The Daily Echo reported Mr Hawthorne had been placed on gardening leave more than a year ago, leading to false rumours to spread and increasing concern among regular churchgoers. Since then, the priest has been formally suspended and is now not even allowed to enter the church, where he was once minster.

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

AUSTRALIA
ABC Radio National

[with audio]

Broadcast: Wednesday 5 September 2012 5:30PM (view full episode)

A Catholic priest has been charged with two counts of so-called misprision of a felony. Police claim that Fr Tom Brennan failed to report to authorities allegations of sex crimes that a fellow priest is alleged to have committed against two boys in the late 1970s. At the time, Fr Brennan was principal of St Pius X school in Newcastle, where a man accused of sexual offences, now former priest John Denham, taught. Fr Brennan has also been charged with assault for allegedly caning the two boys when they reported the alleged instances to him.

This case stirs up memories of a recent trial in the United States, where Monsignor William Lynn of Philadelphia has been sent to jail. He was not a sex offender himself but moved priests whom he knew were offenders between parishes, rather than reporting them to police. Dr Andrew Morrison, a barrister, senior counsel, and NSW spokesman for the Australian Lawyers Alliance, explains why the case of Fr Tom Brennan so important.

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
New York Daily News

BY Michael O’Keeffe

A federal judge in Brooklyn has ordered officials at Poly Prep Country Day School to produce the names of current and former members of the board of trustees from 1966 until the present.

United States Magistrate Judge Cheryl Pollak issued the order on Aug. 30, two days after U.S. District Court Judge Frederic Block ruled that he will allow portions of an explosive sex-abuse lawsuit to proceed against the elite private school.

Lawyers for the 12 plaintiffs who claim they were sexually abused by longtime Poly Prep football coach Phil Foglietta had asked the court in June to compel the school to produce the names, last known addresses and dates of service for all current and former members of the board.

The plaintiffs, according to Pollak’s order, said they wanted the information to “ascertain the acts, omissions, and culpability of individual trustees in order to determine how to proceed with plaintiff’s remaining claims.”

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

IRELAND
Irish Independent

By Majella O’Sullivan

Thursday September 06 2012

A FIANNA Fail senator has called for the resignation of the Bishop of Clonfert, Dr John Kirby, accusing him of being “unfit for leadership”.

Senator Mark Daly said Bishop Kirby had difficulty distinguishing right from wrong and should step down from his leadership role within the Church.

An audit by the church’s child protection watchdog, the National Board for Safeguarding Children (NBSC) published yesterday found that Dr Kirby had transferred two abusive priests from one parish to another in 1990 and 1994, although the abuse had been reported to the civil authorities.

Dr Kirby admitted he made “a grave mistake” but said he believed, at the time, paedophilia to be a “friendship that had gone astray”.

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

IRELAND
Irish Independent

By Colm Kelpie, Ed Carty and Caroline Crawford

Thursday September 06 2012

A bishop was at the centre of intense controversy last night after it emerged he moved paedophile priests from one parish to another.

Dr John Kirby of the Diocese of Clonfert had explained his actions by stating he believed paedophilia to be a “friendship that had gone astray”.

The church’s child protection watchdog, the National Board for Safeguarding Children (NBSC), detailed a litany of child protection failures in its latest audits focusing on four dioceses, and, for the first time, three religious congregations.

It reserved some of its most scathing criticisms for two of the congregations, highlighting that information about serial abusers was not passed on to the gardai and that one order maintained a “culture of secrecy”.

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

IRELAND
Irish Independent

By Majella O’Sullivan

Thursday September 06 2012

A FIANNA Fail senator has called for the resignation of the Bishop of Clonfert, Dr John Kirby, accusing him of being “unfit for leadership”.

Senator Mark Daly said Bishop Kirby had difficulty distinguishing right from wrong and should step down from his leadership role within the Church.

An audit by the church’s child protection watchdog, the National Board for Safeguarding Children (NBSC) published yesterday found that Dr Kirby had transferred two abusive priests from one parish to another in 1990 and 1994, although the abuse had been reported to the civil authorities.

Dr Kirby admitted he made “a grave mistake” but said he believed, at the time, paedophilia to be a “friendship that had gone astray”.

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

IRELAND
Newstalk

The culture of denial is endemic in the Catholic Church world-wide according to a Dublin Augustinian priest.

Michael Mernagh says if an audit was done of every religious congregation in the country many more cases of child abuse and their cover-up would be revealed.

His comments follow the publication of the reports of 7 audits of religious congregations and dioceses by the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church yesterday.

They found more than 330 allegations of abuse against 146 priests and members of congregations.

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

IRELAND
Irish Examiner

[Safeguarding Reviews 2nd Tranche – September 2012]

Thursday, September 06, 2012

A Dublin priest has said that if an audit were done of every religious congregation in the country, many more cases of child abuse – and their cover-up – would be revealed.

The reports of seven audits of religious congregations and dioceses by the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church were released yesterday.

They found more than 330 allegations of abuse against 146 priests and members of congregations.

Records dating back to 1975 were examined in the dioceses of Clonfert in Galway, Cork and Ross, Limerick and Kildare and Leighlin, as well as the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, the Dominicans and the Congregation of the Holy Spirit.

Augustinian priest in Meath Street in Dublin Michael Mernagh said many still refused to acknowledge the nature and extent of abuse carried out by members of the Church.

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

CALIFORNIA
KPCC

A lawsuit filed in Los Angeles on Wednesday by an alleged victim of Catholic priest abuse is just the first, activists say, after a California Court of Appeal ruling last week opened the door to additional lawsuits in these cases.

A Sacramento woman, referred to as Jane Doe SS in the suit, filed the civil suit against the L.A. Catholic Archdiocese and St. Paul High School in Santa Fe Springs. The woman alleges that she was a 15-year-old student at the school in 1980 when Michael Nocita, a Catholic priest and teacher there at the time, sexually abused her on school grounds during school hours.

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (an activist organization also known as SNAP) announced the lawsuit outside St. Paul High School. SNAP Western Regional Director Joelle Casteix called last week’s court ruling a “landmark” decision for California alleged victims of California Catholic priest abuse.

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

KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Worthy Adversary

Posted by Joelle Casteix on September 5, 2012

so says Bishop Finn of Kansas City in his decision to have a bench trial instead of a jury verdict on his criminal charges of failure to report child sexual abuse.

Hopefully, the judge will give victims the justice and accountability they deserve. Let’s just hope that NY’s Cardinal Dolan doesn’t blame Fr. Shawn Ratigan’s six-year-old victims for causing such “shame” to the church.

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

IRELAND
Irish Independent

By Colm Kelpie

Thursday September 06 2012

SERIAL abusers went undetected and unchecked with one religious congregation maintaining a “culture of secrecy”, audits of three orders found.

It is the first time that religious congregations have been audited by the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church (NBSC), with some of the most scathing criticisms reserved for the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart.

The Catholic Church’s child protection watchdog focused on three congregations — the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart (MSC); the Irish Province of the Congregation of the Holy Spirit (the Spiritans) and the Dominican Friars.

The NBSC stated that its leadership not only failed to pass allegations to the gardai and health chiefs, but also maintained an air of secrecy within their own community.

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

IRELAND
Irish Independent

By Mark Vincent Healy

Thursday September 06 2012

THE national audit and review of the Congregation of the Holy Spirit is to be broadly welcomed. The report’s findings are an appalling litany of failures to victims and their families and to those who are no longer with us to see the report publicised.

The management of some allegations raised after 1996, when clear guidelines were established in the Catholic Church, makes for harrowing reading. It is particularly appalling that some allegations were not reported to the civil authorities for up to four years after the congregation was informed.

Consider the implications of a victim coming forward who has been horrendously damaged by sexual abuse from childhood by a member of the Spiritans (Holy Ghost Fathers) and who received no support for more than four years from the HSE or the Garda.

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

KANSAS CITY (MO)
Spiritual Politics

Mark Silk
Sep 6, 2012

Word out of Kansas City is that Bishop Robert Finn and his diocese will be spared the indignity of a trial by jury later this month on criminal misdemeanor charges of failing to report a suspected pedophile priest to the proper civil authorities. Instead, a judge today will hear evidence agreed upon by prosecution and defense, then render an immediate verdict.

To this old courthouse reporter it sounds like a plea bargain without the plea. A year ago, a diocese-commissioned report by a former U.S. attorney laid out the facts of the case in such a way as to leave no doubt that Finn & Co. not only failed to follow their own procedures but also ignored Missouri’s reporting law in the process. The bishop will presumably claim that he didn’t mean to break the law. The judge will presumably be unimpressed. I predict a fine plus probation. A little community service would be nice.

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

IRELAND
Irish Independent

By Ralph Riegel

Thursday September 06 2012

FRESH concerns emerged over how church dioceses share information after a report revealed that three priests who retired to Ireland had child abuse convictions.

The National Board for Safeguarding Children (NBSC) published its review of child protection practices in the diocese yesterday.

The NBSC focused particular attention on priests who retired to the diocese from overseas, or who spent considerable time here in their retirement .

Three of these were found to have child abuse convictions from overseas. One man has now been removed from the priesthood.

None are the focus of any abuse complaints in relation to the Diocese of Cork and Ross — and none had any involvement with church activities or children’s groups here. But the NBSC said it was crucial that proper information be shared between dioceses.

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

IRELAND
Cork Independent

Posted on 06/09/2012

by Peter Horgan @horganp

“There is no place in the church for those who would harm the young.”

That was the message from Bishop of Cork and Ross, Dr John Buckley, at the launch of the Audit and Review of Safeguarding Practice in the diocese of Cork and Ross.

Twenty six priests were the subject of allegations of abuse from 1975 to the present day, with 50 allegations in total being made in that period. The majority of the abuse allegations happened between 1989 and 2011 with the abuse itself occurring in the 60s and 70s. Church authorities could not give the date of the most recent case of abuse.

Of the 26 priests accused of abuse, eight are now dead. Three have returned to ministry and 15 are either out of ministry and under supervision or have left the priesthood.

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

IRELAND
Limerick Post

by Bernie English

Thursday, 06 September 2012

ALMOST quarter-of-a-million Euros in compensation, excluding legal fees, has been paid out in the last six months by the Diocese of Limerick in agreed settlement to survivors of clerical child sex abuse, it has been revealed.

When asked by the Limerick Post during a press conference, Diocesan administrator, Fr Tony Mullins, revealed that for the first time the diocese has paid money to survivors.

And it has emerged that the late Bishop Jeremiah Newman allowed a priest to minister in Limerick despite “apparently having knowledge of his abusive behaviour in England”.

The total cost of the settlements, which were agreed through a process of negotiation, was €323,000 including legal fees, with compensation to the two individuals making up €220,000.
The information emerged during a press briefing on the publication of the Review of Safeguarding Practice in the Diocese of Limerick undertaken by the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church in Ireland (NBSCCCI).

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

IRELAND
Irish Independent

By Barry Duggan

Thursday September 06 2012

A BISHOP of Limerick allowed a priest with a child abuse conviction to serve in his diocese despite knowing of the cleric’s previous criminal behaviour.

The National Board for Safeguarding Children (NBSC) audit believes the priest, who moved from overseas, went on to abuse children again.

Bishop Jeremiah Newman allowed him work in Limerick for less than a year in the ’80s, before he was removed.

The report found that it was only after Dr Newman’s successor, Dr Donal Murray, became bishop that children’s welfare became a priority in Limerick.

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

UNITED STATES
The Australian

AAP
September 06, 2012

THE criminal case against the highest-ranking Catholic official in the US to be charged with shielding an abusive priest is headed for a swift ending after prosecutors and the bishop’s lawyer agreed Wednesday to let a judge – not jurors – decide the case.

Lawyers for Kansas City Bishop Robert Finn and prosecutors will have their case tried by a judge Thursday, weeks ahead of a scheduled Sept. 24 jury trial on misdemeanour charges that Finn and the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph failed to report suspected child abuse. The judge is expected to reach a verdict later that day.

The charges stem from the Rev. Shawn Ratigan’s child porn case, in which church officials knew about photos on the priest’s computer but didn’t turn him in for six months. Finn has argued that he was not the diocese’s mandated reporter under the law – at the time, the responsibility rested mainly with Vicar General Robert Murphy – so Finn should not face charges.

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

ITALY
Chiesa

His last interview, published posthumously, has ignited the controversy. The leading authorities of the Church have ignored it, with the sole exception of Cardinal Ruini. One more reason to analyze it critically

by Sandro Magister

ROME, September 6, 2012 – “Cardinal Martini did not leave us a spiritual testament in the explicit sense of the word. His inheritance is entirely in his life and in his magisterium, and we must continue to draw on it for a long time. He did, however, choose the phrase to be written on his grave, taken from Psalm 119 [118]: ‘A lamp to my feet is your word, a light to my path.’ In this way, he himself has given us the key to interpret his existence and his ministry.”

With these words, spoken on September 3 in the homily at the funeral for his predecessor, Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, the archbishop of Milan, Cardinal Angelo Scola, revoked the qualification of “spiritual testament” from the interview with Martini published the day after his death by “Corriere della Sera”:

> L’ultima intervista: “Chiesa indietro di 200 anni. Perché non si scuote, perché abbiamo paura?”

In effect, if this interview were truly the quintessence of Martini’s legacy for the Church and the world – as those responsible for it want it to be believed – the figure of the deceased cardinal would correspond precisely to that label of “anti-pope” which was applied to him over the years by circles inside and outside of the Church, but which clashes strongly with the lofty and heartfelt attestations of esteem expressed repeatedly toward him by Benedict XVI himself, most recently in his unusual message for the archdiocese of Milan on the day of the funeral of the one who was its archbishop from 1979 to 2002:

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.

BOSTON (MA)
Boston Catholic Insider

On August 18, The Economist published an article entitled, “The Catholic Church in America: Earthly concerns” which somewhat accurately portrays the financial state of many dioceses in the U.S. but which also made some inaccurate statements or implications about Boston. A number of readers have asked us to comment on this, and today we take a few moments to belatedly do so.

This excerpt gives the gist of the article:

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…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. Thousands of claims for damages following sexual-abuse cases, which typically cost the church over $1m per victim, according to lawyers involved, have led to a liquidity crisis.

That much is accurate. But later, the article said the following:

Some dioceses have, in effect, raided priests’ pension funds to cover settlements and other losses. The church regularly collects money in the name of priests’ retirement. But in the dioceses that have gone bust lawyers and judges confirm that those funds are commingled with other investments, which makes them easily diverted to other uses. Under Cardinal Bernard Law, the archdiocese of Boston contributed nothing to its clergy retirement fund between 1986 and 2002, despite receiving an estimated $70m-90m in Easter and Christmas offerings that many parishioners believed would benefit retired priests.

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

IRELAND
Irish Times

VICTIMS OF clerical sex abuse could be forgiven for feeling revulsion and rage over the manner in which members of the Catholic hierarchy and religious congregations delayed the implementation of procedures and guidelines designed to protect children and to report criminal behaviour to the Garda Síochána. The latest review by the National Board for Safeguarding Children concludes that while progress has been made on these issues, full compliance is some way off.

The importance of the work being done by the board was reflected by the immediate acceptance of its criticisms and recommendations by the four dioceses and the three religious congregations concerned. The fact that it took a review by this church-appointed body to ensure child protection guidelines are implemented is, however, a cause for concern. It is clear that remnants of a culture involving denial, cover-up and the administrative transfers of offenders still persist.

As on previous occasions, outpourings of remorse and apologies to victims have followed these reports. They deal with offences going back to 1975. In some dioceses, lessons have been learned and strict procedures introduced. In others, progress has been slow and achieved reluctantly.

There was little change from traditional responses to abuse within the three religious congregations reviewed and the inspectors recorded their shock and dismay. In one congregation it found “a complete disregard for victims”; in another, there was no awareness of the impact of child sexual abuse. All three have offered a new approach and a commitment to change.

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

IOWA
WOWT

[with video]

Investigators in a sexual abuse case involving a former Harlan, Iowa man believe there are more victims out there.

Sixty-eight-year-old Bobby Smith of Eldorado, Missouri has been charged with three counts of third-degree sexual abuse. The alleged victim is from Harlan and claims the abuse happened 14 years ago at a Council Bluffs motel.

Smith is being held at the Pottawattamie County Jail, accused of abusing a 12-year-old boy. It’s something that just doesn’t happen in a small town like Harlan, but the alleged victim says he was taken away from this small town in 1998 when he was 12 and sexually abused.

At the time, Smith was the teacher of the Midweek Children’s Program at First Baptist Church in Harlan. Pastor Dan Hawn has been with the church for two years. “Once he was arrested and it was public knowledge, we then sent a letter to our church family to inform them of the allegations and make them aware.”

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
KATU

[with video]

PORTLAND, Ore. – An Oregon woman who has accused two former church leaders of sexual abuse is now suing the church for ignoring it for years.

The 29-year-old woman filed a civil lawsuit Wednesday, suing the Apostolic Faith Church for the abuse she claims happened more than 20 years ago. Neither of the men she named in the lawsuit were ever arrested or charged with a crime.

The woman, who agreed to tell her story if her name was not disclosed, said the Apostolic Faith Church ignored her repeated pleas for help. She said starting at the age of 4, the assistant minister and a day care worker at the church each sexually abused her.

“I really didn’t know that was wrong. I was too young to decipher,” she said Wednesday.

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

UNITED STATES
Philadelphia Inquirer

By David Clohessy

Ten years ago this summer, America’s Catholic bishops pledged to aggressively investigate allegations of sexual predation by clerics, to show “zero tolerance” for abuse, and to be transparent about the problem. Since then, however, church officials have consistently lined up to protect themselves and their clergy in case after case.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. bishops recently cited a Pew survey that showed seven of 10 Catholics are “satisfied” with the prelates’ performance, up from 51 percent a decade ago. The bishops’ 2002 “Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People” has proven to be mostly a public-relations campaign, and the Pew numbers suggest it has worked to an extent. But most of what the church hierarchy has actually done over the past decade amounts to mere motion, not progress.

For example, church officials have required that thousands of teachers, janitors, clerks, and organists around the country undergo background checks and training to recognize signs of abuse upon being hired by Catholic institutions – though few accusations of abuse have involved organists or janitors. The church also set up review panels, advisory boards, and “auditors” to oversee parish programs and policies, but they are toothless entities staffed and controlled by the bishops.

At best, these policies do no harm. Perhaps a background check has kept a child molester or two from being hired to teach or clean floors at a Catholic school. And because of all the expensive training, thousands of lay Catholics no doubt know more about abuse. However, when the church leadership learns of an allegation of abuse, it still prefers to conduct its own investigation and, more often than not, attempt to discredit the victim. And when it became clear that 37 priests accused of sexual misbehavior were still at their parish jobs in the Philadelphia Archdiocese, it was clear that the archdiocese’s review board had no idea about many of them.

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

PENNSYLVANIA
EIN News

Proposed Pennsylvania bill would give victims of childhood sexual abuse more time to hold abusers accountable for their actions

September 06, 2012 /24-7PressRelease/ — Penn State Scandal May Change State Law, Extend Time to File Charges

It is a piece of legislation that is more than six years in the making. The proposal aims to give victims of childhood sexual abuse more time to hold abusers accountable for their actions, allowing an extension on filing deadlines for civil and criminal suits.

A bill attempting to reduce the rate of these injuries to children should easily make it through the legislature and be passed, so why the delay? The House Judiciary Committee chairman has been notoriously reluctant to advance bills addressing this issue. One likely reason: pressure from the Catholic Church.

Details of the Bill

The bill is designed to amend existing state law. Currently, a victim in Pennsylvania has until the age of thirty to file a civil suit against an alleged sexual predator. The bill would extend this statute of limitations, giving the victim until the age of fifty (with very few exceptions) to file a claim.

In addition, victims are currently only able to bring a criminal charge against an alleged abuser before the victim reached the age of 50. The amendment would remove the statute of limitations on criminal suits, allowing a victim to hold an abuser criminally liable at any time (under limited circumstances).

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.

SOUTH CAROLINA
SCNow

By: Ellen Meder | SCNow
Published: September 04, 2012

CHERAW, S.C. —
Former Fourth Circuit Solicitor Jay Hodge said Tuesday that a sexual abuse lawsuit filed against him by two Cheraw residents contains “lies” and is an attack based on a personal vendetta.

“The parents who’ve entrusted their children to me for 35 years will know that this is a lie,” Hodge said. “Once the names of these two alleged victims are revealed, then many other people who don’t know me will also know it’s a lie.”

The two men who brought the suit against the Boy Scouts of America, the Pee Dee Area Council Boy Scouts of America, First Presbyterian Church of Cheraw, Hodge and the estate of William C. Hebard, allege that they were the victims of past sexual abuse while in the care of Hodge and Hebard, adult scout leaders with Troop 663, which is sponsored by First Presbyterian Church of Cheraw. The suit, filed in Chesterfield County Court, alleges that Hodge and the now deceased Hebard engaged in various sexual acts with two unnamed plaintiffs between 1975 and 1980.

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

By Stuart Tomlinson, The Oregonian

The rules at the Apostolic Faith Church in Portland in the 1980s were very strict: Women and girls wore skirts and long-sleeved shirts. No makeup, no jewelry, no TV.

What wasn’t strict, a $5.25 million lawsuit alleges, was the church’s policy about hiring men to work in the church’s daycare center or as assistant pastors.

On Wednesday, a 30-year-old Portland woman known only under the pseudonym “HK” in the lawsuit, said she was sexually abused by daycare worker James Sheals and assistant pastor Walt Smith. The abuse started when she was 4 and ended when she was 8, spanning 1986 through 1990, she said at a news conference.

Attorney Kelly Clark said church officials knew they had a widespread problem with pedophiles operating inside the church, but did nothing about it.

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.

SOUTH CAROLINA
Carolina Live

by Tonya Brown

NewsChannel 15 has learned the South Carolina Attorney General’s Office and the State Law Enforcement Division have been asked to look into sexual abuse allegations against Jay Hodge.

We’re waiting to learn if the agencies will investigate.

Hodge is accused of molesting two brothers, ages 10 and 11, when he was a Boy Scout leader between 1975 and 1980.

The men, now 47 and 48 years old, have filed a civil lawsuit against Hodge, Boy Scouts of America, (http://www.scouting.org/) Pee Dee Area Council Boy Scouts of America, (http://www.peedeescouts.org/) First Presbyterian Church of Cheraw, and the Estate of William Hebard. They are seeking unspecified damages. …

The lawsuit says Boy Scouts of America, Pee Dee Area Council Boy Scouts of America, and First Presbyterian Church all failed to report Hebard and Hodge to law enforcement and failed to exclude them from acting as Scout leaders.

It says they continued to let Hodge and Hebard be involved in Boy Scout activities after learning of the alleged abuse.

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