ABUSE TRACKER

NEW YORK
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by David Clohessy on May 11, 2012

The bar for criminal prosecution in child sex cases is pretty high. Still, we are disappointed that a grand jury feels that there is not enough evidence now to prosecute Msgr. Thomas Brady. We hope that others who may have seen, suspected, or suffered Brady’s crimes will come forward and make a report to the DA’s office. Only this way will the case be able to proceed.

Brady remains on “forced administrative leave.” That strongly suggests church officials think the accusations against him are credible. However, kids are safer when predators are jailed, so we urge every current and former church employee and member in the Diocese of Brooklyn to find the courage to call police if they have any knowledge or suspicions about Brady.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Barbara Dorris on May 11, 2012

For months or years, Catholic officials have put kids at risk by staying silent about these credible allegations of heinous crimes. Each of them should have been publicly announced the moment they were deemed credible. And in each case, high ranking church officials should have publicly begged anyone who saw, suspected or suffered these clerics’ crimes to call police and get help.

Instead, for their own callous, selfish reasons, Catholic authorities – perhaps dozens of them – said nothing. Their silence and inaction gave each of these predators even more time to destroy evidence, fabricate alibis, intimidate victims, threaten witnesses, discredit whistleblowers and even flee to other nations.

Shame on every Catholic Church employee or member who knew or suspected these crimes and chose self-serving, comfortable silence over their duty to protect the vulnerable.

And given the Legion’s long, alarming track record with children’s safety, we frankly do not believe these child molesting clerics are being kept away from kids.

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NEW YORK
The Wall Street Journal

By SOPHIA HOLLANDER

A group of ultra-Orthodox Jews have rented out Citi Field for a meeting later this month intended to draw thousands of men to discuss the dangers of the Internet and formulate a communitywide response.

The event, set for May 20, has been publicized internationally within the Orthodox Jewish press and tapped into a world-wide debate over how to reconcile modern life with the Internet’s perceived moral dangers.

It is a concern that transcends the Orthodox community, organizers note. …

But the meeting, which some published reports have estimated will cost nearly $2 million, has drawn a series of sharp attacks—for its men-only policy, for instance, and for its cost, criticized as extravagant at a time when many families are struggling.

The Hasidic rabbis wanted women to attend, but “logistics did not permit for it,” said Mr. Kobre, noting that in this community “a religious gathering of this nature is gender-separated.”

A live video-feed will be streamed to six locations around the metropolitan area for women to watch, he said.

Other critics say the event is a smokescreen for religious leaders seeking to consolidate control over their congregations by limiting access to outside information.

A counterprotest—dubbed “The Internet Is Not the Problem” and expected to draw hundreds—is scheduled for across the street from the stadium event. It accuses Jewish leadership of scapegoating the Internet while avoiding a more pressing problem: child abuse.

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UNITED STATES
The Times-Picayune

By John Simerman, The Times-Picayune

A national victims group at the forefront of revealing clergy sexual abuse allegations against the Roman Catholic Church may soon be forced to reveal its own inner workings, the Chicago Tribune reports today. The report says a Missouri judge has ruled that decades of correspondence of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, be turned over.

The ruling would include correspondence with victims, lawyers and journalists that the group considers confidential. It comes in the case of a Kansas City priest who faces abuse allegations.

Members of the Chicago-based group, which has chapters across the country, fear that the church is pursuing a frontal attack. The group says the ruling could chill victims from coming forward to SNAP. The St. Louis Archdiocese, the report said, is pursuing a similar strategy in another case.

Lawyers for the church argue that their aim is not to violate the privacy of victims, witnesses and others. The correspondence, they say, would shed light on whether plaintiffs who have sued the church revealed their alleged abuse to SNAP earlier, falsifying claims of “repressed memory” under coaching by the group.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Catholics4Change

by Kathy Kane

I attended the trial on Wednesday. It was one of the more uneventful days with a lengthy cross examination of a detective regarding documents related to Fr. Brennan. Instead, I’d like to share what happened during the break. “Had it” whose name is Kate, flew in to attend a few days of the trial. We went to lunch with Beth, a frequent commentor on C4C, Steve, a clergy abuse victim and Bob, a retired school teacher and former seminarian. Steve attends the trial every day and Bob has joined a few survivors and family members at the lunch break each day. It’s an interesting mix: Beth, who is a practicing Catholic very involved on a parish level; Kate who has struggled with practicing her faith in recent years; a victim; and a former seminarian.

I wish everyone could have joined us because the conversations we had are the ones that need to happen on the parish level and probably never will. Steve shared that he was a former altar boy under Cardinal Krol and the honor he felt in that role as a child, and then later the sting of the rejection by the Church as a clergy abuse victim. When Bob was asked about the climate of St Charles Seminary in the 1960’s, he was very honest that he had a positive experience. He also spoke of his frustration when a problem seminarian he reported went on to be ordained. Beth who is seeking a pastoral response by the clergy to our victims, asked Steve if he would even want priests to join at the vigils with us. Kate shared her observations that a priest in court that morning, who was there to support Msgr. Lynn, seemed to literally turn his back in on Fr. Brennan. I guess pastoral concern is a pick and choose option.

I told Steve and Bob what Susan and I hope to accomplish with the C4C site and that we felt that the side calling all priests pedophiles is no different than the side calling all victims liars. When two sides of opposing viewpoints do nothing but scream at each other, no children are protected and no victims are comforted. Bob, who I just met today, seems to be a thoughtful, prayerful type asked me if I was still Catholic. I started to answer with, “well my kids…well I am angry…,” and then simply looked at him and said “I don’t know.” He answered, “I understand.”

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VATICAN CITY
AFP

VATICAN CITY — The ultra-conservative Legion of Christ movement on Friday said it had reported seven suspected cases of child abuse by its priests to the Vatican for investigation under new anti-abuse rules.

Six of the cases “are from decades ago” and one “refers to recent events,” the movement said in a statement, adding that it had taken precautions such as “restricting the priestly ministry of the accused” to protect children.

The Legion did not give further details about the cases but said it had received allegations about abuse “in several countries” and that internal preliminary investigations found that seven “had a semblance of truth.”

Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said: “The relevant superiors (of the movement) followed the norms in force, signalling to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith some cases that have come to light from decades ago.”

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NEW YORK
Emes Ve-Emunah

An article in the Wall Street Journal reports that the upcoming Asifah on safe internet use has already been sold out. The capacity of Citi Field Stadium – which they have rented for this event is 42,000. This should not surprise anyone who has been paying attention. The organizers have been pushing this event hard! So hard in fact that in one reported case, a relatively moderate Charedi school has required all fathers and their sons to pay the ten dollar per seat admission charge to attend. I have no doubt that other schools have done the same.

I say fathers and sons because women have been barred for modesty reasons. Charedim tend to have separate seating for men and women at their large public events. Chasidim have an added requirement of a Mechitza. Without it they will not attend such an event.

Building one for this event would be cost prohibitive. I can understand this since the upcoming Agudah Siyum HaShas has spent about a half million dollars to construct one for their event. Were women allowed to attend, the potential attendance would be at least double that number. I guess 2 million dollars is their limit. Internet porn is a serious problem but not THAT serious! Women can watch in on the internet via a live stream. But I digress.

But there is something else happening that day. From the Journal:

A counterprotest—dubbed “The Internet Is Not the Problem” and expected to draw hundreds—is scheduled for across the street from the stadium event. It accuses Jewish leadership of scapegoating the Internet while avoiding a more pressing problem: child abuse.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Catholics4Change

May 11, 2012 by Susan Matthews

I ask this question to survivors on behalf of other survivors struggling with healing. I know that healing is ongoing, but what has helped you cope and heal so far? What has hurt or slowed your healing process?

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

May. 11, 2012
By NCR Staff and Catholic News Service

Bishop Anthony J. O’Connell, whose admission of inappropriate conduct with high school seminarians decades ago led to his resignation as head of the Palm Beach, Fla., diocese in 2002, died May 4 at Mepkin Abbey in Moncks Corner, S.C.

The Irish-born bishop had lived under supervision at the abbey since his resignation. His funeral Mass was May 7, also at the abbey.

O’Connell died after a long illness, less than a week before his 74th birthday.

A priest of the Jefferson City, Mo., diocese, he had been bishop of Knoxville, Tenn., from its founding in 1988 until he was appointed bishop of Palm Beach in November 1998.

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NEW YORK
New York Magazine

By Joe Coscarelli

Last month the Jewish Daily Forward reported that Brooklyn D.A. Charles Hynes was keeping the names of ultra-Orthodox Jews charged with, and even convicted of, sex crimes secret because of the “very tight-knit and insular” nature of the community. Victims’ rights groups believe that such protections endanger children and encourage a culture of cover-ups that has long persisted among Hasidic Jews, as detailed in this 2006 New York story by Robert Kolker. Now the New York Times is following up with their own series on sexual abuse in Brooklyn’s ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods, and Hynes does not come out looking good.

Late last year, Hynes touted the success of his Kol Tzedek (“Voice of Justice”) campaign meant to “ensure safety in the community and to fully support those affected by abuse,” while also being sensitive to the Hasidic culture. But the Times reports today that Hynes’s numbers are “inflated”:

Through an extensive search of court and other public records, The Times determined the names of suspects and other details in 47 of the 95 cases attributed to the Kol Tzedek program. More than half of the 47 seemed to have little to do with the program, according to the court records and interviews.

Some did not involve ultra-Orthodox victims, which the program is specifically intended to help. More than one-third involved arrests before the program began, as early as 2007. Many came in through standard reporting channels, like calls to the police.

Evidence that the D.A. is beholden to powerful religious interests can be seen in light sentences for admitted abusers and the withholding of their names, with Hynes “essentially allowing rabbis to act as gatekeepers.” In the words of one expert, “That’s exactly what the Catholic Church did, what the Latter-day Saints did, what the Jehovah’s Witnesses did.”

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NEW YORK
Shalom Life

By: Sammy Hudes
Published: May 11th, 2012

A Hasidic man living in the Williamsburg neighbourhood of Brooklyn told the New York Times he and his family were shunned after he accused a prominent member of the community of sexually abusing his mentally disabled son, leading to the alleged abuser’s arrest.

After learning that his mentally disabled teenage son had been molested in a Jewish ritual bathhouse in Brooklyn over two years ago, Mordechai Jungreis decided to notify the police, however this was quickly met with backlash from the local community.

Jungreis says his answering machine was filled with anonymous messages cursing him for reporting a fellow Jew and his family’s landlord kicked them out of their apartment. Even old friends of the family would storm past them while walking through the streets.

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SANTA CLARA (CA)
National Catholic Reporter

May. 11, 2012
By Joshua J. McElwee

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Ten years after widespread news coverage of sexual abuse by priests rocked the U.S. Catholic church, hierarchical response to the continuing crisis indicates the church has “lost its ability to be a self-correcting institution,” Jesuit Fr. Tom Reese told a symposium of experts on clergy abuse today.

Reese delivered the keynote speech this morning at a daylong conference titled “Clergy Sexual Abuse Ten Years Later,” being held at Jesuit-run Santa Clara University. Following Reese is a series of panel discussions from a wide-range of sex abuse experts.

Among the speakers are some who firmly defend the U.S. bishops’ response to the crisis, particularly since the implementation of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People in 2002 and others who sometimes vehemently point to its weaknesses.

The presenters include Kathleen McChesney, the first director of the U.S. bishops office of child and youth protection; Ohio Judge Michael Merz, a former member and chair of the bishops’ National Review Board; Dominican Fr. Tom Doyle, a canon lawyer known for authoring one of the first reports on the subject; and Barbara Blaine, founder and president of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.

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VATIKAN
Spiegel (Deutschland)

Von Simone Utler

Es geht um mindestens sieben Verdachtsfälle sexuellen Missbrauchs Minderjähriger: Die Legionäre Christi haben dem Vatikan mehrere mutmaßliche Vergehen ihrer Priester gemeldet. Der verstorbene Gründer Marcial Maciel Degollado brachte den Orden in Verruf, weil er sich an Kindern vergangen hatte.

Hamburg – Der Mexikaner Marcial Maciel Degollado bescherte dem Vatikan einen der größten Skandale des 20. Jahrhunderts. Der vor vier Jahren verstorbene Gründer und frühere Leiter des konservativen Ordens Legionäre Christi predigte Keuschheit, Armut und Gehorsam – und verging sich jahrzehntelang an Seminaristen. Außerdem zeugte er mehrere Kinder, die er ebenfalls sexuell missbraucht haben soll.

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UNITED STATES
TheMediaReport

Dave Pierre

The left-wing National Catholic Reporter newspaper is suggesting that a newly discovered 27-year-old letter somehow may be evidence that the Archdiocese of Los Angeles knew that a priest it had welcomed from England had been accused of child abuse there.

In fact, even a cursory look at the 1985 letter reveals that such a claim is blatantly untrue!

The author of the feckless piece is Joshua J. McElwee, a “staff writer” at the discordant publication.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

The Archbishop of Dublin confirmed this during today’s presentation of the 50th Eucharistic Congress due to take place in the Irish capital from 10-17 June

Alessandro Speciale
Vatican City

Presenting the upcoming 50th International Eucharistic Congress to journalists, the Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin – who has been instrumental in the internal clean-up of the Church across the world – said this would be no sumptuous and celebratory event but a small and “modest” affair. The event, which will run from 10 to 17 June 2012, has the potential to push for steps forward along the path towards “renewal” and “reconciliation”. This will be important for the Irish Church given the battering it received after the explosion of the paedophilia scandal which shows no signs of ending.

As has already been announced, Benedict XVI will not be participating in the event: “We invited him” but the journey towards renewal is going to be a long one, Martin said in response to requests for clarification on this point. He went on to say that a papal visit to Ireland would be a vital part of the process towards renewal of the Irish Church and must represent the culmination of this renewal, not a step in-between. Cardinal Marc Ouellet, Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops will attend the event on behalf of the Pope and will preside over the opening liturgy on Sunday 10 June.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

A former altar boy cleared of killing and dismembering a Sussex vicar has been found guilty of the murder of a 57-year-old man whom he met for sex.

Christopher Hunnisett was convicted of murdering Peter Bick less than two years after being cleared at the Court of Appeal of killing Reverend Ronald Glazebrook, in 2001.

During his trial for Mr Bick’s murder, Hunnisett told jurors he wanted to rid the world of “paedophiles” and had drawn up a hit list of 900 men.

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VATICAAN
RKnieuws (Nederland)

ROME (RKnieuws.net) – Het Vaticaan voert een onderzoek naar zeven priesters van de Legionairs van Christus wegens seksueel misbruik van minderjarigen.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Zach Hiner on May 10, 2012

A student may not graduate from college this spring because of his refusal to be silent about child sex abuse and cover up case in New Hampshire. He is Chris Peterman, and the case involves Chuck Phelps and Bob Jones University in SC.

It is unconscionable that a student could be denied his chance at graduation speaking out about a possible sexual-abuse cover-up, but unfortunately, witnesses and whistleblowers are often the targets of smear campaigns when they attempt to report what they may have seen.

We commend Chris Peterman for his bravery in searching for the truth regarding Chuck Phelps and his alleged impropriety. Peterman was suspended from Bob Jones University in South Carolina for questioning the reappointment of Phelps to the Board of Trustees. While a pastor at a Concord, NH Independent Fundamental Baptist Church, Phelps forced a teenage rape victim to apologize in public for her “sin” of pregnancy, and allegedly covered-up evidence of rape.

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NEW YORK
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Barbara Dorris on May 10, 2012

Our hearts ache for the brave victims of ultra-orthodox child molesters. And we extend our deepest sympathies to their suffering families, especially Mordechai Jungries and Pearl Engelman.

Our hearts also ache for those few who have publicly and privately supported those victims and sadly, often paid a high price for their courage and compassion. We are grateful to Justice Guston Reichbach of Brooklyn (who called out community members for supporting the criminals and not the victims), Rabbi Nuchem Rosenberg of Williamsburg (who has set up a hotline to urge people to call police with information and provide victims and their families with advice), and Rabbi Tzvi Gluck (who helps victims bring abuse cases to the prosecutor in Queens NY).

At the same time, we hope that Yona Weinberg and Joseph Gelbman who have committed horrific crimes, someday face more serious consequences for their wrongdoing. And we hope that Meir Dascalowitz is convicted and kept away from children for a long time.

Rabbi Chaim Dovid Zweibel is sorely misguided. Suspicions or knowledge of child sex crimes should virtually always be reported to the independent professionals in law enforcement and almost never to the biased and often self-serving amateurs in religious institutions.

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KANSAS
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Barbara Dorris on May 10, 2012

A Roeland Park priest has been accused of molesting a boy at a youth outing in the 1980s.

We applaud this brave survivor for coming forward and reporting his experience. By doing so, he has taken a tremendous step towards keeping kids safe. And we believe he has helped his own recovery from this trauma.

We hope that anyone who may have seen, suspected, or suffered crimes at the hands of Fr. John Wisner will come forward and make a report to police. Children are safer when survivors are able to break their silence and report their abuse. We hope that others are inspired by the man who finally broke his silence today.

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ROME
Irish Central

By
PATRICK COUNIHAN,
IrishCentral Staff Writer

Published Friday, May 11, 2012

Recommendations from New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan are believed to have played a part in the transfer of three priests from the Irish College in Rome.

Cardinal Dolan was part of an apostolic visitation last year which also took in St Patrick’s College in Maynooth and the Milltown Institute and All Hallows College in Dublin.

The Irish Times reports that the transfer of the priests back to Ireland from Rome was based on a summary of all seven visitation reports published last March.

The report called for ‘a more systematic preparation’ for priestly life in the seminaries.

The Irish Times says it also suggested measures ‘to ensure that seminary buildings be exclusively used for seminarians of the local church and those preparing them for the priesthood, to ensure a well-founded priestly identity.

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NEW YORK
Brooklyn Daily

By Colin Mixson

A grand jury failed to indict a Marine Park priest who police say tried to molest two teenage boys — but the 77-year-old spiritual leader has yet to return to his parish, Brooklyn Daily has learned.

Peter Spencer, a spokesman for Richmond County District Attorney Daniel Donovan, admitted this week that the grand jury didn’t think prosecutors had enough evidence to take Monsignor Thomas Brady to trial, stopping the case in its tracks.

Yet Brady, who’s had several strokes and is currently suffering from lung cancer, won’t be returning to Good Shepherd Church on Batchelder Street anytime soon: he’s still in the trouble with the Diocese.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Der Westen

Berlin. Stephanie zu Guttenberg hat der Bundesregierung im Kampf gegen Kindesmissbrauch Versagen vorgeworfen. Sie hatte durch eine Sex-Täterjagd bei RTL 2 Schlagzeilen gemacht – und hofft auf eine Fortsetzung der Sendung. Die Frage, ob sie mit ihrer Familie nach Deutschland zurückkehre, ließ sie offen.

Stephanie zu Guttenberg findet keine guten Worte für ihr Heimatland: Deutschland sei, was den Umgang mit dem Thema Kindesmissbrauch angehe, ein Entwicklungsland, sagte die Frau des ehemaligen Bundesverteidigungsministers Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg (CSU) am Donnerstag in Berlin anlässlich des zehnjährigen Bestehens der deutschen Sektion der Kinderschutzorganisation Innocence in Danger. Zu Guttenberg ist Präsidentin des Vereins, der 2010 unter anderem durch die Sendung “Tatort Internet” bei RTL 2 in die Kritik geraten war. Eine Fortsetzung der Sendung sei zwar wünschenswert, allerdings derzeit nicht geplant, sagte sie.

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INDIA
Daily Bhaskar

New Delhi: In a shocking incident, a priest of International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) has been accused of sodomizing another priest.

According to the reports, a governing body commissioner of ISCKON along with three others have been booked on the complaint of a priest, who alleged that the other priest had unnanatural sex with him, while the society officials supressed the issue.

The incident dates back to April 8 when the priest had sodomized the complainaint in Kurukshetra. Notably, the priest had earlier also attempted to have unnatural sex with him on February 15.

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IRELAND
Galway Bay FM

May 11, 2012

It’s been revealed that RTE’s current affairs department spent 60 thousand euro on travel costs for its “Mission to prey” programme, which libeled Ahascragh priest, Fr Kevin Reynolds.

The Irish Times reports that the overall cost of the programme was 184 thousand euro, which is more than the 137 thousand recorded in the BAI Anna Carragher report.

A spokesperson for RTE says the BAI figure quoted did not include staff salaries of 22 thousand and other costs.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

by Tom Gallagher on May. 10, 2012 NCR Today

Hats off to The Tablet, the international Catholic news weekly based in London, for two back-to-back stories. Last week you recall, writer Robert Mickens opened up the back story on the investigation into the U.S. Leadership Conference of Women’s Religions. Mickens laid out the work of the tag team of Arcbhishop-designate William Lori, of Bridgeport, Conn., en route to the Archdiocse of Baltimore, Maryland, and disgraced U.S. Cardinal Bernard Law.

Says Mickens:
Both Cardinal Law and Archbishop Lori (he was appointed to the prestigious see of Baltimore in March) have long supported women’s religious orders that have distanced themselves from the LCWR. Cardinal Law, 80, staffs his residence in Rome with the Mercy Sisters of Alma (Michigan) and Archbishop Lori, 61, helped set up several traditional communities of sisters during his tenure in Bridgeport (2001-12). All these communities, marked by their loyalty to the hierarchy, belong to the Conference of Major Superiors of Women Religious (CMSWR), which broke away from the LCWR in 1992.

Incidentally, Cardinal Law was a member of the Vatican’s Congregation for Religious when it launched its own visitation – separate from the CDF investigation – of women’s communities in the US. According to news reports, that project was at least partially funded by the Knights of Columbus, a wealthy fraternal order of Catholic men for whom Archbishop Lori has been supreme chaplain since 2005. Under the leadership of an influential Washington lawyer and former Reagan White House official, Carl Anderson, the knights have increasingly backed conservative causes and routinely make sizeable donations to the Holy See. Mr Anderson is a member or consultor of several Vatican offices, and one of the five-man board of directors for the so-called Vatican Bank. His close association with the Vatican and Archbishop Lori, and the archbishop’s own determination to bring the LCWR into line, should not be underestimated.

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NEW YORK
The Guardian (United Kingdom)

Zoë Blackler in New York
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 10 May 2012

Brooklyn district attorney Charles Hynes has strongly defended his handling of child sexual abuse cases in the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community in the face of growing criticism from victims’ advocates.

Hynes has repeatedly refused to respond publicly to accusations – revealed by the Guardian in March – that he has allowed rabbinical leaders to get away with covering up decades of abuse.

Advocates have questioned his policy of keeping secret the identities of alleged offenders, the number of arrests for which he claims credit, and the intimidation of victims and their families who report abuse to the secular authorities.

But on Thursday night, Hynes, whose jurisdiction includes the world’s largest ultra-Orthodox community outside Israel, said: “The Brooklyn DA has the most active investigation, prosecution of any Orthodox members in the country. In LA or any major centre of Orthodox communities, there are no prosecutions.”

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AUSTRALIA
The Courier-Mail

Matthew Fynes-Clinton
From:The Courier-Mail
May 11, 2012

PETER Slipper, junior priest, political turncoat and former parliamentary Speaker, is “not naughty” but a “classic larrikin” who likes a second bottle of red, according to the archbishop who ordained him.

John Hepworth ordained Slipper as a deacon (subordinate clergyman) in the Traditional Anglican Communion in 2003, before his elevation to a priest five years later.

Hepworth, a former priest in both the standard Anglican and Catholic folds, created a storm last year when he revealed that as a seminarian and junior cleric, he was subjected to repeated rapes by Catholic clergy.

The Archbishop has suspended Slipper from his dual roles as priest and chancellor or senior legal officer of the TAC, pending the outcome of the current claims against him. (Slipper, while denying all allegations, has also stood aside as Speaker on full pay of $323,750.)

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ROME
Chiesa

by Sandro Magister

ROME, May 11, 2012 – “Windows open on the mystery”: this is the title of the conference with which, two days ago, the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross broke the silence on one of the greatest theologians of the twentieth century, the French Jesuit Jean Daniélou, made a cardinal by Paul VI in 1969.

A silence that lasted almost forty years, and began with his passing away in 1974.

In effect, the memory of Daniélou is today reduced, for many, to the mystery of his death by heart attack, one May afternoon, at the home of a prostitute on the fourth floor of Rue Dulong 56 in Paris.

When in reality the true mystery on which Daniélou opened the windows to many, in his activity as a theologian and a spiritual man, is that of the triune God. One of his greatest works was entitled “An essay on the mystery of history.” A history not governed by chance, nor by necessity, but filled with the “magnalia Dei,” by the grandiose wonders of God, each more astonishing than the last.

Today, few of his books are still available for purchase. And yet they are still of extraordinary richness and freshness. Simple and yet very profound, as few theologians have been able to do over the last century, apart from him and that other champion of clarity named Joseph Ratzinger.

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CALIFORNIA
KPCC

By Don Frances

A Catholic priest released early from prison after molesting a boy in his parish has landed back in custody for violating his parole, according to the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department.

Alejandro Castillo, the former parish priest of Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in Ontario, spent several months in prison for molesting a 12-year-old boy, according to the San Bernardino Sun. He was let out on April 21, but ran afoul of the law on Wednesday, the Sun reports. He remains in custody without bail.

Castillo isn’t accused of molesting anyone this time, only of attending a party in his honor where young children were present — something he is strictly forbidden to do.

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IRELAND
Leitrim Observer

Published on Friday 11 May 2012

CARDINAL Sean Brady is understood to be “reflecting seriously on his future” amid new allegations of cover-ups by the Catholic Church – particularly the Kilmore Diocese in the Brendan Smyth child abuse scandal.

The fallout continues from a BBC documentary ‘The Shame of the Catholic Church’ which last week revealed that Cardinal Brady had a list of children’s names who were being abused but failed to inform gardai and their parents in 1975. The cardinal said as a “note taker” he gave the information to his superior, Bishop Francis Mac Kiernan a native of Aughawillan Co Leitrim, but no action was taken against Smyth and he was able to continue abusing children for a further 20 years.

According to a statement issued by current Bishop of Kilmore, Dr Leo O’Reilly, in 1984 Smyth asked the then Bishop, the late Dr Francis MacKiernan, to lift the ban put in place in 1975.

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VATICAN CITY
RTE News

The Vatican is investigating seven priests from the Legion of Christ religious order for alleged sexual abuse of minors and another two for other alleged crimes.

In a statement, the Legion confirmed it had referred seven cases of alleged abuse to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

All but one of the seven cases involves alleged abuse dating from decades ago; one case involves recent events, the Legion said.

A preliminary investigation cleared two other priests accused of abuse, the order said.

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VATICAN CITY
Huffington Post

By NICOLE WINFIELD 05/11/12

VATICAN CITY — The Vatican is investigating seven priests from the troubled Legion of Christ religious order for alleged sexual abuse of minors and another two for other alleged crimes, The Associated Press has learned.

The investigations mark the first known Vatican action against Legion priests for alleged sexual assault following the scandal of the Legion’s founder, who was long held up as a model by the Vatican despite credible accusations – later proven – that he raped and molested his seminarians.

The Legion, which is now under Vatican receivership, has insisted that the crimes of its late founder, the Rev. Marciel Maciel, were his alone.

But the Vatican investigation of other Legion priests indicates that the same culture of secrecy that Maciel created within the order to cover his crimes enabled other priests to abuse children – just as abusive clergy of other religious orders and dioceses have done around the world.

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VATICAN CITY
Huffington Post UK

Huffington Post UK | By Felicity Morse

Seven priests from the secretive Catholic religious order the Legion Of Christ are being investigated by the Vatican over claims of child sex abuse, the Associated Press has reported.

Two other priests from the conservative order are also being investigated for other alleged crimes, according to the news agency, after the Legion issued a statement to AP.

The Legion of Christ has already been forced to cope with a wave of scandal after it was proved that the order’s late founder, Reverend Marcial Maciel Degollado, had abused and raped students of the Legion.

In the wake of the revelations, the Vatican insisted that the crimes of Degollado, who was also a close ally of Pope John Paul II, had been his alone, and the Legion was to continue under their leadership.

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VATICAN CITY
Eagle Radio (United Kingdom)

The Vatican is investigating seven priests from the troubled Legion of Christ religious order for alleged sexual abuse of minors, according to the Associated Press news agency.

All but one case involves alleged abuse dating from decades ago, the Legion said.

Two other priests are also under investigation for alleged sacramental violations, believed to involve using spiritual direction to have inappropriate relations with women.

It is the first time the Vatican is known to have taken action against Legion priests for alleged sexual assault following the scandal of the order’s founder.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
The Washington Informer

Written by Michelle Booth Cole, Special to The Informer
Friday, 11 May 2012

When I heard about the allegations of child sexual abuse at a local church-run daycare center and saw on the news a mother asking how she could ever feel comfortable sending her child there again, it took me immediately back to what happened at my daughters’ school in 2008.

In the spring of 2008, my eldest daughter’s third-grade teacher at Beauvoir, the National Cathedral elementary school, was alleged to have sexually abused students at the school. The revelation was shocking to many. But it confirmed what I see regularly in my work: perpetrators can lurk anywhere, even in our midst.

Beauvoir’s response to the crisis offers a guide for daycare centers and any organizations that serve children. Beauvoir’s head of school, Paula Carreiro, responded with integrity and accountability. She took every possible step to minimize the risk that such a crime would ever happen again at Beauvoir.

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UTAH
Deseret News

By Geoff Liesik, Deseret News

DUCHESNE — A judge dismissed all charges Thursday against an LDS bishop accused of telling a teenage girl not to seek a protective order and failing to report the girl’s disclosure that she had been sexually abused by a teenage relative.

Bishop Gordon Moon was charged in 8th District Court last August with witness tampering, a third-degree felony, and failure to report abuse, a class B misdemeanor.

On Thursday, Judge Lyle Anderson dismissed those charges in the middle of a hearing at the request of Duchesne County Attorney Stephen Foote. The prosecutor’s request came after Moon testified under oath that he should have handled his interview with the girl differently and should have contacted a legal hotline operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The decision to dismiss surprised Moon and his attorney.

“In 20 years of practicing law, I’ve never seen it operate like this,” defense attorney David Leavitt said after court.

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UTAH
The Republic

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
First Posted: May 11, 2012

DUCHESNE, Utah — A Utah judge dismissed all charges against a Mormon bishop accused of failing to report a teenage girl’s disclosure that she had been sexually abused.

The Deseret News reports (http://bit.ly/LuKIuQ ) Gordon Moon, of Duchesne, was cleared Thursday on charges of felony witness tampering and misdemeanor failure to report abuse.

Authorities say a 16-year-old girl, who belonged to Moon’s Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints congregation, confided in him that she’d been sexually abused by a teenage relative. Prosecutors had argued that Moon advised her not to seek a protective order, and broke state law by failing to tell police about the girl’s disclosure.

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VATICAN CITY
Sky News (United Kingdom)

The Vatican is investigating seven priests from the troubled Legion of Christ religious order for alleged sexual abuse of minors, according to the Associated Press news agency.

All but one case involves alleged abuse dating from decades ago, the Legion said.

Two other priests are also under investigation for alleged sacramental violations, believed to involve using spiritual direction to have inappropriate relations with women.

It is the first time the Vatican is known to have taken action against Legion priests for alleged sexual assault following the scandal of the order’s founder.

The church had previously insisted the crimes of the late Reverend Marcial Maciel were his alone.

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NORTH CAROLINA
Care2

by Paul Canning

The North Carolina pastor who sermonized that boys should get “a good punch” if they were being too effeminate now says that physical discipline depends on their weight.

Pastor Sean Harris of Berean Baptist Church in Fayetteville drew international opprobrium with his rant, which included telling his laughing parishioners:

Dads, the second you see your son dropping the limp wrist, you walk over there and crack that wrist. Man up. Give him a good punch. Ok?

In a strange new interview (watch below) with local Justin Griffith, Harris responded to a question about whether he was literally recommending the use of a rod:

“No, of course not. We may use some instrument of discipline in a careful and appropriate way. Depending on the age of the child, depending on the weight of the child.”

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FORT SMITH (AR)
Arkansas Catholic

By Maryanne Meyerriecks
Fort Smith Correspondent

FORT SMITH — Father Greg Luyet, pastor of Immaculate Conception Church, stepped up to the pulpit the weekend of April 21-22 to speak out against child abuse, particularly sexual abuse of minors.

He was joined by ministers throughout the area, rallying together to challenge their congregations to protect children and inviting them to attend a Step Up, Speak Out Rally at the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith the following Saturday.

Immaculate Conception parishioner Sam Sicard got the idea for “Step Up, Speak Out” while listening to news coverage of child sexual abuse accusations against former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky in 2011. After hearing statistics on the prevalence of child sexual abuse, he gathered together a group of community and church leaders, business people and others to plan a rally to raise awareness. They formed an organization under the auspices of the United Way and planned a media campaign using Facebook and other social media to network and educate people about violence against children.

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IRELAND
Church Times (United Kingdom)

by Gregg Ryan Ireland Correspondent

THE Roman Catholic Primate of All Ireland, Cardinal Seán Brady, is resisting calls for his resignation, after revelations that he failed to inform parents of children who were being abused by the late Brendan Smyth, a paedophile priest (News, 19 March; 21 May 2010), after he acted as note-taker at an inquiry in 1975, where a 14-year-old boy gave evidence.

At the time, Dr Brady was work­ing in the diocese of Kilmore, and already held a doctorate in Canon Law. His Bishop, the late Dr Francis McKiernan, asked him to be part of a three-member canonical inquiry into the allegations against Fr Smyth, a priest of the Norbertine order.

The boy, Brendan Boland, gave the names and addresses of five other children who were also being abused by Smyth, but their parents were never told. As a result, some of them were continually abused for a further 15 years.

On Wednesday of last week, a BBC Northern Ireland documen­tary, This World: The Shame of the Catholic Church, was aired, giving details of Cardinal Brady’s failure to alert the children’s parents. His response was that he was merely the note-taker, and that even Dr McKiernan had limited control over Smyth, whose Abbot at the time had full jurisdiction. He said that he was devastated on learning that Smyth had continued to abuse the named children for further years.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Priest Abuse Trial Blog

Ralph Cipriano

A nun who was sexually abused as a minor by a predator priest called out Monsignor William J. Lynn Thursday from her perch on the witness stand.

It was a dramatic confrontation as the Archdiocese of Philadelphia sex abuse trial wrapped up its seventh week of testimony. Lynn is on trial for allegedly conspiring to endanger the welfare of children by allowing abusive priests to continue in ministry

All along, the defense mantra has been that the monsignor was just a cog in the wheel down at archdiocese headquarters on 222 N. 17th St., and that the ultimate villain in the case was the guy who wielded the ultimate power in the archdiocese, the conveniently dead Cardinal Anthony J. Bevilacqua.

But the nun on the witness stand refused to play along.

It started when Thomas Bergstrom, a defense lawyer for Msgr. Lynn, tried to get the nun on cross-examination to agree that Msgr. Lynn did not have the power to remove a pastor who had sexually abused her and at least 10 other young women.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
dotCommonweal

Posted by Paul Moses

The trial of Monsignor William Lynn on charges of child endangerment for allegedly permitting predatory priests to continue in ministry took an interesting turn today with the testimony of a sister who said Lynn could’ve removed an abusive priest if he really wanted to.

The sister, not named in news accounts because she was herself a sexual-abuse victim as a girl, challenged Monsignor Lynn’s defense, which is based on the assertion that he didn’t have authority to remove a priest from his job.

The sister said Lynn, who was secretary of the Office of Clergy in the Philadelphia archdiocese, had the power to at least suggest removing a miscreant priest, and that given his position, the archbishop would have likely signed off. And besides, she said, there was another choice: “You can also say, ‘I cannot do this.’ … You can walk away.”

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MISSOURI
Chicago Tribune

By Manya A. Brachear, Chicago Tribune reporter

May 11, 2012
A prominent activist group in the Roman Catholic Church’s clergy-abuse crisis is fighting a Missouri judge’s ruling to open more than two decades of correspondence with victims, lawyers, witnesses and journalists thought to be confidential.

Lawyers for a Kansas City priest accused of abuse said the documentation will shed light on whether the Chicago-based Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, commonly known as SNAP, has coached victims to fabricate claims of repressed memory. Lawyers for the St. Louis Archdiocese are pursuing the same strategy in a separate case.

But Jackson County, Mo., Circuit Court Judge Ann Mesle’s ruling last month that SNAP must provide access to the documents has sent a chill through the community of sexual-abuse survivors who have leaned on SNAP for confidential support and protection they never thought they would get from the church, the group’s officers and members said.

“Rather than taking a look at themselves and reflecting on what the priests have done, the church has decided SNAP is an enemy to be crushed,” said Barbara Meyer, 66, of Chicago, who said she turned to SNAP when the Chicago Archdiocese ignored her allegations of priest abuse. “They’ve destroyed lives in a really ugly way … I don’t think much of a church like that. SNAP has given me my life back.”

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VATICAN CITY
Poughkeepsie Journal

VATICAN CITY — The Vatican is investigating seven priests from the troubled Legion of Christ religious order for alleged sexual abuse of minors and another two for other alleged crimes, The Associated Press has learned.

The investigations mark the first known Vatican action against Legion priests for alleged sexual assault following the scandal of the Legion’s founder, who was long held up as a model by the Vatican despite credible accusations — later proven — that he raped and molested his seminarians.

The Legion, which is now under Vatican receivership, has insisted that the crimes of its late founder, the Rev. Marciel Maciel, were his alone.

But the Vatican investigation of other Legion priests indicates that the same culture of secrecy that Maciel created within the order to cover his crimes enabled other priests to abuse children — just as abusive clergy of other religious orders and dioceses have done around the world.

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PALM BEACH (FL)
The Palm Beach Post

ByJulius Whigham II
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Posted: 6:05 p.m. Thursday, May 10, 2012

Former Diocese of Palm Beach Bishop Anthony O’Connell, who resigned a decade ago after admissions of sexual misconduct, died Friday at a South Carolina monastery.

O’Connell died at Mepkin Abbey in Moncks Corner, S.C., after a long illness, the Catholic News Service reported. He was 73.

A funeral Mass was held for him on Monday at the abbey.

Diocese of Palm Beach spokeswoman Dianne Laubert confirmed O’Connell’s death Wednesday evening and issued a brief statement on the diocese’s behalf.

“The diocese is praying for his family at this time,” Laubert said.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
WTAQ

MILWAUKEE (WTAQ) – A Catholic priest in Waukesha County has been cleared of allegations that he molested a boy in the mid-1990’s at the state’s juvenile institution for boys.

Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome Listecki said the allegation against Father Mark Molling could not be substantiated – so he’s being returned to St. Paul Parish in Genesee Depot this week.

The purported victim is now in a state prison. His claim of being molested was checked out by an independent investigator hired by the archdiocese and a Diocesan Review Board, which cleared Molling.

A church spokeswoman could not immediately say why the allegation was not found to be credible.

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IRELAND
The Irish Times

CARL O’BRIEN

A NEW standalone agency will take over responsibility for child protection from the Health Service Executive early next year, Minister for Children Frances Fitzgerald has said.

Speaking at a forum on children’s rights at NUI Galway last night, Ms Fitzgerald said significant progress had been made in establishing the new Children and Family Support Agency, which will have a budget of almost €600 million.

“The establishment of a single agency incorporating key children’s services will provide a focus for the major reforms already under way,” Ms Fitzgerald said.

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ROME
The Irish Times

PATSY McGARRY

THREE OF the four priest staff members at the Irish College in Rome who deal with the formation of seminarians are to return to their dioceses in Ireland.

In a statement last night, the Catholic Communication Office said that the rector of the Irish College, Dublin priest Fr Ciaran O’Carroll, had announced that vice rector Fr Albert McDonnell, director of formation Fr Billy Swan, and college spiritual director Fr Chris Hayden were to return to their respective dioceses at the conclusion of this academic year.

Fr McDonnell returns to Killaloe diocese, Fr Swan and Fr Hayden to Ferns diocese. The four Irish archbishops, who are trustees of the Irish College, are expected to announce new appointments to each post after they meet later this month.

Rector Fr O’Carroll, who himself was only appointed last September said he wished “to acknowledge the contribution that Fr McDonnell, Fr Swan and Fr Hayden have made to the life of the college during their time of service here. I wish them every blessing and success in their new appointments and for the future.”

It is widely believed that the changes have been precipitated following the apostolic visitation to the Irish College by the Cardinal Archbishop of New York, Timothy Dolan, last year.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 10 May 2012 (VIS) – “The Eucharist: Communion with Christ and with one another” is the theme of the fiftieth International Eucharistic Congress, due to be held in the Irish capital Dublin from 10 to 17 June. The initiative was presented this morning in the Holy See Press Office by Archbishop Piero Marini, president of the Pontifical Committee for International Eucharistic Congresses; Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin, and Fr. Vittore Boccardi S.S.S. of the secretariat of the Pontifical Committee for International Eucharistic Congresses.

“The Roman Ritual ‘De sacra Communione et de cultu mysterii eucharistici extra Missam’ establishes what an International Eucharistic Congress actually is”, Archbishop Marini explained. That document, “enacting the principles of Vatican Council II, defines the Congress as a ‘statio orbis’; in other words, a ‘a pause for commitment and prayer to which a particular community invites the universal Church’. During that time the celebration of the Eucharist becomes the centre and vertex of all forms of piety, … of theological and pastoral reflections, of social commitment”.

“By a noteworthy coincidence”, the archbishop went on, “the fiftieth International Eucharistic Congress of Dublin coincides with the fiftieth anniversary of the opening of Vatican Council II; and it is to the Council that the Congress will refer because the theme chosen – ‘The Eucharist: Communion with Christ and with one another – has been taken from paragraph 7 of the Dogmatic Constitution ‘Lumen gentium’. That theme reminds the baptised that it is by participating in the Eucharist that we construct communion with Christ and, at the same time, with one another; in other words, the most authentic face of the Church. … Progressive emphasis on the ecclesiology of communion ‘according to which the Eucharist has a causal influence at the very origins of the Church’, is replete with pastoral, ecclesial and ecumenical consequences, which will be studied in Dublin at a theological symposium to be held before the Congress”.

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VATICAN CITY
Herald-Tribune

By NICOLE WINFIELD
Associated Press

VATICAN CITY – The archbishop of Dublin, a leading voice for reform following Ireland’s devastating Catholic church sex abuse scandal, said Thursday that the Irish church is trying to rebuild even as he demands the full truth be told about the past.

Archbishop Diarmuid Martin told a Vatican briefing that he hoped an upcoming church meeting in Dublin would show the world that the Irish church is “alive and vital and anxious to set out on a path of renewal.”

But the June 10-17 congress is being held against the backdrop of new revelations over how the country’s primate, Cardinal Sean Brady, handled the case of a serial abuser in the 1970s – revelations that have sparked new calls for his resignation.

In 1975, Brady helped take testimony from a 14-year-old boy about the abuse he had suffered at the hands of the Rev. Brendan Smyth, a serial pedophile who went on to abuse scores of children in the U.S. and Ireland before being imprisoned two decades later.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Concerned About Abuse in the Catholic Church

William Green the former parish priest of Holy Family Roman Catholic Church, Wigan was arrested on 27 December 2007. In August 2008 he was convicted at Manchester Crown Court of 26 offences of indecent assault. On 1 October 2008, he was sentenced to six years imprisonment (Case No: T20080502).

In 2008, the Manchester Evening News reported, “Father William Green 67, had pleaded guilty to 27 assaults on six – boys aged between 11 and 15 at St Bede’s School in Alexandra Park while head of religious education, and a deputy prefect there, and assault on an eight year old at a different school at which he had previously taught. Passing sentence, Judge Clement Goldstone told Green “You systematically and sexually abused these boys, who were vulnerable and impressionable, and they were groomed by you for the purposes of your own sexual gratification.”

You abused them in school, on school trips and on church-related activities, and you procured the trust and respect of families of several of your victims. You breached their trust and friendship remorsefully and repeatedly.”

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UNITED STATES
Moyerboard

Thursday, May 10, 2012

It’s no secret that the Vatican’s once esteemed reputation has faded dramatically in recent years, especially in westernized nations. Papal visits still draw massive crowds of Catholic worshipers around the world, and the Pope himself still meets regularly with both cherished and vilified world leaders. But these visits are now merely symbolic, carrying only slightly more weight than visits by members of England’s Royal Family.

The Holy See’s once commanding authority, which played a role in collapsing the Berlin Wall and dissolving the Soviet Union, has all but evaporated. This dramatic fall from grace has been primarily attributed to the Church’s sex abuse scandal and subsequent cover up, in which Cardinals and other top officials have attempted to egregiously shift the blame onto secular society, lawyers, and the media.

But the sex abuse scandal is not the only reason why respect for the Church’s hierarchy is quickly diminishing. The Vatican’s unwavering insistence on pontificating politics is also turning many Catholics, particularly American Catholics, away from Church doors. Earlier this month, the Vatican issued a scathing reprimand directed towards the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, an organization that represents the vast majority of American nuns. According to the reprimand, the Vatican believes that American nuns are concentrating too much on feeding the poor and on income inequality, and too little on politicized social issues, such as abortion and gay marriage.

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ROME
National Catholic Reporter

by John L Allen Jr on May. 10, 2012 All Things Catholic

Right now, the “next pope” conversation isn’t creating much buzz. There’s no sign of a health crisis around Benedict XVI, and Catholic attention around the world is focused on more local matters: the LCWR crackdown in the States, the disciplining of liberal priests and calls for Cardinal Sean Brady to resign over the sex abuse crisis in Ireland, a political scandal involving Communion and Liberation in Italy, and so on.

Yet with an 85-year-old pope beginning to show his age, speculation about who might come next is always in the background, even if it’s on a low boil.

I just returned from a couple of weeks in Rome, and below I offer a sort of “poll average” of the current state of thinking about papal candidates among Vatican-watchers, by which I mean Vatican personnel, prelates from around the world, diplomats, journalists, academics, and so on. Such conventional wisdom is hardly infallible, so take this for what it’s worth – no more, really, than the kind of thing you’ll hear at many Roman dinner tables.

The eleven names below are organized into concentric circles of plausibility, from “front-runners” to “possibilities” to “long shots.” My experience is that pretty much everybody agrees on the top two names on this list, Cardinals Angelo Scola and Marc Ouellet, but after that things get murkier.

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ILLINOIS
Chicago Tribune

By Clifford Ward
Special to the Tribune

A priest working at a factory to pay back hundreds of thousands of dollars he stole from his parish and then gambled away heard some straightforward counsel today from a judge: Don’t quit your day job.

DuPage County Judge John Kinsella ordered the Rev. John Regan to continue working at his low-wage job, which Kinsella mandated as part of Regan’s 2011 sentence on theft charges.

Regan and his attorney appeared before the judge Thursday, seeking court approval for Regan to return to full-time ministry work and quit his $9-an-hour job in a Joliet air filter factory.

Attorney Jack Donahue said Regan could earn twice as much as a priest, and, therefore, could more quickly make restitution.

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WAUKESHA (WI)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

By Annysa Johnson of the Journal Sentinel

May 10, 2012

A Waukesha County Catholic priest, who was placed on leave because of a 20-year-old sex abuse allegation, is being returned to ministry after Archbishop Jerome Listecki ruled the allegation unsubstantiated, the Archdiocese of Milwaukee announced Thursday.

Father Mark Molling would return to St. Paul Parish in Genesee Depot this week, Listecki wrote in a May 5 letter to the congregation.

In reinstating Molling, Listecki said he was following the recommendations of an independent investigator hired by the archdiocese and the Diocesan Review Board, which bases its review on the investigator’s report. A spokeswoman for the archdiocese said she did not know the reasons the allegation was deemed not credible.

Molling was placed on administrative leave pending an investigation after a man, now in prison, alleged he molested him in the mid-1990s when he was a minor at Ethan Allen School for Boys in Wales. Molling denied the allegation.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
TheMediaReport

Dave Pierre

Kudos to veteran journalist Ralph Cipriano, who is raising questions about the impartiality of the judge presiding over the high-profile Catholic clergy criminal abuse trial in Philadelphia.

Covering the trial for the Philadelphia Priest Abuse Trial Blog, Cipriano opined in a recent post that Judge M. Teresa Sarmina is “often mistaken for a member of the prosecution team.”

Cipriano’s reference is to the fact, ignored by others in the media, that it seems almost all of the judge’s rulings have gone in the favor of the prosecution – and against the Catholic clergy.

A record of troubling statements and actions

Sarmina’s fairness has been questioned before. As we have noted previously:

• On January 31 (before the trial), Sarmina declared in an open courtroom in front of Catholic priests and their defenders: “Anybody that doesn’t think there is widespread sexual abuse within the Catholic Church is living on another planet.” Not only was Sarmina’s remark incredibly biased, but it was factually wrong, prompting a call from the Catholic League for the judge to step down. [Read More]

• On April 23, Samina opined, “I would not be surprised if there are not many, many more people out there who have chosen never to come forward [to report abuse].” [Read More]

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
The Miami Herald

By MARYCLAIRE DALE
Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA — A Roman Catholic nun testified Thursday that she and two relatives were sexually abused by a priest described by a church leader as “one of the sickest people I ever knew.”

The nun testified in the clergy-abuse trial of Monsignor William Lynn, the first U.S. church official charged with felony child endangerment for allegedly leaving predator-priests in ministry.

The nun said she, her sister and cousin went to the archdiocese in 1991 to report 1970s-era abuse by the Rev. Nicholas Cudemo, and ask that he be removed as a parish pastor. They met with Monsignors James Molloy and Lynn, who worked in the Office for Clergy.

The sisters had been molested as girls and the cousin repeatedly raped, they reported.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/05/10/2793277/nun-catholic-official-could-have.html#storylink=cpy

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

By John P. Martin
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

A few months after she started working in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia clergy office in late 2005, Louise Sullivan was handed a task: straighten up the file room.

After more than two years of grand-jury investigations into allegedly sexually abusive priests, the room on the 10th floor of the archdiocese’s 17th Street headquarters was cluttered with cardboard boxes and random files. Sitting atop one cabinet in the corner was a safe.

Sullivan, the office’s newly appointed director of operations, asked around: Whose safe was it? And what was inside?

No one knew, she told Common Pleas Court jurors on Thursday.

The backstory of the safe — and its contents — remain a disputed but potentially critical piece of evidence in the conspiracy and child endangerment trial of Msgr. William J. Lynn, who once ran the office.

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COLORADO
KRDO

EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. — A former Hilltop Baptist School teacher has pleaded not guilty to sexual assault charges.

Terah Rawlings is accused of having sexual relations with one of her students from 2007 to 2008.

In November, a grand jury indicted Rawlings and charged her with four counts of sexual assault on a child while in a position of trust, four counts of alleged pattern of the same crime, and one count of promoting obscenity.

On Thursday, she pleaded not guilty to those charges.

Friends of the victim were at the courthouse Thursday and spoke to KRDO NewsChannel 13. They say they are shocked at her plea and that they think the victim now lives out of state with his mother.

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SANTA CLARA (CA)
America Magazine

Posted at: Thursday, May 10, 2012
Author:

Thomas J. Reese, SJ, senior fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center in Georgetown and former editor in chief of America has sent us his keynote address to the Clergy Abuse Conference in Santa Clara University today:

I am not an expert on the crisis, but rather a journalist, commentator and priest. Perhaps my contribution can be first to congratulate and thank Kathleen and Tom and all of the contributors to the book, Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church: A Decade of Crisis 2002-2012 (Praeger, 2012). The book makes a genuine contribution to a better understanding of the crisis. The church should be very grateful for your work.

For the rest of my talk, I would like to concentrate on what I think is the unfinished work of responding to the sexual abuse crisis. Needless to say, I cannot list all of the unfinished work, but the items I will highlight strike me as being important.

First, I think the church—and by church I mean both the clergy and the people of God—needs to re-envision its attitude toward the survivors of sexual abuse. In Latin America, liberation theologians developed the concept of the preferential option for the poor. The American Catholic Church needs to embrace a preferential option for the survivors of sexual abuse.

Nor should we look at the victims of abuse simply as clients or problems to be dealt with. Just as people in the church have learned not to look on the poor as a problem to be solved, but to recognize their contribution to the church, so too we need to see the survivors of abuse as persons who can teach us what it means to be Christians, what it means to be church. No one who listens to their stories can fail to be touched by them.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
The Australian

From correspondents in Philadelphia
From: AP
May 11, 20125:39AM

A ROMAN Catholic nun has testified that she and two relatives were sexually abused by the same priest when they were children.

The testimony is the latest in the landmark trial of a Philadelphia Archdiocese official charged with child endangerment for allegedly leaving abusive priests in ministry.

The nun said all three went to the archdiocese in 1991 to ask monsignors James Malloy and William Lynn of the Office for Clergy that the priest be removed.

She said she felt “misled” because the priest was put on leave but allowed to say Mass elsewhere.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Radio

How can the International Eucharistic Congress help bring Irish Catholics back to the sacramental life of the Church? According to the Archbishop of the host diocese, Msgr. Diarmuid Martin of Dublin, by showing them the joy of celebration: “I see a willingness in some people to want to celebrate something different in the Irish Church and actually to use the word ‘celebrate is important”. Emer McCarthy reports Listen:

Speaking to Vatican journalists Thursday as he launched the 1 month countdown to the beginning of the 50th edition of the International Eucharistic Congress (IEC2012), Archbishop Diarmuid Martin directly answered questions over the divisions that currently beleaguer the Irish Church. But he said none of these should overshadow what really is the most pressing challenge in the Church in Ireland: the challenge of bringing Christ to people. This he said will require new pastoral tools and in this sense preparation for Congress has been a learning experience.

The divisions the Archbishop referred to in his address to journalists have a range of causes: the ever present reality of the child sex abuse scandal; the results of the Apostolic Visitation; dialogue with the Association of Catholic Priests; the Churches ongoing journey of internal renewal and the resulting tensions these create within the community.

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IRELAND
The God Squad

Mary Lou McDonald TD
Residential Institutions Statutory Fund Bill 2012
Tues, 8 May 2012

It is important to say at the outset that the State and the Government continue to fail the women and children of the Magdalene Laundries and Bethany Home. It is to the great shame of the Fine Gael Party and the Labour Party that they have done nothing to right the wrong perpetrated against these women and children despite having been so critical of the previous Government’s inaction when in opposition.

The current Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, said in 2010 that former residents of the Magdalene Laundries and Bethany Home must be included in the redress scheme. She went on to criticise the then Minister for Education and Skills for failing to allow these institutions to be included in the list of qualifying institutions for redress. She went on to say that for her, and I quote, it “was becoming clearer and clearer that these institutions were, to all intents and purposes places of detention, and that as such, “residents” were effectively sentenced by servants of the state, to periods of confinement therein”. The Labour Party Minister of State, when in opposition at the time, concluded her outrage with a demand for Government to do the right thing. She was correct to do so.

If we go further back to 2005, the Minister’s party colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Jan O’Sulliven, rightly described the scandal surrounding Bethany Home as a matter of national importance. In the same year the Minister of State, Deputy Joe Costello, called on the Government to include Bethany Home in the redress scheme. All three of those Labour Party Deputies are now Ministers of State – they are part and parcel of this Government. During their years on the opposition benches they all shouted loudly against the decision by the Fianna Fáil led Government to exclude the Magdalene Laundries and Bethany Home from the redress scheme. They were right to do so, but I have to ask where are they today? What is the point of being in Government if one does not act against the very injustices that so exercised one when in opposition?

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KANSAS CITY (KS)
Fox 4

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — A priest who served at St. Agnes Parish in Roeland Park, Kansas, has been relieved of his duties because of a sexual abuse accusation made against him by a former parishoner.

A 45-year old Kansas City, Kansas man claims Father John Wisner inappropriately touched him 30 years ago when the man was 15 years old.

Wisner denies the charges. The archdiocese says it has contacted local police and the chairman of the Independent Review Board. The archdiocese says it has no record of any other allegations of sexual misconduct raised against Father Wisner in his forty years of ministry.

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ITALIA
La Provincia

CREMONA – «… da tali documenti, perfettamente in linea con l’atteggiamento assolutamente omissivo del Lafranconi risulta — è triste dirlo — come la sola preoccupazione dei vertici della curia fosse quella di salvaguardare l’immagine della diocesi piuttosto che la salute fisica e psichica dei minori che erano affidati ai sacerdoti della medesima.

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ITALIA
La Provincia

CREMONA – Sull’archiviazione del procedimento a carico del vescovo Dante Lafranconi (che avrebbe coperto abusi su minori quando reggeva la diocesi di Savona), la diocesi di Cremona bolla come inopportuni e strumentali tutti i commenti sulla vicenda.

Ecco la posizione della diocesi di Cremona – L’8 maggio 2012 il Gip del Tribunale di Savona ha accolto la richiesta di archiviazione, presentata dal Pubblico Ministero in ordine al procedimento inscritto a carico di mons. Dante Lafranconi, per intervenuta prescrizione. Premesso che nessun processo è mai stato formalmente aperto né tanto meno celebrato a carico dell’attuale Vescovo di Cremona, essendo giunta la richiesta di archiviazione da parte del Pubblico Ministero ancor prima di un’eventuale sua richiesta di rinvio a giudizio, non è nostro intendimento discutere ad oggi di fatti e circostanze mai affrontate prima in un’aula giudiziaria, unico luogo deputato a tale operazione.

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CALIFORNIA
Orange County Register

By DOUG SAUNDERS / THE SUN

ONTARIO – The Rev. Alejandro Castillo, convicted of molesting a child at his parish and released early from jail on April 21, was back in custody Wednesday.

He was booked back into a San Bernardino County jail after violating his probation terms after his release from jail by attending a gathering in his honor where children were present, authorities said.

Castillo, who ministered at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in Ontario and previously was in Rialto, was arrested Wednesday by probation authorities and was being held without bail. A May 14 court date has been set, a sheriff’s official said.

Prosecutors filed criminal charges against Castillo in connection with one alleged victim – a 12-year-old boy from Ontario who said he was abused in late 2008, according to court records.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
PhillyBurbs

Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA — Defense lawyers for an accused predator-priest who had been stationed three times in Bucks County are challenging evidence that he once told church supervisors he had been sexually abused as a boy.

The Rev. James Brennan, 48, is charged with sexually assaulting a teen in 1996, when he was on leave from the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

Brennan was stationed at St. Andrew Parish in Newtown Township from 1989 to 1991 and later at parishes in Lower Southampton and Feasterville.

While serving there, the grand jury report alleges, the priest befriended a 9-year-old parishioner identified only as “Mark.”

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CALIFORNIA
San Francisco Chronicle

(05-10) 07:59 PDT Ontario, Calif. (AP) —

A pedophile priest released from jail last month is back in custody for violating probation.

The Rev. Alejandro Castillo, who was convicted of molesting a child at his San Bernardino County parish, was arrested on Wednesday for violating terms of his April 21 release. He’s being held without bail pending a May 14 hearing.

The San Bernardino County Sun ( http://bit.ly/JikfhU) says he attended an Ontario gathering in his honor where children were present.

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KANSAS CITY (KS)
KMBC

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — A 45-year-old man has accused a Roeland Park priest of sexual misconduct.

The man claims the Rev. John Wisner touched him inappropriately when his was 15 years old during a youth outing in 1982.

“While Father Wisner acknowledges the time, location and circumstances surrounding the allegation, he denies that he engaged in any sexual misconduct,” Archbishop Joseph Naumann said in a news release.

Naumann said that Wisner has been temporarily relieved of his ministerial responsibilities and is restricted from exercising his priestly ministry until an investigation is complete.

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KANSAS CITY (KS)
KCTV

By Chris Oberholtz, Multimedia Producer

KANSAS CITY, KS (KCTV) –

The Archdiocese of Kansas City, KS, has removed a Roeland Park priest from his ministry while it investigates an allegation of abuse.

Father John Wisner has been the associate pastor at St. Agnes Parish in Roeland Park since 1985.

A 45-year-old Kansas City, KS, man alleges Wisner touched him improperly 30 years ago, when he was 15 years old. The man claims that the alleged misconduct took place while on a youth outing.

Wisner has denied the allegation.

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KANSAS
Roman Catholic Diocese of Kansas City in Kansas

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

The Safe Environment Coordinator for the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas has received a report from a 45 year old Kansas City, Kansas man who alleges that 30 years ago (1982) when he was 15 years old, he was inappropriately touched by a priest of the archdiocese, Fr. John Wisner. The man claims that the alleged misconduct took place while on a youth outing.

Archbishop Naumann has informed Father Wisner of the allegation. While Father Wisner acknowledges the time, location and circumstances surrounding the allegation, he denies that he engaged in any sexual misconduct. In light of the allegation and in accord with archdiocesan policy, Father Wisner has been temporarily relieved of his ministerial responsibilities and restricted from exercising his priestly ministry pending the results of an investigation into this matter. The Archbishop has appointed a special auditor with law enforcement and investigative experience to investigate the allegation.

Father Wisner has served as a parochial vicar (associate pastor) at St. Agnes Parish in Roeland Park, Kansas since 1985. Father Wisner was ordained in 1972 and has served at Sacred Heart and Christ the King Parishes in Kansas City, Kansas and at St. Joseph Parish in Shawnee. Father Wisner is also a medical doctor and employed fulltime as an associate professor. The archdiocese has no record of any other allegations of sexual misconduct raised against Father Wisner in his forty years of ministry.

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IRELAND/VATICAN CITY
Catholic News Service

By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The wounds and divisions within the Catholic Church in Ireland make the upcoming International Eucharistic Congress in Dublin an important moment for renewal and reconciliation, said Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin.

The archbishop spoke at a Vatican news conference May 10 as a growing chorus of voices called for the resignation of Ireland’s Catholic primate, Cardinal Sean Brady of Armagh, Northern Ireland, over allegations he did not do enough to stop an abusive priest in the 1970s.

The news conference about the International Eucharistic Congress scheduled for June 10-17 also came on the heels of reports that the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith recently censured five Irish priests over their stance on issues such as the ordination of women, the ban on artificial birth control, mandatory clerical celibacy and homosexuality.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
National Catholic Reporter

May. 10, 2012
By Joshua J. McElwee

A letter from 1985 recently released by British media muddies the record of when officials with the Archdiocese of Los Angeles became aware of alleged abuse by clergy there, and the Los Angeles county district attorney’s office has asked for a copy to “review it and make a determination on what it means,” a spokesperson said.

The letter, which several media outlets in the United Kingdom reported on over the weekend, indicates that the archdiocese was warned as early as 1985 that one of its priests had been accused of having an “unwholesome relationship” with a British male.

According to the advocates, that revelation complicates the timeline of when the Los Angeles archdiocese says it first became conscious of accused clergy in its midst. A widely cited 2004 report from the archdiocese, which states that “from 1986 forward” it became archdiocesan policy to “promptly interview” victims, does not mention the priest or the allegations against him from the year before.

A report Sunday in the Sunday Mercury of Birmingham, England, states that the 1985 letter, recently obtained by the paper but not released to the public, was sent from the then-vicar general of the Birmingham archdiocese, Msgr. Daniel Leonard, to the then-chancellor of the Los Angeles archdiocese, Msgr. John Rawden, concerning Fr. James Robinson, a British priest who fled to the United States that year after a report that he had abused a child years earlier.

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KANSAS CITY (KS)
41 Action News

KANSAS CITY, Kan. – The Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas has temporarily relieved a Roeland Park priest of his “ministerial responsibilities and restricted (him) from exercising his priestly ministry” pending the results of an investigation into allegations of improper touching.

According to a statement from the archdiocese, the alleged victim, now 45 years old, says the priest inappropriately touched him during a youth outing in 1982, when the alleged victim was 15 years old.

The Diocese named the priest in the statement as Father John Wisner, who has served as a associate pastor at St. Agnes Parish in Roeland Park since 1985.

Ordained in 1972, Wisner has served at Sacred Heart and Christ the King Parishes in Kansas City, Kansas and at St. Joseph Parish in Shawnee, according to the archdiocese.

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CALIFORNIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Joelle Casteix on May 09, 2012

Fr. Alejandro Castillo pled guilty to molesting a child. He served time in jail. He has been ordered by the court to be a registered sex offender. Despite that, San Bernardino Bishop Robert Barnes has done little to nothing to reach out to parishioners and other potential victims. Why do we know that? Because Castillo’s supporters, many of whom raised money for his bail, threw the child-molesting priest a party upon his release.

This is troubling. By seeing Castillo celebrated by friends and supporters, other potential victims are scared into silence. Other children are put into direct risk of abuse by well-intentioned—yet misinformed—parishioners who do not understand Castillo’s crimes and the threat he poses. They may have already helped Castillo violate the terms of his probation. They may have given Castillo access to more kids.

A very brave child came forward and ensured that Castillo went to jail. The boy’s brother was also abused. There may be other victims who are now too ashamed to report because their friends and family members threw the predator a party.

We beg Bishop Barnes to immediately inform the public that Castillo is out of jail and that he is guilty of a horrible crime. Barnes must also inform Catholics and the public about Castillo’s status as a priest and if he has not already, immediately begin the process of officially removing Castillo from the priesthood. He must also visit every parish where Castillo has worked and reach out to potential victims and help guide the members of his flock, who are scared and confused and supporting a sex offender over the children of the parish.

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IRELAND
The Association of Catholic Priests

Sorrows

Cardinal Sean Brady, Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland, is seventy-two years of age now. He seems to be a kindly man, a good man. But he is under fire. Calls for his resignation have been made following a recent television documentary about child abuse in Ireland forty years ago, when the then Father John Brady was the notary at an enquiry into allegations of abuse against a paedophile priest. Father Brady took his notes and passed then up the chain of authority and that was his part in the matter. But the matter was so serious, that it now looks as if he was remiss in his duty to ‘do more’ than simply record conversations and interviews.

The Vatican is resisting calls for his resignation, but the latest news says that an auxiliary bishop will be appointed to assist the Cardinal, with automatic right of succession. That looks like a subtle and silent way of easing the Cardinal aside. I think it would have been better for the Cardinal to resign as a symbolic act of sorrow for the failings of the Church in this matter, and for his own smaller role in that failure.

The Church is looking at the issue from its own point of view, and is still practising the habit of self-defense. Having just watched the documentary, I now see the issue through the eyes of the victims in this story, with all the desolation that has dogged their lives since they were abused in their earliest years. The documentary did not attempt to attack or ‘kick’ the Church in any way. It was a fair reporting of events of long ago. The resignation of the Cardinal, if done properly, could be a great act of sorrow on behalf of the Church in Ireland.

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IRELAND
The Association of Catholic Priests

When the white smoke went up and a voice announced “Habemus papam, Cardinalem Josephum – – – ” my heart sank because I knew that the next word would be “Ratzinger”. And so did many other hearts sink.

I had come to know of Cardinal Ratzinger as the head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith that in 1985 silenced the Franciscan Leonardo Boff. Boff was a leading figure in Liberation Theology which drew on the Gospels to articulate indignation at the plight of poor, disposed people in South America. He was critical of the role of the Catholic hierarchy in that part of the world because of their affiliation to oppressive regimes and he was a trenchant critic of American foreign policy. He continues today in the same vein as a professor in the fields of theology, ethics and philosophy and author of more than 100 books.

What was most disturbing about the CDF’s attempt to silence Boff was not that it took issue with some of his views, including his support for some Communist regimes and elements of Marxism, but the sheer ruthlessness of the procedures and the disregard for anything approaching due process or respect for basic human rights. So when I read that Fr. Seán Fagan had been silenced up to two years ago on foot of an anonymous complaint about him and with the warning that he would be defrocked if the media reported what had happened, I was shocked. According to Justine McCarthy in the Sunday Times (15th April), all available copies of a theology book written by Fr. Fagan have been bought up by his religious order, the Marists, much to their discredit. He is 84 years of age, partially blind and in poor health and he was told he would stand trial if he did not undertake to stop writing.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Priest Abuse Trial Blog

Ralph Cipriano

A defense lawyer and a detective went snorkeling through the archdiocese’s confidential files Wednesday in search of the real Father James J. Brennan.

In an often tedious cross-examination, the defense lawyer tried to paint Father Brennan as a talented priest who was also a spiritual searcher, while the detective saw the 48-year-old Father Brennan as a tormented soul trying to hide a secret.

Meanwhile, the jury’s attention span was challenged, as they often stared off into space while the defense lawyer and detective did battle during a long afternoon of questioning.

Defense lawyer Richard J. Fuschino Jr. asked Detective James Dougherty to dig into the priest’s personnel jacket. Some 70 formerly confidential documents began with the priest’s background as a seminarian. Father Brennan was the fourth of seven children born into an Irish-Catholic family. His father was a lapsed Catholic, his mother a true believer. The tensions in the Brennan marriage revolved around the couple’s religious differences.

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UNITED STATES
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Colleen Carroll Campbell | Posted: Thursday, May 10, 2012

The Vatican called it a reform but it’s actually a “war against nuns,” an unprovoked “crackdown” on the dwindling ranks of America’s 55,000-plus religious sisters by a power-hungry pope and his ungrateful bishops. Rather than thanking the aging sisters for their years of service to the oppressed, the patriarchal Catholic power structure is punishing them by putting their chief umbrella organization into receivership. The goal: Force the good sisters to stop focusing so much on the poor and start fixating on the same petty social issues that preoccupy bishops.

Well, at least that’s what the wire stories say. Complete with photos of sweet-faced young nuns sporting old-fashioned habits as they kneel in communal prayer, most reports about the doctrinal assessment released by the Vatican last month have portrayed its planned reform of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious as an out-of-the-blue, over-the-top assault on America’s most beloved and uncontroversial Catholics. It has been cast as the equivalent of a bishop excommunicating Mother Teresa because she skipped the March for Life to nurse lepers.

As is often the case in secular press coverage of Catholic matters, though, that isn’t the full story — or even the half of it. For starters, Mother Teresa’s sisters — and most of the religious orders boasting those young, habited nuns typically pictured in articles about this controversy — don’t even belong to the group targeted by the Vatican. The Missionaries of Charity, like several other thriving Catholic religious communities here in the St. Louis area, belong to the Council of Major Superiors of Women Religious, another, smaller umbrella organization founded two decades ago by American religious sisters voicing the same concerns about the LCWR that the Vatican did last month.

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IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

Hundreds of priests gathered in Dublin this week in defiance of the Vatican. Might they be the Church’s salvation, asks Malachi O’Doherty

Thursday, 10 May 2012

Priests can’t have a trade union – and they know it. This week’s meeting of the Association of Catholic Priests (ACP) in Dublin represented a surprise re-emergence of protest among priests – just four years after their total humiliation.

Until 2008, Irish Catholic priests convened an annual Conference of Priests of Ireland (CPI). That fell apart, because the priests themselves were so demoralised and felt that no-one was listening to them.

They were over-worked and under-manned. They were also getting used to a new feeling that they were not only being ignored by most people, but were actively reviled.

In an effort to persuade priests that they were being heard by their bishops, the CPI invited the Irish bishops to come and meet them and hear their grievances. Only four turned up.

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IRELAND
Spectator (United Kingdom)

Alex Massie

Thursday, 10th May 2012

Last night, I finally watched last week’s BBC This World documentary investigating the latest stage of the child abuse scandal that is destroying the Catholic Church in Ireland and, like Jenny McCartney, suspect it is time for Cardinal Sean Brady, Primate of All-Ireland, to resign his post. I don’t suppose Cardinal Brady is a bad man, nor should one suppose that his resignation would draw some manner f line under the whole, sorry, rotten, scandalous affair. But it would be more than just a gesture too. William Oddie, writing in the Catholic Herald, plainly would prefer Brady to remain in office but accepts he “almost certainly” must “bow before the storm”.

The BBC programme probably did, as Cardinal Brady complains, overstate the role he played in the Brendan Smyth affair back in the mid-1970s. Brady maintains he was a mere notary – that is, note-taker – when he heard evidence from 14 year old Brendan Boland that Smyth was abusing young boys. Boland even supplied the names and addresses of some of Smyth’s other victims. Despite this, none of the parents of any of the five children named by Boland were told of what was happening and Boland himself was asked to sign an oath agreeing that he would keep his testimony secret and speak about it only to “authorised priests”.

Brady submitted his reports and that was that. Smyth was, for a spell, subject to a “children’s ban” though this did not prevent him from abusing other children. In any case, the ban, ineffective though it had proved, was formally lifted in 1984. The man who made that decision was Bishop McKiernan of Kilmore who was also Father Brady’s Bishop at the time. No-one argues that Father Brady had, then or now, primary or even secondary responsibility for thwarting Smyth. Nevertheless he was, at the very least, an accessory to the failure to stop Smyth raping young boys.

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ONTARIO (CA)
Redlands Daily Facts

Doug Saunders, Staff Writersbsun.com

ONTARIO – The Rev. Alejandro Castillo, convicted of molesting a child at his parish and released early from jail on April 21, was back in custody Wednesday.

He was booked back into a San Bernardino County jail after violating his probation terms after his release from jail by attending a gathering in his honor where children were present, authorities said.

Castillo, who ministered at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in Ontario and previously was in Rialto, was arrested Wednesday by probation authorities and was being held without bail. A May 14 court date has been set, a sheriff’s official said.

Prosecutors filed criminal charges against Castillo in connection with one alleged victim – a 12-year-old boy from Ontario who said he was abused in late 2008, according to court records.

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NEW YORK
The New York Times

By SHARON OTTERMAN and RAY RIVERA

Published: May 9, 2012

The first shock came when Mordechai Jungreis learned that his mentally disabled teenage son was being molested in a Jewish ritual bathhouse in Brooklyn. The second came after Mr. Jungreis complained, and the man accused of the abuse was arrested.

Old friends started walking stonily past him and his family on the streets of Williamsburg. Their landlord kicked them out of their apartment. Anonymous messages filled their answering machine, cursing Mr. Jungreis for turning in a fellow Jew. And, he said, the mother of a child in a wheelchair confronted Mr. Jungreis’s mother-in-law, saying the same man had molested her son, and she “did not report this crime, so why did your son-in-law have to?”

By cooperating with the police, and speaking out about his son’s abuse, Mr. Jungreis, 38, found himself at the painful forefront of an issue roiling his insular Hasidic community. There have been glimmers of change as a small number of ultra-Orthodox Jews, taking on longstanding religious and cultural norms, have begun to report child sexual abuse accusations against members of their own communities. But those who come forward often encounter intense intimidation from their neighbors and from rabbinical authorities, aimed at pressuring them to drop their cases.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Religion

„Helmut Schüller tritt nicht beim Deutschen Katholikentag in Mannheim nächste Woche auf“ – diese Meldung sorgte gestern für Aufsehen. Dabei war der Sprecher der österreichischen Pfarrer-Initiative ohnehin nie eingeladen. Er wird aber sehr wohl nach Mannheim reisen und dort am Alternativprogramm zum Katholikentag teilnehmen.

„Von einem Einreiseverbot nach Mannheim ist keine Rede“, stellte Schüller gegenüber religion.ORF.at klar. „Ich fahre natürlich nach Mannheim.“ Ein Auftritt beim Deutschen Katholikentag war nie geplant, vielmehr soll Schüller beim zeitgleich stattfindenden Alternativprogramm zum Deutschen Katholikentag auftreten. Die Verwirrung über Schüllers Auftritt in Mannheim ist durch einen Artikel im deutschen Nachrichtenmagazin „Spiegel“ entstanden, wonach Schüller angeblich als „Gastredner“ beim Deutschen Katholikentag auftreten sollte.

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DEUTSCHLAND
netzwerkB

Nach dem Bekantwerden der “Missbrauchsfälle” im Canisius-Kolleg Berlin, am 28. Januar 2010 durch die Berliner Medien und der darauf folgenden Welle von Offenlegungen von sexualisierter Gewalt gegen Kinder in einer Vielzahl von Einrichtungen, versuchten die meisten Verantwortlichen in Politik, Kirche und anderen Institutionen so zu tun, als hätten sie davon nichts gewusst.

“Sexueller Missbrauch in der römisch-katholischen Kirche” wird seit Jahrzehnten verleugnet, verschwiegen und vertuscht. Und sexualisierte Gewalt in der Familie – und das macht fast 90% aller Betroffenen aus – wurde und wird fast gar nicht thematisiert.

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BRASIL
Die Presse (Osterreich)

Noch ist Brasilien mit ca. 136 Millionen Katholiken das stärkste Standbein von Papst Benedikt XVI. Allerdings hält eine starke Abwanderungswelle an – hin zu evangelikalen Pfingstkirchen und Erweckungssekten.

Religion ist das „Opium des Volkes“ und „Seufzer der bedrängten Kreatur“, hat schon Karl Marx geschrieben. Was er damals, 1844, nicht so genau beschrieben hat, ist, wie man mit Religion Geschäfte macht. Da hilft in Brasilien das private „Seminar für Theologie“ (Centro de Formação Ministerial, Cefom). Laien können hier in einem 90-Tage-Schnellkurs lernen, wie man erfolgreicher „Glaubensmanager“ wird, quasi Religionsstifter mit eigenem Tempel.

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OSTERREICH
Tirol

Die Diözese Innsbruck setzt Schritte gegen sexuelle Übergriffe auf Kinder. Ab sofort muss jeder, der mit Kindern und Jugendlichen zu tun hat, eine Verpflichtungserklärung unterschreiben.

Mehr als 4.600 Männer und Frauen arbeiten in der Kirche mit Kindern, darunter viele Ehrenamtliche z.B. in der Vorbereitung zur Firmung oder in der Jungschar, und viele Hauptamtliche z.B. in kirchlichen Schulen oder Kindergärten. Sie alle, auch Priester, Diakone und Ordensleute, müssen die Erklärung künftig unterzeichnen.

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IRLAND
Kipa (Schweiz)

Dublin, 9.5.12 (Kipa) Der katholischen Kirche in Irland droht womöglich eine neue Klage wegen sexuellen Missbrauchs. Einem Bericht der Tageszeitung “Irish Independent” (Mittwoch) zufolge leitete die Polizei eine Untersuchung über Anzeigen von 20 ehemaligen Schülern einer Schule der Herz-Jesu-Missionare in Cork an die Staatsanwaltschaft weiter. Dort wird nun entschieden, ob es zu einer Anklage kommt. Die Anzeigen beziehen sich auf Vorfälle in den 70er und 80er Jahren.

Drei Männer im Alter zwischen 60 und 70 Jahren wurden im Zusammenhang mit der polizeilichen Untersuchung vorübergehend verhaftet, jedoch ohne Anklage wieder freigelassen.

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UNITED KINGDOM
itv

A former Cumbrian vicar appeared at Carlisle magistrates court today charged with 15 sexual offences on boys under eighteen. 74 year old Ronald Johns is accused of abusing four youngsters during his time working in Cumbria between 1979 and 1991.

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AUSTRALIA
CathNews

Published: May 09, 2012

BY CHRISTINE HOGAN

During the recent Australian Catholic Media Congress, I had a conversation in three parts with another delegate. He obviously felt deeply about the stories which reflect negatively on the Church, which can make it harder for priests and religious to operate in their ministries. He shared something of that feeling with me.

The clerical sexual abuse scandal, and its coverage on CathNews, really affected him, and I hope I was sympathetic to his concerns. He wanted to hear the good news about the Church, and what the people who work for the Church, who fills its pews, and who sustain and are sustained by it, are doing.

I did my best to point out that those stories are featured on CathNews: the lives of devoted men and women religious and others celebrated in the Obituaries; ordinary people Living Catholic in their everyday lives… both of those sections can be found every week on CathNews Perspectives.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

by Alice Popovici on May. 09, 2012

The following letter was sent to the National Catholic Reporter by a former Sister of Mercy, and it is signed by 14 other women who were once members of religious communities. In a cover letter to Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York, Helen Urbain-Majzler writes: “We would be grateful if you shared the contents of our letter with other member bishops.”

The “Open letter to the U.S. Catholic Bishops” letter reads:

The Vatican crackdown on the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) sends this message for religious women and average Catholics: there is no room for dissent; no opportunity for differing perspectives; no way to engage in dialogue about traditional, often narrowly-held, Catholic views. In a word, women religious leaders need to keep their ideas to themselves and simply follow the dictates and directions of Rome. Anything less than this position will be met with censure, public embarrassment, heavy-handedness, and even potential expulsion.

The LCWR leadership may have expressed surprise and confusion at the report from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) but, frankly, women like us were not surprised. All of us (now former members) have lived many years in religious communities and have witnessed cruel and punitive treatment of women religious who have taken courageous public stands to defend the poor, medically vulnerable, and the targeted victims of society, including homosexuals. As you know and may not fully appreciate, religious communities of women have been the central providers of charitable services, including hospitals, schools and parish ministries, and have been in the forefront of social justice causes including efforts at world peace and an end to oppression in all its many forms. For these selfless and tireless efforts, their faith and integrity is called into question.

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UNITED STATES
Tucson Citizen

by Don Lacey on May. 10, 2012

A friend of mine recounted a recent visit he had to a mega church he attended while visiting relatives. The congregation seemed to be rather financially well off and many of them were paying the church 10% of their income. Also the church was selling books, DVDs, CDs and an item he described as 25 dollar charm bracelet. The attendees enjoyed the emotion heavy sermons and the sappy praise music. Guilt and forgiveness was sold in a soft rock concert atmosphere and a great deal of money was wrested from the congregation.

These churches are multi-million dollar enterprises. The people who preach in them and run them live rather plush lives and tax free. The term McChurch has been coined to describe these sort of broad based, hyper-commercial consumerist enterprises. Realistically, they operate primarily as entertainment businesses. Churches are tax exempt and are not subject to the same disclosure requirements as non-religious charities. This allows the mega churches to rake in millions of tax free dollars with little oversight. In 2007, the Iowa Senate investigated whether Mega-churches were abusing their tax exempt status. The report exposed that their leaders were living in multi-million dollar homes, traveled around in Rolls Royce cars and private jets. They took lavish vacations in the Hawaii and Fiji. It is clear that these mega-churches are big business. They are not charities and we should consider revoking their tax exempt status. We should be reconsidering the tax exemptions, and lack of disclosure requirements for churches in general. This is especially true of those that endorse or oppose political candidates, parties, or legislation.

Mega-churches create profits for Christianity. They enjoy an insular ready-made captive audience for any charismatic performer willing to spout a Christian message. Mega-churches that preach the prosperity gospel have greatly enriched themselves by making the rich feel righteous about their wealth. How much of this is just cynical, manipulate showmanship? We know that Ted Haggarg and Jimmy Swaggart didn’t live up to the ideals they preached. Additionally, Mega-church leaders Eddie Long and Earl Paulk have also found themselves in scandals involving sexual abuse and adultery. Many of these rock star ministers live like rock-stars complete with the scandals involving sexual abuse, drugs, and prostitutes. When you get on stage each week and preach the evils of homosexuality, you had better not get caught in the midst of a meth binge with a gay prostitute. What hypocrisy! Amazingly, it is not always a career ender for the mega-church preacher.

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AUMSVILLE (OR)
Statesman-Journal

Aumsville police arrested a man Wednesday on 15 counts of encouraging child sexual abuse and invasion of privacy after an investigation of a video camera found in a church bathroom stall.

Police Lt. Richard Schmitz said Christopher Fowler, 32, was held in the Marion County jail without bail pending an arraignment.

The investigation began in December after a video camera was found in a women’s bathroom stall at Bethel Baptist Church in Aumsville, Schmitz said in a news release. Fowler was employed as a youth leader and janitor at the time.

During the investigation, computers were seized that belonged to Fowler, Schmitz said.

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EXETER (CA)
The Foothills Sun-Gazette

By Reggie Ellis Updated: Wednesday, May 9, 2012

One of Exeter’s most prominent pastors and spiritual leaders was arrested Monday on suspicion of multiple counts of sexually abusing a young girl.

Alton “Gene” Dorrough, 62, was arrested by Tulare County Sheriff’s detectives after a female juvenile reported he had been sexually abusing her for several years, according to a news release issued by the Sheriff’s Department. Dorrough was booked on one charge of engaging in three or more acts of substantial sexual conduct with a child residing in the same home, four charges of oral copulation with a minor, two charges of forcible sex with a child under 14 and two charges of forcible sex with a child over 14. Each charge carries a maximum sentence of between 10 and 16 years in prison.

Dorrough is being held on $1.05 million bail at the Tulare County Main Jail. As of press time, no charges had been filed by the District Attorney’s Office.

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FLORIDA
Sun-Sentinel

By Ludmilla Lelis, Orlando Sentinel

TAVARES — More than six years after a 13-year-old boy was sexually abused by a Baptist preacher, a jury this week is hearing a case to determine whether the Florida Baptist Convention is liable for failing to find out about past allegations of sexual abuse against the minister.

The Eustis boy and his mother are asking jurors to find the statewide Baptist group — comprising nearly 3,000 congregations and 1 million members in Florida — negligent for not thoroughly researching Douglas W. Myers, who is serving a seven-year prison sentence for molestation.

Though he had no prior criminal charges, Myers faced allegations of abuse at churches in Maryland and Alabama, according to court testimony. Officials with the Baptist organization said the convention didn’t “hire” Myers to be a minister and that a background check turned up nothing.

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KANSAS CITY (KS)
The Kansas City Star

By MARK MORRIS
The Kansas City Star

A Kansas City, Kan., man has accused a Johnson County priest of “inappropriately touching him” on a youth outing 30 years ago, according to the local Catholic archdiocese.

The Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas is investigating and has appointed an auditor with law enforcement experience to investigate the allegation, according to a statement issued Wednesday afternoon.

Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann informed the priest of the allegation and temporarily relieved him of his ministerial responsibilities while the investigation proceeds, the statement said.

The accuser, now 45, alleged that the misconduct took place on a 1982 youth outing. And though the priest acknowledged the time, location and circumstance, he denied engaging in any sexual misconduct.

According to the archdiocese, the priest has served most recently as an associate pastor at a northeast Johnson County parish. Ordained in the 1970s, he also has served at parishes in Kansas City, Kan., and in Shawnee.

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CANADA
Cloverdale Reporter

By Kevin Diakiw – Surrey North Delta Leader

A Surrey man described in court as one of the most prolific sex offenders in Canada faces seven more charges of sexually assaulting young people.

The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) have charged former Anglican priest and scout leader Ralph Rowe with five new counts of sexual assault and two counts of indecent assault.

The charges, laid on April 22 by the OPP North West Region Crime Unit in Thunder Bay, relate to incidents that allegedly occurred in northwestern Ontario between 1973 and 1986 in the First Nations communities of Fort Severn, Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug, Wunnumin Lake and Kingfisher Lake.

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