ABUSE TRACKER

UTAH
Deseret News

CENTERVILLE — A former LDS Church employee and leader was charged Friday with sexually abusing two children.

Timothy William Bothell, 43, was arrested Thursday and is facing two first-degree felony counts of aggravated sexual abuse of a child and four counts of lewdness involving a child, a class A misdemeanor.

The sex abuse charges are aggravated in nature because Bothell “holds a position of trust in relationship to the victims,” said Centerville Assistant Police Chief Paul Child. Bothell was serving as a member of a stake high council in Centerville at the time of his arrest, he said.

Police said Bothell, 43, last week was confronted by and admitted to his wife that he had inappropriate sexual contact with at least one child of a family friend. Bothell later contacted Child Protective Services, which then involved police.

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UTAH
Standard-Examiner

By Scott Schwebke
Standard-Examiner staff

CENTERVILLE — Police have arrested a Centerville man on child sex abuse charges.

Timothy William Bothell, 43, was arrested Thursday by a Centerville police detective and booked into Davis County Jail on two first degree felony counts of aggravated sexual abuse of a child and four counts of Class A misdemeanor charges of lewdness involving a child.

Bothell served on a local Stake High Council for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at the time of his arrest and he was also employed by the LDS Church, the Centerville Police Department said in a news release late Friday night.

There are two female victims in this case, ages 13 and 11 and both friends of the Bothel family, according to police. The alleged assaults and lewdness took place at Bothell’s home, beginning around Christmas of 2011, according to the news release.

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UNITED STATES
Ology

by Bison Messink
Sports Editor
On Aug 17, 2012

Set to premiere in September at the Toronto Film Festival, Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence In The House Of God looks to be a chilling exposé of the Catholic Church’s systematic cover up of decades of sex abuse by Rev. Lawrence Murphy (trailer video below). Murphy worked as a priest at a Catholic school for deaf boys in Wisconsin, and preyed upon hundreds of boys during his tenure there, from 1950 to 1974.

Rev. Murphy’s abuse, and the Church’s organised cover up, was written about extensively in the New York Times in 2010. As far back as the 1950s, Murphy’s victims told everyone they could think to tell about what Murphy had done to them: other priests, nuns, priests, three archbishops, two police departments and a district attorney. But the allegations were repeatedly shrugged off or not believed.

The Vatican never defrocked Murphy, even though word of his abuse travelled as far as the Vatican, and to then-future Pope Benedict. In fact, Benedict appears to be at the center of the Church’s non-action and cover ups of sexual abuse for more than a decade now. He ignored two letters sent to him in 1996, detailing Murphy’s abuse.

“From 2001 forward, every single priest sex abuse case went to [current Pope Joseph] Ratzinger. He has all the data,” says testimony in Mea Maxima Culpa’s trailer

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OREGON
The Oregonian

By Bryan Denson, The Oregonian

A high-ranking official with the Archdiocese of Portland will formally apologize to an Oregon woman later this month for the sexual abuse she endured as a child in the 1980s at the hands of a Roman Catholic priest.

Monsignor Dennis O’Donovan, the vicar general of the archdiocese, will apologize from the pulpit of St. John the Apostle Parish in Reedsport on Aug. 26, according to Portland lawyer Gilion C. Dumas, who represented the victim in a lawsuit against the diocese and the Rev. Edward Alstock.

The public apology, which O’Donovan will make on behalf of Archbishop John Vlazny, is a rarity, Dumas said.

“As far as we know,” she said, “this is the first time that they are going to make a public apology in the parish where the abuse occurred.”

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OREGON
Statesman Journal

[Woodburn police department report ]

Written by
Emily Gillespie
Statesman Journal

The mother of the 12-year-old Salem boy who allegedly was violated by his Catholic priest taught her children what to do if they ever were touched inappropriately.

“She taught all of us what’s right and what’s wrong and to tell her if something happened,” said the boy’s brother, who translated for his mother.

That’s exactly what court documents say that the boy did when he spent the night on an air mattress at Woodburn priest Angel Perez’s house Sunday night and awoke to the 46-year-old man touching his genitals and taking pictures with his cell phone.

Perez faces two charges of felony sex crimes and two misdemeanor charges of supplying the boy with alcohol and driving while intoxicated.

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PHOENIX (AZ)
Tucson Citizen

by Michael Clancy on Aug. 17, 2012, under Arizona Republic News

The Diocese of Phoenix has missed its self-imposed deadline to publish details of how many priests have been accused of sexual misconduct and the associated costs of the scandal.

The diocese, which oversees parishes in Maricopa, Coconino, Yavapai and La Paz counties, promised to publish a comprehensive list of abusive clergy and an accounting of costs associated with the scandal by June 14. That hasn’t happened, and diocese officials are refusing to talk about it.

The report as promised would detail the full scope of the church abuse scandal in Phoenix, which lost more than two dozen priests to accusations and arrests. The scandal, which erupted in 2002 with the release of diocesan files in Boston, is believed to have cost the church nationwide an estimated $3.3 billion in court settlements and verdicts to date.

The diocese more than a year ago said the report would be ready in time for the 10th anniversary of the U.S. bishops’ Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, known as the Dallas Charter. The charter was the bishops’ response to the burgeoning scandal, which caught fire earlier that year.

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NEW JERSEY
The Times of Trenton

Published: Saturday, August 18, 2012

By Mike Davis/The Times of Trenton

UPPER FREEHOLD — It took Bruce Novozinsky more than seven years and 14,000 pages of letters, memos, manuscripts and interviews to produce his book on the decades of sexual abuse allegedly covered up by the powers that be in the Roman Catholic Church.

“Purple Reign: Sexual Abuse and Abuse of Power in the Diocese of Trenton” hit stores and online in June and recently became the sixth-most purchased e-book about Christianity on Amazon.com.

“Purple Reign,” the result of what the Upper Freehold resident calls an “obsession,” chronicles his memoirs in Catholic school — and three years at the former Divine Word Seminary in Bordentown — and the sexual abuse suffered in the Diocese of Trenton through the mid- to late 20th century.

“We were all products of the 1970s, where you just kind of prayed to, obeyed and paid the church. Nobody ever questioned the politics involved,” Novozinsky said in a telephone interview earlier this week.

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UNITED STATES
Friendly Atheist

[The Economist]

August 17, 2012 By Hemant Mehta

The Economist has attempted to paint a picture of what the Catholic Church’s finances look like, especially in light of the sexual abuse scandals. I’ll admit it. I may have salivated a bit at this paragraph:

By studying court documents in bankruptcy cases, examining public records, requesting documents from local, state and federal governments, as well as talking to priests and bishops confidentially, The Economist has sought to quantify the damage.

They estimate that the church spends about $171,600,000,000 a year. Not a typo.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Aug. 17, 2012
By Joshua J. McElwee

The U.S. bishops’ committee tasked with enforcing church doctrine quietly adopted new procedures for investigating theologians a year ago, apparently unbeknownst to the theologians whose teachings and writings would be subject to the protocols.

The procedures seem to indicate that the committee is eschewing dialogue with theologians when concerns over their adherence to church doctrine are reported, instead preferring a private in-house review process.

The procedures, which are dated Aug. 19, 2011, would have been formulated and approved at a time when the bishops and their committee were being questioned about their treatment of St. Joseph Sr. Elizabeth Johnson, a distinguished theologian whose work they sharply criticized in March 2011.

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CALIFORNIA
San Bernardino Sun

By Melissa Pinion-Whitt, The (San Bernardino County) Sunsbsun.com
Posted: 08/17/2012

Prosecutors on Friday declined to file charges against a Compton pastor accused of molesting two Rialto girls, citing a lack of evidence.

Anthony Lavon Smith, 47, of Rialto had been behind bars since Wednesday on suspicion of committing lewd and lascivious acts with a child, and other sex charges.

The San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office reviewed the case Friday.

“It’s been turned down,” said spokesman Chris Lee. “It’s pending further investigation.”

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CALIFORNIA
KABC

RIALTO, Calif. (KABC) — A San Bernardino County pastor was arrested, accused of sexually abusing two young girls.

Anthony Lavon Smith, who was arrested Tuesday, lives in Rialto but he works as a pastor at the Jericho Missionary Baptist Church in Compton.

The 47-year-old is accused of having a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl that’s been ongoing for the past six years.

During the investigation, a second female victim, who is now 29 years old, also came forward claiming she had been sexually abused by Smith when she was 15 years old.

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NEDERLAND
PZC

TERNEUZEN – Het bisdom Breda heeft Terneuzenaar Dave ten Hoor in een brief officieel excuses aangeboden voor het bij hem gepleegde seksueel misbruik door oud-pater Jan N. die in de jaren tachtig in Terneuzen werkte.

Dave, die na een verblijf in Gent in Kloosterzande woont, heeft dit vrijdag zelf bekend gemaakt. De klachtencommissie seksueel misbruik rooms-katholieke kerk heeft Dave’s klacht over seksueel misbruik deels gegrond verklaard. Het bisdom Breda heeft daarop de brief geschreven. De klachtencommissie achtte handtastelijkheden bewezen, maar verkrachting niet.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

by Heidi Schlumpf on Aug. 17, 2012 NCR Today

That’s what an in-depth, investigative piece in the Economist called the state of finances in the Catholic Church in America: an unholy mess.

It’s hard to decide what is most horrifying in this report of financial mismanagement, which looks at data made public through bankruptcy proceedings in several dioceses:
•Some dioceses have raided priests’ pension funds to pay for sexual abuse damages and other costs. Under Cardinal Bernard Law, the archdiocese of Boston contributed nothing to its clergy retirement fund between 1986 and 2002, despite receiving an estimated $70 million to $90 million in Easter and Christmas offerings that many parishioners believed would benefit retired priests.
•The same is true for parish savings. A parish in Wilmington, Del., sent $1 million to be deposited in what it thought was a separate account, but was really a pooled, general cash account for the diocese. The parish lost the money when the diocese struck a sexual-abuse settlement.
•Cardinal Dolan and other New York bishops are spending an estimated $100,000 a year to well over $1 million, sources say, on lobbying the state assembly to prevent an extension of the statute of limitations on sexual abuse, which would result in more lawsuits and more dioceses declaring bankruptcy.

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CANADA
The Chronicle-Herald

August 17, 2012 – 2:21pm By THE CANADIAN PRESS

YARMOUTH, N.S. — A sentencing hearing has been adjourned until November for a former Nova Scotia Roman Catholic priest who pleaded guilty to six counts of indecent assault involving children.

Provincial court received a letter saying that 83-year-old Albert LeBlanc was unable to travel from his home in Bouctouche, N.B., to Yarmouth where the case has been held due to medical reasons.

LeBlanc’s sentencing will now take place Nov. 23.

He pleaded guilty in May to charges involving different victims and faced a total of 50 sex-related charges involving minors, dating back to the 1960s and 1970s when he worked as a priest and later as a probation officer in Yarmouth.

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CALIFORNIA
The Worthy Adversary

Posted by Joelle Casteix on August 17, 2012

Thomas Thing, a former Franciscan brother, was recently fired from his job as the student activities director at a LA college when details of two child sex abuse lawsuits against him became public.

University of the West in Rosemead also got access to more than 500 pages of Thing’s personnel file (released as a part of the litigation) which showed that Thing had a long history of troublesome behavior. He even admitted to using his “power relationship” to sexually assault a college student while he was working at USD.

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OREGON
KATU

WOODBURN, Ore. – The Woodburn priest accused of sexually abusing a 12-year-old boy now has a prominent lawyer in his corner.

Angel Perez has hired attorney Marc Blackman and the Archdiocese of Portland has made him an open-ended loan to pay for the legal fees according to The Oregonian.

Perez was arrested earlier this week after a 12-year-old boy told police that Perez had fondled him.

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YAKIMA (WA)
Yakima Herald

Posted on July 27, 2012

Robert Fontana, local leader of a group seeking to reform the Catholic Church, will receive a national award in Chicago on Sunday.

Fontana will be saluted as “Lay Person of the Year” by Survivors Network of People Abused by Priests.

SNAP Director David Clohessy said that Fontana is receiving the award for his work in the Yakima area helping victims of clergy sexual abuse.

“We want to honor you for speaking out when you saw a dangerous situation and for continuing to reach out to survivors and working to protect kids,” Clohessy said.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

August 18, 2012

Richard Baker and Rory Callinan

EXCLUSIVE

A SECRET police bugging operation caught a senior Catholic figure on tape saying it was not up to him to report a paedophile priest and encouraging a victim not to go to authorities for fear of bad publicity.

Abuse victim Peter Murphy has told The Saturday Age he was wired up by police to record a meeting between the church leader and victims as part of a 1994 investigation into Melbourne-based paedophile priest Father Peter Chalk.

Mr Murphy, who has been abused by Chalk, said the meeting was with the head of Chalk’s order, Father Brian Gallagher, and the victims to discuss what the church was doing about the allegations.

News of the existence of the secret tapes comes as the church faces serious allegations in New South Wales and Victoria of failing to help bring paedophile priests to justice and as a parliamentary inquiry into criminal abuse of children by religious orders and other organisations gets under way in Victoria.

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OREGON
Daily Astorian

Associated Press

The Archdiocese of Portland has offered an open-ended loan to the Rev. Angel Armando Perez to cover legal fees as he fights an accusation that he fondled a 12-year-old boy.

The Oregonian reports ( http://is.gd/XAQi2P) Perez has hired prominent Portland attorney Marc Blackman, who has handled a number of high-profile cases.

Woodburn police arrested Perez Monday after the 12-year-old boy ran out of a parish-owned house, telling authorities Perez had given him beer and fondled him.

The 46-year-old parish priest at St. Luke Catholic Church told investigators he was drunk and didn’t remember what happened.

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National Catholic Reporter

by John L Allen Jr on Aug. 17, 2012 All Things Catholic

Most people believe the real power in Catholicism resides with the hierarchy, and in terms of both theology and church law, that’s basically right. For instance, canon law says the pope wields “supreme, full, immediate and universal” authority, and it’s tough to get more sweeping than that.

One wonders, however, if an accountant would reach the same conclusion.

When it comes to the financial dimension of Catholic life, there are certainly some deep pockets out there. Just to offer a few examples:
•The University of Notre Dame, America’s flagship Catholic university, has an annual budget of $1.2 billion and an endowment estimated at $7.5 billion.
•The Archdiocese of Chicago last year reported cash, investments and buildings valued at $2.472 billion.
•The Knights of Columbus has more than $85 billion of life insurance in force, with $8 billion in annual sales.
•In Rome, the Institute for the Works of Religion, known popularly (if, some say, inaccurately) as the “Vatican Bank,” administers assets in excess of $6 billion.
•American Catholics drop more than $8 billion every year into the Sunday collection plate, which works out to more than $150 million a week.
•In Germany, the Catholic church netted $8.8 billion in 2010 from the national “church tax,” allowing it to remain the country’s largest private employer after Volkswagen.

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AUSTRALIA
NEWS.com.au

A LANDMARK Supreme Court challenge has thrown into doubt the Anglican Church’s disciplinary processes for dealing with rogue priests.

In a case that will impact the church across the nation, an Anglican priest accused of sexual misconduct is challenging the validity of the clergy disciplinary regime.

The head of the Anglican Church, Dr Phillip Aspinall, has asked the court to be heard in the action which could open the floodgates for civil claims by priests who have been sacked or disciplined.

The disciplinary processes for dealing with rogue priests in almost every Anglican diocese in Australia are in doubt because of a landmark court challenge to their validity.

The head of the Anglican Church in Australia, Dr Phillip Aspinall, has asked to be heard in the legal action, which could open the floodgates for civil claims against the Church by priests who have been sacked or disciplined.

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UNITED STATES
Berger’s Beat

[Earthly concerns – The Economist]

August 16, 2012 3:01 pm | Author: Jerry Berger
Cardinal Timothy Dolan, a hometown boy who now heads America’s second largest Catholic archdiocese, is also believed to be Manhattan’s largest landowner. So says The Economist in a lengthy new article analyzing the wealth of the church in the U.S. Dolan refused to answer questions from the magazine about how much he spends lobbying against legislation that might enable child sex victims to file more lawsuits. And he dodged questions about two moves he made while Milwaukee’s archbishop – transferring $35 million to a trust and $55.6 million to a fund for cemeteries. Critics say the goal was to shield church funds from clergy sex plaintiffs

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OREGON
The Oregonian

By Bryan Denson, The Oregonian

A Woodburn priest accused this week of drunkenly fondling a 12-year-old boy has hired one of Oregon’s best criminal defense lawyers to represent him.

The Archdiocese of Portland offered an open-ended loan to the Rev. Angel Armando Perez to cover the legal fees of Marc Blackman, according to archdiocese spokesman Bud Bunce.

Blackman, 65, a founder of the Ransom Blackman law firm, has spent the last 35 years in private practice, representing such high-profile criminals as:

•Andy Wiederhorn, a Portland businessman, who was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison (and fined $2 million) for filing a false tax return and paying an illegal gratuity to the head of Capital Consultants.

•Jonathan C. M. Paul, an Animal Liberation Front saboteur (and brother of Baywatch TV star Alexandra Paul), who was sentenced to a five-year prison term for burning down a horse slaughterhouse in Redmond.

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MISSOURI
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

By the Editorial Board

In the law there’s something called a “Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation.” They’re filed by a powerful individuals or organization who want to shut up their critics by burying them in legal fees and hassles.

Efforts by lawyers for Catholic priests in St. Louis and Kansas City to drag officers of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests into damage lawsuits brought by purported abuse victims are not exactly SLAPP suits. They’re worse.

SNAP and its officers, David Clohessy and Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, are not parties to the lawsuits. But because their organization provided counseling to the anonymous plaintiffs, lawyers for the priests want to go fishing through decades of SNAP records.

Incredibly, in the Kansas City case, Jackson County Circuit Court Judge Ann Mesle last year approved this Ahab-like expedition.

Even more incredibly, on Tuesday of this week the Missouri Supreme Court refused to block Judge Mesle’s order. Many states have strong anti-SLAPP laws, but Missouri’s law is narrowly drawn. The court’s ruling this week effectively gave carte blanche to powerful organizations to harass anyone trying to help the powerless.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

[Earthly concerns – The Economist]

Posted by Barbara Dorris on August 16, 2012

Church officials handle money the same way they handle predators—“it’s our business, you stay out of it.” Catholic bishops want the benefits of money from the government but refuse to be clear about or held accountable for how it is used.

It’s important to understand why “the finances of the Catholic church in America are an unholy mess,” according to the Economist. It’s because that’s what bishops want: they want parishioners and the public to know very little about the church’s vast wealth.

We agree with The Economist, which says evidence suggests that “maladministration in the Vatican goes beyond mere negligence.” And we’re grateful The Economist notes that the church’s “national charitable activities” are “just 2.7%“of its overall spending.

We’re troubled by the bishops’ “trend towards replacing dollars from the faithful with publicly raised debt as a way of financing church business.”

The Economist, however, mischaracterizes the motive for diocesan bankruptcies. It’s not about money. It’s about secrecy.

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CANDA
Nanaimo Daily News

The Canadian Press
Published: Thursday, August 16, 2012
Aboriginals who have been denied compensation for their time at Canada’s notorious residential schools because they continued to live at home filed a class-action lawsuit Wednesday, arguing they, too, were scarred by a system designed to eradicate their language and culture.

The Tk’emlDups te Secwepemc Indian Band in British Columbia’s Interior and the Sechelt Indian Band on the province’s central coast filed a statement of claim in Federal Court in a case they hope grows to include aboriginals from across the country.

The federal government reached a settlement to compensate residential school students in 2006, two years before Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s historic apology in Parliament. But an automatic payment to former residential school students – described as a common experience payment – only applied to those who lived at the schools.

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BELGIE
De Morgen

Mieke Van Hecke, directeur- generaal van het katholiek onderwijs, biedt weerwoord op de open brief die de ouders van pedofilieslachtoffer Jonas gisteren publiceerden in deze krant. .

Geachte mevrouw en mijnheer,

Uw open brief (DM 16/8) heeft mij ten zeerste aangegrepen. Vooreerst om de waardigheid waarmee u de pijnlijke persoonlijke getuigenis hebt gebracht. In alle nederigheid wil ik mijn sympathie en beperkte empathie betuigen voor het grote verdriet dat u treft.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Isle of Wight County Press

By a County Press reporter
Friday, August 17, 2012

A FORMER priest has been charged with sex offences on the Isle of Wight dating back to the 1970s.

Robert Coles, 71, now of Upperton Road, Eastbourne, was yesterday (Thursday) charged with dozens of offences in the south of England.

They include eight offences of indecent assault on a boy aged between ten and 13 at locations in Broadbridge Heath in West Sussex, Devon, Cornwall and the Isle of Wight between 1978 and 1981.

Mr Coles, was arrested in March and was charged after police interview yesterday. He is due to appear at Chichester Magistrates’ Court on September 5.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

[with video]

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

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

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

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

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CALIFORNIA
Daily Bulletin

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

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

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

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

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

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HARLAN (KY)
Harlan Daily Enterprise

Joe P. Asher
Staff Writer

Jeremy Caraway was back in Harlan Circuit Court on Thursday.

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

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

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

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

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

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OREGON
Catholic News Agency

[Woodburn police report – The Oregonian]

By Michelle Bauman

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

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

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

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

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CALIFORNIA
Pasadena Star-News

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

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

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

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

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

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Priest Abuse Trial Blog

Ralph Cipriano

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

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

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

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

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Daily News

BY MENSAH M. DEAN
Daily News Staff Writer

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

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

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

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

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SEATTLE (WA)
O’Dea High School

Thursday August 16, 2012

August 10, 2012

Dear O’Dea School Community,

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

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

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

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NEW MEXICO
Courthouse News Service

By EVAN PRIESKOP

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

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

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

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

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MISSOURI
Bilgrimage

William D. Lindsey

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

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

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

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

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NEW YORK
Forbes

Neal Rodriguez, Contributor

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

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

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

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

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BUFFALO (NY)
The Buffalo News

Updated: August 16, 2012, 4:31 PM

By Jay Tokasz
News Staff Reporter

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

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

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

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

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
NBC 10

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

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

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

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

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
CNN

By Sarah Hoye, CNN

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

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

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

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

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BELGIEN
Kathweb

Gegen früheren belgischen Bischof liegt erneut Anzeige wegen sexuellen Missbrauchs ein

16.08.2012

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

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

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

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UNITED STATES
BBC News

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

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

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

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

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DEUTSCHLAND
Moment Mal

16. August 2012Hinterlasse einen KommentarKommentare lesen

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

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

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

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DEUTSCHLAND
MissBiT

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

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

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UNITED STATES
The Economist

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

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

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

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

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Independent

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

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

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

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

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
CBS Philly

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

By Tony Hanson

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

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

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

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

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UNITED KINGDOM
Chichester Observer

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

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

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

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

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
San Francisco Chronicle

MARYCLAIRE DALE, Associated Press

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

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

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

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

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

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

By John P. Martin
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

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

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

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

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

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

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BUFFALO (NY)
WGRZ

Written by
Kim DeGeorge-Pike

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

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

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

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

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MISSOURI
KCTV

[with video]

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

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

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

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

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

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MISSOURI
The Sacramento Bee

The Associated Press

Published: Wednesday, Aug. 15, 2012

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

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

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

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

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MISSOURI
Wichita Eagle

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

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

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

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

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MISSOURI
Fox 4

[with video]

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

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

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

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

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NEW JERSEY
NJ.com

By Matt Friedman/Statehouse Bureau

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

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

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

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

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MISSOURI
Courthouse News Service

By JOE HARRIS

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

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

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

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

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COLOMBIA
Caracol Radio

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

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

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BELGIUM
Expatica

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

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

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

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

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SALINA (KS)
LJ World

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

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

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

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PENNSYLVANIA
WPXI

[with video]

SEWICKLEY, Pa. —

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

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

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

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

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

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PENNSYLVANIA
WTAE

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

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

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

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

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PENNSYLVANIA
CBS Pittsburgh

[with video]

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

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

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

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PENNSYLVANIA
Patch

By Larissa Dudkiewicz

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

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

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

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

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PENNSYLVANIA
Times Online

By Jenny Wagner jwagner@timesonline.com

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

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

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

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

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DEUTSCHLAND
Kreuz

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

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

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BELGIEN
BRF

16. August 2012, 08:15

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

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

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

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BELGIEN
Tageblatt

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

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

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NEW MEXICO
Albuquerque Journal

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

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

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CALIFORNIA
EGP

By City News Service

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

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

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

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

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COLOMBIA
Colombia Reports

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

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

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

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

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

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

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CALIFORNIA
Orange County Weekly

By Gustavo Arellano
Wed., Aug. 15 2012

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

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

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VATICAN CITY
The Guardian (United Kingdom)

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

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

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

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

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

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VATICAN CITY
The Daily Beast

Barbie Latza Nadeau

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

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

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

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

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
The Republic

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
August 15, 2012

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

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

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

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

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DEUTSCHLAND
Gloria.tv

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

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DEUTSCHLAND
MissBiT

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

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

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OSTERREICH
Nachrichten

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

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

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

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DEUTSCHLAND
SWR

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

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

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

BY JOANNE MCCARTHY

16 Aug, 2012

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

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

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

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

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

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

By John P. Martin
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

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

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

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

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

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

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MISSOURI
Lez Get Real

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

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

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

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

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MEXICO
MSN

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

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

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

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

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NEW YORK
YNN

[with video]

By: Alexandra Weishaupt

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

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

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

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

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

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NEW YORK
Forward

By Simi Lampert

Published August 14, 2012.

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

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

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

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

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NEW YORK
The Jewish Week

JTA

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

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

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

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

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CANADA
Leader-Post

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

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

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

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

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

Dan Box
From:The Australian
August 16, 2012

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

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

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

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

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MISSOURI
The Chronicle of Philanthropy

August 15, 2012

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

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

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

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

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

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

GIACOMO GALEAZZI
Vatican City

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

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

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

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CANADA
Global Saskatoon

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

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

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

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

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

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

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CANADA
Leader-Post

By Betty Ann Adam, The StarPhoenix August 14, 2012

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

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

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

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

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NEW YORK/CANADA
Democrat and Chronicle

Written by
David Andreatta
Staff writer

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

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

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

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

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VATICAN CITY
AFP

By Ella Ide (AFP)

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

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

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

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

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ARKANSAS
KAIT

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

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

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

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

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CANADA
The StarPhoenix

By Betty Ann Adam, The StarPhoenix August 15, 2012

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

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

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

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

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IOWA
KCCI

[with video]

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

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

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

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

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PENNSYLVANIA
Pittsburgh-Post Gazette

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

By Ann Rodgers, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

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

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

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

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

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