ABUSE TRACKER

PENNSYLVANIA
Daily Times

By PATTI MENGERS
pmengers@delcotimes.com

Two days after a Philadelphia judge sentenced a monsignor in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia to jail for enabling a pedophile priest, a Delaware County man filed a civil suit Wednesday against the archdiocese and Malvern Preparatory School for allegedly not protecting him from a sexually abusive cleric who taught there.

Also named in the lawsuit, filed by Chester County attorney Daniel F. Monahan in Philadelphia, were the religious Order of St. Augustine and John R. Liggio, the Augustinian priest who allegedly assaulted the plaintiff in 1997 and 1998 when he was a student at the 170-year-old private Catholic boys’ school for grades 6 through 12 in Chester County.

“He did so by using physical, intellectual, moral, emotional and psychological force. The abuse began as compelled touching in Malvern Prep bathrooms where Liggio followed the plaintiff and isolated him. It progressed to sexual contact at Liggio’s residence on campus,” the lawsuit states.

The plaintiff is identified only as “an adult male individual less than 30 years of age and a citizen and resident of Delaware County in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania” because he was a minor when he was an alleged victim of sex crimes.

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UNITED STATES
Wicked Local Newton

Marjorie Arons-Barron

Recently, a Philadelphia church official, Msgr. William Lynn, was sentenced to three to six years in prison on one felony child endangerment charge for covering up sexual abuse by the now laicized priest, Edward Avery, whom he supervised. Lynn was acquitted of conspiracy and a second endangerment count involving a second priest, on whom the jury deadlocked. The concern underlying the charges and conviction was Lynn’s apparent shielding of predatory priests, protecting them from public scrutiny by reassigning them to different parishes, and lying to spare the Church’s reputation from scandal. He had a responsibility in those three areas under both secular and canon law. Msgr. Lynn mounted a defense saying he was obeying orders from his own supervisor, Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua, Archbishop of Philadelphia and a canonist, who died earlier this year. Meanwhile, Cardinal Bevilacqua’s successor, Cardinal Justin Regali, failed to provide material relevant to the scandal to his own review board.

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MINNESOTA
LaCrosse Tribune

Former Diocese of Winona priest describes encounter with bishop, concerns about Adamson abuse

By Jerome Christenson Winona Daily News

WINONA, Minn. — A former priest of the Diocese of Winona said Thursday he was literally shown the door when he told Bishop Edward Fitzgerald that the Rev. Thomas Adamson was sexually abusing boys in Caledonia, Minn.

Jim Fitzpatrick, a Caledonia native and priest for the diocese from 1963 to 1973, said he was assigned to the Winona Cathedral and Cotter High School when parents from his hometown came to Winona to ask what he could do about what Adamson was doing to boys in Caledonia.

Fitzpatrick said he would talk with the bishop, but when he went to Fitzgerald and related what the parents told him about their sons and about 15 other boys, Fitzgerald told him he would deal with his priests and showed him out of his office.

Fitzpatrick described his encounter with the bishop in a news conference Thursday in St. Paul. Fitzpatrick was to be a witness in the case brought against the Archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis and the Diocese of Winona by James Keenan, claiming he had in 1980-81 been sexually abused by Adamson and that church officials had been aware of Adamson’s history of child sexual abuse.

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AUSTRALIA
TVNZ

Published: 8:08PM Friday July 27, 2012

A man who as a child was abused by a paedophile priest has been found dead in his car after the pain became “just too much for him”, his wife says.

The body of John Pirona, 45, was discovered by police in a car at Tomago near Newcastle in the early hours of Friday morning, nearly a week after his wife Tracey last saw him on Saturday night.

Ms Pirona said she alerted police to his disappearance after finding a letter that spoke of the pain he felt being linked to a paedophile priest and of his wish “to go nobly”.

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SPRINGFIELD (MA)
iobserve

By Father Bill Pomerleau
SPRINGFIELD – Different portraits of the effects that Alfred F. Grave’s sexual abuse had on Andrew Nicastro, and his later motivations in

launching a 2009 lawsuit, were the subject of contentious questioning July 26 in the civil trial of Springfield Bishop Emeritus Joseph F. Maguire and former Springfield Bishop Thomas L. Dupré.

Nicastro, of Williamstown, alleges that the bishops acted negligently by returning the former priest to ministry with insufficient supervision after they knew that he had a history of abusing boys in other parishes.

John J. Egan, Bishop Maguire’s attorney, began his cross-examination of Nicastro by suggesting that the now 41-year-old had told others about his abuse several years ago – this time using a document prepared by Nicastro himself with the help of his attorney, John Stobierski.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC – AM

Will Ockenden reported this story on Friday, July 27, 2012

TONY EASTLEY: A senior member of Australia’s Catholic Church says he’d support a public inquiry into the Church’s handling of sexual assaults by priests.

The Catholic Bishop of the Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle Bill Wright says it’s up to governments to work out which issues need investigating.

Will Ockenden reports.

WILL OCKENDEN: Over the past 50 years the Hunter Valley has seen scores of people reporting cases of sexual assault by priests.

One Catholic priest was convicted and jailed several years ago after sexually abusing 39 schoolboys aged from five to 16 years old over nearly 20 years.

The Bishop Bill Wright released a statement on his view on how sexual assault should be investigated.

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MISSOURI
National Catholic Reporter

Jul. 26, 2012
By Joshua J. McElwee

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The leading advocacy group for clergy sex abuse victims has asked the Missouri Supreme Court to quash a local judge’s ruling for the group to grant access to more than 23 years of internal documents to attorneys who represent accused priests in the state, saying the order violates the confidentiality of abuse victims.

The request, formally known as a “writ of prohibition,” is the latest step by the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests in a months-long saga over access to the documents.

Twenty-two victims’ advocacy and church reform groups and six former and current local, state and federal prosecutors have also asked the court to intervene in the matter, saying the order could lead to further victimization and ultimately “intimidate, harass, and silence victims of sexual abuse.”

The requests stem from Jackson County, Mo., Circuit Court Judge Ann Mesle’s order July 17 to SNAP in a case concerning a Kansas City priest accused of abuse. The case, in which SNAP is not a party, made headlines in January when it became the first in which one of the group’s leaders was ordered to provide testimony.

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SANTA MONICA (CA)
LA Weekly

By Dennis Romero
Thu., Jul. 26 2012

Santa Monica police today said they’re checking out a local priest after a woman came forward and alleged he sexually assaulted her.

If so (and, for the record, it ain’t so, at least not yet), it wouldn’t be too surprising. Church and the Tiki theater in Hollywood, apparently, are where all the sex crimes go down these days.

The man of the cloth under scrutiny was named as Rafael Venegas. He works at …

… St. Anne’s Church, 2017 Colorado Ave.

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SPRINGFIELD (MA)
The Republican

By Buffy Spencer, The Republican

SPRINGFIELD – Anthony Nicastro testified Thursday he took his son and daughter to church when they were young because he wanted them to get some moral direction in addition to what they got at home.

He said he never worried about his son Andrew Nicastro’s interactions as an altar boy with now defrocked priest Alfred Graves, the family’s pastor at St. Patrick’s Church in Williamstown.

“I had implicit faith and trust in priests,” said Anthony Nicastro, who said he went to parochial school and Catholic high school in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Anthony Nicastro, a “semi-retired” professor at Williams College and North Adams State College, said he never knew Graves had sexually assaulted his son Andrew Nicastro over a period of about three years starting when the boy was about 11 years old.

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SANTA MONICA (CA)
Santa Monica Police Department

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 26, 2012
Contact: Richard Lewis, Sergeant
Phone: 310.458.8462
e-mail: richard.lewis@smgov.net

The Santa Monica Police Department is currently investigating an allegation of sexual battery against Rafael Venegas, a priest at St. Anne’s Church located at 2017 Colorado Avenue in Santa Monica.

The victim, who is an adult female and not a parishioner of St. Anne’s, contacted the Santa Monica Police Department on July 1, 2012 and reported that the incident involving Venegas occurred on the property of St. Anne’s Parish in September 2011. The allegations remain under investigation and no arrests have been made at this time.

Anyone with additional information is asked to contact Detective DeRyck at (310) 458-8944, Sergeant Jacob at (310) 458-8460 or the Santa Monica Police Department (24hours) at (310) 458-8495.

If you wish to remain anonymous, you can call WeTip at 1-800-78-CRIME (1-800-78-27463), or submit the tip online at www.wetip.com. You will remain completely anonymous and may be eligible for a reward, up to $1,000.00, if your information leads to an arrest and conviction.

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SANTA MONICA (CA)
Patch

By Jenna Chandler

Police are investigating allegations of sexual battery by a priest at St. Anne’s Catholic Church, a department spokesman said in a press release Thursday.

No arrests have been made in the case, which was reported to July 1 to Santa Monica Police.

A woman, who isn’t a parishioner at the church, told police the incident occurred on church property near Colorado Avenue and 20th Street in September of last year.

St. Anne’s referred requests for comment to its attorney, Donald Steier, who did not return a message.

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SANTA MONICA (CA)
Santa Mornica Mirror

Posted Jul. 26, 2012

Brenton Garen / Editor-in-Chief

St. Anne’s Church priest Rafael Venegas is currently being investigated following an allegation of sexual assault.

The adult female, who is not a parishioner of St. Anne’s at 2017 Colorado Avenue, contacted the Santa Monica Police Department on July 1 and reported that the incident involving Venegas occurred on the property of St. Anne’s Parish in September 2011.

SMPD Sgt. Richard Lewis said the allegations remain under investigation and no arrests have been made at this time.

Anyone with additional information is asked to contact Detective DeRyck at 310.458.8944, Sergeant Jacob at 310.458.8460 or the Santa Monica Police Department (24hours) at 310.458.8495.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

BY JOANNE MCCARTHY

27 Jul, 2012

Maitland-Newcastle Bishop Bill Wright has expressed his ‘‘broad support’’ for a royal commission into the Catholic church’s handling of sexual abuse cases after an overwhelming public response to the disappearance of a paedophile-priest victim.

In a statement yesterday Bishop Wright acknowledged the growing calls for a royal commission, saying ‘‘I am broadly supportive of public inquiries into these matters’’.

‘‘It would be for government to determine, in consultation with their agencies and other groups in the community, what would be the best form of inquiry and into which particular issues it should inquire.’’

It is believed to be one of the first public expressions of support by a senior NSW Catholic clergy member for a formal government inquiry.

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WHEELING (WV)
Catholic Sentinel

Catholic News Service

WHEELING, W.Va. — Bishop Michael Bransfield of Wheeling-Charleston said the “false hearsay statements” made against him at the recently concluded Philadelphia trial of two priests on sex abuse-related charges have hurt him, his family and the people of his diocese.

In a July 23 letter to the priests and people of the Wheeling-Charleston Diocese, Bishop Bransfield said a “hearsay allegation” that he had engaged in improper conduct with a high school student in the 1970s “has been put to rest” by the student in question, now in his 50s, and others.

“I can only repeat what I have stated before publicly: I have never abused anyone,” the bishop said.

The allegation surfaced during the trial of Msgr. William Lynn, former secretary of clergy in the Philadelphia Archdiocese, on charges of child endangerment; he was later found guilty of one count and recently sentenced. His co-defendant, accused of abuse, must be retried after the jury could not reach a verdict in his case.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Philadelphia Inquirer

June 25, 2012|Inquirer Editorial

Outside their own circles, they’re mostly unknown — and certainly not referred to as Victim No. … But other child sex-abuse victims across Pennsylvania are just as entitled to justice as those whose accusations were heard in the sensational trials of a former college football coach and a high-ranking Catholic Church official.

Many of the other victims have also suffered in silence for decades, often unable to admit to themselves the horror of being abused as a child or teen. And if they did decide to come forward, it would likely be too late under the state’s criminal and civil statutes.

These other victims waited even as separate juries wrestled with the charges against former Pennsylvania State University assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky, whose alleged victims now include an adopted son, and Archdiocese of Philadelphia Msgr. William Lynn — who on Friday became the first U.S. church official convicted in a child sex-abuse case.

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ALABAMA
San Francisco Chronicle

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — A youth minister accused of sex crimes against children in three Alabama counties is scheduled to be sentenced in one case on July 31.

An Elmore County jury found John A. Astorga guilty on April 11 on two counts of first-degree sexual abuse. Three victims and the pastor of Bethel Assembly of God in Wetumpka, where Astorga worked, testified at his trial.

Astorga faces up to a year and a day imprisonment on each of the two counts in Elmore County and must register as a convicted sex offender.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Bilgrimage

Jerry Slevin has sent one of his wonderful postings. This one focuses on the unfinished business after Msgr. Lynn has been sentenced in Philadelphia. What follows is Jerry’s statement:

At Lynn’s trial, he and his lawyers presented overwhelming evidence that Lynn followed his Cardinal bosses’ orders that resulted in child endangerment. The lawyers were selected under Cardinal Rigali and paid huge sums by the Philly Archdiocese (Philly AD).

Rigali was one of Lynn’s bosses. Lynn served under him, several months as priest personnel chief and almost 8 years as a pastor. Obviously, Lynn filled Rigali in on the “bad priests” and then Rigali learned further details as top man in the Philly AD for almost 8 years until several months ago.

Last year, after receiving his second disastrous Philly Grand Jury priest abuse report in barely five years, Rigali still tried to deny having pedophile priests still actively on board. After some public pressure and perhaps new lawyers’ advice, he quickly reversed himself and in March of last year suspended 36 priests for suspected misconduct with minors. Since then, Rigali’s sudden replacement, Archbishop Chaput, has sacked some of these suspected priests, yet Chaput continues to stall on many of them. It is not clear why he is stalling and whether it relates to trying to protect Rigali.

If Rigali’s evident carrying of 36 alleged pedophiles, some for years it appears, isn’t a “prima face” case for child endangerment, it is hard to see what is. Lynn got 6 years for carrying one pedophile, defrocked Fr. Avery! Cardinal Rigali appears to make Joe Paterno look good! Moreover, the Philly AD makes Penn State look like the minor leagues.

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IOWA
The Catholic Globe

By RENEE WEBB, Globe editor

Ten years ago the U.S. bishops adopted the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People that required each diocese have mechanisms in place to respond promptly and in a pastoral way to credible allegations of child sexual abuse by clergy.

Since that charter was adopted at the bishops June meeting in 2002 being held in Dallas, it has become known as and is often referred to as the Dallas charter.

Bishop Walker Nickless of the Diocese of Sioux City, who was a priest for the Archdiocese of Denver at that time, pointed out that not long before that meeting of the bishops the national scandal pertaining to child sexual abuse by clergy had erupted in Boston.

Response was necessary

“The bishops knew they had to respond,” Bishop Nickless said. “It was really important for them to show that they cared first and foremost about victims, that children needed to be protected and that credible and accused perpetrators needed to be dealt with in a strong way.”

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MISSOURI
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

SNAP’s new writ to MO Supreme Court

Amicus by prosecutors backing the writ

Amicus by 24 groups backing the writ

Posted by David Clohessy on July 26, 2012

Clergy sex abuse victims are asking the Missouri Supreme Court to block or limit demands by Kansas City Catholic officials for potentially hundreds or thousands of pages of their self help group’s records. And they’re picking up support from widely disparate sources.

On Friday, leaders of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, filed a writ to the state’s highest court to stop what they call “expensive, intrusive, hurtful and intimidating” discovery requests by lawyers for several suspended Kansas City area Catholic priests accused of molesting children.

And this week, three amicus briefs have been filed backing SNAP’s position. One is by two current Missouri prosecutors and four former prosecutors. The other two are signed by 24 local and national organizations. They include The Rutherford Institute, a conservative legal organization that helped Paula Jones pursue her sexual harassment case against then-President Bill Clinton and the liberal Call to Action, which advocates ordaining women.

“If this court permits the circuit court’s discovery order, sex abuse victims and the organizations that support them will suffer irreparable harm,” the prosecutors’ brief maintains.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Hannoveriche Allgemeine

26.07.2012

Nach dem Missbrauchsskandal in der katholischen Kirche hat das Bistum Hildesheim seine Präventionskampagne ausgeweitet. Mitarbeiter der Kinder- und Jugendseelsorge erhalten künftig einen Leitfaden mit klaren Regeln und Richtlinien, die sexuellen Missbrauch und respektlosen Umgang mit Kindern verhindern soll, teilte das Bistum am Donnerstag mit.

Hildesheim. Teil des Leitfadens ist die Selbstverpflichtungserklärung, die ehrenamtliche und hauptberufliche Mitarbeiter, die mit Kindern zu tun haben, seit zwei Jahren abgeben müssen. Diese hatte nach Angaben des Bistums immer wieder Fragen aufgeworfen.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Die Zeit

Vor einem Jahr wurde eine Studie zum sexuellen Missbrauch angekündigt, nun stockt das Projekt des Kriminologen Christian Pfeiffer. Wie einflussreich sind die Kritiker?

Im Juli 2011 wurden Journalisten in den profanen Räumen des Bonner Universitätsclubs eines Mirakels teilhaftig: Die Bischofskonferenz kündigte ein Forschungsprojekt zum Thema Missbrauch an; Fälle von 1945 bis in die Gegenwart sollten aufgeklärt werden. „Der sexuelle Missbrauch an Minderjährigen durch katholische Priester, Diakone und männliche Ordensangehörige“, lautete der Titel. Gemeint war: mehr Glaubwürdigkeit, weniger Vertuschen. Als federführender Experte wurde der bekannte Hannoveraner Kriminologe Christian Pfeiffer präsentiert.

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MINNESOTA
San Antonio Express-News

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Diocese of Winona says it’s pleased with the Minnesota Supreme Court ruling that rejected a clergy abuse lawsuit by a man whose case rested on a repressed memory claim.

In a statement released Thursday, the diocese says it’s committed to ensuring the safety of children and young people at its parishes, schools and other programs.

James Keenan of Savage sued the Archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis and the Diocese of Winona, alleging abuse in the 1980s by Thomas Adamson, a priest who is now defrocked. Keenan brought his claim outside the statute of limitations, but argued that it should be allowed because he repressed memories of the abuse. A district court rejected that claim, but the state Court of Appeals revived it.

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UNITED KINGDOM
This is Lancashire

AN EAST Lancashire priest has resigned his post in charge of a church after his suspension came to a close.

The Rev Joe Fielder, the priest-in-charge at St John’s, Baxenden, was suspended by Blackburn Diocese in March after he was arrested on suspicion of assaulting an 11-year-old-boy.

A church investigation was completed this month and a decision to take no action against the Rev Fielder was made. Police have also taken no action.

The diocese said it had now come to an agreement with Mr Fielder over his resignation.

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UNITED STATES
Catholic League

July 26, 2012

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on how the elites in two states are dealing with child abuse:

Yesterday, a bill was passed by voice vote in the Massachusetts House expanding the time period on civil claims of child sexual abuse. Today, an editorial in the Philadelphia Inquirer calls for Pennsylvania lawmakers to allow a two-year window for filing civil lawsuits in such cases. Neither effort is serious about combating this problem, and both endorse discriminatory legislation.

In Massachusetts, the bill that was passed would do absolutely nothing about child sexual abuse that occurs in the public schools; it applies exclusively to private institutions, such as the Catholic Church. Similarly, the editorial in the Inquirer says absolutely nothing about blanketing the public sector; unless a bill specifically targets the sovereign immunity status of the public schools, they remain exempt.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
National Catholic Reporter

Jul. 26, 2012
By Tom Roberts

Hundreds of plaintiffs involved in a historic sex abuse settlement more than five years ago with the Los Angeles archdiocese may be coming to the end of a long struggle to gain access to thousands of pages of documentation detailing the conduct of church officials in handling the scandal.

On July 18, a California Appeals Court denied the latest petition of the archdiocese to restrict access to priest personnel files sought by attorney Anthony De Marco as part of a current abuse lawsuit he has filed against the archdiocese.

The significance of the recent decision, however, goes beyond the case in question, De Marco said in a phone interview Tuesday. He said California Superior Court Judge Emilie H. Elias looked over the 25 files in question in the current case, some of which overlap those sought as part of a $660 million settlement in 2007. He said she told attorneys on both sides that she would use the request as a “test case” and that if the appeals court is satisfied with what she was agreeing to release, that the same criteria would be used for the rest of the documents being sought. She said if the archdiocese’s petition to keep the records sealed is denied, she would rapidly go through the rest of the documents in question.

Tod M. Tamberg, director of media relations for the Los Angeles archdiocese, disagrees with De Marco’s assessment. The denial of the church’s petition “does not affect release or publication of documents,” he said in an email response to questions from NCR. “The issue was only whether certain materials could be disclosed to the plaintiff’s lawyer in one specific case.”

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CHILE
La Tercera

Abogado de padre O’Reilly y denuncia de abuso: “Informe psicológico no contiene el relato de la niña, sino de la madre”

El abogado del sacerdote Jhon O´Reilly, Luis Hermosilla, calificó como “pobre” el informe hecho por una psicóloga privada y que develaría los supuestos abusos a los que habría sido sometida una menor de seis años a manos del capellán del colegio Cumbres.

El hecho fue conocido públicamente ayer, mediante un comunicado del mismo colegio luego de la denuncia de los padres de la menor y después de que el mismo sacerdote solicitara una investigación.

“El informe (psicológico) es muy pobre, técnicamente muy débil, sin consistencia, lo que contiene no es el relato de la niña, contiene el relato de la madre de la niña, omitiendo antecedentes que son extraordinariamente importantes. Por ejemplo, esta niña es trilliza, es una mujer que tiene dos hermanitos.El desarrollo psicológico y emocional de un menor que es parte de trillizos es distinto de un hijo único. Normalmente tienen que competir los mismos por la misma madre y el mismo padre.

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CHILE
La Tercera

por S. Labrín y P. Muñoz

Una denuncia por un presunto caso de abuso sexual contra una menor de cinco años indaga la Fiscalía Oriente, en contra del sacerdote legionario y asesor espiritual del Colegio Cumbres, John O’Reilly.

La denuncia fue confirmada a través de un comunicado por el recinto educacional de la Congregación Legionarios de Cristo. En el texto se señaló que “la información entregada verbalmente por la madre de nuestra estudiante hace referencia al padre John O’Reilly, quien ha manifestado al colegio su total inocencia y disposición a colaborar en la investigación”. El sacerdote, junto con el colegio, acordaron la suspensión de sus actividades mientras dure el proceso judicial. De hecho, su nombre y fotografía ya no figuran en el sitio web del colegio como miembro del equipo espiritual del nivel preescolar.

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UNITED STATES
Digital Journal

San Diego, CA (PRWEB) July 26, 2012

The media spotlight is often a double-edged sword. No one knows this better than Andrew Nicastro and other victims of alleged Child Molestation. And yet, gossip and rumor-mongering aside, the real story here is being overlooked according to Sean Burke of AttorneyOne.

According to court documents, a jury began on Monday, July 23rd, 2012 in a lawsuit filed on December 15th, 2010 by a Williamstown man, Andrew Nicastro, in Hampden County Superior Court (case no. HDCV2010-00037B) alleging he was molested as a child by his parish priest, former Rev. Alfred Graves. Nicastro claims he was sexually abused about twice a week for about three years when he was between 11 and 14 years old. Defendants are two former bishops, the Most Rev. Joseph F. Maguire and the Most Rev. Thomas L. Dupre, who Nicastro claims should be held accountable for his childhood abuse by the priest.

According to the National Alert Registry, statistics say that one out of every three to four girls has been sexually assaulted by the age of 18. One boy out of every six will be abused by the age of 18.

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LONG BEACH (CA)
Los Angeles Times

By Larry Gordon, Los Angeles Times

July 26, 2012
A Roman Catholic priest who worked at a Long Beach church pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges he sexually groped a 14-year-old girl and two women in incidents that started two years ago.

Father Luis Jose Cuevas, 67, a pastor of St. Athanasius Church on Linden Avenue, faces eight misdemeanor charges of sexual assault and one felony count involving lewd acts with a child, according to a complaint filed by the L.A. County district attorney’s office. Superior Court Judge James Otto set his bail at $260,000.

The two adult women, both 20, initially reported the alleged incidents to the archdiocese and then filed a police report, said Sgt. Aaron Eaton, a spokesman for the Long Beach Police Department. Later, the teenager alleged repeated incidents during which Cuevas inappropriately touched “an intimate part” of her body for his own sexual arousal, the complaint contends. Cuevas was arrested Monday in San Jacinto.

All of the incidents allegedly occurred at the church, where Cuevas served and lived for seven years until his recent removal from duties. The felony and six of the lesser charges involve the teenager, who was 14 during the first alleged incident in July 2010, according to the complaint. The two women said he fondled them in February 2012.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

July 27, 2012

Barney Zwartz

A VICTIM of sexual abuse – by a Catholic priest – who wrote to a government inquiry into clergy sexual abuse was referred to a Catholic agency, less than a week after the committee’s chief executive assured The Age such a conflict could not happen.

Peter Blenkiron, of Ballarat, was appalled when he was referred to Centacare, a Catholic agency he found ”terrible” when he first reported his abuse several years ago.

He wrote on July 10 to the parliamentary inquiry into the handling of child abuse by religious and other organisations seeking a simpler method for victims to be heard.

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SPRINGFIELD (MA)
iobserve

By Father Bill Pomerleau

SPRINGFIELD – Jury selection began July 23 for a trial that may – or may not – give the public new insights into how the Diocese of Springfield handled cases of clergy sexual misconduct in the 1970s and 1980s.

After questioning nearly 100 potential jurors for more than two hours, Hampden Superior Court Judge Constance Sweeney had seated only 10 men and women for what is expected to be a two-week trial.

Andrew Nicastro, a Williamstown resident who operates Isabella’s Restaurant in North Adams, is suing Springfield Bishop Emeritus Joseph F. Maguire and former Springfield Bishop Thomas L. Dupré in a civil case alleging that they failed to protect him from former priest Alfred Graves.

Graves, who actively served as a diocesan priest from 1967 to 1992, was taken out of ministry and forbidden to present himself as a priest by the late Bishop John A. Marshall, apparently after new allegations of misconduct came to the attention of the diocese. The diocese later confirmed that allegations that then-Father Graves had sexually abused boys were credible.

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SPRINGFIELD (MA)
iobserve

By Father Bill Pomerleau

SPRINGFIELD – Testimony in the civil trial of Springfield Bishop Emeritus Joseph F. Maguire and former Springfield Bishop Thomas L. Dupré began July 24 with dramatic testimony from abuse victim Andrew Nicastro.

Fighting back tears at several points in during his 45 minutes on the witness stand, Nicastro recounted how he had been a happy child, in an intact nuclear family, growing up in Williamstown before a new priest, then-Father Alfred C. Graves, arrived at St. Patrick Parish in 1981. But by early 1982, his pastor had begun to sexually abuse him in the parish church and rectory.

“It was done with laughter. I felt chosen,” Nicastro said in a quiet voice after recounting in graphic detail how Graves had improper sexual contact with him behind St. Patrick’s sanctuary after funeral or wedding liturgies, and in the rectory where he was invited in during his daily newspaper delivery,

Nicastro said the abuse continued until shortly after Graves became the pastor of the former St. Matthew Parish in Indian Orchard in October, 1985. The priest invited him to an overnight stay in his new rectory, where he smoked cigarettes and relaxed with the man he then considered a special friend.

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SPRINGFIELD (MA)
iobserve

By Father Bill Pomerleau

SPRINGFIELD – In the second day of emotional testimony in a civil trial against Springfield Bishop Emeritus Joseph F. Maguire and former Springfield Bishop Thomas L. Dupré, the plaintiff, Andrew Nicastro, denied that he ever spoke to a former pastor of Sts. Patrick and Raphael Parish in Williamstown about his childhood sexual abuse by Alfred C. Graves a former diocesan priest who was laicized in 2006.

What the plaintiff’s attorneys called “the alleged meeting” could be a crucial element in the outcome of the trial, which is determining if the two former diocesan bishops were negligent in returning then-Father Graves to ministry after they knew he had a history of abuse.

Father William F. Cyr, who was pastor of the Williamstown parish from 1989 to 2002, testified early in the day, before Nicastro was called to the stand. He said that sometime between 2000 and 2002, he received a phone call from Nicastro requesting a meeting.

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This was what Paolo Gabriele kept repeating to friends before his arrest. Now he hopes the Pope will forgive him. Could he become an usher?

Vatican Insider staff
Rome

“I am disliked by many because I am not aligned with the system.” It is a phrase which reveals all the deep anguish that has been shaking Paolo Gabriele, the Pope’s former butler, who is currently under house arrest after spending two months in a Vatican prison cell, charged with aggravated theft of confidential documents. He is now awaiting a predicted committal for trial. The butler kept on repeating the phrase to friends and acquaintances in the Vatican before getting mixed up in one of the most controversial scandals that have shaken the Holy See in recent years.

There is still one fundamental question surrounding the scandal involving the so-called poison pen letter writers – who got hold of some confidential documents belonging to the Pope and had them published in Italian newspapers and a book: why did the person/people responsible do this and why? If Gabriele, who is still the only individual under investigation who is facing trial, spoke of a “system” he was not in line with, perhaps in his mind, over time, he developed a need to act if not fight against these alleged forces of power working around or even against the Pope, out of “love” and in order to “help” Benedict XVI. This is how he described his actions to his lawyers Carlo Fusco and Cristiana Arru.

According to the two lawyers, Gabriele acted the way he did because he was influenced by a set of “inner ideals” which led him to follow a plan which was “certainly questionable” but was meant for the “good of the Church.” Gabriele sent a distressed letter to the Pope explaining these reasons and thinking. The letter reinforced the former butler’s hope that Benedict XVI would forgive him.

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FLORIDA
WDBO

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. —

A newly released video of a former Orange County teacher shows him being grilled by detectives after he was arrested in a sex sting.

Brian Shriner, who was also an Episcopalian priest, was arrested last month after being accused of traveling to have sex with a 14-year-old girl.

Shriner told detectives he wanted to meet the girl because he was writing a book, according to officials.

He apparently had aspirations to be an author, so Shriner told detectives he needed to speak to a 14-year-old girl, and he went online to find one, according to investigators.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

July 26, 2012

Editorial

Few things are worse than a watchman who doesn’t watch. That’s why Monsignor William J. Lynn of Philadelphia was sentenced Tuesday to 3 to 6 years in prison.

He failed to watch over the safety of the children of his Catholic archdiocese for the dozen years he was secretary for clergy to Cardinal Anthony J. Bevilacqua. It was Lynn’s job to make parish assignments and to investigate sex abuse claims against priests.

Last month, Lynn, 61, was found guilty of turning a blind eye to the predations of Edward Avery, a former parish priest who pleaded guilty to charges of sexually assaulting an altar boy in 1999. Lynn was told by a medical student in 1992 that Avery had molested him in the 1970s.

Lynn removed Avery from his parish and ordered him hospitalized for evaluation. But instead of then turning Avery over to Philadelphia police, Lynn let him to return to ministry in a limited capacity. Avery was reassigned to a parish that knew nothing of his history and no report was made to civil authorities.

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UNITED STATES
Verdict

Marci A. Hamilton

If you have even glanced at a headline, television screen, or the Internet this summer, you cannot have missed the multitude of stories about child sex abuse and the justice system. The fight against such abuse has taken a laudable turn, for the benefit of victims. And all of these developments have occurred in one state: Pennsylvania. By dint of geography, it has been impossible to avoid comparisons between the institutional cover-ups of abuse at Pennsylvania State University, and in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia. To put it mildly, neither institution emerges smelling like a rose.

There is so much that is happening, on so many fronts, it is as though a tsunami of justice has been released. We have been drowning in stories, data, coverage, and new revelations. Indeed, there is so much breaking news about the child-sex-abuse scandals that some reporters have been driven to specialize in either one institutional cover-up or the other.

The trial of the Philadelphia Archdiocese’s Monsignor Lynn ended in a verdict of child endangerment against him, and a sentence of 3-6 years. The trial of former defensive Penn State football coach Jerry Sandusky resulted in guilty verdicts against him on 45 out of 48 charges, with sentencing still to be scheduled; and former FBI Director Louis Freeh recently released his scathing report on how child sex abuse by Sandusky was covered up by Penn State from 1998 to the present. The Freeh Report, in turn, formed the foundation for the NCAA to issue history-making sanctions against the Penn State football program.

And it is not over. Trials await against the Philadelphia Archdiocese’s lay teacher Bernard Shero and Fr. Charles Englehardt, as well as against Penn State’s former Vice President Gary Schultz and Athletic Director Tim Curley. Meanwhile, grand juries are likely busy in both central Pennsylvania and Philadelphia. There is reasonable certainty that former Penn State President Graham Spanier will face criminal charges, and that Sandusky will face more charges. And it is possible that past officials of the Philadelphia Archdiocese may face additional charges as well.

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UNITED STATES
Law360

By Juan Carlos Rodriguez
Law360, New York (July 25, 2012, 12:46 PM ET) — The Fourth Circuit on Tuesday said The Catholic Mutual Relief Society of America had no duty to defend or indemnify a defrocked priest and convicted pedophile for a $100 million judgment obtained by one of his victims.

A three-judge appeals panel found that a South Carolina federal court was correct when it decided former priest Wayland Yoder Brown’s sexual abuse of Allan Carl Ranta was not conduct covered under a Catholic Mutual policy.

“According to Ranta, Brown knew or should have known he was a danger to children, yet failed to protect Ranta from him, thereby breaching his fiduciary duties as a priest,” the panel said. “Therefore, Ranta contends, Brown’s conduct constitutes negligence, which triggers coverage under Catholic Mutual’s insurance policy.”

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MISSOURI
The Kansas City Star

By TONY RIZZO
The Kansas City Star

A Roeland Park man facing child pornography charges chatted online with a Florida man about killing and eating children, according to court records filed in the Floridian’s criminal case.

Michael D. Arnett, 38, and the Floridian had “extremely graphic discussions regarding kidnapping, sexually abusing, murdering and eating of children,” according to the court papers recently filed in federal court in Florida.

Prosecutors charged the Florida man, Ronald William Brown, 57, on July 20 in federal court in Tampa with conspiracy to commit kidnapping and possession of child pornography.

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FLORIDA
Tampa Bay Times

By John Woodrow Cox and Peter Jamison, Times Staff Writers

LARGO — The instant message arrived at 9:42 that night in mid-August last year.

“Any luck with your boy?” it said.

Professional puppeteer Ronald William Brown, according to a federal criminal complaint, had been chatting online for months with the man from Kansas who had just asked him that question.

“No,” Brown replied, “I still want to eat him, though.”

He and the boy, authorities say, attended church together in Largo. The complaint indicates Brown had fantasized about kidnapping and killing the boy. The man from Kansas, Michael Arnett, told Brown he had murdered children before, according to the complaint, so Brown asked for advice.

Brown: “Would you just knock him out?”

Arnett: “It would be the best way, for a boy his age and size yes.”

Brown: “With something? Your fist? Or what?”

Arnett: “A good whack to the back of the head, preferably with something like a blackjack.”

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Chicago Tribune

Dave Warner
Reuters

8:21 p.m. CDT, July 25, 2012

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) – A Pennsylvania man sued the Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia on Wednesday for alleged sexual abuse by a priest, marking the 10th civil suit filed against the church since a 2011 grand jury report detailed sexual abuse by clergy in the area.

The suit names Rev. John R. Liggio, the archdiocese and the Order of St. Augustine, which it claimed provides teachers to the school. It alleges a priest at suburban Malvern Preparatory School sexually abused a youth in 1997 and 1998. The student was under the age of 16 at the time of the alleged abuse.

The lawsuit seeks more than $50,000 in damages.

“He did so by using physical, intellectual, moral, emotional and psychological force,” according to the lawsuit filed in Philadelphia’s Common Pleas Court.

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LOUISVILLE (KY)
WHAS

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WHAS11) — A Louisville man arrested Tuesday is facing charges after being accused of sexually abusing another man after transporting him from a community center.

Police said Ronnelle Southerling was working as a driver for a transportation company that shuttled residents to and from the Agape Community Center when he took the victim from the center to an apartment at 2nd and College streets. Once at the apartment, Southerling allegedly gave the man alcohol and later tried to grope him.

Bishop Dennis Lyons of the Gospel Missionary Church said Southerling attended and worked there.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC – AM

[with audio]

Liz Hobday reported this story on Thursday, July 26, 2012

TONY EASTLEY: Victoria’s inquiry into abuse by religious and other non-government organisations has offered support to abuse victims wanting to participate in the inquiry.

However there are now claims that some of the agencies offering support to victims in country Victoria are run by the Catholic Church – which is itself facing serious allegations involving hundreds of abuse cases.

Liz Hobday has this report.

LIZ HOBDAY: Ballarat man Peter Blenkiron was abused by a Christian Brother when he was 11 years old.

He wanted support to prepare a submission to the parliamentary inquiry and called the recommended victims of crime helpline.

He says he was referred to an organisation called Centacare, run by the Catholic Archdiocese of Ballarat.

PETER BLENKIRON: We are talking about broken trust again. The Catholic Church are the people that are responsible worldwide for what’s going on, they’re responsible for what happened to me as an 11 year old. It’s beyond belief the things that happen.

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BOSTON (MA)
Boston Globe

By Stephanie Ebbert
| Globe Staff
July 26, 2012

The House passed a bill Wednesday to extend the statute of limitations for child victims of sexual abuse to file civil lawsuits, angering advocates who had hoped that such time limits would be eliminated.

The measure would limit to 27 years the deadline to claim to have been sexually abused as a child, effectively, expanding a victim’s potential to file claims until he or she is 43 years old.

That is a scaled-back version of the original bill, which would have eliminated the time limit on civil claims of childhood sexual abuse.

Though the measure would only affect future abuse cases, it would also offer victims who have been previously shut out by statutes of limitations one year in which to file retroactive claims. However, the bill would prevent a business or entity from being blamed for such abuse, unless gross negligence can be proven.

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CHILE
Santiago Times

Wednesday, 25 July 2012
Written by Tom Murphy

Latest allegation comes after recent series of high-profile abuse scandals.

A Catholic school in Santiago suspended a priest from its faculty Tuesday after claims he sexually abused a student surfaced. Father John O’Reilly, who worked at the Colegio Cumbres in the east of the capital, expressed his total innocence and willingness to fully cooperate with the investigation.

The Catholic Church in Chile has been rocked by a number of allegations of sexual abuse. Photo by Kurotashio/Wikimedia Commons.

“I’ve always had the utmost respect for students and their families, and I am convinced that after the investigation it will be made clear that this is an unfortunate mistake and that my actions have been correct,” O’Reilly said in a statement released Wednesday.

The allegation against O’Reilly comes after a series of high-profile scandals and reports of sexual abuse against minors in the country. Chilean authorities are now investigating 61 schools in the capital amid increasing reports of sex abuse in 2012.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Williamsport Sun-Gazette

July 26, 2012

By CHERYL R. CLARKE – cclarke@sungazette.com , Williamsport Sun-Gazette

MANSFIELD – The Blossburg priest who was suspended from his duties last fall for allegedly sexually assaulting an altar boy was held over for county court Wednesday by District Judge James Carlson.

Thomas P. Shoback, 60, of Wilkes-Barre, will face all charges against him, including three counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, two counts of indecent assault, two counts of endangering the welfare of children, one of corruption of minors and two counts of indecent assault at 8:30 a.m. Aug. 20 before President Judge Robert E. Dalton Jr. in the Tioga County Court of Common Pleas.

The charges are in connection with the alleged multiple sexual assaults between Feb. 20, 1991, and Feb. 20, 1997, against the victim, now 32, who was an altar boy at St. Mary’s Parish Rectory.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

Inquirer Editorial

For the first U.S. church official convicted of covering up sex abuse by priests, the appropriate wages of sin include jail.

Beyond punishing Philadelphia Roman Catholic Msgr. William J. Lynn for failing to shield an altar boy from a priest known to have molested another youth, the certainty that he will spend three years in prison — and as many as six — sends a powerful message to anyone who enables abuse.

Lynn, 61, who served as secretary for clergy for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia from 1992 to 2004, was convicted last month of child endangerment.

The 12-week trial that led to Lynn’s conviction also linked the late Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua to the archdiocese’s policy of moving suspected predator priests to other parishes, rather than alerting civil authorities. As Philadelphia District Attorney Lynne M. Abraham said, “The cover-up went all the way to the top.”

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PHILADELPHIA (Pa)
Courier Post

WHERE WE STAND: Clerics who hid pedophiles, allowing abuses to continue, should go to prison.

Msgr. William Lynn did not rape a child. He did not molest a child.

But, he will go to prison for at least three years because those awful things happened to children. And it is justice — long, long overdue justice — that sends an important message across the United States and, hopefully, around the world.

A few Catholic priests who for years molested and assaulted children have been sent to prison in this country. They are, unfortunately, only a handful among the guilty, most of whom will never face deserved time behind bars because they’ve died or statutes of limitation have run out or because there isn’t enough evidence left to ensure a conviction.

Lynn, though, is the first Catholic official convicted in the United States solely for the crime of covering up sex abuse claims. The former secretary of clergy for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia was found guilty last month by a jury in Philadelphia of felony child endangerment. Lynn learned in 1992 that now-defrocked priest Edward Avery abused a boy years earlier. Lynn sent Avery for treatment at a church-run facility that diagnosed him with an alcohol problem, not a sexual disorder. Avery was subsequently returned to the ministry in Philadelphia and sexually assaulted an altar boy in 1999. Avery is serving a 2½- to five-year sentence for that crime.

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CHILE
Press TV (Iran)

An Irish Catholic missionary priest working as a school chaplain in the Chilean capital of Santiago is being investigated for alleged sexual abuse of a child.

Chilean authorities on Wednesday said that the missionary priest, John O’Reilly, is under investigation. O’Reilly, who works as a chaplain and spiritual advisor at the Colegio Cumbres School in the classy Las Condes district was suspended after a student’s family reported abuse.

“The information provided verbally by the mother of our student refers to Father John O’Reilly LC, who told the college that he is totally innocent and willing to cooperate in the investigation. The priest and Colegio Cumbres agreed to the suspension of all Father O’Reilly internal activities in order to fully clarify the facts,” the Colegio Cumbres school’s statement said.

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FLORIDA
Fox 51

[with video]

By Tiffany Teasley, Reporter

The State Attorney’s Office released video of investigators interviewing Brian Shriner, 46, a former Geneva School teacher and Episcopal priest at New Covenant Anglican Church in Winter Springs, shortly after his arrest.

Shriner was arrested in June, after he was accused of chatting with a detective posing as a 14-year-old girl online, investigators say he then traveled to Winter Springs to meet the minor for sex, instead he was met by deputies.

“I can guarantee nothing like this will ever happen with me again,” said Shriner during the interview. “I was just planning on sitting and talking to her, I know this sounds crazy,” he said.

During the interview Shriner gives investigators an explanation for what happened, telling them he’s writing a novel, and he was meeting the girl for research.

“This is one aspect of the book,” Shriner said. “This guy goes through a mid-life crisis where he works for California Soft — there’s a level of lust and there’s several stories that develop on the level of lust, and I wanted to look at one of them to deal with this,” Shriner said in the video.

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CHILE
La Segunda

Caso Colegio Cumbres: Abogado de la familia de la víctima dijo que se trataría de “tocamientos libidinosos”

Pasado el mediodía, el abogado Mario Schilling -que representa a los padres de la niña de 6 años que denunció abusos por parte del sacerdote de los Legionarios de Cristo y asesor espiritual del Colegio Cumbres, John O’Reilly- presentó una querella en el Cuarto Juzgado de Garantía de Santiago, consigna Soychile.cl .

Schilling explicó que la acción criminal es para que se investigue “las responsabilidades, no sólo del autor de estos delitos, sino también si existen coautores, cómplices o encubridores”. Aseguró que los delitos habrían ocurrido entre 2010 y el presente años, y se trataría de “tocamientos libidinosos”

Según comentó el abogado de la familia denunciante, dulces y hostias no consagradas, le habría regalado el sacerdote John O´Reilly a la supuesta víctima.

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CHILE
Emol

SANTIAGO.- El sacerdote legionario John O’Reilly, capellán y asesor espiritual del Colegio Cumbres, fue suspendido de todas sus actividades en el establecimiento educacional luego que se conociera una denuncia por abuso sexual en su contra.

La información fue dada a conocer por la dirección del colegio del sector oriente de Santiago en una carta dirigida a la comunidad escolar.

La supuesta víctima corresponde a una menor de edad, estudiante del colegio, quien con la autorización de sus padres fue sometida a una evaluación profesional externa a cargo de una psicóloga. Dicho informe y los antecedentes recopilados por un equipo interdisciplinario quedaron a disposición de la Fiscalía Oriente.

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CHILE
The Star

SANTIAGO: An Irish Catholic priest working as a school chaplain in Chile is being investigated for alleged sexual abuse of a minor, authorities said Wednesday.

John O’Reilly, a member of the Legionnaires of Christ who works as a chaplain at the Colegio Cumbres school in the posh Las Condes district of Santiago, was suspended after a student’s family reported abuse.

Investigating prosecutor Ignacio Pinto is leading the investigation, a prosecutor’s office source said.

O’Reilly insisted in a statement that it was all a “regrettable mistake,” arguing that his behavior was above board.

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

By Juno McEnroe

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Archbishop Diarmuid Martin called for fresh inquiries into care in the Magdalene laundries, mother-and-baby homes, and other institutions, to examine where the Church, serving the most deprived, went wrong.

The Archbishop of Dublin said the Church also needed to find a new language, but not be excluded from general society.

Dr Martin said priests needed support after the wave of abuse scandals that have engulfed the Church.

Some “research-based investigation”, less adversarial than a full-blown inquiry, could bring the truth to light and serve victims of abuse, he said.

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IRELAND
The Irish Times

THE THREE-TO-SIX-YEAR jail term imposed in Philadelphia on Monsignor William Lynn for covering up child abuse marks an important first and a watershed moment for the Catholic Church, not only in the US but internationally. A court’s willingness for the first time to punish not only priestly abusers, but those who sheltered them, will reverberate through the church, and not least in Ireland where gardaí are still involved in investigating possible charges arising from the Murphy and Ryan reports. The sentence also comes only days after another landmark ruling in the UK courts which has extended church liability for the actions of priests and which is likely also to have important implications for other voluntary organisations.

The prosecution of Lynn, found guilty in June of child endangerment after a trial which exposed efforts over decades by his Philadelphia archdiocese to play down accusations of child sexual abuse and avoid scandal, echoes that of Bishop Pierre Pican of Bayeux-Lisieux in 2010. He received only a suspended three-month term, but, notoriously, was privately praised by the Vatican, for not handing over an abuser-priest to the police.

Lynn, who served as secretary for 800 clergy to the 1.5 million-strong archdiocese from 1992 to 2004, recommending priest assignments and investigating abuse complaints, will appeal. The archdiocese responded to what it complained was an “over-harsh” sentence with assurances that its procedures for protecting children had improved significantly in the decade since the offences occurred.

Meanwhile the court of appeal in London a fortnight ago upheld a lower court’s ruling that the church can be held liable for the actions of priests. The Portsmouth diocese had appealed a decision that found a priest had a relationship akin to an employee relationship to his bishop, and that the diocese was therefore “vicariously liable” for his actions. In his conclusions, Lord Justice Ward ruled that the priest in question, the late Father Wilfred Baldwin who allegedly abused a girl in a Hampshire children’s home, “may not quite match every facet of being an employee but in my judgment he is very close to it indeed.” He acknowledged the judgment significantly “widened the scope of vicarious liability”.

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FLORIDA
Bay News 9

By Erin Maloney, Reporter
Last Updated: Wednesday, July 25, 2012

LARGO —
The pastor at Gulf Coast Church in Largo said families are reeling after learning about church member and volunteer Ron Brown.

He was arrested and charged with conspiring to kidnap a child, and possession of child pornography.

Dozens of parents trusted Brown to bring their children to church every Wednesday. Anthony Cummings said he would even feed the boys pizza before heading to church.

Anthony’s mother Lexis said it was innocent enough until she learned about his arrest. Authorities say Brown chatted online with one man about his fantasy to strangle and eat a child’s body.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

26 Jul, 2012

WHEN Pope Benedict XVI came to Australia in 2008 his apology to victims of priestly abuse within the Catholic church didn’t leave room for interpretation.

The misdeeds of errant priests, he said, constituted ‘‘a grave betrayal of trust’’ and deserved ‘‘unequivocal condemnation’’.

‘‘Victims should receive compassion and care, and those responsible for these evils must be brought to justice,’’ the Pope declared.

Almost five years later, progress towards those goals is hard to measure.

While the church has, at various levels of its hierarchy, taken several steps to compensate and counsel victims, the human damage seems to be proving difficult to adequately address.

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MINNESOTA
LaCrosse Tribune

By DOUG GLASS

The Minnesota Supreme Court on Wednesday tossed out a clergy abuse lawsuit by a man whose case rested on a repressed memory claim, siding with a lower court’s ruling that repressed memory is an unproven theory.

James Keenan sued the Archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis and the Diocese of Winona, claiming that as a teenager he was sexually abused four times in 1980 or 1981 by Thomas Adamson, a priest who has since been defrocked.

Keenan brought his claim in 2006, well outside the state’s six-year statute of limitations, but argued that it should be allowed because he repressed memories of the abuse. A district court rejected that claim, but the state Court of Appeals revived it last year.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday sided with the district court, which found that studies claiming to have proven the existence of repressed memory “lacked foundational reliability.”

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PENNSYLVANIA
WETM

Reported by: Stacey Minchin
Email: sminchin@wetmtv.com

Blossburg, PA – A former Tioga County Priest charged with 32 crimes related to the sexual abuse of a child, had his case moved to the court of common pleas.

66 year old Thomas Shoback of Wilkes-Barre is charged with several crimes including deviate sexual intercourse.

State police say the alleged crimes happened between 1991 and 1997 while Shoback was a priest at St. Mary’s Parish in Blossburg.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
hbvl (Belgie)

De Amerikaanse bisschop William Lynn is dinsdag veroordeeld tot een gevangenisstraf van 3 tot 6 jaar. Hij is de belangrijkste vertegenwoordiger van de Amerikaanse katholieke kerk die schuldig bevonden is aan het verhullen van seksueel misbruik door priesters. Rechter Teresa Sarmina zei hem bij de strafuitspraak dat hij heel goed wist wat goed was, maar dat hij toch fout koos.

Na een proces dat tien weken duurde ,werd Lynn eind juni schuldig bevonden aan het in gevaar brengen van kinderen. Hij werd er als voormalig verantwoordelijke voor het personeel in het aartsbisdom Philadelphia van beschuldigd, gevallen van seksueel misbruik verborgen te hebben, en niets gedaan te hebben om minstens twee priesters te verwijderen van posten waar ze vaak in contact kwamen met minderjarigen.

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MINNESOTA
Jeff Anderson & Associates

Statement of Jeff Anderson re: Minnesota Supreme Court decision – John Doe 76C v. Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and Diocese of Winona

“We are deeply disappointed and shocked by the decision of the Minnesota Supreme Court to deny access to justice for this victim of childhood sexual abuse who repressed the memory of his abuse because it was so traumatic. In its decision the court determined that science concerning repression of memory is unsettled enough that it can’t be used in the court and thus denies Jim Keenan access to a trial–for this we are deeply saddened.

WE ARE SCARED FOR THE SAFETY OF CHILDREN because the dismissal of this case results in us not being able to release, or require the release of, a secret list of offenders kept by defendants–some of whom are still in the community.

Until those names are revealed, it is our view that the cover-up continues and children and the community remain at risk. There are 33 names that were reported to have been credibly accused by the Archdiocese of Minneapolis and 13 in the Diocese of Winona, that’s 46 credibly accused offenders as of 2004 and how many more on this list remain secret and remain unknown.

Because of this decision today, those secrets remain and the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and the Diocese of Winona are allowed to put their reputation above the health, safety and well-being of the children in our communities.

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SPRINGFIELD (MA)
The Republican

By Buffy Spencer, The Republican

SPRINGFIELD – Andrew Nicastro said it wasn’t until 2008 that he realized continuing sexual assaults by former priest Alfred Graves more than two decades before in Williamstown had led him to become a person ruled by angry outbursts and unable to connect emotionally even with his own family.

He said The Rev. Mark Burke, a priest who became a friend of his, in 2008 helped him to see the role the sexual abuse had played in making him who he was.

“I felt like, ‘I get it,’” Nicastro said.

Nicastro was on the witness stand Wednesday in Hampden Superior Court in his civil suit against two former bishops.

He contends they should be held accountable for his several years of childhood abuse by the Rev. Andrew Graves because they were in supervisory positions in the Roman Catholic Diocese and knew Graves had assaulted two other boys before Nicastro.

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UNITED STATES
NPR

[with audio]

July 25, 2012

Four years ago, a Vatican group called “The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith” began an assessment of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, a member organization founded in 1956 that represents 80 percent of Catholic nuns in the United States. The assessment was designed to take a careful look at whether the nuns were acting in accordance with the teachings of the church.

In the assessment, the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith said the leadership conference is undermining Roman Catholic teachings on homosexuality and birth control and promoting “radical feminist themes incompatible with the Catholic faith.” It also reprimanded the nuns for hosting speakers who “often contradict or ignore” church teachings and for making public statements that “disagree with or challenge the bishops, who are the church’s authentic teachers of faith and morals.”

Bishop Leonard Blair of Toledo, Ohio, is the bishop who assessed the Leadership Conference of Women Religious. Along with Archbishop Peter Sartain and Bishop Thomas John Paprocki, he will be working with the nuns of the LCRW to make sure the group is aligned with the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church. The bishops and the nuns’ group leaders were also told to develop material “that provides a deepened understanding of the church’s doctrine of the faith.”

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MINNESOTA
San Francisco Chronicle

DOUG GLASS, Associated Press

Updated 12:33 p.m., Wednesday, July 25, 2012

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Minnesota Supreme Court on Wednesday tossed out a clergy abuse lawsuit by a man whose case rested on a repressed memory claim, siding with a lower court’s ruling that repressed memory is an unproven theory.

James Keenan sued the Archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis and the Diocese of Winona, claiming that as a teenager he was sexually abused four times in 1980 or 1981 by Thomas Adamson, a priest who has since been defrocked.

Keenan brought his claim in 2006, well outside the state’s six-year statute of limitations, but argued that it should be allowed because he repressed memories of the abuse. A district court rejected that claim, but the state Court of Appeals revived it last year.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday sided with the district court, which found that studies claiming to have proven the existence of repressed memory “lacked foundational reliability.”

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SPRINGFIELD (MA)
WGGB

[with video]

By Ray Hershel
July 25th, 2012

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WGGB) — Testimony continued Wednesday in the case of a Williamstown man who says he was abused by a Catholic priest some 30 years ago.

Andrew Nicastro has filed a civil suit against Bishops Thomas Dupre and Joseph Maguire saying they should be held accountable because they were in supervisory positions in the diocese.

At times Nicastro wiped away the tears as he answered questions about how alleged sex abuse by former priest Alfred Graves has impacted his life.

Nicastro says the now defrocked priest sexually abused him for three years when he was between 11 and 14 years old.

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LONG BEACH (CA)
NBC Los Angeles

By Caroline Tan

Wednesday, Jul 25, 2012

A Long Beach parish priest is scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday afternoon to face sexual assault charges based on allegations made by three female victims.

Luis Jose Cuevas, 67, a priest in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, faces eight misdemeanor counts of sexual battery and one felony count involving lewd acts with a child, officials from the Long Beach Police Department said in a press release.

The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office filed formal charges against Cuevas after police officials filed his case on July 19. Cuevas, who was arrested Monday, has been relieved of his duties as pastor, an Archdiocese spokeswoman said.

He was arrested after three female victims — two adults and one minor — approached police and accused the former priest of sexual battery and inappropriate touching.

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MINNESOTA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by David Clohessy on July 25, 2012

Our hearts ache for Jim Keenan. He fought a six-year-long heroic battle to expose predators warn parents, and protect kids. But somehow, the privacy of wrongdoer seems to trump the safety of children.

The real losers here are the employers, families and youngsters of Minnesota. They will apparently never be able to learn the names of roughly 46 accused child molesting Catholic clerics, some of whom are credibly accused or have likely even admitted their crimes.

And the real winners here are corrupt Catholic officials who have protect and are still protecting child molesters and their complicit colleagues instead of protecting vulnerable boys and girls.

Dr. Martin Luther King once said “The arc of history is long but it bends toward justice.” He’s right of course. But at times, there’s a terrible step backwards. This is one of those times.

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

Article by: ABBY SIMONS , Star Tribune
Updated: July 25, 2012

The ruling means a list of 46 priests accused of child abuse will remain under seal.

A man who alleges he was sexually abused by a Catholic priest in the 1980s but didn’t remember until two decades later, may not present expert evidence about repressed memories, the Minnesota Supreme Court ordered Wednesday.

The 4-2 ruling throws out the long-battled case and means a list of 46 priests accused of abusing children will remain under seal.

The decision reverses a Court of Appeals ruling and dismisses a lawsuit brought six years ago by Jim Keenan, 45, against the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and the Diocese of Winona, alleging that the church allowed the abuse to occur and then covered it up. Although the ruling is narrow, its effect is wide, said Keenan’s attorney, Jeff Anderson.

“I’ve always been outraged by the Archdiocese’s decision to hide behind the statute of limitations, but in this case and the position they’ve taken on cases like it, they can use technicalities to avoid accountability,” he said. “As long as they do, they can be destined to repeat the same mistakes.”

Archdiocese spokesman Dennis McGrath was not immediately available for comment.

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LONG BEACH (CA)
Los Angeles Times

A Roman Catholic priest who worked at a Long Beach church was scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday on charges he sexually groped a 14-year-old girl and two women in incidents that started two years ago.

Father Luis Jose Cuevas, 67, of St. Athanasius Church on Linden Avenue was to face eight misdemeanor charges of sexual assault and one felony count involving lewd acts with a child, according to a complaint filed by the L.A. County district attorney’s office.

He was arrested Monday in San Jacinto and was being held on $1-million bail pending his arraignment in a Long Beach court, said Long Beach Police Department spokesman Sgt. Aaron Eaton.

The two adult women, both 20, initially reported the alleged incidents to the archdiocese and then filed a police report, Eaton said. During the investigation, the teenager came forward and alleged repeated incidents during which Cuevas inappropriately touched “an intimate part” of her body for his own sexual arousal, the complaint contends.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

[with poll]

BY JOANNE MCCARTHY

26 Jul, 2012

ON Saturday night Tracey Pirona hugged her husband as she has done many times before, and reassured him: ‘‘We’ll get through this.’’

On Sunday morning she found the letter she had feared for years, and rang police.

John Pirona, 45, of Belmont North, a victim of one of the Hunter’s most notorious paedophile priests, has not been seen or heard from since then.

‘‘The longer this goes on the worse I feel about what the outcome’s going to be,’’ Mrs Pirona said.

Mr Pirona’s letter, with the final words ‘‘Too much pain’’, leaves no doubt the pain is the sexual abuse he suffered at a Catholic high school and the ugly secrets the church knew, but did nothing to stop.

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LONG BEACH (CA)
Contra Costa Times

Staff and wire reportspresstelegram.com
Posted: 07/25/2012

LONG BEACH — A man who served as a parish priest at a Catholic church in Long Beach is scheduled to be arraigned today on nine sex-related counts.

The Rev. Luis Jose Cuevas, 67, is charged with one felony count of lewd act on a child and eight misdemeanor counts of sexual battery involving a 17- year-old girl and two women. The crimes allegedly occurred between July 2010 and February of this year.

Cuevas was a parish priest at St. Athanasius Catholic Church for seven years and lived on the Linden Avenue church grounds at the time, according to police. He was charged last week and arrested at a residence in San Jacinto Monday by Long Beach police with the assistance of U.S. marshals.

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LONG BEACH (CA)
LA Weekly

By Simone Wilson
Wed., Jul. 25 2012

The latest sex scandal and PR nightmare for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles comes by way of northern Long Beach, near Compton:

Father Jose Luis Cuevas, 67, the longtime head priest at St. Athanasius Church, is being charged with “nine counts of sexual assault” for years of allegedly molesting female congregants, including a 17-year-old girl, say Long Beach police.

His arrest and removal from the ministry have been quite dramatic:

Archdiocese officials informed attendees of the church’s weekend services that their trusted leader would be removed “from all ministry and he will be living privately pending the outcome of these matters,” according to City News Service.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Canton Repository

Editorial

The issue: Child sexual abuse cover-ups

Our view: Sentencing of church official, sanctions on Penn State send strong message

Have Americans and some of their institutions decided once and for all that protecting sexual predators at the expense of children is intolerable? Hope that this is the case comes in two developments separated by one day and a scant 200 miles.

Tuesday in a Philadelphia courtroom, a Roman Catholic official was sentenced to three to six years in prison after being convicted of child endangerment. The case against Monsignor William J. Lynn revealed a decades-long pattern in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia of protecting predatory priests at the expense of their victims and parishioners.

“You knew full well what was right, Monsignor,” the judge said while sentencing Lynn, “but you chose wrong.”

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FLORIDA
Orlando Sentinel

By Amy Pavuk, Orlando Sentinel

1:01 p.m. EST, July 25, 2012

Prosecutors released more evidence Wednesday in the case against a local school teacher — who is also an Episcopalian priest — who is accused of traveling to meet a child for sex.

Brian Gerald Shriner, a 46-year-old father of two who worked at The Geneva School, was arrested in June following an undercover operation.

The Orange County Sheriff’s Officehas reported Shriner initiated an online conversation with an undercover detective who was posing as a child.

Shriner and the detective communicated via email for about one month and agreed to meet to have sex June 15, the Sheriff’s Office said.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Irish Central

By
PATRICK COUNIHAN,
IrishCentral Staff Writer

Published Wednesday, July 25, 2012

US Catholic clergyman Monsignor William Lynn has been sentenced to three to six years in jail for covering up child sex abuse by priests in Philadelphia.

Lynn is the most senior U.S. cleric convicted in the church’s decades-long sex abuse scandal.

NBC reports that the sentence which was handed down by Judge M. Teresa Sarmina was less than the maximum penalty of seven years in prison for Lynn’s conviction on a single count of child endangerment.

The judge said: “The sentence is meant to punish Lynn for protecting monsters in clerical garb who molested children … to destroy the souls of children, to whom you turned a hard heart.” …

Commentator Terence McKiernan, president of BishopAccountability.org, which tracks priest-abuse cases, told NBCPhiladelphia.com: “I believe that what Lynn did was done by just about every diocese.

“In most cases, I think the vicar general was well informed, and also the bishop.”

“More than 500 U.S. priests have now been convicted of abuse but Lynn’s three-month trial shows just how hard it is to demonstrate collusion.”

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UNITED STATES
KMOX

ST. LOUIS (KMOX)- Local clergy abuse survivors assess the impact of today’s 3 to 6 prison sentence handed down to a Philadelphia church official for covering up sex abuse claims against priests.

First, SNAP’s David Clohessy says he’s glad the monsignor will spend time behind bars.

“We think that jailing men who conceal child sex crimes is a good way to deter people to concealing child sex crimes,” he says

And, Clohessy says, that sentence may have an impact on a St. Louis-native who could be the next church official to go on trial — Kansas City St. Joseph Bishop Robert Finn.

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ROM
Financial Times Deutschland

Seit Monaten spekuliert Rom über die Frage, ob der Maulwurf im Vatikan Helfer hatte. Eine italienische Zeitung nennt in der Enthüllungsaffäre “Vatikleaks” Namen – der Vatikan dementiert empört.

In der Enthüllungsaffäre “Vatileaks” könnte der verdächtigte Kammerdiener des Papstes einem Bericht der Zeitung “La Repubblica” zufolge drei Komplizen gehabt haben. Sie arbeiteten alle im Umfeld von Papst Benedikt XVI., schreibt das Blatt am Montag, ohne Quellen zu nennen. Von den vatikanischen Ermittlern verdächtigt würden Benedikts Haushälterin und Beraterin Ingrid Stampa, der deutsche Kurienbischof Josef Clemens sowie der für Papst-Reden verantwortliche italienische Kardinal Paolo Sardi. Sie hätten auch vertrauten Umgang mit dem Kammerdiener Paolo Gabriele gehabt. Der Vatikan ist empört und dementierte den Bericht als falsch.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Rhein Zeitung

FELDKIRCH – Das Zivilverfahren eines heute 45-jährigen mutmaßlichen Missbrauchsopfers gegen das Bregenzer Zisterzienser-Kloster Mehrerau am Landesgericht Feldkirch ist am Dienstag zum zweiten Mal vertagt worden.

Der Mehrerauer Alt-Abt Kassian Lauterer, der als Zeuge aussagen sollte, konnte wegen einer kurzfristigen Erkrankung nicht vor Gericht erscheinen. Der Prozess soll nun im Oktober fortgesetzt werden.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
religion@ORF

Der ehemalige Personalverantwortliche der Erzdiözese Philadelphia ist wegen Vertuschung von sexuellem Missbrauch zu mehreren Jahren Haft verurteilt worden. William Lynn habe den Schutz seiner Kirche über den der Opfer gestellt, erklärte Richterin Maria Teresa Sarmina laut US-Medienberichten bei der Urteilsverkündung am Dienstag.

Der 61-jährige Lynn muss zwischen drei und sechs Jahren in Haft. Er ist der erste hochrangige Kleriker, der sich vor einem US-Gericht wegen des Missbrauchsskandals in der katholischen Kirche verantworten musste. Opfervertreter begrüßten den Berichten zufolge den Schuldspruch. Die Erzdiözese sprach von einem „harten“ Urteil.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Welt

Wegen der Vertuschung von Missbrauchsfällen ist ein ranghoher katholischer Geistlicher in den USA zu einer Haftstrafe von drei bis sechs Jahren verurteilt worden. Ein Gericht in Philadelphia im Bundesstaat Pennsylvania verkündete am Dienstag das Strafmaß gegen Monsignore William Lynn. Der 61-jährige Geistliche war im Juni wegen Gefährdung von Kindern schuldig gesprochen worden. Lynn wurde vorgeworfen, pädophile Priester im Erzbistum Philadelphia gedeckt und auf neue Stellen versetzt zu haben.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
kathweb

Gericht verhängt mehrjährige Haftstrafe gegen früheren Personalchef der Erzdiözese Philadelphia

25.07.2012

Washington, 25.07.2012 (KAP) Ein früherer Personalverantwortlicher der Erzdiözese Philadelphia ist wegen Vertuschung von sexuellem Missbrauch zu mehreren Jahren Haft verurteilt worden. William Lynn habe den Schutz seiner Kirche über den der Opfer gestellt, erklärte Richterin Maria Teresa Sarmina laut US-Medienberichten bei der Urteilsverkündung am Dienstag (Ortszeit). Der 61-jährige Lynn muss demnach zwischen drei und sechs Jahren in Haft. Er ist der erste hochrangige Kleriker, der sich vor einem US-Gericht wegen des Missbrauchsskandals in der katholischen Kirche verantworten musste. Opfervertreter begrüßten den Berichten zufolge den Schuldspruch. Die Erzdiözese sprach von einem “harten” Urteil.

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DEUTSCHLAND
MissBiT

Ein Jahr zuvor: Der Vertrag zur Durchführung eines Forschungsprojekts über den sexuellen Missbrauch an Minderjährigen durch katholische Priester, Diakone und männliche Ordensangehörige im Bereich der Deutschen Bischofskonferenz

185. Sitzung des Ständigen Rates der Deutschen Bischofskonferenz am 20./21. Juni 2011 in Würzburg-Himmelspforten

Sexueller Missbrauch im kirchlichen Bereich – Aktuelle Fragen

1. Arbeitshilfe

Seit Bekanntwerden der Fälle sexuellen Missbrauchs an Minderjährigen durch Priester und kirchliche Angestellte im vergangenen Jahr hat die Deutsche Bischofskonferenz eine Vielzahl von Maßnahmen ergriffen. Diese Maßnahmen sind bisher durch Pressemitteilungen und das Internet publiziert worden.

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DEUTSCHLAND
MissBiT

Laut Professor Dr. Christian Pfeiffer ist das “Forschungsprojekt über den sexuellen Missbrauch an Minderjährigen durch katholische Priester, Diakone und männliche Ordensangehörige im Bereich der Deutschen Bischofskonferenz” zu „einem gewissen Stillstand gekommen“.

Am 14. Juli 2012 erschien auf dem Internetportal „kath.net“ ein Interview mit Pfarrer Uwe Winkel, Netzwerk katholischer Priester, „über das Ende eines geplanten Forschungsprojekt der Deutschen Bischofskonferenz, bei dem ein Institut Zugriff auf alle Personalakten der 27 Diözesen gehabt hätte“. (Man beachte den Plusquamperfekt Konjunktiv II!)

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
National Survivor Advocates Coalition

7/25/2012

The National Survivor Advocates Coalition (NSAC) believes Monsignor William Lynn should have received the maximum seven year sentence given the parameters of the law but the three to six year sentence is significant for his conviction on the endangerment of children in this watershed case regarding the sexual abuse of children.

The sentence should send a clear and direct message to all of the bishops of the Roman Catholic Church: they have failed their people, and given Monsignor Lynn’s defense they created and sustain a culture that fails their people.

If the people of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and Monsignor Lynn’s parish believe the sentence to be unfair, they should urge Cardinal Rigali to step forward and take Monsignor Lynn’s place in jail. For indeed, it becomes increasingly clear with each court case that the cover-up and direction came from the top.

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LONG BEACH (CA)
The Orange County Register

By KELLY PUENTE / PRESS-TELEGRAM

LONG BEACH — A catholic priest from a Long Beach church was arrested this week on suspicion of sexually assaulting two women and a teenage girl, police announced Tuesday.

Father Luis Jose Cuevas, a parish priest at St. Athanasius Catholic Church, 5390 Linden Ave., is facing nine counts of sexual assault following accusations from three alleged victims, said Long Beach Police Sgt. Aaron Eaton.

Police believe there may be more possible victims and are asking anyone with information to come forward.

Eaton said that in April two women accused Cuevas of sexual battery. Both women initially reported the incidents to the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and then filed a police report.

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WEST VIRGINIA
WTOV

A STATEMENT FROM THE DIOCESE OF WHEELING-CHARLESTON

Two witnesses whose testimony in a recent trial in Philadelphia led to speculation that Bishop Bransfield may have abused minors in the late 1970s have clarified that they have no such knowledge or information.

In addition, two Philadelphia men have come forward to strongly refute the speculation, and it has been confirmed that the Archdiocese of Philadelphia declared such an allegation unfounded after conducting an investigation when the allegation was first reported in 2007. The details of each of these developments are provided below.

1. At the recent Philadelphia trial of two clerics, a man who was the victim of sexual abuse by another priest, then-Father Stanley Gana, was permitted to testify that on one occasion when then-Father Michael Bransfield visited Gana’s farm outside Philadelphia, Gana told him that Bransfield had been sexually abusing the boy in the front seat of his car. The boy in the front seat of Bransfield’s car on that occasion at Gana’s farm has now been identified as Ronald Rock, a Philadelphia business executive who was a Lansdale Catholic High School student at the time. Rock has confirmed that he was the boy in the front seat of the car and that Bransfield never engaged in any improper conduct of any kind. Rock has explained that his family owned a cabin near Gana’s farm, that he invited then-Fr. Bransfield, a teacher at Lansdale Catholic, to accompany him and a group of his friends to the cabin on one weekend, and that they had visited Gana’s farm that weekend.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
San Francisco Chronicle

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph has been removed from a civil lawsuit over alleged child sexual abuse by a priest.

Jackson County Judge Ann Mesle dismissed one count of failure to supervise children and two counts of fraudulent misrepresentation in a lawsuit against the Rev. Michael Tierney. The judge dismissed three similar counts against Tierney but he still faces civil counts of child sexual abuse and battery.

The suit alleges that Tierney abused a 13-year-old boy in the 1970s. Tierney has denied any wrongdoing.

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CANADA
Hamilton Spectator

By Susan Clairmont

A veteran Crown attorney and a high profile defence lawyer could face criminal charges for cutting a deal that let a priest escape the country rather than face sex abuse charges.

However Dean Paquette, the priest’s council, says there is no basis for such charges against him or the Crown.

The Ministry of the Attorney General will not say if its probe into the controversial handling of the case involving Reverend Jose Silva involves a criminal investigation. But buzz around the John Sopinka Courthouse where the deal was brokered is that technically, criminal charges could be laid against Paquette and assistant Crown attorney Carey Lee.

The reasoning goes like this: failing to appear in court is a criminal offence. Silva failed to appear in court because Lee and Paquette worked together to arrange for him to return to Brazil, where he is from, even though he was facing charges related to the alleged sexual assault of an 18-year-old man who says he was groped.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Catholics4Change

July 25, 2012 by Susan Matthews

The Archdiocesan official response to Msgr. Lynn’s sentencing shocked me in its blatant and utter disregard for justice, truth, victims and Church healing. I’m not shocked this is their take on it. I’m floored that they put it out there for the press. I thought the arrogance would have been left at the court room doors after the evidence and testimony were presented. No. The last sentences of the press release prove that arrogance is alive and well at 222.

I beg people to read this statement and compare/contrast to the Penn State response. Two institutions are faced with the same horrible issue. One handled it with compassion – the other with continued callousness.

At the very least, I would have thought Archbishop Chaput would clean house. What about all those names copied on the memos? All the others who knew but can’t be prosecuted? They are still in positions of authority. There is no real contrition or sanction unless the civil courts demand it.

The last sentence proves to me beyond the shadow of any doubt that the Catholic Church is under attack from within. The leadership is destroying the living body of Christ. They can’t even repent properly in words – let alone in action.

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VATICAN CITY
The Telegraph (United Kingdom)

The Pope’s butler has written a letter to Benedict XVI asking to be pardoned for stealing and leaking confidential papers, in a move which may enable him to avoid a trial that could prove embarrassing to the Vatican.

By Nick Squires, Rome
12:28PM BST 24 Jul 2012

Paolo Gabriele, 46, who was formerly a trusted member of the pontiff’s inner circle, sent the confidential letter to express his regret over the theft.

The letter was sent to the Pope via a commission of three cardinals who are investigating the leaks and hunting for other moles within the Holy See.

The letter expresses Mr Gabriele’s “sorrow and contrition” over the stealing of the confidential documents from Benedict’s private apartments, said Carlo Fusco, the butler’s lawyer.

In the letter, the valet reportedly insists that no one else was involved in the theft, denying widespread rumours in Rome that he was an unwitting scapegoat for a much wider plot amid jockeying for power at the highest levels of the Holy See.

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FLORIDA
WTSP

[with video]

Written by
Isabel Mascarenas

TAMPA, Florida — A Largo man who works as a puppeteer and is now charged with child pornography and conspiring to kidnap a child appeared in federal court Tuesday.

Investigators say 57-year-old Ronald Brown fantasized about eating children. He had a bond hearing today, but it has been delayed while Brown tries to hire private attorney Eric Kuske to defend him.

Investigators say Brown had a graphic online chat about kidnapping, sexually abusing, murdering, and eating children. He walked into a federal court in shackles, wearing prison blues and looking calm.

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FLORIDA
Huffington Post

By Andy Campbell

A Florida puppeteer who entertains children at birthday parties, schools and churches, secretly wanted to rape, kill and eat them, cops said.

Ronald Brown, 57, of Largo, was arrested last week after federal agents found that he’d allegedly been chatting online with child pornography suspects about “extremely graphic discussions regarding kidnapping, sexually abusing, murdering and eating children,” according to a federal complaint obtained by the Tampa Bay Times.

The details are gruesome.

Brown — whose Puppets Plus website promises “grins and giggles” for kids — was reportedly caught in online chat rooms with people the feds were investigating as part of a child pornography ring in Massachusetts. He allegedly fantasized about strangling, dismembering and eating his victims.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Catholic News Agency

Philadelphia, Pa., Jul 24, 2012 / 04:28 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The Archdiocese of Philadelphia offered prayer and a pledge to protect children July 24, as Monsignor William Lynn received a three to six year prison sentence for his handling of an abusive priest.

“From the challenges the Church has faced both nationally and locally over the past decade, we understand the full gravity of sexual abuse,” the archdiocese said in its response to the sentence handed down by Common Pleas Court Judge M. Teresa Sarmina on Tuesday.

In a statement released after the sentencing, the archdiocese reaffirmed its commitment “to protecting children and caring for victims,” while also offering its prayers “for Msgr. Lynn and his family at this difficult time.”

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WEST VIRGINIA
Catholic News Agency

Wheeling, W.V., Jul 25, 2012 / 02:14 am (CNA).- Bishop Michael J. Bransfield of Wheeling-Charleston says accusations of abuse against him have been disproved, with the alleged victim and another witness coming forward to attest to his innocence.

“I am pleased to be able to say that this allegation has been put to rest,” Bishop Bransfield wrote in a July 23 letter, addressing the “false hearsay statements” made against him during the recent trial of Monsignor William Lynn and Father James Brennan.

“Ron Rock, the high school student whom I had allegedly victimized – now a prominent Philadelphia businessman – has now publicly confirmed that this allegation is completely false,” Bishop Bransfield wrote.

“Timothy Love was also with us on that occasion, and he has also confirmed the completely innocent and proper nature of my friendship with them.”

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PEORIA (IL)
Journal Star

PEORIA —

A minister at a Peoria church who was placed on probation in 2010 for aggravated criminal sexual abuse was indicted Tuesday by a Peoria County grand jury on similar charges.

Marcus D. Randle-Howard, 28, of 213 N. Webster St. was indicted on charges of criminal sexual assault and aggravated criminal sexual abuse for acts he allegedly committed to a 14-year-old girl in June.

Assistant State’s Attorney Steve Pattelli said the alleged assault occurred at the victim’s uncle’s house. She was visiting Peoria when Randle-Howard came into contact with her at the church, which wasn’t immediately known Tuesday.

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IRELAND
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin

Speaking Notes of
Most Rev. Diarmuid Martin
Archbishop of Dublin

Glenties, 24th July 2012 Embargo 2:30pm

Some months ago a commentator on radio – in all good faith – said that he could not understand the Archbishop of Dublin. I seemed, he said, to be constantly speaking from both sides of my mouth and he felt he did not really know where I stood. On the one hand I had said that the Catholic Church in Ireland was at a crisis point and on the other hand I was saying that it had begun to “turn the corner” of renewal.

I do not see these as opposing comments. I believe that both reflect different aspects of the life of the Catholic Church in Ireland today. The problem is that those who see the Church in Ireland as being in crisis fail to see – or perhaps in some cases do not want to see – the Church already turning the corner to a renewed phase in its history. And those who feel we have turned the corner often feel that the Church has already definitively moved forward – perhaps much more than I would hold – and that it is time now to look forward with confidence and definitively archive the past.

Some years ago I spoke here in Glenties about the situation of the Church in Ireland. I can honestly say that I have found my task today in trying to analyse the situation of the Church in Ireland without a doubt much more difficult than it was then. There is no way I which I can make definitive statements. There is no way in which humanly I can unquestionably say that my vision for the Church in Ireland, at least in the short term, is optimistic or pessimistic. It is only the faith I have that Jesus will be with his Church always which gives me encouragement and light. On the human level there are perhaps more unknowns and challenges and dysfunctionalities than there were a few years ago.

I am by no means a born pessimist. I see the many and remarkable positive changes that have taken place in the Church in Ireland since Vatican II and indeed in recent years and in recent months. There are however many contradictions and levels of ambivalence in the way believers and non-believers look at and evaluate the Church and its role in Ireland today.

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IRELAND
Jamaica Observer

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

LONDON, England (AP) — The archbishop of Dublin says the Catholic Church of Ireland needs to reflect further on the roots of sexual abuse of children by priests and is calling for public investigations into the scandal.

Diarmuid Martin says he believes the public interest could be served by public, research-based investigations into abuse and that the “answers to some questions are not to be found just in the archives of the Church.”

Martin is widely considered to be Ireland’s most reform-minded Catholic leader and the Irish church’s leading voice calling for greater openness on past abuse.

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UNITED KINGDOM
News.va – Vatican Radio

[with audio]

2012-07-24 Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) Helping survivors of sexual abuse. Ensuring that children are safe in the Church. And supporting religious congregations in their safeguarding endeavours. Those are three key concerns outlined in a new report from Britain’s National Catholic Safeguarding Commission which was published in London on Tuesday. While the fourth annual report highlights many positive developments in this vital ministry, it also says there’s still more that needs to be done to protect children and vulnerable adults from abuse.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Catholic Church of England and Wales

[with download of the full report]

The fourth Annual Report outlining the work of the National Catholic Safeguarding Commission (NCSC) and the Catholic Safeguarding Advisory Service (CSAS) has been launched today.

This report reflects the work of the Commission and the CSAS. It highlights the many positive developments in the safeguarding ministry in the Catholic Church in England and Wales whilst acknowledging that there is still work to be done and the need to remain vigilant in the protection of children, young people and vulnerable adults.

NCSC Developments 2011 – 2012

In 2011 the NCSC identified that its main areas of work for 2011/2012 would be to:
•Develop a more sensitive and pastoral response to victims and survivors of abuse
•Ensure that safeguarding standards are maintained throughout the Church
•Seek solutions to support the religious in their safeguarding endeavours

The report describes the progress in these areas.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Catholic Culture

CWN – July 25, 2012

The National Catholic Safeguarding Commission, a lay body formed in 2008 by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference in England and Wales and the Conference of Religious, released its annual report on July 24 and found that there were 49 allegations of abuse against a minor in 2011.

“Of the 49 alleged abusers, 28 are clergy or religious, 9 volunteers, 5 employees, and 7 parishioners,” the report stated. “26 victims allege that the abuse occurred in the 1980’s or before, with 1 in the 1940’s and 4 in the 1950’s. 25 victims allege that the abuse occurred in 2011.”

“37 victims alleged sexual abuse, 13 physical abuse, 8 emotional abuse,” the report continued. “This represents a significant reduction in the proportion of sexual abuse allegations compared with an equally significant increase in the proportion of physical abuse allegations.”

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