ABUSE TRACKER

VATICAN CITY
The Irish Times

PADDY AGNEW in Rome

NEW AMBASSADOR: THE DEVELOPMENTS in Cardinal Brady’s situation came on a historic day for Vatican-Irish relations yesterday.

The secretary general of the Department of Foreign Affairs, David Cooney, presented his diplomatic credentials to Pope Benedict as Ireland’s new, non-resident Ambassador to the Holy See.

The Holy See likes to make a point about the status of “non-resident” ambassadors by signing them on just twice a year, and in a job lot.

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IRELAND
The Irish Times

DEAGLAN de BRÉADÚN, TOM SHIEL, MARTIN WALL and PAMELA DUNCAN

TÁNAISTE EAMON Gilmore said Government Ministers were not seeking to drive Cardinal Seán Brady out of office.

“It’s not the case,” he told reporters in Dublin yesterday. “There is a separation in this country between church and State. It is not the Government’s responsibility to decide who are bishops or who should remain as bishops, or archbishops or cardinals – that’s entirely a matter for the church.

“What is the Government’s business is to ensure that there is adequate protection provided for in this State for children.

“We have seen appalling episodes of the abuse and rape of children in this country by people who have responsibility over them, including clergy people and, in effect, a cover-up of that in many respects by church authorities.

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IRELAND
The Irish Times

KEVIN CULLEN

ANALYSIS: AS HE sits in Ara Coeli in Armagh, Cardinal Seán Brady has begun to resemble someone who was under siege in a similarly fine house a decade ago: Cardinal Bernard Law, the archbishop of Boston who became the first American bishop to resign over a sex abuse scandal involving priests under his supervision.

The drumbeat for Cardinal Brady’s resignation, growing louder each day, is reminiscent of the one that eventually hounded Cardinal Law out of Boston 10 years ago.

There are key differences in their cases: Cardinal Law was under fire for direct actions he took as a bishop, while Cardinal Brady is being pressured for his inaction as a priest some 35 years ago. But the arc of the criticism is remarkably similar.

Like Cardinal Brady, Cardinal Law was initially firmly resolute in his refusal to step down, saying his resignation would solve nothing. But the drumbeat got louder and more persistent.

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IRELAND
The Irish Times

MARIE O’HALLORAN

PRESS OMBUDSMAN: RTÉ SHOULD consider whether each Prime Time Investigates series should be reduced from four to three programmes to allow for the possibility a programme cannot be transmitted, a report on the broadcaster’s current affairs has recommended.

It also recommends any reporter undertaking a long-form documentary for the first time should be given a “brief, informal but intensive induction”, arranged by the editor of current affairs, a report on RTÉ’s current affairs has recommended.

The producer/director of a programme should prepare a brief risk assessment document specifically covering any potential risks such as defamation, within a month of being assigned to the production.

And it recommends any written communication from the legal representatives of an actual or potential interviewee should be dealt with exclusively by legal affairs in consultation with the recipient and current affairs editor.

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IRELAND
The Irish Times

CARL O’BRIEN

ANALYSIS: RTÉ FACES a major challenge in re-establishing its trust with viewers who have come to expect high standards from the national broadcaster.

The damage is in the detail. It’s one thing to say RTÉ Prime Time Investigates programme was unfair and a breach of Fr Kevin Reynolds’s privacy. We have known that for months.

But it’s the sheer extent of failings – both individually and collectively – that make for shocking reading.

Former BBC Northern Ireland executive Anna Carragher investigated the programme for the Broadcast Authority of Ireland and has documented a series of failures that make it difficult to understand how a team with such a good reputation could allow the programme to be broadcast.

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IRELAND
The Irish Times

What the report says

AOIFE KAVANAGH
(reporter on Prime Time Investigates – Mission to Prey) An experienced RTÉ journalist who had not previously reported for the programme.

● Second-hand repetition of gossip appears to have been treated as corroboration, as Ms Kavanagh did not appear to have met or questioned colleagues who according to the primary source, were aware of the allegations.

● The journalist’s “sweeping assumptions about the behaviour of various orders” raises concerns about her objectivity in approaching the programme.

● The report has “considerable concerns” about the lack of documentation during conversations on a research trip to Africa in January 2011.

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IRELAND
The Irish Times

PAMELA DUNCAN

REACTION: MINISTER FOR Communications Pat Rabbitte has described the RTÉ documentary A Mission to Prey that defamed Fr Kevin Reynolds as a “shoddy, unprofessional, cavalier, damaging piece of work”.

Speaking on the RTÉ News last night after the publication of the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) report, Mr Rabbitte said it posed a fundamental challenge to RTÉ to re-establish its reputation and to rebuild the trust it has had with the Irish people.

“It is quite disturbing that a man’s character could have been traduced in such a cavalier fashion,” he said. It was “beyond belief” that a programme that had won such a high reputation for its investigative journalism “should put together a piece of work based on frankly no more than uncorroborated gossip”.

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IRELAND
The Irish Times

CARL O’BRIEN, Chief Reporter

RTÉ IS to be fined €200,000 following a report by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland which found that the Mission to Prey programme was unfair and a breach of Fr Kevin Reynolds’s privacy.

The authority’s statement of findings, as well as an independent report by former BBC Northern Ireland controller Anna Carragher, were published yesterday.

The programme falsely claimed that Fr Reynolds sexually abused a young girl and fathered her child while a missionary in Kenya.

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IRELAND
The Irish Times

FR REYNOLDS’S RESPONSE: FR KEVIN Reynolds, a popular parish priest in Ahascragh in Co Galway, will preside over a First Holy Communion service tomorrow. It is the same service at which he was secretly filmed by an RTÉ crew last year.

In a statement his solicitor, Robert Dore, said they had expected the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland report to be published next week. “We will need time to consider its contents carefully before making any comment,” he said.

“In the interim Fr Reynolds is presiding over this year’s Communion Mass in his parish in Ahascragh this weekend and is entirely focused on it.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
National Catholic Reporter

May. 04, 2012
By Brian Roewe

Five of the 26 Philadelphia priests suspended in the wake of sexual abuse allegations revealed in last year’s grand jury report will be removed from public ministry, Archbishop Charles Chaput announced this afternoon at a press conference.

Three of the 26 will be returned to ministry, while 17 cases are still pending in various stages of the investigation process, it was announced.

Chaput said the fate of the five priests determined “unfit for ministry” is still unknown. Each has the option to appeal the decision to the Vatican. If they decline or fail in their appeal, they could face laicization, life under supervision or a life of prayer and penance.

The type of conduct each was found guilty of — sexual abuse or a violation of boundaries — will likely dictate their fates. Of the five, only one, Fr. John Reardon, was accused of sexually abusing a minor, according to documents released by the archdiocese.

The remaining four – Fr. George Cadwallader, Fr. Msgr. Francis Feret, Fr. Robert Povish, Fr. Thomas Rooney – were found in violation of the archdiocese’s Standards of Ministerial Behavior and Boundaries, applicable to all clergy, staff and volunteers in the archdiocese.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Berger’s Beat

…The archdiocese is shuffling lawyers. Bernie and Lucie Huger are out and Tom Buckley is in. Buckley attends St. Ambrose on The Hill, where at least two sexually troubled priests from out-of-state quietly worked in recent years. A cleric from Washington was sent here after photos of naked kids were found on his computer. And a cleric from Kansas was sent here after being accused of sexually assaulting an adult parishioner. .

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ROME
The Christian Century

May 04, 2012 by David Gibson

Religion News Service (RNS) When the Vatican last month announced a doctrinal crackdown on the leadership organization representing most of the 57,000 nuns in the U.S., the sisters said they were “stunned” by the move. Many American Catholics, meanwhile, were angry at what they saw as Rome bullying women whose lives of service have endeared them to the public.

Vatican watchers also were perplexed since a broader, parallel investigation of women’s religious orders in the U.S. was resolved amicably after an initial clash. That seemed to augur a more diplomatic approach by the Vatican to concerns that American nuns were not sufficiently orthodox.

Now it turns out that conservative American churchmen living in Rome — including disgraced former Boston Cardinal Bernard Law — were key players in pushing the hostile takeover of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, or LCWR, which they have long viewed with suspicion for emphasizing social justice work over loyalty to the hierarchy and issues like abortion and gay marriage.

Vatican observers in Rome and church sources in the U.S. say Law was “the person in Rome most forcefully supporting” the LCWR investigation, as Rome correspondent Robert Mickens wrote in The Tablet, a London-based Catholic weekly. Law was the “prime instigator,” in the words of one American churchman, of the investigation that began in 2009 and ended in 2011. The actual crackdown was only launched in April.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

By David O’Reilly, Dan Hardy, Alfred Lubrano and Bonnie Cook
INQUIRER STAFF WRITERS

In parishes around the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, both joy and uncertainty greeted the news Friday that three priests among the more than two dozen accused of wrongful behavior with children would soon be returning to ministry, while five would not.

“Yay!” shouted 17-year-old Emily Ferry when she learned that Archbishop Charles J. Chaput had reinstated the Rev. Michael Chapman, former pastor of Ascension of Our Lord parish in Kensington.

“I’m excited,” she said. “He was a fine, nice guy.”

“I’m happy he’s back,” said her brother, Hugh, 21. Both had been altar servers at Ascension.

The accusations against Chapman and others have not been made public, and Chaput did not indicate Friday if he would be reassigning the returning priests to the parishes where they served most recently. Priests also have the option of going to new parishes, he said.

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IRELAND
Digital Spy

By Andrew Laughlin

Catholic primate Séan Brady has today accused the BBC of making “seriously misleading and untrue” allegations against him in a documentary.

Aired on BBC Northern Ireland last night (May 1), This World documentary The Shame of the Catholic Church focused on the Church’s handing of clerical sex abuse allegations in the 1970s.

Cardinal Brady has resisted calls for him to resign as the primate of all-Ireland after This World claimed that he had names and addresses of those being abused by paedophile priest Brendan Smyth, but had not passed the details on to police or parents.

Dr Brady said that the BBC’s allegations against him were “seriously misleading and untrue”. He also said that the documentary-makers had set out to “deliberately exaggerate and misrepresent” his role in the scandal.

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

Friday, May 04, 2012

Taoiseach Enda Kenny is again refusing to be drawn on whether the Primate of All Ireland Cardinal Seán Brady should resign over his handling of abuse allegations against Father Brendan Smyth in the 1970s.

The Tánaiste, a number of ministers and other senior political figures on both sides of the border have all urged Cardinal Brady to consider his position.

Social Protection Minister Joan Burton is the latest member of the Government to call on the Cardinal to consider his position over his failure to inform civil authorities about the abuse allegations against Fr Smyth.

However Mr Kenny today reiterated his position that given his role as the head of Government, it is not for him to make such a call.

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IRELAND
Daily Mail (United Kingdom)

Head of Irish Church has ‘lost his moral credibility’ and must resign over failure to warn parents about paedophile, say fellow priests

Pressure is building on the head of Ireland’s Catholic Church to resign over accusations he failed to warn parents their children were being sexually abused.

A BBC documentary broadcast this week said Cardinal Sean Brady was given, in 1975, the names and addresses of children being abused by paedophile Brendan Smyth during a Church investigation but had failed to act to ensure their safety.

‘Considering the damage done by that awful man Brendan Smyth, considering the repercussions, one has to say that unfortunately the Cardinal has lost his moral credibility,’ Father Vincent Twomey told national broadcaster RTE.

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

Friday, May 04, 2012

Speculation is growing that the Vatican may appoint a Bishop to assist Cardinal Sean Brady who is under growing pressure to stand aside over his role in the Fr Brendan Smyth affair.

The Catholic Press Office today rejected a report today that the Cardinal offered to step down two years ago.

However the office says that Cardinal Brady did request Episcopal support in 2010 and that request has now been reactivated.

Michael Kelly is deputy editor of the Irish Catholic:

“I think this current controversy, and the fall out from it, will make it very very clear to Rome that they do need to act swiftly and act decisively, and appoint a coagular archbishop.”, he said.

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IRELAND
Catholic News Agency

Armagh, Ireland, May 3, 2012 / 02:29 am (CNA).- Cardinal Sean B. Brady of Armagh, Ireland has denounced a BBC documentary on clerical abuse, saying he does not deserve blame for the results of a decades-old investigation in which he played a subordinate role.

“In the course of the program a number of claims were made which overstate and seriously misrepresent my role in a Church inquiry in 1975,” said Cardinal Brady, in response to a May 1 installment of “This World” entitled “The Shame of the Catholic Church.”

Cardinal Brady, who was not ordained as a bishop until 1995, issued a statement offering several clarifications about his role in the investigation of Norbertine priest Father Brendan Smyth, described in the BBC program.

Parts of the documentary, he said, gave viewers the impression “that because of the office I hold in the Church today I somehow had the power to stop Brendan Smyth in 1975.” But Cardinal Brady, who was not yet a bishop, had “absolutely no authority” over him.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
The Christian Century

May 04, 2012 by David Gibson

Religion News Service (RNS) Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput announced Friday (May 4) that five priests accused of sexually abusing children last year would be barred from ministry and could be defrocked, while three others were cleared by a church-led investigation and could return to pastoral work.

The eight were among more than two dozen priests who were suspended from ministry as a result of accusations made in a scathing February 2011 grand jury report on the sexual abuse of minors by clergy in the archdiocese.

One of the 27 suspended priests is Monsignor William J. Lynn, who was not accused of direct abuse but of covering up for clergy molesters while overseeing personnel matters for the archdiocese from 1992 to 2004. Lynn is currently on trial in Philadelphia on charges of child endangerment, the only church official ever to go before a jury for allowing abusers to prey on minors. …

Terence McKiernan, head of BishopAccountability.org, a lay-led church reform group, said Chaput “missed a crucial opportunity” because he “could have made Philadelphia the bellwether for nationwide reform of a system that has never delivered on its promise. He has not done so.”

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
The New York Times

by Jon Hurdle

Published: May 4, 2012

PHILADELPHIA — The Roman Catholic archbishop of Philadelphia announced Friday that five priests under investigation for sexual abuse would be permanently removed from ministry, while three other priests had been exonerated. The eight were among 26 priests who were suspended in early 2011 because of past accusations of sex abuse or improper sexual behavior.

The five who will be removed were deemed ”unsuitable for ministry,” while the other three may return to active ministry immediately, said Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, announcing his first major action in the sexual abuse scandals since he took office last September.

His predecessor, Cardinal Justin Rigali, suspended the 26 priests after a withering grand jury report in February 2011 accused the archdiocese of allowing as many as 37 priests to keep working, and remain in possible contact with children, despite “substantial evidence of abuse.”

At a news conference Friday, Archbishop Chaput said that one of the priests mentioned in the grand jury report had died, and that church officials had not yet reached conclusions about an additional 17. Six of those priests are still under criminal investigation by the Philadelphia district attorney’s office.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Philadelphia Inquirer

The Rev. George Cadwallader, who most recently was assigned to St. Vincent de Paul Church in Richboro, was one of the five priests removed from the ministry Friday by Archbishop Charles Chaput.

Richard Janowski of Joshua Drive in Richboro said Cadwallader “never impressed me. I don’t know — there was something wrong with him. The pastor, Father Joseph McLaughlin, is the opposite, very intelligent, very devout.”

Janowski, who helps with the parish collections once a month and has been a parishioner for about 25 years, said Cadwallader was at the parish for about a year. One of the priest’s jobs was training altar boys and girls, Janowski said.

Jeff Schuck, 48, of Joshua Drive, did not know Cadwallader or that the priest had been removed from the parish during the archdiocese’s investigation. But, “it is very disheartening the way the church is going,” he said. “I worry about the kids — can you leave them alone? I don’t think I will.”

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
WXXI

[Resolutions to Some of the Cases of Priests on Administrative Leave – via BishopAccountability.org]

(Reuters) –
By Dave Warner

PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania (Reuters) – Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput stripped five priests of their duties and apologized to their victims on Friday following an investigation into a pedophilia scandal that has rocked the Roman Catholic archdiocese.

The sanctions come as the archdiocese nears the end of its investigation into 27 priests who were put on leave when a January 2011 grand jury report raised questions about their possible involvement in abusing children.

Chaput said five of the cases were substantiated in the investigation, and those priests would be barred from public ministry, meaning they can no longer perform duties such as saying Mass. They can appeal to Rome, and later could be defrocked.

Another three priests under investigation were cleared. One priest named in the grand jury report has since died.

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WISCONSIN
Green Bay Press-Gazette

Written by
Hannah O’Brien
Green Bay Press-Gazette

A former Green Bay priest who was sentenced to 32 years in prison for sexually assaulting a child has been granted early release after serving eight years, a victim advocacy group says.

Donald Buzanowski had a motion hearing today in front of Brown County Circuit Court Judge William Atkinson. SNAP, Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests, said at a news conference Buzanowski could be released within a week.

Buzanowski’s release is part of a deal made between the prosecution and defense that aimed to prevent Buzanowski from appealing his sentence based on a technicality relating to statute of limitations in effect at the time of the crime, SNAP Midwest Director Peter Isely said today.

Buzanowski will serve eight years on probation and will remain on the sex offender registry, Isely said.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Patch

By Ann Cornell

The Rev. Robert W. Povish, a former in-residence priest at St. Eleanor’s Parish in Collegeville, is one of five priests removed from ministry, according to a press conference held by Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput on Friday afternoon, May 4.

Povish was among 27 priests suspended following a February 2011 grand jury report that charged the Archdiocese of Philadelphia had allowed several priests to remain in active ministry despite what the grand jury deemed credible allegations of abuse or misconduct.

Those on leave face accusations of inappropriate behavior or boundary issues with minors, or of more serious abuse, according to a March 2011 interview with archdiocesan Director of Communications Donna Farrell.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Patch

By Tom Sofield

It was reported Friday afternoon that former St. Vincent de Paul parish Parochial Vicar Reverend George Cadwallader was one of five Philadelphia-area priest removed from ministry after a ”thorough and complex” investigation into reports of sexual abuse of minors by clergy and violations of the church’s Standards of Ministerial Behavior and Boundaries.

Cadwallader was identified as one of the clergymen removed by a Philly.com report.

Details on Cadwallader’s removal and the allegations mounted against him will not be released by the archdiocese as to protect the victims, Archbishop Charles Chaput said during a press conference streamed on the church’s website. It is unclear if any misbehavior occurred during his time at the Hatboro Road parish or during his previous assignment at Queen of the Universe parish in nearby Middletown.

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MINNESOTA
BishopAccountability.org – Assignment Record

Summary of Case: DeSutter has been accused of the sexual abuse of several boys, and of inappropriate sexual advances against a young adult male parishioner. The archdiocese knew of accusations against him in at least 1989. The earliest known incidents are alleged to have happened in the late 1970s. Two others are said to have occurred in 1992. DeSutter was sent for psychological evaluations by the archdiocese in 1989, and again in 1992. He contact with minors was restricted after the 1992 evaluation, but he was eventually allowed to work as a weekend fill-in priest. He retired in 1994 and relocated in the late 1990s or early 2000s to Mesa, Arizona.

Ordained: 1954
Incardinated: St. Paul and Minneapolis
Retired: 1994

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia via BishopAccountability.org

May 4, 2012
Below is background information regarding those cases announced today of priests placed on
administrative leave after the 2011 grand jury report. Notification had been made at their most
recent parish assignment at that time. Announcements of the final resolution of their cases will be made at those parishes this weekend.

Prior to reaching a final resolution, each case was submitted to the appropriate local district
attorney’s office as the process is designed to ensure that the district attorney has an opportunity for review before an Archdiocesan investigation proceeds. After receiving clearance that investigation was conducted by the Multi-Disciplinary Team (MDT) led by veteran child abuse prosecutor Gina Maisto Smith. The results of the investigations were provided to the Archdiocesan Review Board (ARB), which provided a recommendation to the Archbishop, who made the final decision.

The remaining cases cannot be announced immediately for a variety of reasons. The
Archdiocese referred all of its cases to the local district attorney. A handful of cases have not yet been cleared so the internal Archdiocesan investigation led by the MDT has not begun. A few cases were just recently released by law enforcement and are currently under investigation by the MDT. In other cases, the Archdiocese has received clearance, the internal investigation is complete, and the matter is awaiting examination by the Archdiocesan Review Board or a final decision by Archbishop Chaput.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
MSNBC

By Kari Huus, msnbc.com

Five priests have been deemed “not suitable for ministry, ” the Catholic Church of Philadelphia announced Friday, in its first action since it suspended 26 priests after a January 2011 grand jury report on clergy sex abuse.

Philadelphia Archbishop Chaput said three other clergy were reinstated to the ministry and one had died without a determination. Of the rest, six cases have not been completed by law enforcement, so the church has been unable to perform its own review, said Archbishop Charles Chaput. The others were under investigation or pending final disposition, he said.

Chaput said the investigation, which he described as “exhaustive,” was being carried out by a team that included 20 experts in child abuse, who have called in more than 200 witnesses and reviewed more than 400,000 pages of documents.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Catholic News Agency

Philadelphia, Pa., May 4, 2012 / 12:38 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The Archdiocese of Philadelphia has announced a resolution in the cases of eight priests placed on leave after a grand jury report last year, removing five of them from ministry permanently.

“The decisions announced today reflect our commitment to protect children, assist victims, restore the integrity of the priesthood and provide evidence to the broader community that it can have confidence in these outcomes,” Philadelphia Archbishop Charles J. Chaput told reporters at a May 4 press conference.

A total of 26 priests were suspended from ministry by Archbishop Chaput’s predecessor, Cardinal Justin F. Rigali, in response to allegations of sex abuse or inappropriate behavior in a 2011 grand jury report.

On Friday, Archbishop Chaput announced that three of these priests had been “found suitable for ministry,” after a review by an archdiocesan board that was reformed in response to the grand jury findings.

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WORCESTER (MA)
Telegram & Gazette

By Gary V. Murray TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
gmurray@telegram.com

WORCESTER — Judge Leilah A. Keamy, an associate justice of the Worcester Probate and Family Court, found herself on the witness stand this morning in Central District Court.

A member of St. George Antiochian Orthodox Cathedral on Anna Street, Judge Keamy was called as a defense witness at the trial of the Rev. Charles Michael Abdelahad of Shrewsbury, the church’s longtime pastor, who stands accused of sexually assaulting and physically abusing a female parishioner during counseling sessions at the church.

Called to the stand by Rev. Abdelahad’s lawyer, James G. Reardon Jr., Judge Keamy recalled a conversation she had with Rev. Abdelahad’s accuser that she believed took place in 2008.

Judge Keamy said the woman, now 45 years old, approached her after a church function and told her she needed some legal advice. The judge testified that she advised the woman she was unable to give legal advice as a judge.

She said the woman proceeded to tell her that she was separated from her husband and that her husband had been physically and verbally abusive toward her for many years. The woman then asked whether a judge would be more inclined to grant her custody of her children if she had proof of the physical abuse, according to Judge Keamy.

The judge said she encouraged the woman to seek out a lawyer. She said the woman specifically told her that her husband had punched her, kicked her, pulled her around the house by her hair, given her a black eye and a fat lip and called her vile names in front of their children.

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GREEN BAY (WI)
Fox 11

GREEN BAY – A former area priest convicted of sexually abusing a student will be released from prison early because of a judge’s ruling.

Donald Buzanowski, who is now 69, was sentenced in 2005 to 32 years in prison for sexually abusing David Schauer while Schauer was a student at Green Bay’s Saints Peter and Paul School in 1988.

Today, a joint motion was agreed to by Judge William Atkinson that will release Buzanowski from prison as early as next week.

Atkinson, however, upheld Buzanowski’s 2005 sexual assault conviction.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
PhillyBurbs

Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA — Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput says five priests – including three with Bucks County ties – have been found not suitable for ministry due to substantiated allegations of sexual abuse or boundary violations.

Chaput says three priests will be returned to ministry – including one from Bucks County – and another died during the investigation.

Chaput says 17 other cases have been investigated, but the findings are not being announced Friday.

The three priests with local ties who were found unsuitable for ministry by the archdiocese include:

* The Rev. George Cadwallader, for alleged violation of “The Standards of Ministerial Behavior and Boundaries.” He had served at Queen of the Universe parish in Middletown before his assignment to St. Vincent De Paul in Northampton.

* The Rev. John Reardon, for alleged sexual abuse of a minor. He was assigned to St. Joseph the Worker in Falls and was a former pastor at St. John at the Cross in Abington.

* The Rev. Thomas Rooney, for alleged violation of “The Standards and Ministerial Behavior and Boundaries.” He graduated from Conwell Egan High School in 1968 and celebrated his first Mass at Our Lady of Grace in Penndel in 1991.

Among those found suitable for ministry was the Rev. Michael Chapman, who was raised in Levittown. The alleged violation of “The Standards of Ministerial Behavior and Boundaries” lodged against him was found unsubstantiated.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia

[Resolutions to Some of the Cases of Priests on Administrative Leave – via BishopAccountability.org]

Archbishop Chaput announces initiative to provide support and assistance to parishioners as they and the Church come to terms with the past, seek to understand sexual violence, and create an environment that is safe and welcoming to those who have been victimized

The Archdiocese of Philadelphia announced today that the work of a special team investigating the 26 priests publicly placed on leave by Cardinal Rigali last year is now largely done. Archbishop Charles Chaput, O.F.M. Cap., has made final decisions in eight of the cases of the priests who were put on administrative leave following the February 2011 Grand Jury Report, which urged the Archdiocese to review cases of past allegations of sexual abuse of minors by clergy and some cases involving violations of the Standards of Ministerial Behavior and Boundaries.

“The process of reviewing these cases was designed to ensure that the decisions announced today reflect our commitment to protect children, assist victims, restore the integrity of the priesthood and provide evidence to the broader community that they can have confidence in these outcomes,” said Archbishop Chaput.

Through a rigorous investigative process, involving over 20 experts in child abuse, three of the priests have been found suitable for ministry and five have been found not suitable for ministry due to a substantiated allegation of sexual abuse of a minor or substantiated violation of the Standards of Ministerial Behavior and Boundaries. One priest on leave died before the investigation was complete so no finding could be determined. The priests found unsuitable for ministry will have no public ministry in the Archdiocese. They do have the right to appeal the decision with the Holy See. Depending upon the substantiated allegation, if they do not appeal, or if their appeal is unsuccessful, they could be laicized (removed from the clerical state), live under some supervision, or live a life of prayer and penance.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

By John P. Martin and Jeremy Roebuck
INQUIRER STAFF WRITERS

Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, reporting on the fates of some of the 27 priests suspended after last year’s grand jury report into clergy sex abuse, said Friday three priests will return to the ministry but five others will not.

Chaput said one of the 27 had died before the investigation had been completed and no determination was made as to his suitability for ministry. Six cases are still being reviewed by law enforcement officials, he said.

“Our actions, including these outcomes and the steps we have taken to improve our policies and procedures, show that we have learned from the past,” he said. “No lesson from the sexual abuse scandal is more important than the understanding that the people who suffer most are the victims.”

Removed from Ministry are Rev. George CadwRallader, Msgr. Francis Feret, Rev. Robert Povish, Rev. John Reardon, and Rev. Thomas Rooney. All five can appeal their decisions.

Allegations against Rev. Philip Barr, Rev. Michael Chapman, and Msgr. Michael Flood were found to be unsubstantiated. All three are cleared to return to their parishes, Chaput said.

Chaput’s announcement Friday marks the first substantial public response to one of the most controversial decisions of his predecessor.

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IRELAND
Leinster Leader

Published on Thursday 3 May 2012

RTE presenter Aoife Kavanagh has quit the state broadcaster over the damning report into the defamatory Mission to Prey programme.

The Prime Time Investigates reporter also apologised to victims of abuse and to Fr Kevin Reynolds for the hurt caused when he was wrongly portrayed of raping a minor and fathering a child while working as a missionary in Kenya.

Ms Kavanagh – whose investigation was severely criticised in the probe – said while she acknowledged mistakes were made, she believed she had acted objectively and in good faith.

“In this regard I do not accept many of the findings of the investigating officer in relation to the manner in which I carried out my work,” she said.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
My Fox Philly

PHILADELPHIA – Five priests accused of sexually abusing children have been defrocked, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia announced at a news conference Friday afternoon.

In all, 26 priests have been awaiting word on their fate since being placed on leave back by Cardinal Justin Rigali, the former leader of the archdiocese, back in February 2011.

On Friday, the current leader of Philadelphia Catholics said the church’s review of the accusations is “largely complete,” and he was ready to announce the disposition of nine of the 26 cases.

“Three priests have been found suitable for ministry,” Chaput told assembled media. “Five priests will not return to ministry, although they retain the right to appeal this decision to the Holy See (The Vatican). A ninth priest is now deceased, and his case cannot be concluded.”

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
The Philly Post

Mike Bertha

This afternoon, Archbishop Charles Chaput announced that the Archdiocese of Philadelphia has made decisions regarding eight of the 26 priests put on administrative leave in early 2011 after being implicated in the grand jury report on sexual abuse. Five of the 26 priests put on leave were deemed not suitable for the ministry, while three were ruled suitable. Chaput said that he reviewed each case personally and that 20 experts helped guide the Archdiocese in making the decisions. He added that he would not go into further detail on the cases out of respect for the victims because it is up to them to decided when and what people should know about what they went through.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Priest Abuse Trial Blog

Ralph Cipriano

One of the featured coming attractions of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia sex abuse trial was the hope of seeing Cardinal Bevilacqua come back from the dead to testify in a videotaped deposition.

On Nov. 29, 2011, prosecutors, defense lawyers and Judge M. Teresa Sarmina all made the trek out to the retired cardinal’s residence on the grounds of the Charles Borromeo Seminary in Wynnewood, so they could depose the 88-year-old Bevilacqua. The deposition went on for two days and covered at least four hours of videotape.

Ever since Bevilacqua died on Jan. 31, a day after Judge Sarmina had ruled him competent to testify as a witness, speculation has been that the prosecution would use the videotape at trial.

But in court this week, Assistant District Attorney Jacqueline Coelho told the judge that she doesn’t expect that the Commonwealth will play the videotape during the trial, which just wrapped up its sixth week of testimony.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
KTAR

By MARYCLAIRE DALE
(May 4th, 2012

PHILADELPHIA (AP) – Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput (SHAP’-yoo) says five priests have been found not suitable for ministry due to substantiated allegations of sexual abuse or boundary violations.

Chaput says three priests will be returned to ministry, and another died during the investigation.

Chaput says 17 other cases have been investigated, but the findings are not being announced Friday.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
WFTV

The Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA —

Philadelphia archbishop: 5 priests cannot serve because of substantiated sex-abuse allegations.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

By Sarah Stack

Friday May 04 2012

RTE has been hit with a €200,000 fine over its defamatory Mission to Prey programme which libelled a Catholic missionary priest.

The Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) investigation into the Prime Time Investigates programme found it broadcast serious, damaging and untrue allegations about Fr Kevin Reynolds by wrongly accusing him of raping a minor and fathering a child while working in Kenya 30 years ago.

RTE admitted the defamation was one of the most significant errors made in its broadcasting history and that the material should never have been broadcast.

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

Friday, May 04, 2012

Minister for Communications Pat Rabbitte has criticised RTÉ’s ‘Mission to Prey’ programme today, calling it a “shoddy, unprofessional, cavalier, damaging piece of work”.

RTÉ was hit with a €200,000 fine over its defamatory programme which libelled a Catholic missionary priest.

The Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) investigation into the ‘Prime Time Investigates’ programme found it broadcast serious, damaging and untrue allegations about Fr Kevin Reynolds by wrongly accusing him of raping a minor and fathering a child while working in Kenya 30 years ago.

Speaking after the release of the BAI Statement of Findings and Report of the Investigating Officer today, Minister Rabbitte said that the broadcast of ‘Mission to Prey’ “really poses a fundamental challenge now to RTÉ to re-establish its reputation to rebuild that trust it has had with the Irish people.”

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IRELAND
Offaly Express

Published on Thursday 3 May 2012

RTE has been hit with a 200,000 euro fine over its defamatory Mission to Prey programme which libelled a Catholic missionary priest.

The Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) investigation into the Prime Time Investigates programme found it broadcast serious, damaging and untrue allegations about Fr Kevin Reynolds by wrongly accusing him of raping a minor and fathering a child while working in Kenya 30 years ago.

RTE admitted the defamation was one of the most significant errors made in its broadcasting history and that the material should never have been broadcast.

The state broadcaster has already pulled the award-winning production off air for good over the programme, which was aired on May 23 last year.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia

Live stream.

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IRELAND
The Journal

[with poll]

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH’S top official in Ireland Cardinal Seán Brady is coming under increasing pressure to resign his position over allegations relating to the sexual abuse of children by paedophile priest Brendan Smyth.

Survivors of clerical abuse have not been satisfied with the defence used by Brady that he had no power to stop Smyth back in 1975. The Cardinal also claims his role in the secret inquiry has been misrepresented and exaggerated.

Chief executive of Barnardos Fergus Finlay, who yesterday revealed he was abused as a child, has called on Brady to resign, stating he cannot offer solace to survivors. Meanwhile, the Vatican’s chief prosecutor Monsignor Charles Scicluna has said that the Irish church needs Cardinal Brady as he has “shown determination in promoting the protection of children”. He also argued that Ireland needed leaders who have “learned the hard way”.

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IRELAND
Broadcasting Authority of Ireland

The Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (“BAI”) has today, 4th May 2012, issued a Statement of Findings and the Report of the Investigator on an investigation pursuant to Section 53 of the Broadcasting Act 2009

Download the: BAI Statement of Findings

Download the: Report of the Investigating Officer

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IRELAND
The Journal

THE BROADCASTING AUTHORITY of Ireland (BAI) has published its final report into the RTÉ Prime Investigates Mission to Prey programme which libelled Fr Kevin Reynolds.

An investigation by the former BBC executive Anna Carragher has examined the programme which defamed the Galway priest, wrongly accusing him of fathering a child while a missionary in Africain the 1980s.

The broadcaster has subsequently apologised to the priest and paid undisclosed damages. Carragher’s investigation has examined how the Prime Time Investigates team complied with broadcasting rules and standards.

Read the BAI report in full >

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by David Clohessy on May 04, 2012

First, let’s remember the grand jury cited concerns about 37 active priests last year, not 27. Philly archdiocesan officials quickly split hairs and distanced themselves from ten of the accused, saying they belong to religious orders or were incardinated elsewhere.

That’s disingenuous. These ten worked in Philly parishes around Philly kids approved by Philly archdiocesan staff. So it’s reckless for Rigali, Chaput and others to act secretively and irresponsibly with these ten accused clerics. It’s wrong to use technicalities to “pass the buck” on potentially dangerous child predators.

Here’s what we think MAY happen today:

-Chaput may announce the hiring of another staff person or the tweaking of archdiocesan abuse policies again (neither of which will have any meaningful impact).

Here’s what we think WILL happen today:

-Some priests will be permanently removed from ministry (because allegations were deemed credible).

-Fewer priests will be restored to ministry (because allegations were deemed “unsubstantiated”).

-Few details will be given.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
My Fox Philly

Kristen Byrne, Blogger
MyFoxPhilly.com

Prosecutors in the Philadelphia Archdiocese clergy-abuse trial charged that Monsignor William Lynn lied to police about numerous accusations involving a priest.

Countless documents detailing passionate kissing and inappropriate touching by former priest Nicholas Cudemo were read to the jury on Thursday. Between the 1960s and 1970s, Cudemo allegedly sexually assaulted at least eleven young girls, including three of his cousins.

Cudemo’s molestations occurred before Lynn’s tenure as secretary of clergy, from 1992 to 2004. The first allegation of abuse took place in 1966, when Cudemo was an assistant pastor at St. Stanislaus parish in Lansdale. Cudemo was laicized in 2005.

The archdiocese first learned of the abuse in 1991. Lynn and his then-supervisor, Monsignor James Molloy, documented the complaints in various memorandums. Various women, including Cudemo’s three cousins, came and told their horrifying stories of “mind control”, fondling and oral sex.

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DEUTSCHLAND
netzwerkB

Gastbeitrag von Ingo Bading
Sehr geehrter Herr Deschner,

in einem Interview vom 23.3.2010 mit der Deutschen Presseagentur, veröffentlicht vom Humanistischen Pressedienst (http://hpd.de/node/9114) werden Sie gleich zu Anfang gefragt, ob es ähnliche Razzien wie im März 2010 im Kloster Ettal schon einmal in der Kirchengeschichte gegeben hätte. Und Sie verneinen diese Frage:

“Etwas wirklich Vergleichbares kaum, zumindest schweigt meine ‘Kriminalgeschichte des Christentums’ hierzu ebenso wie meine Sexualgeschichte ‘Das Kreuz mit der Kirche’.”

Und das scheint mir doch, wie ich denke – Entschuldigen Sie bitte! – ein Irrtum zu sein. Aus dem Buch des Historikers Hans Günter Hockerts “Die Sittlichkeitsprozesse gegen katholische Ordensangehörige und Priester 1936/1937 – Eine Studie zur nationalsozialistischen Herrschaftstechnik und zum Kirchenkampf”, schon 1971 im Matthias-Grünewald-Verlag in Mainz erschienen (im Netz frei zugänglich), geht klar hervor, daß es solche Razzien in deutschen Klöstern während des Dritten Reiches sehr wohl und sehr umfangreich gegeben hat, und daß die dabei gewonnenen Ergebnisse was die damalige Verbreitung von Kindesmißbrauch in kirchlichen Institutionen betrifft, offenbar sehr weitgehend der damals vorliegenden historischen Wahrheit entsprachen, die sich mit den vorliegenden Verhältnissen des Jahres 2010 offenbar sehr weitgehend deckte, wenn die damaligen Verhältnisse die heutigen nicht sogar übertroffen haben.

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NIEDERLANDE
Spiegel (Deutschland)

Von Benjamin Schulz

Die katholische Kirche in den Niederlanden ließ 1956 einen Jungen kastrieren – angeblich, um ihn von seiner Homosexualität zu heilen. Diesen und mögliche weitere Fälle erwähnt ein Bericht über Missbrauch in der Kirche nicht, obwohl die Verfasser davon wussten. Der Skandal wird politisch.

Als Henk Heithuis 1958 mit Anfang zwanzig starb, hatte er so viel gelitten, dass es für mehrere Leben reicht. Über Jahre von katholischen Geistlichen gequält und sexuell missbraucht, entließ die Kirche ihn erst in die Freiheit, nachdem sie ihn durch Kastration für den kurzen Rest seines Lebens gezeichnet hatte.

Heithuis’ Qualen beginnen quasi mit seiner Geburt im Jahr 1935. Als Scheidungskind verbringt er fast seine gesamte Kindheit und Jugend in Heimen. Missbrauch gehört zum Alltag, auch im von katholischen Mönchen geführten Vincentius-Stift in Harreveld. Dort lebt Heithuis von 1950 bis 1953.

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ESPANA
El Correo

22/12/2009

[The archbishop of Granada said a man is allowed to abuse the body of a woman who has had an abortion.]

El arzobispo de Granada, Javier Martínez , pronunció el pasado domingo una homilía en la Catedral en la que comparó la reforma de la Ley del Aborto con el régimen de Hitler, alegando que los crímenes nazis no eran tan “repugnantes” como los que permite cometer dicha ley. Acto seguido, Martínez dio a entender que la mujer que aborta “mata a un niño indefenso” y, por tanto, “da a los varones la licencia absoluta, sin límites, de abusar” de su cuerpo.

Martínez considera el aborto “un genocidio silencioso”, y cree que la humanidad está involucionando al aprobarse los últimos cambios a la ley que permite interrumpir el embarazo. “Matar a un niño indefenso, y que lo haga su propia madre, da a los varones la licencia absoluta, sin límites, de abusar del cuerpo de la mujer, porque la tragedia se la traga ella”, dijo el obispo . La oficina de información de los Obispos del Sur , que distribuyó ayer su homilía del domingo, explicaron que esta frase de Martínez apunta primero “al abuso que la mujer comete primero con su cuerpo y con su hijo”, y que la deslegitima para negarse a que el hombre abuse de ella “como si fuera un objeto”. “El arzobispo se refería a que si la madre es capaz de matar a su propio hijo, el varón tiene entonces autoridad absoluta para hacer lo que quiera con ella y con su cuerpo”.

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ITALY
Daily Mail (United Kingdom)

Paedophile priest dubbed ‘The Night Priest’ jailed for abusing and plying altar boys with cocaine, 18 YEARS after church chiefs were first warned about him

By Nick Pisa In Rome
PUBLISHED: 08:18 EST, 4 May 2012

A paedophile priest who plied altar servers with cocaine before sexually abusing them has been jailed for nine and a half years by an Italian court.

Father Riccardo Seppia, 51, was arrested by police after they discovered his activities during an investigation into the supply of drugs to Milan’s gay nightclub scene.

Stunned officers listened in as Father Seppia said: ‘Come on over I’ve got some snow’ – code for drugs. In another conversation he said: ‘Bring the usual gift, I am very lonely.’

When details of Father Seppia’s case emerged last year in his parish at Sestri Ponente near Genoa he was immediately suspended by his local bishop – although there were claims that church chiefs had been warned about him almost 20 years ago.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Centre Daily Times

The Associated Press

A suspended Catholic priest has appealed his conviction on charges of concealing the whereabouts of a child and corruption of minors stemming from his relationship with a 15-year-old northwestern Pennsylvania boy whose mother had told the priest to stop contacting the teen.

Sixty-year-old Samuel Slocum, of Cyclone, is serving two years’ probation for his conviction in January.

The priest remains suspended from ministry by the Erie diocese but argues in the appeal that McKean County prosecutors didn’t prove the charges against him.

The Bradford Era ( http://bit.ly/KzBcEl) says Slocum contends he didn’t hide the boy’s whereabouts from his mother, and says the boy wasn’t “corrupted” because the priest never encouraged him to commit a crime or do anything inappropriate.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Kansas City Star

By MARK MORRIS
The Kansas City Star

A reporter’s life often is defined by the biggest stories on his plate.

Several years back, I was entranced by the U.S. insurance industry. That slowly morphed into an intense interest in human trafficking and fraud in America’s work visa programs. Before long an athletic ticket stealing scandal at the University of Kansas ate huge chunks of my time.

It’s an eclectic life, but reporters constantly learn about new things, which is why it’s a great job.

Since the arrest of a priest on child pornography charges in May 2011, I have been drawn into the troubles facing the Catholic Church. As a member of the United Methodist Church — a barefoot third cousin to the Catholics — I entered a historic and clerical culture of which I was only vaguely aware.

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BELARUS
New York Daily News

Moscow, May 4 (IANS/RIA Novosti) The Belarusian orthodox church may defrock a 60-year-old priest, who was detained for allegedly demonstrating his genitals to passengers at a railway station.

According to Belarusian news agency BELTA, the priest was allegedly involved in the act of exhibitionism at the Baranovichi-Polesskiye railway station.

The report said that it turned out later that the priest was also drunk and it was not the first time he was detained for such public offences.

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IRELAND
TV3

Cardinal Sean Brady is believed to have held meetings with his advisors last night, as pressure grows for his resignation.

Groups representing abuse survivors and a number of senior political figures have urged Cardinal Brady to consider his position, while the Taoiseach has said he should reflect on the allegations contained in a BBC documentary this week.

It claimed that the Cardinal knew of children at risk of abuse by paedophile priest Fr. Brendan Smyth in the 1970’s, but failed to pass on the information.

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CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Tribune

By Naomi Nix
Tribune reporter

A 45-year-old man filed a lawsuit Thursday against the Archdiocese of Chicago alleging that a Chicago priest sexually molested him repeatedly when he was between 15 to 17 years old.

Though the archdiocese had been notified that the priest had sexually abused young boys, including the victim, he was allowed to remain a priest, according to the lawsuit filed in Cook County Circuit Court.

The lawsuit accuses the archdiocese of concealing the priest’s behavior from the victim, his family, law enforcement and other parishioners in an attempt to avoid a scandal.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
National Secular Society

Posted: Fri, 04 May 2012

The National Secular Society has called on the Northern Ireland Justice Minister to launch an investigation into child abuse in the Catholic Church.

The NSS wrote to Justice Minister David Ford following a serious allegation made in the BBC’s This World programme that a church inquiry in 1975 involving Brady, then a priest, was given the names and addresses of children abused by a serial paedophile priest. The programme claimed that this information was then not passed on to the families or the police, allowing the abuse to continue for at least another decade.

As a number of Catholic dioceses straddle the border, this is an issue that involves Northern Ireland too. In 2011 the NSS wrote to the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland urging him to consider and all Ireland investigation. That request as ignored but the National Secular Society says it now hopes the Justice Minister will take the necessary steps to ensure that individuals within the Catholic Church are not permitted to evade the law which others are expected to follow.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Derry Journal

Published on Friday 4 May 2012

The head of Ireland’s Catholic Church is coming under increasing pressure to resign over a paedophile priest scandal.

The North’s Deputy First Minister, Martin McGuinness, is the latest high profile personality to comment on Cardinal Sean Brady’s apparent failure to act when alerted to abuse allegations when he was a young priest.

A television documentary this week revealed that, in 1975, a 14-year-old boy who had been sexually abused by paedophile priest Fr Brendan Smyth gave the then Fr Brady the names and addresses of other children who had been abused.

The programme makers claimed Fr Brady did not pass on the details to the police or parents.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Philadelphia Inquirer

By John P. Martin and Claudia Vargas
Inquirer Staff Writers

A former Port Richmond pastor is among the Catholic priests who will be permanently removed from ministry over child-sex abuse allegations, according to a lawyer for a man who said the cleric raped him.

Archdiocese of Philadelphia officials notified the accuser on Thursday that Msgr. Francis J. Feret won’t be reinstated, attorney Daniel Monahan said.

Feret, 75, spent more than a decade as pastor of St. Adalbert in the city’s Port Richmond section, and twice as long as a teacher and administrator at Cardinal Dougherty High School.

Reached by phone late Thursday, Feret said: “I’m sorry, I don’t have anything to say,” then hung up.

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BOSTON (MA)
The Pilot

BRAINTREE — The Archdiocese of Boston announced April 30 that it has found unsubstantiated claims of child sex abuse made in August against Father John M. Mendicoa. The alleged incident dated back to the 1980’s

Father Mendicoa, the former pastor of Sacred Heart Parish in Roslindale, had been placed on administrative leave after receipt of the allegation.

In a statement, the archdiocese said, “Father Mendicoa is no longer on administrative leave and has now been assigned the status of Senior Priest, restricted.”

The statement also outlined the limits of Father Mendicoa’s ministry in the future.

“Father Mendicoa’s ministry, beyond sacramental celebrations with members of his family, will be exercised with the permission of the vicar general and moderator of the curia of the Archdiocese of Boston,” it said.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
CBS Philly

By Steve Tawa

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – Jurors in the clergy abuse case have pored over church documents to look at the career of a defrocked priest, who is not on trial. The prosecution was attempting to show the lengths to which the Archdiocese of Philadelphia had allegedly perpetuated a policy of moving around ‘problem priests.’

The allegations against the Reverend Nicholas Cudemo began in the mid 1960′s, according to church records. Prosecutors detailed nine mostly young girls who made complaints against him, including three relatives, through the 70′s and 80′s, up to and including 1991.

That’s when one alleged victim’s family filed a lawsuit against Cudemo and the Archdiocese. Within days, the late Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua asked that Cudemo withdraw from his parish, until an evaluation was done.

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IRELAND
New Statesman

By Paul Donovan Published 04 May 2012

How much has the Catholic Church really changed in addressing questions such as child abuse?

Not very much, if the recent BBC programme The Shame of the Catholic Church implicating Cardinal Sean Brady is to be believed.

The question that such programmes constantly bring up is whether on the abuse question the Church has not just conducted a damage limitation exercise, taken some public relations advice, but in reality continues pretty much as before.

Guidelines have been brought in and child protection has rightly been given a higher priority. However, as this BBC programme showed there is still much atoning to be done for what happened in the past.

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NEW YORK
Forward

By Paul Berger

Published May 03, 2012.

A New York-area Jewish school teacher and summer camp counselor has been arrested on charges of possessing child pornography.

FBI agents on May 1 raided the Manhattan apartment of Evan Zauder, where they discovered on his computer hundreds of images and videos of boys, some as young as 7, engaged in sex acts.

Zauder, 26, is a sixth grade teacher at Yeshivat Noam, a Modern Orthodox school, in Paramus, N.J. He is currently in jail pending a bail hearing on May 4.

Zauder is charged with one count of possessing child pornography. He faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in jail and a maximum fine of $250,000.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
The American Conservative

Rod Dreher May 3rd, 2012

One of the mysteries of the Catholic sex abuse scandal was why didn’t good priests who knew, or strongly suspected, something awful was going on speak out? There are lots of reasons. A good one was just revealed in the ongoing Philadelphia trial of Msgr. William Lynn, who was the Archdiocese of Philadephia official in charge of clergy assignments under the late Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua. He’s on trial now for allegedly reassigning molester priests into parishes, knowing of their propensity for sexual abuse. A reader sent this startling account of recent revelations in the trial. Excerpts:

If you’re a priest in the archdiocese of Philadelphia, you can “act out sexually” all you want. You can get away with it for years, even decades at a time, while they transfer you from parish to parish, in between recuperative stays at St. John Vianney’s, the friendly archdiocese clinic for sex abusers. Just make sure that you don’t disobey an order from the archbishop. Because in the archdiocese of Philadelphia, that’s the one unpardonable sin for which there is zero tolerance.

To make that point Wednesday, the prosecution had Detective James Dougherty read into the record 34 formerly confidential documents regarding the case of Monsignor Michael C. Picard. And then, the prosecution brought the monsignor to the witness stand to tell his story.

Msgr. Picard was the pastor of an archdiocesan parish who, upon learning that a priest who had the reputation of being a sexually active gay man was being transferred into his parish, protested to Msgr. Lynn at the chancery. More:

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AUSTRALIA
Broken Rites

Article posted 3 May 2012

In New South Wales on 2 May 2012, a Catholic priest was convicted on multiple child sex offences after a five-week trial.

A jury found the priest guilty of all 23 counts of indecent or sexual assault against boys as young as eight years old. The incidents occurred in the 1980s and early 1990s.

For legal reasons, the priest’s name cannot be published at this stage but the court will allow publication of the name in due course. (This kind of temporary suppression-order frequently happens, for good reason, in criminal proceedings.)

The jury of seven men and five women heard evidence of how the priest told an eight-year-old victim to look at a “Sacred Heart of Jesus” image on the wall and “Just look up at Jesus” while he committed oral sex on the boy.

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WORCESTER (MA)
Telegram & Gazette

By Gary V. Murray TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
gmurray@telegram.com

WORCESTER — The Rev. Donald J. Peters, associate pastor of St. George Antiochian Orthodox Cathedral at the time, said he was “stupefied” by what he was hearing.

“I didn’t know what to make of it. I wanted to make believe it didn’t happen,” he said from the witness stand yesterday in Central District Court.

What Rev. Peters reported hearing from inside the office of the church’s pastor, Rev. Charles Michael Abdelahad, on that afternoon in 2008, was the voice of “Father Michael” screaming profanities at someone, a woman pleading, “Please stop. You’re hurting me. Stop. I want out of here” and what sounded like someone slamming their hand on a desk.

On two prior occasions, he said, he had heard Rev. Abdelahad shouting profanities in his office after he had gone to the church on Anna Street to check his mail. But this time, he said, he also heard the voice of a frightened woman and he went into the office to investigate.

Upon entering, he said, he saw a woman curled up in a fetal position in a chair, shaking and “sobbing hysterically.”

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UNITED STATES
Philly.com

May 03, 2012|By Roy Bourgeois

I have been a Catholic priest for years, and, like most people I know, I have been changed by my experiences over the years.

Growing up Catholic in a small town in Louisiana, I and others did not ask why the black members of our church had to sit in the last five pews during Mass, or why our schools were segregated. Nor did we, needless to say, ask why women could not be priests.

The military was my ticket out of Louisiana. I volunteered for duty in Vietnam, which became a turning point in my life. In the midst of all the violence and death of the war, my faith became more important, and I felt that God was calling me to be a priest.

After four years in the military, I entered the Catholic Church’s Maryknoll Order, was ordained, and went off to serve the poor of Bolivia for five years.

Later, during my years of ministry in the United States, I met many devout Catholic women who were also called by God to be priests. Such women are rejected based on the church’s teaching that only baptized men may be ordained.

This makes no sense to me. Don’t we profess that God created men and women of equal worth and dignity? Doesn’t Scripture state clearly that “There is neither male nor female. In Christ Jesus you are one” (Galatians 3:28)? How can we men say our call from God is authentic, but the call women feel is not?

After much reflection, study, and prayer, I believe the exclusion of women from the priesthood is a grave injustice against women and our loving God, who calls both men and women to be priests. I also believe that to have a healthy, vibrant church, we need the wisdom, experiences, and voices of women in the priesthood.

The Vatican has referred to the ordination of women as “a grave scandal.” When most Catholics hear the word scandal, however, they think of the many priests who sexually abused children, and of the many bishops who covered up their horrific crimes.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The judge in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee bankruptcy case has ordered the church and its creditors to begin “meaningful settlement negotiations.” And, depending on their progress, she could order them into mediation aimed at hammering out an agreement as early as June.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Susan V. Kelley ordered the negotiations during a status and scheduling conference Wednesday.

Kelley also expressed her willingness to allow the public release of at least some parts of the depositions of retired Archbishop Rembert Weakland and retired Bishop Richard Sklba, who handled the archdiocese’s sex abuse issues for nearly three decades. The names of victims would be redacted.

The bankruptcy creditors committee, composed of church sex abuse victims, has asked the judge to order a global mediation that would include the archdiocese, victims, insurers, and parishes and religious orders named in sex abuse claims.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
WTAQ

MILWAUKEE (WTAQ) – A bankruptcy judge ordered the Milwaukee Catholic Archdiocese Thursday to begin what she called “meaningful settlement negotiations” with the church’s creditors.

And depending how those talks go, Judge Susan Kelley said she might bring in a mediator to hammer out agreements as early as June.

Kelley ordered the talks during a status conference Thursday into the Chapter 7 bankruptcy case the Milwaukee Archdiocese filed more than a year ago.

On another issue, Kelley said she would consider a public release of at least some of the depositions given by former Milwaukee Archbishop Rembert Weakland and retired Auxiliary Bishop Richard Sklba.

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IRELAND
The Irish Times

JOHN WATERS

I HAVE followed the Fr Brian D’Arcy saga for days in a vain attempt to learn what precise heresies the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith objected to.

But no one seemed much interested in discovering what these were, and Fr Brian was being intriguingly vague. The sense was of a fearless and scholarly dissident whose robust and scorching critiques of Vatican thinking have been cruelly suppressed by forces living in fear of his outspokenness.

We understand from reports that the objections relate to his Sunday World column in 2010. We know from Fr D’Arcy’s account that the letter of “censure” from the CDF incorporated some cuttings of his columns, although he did not say which ones.

On radio last weekend, he said that, when his superior first told him of the CDF’s difficulties, in March 2011, he gathered that the issues were his “attitude about the Vatican’s way of dealing with child sexual abuse” and that the CDF didn’t like “what they called my liberal views on contraception”.

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IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

Thursday, 3 May 2012

While the BBC has produced fresh evidence against Cardinal Sean Brady, head of the Catholic Church in Ireland, in relation to the sex abuse carried out by notorious priest, Fr Brendan Smyth, the fundamental problem for the Primate is unchanged.

He may argue that he did nothing wrong and that his involvement in the interviewing of two victims of the priest were minimal and that he now regrets the culture of silence within the Church at that time. Yet many will feel that is a weak defence.

The Cardinal – who was then simply a priest – was given the names of children at risk from Fr Smyth and while he passed those on to superiors in the Church, neither the police nor the parents were informed.

Cardinal Brady may feel that it was not his role at that time to alert either, yet most right-minded people will regard it as shameful that a Christian organisation should continue to leave some of its most vulnerable flock – children – at risk from a paedophile.

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IRELAND
The Irish Times

JIMMY WALSH

SEANAD REPORT: MARTIN CONWAY (FG) said that, as a practising Catholic, he was utterly amazed Cardinal Seán Brady had not tendered his resignation for the sake of all Catholics in this country who believed the church had a future. It was seriously regrettable that this gentleman, who no longer retained moral authority in regard to practising Catholics, had not yet made way for someone who was untainted in any shape or form with what had gone on in the past.

“In order for the church to survive and continue to play its important role in education and in other areas of this country, I think that we need a complete and fundamental clean-out and change at the top in terms of the senior management structure in the Catholic Church.”

David Norris (Ind) said the cardinal was under enormous pressure, but no one could gloat over that. As someone who regarded himself as a Protestant Catholic, he certainly did not do so.

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IRELAND
The Irish Times

HARRY MCGEE, Political Correspondent

The Catholic Church has rejected reports that Cardinal Seán Brady was willing to resign two years ago over the Fr Brendan Smyth scandal but that the Vatican refused.

In a statement, a church spokesman said a news report to that effect today was “untrue”.

The report in the Irish Independent seemed to be “confusing” an announcement by Dr Brady on May 17th, 2010 requesting Episcopal support, the statement said.

In that statement, Dr Brady said he had asked Pope Benedict for additional support for his work at Episcopal level.

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IRELAND
BBC News

One of Ireland’s leading theologians has said Cardinal Sean Brady should resign as Catholic Primate of all-Ireland.

It follows fresh claims about a church inquiry into clerical child abuse.

Fr Vincent Twomey, a former Professor at Maynooth College, told RTE that Cardinal Brady has lost his moral authority.

Cardinal Brady is accused of failing to do enough when alerted to abuse allegations when he was a priest.

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IRELAND/UNITED STATES
RTE News

A victim of Fr Brendan Smyth has said Cardinal Seán Brady should not only resign but be investigated by secular authorities for possible criminal charges.

US lawyer Helen McGonigle was abused by the paedophile priest in the late 1960s in Rhode Island.

Speaking to BBC Ulster this morning, Ms McGonigle said she was “outraged” by Cardinal Brady’s response to allegations in a BBC documentary broadcast this week.

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IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

Friday, 4 May 2012

The clamour for Cardinal Sean Brady to resign from his position as head of the Catholic Church in Ireland is gathering momentum with political leaders on both sides of the border joining in the criticism of his handling of child sex abuse cases.

His protests that he was just a functionary with no authority when he conducted interviews with children in 1975 who had been abused by notorious paedophile Father Brendan Smyth does not excuse his inaction then or subsequently.

He may have passed on the information to his superiors in the Church, but he also had a moral and legal duty to inform police and child protection agencies of the crimes committed against the children and fears that others were at risk – fears which were later realised. And it is incredible that he did not pursue the matter as he rose through the ranks of the Church or confess his role when Brendan Smyth was later unmasked.

It is also baffling why the RUC or the PSNI have never asked the Cardinal about what he knew about the child abuse crimes in the wake of Smyth’s conviction.

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IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

Friday, 4 May 2012

Cardinal Sean Brady did not offer to resign when allegations of his role in a secret inquiry into abuse first broke two years ago, the Catholic Church said.

Amid deepening warnings from government circles that the cleric’s position is untenable, the cardinal’s spokesman denied claims that he wanted to quit over his role in investigations into paedophile Brendan Smyth.

The beleaguered cardinal has vowed to remain on despite revelations in a BBC documentary that he was aware at least five children were victims of Smyth and abuse reports were not passed to police and parents were not informed.

“No such offer of resignation was made,” the cardinal’s spokesman said.

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NORTH CAROLINA
WFJA

(FAYETTEVILLE, N.C.) — A North Carolina pastor who told parents in a Sunday sermon that they should hit their children if they began to act gay has retracted his advice, saying he should have spoken more carefully.

Pastor Sean Harris, of the Berean Baptist Church in Fayetteville, N.C., apologized in a statement released this week for “any and all words that suggest that child abuse is appropriate for any and all types of behaviors, including (but not limited to) effeminacy and sexual immorality of all types.”

In the sermon, given Sunday in support of a proposed North Carolina amendment defining marriage as being between a man and a woman, Harris talked at length about homosexual behaviors. At one point, he instructed fathers who “see that son dropping the limp wrist, you walk over there and crack that wrist.”

Harris said that gay tendencies in young children should be “squashed like a cockroach” and that if parents see young boys acting like girls, fathers should “give [them] a good punch.”

“When your daughter starts acting too butch, you reign her in,” Harris said in the sermon, which was posted in a video online. “You’re going to act like a girl and walk like a girl and talk like a girl and smell like a girl, and that means you’re going to be beautiful and you’re going to be attractive and you’re going to dress yourself up.”

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MISSOURI
The Kansas City Star

By MARK MORRIS
The Kansas City Star

Judges in state and federal court this week dismissed parties and allegations from three civil lawsuits alleging sexual abuse by Catholic priests.

In each case, the rulings were a victory for lawyers representing either the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph or an accused priest.

In Jackson County, Circuit Judge Peggy Stevens McGraw on Monday threw out all allegations against the diocese in a suit filed last year by David Tate of Kansas City, who alleged that the Rev. Michael Tierney abused him at Tierney’s mother’s home and at a hotel swimming pool in the early 1970s.

The judge also dismissed eight counts against Tierney, though he still faces civil allegations of childhood sexual abuse and battery.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Priest Abuse Trial Blog

Ralph Cipriano

Father Louis DeSimone heard a commotion. When he went to investigate, he found Father Nicholas V. Cudemo “trying to calm a hysterical girl.”

The girl left the church shouting that she loved Father Cudemo. When Father DeSimone asked what was going on, Father Cudemo explained that the girl had a crush on him.

The year was 1969, and the hysterical girl was one of the first victims mentioned in the secret archive files of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. In court Thursday, Detective Joseph Walsh methodically read from the secret files the stories of 10 more victims of Father Cudemo, described memorably to a grand jury by the late Msgr. James E. Molloy, Cardinal Bevilacqua’s former vicar for administration, as “one of the sickest individuals I ever knew.”

Six months after the hysterical girl, church officials reported that Father Cudemo had a woman in his rectory room for half an hour with the door closed. When confronted, Father Cudemo claimed “he was not misbehaving.”

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Fox News

Published May 04, 2012

Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA – About two dozen suspended Roman Catholic priests could learn whether they can return to their parishes or if accusations they molested children will doom their church career.

Archbishop Charles Chaput is expected to announce the findings of the latest church investigation into the accusations, some of which had previously been dismissed as not credible. Those findings were sharply criticized by a Philadelphia grand jury last year.

A person close to the process, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Associated Press that Chaput plans to announce the outcome of at least some of the investigations Friday. The person is not authorized to speak publicly about the issue.

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IRELAND
BBC News

Political leaders have strongly criticised the head of Ireland’s Catholic Church for refusing to resign over a paedophile priest scandal.

Cardinal Sean Brady is accused of failing to act when alerted to abuse allegations when he was a young priest.

Northern Ireland Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness and the Irish deputy PM both questioned whether Cardinal Brady should remain in his job.

Meanwhile, police are to review a documentary which examined the issue.

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IRELAND
BBC News

By Robert Pigott
Religious affairs correspondent, BBC News

Senior politicians have intensified pressure on the head of the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland, Cardinal Sean Brady, to resign over a paedophile priest scandal in the 1970s.

But the Vatican – where the key decisions on his future will be made – has its own reasons for wanting him to stay.

Meanwhile, the row could overshadow the Church’s International Eucharistic Congress, due to take part in Ireland next month.

Three out of the four main parties in the Republic of Ireland and the Northern Irish Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness have called on Cardinal Brady to consider his position.

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PHILADLEPHIA (PA)
CBS Philly

By Mark Abrams

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – Philadelphia’s Archbishop Charles Chaput is set to appear at a news conference this afternoon to disclose the fate of some of the 27 priests suspended by his predecessor because of allegations of sexual abuse or other misconduct.

The Archdiocese of Philadelphia says Archbishop Chaput is to appear for the briefing in the Archdiocese headquarters in Center City at 2 this afternoon.

KYW Newsradio has learned he will announce the disposition of some, but not all of the cases of the priests suspended by Cardinal Justin Rigali back in March 2011, following the release of a second Philadelphia grand jury report on clergy sex abuse.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

By Independent.ie reporters

Friday May 04 2012

CARDINAL Sean Brady has rejected a report that he offered to step down over the Brendan Smyth affair two years ago.

In a statement, the Cardinal said the report in the Irish Independent “seems to confuse” an announcement he made in May 2010 requesting episcopal support: “I have asked Pope Benedict XVI for additional support for my work, at episcopal level”.

However, he added no such offer of resignation was made.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

By Greg Harkin

Friday May 04 2012

ABUSE victim Brendan Boland has told how he thought the death of his teenage son in a road crash was ‘divine retribution’ for his decision to hold the Catholic Church to account for speaking out.

In an interview with the Irish Independent, Brendan (51) said the death of his 17-year-old son Stephen in 2003 left him devastated.

“I know it sounds crazy but that’s what I thought at the time. I thought that God had taken Stephen because I had spoken out against the church,” said the Dundalk man, who now lives in Harlow, Essex.

“I thought it was divine retribution and I know people think that’s a stupid thing to say but I did believe that.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

By Louise Hogan

Friday May 04 2012

A BISHOP has branded the inaction of Fr Brendan Smyth’s superior “inexcusable”.

Bishop Leo O’Reilly of Kilmore last night criticised the then Abbot, Fr Kevin Smith, of the Norbertine Order at Holy Trinity Abbey in Kilnacrott, Co Cavan.

“I find it incomprehensible that Abbot Smith did not take effective action to stop Brendan Smyth committing further abuse against children,” he added.

“This failure to act was inexcusable.”

The abbot, who stepped down in the wake of Smyth’s conviction in 1994, was last night uncontactable.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

By Fionnan Sheahan and Anne-Marie Walsh

Friday May 04 2012

GOVERNMENT ministers on both sides of the Border ratcheted up the pressure on Cardinal Sean Brady to resign in the wake of revelations of his failure to report child-rape allegations against the notorious paedophile Fr Brendan Smyth.

Education Minister Ruairi Quinn and Northern Ireland Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness both called for him to consider his position.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny held firm on his call for the Cardinal to “reflect” on the programme on the BBC, which contained revelations on the handling of clerical abuse. But the Labour Party went further, with strong statements from Tanaiste Eamon Gilmore and Mr Quinn.

Mr Quinn called specifically on Cardinal Brady to consider his position, with coalition sources saying the minister believes he should resign.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

Friday May 04 2012

ANY cardinal wishing to relinquish their role in the Catholic Church would have to proffer their resignation to the Pope.

The cleric usually travels to the Vatican for a face-to-face with the pontiff.

The resignation is then either accepted, or in some cases it is rejected by the Vatican and the cleric is encouraged to stay on in their post.

For example, a decade ago the late Pope John Paul II accepted the resignation of the embattled Boston cardinal Bernard Law in the wake of the church’s ongoing sex abuse scandal. He met for a short time face-to-face with the Pope in the Papal Library.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

By Greg Harkin and independent.ie reporters

Friday May 04 2012

ONE of Ireland’s most conservative and respected Catholic theologians has said that Cardinal Sean Brady has lost his moral authority and should resign.

Fr Vincent Twomey has pleaded with the church to reexamine its role and asked where is the humanity to connect with the pain of children who have been abused.

The retired Professor of Moral Theology at Maynooth, told Primetime on RTE 1, that there were issues about the failure to alert parents to other victims of paedophile priest Brendan Smyth, that the church must address.

“For the good of the church, it is really tragic, but I’m afraid I am of the opinion that he should resign,” he said.

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IRELAND/UNITED STATES
Irish Independent

By Independent.ie reporters

Friday May 04 2012

A WOMAN, who was sexually abused as a child by paedophile priest Brendan Smyth, today called for a criminal investigation into the actions of Cardinal Sean Brady.

American lawyer Helen McGonigle, (50) who now campaigns for survivors of clerical sexual abuse, said the All Ireland Primate should resign for not alerting other families to Smyth’s horrific catalogue of abuse.

She was molested by Smyth in the late 1960s in Rhode Island, New York.

Speaking to BBC Radio Ulster today, Ms McGonigle said she was “outraged” by Cardinal Brady’s response to allegations in a BBC documentary broadcast this week.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Catholics4Change

May 3, 2012 by Susan Matthews

I’m not sure how to prepare for tomorrow. I’m trying to reconcile good memories of a priest who had a positive impact on my husband’s and my life with very unsettling facts. Both are real. Do bad acts negate the good?

Dr. Fitzgibbons, an Archdiocesan psychiatrist for whom I ghostwrote in the early 90s, had told me anger was the root of all psychological dysfunction. It made sense to me. Rape is committed out of anger rather than desire. But recently, a clergy sex abuse victim and one-time patient of this doctor, told me he disagreed. He believes extreme selfishness is the cause.

It takes just a quick review of our own motives for sinning to come to the same conclusion. Relate that idea of selfishness to the priests removed from ministry for anything from “boundary issues” to sexual abuse. A priest’s homosexuality or failing to be celibate is the least of it. It’s the harming of others emotionally, physically and spiritually out of self-interest while representing Jesus that most find egregious.

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IRELAND
The Irish Times

GERRY MORIARTY

VICTIM’S REACTION: THE “PENNY dropped” for Brendan Boland when he was just shy of his 14th birthday at Christmas 1974. The paedophile priest Brendan Smyth had been sexually abusing him for two to three years at that stage.

Smyth had brought him, a Belfast boy and three girls to a Wombles concert in Dublin. Afterwards Smyth shared a room with the two boys, who also featured in this week’s BBC programme. First he abused Mr Boland, then he signalled the other boy to come to his bed.

“I was lying listening to what was going on. And I said to myself, ‘This is not going to happen again, I have got to do something. I don’t like what’s going on here’. That’s when the penny dropped for me.”

Mr Boland spoke to The Irish Times in a hotel in Belfast with his wife Martina by his side. “She’s a rock,” he said.

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IRELAND
The Irish Times

PATSY McGARRY, Religious Affairs Correspondent

BRENDAN SMYTH: NOT ALL Irish priests in the 1960s and 1970s were as enthralled by silence as Fr Seán Brady, it would appear. He had been “part of an unhelpful culture of deference and silence in society, and the Church . . . ” he said on Wednesday.

Not so Fr Bruno Mulvihill.

From the late 1960s he tried to have child abuse by Fr Brendan Smyth addressed through direct contact with two papal nuncios, one bishop, an abbot-general and two abbots. He might as well have stayed as silent as Fr Brady.

Fr Mulvihill joined the Norbertine congregation, of which Fr Brendan Smyth was a member, in 1963. From 1968 onwards he tried to have something done about his colleague. Some of this was recalled on the UTV Counterpoint programme Suffer Little Children, broadcast in October 1994.

There he produced a letter he sent to the bishop of Kilmore, Francis McKiernan, dated November 1st, 1974. In it he disclosed how “ever since 1964 I have known that a member of the community, Fr Brendan Smyth, is misbehaving: he is molesting children who attend bingo sessions. Two of them who are superficially known to me have told me about their troubles.” He “brought this matter to the attention of the abbot but to no avail”.

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IRELAND
The Irish Times

CARL O’BRIEN, Chief Reporter

THE COST of the State’s redress scheme for survivors of institutional child abuse is set to rise by more than €100 million following a surge in applications for compensation last year.

Unpublished estimates compiled by senior Department of Education officials put the final bill at €1.47 billion, up from the €1.36 billion that had been quoted.

However, the State has received just €126 million to date from religious congregations despite Government attempts to split the redress costs on a 50-50 basis.

The Residential Institutions Redress Board was set up a decade ago to compensate former residents of industrial and reformatory schools, orphanages and children’s homes who suffered abuse.

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IRELAND
The Irish Times

CARL O’BRIEN

CHILD PROTECTION: ONE OF Cardinal Seán Brady’s explanations for his handling of clerical sex abuse cases in the mid-1970s is that priests and society were living in a much different era.

“You see, we were without any guidance at that stage from either church or State,” he said this week. “We were without training; it was a new situation.”

But how much latitude should we give to people who failed to act decisively at time when there was much less emphasis on child sexual abuse?

For most of those who worked in either child protection or social services during the mid-1970s, there is an acknowledgment that guidelines and procedures were not in place for dealing with sexual abuse. But the notion that sexual abuse was something “new” or unprecedented is given short shrift.

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VATICAN CITY
The Irish Times

PADDY AGNEW in Rome

VATICAN VIEW: THE HOLY See yesterday made no comment in response to calls for the resignation of the Archbishop of Armagh Cardinal Seán Brady.

While officially the Holy See offered no response to the call made by Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore in the Dáil yesterday, off the record senior Vatican figures repeated the view, already expressed this week, that Cardinal Brady should not resign.

One Vatican official said that for the cardinal to step down would be to admit he was in the wrong in how he handled his evidence-taking with sex abuse victim Brendan Boland in 1975, whereas the Holy See remains convinced that the then Fr Brady did nothing wrong at the time.

It is also true that the sometimes perverse logic of Vatican realpolitik is working against any possible resignation by Cardinal Brady.

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UNITED STATES
Catholics4Change

May 3, 2012 by Susan Matthews

Understanding Vatican Council II and the role of the laity is important to understanding how we can help prevent clergy sex abuse and protect children. Theologian Anthony Massimini shares his knowledge of doctrine on his new site.

www.the21stcenturyamericancatholic.blogspot.com

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