ABUSE TRACKER

NEW YORK
The Jewish Weekly

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Adam Dickter
Assistant Managing Editor

Brooklyn District Attorney Charles J. Hynes is weighing charges in as many as four more cases of possible intimidation of Orthodox sexual abuse victims as a result of a newly formed task force, he told The Jewish Week.

And he reiterated a warning, first made in May, that rabbis who “cross the line” and discourage people from taking complaints to authorities may be charged with obstructing governmental administration.

In a wide-ranging interview, an often testy Hynes — stung by widespread criticism of his handling of Orthodox abuse cases — and his top prosecutor for sex crimes, Rhonnie Jaus, seemed to confirm that all cases involving sex abuse in the Orthodox community are considered part of the Kol Tzedek program regardless of whether they came about through the hotline initiative, which was intended to pierce a wall of silence in close-knit Orthodox communities .

The DA, who was elected in 1989, said he is seeking support from fellow district attorneys for legislation that would require religious leaders to report any knowledge of abuse, while protecting the sanctity of communication between clergy and those who seek their counsel.

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UNITED STATES
Vatican Insider

Vatican Insider staff
Rome

Faith in organised religion in the U.S. is at its lowest in thirty years, with only 44% of Americans stating they have confidence in the Church. This is according to the findings of a survey carried out by Gallup statistical institute. Catholics showed a sharper decline than Protestants, with their trust rates recorded at 46% to 56% respectively. According to pollsters, the sex scandals involving American television evangelists in recent years are to blame for this drop.

In the 70’s Americans considered organised religion to be the highest institution in existence, outranking the American Supreme Court and the military, the Gallup report stated. It added that in the 80’s, the sex scandals some television evangelists were involved in caused people’s confidence in the Church to plummet to 60%.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Vatican Insider

Maria Teresa Pontara Pederiva
Rome

This time it has nothing to do with paedophilia, doctrinal issues or alleged liturgical abuses. Forty seven year old Geraldo Pinero, former pastor of Incarnation of Our Lord Church in Philadelphia’s Olney neighbourhood was removed “unsuitable for ministry,” due to “a substantiated violation of The Standards of Ministerial Behavior and Boundaries.”

Archbishop Charles J. Chaput announced the news Sunday. He did not go into detail about the nature of the “violations” but they appear to be business related. Indeed, Pinero was a local face of an Illinois-based enterprise calling itself Teamwork Revolution Power Systems and the Philadelphia Inquirer revealed that back in November 2010 federal agents had served a search warrant on the Incarnation rectory but no criminal or civil action was taken against the pastor. In a statement, a spokesman of the archdiocese allegedly said that “outside secular employment is not permitted for a priest,” except from teaching in Catholic universities or faith related conferences.

As a result, and following Mgr. Chaput’s announcement last Sunday, Pinero is no longer permitted to exercise his public ministry, wear clerical garb or present himself publicly as a priest.” In autumn 2011, 26 priests were suspended for reasons linked to paedophilia but the Archdiocese is adamant that this particular case has nothing to do with any of these previous cases.

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APPLETON (WI)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

By Annysa Johnson of the Journal Sentinel

July 17, 2012

An Outagamie County Judge could decide as early as Tuesday whether to overturn a $700,000 judgment against the Diocese of Green Bay over its placement of a sexually abusive priest in the 1970s.

Attorneys for the diocese have asked Outagamie Judge Nancy Krueger to dismiss the case, grant a new trial or reduce the judgment, arguing that a juror failed to divulge that she suspected the priest of molesting her own brother, and that the First Amendment bars the courts from meddling in the church’s employment decisions. Krueger heard oral arguments on its motions Tuesday.

The May verdict, in favor of brother Troy and Todd Merryfield, marked the first time a sex abuse victim had successfully sued the Catholic Church in Wisconsin since 1995 when the state Supreme Court barred such cases as an undue intrusion by the courts into the affairs of religious organizations. The court reopened the door in 2007 in cases in which the victims alleged fraud.

The Merryfields’ lawsuit is the first such case to go to trial in the state. They accused diocese of defrauding them by placing the now-defrocked Father Patrick Feeney into their parish without telling members about his sexual abuse history.

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ITALIA
Stop Censura

Il servizio mandato in onda ieri dalle Iene del prete con il “chiodo fisso” … per chi non ha visto il filmato, avviso che il prete si comporta e dice frasi veramente da voltastomaco, soprattutto con l’ultimo ragazzo del servizio, dove arriva addirittura a spogliarsi davanti l’altare di una chiesa e a chiedere un rapporto orale alla “vittima” … mi chiedo perchè , davanti a “problemi” così evidenti, il Vaticano non fa nulla? perchè questo prete è ancora al suo posto?

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UNITED STATES
NPR

[with audio]

July 17, 2012

In April, the Vatican announced that three American bishops (one archbishop and two bishops) would be sent to oversee the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, a member organization founded in 1956 that represents 80 percent of Catholic sisters in the United States, to get them to conform with the teachings of the Church.

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

In their own statement, the nuns said the Vatican’s doctrinal assessment of the group was based on “unsubstantiated accusations” and may “compromise” the ability of female nuns to “fulfill their mission.”

“I would say the mandate is more critical of positions we haven’t taken than those we have taken,” says Sister Pat Farrell, the president of the Leadership Conference. “As I read that document, the concern is the issues we tend to be more silent about when the bishops are speaking out very clearly about some things. There are issues about which we think there’s a need for a genuine dialogue, and there doesn’t seem to be a climate of that in the church right now.”

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GALLUP (NM)
Gallup Independent

Published in the Gallup Independent, Gallup, N.M., July 16, 2012

Second in a two-part series

By Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola
Independent correspondent

GALLUP — The Navajo man known in court documents as “John Doe BF” is finally getting a chance to have some peace in his life.

For about 20 years, he was at war with himself over memories of the sexual abuse he says he was subjected to by former Franciscan priest Charles “Chuck” Cichanowicz. That was a self-destructive war fueled by anger, alcohol, depression, drugs, violence, suicide attempts and self-mutilation, and it was a war marked by a life of survival on the streets and revolving stints in jail cells and detox centers.

For nearly five years, since he filed his clergy sex abuse lawsuit in the Navajo Nation Courts in 2007, he and his attorneys have been waging a legal battle with Cichanowicz, the Diocese of Gallup, the Franciscan Province of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Albuquerque and the Franciscan Province of St. John the Baptist in Cincinnati. It was a battle, he said, that the church’s attorneys fought every step of the way.

But that war is now over. Along with two other Navajo men who filed similar lawsuits against Cichanowicz, “John Doe BF” recently signed a settlement agreement with the four defendants. As part of the agreement, he and the other two plaintiffs are receiving monetary settlements of an undisclosed amount and Cichanowicz’s promise that he will never seek or accept any type of work that involves contact with minors. They did not, however, receive an admission of guilt from Cichanowicz or an apology from church officials.

Buried secret
In a telephone interview Thursday, the man talked about the impact the abuse has had on his life, but he asked that his identity continue to be protected. For the purpose of the interview, he agreed to be called “John Begay,” a pseudonym and not his real name.

Now residing in the Pacific Northwest, Begay said he’s never told his family about the abuse. They don’t know he filed the landmark lawsuit, and when he attended the court hearing before the Navajo Nation Supreme Court, they didn’t know he was back on the reservation.

“It’s something I don’t want them to deal with,” Begay said of the hurt he believes it will cause. “It’s not something I want to burden them with.”

According to Begay, the sexual abuse he suffered as a teenager was a painful secret that he tried to bury and not think about for two decades.

“I didn’t dare tell anybody else,” he said. “I kind of felt like it was my fault.”

Its impact on his life, however, was immediate. Begay said he started drinking heavily, dropped out of high school, began to isolate himself, and vented his anger in frequent fights. He eventually hitchhiked off the reservation and began wandering from town to town.

I just ran as far as I could, for as long as I could,” he said. “It was a very bad time.”

Tale of self-destruction
He was in and out of jail during his 20s, Begay said, and twice he attempted suicide. His arms still bear the scars of where he used to cut himself, a practice that Begay said offered temporary relief from his emotional pain.

During his 30s, his life cycled from jail to detox centers and from long periods of time living on the streets to hard-fought efforts to become sober.

In 2002, news about the Catholic Church’s national sex abuse crisis hit Begay hard.
“It struck me on a very personal level and it got me all angry again,” he said.

But as much as his abuse haunted him, Begay said he never made the connection between the sexual abuse in his teen years and the subsequent way his life had spiraled out of control.

And then one day in 2007, Begay said, he began to understand that connection. He was watching a television news program when a woman was interviewed about her own childhood sexual abuse. Begay said he was stunned by the woman’s tale of self-destruction and saw his own life reflected in her words.

“That’s me, man. I know what she’s talking about,” Begay recalled thinking. “I know what this is all about now.”

Not alone
Begay eventually sought help and contacted Patrick Noaker, an attorney with Jeff Anderson & Associates, a Minnesota law firm known for its work on behalf of clergy abuse victims. Noaker’s added co-counsel William R. Keeler, a Gallup attorney licensed to practice in Navajo courts.
Begay recalled the day Noaker called to tell him Cichanowicz had been located in Lafayette, Ind., working as a mental health counselor with adolescents and adults.

“I couldn’t believe it. I had to ask him again. I knew something was terribly wrong with that … .” Begay said of the news. “It made me want to pursue this even more.”

Begay described his mixed emotions when two other Navajo men came forward with allegations that Cichanowicz had sexually abused them also. On the one hand, he said, he felt validation, yet he also felt sad and angry that there were more victims.

“I was glad that others had the courage to come forward and say, ‘This happened to me,’” Begay said. “It made me feel I wasn’t alone in this.”

Stressful litigation
Begay said the litigation proved to be a stressful ordeal, particularly the initial dismissal by the Shiprock District Court and what he viewed as constant legal haggling by the church’s attorneys.
During oral arguments before the Navajo Nation Supreme Court, Begay said he was angered when one of the church attorneys suggested that Begay was no longer really connected to the Navajo Nation and Navajo culture because he lived in a different region of the country. Begay said he was grateful when Chief Justice Herb Yazzie addressed the non-Indian attorney’s argument and picked it apart.

“I was very, very glad to hear that,” Begay said of Yazzie’s remarks. “That he stood up for me. That he stood up for what was right.”

Although the Navajo Nation Supreme Court ruled in Begay’s favor and remanded the case back to district court, Begay and the other two plaintiffs agreed to mediation this spring, which led to the recent settlement.

Advice to others
Begay said he has come to understand that the abuse wasn’t his fault advice he shares with other abuse survivors. He now encourages victims to tell someone who is trustworthy about the abuse.

“Don’t hide it. Don’t bury it. It’s not your fault,” he said. “There is help out there. They don’t have to feel alone and isolated.”

Begay said he has rediscovered his own Christian faith after years of alternately blaming God and questioning God’s existence. However, he said, his faith is more on a spiritual level, based on a relationship with God, and not just a religion.

In contrast, Begay calls Cichanowicz a con man and a liar who masqueraded as a man of faith in order to have access to children.

“I believe it was an opportunity to role play and do what he wanted to do with kids,” he said.
Begay said he believes the Diocese of Gallup and the Franciscans should come clean about what other clergy abusers have been assigned on the Navajo Nation.

“If they want to continue to be a presence on the reservation and continue to have a relationship with the Navajo Nation,” he said, “yes, I think they should.”

— Reporter Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola can be contacted at (505) 870-0745 or ehardinburrola@yahoo.com.

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DEUTSCHLAND
MissBiT

17.02.2010
Mitteilung des Opfers an die Deutsche Bischofskonferenz mit Angaben, wann und wo sich die sexuellen Übergriffe ereignet haben und dass der Täter über einen Zeitraum von 10 Jahren eine herausgehobene Position in der katholischen Kirche innehatte. Der Name des Täters wird noch nicht genannt.

05.03.2010
Mail an Bischof Ackermann , in dem der Name des Täters erwähnt wird. Der Eingang des Schreibens wird bestätigt.

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DEUTSCHLAND
SR

Das Bistum Trier hat Vorwürfe von Opferverbänden zurückgewiesen, bei Fällen von sexuellem Missbrauch nicht schnell genug zu ermitteln. Am Freitag wurde bekannt, dass Bischof Ackermann erstmals einen Priester wegen sexuellen Missbrauchs entlassen hat.

(14.07.2012) Nachdem der Opferverband MissBit dem Bistum Trier vorgeworfen hatte, Fällen von sexuellem Missbrauch nicht schnell genug nachzugehen, wies Bistumssprecher Kronenburg den Vorwurf zurück. Er sagte, dass jeder Fall einzeln betrachtet werden müsse. Strafmaß und Konsequenzen hingen vom jeweiligen Vergehen ab. Zudem liefen die Entscheidungen über eine zentrale Stelle im Vatikan.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Publik-ForumI

m Juli lässt Papst Benedikt XVI. die Blauen Briefe verschicken. Empfänger sind rund die Hälfte aller 112 nationalen katholischen Bischofskonferenzen rund um den Globus. Bei der harschen Post aus dem Vatikan handelt es sich um ein Mahnschreiben im Kampf gegen den sexuellen
Kindesmissbrauch durch Priester. Denn die Adressaten haben es bisher versäumt, Richtlinien zur Bekämpfung sexueller Gewalt durch Geistliche und Kirchenmitarbeiter zu erarbeiten.

Ein-Jahres-Frist zur Umsetzung der Richtlinien endete im Mai

Die von Rom eingeräumte Ein-Jahres-Frist für die Umsetzung der Richtlinien endete im Mai. Mit dieser für Kirchenverhältnisse ungewöhnlich kurzen Frist will der Papst – so erklärt Vatikan-Sprecher Lombardi SJ, die »Dringlichkeit« unterstreichen, mit der er der »Plage des sexuellen Missbrauchs durch Kleriker« begegnen und der Kirche »die volle Glaubwürdigkeit« zurückgeben will.

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NEW JERSEY
CBS Philly

OCEAN COUNTY, NJ (CBS) – The Ocean County Prosecutor confirmed the arrest of a Catholic priest who worked in Brick Township on Tuesday afternoon.

Marukudiyil C. Velan, who goes by “Father Chris,” was arrested on allegations of inappropriate sexual contact with a Brick Township woman and her child. Father Chris, 64, had worked at Visitation Roman Catholic Church in Brick since 2001 as a visiting priest.

On Saturday, July 14th, the Brick Township Police Department interviewed the woman and her children in connection with a complaint about the priest. An investigation determined that the family belonged to the parish and that Father Chris had visited their residence in Brick. While there, the priest allegedly had inappropriate contact with the mother and her child.

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AUSTRALIA
The Armidale Express

STEPHEN JEFFERY

18 Jul, 2012

NORTHERN Tablelands MP Richard Torbay has urged Premier Barry O’Farrell to intervene and announce a police investigation into the sex abuse scandal plaguing Armidale’s Catholic diocese.

The Catholic Church’s handling of admissions of sexual abuse by a former priest has come under scrutiny after a recent Four Corners story.

The man, known as Father F, allegedly told church officials in 1992 he had sexually abused young boys in the 1980s, but his admission was not passed on to police.

In a letter obtained by The Express, Mr Torbay asks Mr O’Farrell to “ensure an appropriate police response to this most concerning issue”.

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AUSTRALIA
The Standard

CLARE QUIRK

18 Jul, 2012

THE issue of priests and celibacy in the Catholic Church is more about companionship than lust, a Warrnambool audience has heard.

Despite the hierarchy of the church being against Chris McGillion speaking at yesterday’s National Council of Priests’ convention, the journalist and lecturer drew interest from the 180 strong attendees.

At one point a priest addressed the convention, telling how he’d played golf with a group of priests once a week for a long time.

He said they would talk about the news and the footy, but none of them ever said they had had “a shithouse week”.

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AUSTRALIA
The Standard

CLARE QUIRK

18 Jul, 2012

A CONTROVERSIAL priest says the Catholic Church lost the contraception fight a long time ago and needed to be open to change.

Father Timothy Radcliffe addressed the National Council of Priests of Australia in Warrnambool yesterday and told the convention the church had a tendency to be too defensive when faced with modern times.

Father Radcliffe said secular people were prevented from accepting the good things the church had to offer if it in return can’t accept good things from the secular world — including the equality of all people, the value of due process, respect for gay people and the contribution of women.

He said priests had been associated with an “image of false impurity” as a result of sex abuse scandals.

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APPLETON (WI)
WTAQ

APPLETON, WI (WTAQ) – The Green Bay Catholic Diocese is in Outagamie County court Tuesday appealing a civil fraud case brought by two brothers who were molested by a former priest.

In May, a jury awarded Todd and Troy Merryfield $700,000. The Merryfields were molested by former priest John Feeney in Freedom in 1978. Feeney was convicted criminally in 2004.

FOX 11 reports the Diocese filed over 100 pages of motions with Judge Nancy Krueger. Among them are motions to dismiss the verdict and a motion for a new trial based on alleged bias of a jury member.

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CANADA
The Western Star

Seven more sex-related charges have been filed against George Ansel Smith, who already has dozens of charges against him stemming from the time he served parishes in western Newfoundland.

CORNER BROOK A Roman Catholic priest who already has a date set in the Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador for more than 60 sex-related offences had seven more charges filed against him Tuesday.

George Ansel Smith, 74, was not in provincial court in Corner Brook for his first appearance on the latest charges.

His lawyer, Tom Williams, waived his client’s right to a preliminary inquiry and elected to have his client tried by judge alone in the higher court.

The seven new charges will be called again when Smith is arraigned on the other charges in Supreme Court in Corner Brook in September.

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APPLETON (WI)
Post-Crescent

Written by
Jim Collar
Post-Crescent staff writer

APPLETON — A judge could rule as soon as Wednesday whether to order a retrial in the civil fraud verdict against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Green Bay, which claims a juror was biased against the church.

Outagamie County Judge Nancy Krueger today heard a variety of arguments from the diocese as it seeks relief from a $700,000 jury award given in May to two childhood victims of clergy sexual abuse. Brothers Todd and Troy Merryfield filed the lawsuit in 2008. The diocese is asking for the case to be dismissed, the jury’s findings to be overturned or a new trial.

The brothers claimed the diocese knew the Rev. John Feeney has a history of sexual misconduct when it installed him as a priest at Freedom’s St. Nicholas Church and falsely portrayed him as safe even though church officials knew he was a danger to children.

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AUSTRALIA
Champion-Post

LEESHA MCKENNY

18 Jul, 2012

THE Catholic Church has appointed a retired Federal Court judge to head an inquiry into its handling of a NSW priest who admitted sexually abusing boys as young as 10.

Antony Whitlam, QC, a former federal politician and the son of the former prime minister Gough Whitlam, was appointed to lead the independent inquiry jointly commissioned by the Bishop of Armidale, Michael Kennedy, and the Bishop of Parramatta, Anthony Fisher.

A statement from the two clergymen did not outline the terms of reference for the inquiry other than to say that it would look at ”the processes related to the management of ‘Father F”’, who has been the subject of media reports in relation to allegations of abuse of children.

”Further details of the inquiry process will be developed in consultation with Mr Whitlam, QC,” the statement said.

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NORTH CAROLINA
Roman Catholic Diocese of Raleigh

On Friday, July 13, 2012, the Diocese of Raleigh was informed that charges of second degree sexual offense and misdemeanor sexual battery against Father Edgar Sepulveda were dismissed by the Brunswick County District Attorney’s office.

In September 2009, the Diocese of Raleigh had followed its established procedures and those of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People and informed the North Carolina Conference of District Attorneys of allegations it had received concerning Father Sepulveda. In addition, following diocesan procedures, the Diocese placed Father Sepulveda on administrative leave and began the process of investigation into the allegations.

Once the Diocese was informed by the civil authorities that they were investigating the allegations, the Diocesan investigation was suspended at the request of these civil authorities, as they considered whether to file and proceed with criminal charges. During this time, Father Sepulveda continued on administrative leave, not publicly celebrating the sacraments or publicly presenting himself as a priest.

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NORTH CAROLINA
WECT

By: Debra Worley

BRUNSWICK COUNTY, NC (WECT) – Charges have been dismissed against a priest who was accused of sex crimes with a minor.

According to the Diocese of Raleigh, the Brunswick County District Attorney’s Office dropped charges of second degree sexual offense and misdemeanor sexual battery against Father Edgar Sepulveda.

The Diocese of Raleigh received allegations concerning Sepulveda in 2009. At the time, a spokesperson for the Brunswick County Sheriff’s Department says Father Sepulveda was visiting church members in this area, when he was accused of committing the crimes against a juvenile male.

Sepulveda was a priest at St. Theresa del Nino Jesus in Beulaville. He was put on administrative leave when the investigation began.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

Dan Box
From:The Australian
July 18, 2012

SENIOR NSW politicians including Premier Barry O’Farrell have called for police to investigate a former priest at the centre of the latest sex abuse scandal to engulf the Catholic Church.

Richard Torbay, the independent member for the Northern Tablelands, which includes the Diocese of Armidale, wrote to Mr O’Farrell on Monday to express “grave concerns” about the church’s inquiry into the abuse.

The former priest, who lives in Armidale and is known as Father F for legal reasons, allegedly abused several altar boys during the 1980s, despite church authorities being warned about him at the time.

The bishops of Armidale and Parramatta yesterday said they had commissioned former Federal Court judge Tony Whitlam QC to conduct an “independent inquiry” into alleged abuse by Father F in both dioceses.

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NORTH CAROLINA
StarNews

Tuesday, July 17, 2012 at 10:28 by F. T. Norton

Charges of sexual battery against former Duplin County priest Father Edgar Sepulveda have been dismissed by the Brunswick County District Attorney’s Office, according to a press release from the Catholic Diocese of Raleigh.

Sepulveda, 49, was arrested Jan. 8, 2010, on charges of second-degree sexual offense and sexual battery, after the diocese reported allegations of sexual misconduct had been made against him.

In a release Monday, the Catholic Diocese of Raleigh said Sepulveda was then placed on administrative leave.

The release states that once the criminal investigation began, the diocese suspended its own investigation at the behest of law enforcement.

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APPLETON (WI)
Fox 11

Published : Tuesday, 17 Jul 2012

Chad Doran, FOX 11 News

APPLETON – The Catholic Diocese of Green Bay is appealing a $700,000 verdict awarded to two brothers who were molested by a former priest.

In May, a jury in Outagamie County made the award to Todd and Troy Merryfield. The brothers were molested by former priest John Feeney in 1978. Feeney was convicted in 2004.

The Diocese filed over 100 pages of motions with Judge Nancy Krueger. Among them are motions to dismiss the verdict and a motion for a new trial based on alleged bias of a jury member.

Attorneys for the diocese are arguing that a juror alerted the court after the trial was over about comments another juror made that could have been perceived as bias against the Diocese.

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AUSTRALIA
Perth Now

HUNDREDS of years of Catholic tradition in the confessional could be overturned by Victoria’s inquiry into child sex abuse.

Priests would be ordered to reveal crimes told to them in private confessions under one proposal before the inquiry.

But priests say they will resist being forced to reveal secrets of the confessional.

A parliamentary committee also will look at radical new laws that would see bishops face criminal charges for the misconduct of their priests.

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NORTH CAROLINA
WWAY

BRUNSWICK COUNTY, NC (WWAY) — The Catholic Diocese of Raleigh says prosecutors in Brunswick County have dropped criminal charges against a Duplin County priest.

Fr. Edgar Sepulveda was charged in early 2010 with second-degree sexual offense and sexual battery with a 17-year-old boy.

The Diocese says it found out Friday that the Brunswick County District Attorney’s Office has dismissed the charges that stem from an incident in 2009. The Diocese placed Sepulveda on administrative leave after learning of the allegations against him. The Diocese says he is still on administrative leave.

At the time of his arrest, deputies said the priest was ministering for a youth group in Brunswick County, but had no place to stay. One of the youth group member’s parents offered their home, and that’s where deputies said the incident happened.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Jul. 17, 2012
By Kathy Galleher

Viewpoint

Since the Vatican’s public release April 18 of the results of the doctrinal assessment of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, many American Catholics have been confused and angry. These women, who work tirelessly with the poor and marginalized, whom many of us see as embodying Christ’s love, are being accused of doing grave harm to the church. In conversation after conversation, I have heard, “Why so much anger directed at women religious?”, “What is this about?” and “It just seems … abusive.” As I pondered this last observation, I recognized a familiar dynamic.

For nearly eight years I worked as a psychologist at a treatment center for priests and religious. During that time I worked with a number of men who had committed sexual abuse. An essential part of the therapeutic work was for these men to understand the deep pain they had caused, to accept responsibility for it, and to move forward with a commitment not to let it happen again, which included accepting restrictions and consequences. Often the largest obstacle to healing was the first task: accepting and understanding the amount of pain they had caused.

When we harm someone, healing requires that we recognize the extent of the injury we caused. Only when we are able to see this clearly and take responsibility for it can we respond with appropriate guilt. Appropriate guilt focuses us on how to repair the injury (if that is possible) and what actions we must take to prevent it from occurring again. If we cannot recognize the pain and take responsibility for it, we get stuck and assume an aggressively defensive stance, lashing out and blaming others as a way to deflect attention from our actions, actions we find too painful to look at honestly.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

Editorial

AS reported in today’s Herald Sun, the sanctity of the confessional is being thrown open to question by Victoria’s parliamentary inquiry into child sex abuse.

The possibility that priests may be forced to disclose such crimes will be seen by the Catholic Church as a betrayal of a sacred trust between priest and confessor.

Others will see it as a serious community responsibility.

Potential witnesses to the inquiry have been told to consider whether such admissions be subject to mandatory reporting by priests.

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OHIO
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by David Clohessy on July 16, 2012

It’s heartbreaking every time Catholic officials who commit and conceal child sex crimes exploit legal technicalities and escape consequences for their wrongdoing. We feel terribly sad for this brave victim who deserves but apparently will not get his/her day in court.

At the same time, however, we are grateful that Fr. Brosmer has been exposed. We hope parents will keep their kids away from him.

Now the burden falls on Columbus’ Catholic bishop. He must use his vast resources to aggressively seek out anyone else who may have seen, suspected or suffered clergy sex crimes and cover ups. He must do everything he can to bring forward others who might be able to prosecute this child molesting cleric. He must personally visit each church where Fr. Brosmer worked, urging those with information or suspicions to contact law enforcement.

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MONTANA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by David Clohessy on July 16, 2012

A Catholic priest in Wisconsin has been suspended because of allegations that he molested a child in Montana. All child sex crimes are heinous and devastating. They’re even worse, however when committed by spiritual figures on innocent, vulnerable and isolated children in already-oppressed minority groups.

We applaud the brave individual who reported Fr. Druggan’s abuse. We hope this move will lead to greater healing for this courageous victim. We know that it has already made kids safer.

Montana’s Catholic bishops have a duty to aggressively seek out others who may have been hurt by Fr. Druggan. They should use their vast resources to beg anyone who may have seen, suspected or suffered clergy sex crimes to step forward. They should visit every church facility where Fr. Druggan worked, urging victims, witnesses or whistleblowers to speak up.

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CANADA
Hamilton Spectator

A Canadian legal expert says members of the public looking for answers from the Ministry of Attorney General on the Rev. Jose Silva case will have a wait on their hands.

“Out of sight, out of mind. They (the ministry) will not look at it. Especially if the accused is out of the country. They can’t win on this,” said Alan Young, an associate professor with Osgoode Hall Law School at York University.

“It’s better to let it disappear than to try and justify it from a press statement,” Young added.

He was commenting on the attorney general’s admission last week that the Hamilton Crown’s Office made a deal with a defence lawyer to permit Silva to leave Canada for his native Brazil rather than face prosecution on a sexual assault case.

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UNITED STATES
Orthodox Church in America

SYOSSET, NY [OCA]
With the resignation of Metropolitan Jonah as Primate of the Orthodox Church in America, the Chancery of the Orthodox Church in America continues to receive requests from the faithful and from the media for additional information.

“The facts of the Metropolitan’s decision are contained in his statement, which has been posted on the OCA web site,” said Archpriest Eric G. Tosi, Secretary. “At this time of transition, all of the Chancery’s efforts are directed at moving forward in faith and good order, ensuring that the Church’s mission of proclaiming the Good News of Jesus Christ is strengthened.”

As events may require, further information will be posted on the OCA web site, which according to Father Eric “should be seen as the official source of information about the Church.

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UNITED STATES
Orthodox Church in America

SYOSSET, NY [OCA]
On July 16, 2012, the Holy Synod of Bishops of the Orthodox Church in America issued the following statement in regard to the resignation of Metropolitan Jonah. The complete text can be found in PDF format here.

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UNITED STATES
Keene Sentinel

[Statement from the Holy Synod]hol

Posted: Saturday, July 14, 2012

By Manya Brachear Chicago Tribune

CHICAGO — The Chicago native elected to the helm of the Orthodox Church in America resigned last weekend, saying in a letter that he has “neither the personality nor the temperament” to lead the church.

Metropolitan Jonah submitted his resignation during a conference call last Saturday with other bishops of the church. In his letter of resignation, he said he was leaving the post in response to the unanimous request of the bishops.

“I had come to the realization long ago that I have neither the personality nor the temperament for the position of primate, a position I never sought nor desired,” he wrote.

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NEW JERSEY
NJ.com

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

By The Associated Press

BRICK — Authorities have accused an Ocean County priest of charges of sexual contact with a woman and her child.

The Rev. Marukudiyil Velan has been a priest at the Church of the Visitation in Brick since 2001. He’s known in the parish as “Father Chris” and a garden at the church is named after him.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC – 7.30

Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Broadcast: 17/07/2012

Reporter: Leigh Sales

An independent inquiry in to sex abuse in two New South Wales dioceses was announced by the Catholic Church today, and Father Frank Brennan joins us to discuss how the Church handles these processes.

Transcript
LEIGH SALES, PRESENTER: The Catholic Church has announced that the former Federal Court judge Anthony Whitlam QC will head an independent inquiry into the case of the defrocked priest known as Father F. As you may recall from stories on this program, Father F is accuse of abusing altar boys in the 1980s, some of whom later committed suicide. The Church has given conflicting accounts of what he later admitted to the Catholic hierarchy and why none of them went to the police.

In a moment we’ll hear from the man Paul Keating once labelled “the meddling priest”, Jesuit and human rights lawyer Father Frank Brennan for his views on how the case has been handled so far. But first, here’s a reminder of some of the victims’ stories.

VICTIM’S RELATIVE: I mean, when Damian admitted to a psychiatrist that he’d been sexually abused by a priest, it was their obligation to go to the police.

VICTIM’S RELATIVE II: I think it’s quite disgusting how they close it all – yeah, they hide it! You know, they close ranks, they pass the buck, most definitely. You know, if one can’t help the victim it’s palmed off to someone else. – never to the police though. The police never seem to be the ones that get told.

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ZANESVILLE (OH)
Zanesville Times Recorder

Written by
Kathy Thompson
Staff Writer

ZANESVILLE — Zanesville Police Chief Eric Lambes said his office will not be investigating decades-old abuse allegations against a former priest.

Lambes said the right decision was made when police told a representative of the Catholic Diocese of Columbus an abuse accusation against the priest happened too long ago.

Father Thomas Brosmer was placed on administrative leave Thursday by the diocese after an accusation of sexual abuse of an 11-year-old boy in 1968 surfaced. The abuse is alleged to have taken place at St. Nicholas Parish in Zanesville. Brosmer was at the church from 1969 to 1973 as an assistant pastor and a teacher. Brosmer most recently was at St. Cecilia Church in Columbus from 2004 until his administrative leave.

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DEUTSCHLAND
netzwerkB

Norbert Denef ist Sprecher der Organisation netzwerkB, die sich für die Rechte der Opfer einsetzt. Mit dem HUNGERSTREIK will Norbert Denef, der in Scharbeutz an der Ostsee lebt, vor allem erreichen, dass die strafrechtliche Verjährung aufgehoben wird.

Auch Prof. Dr. Christian Pfeiffer, Leiter des Kriminologischen Forschungsinstituts Niedersachsen, plädiert für eine Aufhebung der Verjährungsfrist, weil die Betroffenen den Missbrauch oft jahrzehntelang verdrängen: “Das kann man diesen Menschen nicht vorwerfen, dass die Kraft dazu, sich zu entscheiden, hier in jungen Jahren nicht da ist. Dass oft Anstöße von außen, die zufällig kommen, eine Rolle spielen. Der Rechtsstaat bricht nicht zusammen, wenn wir aus guten Gründen hier eine Sonderregelung schaffen und Herrn Denefs Wunsch entsprechen.”

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NEW JERSEY
Daily Record

Written by
Anthony Panissidi
@APPanissidi

BRICK — A longtime township priest, who has a garden named in his honor outside his parish, was arrested on charges of sexual misconduct with a mother and her child, authorities said.

Marukudiyil Velan, 64, known to his parishioners as “Father Chris,’’ was arrested Saturday after he allegedly assaulted the mother and her child at their home Friday, Ocean County Prosecutor Marlene Lynch Ford said.

An investigation by the Prosecutor’s Office concluded Velan befriended the unnamed victims before the incident. He was arrested after township police and members of the Prosecutor’s Office interviewed the victims Saturday in connection with their complaint about Velan, Ford said. The priest was charged with one count of criminal sexual contact with the female, one count of criminal sexual contact with the child and one count of endangering the welfare of a child.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC – PM

[with audio]

MARK COLVIN: There’s to be an independent inquiry into the Catholic Church’s handling of allegations of sexual abuse by the priest known as “Father F.”

The church itself has launched the inquiry which will be led by the former Federal Court judge Antony Whitlam QC.

Samantha Donovan reports.

SAMANTHA DONOVAN: The ABC’s Four Corners program recently broadcast allegations that a priest known as “Father F” abused several altar boys in New South Wales in the 1980s.

The program alleged that Father F admitted he’d molested the boys to three priests at a 1992 meeting in Sydney.

But the matter was never reported the matter to police.

Today the Bishop of Armidale Michael Kennedy and the Bishop of Parramatta, Anthony Fisher, announced an independent inquiry into what they call “the processes related to the management” of Father F.

The inquiry will be led by the former Federal Court judge Antony Whitlam QC.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

July 17, 2012

Leesha McKenny
Urban Affairs Reporter

The Catholic Church has appointed a former Federal Court judge to head an inquiry into its handling of a NSW priest who admitted to sexually abusing boys as young as 10.

Antony Whitlam, QC, the son of former prime minister Gough Whitlam, and a former federal Labor politician, was appointed to lead the independent inquiry jointly commissioned by Bishop of Armidale, Michael Kennedy, and the Bishop of Parramatta, Anthony Fisher.

A joint statement from the two senior clergymen did not outline the terms of reference of the inquiry, other than that it would look at “the processes related to the management of ‘Father F’ who has been the subject of media reports in relation to allegations of abuse of children”.

“Further details of the inquiry process will be developed in consultation with Mr Whitlam QC,” it said.

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WISCONSIN/MONTANA
WTVQ

Posted: Jul 16, 2012

A Catholic priest accused of sexual misconduct with a Montana child more than 25 years ago is now placed on administrative leave from his position in Wisconsin.

The Fond du Lac Reporter newspaper reports Father Dennis Druggan, president and rector at St. Lawrence Seminary High School was placed on administrative leave Friday.

More than ten alleged victims have filed a complaint against the Roman Catholic Great Falls – Billings Diocese. The suit alleges several priests and nuns molested children at St. Labre Mission School in Ashland as well as several other schools and institutions across eastern Montana.

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AUSTRALIA
SBS

A former judge will lead an inquiry commissioned by two NSW Catholic dioceses into the management of an ex-priest at the centre of sexual abuse claims.

A former Federal Court judge will head an inquiry into how the Catholic Church handled allegations that a former NSW priest sexually abused children.

Antony Whitlam QC will examine claims a priest, known only as “Father F”, admitted to three senior priests in Sydney in 1992 that he sexually abused young altar boys, but was not sacked by the Church until 2005.

The inquiry, jointly commissioned by Armidale Bishop Michael Kennedy and Parramatta Bishop Anthony Fisher, follows an ABC report earlier this month that revealed the allegations.

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NEW JERSEY
New Jersey 101.5

By: Rosetta Key

A Brick Township Priest is arrested for allegedly having criminal sexual contact with a mother and her minor daughter from his parish. 64-year-old Marukudiyil Velan, also known as ‘Father Chris’, who’s assigned to the Church of the Visitation in Brick, was arrested Saturday July 14th. Ocean County Prosecutor Marlene Lynch Ford says the alleged abuse took place on Friday July 13th while Velan was visiting the family’s home.

Velan is charged with one count of Criminal Sexual Contact and one Count of Endangering the Welfare of a Child. Bail is set at $75,000 with no 10 percent option. He’s also prohibited from having any contact with anyone under the age of 18 years, was required to surrender his passport and the provisions of “Nicole’s Law” were implemented. He’s presently housed in the Ocean County Jail in default of bail.

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MISSOURI
The Turner Report

A godlike man named Joe and sex with underage boys- and it’s not Penn State

It has all of the earmarks of a national scandal.

A godlike figure, Joe, in charge of the fate of hundreds of young people. In the late ‘90s, one of his trusted assistants is charged with inappropriate activities with underage obys. The assistant is allowed to keep his job and continues his illegal, predatory activities.

When the assistant is finally brought to justice, a decade after the warning signals were sounded, the people at the institution gather around the godlike figure and mercilessly hammer at anyone who suggests that Joe might have anything to do with the evil that occurred on his watch.

I am not writing about Penn State, but the Christian sports camp Kanakuk, with its main location in Branson, Missouri. I was not describing the evils of Jerry Sandusky, but those of former Kanakuk camp director Pete Newman, and the godlike figure is not the late Joe Paterno, but the very much still in control Joe White, a nationally known motivational speaker connected with Promise Keepers.

The Kanakuk scandals began with Newman’s 2009 arrest on multiple charges involving sex with teenage boys over a 10-year period.

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NEW JERSEY
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by David Clohessy on July 16, 2012

We are very grateful to this brave family for reporting Fr. Chris’ crimes. This takes real courage. They should be commended for acting responsibly and promptly.

We hope every single person who may have seen, suspected, or suffered crimes or wrongdoing by this priest will speak up. It’s crucial that they protect others by contacting police right away.

Often, accused predator priests from elsewhere flee the US at the first chance. We hope law enforcement and Catholic Church officials make sure this doesn’t happen here.

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GALLUP (NM)
Child Protection News

Written on July 16, 2012 by Patrick Noaker

(Gallup, NM) A recent article in the Gallup Independent newspaper reminds us that we do not always have to know exactly what to do to protect kids as long as we do something. The article reports on the settlement of three clergy sexual abuse lawsuits. The cases involved a Roman Catholic priest named Fr. Charles (“Chuck”) Cichanowicz and his sexual abuse of a number of boys on the Navajo Nation reservation in New Mexico and Arizona in the early to mid-1980’s. Unfortunately, since the sexual abuse occurred on the Navajo Nation reservation, no one knew what to do. No one had ever brought a claim for sexual abuse against a non-Navajo Nation member in Navajo Nation Tribal Court and the applicable Navajo Nation law had never even been applied to a sex abuse case. However, something had to be done because investigation revealed that there were at least two more victims of Fr. Cichanowicz and Cichanowicz was actively working with children in Indiana. John Doe BF refused to be frozen by the lack of clarity, and, instead, he sprang into action.

Courageously, Doe BF filed a civil lawsuit in the Navajo Nation tribal court. Despite repeated challenges, Doe took his case all the way to the Navajo Nation Supreme Court. And won!! Now, the entire Navajo Nation community knows exactly what to do if a Navajo child is injured by sexual abuse. The other two victims also got help as well. The clarity in the legal system also deters sexual abuse because perpetrators and their employers will now face a Tribal Court armed with the clear law and procedure described by the Navajo Supreme Court.

It would have been easy for John Doe BF to become discouraged and not acted because he didn’t know what to do. Thank goodness he acted. Kids are now safer in his community as a result.

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UNITED STATES
The Garden of Roses: Stories of Abuse and Healing

Virginia Jones

Our politicians are at it again — playing games rather than trying to solve problems. Now they are playing with VAWA. VAWA is the Violence Against Women Act, which was passed in 1994 to improve criminal justice and community support for victims of abuse. Among other things, VAWA provides federal money for domestic violence shelters, rape crisis centers and other programs to end abuse and support survivors.

When the act was renewed in 2000 and 2005, congress added provisions enhancing services for various categories of victims including the disabled, teenaged victims of dating violence and others. This year, congress added new protections for illegal immigrants, gay, lesbian, bi-sexual and transgender individuals and Native American women. Republicans placed a hold on current legislation, demanding that these new provisions be removed. So far Democrats have refused to comply.

My concern for VAWA comes from what I have learned since 2008, from walking across portions of Oregon each summer to raise awareness about abuse, to support survivors and to connect them with local domestic violence and child abuse agencies. Over the last few years, many of these agencies underwent dramatic budget cuts. Foundations, individuals and governments simply aren’t providing the funds they used to provide.

Abuse doesn’t disappear when funding is cut. Indeed, murder rates for both men and women murdered by intimate partners dropped after congress enacted VAWA in 1994. Even so, various sources indicate that as many as one in four women experience some form of domestic violence during their lifetimes and as many as three women and one man are murdered by an intimate partner every day in the United States.

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WISCONSIN
Fox 11

Published : Monday, 16 Jul 2012

Bill Miston, FOX 11 News

MT. CALVARY – The president and rector of St. Lawrence Seminary High School in Mt. Calvary, Fr. Dennis Druggan, is on administrative leave after sexual misconduct allegations surface.

That’s according to a statement from the Capuchin Province of St. Joseph.

The statement says the allegations revolve around a minor at St. Labre Indian School in Ashland, Mont., from more than 25 years ago.

According to St. Lawrence Seminary’s website, Druggan has been at St. Lawrence since 1993. The statement says there have been no allegations involving Druggan’s time spent at St. Lawrence Seminary.

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WISCONSIN/MONTANA
LaCrosse Tribune

A Catholic priest in Fond du Lac County has been placed on administrative leave following allegations of sexual misconduct involving a Montana minor more than 25 years ago.

The Capuchin Province of St. Joseph released a statement Monday announcing the suspension of the Rev. Dennis Druggan. He was the rector and president of St. Lawrence Seminary High School in Mount Calvary.

The statement says the alleged incidents involved a minor at St. Labre Indian School in Ashland, Mont. There have been no allegations stemming from his work in Wisconsin.

The province says the statute of limitations for prosecution has expired. The prosecutor’s office in Montana’s Rosebud County says neither it nor the sheriff’s department could confirm or deny an ongoing investigation.

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WISCONSIN
NBC 26

[with video]

By Mike Conroy

A Fond du Lac County priest has been placed on administrative leave over sexual misconduct allegations in Montana.

Church leaders announced today they have suspended Reverend Dennis Druggan The president of Saint Lawrence Seminary High School in Mount Calvary.

According to the statement, the alleged incidents involved a minor at a Montana school more than 25-years ago.

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INDIANA/NEW MEXICO
Journal and Courier

Written by
David Smith

A West Lafayette mental health counselor and former Catholic priest in Lafayette has agreed never to work with or around minors under an out-of-court settlement in three lawsuits alleging he sexually abused three Navajo men when they were children.

Charles Cichanowicz, 68, who is listed in property tax records as a resident of West Lafayette, formerly worked as a priest at two Lafayette churches from 1987 to 1991. Prior to that he was a priest in the Gallup Diocese of New Mexico.

An attempt to reach him by phone Monday afternoon was unsuccessful.

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NEW JERSEY
NBC New York

Prosecutors in Ocean County have charged a Catholic priest for allegedly making inappropriate sexual contact with a mother and her child.

Marukudiyil C. Velan, known as “Father Chris” by his parishioners at the Visitation Roman Catholic Church in Brick Township, N.J., touched the alleged victims at their home Saturday, said prosecutors.

Velan, 64, had been assigned to the church as a visiting priest since 2001. The mother told investigators he befriended her family before the alleged incident.

He was arrested Saturday and charged with criminal sexual contact and endangering the welfare of a child.

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NEW JERSEY
Patch

By Daniel Nee

A Brick Township priest has been charged with criminal sexual contact against a mother and her minor child, authorities announced Monday afternoon.

Fr. Marukudiyil C. Velan, 64, known to parishioners at Church of the Visitation Roman Catholic Church as “Father Chris,” was arrested Saturday by detectives from the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office and Brick Township Police Department.

Earlier that day, township and county detectives interviewed a mother and her children – parishioners at the church – in connection with a report they had filed against Velan after he visited their home in Brick the day before, said Prosecutor Marlene Lynch Ford. During that visit, Ford said, it is alleged that Velan had “inappropriate contact” with the adult mother as well as her minor child.

Detectives conducted an investigation that concluded Velan befriended the family before his visit to their home. Ford said the investigation established probable cause to make the arrest.

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APPLETON (WI)
SNAP Wisconsin

Green Bay bishop seeks to overturn guilty verdict in historic case

Diocese argues that U.S. Constitution can allow church to transfer and conceal pedophile priests

WHO
Victim/Survivors of clergy sexual assault, including members of SNAP will attend a court hearing in Outagamie County Court where the Diocese of Green Bay will argue that the first amendment to the U.S. Constitution protects it from liability in a civil lawsuit filed by Todd and Troy Merryfield who were assaulted by notorious Green Bay priest John Patrick Feeney. In a historic landmark case the Diocese of Green Bay was found guilty of fraud in May for concealing and transferring this prolific sex offender. The diocese now seeks to have this jury verdict overturned. Victim/Survivors will be available after the hearing for comment.

WHEN
Tuesday July 17th, the court hearing is scheduled to begin at 9:00 a.m. SNAP leaders will be available for comment following the hearing.

WHERE
Outagamie County Courthouse, 410 S. Walnut Street, Appleton Wisconsin

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GALLUP (NM)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by David Clohessy on July 16, 2012

We are grateful to these three brave victims for breaking their silence. While a trial may have provided the public the opportunity to learn the full truth of Cichanowicz’s crimes, we are glad that these survivors can now put this ordeal behind them and work on healing.

New Mexico Catholic officials, especially Gallup’s bishop, also have an obligation to seek out and help anyone who may have been hurt by Cichanowicz. A decade ago, bishops pledged to be “open and honest” about clergy sex crimes and cover ups. New Mexico church officials should honor that pledge by aggressively spreading the word about this dangerous ex-cleric.

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GALLUP (NM)
San Antonio Express-News

GALLUP, N.M. (AP) — Three men who filed the first sexual abuse lawsuits in the Navajo Nation court system against the Catholic church have recently settled their cases.

The Gallup Independent reports (http://bit.ly/4FPz5i) that the men will receive money as part of the settlement from the priest who is accused of sexually abusing them, the Diocese of Gallup, the Franciscan Province of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Albuquerque and another church entity.

The lawsuits allege that Charles Cichanowicz, a former Franciscan priest who once worked on the Navajo Nation, sexually abused them when they were teenagers in the late 1970s and 1980s.

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WISCONSIN/MONTANA
Billings Gazette

Priest suspended following sexual misconduct allegations at St. Labre

Associated Press

MOUNT CALVARY, Wis. – A Catholic priest in Wisconsin has been placed on administrative leave following allegations of sexual misconduct involving a Montana minor more than 25 years ago.

The Capuchin Province of St. Joseph released a statement Monday announcing the suspension of the Rev. Dennis Druggan. He was the rector and president of St. Lawrence Seminary High School in Mount Calvary.

The statement says the alleged incidents involved a minor at St. Labre Indian School in Ashland, Mont. There have been no allegations stemming from his work in Wisconsin.

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AUSTRALIA
The Standard

CLARE QUIRK

17 Jul, 2012

IN the wake of the sex abuse scandal engulfing the Catholic church, the leader of a progressive network of priests says the church must be open to change if it is going to survive.

More than 160 members of the National Council of Priests of Australia arrived in Warrnambool yesterday for their four-day national convention.

Council chairman Father Eugene McKinnon, of Donald, said all Catholics felt the pain, hurt and mistrust of the sex abuse scandal.

“We have tremendous sympathy for the victims and we struggle to comprehend the hurt that they feel,” he said.

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WISCONSIN/MONTANA
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

By Annysa Johnson of the Journal Sentinel

July 16, 2012

For the second time in recent weeks, the Capuchin Catholic religious order has removed a high-profile priest for a decades-old allegation of sexual misconduct involving a minor.

Father Dennis Druggan, rector and president of St. Lawrence Seminary High School in Mt. Calvary — the nation’s oldest and largest school of its kind — was placed on administrative leave Friday, pending an investigation. The incident is alleged to have involved a minor at St. Labre Indian School in Ashland, Mont., about 25 years ago, the order said.

The Rosebud, Mont., County Attorney’s Office received the allegation in June and initially told the Capuchins that it would not investigate because it was beyond the statute of limitations. But County Attorney Michael Hayworth said Monday that he has since learned that Druggan left Montana within 10 years of the alleged incident — essentially stopping the clock for prosecution — and that the case remains open.

Capuchin spokeswoman Colleen Crane said Druggan has denied the allegation and that there have been no complaints against the priest at St. Lawrence, where he has served since 1992. She said the Detroit-based order would hire an independent investigator for its own review.

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VATICAN CITY
Reuters

By Philip Pullella

VATICAN CITY | Mon Jul 16, 2012

(Reuters) – A European report on the Vatican’s efforts to meet international financial transparency standards will recognize progress over the past three years but still give it a failing grade in seven of 16 “key and core” areas, sources familiar with the report say.

The seat of the Catholic Church, long beset by scandals involving its only bank, is trying to win inclusion in a so-called “white list” of countries that take adequate steps to fight money laundering, tax evasion and other financial crimes.

The report, to be published on Wednesday, will not reach a conclusive judgment, but is expected to show that some progress has been made but more must still be achieved over the course of a reform effort expected to take years.

The report is by Moneyval, “The Committee of Experts on the Evaluation of Anti-Money Laundering Measures and the Financing of Terrorism”, a monitoring mechanism of the 47-nation Council of Europe that ensures that member states comply with international financial standards.

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WISCONSIN
Fond du Lac Reporter

MOUNT CALVARY — A Catholic priest in Fond du Lac County has been placed on administrative leave amid accusations of sexual misconduct involving a minor more than two decades ago in Montana.

The Capuchin Province of St. Joseph released a newsletter to parishioners over the weekend stating that Father Dennis Druggan, president and rector at St. Lawrence Seminary High School, had been placed on administrative leave effective July 13.

The statement released by the Capuchin Province reported that an independent investigation has been launched to look into sexual misconduct allegations involving a minor at St. Labre Indian School in Ashland, Mont., over 25 years ago.

St. Labre Indian School located in southwest Montana offers preschool through high school education for Crow and Northern Cheyenne children. Combined enrollment at the school’s three campuses is estimated at 700 students. Students living more than 40 miles from the school stay in dormitories during the week, according to the school’s website.

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OHIO
WHIZ

A Catholic priest placed on administrative leave last week by the Columbus Diocese won’t face charges in Muskingum County.

Zanesville Police spoke to the prosecutor who said the statute of limitations is up in the case involving former St. Nicholas priest Thomas Brosmer. Authorities found out about the incident through the Columbus Diocese. Police says the alleged victim was 11 when he said he was fondled by the priest.

Ohio law said prosecution must take place within 20 years of the offense. This case is over 40 years old.

“We hate to see a crime or a potential crime or a reported crime not be followed clear through,” said Chief Eric Lambes from the Zanesville Police Department. “It’s obvious there’s nothing that can be done here.”

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

July 17, 2012

Opinion

Gerard Henderson
Executive director, The Sydney Institute

The status of Cardinal George Pell, the Catholic archbishop of Sydney, seems to differ according to the issues in which he is involved. When Pell expresses scepticism about human-induced climate change, there is invariably a rush to computers and microphones to declare that he is not head of the Catholic Church in Australia.

Last month, Bishop Pat Power, a long-time critic of Pell, declared the Cardinal’s position on climate change was not in the tradition of “mainstream Australian Catholicism” and was contrary to the position of Pope Benedict XVI.

Yet when Pell is involved, however indirectly, in a controversy about sexual abuse or any other scandal, there is a tendency to depict him as managing director of Australian Catholicism, responsible for all its sins of commission and omission.

This is not the case – as ABC producers and presenters should know. The formal head of the church is the president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference – Archbishop Denis Hart.

Pell should never have appeared in the Four Corners program “Unholy Silence”, by Geoff Thompson and Mary Ann Jolley, which aired on ABC1 on July 2. These days the ABC should be regarded as hostile territory for Catholics who follow the teachings of the Vatican. The ABC is replete with disillusioned current or former Catholics. Also, it provides a cheer squad for the same-sex marriage cause, which is opposed by the Catholic Church – along with some other Christian churches, Islam and the majority of Hindus.

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CALIFORNIA
Patch

By Sheila Sanchez

The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office said Friday it’s investigating whether to file perjury charges against Los Gatos Jesuit priest Jerold Lindner, the victim in the high-profile William Lynch assault and elder abuse case.

The trial for Lynch, 44, ended July 5 with his acquittal by a Santa Clara County jury of the two felony charges stemming from an admitted confrontation he had with the priest, now 67, whom he says raped and sodomized him and his brother while children in the ’70s.

Last week, the DA’s Office announced it wouldn’t retry Lynch on a misdemeanor assault charge that the jury hung 8-4. However, even before the county’s top prosecutor announced he wouldn’t be refiling the charge, Lynch’s supporters were calling for Jeff Rosen to file perjury charges against the priest.

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NEW MEXICO/INDIANA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by David Clohessy on July 16, 2012

Now that this settlement has come down, we hope that the Alpine Clinic – where Fr. Chuck Cichanowicz worked with teens as a counselor – will finally disclose the whereabouts of their former employee. We believe they have a duty to protect children wherever Cichanowicz may be living by informing the public of the results of these cases and Cichanowicz’s history.

Indiana Catholic officials, especially Lafayette’s bishop, also have an obligation to seek out and help anyone who may have been hurt by Cichanowicz. A decade ago, bishops pledged to be “open and honest” about clergy sex crimes and cover ups. Indiana church officials should honor that pledge by aggressively spreading the word about this dangerous ex-cleric.

We also urge Alpine officials to do an in-depth investigation into their own clinic and discover if any of the teens that Cichanowicz has counseled while employed there may have been victimized by him. Child sex abuse is rarely a one-time occurrence, and victims are typically hesitant to come forward if they believe they are the only victim. Alpine officials should post the facts of this settlement publicly and seek out every teen on record that had contact with Cichanowicz in an effort to encourage anyone else that may have seen, suspected, or suffered his crimes to come forward to police.

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WISCONSIN/MONTANA
SNAP Wisconsin

President and Rector of St. Lawrence Seminary High School being investigated for sex assault of a minor in Montana

[with copy of the email]

CONTACT
John Pilmaier, SNAP Wisconsin Director, 414.336.8575

According to Capuchin officials (see email posted below) Fr. Dennis Druggan, a Capuchin priest who is the President and Rector of St. Lawrence Seminary High School in Mt. Calvary, Wisconsin, has been removed from his post and is under investigation for sexually assaulting a minor 25 years ago in Montana. The alleged assault or assaults occurred at the Capuchin operated St. Labre Indian School in Ashland Montana and was reported to criminal authorities in Rosebud County in June. According to the Capuchins, authorities say the alleged criminal activity is outside the old Montana criminal statute of limitations on child sex crimes. Capuchin officials say they are now investigating the abuse.

St. Lawrence seminary, which Druggan operates and lives at, is a boarding school for minors and located in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. The seminary is one of the few such boarding school for youngsters seeking the priesthood or religious life and run by clergy left in the United States.

St. Lawrence became a national story in the early and mid-1990’s after dozens of allegations of child sexual abuse were reported concerning several Capuchins who were living at the seminary. In 1995, a civil RICO, or organized racketeering, case was filed against the Capuchin Order but the suit was dropped after Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling barring all civil cases against religious organizations and officials for covering up criminal acts of rape and child sex assault, citing the first amendment of the US Constitution.

Druggan is the second Capuchin from the Archdiocese of Milwaukee under investigation for criminal acts of abuse. Fr. Matthew Gottchalk, a well-known Milwaukee Capuchin priest, was recently transferred to Detroit after abuse reports filed into the Milwaukee Archdiocese federal bankruptcy. According to the Milwaukee DA, at least one of those reports alleged criminal conduct.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Priest Abuse Trial Blog

Priest Abuse Trial Timeline

Ralph Cipriano

On the charge of attempted rape, the jury voted 11-1 to acquit Father James J. Brennan.

On the charge of endangering the welfare of children, Father Brennan dodged a bullet. All the jurors believed that Father Brennan had endangered the welfare of 14-year-old Mark Bukowski by allowing the boy to access pornography on the internet, and by subsequently getting in bed with him.

But because the judge’s instructions required the jury to find that Father Brennan had also endangered other victims in addition to 14-year-old Mark Bukowski, the jury ended up almost evenly split on whether Father Brennan should have been convicted.

Regarding Msgr. William J. Lynn, at least one juror believed that the monsignor should also have been convicted of conspiracy.

These are some of the reflections of Taleah Grimmage, Juror No. 7.

Grimmage has sent several emails commenting on what happened behind the scenes at the Archdiocese of Philadelphia sex abuse trial. Juror No. 7 also had something to say about public reaction to the verdict. Let’s let Taleah speak for herself:

Good Morning,

I happened to come across your blog on-line and have been reading some of the posts. I have also been reading some of the posts on other message boards and am a little annoyed with what people seem to think happened during deliberations.

I was selected to be Juror #7 in this trial, so I know first hand what took place starting with opening arguments through deliberations. I read that sentencing is scheduled to take place on July 24th and my plan is to be there.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Priest Abuse Trial Blog

Ralph Cipriano

Last week, Archbishop Charles J. Chaput stopped by the Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility in Northeast Philadelphia, where Msgr. William J. Lynn is being held in protective custody.

The archbishop did not bring along his mitre or his crozier. He stayed for 90 minutes. But what the two men talked about is not known.

“Archbishop Chaput did visit with Monsignor Lynn,” said Kenneth A. Gavin, a spokesman for the archdiocese. “Their conversation was private.”

“It is my understanding that it was a positive visit and I think that’s all I should say,” said Thomas A. Bergstrom, the monsignor’s defense lawyer.

A prison spokesman declined to discuss the archbishop’s visit, except to say that Chaput was no stranger to the facility. Last Christmas, Chaput stopped by the prison gymnasium to say Mass for the inmates.

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SLOVENIA
STA

Ljubljana, 16 July (STA) – The Maribor Higher Court has annulled the November 2011 ruling in which the Church was ordered to pay compensation to a woman who was abused by a priest as a child, and ordered a retrial, media report on Monday.

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UNITED KINGDOM
UK Human Rights Blog

July 16, 2012 by Rosalind English

JEG v The Trustees of the Portsmouth Roman Catholic Diocesan [2012] EWCA Civ 938

Elizabeth Anne-Gumbel QCand Justin Levinson of One Crown Office Row acted for the claimant in this case. They did not write this post.

The Court of Appeal has now confirmed that the church can be held liable for the negligent acts of a priest it has appointed. Permission to appeal to the Supreme Court has been refused.

This appeal was another preliminary stage in the main action between the claimant’s action for damages following the alleged sexual abuse and assault by a parish priest (now deceased), and the trustees of the diocesan where he served. The Court of Appeal has now confirmed that the defendants can held to account, even though there was no formal employment relationship between Father Baldwin and the Diocesan – see Rachit Buch’s post for an excellent analysis of the issues and summary of the facts.

Background

The claimant argued that the defendants should be held liable for the wrongdoing of the priest because at the time they “operated and/or managed and/or were responsible for” the church where he served. The defendants were said to have entrusted the safe keeping and care of the claimant to Father Baldwin. It was also alleged that the sexual abuse and assaults perpetrated by the priest were committed in the course of or were closely connected with his employment and therefore that the defendants were vicariously liable for the injury and damage which the claimant suffered.

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NEW YORK
Forward

By Paul Berger

Published July 16, 2012, issue of July 20, 2012.

Recent media accounts of child sexual abuse in Brooklyn’s Orthodox community have highlighted the threat victims face from teachers, rabbis and yeshiva staff as perpetrators, and the special pressures — even intimidation — they face from community leaders not to report such cases to secular law enforcement.

But a list of child sexual abuse cases in that community suggests that another source of pressure, even closer to home, may be at least as important.

The list, released by Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes earlier this year, describes 97 abuse cases that Hynes says he prosecuted over the last three years. According to the data, 20% of these cases involved family members — usually fathers, brothers or uncles — and another 37% involved a perpetrator who was a friend or acquaintance.

By contrast, only about 12% of the cases appeared to involve rabbis, bar mitzvah tutors, counselors or yeshiva employees, including janitors and security guards. The next largest group of perpetrators consisted of strangers, who accounted for about 17% of Hynes’s Orthodox-related prosecutions.

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NEW JERSEY
Patch

By Scott Egelberg

Just days after reaching a settlement with the Archdiocese of Newark, some of the men who allege that they were sexually abused by the Rev. John Laferrera as youngsters assembled outside St. Philomena Roman Catholic Church on Sunday to talk about the case.

Earlier this week, the Newark Star Ledger reported that the Archdiocese “quietly reached a six-figure settlement with six alleged victims last month” and Laferrera was stripped of his collar and sent into retirement. No mention was made as to whether he will keep his pension or not.

“He is no longer administering,” archdiocese spokesman James Goodness said. “He is out of the ministry.”

Laferrera stepped down approximately a year ago from his position as monsignor of St. Philomena following escalating complaints. Before that he served 13 years at St. Aloysius in Caldwell. The men who settled with the church say the abuse happened in the late 1970s and early 1980s, while Laferrera was pastor at Immaculate Conception Parish in Newark.

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INDIA
NDTV

Reported by Monideepa Banerjie, Edited by Abhinav Bhatt (With IANS inputs) | Updated: July 16, 2012

Kolkata: The warden of the Don Bosco School at Sagardighi in West Bengal, about 238 kilometres from state capital Kolkata, has been arrested for allegedly molesting a 10-year-old student. Father James Soren had been missing since Thursday when the Class V student complained to his parents.

The incident happened on Wednesday night when Soren called the child and allegedly molested him. The child later told his father about the incident – a resident of Raghunathganj, some 277 kilometres from Kolkata – following which a police complaint was lodged.

“Father James Soren was arrested and booked today for sexual assault after being accused by the father of a ten-year-old boy, a boarder in the school’s hostel, of calling him to his room and sexually assaulting him,” Additional Superintendent of Police Mrinal Majumdar said.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

By Colm Kelpie

Monday July 16 2012

A PRIEST in the Diocese of Ferns is no longer ministering after alleged concerns were raised about him.

The Institute of the Incarnate Word, founded in Argentina in 1984, informed the Wexford diocese about three weeks ago that Fr Ignacio Mikalonis was no longer available for ministry.

The diocese said the Institute “made it known that there were concerns in his (Fr Mikalonis’) regard, which remain undetermined”.

However, the diocese declined to give further information on the nature of the concerns.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Eastbourne Herald

Published on Monday 16 July 2012

FORMER high ranking priest Canon Gordon Rideout from Eastbourne is pictured arriving at court this morning (Monday July 16) to face charges of sexually abusing young people.

Rideout, 73, of Filching Close, Wannock, is alleged to have committed 38 offences between 1962 and 1973 in Crawley, London and Hampshire.

Some 36 of the 38 alleged offences are of indecent assault on girls and boys in their early teens and he also faces two counts of attempting to rape a girl between 1962 and 1966.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Daily Times

By PATTI MENGERS
pmengers@delcotimes.com

Twenty months after federal agents seized his computer in connection with a potential pyramid scheme, the Rev. Geraldo Pinero has been deemed unsuitable for ministry by Philadelphia Archbishop Charles J. Chaput.

The 47-year-old Roman Catholic priest, who served at St. Joseph Parish in Aston from 2000 to 2003, was found to be in violation of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia’s Standards of Ministerial Behavior and Boundaries.

In a press release, archdiocesan officials declined to elaborate on the priest’s violation, but noted that he has been on administrative leave from his position as pastor of Incarnation of Our Lord parish in the Olney section of Philadelphia since November 2010 “when federal authorities executed a search warrant at the parish rectory.”

According to the Associated Press, on Nov. 16, 2010, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents raided Incarnation’s rectory and seized a computer after learning Pinero allegedly endorsed online multilevel marketing companies. Reportedly, none of the companies were found guilty of any wrongdoing, but Federal Communications Commission officials warned that such plans can be dubious pyramid schemes.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

By Walter F. Naedele and Jane M. Von Bergen
Inquirer Staff Writers

A Roman Catholic Philadelphia priest who has identified himself as “an online business owner” – a avocation not permitted by the church – has been removed as “unsuitable for ministry,” Archbishop Charles J. Chaput announced on Sunday

The Rev. Geraldo Pinero, former pastor of Incarnation of Our Lord Church, 5105 N. Fifth St. in the Olney neighborhood, had committed “a substantiated violation of the Standards of Ministerial Behavior and Boundaries,” the announcement said.

The announcement did not define his violation.

But the priest was “a local face of a pyramid-like Illinois-based enterprise calling itself Teamwork Revolution Power Systems,” The Inquirer reported after federal agents served a search warrant on the Incarnation rectory in November 2010.

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BELGIE
Kerknieuws

De Antwerpse bisschop Johan Bonny wil graag getrouwde mannen tot priester wijden. Dat zegt hij in een interview met De Standaard. Dat een bisschop zo’n klare taal spreekt, is een belangrijke evolutie, oordeelt theoloog Jürgen Mettepenningen.

Gehuwde priesters kunnen een verrijking van de pastorale dienstverlening betekenen, vindt Johan Bonny. In deze paastijden neemt de Antwerpse bisschop geen blad voor de mond. Met zijn uitspraken gaat hij lijnrecht in tegen Rome.

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NEDERLAND
Kerknieuws

“Maak haast met een meldpunt voor slachtoffers van seksueel misbruik”. Die oproep deed Rieke Samson gisteren in dagblad Trouw. Nog dezelfde dag maakte staatssecretaris van Volksgezondheid Marlies Veldhuijzen van Zanten bekend dat er inderdaad zo’n meldpunt komt en dat dat op 1 oktober van start gaat.

Het nieuwe meldpunt wordt ondergebracht bij Slachtofferhulp Nederland (SHN). Via één landelijk nummer worden slachtoffers snel in contact gebracht met de juiste hulpverleners en instanties.

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NEDERLAND
Kerknieuws

Dat pastoor H. Boonk in de jaren ’70 en ’80 van de vorige eeuw misdienaars seksueel misbruikte, was een publiek geheim in het Overijsselse dorp Albergen. Veel mensen wisten ervan. Het is ook meer dan eens gemeld bij de deken en de bisschop, maar daarna is nooit gecontroleerd of er ook iets met die meldingen is gedaan.

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AUSTRALIA
Eureka Street

Editorial

Michael Mullins July 15, 2012

Church leaders have a responsibility to protect the reputation of the institution of the Church. They are also custodians of a very high moral duty to protect the most vulnerable in their care, including sexual abuse victims.

It is a common criticism that they have previously given priority to looking after the reputation of the institution over the needs of sexual abuse victims, who have suffered further as a result.

On the other side, many critics are not obviously concerned about the rights of the Church’s ‘good people’ and positive values represented by the institution.

It appears they wish to see the needs of victims addressed in isolation.

There is goood reason for suggesting the needs of victims are more important than those of the institution, but it is not helpful in the long term to assign priority to one or the other. Because the sexual abuse problem is endemic, the long term common good requires a more wholistic strategy.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Daily Times

Published: Sunday, July 15, 2012

Since the sickening news broke last November of alleged sexual abuse of minors by Penn State University ex-assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky, the similarities with the clerical sexual abuse cases in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia have been painfully apparent.

Sandusky, who recently was convicted of sexually assaulting 10 boys over a period of 15 years, continued to have access to boys on campus even after Penn State officials were informed of suspected assaults. More than 60 priests in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia allegedly assaulted children over six decades and were reported to church officials who, in many cases, gave them continued access to children by simply moving them from parish to unsuspecting parish.

In both instances, it took grand jury investigations to bring these disturbing allegations and subsequent cover-ups to light.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
York Daily Record

The Associated Press
Updated: 07/15/2012

PHILADELPHIA—The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia says a priest involved in online money-making promotions and suspended after federal agents seized a computer from his inner-city rectory has been barred from public ministry.

The Rev. Geraldo Pinero, who called himself “Jerry from Philly” online, stepped down as pastor of Incarnation of Our Lord in north Philadelphia following the November 2010 raid.

Archdiocese officials said in a news release Sunday that Pinero since then has been barred from public ministry and also prohibited from wearing clerical garb or presenting himself as a priest. They cited the raid and said the finding was due to “a substantiated violation of the standards of ministerial behavior and boundaries” but were not more specific.

Pinero, 47, known as “Father Jerry” in the parish, advertised scented candles, life coaching and get-rich-quick ideas online. An archdiocese spokeswoman has said that priests are typically not permitted to pursue secular jobs, except for teaching and other approved posts.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
The Worthy Adversary

Posted by Joelle Casteix on July 15, 2012

This weekend marks the five-year anniversary of the 2007 Los Angeles Archdiocese’s $660 million settlement with more than 500 victims of child sexual abuse by priests, religious, employees and volunteers. While the financial settlement has allowed many Los Angeles victims to get therapy, healing and a sense of justice, the real reason many of these victims came forward still remains elusive.

To date, the public still has not seen the tens of thousands of pages of sex abuse and cover-up documents. Those are still “stuck in the system,” and the latest ruling by an LA judge will require that all names in the documents be redacted.

Hundreds of former priests are still living unmonitored and unsupervised in communities full of children. Although the LA Archdiocese pays for retirements of many of these men, they refuse to take responsibility for the safety of children around these known predators.

And Cardinal Roger Mahony, who supervised many of these predator clerics? Well, he’s enjoying retirement.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

By Walter F. Naedele and Jane M. Von Bergen
INQUIRER STAFF WRITERS

A Roman Catholic Philadelphia priest, who has identified himself as “an online business owner” – a avocation not permitted by the church – has been removed as “unsuitable for ministry,” Archbishop Charles J. Chaput announced on Sunday.

The Rev. Geraldo Pinero, former pastor of Incarnation of Our Lord Church, 5105 N. Fifth St. in the Olney neighborhood, had committed “a substantiated violation of The Standards of Ministerial Behavior and Boundaries,” the announcement stated.

The announcement did not define his violation.

But the priest was “a local face of a pyramid-like Illinois-based enterprise calling itself Teamwork Revolution Power Systems,” The Inquirer reported after federal agents served a search warrant on the Incarnation rectory in November 2010.

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UNITED STATES
Gallup

[with graphs]

Catholics’ confidence remains significantly lower than Protestants’

by Lydia Saad

PRINCETON, NJ — Forty-four percent of Americans have a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in “the church or organized religion” today, just below the low points Gallup has found in recent years, including 45% in 2002 and 46% in 2007. This follows a long-term decline in Americans’ confidence in religion since the 1970s.

In 1973, “the church or organized religion” was the most highly rated institution in Gallup’s confidence in institutions measure, and it continued to rank first in most years through 1985, outranking the military and the U.S. Supreme Court, among others. That began to change in the mid- to late 1980s as confidence in organized religion first fell below 60%, possibly resulting from scandals during that time involving famed televangelist preachers Jim Bakker and Jimmy Swaggart. Confidence in religion returned to 60% in 2001, only to be rocked the following year by charges of child molestation by Catholic priests and cover-up by some in the church.

The latest results are from Gallup’s June 7-10 update of its annual “Confidence in Institutions” question. The same poll found Americans’ confidence in public schools, banks, and television news at their all-time lowest, perhaps reflecting a broader souring of Americans’ confidence in societal institutions in 2012. Still, the church/organized religion ranks fourth this year among the 16 institutions tested, on par with the medical system.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia

Reverend Geraldo Piñero has been found unsuitable for ministry by Archbishop Charles J. Chaput after a substantiated violation of The Standards of Ministerial Behavior and Boundaries.

Father Piñero had stepped down as pastor of Incarnation of Our Lord Parish in the Olney section of Philadelphia in November 2010 when federal authorities executed a search warrant at the parish rectory. His ministry has been restricted since that time and he has not been permitted to exercise his public ministry, wear clerical garb or present himself publicly as a priest.

An announcement was made at Incarnation of Our Lord Parish when Fr. Piñero stepped down and was placed on leave in November 2010. An update was provided at the parish this weekend. Counselors were present.

On May 4th and July 6th, Archbishop Chaput announced a total of 14 resolutions to the 26 cases of priests on administrative leave as a result of the February 2011 Grand Jury report. The announcement regarding Father Piñero is not connected to those cases.

Father Piñero is 47 years old. He was ordained in 1991. He served at the following parishes and schools: Incarnation of Our Lord, Philadelphia (1991-1997); Personal Leave (1997-2000) with residence at Saint Bridget, Philadelphia (1997-1999), Saint Charles Borromeo, Philadelphia (1999), and at a private residence (1999-2000). He also served at Saint Joseph, Aston (2000-2003) and Incarnation of Our Lord, Philadelphia (2003-2011).

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
WPVI

Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA (AP) – July 15, 2012 (WPVI) — The Archdiocese of Philadelphia says a priest who was suspended after federal agents seized a computer from his inner-city rectory has been found unsuitable for ministry.

The Rev. Geraldo Pinero had stepped down as pastor of Incarnation of Our Lord parish in north Philadelphia following a November 2010 raid by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.

The archdiocese cited the raid and said the finding was due to “a substantiated violation of the standards of ministerial behavior and boundaries” but gave no other details.

Forty-seven-year-old Pinero was known as “Father Jerry” in the parish but called himself “Jerry From Philly” online, where he hawked scented candles, life coaching and get-rich-quick ideas.

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AUSTRALIA
The Armidale Express

16 Jul, 2012

THE NAME of the person commissioned to undertake an independent review of the Father F case and the terms of reference of the inquiry will be released this week.

The Catholic Bishop of Armidale, the Most Reverend Michael Kennedy, released a one paragraph statement on Thursday evening in response to inquiries relating to the review he had announced last week.

“It is expected that the name of the independent person and terms of reference should be released by early next week,” the statement said.

Meanwhile, the mother of one of Father F’s victims said the family had not talked to police or a legal representative since the actions of the former priest and the church’s response to the molestation allegations were aired on the Four Corners program on ABC-TV on July 2.

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ITALIEN
Gloria.TV

(gloria.tv/ KNA) In Italien hat die Polizei am Wochenende den Pressesprecher eines katholischen Bischofs wegen des Verdachts auf sexuellen Missbrauch verhaftet. Der Priester Giacomo Ruggeri, Leiter der Kommunikationsabteilung des Bistums Fano, soll sich an einem 13-jährigen Mädchen vergangen haben, berichtet die katholische Tageszeitung «Avvenire» (Samstag).

Bischof Armando Trasarti hat Ruggeri von allen seelsorgerischen Aufgaben entbunden und ihm die Spendung der Sakramente untersagt. Der Priester wurde nach der Festnahme in das Gefängnis von Pesaro gebracht.

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NEDERLAND
Cinema

In ‘The Magdalene Sisters’ draait Peter Mullan er niet omheen: de katholieke kerk is een barbaarse instelling, die flirterige meisjes opsluit en ze vervolgens misbruikt. Het Vaticaan ontstak in woede. ‘Niemand durft zoiets te zeggen over het jodendom of de Islam.’

Volgens de overlevering kreeg Alfred Hitchcock tijdens een autotocht door Zwitserland de schrik van zijn leven. Hitchcock keek uit het raam en riep: ‘Dit is vreselijk. Dit is het vreselijkste dat ik ooit heb gezien.’ Zijn gezelschap zag niets alarmerends. Pas in tweede instantie zag het in de verte een priester. Hij was in gesprek met een klein jongetje, op wiens schouder hij zijn hand had gelegd. Hitchcock, tegen de jongen: ‘Ren, jongen! Ren voor je leven!’

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DEUTSCHLAND
K13

Stephan Ackermann fängt mit dem “Aufräumen” in der Kath. Kirche an: Erster pädophiler Priester wurde im Bistum Trier aus der christlichen Glaubensgemeinschaft ausgestoßen und entlassen

Der Trierer Bischof und Missbrauchsbeauftrage der Katholische Kirche Stephan Ackermann hat offensichtlich nun doch dem öffentlichen Druck nachgegeben und einen Theologieprofessor & ehemaligen Priester entlassen. Der Priester, der sich bereits im Ruhestand befindet, soll angeblich zwischen 1966 und 1980 fünf minderjährige Jungen missbraucht haben. Es gab damals zwar ein polizeiliches Ermittlungsverfahren, aber keine gerichtliche Verurteilung, weil der vermeindliche Vorfall juristisch verjährt gewesen ist. Demnach gab es auch keine strafrechtlichen Beweise für einen “sexuellen Missbrauch”. Die jetzigen Anschuldigungen beruhen lediglich auf den Angaben des heute erwachsenen “Opfers”. Nach über 30 Jahren kann es keine konkreten Beweise von einer “Tat” mehr geben…

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OSTERREICH
Kurier

Der sensationellen Entscheidung des Bundessozialamtes, einem ehemaligen Heimkind eine staatliche Pension zukommen zu lassen (der KURIER berichtete in der Sonntag-Ausgabe) , liegt ein tragisches, persönliches Schicksal zugrunde.

Die gebürtige Salzburgerin Heike K., 68, (Name von der Redaktion geändert) lebt heute in Deutschland. Als Kind wurde sie missbraucht, mit 14 wurde sie schwanger, mit 16 in das Tiroler Fürsorge-Erziehungsheim St. Martin in Schwaz gesteckt. “Das war für sie der Horror”, sagt ihr Anwalt Christian Sailer. Heike K. lebt heute zurückgezogen. Die Pension wurde ihr zuerkannt, da sie schwere psychische und physische Probleme hat, die auf Verbrechen zurückgehen, die in St. Martin verübt wurden.

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ROM
Radio Vatikan

Das Internationale Symposium zu kirchlichem Missbrauch, das im Februar in Rom Vertreter des Vatikan, Psychologen, Rechtsexperten und Ordensvertreter versammelte, war für viele Bischofskonferenzen der Welt ein „Augenöffner“. Das betont Pater Hans Zollner, Direktor des Instituts für Psychologie an der päpstlichen Universität Gregoriana. Fünf Monate nach der Tagung berichtet Zollner im Gespräch mit Radio Vatikan von ersten Zwischenergebnissen der kirchlichen Missbrauchsprävention. Zugleich benennt der Jesuit im Interview mit Anne Preckel klar die Probleme und „Baustellen“ im Kampf gegen Missbrauch.

„Speziell, was folgende Fragen angeht, müssen wir sicherlich noch nachlegen: der Umgang mit Opfern, der Umgang mit kirchlichen Verantwortlichen, die nicht den Leitlinien, die die Bischofskonferenz eingeführt hat, folgen. Was natürlich auch Konsequenzen hat für rechtliche Fragen im Umgang mit Bischöfen, mit Oberen, die sich nicht an das halten, was eigentlich Vorschrift ist.“

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DEUTSCHLAND
netzwerkB

Norbert Denef ist Sprecher der Organisation netzwerkB, die sich für die Rechte der Opfer einsetzt. Mit dem HUNGERSTREIK will Norbert Denef, der in Scharbeutz an der Ostsee lebt, vor allem erreichen, dass die strafrechtliche Verjährung aufgehoben wird.

Auch Prof. Dr. Christian Pfeiffer, Leiter des Kriminologischen Forschungsinstituts Niedersachsen, plädiert für eine Aufhebung der Verjährungsfrist, weil die Betroffenen den Missbrauch oft jahrzehntelang verdrängen: “Das kann man diesen Menschen nicht vorwerfen, dass die Kraft dazu, sich zu entscheiden, hier in jungen Jahren nicht da ist. Dass oft Anstöße von außen, die zufällig kommen, eine Rolle spielen. Der Rechtsstaat bricht nicht zusammen, wenn wir aus guten Gründen hier eine Sonderregelung schaffen und Herrn Denefs Wunsch entsprechen.”

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VATICAN CITY
Toronto Sun

Philip Pullella, REUTERS

First posted: Sunday, July 15, 2012

VATICAN CITY – A European report on efforts by the Vatican to embrace financial transparency after a series of scandals involving its bank will laud recent reforms but also underscore what remains to be done to reach international standards in all areas.

According to people familiar with the still-secret report, due to be issued on Wednesday by a department of the Council of Europe, the eagerly anticipated evaluation will give the Vatican an overall passing grade in key areas but criticize others.

The report is by Moneyval, “The Committee of Experts on the Evaluation of Anti-Money Laundering Measures and the Financing of Terrorism”, which is the Council’s monitoring mechanism that ensures that member states comply with international financial standards.

The external evaluation and recommendations are a milestone for the Vatican, which has been trying to shed its image as a suspect financial centre since 1982, when Roberto Calvi, an Italian known as “God’s Banker” because of his links to the Vatican, died under mysterious circumstances.

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ZIMBABWE
The Standard

Sunday, 15 July 2012

Spending most of our teenage years at a Catholic secondary school, we never really believed that priests and nuns were celibate. It was impossible for us adolescent African boys, born and bred in rural areas, where we received our sex education as soon as we realised we were boys and not girls, to agree to the lie that a real man could live without a woman for all his life.

Our highly patriarchal sex education inculcated into us that boys should have girlfriends, marry them at the appropriate time and have children. The real man loved women and had several at his beck and call. It was, with the benefit of hindsight, the wrong kind of education, hence the now entrenched “small house” phenomenon. It seems our priests also went through the same education.

At the mission school we always paired certain priests with certain nuns and alleged that they had sex romps once in a while. The more imaginative boys described in sordid detail how they had “seen with their own eyes” Father So-n-so doing it “live” with Sister So-n-so. The situation was not helped by open friendships exhibited by some priests and nuns.

We were innocent little boys who admired these priests for the education they gave us, both in the classroom and on the sport field; like us, they loved macho sport. If abuse of boys was present we didn’t see it perhaps because we were too innocent to even think that homosexuality existed. Looking back, and putting one and one together, some incidents come up that may suggest there were “special” relationships between some boys and some priests.

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UNITED STATES
The New Civil Rights Movement

by David Badash on July 12, 2012

Gallup today released a scathing survey, finding that Americans’ confidence in organized religion is at its lowest point since Gallup began asking the question in 1973. Currently, only 44% of Americans hold “a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in the church or organized religion,” down from a high of 68% in 1975.

Gallup points to the Church’s sex abuse scandals, which include the great many and infamous child sex abuse and rape scandals that continue to plague the Catholic Church, as a key reason for the continual drop in confidence of organized religion, but notes that “the decline in confidence does not necessarily indicate a decline in Americans’ personal attachment to religion. The percentage of Americans saying religion is very important in their lives has held fairly steady since the mid-1970s, after dropping sharply from 1952 levels.”

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VATICAN CITY
Washington Post

Father of pope’s imprisoned butler defends son over leaks of sensitive Vatican documents

By Associated Press, Updated: Sunday, July 15

VATICAN CITY — The father of Pope Benedict XVI’s imprisoned butler says his son is honest and hopes the truth will emerge concerning the leaks of sensitive Vatican documents.

Andrea Gabriele wrote a letter Sunday to television station Tgcom 24, the first time Paolo Gabriele’s family has commented on his alleged involvement in the scandal since his May 23 arrest. The documents, which were published in Italian media, exposed infighting and power struggles in the highest levels of the Vatican.

While Andrea Gabriele defended his son, he hinted that the motivation behind the leaks was to expose wrongdoing for the sake of purifying the church. He said his son was “paying the price first-hand.”

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UNITED STATES
Anti-Catholic League

By David Fortwengler

On July 10th Bill Donohue, president of the pro Catholic bishop group the Catholic League, issued another of his infamous diatribes in a news release. Titled “SNAP Disgraces Itself Again” bombastic Bill was responding to a paid advertisement SNAP ran in the NY Times.

The high-decibel speaking Donohue’s main complaint is that SNAP didn’t mention in its ad the “positive reforms” made by U.S. bishops over the last decade. What Donohue ignores is the “reforms” made since 2002 are in spite of the bishops, not because of them. The bishops were forced by societies outrage at their illegal and immoral behavior that was uncovered in investigations by media, government, and civil lawyers.

I believe the most important reform the church has made is background checks and training about child sex abuse for its volunteers. I am grateful for these changes but make no mistake, catholic parishioners are not to blame for the scandal. My parents weren’t aware a known pedophile was assigned to our parish in charge of the altar boys, the diocese and the bishop were.

Donohue’s organization is a professional bishop excuser group. Not professional as in competent, professional as in highly paid to spew nonsense. When the Catholic League claims the “scandal” ended in the mid-eighties he ignores the definition of scandal.

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