ABUSE TRACKER

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

Monica Yant Kinney, Inquirer Columnist

What’s the appropriate response when your tormentor gets his comeuppance?

Should you clap? Sigh? Sob? Smile in recognition of a rare moment of karmic payback?

Msgr. William J. Lynn didn’t rape anyone, but he still received a three- to six-year sentence in prison for endangering the welfare of children. He’s guilty of inaction more than action. He sullied the priesthood not as a predator, but as the worst kind of company man – a pathologically passive-aggressive coward afraid to question his boss.

Vicky Cubberley, 62, a survivor of clergy sex abuse, never expected this day, so she didn’t know quite what to do when victims finally notched a victory. She reveled for a minute, then got back to the business of trying to survive a life of man-made agony.

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

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Daily News

By Mensah M. Dean
Daily News Staff Writer

In a soft and clear voice, disgraced Catholic Monsignor William Lynn stood Tuesday before a packed courtroom and apologized for the years of sexual abuse a young man suffered at the hands of defrocked priest Edward Avery, whom Lynn transferred to the boy’s parish despite knowing that he had abused another boy.

“I did my best,” said Lynn, 61, who served as secretary for clergy for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia from 1992 to 2004.

“The fact is, my best was not good enough to stop” the abuse of the boy, concluded Lynn, a priest for 36 years who never met the boy.

Common Pleas Judge M. Teresa Sarmina agreed and concluded the sentencing hearing by lambasting Lynn for failing to support and protect not just Avery’s victim, but other children who had been abused by priests.

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

CALIFORNIA
Long Beach Post

By Sarah Bennett | Tuesday, 24 July 2012

A Long Beach parish priest, Father Luis Jose Cuevas of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, was arrested today on sexual assault charges including eight misdemeanor charges of sexual battery and one felony count involving lewd acts with a child.

The victims include two female adults and one 17 year-old female who reported repeated incidents of inappropriate touching over a two-year period, said Long Beach Police Sgt. Aaron Eaton.

The 67 year-old Cuevas has worked and lived on the grounds of the St. Athanasius Catholic Church at 5390 Linden Ave. for the last seven years and was arrested by LBPD with the assistance of the United States Marshal’s Office at a residence in the City of San Jacinto, police said. Cuevas is being held on $1,000,000 bail while he awaits arraignment in Long Beach on Wednesday.

In April, the Long Beach Police Department received information from the two adult victims, who say they initially reported the incidents to the Archdiocese. After an investigation, during which the 17 year-old victim came forward, the LBPD presented the case to the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office on July 19. The D.A’s Office subsequently filed charges.

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

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
National Catholic Reporter

Jul. 24, 2012
By Brian Roewe

Msgr. William J. Lynn, seen leaving a Philadelphia courthouse in late May, was convicted of endangering children for his handling of priest abuse claims while secretary of clergy for the Philadelphia archdiocese. A judge sentenced him July 24 to a maximum of six years in prison. (CNS photo/Scott Anderson, Reuters)

For failing to protect children from a known predator priest, Msgr. William J. Lynn will spend three to six years in prison.

Common Pleas Court Judge M. Teresa Sarmina read the former secretary of clergy for the Philadelphia archdiocese her sentence July 24 before a standing-room-only courtroom.

“You knew full well what was right, Msgr. Lynn, but you chose wrong,” Sarmina said, according to The Associated Press. …

Marci Hamilton, law professor and counsel in multiple abuse cases, was present at the sentencing. She said Sarmina’s statement, which at one point quoted Archbishop Charles Chaput’s Good Friday sermon, carried the theme that being a good priest does not make up for criminal endangerment of children.

“She really contrasted the Lynn that was secretary of the clergy who was, in her words hardhearted and callous, and the Lynn who was the parish priest, who was warm and compassionate, and she said the one doesn’t make up for the other,” Hamilton said. …

Survivor support groups also endorsed the sentencing.

“Considering all the kids whose innocence was shattered (or, in some whose lives were lost to suicide), we believe that Msgr. Lynn deserved the harshest punishment. Still, this sentence sends a powerful message: cover-up child sex crimes and you’ll go to jail,” said a statement from the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.

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

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

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Priest Abuse Trial Blog

Ralph Cipriano

Judge M. Teresa Sarmina told Msgr. William J. Lynn today that she was sentencing him to three to six years in state prison, because he had turned a blind eye and a deaf ear to the suffering of victims of sex abuse.

“You knew full well what was right, Msgr. Lynn, but you chose wrong,” she told the defendant, before imposing sentence. Lynn has been in jail since June 22, when he was convicted by a jury of one count of endangering the welfare of a child, a third-degree felony.

The judge contrasted Lynn’s recent service at St. Joseph’s Church in Downingtown, where he was pastor from 2004 until his indictment in 2011, to his 12-year-tenure as secretary for clergy for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia from 1992 to 2004.

The judge said she got hundreds of “heartfelt letters of support” on behalf of Lynn, many from parishioners at St. Joseph’s, who told her that Pastor Lynn would drop every thing to help someone in need. But the judge said that as secretary for clergy, Msgr. Lynn had displayed insensitivity to victims. He was either promising to do something, and doing nothing, the judge said, or he was doing his best to “callously shield the priests.”

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

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
SNAP Wisconsin

Monsignor Lynn was sentenced today to prison for 3 to 6 years following his conviction for child endangerment. Lynn is the first high ranking Catholic Church official to be tried and found guilty in a criminal court of law for giving known pedophile priests access to unsuspecting children.

At sentencing Judge Teresa Sarmina told Lynn “You knew full well what was right Monsignor, but you chose wrong”.

Sarmina added that Lynn deserved the sentence imposed on him because of “your support and facilitation of monsters in clerical garb…who destroyed the souls of children as you turned a hard heart”.

Following the sentencing of their Monsignor the Archdiocese of Philadelphia issued a statement lamenting Lynn’s sentence stating “Fair minded people will question the severity of the heavy, three to six year sentence imposed on Msgr. Lynn today. We hope that when this punishment is objectively reviewed it will be adjusted”.

The archdiocese neglected to mention the sentence that was imposed on the child whom Lynn endangered. That child was sexually assaulted by Fr. Edward Avery who Lynn was in charge of supervising. Lynn knew that Avery was a child molester and assigned him to St. Jerome’s parish anyway without warning parishioners that there was a dangerous predator in their midst.

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

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Washington Post

By Anthony M. Stevens-Arroyo

Six years in prison for Monsignor William Lynn, former clergy secretary in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia because of his complicity in sexual abuse of minors; $60 million in fines to Penn State and its football program for similar indifference towards a coach. These despicable events are linked by a defect in American society. There is little public conscience to protect those speaking truth to power.

Particularly sad is how these recent events distort what should be an uplifting faith in an institution. Does not Penn State make of its football a weekly religion, replete with dedicated blue-and-white, competing ritually in an arena for honor? Does not Catholic America consider the bishop’s office the watchtower of a living faith? We all regret the sins and sympathize with the victims, but unless we recognize the climate that has fostered wrongdoing and change, these events will be repeated.

The failure to be feared the most lies with the university favoring football wins over integrity and with the clericalism that prefers loyalty over virtue. In short, there is a moral void in American society that does not reward whistle blowing against the interests of an institution.

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

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Catholic News Service

By Matthew Gambino
Catholic News Service

PHILADELPHIA (CNS) — Common Pleas Court Judge Teresa Sarmina closed the latest chapter in the clergy sexual abuse scandal in Philadelphia by sentencing Msgr. William Lynn to three to six years in state prison.

During the sentencing hearing July 24, after more than two hours of arguments and letters presented from victims and Msgr. Lynn’s defense, Sarmina handed down a sentence just shy of the maximum seven years.

The former secretary for clergy, who recommended priest assignments to the archbishop of Philadelphia and investigated claims of sexual abuse of minors by clergy, was found guilty of one felony charge of endangering the welfare of a child June 22.

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

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Catholic Online

PHILADELPHIA, PA (Catholic Online) – Judge Teresa Sermina told Monsignor William Lynn that he was being sentenced to prison because he protected “monsters in clerical garb who molested children.”

Lynn will serve at least three of those years in prison, and possibly longer. A sentence for another, single count of child endangerment is pending and could add a seventh year to his time.

Monsignor Lynn oversaw 800 priests in the Philadelphia Archdiocese and was responsible for investigating claims of abuse. However, instead of involving higher Church and civil authorities, Lynn often covered up allegations of abuse often by transferring priests to different parishes where they continued to prey on children.

In one case, he transferred a known pedophile priest to another parish that was attached to a grade school. That priest went on to abuse a 10-year-old boy.

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

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
AFP

[Trial Narrative and Resources – BishopAccountability.org]

NEW YORK — The highest-ranking US church official to be convicted of covering up child sex allegations, Philadelphia Monsignor William Lynn, was sentenced to between three and six years in prison on Tuesday.

Lynn, whose job it was to investigate reports of abuse in the archdiocese from 1992 to 2004, was found guilty last month of one count of child endangerment.

Defense lawyers had pushed for Lynn to be spared prison, but Judge Teresa Sarmina imposed close to the maximum sentence of between three-and-a-half and seven years.

“It was three to six years,” an official at the court in Philadelphia told AFP by telephone, confirming the tough sentence. …

Shockwaves from the trial are expected to keep reverberating.

“The Lynn trial is of lasting significance because of its guilty verdict, and because the record of the trial contains a dramatic analysis for a single archdiocese of the two crimes that constitute the ongoing sex abuse crisis: a) the sexual abuse of children by priests and b) the enabling and cover-up of the abuse,” wrote bishop-accountability.org, which tracks reported abuses.

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

CALIFORNIA
Gazettes

A Long Beach priest was arrested Monday and charged with nine counts of sexual assault on three women, including one felony count of lewd acts with a child.

Father Luis Jose Cuevas, a parish priest at St. Athanasius Catholic Church was arrested by Long Beach police with assistance of the United States Marshal’s Office at a residence in the city of San Jacinto. He was being held in Long Beach City jail on $1 million bail pending arraignment, which was scheduled for Wednesday, July 25.

According to the report from Sgt. Aaron Eaton of the media detail for the Long Beach Police Department, Cuevas, 67, has served at St. Athanasius for the last seven years, living on the grounds at 5390 Linden Ave. In April this year, two women reported to the Long Beach police that they had been victims of sexual battery.

Both women said they initially filed reports with the Archdiocese of Los Angeles before talking with Long Beach police.

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

UNITED STATES
CNN

Editor’s note: Stephen Prothero, a Boston University religion scholar and author of “The American Bible: How Our Words Unite, Divide, and Define a Nation,” is a regular CNN Belief Blog contributor.

By Stephen Prothero, Special to CNN

(CNN) – As a resident of the most Catholic state in the nation (Massachusetts), I have watched for more than a decade as the Roman Catholic Church responded to charges of priestly pedophilia with a troubling combination of procrastination and obfuscation.

Far too often, Catholic priests, bishops and cardinals have identified not with abused children but with their “band of brothers,” their fellow priests.

In the case of the sex crimes committed by former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky, officials at Penn State also looked the other way.

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

CALIFORNIA
Contra Costa Times

By Kelly Puente, Staff Writer
presstelegram.com

July 24, 2012

LONG BEACH — A priest at a Catholic church in Long Beach has been arrested on suspicion of sexually assaulting two women and a teenage girl, police announced today.

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

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

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

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

CANADA
The North Bay Nugget

By MARIA CALABRESE The Nugget

Charges were back in court on Tuesday for a Roman Catholic priest accused of sexually abusing a seven-year-old boy in North Bay dating back to 1958.

John Edward Sullivan, 87, now living in Montreal, is out on bail. His next court date is Aug. 14.

Sullivan was an ordained priest at the Pro-Cathedral of the Assumption when the sexual offences are alleged at various times from 1958 to 1979.

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

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
NEWS.com.au (Australia)

A US Catholic Monsignor who “enabled monsters in clerical garb … to destroy the souls of children” has been jailed for up to six years.

Monsignor William Lynn, the former secretary for clergy at the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, handled priest assignments and child sexual assault complaints from 1992 to 2004. He was accused of transferring problem priests in one of the country’s largest parishes and keeping complaints out of the public eye.

“You knew full well what was right, Monsignor Lynn, but you chose wrong,” Judge M. Teresa Sarmina said.

Advocates for abuse victims, however, contend that dioceses have kept some accused clergy on assignment. They pointed to the Lynn case as an example.

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

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia

From the challenges the Church has faced both nationally and locally over the past decade, we understand the full gravity of sexual abuse. This year and even this week, Pennsylvania has been the epicenter of this issue, and we know there is legitimate anger in the broad community toward any incident or enabling of sexual abuse. The trial of the past several months has been especially difficult for victims, and we profoundly regret their pain.

The public humiliation of the Church has emphasized the vital lesson that we must be constantly vigilant in our charge to protect the children in our parishes and schools. Since the events some ten years ago that were at the center of this trial, the Archdiocese has changed. We have taken dramatic steps to ensure that all young people in our care are safe, and these efforts will continue even more forcefully now and in the years ahead.

We remain committed to protecting children and caring for victims. Fair-minded people will question the severity of the heavy, three to six year sentence imposed on Msgr. Lynn today. We hope that when this punishment is objectively reviewed, it will be adjusted.

We pray for Msgr. Lynn and his family at this difficult time.

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

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
CBS Philly

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – The Archdiocese of Philadelphia has released a statement just hours after Monsignor William Lynn was sentenced to 3-6 years in prison, calling his sentence “heavy.”

The statement reads:

“From the challenges the Church has faced both nationally and locally over the past decade, we understand the full gravity of sexual abuse. This year and even this week, Pennsylvania has been the epicenter of this issue, and we know there is legitimate anger in the broad community toward any incident or enabling of sexual abuse. The trial of the past several months has been especially difficult for victims, and we profoundly regret their pain.

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

WEST VIRGINIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Barbara Dorris on July 24, 2012

It’s deceitful and insulting for Bishop Bransfield to claim he has “tangible proof” that the allegations against him are false. Bransfield has no sworn affidavits, notarized statements or even signed letters. He has two Catholic men who haven’t faced real scrutiny or questioning and who say he never molested them.

So?

No child molester molests every child he or she encounters. So if Bransfield finds two or two hundred Catholics who say he never molested them, that means virtually nothing.

And very few child molesters molest in front of witnesses. So if Bransfield finds two or two hundred Catholics who say they never saw him molest anyone, that means virtually nothing.

If you come to Missouri, we can show you hundreds of banks that Jesse James never robbed. That doesn’t mean he wasn’t a bank robber.

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

MISSOURI
The Kansas City Star

By MARK MORRIS
The Kansas City Star

A Jackson County judge has removed the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph from a civil lawsuit that alleges child sexual abuse by a priest.

In a ruling issued Friday, Circuit Judge Ann Mesle freed the diocese from a suit against the Rev. Michael Tierney by dismissing one count of failure to supervise children and two counts of fraud and fraudulent misrepresentation.

Mesle wrote in her three-page order that she “struggled” with her decision to release the diocese from liability in the case, but said she was bound by other recent court rulings.

Lawyers and spokespersons for parties in the case either did not return calls or declined comment because of a gag order. In the past, Tierney has denied any wrongdoing.

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

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
WorldTVNews

PHILADELPHIA – A group representing victims of child sexual abuse says the prison sentence given a Philadelphia priest who covered up crimes against children sends a powerful message to organizations across the country. Monsignor William Lynn did not sexually abuse children himself. He is the first Roman Catholic Church official convicted of covering up the actions of priests under his supervision.

Joelle Casteix, the western regional director of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP), said Lynn deserved the maximum sentence of seven years. But she said the judge’s sentence of three-to-six years in prison is meaningful.

“This sentence sends a poweful message: cover up sex crimes and you’ll go to jail. Not house arrest. Not community service. Not a fine. You’ll be locked up,” Casteix said.

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

CANADA
Irish Mexican

GOOD AND BAD FRUITS IN THE LEGION OF CHRIST CATHOLIC RELIGIOUS ORDER [and in the Regnum Christi]

By J. Paul Lennon, MA, STL.

Presentation by Paul Lennon at the International Cultic Studies Association Annual Conference in Montreal – July, 2012

Introduction
The official Catholic Church stance on this issue is the following: “The Legion of Christ Produces Many Good Fruits; therefore it is a Good Religious Order Blessed by God.” The position was originally made clear at the end of the Vatican statement condemning the founder’s behaviors in May, 2006: “Independently of the person of the Founder, the worthy apostolate of the Legionaries of Christ and of the Association ‘Regnum Christi’ is gratefully recognized.”

When Pope Benedict XVI was interviewed in 2010 and questioned regarding the clergy sex abuse scandal and specifically about the Legion of Christ founder and the viability of the Legion he explained: “Naturally corrections must be made, but by and large the congregation is sound. In it there are many young men who enthusiastically want to serve the faith. This enthusiasm must not be destroyed. Many of them have been called by a false figure to what is, in the end, right after all. This is the remarkable thing, the paradox, that a false prophet, so to speak, could still have a positive effect.”

The belief held by Pope Benedict XVI, by his Delegate to the Legion of Christ, and by the Leadership of the order can be formulated as followed: The Legion of Christ Produces Many Good Fruits; therefore it must be good despite the corrupt and harmful life of the founder.

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

SPRINGFIELD (MA)
WWLP

Published : Tuesday, 24 Jul 2012

Laura Hutchinson

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) – Opening arguments have begun in a clergy sex abuse lawsuit against two former Springfield bishops.

Greenfield Attorney John Stobierski claims his client, Andrew Nicastro, who is 41 now, was sexually abused by Father Alfred Graves, a former priest in Springfield, when he was between the ages of 11 and 14 years old.

In his opening arguments Tuesday, Stobierski provided pictures of Nicastro as a child to the jury.

Nicastro is suing Catholic Church leaders, former Bishops Thomas Dupre and Joseph Maguire, claiming they knew Graves had a history of indecent conduct with a minor.

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

SPRINGFIELD (MA)
The Republican

Andrew Nicastro describes alleged sexual abuse by defrocked priest Andrew Graves, says 2 former bishops should have prevented it

By Buffy Spencer, The Republican

SPRINGFIELD – Jurors heard 42-year-old Andrew Nicastro describe how his parish priest in Williamstown sexually abused him about twice a week for about three years when he was between 11 and 14 years old.

Nicastro – apologizing to Hampden Superior Court Judge Constance M. Sweeney when he had to hesitate to clear his tears – said during the same years as he was assaulting him, the former Rev. Alfred Graves was choosing him for the most sought-after altar boy duties.

“I felt special, chosen,” Nicastro said of his altar boy duties at funerals, weddings and other ceremonies.

Graves, then pastor of St. Patrick’s Parish in Williamstown, even sexually assaulted Nicastro in the church during 1981 or 1982 to 1985, Nicastro said.

Nicastro was testifying in his civil lawsuit against two former bishops he said should be held accountable for his childhood abuse by Graves because they were in supervisory positions in the Roman Catholic Diocese and knew Graves had assaulted two other boys before Nicastro.

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

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Los Angeles Times

By Michael Muskal

July 24, 2012

A Roman Catholic monsignor, William J. Lynn, was sentenced to three to six years in prison on Tuesday for covering up sexual abuses by a priest he supervised in Philadelphia.

“You knew full well what was right, Monsignor Lynn, but you chose wrong,” Common Pleas Judge M. Teresa Sarmina said, according to media reports from the courtroom.

“I did not intend any harm,” Lynn said in court Tuesday. “My best was not good enough to stop that harm.”

A former secretary for clergy to the late Philadelphia Cardinal Anthony J. Bevilacqua, Lynn managed priests and investigated claims of misconduct from 1992 to 2004. With his conviction last month of child endangerment, Lynn became the first Roman Catholic church official to be convicted of a felony for covering up child sex-abuse claims against a priest.

That priest, Edward Avery, was later defrocked and is serving 2½ to 5 years in prison for sexually assaulting an altar boy in church.

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

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Press TV (Iran)

A Roman Catholic Monsignor, the highest-ranking US church official to be convicted of covering up child sex abuse claims, has been sentenced to three to six years in prison.

The Philadelphia court on Tuesday handed down the sentence to William Lynn, who was found guilty last month of one count of child endangerment in connection to the US Roman Catholic Church scandal.

Monsignor Lynn, secretary of the archdiocese from 1994 to 2001 and tasked with investigating abuse claims, was found guilty of endangering the victim of Edward Avery, a former priest convicted in 1999 of sexual assault.

Lynn enabled “monsters in clerical garb… to destroy the souls of children,” Judge M Teresa Sarmina said.

The trial, the first in the United States involving a senior official in the Catholic Church, also centered on two more Philadelphia priests.

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

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
The New York Times

By JON HURDLE and ERIK ECKHOLM

Published: July 24, 2012

PHILADELPHIA — Msgr. William J. Lynn, the first Roman Catholic official in the United States to be convicted of covering up sexual abuses by priests under his supervision, was sentenced to three to six years in prison on Tuesday.

“You knew full well what was right, Monsignor Lynn, but you chose wrong,” said Common Pleas Judge M. Teresa Sarmina as she imposed the sentence, which was just short of the maximum of three and a half to seven years. …

“I think this is going to send a very strong signal to every bishop and everybody who worked for a bishop that if they don’t do the right thing they may go to jail,” said Rev. Thomas J. Reese, a senior fellow of the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University. “They can’t just say the bishop made me do it, that’s not going to be an excuse that holds up in court.”

In a three-minute statement before he heard his sentence, Monsignor Lynn, dressed in a black clerical shirt and white collar, said: “I have been a priest for 36 years, and I have done the best I can. I have always tried to help people.”

He said that he respected the verdict of the jury, and he apologized to the abuse victim in the case at the center of his conviction. He turned toward relatives of the victim in the courtroom and said, “I hope some day that you will accept my apology.”

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

ITALY
The Eponymous Flower

Yet again there is another Old Liberal Bishop of the rundown Post-Conciliar Church — named by Benedict XVI — who has been removed.

(kreuz.net)Today Pope Benedict XVI has accepted the surprising resignation of Archbishop Vincenzo Di Mauro (61).

The reason for the resignation is not known.

Vigevano is a 64,000 population city 35 km southwest of Milan.

Dismissed

Msgr De Mauro was the Secretary of the Vatican Prefecture for Economic Affairs.

His dismissal after only three years in an unimportant Italian diocese was widely interpreted as a demotion.

The Italian news agency ‘agi.it’ spoke of the dissmissal of the Archbishop.

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

UPPER FREEHOLD (NJ)
Examiner

BY JANE MEGGITT Correspondent

UPPER FREEHOLD — No one could accuse Bruce Novozinsky of backing away from a controversial subject.

With the publication of his book, “Purple Reign – Sexual Abuse and Abuse of Power in the Diocese of Trenton, New Jersey, 1972- 2011,” the township resident takes on no less an authority than the Catholic Church and its behavior in the priestly pedophilia scandals.

According to a website promoting the book, “Novozinsky’s unvarnished look at the clerical culture reveals pedophilia as but one facet of the larger crisis — sexually active priests breaking their vows of celibacy with each other; the shielding of clergy through transfers, forced resignations, legal technicalities and prosecutorial deals; the Church’s attempted blame shift to homosexuality and society’s sexual degeneracy; and the silence of victims, secured through the politics of power and intimidation.

“The legacy of a succession of local bishops is that they acted first to protect the institution over the victim and employed every means to spare the realm, demonstrating that the crisis played out no differently in the idyllic New Jersey suburbs than it did anywhere else,” according to the website.

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

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
National Catholic Reporter

by Brian Roewe on Jul. 24, 2012 NCR Today

William J. Lynn, the former secretary of clergy for the Philadelphia archdiocese, was sentenced to three to six years in prison this morning, according to The Associated Press.

Lynn was convicted June 22 on one count of child endangerment for allowing former priest Edward Avery to remain in ministry despite knowledge of past abuse.

Lynn’s defense lawyers had sought a minimal sentence of probation without jail time while the Philadelphia district attorney’s office pushed for a maximum sentence of seven years in prison.

Lynn and his lawyers are expected to appeal the decision.

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

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
BBC News

US Roman Catholic Monsignor William Lynn has been sentenced to three to six years in jail for covering up a sex abuse complaint against a priest.

Lynn supervised hundreds of priests in his role as secretary for clergy at the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

Last month he became the most senior clergyman convicted in connection to the US Roman Catholic Church scandal.

Judge M Teresa Sarmina said Lynn enabled “monsters in clerical garb… to destroy the souls of children”.

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

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Fox 2

July 24, 2012, by Staff Writer

PHILADELPHIA CNN — The highest-ranking Catholic Church cleric charged and convicted in the landmark Philadelphia child sexual abuse trial was sentenced to three to six years in prison Tuesday.

Monsignor William Lynn, 61, was found guilty in June of one count of child endangerment, the first time a U.S. church leader has been convicted of such a charge.

He was given just under the maximum sentence he faced, which was three-and-a-half to seven years in prison for his conviction on the third-degree felony.

The trial marked the first time U.S. prosecutors have charged not just the priests who allegedly committed abuses but also church leaders for failing to stop them. Lynn is the highest-ranking cleric accused of covering up allegations of molestation and rape against priests by transferring them to unwitting parishes.

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

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
MSNBC

By NBC News and wire services

PHILADELPHIA — Monsignor William Lynn, the most senior U.S. Catholic clergyman convicted in the church’s decades-long sex abuse scandal, was sentenced on Tuesday to three to six years in jail for covering up child sex abuse by priests in Philadelphia.

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

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

“I believe that what Lynn did was done by just about every diocese,” Terence McKiernan, president of BishopAccountability.org, which tracks priest-abuse cases, told NBCPhiladelphia.com. “In most cases, I think the vicar general was well informed, and also the bishop.”

More than 500 U.S. priests have now been convicted of abuse, according to his organization. But Lynn’s three-month trial, he said, shows “just how hard it is to demonstrate collusion.”

Bishop Robert Finn and the Kansas City diocese face a misdemeanor charge of failing to report suspected child sexual abuse. Both Finn and the diocese have pleaded not guilty, and are set to go on trial next month.

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

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

By John P. Martin
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

Msgr. William J. Lynn was sentenced to 3 to 6 years in state prison Tuesday for child endangerment by a judge who said he turned a blind eye while “monsters in clerical garb” sexually abused children and devastated the church and community.

“You knew full well what was right, Monsignor, but you chose wrong,” Common Pleas Court Judge M. Teresa Sarmina told him.

The punishment capped a two-hour hearing and a three-month landmark trial, the first for a Catholic church official accused of enabling child-sex abuse. It fell just short of the maximum term that Philadelphia prosecutors sought, but was far more severe than the probation or county jail term that Lynn’s lawyers had argued.

Lynn told the judge that he was sorry for his “failings” during the 12 years he was in charge of managing priests’ assignments and investigating clergy-sex abuse claims for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. He repeated his claim that he did his best as clergy secretary,
“But the fact is, my best was not good enough – and for that I’m truly sorry,” he said.

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

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
AlterNet

The highest-ranking US church official to be convicted of covering up child sex allegations, Philadelphia monsignor William Lynn, was sentenced to three to six years in prison on Tuesday.

William Lynn, who was secretary of the archdiocese from 1994 to 2001 and tasked with investigating abuse claims, was found guilty last month of one count of child endangerment.

Lawyers had pushed for Lynn to be spared prison, but Judge Teresa Sarmina imposed close to the maximum sentence of three and a half to seven years.

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

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Daily Telegraph (Australia)

AFP
July 25, 2012

The highest-ranking US church official to be convicted of covering up child sex allegations, Philadelphia monsignor William Lynn, was sentenced to three to six years in prison on Tuesday.

William Lynn, who was secretary of the archdiocese from 1994 to 2001 and tasked with investigating abuse claims, was found guilty last month of one count of child endangerment.

Lawyers had pushed for Lynn to be spared prison, but Judge Teresa Sarmina imposed close to the maximum sentence of three and a half to seven years.

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

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Prensa Latina

Washington, Jul 24 (Prensa Latina) Philadelphia”s Attorney”s Office confirmed today that Monsignor William Lynn will be convicted of being responsible for the Church”s greatest sex scandal in the United States or, even, in America.

Lynn, 61, faces up to seven years in prison for covering up child abuse committed by colleagues under his supervision between 1992 and 2004.

District judge Seth Williams wrote in the pre-sentence that the defendant should have been understood that the protection to U.S. child and the prestige of the ecclesiastical church were his jobs’ main task.

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

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Washington Post

Pa. monsignor who became 1st US church official branded felon for sex cover-up gets 3-6 years

By Associated Press, Updated: Tuesday, July 24

PHILADELPHIA — A Roman Catholic monsignor who became the first U.S. church official branded a felon for covering up sex abuse claims against priests was sentenced Tuesday to three to six years in prison by a judge who said he “enabled monsters in clerical garb … to destroy the souls of children.”

Monsignor William Lynn, the former secretary for clergy at the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, “helped many but also failed many in his 36-year church career,” Judge M. Teresa Sarmina said.

Lynn, who handled priest assignments and child sexual assault complaints from 1992 to 2004, was convicted last month of felony child endangerment for his oversight of now-defrocked priest Edward Avery, who is serving a 2½- to five-year sentence after pleading guilty to sexually assaulting an altar boy in church.

The monsignor said Tuesday: “I did not intend any harm to come to (Avery’s victim). My best was not good enough to stop that harm.”

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

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
ABA Journal

Posted Jul 24, 2012
By Debra Cassens Weiss

The first senior Roman Catholic official in the United States convicted for covering up sexual abuse by a priest has been sentenced to three to six years in prison.

Msgr. William Lynn of the Philadelphia Archdiocese was convicted last month on one count of child endangerment and acquitted on two other charges. The sentence imposed today was just below the maximum, the New York Times reports. Lynn’s lawyers had sought probation, according to the Associated Press.

Judge M. Teresa Sarmina told Lynn he enabled “monsters in clerical garb … to destroy the souls of children, to whom you turned a hard heart.”

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

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Reuters

By Dave Warner

PHILADELPHIA | Tue Jul 24, 2012

(Reuters) – Monsignor William Lynn, the most senior clergyman convicted in the U.S. Roman Catholic Church scandal, was sentenced on Tuesday to three to six years in prison for covering up child sex abuse by priests in Philadelphia.

Judge M. Teresa Sarmina told Lynn, 61, the former secretary of the clergy for the Philadelphia Archdiocese, that he protected “monsters in clerical garb who molested children.”

Lynn had faced up to seven years behind bars for his conviction on a single count of child endangerment.

Lynn, who oversaw the work of 800 priests, was convicted of covering up sex-abuse allegations, often by transferring predatory priests to unsuspecting parishes.

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

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
The Daily Record

Posted: 12:01 pm Tue, July 24, 2012
By Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA — A Roman Catholic monsignor who became the first U.S. church official branded a felon for covering up sex abuse claims against priests was sentenced Tuesday to three to six years in prison.

Monsignor William Lynn of Philadelphia, the former secretary for clergy at the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, handled priest assignments and child sexual assault complaints from 1992 to 2004.

Judge M. Teresa Sarmina said Lynn enabled “monsters in clerical garb … to destroy the souls of children, to whom you turned a hard heart.”

She added: “You knew full well what was right, Monsignor Lynn, but you chose wrong.”

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

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Irish Examiner

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

A Roman Catholic monsignor who covered up sex abuse claims against priests in the US has been jailed for three to six years.

Lynn was the former secretary for clergy at the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

Lynn handled priest assignments and child sexual assault complaints from 1992 to 2004.

A jury convicted him last month of child endangerment for his oversight of now-defrocked priest Edward Avery, who is serving up to five years in prison.

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

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Joelle Casteix on July 24, 2012

We are grateful that Msgr. Lynn was not able to escape with the minimum sentence for his years of concealing heinous crimes against children. But cover ups would be better deterred had he gotten the maximum penalty, and justice would have been better served.

Considering all the kids whose innocence was shattered (or, in some whose lives were lost to suicide), we believe that Msgr. Lynn deserved the harshest punishment.

Still, this sentence sends a powerful message: cover-up child sex crimes and you’ll go to jail. Not house arrest. Not community service. Not a fine. You’ll be locked up.

It says, loud and clear, that child sex crimes are taken extremely seriously, and will be punished as such.

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

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Capital Public Radio

By Eyder Peralta

During sentencing the judge said William Lynn had enabled “monsters in clerical garb” to abuse children.

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Monsignor William Lynn, who became the first Catholic leader convicted in the church sex abuse scandal, was sentenced to three to six years in prison.

The AP reports:

“The former secretary for clergy at the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, handled priest assignments and child sexual assault complaints from 1992 to 2004.

“Judge M. Teresa Sarmina said Lynn enabled ‘monsters in clerical garb … to destroy the souls of children, to whom you turned a hard heart.’

“She added: ‘You knew full well what was right, Monsignor Lynn, but you chose wrong.'”

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

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Duluth News Tribune

By: Maryclaire Dale, Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA — A Roman Catholic monsignor who became the first U.S. church official branded a felon for covering up sex-abuse claims against priests has been sentenced in Philadelphia to three to six years in prison.

Monsignor William Lynn was sentenced today. He was the former secretary for clergy at the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

Lynn handled priest assignments and child sexual assault complaints from 1992 to 2004. A jury convicted him last month of felony child endangerment for his oversight of now-defrocked priest Edward Avery, who is serving a 2½- to five-year sentence.

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

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
The Wall Street Journal

By PETER LOFTUS

PHILADELPHIA—A Roman Catholic monsignor was sentenced Tuesday to as many as six years in prison for allowing a priest suspected of sexual misconduct with a minor to have continued contact with children.

A jury last month found Monsignor William Lynn guilty of child endangerment. The verdict marked the first time a senior U.S. church official was convicted of a criminal charge related to allegations of covering up sexual abuse of minors by other priests. Msgr. Lynn, 61, served as secretary for clergy in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia from 1992 to 2004, a job that included investigating abuse allegations lodged against priests in the diocese.

Monsignor William Lynn, shown in June, was sentenced to six years in prison for allowing a priest suspected of sexual misconduct with a minor to have continued contact with children.

Msgr. Lynn’s three- to six-year prison sentence is another milestone in a sex-abuse scandal that has shaken the Church in the U.S. and elsewhere for the past decade. Victims’ groups heralded his conviction as an opening for law-enforcement officials in other cities to look anew at whether other high-ranking church officials could be held criminally liable for looking the other way when priests under their charge were accused of abuse.

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

CANADA
Ken Hills

In response to “priest dumping” case troubling, July 23 editorial When Karla Homolka made a deal with the Crown Attorney, in which she agreed to testify against Paul Bernardo, she literally got away with murder. It was after this agreement, termed the deal with the devil, that the incriminating videos, which clearly showed her involvement in her sister’s death, were found in the ceiling structure of that house of horrors. Now we learn that the defense attorney for Rev. Jose Silva, and the Hamilton-based Crown attorney’s office, struck yet another clandestine deal that allows Silva to return to his native Brazil where he is now in therapy, his status as a Catholic priest on hold. When I once asked a criminal lawyer, a member of our family, how he could in conscience defend someone whom he knew was guilty, his answer was clear. His job, he told me, was to offer the best defense possible within the law. And if he was successful in having his obviously guilty client walk free, then it was up to legislators to change the law.

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

WEST VIRGINIA
Herald-Star

July 24, 2012

By JENNIFER COMPSTON-STROUGH – Special to the Herald-Star , The Intelligencer

WHEELING – Two men who were among a group of teens that accompanied then-Rev. Michael J. Bransfield to a Pennsylvania farm in the late 1970s to visit another priest told a Philadelphia newspaper this week that Bransfield did nothing inappropriate during their time together.

The men, Ronald Rock and Timothy Love, gave statements to the Philadelphia Inquirer that contradict claims made in a Philadelphia courtroom earlier this year.

During what has been called the “landmark” clergy-sex abuse case, a witness testified that a former defrocked priest who was not on trial, Stanley Gana, told him that Bransfield was having a relationship with one of the boys in the group that visited the farm. The witness, Mark Berkery, who told investigators that Gana had abused him for years, claims that Gana called the group Bransfield’s “fair-haired boys.”

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

DEUTSCHLAND
Welt

Scharbeutz (dapd). Nach gut sechs Wochen hat der Vorsitzende des Opferverbandes NetzwerkB, Norbert Denef, seinen Hungerstreik beendet. Die Entscheidung sei nach Rücksprache mit Unterstützern, die sich seiner Aktion angeschlossen hatten, und den Ärzten gefallen, teilte der 63-Jährige am Dienstag im schleswig-holsteinischen Scharbeutz (Kreis Ostholstein) mit. Er hatte sich seit dem 8. Juni nur noch von Tee, Wasser, Gemüsewasser und Limonensaft ernährt.

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

DEUTSCHLAND
netzwerkB

netzwerkB Pressemitteilung 24. Juli 2012 (als PDF herunter laden)

46 Tage HUNGERSTREIK – Politik lässt Opfer lieber verhungern als sich für Opferschutz und Kinderschutz einzusetzen

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

AUSTRALIA
The Australian

MITCHELL NADIN
From:The Australian
July 25, 2012

THE priest known as Father F, the subject of a police investigation into child sex offences dating to the 1970s, is facing fresh allegations of abuse.

Mark Boughton, who was a student at the Catholic primary school in Moree in northern NSW during the late 1970s, last night told the ABC Father F – as he is known for legal reasons – forced him to perform oral sex numerous times when he was an 11-year-old altar boy.

Last week, NSW police established Strike Force Glenroe to investigate the alleged child abuse by Father F of several altar boys in parishes across the state.

Mr Boughton said Father F had abused him after gaining the trust of the boy’s parents. “I thought he was trying to do the right thing and draw the community closer to everyone,” he told the ABC’s 7.30 last night.

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

AUSTRALIA
Radio Australia

[with video]

An alleged victim has gone to authorities over an apparent cover-up by the Catholic Church over abuse by a paedophile priest known as Father F.

The Church told a Four Corners report it could not act on the allegations as it did not know the identity of any of Father F’s victims.

There has never been a successful prosecution, mainly because victims have not been willing to go to police.

But 7.30 can reveal that an alleged victim has gone to authorities.

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

NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

By Michael Donnelly
Tuesday, 24 July 2012

Two women who cheered in court as a priest was cleared of sex abuse charges have walked free from court themselves after apologising for the outburst.

The women had clapped and cheered when Fr Eugene Boland (66), of Killyclogher Road, Omagh, was cleared of indecently assaulting a 14-year-old girl 20 years ago in parochial house in Derry.

The women — Sarah Kerrigan from Patrick Street, Londonderry, and Michelle Ruddy, of Larraghirrell, in Culdaff, Co Donegal — had been charged with contempt of court. They appeared visibly relieved when Judge Stephen Fowler said he would take the matter no further.

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

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
The New York Times

By ERIK ECKHOLM

Published: July 24, 2012

Sentencing is expected Tuesday in the landmark conviction of a Roman Catholic official for covering up child sex abuses by priests under his supervision.

The official, Msgr. William J. Lynn of Philadelphia, was found guilty on June 22 on one count of endangering a child. The crime carries a maximum sentence of seven years in prison.

Monsignor Lynn served as secretary for clergy for the 1.5 million-member archdiocese from 1992 to 2004, recommending priest assignments and investigating abuse complaints. In a trial that lasted more than two months, prosecutors argued that he had shielded predatory priests, often transferring them to unwary new parishes, and lied to the public to avoid bad publicity and lawsuits.

Last week, Monsignor Lynn’s lawyers asked Common Pleas Judge M. Teresa Sarmina to spare him from prison and sentence him to probation and work-release or house arrest. They argued in a written memorandum that a long prison sentence would be “merely cruel and unusual,” and “would serve no purpose at all.”

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

AUSTRALIA
ABC News

[with video]

By Adam Harvey

Posted July 24, 2012

The ABC can reveal an alleged victim has gone to authorities over an apparent cover-up in the Catholic Church over a self-confessed paedophile known as Father F.

The Church told a Four Corners report it could not act on the allegations as it did not know the identity of any of Father F’s victims.

There has never been a successful prosecution, mainly because victims have not been willing to go to police.

But 7.30 can reveal that an alleged victim has gone to authorities.

For 30 years, Mark Boughton has struggled with the memories of what Father F did to him as an 11-year-old altar boy.

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

FLORIDA
WESH

[with video]

ORLANDO, Fla. –
A lawsuit was filed Monday against the Catholic Diocese of Orlando by a former altar boy who said he was molested by a priest when he was 14 years old.

The attorney for the man, who is a naval officer, said the molestation took place in 1978.

“What we allege here is that the diocese failed to protect one of its altar boys because it had a priest who was known to be a sexual predator,” attorney Adam Horowitz said.

The Rev. William Authenreith was around 41 or 42 years old at the time of the alleged incident, and Horowitz said the abuse happened to several children.

“He allegedly abused children at parishes where he had served for a period of decades,” said Horowitz. “It occurred in the sacristy, where the priests and the altar boys prepare for church services. It happened more than one time.”

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

FLORIDA
WTSP

[with video]

Written by
Melanie Michael

Largo, Florida — The details in this case are so deviant and so diabolical the contents of the federal documents are creating a visceral reaction in people.

Those who read the material become sick to their stomachs.

A 57-year-old local puppeteer from Largo is accused of planning to kidnap children — specifically toddlers — torture them, rape them, murder them, then cook their body parts on a stove, according to federal documents.

Ronald Brown was busted by federal agents this week and is on a U.S. Marshal hold in the Pinellas County Jail. Brown lives in the Whispering Pines mobile home park in Largo off of 142nd Street. …

According to documents, Brown was targeting a little boy at a local church.

He told FBI agents, he wanted to “eat” the child. Brown also admitted in the documents that he wanted to strangle children, that he was in a group on Yahoo where he discussed his fantasies online.

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

FLORIDA
The Tampa Tribune

By ELAINE SILVESTRINI | The Tampa Tribune
Published: July 24, 2012

TAMPA —
A puppeteer who has entertained children for years across the Tampa area had a sickening secret, according to a federal complaint.

Ron Brown collected pornographic images of children and fantasized about strangling, dismembering and cannibalizing children, court documents state. The 57-year-old Largo man is under arrest in the Pinellas County Jail facing federal charges of conspiring to kidnap a child and possession of child pornography.

He was arrested as part of an international investigation conducted by federal Homeland Security agents based in Boston. …

He told agents, according to the complaint, that every Wednesday several children from his neighborhood come to his house for pizza before he gives them a ride to church in a van provided by the church.

But he told investigators he talked to someone online about killing, dismembering and eating a particular boy at his church, the complaint states. He said he told the person, “If I was going to eat someone, I would probably eat” the boy.

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

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Catholics4Change

July 24, 2012 by Susan Matthews

Dear Judge Sarmina,

My name is Bob Fisher and I had the opportunity of testifying at Msgr. Lynn’s trial April 25th. I wanted to take a few minutes to share with you how my life has been affected by my abuse and its aftermath. Edward Avery’s assault on me was psychological and spiritual as well as sexual in nature. Its effects on my life have been global and pervasive and have altered its trajectory. That is not to say that it has ruined my life by any stretch of the imagination. I have in many ways an amazing life and family despite what happened to me. However, these accomplishments and blessings do not mitigate the pain, I have carried because of Edward Avery’s actions.

My abuse led to great difficulties in the area of trust and relationships particularly with men resulting in my having a fairly small support circle at this point in my life. I have struggled with my own psycho sexual identity and the disruption of my spiritual center. There were bouts of depression and thoughts of suicide with attempts at self medication with alcohol and just general numbing out over the years. The only way forward had been a rigid compartmentalization of this part of my life away from the “normal” life I was pursuing. This took considerable energy and attention away from my becoming the husband, father and physician I wanted to be and has exacted an incalculable toll on our lives over the years. There has also been a direct and indirect negative financial impact related to my abuse, its aftermath and more recently to this trial.

I first broke my silence regarding what Edward Avery did to me in 1992. I had been struggling with the pain and shame for over 10 years and I wanted to make a break with the past I had also become concerned that Avery might do the same to someone else. I approached the Archdiocese through the office of Secretary for Clergy as I was advised to do. Msgr Lynn represented the church and resolution of this matter to me. I put my faith in and trusted that the right thing would be done; approaching Msgr Lynn with the expectation that his actions would be consistent with the values I had learned through my faith. I stressed in my communications with Msgr Lynn that I felt that Edward Avery might offend again. I conveyed the great difficulties that the abuse was causing me in my life. I never received the acknowledgment or validation from him confirming what I had experienced. I never knew that he had concluded as early as 1994 that Avery was guilty of abusing me. I was left to wonder whether he and the Archdiocese even believed me. I later had to pursue the truth of whether Edward Avery was in a safe assignment after I began to hear that he was DJ-ING and was around young people. I was assured by Msgr Lynn that Edward Avery was in a safe assignment.

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

VATICAN CITY
Catholic News Agency

Vatican City, Jul 23, 2012 / 01:42 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The Vatican is denying newspaper claims that three officials close to Pope Benedict XVI were found complicit in the recent leaking of sensitive papal information to the media.

“The Secretariat of State expresses its firm and total disapproval of those publications, which are not based on objective criteria and seriously damage the honor of the people concerned, who have served the Holy Father faithfully for many years,” said a statement issued by the Vatican’s Secretariat of State on July 23.

The allegations were printed in the July 23 edition of the Italian daily newspaper “La Repubblica” after they appeared in the online edition of German newspaper “Die Welt” last week.

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

ARGENTINA
La Nacion

Buenos Aires. AFP.
“La desaparición de personas fue una cosa lamentable (…) se lo planteó como una situación muy dolorosa y nos asesoraron sobre la forma de manejarla. En algunos casos la Iglesia ofreció sus buenos oficios y frente a familiares que se tenía la certeza de que no harían un uso político de la información, se les dijo que no busquen más a su hijo porque estaba muerto”, dijo Videla.
La nota fue realizada entre agosto y octubre de 2010 mientras el exdictador estaba arrestado en la prisión de alta seguridad de Bouwer, en la provincia de Córdoba (centro) y concedida bajo la condición de que fuera publicada “luego de su muerte”, según refirió la revista cordobesa que decidió divulgarla.

Videla citó al ex cardenal primado de argentina Raúl Primatesta (fallecido en 2006) y al nuncio apostólico Pio Laghi (fallecido en 2009) entre los representantes de la Iglesia a quienes “consultaba” sobre el tema.

“En mi vida lo he hablado con muchas personas. Con Primatesta, muchas veces. Con la Conferencia Episcopal Argentina, no a pleno, sino con algunos obispos. Con ellos hemos tenido muchas charlas. Con el nuncio apostólico Pío Laghi”, citó Videla.

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

AUSTRALIA
Forward

By Haaretz

Published July 24, 2012.

The two major branches of Chabad-Lubavitch in Australia are in the grip of separate crises that threaten to tar the movement’s reputation and undermine much of the work the Hasidic organization has invested in the six decades since it began operating here.

In Melbourne, a judge last week set the date for the trial of an Orthodox man who stands accused of 41 counts of child molestation at a Chabad-run school as several other separate child sex abuse cases continue to embroil the organization.

David Cyprys, a former security guard contracted to Yeshivah College, the Chabad boys school in Melbourne, has been ordered to stand trial next July. He pleaded not guilty to the charges, which include several counts of child rape allegedly perpetrated on students in the 1980s.

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

DEUTSCHLAND
Volksfreund

Im Kampf gegen sexuellen Missbrauch von Kindern und Jugendlichen setzen die Bistümer die Kontrollen ihrer Mitarbeiter fort. Das Bistum Speyer bestätigte am Montag, dass ein Jahr nach einem Aufruf an alle rund 1100 Hauptamtlichen, ein erweitertes Führungszeugnis vorzulegen, ein Großteil der Informationen vorliege. Daraus hätten sich keine Informationen über Vorstrafen wegen Sexualstraftaten oder Verletzung der Fürsorgepflicht ergeben. Ein kleiner Kreis von Personen habe noch kein Zeugnis vorgelegt, doch man rechne damit, dass dies nachgeholt werde.

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

DEUTCHLAND
Lubeder Nachrichten

Scharbeutz – 46 Tage lang hat Norbert Denef keine feste Nahrung zu sich genommen. Gestern Abend um 18 Uhr beendete der 63-Jährige in Scharbeutz seinen Hungerstreik, biss vorsichtig in eine Möhre und suchte sich aus einem großen Korb ein Stück frisches Obst aus.

Ebenso wie Denef handelten gestern auch vier Frauen sowie zwei Männer in Deutschland und in Österreich. „Nach Rücksprache untereinander, mit unseren Unterstützern und unseren Ärzten, beenden wir den Hungerstreik“, formulierten sie in einer gemeinsamen Erklärung. Ihr großes Ziel, eine Aufhebung der Verjährung für Taten gegen die sexuelle Selbstbestimmung zu erreichen, haben sie nicht erreicht.

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

ARGENTINIEN
Kipa (Schwiez)

[summary: Former dictator Jorge Rafael Videla said church leadership in Argentina and the Vatican were kept informed of the disapperance of those who opposed his regime. He said he talked to many people about it, including the Argentinian Episcopal Conference, some but not all bishops and former Vatican ambassador Pio Laghi. It is estimated that 30,000 people died during the dictatorship.]

Buenos Aires, 20.7.12 (Kipa) Die katholische Kirchenführung in Argentinien und im Vatikan war nach Aussage des früheren Diktator Jorge Rafael Videla über die Fälle verschwundener Oppositioneller informiert. “In meinem Leben habe ich mit vielen Leuten darüber gesprochen. Mit der argentinischen Bischofskonferenz, nicht mit allen, aber mit einigen Bischöfen. Mit ihnen hatten wir viele Gespräche”, sagte der 86-jährige Ex-General in einem Interview des argentinischen Magazins “El Sur”.

Die Regierung habe auch mit dem Vatikanbotschafter Pio Laghi gesprochen. “Sie haben uns beraten, wie wir das Thema behandeln können”, sagte Videla. Der 2009 verstorbene Kurienkardinal Laghi war von 1974 bis 1980 Nuntius in Argentinien.

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

OSTERREICH
Vol

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

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

Missbrauch und Vergewaltigung in Mehrerau

Der 45-Jährige hat die kirchliche Einrichtung auf 135.000 Euro Schmerzengeld und Verdienstentgang geklagt. Er ist in den 1980er Jahren von einem Pater des Klosters offenbar missbraucht und vergewaltigt worden. Die Eltern des 45-Jährigen hatten den damaligen Mehrerau-Abt Kassian Lauterer über den sexuellen Missbrauch ihres Sohnes durch den Pater informiert. Daraufhin wurde dieser aus dem Schuldienst entfernt, als Priester suspendiert und versetzt. Im Gegenzug verzichteten die Eltern auf eine Anzeige gegen den Pater.

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

PENNSYLVANIA
PhillyBurbs

Posted on July 24, 2012

by Danielle Camilli

MOUNT HOLLY — A Pemberton Township deacon, already charged with sexually assaulting a girl during a church service earlier this month, is now accused of molesting another child.

Joseph V. Pullen Jr., 59, of Whispering Pines Boulevard in Pemberton Township, was back in court Monday for his first appearance on the new charges of alleged sexual abuse of a second girl, authorities said.

The second victim told police she was molested at the Calvary Baptist Church in Pemberton Township, where he served as a deacon prior to his arrest July 13, back in 2010, according to court documents. The new charges also allege he sexually abused the same child in 2009 and 2011.

On Monday, he was charged with criminal sexual contact and endangering the welfare of a child for the second alleged incident at the church, authorities said. He also was charged with attempted-criminal sexual contact and aggravated criminal sexual contact and endangering the welfare of a child.

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

WEST VIRGINIA
Charleston Daily Mail

The Associated Press

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The Roman Catholic bishop of West Virginia wrote in an email to supporters Monday that he is grateful that two men have come forward to defend him against allegations that he sexually abused one of them in the 1970s, and that their assertions provide proof that he’s innocent.

In an email to clergy, parishioners and employees of the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston, Bishop Michael Bransfield said he has never abused anyone. The letter also was posted on the diocese website.

It comes after allegations surfaced during a recently completed Philadelphia priest-abuse trial in which a witness testified that a priest who abused him told him that Bransfield was sexually involved with a young teen. The alleged victim and another man told The Philadelphia Inquirer in a story published Sunday (http://bit.ly/LJE9rx) that the allegations were false.

Bransfield remains under investigation for another claim, which he denies.

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

WEST VIRGINIA
The Charleston Gazette

By Travis Crum

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A Philadelphia man denies that Bishop Michael Bransfield sexually abused him when he was a teenager in the late 1970s, according to a statement issued by the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston on Monday.

A man who alleged abuse by Stanley Gana, a former Philadelphia priest, testified in the city’s Court of Common Pleas in April that Gana claimed Bransfield was having sex with a young boy.

The man testified he was on Gana’s farm in upstate New York when Bransfield pulled up in a truck with several teenage boys inside. The man said Gana told him then-Rev. Bransfield had a sexual relationship with a teenage boy in his passenger seat.

The Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston identified the boy in the passenger seat as Ronald Rock, a Philadelphia business executive, according to a statement. Rock was a Lansdale Catholic High School student at the time.

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

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

By John P. Martin
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

The sentencing today of Msgr. William J. Lynn will mark the first for a Catholic church official convicted of enabling clergy-sex abuse.

Common Pleas Court Judge M. Teresa Sarmina is scheduled to sentence Lynn later this morning for failing to take steps that might have prevented a priest from sexually assaulting a 10-year-old altar boy.

Lynn, 61, faces up to seven years in state prison. He has been jailed since his June 22 conviction.

His sentencing will follow an unprecedented three-month trial that exposed decades of child-sex abuse by Archdiocese of Philadelphia priests, and showed how church leaders sometimes shuffled accused clerics to hide the misconduct from the public.

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

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
WSRO

MARYCLAIRE DALE

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A Roman Catholic monsignor awaits sentencing Tuesday in a landmark prosecution over his handling of complaints that Philadelphia priests were molesting children.

Monsignor William Lynn faces up to seven years in prison for his felony child endangerment conviction. He was cleared of three related charges at trial.

The 61-year-old Lynn is the first American church official convicted in the scandal that’s rocked the Catholic church for more than a decade. But he may not be the last.

Bishop Robert Finn and the Kansas City diocese face a misdemeanor charge of failing to report suspected child sexual abuse. Both Finn and the diocese have pleaded not guilty, and are set to go on trial next month.

“I believe that what Lynn did was done by just about every diocese,” said Terence McKiernan, president of BishopAccountability.org, which tracks priest-abuse cases. “In most cases, I think the vicar general was well informed, and also the bishop.”

More than 500 U.S. priests have now been convicted of abuse, according to his organization. But Lynn’s three-month trial, he said, shows “just how hard it is to demonstrate collusion.”

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

TENNESSEE
WBIR

A former Kingsport and Knoxville priest is appealing a rape conviction he received last year.

William Casey is appealing a conviction to the state Criminal Court of Appeals.

He is currently serving 35 to 40 years behind bars for sexually molesting a teen more than three decades ago.

Last July, a jury convicted Casey of molesting his former altar boy Warren Tucker between 1978 and 1980.

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

IRELAND
The Irish Times

GORDON DEEGAN

CLARE: One of three priest staff members at the Irish College in Rome who returned home this summer was yesterday appointed a parish priest in Co Clare.

Last May, the college announced its vice-rector, Fr Albert McDonnell, was one of three staff priests to return home at the end of the academic year.

A native of Kilmaley, Co Clare, Fr McDonnell was one of the names mentioned for the vacancy of Bishop of Killaloe before Pope Benedict XVI appointed Dr Kieran O’Reilly in May 2010.

In May, the rector of the Irish College, Fr Ciarán O’Carroll announced the return of Fr McDonnell and two of his colleagues.

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

WEST VIRGINIA
The Sacramento Bee

The Associated Press

Published: Monday, Jul. 23, 2012

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The Roman Catholic bishop of West Virginia says he is grateful that two men have come forward to defend him against allegations that he sexually abused one of them in the 1970s.

Bishop Michael Bransfield sent an email Monday to clergy, parishioners and employees of the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston in which he said he has never abused anyone. The letter also was posted on the diocese website.

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

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
CNN

By Sarah Hoye, CNN

updated 6:37 PM EDT, Mon July 23, 2012

Philadelphia (CNN) — The highest-ranking Catholic church cleric charged and convicted in the landmark child sexual abuse trial is scheduled for sentencing Tuesday.

Monsignor William Lynn was found guilty in June of one count of child endangerment, the first time a U.S. church leader has been convicted of such a charge. He could face three-and-a-half to seven years in prison for his conviction on the third-degree felony.

A Philadelphia judge ordered Lynn, 61, to remain in jail until his sentencing despite a request for house arrest by his legal team.

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

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
WHTC

By Dave Warner

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) – Prosecutors said on Monday they would retry a key figure in the child sex abuse case involving Monsignor William Lynn, the most senior clergyman convicted in the U.S. Roman Catholic Church scandal.

A new trial for the Reverend James Brennan, 49, on charges of attempted rape and child endangerment was announced on Monday before Common Pleas Court Judge M. Teresa Sarmina.

On Tuesday, Sarmina will sentence Lynn, 61, who faces up to seven years in prison for child endangerment. He has been in jail since his conviction on June 22 after a three-month joint trial with Brennan.

Lynn, as the former secretary for the clergy for the Philadelphia Archdiocese, was essentially personnel director for 800 priests, including Brennan.

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

SPRINGFIELD (MA)
WWLP

Published : Monday, 23 Jul 2012, 5:42 PM EDT
Laura Hutchinson

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) – Nine jurors have been seated in a clergy sex abuse case.

The case involves two former Springfield Bishops who are accused of not protecting a child from sexual abuse.

The jurors will hear the case of Andrew Nicastro.

He’s the man who claims former Springfield Priest Alfred Graves sexually abused him as a child.

Now, he’s suing former Bishops Thomas Dupre and Joseph Maguire who he says could have prevented it.

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

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Priest Abuse Trial Blog

Priest Abuse Trial Timeline

Ralph Cipriano

Assistant District Attorney Patrick Blessington notified Judge M. Teresa Sarmina this morning that the Commonwealth is seeking a new trial date for Father James J. Brennan.

Father Brennan was charged with attempted rape of a 14-year-old, but the jury deadlocked on June 22, after 13 days of deliberation with an 11-1 vote to acquit the priest, according to Juror No. 7, Taleah Grimmage. The jury also deadlocked on a second charge against Father Brennan, endangering the welfare of a child. Grimmage said the jury was evenly split on the endangerment charge.

A third charge against the priest, conspiracy to endanger the welfare of a child, was thrown out by Judge Sarmina as not proven.

Father Brennan’s lawyer, William J. Brennan, no relation, had pledged to defend his client if the district attorney sought a new trial. “I think it’s lunacy to retry the case, with the jury split 11-1 on the attempted rape charge,” Brennan said before the district attorney’s office announced its decision today.

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

FLORIDA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Barbara Dorris on July 23, 2012

We are grateful to this brave survivor for coming forward and revealing his abuse. It is a very difficult thing to make allegations of this sort public, but it is an important part of finding others who may have been in similar circumstances. We hope anyone who may have seen, suspected, or suffered crimes at the hands of Fr. William Authenreith to immediately come forward and make a report to police.

It is extremely disturbing to find out that the Diocese of Orlando had knowledge of previous allegations against Fr. Authenreith. If they had allowed the police to investigate instead of doing their own internal investigation, it may have prevented other kids from being victimized. Bishop John Noonan should immediately use all of his available resources – including the diocesan website, parish bulletins, and pulpit announcements – to seek out other victims who may have been scared to speak up beforehand.

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

CONNECTICUT
The Hartford Courant

BY EDMUND H. MAHONY, emahony@courant.com
The Hartford Courant

2:59 p.m. EDT, July 23, 2012
A former parish priest in Greenwich accused of forging letters to cover up his theft of about $300,000 in church money was sent to prison for five months Monday in U.S. District Court.

Federal prosecutors said pastor Michael Moynihan forged letters from two parishioners, one of who was an unidentified judge, in an attempt to deceive FBI agents into believing that he spent the money for church purposes.

Moynihan, who was asked by the church to resign, was employed by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport as pastor of St. Michael the Archangel Parish in Greenwich from 1993 to 2007.

Prosecutors said Moynihan used church money to pay credit card bills or other personal expenses, according to federal and church authorities. He was charged with obstructing an official proceeding.

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

BELGIE
De Standaard

De afgelopen week lieten Jürgen Soetens en Tim De Mey, allebei 38, het priesterschap voor wat het was. De roeping is er, maar het celibaat weegt te zwaar. Dat meldt Gazet van Antwerpen.

Onderpastoor Tim De Mey uit Antwerpen was tien jaar priester, maar is uiteindelijk gezwicht onder het eenzame juk van het celibaat. Net na zijn priesterwijding zag hij geen graten in het solitaire bestaan, maar ‘het celibatair leven viel me zwaarder dan gedacht. Dit is de eerlijkste beslissing’, klinkt het.

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

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by David Clohessy on July 23, 2012

We are grateful to the Philadelphia District Attorney’s office for moving ahead with this retrial and not letting Fr. James Brennan to escape justice. It is very rare that victims of clergy sex abuse are able to see their abuser tried in a criminal trial, so we are very glad that Mr. Williams is still seeking justice for his victims.

We consider Brennan a dangerous man. Obviously, Philly Catholic officials do too, or they’d put him back in a parish.

He’s well educated, well spoken and charming – traits that predators use to get close to kids. He’s still a priest. And he’s likely telling many that the first trial “exonerated” him, which of course isn’t true. But as long as he walks free, kids near him are at risk.

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

SPRINGFIELD (MA)
WWLP

Jury selection in civil case against Springfield Bishops Thomas Dupre and Joseph Maguire

Updated: Monday, 23 Jul 2012

Laura Hutchinson

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) – Jury selection has begun in a civil case against former Springfield Bishops Thomas Dupre and Joseph Maguire.

Greenfield Attorney John Stobierski claims his client, Andrew Nicastro, who is in his 40s now, was sexually abused by Father Alfred Graves when he was between the ages of 11 and 13 years old.

Now, his client is suing Catholic Church leaders, claiming they knew Graves had a history of indecent conduct with a minor.

“It’s angering. It could have all been avoided had someone simply did anything, anything at all,” Nicastro told 22News back in 2009 when he announced he was filing a lawsuit.

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

SPRINGFIELD (MA)
The Republican

By Buffy Spencer, The Republican

SPRINGFIELD — Jury selection will continue Tuesday in Hampden Superior Court in a civil lawsuit brought by a Williamstown man who claims two former bishops should be held accountable for his childhood abuse by a priest.

The trial is being held before Judge Constance M. Sweeney, who began Monday morning by asking prospective jurors filling the large courtroom a series of questions, which she followed by individual juror questioning at the side of her bench with lawyers for both sides.

Lawyers for the Most Rev. Joseph F. Maguire and the Most Rev. Thomas L. Dupre had unsuccessfully tried to have the case dismissed on the grounds the three-year statute of limitations had expired by the time the suit was filed.

Jury selection was slow going as 59 people raised their hands when Sweeney asked if anyone had any personal or business reason they could not serve as a juror on the trial, which could take nine days or longer.

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

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

By John P. Martin
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

Philadelphia prosecutors said Monday they planned to retry James J. Brennan, the former Archdiocese of Philadelphia parish priest accused to trying to rape a 14-year-old boy in 1996.

“James Brennan used his position as a priest to prey upon and victimize this young man,” District Attorney Seth Williams said. “It is extremely important that Brennan be held accountable for his crime, not just for his victim but for all victims of sexual abuse.”

Brennan, 48, was one of two defendants in the unprecedented trial about clergy-sex abuse in the archdiocese.

Common Pleas Court Judge M. Teresa Sarmina declared a mistrial in Brennan’s case when jurors deliberated 13 days but couldn’t reach verdicts on attempted rape and endangerment charges against him.

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

CALIFORNIA
Daily Democat

By Democrat staff
dailydemocrat.com
Created: 07/23/2012

A former Woodland priest has had his preliminary hearing continued again, according to Sacramento Superior Court records.

The Rev. Uriel Ojeda, 32, served as a priest at Woodland’s Holy Rosary Catholic Church from 2007 until 2009.

His hearing Friday was continued until 8:30 a.m. Friday, Sept. 7, at the Sacramento Downtown Courthouse, 720 Ninth St. Ojeda also had a preliminary hearing continued in June.

He pleaded not guilty in April to seven counts of committing lewd and lascivious acts with a girl under the age of 14 between 2007 and 2009.

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

VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

The director of the Vatican Press Office, Fr. Federico Lombardi, has criticised the content of an article on the Vatileak case, published in an Italian newspaper, as unfounded

Vatican Insider staff
Rome

The director of the Vatican Press Office, Fr. Federico Lombardi has denied fresh claims by Italian daily newspaper La Repubblica and Germany’s Die Welt online in relation to the Vatileak issue.

Joseph Ratzinger’s three long-term collaborators – Cardinal Paolo Sardi, Bishop Joseph Clemens and Mrs. Ingrid Stampa – who were dragged in to the Vatican document leak scandal as suspected accomplices of the Pope’s butler, Paolo Gabriele, are three “respected individuals” said the Holy See’s spokesman. Fr. Lombardi stated that the newspaper falsely and incorrectly refers to them as “accomplices” following up on a Die Welt scoop which was ignored by most of the German press because of its inaccuracies. Fr. Lombardi said the story was exaggerated.

“This morning’s article in La Repubblica newspaper on the leaked Vatican documents, copies (in some cases entire expressions, not just the final quotation) an article by Paul Badde, published on the online version of German newspaper Die Welt a week ago (15 July),” the Vatican spokesman said. La Repubblica’s article adds nothing new to the “Die Welt” article which was ignored by most of the German press precisely because of the inaccuracies it contains and the accusations it makes against certain individuals without producing any proof whatsoever. It was for this reason that I decided not to react to it so strongly.”

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

VATICAN CITY
Catholic Culture

[Svolta sul Corvo del Papa “Altri tre sotto inchiesta” – La Repubblica]

The Vatican has voiced “firm and total disapproval” of Italian and German newspaper reports naming three individuals who are allegedly being investigated in connection with the leaks of confidential papal documents.

Speculative stories “which are not based on objective criteria” are harmful to the Church and to the reputations of the individuals, said Father Federico Lombardi, the director of the Vatican press office.

The Italian daily La Repubblica had said that three people—a housekeeper to Pope Benedict XVI and two officials of the Roman Curia—were under active investigation in the “Vatileaks” scandal. But Father Lombardi said that the story was inaccurate.

La Repubblica had pointed to Ingrid Stampa, a member of the Pope’s household staff; and to two prelates: Cardinal Paolo Sardi, the retired vice-chamberlain; and Bishop Josef Clemens, the secretary of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, who for years had been a chief aide to then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. The newspaper article suggested that the three had been dismissed from their duties because of their suspected involvement with the leaks. In fact, the Vatican press office noted, Stampa and Bishop Clemens remain in their respective posts, while Cardinal Sardi retired in January at the age of 76.

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

VATICAN CITY
AGI

(AGI) Vatican City- Three of the Pope’s oldest associates, alleged accomplices of Paolo Gabriele, are “worthy of esteem”.

Vatican spokesman, Father Federico Lombardi said that Cardinal Paolo Sardi, Bishop Joseph Clemens and Mrs Ingrid Stampa, are “three persons worthy of esteem and respect.” Lombardi said that the newspaper accusing them of being intentional accomplices reporting untruths and behaving in an extremely inappropriate manner with behaviour that follows other ‘scoops’ later disproved and that according to Father Lombardi “goes too far.” . .

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

CONNECTICUT
Stamford Advocate

David Hennessey
Published 01:14 p.m., Monday, July 23, 2012

NEW HAVEN — The former pastor of a Greenwich church who pleaded guilty last year to federal obstruction of justice was sentenced Monday in federal court to five months in prison.

Michael Moynihan, who resigned from St. Michael the Archangel Roman Catholic Church in 2007 amid allegations he diverted hundreds of thousands of dollars in church funds to pay for personal expenses, will also face two years of supervised release and must pay over $400,000 in restitution to the Diocese of Bridgeport.

Moynihan pleaded guilty in December 2011 to the obstruction charge, which stemmed from lies he told federal officials who were investigating the possible misappropriation of church funds.

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

FLORIDA
Orlando Sentinel

Attorney Adam Horowitz is filing a lawsuit today against the Catholic Diocese of Orlando for the sexual abuse of a teenager by by Father William Authenreith in 1978.

According to the Complaint:

In approximately 1978, St. Mary’s Priest William Authenreith molested John Doe, a 14-year old parishioner and altar boy at the church.

John Doe has been an active military member for over 30 years. The Soldiers and Sailors Civil Relief Act prevents the statute of limitation from running on this claim as long as John Doe is an active member of the military.

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

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Washington Post

Philly prosecutors to retry ousted priest after jury deadlocked on attempted rape charge

By Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA — Philadelphia prosecutors will retry an ousted priest on an attempted rape charge after a jury deadlock.

The Rev. James Brennan says the decision reopens wounds that were starting to heal.

Forty-year-old Brennan is accused of trying to rape a young teen boy in 1996. Brennan has admitted in a church trial that he slept with him and let him watch porn, but he denies molesting him.

Brennan’s lawyer says 11 of 12 jurors wanted to acquit his client last month.

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

ITALIA
Corriere Della Sera

E’ stato arrestato per pedofilia Davide Mordino, 41 anni, parroco della Basilica di San Calogero di Sciacca (Agrigento). Secondo il Gip di Palermo, Maria Pino, che gli ha già notificato un ordine di custodia cautelare in carcere, il sacerdote avrebbe abusato di ragazzini tra i 14 e i 18 anni pagando in denaro le prestazioni sessuali.

INTERCETTAZIONI – Secondo i Pm Laura Vaccaro e Alessia Sinatra, il sacerdote fino al 30 dicembre del 2009, avrebbe avuto rapporti sessuali con i giovani della parrocchia. La verità è venuta a galla grazie alle intercettazioni che hanno permesso di ricostruire la vicenda. Il sacerdote ingannava i minorenni dicendo di doverli sottoporre a un «test sulla sensibilità corporea» per conto dell’Università di Palermo, e dopo questo approccio cominciavano i rapporti sessuali a pagamento, con somme che andavano da un minimo di 50 fino a un massimo di 300 euro.

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

ITALIA
Quotidiano

Agrigento, 23 luglio 2012 – Arrestato per pedofilia il sacerdote Davide Mordino, 41 anni, originario di Palermo. La polizia gli ha notificato un ordine di custodia cautelare in carcere emesso dal Gip di Palermo, Maria Pino, su richiesta dei Pm Laura Vaccaro e Alessia Sinatra. Secondo l’accusa, fino al 30 dicembre del 2009 ha abusato di molti giovani tra i 14 e i 18 anni, pagando in denaro le loro prestazioni sessuali. Il provvedimento è stato eseguito a Palermo, dove adesso il religioso si era trasferito.

La vicenda era emersa nell’ambito dell’operazione antidroga “Mata Hari”, quando si era scoperto che uno degli indagati intratteneva con il prete commerci sessuali. Successivi accertamenti e intercettazioni hanno permesso di ricostruire che il parroco, secondo l’accusa, ingannava i minorenni dicendo di doverli sottoporre a un “test sulla sensibilità corporea” per conto dell’Università di Palermo, e dopo questo approccio cominciavano i rapporti sessuali a pagamento, con somme che andavano da un minimo di 50 fino a un massimo di 300 euro.

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

ITALY
AGI

(AGI) Palermo – Davide Mordino, one time parish priest at the San Calogero Basilica in Sciacca, has been arrested for pedophilia. Police carried out an arrest warrant issued by Palermo Investigating Magistrate maria Pino, on the request of Prosecutors Laura Vaccaro and Alessia Sinatra the on the 41 year old priest. According to the Prosecution, the man abused several youths between 14 and 18 years of age up until December 30th of 2009, paying money for their sexual attentions. The arrest measure was carried out in Palermo, where the priest had been transferred. The matter came to light during the “Mata Hari” anti-drug operation, when it was discovered that one of those being investigated entertained the priest with sexual favors.

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

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
NBC 10

By Karen Araiza

Monday, Jul 23, 2012

Father James Brennan will be retried in the landmark priest child sex abuse case.

He’s accused of sexually abusing a 14-year-old boy in 1996. Jurors could not agree on a verdict in his first trial.

•Brennan Talks to NBC10 Investigators

On Monday morning, Philadelphia prosecutors announced they’ll put Brennan on trial again.

He was a co-defendant in the trial earlier this summer with Monsignor William Lynn. After 13 days of deliberating, jurors could not agree on verdicts for Brennan and could only agree on one of the three verdicts for Lynn. Lynn was convicted of one count of endangering the welfare of a child. He was accused of mishandling sex abuse complaints while he was secretary of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. Monsignor Lynn was acquitted of a second charge of endangerment and a charge of conspiracy. He was taken straight to jail and was denied a later request to be put under house arrest until his sentencing in August.

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

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Newsworks

July 23, 2012
By Shannon McDonald

After a jury was unable to reach a verdict last month, Rev. James Brennan will be retried in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia priest-abuse case. Brennan was tried for an attempted sexual assault on a boy in the mid-90s, and went to trial earlier this year with Monsignor William Lynn, who was found guilty of child endangerment.

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

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

By John P. Martin
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

Philadelphia prosecutors will retry James J. Brennan, the former parish priest for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia who was accused of trying to rape a 14-year-old boy in 1996, they said Monday.

The case against Brennan, 48, ended in a mistrial last month when a Common Pleas Court jury deliberated for 13 days but deadlocked on attempted rape and child endangerment charges against him.

Brennan seemed at times a footnote in the landmark clergy sex-abuse trial, because district attorneys spent much of the three-month proceeding presenting evidence against his codefendant, Msgr. William J. Lynn, the former secretary for clergy to Cardinal Anthony J. Bevilacqua. Lynn was convicted of a single count of child endangerement.

But the two days that Brennan’s accuser spent on the witness stand were among the most explosive at the trial.

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

UNITED KINGDOM
ITV

The Supreme Court will hear a case to decide how much compensation the Roman Catholic Diocese of Middlesbrough must pay to victims of alleged abuse at a former Catholic school.

St William’s School near York closed after its headteacher was jailed for sexually abusing young boys.

The Diocese argues that because the school had been run by the Catholic order of lay teachers, The De La Salle Brotherhood, they should be responsible for part of the £8m compensation bill.

In a statement, the Diocese says:

“The Diocese has always agreed that, as the nominal employers, it is partially liable. But it is also right that the main liability should lie with the organisation which ran the school and home.

“The De La Salle brothers appointed the staff and made all the decisions in respect of the day to day running of St William’s, and it is right that they should share the cost of compensating victims.”

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

UNITED KINGDOM
ITV

One of the victims of alleged sexual abuse at a Roman Catholic School has spoken out to demand justice for himself and other former pupils.

Graham Baverstock has given up his right to anonymity to describe what he says happened to him at St William’s School near Middlesbrough, when he was a boy.

Today the Supreme Court is hearing a case to decide how much compensation the Roman Catholic Diocese of Middlesbrough must pay to victims of the alleged abuse.

St William’s closed in 1992 and the headteacher, Father James Carragher, was jailed for sexually abusing young boys.

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

UNITED KINGDOM
RTE News

The Supreme Court in London has begun hearing legal arguments in an historic abuse case involving the Catholic diocese of Middlesborough and the De La Salle Brothers.

They ran St William’s boys home in Yorkshire where children were sexually abused between 1960 and 1992.

The case involves over 150 claimants, many of whom say they were abused by former headmaster Br James Carragher.

He was sentenced in 2004 to 14 years for abusing boys at St William’s and has a previous conviction for sex abuse.

The institution has since closed down and the buildings have been converted into a mental health facility.

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