ABUSE TRACKER

DEUTSCHLAND
Nics Bloghaus

By Nic On 13. Juli 2012

“Norbert Denef, Sprecher des Netzwerks Betroffener von sexua­li­sier­ter Gewalt e.V. mit Sitz in Scharbeutz, befin­det sich seit dem 8. Juni 2012 im unbe­fris­te­ten Hungerstreik. Ihm schlos­sen sich eine Reihe von Unterstützern an, dar­un­ter Christiane Kieburg, Katharina M., Anette W., Alwin Michel, Wilfried Fesselmann und Brigitte Lunzer Rieder aus Öster­reich. Wegen Unterlassungsklagen der Täter kön­nen nicht alle Namen genannt wer­den.

Das Netzwerk Betroffener von sexua­li­sier­ter Gewalt e.V., kurz netz­werkB, ist eine Vereinigung von und für Menschen, denen sexua­li­sier­ter Gewalt, oft­mals ver­bun­den mit Formen von psy­chi­scher und phy­si­scher Gewalt ange­tan wurde, ein­ma­lig, mehr­ma­lig bis hin zu jah­re­lang sys­te­ma­tisch, im Säuglings-, Kindes-, Jugendlichen oder Erwachsenenalter. Sie wurde 2010 in Scharbeutz gegrün­det. Die Vereinigung arbei­tet bun­des­weit, sie besteht aus einem Bundesvorstand, Landesgruppen und der Mitgliederversammlung. Sie ver­steht sich als Interessenvertretung der Opfer und ihrer Angehörigen. Sie setzt sich für die Aufklärung und Prävention ein.”

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IRELAND
The Irish Times

CAROL COULTER

WITHHOLDING INFORMATION: Legislation requiring the passing on of information concerning offences against children and vulnerable adults has been passed by both Houses of the Oireachtas. It is part of the Government’s response to mandatory reporting of serious instances of child abuse.

The Criminal Justice (Withholding of Information on Offences Against Children and Vulnerable Persons) Bill 2012 makes it an offence to withhold information on serious offences, carrying a jail sentence of five or more years. Such offences include most sexual offences and assault causing harm, abduction, manslaughter or murder.

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UNITED STATES
Spiritual Politics

Mark Silk |Jul 13, 2012

Imagine an alternate universe where the Catholic Church behaved the way the trustees of the Pennsylvania State University have when confronted with evidence of the cover-up of sexual abuse of minors by the leadership of one of its important institutions.

Let’s call that institution the archdiocese of Boston, headed by one Cardinal Bernard Law. And let’s say a newspaper, the Boston Globe, published an investigative series showing a disgraceful pattern of covering up sexual abuse of minors by a large array of priests.

Faced with the evidence, what does the Vatican do? It turns to a distinguished law enforcement official–say, a former head of the FBI–to conduct an independent investigation. The result? To paraphrase yesterday’s report on the Penn State affair:

The most saddening finding by the Special Investigative Counsel is the total and consistent disregard by the most senior members of the archdiocese for the safety and welfare of the child victims.

Not only are the perpetrators of abuse indicted and convicted, but so are the masters of the cover-up. Cardinal Law and his immeiate subordinates land prison.

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COLORADO
TheDenverChannel

Deb Stanley, New Media Producer

DENVER — A former church and school leader has been indicted on charges of distribution and possession of child pornography, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office.

Daniel Ivan Ashby, 39, of Thornton, was affiliated with Calvary Community Baptist Church and Community Christian School in Northglenn as a school administrator in 2011, prosecutors said.
According to the indictment, Ashby allegedly knowingly distributed child pornography across state lines.

“The defendant allegedly did knowingly possess child pornography, which has been shipped in interstate commerce,” prosecutors said.

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COLORADO
Fox 31

July 13, 2012, by Will C. Holden

DENVER — A former administrator at a Christian school was indicted by a federal grand jury Monday on charges of possession and distribution of child pornography.

Daniel Ashby, 39, was an administrator at Community Christian School in Northglenn, but the school said he resigned on Dec. 6 of this past year — the same day the school learned of the investigation.

According to court documents, police served a search warrant at the school and at Ashby’s home in December after an undercover FBI offer discovered images of child pornography had been shared using a computer belonging to Ashby.

The search produced several photos, including one image that showed an underage girl having sex with an adult.

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COLORADO
9 News

[with video]

Written by
Jace Larson

NORTHGLENN – A former private Christian school principal has been charged with distributing and possessing child porn, 9Wants to Know has learned.

Daniel Ivan Ashby resigned from Community Christian School on Dec. 6 which is the same time the school learned of the investigation.

The FBI served a search warrant at the school in late 2011 and seized several computers from school offices, chairman of the church deacon board for Calvary Community Baptist Church Justin Welch told 9Wants to Know.

Community Christian School is operated by the Calvary Community Baptist Church.

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NEVADA
National Catholic Reporter

Jul. 13, 2012
By Joshua J. McElwee

The person responsible for representing the concerns of Nevada Catholics at the state’s capital has resigned following NCR inquiries about his pleading guilty to a charge of obstruction of justice, a federal felony, and serving three years’ probation.

John Cracchiolo, the executive director of the Nevada Catholic Conference, resigned his position at the conference “sometime in the last few days,” the chancellor of the Reno diocese said Friday.

In the last week, NCR asked the Reno and Las Vegas dioceses, Nevada’s only two dioceses, about Cracchiolo’s role at the conference after learning he had accepted a federal plea deal in 2009 stemming from charges that he was part of a plan to defraud investors during his time as the chief financial officer at a publicly traded medical device company in California.

According to court documents, Cracchiolo remains on probation under the terms of the deal until Saturday and is not allowed to work “in any management position” at any publicly held corporation.

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WISCONSIN
SNAP Wisconsin

Green Bay diocese: US Constitution allows bishops to transfer and conceal pedophiles

Statement by Peter Isely, SNAP Midwest Director (Milwaukee)
CONTACT: 414.429.7259

In a stunning motion filed in an Appleton, Wisconsin court the Diocese of Green Bay has argued that bishops and religious officials who operate schools, churches, and youth centers can intentionally conceal and transfer clergy child molesters, even if found guilty of doing so by a jury.

The argument was made by lawyers for Green Bay Bishop David Ricken who are attempting to dismiss a May jury verdict which found the diocese guilty of fraud by intentionally concealing and transferring one of the state’s most prolific sex offender clerics, Fr. John Patrick Feeney.

Following the logic of the diocese argument, the US Constitution allows a bishop or religious official full civil immunity to secretly assign a cleric to a parish or school to work with children, even if that cleric has or is intending to commit child rape. When a bishop assigns a priest, according to the diocese, that does not mean the bishop believes the priest is safe to be around children. And any decision a bishop makes about a cleric may “not be evaluated or explained” by courts because the First Amendment allows religious organizations to essentially do what they want and be accountable to no one.

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COLUMBUS (OH)
NBC 4

By: Denise Yost | NBC4
Published: July 13, 2012

COLUMBUS, Ohio —
A longtime Columbus priest is off the job, placed on leave by the Diocese after an allegation of sexual abuse.

Rev. Thomas Brosmer has been a priest for more than 40 years. Most recently, he served as the associate pastor at St. Cecelia Church on the city’s far west side.

According to a release from the Catholic Diocese of Columbus, the allegation of sexual abuse of a minor, allegedly occurring during Brosmer’s tenure at St. Nicholas Parish in Zanesville from 1969 to 1973, was reported to the church on July 2, 2012.

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DEUTSCHLAND
shz

Als Kind wurde Norbert Denef missbraucht. Heute ist er 63 Jahre alt – und im Hungerstreik. Sein Ziel: Die Politik soll die Verjährungsfristen von Sexualstraftaten abschaffen.

Scharbeutz. Seit 36 Tagen verweigert Denef die Nahrung. Der gelernte Elektriker ist glücklich verheiratet, lebt in einem Reihenhaus in Scharbeutz, zehn Minuten vom Ostseestrand. “Mit der Ostsee”, sagt Norbert Denef, “verbinde ich positive Kindheitserinnerungen.” Gelitten hingegen hat er im Pfarrhaus von Delitzsch bei Leipzig. Er war neun Jahre alt und Ministrant, als ein Missbrauch begann, der neun Jahre andauern sollte. Erst war es der Pfarrer der Kirche “Unbefleckte Empfängnis Mariens”, der sich an ihm verging, später der Kantor.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Spiegel

Der Trierer Bischof Stephan Ackermann hat erstmals einen Geistlichen seines Bistums wegen sexueller Übergriffe aus dem Klerikerstand entlassen. Der Mann soll fünf Jungen missbraucht haben.

Trier – Die Entlassung des katholischen Theologen erfolgte bereits am vergangenen Dienstag, wurde aber erst am Freitag öffentlich gemacht. Bischof Ackermann, Missbrauchsbeauftragter der Deutschen Bischofskonferenz, habe zunächst die Opfer und den Täter informieren wollen, sagte ein Bistumssprecher.

Der Priester, der sich bereits im Ruhestand befindet, soll zwischen 1966 und 1980 fünf minderjährige Jungen missbraucht haben – in zwei Fällen über einen längeren Zeitraum hinweg. Er äußerte sich bisher nicht zu der Maßnahme, hat aber die Möglichkeit, innerhalb von 60 Tagen gegen die Entscheidung Einspruch einzulegen.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Kath.net

KATH.NET-Interview mit Pfarrer Uwe Winkel, Netzwerk katholischer Priester, über das Ende eines geplanten Forschungsprojekt der Deutschen Bischofskonferenz, bei dem ein Institut Zugriff auf alle Personalakten der 27 Diözesen gehabt hätte

Linz (kath.net/as/rn)
KATH.NET: Vor knapp einem Jahr hat sich das „Netzwerk katholischer Priester“ gegen das Vorhaben gewandt, dem Kriminologischem Forschungsinstitut Niedersachsen Zugriff auf die Kleriker-Personalakten in allen 27 Diözesen zu geben. Das Forschungskonzept für eine empirische Untersuchung des sexuellen Missbrauchs an Minderjährigen durch katholische Priester, Diakone und männliche Ordensangehörige im Bereich der Deutschen Bischofskonferenz (DBK) sah die Durchsicht aller Personalakten des genannten Personenkreise der letzten 65 Jahre vor. Offensichtlich wurden diese Pläne jetzt von Rom eingeschränkt? Welche Instanzen innerhalb der DBK setzten sich aktiv für dieses Projekt ein? Wurden die einzelnen Bischöfe vorher über die Zusammenhänge ausreichend informiert?

Pfarrer Winkel: Beim Bundestreffen des Netzwerks katholischer Priester im Herbst 2011 im Würzburger Exerzitienhaus „Himmelspforten“ hat der Leiter des Kriminologischen Forschungsinstituts Niedersachsen (KFN) Prof. Dr. Christian Pfeiffer im Plenum sehr offen über sein Forschungsprojekt gesprochen. Demnach gab es eine enge Kooperation zwischen seinem Institut und dem Sekretariat der Deutschen Bischofskonferenz. Nach Darstellung von Professor Pfeiffer entschied man sich im Ständigen Rat der DBK einhellig für das Projekt.

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GERMANY
The Garden Island

Associated Press | Posted: Friday, July 13, 2012

BERLIN (AP) — The Catholic Church has fired a German priest for sexually abusing five underage boys more than 30 years ago.

The diocese of Trier in western Germany says Bishop Stephan Ackermann dismissed the unnamed man from the priesthood Tuesday.

It said in a statement Friday that the retired priest had committed the abuse between 1966 and 1980.

The Trier diocese said it only learned of the abuses in 2010, by which time the statute of limitations for prosecuting the crimes had expired.

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UNITED STATES
SBC Plodder

William Thornton

Clergy sex abuse is one of the main subjects that occupy my thoughts and blogging that is not strictly an SBC matter. I read a good bit on such things and occasionally write about it partly because of the appalling ignorance and ineptness among pastors and churches in handling such things.

Yesterday, the lengthy, near exhaustive, independent report on the Penn State, Jerry Sandusky, Joe Paterno child sex abuse scandal was released. It has some jaw-dropping information.

Consider this paragraph:

“Our most saddening and sobering finding is the total disregard for the safety and welfare of Sandusky’s child victims by the most senior leaders at Penn State,” Freeh wrote. “The most powerful men at Penn State failed to take any steps for 14 years to protect the children who Sandusky victimized.”

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ZANESVILLE (OH)
WHIZ

A Catholic priest – who served at St. Nicholas Church in Zanesville over 40 years ago — has been placed on administrative leave after allegations of sexual abuse of a minor. The Catholic Diocese of Columbus – in a press release – said the action was taken upon a recommendation of Board of Review for the Protection of Children. Bishop Frederick Campbell of Columbus placed Father Thomas Brosmer on leave pending the findings of the investigation. The sexual abuse is alleged to have occurred in Zanesville from 1969 to 1973. Brosmer was also a teacher at Bishop Rosecrans High School during that time. The Diocese says it received the allegation on July 2nd and reported to the Zanesville Police Department.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Welt

Ein edles Rokoko-Palais in der Münchner Altstadt beherbergt seit Kurzem Erzbischof Marx. Die Sanierung des Prachtbaus hat 8,7 Millionen Euro gekostet – zum Großteil bezahlt vom Freistaat Bayern.

Der Amtssitz der Erzbischöfe von München und Freising im Rokoko-Palais Holnstein in München ist nach jahrelanger Sanierung nun fertig. Für 8,7 Millionen Euro war das von Hofbaumeister François de Cuvilliés errichtete Baudenkmal seit 2008 renoviert worden.

Eines der Prunkstücke ist ein restauriertes Deckenfresko des Malers und Stuckateurs Johann Baptist Zimmermann im historischen Treppenhaus. In aufwendiger Arbeit sei es gelungen, das Gemälde der allegorischen Figuren Justitia (Recht) und Pax (Frieden) weitgehend wieder in den Originalzustand zu versetzen, sagte der Leiter der Hauptabteilung für Kunst im Erzbischöflichen Ordinariat, Norbert Jocher. Der Münchner Erzbischof Kardinal Reinhard Marx nahm an dem Rundgang nicht teil.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Bistum Trier

Bischof Ackermann verhängt Strafe wegen sexuellen Missbrauchs

Trier – Der Trierer Bischof Dr. Stephan Ackermann hat am 10. Juli einen Ruhestandsgeistlichen des Bistums Trier aus dem Klerikerstand entlassen. Der Priester hatte in der Zeit zwischen 1966 und 1980 fünf minderjährige Jungen sexuell missbraucht, in zwei Fällen auch über einen längeren Zeitraum. Die Entlassung aus dem Klerikerstand ist das höchste Strafmaß, das das Kirchenrecht vorsieht. Der Priester verliert damit sämtliche Rechte, die mit seinem Priesteramt verbunden sind. Es ist das erste Mal in der jüngsten Geschichte des Bistums Trier, dass diese Strafe gegen einen Priester ausgesprochen wird, der sich des sexuellen Missbrauchs an Kindern und Jugendlichen schuldig gemacht hat. Der Priester hatte schon bisher keinerlei seelsorglichen Auftrag mehr.

Das Bistum Trier hatte im Frühjahr 2010 durch Opfer von den Vorwürfen erfahren. Entsprechend der Leitlinien der Deutschen Bischofskonferenz wurde den Anschuldigungen nachgegangen und eine kirchenrechtliche Voruntersuchung eingeleitet. Nach deren Abschluss wurde die Glaubenskongregation in Rom über die Ergebnisse informiert. Die Glaubenskongregation hat daraufhin die Unterlagen geprüft und den Fall an das Bistum Trier zurückverwiesen mit der Maßgabe, ein so genanntes außergerichtliches Strafverfahren auf dem Verwaltungsweg durchzuführen, wie es in can. 1720 des kirchlichen Gesetzbuchs beschrieben ist. Nach Abschluss dieses Verfahrens hat der Bischof von Trier der Glaubenskongregation vorgeschlagen, den Priester aus dem Klerikerstand zu entlassen.

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DEUTSCHLAND
SR

Der Trierer Bischof Stephan Ackermann hat einen Priester wegen sexuellen Missbrauchs aus dem Klerikerstand entlassen. Damit verhängte er die kirchenrechtliche Höchststrafe. Der Priester hatte zwischen 1966 und 1980 fünf minderjährige Jungen missbraucht.

(13.07.2012) Zwei der Jungen seien auch über einen längeren Zeitraum missbraucht worden, teilte das Bistum am Freitag mit. Es sei das erste Mal in der jüngsten Geschichte des Bistums, dass diese Strafe gegen einen Priester wegen sexuellen Missbrauchs von Kindern und Jugendlichen ausgesprochen wird. Mit der Entlassung verliert der Geistliche sämtliche Rechte, die mit dem Amt verbunden sind.

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AUSTRALIA
The Canberra Times

July 14, 2012
Opinion

Graham Downie

It was hard to imagine a wandering preacher in Palestine, with a few mates and no home, planning to establish an international enterprise with offices in every town and city in the known and the unknown world, and with its headquarters in Rome.

So says former Catholic priest, theology lecturer, lawyer and NSW district court judge Chris Geraghty in his new book, Dancing with the Devil, which traces his life from a child of 12 entering the seminary, through his great enthusiasm and hope from Vatican II, personal stress while a theology lecturer and to his finally leaving the priesthood for marriage and family, and a career in the law.

Now retired, Geraghty remains a Catholic but sharply critical of that Church. In the book he writes, ”I had been unhappy teaching in the seminary at Springwood, before leaving to study overseas. An alien in the ranks of the clergy; attacked by silly, pompous bishops; trapped and broken in a top-heavy, sluggish institution. The old brigade was clinging onto their power and privileges like falling angels grabbing on to thin clouds as they tumbled into oblivion.”

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OHIO
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Judy Jones on July 12, 2012

This is an extraordinarily callous and dangerous move. Forgiveness is good. Recklessness is not.

We can forgive a school bus driver whose drunkenness costs children their lives. But we don’t give her another set of keys. We can forgive a police officer whose misuse of a weapon causes injury to others. But we don’t give him another gun.

Forgiveness is a private, personal choice. Giving a proven wrongdoer the tools and the chance to hurt others again is a public act. And it’s wrong.

There is a huge and inherent power imbalance between clergy and church members. It is like a doctor-patient or therapist-client relationship, where any sexual contact is expressly forbidden. And for good reason: because it almost always results in devastation, with individuals and with congregations.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Barbara Dorris on July 12, 2012

We applaud this ruling and the message that it sends. We believe that, when church officials who conceal or enable are held accountable alongside the offending priest, it helps deter future crimes. Church officials who remain silent and fail to report crimes to police must be held responsible as well, both financially and publicly.

Now that this ruling has come down, we hope the brave victim who has endured this long and arduous legal process will be able to continue her healing journey, comforted by the fact that she has taken great strides to protect children, both in the UK and elsewhere.

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UNITED STATES
National Survivor Advocates Coalition

There are days when the avalanche is made not of snow but of clay feet.

Such was the day Thursday when Louis Freeh delivered his independent report of the child sexual abuse scandal at Penn State.

The 267 page report was the result of an eight month independent investigation and it was delivered a month to the day that former Penn State coach Jerry Sandusky was convicted on 45 counts of the sexual abuse of children.

In it, Freeh Report our readers will find the top leadership at Penn State: the legendary and nearly god-like Joe Paterno, university president, Graham Spanier, both of whom were fired when the scandal broke, and the two vice presidents who face criminal charges, – all as Freeh describes it “had a callous and shocking disregard for child victims.”

Beyond that, the report says, by their lack of action against Sandusky and by allowing empowered him to abuse children.

The similarities between what happened at Penn State and what happened in the Catholic Church are identical twins.

The report reveals:
◦the desire to avoid bad publicity
◦the failure to make inquiries
◦a president who discouraged dissent and discussion
◦a lack of awareness of child abuse policies and whistleblower policies and protections
◦the decision by Paterno, Spanier, Curley and Schmitz (the two vice presidents) to allow Sandusky to retire, not as a suspected child abuser but as a valued member of Penn State football with continuing ties and continuing access to its facilities
◦a culture of reverence for the football program that is ingrained at all levels of the campus community

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UNITED KINGDOM
Catholic Herald

By Fr Alexander Lucie-Smith on Friday, 13 July 2012

The decision of the Court of Appeal in the case concerning the Diocese of Portsmouth, which has been reported in the Catholic Herald but not received any attention that I have noticed elsewhere, is extremely interesting.

The court has upheld the ruling that the diocese is liable for the action of one of its priests, on the grounds that the relationship between priest and bishop is close enough to employer/employee for this to be the case.

Now this seems to be a case mainly about compensation for the victims of child abuse, and so it is. I would like to leave that part of it aside, and consider something that may be overlooked, but may be of great importance both for the Church and for all other voluntary organisations.

Until now, as far as I understand it, priests volunteer to serve in various offices at the invitation of the bishop or religious superior. If the bishop and the priest are now to be considered in an employer/employee relationship, then this represents an innovation. Employees can sue their employers, and vice versa; the relationship between employees and employers is governed by a vast corpus of case and statute law. At present the relationship between bishop and priest is governed by canon law, the only force of which is in the will of those who adhere to it. A priest can, but rarely does, initiate a canonical process against his bishop, and vice versa; but if we are employees, then this opens up a whole new range of possibilities, and potentially, a considerable new territory for litigation.

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OHIO
10 TV

ZANESVILLE, Ohio – A Catholic priest was placed on administrative leave Thursday, after allegations he sexually abused a minor.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Columbus said the accusations against Reverend Thomas Brosmer, 68, date back to his time at the Saint Nicholas Parish in Zanesville in the 1970s.

The Columbus Dispatch reports the diocese found out about the accusation, reported it to police and placed Brosmer on administrative leave.

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CANADA
Hamilton Spectator

He had a responsibility to attend today.”

That’s what assistant Crown attorney Carey Lee advised the court on May 9 when Father Jose Silva, facing one count of sexual assault, failed to appear.

What the justice of the peace wasn’t told, a transcript of the proceedings reveals, was that Crown and defence lawyers had taken a number of steps to ensure Silva boarded a flight to Brazil five days earlier.

Defence counsel Dean Paquette said the Crown’s office played a role in obtaining the priest’s passport — which had been surrendered to Hamilton police as a bail condition — and in making sure border services officers didn’t block Silva from leaving the country.

The only condition Lee sought in return, he said, was that a countrywide warrant be issued for Silva’s arrest to prevent him from ever returning. By ensuring Silva was not present on May 9, the Crown and Paquette paved the way for justice of the peace Neil Burgess to issue such a warrant.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Portsmouth News

A RULING that the Catholic Church can be held liable for the wrongdoings of its priests was upheld by the Court of Appeal following a case involving Portsmouth Diocese.

The decision was announced in an action which has been described as raising ‘an issue of wide general importance in respect of claims against the Catholic Church’. …

In a statement issued after the ruling, the trustees of Portsmouth Diocese said the appeal was brought to achieve clarity ‘as to the nature and extent of the bishop’s liability for the actions of diocesan priests’.

It added: ‘We had not just the right but the duty to ask the Court of Appeal to hear the different arguments in this case, not least because of the far-reaching implications to faith and other voluntary organisations of extending vicarious liability in this way.’

The statement by the trustees stressed: ‘This case is not, and has never been, about seeking to avoid or delay the payment of compensation to victims with valid claims.

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UNITED STATES
Pope Crimes & Vatican Evils…

Paris Arrow

May 1 & September 11 anniversaries for SNAP and JP2 Army victims. SNAPS’s ad in New York Times should be framed and permanently exhibited in all churches, schools and children venues: U.S. Catholic Bishops and Child Sex Crimes

2 Anniversaries for SNAP and victims of JP2 Army

We suggest that September 11 and May 1 should be the bi-annual anniversaries of SNAP and all victims of the JP2 Army – John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army. One in the Fall on September 11 to coincide with 9/11 commemoration in New York City where names of 3,000 victims are each read and remembered; and it is also the beginning of school year and this will alert all children of potential authority-figures sexual predators. And one in the Spring on May 1, the anniversary of 3 world leaders who led the most heinous crimes of the latter half of the 20th century, the beatification of John Paul II, the death of Osama ben Ladin and Adolf Hitler. May 1 will recap almost the end of the school year when children can celebrate that they have overpowered potential authority-figures sexual predators even holy priests. It will prepare them for summer camps and summer holidays when they must continue to be vigilant against pedophiles.

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VATICAN CITY
Chiesa

It is the new prefect Müller. Opposed in his country, Germany, as too conservative. And at the same time criticized by the traditionalist circles of Rome and the world as too “liberal.” But a favorite of the pope

VATICAN CITY, July 13, 2012 – Before switching to the evocative setting of the pontifical villas of Castel Gandolfo for the customary summer break, Benedict XVI has given approval to a small but significant round of appointments in the Vatican curia.

The main move concerns the change at the top of the congregation for the doctrine of the faith.

Pope Joseph Ratziner has selected as his second successor after the American William J. Levada the Bavarian bishop Gerhard Ludwig Müller, 65 years old next December 31, since 2002 the bishop of Regensburg.

The new head of what used to be called the Holy Office has a reputation as a double-faced Janus.

On the one hand, above all in his country, he is considered one of the most conservative prelates on the field. It is no coincidence that the Swiss-German theologian and priest Hans Küng has called this decision “catastrophic.”

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VATICAN CITY
The Telegraph (United Kingdom)

The Pope’s butler, accused of stealing confidential Vatican documents, will remain in custody for at least another 10 days as investigations continue into his role in the murky affair.

By Nick Squires, Rome
3:16PM BST 12 Jul 2012

The Holy See had been widely expected to release Paolo Gabrieli to house arrest at his apartment within the Vatican because he had been held for 50 days, the maximum time allowable under an initial detention order.

But under Vatican law the order can be extended for another 50 days and Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman, said he would remain in detention for another 10 days as inquiries continue into a scandal that has shone a spotlight on dark machinations at the highest levels of the Catholic Church hierarchy.

Piero Antonio Bonnet, the Vatican judge investigating the affair, “still needs to collect some statements” said Father Lombardi.

The butler, who the Vatican has said is collaborating fully with the inquiry, will be detained “for about another 10 days”, he added.

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VATICAN CITY
National Post (Canada)

Philip Pullella, Reuters Jul 12, 2012

VATICAN CITY — Pope Benedict’s butler, suspected of leaking documents that allege corruption in the Vatican, was denied a requested transfer to house arrest and ordered on Thursday to remain in a small police ‘safe room’, where he prays daily.

The Vatican said a prosecutor had decided to keep Paolo Gabriele, 46, in preventive custody beyond the usual 50 days that Vatican law says a defendant can be held before being ordered to stand trial. The period can be doubled in some cases.

But spokesman Father Federico Lombardi told reporters this did not mean that Gabriele would spend another 50 days in the room at the Vatican police station, which measures 3.5 by 4 metres (11.5 by 13 feet), and has a single small window, a small table and a separate bathroom.

He said the prosecutor, Piero Antonio Bonnet, was expected to end a formal investigation in a few weeks and decide whether to clear the butler or order him to stand trial for stealing and leaking the documents to Italian media.

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VATICAN CITY
Rome Reports

[with video]

July 12, 2012. (Romereports.com) The Pope’s butler, Paolo Gabriele, will remain in in a jail cell for roughly another ten days. This despite the fact that this Thursday, it will be 50 days since he was arrested for possession of confidential documents.

FR. FEDERICO LOMBARDI
Vatican spokesman
“The judge believes that the information gathering phase should end. In the meantime, things still need to be sorted out, so there will be an extension and he will remain in custody for more days, even though the 50 day period has already passed.”

During this extension period the investigation on the confiscated Papal documents will be completed. Then, more people will be interviewed, and that includes questioning the Pope’s butler once again.

FR. FEDERICO LOMBARDI
Vatican spokesman
“The formal questioning will be the last part of the investigation stage and is expected to be completed in about 10 days.”

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FLORIDA
Orlando Sentinel

By Henry Pierson Curtis, Orlando Sentinel

A Kissimmee pastor charged with molesting a teenage parishioner is now accused of swindling a church member, Kissimmee police said Thursday.

Angel Perez-Nieves of Templo Pentecostal Puerta de Salvacion is accused of using a church member’s personal information to open an account with an alarm company, records state.

“The victim explained to officers that the church’s pastor…told her and other parishioners that he needed to collect their personal information for the purpose of ‘state reporting,'” a police report said. “On May 22, 2012, the victim received a telephone call from Devcon Alarm Company about the alarm contract for the church. The company told the victim that the payments for the alarm are past due and that her credit score was in jeopardy. The victim was confused due to the fact she did not give anyone permission to open an account with her information.”

Attorney Mark Longwell of Orlando, the pastor’s lawyer, was surprised to learn of the new charge. He said police had not contacted him or his client.

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FLORIDA
13 News

By Jason Wheeler, Reporter
Last Updated: Friday, July 13, 2012

KISSIMMEE —
He’s out on bond, accused of a sexual assault on a teenage church member — but now a church pastor is wanted for fraud.

Kissimmee investigators said Angel Perez-Nieves forged another church member’s signature. However, the Pentecostal church pastor is no stranger to the criminal justice system.

In May, a teen boy accused the pastor of sexual assault. Perez-Nieves was arrested and eventually bonded out of jail. Now, Kissimmee police are looking for him on a fraud charge.

Police said Perez-Nieves would ask members at the church for their names, dates of birth and social security numbers, telling parishioners it was for “state recording.” He’s accused of using that information from one woman to set up an account with an alarm company — even going as far as forging her signature.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Telegraph

Parents could be sued for the actions of their children and charities could be required to rethink their volunteering policies, lawyers warned yesterday after a landmark ruling over clerical abuse.

By John Bingham, Social Affairs Editor
7:00AM BST 13 Jul 2012

A woman who alleges that she was sexually abused by a Roman Catholic priest, who can never be brought to trial because he has died, was told she can bring legal action against the Church.

The woman, who cannot be named, was a resident in a children’s home in the 1970s when she says she was assaulted by Father Wilfred Baldwin.

It is claimed that he raped her in the robing room of a church on the day of her first Holy Communion and she is now seeking compensation from the Diocese of Portsmouth.

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VATICAN CITY
Inside Bay Area

By NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press
Posted: 07/13/2012

VATICAN CITY—The troubled Legion of Christ religious order says it is revamping a specialized high school program for teenage girls after dozens of alumni denounced psychological abuses they say they endured that resulted in eating disorders, stress-induced ailments and depression.

The Legion’s lay branch Regnum Christi posted a statement on its website Thursday outlining the changes after The Associated Press reported that 77 alumni had written to the Vatican calling for the program in the U.S., Mexico and Spain to be closed because of the harm done to them in the 1990s and early 2000s.

Girls in the program now have more contact with their families, more exposure to the “realities of the world,” more freedom from rigorous work schedules and, for the first time, and assistance in getting into college, the statement said. Many of these changes began some time ago, but some are more recent.

The problems in the program are the latest blow to the troubled, cult-like Legion, which was discredited in 2009 when it revealed that its founder was a pedophile and drug addict who fathered three children. The Legion suffered subsequent credibility problems following its recent admission that its most famous priest had fathered a child and the current Legion superior covered it up for years.

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NEW ZEALAND
New Zealand Herald

A young woman turned to drugs and alcohol and tried to kill herself twice after she was repeatedly sexually abused by a leader at her church.

Leslie Mervyn Gubb was sentenced to one year and eight months in prison when he appeared at the Manukau District Court today. He had earlier pleaded guilty to nine representative charges of indecent assault.

The 74-year-old cupped his hand around his left ear to better hear Judge Charles Blackie tell him that the community viewed his offending with “abhorrence”.

Crown prosecutor Susanna Locke said Gubb was a trusted family friend who held a senior position at the Papakura Presbyterian church, which was attended by the girl and her family.

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FLORIDA
WFTV

KISSIMMEE, Fla. —

A Kissimmee pastor who claimed a demon made him sexually abuse a 16 year old boy is accused of ripping off a member of his own church.

Investigators said Angel Perez-Nieves stole the victim’s personal information and used it to get an alarm system for the church, then never paid the bill.

Perez-Nieves garnered quite the following at the Templo Pentecostal Puerta de Salvacion in Kissimmee.

Under his leadership, the congregation grew to more than 100 members. According to a police report, he is accused of preying on one of them.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Catholic Herald

By Mark Greaves on Thursday, 12 July 2012

The Diocese of Portsmouth is liable to pay compensation for alleged sexual abuse by a priest, the Court of Appeal has ruled.

The decision, by a majority of two judges to one, makes dioceses liable for the wrongdoings of its clergy and clears the way for similar compensation claims.

A 48-year-old woman known as JGE says as a child she was beaten by a nun at a care home and later raped and sexually assaulted by a priest, Fr Wilfred Baldwin, who has since died. The diocese disputes her claim.

Lord Justice Ward said the relationship of priest and bishop was “close enough” to employer/employee “to make it just and fair to impose liability”.

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APPLETON (WI)
Green Bay Press Gazette

Written by
Jim Collar
Gannett Wisconsin Media

APPLETON — The Roman Catholic Diocese of Green Bay says its First Amendment rights protect it from liability in a civil lawsuit filed by two childhood victims of clergy sex abuse.

Brothers Todd and Troy Merryfield were awarded $700,000 in May by an Outagamie County Court that found the diocese committed civil fraud. The brothers claimed the diocese knew of the Rev. John Feeney’s illicit sexual history when it installed him as a priest at Freedom’s St. Nicholas Church and misrepresented him as safe while knowing he was a danger to children.

The Merryfields, then 12 and 14, were molested by Feeney in 1978. Feeney was sentenced to prison in 2004 for the assaults.

Sarah Fry Bruch, an attorney for the diocese, said the jury verdict should be overturned, arguing the court is constitutionally barred from reading any meaning into Feeney’s assignment to a pastoral role. The Merryfields didn’t show evidence the diocese represented Feeney as safe.

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COLUMBUS (OH)
The Columbus Dispatch

By Jeb Phillips
The Columbus Dispatch

Friday July 13, 2012

The bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Columbus has placed a long-serving priest on administrative leave after an allegation of sexual abuse of a minor.

The Rev. Thomas J. Brosmer, most recently the associate pastor of St. Cecilia Church on the Far West Side, will be on leave during an investigation by the diocese, the diocese announced yesterday.

Brosmer, 68, has been a priest of the diocese since 1969. The sexual abuse is alleged to have occurred while he was at St. Nicholas Parish in Zanesville from 1969 to 1973. Brosmer was also a teacher at Bishop Rosecrans High School then, according to yesterday’s news release.

The diocese’s Chancery Office received the accusation on July 2 and reported it to Zanesville police, the diocese’s victims’ assistance coordinator and the Board of Review for the Protection of Children.

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CALIFORNIA
Orange County Weekly

By Josh Dulaney
Thu., Jul. 12 2012

A pastor was convicted Wednesday of sexually assaulting five boys in his Lake Forest apartment.

Oscar D. Perez Perez, a 69-year-old Lake Forest man, was found guilty by a jury of 22 felony counts of lewd acts on a child under 14, four felony counts of lewd acts on a child, and sentencing enhancement allegations for lewd acts against multiple victims.

Perez faces a maximum sentence of 330 years to life in state prison and mandatory lifetime sex offender registration at his Sept. 14 sentencing in Santa Ana’a Central Justice Center.

Perez was a self-professed apostolic pastor and bishop at Iglesia Antigua Católica in Laguna Hills. He met his five victims through the congregation, which operates out of rented space at St. George’s Episcopalian Church, and gained their trust by befriending their families and having the boys assist with church services.

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ROME
Legion of Christ

Cardinal Velasio De Paolis, Pontifical Delegate to the Legion of Christ, has released a letter summarizing the renewal of the congregation, including how the process will now involve the Regnum Christi movement. He acknowledges the “common mission” and “shared purpose and mission” of the religious, consecrated and lay members in the first and second degrees, and recommends a period of “joint reflection” resulting in a “fundamental norm” or “rule” common to all members.

The text of the letter follows:

The original Italian version can be read here.

***
To the members of the Regnum Christi Movement and the members of the Congregation of the Legionaries of Christ.

Dear brothers and sisters in the Lord,

Since I was named Pontifical Delegate for the Congregation of the Legionaries of Christ in July, 2010, I have focused my energies, with the help of my counselors, strictly to the Legion and its various problems. Particularly, we started the process of revision of the Constitutions – the main responsibility that the Holy Father entrusted to me – as an important moment in the journey of renewal of the Congregation. During this period we have addressed other problems as they have surfaced.

After the apostolic visitation carried out by His Excellency Mons. Ricardo Blázquez, Archbishop of Valladolid, Spain, together with my counselors, I have dedicated time and attention in a particular way to the consecrated persons who form the 3rd degree of the Regnum Christi Movement. This part of our responsibilities, particularly the feminine branch, has demanded much time and attention and has distracted us more than a little from the problems of the Legion. It has been a tiring and complex journey which has had its painful moments. Today, we can look at things with greater serenity. Of course, the job is not finished, but good principles have been put in place which allow us to look to the future with hope. The Lord who has been with us and has brought us through difficult moments will not leave our side in the coming phases of the process.

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VATICAN CITY
Washington Post

By Alessandro Speciale| Religion News Service

VATICAN CITY — The disgraced Legion of Christ religious order needs to rethink its identity before going forward with its internal reform, the papal envoy in charge of the group’s overhaul told priests and lay members in a letter published on Wednesday (July 11).

Cardinal Velasio De Paolis was appointed in 2010 by Pope Benedict XVI to oversee the order’s reform after revelations that its founder, the Rev. Marcial Maciel, had lived a double life, abusing children and fathering a son.

Macial had enjoyed iconic status in the Legion, with strong suspicions that its leaders had been at least partly aware of his actions.

De Paolis writes that the troubled groups’ various branches, which include priests, religious and lay people, need “a common platform” to “regulate reciprocal relations … according to the identity proper to each group.”

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AUSTRALIA
The Armidale Express

STEPHEN JEFFERY

13 Jul, 2012

YEARS of research by an Armidale woman underpinned the ABC Four Corners program that investigated claims of a Catholic Church cover-up of child sex abuse cases involving defrocked priest and prominent Armidale resident, ‘Father F’.

The high school teacher, who prefers not to be named, has worked in child protection for more than two decades, and for the last few years she has provided information to Broken Rites, an organisation dedicated to supporting and empowering victims of church-related sexual abuse.

She was approached by a producer of Four Corners in May and invited to contribute to an exposé of the former Armidale diocese priest, who is known as Father F for legal reasons.

Father F has been accused of sexually abusing several boys in Moree during the 1980s. He was subsequently moved to the Parramatta diocese, where he allegedly abused another boy, who later committed suicide.

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UNITED STATES
The Worthy Adversary

Posted by Joelle Casteix on July 12, 2012

There is little time left: Victims of the Irish Christian Brothers or victims abused at Irish Christian Brothers schools only have until August 1, 2012 to come forward and get justice in the courts.

Last year, the Irish Christian Brothers (ICB), a Catholic religious order based in New Rochelle, New York, sought bankruptcy protection after more than 50 victims in Canada and Seattle came forward about the sexual abuse at ICB schools. The bankruptcy court instituted the deadline, otherwise known as a “bar date,” for all victims of the ICB and victims at ICB-run schools to come forward to the courts.

The Irish Christian Brothers ran and currently run schools across the United States and Canada. For a list, click here or here. Although a school may be listed as “closed,” victims from those schools still have rights. In other places, like Los Angeles’ Cantwell/Sacred Heart of Mary, the Archdiocese booted the brothers and took over the school. Victims who were abused at Cantwell (where a convicted child abuser and at least two accused child sexual predators worked) before the ICB were kicked out also have rights in the bankruptcy.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Humanistischer Pressedienst

SCHARBEUTZ. (hpd) Berlin ist eine Reise wert, so heißt es immer wieder. Die Reise, die Norbert Denef morgen von seinem Wohnort Scharbeutz nach Berlin plant, dürfte eine der ungewöhnlichsten, mit anderen nicht vergleichbare sein. Am Freitag, 13. Juli 2012, wird er um 14:00 Uhr vor dem Reichstag in Berlin sein.

Ausgestattet mit Transparenten, Ideen und Parolen war der Vorsitzende von netzwerkB (B wie Betroffene) in den letzten Jahren immer wieder in die Hauptstadt und den Regierungssitz unseres Landes gereist, um mahnend in Begleitung einiger meist auch Betroffener und Fürsprecher die Forderung zu präsentieren: “Weg mit den Verjährungsfristen bei sexualisierter Gewalt an Kindern und Jugendlichen”.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

Sophie Gosper
From:The Australian
July 13, 2012

SUPPORT groups for sexually abused children say the Victorian parliament’s terms of reference to investigate widespread cases of sex abuse within the clergy and beyond is a step in the right direction, but that the August 31 cut-off for submissions does not allow enough time to make their case.

The spokeswoman for the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, Nicky Davis, said the committee was asking victims to reveal incredibly traumatising and distressing personal information, which some may struggle to even submit in writing, so to offer such a small window was unrealistic.

“The time is vastly inadequate,” she said. “Even if they were just covering the Catholic Church it wouldn’t be enough time, let alone all other non-government organisations and any other organisation that might come up. It is actually a far bigger task than they may think.

“I am also concerned whether or not the magnitude of church (public relations) material that will be dumped on the committee during this time period will drown out the voice of the victims.”

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
Catholic Herald

Written by Tracy Rusch, Catholic Herald Staff Thursday, 12 July 2012

MILWAUKEE — Capuchin Fr. Matthew Gottschalk, 85, cofounder of the House of Peace, retired from his position as spiritual director and moved from Milwaukee to a retirement home in Detroit on Saturday, June 17.

Amy Peterson, director of the Office of Pastoral Care & Conciliation for the Province of St. Joseph, told your Catholic Herald by telephone Monday that Fr. Gottschalk retired for a number of reasons, including his age, health and medical needs. She also said that while the Milwaukee County District Attorney office’s investigation into an allegation made against Fr. Gottschalk found no criminal behavior, it prompted the order to look at his situation.

“(The allegation) brought to light a conversation about Fr. Matthew and his deteriorating health, his age, he just lost his driver’s license – there were just a number of things,” Peterson said. “So the reason he’s not removed from minstry and he’s been retired is because he didn’t, as far as we know, we have no information about him committing a criminal act against a minor.”

Milwaukee County Chief Deputy District Attorney Kent Lovern told your Catholic Herald Tuesday that three allegations against Fr. Gottschalk came to their attention earlier this year as a result of the bankruptcy proceedings involving the Milwaukee Archdiocese: the first incident allegedly occurred in 1970, the second allegedly occurred between 1974 and 1976, and the third incident allegedly occurred in 1993.

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MILWAUAKEE (WI)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

By Annysa Johnson of the Journal Sentinel

July 7, 2012

A prominent Catholic priest who co-founded Milwaukee’s House of Peace and has long ministered to members of the African-American community has retired, in part because of inappropriate behavior involving a minor 30 years ago, his religious order said Friday.

Father Matthew Gottschalk, 85, who was working at the House of Peace when the allegation arose this year, acknowledged the behavior was inappropriate, said Amy Peterson, who handles sex abuse cases for the Detroit-based Capuchin Franciscan Province of St. Joseph.

She said the incident did not rise to the level of a crime, according to an investigation by the Milwaukee County district attorney’s office, and that it was not solely the reason for Gottschalk’s retirement. Other factors, including his age, health and the recent loss of his driver’s license, also were considered, she said.

“But this gave us an opportunity to look at his situation holistically,” she said. “And the House of Peace just wasn’t the place for him.”

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
SNAP Wisconsin

Statement by John Pilmaier, SNAP Wisconsin Director

CONTACT: 414-336-8575

On Saturday, it was reported in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that Fr. Matthew Gottschalk, a Milwaukee Capuchin priest who has been working with inner city families for over fifty years, had been accused in a report submitted to Milwaukee Federal Bankruptcy Court of abusing a minor. The act or acts, which the Capuchins will not specify, allegedly occurred in the 1970’s.

According to Saturday’s story, Gottschalk admitted to his superiors that he did, in fact, commit an “inappropriate” act against a minor. Citing as her authority the Milwaukee District Attorney’s Office, a Capuchin spokesperson insisted that Gottschalk’s action did not “rise” to the “level” of a “criminal act”. Gottschalk, in other words, just “happened” to have been accused of some kind of non-criminal abuse of a minor as the order was readying him to retire. He was moved to Capuchin headquarters in Detroit for health and other mundane reasons, such as his inability to renew his driver’s license, and not because he was accused of committing a criminal act. So, according to the Capuchins on Saturday, there was one report of abuse against Gottschalk for abusing a minor, the abuse was “inappropriate” but, according to the DA, not criminal. And, after all, Gottschalk admitted to the inappropriate behavior, so let’s just move his retirement forward but not remove him from ministry.

Today, however, we are learning that, once again, church authorities and spokespersons seem congenitally unable to simply speak the truth in a candid, responsible, and transparent manner.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Main Post

Monatelang hat er sich an einem Buben sexuell vergangen – ein ehemaliger Mesner ist deswegen zu vier Jahren Haft verurteilt worden. Das Landgericht Würzburg hielt den 30 Jahre alten Angeklagten am Donnerstag des sexuellen Missbrauchs von Kindern in 20 Fällen für überführt.

Der einst ehrenamtliche Mesner aus einer Pfarrgemeinde im Landkreis Kitzingen hatte am ersten Prozesstag gestanden, den damals zwölf Jahre alten Ministranten über Monate hinweg sexuell missbraucht zu haben. Der inzwischen 20 Jahre alte Ex-Ministrant hat über die Jahre nach eigenen Angaben mehrere Suizidversuche unternommen und ist noch immer seelisch gezeichnet.

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VATICAN CITY
Washington Post

Vatican scandal probe to last 2 more weeks, with pope’s butler staying in custody for now

By Associated Press, Updated: Thursday, July 12

VATICAN CITY — The Vatican says its investigators will finish questioning witnesses and the pope’s butler within two weeks in the probe of leaked documents, including from the private papal apartment.

The leaks exposed corruption, infighting and power struggles at the Vatican’s highest levels.

Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi told reporters Thursday that the butler, Paolo Gabriele, who has been detained since May 23, will be held for “few days” beyond the 50-day period initially envisioned.

Lombardi said that if Gabriele, a layman accused of grand theft, is indicted, a public trial would be held, possibly in September.

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INDIA
Press Trust of India

STAFF WRITER

Bangalore, July 12 (PTI) A priest, suspected to be mentally unsound, was detained by police today for questioning on a complaint that he was allegedly trying to sacrifice a three year-old boy here, police said.

The man, a native of Shimoga and in his early 50s, has been detained and “sent for medical examination as he was suspected to be mentally unsound”, Deputy Commissioner of Police (South Division) Sonia Narang told PTI.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Independent Catholic News

A ruling that the Catholic Church can be held liable for the wrongdoings of its priests has been upheld by the Appeals Court today (12 July).

Last year Mr Justice MacDuff decided in favour of a woman who claimed she was raped and assaulted as a child by a priest of the Portsmouth Diocese. The Court of Appeal has upheld this decision.

The Trustees of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portsmouth have issued the following statement in response to the judgment by the Court of Appeal in respect of vicarious liability in the case of JGE v The Trustees of the Portsmouth Roman Catholic Diocesan Trust.

‘We brought this appeal in order to achieve clarity as to the nature and extent of the bishop’s liability for the actions of diocesan priests. A number of judgments in recent years have sought to extend the scope of vicarious liability, which is designed for relationships of employment, to very different relationships, including that between a bishop and his priest, who is an office holder and not an employee.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian

Owen Bowcott, legal affairs correspondent
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 12 July 2012

A Roman Catholic diocese is liable to pay compensation for alleged beatings inflicted by a nun and sexual abuse perpetrated by a priest on a young girl, the court of appeal has ruled.

The decision, by a majority of two judges to one, will have far-reaching implications for the responsibilities of all employers, significantly widening the scope of their “vicarious liability” for the actions of employees.

The claim was brought by a 48-year-old woman known as JGE, who cannot be named for legal reasons. She said that as a child she was beaten by a nun at a convent-run care home and later raped and sexually assaulted by a priest.

Father Wilfred Baldwin, who has since died, was said to have abused her in the robing room on the day of her first communion. The facts of what took place are disputed: the Portsmouth diocese denies there was any abuse and insists a priest is an office holder not an employee.

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CANADA
Hamilton Spectator

There are many questions. There are likely to be few answers, now and in the foreseeable future.

Perhaps the biggest unknown is whether the deal that allowed a Roman Catholic priest to leave the country without facing prosecution on a sexual assault charge is the best outcome for the case.

There is too much we don’t know, so that question, like so many others, is impossible to answer. We do know that if Jose Silva ever returns to Canada, there is a bench warrant for his arrest. That means the sexual assault charge can be prosecuted by the Crown if Silva comes back to this country.

Silva, a native of Brazil, spent two years at St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church on Park Street North, where he was a popular parish priest. The sexual assault charge was laid last September following a complaint to police by an 18-year-old musician who alleged he was assaulted in the priest’s residence at the church.

Silva’s lawyer and a Hamilton assistant Crown attorney negotiated an agreement that allowed Silva to return to his native Brazil — without having been prosecuted for the alleged sexual assault — on the condition that he not return to Canada.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Sentinel

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

A PRIEST locked up for repeatedly abusing schoolboys deserved every day of his 22-year jail term for his ‘unimaginable breach of trust’, top judges ruled.

Alexander Bede Walsh, aged 58, was handed the sentence at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court in March after he was convicted of two serious sex offences and 19 counts of indecent assault.

Walsh’s victims included schoolboys in Cheadle and at Coton College, near Alton.

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CANADA
Hamilton Spectator

He doesn’t think about it every day. But there are flashbacks, out of the blue. Even a highway sign for “Hamilton” will trigger the memory of what he says took place in a Roman Catholic priest’s office last September.

He is the young complainant in the Reverend Jose Silva sex assault case. And he isn’t entirely satisfied that Silva, 34, was permitted to leave Canada and return to his native Brazil without facing prosecution.

The deal, struck between Silva’s defence lawyer and an assistant Crown attorney, is now under review by the Ministry of the Attorney General.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

A ruling that the Catholic Church can be held liable for the wrongdoings of its priests has been upheld.

Last year Mr Justice MacDuff decided in favour of a woman who claimed she was raped and assaulted as a child by a priest of the Portsmouth Diocese.

The Court of Appeal has upheld this decision, which raises “an issue of wide general importance in respect of claims against the Catholic Church”.

A diocese spokesman said the case was about “fundamental legal principles”.

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UNITED KINGDOM
RTE News

The British Court of Appeal has ruled that the Catholic Church can be held liable for the wrongdoings of its priests.

The decision was announced in an action which has been described as raising “an issue of wide general importance in respect of claims against the Catholic Church

In the British High Court last November, a decision was given in favour of a woman, who claims she was sexually assaulted as a child by a priest at a children’s home in Hampshire run by an order of nuns.

The judge held that, in law, the Church “may be vicariously liable” for the priests alleged wrongdoings.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Caernafon-Denbigh Herald

Jul 12 2012

A ruling that the Catholic Church can be held liable for the wrongdoings of its priests has been upheld by the Court of Appeal.

The decision was announced in an action which has been described as raising “an issue of wide general importance in respect of claims against the Catholic Church”.

At the High Court in November Mr Justice MacDuff gave a decision in favour of a woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, who claims she was sexually assaulted as a child by the late Father Wilfred Baldwin, a priest of the Portsmouth Diocese, at a children’s home in Hampshire run by an order of nuns.

Giving his decision on a preliminary issue in the damages action by the woman, who is now 48, the judge held that, in law, the Church “may be vicariously liable” for Father Baldwin’s alleged wrongdoings.

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GERMANY
Vatican Information Srvice

Vatican City, 12 July 2012 (VIS) – Members of the press and spokespersons of the European Episcopal conferences met in Cologne, Germany to discuss the relationship between the media and the Catholic Church.

Bishops, priests, and laypersons from across the continent are participating in the various sessions of the meeting, which will take place from 11 to 14 July. It will deal with, among other themes, communication regarding financial issues related to the life of the churches. A special session will be held dedicated to the Year of Faith and the media projects of the various episcopal conferences related to this event.

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CALIFORNIA
Los Angeles Times

A Lake Forest pastor was convicted Wednesday of sexually assaulting five boys and now faces a maximum sentence of 330 years to life in state prison, Orange County prosecutors said.

Oscar D. Perez, 69, knew the boys through their church in Laguna Hills and assaulted them when they stayed over at his apartment or came for visits, according to a statement from the Orange County district attorney’s office.

Perez was “found guilty by a jury of 22 felony counts of lewd acts upon a child under 14, four felony counts of lewd acts on a child and sentencing enhancement allegations for lewd acts against multiple victims,” the statement said.

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CALIFORNIA
The Orange County Register

By PETER LARSON / THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

SANTA ANA – A Laguna Hills man who had acted as a pastor bowed his head and stared forward Wednesday as he was convicted of molesting five boys from the congregation during visits to his Lake Forest apartment.

A jury of seven women and five men deliberated less than two hours before finding Oscar Perez, 69, guilty of 22 counts of lewd acts upon a child younger than 14, four counts of lewd acts on a child, and sentencing enhancements for lewd acts against multiple victims.

Perez faces a maximum sentence of 330 years to life in prison and mandatory lifetime sex offender registration.

Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Walker said Perez asked victims’ parents to have their sons sleep over when he felt sick. The victims assisted Perez with services at Iglesia Antigua, a church that rented space at a Laguna Hills Episcopal Church, where he represented himself as a Catholic and Apostolic pastor and bishop.

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WORCESTER (MA)
Telegram & Gazette

Dianne Williamson
dwilliamson@telegram.com

For more than three years, Susan Manter endured humiliating physical abuse from a trusted priest she had turned to for counseling. After she summoned the strength to testify against him in criminal court, friends and fellow parishioners turned their backs on her.

So when the Rev. Charles M. Abdelahad was found guilty May 25 of two counts of assault and battery, she felt only partial vindication. While grateful that the judge believed her, she was disappointed with the sentence — two years in the House of Correction, with just 90 days to serve.

“I did get some satisfaction,” said Manter, of Rutland, a petite mother of three. “But I know what happened in that office and I know what I went through. He got off very easy.”

But the priest was scheduled to get off even easier than she imagined. On July 5, she received a phone call from the state Parole Board, informing her that the Rev. Abdelahad had been granted parole and would be released July 13 — tomorrow — after serving just 49 days.

Ms. Manter was dumbstruck. Not only was she unaware that parole was an option, but she was never notified of the July 2 hearing so she could object to his release, which is her right as a victim under state law.

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OHIO
The Columbus Dispatch

By JoAnne Viviano
The Columbus Dispatch
Thursday July 12, 2012

A Columbus megachurch has welcomed back a former associate pastor who spent about 18 months in counseling and reflection after it came to light that he had a sexual relationship with a woman he was counseling for sex addiction.

Steve Robbins has fully repented and is returning as a church member “who is loved and welcome and restored to fellowship,” Vineyard Columbus’ senior pastor, Rich Nathan, announced in closing his weekend sermon on “Disciplining and Restoring Fallen Leaders.” Robbins will not be on staff.

“We’re going to do something that you have never seen before, and that is a public restoration of someone who walked away and now is coming back home,” the pastor said to applause as he welcomed Robbins on stage and embraced him.

Robbins, 62, was asked to break off contact with the woman and to refrain from worshipping at the evangelical Christian church pending the counseling and reflection, Nathan said when reached by phone on Monday.

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CALIFORNIA
Patch

By Sarah de Crescenzo

The pastor of a Laguna Hills church was convicted Wednesday of molesting five boys—ranging in age from 9 to 15—in his congregation as they slept over or visited his Lake Forest apartment.

Oscar D. Perez Perez was convicted of 22 counts of lewd acts on a child younger than 14 and four counts of lewd acts on a child. He is scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 14.

Perez faces up to 330 years to life in prison, according to Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Walker. The minimum sentence would be 15 years to life, she said.

Perez claims to be a bishop and pastor of Iglesia Antigua, or Old Church, which at the time of his arrest rented space at St. George’s Episcopalian Church in Laguna Hills. Perez’s church is not affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church or the Diocese of Orange.

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ILLINOIS
The Southern

BY BRENT STEWART, THE SOUTHERN

JONESBORO — Judge Mark Boie has ordered another fitness hearing for Bill Vandergraph, a former Alto Pass pastor accused of sexually abusing a minor.

In his order, issued Tuesday, Boie said, “Based on the history of this matter… the Court’s opinion is that it must fully determine whether the Defendant is unwilling or unable to cooperate with his counsel.”

Concerns about Vandergraph’s mental fitness, possibly including depression and signs of dementia, have been an issue in the proceedings. Psychiatrist Naeem A. Qureshi, MD, testified Vandergraph was fit to stand trial in a fitness hearing in April 2011.

As recently as March, Qureshi issued a supplemental report that deemed Vandergraph fit for trial.

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CALIFORNIA
Los Angeles Wave

Posted: Wednesday, July 11, 2012

By Betty Pleasant, Contributing Editor

While the Rev. Gordon Solomon was busy last Friday pleading not guilty to charges that he “substantially” sexually abused a child, people who used to know him suddenly never heard of him and the Inglewood church he pastored became a Southland tourist’s mecca as everyone flocked to it to experience whatever Jerry Sandusky-esque vibes emanated therefrom.

According to the District Attorney’s Office, the 50-year-old Solomon, a native Belizean, was arrested on or about the Fourth of July and charged with nine felony counts of committing lewd acts on a 14-year-old girl who attended his church — acts which began in June 2010 when the child was 12 and did not end until July 1, 2012, when the child’s mother stumbled upon explicit text messages Solomon allegedly sent the girl. The mother immediately summoned police who confiscated the lewd missives and set about building the case against him.

The counts against Solomon break down like this: He was charged with seven counts of committing a lewd act on a child; one count of continuous sexual abuse and one count of oral copulation of a person under the age of 14. He is being held in lieu of $3 million bail, and faces up to 26 years and eight months in state prison if convicted of the charges.

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CALIFORNIA/BELIZE
7 News Belize

The story of a pastor from a church in Inglewood California who is accused of sexually abusing a 13 year old is making news in Belize tonight.

And that’s because 50 year old Gordon Solomon used to teach at a number of high schools in Belize. We have received reports that he was a teacher at a number of Belize City High Schools in the 80’s and early 90’s. It’s important because according to multiple accounts – he allegedly did the same thing in Belize – preying on teenaged girls. He was never charged – but we have spoken to persons who insist that he was a known predator.

And while he was never charged in Belize, Solomon faces nine felony counts in California court. He is being held in lieu of $3-million bail.

According to news reports from Los Angeles, Solomon met the now 14-year-old victim at Christ’s Community Church, where he is the pastor. The alleged abuse started in June 2010 and didn’t end until Sunday, according to the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office.

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CALIFORNIA
Patch

By Sheila Sanchez

The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office this afternoon announced it will not re-file a misdemeanor assault charge against the San Francisco man acquitted last week of felony assault and elder abuse that resulted from a confrontation with the Los Gatos priest he claims brutally raped him and his brother as children.

Prosecutor Vicki Gemetti is scheduled to make the decision official before Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge David Cena at 9 a.m. Friday, July 20, in Department 34 at the Hall of Justice in San Jose, the DA announced in a press release.

On July 5, a 12-member jury found Lynch, 44, not guilty off the two felony charges, and acquitted him on the charge of misdemeanor elder abuse, but hung on the lower charge of misdemeanor assault on Rev. Jerold Lindner.

Gemetti had the option to re-file the misdemeanor charge on which the jury deadlocked 8-4.

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AUSTRALIA
WA Today

July 12, 2012

AAP

Allegations of past sexual abuse by members of the Catholic Church have been appallingly handled, opposition leader Tony Abbott says.

Mr Abbott, a prominent Catholic, says a series of allegations which are only now coming to light are “absolutely horrific” but he believes things have improved since the abuse occurred.

“There’s no doubt that these things have been appallingly badly handled in the past,” he told the Macquarie Radio Network on Thursday.

“Thank God we’re now alive to these things and much, much better, though still far from perfect, at dealing with them.

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CALIFORNIA
Christian Post

By Rev. Austin Miles

Antioch, California. On Saturday July 7th, news headlines proclaimed in highlighted caps: “LYNCH ACQUITTED IN PRIEST BEATING.” John Lynch had been brought to trial for beating Catholic Priest Jerold Linder who had molested and raped Lynch when he was a little boy as well as his little brother who was 4 years old.

Homosexual rape is so violent that it rips the inside of the rectum, leaving raw nerves exposed resulting in continual excruciating pain. Making matters worse, that pervert made Lynch perform oral sex on his little brother as Linder watched.

Lynch tried to tell people but nobody listened. After all, a priest would never do such things. Finally, two years ago Lynch visited the so-called priest to talk to him about the molestations and rape when he and his brother were children.

Linden seemed to sneer as Lynch tried to talk to him and ask for an acknowledgment and apology. That sneer was the match that lit the fuse.

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CALIFORNIA
The Modesto Bee

By PAUL ELIAS
Associated Press

SAN JOSE, Calif. — The man accused of assaulting the priest he says molested him decades ago won’t face another trial.

Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeffrey Rosen announced Wednesday that his office won’t pursue a misdemeanor assault charge against William Lynch. A San Jose jury last week acquitted Lynch of felony assault and felony elder abuse after a 2010 altercation with Jerold Lindner, a retired Jesuit priest. Lynch testified that Lindner molested him in 1975.

The jury deadlocked eight to four to convict Lynch of misdemeanor assault. Rosen also said his office is deciding whether to charge the priest with perjury.

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CALIFORNIA
Santa Cruz Sentinel

By Robert Salonga and Tracey Kaplan
Mercury News
mercurynews.com

Posted: 07/11/2012

Will Lynch, the man acquitted last week in the beating of a priest he says raped him as child more than three decades ago, will not be tried for a lingering misdemeanor charge that deadlocked a jury, the Santa Clara District Attorney’s Office announced this afternoon.

Jurors last week cleared Lynch, 44, of felony assault and elder abuse charges and a misdemeanor elder abuse charge in a May 10, 2010 attack in Los Gatos, but could not reach consensus on a misdemeanor assault charge, leaving room for District Attorney Jeff Rosen to re-file.

His office said prosecutors will not take up the case a second time.

“We have heard the jury. We believe it is unlikely that a new jury would render a substantially different decision,” Rosen said in a statement.

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CALIFORNIA
The Worthy Adversary

Posted by Joelle Casteix on July 11, 2012

What we know is bad. What we don’t know is scary.

Last week, family members of Matthew Carrigan gathered outside of Corpus Christi Parish in Aliso Viejo to warn parishioners about Fr. Tim Ramaekers. According to a lawsuit filed by Carrigan, Ramaekers allegedly molested Carrigan when he was a young student at St. Justin Martyr Parish and School in Buena Park.

Ramaekers denies the allegations.

And that’s where the problem starts.

When Ramaekers spoke at the Saturday and Sunday masses, he continually referred to “false allegations.” He kept mum about the lawsuit, even though the suit itself is in jeopardy. Because of the recent California Supreme Court decision in the Quarry case, it could be dismissed on the statute of limitations, NOT because of the merits of the case. Ramaekers said nothing about that.

The Diocese and Ramaekers also said that the Diocese did a complete investigation on the allegations. To date, they have not publicly disclosed the findings. What we do know is that the investigator had no access to Ramaekers’ secret personnel file, which is the sole property of the bishop and can only be released by a court order. We also know that a church-hired investigator has the same credibility as Enron hiring a private investigator (in fact, Arthur Anderson, Enron’s auditor, was criminally charged with shredding Enron documents).

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

BY JOANNE MCCARTHY

12 Jul, 2012

DEFROCKED Catholic priest John Sidney Denham violently sexually assaulted a 12-year-old schoolboy over a number of months in 1977, police have alleged.

But another priest’s violent response at news of the alleged assaults stopped the boy speaking about it until decades later.

Police who have charged Mr Denham, 70, with 47 child sex offences involving 14 boys, allege a priest, who cannot be named, repeatedly hit the boy and yelled: “How dare you make up these lies? How dare you come into my office and make up lies about a man of his stature?”

The boy, who came from a violent home and had seen his Catholic school as an “outlet from this family abuse”, “believed from that time that he could not tell anyone”, police allege.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

by Bill Tammeus on Jul. 11, 2012 A small c catholic

Like the oblivious frog sitting in the pot of water that’s slowly coming to a boil, we often find it almost impossible to discern even historic changes while they’re happening.

And sometimes when we guess at seismic shifts that may be occurring, we’re embarrassingly wrong: Thomas Watson, IBM chairman in 1943, is (maybe falsely) reported to have said then: “I think there is a world market for maybe five computers.”

So I acknowledge I could be way off-base here. But from my Protestant, outside-Catholicism perspective, it looks as if the current hierarchical institutional expression of the Catholic church is dying and will be essentially gone in a few generations — certainly in the U.S. Whether another form of the church will survive is unknowable.

As educator Richard Giannone correctly notes in his new memoir, Hidden, “The history of Christianity as an organization has been a history of disagreeable confrontations with new forces at work in era after era. The church (his reference is to the Catholic church) is either unable, or unwilling, or scared to deal with the evolving society in which it lives and claims, often loudly, to serve.”

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VATIKAN
Neue Zurcher Zeitung (Schweiz)

Von Franz Haas

Zumindest am Namenstag von Peter und Paul, den Schutzheiligen der Stadt Rom, gab sich der 85-jährige Papst zuversichtlich in seiner Predigt: «Die Mächte des Bösen werden nicht vorherrschen», sagte Benedikt XVI. am 29. Juni im Petersdom. Er wiederholte mehrmals wie zur Beschwörung das lateinische «non praevalebunt», das auch als Motto auf der Vatikan-Zeitung «L’Osservatore Romano» prangt. Zwischen den Zeilen der päpstlichen Predigt stand die Sorge um jenen Skandal, der seit Wochen als «Vatileaks» durch die Medien geistert. Italienische Zeitungen bekommen regelmässig geheime Dokumente aus dem Vatikan von anonymen Informanten. Unter diesen ist der im Mai verhaftete Paolo Gabriele, Kammerdiener des Papstes, wohl nur ein kleiner Fisch oder Sündenbock, denn auch nach seiner Verhaftung sickern noch Informationen durch. Die «Mächte des Bösen» werkeln also weiter, und sie sitzen auch innerhalb der Mauern des kleinen apostolischen Staates.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Osnabrucker Zeitung

uwe Osnabrück/Hannover. Auch die evangelisch-lutherische Landeskirche Hannovers will Opfern sexueller Gewalt bald individuelle Entschädigungen zahlen. Dazu soll eine unabhängige Beschwerdekommission mit einem Richter an der Spitze eingesetzt werden, so gestern Christoph Künkel, Direktor des Diakonischen Werks Hannover.

Die Landeskirche folgt damit einer Empfehlung der Evangelischen Kirche in Deutschland (EKD). Diese hatte den einzelnen Gliedkirchen und ihren Diakonischen Werken empfohlen, dann eine Entschädigung zu zahlen, „wenn ein Versagen der Institution vorliegt“. Dies soll nun in jedem Einzelfall geprüft und bei Anerkennung eine Entschädigungssumme festgelegt werden.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Nachrichten

Alles gut also in der römisch-katholischen Kirche? Pädophilie in den eigenen Reihen nur ein Problem, das man mit anderen gesellschaftlichen Einrichtungen teilt? Der Sexualmediziner Klaus Beier von der Berliner Charité glaubt das nicht. Er sagt: „Sexuelle Neigungen prägen sich in der Jugend aus. Doch was mache ich, wenn ich mich als junger Mann nicht zu Mädchen hingezogen fühle, sondern zu Kindern? Ich ahne dann, dass ich in dieser Gesellschaft nur Ablehnung erfahren werde.

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VATIKAN
Welt

Der umstrittene katholische Orden Legionäre Christi steht erneut in der Kritik. 77 Frauen haben den Vatikan aufgefordert, die Jugendprogramme des Ordens zu beenden, weil sie dort Missbrauch erfahren hätten. Ein entsprechender Brief liegt der Nachrichtenagentur AP vor.

Die Legionäre Christi stehen nach anderen Skandalen schon seit Sommer 2010 unter Zwangsleitung des von Papst Benedikt XVI. beauftragten Kardinals Velasio De Paolis, der den Orden umfassend reformieren soll.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Christian Post

By Stoyan Zaimov , Christian Post Reporter

July 11, 2012

Father Bernard Lynch, a homosexual Catholic priest and activist known for defying Vatican teachings, has once again challenged the Roman Catholic Church by revealing that he has been married to a man for the past 14 years. Lynch also blames teachings on celibacy for the child sex abuse cases gripping the Catholic Church.

Roman Catholic doctrine calls on all priests to be celibate, but Lynch, who has served in the ministry for over 40 years and moved to London from New York in the 90s, revealed in his new book, If It Wasn’t Love: Sex, Death and God, that he is married and has been helping closeted gay priests in the English capital in his counseling program. He has also been marrying gay and lesbian couples in the church, despite Catholic doctrine prohibiting such a practice. …

Lynch, born in 1947 in Ireland, was himself accused of abusing children, but that claim was dismissed in court when the man who made those allegations was proven to be a pathological liar. The gay Catholic priest claims that people angry at his pro-LGBT views pushed the man to create such charges against him.

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CANADA
CHCH

Updated Father Jose Silva, the Roman Catholic priest charged with sexual assault last fall, is now a free man back in his native Brazil.

According to his attorney, it comes as result of a deal struck between prosecutors and the defence.

Father Silva had been a priest at St Mary’s Church on Park Street North since 2009. In September was charged with sexual assault and received bail a few days later. One of the conditions was that he hand over his passport to Hamilton Police.

Tonight CHCH News has been informed by his attorney, Dean Paquette, that Father Silva’s passport was returned by the Crown as part of a deal which would see Silva leave for his native Brazil, never to return.

The alleged incident took place during a courtyard party outside of the church. The accuser, an 18 year old man, alleges that he was sexually assaulted at a house just down the road from the party.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

Dan Box
From:The Australian
July 12, 2012

NSW police were told that a Catholic priest now at the centre of a child sex abuse scandal was abusing boys almost 30 years ago, but took no action against him.

In 1983, the father of an 11-year-old altar boy told officers in the town of Moree that his son had been touched inappropriately by the priest, known as Father F for legal reasons.

The boy’s father, who asked not to be named, said he raised the allegation with the late Monsignor Frank Ryan, a church official in the diocese of Armidale on three occasions, but nothing was done. “So I spoke to the police and they said they were aware of (Father F’s) activities and something would come out of it,” the father said.

“But nothing happened.”

Father F subsequently moved to Sydney, where he continued working as a priest and allegedly abused another boy, who later committed suicide.

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CALIFORNIA
Orange County Weekly

By Gustavo Arellano
Wed., Jul. 11 2012

In late 2010, the Catholic Diocese of Orange revealed that they were looking into allegations made by Matthew Carrigan that Father Timothy Ramaekers molested him as a child at St. Justin Martyr Church in Anaheim during the 1980s–this, after Carrigan filed a civil lawsuit in 2009 alleging Ramaekers and other priests abused him. The diocese said they found no evidence that Ramaekers abused Carrigan, but that hasn’t stopped Matthew and his family from letting the world know what they think of the priest, who just got the nod to head Corpus Christi in Aliso Viejo.

They were there in force this past weekend, where Ramaekers continued the arrogance that characterizes the modern-day Catholic Church in the United States by comparing Carrigan’s allegation and subsequent actions to a “9/11 moment” against him.

“A 9/11 [moment] is something that we don’t create,” Ramaekers told parishioners, according to eyewitnesses. “It’s not something that we do. 9/11, when we look at it, it is not fair. It’s not right. It’s not just. We may be in the wrong place at the wrong time, but when we are in our 9/11 Ground Zero experience, our life is altered forever. My 9/11 experience is being accused of sexual misconduct.”

All together now: IDIOT.

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CANADA
Hamilton Spectator

Ken Peters

The Ministry of the Attorney General plans to investigate a deal struck by a Hamilton Crown prosecutor that allowed a Roman Catholic priest charged with sexual assault to leave the country without facing prosecution.

The ministry acknowledged the agreement permitted Reverend Jose Silva to return to his native Brazil on condition that he not return to Canada.

“This is not common practice and we will look into this matter further,” ministry spokesperson Brendan Crawley said in an email Tuesday night.

Prominent defence lawyer Dean Paquette said his client left Hamilton in early May as part of a resolution he negotiated with assistant Crown attorney Carey Lee.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Huffington Post

By Jonathan Luxmoore
Posted: 07/10/2012

(RNS/ENInews) Influential church historian Diarmaid MacCulloch said he believes Christianity faces a bright future, but predicted the Roman Catholic Church will undergo a major schism over its moral and social teaching.

“Christianity, the world’s largest religion, is rapidly expanding — by all indications, its future is very bright,” said MacCulloch, 60, professor of church history at Oxford University and an Anglican deacon. His latest book, “Silence in Christian History,” will be published in the fall by Penguin.

MacCulloch said in an interview that “there are also many conflicts” within Christianity, “and these are particularly serious in the Roman Catholic church, which seems on the verge of a very great split over the Vatican’s failure to listen to European Catholics.” He predicted that Catholicism faces a division over attempts by popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI to “rewrite the story” of the 1962-1965 Second Vatican Council by portraying it as a “minor adjustment” in church governance, rather than as a “radical move to change the way authority is expressed.”

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VATICAN CITY
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Barbara Blaine on July 10, 2012

Almost half of the world’s bishops have failed to meet a Vatican deadline to submit child sex abuse policies. That shows how little Catholic prelates care about kids’ safety.

These policies will largely be vague and unenforced, but the fact that hundreds or thousands of bishops refuse to even write them down and turn them in on time shows how little or nothing is changing in the church hierarchy’s response to the ongoing child sex abuse and cover up crisis.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

JOANNE MCCARTHY

11 Jul, 2012

DEFROCKED Maitland-Newcastle diocese Catholic priest John Sidney Denham has been charged with 10 fresh child sex assault offences from the 1970s.

Denham declined to appear on an audio visual link from Goulburn Jail today where he is in custody, Newcastle Local Court magistrate Ian Cheetham was told.

He has been charged with 10 offences against two boys, aged 12, at St Pius X High School, Adamstown, in 1977, including three charges of buggery, and seven charges of indecent assault.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC Newscastle

Updated July 11, 2012

Ten additional child sex charges have been laid against a defrocked Hunter Valley priest in Newcastle Local court.

69 year old John Sidney Denham is already serving a lengthy jail term for sexually abusing 39 boys in Newcastle, Sydney and Taree.

The former Catholic Priest declined to appear by video-link in Newcastle local court from Goulburn jail.

He has been charged with another 10 sex offences against two boys.

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WHEELING (WV)
The Intelligencer/Wheeling News-Register

July 11, 2012

By HEATHER ZIEGLER – Associate City Editor , The Intelligencer / Wheeling News-Register

Following the landmark guilty verdict against a Catholic priest in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia charged with endangering children, the leader of the Catholic Church in West Virginia continues to deal with the fallout of accusations.

Bishop Michael J. Bransfield, whose name was brought up by prosecutors in the Philadelphia case, steadfastly denies any wrongdoing. Bransfield has never been charged with any crime.

The Philadelphia case stems from a 2011 grand jury investigation into allegations that two priests and a teacher sexually abused a 10-year-old boy at St. Jerome Parish in Philadelphia, and that another priest assigned to St. Jerome sexually assaulted a 14-year-old boy.

The grand jury presentment recommended criminal charges, including for rape and indecent sexual assault, against the three priests – Edward Avery, Charles Engelhardt and James Brennan – and the teacher, Bernard Shero. The grand jury also recommended charging Monsignor William J. Lynn, secretary for clergy for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, under Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua, with two counts of endangering the welfare of a child.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
Press TV (Iran)

New documents by US prosecutors present evidence of ‘uncharged crimes’ by a priest who already faces more than a dozen child pornography-related charges.

In a new court filing, US federal prosecutors said that Rev. Shawn Ratigan, 46, surfed the Internet for photos of young girls and also searched online for two-way mirrors and tiny cameras disguised to look like pens.

A federal indictment accuses the priest of having been taking explicit photos of girls for six years.

Ratigan faces 13 federal counts of sexual exploitation of children, along with three state child pornography charges.

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PENNSYLVANIA
The Morning Call

John Salvesen, executive director of the Foundation to Abolish Child Abuse, Bryn Mawr, Montgomery County.

Q: What is different about the crime of child sex abuse that requires a longer statute of limitations in civil cases and no statute of limitations in criminal cases?

A: It routinely takes the victims decades to come forward if they come forward at all. That’s the nature of the reaction to child sexual trauma. It takes time. A statute of limitations that limits the age by which a victim must come forward almost, by definition, excludes virtually all victims.

Q: Doesn’t waiting a long time to report a crime weaken a case?

A: These changes to the statutes don’t do anything but give victims of child sexual abuse a chance to have their case heard in court. If too much is forgotten, you’re going to lose your case. This only lets you in the door.

In many cases, you’re not relying on the memories of eyewitnesses other than the victim. There is almost never an eyewitness — it’s not like assault with a deadly weapon. The fact that there was a witness in the Sandusky case is one in a million. That never happens.

If there’s no evidence, or if it’s too old or too stale, there will be no conviction. All this does is guarantee that it actually goes to court. In the case of the Roman Catholic Church, there is a lot of evidence other than memories. They’re called personnel files.

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PENNSYLVANIA
The Morning Call

Daniel M. Filler, professor at Drexel University law school, Philadelphia.

Q: What are the ramifications if the statute of limitations were eliminated in child sex-abuse cases in criminal proceedings?

A: The whole problem with the issue is that child sexual abuse is a hair-trigger issue in our society, and that fact has led to some real miscarriages of justice. That doesn’t mean that there really aren’t ugly things that happened to people who wait to report. Increasing or eliminating the statute of limitations might lead to more justice, but it also might increase more injustice. The question is how much injustice are we willing to tolerate to get more justice.

Q: What do you mean by more injustice?

A: These kinds of cases make people particularly anxious. I think when it comes to these cases, the worry is that, on one hand, memories are sometimes repressed. But it is also true that a person can be nudged toward remembering things that might not have occurred. Given that, people feel a statute of limitations is needed. It’s the only way a defendant has a chance to disprove such allegations. It’s impossible to find an alibi so long after the event is said to have occurred. The older the memories are, the fear is that it’s more brittle and more likely a person is to create mis-remembrances.

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DANVILLE (IL)
Commercial-News

BY BRIAN L. HUCHEL Commercial-News

DANVILLE — Courtroom proceedings began Tuesday in the trial of a Danville man accused of sexually abusing students while working as an associate pastor.

Vermilion County State’s Attorney Randy Brinegar said opening arguments were presented Tuesday morning at the trial of 36-year-old Mark List of Danville. The trial could end as early as today, he said.

List is charged with aggravated criminal sexual abuse, criminal sexual assault in a position of trust and indecent solicitation of a child. The crimes allegedly took place between Feb. 4, 2008, and Aug. 1, 2009.

Testimony early in the case by Danville police detectives indicated List is accused of sexually abusing a student at Danville Christian Academy while he was an associate pastor there.

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SPOKANE (WA)
National Catholic Reporter

Jul. 10, 2012
By Tom Gallagher

•On Dec. 6, 2004, the Diocese of Spokane filed for bankruptcy and submitted a Plan of Reorganization, which provided a fund of $48 million to compensate victims of sexual abuse.


•The Bankruptcy Court set March 10, 2006, as the deadline or “Bar Date” for filing of future claims for persons who have claims of sexual abuse occurring before Dec. 6, 2004.


•Under certain conditions, a person who did not meet the March 10, 2006, Bar Date may still make a claim of sexual abuse as a “Future Tort Claimant.” The Plan defines such a claimant as a person who was not aware that he or she was abused or harmed prior to the Bar Date. Future claims can be made until 2016.


•A future claims fund was created by setting aside $1million of the total $48 million bankruptcy settlement. In the event that future claims and the awards exceeded $1 million, the diocese was required to recapitalize the future claims fund so that it did not dip below $200,000.


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AUSTRALIA
The Catholic Leader

Published: 15 July 2012
By: Paul Dobbyn

YOUTH worker Salesian Father Chris Riley has described recent Four Corners reports of the cover up of sexual abuse of minors in the Catholic Church as “sickening and disappointing”.

However, Towards Healing executive officer Missionary of the Sacred Heart priest Fr Tim Brennan and Bravehearts founder and executive director Hetty Johnston have both rejected demands for a national Royal Commission focused solely on allegations of sexual abuse of minors in the Catholic Church.

Fr Brennan said such calls were “simplistic”.

Ms Johnston said it was “shallow indeed to concentrate on just one organisation – at end of the day it’s to do with kids being sexually assaulted and the cover-ups which occur.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
Huffington Post

In a new book, Father Bernard Lynch, a gay Catholic priest who has incurred the wrath of the Vatican for his views supporting LGBT Catholics, not only says he is non-celibate; he reveals that he has been married to a man for the past 14 years, and has officiated over the weddings of many gay and lesbian Catholic couples. The Vatican, he says, is trying to “get rid” of him, while he has been operating a counseling program for closeted gay priests in London since 1992.

Lynch, who has been a Catholic priest for 40 years, left for London from New York in the early 90s, after he was completely cleared of charges related to child abuse allegations made by a man who recanted his story and whom court testimony showed to be a pathological liar. The scandal had Father Lynch at the center of a media firestorm. He believes to this day that right-wing Catholic groups and now-deceased Cardinal O’Connor of New York, angry at his advocacy on behalf of LGBT people and people with AIDS, were behind his trumped up indictment. He had previously gained awards for his AIDS advocacy from politicians and AIDS activists, while local church officials and the Vatican became concerned about his advocacy.

Lynch wrote a a book in 1993 about the trumped up charges and about his speaking out in support of LGBT Catholics, and discussed his own homosexuality. In the new book, “If It Wasn’t Love: Sex, Death and God,” Lynch says for the first time he has been married for 14 years to Billy Desmond, with whom he lives in London. They were married by an American monk, and Lynch himself has officiated at gay and lesbian weddings. He also writes that he believes more than half of all priests are gay. And he blames the Catholic Church’s child abuse scandal on the celibacy rule.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
PhillyBurbs

Posted on July 10, 2012

by Margaret Gibbons

The Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office is taking a second look at information first received in 2007 concerning alleged inappropriate conduct by a priest with a student at Lansdale Catholic High School in the 1970s.

The information alleging inappropriate contact between a student and Father Michael J. Bransfield, who is now bishop of the Wheeling-Charleston Diocese that serves all of West Virginia, had been provided to the DA’s office by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, according to Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman.

“Based on the statute of limitations and the victim’s unwillingness to talk to investigators, we did not have a sufficient basis at that time to move forward,” said Ferman. “Within the last month, new information has come forward to cause us to re-examine the older complaint. We are in the process of doing that now.”

Ferman repeatedly declined to answer further questions on the matter.

Bransfield, a Philadelphia native who began his pastoral service in Huntingdon Valley after he was ordained a priest in 1971, served as a teacher, chaplain, chairman of the religion department and vice principal at Lansdale Catholic High School from 1973 into 1979.

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