ABUSE TRACKER

SOUTH DAKOTA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by David Clohessy on April 12, 2012

A support group for clergy sex abuse victims is asking a South Dakota church to reconsider licensing a convicted sex offender. Juan Carlos Sabalier is the music leader and youth leader at Huron Baptist Church (955 Lincoln Ave. SW, 605 352 5310, 605 354 0614) in Huron, SD.

In 2002, he was convicted of raping a teenage girl, when he was around 24 and she was around 15. He was sentenced to ten years behind bars but served only five.

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SPAIN
BBC News

A Spanish nun has become the first person to appear in court in connection with the alleged theft of newborn babies, mostly in the Franco era.

Sister Maria Gomez Valbuena, 80, is accused of stealing a mother’s newborn daughter at a Madrid hospital in 1982.

Appearing before a judge on Thursday, Sister Maria refused to testify.

Thousands of babies are thought to have been taken from parents in hospitals and given to other families during the Franco dictatorship and later.

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SPAIN
Daily Mail (United Kingdom)

By David Baker

An elderly Spanish nun was in court today to face charges of stealing babies, after hundreds of women claimed their babies were taken from them at birth and given away in illegal adoptions.

Doctors, nurses and religious workers at several clinics and hospitals in Spain are alleged to have sold babies for adoption over decades after telling new mothers that their infants had died.

Alleged victims say they need help from authorities in unearthing evidence of their claims from graveyards and public registries.

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SPAIN
New York Daily News

By Philip Caulfield / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Thursday, April 12, 2012

An 80-year-old Spanish nun appeared in court Thursday to face charges that she kidnapped an infant girl as part of a vast baby-trafficking ring that stole newborns from poor mothers and sold them into adoption.

Sister Maria Gomez Valbuena appeared before the judge and refused to testify, invoking her right to remain silent, Reuters reported.

The aging Sisters of Charity nun was charged with kidnapping a newborn girl from a Madrid hospital in the 1980s.

A group of more than 1,000 families said she was part of a nationwide baby-snatching ring dating back four decades.

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ROME
The Guardian (United Kingdom)

John Hooper in Rome
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 12 April 2012

The Vatican is under pressure to help resolve one of the strangest of many enigmas lingering in Italy from the cold war years.

For four years, prosecutors in Rome have been making a renewed attempt to get at the truth behind the disappearance in 1983 of Emanuela Orlandi, the 15-year-old daughter of a Vatican employee.

They are seeking to ascertain whether she was seized by a notorious band of Rome criminals, and whether this has any bearing on the fact that the leader of the gang was buried in a Vatican basilica normally reserved for cardinals and other illustrious prelates.

Last month, Walter Veltroni, a former deputy prime minister, asked the interior minister in Mario Monti’s government to confirm that the basilica of Sant’Apollinare, a few yards from the Piazza Navona in central Rome, did not enjoy extra-territorial status and was thus subject to Italian law.

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NEW YORK
Voz Iz Neias

[MANDATED REPORTERS of CHILD ABUSE and NEGLECT]

New York – First On VIN: Without Fanfare, NYS Clarifies Child Abuse Reporting Regulations; Requires Yeshivas To Report

New York – In order to clarify existing regulations requiring all staff members in New York state non-public schools to report suspected incidents of child abuse to the authorities, the New York State Education Department has updated its web page to eliminate any possible ambiguities.

Section 413(1)(b) of the Social Services Law obligates all school officials in any non-public school in New York who has have reasonable cause to suspect an incidence of child abuse to immediately inform the Statewide Central Register of Child Abuse and Maltreatment. This report to the state child protection authorities must take place prior to notifying any member of the school or clergy.

“This isn’t a new law,” Elliot Pasik, president of the Jewish Board of Advocates for Children told VIN News. “The State Education Department is announcing a law that already exists, in order to eliminate any possible confusion and misunderstandings. State law mandates that you don’t call your boss, your rabbi or your pope if you suspect something. This is something that cannot be delegated to anyone else. If you have reasonable doubt, you call the child abuse hotline first and only then do you inform your rabbi or school officials.”

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
St. Louis Review

Submitted on April 11, 2012

The St. Louis Archdiocese is committed to keeping children safe from abuse.

Since 2002, when the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops adopted its Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People in response to what the bishops’ blog calls the “horrific crime” of child sexual abuse, the archdiocese — and the other dioceses across the country — established thorough training and prevention programs to protect children and youth from sexual and other abuse.

The archdiocesan Safe Environment Program, begun in 2002, includes mandatory training workshops for all employees and volunteers — clergy, religious and laypeople — who work with children, along with background checks and committing to the Code of Ethical Conduct. All children in Catholic schools and parish schools of religion participate in age-appropriate Safe Touch programs to learn how to protect themselves from being abused.

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UNITED STATES
Rough Sects

The US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has released the 9th annual report of the National Review Board set up by the bishops to monitor compliance with the “Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People” (the so-called Dallas Charter).

Notably, the Board itself did not write the report; it was written for the Board by the Secretariat of Child and Youth Protection of the USCCB, which is the procedure set up by the bishops in the Charter itself.

The USCCB calls the report an “audit” which then can be characterized in the USCCB press release accompanying a link to the Report, by the headline – “Child Protection Audits Find Nearly All Dioceses Compliant.”

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PITTSBURGH (PA)
Renew America

Randy Engel

Introduction

On April 14, 2012, the Catholic Men’s Fellowship (CMF) of Pittsburgh is holdings its 7th annual gathering of Catholic men at Duquesne University. The theme of the conference is “Living the Eucharist in Today’s America. The CFM is a “lay apostolate,” part of the world-wide “New Evangelization” program in the post-Conciliar Church which seeks to reinvigorate the faith among Catholics.

Bishop David Zubik has promoted the CMF conference in a letter dated March 6, 2012, to all Pittsburgh pastors, and conference fliers have been inserted into church bulletins throughout the diocese. Among the featured speakers is the controversial Father Robert A. Sirico, co-founder and President of the Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty, a non-denominational “think tank” dedicated to integrating free market capitalism with religion, especially Catholicism.

Up until the summer of 2006 when my book, The Rite of Sodomy was published, I had no knowledge of Sirico, his involvement with the early Homosexual Movement on the West Coast, or the Acton Institute. However, my journalistic curiosity was peaked when I learned that Sirico, who did indeed have a vivid homosexual past, had become the “religious superior” of an Oratory (in formation) of St. Philip Neri in the Diocese of Kalamazoo, Michigan.

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SPAIN
National Post (Canada)

By Cristina Fuentes-Cantillana

MADRID — An elderly Spanish nun appeared in court on Thursday to face charges of stealing babies, after claims by hundreds of women that their infants were taken from them at birth and given away in illegal adoptions.

Doctors, nurses and religious workers at several clinics and hospitals in Spain are alleged to have sold babies for adoption over decades, after telling new mothers that their infants had died.

At the hearing at Madrid’s Superior Tribunal of Justice, Maria Gomez Valbuena, a Sisters of Charity nun now in her 80s who once worked in the Santa Cristina hospital in Madrid, became the first person accused in the widening scandal.

Clad in a dark habit, she was questioned by a judge but invoked her right not to testify.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

Nick McKenzie, Richard Baker and Jane Lee
April 13, 2012

CONFIDENTIAL police reports have detailed the suicides of at least 40 people sexually abused by Catholic clergy in Victoria, and have urged a new inquiry into these and many other deaths suspected to be linked to abuse in the church.

In a damning assessment of the church’s handling of abuse issues, the reports say it appears the church has known about a shockingly high rate of suicides and premature deaths but has “chosen to remain silent.”

Written by Detective Sergeant Kevin Carson, the reports state that while conducting lengthy inquiries into paedophile clergy, investigators have discovered “an inordinate number of suicides which appear to be a consequence of sexual offending.

“The number of people contacting this office to report members of their family, people they know, people they went to school with, who have taken their lives is constant. It would appear that an investigation would uncover many more deaths as a consequence of clergy sexual abuse,” one of the reports states.

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BELGIE
Het Nieuwsblad

Het artikel dat woensdag in de krant Het Laatste Nieuws staat over Operatie Kelk, bevat niets meer dan opgewarmde kost. Dat zegt meester Fernand Keuleneer, de advocaat van kardinaal Danneels. In het artikel staat dat Danneels zeker 40 maal op de hoogte werd gebracht van seksueel misbruik binnen de Kerk maar daar niets tegen ondernam.

‘De kardinaal formuleerde zijn antwoorden toen hij gehoord werd door de parlementaire commissie betreffende de behandeling van seksueel misbruik en dat verslag kan door iedereen worden geraadpleegd op de website van de Kamer’, aldus Fernand Keuleneer. De advocaat laat verstaan dat de kardinaal aan zijn antwoorden van toen niets heeft toe te voegen.

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DEUTSCHLAND
themen

Ehemaliger Rektor hatte jahrzehntelangen Missbrauch von Schülern öffentlich gemacht

Berlin (dapd). Der Jesuiten-Pater Klaus Mertes erhält den Gustav-Heinemann-Bürgerpreis 2012. Mertes habe sich für Missbrauchsopfer der katholischen Kirche eingesetzt, teilte die SPD am Donnerstag mit. Mit einem Brief an die ehemaligen Schüler des Canisius-Kollegs habe der damalige Rektor der Schule den jahrzehntelangen Missbrauch von Schülern öffentlich gemacht. “Erst dadurch wurde Aufklärung möglich”, hieß es weiter.

Alois Glück, Präsident des Zentralkomitees des deutschen Katholiken (ZdK), gratulierte Mertes. “Mit dieser Auszeichnung wird gewürdigt, dass Sie mit Ihrem mutigen und offenen Einsatz für die Opfer sexuellen Missbrauchs weit über die katholische Kirche hinaus große Wertschätzung erfahren”, sagte Glück.

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NEDERLAND
Eindhoven Dichtbij

De strafeis voor Robert M. is bepaald, maar hoe zit het met de slachtoffers, waar kunnen zij op rekenen? De discussie rondom de gevolgen voor de slachtoffers is wisselende, en een gevaarlijke.

Sommige deskundigen en columnisten beweren dat de gevolgen voor de slachtoffers nog wel eens zouden kunnen meevallen. Zo stelt psycholoog Ruud Bullens in de Volkskrant dat een baby van tien maanden het verschil niet ervaart tussen een thermometer die in de anus wordt ingebracht of iets anders dat naar binnen gaat.

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VERENIGDE STATEN
Reformatorisch Dagblad (Nederland)

WASHINGTON – De Rooms-Katholieke Kerk in de Verenigde Staten heeft voor 2011 bijna 600 klachten van seksueel misbruik met minderjarigen geregistreerd. Het misbruik kostte de kerk vorig jaar 144 miljoen dollar (dik 109 miljoen euro).

Volgens het dinsdag gepubliceerde jaarverslag van de rooms-katholieke bisschoppenconferentie van Amerika gaat het om 594 gevallen. Dat zijn er 89 meer dan in 2010, aldus La Croix woensdag. Het jaar 2004 was een dieptepunt met ruim 1000 misbruikklachten.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Catholics4Change

April 12, 2012 by Susan Matthews

All are invited to attend a FREE Child Abuse Prevention Seminar on Saturday, April 14, from 9-11 a.m. at the Upper Main Line YMCA, 1416 Berwyn-Paoli Road, Berwyn, Johnson Room, Early Learning Center.

Sponsored by JUSTICE4PAKIDS the seminar features experts on keeping kids safe from sex abuse. “We all know the message of stranger danger, but in fact 90% of all sexually abused kids are abused by someone they know very well like a coach, a step father, a teacher, etc,” says Maureen Martinez, President and Co-Founder of Justice4pakids.

The line up of speakers includes:

Al Chesley, a former linebacker for the Philadelphia Eagles, who will relay his experience as a victim of child sexual abuse.

Dr. Marita E. Lind M.D. FAAP, a board-certified child abuse pediatrician who treats children who have experienced sexual abuse, physical abuse and medical neglect, will discuss the severe health related ramifications of child sexual abuse. She will teach parents the tell tale signs and symptoms of abuse.

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ITALIA
Savona News

“Si comunica che in data odierna è stata notificata dal Tribunale di Savona l’udienza di opposizione all’archiviazione nei confronti di Dante Lafranconi vescovo di Cremona, imputato in ordine al reato di cui l’articolo 110, 40 C. II, 609 bis, 609 ter, 609 quater del Codice Penale.

“Il Giudice per le Indagini Preliminari Dott. Fiorenza Giorgi letta l’opposizione alla richiesta di archiviazione proposta da Zanardi Francesco in relazione al procedimento penale iscritto al N° 472/2012/21 R.G. N.R. ; letto l’articolo 409, secondo comma C.P.P. fissa per l’esame delle proposta opposizione l’udienza del 2 maggio 2012 alle ore 12,00 in Savona”.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Dorchester Reporter

[New Garabedian List – BishopAccountability.org]

By
Tom Mulvoy and Bill Forry, Reporter Staff
Apr. 12, 2012

Fr. James Lane: Longtime pastor at St. Brendan parishA story in Wednesday’s Boston Globe reported that a settlement had been reached between the archdiocese of Boston and an individual who claimed he had been sexually abused by the late Rev. James H. Lane, the longtime pastor of St. Brendan’s Parish who was for many years a chaplain with the Boston Police Department. Lane died in 2007.

The newspaper pointed out that “as is standard,” none of a dozen settlements mentioned in the story “involved an admission of guilt.”

Terence Donilon, the spokesman for the archdiocese, confirmed the settlement in the Lane case and in another claim while telling the Globe that the church’s investigations “were inconclusive because both involved a single victim who professed to have been abused more than 40 years ago by a priest who died before he could answer the allegations.”

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
CBS

PHILADELPHIA — An expert on Roman Catholic church law is testifying in the trial of a Philadelphia monsignor charged with endangering children during the priest sex-abuse scandal.

The Rev. Thomas Doyle says nothing in church law prevents church officials from fully investigating complaints, removing priests from their jobs during investigations or contacting civil authorities.

Philadelphia prosecutors say Monsignor William Lynn conspired with abusers and other church officials to keep church members and police in the dark about scores of sex-abuse complaints reported to the Archdiocese of Philadelphia since about 1950.

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IRELAND
RTE News

A new survey shows that the majority of Irish Catholics favour married and women priests.

It also found that the Church’s teaching on sexuality was irrelevant for almost three quarters of respondents.

The Contemporary Catholic Perspectives survey was carried out for the Association of Catholic Priests by Amárach Consulting.

1,000 Catholics were questioned over a two-week period in February.

It found that there was a disconnect between official church teaching and what Catholics actually believe. 87% said priest should be allowed to marry, while 77% said women should be ordained.

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IRELAND
The Irish Times

PATSY MCGARRY Religious Affairs Correspondent

The Church’s teachings on sexuality have “no relevance” to 75 per cent of Irish Catholics or their families, a new survey has found.

It has also established that 87 per cent of Irish Catholics believe priests should be allowed marry, 77 per cent believe there should be women priests while 72 per cent believe older, married, men should be allowed become priests.

The Amárach survey also found weekly Mass attendance in Ireland, at 35 per cent, is one of the highest in Europe.

Commissioned by the Association of Catholic Priests (ACP), the Contemporary Catholic Perspectives survey was carried out among 1,000 Catholics throughout the island of Ireland over a two-week period in February.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

By Joseph A. Slobodzian
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

A priest who is also a lawyer and expert on Catholic church law told a Philadelphia jury today that canon law requires bishops to investigate and bring to trial by church tribunal allegations of sex abuse of minors.

Thomas P. Doyle, a Dominican priest who said he has studied and consulted with church officials since the first sex-abuse case involving minors erupted in 1984 in Louisiana, was called by city prosecutors to explain to the Common Pleas Court jury the arcane elements of Catholic theology and canon law.

Doyle rebutted several popular misconceptions about church law involving wayward priests. He said bishops who do not investigate and try allegations of sex-abuse of minors could themselves be prosecuted under church law.

Doyle testified that canon law requires priests, bishops and other clerics to obey the law of the country in which the church is located – except in cases where a municipal law would violate an absolute church or moral teaching.

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IRELAND
The Guardian (United Kingdom)

[the survey]

Henry McDonald, Ireland correspondent
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 12 April 2012

An overwhelming majority of Catholics in Ireland want priests to be allowed to marry, according to a survey conducted on behalf of the Irish priesthood’s unofficial representative association.

The Association of Catholic Priests’ opinion poll, released on Thursday, found that 87% of Irish Catholics said priests should be allowed to marry.

The survey of 1,000 Catholics questioned over a fortnight in February by Amarach Consulting also discovered that 77% of believers said women should be ordained.

And 60% of Irish Catholics disagreed with the hierarchy’s hardline on homosexuality. Only 9% of those polled “agreed strongly” with Catholic traditional teaching that homosexuality was immoral.

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IRELAND
Kerryman

Thursday April 12 2012

Catholic priests in Ireland were treated like imbeciles during a Vatican probe into the clerical child abuse crisis that rocked the country, it has been claimed.

Father Sean McDonagh criticised the investigation and maintained processes used by Rome when examining complaints about clergy were appalling.

The Columban Father, a founding member of the liberal Association of Catholic Priests (ACP), described the publishing of a seven-page summary of a report from the unprecedented Vatican probe – known as an apostolic visitation – as incompetent.

Four senior churchmen, cardinals and archbishops from England, America and Canada were sent by Pope Benedict to examine child protection measures in archdiocese, seminaries and religious institutes across Ireland in response to the catalogue of abuse outlined in the shocking Murphy and Ryan reports.

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BELGIQUE
La Croix

Selon une information communiquée par le journal belge Het Laatste Nieuws , le cardinal Godfried Danneels, archevêque de Malines-Bruxelles de 1979 à 2010, aurait été informé au moins à quarante reprises de cas d’abus sexuels au sein de l’Église lors des dernières décennies. C’est ce que révèlent des fuites communiquées par une source proche de l’« Opération Calice », menée par les autorités belges à la suite de scandales pédophiles dans le pays.

Or, si le cardinal Danneels a toujours affirmé qu’il était surpris par le nombre d’abus commis au sein de l’Église, le journal affirme qu’il aurait été informé de certaines situations dans son diocèse, mais aussi dans le reste de la Flandre. Des lettres de plainte lui auraient notamment été envoyées ; celui-ci se serait parfois contenté de répondre qu’il prierait pour les victimes. Dans un cas, il aurait même changé un prêtre pédophile de paroisse, sans en informer la justice.

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BELGIE
hbvl

Het federaal parket geeft geen enkele commentaar of reactie op de berichten die de afgelopen dagen in de pers verschenen over Operatie Kelk in verband met de resultaten van het gerechtelijk onderzoek of op handen zijnde onderzoeksdaden. Volgens de woordvoerster, Lieve Pellens, is de timing die in de media vermeld wordt over de afsluiting van het onderzoek op zijn minst voorbarig.

Een krant van De Persgroep meldde woensdag dat kardinaal Danneels de voorbije jaren minstens 40 maal op de hoogte werd gebracht van seksueel misbruik door geestelijken, terwijl De Morgen donderdag aankondigt dat de kardinaal in de komende dagen opnieuw zou verhoord worden.

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IRELAND
Irish Central

By
Irish Voice Editorial

Published Thursday, April 12, 2012

The silencing of an Irish priest, Father Kevin Flannery, by the Vatican because of his liberal views has once again damaged the church in Ireland and worldwide.

The fact that the Association of Irish Priests, 800 strong, has come out in opposition to the Vatican move underlines once again how ordinary priests are becoming increasingly angry at the heavy hand that rules from the Holy See.

Flannery made plain his opposition to how the church handled the child sexual abuse issue, stated he was in favor of women priests and offered other liberal opinions.

He was silenced by the church, whose rapid actions on this issue contrast sharply with the foot dragging everywhere over the horrific abuse scandals which continue to bedevil the church.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
York Dispatch

By MARYCLAIRE DALE Associated Press
Updated: 04/12/2012

PHILADELPHIA—An expert on Roman Catholic church law is testifying in the trial of a Philadelphia monsignor charged with endangering children during the priest-abuse scandal.

The Rev. Thomas Doyle says nothing in church or “canon” law prevents church officials from fully investigating complaints, removing priests from their jobs during investigations, and contacting civil authorities.

Philadelphia prosecutors say Monsignor William Lynn conspired with abusers and other church officials to keep church members and police in the dark about scores of complaints reported to the Archdiocese of Philadelphia since about 1950.

Lynn could spend years in prison if convicted of conspiracy and child endangerment. He is the first Catholic church official in the U.S. charged for his administrative response to abuse complaints.

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MICHIGAN
Diocese of Grand Rapids

[the report]

[SUMMARY OF HIGHLIGHTS]

[Summary of Priest Personnel]

[Resources]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 12, 2012
Contact: Michael Zalewski, SeyferthPR
Phone: 800-435-9539
Email: zalewski@seyferthpr.com

DIOCESE OF GRAND RAPIDS SHARES VISION, PROCESS, RECOMMENDATIONS OF “OUR FAITH, OUR FUTURE” PASTORAL PLAN

Grand Rapids, Mich., April 12, 2012 – Today, the Diocese of Grand Rapids shared the vision, process and recommendations resulting from its pastoral planning process “Our Faith, Our Future.” Launched in 2009, the strategic plan is designed to establish a well-defined direction for future decisions and facilitate change to assure a strong and vibrant Church in the 11-county diocese. Recommendations contained in the report released today include that some parishes cluster with other parishes; a smaller number merge with other parishes and maintain more than one church for worship; and a few merge with other parishes and close their current churches. A copy of the full report is available on the Diocese of Grand Rapids website, www.dioceseofgrandrapids.org, under News and Current Events.

“For the church in the Diocese of Grand Rapids to realize its goals, it must strategically follow a clear direction over many years toward a vision that is widely understood and embraced,” said Rev. Monsignor William H. Duncan, vicar general for the diocese and overall coordinator of the planning process. “This plan will fulfill the church’s mission to face new challenges precipitated by changes such as declining or growing populations, shifting cultural attitudes, a new generation of Catholics in the Church, growth of the Hispanic community and fewer clergy.”

The process began with and proceeded from input provided by key stakeholders including pastors, school principals, parish council members, parish staff members and parish lay leaders.

“Our challenge was how best to aid in developing a plan that would allow all people of the diocese to be represented in the final vision,” said Paul Judd, parish lay leader and member of St. Mary Church in Lowell. “The greatest joy was discovering the commonalities we have as members of the Church as we discussed how best to use our God-given resources and to create a more vibrant, connected diocesan community all working toward bringing Christ to all we encounter.”

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GRAND RAPIDS (MO)
MLive.com

By Heidi Fenton | hfenton@mlive.com

GRAND RAPIDS, MI — The Grand Rapids Diocese today will formally release what leaders are referring to as a “roadmap for the future”—a plan that calls for a dramatic restructuring of parishes across West Michigan through mergers, clusters, and the closing of three Grand Rapids-area churches.

The “Our Faith, Our Future” plan is nearly three years in the making and involved consultation with priests from all nine deaneries of the diocese, and parish lay members.

Bishop Walter A. Hurley gave his approval April 5.

“We knew we were faced with fewer priests. We knew that in parishes, finances were stretched. We knew that we had a lot of aging facilities that had to be addressed in one way or another,” Hurley said on Wednesday, a day before church leaders were to publicly release the plan. “We’ve completed the study. Now we’re ready to move forward using this as a roadmap for the future.”

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IRELAND
Herald

By Michael Lavery

Thursday April 12 2012

IRISH clerics have rallied around a priest advised by the Vatican to take six weeks to “reflect” on his open-minded beliefs.

The Vatican’s attitude to Fr Tony Flannery is causing conflict between priests here and the Church hierarchy.

Well-known Dublin priest Fr Peter McVerry said he was “saddened but not surprised” by the Church’s actions in ending Fr Flannery’s monthly column for the Redemptorist magazine Reality. Senior clergy in Rome are understood to be annoyed by Galway priest’s views on contraception, celibacy and women’s ordination.

And today a senior Irish priest hit out at the “diktat culture of obedience to authority”, accusing the Pope and his advisers of attempting to row back on Catholic Church reforms initiated in the 1960s by Vatican II.

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IRELAND
Bourne Local (United Kingdom)

The vast majority of Irish Catholics want women and married priests, liberal clergymen have found.

The Association of Catholic Priests (ACP), which has had one of its founding members silenced by the Vatican for his views, insists it has public support for Pope Benedict to open dialogue on the controversial bans.

The group of more than 800 priests in Ireland claimed they have a mandate from mass-goers to raise concerns after a survey revealed a disconnect between official church teachings and what ordinary Catholics believe.

Almost nine out of 10 Catholics questioned said priests should be allowed to marry, with 77% believing women should be ordained.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Patch

By Brendan Lewis

Attorney Mitchell Garabedian, who represents sex abuse victims, recently released the names of six priests accused of sexual abuse, according to an article on My Fox Boston.

Among them, Brother Peter Claver, who is now deceased, taught at the Sacred Heart School, formerly located in the heart of Shawsheen Village in Andover.

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NEDERLAND
HRC Handelsblad

door Pim van den Dool

Justitie heeft een aangifte van meineed tegen kardinaal Ad Simonis die een misbruikslachtoffer van de rooms-katholieke kerk eerder dit jaar heeft gedaan, geseponeerd. Volgens het Openbaar Ministerie in Middelburg is er onvoldoende aanleiding voor een verdenking.

Volgens de aangever heeft de kardinaal begin vorig jaar gelogen bij een verhoor in een rechtszaak over seksueel misbruik door de inmiddels overleden pater Jan N. De man, die bij de rechtszaak betrokken was omdat hij naar eigen zeggen zelf is misbruikt door N., stapte naar de politie naar aanleiding van het rapport van de commissie-Deetman.

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OSTERREICH
Die Presse

Sehr geehrter Herr Kardinal!

Wir – der Vorstand der Pfarrerinitiative – haben uns um Pfingsten 2011 in einem „Aufruf zum Ungehorsam” gemeldet, weil wir unsere dringenden Reformwünsche öffentlich machen wollten. Das ist uns inzwischen sogar weltweit und bis zur Gründonnerstagspredigt des Papstes gelungen. Die jahrzehntelang intern vorgebrachten Vorschläge und Anregungen wurden ja bisher stets höflich zu den Akten befördert. Wir haben hier eine Provokation riskiert, die zwar bestens funktioniert hat, jedoch Ihr Amtsverständnis als Hierarch so sehr verletzt, dass Sie seither beharrlich die Revision eines einzigen Wortes verlangen: Ungehorsam. Um es offen zu sagen: Das Reizwort war der Türöffner – es hat uns den weltweiten Diskurs ermöglicht. Dass Sie noch immer die Revision der Überschrift urgieren, statt die Inhalte zu diskutieren, sagt viel über Ihr Autoritätsverständnis aus: Sie beziehen den Gehorsam, den wir Gott, seiner Weisung und dem Gewissen schulden, auf sich – auf Sie persönlich und auf Ihr Amt.

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According to Cardinal Schönborn’s spokesman, the Vatican did not ask for measures to be taken against dissident Austrian priests. Stangl says theological reflection is needed

Alessandro Speciale
Vatican City

Austrian bishops received no diktat from the Vatican ordering them to intervene against priests who form part of the Pfarrer Initiative. Confirmation of this was given to Vatican Insider by Michael Prüller, spokesman to the Archbishop of Vienna, Cardinal Christoph Schönborn.

Reports about the “explosive” letter which asked for “something to be done” against Austrian parish priests who launched an “Appeal to Disobedience” which Pope Benedict XVI openly discussed in his Holy Thursday homily, appeared on Austrian Catholic website Kath.net on Holy Saturday.

According to Prüller, the letter sent in recent weeks by the Holy See mentioned nothing new about the meeting held with Austrian bishops in the Vatican, last January, on the question of “rebel” priests – which Vatican Insider reported on at the time.

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IRELAND
Vatican Insider

[the survey – The Association of Catholic Priests]

A major survey of the views of Irish Catholics reveals a strong divergence from Roman Catholic teaching on such issues as sexual morality, celibacy, women’s ordination, and homosexuality

Gerard O’Connell

Is Ireland still Catholic? That question is being asked following the publication in Dublin, April 12, of a major survey of the views of contemporary Irish Catholics.

The survey reveals that a majority hold views on sexual morality, celibacy, the ordination of women, homosexuality and several other issues that are in contrast with current Catholic Church teaching.

In response to the shortage of priests, 87% of Irish Catholics say priests should be allowed to marry, 77% support women’s ordination, 72% favor the ordination of mature married men. Even more significantly, 75% say the Catholic Church’s teaching on sexuality is not relevant to their own lives or to their families. The 25% that find such teachings relevant are frequent church -goers or people over 55.

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MISSOURI
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Barbara Dorris on April 11, 2012

A few Missouri lawmakers want to stop requiring convicted sex offenders to list their work addresses on the state sex offender registry. (Some say this requirement makes it harder for some offenders to get some jobs.

We oppose this proposal.

Depending on what statistics you believe, roughly one in four or five girls and one in seven or eight boys is sexually violated.

So the real problem is that too many innocent kids can’t live the safe childhoods they deserve, not that too many child molesters can’t get the better jobs they prefer.

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NEDERLAND
Metro

Justitie heeft een aangifte van meineed tegen kardinaal Ad Simonis die een misbruikslachtoffer van de rooms-katholieke kerk eerder dit jaar heeft gedaan, geseponeerd. Volgens het Openbaar Ministerie in Middelburg is er onvoldoende aanleiding voor een verdenking, laat een woordvoerder woensdag weten.

Volgens de aangever heeft de kardinaal begin vorig jaar gelogen bij een verhoor in een rechtszaak over seksueel misbruik door de inmiddels overleden pater Jan N. De man, die bij de rechtszaak betrokken was omdat hij naar eigen zeggen zelf is misbruikt door N., stapte naar de politie naar aanleiding van het rapport van de commissie-Deetman.

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IRELAND
Irish Central

By
JAMES O’SHEA,
IrishCentral Staff Writer

Published Thursday, April 12, 2012

Several leading priests in Ireland are predicting a “Catholic Spring” as dissent against the Vatican decision to ban Father Tony Flannery grows.

The Daily Beast website has reported that leading priests now believe that the Vatican has gone too far in silencing Father Flannery who has been sent to a monastery to reflect on his actions.The Association of Catholic Priests which has 800 members has already come out strongly against the silencing.

Another leading priest Father Sean MacDonagh a founder of the ACP has now strongly criticised the Vatican move.

“It is a bit like Walmart, where you have the CEO in Rome and his people there decide on policy and then insist that the bishops, as branch managers, implement that policy,” he told the Irish Examiner.

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IRELAND
The Connacht Tribune

April 12, 2012

by Bernie Ní Fhlatharta

Fellow members of the Association of Catholic Priests have voiced their solidarity with the Galway priest who has been silenced by the Vatican over his backing for the Taoiseach’s condemnation of the Church’s response to clerical sex abuse in Ireland.

Fr Tony Flannery, who is based in the Redemptorist Monastery in Esker, was silenced following his public support of Taoiseach Enda Kenny’s attack on rhe Vatican’s handling child sex abuse allegations. An Taoiseach, speaking in the Dáil earlier this year, called on the Catholic Church to apologise.

Fr Flannery who was also one of the founders of the Association of Catholic Priests, visited Rome two months ago to argue his case after he was censured by the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, which ordered that he stop writing in the Redemptorist Order’s own magazine, Reality or on the Association’s website.

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IRELAND
Newser

By Rob Quinn, Newser Staff

Posted Apr 12, 2012

(Newser) – A popular Irish priest known for his liberal views has been told to shut up by church authorities, reports the Daily Beast. Father Tony Flannery, who has questioned the doctrine of celibacy, and said the priesthood should be opened up to women, has been told to stop writing about controversial subjects, and to spend the next six weeks in prayer and reflection at a monastery. His monthly column in a Catholic magazine has been axed on orders from the Vatican.

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IRELAND
Kilkenny People

Published on Wednesday 11 April 2012

WITHIN ten years, a significant number of existing Catholic parishes in the Diocese of Ossory, will be without a full-time priest. Not so long ago, the diocese boasted 140 clerics and that number is now down to 65 and will shrink further with a number of senior clerics expected to step down in the next two years.

The lack of vocations is already beginning to bite with less Masses, especially in rural areas with only one person in the last seven years opting for life in the clergy

And the failure of the Vatican to appoint a new Bishop in the adjacent Diocese of Kildare and Leighlin has fuelled speculation that the current Bishop of Ossory, Dr Seamus Freeman will be asked to take over the diocese that includes Paulstown, Graignamanagh, all of Co Carlow, Co. Kildare and parts of Co. Offaly.

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UNITED STATES
Jackson Sun

By Gene Davenport

In June of last year a group of approximately 300 Austrian priests published “Appeal to Disobedience,” a document in which they pledged to pray and work for several major reforms in the church. The number of signers now has been expanded by priests from other parts of the world.

The document was primarily the work of Father Helmut Schuller, at the time a chief aid to one of the Austrian bishops and one of the best known priests in Austria. Noting the serious decrease in the number of men entering the priesthood, the document set forth the signers’ pledges 1) to pray, at every ceremony, for church reform; 2) not to deny Holy Communion to “believers of good will” — even to non-Catholic Christians and to Catholics who have remarried outside the church; 3) to avoid offering Mass more than once on Sundays and holy days (primarily to avoid offering it at more than one church), but at churches not having a priest to have a “priestless Eucharistic celebration”; 4) to ignore the rule that only ordained clergy can deliver a homily (or a sermon); 5) to oppose the merger of parishes as a means of solving the shortage of priests, but to insist on parishes having their own leaders, whether male or female; and 6) “to use every opportunity to speak out openly” in favor of the admission of married men and of women to the priesthood.

In an interview with a Catholic magazine Schuller said that he had at one time hoped for changes in the Church in line with the work of Vatican Council II, but that now he fears the Church is in the hands of leaders who want it to “go backwards … and (be) a fortress against the world.”

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NEDERLAND
ED

MIDDELBURG – Het Openbaar Ministerie (OM) in Middelburg heeft een aangifte tegen kardinaal Ad Simonis wegens meineed geseponeerd. Een woordvoerster van het OM zei woensdag dat er onvoldoende aanleiding is voor een verdenking.

Een man die zegt dat hij is misbruikt door de vorig jaar overleden salesiaanse pater Jan N., stapte na publicatie van het onderzoek door Wim Deetman naar de politie. De man meent dat de kardinaal tijdens getuigenverhoor bij de rechtbank in Middelburg heeft gelogen toen hij zei dat hij niet wist over misbruik van kinderen door geestelijken.

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NEDERLAND
NOS

Het Openbaar Ministerie heeft een aangifte tegen kardinaal Simonis wegens meineed geseponeerd. “We hebben de aangifte nader bekeken en er is onvoldoende bewijs om Simonis te vervolgen”, zegt een woordvoerder van het OM.

Een slachtoffer van pastoor Jan N. in Rijswijk had aangifte gedaan tegen Simonis wegens meineed. De kardinaal zou volgens het slachtoffer vorig jaar hebben gelogen voor de rechtbank in Middelburg toen hij werd gehoord als getuige.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
CBS Philly

By Tony Hanson

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – A mother’s pain and allegedly mis-placed trust is detailed at the clergy abuse trial. The jury has now heard from the mother of a man, who testified last week that he was assaulted in 1996 during an overnight stay at a priest’s residence.

The witness has testified Father James Brennan was like a brother to her, uncle to her children. But things changed after that overnight incident. Her son would only say something weird happened. She and her husband confronted Father Brennan, who, she says, acknowledged something inappropriate happened, but said they had to talk to their son.

Father Brennan has pleaded not guilty.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

BY JOHN P. MARTIN & JOSEPH A. SLOBODZIAN
Inquirer Staff Writers

THE BUCKS COUNTY mother was perplexed.

Her 14-year-old son was visibly shaken after spending the night with the Rev. James Brennan in 1996, she said. The boy clung to his mother and refused to sleep alone in his bed. But he wouldn’t tell her what happened at the priest’s apartment, she said.

Brennan, an inspiring priest and friend so close she considered him a brother, was just as evasive when she and her husband pressed him days later for answers, she told a Common Pleas jury Wednesday.

“He said something inappropriate happened and it will never happen again,” she said.

Prosecutors called the woman in a bid to bolster their claim that Brennan tried to rape the teen. They say his co-defendant, Monsignor William J. Lynn, the former secretary for clergy for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, knew or had reason to suspect that Brennan would sexually abuse minors.

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IRELAND
The Association of Catholic Priests

This research was commissioned by The Association of Catholic Priests to gain an understanding of Catholic’s views on contemporary Catholicism.

You can download the report here

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

By Dan Buckley

Thursday, April 12, 2012

A senior Irish cleric has launched a broadside at Pope Benedict XVI and his senior advisers, accusing them of attempting to row back on Catholic Church reforms initiated in the 1960s by Vatican II.

He said the Pope and his governing body, the Curia, was far too insistent on demanding unswerving obedience to the Holy See while stifling dialogue among the laity and the ministry.

“It is a bit like Walmart, where you have the CEO in Rome and his people there decide on policy and then insist that the bishops, as branch managers, implement that policy,” said Fr Sean McDonagh, a founder of the 800-strong Association of Catholic Priests, which was set up two years ago to give a voice to priests within the Irish Church.

“If Rome says ‘jump’ are we simply expected to say, ‘how high?’ Operating like a multinational where the number one requirement is obedience is at total variance with the Church of Jesus,” said Fr McDonagh.

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IRELAND
TV3

12.04.12

Irish Catholics are in favour of allowing women become priests according to a new survey.

It also found that Catholics in Ireland are in favour of priests being allowed to marry.

People surveyed said they would also like to see a return to the old liturgy during mass.

The research was carried out by Amárach for the Association of Catholic Priests. It reveals that there is a significant disconnect between the official Catholic Church teachings and what Catholics actually believe.

The findings of the report on Contemporary Catholic Perspectives found:

•A relatively even split on the Catholic Church’s understanding of the challenges faced by Catholics, although uncertainly surrounding Bishop’s listening to Irish priests and laypeople.

•Only 1 in 10 believe that the Catholic Church has some independence from Rome, with almost 3 in 5 (57%) believing them to be subservient.

•The majority of people favour Catholic Bishops serving a fixed term (55%), while relatively even split for as long as they like or until 75.

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BELGIUM
Catholic Culture

A Belgian newspaper has reported that Cardinal Godfried Danneels, the retired Archbishop of Brussels, was notified at least 40 times about sexual abuse by priests under his jurisdiction. The cardinal’s lawyer has angrily denied the report.

Citing news leaks from a government investigation of the sex-abuse scandal in the Catholic Church, Het Laatste Nieuws said that Cardinal Danneels has testified that he was unaware of abuse complaints, and was astonished when those complaints surfaced years later.

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UNITED STATES
California Catholic Daily

[the report]

Washington, D.C. (CNA/EWTN News) — Law enforcement found only seven credible allegations of sexual abuse of minors against Catholic clergy in the U.S. in 2010 and 2011, though more abuse victims from past decades have come forward, according to the latest report on child protection in the Catholic Church.

In response to the findings, Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, urged continued attention to abuse prevention.

“While the report supports the conclusion of both studies done by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice – that the majority of allegations are way in the past – the Church must continue to be vigilant,” he said in the report’s preface.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Priest Abuse Trial Blog

Ralph Cipriano

She seemed genuinely conflicted. In two hours on the witness stand, Patricia Bukowski acknowledged that the defendant, Father James J. Brennan, was a gifted priest who had helped her through one of the darkest periods of her life.

“We hit it off,” Bukowski testified at the archdiocese of Philadelphia sex abuse trial. “He [Father Brennan] would come to dinner on Sunday. We became very close friends,” Bukowski told the jury. The Bukowski family called him Father at first, then it was just Jim.

He became “a member of the family,” Bukowski said. “He was like a brother to me.”

But Patricia “Trish” Bukowski of Newtown, Bucks County, is also the mother of Mark Bukowski, Father Brennan’s principal accuser. In two days on the witness stand last week, Mark Bukowski charged that in 1996 when he was 14 years old, Father Brennan allegedly attempted to rape him.

After the attempted rape, Mark Bukowski told the jury, he became trapped in a downward spiral of drug and alcohol abuse, numerous criminal convictions, three suicide attempts and a discharge from the Marines for mental health reasons.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
The New York Times

By JON HURDLE

Published: April 11, 2012

PHILADELPHIA — A Roman Catholic bishop told his superiors that a church worker was trying to “stir up conflict” after she reported her concern that a priest in her parish was receiving pornography in the mail, a court heard on Wednesday.

Bishop Robert P. Maginnis of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia wrote in 1996 to the office of Msgr. William J. Lynn, former secretary for clergy at the archdiocese, in response to a complaint from a Sister of Mercy about pornographic magazines received by another priest, the Rev. Edward M. DePaoli.

Bishop Maginnis, who as vicar of Montgomery County, Pa., was responsible for the parish, told the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas that he could not remember much about the episode but that he had been trying at the time to establish whether the sister’s assertions were true.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

By Edel Kennedy

Thursday April 12 2012

THE family of a dead man accused of child sex abuse on RTE’s ‘Mission To Prey’ programme has called on the Communications Minister to open an investigation into the accusations.

The family of Brother Gerard Dillon told the Irish Independent yesterday that a request made to the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) to investigate his case alongside that of Fr Kevin Reynolds had been rejected.

The reason given was that the complaint was made more than 30 days after the ‘Prime Time Investigates’ programme was broadcast.

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MASSACHUSETTS
MetroWest Daily News

[Archdiocese of Boston’s list of accused priests]

[New Garabedian List – BishopAccountability.org]

By Julia Spitz/Daily News staff
MetroWest Daily News

Posted Apr 12, 2012

A priest who lived at the former Marist House in Framingham for more than 15 years was among a dozen clerics named in recent sexual abuse claims settlements, Boston attorney Mitchell Garabedian announced yesterday.

The Rev. Henry Rancourt, who moved to a retirement building owned by the Stigmatine order in Waltham after the Marist retreat center closed last year, was anonymously accused of molesting boys while serving at St. Angela’s Parish in the Mattapan section of Boston in 1992.

Rancourt, who also served in parishes and schools in Michigan, New York and Ohio, was at the Marist House in 1987-88 and again from 1994 until the center closed in 2011, according to records on the bishopaccountability.org watchdog website.

His status as a priest is listed as “active’’ by the Archdiocese of Boston.

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UNITED STATES
Spyghana (Ghana)

WASHINGTON: About 700 people launched new claims of sexual abuse against Catholic clergy in the United States last year, including 21 who are still minors, according to a new report released by US bishops. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops said in the report released Tuesday that of the 683 adults who reported allegations for the first time, “most allegations reported today are of incidents from previous decades.”

Sixty-eight per cent of the complaints relate to events that took place between 1960 and 1984 — the majority from 1975 to 1979, the report says. Many of the clergy members accused have since died, or been relieved of their church duties. More than 280 of them had been accused in the past, it said.

Of the 21 accusations made by minors, seven were considered credible by the police and three were determined to be false, the report said. Three other cases were still under investigation. The Church spent $144 million dealing with the scandal in the United States in 2011 — including attorneys’ fees, settlements, and support for offenders — a decrease from $150 million in 2010.

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STOCKTON (CA)
The Record

By The Record

April 12, 2012

STOCKTON – Phase Two of a civil trial in which a former altar boy is suing the Diocese of Stockton for damages stemming from a child sex abuse claim was postponed Wednesday and will begin today.

A civil jury has found the pastor of St. Joachim Church in Lockeford, Michael Kelly, liable of various actions related to sexual assault.

On the stand, the plaintiff described being groomed, molested and raped by Kelly when they both served at Cathedral of the Annunciation in Stockton more than 20 years ago, Kelly as priest and plaintiff as an altar boy.

The jury found unanimously in favor of the plaintiff, identified in court papers as John TZ Doe, after two months of testimony. The archdiocese immediately removed him from his position.

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IRELAND
Galway Advertiser

By Martina Nee

The Association of Catholic Priests (ACP) has expressed its support of Fr Tony Flannery, branding the intervention of the Vatican to effectively silence the Athenry-based Redemptorist cleric as “ill-advised” and “unfair”.

The group, which represents more than 800 priests, issued its statement of solidarity this week following events which saw Fr Flannery, a founding member of the association established less than two years ago, placed under investigation by the Vatican following his outspoken views on issues such as the ending of celibacy, opening up the Church to lay people, the ordination of women, the Church’s ban on contraception, as well as his frustration with the way the Church hierarchy operates. The Vatican has also ordered the discontinuation of Fr Flannery’s column in the religious magazine Reality, a column which he has written for the past 14 years. It is understood that a second priest, Fr Gerard Maloney, the magazine’s editor has also been banned from writing on various topics.

Pope Benedict, in the Holy Thursday homily at St Peter’s Basilica, denounced disobedience warning that the Church will not tolerate priests speaking out against Catholic teaching and chastised any priests who sought the ordination of women or the abolition of priest celibacy.

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IRELAND
The Irish Times

HAMLET ORDERED Ophelia to “Get thee to a nunn’ry” to avoid the temptations of a sinful world. The Vatican has suggested that Fr Tony Flannery take himself to a monastery for six weeks to pray and to reflect on his liberal views. Fr Flannery, a Redemptorist priest, has upset the Vatican authorities. They have questioned the “orthodoxy” of some of his theological opinions. They have also censured and – for now – silenced him.

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) – which upholds the teaching and doctrine of the Catholic Church and disciplines theological dissenters – has stopped Fr Flannery writing further articles on a number of issues: contraception, celibacy of priests, and the ordination of women priests. And the CDF has asked him to withdraw from the Association of Catholic Priests (ACP), of which he is a founding member. The organisation was set up in 2010 to provide Irish priests with a forum for debate and to give them an independent voice. Today about one in five priests are members.

The harsh disciplinary measures taken against Fr Flannery have come shortly after publication of the summary findings of the Vatican’s apostolic visitation to Ireland. Pope Benedict sent the group to examine the condition of the Irish church in the wake of the clerical child sex abuse scandal. In its report, the delegation of senior bishops was critical of what it described as a “fairly widespread” tendency among priests, religious, and laity to hold theological opinions “at variance” with the teachings of the church. This criticism of some Irish clergy may well have informed the CDF’s decision in Fr Flannery’s case. Last week, Pope Benedict once again warned that he will not tolerate priests who disobey the essential teachings of the church.

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BELGIE
Welingelichte Kringen

Door: Monique Smits

Hij werd zeker 40 keer op de hoogte gebracht over seksueel misbruik in de rooms-katholieke kerk in België. Maar nooit is de Belgische kardinaal Godfried Danneels met die kennis naar de politie gestapt. Tijdens verhoren heeft hij altijd beweerd verrast te zijn door de omvang van het misbruik. Dat meldt de Vlaamse krant Het Laatste Nieuws op grond van het gerechtelijk dossier van ‘Operatie Kelk’. Daarin staat ondere andere dat de gevallen waarover Danneels werd ingelicht, niet alleen betrekking hadden op zijn eigen bisdom, maar op heel Vlaanderen.

‘In de meeste gevallen is er sprake van teruggevonden briefwisseling tussen Danneels en de slachtoffers, hun families of nabestaanden’, schrijft HLN.

 Soms schreef hij een brief terug waarin hij beloofde te zullen bidden voor de slachtoffers. Soms plaatste de voormalige aartsbisschop een geestelijke over naar een andere gemeente.



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LOUISIANA
Associated Baptist Press

By Bob Allen

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

SHREVEPORT, La. (ABP) – A former Louisiana Baptist camp director has pleaded guilty to sending pornographic photos of himself over the Internet to an undercover police officer posing as a 14-year-old girl, according to media reports.

Michael P. Latham, 45, faces sentencing Aug. 8 in U.S. District Court for attempting to transport obscene material to a minor, a federal law that carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and/or a $250,000 fine.

Latham was arrested last October in a joint investigation by the Louisiana State Police and Claiborne Parish Sheriff’s Office targeting online sexual predators. At the time he was director of Harris Baptist Conference and Retreat Center, a Southern Baptist campground owned by the Bienville, Concord Union and Webster Claiborne Baptist associations in northwest Louisiana.

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UNITED STATES
Veterans News Now

Today, a survivor-led support group for sex abuse victims, which is under attack by U.S. Catholic officials, submitted to the International Criminal Court (ICC) new and extensive documentation that the organization says shows ongoing child rape by Catholic clergy and continuing cover-ups by bishops and Vatican officials. The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) says the new evidence, submitted by SNAP’s attorneys at the Center for Constitutional Rights, underscores the urgent need to prevent future child sex crimes and cover-ups and hold church officials accountable for widespread human rights abuses.

By the Center for Constitutional Rights

Nearly 500 victims, witnesses, whistleblowers and supporters from 65 different countries have reached out to SNAP since September when the organization filed the complaint with the ICC.

“We’re grateful so many brave but wounded and fearful victims across the world are starting to speak up and get help,” said Barbara Blaine, SNAP’s president “But we’re still shocked by how aggressively church officials still hide, ignore and enable clerics to assault kids, escape justice and flee elsewhere while focusing almost strictly on damage control and public relations maneuvers.”

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

VERENIGDE STATEN
Parool (Nederland)

De Amerikaanse Rooms-Katholieke Kerk heeft sinds 2004 bijna 2,5 miljard dollar (1,9 miljard euro) uitgetrokken voor slachtoffers van seksueel misbruik door geestelijken. Dat blijkt uit cijfers die de Amerikaanse bisschoppenconferentie deze week heeft gepubliceerd. Vorig jaar kostten de schandalen de kerk 108 miljoen dollar (83 miljoen euro).

De bisdommen trokken sinds 2004 ruim 2,1 miljard uit voor de slachtoffers. Andere religieuze instellingen, vooral ordes en congregaties, besteedden 358 miljoen. Vorig jaar ging 57 procent van het geld van de bisdommen naar schadevergoedingen en therapieën voor de slachtoffers. De rest werd onder meer besteed aan kosten van advocaten en hulp aan plegers van het seksueel misbruik.

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

BOSTON (MA)
NECN

[with video]

[New Garabedian List – BishopAccountability.org]

(NECN: Jennifer Eagan, Boston) – The Boston Archdiocese has settled sexual abuse cases involving two Massachusetts priests, including a former Boston Police chaplain.

Both priests, Rev. James H. Lane and Rev. Rickard O’Donovan, are now dead. Lane died in 2007, and O’Donovan died in 2000.

One of the priests served at St. Brendan’s parish in Boston.

A victim’s advocacy group says Father James Lane served at the parish in the early 1980s alongside a key figure in the church’s sex abuse cases.

“He had the intention, he had the ability, he had the opportunity and he did it,” said Robert Perron, who says he was nine years old when Father Rickard O’Donovan, a priest at what was then St. Coleman’s Church, offered him private confirmation classes. “I never received anything about confirmation. What I did receive was sexual abuse, and I was molested over 20 times.”

Perron reached a settlement with the Boston Archdiocese for his claims of sexual abuse. Two years of torment, he says, changed his life forever.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Atlanta Journal-Constitution

By JOANN LOVIGLIO
The Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA — A woman whose son gave emotional testimony about his alleged abuse at the hands of a Roman Catholic priest took the stand herself Wednesday at a landmark trial in the priest abuse scandal and said she regrets maintaining contact with the priest for years afterward.

The woman said the Rev. James Brennan was like a brother to her, a confidant and spiritual adviser at a vulnerable time when she was caring for her terminally ill mother and raising three young children, so she remained friendly with him even after her son told her “something weird” happened on an overnight trip with the priest.

“Regrettably, I did not,” she replied Wednesday when asked if she cut ties with Brennan after the alleged 1996 molestation, “and I’ll never forgive myself for it.”

Brennan is on trial with Monsignor William Lynn, the first Roman Catholic official in the U.S. charged with endangering children for allegedly shifting priests suspected of molestation from parish to parish without warning anyone of prior sex-abuse complaints. Both have pleaded not guilty.

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

UNITED STATES
The Times of India

WASHINGTON: About 700 people launched new claims of sexual abuse against Catholic clergy in the United States last year, including 21 who are still minors, according to a new report released by US bishops.

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops said in the report released Tuesday that of the 683 adults who reported allegations for the first time, “most allegations reported today are of incidents from previous decades.”

Sixty-eight per cent of the complaints relate to events that took place between 1960 and 1984 — the majority from 1975 to 1979, the report says.

Many of the clergy members accused have since died, or been relieved of their church duties. More than 280 of them had been accused in the past, it said.

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BOSTON (MA)
Coshocton Tribune

[New Garabedian List – BishopAccountability.org]

By Jay Lindsay, Associated Press

BOSTON (WTW) — A Massachusetts attorney for clergy sex abuse victims released six new names of clerics accused of abuse, saying Wednesday that it shows that a crisis that began a decade ago is far from over.

Mitchell Garabedian said he reached five- or six-figure settlements in all the cases over the past 15 months.

One of the men is living and served in New Jersey. Five are dead and served in various Northeast states, including two who were priests in the Boston Archdiocese.

One of the Boston priests, the Rev. James Lane, reported the notorious abuser John Geoghan to church leaders during the 1980s.

At a news conference, Garabedian singled out the Boston Archdiocese for not disclosing its names first.

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UNITED STATES
Catholic News Service

By Nancy Frazier O’Brien
Catholic News Service

WASHINGTON (CNS) — Ten years after passing their “Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People,” the heads of nearly all U.S. dioceses are in full compliance with the 17-point document, according to recently completed audits.

Two dioceses — Baker, Ore., and Lincoln, Neb. — and six Eastern Catholic eparchies refused to participate in the audits, as they had in past years, and were found to be noncompliant.

In dioceses where the audits took place, however, only one diocese was found in noncompliance with one article of the charter. The Diocese of Shreveport, La., was found to be noncompliant because its diocesan review board had not met in two years.

The diocese had not “experienced any charter-related violations in at least four years,” and the board was immediately convened when the diocese was notified of the gap, according to the report from StoneBridge Business Partners of Rochester, N.Y. StoneBridge conducted the audits for the first time in the year ending June 30, 2011. Earlier audits had been carried out by the Gavin Group of Boston.

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UNITED STATES
Catholic League

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on the findings of the 2011 Annual Report on priestly sexual abuse that was released by the bishops’ conference; the survey was done by a Georgetown institute:

The headlines should read, “Abuse Problem Near Zero Among Priests,” but that is not what is being reported.

According to the 2011 Official Catholic Directory, there are 40,271 priests in the U.S. The report says there were 23 credible accusations of the sexual abuse of a minor made against priests for incidences last year. Of that number, 9 were deemed credible by law enforcement. Which means that 99.98% of priests nationwide had no such accusation made against them last year. Nowhere is this being reported.

Here are more data from the report that won’t appear elsewhere: almost all the offenses involve homosexuality. Indeed, 16% of the credible allegations made against priests who work in dioceses or eparchies, and 6% of religious order priests, involved pedophilia. In the former category, 82% of the alleged victims were male; in the latter, the figure is 94%. In other words, we are not talking about kids as victims, and we are not talking about females: we are talking about postpubescent males who were allegedly violated by adult males. That’s called homosexuality.

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STOCKTON (CA)
Modesto Bee

Bee Staff Reports
local@modbee.com

STOCKTON — Phase Two of a civil trial in which a former altar boy is suing the Diocese of Stockton for damages stemming from a child sex abuse claim was postponed Wednesday and will begin Thursday.

A civil jury has found the pastor of St. Joachim Church in Lockeford, Michael Kelly, liable of various actions related to sexual assault.

On the stand, the plaintiff described being groomed, molested and raped by Kelly when they both served at Cathedral of the Annunciation in Stockton more than 20 years ago, Kelly as priest and plaintiff as an altar boy.

The jury found unanimously in favor of the plaintiff, identified in court papers as John TZ Doe, after two months of testimony. The archdiocese immediately removed him from his position.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

By Joseph A. Slobodzian
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

The former baseball coach of the alleged victim of a sexual assault by the Rev. James J. Brennan told a Philadelphia jury today that he once saw Brennan massaging the preteen boy’s back during a postgame house party in about 1990.

Robert T. Kane testified that the boy – the son of one of his assistant coaches – had been playing with friends outside and returned inside sweaty and wearing no shirt.

As the boy sat at a table, Kane said, Brennan approached from behind and began massaging the boy’s bare shoulders.

The image stuck in his head, Kane told the Common Pleas Court jury under questioning by Assistant District Attorney Jacqueline Coelho.

“It was kind of like looking at a black-and-white picture and seeing someone wearing a yellow hat,” Kane testified. “I just seemed odd to me.”

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Dorothee Benz, CCR on April 11, 2012

April 11, 2012, New York – Today, a survivor-led support group for sex abuse victims, which is under attack by U.S. Catholic officials, submitted to the International Criminal Court (ICC) new and extensive documentation that the organization says shows ongoing child rape by Catholic clergy and continuing cover-ups by bishops and Vatican officials. The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) says the new evidence, submitted by SNAP’s attorneys at the Center for Constitutional Rights, underscores the urgent need to prevent future child sex crimes and cover-ups and hold church officials accountable for widespread human rights abuses.

Nearly 500 victims, witnesses, whistleblowers and supporters from 65 different countries have reached out to SNAP since September when the organization filed the complaint with the ICC.

“We’re grateful so many brave but wounded and fearful victims across the world are starting to speak up and get help,” said Barbara Blaine, SNAP’s president “But we’re still shocked by how aggressively church officials still hide, ignore and enable clerics to assault kids, escape justice and flee elsewhere while focusing almost strictly on damage control and public relations maneuvers.”

“The documentation we presented today includes evidence that has come to light in the six months since we filed the original submission,” said CCR senior staff attorney Pam Spees. “These developments demonstrate yet again both how widespread this human rights crisis is and how it tragically continues.”

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IRELAND
The Daily Best

Barbie Latza Nadeau

The Vatican has cracked down on a popular and outspoken Irish Catholic priest. Barbie Latza Nadeau reports on the Catholic Spring

The Vatican has been watching Father Tony Flannery for a long time. The popular Irish Catholic priest has candidly voiced his liberal – and critical – views on the Church, becoming a beacon of reason to his many of his loyal readers.

He questioned celibacy and was an advocate of ordaining women into the priesthood, frequently writing about how women priests could help the church bring more Catholics to mass. To many, Flannery channeled the pop vox of today’s Catholics who wanted to keep the faith, but couldn’t easily navigate the Church’s tough stance on issues like contraception and divorce.

But to his critics, his writing bordered on heresy.

The Vatican clearly had enough of Flannery and last week silenced the 65-year-old priest. Just days before Easter, Flannery, a prolific and long-time columnist for the Redemptorist Order’s monthly magazine “Reality”, was told he can no longer write on any of the church doctrine issues.

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CHARLESTON (SC)
WCBD

By: Diocese of Charleston News Release | WCBD News 2
Published: April 11, 2012

CHARLESTON, SC – April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month. Bishop Robert E. Guglielmone is observing the month long initiative by celebrating a special Mass on Sunday, April 15 at 5:15 p.m. at the Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist in Charleston.

This Mass will be offered for the healing of child sexual abuse victims and their families, and in recognition of the Diocese’s newly adopted Policy that addresses sexual abuse allegations. “This special Mass will be an opportunity for the Catholic community to pray for all victims of abuse and to remind everyone about the importance of protecting God’s children,” said Most Reverend Robert E. Guglielmone, Bishop of Charleston.

April 15 also marks the day in which the Policy Concerning Allegations of Sexual Misconduct or Abuse of a Minor by Church Personnel (2012) goes into effect. “There are three major revisions to the Policy,” said Bishop Guglielmone. “The first is new restrictions when communicating with youth through social media. The second is closing any ambiguity regarding background screening and safe environment training of employees and volunteers. The third gives more independence to the advisory board that assesses allegations.”

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FLORIDA
Orlando Sentinel

By Erika Pesantes, Sun Sentinel

1:33 p.m. EDT, April 11, 2012
Additional molestation charges were brought against a former Fort Lauderdale pastor Wednesday bringing the total number of victims to six.

Jeffery London, 48, of Lauderdale Lakes, has been accused of molesting two more victims and has been charged with five counts of sexual battery on a child and three counts of sexual battery.

London allegedly performed oral sex on the now 21-year-old victim when he was 11 years-old and had the child do the same, according to a Broward Sheriff’s Office report. It occurred on a daily basis until the child reached adulthood.

London would allegedly give the victim money in exchange for oral sex; the initial abuse occurred at a time when the victim’s mother was incarcerated and the child was staying with London, according to the report.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
CBS Philly

By Tony Hanson

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — Evidence in the Philadelphia clergy child-abuse case today has focused on who was in charge — who was responsible for the placement and transfer of alleged and suspected “predator” priests in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

It has become apparent that priests suspected of preying on children were shuffled, for decades, from one parish to another in the Philadelphia archdiocese (see related stories).

But the defense contends that defendant Msgr. William Lynn, who is charged with endangering children by allowing the suspect priests to remain in ministry, wasn’t responsible.

Although he was the archdiocese’s Secretary for Clergy — handling personnel matters including allegations of misconduct — the defense contends the archbishop had final say and signed the papers on all personnel moves.

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BOSTON (MA)
TheBostonChannel

BOSTON — Dozens of cases of alleged sexual abuse by clergy have been settled by the Archdiocese of Boston, according to a lawyer representing the alleged victims.

Mitchell Garabedian outlined the settlements at a press conference on Wednesday in a downtown Boston hotel.

The settlements, described in the five- or six-figure range, include no admission of guilt from the archdiocese.

A spokesman for the archdiocese confirmed the settlements, but said its own investigation found the claims “inconclusive.”

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
National Catholic Reporter

Apr. 11, 2012

By Maryangela Layman Roman, Catholic News Service

MILWAUKEE — A U.S. bankruptcy judge ruled April 5 that the depositions of Milwaukee’s retired archbishop, a Milwaukee auxiliary bishop and a former priest will remain sealed and may not be made public.

The ruling by Judge Susan V. Kelley was in response to a motion filed by Jeff Anderson and Associates, the law firm representing claimants in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin where Kelley is presiding over the Chapter 11 reorganization of the Milwaukee Archdiocese.

At issue are the depositions of retired Archbishop Rembert G. Weakland, Auxiliary Bishop Richard J. Sklba and a former priest, Daniel Budzynski.

In denying the motion to unseal them, Kelley noted she had previously authorized “rule 2004 examinations,” or depositions, which were taken last October and November, for three reasons:

— The potential loss of evidence because of the age or infirmity of the witnesses; Weakland is 85; Sklba is 76; and Budzynski is 84.

— The testimony would be used to value claims and determine whether they were objectionable.

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RHODE ISLAND
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by David Clohessy on April 11, 2012

Two child sex abuse lawsuits against the Providence Catholic diocese are still moving forward despite a judge’s decision in favor of the defendants. The cases involve alleged child sex crimes by Fr. Brendan Smyth and alleged recklessness by the Providence diocese. In the 1960s, Smyth worked at Our Lady of Mercy parish in East Greenwich RI.

Though they are taking legal action decades after they were allegedly hurt, the victims argued that the statute of limitations should be suspended because they repressed their memories of the abuse and because Catholic officials “fraudulently concealed” their knowledge of Smyth’s crimes.

Last week, Judge Netti Vogel ruled against the fraud claim. The repressed memory argument will be heard later.

“We think it’s reprehensible when Catholic bishops, who purport to be caring shepherds, act in court like cold-hearted CEOs,” said David Clohessy of St. Louis, SNAP’s director. “If Bishop Tobin honestly believes this once-imprisoned priest is innocent, Tobin should defend the case on its merits, not by exploiting legal technicalities.”

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WISCONSIN
SNAP Wisconsin

Fr. Glenn Davidowich is founder of Junior Pro Wrestling Association

Statement by John Pilmaier, SNAP Wisconsin Director
CONTACT: 414.336.8575

Today an attorney has announced that he has settled a child sex abuse claim involving a Catholic priest now living in Manitowoc Wisconsin. The accused cleric is Fr. Glenn Davidowich. The attorney who reached the settlement is Mitchell Garabedian.

Davidowich worked at Catholic churches in Pennsylvania, Virginia, New Jersey, and Connecticut. Davidowich was also the founder of an organization known as the Junior Pro Wrestling Association (JPWA) which produced and sold videos of teenage boys in sexually suggestive poses. The JPWA website featured pictures of boys in swimming briefs, some wearing dog collars and chains.

We continue to be disappointed that the truth about pedophile priests is still hidden by Catholic officials and that credible allegations against child molesting clerics are still not disclosed by church officials. We hope that anyone who may have seen, suspected, or suffered crimes by Fr. Glenn Davidowich will come forward, get help, and start recovering.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
Directors and Officers Liability

While charges and stories of priests abusing children have been surfacing and being suppressed across the country for decades, a criminal prosecution of clergy engaged in cover-ups is rare. Bishop Robert Finn, head of the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph is the highest-ranking U.S. Catholic leader facing criminal charges in connection with alleged child sexual abuse.

Bishop Finn is charged for failing to report a priest who kept pornographic pictures of girl children under the diocese on his computer. The defense of Bishop Finn argued that charges against him be dropped as he had no duty to report to the authorities of the alleged abuse by another priest. But, Jackson County Circuit Judge John Terence rejected the arguments and held that Bishop Finn had a duty to report after church officials found pictures of naked girl children on the computer of Father Shawn Ratigan.

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IRELAND
Daily Mail (United Kingdom)

Mark Dooley

Two years ago, I appeared on a television programme entitled Faith in Crisis. I was joined on the panel by Fr Tony Flannery, a founding member of the self-styled Association of Catholic Priests in Ireland (ACP). Last week, the Vatican banned Fr Flannery from contributing to the Redemptorist Order’s Reality magazine.

Before appearing on Faith in Crisis, I had not met Fr Flannery. In fact, it wasn’t until he accused me of suggesting that he didn’t celebrate the Eucharist correctly, that I realised he was a Catholic priest. This was because he neither spoke nor dressed as someone who wished to be identified as a member of the clergy.

Like most of the other participants on that programme, Fr Flannery chanted from a radical hymn book. His message was one of dissent from Rome on issues ranging from clerical celibacy to women priests. As he spoke, I remember being surprised that the Vatican permitted such flagrant opposition to Church doctrine by one of its priests.

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IRELAND
Herald

By Alan O’Keeffe

Wednesday April 11 2012

SEVERE criticisms of RTE’s handling of the Fr Kevin Reynolds story have been made by its own former director of television Helen O’Rahilly.

There were “shocking” aspects, she said, to the way the national broadcaster dealt with the claims of rape against the priest which were proved to be false after the programme was broadcast

Hitting out at RTE, Ms Rahilly said what has emerged about the programme makers methods were “extremely damning.”

Ms O’Rahilly is a former Director of Television at RTE who had previously worked as a BBC executive. She indicated she returned to the BBC after only 10 months at RTE because she had difficulties about how the station operated. She was later promoted to Deputy Controller of BBC One.

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NORTH DAKOTA
Grand Forks Herald

By: Associated Press

BISMARCK — A former Roman Catholic priest won’t have to spend more time in jail for stealing from a paralyzed man while he was caring for him.

A judge sentenced 68-year-old Cyprian Meier to 18 months in prison for exploiting a vulnerable adult. The sentence was suspended for five years. Meier will get credit for 148 days he’s already spent in jail.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Beaver County Times

Associated Press

Philadelphia prosecutors are showing jurors how a priest with a history of child-molestation complaints was reassigned each time a new allegation arose.

The Rev. Francis Trauger was transferred eight times during his clerical career, each time without a warning to the parish.

Hundreds of documents are being presented to a jury in the trial of Monsignor William Lynn, the archdiocese’s secretary of clergy from 1992 to 2004.

Lynn is the first Roman Catholic official in the U.S. charged with endangering children for allegedly transferring priests suspected of molestation. His attorneys insist that Lynn tried to drum out predator priests but his efforts were hindered by his superiors.

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MASSACHUSETTS
BishopAccountability.org

On April 11, 2012, Boston attorney Mitchell Garabedian announced that in the past year he had settled lawsuits alleging sexual abuse by twelve priests and brothers not on his original list of accused clerics. Below we are providing the assignment histories of these new priests and brothers. This page supplements our previous collection of assignment records for the new priests named by Garabedian on January 19, 2011. A complete list of all the clerics named by Garabedian clients is proviided on the law firm’s website.

Names of clerics not yet in our Database of Accused Priests are noted in the list below. See also Settlements Are Reached in Clergy Sex Abuse Cases: Police Chaplain One of 12 Clerics, by Lisa Wangsness, Boston Globe, April 11, 2012.

Two of the priests in Garabedian’s second list – Revs. James H. Lane and Rickard/Richard J. O’Donovan – are priests of the Boston archdiocese, who should now be added by Cardinal O’Malley to his Boston list, which when it was released in August 2011 included names from Garabedian’s first list. The new Garabedian list also includes religious order priests who worked in the Boston archdiocese.

Rev. James H. Lane of Boston worked for many years as a police chaplain. Sadly, it is not unusual for offending priests to use a chaplaincy with police or firefighters as a cover. Examples are Rev. Joseph T. Herp of Louisville KY, Rev. Gerard P. Walsh of Worcester MA, Rev. Stephen C. Foley of Hartford CT, and Rev. John Cornelius of Seattle WA.

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MISSOURI
The Turner Report

A 9 a.m. Monday, April 16, arraignment has been scheduled in Taney County Circuit Court for Lee Bradberry, 22, Auburn, Ala.

Bradberry is charged with two counts of statutory sodomy, two counts of sexual molestation and single counts of sexual misconduct and attempted statutory sodomy, all involving underage boys who were under his charge as a counselor at Kanakuk Kamps in Branson.

Bradberry is being held in the Taney County Jail in lieu of $100,000 bond.

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AUSTRIA
National Catholic Reporter

by Phyllis Zagano on Apr. 11, 2012 Just Catholic

Now it’s Vienna’s Cardinal Christoph Schönborn who’s wading in hot water. Seems he and a group of Austrian priests and deacons got a full blast of papal steam on Holy Thursday.

The shrill Roman whistle sounded: No women or married men will be ordained.

Goodness, what’s a 67-year-old prince of the church (and son of a count) to do? After all, Schönborn was a student of Joseph Ratzinger in Regensburg, Germany. He taught dogmatic theology at the University of Fribourg in Switzerland. He was a member of the International Theological Commission. He oversaw the creation of the 1992 Catechism of the Catholic Church.

Now Schönborn’s former professor, the pope, chastised the Austrians (not directly, of course) in the middle of Holy Thursday. Benedict also sent a letter to Schönborn. Do you think it might be about women?

Schönborn has tangled with Benedict before. In 2009, as the Austrian bishops were ending emergency meetings called by the pope, the cardinal handed Benedict XVI a petition. Called an “initiative of the faithful,” it asked for married priests (both men to be ordained and those who left to marry) and for ordination of women as deacons. Since then, the Austrian Priest’s Initiative, representing 15 percent of Austrian clergy, broadened the demands. And, by the way, 87,000 Austrian Catholics have formally resigned from the church.

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NEW JERSEY
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by David Clohessy on April 11, 2012

A child sex abuse case against a former NJ Catholic cleric, Fr. Leonard Thomas Walsh (who worked in Rutherford), has been settled.

We are sad that the truth about pedophile priests is still hidden by Catholic officials and those credible allegations against child molesting clerics are still not disclosed by Catholic officials.

We hope that anyone who may have seen, suspected or suffered crimes by Walsh – in NJ or elsewhere – will come forward, get help and start recovering.

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BOSTON (MA)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by David Clohessy on April 11, 2012

Boston’s the one archdiocese where transparency about predator priests should be routine. But it’s still not. We still learn about credibly accused clerics from sources outside the church hierarchy.

The obvious question is “How many other credible allegations and secret settlements has O’Malley gotten and made over the past eight years?”

If the head of the Boston archdiocese is still keeping silent about accusations and pay-outs, it’s almost certain that most other US bishops are doing likewise.

We applaud Mitchell Garabedian, BishopAccountability.org, and others who continue to put protecting innocent kids over protecting adults’ reputations.

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VATICAN CITY
Straits Times (Singapore)

VATICAN CITY (AFP) – An Irish priest was summoned to Rome and asked to retire to a monastery in March after he voiced views in favour of liberal reforms for the Catholic Church, a website reported on Wednesday.

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the main guardian of the Church’s dogma, did not reportedly take kindly to Father Tony Flannery’s pronouncements on contraception, the marriage of priests and women’s ordination.

The Vatican Insider website, citing informed sources, said the 65-year-old priest, one of the founders of the Association of Irish Priests, was called back to Rome by the superior general of his Redemptorist order, Father Michael Brehl.

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UNITED STATES
Association of Religion Data Archives

By David Briggs

Thousands of victims of sexual abuse will never receive a personal apology from their church leaders.

Many continue suffering into adulthood from the crimes of wayward clergy and the conspiracy of silence by religious hierarchs. Now, some will be offended even more by statements made by Cardinal Edward Egan.

The archbishop emeritus of New York recently expressed regret for issuing an apology at the height of the U.S. scandal, saying, “I don’t think we did anything wrong.”

Yet no matter how much individuals such as the cardinal would like to put the sexual abuse scandal behind them, they can no longer appeal to an obedient laity to ignore or downplay the crimes, according to new research.

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IRELAND
Longford Leader

Published on Wednesday 11 April 2012

Defamed Co Longford priest Fr Kevin Reynolds has blamed the media for keeping the ongoing controversy surrounding his much publicised RTE libelling in the public spotlight.

In a short and candid interview with the Leader on Monday, the Lanesboro born cleric intimated his desire to draw a line under the entire episode and concentrate on his parochial duties as a parish priest.

He also declined to make any further comment about his exclusion from a Broadcasting Authority of Ireland’s investigation into the controversial Prime Time Investigates programme, ‘A Mission to Prey’.

Speaking from his adopted home of Ahascragh, Co Galway, Fr Reynolds said many of his parishioners had also spoken of their frustration at unrelenting media coverage concerning the furore.

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IRELAND
The Irish Times

LUKE CASSIDY

Minister for Communications Pat Rabbitte has neither seen nor received a report commissioned by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) into the Prime Time Investigates programme that libelled Fr Kevin Reynolds.

The unpublished report into the broadcast, which was carried out by former BBC Northern Ireland controller Anna Carragher, and proposed a fine of about €200,000, was sent to RTÉ and interested parties last week.

An article in yesterday’s Irish Times detailed the main findings which were highly critical of the standards of journalism involved in the broadcast, citing briefing notes based on the document.

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IRELAND
Breaking News

Communications Minister Pat Rabbitte has described RTÉ’s handling of the Fr Kevin Reynolds case as a “debacle”.

Minister Rabbitte said the ‘Mission to Prey’ programe, part of the now-axed ‘Prime Time Investigates’ strand, was a departure from the broadcaster’s “usual high standards”.

Yesterday leaked documents from the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) were highly critical of the standards of journalism involved in the broadcast.

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MASSACHUSETTS
The Patriot Ledger

BOSTON —

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston has reached settlements in sexual abuse cases involving two priests, including a priest at St. Colman Church in Brockton during the 1950s and 1960s who later served at Sacred Heart in Weymouth.

The Rev. Richard J. O’Donovan died in August 2000, before the allegation was raised against him.

The other case involved the Rev. James Lane, a former Boston police chaplain whose only previous connection with the scandal was as a whistleblower.

The Rev. Lane died in 2007.

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DEUTSCHLAND
taz

Was hat die Gesellschaft begriffen nach zwei Jahren Aufdeckung von Missbrauchsfällen? Nichts. Eher im Gegenteil, zumindest wenn man die Reformpädagogik betrachtet.von Christian Füller

Bildungsministerin Annette Schavan (CDU) nennt es gerne eine „neue Kultur des Hinschauens“. Das bedeutet, kurz gesagt: Lehrer, Eltern, Pfarrer, die Polizei, die Öffentlichkeit, alle müssen viel sensibler auf Missbrauchsverdachte achten und schnell reagieren – zum Schutz der Opfer. Das muss die Lehre sein aus der Aufdeckung schwerster und umfangreicher Missbrauchsfälle in Kollegs, Klöstern und der Odenwaldschule. Denkt man.

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UNITED STATES
Renew America

By Matt C. Abbott

Catholic author, speaker and journalist Dawn Eden has a new book out titled My Peace I Give You: Healing Sexual Wounds with the Help of the Saints, published by Ave Maria Press. Below is the book’s foreword, written by Mother Agnes Mary Donovan, S.V., superior general of the Sisters of Life.

From the Ave Maria Press website:

‘One in four American women and one in six American men report having been sexually abused during childhood…. Eden uses her own story as a backdrop to introduce numerous holy people — like Laura Vicuña, Thomas Aquinas and Bernard of Clairvaux — who suffered sexual abuse or sexual inappropriateness, as well as saints such as Ignatius of Loyola who suffered other forms of mistreatment and abandonment. Readers seeking wholeness will discover saints with wounds like their own, whose stories bear witness to the transforming power of grace. Eden explores different dimensions of divine love — sheltering, compassionate, purifying, etc. — to help those sexually wounded in childhood understand their identity in the abiding love of Christ.’

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