ABUSE TRACKER

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Daily News

Ronnie Polaneczky, Daily News Columnist
Philadelphia Daily News

SO IT’S still not over. After an 11-week trial, with almost 2,000 documents, 60 witnesses, multiple references to a dead cardinal and a defendant’s suggestion that taking a 14-year-old to bed after watching porn with him was “borderline inappropriate” and not wrong, wrong, wrong, the jury has yet to reach a verdict in the landmark trial of Philadelphia Archdiocese Monsignor William Lynn and the Rev. James Brennan.

Did or didn’t Lynn engage in child-endangerment and conspiracy in moving predator priests around the Archdiocese like party chairs?

Did or didn’t Brennan endanger that 14-year-old and attempt to rape him after a lively discussion about penile erections?

On Wednesday, the jury reported to Common Pleas Judge M. Teresa Sarmina that they were deadlocked on all but one charge. Sarmina ordered them to keep talking and they will resume deliberations Friday. It’s anyone’s guess whether more time will yield anything different.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

By Joseph A. Slobodzian and John P. Martin
Inquirer Staff Writers

After 12 days of deliberations, the jury considering charges against two Philadelphia priests in the landmark church sex-abuse trial reported Wednesday that it was deadlocked on four of five charges, but it resumed working toward a verdict upon the judge’s order.

The Common Pleas Court jury of seven men and five women gathers again Friday to continue deliberations after a day off so one juror can tend to what Judge M. Teresa Sarmina called an “important family matter.”

The jurors came into court shortly before noon after sending the message the lawyers and trial participants had dreaded but seemed to anticipate: Deadlocked – on all but one count.

“Please advise us of our next step,” the jury’s note concluded.

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CALIFORNIA
OrovilleMR

By Tracey Kaplan
tkaplan@mercurynews.com
mercurynews.com

Posted: 06/20/2012

For someone essentially described as a sexually deviant monster — even by the prosecutor who called him to the stand Wednesday — Father Jerold Lindner looked like an average 67-year-old with horn-rimmed glasses and a weight problem as he shuffled into a San Jose courtroom, all eyes upon him.

Lindner was there to testify that he did nothing to provoke Will Lynch to viciously beat him up two years ago at a Jesuit retirement center in Los Gatos, leaving him bruised and with two small cuts requiring stitches. But it was tough to tell on the first day of Lynch’s assault trial just who the real culprit was — Lynch or the priest.

Lynch chose to go to trial rather than negotiating a plea deal so he could “out” Lindner, who he claims molested him and his brother when they were kids. Even though the Jesuits have doled out millions of dollars to settle cases brought by Lindner’s victims — including the Lynch brothers — the priest was never prosecuted because Lynch and others reported the abuse after the brief window of opportunity set by the statute of limitations ended.

So essentially the priest testified Wednesday that he did nothing 35 years ago or in 2010 to incite what he described as a “vicious” beating at Lynch’s hands. Lynch dabbed at his eyes with a handkerchief and sobbed while the priest testified.

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UNITED STATES
Truth Wins Out

Posted June 19th, 2012 by Wayne Besen

If there is one thing that irks me, it is having the Roman Catholic Church preach to me about sexual morality. It is a religious sect led by a virulently homophobic Pope that goes out of its way to trash my family. Yet, my family hasn’t spent a cent defending itself against nonexistent charges of child rape, while the Vatican has spent $2.5 billion on legal fees, prevention programs, and settlements relating to the sexual abuse of minors.

Exactly why should I listen to what these “holy” men have to say? I’ve been out of the closet for twenty-four years, during which time I worked in the center of the LGBT movement, but can’t think of a single friend or colleague arrested for child molestation. None of the people I associate with have shielded, shuffled, or offered severance packages to pedophiles to protect the institutions that they work for. But such obscene behavior is precisely what the Vatican did, all the while turning my loved ones into scapegoats to obscure their criminality.

The latest preoccupation of the Catholic Church, as well as their brethren in the ultra-Orthodox Jewish Community, is fiercely lobbying state legislatures to not change the statute of limitations for child sexual abuse cases.

“Even when you have the institution admitting they knew about the abuse, the perpetrator admitting that he did it, and corroborating evidence, if the statute of limitations has expired, there won’t be any justice,” Marci Hamilton, a professor at the Benjamin N. Cordozo School of Law at Yeshiva University, explained to the New York Times.

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IRLAND
domradio

Papst Benedikt XVI. erwartet ausgehend vom Eucharistischen Weltkongress in Dublin eine innere Erneuerung für die vom Missbrauchsskandal erschütterte Kirche Irlands. Die große christliche Geschichte des Landes sei “in jüngster Zeit auf eine erschreckende Weise getrübt worden durch die Offenlegung von Sünden”, die Geistliche gegenüber ihnen anvertrauten Menschen begangen hätten, sagte er in einer Videobotschaft zum Abschluss des Weltkongresses am Sonntagnachmittag. Diese Priester und Ordensleute hätten Menschen missbraucht und damit auch die Botschaft der Kirche unglaubwürdig gemacht. Für sie sei das Christentum nur noch ein “System von Gewohnheiten” geworden und nicht mehr eine freudige Begegnung mit Christus, sagte der Papst. Anders ließen sich derartige Fehler nicht erklären. Zugleich kündigte er an, dass der nächste Kongress 2016 in Cebu auf den Philippinen stattfinden soll. Das Zweite Vatikanische Konzil habe vor 50 Jahren ein erstarrtes Christentum zu überwinden versucht.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Saarbrucker Zeitung

Herr Dr. Müller, was ist von Seiten der Kirche nach dem Missbrauchsskandal im vergangenen Jahr geschehen?
Wunibald Müller: Die Kirche hat sich auf einen Weg der Erneuerung begeben. Im Bereich sexueller Missbrauch Minderjähriger durch kirchliche Mitarbeiter sind wichtige Initiativen in die Wege geleitet worden und Beschlüsse gefasst worden, die deutlich machen, dass die Kirche es ernst meint, wirklich zuerst die Opfer sexuellen Missbrauchs zu sehen und alles zu tun, zum Beispiel auch durch Präventionsmaßnahmen, um in Zukunft sexuellen Missbrauch in ihren eigenen Reihen zu verhindern.

Wie soll mit den Priestern umgegangen werden, die Minderjährige sexuell missbraucht haben?

Müller: Liegt bei einem Priester, der Minderjährige missbraucht, eine pädophile Veranlagung vor, darf er zum Schutz möglicher Opfer nicht länger in der Seelsorge eingesetzt werden, gegebenenfalls auch nicht länger einer priesterlichen Tätigkeit nachgehen. Priestern, bei denen mit Hilfe der besten uns heute zur Verfügung stehenden diagnostischen Möglichkeiten festgestellt werden kann, dass sie nicht pädophil veranlagt sind und es sich bei ihrem Fehlverhalten um ein einmaliges regressives Verhalten handelt, das unter anderem auf Defizite im Bereich der Intimität zurückzuführen ist, kann im Einzelfall nach erfolgreicher Psychotherapie auch eine klar umgrenzte priesterliche Tätigkeit möglich sein. Diese Vorgehensweise ist schwieriger zu handhaben als die Nulltoleranz-Lösung, wonach jemand, der sich einmal sexuell missbräuchlich verhalten hat, nie mehr als Seelsorger oder als Priester tätig sein kann. Sie berücksichtigt aber die jeweilige Situation der einzelnen Priester, deren Vergehen nicht beschönigt werden darf, die aber auch nicht einfach abgeschoben und abgeschrieben werden dürfen.

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OSTERREICH
oe24

Dem 2009 verstorbenen Pfarrer von Thiersee im Tiroler Bezirk Kufstein ist nun auch offiziell die Ehrenbürgerschaft der Gemeinde aberkannt worden. Dies beschloss der Gemeinderat in einer Sitzung am Mittwochabend mit großer Mehrheit. Der Geistliche soll jahrelang Kinder missbraucht haben.

Rein rechtlich erlosch die Auszeichnung mit dem Tod des Pfarrers, betonte Ortschef Hannes Juffinger (V). Die Angehörigen hätten die Auszeichnung mittlerweile retourniert. Es gebe keine Ehrentafel oder einen Vermerk am Grabstein des Mannes.

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VATICAN CITY
Chiesa

VATICAN CITY, June 21, 2012 – They are three cardinals, they are over the age of eighty, they are spry yet reserved, they know the Roman curia very well, and their names are Julián Herranz, Jozef Tomko, and Salvatore De Giorgi. It is to them that Benedict XVI has entrusted the task of getting to the bottom of the leaking of confidential documents that has hit the Vatican in recent months.

Their work is proceeding in parallel with the judicial investigation formally underway in Vatican City-State, which has so far seen the questioning – and jailing as a suspect – only of the pope’s butler, Paolo Gabriele, charged at the moment with aggravated theft.

The commission, however, has a broader mission and more room for maneuver with respect to the Vatican magistracy. And it is made up of three cardinals because in this way it has the freedom to question, if need be, even their peers.

The commission was announced last March 16 in an interview with the substitute of the secretariat of state, Archbishop Angelo Becciu, published in “L’Osservatore Romano” and initialed by its director, Giovanni Maria Vian:

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PENNSYLVANIA
Star-Gazette

The former Blossburg Catholic priest accused of molesting an altar boy between 1991 and 1997 turned himself in for arraignment Wednesday.

The Rev. Thomas Shoback, 61, now of Wilkes-Barre, was arraigned Wednesday afternoon before District Judge James Carlson in Mansfield, according to state police at Mansfield.

He was released on $35,000 bail pending a preliminary hearing at 1:15 p.m. July 25 before Carlson.

Shoback faces 32 criminal charges in the sexual abuse case involving a parishioner at St. Mary’s Catholic Church, where Shoback was parish priest. He has since served at other parishes in Pennsylvania, police said.

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AUSTRALIA
Galus Australis

By David Werdiger
Rabbi YD Groner OBM was often described as “larger than life”. He was an imposing character: large in size, strong in voice, autocratic in nature. From his arrival in Melbourne in the 1950s, he worked tirelessly for the organization, and can take deserved credit for the strong positive influence Chabad had during the majority of his tenure as its leader.

This Sunday, as the local Chabad community will mark his yahrzeit, many have mixed feelings. Despite it being four years since his passing, Rabbi Groner has come under fire recently regarding what he did or didn’t do in cases of sexual abuse allegedly perpetrated by people employed (or subcontracted) in or around the school, including teachers, during a period some 10-20 years ago. But here’s the thing: no-one will ever truly know what he did or didn’t do. While those who interacted with him directly know their side of the story, none of us can know all of his side, let alone the thought process that drove very private decisions. As he is not around to defend his decisions, he has become a convenient soft target for his detractors.

The mishnaic dictum (Pirkei Avot 2:4) “do not judge your fellow person until you stand in their place” applies equally to the community leaders of the time, and to the victims of abuse. Even with our 20/20 hindsight, we cannot understand the cultural challenges of dealing with the scourge of sexual abuse in a closed, tight-knit community in a time before mandatory reporting. The leaders of the time acted using the knowledge, information and context available to them at that time, all of which are now considered vastly deficient. Equally, we cannot understand the anguish of victims who were abused, and feel betrayed by a trusted organisation and its leaders.

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PENNSYLVANIA
The Patriot-News

By JAN MURPHY, The Patriot-News

The House Judiciary Committee approved legislation that child protection advocates see as making good steps forward in helping future victims of child sexual abuse.

A bill, sponsored by committee Chairman Ron Marsico, R-Lower Paxton Twp., would lift the statute of limitations on criminal prosecutions in child sexual assault cases. It also would extend the statute of limitations in civil proceedings until the victim reaches age 50.

Current state statutes give victims until age 50 to press criminal charges and until age 30 to file a civil suit against their abusers.

Marsico said that while he would have preferred to wait to hear from the Task Force on Child Protection that is currently review the state’s child protection laws. But child protection advocates were pressuring the committee to act, including one who took out an ad urging action by Marsico’s committee.

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KENTUCKY
WPSD

Reporter – Julie Collins

PADUCAH — A judge dismissed the case involving a local church and the alleged abuse of two former Boy Scouts.

In February 2011, 49-year-old Joseph Andrecht filed a lawsuit saying his former scoutmaster, Danny Middleton, sexually abused him. Andrecht said the abuse happened in the late 1970s.

He brought suit against the Boy Scouts of America, the Shawnee Trails Council, Grace Episcopal Church in Paducah and the Episcopal Diocese of Kentucky, claiming they never did anything about the allegations.

After the initial suit, another man, Timothy Vasseur, stepped forward with similar allegations.

But on Monday, Judge Tim Kaltenbach dismissed the case, citing statute of limitations, meaning too much time had passed since the alleged abuse.

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MANSFIELD (PA)
Sun-Gazette

June 21, 2012

By CHERYL R. CLARKE cclarke@sungazette.com , Williamsport Sun-Gazette

MANSFIELD – The Blossburg priest who was suspended last fall for allegedly sexually assaulting an altar boy was arraigned Wednesday before District Judge James Carlson.

Thomas P. Shoback, 60, of Wilkes-Barre, was charged with three counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, two counts of indecent assault, endangering the welfare of children, corruption of minors and indecent assault in connection with the alleged assaults against an altar boy at St. Mary’s Parish Rectory several times between Feb. 20, 1991, and Feb. 20, 1997.

According to court documents, Shoback was the priest at St. Mary’s and the victim, who now is 32, and his family were parishioners and friends with Shoback.

Police said the victim called the Diocese of Scranton last November to report that Shoback had been sexually abusing him from the time he was 11 or 12 years old.

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CALIFORNIA
Patch

By Sheila Sanchez

Defrocked Jesuit priest Jerold Lindner denied Wednesday that he raped and sodomized the man accused of assaulting him in May of 2010.

Lindner’s denial caused defendant William Lynch’s attorney, Paul Harris, to threaten to file perjury charges against the 67-year-old ex-priest.

Lindner took the witness stand on the first day of Lynch’s trial and was questioned by prosecutor Vicki Gemetti about the assault on the afternoon of May 10, 2010 at the Sacred Heart Jesuit Center in Los Gatos.

“Did you molest the defendant and his brother?” Gemetti asked during the high-profile case in Department 34 of the San Jose Hall of Justice. Lindner answered: “No.” The testimony came after Gemetti asked Lindner what Lynch told him when they met in a parlor at the center.

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CALIFORNIA
Los Angeles Times

By Maria L. La Ganga, Los Angeles Times

June 21, 2012
SAN JOSE — When the jury in Department 34 of Santa Clara County Superior Court finally sits down to deliberate, the main question facing the nine men and three women sounds simple: Just who is the victim here?

William Lynch, 45, is accused of tracking down Father Jerold Lindner on May 10, 2010, and assaulting him at his Jesuit retirement home. Witnesses testified during the preliminary hearing that Lynch had punched and kicked the elderly priest, yelling: “You ruined my life. Turn yourself in. You molested me.”

Lynch and his younger brother sued the Society of Jesus, Lindner’s order, 15 years ago, alleging that the priest had raped them and forced them to have sex with each other when Lynch was 7 and his brother 4. The case was settled for $625,000, and Lindner was removed from Loyola High School in Los Angeles, where he had been teaching. The church never informed law enforcement about the allegations.

More than a dozen men and women have accused Lindner of molesting them through the years — including his sister, nieces and nephew. The Catholic Church has settled three cases brought against him, according to a Jesuit spokesman. But the 67-year-old has never faced charges because the statute of limitations for the alleged abuse had run out.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Priest Abuse Trial Blog

Ralph Cipriano

Shortly before noon, the jury in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia sex abuse case sent a note to Judge M. Teresa Sarmina, saying on their 12th day of deliberations, they were deadlocked on four of five counts.

“Please advise us of our next step,” the note concluded.

The judge told the jury to continue deliberating. She offered her assistance to break the deadlock. The judge offered to read back her entire hour-long set of instructions to the jury, known as a charge, which covered the crimes the two defendants are accused of, as well as how to evaluate direct and circumstantial evidence, and the concept of reasonable doubt, among other legal topics.

The judge offered to do read backs on days of testimony regarding Mark Bukowski, the accuser of Father James J. Brennan, along with testimony from Bukowski’s mother, and testimony from a former 10-year-old altar boy who was sexually abused by Father Edward V. Avery.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
News-Sentinel

The Associated Press

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A stubbornly divided jury will have a day off to dwell on clergy-abuse charges pending against two Roman Catholic priests before returning for a 13th day of talks Friday.

Jurors deliberated anew for several hours Wednesday after telling a Philadelphia judge they were at an impasse on four of the case’s five charges. The panel won’t meet Thursday because a juror has a family conflict, the judge said.

Jurors are weighing criminal charges against a priest and a church supervisor, the first U.S. church official charged over his handling of abuse complaints.

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CALIFORNIA
WNEM

By GILLIAN FLACCUS and PAUL ELIAS
Associated Press
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) – The priest at the heart of an assault trial testified Wednesday that he never molested the man accused of assaulting him.

Lawyers say the Rev. Jerold Lindner was called to the witness stand late Wednesday in the San Jose trial of William Lynch. Lindner was expected to continue testifying Thursday and endure cross-examination where he will be asked again whether he abused Lynch.

Lynch, 44, is accused of beating the Lindner in May 2010 at a Los Gatos retirement home for priests near San Jose. He has pleaded not guilty, and his trial began with opening statements Wednesday. Lynch claims Lindner raped him in 1975 when he was 7 years old.

Prosecutors concede Lindner is lying when he denies he molested Lynch and Lynch’s 4-year-old brother during a church camping trip, but prosecutors also argue that’s no defense against assault charges. The Catholic Church earlier settled a civil lawsuit the brothers filed.

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SAN ANTONIO (TX)
San Antonio Express-News

By Abe Levy

Published 08:23 p.m., Monday, June 18, 2012

A lawsuit trial involving a former priest accused of sexually abusing a 12-year-old altar boy in Floresville in the 1970s was delayed until October, the plaintiff’s attorney said.

The lawsuit accused Louis Paul White, who was defrocked in 1989, of abusing the boy when he was an associate pastor at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Floresville. It also accused the Archdiocese of San Antonio of covering it up and allowing White to work at other parishes afterward.

Jury selection had been set for Monday but was reset for Oct. 8 because there weren’t enough civil courtrooms available, said Thomas Rhodes, a lawyer for the plaintiff, now 48.

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PHILIPPINES
National Catholic Reporter

by N.J. Viehland on Jun. 20, 2012 NCR Today

MANILA, Philippines — Bishop Jesse Mercado of Parañaque denied Wednesday he misused money donated for victims of calamities and church programs, saying he was open to a probe by the nunciature.

In his statement to reporters at a gathering in Intramuros, Manila, Mercado said all the donations are properly documented and were “promptly turned over to their intended beneficiaries.”

On Monday, Rappler reported that priests and lay leaders have complained to Papal Nuncio Archbishop Giuseppi Pinto about Mercado, saying he diverted millions of pesos of specified donations to other uses.

The funds include Sunday Mass collection donations for flood and fire victims and for rehabilitation of Haiti after the catastrophic earthquake there in 2010. The report summarized the questioned funds donated for calamities and special activities table.

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PHILIPPINES
Vatican Insider

Philippine bishop Jesse Mercado has rejected accusations which he says were the fruit of the “desperation” and “personal problems” of certain priests

Vatican Insider staff
Rome

Bishop Jesse Mercado of Paranaque today denied allegations by priests and lay leaders that he diverted multimillion donations intended for victims of natural disasters. He said the allegations were motivated by the “desperation” of certain priests who were not happy with the positions they got following a shuffle in the diocese’s parishes.

Mgr. Mercado has rejected the allegations of some priests and lay people who accused him of misuse of funds intended for victims of natural disasters. His accusers had asked the apostolic Nuncio in the Philippines, Mgr. Giuseppe Pinto to bring the case to the attention of the Roman Curia and remove the bishop from office. “All donations are properly receipted and promptly turned over to the intended beneficiaries,” the prelate told Catholic news agency ucanews.

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NEW YORK
Observer-Dispatch

By ROCCO LaDUCA
Observer-Dispatch

Posted Jun 20, 2012

UTICA —

The Rev. Valentine Krul asked for forgiveness Wednesday as he was sentenced for stealing more than $87,000 from a New York Mills church.

Krul, 61, of Forestport, was placed on five years of probation after already completing six-months of incarceration at the Oneida County jail for his guilty plea to second-degree grand larceny.

“I ask forgiveness from my family and my friends and the church for my actions,” Krul told Judge Barry M. Donalty in Oneida County Court.

Krul stole thousands of dollars from the Church of the Sacred Heart and St. Mary Our Lady of Czestochowa in New York Mills while he was pastor from October 2008 until January 2011. Of that money, Krul used more than $46,000 of it to buy a condominium in Florida.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
City of Angels

Kay Ebeling

I wonder if we’ll find out some day there was jury nullification in the Philadelphia trial of Monsignor William J. Lynn and Father James J. Brennan. It only takes one juror to prevent a verdict, and God knows, the Catholic Church has enough attorneys and investigators to find one person on the panel who was vulnerable and would stymie any efforts to convict.

“I don’t know what the problem is,” Judge Theresa Sarmina said to attorneys after the jury reported it was hung on all counts except one. (Per Reuters today).

The judge spoke out of earshot of jurors, waiting until they left the room to continue their twelfth day of conferring. Because honest people in this country still go through the motions of justice, even when it’s obvious justice will not be carried out. Honestly, how much more evidence did the jury need? Read the best coverage of the Philadelphia Trial at Philadelphia Abuse Trial Blog by Ralph Cipriano.

Meanwhile, for another good summer read, go to Abused by Fr. James Robinson, a blog by Geoffrey Smith of Ireland, relating his experience testifying as one of the victims in the Robinson case in the UK in 2010. You remember Robinson, the priest who was located living on the lam in California, receiving generous paychecks from the Church while about a dozen victims were trying to experience justice in England?

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CALIFORNIA
The Fresno Bee

PAUL ELIAS and GILLIAN FLACCUS – Associated Press

Wednesday, Jun. 20, 2012

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Northern California prosecutors concede the man on trial in the beating of an aging priest was sexually abused by the Jesuit, but told a jury Wednesday that still did not give William Lynch the right to take the law into in his own hands.

Lynch, 44, is accused of beating the Rev. Jerold Lindner in May 2010 at a Los Gatos retirement home for priests near San Jose. He has pleaded not guilty and his trial began with opening statements Wednesday.

Lynch says Lindner raped him and his 4-year-old brother during a 1975 camping trip in Northern California.

Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney Vicki Gemetti began her 20-minute opening by displaying a blown-up photograph of a bruised and bloodied Lindner slumped in a chair. She implored jurors to focus solely on the assault, which she said Lynch “undeniably” committed.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
KSRO

MARYCLAIRE DALE

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A stubbornly divided Philadelphia jury will have a day off to dwell on clergy-abuse charges pending against two Roman Catholic priests.

The jury is deliberating anew after telling a judge Wednesday morning they are hung on four of five charges.

Now, they’re off until Friday because one juror has an important family conflict Thursday.

The panel is weighing criminal charges against a priest and a church official who supervised him at the Philadelphia archdiocese.

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CALIFORNIA
Mercury News

By Tracey Kaplan and Robert Salonga
Mercury News
mercurynews.com

Posted: 06/20/2012

Evidence will show the man on trial in the beating of an aging Jesuit priest was abused by the priest, but that still did not give him the right to take the law into in his own hands, prosecutors in Northern California said today in their opening statement in the trial of William Lynch.

Lynch, 44, is accused of beating the Rev. Jerold Lindner in 2010 in front of startled witnesses at a retirement home for priests.

Lynch has said Lindner abused him and his brother during a camping trip in Northern California.

Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney Vicki Gemetti began her 20-minute opening displaying a blown-up photograph of a bruised and bloodied Lindner slumped in a chair. She implored jurors to focus solely on the assault, which she said Lynch “undeniably” committed.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
CNN

The jury in a Philadelphia priest sex abuse case told a judge Wednesday that they are unable to reach a verdict on four of the five charges, CNN affiliate KYW reports.

In a note to Judge Teresa Sarmina, the panel said that it has developed “firm, fixed opinions” and “entrenched positions” among its members, making it unable to return verdicts, according to KYW.

The judge said she will offer the jurors some additional or clarifying remarks if they would find that helpful, according to KYW.

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PHILIPPINES
Philippines Daily Inquirer

By Jocelyn R. Uy
Philippine Daily Inquirer

Parañaque Bishop Jesse Mercado on Wednesday denied accusations he had misused some P3.2 million in donations from his parishioners, saying the funds were audited annually by the Archdiocese of Manila.

Facing reporters, Mercado answered point by point the accusations by some of his priests and lay members of the diocese.

In a complaint filed in the papal nuncio, Archbishop Giuseppe Pinto, Mercado was alleged to have diverted over P3.2 million in donations for victims of Tropical Storm “Ondoy,” Haiti earthquake, Typhoon “Sendong,” and a fire in Muntinlupa City.

Low morale, frustration

The bishop was also accused of allotting a measly amount for the health insurance and retirement of priests from the diocese’s yearly collections, causing low morale and frustration among the clergy.

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VATICAN CITY
Business Insider

Adam Taylor and Samuel Blackstone

The Vatican is in the midst of an unprecedented series of scandals after the leak a huge treasure trove of suppressed documents given to a notorious investigative journalist last year.

But who leaked the “Vatileaks” and why?

The Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone has played down the scandals, insisting it’s just the result of journalists “pretending to be Dan Brown”. He also, cryptically, blamed the “devil”.

But Cardinal Bertone should probably be worried — he’s thought to be target of the leaks.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
TheMediaReport

Dave Pierre

***BREAKING NEWS*** … Wed. June 20, 2012, 12:58pm: Media outlets reporting that Philadelphia Catholic trial jury “hung” on 4 out of 5 counts. The trial began March 26, and the jury has been deliberating since June 1.

The jury reportedly passed a note to Judge Teresa Sarmina this morning that read: “We the jury are at a hung jury status on all charges except for one. Please advise us as to our next step.” Sarmina then advised the jury to keep deliberating.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Priest Abuse Trial Blog

Ralph Cipriano

Eleven days into deliberations, the jury has told Judge Sarmina that they’re hung on all but one of the counts. Now what?

That doesn’t mean it’s over, because the Court can still give what’s informally known as a “dynamite” charge and try to move the jury to a verdict one way or the other. Under the century-old United States Supreme Court case, Allen v. United States, 164 U.S. 492 (1896), the Court may admonish the jury to keep trying, and can ask jurors to reconsider their positions. In Pennsylvania, the charge is known as a Spencer charge after the main case applying it here, Commonwealth v. Spencer, 442 Pa. 328, 275 A.2d 299 (1971), which incorporated American Bar Association standard 15-5.4. That standard says:

(a) Before the jury retires for deliberation, the court may give an instruction which informs the jury:
(1) that in order to return a verdict, each juror must agree thereto;
(2) that jurors have a duty to consult with one another and to deliberate with a view to reaching an agreement, if it can be done without violence to individual judgment;
(3) that each juror must decide the case for himself or herself but only after an impartial consideration of the evidence with the other jurors;
(4) that in the course of deliberations, a juror should not hesitate to reexamine his or her own views and change an opinion if the juror is convinced it is erroneous; and
(5) that no juror should surrender his or her honest belief as to the weight or effect of the evidence solely because of the opinion of the other jurors, or for the mere purpose of returning a verdict.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
National Catholic Reporter

by Joshua J. McElwee on Jun. 20, 2012 NCR Today

The jury in the first case brought against a diocesan official for his role in transferring priests accused of abusing children is deadlocked on most of the charges, several media outlets are reporting.

According to Reuters, the jury deciding the case of Msgr William Lynn sent a note to Judge M. Teresa Sarmina reading: “We the jury are at a hung jury status on all charges except for one.”

The seven women and five men of the jury are in their twelfth day of deliberations in the case.

Lynn, who served as secretary of clergy for the Philadelphia archdiocese from 1992 to 2004, is accused of participating in a conspiracy of covering up abuse by recommending priests with known histories of sexual abuse to assignments that would further place them in contact with children.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
The New York Times

By JON HURDLE and ERIK ECKHOLM

Published: June 20, 2012

PHILADELPHIA — In its 12th day of deliberations, the jury in the landmark trial of a Roman Catholic Church official accused of covering up sexual abuses by other priests said Wednesday it was deadlocked on four of the five charges in the trial.

“We the jury are at a hung jury status on all charges except for one,” jurors said in a note that was read aloud by Judge M. Teresa Sarmina of the Court of Common Pleas.

The judge instructed the jury to keep trying to reach unanimous agreement on all five charges, which include two counts of endangering the welfare of children and one of conspiracy against the church official, Msgr. William J. Lynn, and charges of endangerment and attempted rape against a priest, the Rev. James J. Brennan.

Monsignor Lynn, 61, served as secretary for clergy for the 1.5 million-member Archdiocese of Philadelphia from 1992 to 2004, in charge of assigning jobs for priests and investigating charges of sexual abuse. Prosecutors said he had repeatedly played down credible accusations reports of abuse, lied to inquiring parents and parish officials about predatory priests, and reassigned them to unwary parishes.

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OSTERREICH
Kirchenprivilegien

Sehr geehrter Herr Bundespräsident Dr. Fischer,

Mit großer Verwunderung haben wir erfahren, dass Sie den sog. „Zwischenbericht“ der Klasnic-Kommission „dankend“ entgegengenommen haben.

Die Klasnic-Kommission wurde von der katholischen Kirche mit dem offiziellen Ziel eingerichtet, Betroffenen freiwillig und unbürokratisch zu helfen bzw. diese zu entschädigen. Die Realität liefert freilich ein anderes Bild. Offensichtlich dient die Kommission auch dazu, Kritik von der katholischen Kirche abzuwenden und die Einberufung einer staatlichen Untersuchungskommission (z.B. nach dem Vorbild Irlands) zu verhindern. Leider hat in Österreich eine konsequente Aufarbeitung im Sinne der Opfer nie stattgefunden. Wir haben Informationen, dass 35 pädokriminelle Priester nach wie vor im Amt sind, einige von ihnen sogar nach wie vor mit Kindern arbeitend. Die meisten dieser Fälle sind der Klasnic-Kommisison bekannt.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Chicago Tribune

Reuters

11:57 a.m. CDT, June 20, 2012

(Judge sends jury back to continue deliberations)

By Dave Warner

PHILADELPHIA, June 20 (Reuters) – The jury in the child sex abuse case of Philadelphia Monsignor William Lynn was ordered to resume deliberations on Wednesday after saying it was deadlocked
on most of the charges facing the highest-ranking U.S. clergyman to stand trial in the Roman Catholic church’s pedophilia scandal.

The jury, in its 12th day of deliberations, cited its dilemma in a note to Common Pleas Court Judge M. Teresa Sarmina that read: “We the jury are at a hung jury status on all charges except for one.”

“Please advise us as to our next step,” it said.

The judge, who read the note aloud in the courtroom, conferred with prosecutors and defense attorneys and sent the jurors back to continue trying to reach a verdict.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
CBS Philly

By Tony Hanson, Steve Tawa, Walt Hunter

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — The jury in the Philadelphia priest sex abuse case today told the judge that they are unable to reach a verdict on four of the five charges in this landmark case.

In a note to Judge Teresa Sarmina, the panel said that it has developed “firm, fixed opinions” and “entrenched positions” among its members, making it unable to return verdicts.

But the judge, after offering some additional help to the jury, told them to get some lunch and then go back to work.

This was the 12th day of deliberations. Monsignor William Lynn is accused of, while serving as Secretary of Clergy for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, failing to remove from ministry priests suspected of previous sexual or other inappropriate conduct with minors.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

By John P. Martin and Joseph A. Slobodzian
INQUIRER STAFF WRITERS

Updated 1:07 p.m.

After 11 days of deliberations, jurors at the landmark clergy-sex abuse trial of two Philadelphia priests said Wednesday they were deadlocked on all but one count.

Common Pleas Court Judge M. Teresa Sarmina immediately pressed them to keep trying.

In a note sent the judge shortly before noon, the panel of seven men and five women reported they had reached “a hung jury status” for four of the five charges in the case. They did not identify on which charge they agreed.

Msgr. William J. Lynn, the former clergy secretary for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, is charged with one count of conspiracy and two of child endangerment for allegedly failing to remove two priests despite signs they might abuse minors. The Rev. James J. Brennan faces one count each of attempted rape and endangerment.

In their note, the jurors said, “We have all jurors firm on their votes except for two on one charge.” One of those jurors could be persuaded after looking at more evidence, the note said, but that would not end the deadlock.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

By MARYCLAIRE DALE
The Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA — A jury deliberating a sex abuse trial involving a high-ranking official in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia has been ordered to deliberate further to overcome a stalemate on four of the five charges.

Common Pleas Judge M. Teresa Sarmina told jurors she might let them rehear portions of testimony from the two accusers if it would help them reach consensus.

That suggestion from the judge led lawyer William Brennan to move for a mistrial on behalf of his client, the Rev. James Brennan. The judge denied his motion. The jury had earlier asked to rehear that testimony but was turned down.

The jury has been deliberating over 12 days, starting June 1. The trial started in late March.

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CALIFORNIA
NBC Bay Area

By Damian Trujillo
Wednesday, Jun 20, 2012

A man accused of beating a retired priest is in court today answering to charges of elderly abuse and felony assault. The defendant maintains the attack was justified, because the priest allegedly abused him and his brother on a camping trip decades earlier.

William Lynch, 44, attacked Father Jerold Lindner in Los Gatos in 2010, according to prosecutors. Lynch claims the attack stems from a molestation during a camping trip years earlier. Lindner denies those allegations.

Lynch’s defense attorney says that it is well documented that Lindner is one of the worst sex offenders in the Catholic church.

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UNITED STATES
Wausau Daily Herald

Cardinal Timothy Dolan, who has problems of his own in Milwaukee, is leading a procession of lawsuits opposing a national requirement of health insurance companies to cover contraceptives. The cardinal called it a “totalitarian incursion against religious liberty.” His principal argument is that religious institutions should not “be forced by the government to provide coverage for contraception or sterilization,” because it “violates their religious beliefs.”

On that principle, legislators across the country are working to deny state and federal funding to organizations that provide contraceptive services. These lawmakers and their political allies echo the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ reasoning that it is unjust to force taxpayers, employers or members of the Church to support institutions or their affiliates that are committing acts they decry as “intrinsically evil.”

The morality of contraception has been debated for generations. Recent polling shows that 80 percent of American Catholics find contraception morally acceptable and that almost all Catholic women who have had sex have used a method forbidden by the church.

But what if we apply Dolan’s reasoning where the question of morality and legality is indisputable?

Protecting sexual predators is neither moral nor legal. At the same time the anti-contraception lawsuits were filed, a Wisconsin court ruled that the Green Bay diocese illegally concealed sexual assaults of children and put other children at risk. If it is the bishops’ principle to stop federal and state funding for institutions and affiliates that have acted immorally, we can begin where there is no question of legality or morality. Let us deny funding to institutions like the Green Bay diocese that have been convicted of conspiring to protect child sexual predators.

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UNITED STATES
Bakersfield.com

It has gone by many names: battle fatigue, shell shock, soldier’s heart. Most recently it has been called post-traumatic stress disorder.

But as the number of identified cases of post-traumatic stress has skyrocketed among soldiers, returned veterans and first-responders — police officers, firefighters, paramedics, etc. — it may soon undergo another name change.

In its revised handbook, “Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders,” the American Psychiatric Association may reclassify post-traumatic stress as an “injury,” rather than a “disorder.”

The hope is that the name change will remove a perceived stigma that may be keeping PTS suffers away from the help they need.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

By John P. Martin and Joseph A. Slobodzian
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

The waiting game continues at the Criminal Justice Center.

This morning, jurors in the child-endangerment and sex-abuse trial of two Archdiocese of Philadelphia priests resumed deliberations.

The 11th day of mulling possible verdicts was the second in a row without any questions for Common Pleas Court Judge M. Teresa Sarmina, and without asking to rehear any testimony.

By contrast, the panel of seven men and five women had 25 requests for legal guidance and evidence in the first nine days of deliberations.

The panel’s last request before going silent was for clarifications on conspiracy and endangerment, which are the landmark charges against Msgr. William J. Lynn, the former archdiocese secretary for clergy accused of not removing two priests despite signs they might abuse minors.

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CALIFORNIA
Marin Independent Journal

By Tracey Kaplan
tkaplan@mercurynews.com
mercurynews.com

Posted: 06/19/2012

Some are wracked by guilt, others fueled by frustration. But a close-knit group of supporters will be there for Will Lynch on Wednesday as his trial begins over charges he pummeled a Catholic priest he says molested him and his brother decades ago during a religious group’s camping trip.

More than a dozen parents and children who regularly joined the Lynches on those trips 35 years ago are streaming in from El Centro, Albany and as far away as Oregon to stand behind the man they knew as a vulnerable little boy.

“Certainly, we have some feelings of guilt,” said Paul Smith, 77, who helped found the Christian group with his wife, a former nun. “We invited a priest to say mass on Sundays, and, unfortunately, we chose Father Jerry.”

Prosecutors contend Lynch, now 44, took revenge on the priest, Jerold Lindner, whom the Jesuits have acknowledged is on a list of molesters living at the Sacred Heart retirement and medical center in Los Gatos. In a fit of rage on May 10, 2010, they say, Lynch allegedly pummeled Lindner, who was 65, while yelling, “Turn yourself in or I’ll (expletive) come back and kill you.”

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PHILIPPINES
ABS-CBN

By Evelyn Macairan, The Philippine Star

Posted at 06/20/2012

MANILA, Philippines – Parañaque Bishop Jesse Mercado is being accused by priests and parishioners of allegedly misusing funds donated by churchgoers, but removing him from his diocese is a lengthy process, a canon law expert said yesterday.

Former Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz said several letters of complaint sent to the Papal Nuncio, Archbishop Giuseppi Pinto, will have to be evaluated. “It is easy to accuse, but whether there is merit or not is another matter,” he said.

Mercado’s accusers said they want Mercado to explain what happened to the funds concerning donations he solicited for victims of typhoon “Ondoy” (P1,368,236); the Haiti earthquake (P168,891); Muntinlupa fire victims (P129,201); typhoon “Sendong” (P970,589); 2011 National Youth Day (P306,123); and Alay Kapwa (P399,942). His diocese covers the cities of Parañaque, Las Piñas and Muntinlupa.

A priest said the funds were reportedly put in an account in a private bank. According to a complaint, while the funds are earning interest, they were not remitted to the churchgoers’ intended beneficiaries.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Derry Journal

Published on Wednesday 20 June 2012

The jury in the trial of a priest accused of indecently assaulting a teenage girl have been sent home for the day after the judge hearing the case took ill.

The Derry Crown Court jury of four men and eight women in the case of Fr Eugene Boland were told Judge Stephen Fowler was going to hospital for tests.

Fr Boland (66), of Parochial House, Killyclogher Road, Omagh, denies five charges of indecently assaulting a 14-year-old girl between June 28, 1990 and June 30, 1992.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
BBC News

The trial of a Catholic priest accused of indecently assaulting a 14-year-old girl has been adjourned after the judge in Londonderry was taken to hospital.

Judge Stephen Fowler became ill while hearing legal arguments in the absence of the jury.

His place on the bench was taken by Judge Piers Grant who told the jurors what had happened.

He adjourned the case until Thursday in the hope that Judge Fowler recovers.

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

Article by: JOHN C. NIENSTEDT and HARRY J. FLYNN
Updated: June 18, 2012

Linking abuse and freedom confuses equally important but separate issues.

Susan Hogan’s commentary “Bishops seek religious liberty but suppress a religion’s shame” (June 7) links two unrelated issues — the Church’s current efforts to protect religious freedom, and the grievous clergy sex abuse scandal. It uses that link to reach an unwarranted, unfair and illogical conclusion.

To demonstrate the unrelated linkage she uses, Fortnight for Freedom is quite simply an effort to call attention to the growing need to protect the religious freedom of all faiths guaranteed by the Constitution. Indeed, this proposed intrusion on religious freedom is alarming citizens of all faiths. Catholics are not the only faith group challenging it.

On April 12, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops called for the observance of a Fortnight for Freedom, a two-week period from June 21 until July 4 in which prayer, fasting and catechesis could be observed to raise awareness of the present threats to religious freedom and conscience protection.

Besides the HHS mandate on contraceptive coverage, these threats also include state immigration laws that make it a crime to assist undocumented workers, laws seeking to entangle the state in Church structure and governance, laws that force Catholic foster care and adoption services out of business, and discriminatory policies against small church congregations and Catholic humanitarian services.

Hogan’s assertion that U.S. bishops have chosen the 10-year anniversary of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People to play the victim card is wholly unwarranted and just plain wrong. We did not impose the mandate, but the Catholic Church has no choice but to stand against it and other infringements of our religious liberty.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Catholics4Change

June 20, 2012 by Susan Matthews

The Pennsylvania Judiciary committee will meet tomorrow morning. We MUST contact them to encourage them to vote yes to move the bills forward. Thank you.

Please vote to move HB 878 and HB 832 forward

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
YouTube

Prosecutors planning to take Catholic Bishop Robert Finn to trial on a misdemeanor report of failing to report abuse ask the judge for permission to get church records. KMBC 9’s Micheal Mahoney reports.

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IRELAND
The Irish Times

PATSY McGARRY

AN AUDIT of known or alleged sexual abuse by members of the Holy Ghost (Spiritan) congregation and its child-safeguarding practices began this week.

The congregation runs some of the best-known schools in Ireland, including Blackrock College; St Mary’s, Templeogue; and St Michael’s in Dublin, as well as Rockwell College in Co Tipperary.

It said on its website that “only a public audit of the reality of abuse committed by Spiritans can free the congregation to carry out its mission of service among God’s people here in Ireland and overseas”.

To enable this to happen, and as is required before such an audit can take place, it invited in the church’s National Board for Safeguarding Children (NBSC).

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AUSTRALIA
The Standard

SOUTH-WEST Victorian families still haunted by sexual abuses by Catholic clergy have been given a new high-level avenue to air their concerns.

A special family and community development committee set up by the Baillieu government has called for submissions to help prepare a report on the issue for Parliament.

It will look at practices, policies and protocols in religious and other non-government organisations for handling allegations of criminal abuse of children including measures put in place in response to concerns.

Warrnambool’s Ann Ryan, a former teacher who waged a long battle with Catholic Church leaders over their lack of pastoral responsibility in dealing with abuses, welcomed the call for submissions.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Priest Abuse Trial Blog

Ralph Cipriano

Moments before she sent the jury home for the day, Judge M. Teresa Sarmina held a closed-door conference with lawyers in the case. What they talked about is not known, because there’s a continuing gag order that’s been in effect since early last year that prevents lawyers in the case from talking to the media.

When the jury filed back into Courtroom 304 shortly after 4 p.m., they looked tired and frustrated. One jury member was seen rolling her eyes when the judge talked about returning Wednesday to resume deliberations for a 12th day, as in what’s the use.

In the absence of any hard facts, a room full of reporters was left to subsist on persistent rumors of a deadlocked jury. Again, nobody in any official capacity, including the judge, the prosecutors, and the defense lawyers, had anything to say, but after 11 fruitless days of deliberation, it’s a logical thought.

For the second consecutive day, the formerly inquisitive jury did not ask a single question, prompting more speculation that the jury has reached the point where they have exhausted seeking help from the judge through questions about the law and requests for more documents and trial transcripts.

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UNITED STATES
NPR

[with audio]

June 19, 2012

Psychologists say many people who are sexually abused as kids carry the secret for decades. Many never reveal what happened at all, and few file charges. Sarah Pleydell, a survivor of childhood sexual abuse, and clinical psychologist David Lisak talk about the challenges of carrying those secrets.

NEAL CONAN, HOST:

This is TALK OF THE NATION. I’m Neal Conan in Washington. Last week on the first day of the sex abuse trial of former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky, a 28-year-old man referred to as Victim Four in court papers took the stand and offered graphic detail of years of abuse.

He also expressed regret for not coming forward earlier. He told the jury he had spent, quote, so many years burying this in the back of my head forever that when he heard there were other cases like his, he felt responsible.

But his reluctance is not uncommon. Earlier this month, an article in the New York Times raised allegations of widespread sex abuse of studies at the Horace Mann School in New York City, most of it in the 1970s and ’80s. Psychologists say that many people sexually abused as children are silenced by fear and shame and never reveal what happened. Those who do can carry the secret for years or even decades.

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CALIFORNIA
Courthouse News Service

By WILLIAM DOTINGA

SAN FRANCISCO (CN) – Pastors and police officers facing claims that they enabled the decades-long sexual abuse of children in an evangelical Christian home have pointed to the statute of limitations to dodge liability.

The seven biological and foster children of Zion and Glenda Lea Dutro, all of whom are now adult women, filed their complaint anonymously in late 2011. Zion Dutro was sentenced to 300 years in prison after admitting that he sexually abused his children between 1982 and 2003. His wife was sentenced to 15 years for her role in the psychological, physical and verbal abuse.

An amended complaint that the sisters filed in May revealed their names and a host of individuals or entities who allegedly knew about the abuse and did nothing to stop it.

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CANADA
Calgary Herald

By Stephane Massinon, Calgary Herald
June 19, 2012

Police say no charges will be laid against current or former staff at the Prairie Bible Institute after they wrapped up an investigation into claims of sexual abuse made by a former student.

Both RCMP and the Three Hills-based Christian college launched their own reviews last year after a former student claimed years of sexual abuse at the hands of her father. She also said that 70 alleged victims had come forward to her with stories of sexual abuse suffered there.

Three Hills RCMP Sgt. Joe Sangster said Tuesday police recently concluded their investigation and are planning on providing a public update as early as next week.

He said no charges have been laid and estimated that approximately 10 people came forward to police.

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NEW YORK
Auburn Citizen

The state Senate has again failed the people of New York by refusing to follow the Assembly in approving legislation extending the statute of limitations on civil suits in cases of child sexual abuse.

Changing the rules would add five years to the allowable time people could sue individuals — and entities such as schools and churches — for abuse they suffered as a minor. It would also open a one-time window for people to sue over wrongs committed decades ago.

Statues of limitations, in most cases, make good sense. Nobody should live in fear of being sued over a 30-year-old car accident or a disputed real estate deal.

But we’ve learned that young victims of sexual abuse are often scared, confused or otherwise unprepared to talk about what happened to them for many years, if they come forward at all. And the psychological trauma has shown to be long-term, so it just isn’t fair to have such a short period of time in which to hold abusers accountable.

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UNITED STATES
Daily Times

Published: Wednesday, June 20, 2012

While the world awaits the verdict on the Philadelphia clerical sexual abuse trial in which the first church official in the United States is charged with endangering children for allegedly protecting the abusers, 14 nuns are on a national bus tour protesting proposed federal budget cuts because of their ill effects on the poor.

These nuns were organized by Network, a Washington-based Catholic social justice group recently criticized by Pope Benedict XVI — aka “The Vatican” — for focusing too much on economic injustice and not enough on abortion and same-sex marriage protests. This is the same pope who recently told Irish Catholics in a videotaped message that the cause of decades of child abuse in parishes, schools and other church-run institutions was a “mystery.”

This is also the same pope who, as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, once headed the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith and oversaw all abuse cases, allowing many to fester. For example, the future pope reportedly allowed an Arizona priest, who a church tribunal determined molested children as far back as the late 1970s, to remain a priest until 2004, more than 12 years after learning of the man’s predilection for youngsters.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Post

A FORMER Bristol magistrate has been spared prison, despite sexually abusing a teenage boy.

James Hennah, who was also a lay pastor at the Bristol Community Church in Kingswood and a Bristol Grammar School counsellor, was given a suspended sentence at Exeter Crown Court yesterday.

The 39-year-old admitted two charges of sexually touching a boy and one of gaining sexual gratification by watching him do a “private act”, having asked him to try on some new underwear.

Prosecuting, Emily Pitts told the court the offences had devastated the boy. His self-confidence had been shattered and he had lost trust in adults.

In a statement to the court, the youngster said: “I never want to speak to him or see him again.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
Daily Mail

Evangelical church tried to cover up abuse of boy, 14, by pervert pastor who claimed to be ‘bringing him peace’

By Graham Smith

PUBLISHED:03:15 EST, 20 June 2012

An evangelical church tried to cover up sexual abuse by one of its pastors by pressuring the parents of a 14-year-old boy not to report his attacks.

Youth leader James Hennah, 39, abused the boy after befriending him and his family at the church group which he ran in Bristol.

He was also a local magistrate and school counsellor and used his respected position in the community to win the trust of his victim.

Hennah first abused the boy at his parents’ home when the teenager became upset and he was supposedly praying with him.

He claimed to be ‘bringing him peace’ but instead slipped his hand inside the boy’s underwear and touched his bottom.

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CALIFORNIA
Patch

By Martin Henderson

Attorneys for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange have settled in court with a decorated military pilot over an alleged sexual abuse incident that took place about 25 years ago.

The diocese agreed to pay John Doe $2 million, ending a civil suit centered around Michael Harris, who at the time was the principal at Mater Dei High in Santa Ana.

Harris, who was also a priest, went on to become the founding principal at Santa Margarita Catholic High, which opened in 1987.

Jury selection was supposed to begin Tuesday in the Orange County Superior courtroom of Judge Ronald L. Bauer. The pretrial settlement was reached about 9:30 p.m. Monday, after hours of negotiating.

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UNITED STATES
Stop Baptist Predators

The Southern Baptist Convention is convening its annual ballyhoo in New Orleans this week, but it doesn’t look as though they will make any progress on protecting kids against clergy sex abuse.

Since 2006, clergy abuse survivors, and others, have been asking the Southern Baptist Convention to implement denominational safeguards against clergy child molesters. Southern Baptists have refused.

The requests are nothing radical. We asked for the sorts of safeguards that already exist in other major faith groups in this country. We asked that the denomination provide (1) a safe place where people may report abusive ministers, (2) a denominational panel for responsibly assessing abuse reports (particularly those that cannot be criminally prosecuted), and (3) an effective means, such as a database, of assuring that assessment information reaches people in the pews.

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UNITED STATES
New Jersey Newsroom

BY ROBERT KINKEAD
NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

Pope Benedict XVI added a new mystery to the Catholic faith last Sunday.

Speaking about the abuse of children by priests and other religious figures, the Pontiff said, “How are we to explain the fact that people who regularly received the Lord’s body and confessed their sins in the Sacrament of Penance have offended in this way? It remains a mystery.”

The papal comments were made in a recorded TV address delivered at the close of an outdoor Mass attended by 75,000 Catholics, many from overseas, in Ireland’s largest sports stadium. Ireland’s prime minister and president attended the Mass, the final event of a Eucharistic Congress aimed at shoring up flagging faith.

Not everyone agreed with the Pope.

“The pontiff’s wrong: there’s little mystery here,” said Barbara Dorris in an emailed statement reported by the Associated Press.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Jun. 18, 2012
By An NCR Editorial

It’s as bad as we thought it could get. Maybe worse. In an interview with NCR shortly after meeting with the leaders of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, Cardinal William Levada, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, confirmed our worst fears: that this Holy Office is hell-bent on bringing U.S. women religious to heel.

Franciscan Sr. Pat Farrell, president of the leadership conference, and St. Joseph Sr. Janet Mock, the group’s executive director, went to Rome at the request of the conference’s board to seek some understanding from Levada and Seattle Archbishop J. Peter Sartain, the apostolic delegate, about the April 18 Vatican order that the women’s group revise its statutes and programs. The Vatican order, which followed a nearly four-year investigation of the group, also appointed three bishops to oversee this reform: Sartain, Bishop Leonard Blair of Toledo, Ohio, and Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Springfield, Ill.

Farrell and Mock were hopeful going into the meeting, calling it a continuation of a conversation already begun. On the other side of the meeting, Levada wondered if he were engaged in a “dialogue of the deaf.” He’s not convinced that the women’s group is taking the Vatican’s concerns to heart.

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UNITED STATES
Washington Post

Trials of Jerry Sandusky and William Lynn: Coaches, Cardinals, Cowardice and Courage in Pennsylvania

By Mathew N. Schmalz and He wrote this article for On Faith.

Over the last few weeks, Pennsylvania and the nation have been transfixed and troubled by the trials of Jerry Sandusky and Monsignor William Lynn.

The connections between the trials are clear. Both concern sexual abuse: In one the alleged abuser is on trial; in the other, the man on trial is accused of allowing abuse to continue. Both trials reveal how institutions responded more sensitively to the alleged abusers than to the victims.

Both trials also force us to reflect on the difference between moral cowardice and moral courage.

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CALIFORNIA
The Orange County Register

By GREG HARDESTY / THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

SANTA ANA – The Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange settled a sex-abuse and cover-up lawsuit Monday night with an accuser of former Monsignor Michael Harris, agreeing to pay an unusually high amount of $2 million to end a case that alleged a single incident of abuse.

The settlement in Orange County Superior Court came at around 9:30 p.m. after hours of negotiations on a day when jury selection was set to begin before Superior Court Judge Ronald L. Bauer.

Harris’ accuser is a decorated combat pilot in the Air Force who lives in Nevada. The 41-year-old married father of two young children, who is not being publicly identified by the Register, accused Harris of abusing him in late 1986 or early 1987 when Harris was principal of Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana and he was a student there.

Harris’ attorney, James Ingram, was not immediately available for comment.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
The Reporter

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A Philadelphia jury is set to return for a 12th day of deliberations Wednesday in a novel clergy-abuse case, but there’s been no word the panel is at a stalemate.

The case is the first in the country in which a Roman Catholic church official is charged over his handling of abuse complaints.

Prosecutors say Monsignor William Lynn conspired to endanger children by taking part in an alleged cover-up. Lynn served as secretary for clergy at the Philadelphia archdiocese from 1992 to 2004.

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IRELAND
National Catholic Reporter

Jun. 19, 2012
By David Gibson, Religion News Service

NEW YORK — Cardinal Timothy Dolan loves to play up his Irish roots, which is no surprise given Dolan’s famous Gaelic gregariousness and his role as spiritual leader of such a prominent community of Irish-American Catholics.

But in the wake of Dolan’s scathing verdict on the orthodoxy of a major Irish seminary and the sharp pushback by Ireland’s leading bishops, America’s best-known churchman might want to stick to his throne at St. Patrick’s Cathedral and steer clear of the old sod for a while.

Dolan’s report on the flagship Irish seminary in Rome — contained in a review commissioned by the Vatican — was marked by “a deep prejudice” that “led to the hostile tone and content of the report,” Ireland’s four archbishops said in the draft of a joint reply to the Vatican.

The reply, published by The Irish Times on Friday, also said Dolan’s report contained “significant errors of fact.”

In 2010, as revelations of the widespread sexual abuse of children by clergy rocked deeply Catholic Ireland, Pope Benedict XVI asked Dolan to a lead a team that would inspect Ireland’s Catholic seminaries to make sure they were preparing men properly for the priesthood. (The pontiff also named Boston Cardinal Sean O’Malley and other churchmen to review Ireland’s four archdioceses.)

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CALIFORNIA
The Worthy Adversary

Posted by Joelle Casteix on June 19, 2012

After years of litigation and on the eve of what was going to be a blockbuster trial, the Diocese of Orange has settled its most recent case against notorious former priest and Mater Dei/Santa Margarita High School principal Michael Harris for $2 million.

The victim is a decorated Air Force pilot. He risked a lot more than most victims by coming forward.

Just think: if Msgr. John Urell and Bp. Michael Driscoll had done the right thing, Harris would be in jail. But no … that would have been the RIGHT thing to do.

Something tells me that this is not the end of the story ….

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PENNSYLVANIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by David Clohessy on June 19, 2012

We applaud Pennsylvania lawmakers who are pushing a discharge petition so that a crucial bill to help expose child predators can move forward.

If ever there’s a compelling reason for an unusual legislative move, protecting hundreds or thousands of innocent kids from child predators is that reason.

One or two politicians shouldn’t deny 250 PA lawmakers a chance to vote – up or down – on a matter of public safety and child protection.

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SCRANTON (PA)
The Moscow Villager

By Staff reports
The Villager

Posted Jun 19, 2012

Scranton —

On Friday, June 15, Diocesan officials learned that charges have been filed against Father Thomas Shoback.

In November 2011, the Diocese of Scranton notified the Tioga County District Attorney’s Office that an allegation of sexual abuse was reported to the Diocese.

At that time, the Diocese immediately removed the cleric from ministry and suspended his faculties to exercise priestly ministries within the Diocese pending an investigation of the accusation.

The Diocese has cooperated with law enforcement and will continue to do so in pursuit of justice.

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CALIFORNIA
Orange County Weekly

By Gustavo Arellano
Tue., Jun. 19 2012

Just got word from John Manly, the badass attorney who has for the past decade exposed the Catholic Diocese of Orange for the pedo-protection racket that it is, that the trial he was all ready to start on today involving the notorious Michael Harris ain’t going to trial anymore. That’s because representatives for Orange Bishop Tod D. Brown approached him last night and offered to settle before the public embarrassment that would’ve been the man nicknamed “Mad Dog” grilling Harris, Brown, and all the other cretins in cassocks came to be.

Settlement amount? $2 million.

Harris, of course, was the former principal of Mater Dei and Santa Margarita high schools, a darling of the Republican Party, and a clinically diagnosed boy lover. Here’s Manly’s statement:

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CALIFORNIA
The Sentinel

Associated Press | Posted: Tuesday, June 19, 2012

A man charged with attacking a Jesuit priest who he says molested him decades ago is going to trial.

Opening statements begin Wednesday for 44-year-old San Francisco resident William Lynch, who faces charges of felony assault and elder abuse for the attack on Jerold Lindner.

Authorities say Lynch beat Lindner in the lobby of the priest’s retirement home in May 2010.

Lynch says he intends to use his own trial to raise awareness about clergy sexual abuse. He faces four years in prison if convicted.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Derry Journal

Published on Tuesday 19 June 2012

A woman who claims she was indecently assaulted by a priest as a teenage girl has told a Derry Crown Court jury she felt “totally betrayed”.

The woman, who cannot be identified, was giving evidence at the trial of 66-year-old Fr Eugene Boland.

Fr Boland, whose address was given in court papers as Parochial House, Killyclogher Road, Omagh, denies five charges of indecent assault between June 28, 1990 and June 30, 1992.

It is alleged the abuse took place in the parochial house of St Joseph’s Church, Galliagh, when the complainant was aged around 14-years-old

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IRELAND
Donegal Democrat

Published on Tuesday 19 June 2012

A Moville born priest told a woman who claims she was indecently assaulted by him as a teenage girl that it was only when he came to Derry and saw good looking women that he realised it was ‘too late’ for him.

The woman told a Derry Crown Court jury yesterday she felt “totally betrayed” by the alleged actions of the priest.

The woman who cannot be identified was giving evidence at the trial of 66-year-old Fr. Eugene Boland.

Boland, whose address was given on court papers as Parochial House, Killyclogher Road, Omagh, denies five charges of indecent assault between June 28, 1990 and June 30, 1992.

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CALIFORNIA
OpEd News

By
Joey Piscitelli

A landmark event is scheduled to shake California this week, and it’s not the typical quake felt rumbling along the coast near Los Gatos. It is the trial of Will Lynch, a man who has trembled in agony himself for the last 37 years. Will was only 7 when he said he was violated by Fr. Jerold Lindner, the infamous Jesuit priest who has been responsible for millions of dollars of sex abuse settlement claims in the past decade.

Will is accused of going to the home of Fr. Lindner at the plush Los Gatos Estate called the Sacred Heart Retirement Center in May of 2010, where the serial accused rapist lives in luxury, overlooking a stunning vineyard and magnificent landscape. During that visit, Lynch admits he attacked and beat the Priest, and he states that he looks forward to his day in court. He is being represented by attorney Mark Geragos of Los Angeles. Lynch has refused to accept a plea bargain, and the DA’s office of Santa Clara is prosecuting Lynch in a court trial beginning on June 20 th .

The Jesuit Sacred Heart Center is cynically referred to as the “Pedophiles Paradise” by sex abuse victims who have protested outside the courthouse this week; a stark reminder that the retreat location has housed many Jesuit sex molesters for decades.

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MALTA
The Malta Independent

Dr Philip Galea Farrugia criticised the defence of the defrocked priests found guilty of sexual abuse, for their personal attack against one of the victims, Lawrence Grech, against whom they were showing hatred.

Dr Galea Farrugia, and Dr Elaine Rizzo, are representing the attorney general in the appeal launched by the two priests, being heard by Mr Justice David Scicluna. Godwin Scerri and Carmel Pulis, the former priests, were last August sentenced to five years and six years in jail for the sexual abuse of boys who were living at Dar San Guzepp, Sta Venera.

Mr Pulis was found guilty of abusing nine boys, Mr Scerri of corrupting two boys.

Dr Galea Farrugia’s claim of hatred was strongly denied by Dr Giannella de Marco, who lodged the appeal with Dr Joseph Giglio. She said the application had been written tongue in cheek and with sarcasm.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
My Fox Philly

PHILADELPHIA (AP) – A jury weighing child-endangerment charges against two Roman Catholic priests has been working quietly this week after a flurry of earlier questions.

The jury has been deliberating for 11 days, after getting the case June 1 and taking a few days off.

The groundbreaking case involves a priest charged with attempted rape and an official charged with covering up abuse claims.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

By John P. Martin and Joseph A. Slobodzian

Day 11 of jury deliberations has begun in the clergy sex-abuse trial at the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia.

Day 10 was uneventful, as the panel of seven men and five women met behind closed doors, never asking Common Pleas Court Judge M. Teresa Sarmina any questions, never rehearing any testimony, never prompting arguments between judge and attorneys.

The jury convened Monday for nearly six hours — bringing the total so far to about 36 hours — offering no clues to their progress in the landmark case against two Archdiocese of Philadelphia priests.

Judge Sarmina took the bench at 4 p.m. simply to tell the lawyers: “They have asked to leave for the day.”

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

The Vatican Secretary of State who is “at the centre of the fray” is on the attack, particularly against the press

Andrea Tornielli
Vatican City

The Vatican Secretary of State set four key things straight in yesterday’s interview with Italian Pauline magazine Famiglia Cristiana. The title on the magazine’s front cover – a quotation of a comment made by the Pope’s right hand man was unequivocal: “Poison pen letter writers and the Vatican bank…pure slander”. The cardinal made his stance known after the Substitute for General Affairs to the Secretary of State, Angelo Becciu and the Dean, Cardinal Angelo Sodano expressed their own positions (both published in the Vatican daily broadsheet L’Osservatore Romano). His stance shows a continuity with the messages he has been sending out both inside and outside the Roman Curia, recalling the unity of those close to the Pope and denying the existence of clashing factions among them.

During the interview, the Secretary of State attributed most of the blame for the Vatileaks scandal and the controversies over the dismissal of the Vatican bank’s president, Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, to newspapers – particularly Italian ones. He claimed it was these Dan Brown wannabe journalists, with their inaccurate and poisonous information, their “pettiness” and “lies spread over the past few months”, who portrayed the Vatican as a place mired in power struggles and tensions. Information which is simply not true. “In actual fact, there is a unity in terms of objectives and a collegiality among the Secretariat of State’s collaborators that cannot be found elsewhere.” “Personally – the cardinal said – I see no sign of any cardinals being involved or of a mysterious power struggle between ecclesiastical figures.”

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

In an interview with Italian Pauline magazine “Famiglia Cristiana”, Cardinal Bertone speaks about the Vatican document leak and IOR scandals: “There is no sign of any cardinals being involved or of disputes between clerics”

Andrea Tornielli
Vatican City

The Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Pope’s main collaborator spoke again about the Vatican leak scandal following his visit to Poland, where he “experienced a totally different climate from the foul play and lies spread in recent months.” He did so in a long interview with Fr. Antonio Sciortino, director of Italian Pauline magazine Famiglia Cristiana.

“We are facing difficult times. None of us intends to hide the shadows and defects of the Church. Te Holy Father continues to invite all of us, starting with those with roles of responsibility to change their lives around. Not just by purifying our behaviour but also through our increased dedication to doing good.” But Bertone also pointed out that “we find ourselves in an Italian context which is spread universally, to parts of the world where the echoes are muted. Other countries find it difficult to understand the fierceness of certain Italian newspapers.” According to the Secretary of State, abroad “one gets a better idea of how the publication of a number of letters and documents sent to the Holy Father by people who have a right to privacy, constitutes – as we have stressed a number of times – an immoral act of unprecedented gravity. It is an offense against a right which is explicitly recognized by the Italian constitution, which should be severely observed and enforced.”

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PHILIPPINES
Vatican Insider

Priests say the bishop misused huge sums of money intended as donations for victims of typhoons and disasters

Mauro Pianta
Rome

Bishop Jesse Mercado is facing some heavy accusations. The man in charge of the Diocese of Parañaque, one of the richest in the Philippines, allegedly diverted multimillion donations for victims of typhoons and other disasters. The news was reported by UCAN Philippines news service. Although the article cites the website rappler.com, it does not give the exact figure but speaks generally of “millions”. It does not specify where the donations were diverted to either.

What is certain, is that a number of lay people and priests have asked the Apostolic Nuncio in the Philippines, Mgr. Giuseppe Pinto to intervene and remove the bishop from office. After a couple of meetings, Mgr. Pinto said he intended to bring the Mercado dossier to the attention of the Roman Curia.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

The troika of cardinals has listened to 23 people so far and Paolo Gabriele is still behind bars

Alessandro Speciale
Vatican City

The Commission of three cardinals appointed by Pope Benedict XVI to conduct a full scale investigation into the Vatileaks case has heard 23 people so far. Among them is the Pope’s former butler, Paolo Gabriele, who is the only one to have been formally accused to date.

The three elderly cardinals – The Spaniard Julian Herranz, a member of the Opus Dei and former president of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts, the Slovak, Josef Tomko, former Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples and the Italian Salvatore De Giorgi, former Archbishop of Palermo, all over 80 – reported to Pope Benedict XVI Saturday afternoon.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Priest Abuse Trial Blog

Ralph Cipriano

The jury in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia sex abuse trial deliberated for a tenth day Monday without reaching a verdict.

Judge M. Teresa Sarmina sent the jury home shortly after 4 p.m. They asked no questions. The jurors did not appear angry, as some reporters have previously noted, but they weren’t smiling either as they were dismissed for the day.

Meanwhile, the bored press corps staking out Courtroom 304 was entertained by Pat Ciarrocchi of CBS 3 Eyewitness News. Ciarrocchi, employing her dramatic broadcast voice, read horoscopes from the Philadelphia Daily News for the court crier and several reporters on hand. Sadly, there were no predictions about any pending dramatic announcements.

Victims’ advocates, however, who attend the trial daily, saw a silver lining. At least the jury wasn’t telling the judge that they were deadlocked.

Outside the Criminal Justice Center, TV camera crews and news photographers chased Msgr. William J. Lynn, his lawyers, and Lynn’s relatives down Filbert Street.

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VEREINIGTE STAATEN
Humanistischer Pressedienst

AMHERST, NY. (hpd) Eine in der aktuellen Ausgabe der Zeitschrift Free Inquiry veröffentlichte Studie hat das mögliche Ausmaß der staatlichen Subventionierung der US-Kirchen aufgezeigt. Den Berechnungen unter Federführung des Soziologen Ryan T. Cragun zufolge belaufen sich die Begünstigungen auf einen Betrag von mehr als 71 Milliarden US-Dollar jährlich.

Die in den USA seit 1980 erscheinende Zeitschrift Free Inquiry hat eine Auflage von rund 35.000 Exemplaren und wird vom Council for Secular Humanism in Amherst im US-Bundesstaat New York herausgegeben. Chefredakteur ist der emeritierte Philosophieprofessor Paul Kurtz.

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DEUTSCHLAND
RP

Interview Der neue Generalvikar Stefan Heße setzt für das Erzbistum Köln auf Leuchttürme des Glaubens

Köln Seit März ist Prälat Stefan Heße (45) Generalvikar und damit Leiter der erzbischöflichen Verwaltung von Joachim Kardinal Meisner. Er leitete bislang die Hauptabteilung Seelsorge-Personal. Als Chef des Generalvikariats (500 Mitarbeiter) wünscht sich Heße, der eigentlich Gemeindepfarrer werden wollte, eine missionarische Kirche.

Ihr Amt ist an die Amtszeit des Bischofs gebunden. Wie gestalten Sie die Aufgabe vor dem Hintergrund, dass 2013 Kardinal Meisner 80 Jahre alt wird und dann zurücktreten könnte?

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ROM
der Standard

Wolfgang Bergmann, 18. Juni 2012

“Wenn ein Katholik mit dem Papst in Rom spricht, dann hat er die Pflicht, sich so zu öffnen als stünde er Gott gegenüber…”

Ich muss gestehen, dass mir dieses Gebot ziemlich neu ist. Aber die Formulierung kam dieser Tage direkt aus dem vatikanischen Staatssekretariat, aus dem Munde von Erzbischof Angelo Becciu, dem Subsitituten des Staatssekretariates, (l’Osservatore Romano Nr.23).

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DEUTSCHLAND
netzwerkB

Scharbeutz/Berlin – Mit einem persönlichen Schreiben an Norbert Denef meldet sich nun auch Burkhart Lischka zu Wort. Erst vor kurzem musste netzwerkB ihn damit konfrontieren, dass gerade die standardisierten Mails, die die SPD auf Anfragen von Betroffenen verschickt, nicht der Wahrheit entsprechen. In diesen Mails hieß es, dass Burkhart Lischka schon mit netzwerkB Kontakt aufgenommen hätte. Korrekt war dies nicht, vor allem da netzwerkB es war, die den Kontakt aufnahmen und Lischka sich bis zu diesem Zeitpunkt des Hungerstreiks bei netzwerkB nicht gemeldet hatte.

Nach dieser Kritik blieb Lischka wenig anderes übrig als einen persönlichen, handschriftlich verfassten Brief an netzwerkB zu senden, der nun signalisiert, dass der dringende Änderungsbedarf bei den Verjährungsfristen im Bundestag nochmal diskutiert werden müsse.

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MALTA
Times of Malta

Tuesday, June 19, 2012 by
Waylon Johnston

The magistrate who convicted two priests of child abuse was yesterday accused of having been selective in his appreciation of evidence by trying to discredit the men and making sure they were found guilty.

Defence lawyer Joseph Giglio questioned how Magistrate Saviour Demicoli could be morally convinced of the men’s guilt when the victims were contradictory and inconsistent in their testimony.

On the other hand, the lawyer from the Attorney General’s Office, Phillip Galea Farrugia, said that it was precisely the discrepancies that made the victims so believable.

The 11 boys had been subjected to abuse every day, 18 years before they testified, so it was obvious that they could not remember every single detail but rather the substance of what they were put through, Dr Galea Farrugia said.

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PENNSYLVANIA
CBS Philly

By Tony Romeo

HARRISBURG, Pa.(CBS) — Some state lawmakers from Philadelphia are using a rarely-invoked parliamentary procedure in an effort to get a pair of child sex abuse bills to the House floor for a vote.

Philadelphia House Democrat Michael McGeehan says a “discharge resolution” aimed at forcing movement on bills bottled up in committee has only been used a few times in the current session.

“This extraordinary move that we’re taking takes on some of the most powerful interests in this capitol and in this Commonwealth … starting with the insurance industry … starting with the most powerful secular and religious organizations,” McGeehan explained.

But even if ultimately successful, with a limited number of session days before summer recess, a vote might not come until fall.

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PENNSYLVANIA
WHTM

[with video]

By Mark Hall

HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHTM) –
Philadelphia State Representatives Michael McGeehan and Louise Bishop said the House Judiciary Committee has had 15 months to take action on two bills that would strengthen out dated child sexual abuse laws.

McGeehan’s bill is calling for a special two-year window for filing civil action in a childhood sexual abuse case. Bishop, a victim of sexual abuse as a child, is pushing a bill that would remove the statute of limitations for filing criminal charges for sexual offenses.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Philadelphia Inquirer

June 18, 2012|By Amy Worden and INQUIRER HARRISBURG BUREAU

HARRISBURG — Two Philadelphia lawmakers are making an end run around the legislative process to try to get their stalled child-abuse protection bills to a House floor vote.

State Reps. Michael McGeehan and Louise Williams Bishop, both Democrats, say the overlapping trials of two Philadelphia Archdiocese priests and former Pennsylvania State University assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky are reason enough to consider their bills, which seek to expand the statutes of limitations for civil and criminal liability in claims of past assaults on children.

“Sexual abuse of children is at the forefront in the Capitol right now, from the highest reaches of the Catholic Church in Philadelphia and one of the most prestigious secular institutions in Pennsylvania,” McGeehan said at a news conference in the Capitol.

Both bills have languished in the House Judiciary Committee for 15 months without a hearing or a vote. On Monday, McGeehan and Bishop introduced rarely used “discharge resolutions” that would essentially force their bills to a floor vote as early as Wednesday — unless the committee chairman, Rep. Ron Marsico (R., Dauphin), decides to shift the bills to another committee.

Marsico did not return a phone call seeking comment.

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ROME
National Catholic Reporter

by John L Allen Jr on Jun. 19, 2012 NCR Today

ROME — If a report in Italy’s leading daily is accurate, it’s a rare bit of good news lately for the Vatican: Apparently, the Vatican is poised to pass a looming European anti-money laundering evaluation, touted by friends and foes alike as the first real measure of whether Benedict XVI’s financial reforms are for real.

According to the June 19 story in Corriere della Sera, evaluators from Moneyval, the European anti-money laundering task force, are set to give the Vatican a score of only “partially compliant” or “non-compliant” on just eight of its 16 “key and core” benchmarks. That’s enough for the Vatican to avoid being considered a problem state, which requires low scores on ten of the standards.

If a country drops below that threshold, it typically faces a more rigid review for “high-risk states” led by the Financial Action Task Force, considered the leading global body in the fight against money laundering.

While Moneyval does not issue an overall verdict of “pass” or “fail”, many observers informally consider avoiding that process as a pass. Countries which have recently been subjected to the aggressive review include Bolivia, Kenya, Myanmar, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Syria and Turkey.

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UNITED STATES
Huffington Post

Caryl Rivers

Until quite recently, I had believed that the world of my novel, “Virgins,” about Catholic girls growing up in the 1950s, was a giant step away from contemporary reality.

After all, in those days, nuns wore habits with skirts to the floor and were expected to be passive and obedient. Catholic women were never supposed to speak about contraception, even in whispers. Families were often overjoyed when a son chose the priesthood as his vocation.

Today, nuns have tossed away the habit and run their own social welfare programs. Catholic women use contraception at the same rates as other American women. And in the wake of the pedophilia scandal in the church, coupled with the Vatican’s refusal to let priests marry or to admit women, the church can barely scrape up applicants for the roman collar,

But this month, as my novel is about to be re-published online, some wisps of the world I thought had vanished seem to be seeping back into the present through the permeable walls of time.

One again, nuns are being told to be quiet and obedient. The Vatican has called the sisters “radical feminists. ” It has proclaimed that they are spending too much time helping the poor, the halt and the lame, and too little time battling the Vatican’s demons, gay marriage and family planning.

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
Boston Globe

By Rachel Zoll
| Associated Press
June 19, 2012

NEW YORK – The leader of the group representing most American nuns challenged the Vatican’s reasons for disciplining her organization, insisting that raising questions about church doctrine should not be seen as rebellion.

Sister Pat Farrell, president of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, said Monday that Catholics should be able to search for answers about faith without fear.

“I don’t think this is a healthy environment for the church,’’ Farrell said in a phone interview. “We can use this event to help move things in that direction – where it’s possible to pose questions that will not be seen as defiance or opposition.’’

Farrell’s remarks are her first since she met last week in Rome with the Vatican orthodoxy office, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which concluded in April that the group had strayed broadly from church teaching.

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CALIFORNIA
GetReligion

You may have read last week about a California jury awarding $28 million in damages to a Candace Conti, a woman who said the Jehovah’s Witnesses allowed an adult member of her congregation to molest her when she was a child.

The media tend to highlight stories about random predators, even though almost everyone abused as a child was abused by someone in a position of trust. This usually means a family member or someone in a relationship with a family member. But it also happens in schools or other institutions of trust. We’ve seen most of the media interest in this topic focused on the Roman Catholic Church, although there’s no evidence that it had a greater incidence of abuse than the general population. What it does have, however, is bigger pockets than most. It’s much harder to get millions of dollars from your mom’s ex-boyfriend or your math teacher from the 7th grade than it is from large, centralized entities.

This story deals with another church. It’s a huge settlement and one of the keys to the large award was a church policy. Here’s how the Associated Press put it:

Ms. Conti also said in her lawsuit that the Christian denomination’s national leaders formed a policy in 1989 that instructed the church’s elders to keep child sex abuse accusations secret. Congregation elders followed that policy when Mr. Kendrick was convicted in 1994 of misdemeanor child molestation in Alameda County, according to Mr. Simons.

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NEW YORK
CNN

[with video]

Areas of Brooklyn, N.Y. feel like a trip back in time. Ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities live a lifestyle that mirrors their ancestors from centuries ago. The dress, hair, language, education, food, values, prayers, traditions and community structure have been passed down and preserved through many generations and across oceans. All of those are an expression of the residents’ profound faith in God.

What is not visible are shameful secrets: Child sex abuse scandals have been making headlines for years and bringing unwanted attention to a group bent on privacy.

For Hasidim, every waking act is defined by the laws of the Torah; they depend on the teachings of rabbis to guide them in all parts of their day. Influence from the secular world threatens to invade their insular community.

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ARKANSAS
Press Argus-Courier

by TANIAH TUDOR, Press Argus-Courier Staff
Monday, June 18, 2012

A former Alma youth pastor was sentenced to 25 years in prison Wednesday after he pleaded guilty to seven counts of sexual assault in Crawford County Circuit Court.

Michael Brandon Lenzini, 35, of Van Buren was arrested Nov. 3 after police received reports that he had engaged in sexual conduct on multiple occasions between Oct. 1 and Nov. 3 with a girl he met through his work as a youth pastor at Crossroads Church in Alma, according to a Van Buren Police report.

Van Buren police began investigating Lenzini after receiving information from the National Child Abuse Hotline that the girl was leaving school to meet with him for sexual encounters. Police did not disclose the age of the victim.

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IRELAND
The Irish Times

A parish priest from the Derry diocese has gone on trial at the city’s Crown Court charged with sexually abusing a 14-year-old girl 20 years ago.

Fr Eugene Boland (66), originally from Moville, Co Donegal, and who served as a priest on both sides of the Border in the diocese, denies five charges of indecently assaulting the complainant between June 1990 and June 1992.

Fr Boland, Parochial House, Killyclogher Road, Omagh, is alleged to have committed the offences at the White Chapel parochial house in the Galliagh area of Derry, where the complainant worked on a voluntary basis.

Opening the prosecution case to the jury of eight women and four men, barrister Russell Connell said when the allegations were put to Fr Boland in Omagh police station in April 2010, he denied all of the offences.

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ROME
National Catholic Reporter

by John L Allen Jr on Jun. 18, 2012 NCR Today

ROME — On the Vatican leaks front, the figure widely presumed to be the major target of the scandal, Italian Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, has accused journalists covering the story of “playing at the imitation of Dan Brown,” inventing “fables and legends,” but insisted that he has “the real church” on his side.

Bertone, the Vatican’s Secretary of State, also said he has “no signal” of “the involvement of cardinals” in the affair, and rejected that the leaks scandal reveals “struggles among ecclesiastical personalities for the conquest of a phantom power.”

Bertone spoke in an interview with Famiglia Christiana, a widely read newsweekly in Italy.

“The publication of a multiplicity of letters and documents sent to the Holy Father by persons who have a right to privacy constitutes, as we have affirmed several times, an immoral act of unprecedented gravity,” Bertone said.

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ROME
National Catholic Reporter

by John L Allen Jr on Jun. 18, 2012 NCR Today

ROME — As a journalist, I pride myself on trying to see things based on the facts as they stand, not as I or someone else might like them to be.

Thus whenever I get the “next pope” question, I try to stay tethered to reality, not floating long-shots that might excite one constituency or another, but pointing to figures who seem to have the best chance of actually being elected.

The problem is that when it comes to the essentially unknowable, it’s tough to be confident about what “reality” actually is. There are no polls, no fundraising reports, no ad buys, nothing empirical other than “buzz” to separate serious contenders from the crowd. Recent history suggests that sometimes those perceived front-runners come through, as in Paul VI and Benedict XVI, but other times dark horses emerge, as in John XXIII and John Paul II.

This is by way of introducing a new papal candidate, who I freely confess has not been featured in any of the latest round-ups of contenders (including my own), and someone who would probably be an afterthought in most conversations in Rome about who might come next.

(For the record, there’s no sign of a health crisis around Benedict which would suggest a transition is imminent. It’s just that with an 85-year-old pope, the question can’t help but come up.)

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