ABUSE TRACKER

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
CBS Philly

By Tony Hanson

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — One day after a defendant in the Philadelphia clergy abuse case pleaded guilty, the attorneys for two co-defendants have asked for a new jury panel because, they argue, this one was tainted by the latest developments.

Edward Avery, 69, who sat alongside co-defendants Msgr. William Lynn and Father James Brennan during jury selection, is now out of the case. He has pleaded guilty and has been sentenced (see related story), and the prosecution says he has not agreed to testify against his fellow defendants.

But attorneys for Lynn and Brennan have cited the local and national coverage of the Avery development, saying there is no way jurors could have avoided it and not been prejudiced by it.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Chicago Tribune

Dave Warner
Reuters

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) – Defense lawyers for the highest ranking church official to go on trial in the Catholic church’s pedophilia scandal, charged with child endangerment, asked a judge on Friday to pick a new jury because a co-defendant pled guilty.

Opening arguments in the trial of Monsignor William Lynn, 61, former secretary of the clergy under the late Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua, were slated to begin on Monday. A jury has already been selected.

Lynn was to go to trial with defrocked priest Edward Avery and Rev. James Brennan, who are among four others charged in the child sex abuse case that rocked the Philadelphia Archdiocese.

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TEXAS
San Angelo Standard-Times

By Matthew Waller

MIDLAND — The Texas Ranger had to squeeze through a hole in the wall to get into the vault, grasping a gun and flashlight.

Inside the locked precinct sacred to the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Texas Ranger Lt. Jesse Valdez found rows of cabinets laden with boxes of records. It was April 2008 when he first entered the vault within the Temple Annex on the YFZ Ranch in Schleicher County, and now those records are being used as evidence against former FLDS President Wendell Loy Nielsen.

Nielsen, 71, a former president of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, is charged with three counts of third-degree bigamy, each count punishable by two to 10 years in prison and up to a $10,000 fine. Friday was the third day of the trial, and the day began with testimony from Valdez.

Prosecutor Eric Nichols asked Valdez about gaining entrance to the building, the gleaming white Temple Annex, which housed the vault.

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STOCKTON (CA)
Lodi News-Sentinel

By Ross Farrow/News-Sentinel Staff Writer

Two experts testified on the concept of repressed memory Friday in the clergy sexual abuse civil case against Father Michael Kelly.

Dr. J. Alexander Bodkin, who began his testimony on Thursday, finished up on Friday. Bodkin is an associate professor at Harvard University’s medical school. He said that there is no scientific proof that repressed memory is a valid concept.

The plaintiff claims that, due to repressed memory, he recalled in 2006 that Kelly sexually assaulted him more than 20 years earlier.

Later in the day, Dr. Anlee Kuo, a San Francisco psychiatrist who once examined the plaintiff, testified on the plaintiff’s behalf that he suffers from depression and alcohol abuse due to Kelly’s alleged sexual abuse.

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WASHINGTON
Q13 Fox

Dana Rebik
Q13 FOX News reporter

ENUMCLAW—
An Enumclaw man was formally charged Friday with raping a young girl while he served as the assistant pastor of a local church.

The alleged assaults occurred in 2005 when the suspect, Malcolm John Fraser, was 32 and the victim was 10.

According to charging documents, the victim, who is now 17, came forward Monday and reported to Enumclaw police that Fraser had repeatedly raped her while he and his wife were staying with her family from 2005 to 2006. Fraser is the assistant pastor at the non-denominational South Sound Doctrine Church.

Enumclaw police detective Grant McCall said the victim told him Fraser came into her room late at night more than 20 times while staying with her family. Fraser would allegedly hold the victim’s mouth shut while forcing her to perform various sexual acts.

“I’m in shock. I’m scared for other children particularly my own,” resident Ailen Dean said Friday.

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MIDLAND (TX)
Midland Reporter-Telegram

Sara Higgins

Joe Barron, Don Simpson and Ryan Wonderly all were church leaders trusted by their communities, and all have faced allegations related to child sexual abuse.

Fort Worth-based trial lawyer Greg Love held sessions for both church leaders and the public Tuesday at the Midland Center to discuss sexual abuse prevention and awareness. Love, who has represented victims of sexual abuse since 1994, worked to debunk myths in attendees’ minds about who can be a predator, and what warning signs to look for in their own congregations.

“There’s a real good chance that poor information and misunderstanding is going to lead to a poor result in what we do to protect our children,” he said.

Love, who is a youth leader at his home church, co-founded safety system and training organization MinistrySafe with his wife, Kimberlee Norris. The two help congregations around the nation in the design and implementation of safety systems to reduce the risk of child sexual abuse.

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LOUISIANA
KLFY

A former Catholic Priest has been arrested for alleged sexual misconduct with a child. Fifty six year old Mark Broussard has been charged with two counts of aggravated battery and 52 counts of sexual battery.

The alleged victim was an eight year old boy who is now 34. Calcasieu Parish Sheriff Ton Mancuso says his office learned of the case from the Diocese of Lake Charles.

According to the allegations the abuse took place while Broussard was serving as a priest at Saint Henry Catholic Church during a three year period, between 1986 and 1989.

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LOUISIANA
The Advertiser

Written by
Brandon Kane

Even though the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests said it was grateful for the arrest of former priest and Duson resident Mark Broussard on molestation charges, the victim’s advocacy group issued a statement Friday condemning the actions of his church and diocese in what it called an “unconscionable” failure to act.

“We are grateful that Mark Broussard has been apprehended and will be prevented from harming more children. We are extremely upset and disturbed, however, at the revelation that documents were found in this predator priest’s file that detailed sexual contact with at least four other children,” the SNAP said in a release. “It is unconscionable that someone could have knowledge of these depraved crimes and yet do nothing to stop them.”

Broussard was arrested at his home Thursday on more than 50 counts of sexual battery in connection to his tenure as a priest in Lake Charles.

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CALIFORNIA
Los Angeles Times

A retired Roman Catholic priest from Orange County pleaded guilty Friday to sexually assaulting a boy in the 1990s, authorities said.

Denis Lyons, 78, of Seal Beach pleaded guilty to four felony counts of lewd acts upon a child under 14; the crimes took place between Jan. 1, 1992, and Dec. 1, 1995. Prosecutors said they expected Lyons to be sentenced May 25 to one year in jail and five years’ formal probation and be required to register as a sex offender for life.

Lyons was a priest at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Costa Mesa when the crimes occurred. Prosecutors said he assaulted the boy four times on church property when the boy was between the ages of 7 and 9.

Lyons was charged after the victim came forward in 2008. The retired cleric was arrested at Leisure World in Seal Beach as he played cards. That is same community where former priest and convicted child molester Michael Wempe also lived.

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STOCKTON (CA)
The Record

By Jennie Rodriguez-Moore
Record Staff Writer

March 24, 2012

STOCKTON – Testimony from an alleged second sex abuse victim of the Rev. Michael Kelly will not be allowed in the civil jury trial where a former Catholic altar boy has accused the priest of molesting him.

San Joaquin County Superior Court Judge Bob McNatt decided late Thursday that the second person’s story will not be admitted to avoid prejudice.

Kelly, currently pastor at St. Joachim’s Church in Lockeford, is under criminal investigation over the second person’s claims.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
The Windsor Star

Agence France-Presse
March 24, 2012

The landmark trial of a Catholic Church official accused of covering up pedophile abuses in the United States is set to start Monday.

Monsignor William Lynn, who oversaw the assignment of priests to schools and parishes across the Philadelphia region, faces accusations that he failed to keep priests accused of sexual abuse away from minors.

The role of such a senior official, whose co-defendant Reverend James Brennan is accused of sexually abusing boys in the 1990s, makes the trial the first of its kind in the U.S.

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SALEM (MA)
The Salem News

By Tom Dalton Staff writer

SALEM — Ten years ago tomorrow, James Michael Hogan filed a lawsuit in Suffolk Superior Court that shook the foundations of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston.

The 47-year-old former Salem resident, who drove up from Delaware to face the TV cameras and media crowds, detailed sex crimes that were almost unspeakable, committed against him as a young boy.

The former altar boy at St. James Church said he had been sexually abused “hundreds” of times by the Rev. Joseph Birmingham — “Father B” — who served at the Salem parish from 1965 to 1970.

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ITALIA
romatg24

ROMA, 23 Marzo – L’emozione rotta dalle lacrime copiose e amare. Il senso di vergogna e l’ansia di chi sa di aver subito violenza e che, pur dopo anni, decide di sbattere il mostro in prima pagina col desiderio che l’esperienza vissuta non succeda a qualcun altro. Teodoro Pulvireti,38 anni di Catania ,attualmente ricercatore negli Usa, rompe il silenzio e in una conferenza stampa trova la forza e il coraggio di raccontare la sua storia e di denunciare pubblicamente le molestie e gli abusi che dai 14 ai 15 anni ha subito da don Carlo Chiarenza, ex parroco di S.Paolo ad Acireale e successivamente decano della basilica di San Sebastiano.

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ITALY
The Independent (United Kingdom)

Michael Day
Milan

Saturday 24 March 2012

An Italian man who suffered what he claims was clerical sex abuse as a 14-year-old has secretly recorded his attacker, now a senior Sicilian church figure, appearing to admit the crimes in a chilling case that throws the spotlight on the wider issue of clerical paedophilia in Italy, which many observers say is still being swept under the carpet.

The victim, Teodoro Pulvirenti, 37, now a medical researcher in the US, decided to return to his home town of Acireale in Sicily and confront the alleged abuser, Don Carlo Chiarenza, who is now a Monsignor. Last September, armed with a hidden microphone, he taped the conversation in which the priest is heard admitting to having had a sexual relationship with the-then adolescent, who subsequently made several suicide attempts and had years of psychotherapy.

With Mr Pulvirenti breaking down in tears half-way through the conversation, Mr Chiarenza is said to have claimed that the “intimate sexual relationship” – in Mr Pulvirenti’s words – that took place between them was a way of Mr Chiarenza “telling [Mr Pulvirenti] that I cared for you very much”. He then appears to suggest that the adolescent was to blame for initiating some of the encounters.

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MEXICO
National Catholic Reporter

by John L Allen Jr on Mar. 22, 2012 All Things Catholic

Pope Benedict XVI arrives today in León, Mexico, to kick off the 23rd foreign trip of his papacy but his first to Spanish-speaking Latin America. (He visited Brazil in 2007.) Benedict will spend the weekend in Mexico, then move Monday to Cuba before returning to Rome late Wednesday.

At one level, this is a tale of two different trips.

The pope’s swing in Mexico will likely amount to a celebration of popular Catholicism, with about 3 million exuberant faithful expected to turn out. It also comes just ahead of national elections in July, raising fears of manipulation of the trip for political ends, especially given perceptions that the Mexican church is aligned in favor of the conservative National Action Party. However, Mexican Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragán, a retired Vatican official who will accompany the pope, recently insisted that trying to see the trip through the prism of electoral politics “would be like forcing the ocean into an oyster.” …

In Mexico, Benedict also faces the shadow of the scandals associated with the late Fr. Marcial Maciel Degollado, founder of the Legionaries of Christ, who has become a global symbol of the clerical sexual abuse crisis. Jesuit Fr. Federico Lombardi said this week Benedict will not meet with victims of Maciel in Mexico, because such an encounter had not been requested by the local bishops. On Saturday in León, one of Maciel’s victims is scheduled present a new book critical of the church’s response to the Maciel case, titled “The Will Not to Know.”

Given that context, even a modest show of popular enthusiasm for Benedict XVI, as well as anything he says or does that’s at all relevant or engaging, may be enough to label the trip a success.

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UNITED STATES
SNAP Wisconsin

The new Cardinal of New York Timothy Dolan has chosen to attack the victims of clergy childhood sexual assault using his close ally Bill Donohue, the president of the Catholic League.

Dolan is very media savvy. He knows he shouldn’t directly attack victims of clergy sexual abuse, so he lets and encourages Donohue to do it for him.

Bill Donohue is clearly comfortable in this role. In 2011 he took out an ad in the New York Times in which, when referring to the thousands of children who were sexually assaulted by Catholic priests, he stated “Let’s get it straight- they weren’t children and they weren’t raped”. This year Donohue referred to victim/survivors who commemorated the 10th anniversary of the Boston Globe investigative report which exposed the clerical sex crimes of the Boston Archdiocese as “pitiful malcontents”.

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.

LOUISIANA
KATC

[with video]

A former priest, living in Duson, is now accused of sexually abusing children while working for the church. 56-year-old Mark Broussard is charged with two counts of aggravated rape and 52 counts of sexual battery, after the Calcasieu Parish Sheriff’s Office said a 34-year-old man came forward and accused the former priest of sexual abuse. The man said he was sexually abused for three years, between 1986 and 1989, while Broussard was a priest at St. Henry Catholic Church in Lake Charles.

When Calcasieu Parish Sheriff’s Deputies started investigating the man’s accusations, deputies said documents were also located in Broussard’s personnel file with the diocese in which Broussard indicated sexual contact with at least four other boys.

The Diocese of Lake Charles would not answer KATC’s questions about if it was aware of the documents, and if so, why the accusations were not reported to law enforcement.

Morris LeBleu with the Diocese would only state that they received the allegations in December 2011 and “immediately reported the allegations to the District Attorney and Sheriff. The Diocese of Lake Charles has and will continue to cooperate fully with all civil authorities. In light of the ongoing proceedings, the Diocese will have no further comment on this matter.”

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LOUISIANA
KATC

In a press release, The Diocese of Lake Charles released a statement regarding allegations of abuse by former priest Mark A. Broussard. According to the diocese, in December 2011, the diocese received credible allegations regarding the activities Broussard and immediately reported the allegations to the District Attorney and Sheriff. The diocese will not comment further.

The statement said, “Bishop Provost offers his prayers and concern to all victims of sexual abuse, most especially this victim and his family.”

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CALIFORNIA
Patch

Diocese: “There’s nothing we can say” as Denis Lyons pleads guilty to molesting a child at his former Costa Mesa parish in a deal that will likely land him less than a year in jail.

A 78-year-old former Catholic priest from Leisure World pleaded guilty today to molesting an altar boy in the early to mid 1990s at St. John the Baptist Church in Costa Mesa, beginning when the victim was 9 years old.

Denis Lyons, who left the priesthood in April 2004, is expected to be sentenced on May 25 to a year in jail and five years probation. Orange County Superior Court Judge Francisco Briseno, who accepted the plea agreement the defendant reached with prosecutors, is also expected to order Lyons to complete 400 hours of community service or pay a fine. Lyons could have faced up to 14 years in prison had he gone to trial.

“The victim has asked to resolve this case without going through a highly publicized trial,” Deputy District Attorney Heather Brown told the judge. Another alleged victim, who Lyons was not charged with molesting, was willing to testify to corroborate the named victim’s testimony, but he also wanted to avoid a jury trial, Brown said.

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UNITED STATES
Catholic Sensibility

Much is being made of the pope not meeting with Mexican abuse victims. Patricio Cerda, who works with victims, strikes a pessimistic tone:

In my opinion it is sad, on the one hand, because Benedict XVI is expected to be more than ‘politically correct’ – he is expected to be a true pastor. On the other hand, the cardinals have their own interests at stake, including the Primate of Mexico (Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera), who defended Maciel to the end. Those directly victimized by the founder do not want to become pawns in what amounts to nothing more than a media game.

Political correctness–the worst sense of that term–can run both ways. There’s a certain pc-strain in churchmen who want nothing more for this scandal of abuse and cover-up to go away. Why does it have to drag on past the obligatory fifteen minutes? This nipping at the heels might well devour good efforts in the new evangelization.

But rather than view the situation in defensive terms, the Church could look upon this as an opportunity. Rather than an annoyance, it presents an opening to develop an apostolate or reconciliation, prayer, and giving a good example of asking forgiveness. Maybe the time is no longer ripe for evangelization–at least as the cover-story initiative of Rome. Maybe it’s time for penitence, sacrifice, and contrition.

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UNITED STATES
firedoglake

New Maciel Revelations on the Heels of Papal Visit to Mexico Underscore Need for Accountability at the Very Top of the Roman Catholic Church

By: Center for Constitutional Rights Friday March 23, 2012

By Pam Spees, Senior Staff Attorney, Center for Constitutional Rights

While nothing is being done to protect the children of Mexico still being assaulted by Catholic clergy, plenty of preparations have taken place for this weekend’s papal visit. According to Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, the Pope will not be meeting with survivors of sexual abuse by priests while in Mexico as he has done in previous visits to other countries. The reason given is that these meetings would have to take place in “a context in which the bishops asked the pope to do it because it was a problem felt in society and the church, and that it was something desired.” It seems that in the case of the many abuse survivors in Mexico, their suffering and the fact that the systematic sexual abuse of children continues does not feel problematic enough for church officials to ask the Pope to address it.

The Pope’s visit to Mexico comes on the heels of recent revelations about the Vatican’s decades-long knowledge and cover-up of rape and sexual violence by the Mexican priest Father Marcial Maciel Degollado, one of its most favored, and notorious. Maciel’s case illustrates once again the Vatican’s role in creating a culture of sexual violence within the Church—and the resulting need for accountability at the very top.

In an effort to ensure accountability for these widespread crimes and end the on-going crisis, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) filed a complaint last year with the International Criminal Court on behalf of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests charging Pope Benedict XVI and three other high-level Vatican officials with crimes against humanity for the widespread and systemic rape and sexual violence against children and vulnerable adults by priests and others associated with the church. The complaint was supported by more than 20,000 pages of documents consisting of findings and reports of commissions of inquiry and grand juries, testimonies, and other evidence of sex crimes by Catholic clergy and of the policies and practices involved in enabling the crimes and in the cover-ups in different countries.

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CALIFORNIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Joelle Casteix on March 23, 2012

First, we want to thank the Orange County District Attorney’s Office for working diligently over the past decade to ensure that Denis Lyons faced justice in the criminal courts. Despite numerous setbacks, prosecutors have never lost sight of the threat that Lyons has continually posed to children across the county.

Despite today’s victory for children, we are still dismayed that church officials knew about Denis Lyons and his crimes for more than two decades.

Instead of calling law enforcement, they sent him to a church-run facility for child-molesting clerics, promoted him to pastor, and then sent him to a parish where he worked side-by-side with another known predator. This behavior is inexcusable and every church official who knew, whether they are still in Orange or in Boise, ID, MUST be called to account. The excuse of “it was a long time ago,” is a slap in the face to victims everywhere.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Mar. 23, 2012
By Jerry Filteau

WASHINGTON — In an unusual study whose main results were released at a Catholic University of America conference in Washington Thursday, Villanova University in Philadelphia asked former Catholics in the Trenton, N.J., diocese why they left the church.

While the results themselves were not surprising, the researchers said, the study suggests new ways the church can approach Catholics who are dissatisfied with what the church teaches or how it acts — including those so dissatisfied that they have decided to leave.

One of their key recommendations was for pastors, bishops and other church officials to respond consistently to questioning or angry Catholics with constructive dialogue rather than a simple reiteration of church rules or policies.

Jesuit Fr. William J. Byron, a professor of business at St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia — who collaborated in the study with Charles Zech, founder and director of the Center for the Study of Church Management of Villanova’s School of Business — several times cited a response of one disaffiliated Catholic who complained, “Ask a question of any priest and you get a rule; you don’t get a ‘Let’s sit down and talk about it’ response.”

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UNITED STATES
Pope Crimes & Vatican Evils…

Paris Arrow

This post contains a compilation of all the articles of Goliath-bully Bill Donohue against David & SNAP & victims of the JP2 Army-John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army, so check on its update regularly. It also contains a continuous update of the articles of the defenders and allies of David & SNAP and victims of the JP2 Army. Unlike in the Bible, it will take more than one pebble to beat Goliath-bully Bill Donohue — it will take the MSM main stream media journalists just like Normandy needed major allies to free it from the Nazis. Goliath-bully Bill Donohue is the modern version of a Hitler and Catholic League is his Nazi powerhouse owned and operated by the Vatican Opus Dei Mammon today.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Patch

By James Myers

With recent reports of priests who once served in the Norristown area being relieved of duty – Father Louis Bier, former pastor of St. Patrick’s Church, who was removed from his new post in Springfield and Father Richard Powers, a retired priest who served at St. Patrick’s over four decades ago, who was suspended in retirement – area Catholics are searching for answers from the Archdiocese. According to a Catholic blog, area faithful may have more unpleasant news in store for them.

Catholics4Change.com, a blog forum for Catholics to share their concerns and questions regarding Church accountability, recently made a post titled, “The List Cardinal Bevilacqua Didn’t Want You to See.”

In it, they share what they claim is the “list of priests who have been guilty or accused of sexual misconduct with a minor according to the file material” that was reportedly attached to a memo from Msgr. William J. Lynn to Msgr. James Molloy back in February of ’94 – a list the blog claims Cardinal Bevilacqua ordered to be shredded. Several of the priests listed were stationed in Norristown and the surrounding areas at some point.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Washington Post

Philly monsignor seeks new jury after co-defendant priest’s guilty plea; trial starts Monday

By Associated Press, Updated: Friday, March 23

PHILADELPHIA — A Roman Catholic church official facing a landmark child sex abuse trial wants a new jury seated because of publicity over a co-defendant’s last-minute guilty plea, his lawyers said Friday.

Monsignor William Lynn’s attorneys said Thursday’s plea from defrocked priest Edward Avery could influence jurors in the trial that’s scheduled to begin Monday.

Lynn, the former secretary for clergy for the Philadelphia Archdiocese, is the first U.S. church official ever charged with endangering children by failing to oust accused predators from the priesthood or report them to police.

The jury was seated early this month and advised not to read about the case. Jury selection took weeks given the sensitive sexual and religious issues involved.

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POLAND
U.S. Catholic

By Catholic News Service

WARSAW, Poland (CNS) — A prominent victim of clerical sex abuse has rejected the Polish church’s stance that it is following a zero-tolerance policy toward priests and offers moral support for victims.

Ewa Orlowska, whose book about her ordeal, “I Accused a Priest,” was published in 2008, charged that the church is holding “victims up to ridicule” while “behaving as if nothing has happened.”

“No one in the church has made the slightest gesture. No one has expressed regret, visited or written to me. But now the bishops’ conference head talks about surrounding victims of pedophilia with help and moral compensation,” Orlowska said after the Polish bishops adopted guidelines — in line with May 2011 Vatican instructions — for handling accusations.

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SANTA ANA (CA)
The Orange County Register

By VIK JOLLY and LARRY WELBORN / THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

SANTA ANA – A retired priest Friday pleaded guilty to charges of molesting a 7- to 9-year-old boy at a Costa Mesa church nearly two decades ago.

Denis Lyons, 77, of Seal Beach, admitted to four felony counts of lewd conduct with a child younger than 14, pursuant to a plea agreement with prosecutors.

He answered “Yes, your honor” to most of Superior Court Judge Francisco Briseno’s questions, who will sentence him May 25. Lyons could have been sentenced to 14 years in state prison if convicted at trial, but has agreed to serve one year in county jail and five years probation.

Deputy District Attorney Heather Brown said her office took into account the victim’s wishes to resolve the case without having to go through the ordeal of a publicized trial in reaching an agreement with Lyons.

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CAMBRIDGE (MA)
Wicked Local Cambridge

By Andy Metzger/ametzger@wickedlocal.com
Wicked Local Cambridge

Posted Mar 23, 2012

Cambridge —

It’s the kind of thing that would have been completely unbelievable a decade ago, but Cambridge playwright Michael Mack is performing a one-man show at his Harvard Square Catholic church about sexual abuse he suffered decades ago at the hands of a priest.

“I was delighted that the parish is going to be the venue for hosting this,” said Barbara Thorp, director of the Office of Pastoral Outreach and Child Protection for the Boston Archdiocese.

Mack will perform “Conversations with my Molestor” at Saint Paul Parish on Mount Auburn Street on Thursday, March 29 – the first performance he will give in a church.

“This is kind of a new angle on the play because it will be in a Catholic church, which is kind of where it all began – not that church,” Mack said, over tea at the S&S Deli and Restaurant on Thursday.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

by Kristine Ward on Mar. 23, 2012 Examining the crisis

Commentary

In a none too subtle posting on his Archdiocese of New York blog, Cardinal Timothy Dolan — the newly minted and over the top feted eminence — confirmed the bishops’ new strategy: playing hardball against victims and the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) in particular. Here’s the link.

This approach was first revealed by Catholic League president William Donohue in the March 12 New York Times story “Catholic Church Puts Legal Pressure on Abuse victims Group.”

The story played out in a good cop/bad cop routine with Mr. Donohue being quoted as bluntly declaring the “bishops have come together collectively” in this approach while Sr. Mary Ann Walsh, spokeswoman for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops demurred that Mr. Donohue was incorrect and no such new strategy was in place.

Enter the Cardinal’s column. Tie broken. Winner declared: take no prisoners, new aggressive strategy it is.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
NBC Philadelphia

By Karen Araiza

Friday, Mar 23, 2012

One day after defrocked priest Edward Avery pleaded guilty to raping a child, defense attorneys asked for a new jury in the priest sex-abuse trial that is set to start on Monday.

Avery admitted sexually abusing a 10-year-old altar boy in 1999 while Avery was a pastor at St. Jerome’s parish in northeast Philadelphia. Avery was 57 at the time.

Attorneys for the two other church officials who will be tried went to court on Friday to ask the judge for a new jury. They argued that the jury is tainted because of the media coverage of Avery’s guilty plea.

Defense attorneys also announced on Friday that Avery will not cooperate with the prosecution and testify against his two co-defendants, Rev. James Brennan and Monsignor William Lynn.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
CBS Philly

By Tony Hanson

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — One day after a defendant in the Philadelphia clergy abuse case pleaded guilty, the attorneys for two co-defendants have asked for a new jury panel because, they argue, this one was tainted by the latest developments.

Edward Avery, 69, who sat alongside co-defendants Msgr. William Lynn and Father James Brennan during jury selection, is now out of the case. He has pleaded guilty and has been sentenced (see related story), and the prosecution says he has not agreed to testify against his fellow defendants.

But attorneys for Lynn and Brennan have cited the local and national coverage of the Avery development, saying there is no way jurors could have avoided it and not been prejudiced by it.

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LOUISIANA
The Advertiser

A Duson man who had left the priesthood almost two decades ago was arrested Thursday at his home on more than 50 counts of sexual battery from his tenure as a priest in Lake Charles.

Mark A. Broussard, 56, 132 Canary Lane, Duson, was arrested by CPSO detectives, with assistance from Louisiana State Police, yesterday at his home and booked into the Calcasieu Correctional Center. He is being charged with 2 counts of aggravated battery and 52 counts of sexual battery.

The Calcasieu Parish Sheriff’s Office and the Calcasieu Parish District Attorney’s Office have been working together to investigate accusations that a former priest had inappropriate sexual contact with an 8 year old victim between approximately 1986 and 1989.

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LOUISIANA
KATC

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) Executive Director David Clohessy has responded to the arrest of a former priest arrested today.

Here is the press release from SNAP:

We are grateful that Fr. Mark Broussard has been apprehended and will be prevented from harming more children. We are extremely upset and disturbed, however, at the revelation that documents were found in this predator priest’s file that detailed sexual contact with at least four other children. It is unconscionable that someone could have knowledge of these depraved crimes and yet do nothing to stop them.

We hope that Louisiana law enforcement officials will look beyond Fr. Broussard’s crimes and investigate the clear cover-up that took place at St. Henry Catholic Church. Officials at the Diocese of Lake Charles, especially Bishop Glen John Provost should become targets of this investigation as well. The fact that they knew of Fr. Broussard’s disturbing crimes and relocated him instead of turning him over to police is egregious and should be severely punished.

At the same time, we hope the arrest of this predator will embolden his other victims to come forward, get help, and make a report to police. Now that Fr. Broussard has been criminally charged, we hope these survivors can end their suffering in silence. We encourage anyone who may also have seen or suspected Fr. Broussard’s crimes to come forward to police as well and do whatever they can to assist in this investigation.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

By John P. Martin
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

Defense lawyers today asked a judge to consider delaying the looming conspiracy and child sex-abuse trial of two Archdiocese of Philadelphia priests, arguing a surprise guilty plea Thursday by a third defendant drastically altered the case.

The attorneys for Msgr. William J. Lynn and the Rev. James J. Brennan said that broad publicity of Thursday’s plea by defrocked priest Edward Avery could have tainted the jury for their trial.

They asked Common Pleas Court Judge M. Teresa Sarmina to consider picking a new panel or, at the minimum, individually polling jurors before opening statements on Monday to make sure they had not seen the news or could be fair.

“We don’t mind the jury we got,” Jeffrey Lindy, one of Lynn’s lawyers, told the judge. But he said it was unrealistic to believe they had not heard about Avery’s plea or that it would color their view of the other defendants.

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GALESBURG (IL)
The Register-Mail

By JENNIFER WHEELER
The Register-Mail

GALESBURG —

A man criticized by the Catholic Diocese of Peoria for being a fake priest has been charged with seven felonies in Knox County.

The Knox County Sheriff’s Department will extradite the Rev. Ryan St. Anne from the St. Louis County jail early next week, said Sgt. Scott Cordle. According to an arrest warrant, he has been charged with three counts of financial exploitation of an elderly person, three counts of theft and one count of deceptive practices.

Cordle could not provide additional information about the alleged incident or charges.

The warrant was issued Feb. 29, although St. Anne was arrested Tuesday in East St. Louis, said Cordle. He signed a waiver of extradition Wednesday.

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LOUISIANA
KATC

A former priest living in Duson has been accussed of having inappropriate sexual contact with an 8-year-old boy between 1986 and 1989 when he was a priest at St. Henry Catholic Church in Lake Charles. Yesterday, the Calcasieu Parish Sheriff’s Office and Louisiana State Police arrested Mark A. Broussard, 56, of 132 Canary Lane in Duson.

He’s in the Calcasieu Correctional Center and is being charged with 2 counts of aggravated battery and 52 counts of sexual battery. “Documents were located in the priest’s personnel file where the priest indicated sexual contact with at least four other male children. These incidents were not reported to law enforcement,” said Calcasieu Parish Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Kim Myers.

The Calcasieu Parish Sheriff’s Office and the Calcasieu Parish District Attorney’s Office have been working together to investigate the accusations. On December 22, 2011 the Sheriff’s Office received a letter from a local law firm on behalf of the Diocese of Lake Charles stating they had received a letter from the victim, who is now 34 years of age, disclosing the priest had allegedly molested him. “The priest left St. Henry Catholic Church in 1992 and was relocated to St. Eugene Catholic Church in Grand Chenier, where he resigned from the priesthood in 1994,” Myers said.

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FLORIDA
NBC Miami

By Julia Bagg

Friday, Mar 23, 2012

A South Florida man who claims he was sexually abused by a Catholic priest while he was an altar boy in the 1970s has filed a $5 million lawsuit against the Archdiocese of Miami.

Attorney Ron Weil says his client, a Miami man who is approximately 49-years old, was repeatedly sexually abused at the hands of William Romero, while Romero was a priest at St. Augustine Catholic Church in Coral Gables.

Weil says the abuse began when his client was about eight and continued from 1971 to 1975 inside Romero’s living quarters at the church, as well as at a home in Lake Worth.

“He’s not ready” to talk about the abuse, Weil said during a news conference Friday.

Weil said his client never told anyone about the abuse while it happened, and said he suffered “traumatic amnesia,” a condition where his memory of the incidents was repressed for more than three decades.

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UNITED STATES
Saunders & Walker

The US Catholic published this morning a very good piece authored by Bryan Cones concerning the perception that the US bishops have decided to attack SNAP (Survivors of Those Abused by Priests). While the author correctly points out that this perception has been fueled by the combative head of the Catholic League, William Donohue’s recent comments on SNAP and his assertion that the US bishops have made a decision as a body to start fighting back against the non-profit group, media outlets such as the NY Times and the National Catholic Reporter have picked up on Donohue’s comments and written pieces on it.

Donohue’s comments come in the wake of two Missouri Catholic dioceses sending subpoenas for deposition testimony to David Clohessy, a SNAP founder and spokesperson. From reading the deposition transcripts of Clohessy’s testimony, it was evident that the lawyers were more interested in the internal finances and operation of SNAP rather than the sex abuse lawsuits that were purported to be the subject of the deposition.

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UNITED STATES
Saundrs & Walker

In my blog post yesterday, I set forth some reasons why it wouldn’t be a good idea for the nation’s Catholic bishops to attack SNAP. While I didn’t expect them to take my advice, I was surprised to learn of Cardinal Dolan’s latest blog post. The post is entitled “Catholic League Reports on SNAP Deposition”. Is the Cardinal now a cub reporter for a fledgling paper soon to rival the NY Times? Actually, that wouldn’t be nearly as bad as the truth.

The reality is that Cardinal Dolan wants to appear objective and merely report what the Catholic League is writing about SNAP. Dolan wants to appear as a third-party while behind the scenes pushing his pal Bill Donohue to center stage for the world to witness his vitriol. At least Donohue has the courage of his convictions even though they are hateful and inaccurate. Dolan doesn’t even make a comment in his blog post about the Catholic League article. Instead he re-prints a lengthy section of it with links to the entire article at the end. It’s important to note that in the linked article Donohue calls David Clohessy, a friend of mine and a man of integrity, a con man. He offers no proof of course, he just makes a personal attack. I’m not Catholic but I always thought that kind of behavior was considered sinful by Donohue’s church.

Making matters worse, this is the article Cardinal Dolan wants everyone to read. He wants to spread this attack on David Clohessy by highlighting it on his own blog. Of course, he doesn’t get his hands dirty by repeating the attack.(Remind you of any Biblical figure?) Pilate, err, Dolan maintains the plausible deniability of a coward. He doesn’t actually write it, he rather points in the direction of the one slinging the mud, encouraging others to read along. This is the President of the nation’s Conference of Bishops. He’s the one leading the crusade on moral issues. You can decide for yourselves what that makes him.

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NEDERLAND
Trouw

ERIC FENNIS | LID VAN DE COMMISSIE SEKSUEEL MISBRUIK BISDOM HAARLEM-AMSTERDAM − 23/03/12

De Nederlandse bisschoppen nemen wél hun verantwoordelijkheid voor seksueel misbruik. Maar iedere compassie of actie is bij voorbaat verdacht.

De Amerikaanse bisschoppen nemen veel meer dan hun Nederlandse collega’s hun verantwoordelijkheid ten aanzien van het seksueel misbruik, stelt de Nijmeegse religiehistoricus Peter Nissen in een opiniestuk in deze krant (20 maart). Zij zouden inmiddels meer openheid tonen, gesprekken met slachtoffers voeren, adequate maatregelen hebben genomen. Kortom, de bisschoppen hier kunnen er nog veel van leren.

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MEXICO
Reformatorisch Dagblad (Nederland)

MEXICO-STAD – Paus Benedictus XVI begint vrijdag aan een officieel bezoek aan Mexico. In het land is sprake van oplevend geweld door de strijd tussen de politie en drugskartels en ook de Rooms-Katholieke Kerk verkeert er in een crisis.

Dat berichtte nieuwsdienst IPSnews donderdag. „De paus heeft geen specifiek beleid om verschillende groepen in de samenleving te benaderen. Bij zijn voorganger, Johannes Paulus II, was dat anders. Hij ging bijvoorbeeld op verschillende manieren om met jongeren, intellectuelen en inheemse bevolkingsgroepen”, zegt Elio Masferrer, expert van de Nationale School voor Antropologie en Geschiedenis.

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MEXICO
MO (Belgie)

MEXICO-STAD

Toenemend geweld, slachtoffers van seksueel misbruik door rooms-katholieke priesters die gerechtigheid eisen en positie van vrouwen in de kerk zijn kwesties waar paus Benedictus XVI volgens experts niet omheen kan tijdens zijn bezoek aan Mexico.

“De paus heeft geen specifiek beleid om verschillende groepen in de samenleving te benaderen. Bij zijn voorganger, Johannes Paulus II was dat anders. Hij ging bijvoorbeeld op verschillende manieren om met jongeren, intellectuelen en inheemse bevolkingsgroepen”, zegt Elio Masferrer, expert van de Nationale School voor Antropologie en Geschiedenis.

Masferrer zegt dat de kerk zich verwijdert van een strategie die gericht was op aandacht voor de noden en zorgen van de katholieke sociale basisbewegingen. In plaats daarvan richt de kerk zich op de elite.

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IRELAND
The Irish Times

VINCENT BROWNE

CLERICAL SEXUAL abuse is inevitable given the meaning system that is taught by the Catholic Church and to which many priests adhere.

Contradictions in that system lead to failure, increase shame and a way of living that encourages deviant behaviour.

This is the thesis of a revealing book on sexual abuse within the church by an Irish academic and therapist who interviewed, at length, nine priests and brothers convicted of child abuse, who counselled several other clerical abusers and who undertook extensive research on the issue for her book Child Sexual Abuse and the Catholic Church: Gender, Power and Organisational Culture. The author is Marie Keenan of the school of applied social science at UCD.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Rhoenpuls

Professor Dr. Klaus Laubenthal, Ansprechpartner in der Diözese Würzburg für Opfer sexuellen Missbrauchs, legt die zweite Jahresbilanz vor.

Die Zahl der Vorwürfe wegen sexueller Missbrauchshandlungen und Grenzüberschreitungen ist im zurückliegenden Jahr im Bistum Würzburg deutlich zurückgegangen. Insgesamt wurden in der Zeit seit 20. März 2011 an Professor Dr. Klaus Laubenthal, Ansprechpartner in der Diözese Würzburg für Opfer sexuellen Missbrauchs, zehn zu prüfende Vorwürfe zum Nachteil von Minderjährigen übermittelt.

“Die angetragenen Geschehnisse liegen – wie schon diejenigen des Jahres zuvor – ganz überwiegend längere Zeit zurück und reichen bis in die 1950er Jahre”, sagte Laubenthal am Montag, 19. März, in Würzburg.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Skydaddy’s Blog

Andreas L., der Pfarrer der St.-Joseph-Gemeinde in Salzgitter-Lebenstedt, der gestanden hat, drei Jungen im Alter zwischen 9 und 14 Jahren in einer Vielzahl von Fällen sexuell missbraucht zu haben, würde nach einer von der katholischen Kirche verwendeten Definition nicht als „pädophil“ gelten:

In einer von der US-amerikanischen Bischofskonferenz in Auftrag gegebenen und veröffentlichten Studie wird nämlich folgende Definition verwendet:

For the purpose of this comparison, a pedophile is defined as a priest who had more than one victim, with all victims being age eleven or younger at the time of the offense. [The Causes and Context of Sexual Abuse of Minors by Catholic Priests in the United States, 1950-2010, S. 34]

Auf Deutsch:

Für diesen Vergleich wird ein Pädophiler definiert als ein Priester, der mehr als ein Opfer gehabt hat, wobei alle Opfer zum Tatzeitpunkt elf Jahre alt oder jünger waren.

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DEUTSCHLAND
kirchensite

Bistum. Mehr als 400.000 Euro hat das Bistum Münster bislang an 85 Opfer von sexuellem Missbrauch innerhalb der Kirche gezahlt. Dies teilte der stellvertretende Generalvikar Pfarrer Jochen Reidegeld auf kirchensite.de-Anfrage mit.

Im Jahr 2010 wurden 27.754 Euro ausgezahlt; dabei gingen zwei Summen direkt an Opfer, drei weitere Summen wurden unter anderem für wissenschaftliche Aufarbeitung gezahlt. Im vergangenen Jahr wurden 348.298 Euro gezahlt, insgesamt waren es 76 Einzelzahlungen. Im laufenden Jahr gab es bislang sieben Auszahlungen in Höhe von insgesamt 28.000 Euro.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Bild

Von ASTRID SIEVERT

Vegesack/Cuxhaven – Lehrer Reinhard B. (42) steht lächelnd vor der Schultafel in seinem Klassenraum. Der Lehrer für Religion, Sport und Mathe am Gymnasium in Cuxhaven missbrauchte im Freizeitbad Vegesack ein geistig behindertes Mädchen (12).

Das abscheuliche Verbrechen schockierte im Juli 2007 ganz Bremen. Die Polizei fahndete damals mit Fotos aus der Überwachungskamera des Freizeitbads Vegesack nach dem Sexgangster. Darauf spähte er halbnackt nach kleinen Mädchen.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Catholics4Change

By Susan Matthews

As my son became an adult in the Church, I sat in the last pew contemplating whether or not to remain a member. I could keep my faith but leave the religious institution. I prayed for some sign that I haven’t been on a fool’s errand in my efforts.

My father leaned over and whispered, “Did you hear about Avery?” My heart sank at the short prison term, but the victims finally got to hear some small part of the truth exposed. My son took Anthony as his Confirmation name – the patron saint of lost things. By the end of the Mass I’d found hope, a slim ray of it.

Confirmation includes the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit:

Wisdom; Understanding; Right Judgment; Courage; Knowledge; Reverence; Awe of God. We need this gifts more than ever in Philadelphia.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

By Ken Sweeney Entertainment Editor

Friday March 23 2012

A SENIOR manager at TV3 has said that management at RTE should resign in the wake of the Fr Kevin Reynolds libel to prevent more damage to the national broadcaster.

TV3’s Director of Programming Ben Frow described as “unforgivable”the airing by RTE of the ‘Prime Time Investigates’ programme that made false claims about the priest.

Mr Frow said the damages paid out by RTE to Fr Reynolds would have shut down TV3.

“We don’t have that kind of money to be handing out in damages. It would have closed TV3. I think it is a major f***-up by RTE,” he said.

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MEXICO
ABS-CBN (Philippines)

Agence France-Presse

LEON, Mexico – Victims of pedophile priests hope to present a demand for justice to Pope Benedict XVI when he visits Mexico this weekend, particularly in the case of the disgraced Legion of Christ order.

Debate has grown around the Vatican’s handling of the scandal surrounding the influential order of deceased Mexican priest Marcial Maciel and his victims ahead of the papal visit to Mexico which begins Friday.

Benedict XVI has already met with victims of sexual abuse during foreign visits, but is apparently not planning to do so in Mexico, where many victims are still seeking justice.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Daily News

March 22, 2012|BY REGINA MEDINA, Daily News Staff Writer

TWO CATHOLIC elementary schools in South Philadelphia slated for closure by the Archdiocese have appealed to an even higher authority – the Vatican.

The schools, Sacred Heart of Jesus and Our Lady of Mount Carmel, are scheduled to shutter in June and to merge into another South Philadelphia school this fall, but parents and one Boston-based Canon Law consultant are proposing that they merge at the Mount Carmel site instead.

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LAKEWOOD (OH)
Patch

By Colin McEwen
Email the author
March 21, 2012

For the past two years, the parishioners of the shuttered St. James Catholic Church in Lakewood have been hoping and praying.

Now, they’re just waiting.

After the Vatican recently overturned Bishop Richard Lennon’s 2010 decision to close 13 parishes in the Cleveland area, the bishop has 60 days to appeal the decision.

According to sources, if he doesn’t, it’s likely that the church will reopen.

“It’s in the bishop’s court at this point,” said Toni Sabo, president of the Friends of St. James. “He’s got the keys.”

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NETHERLANDS
Radio Netherlands

Serious abuses went on unreported for years in Dutch Roman Catholic homes for the mentally disabled. They included sex offences, castration, secret medical experiments and possibly murder. One Catholic brother was banished to Africa for doing unethical brain research. Radio Netherlands Worldwide tracked him down.

Until recent years, most abuses in Dutch institutional care were kept out of the public eye. One exception was a scandal in 1978 involving medical experiments at ‘Huize Assisië’, a Roman Catholic boarding school for mentally handicapped boys in the southern town of Udenhout.

Brain x-rays
The home’s medical doctor and a Catholic nurse known as Brother Dionysius performed spinal taps on approximately 180 patients, including minors. They injected fluid and air into the patients’ brains in order to take x-rays of the cerebral cortex. These were used for brain research which was quietly being carried out. After the injections, the patients suffered nausea and headaches for days. Their parents were neither asked for permission nor notified of the procedures.

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NEDERLAND
Kralenspel

Sinds een paar dagen trekt de zoveelste storm over katholiek Nederland. Nog los van het misbruikschandaal blijkt er binnen katholieke instellingen ook gecastreerd te zijn, dit om mensen te “genezen” van echte of vermeende seksuele afwijkingen. Er is vooral verontwaardiging over dat deze voorvallen niet in het rapport van de Commissie Deetman zijn opgenomen. Dit is echter Deetman nauwelijks te verwijten: feit is namelijk dat chrirurgische castratie een breed toegepaste behandelmethode was, zoals Eric van den Berg o.a. stelt. Ook wordt beargumenteerd door zowel van den Berg als de kerkhistoricus Peter Nissen dat deze praktijk echter kritisch bevraagd werd door de katholieke moraaltheologie. Nissen gaat zelfs zo ver te zeggen dat er een algeheel verbod op castratie was. Dit is echter in het geheel niet het geval. De contemporaine moraal- en pastoraaltheologie sloot nauw aan bij de heersende praktijk en bestendigde die. Daarbij sloot de Kerk aan bij de tendens in de samenleving die geen wezenlijk probleem zag in het castreren van “psychopathen”.

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IRELAND
when religion fails

Recalling the revelation of horrific incidents of sexual abuse by members of the Irish Catholic clergy the Vatican on March 20th released an eight-page summary of the findings and recommendations of the visitation to four archdioceses, religious institutes and seminaries in Ireland. A Vatican-appointed investigation of the church in Ireland recognized serious shortcomings in the handling of accusations of the sexual abuse of minors, yet found that bishops, clergy and lay faithful are doing an “excellent” job in creating safe environments for children today. While similar sentiments were issued forth by the Irish primate, Cardinal Sean Brady of Armagh, Northern Ireland, others representing the victims were obviously disappointed by the report. Maeve Lewis, executive director for the Irish centre of sexual abuse, “One in Four’, criticized the report, insisting that “the Vatican is still not accepting responsibility for its role in creating the culture of purposeful cover-ups of the sexual abuse of children.” adding that “while we welcome the findings of the visitation that the Irish church now has good child protection practices in place, we feel it is a lost opportunity to address the role played by the Vatican in perpetuating the policy of protecting abusive priests at the expense of children.”

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UNITED STATES
Stop Child Abuse

Church’s Lawyers Have SNAP in Their Sights – Victims’ advocacy group’s national director speaks to RD about a flurry of subpoenas, and fears of ongoing harassment
By Kathryn Joyce March 16, 2012

In October, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), the oldest, largest, and most visible peer counseling group for victims of clergy sex abuse in any denomination, received a subpoena from a Kansas City, Missouri, priest being prosecuted for sexually abusing an older male victim SNAP has never met. The subpoena demanded a sweeping range of documents and correspondence concerning thousands of the estimated 100,000-plus people SNAP has counseled over two decades.

In December, the group received a second subpoena from the other side of the state, from the Archdiocese of St. Louis, facing its own charges concerning the alleged abuse of a 19-year-old woman. SNAP has fought the requests, citing Missouri laws protecting the privacy of rape survivors, and describing the records-request as a coordinated Church effort to bully sex abuse victims into silence and harass a longtime opponent into bankruptcy.

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BALTIMORE (MD)
The Baltimore Sun

By Tricia Bishop, The Baltimore Sun

Nearly 100 people have added their names to an online peititon seeking to keep a convicted child rapist behind bars since Wednesday, when two U.S. Supreme Court decisions appeared to bolster the man’s appeal arguments and the likelihood he could be released from prison despite having been sentenced to four life terms.

John Joseph Merzbacher, now 70, was accused of terrorizing students at a Baltimore Catholic school in the 1970s and convicted two decades later of six counts of child rape and sexual abuse in connection with the allegations. But he more recently claimed that the findings and their punishments shouldn’t stand, because he was never told of a 10-year plea deal proposal before his trial. A federal judge, Andre M. Davis, agreed with him in 2010, ruling that Merzbacher should get a second chance at the offer under certain conditions, opening the door for his immediate release.

The Maryland attorney general’s office fought the ruling, but had to put its own appeal on hold for more than a year to see how the country’s high court would decide two similar cases involving botched plea offers. The justices’ decisions, each reached in a 5-4 vote, seem to side with Merzbacher’s interpretation.

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PENNSYLVANIA
PR.com

State College, PA, March 22, 2012 –(PR.com)– One of Over Hundreds of Screenings Across the Nation: A National Awareness Raising Campaign and MaleSurvivor.org ‘Dare To Dream Event 2’

Join the Healing Journey!

Penn State will host two screenings of Boys and Men Healing, a leading documentary produced by Big Voice Pictures about the affects of male child sexual abuse and the importance of healing, speaking out, and advocating for ending the cycle of the sexual abuse of boys. This event is hosted by Penn State University.

The film screenings and Q&A following will be held at Altoona Campus at 7:00 p.m. on April 3, 2012 at the Misciagna Theater on the Penn State Altoona campus. A reception will be held @ 6 p.m. that evening in the Titleman Lounge of the theater to welcome the speakers. The panel of speakers include: Simon Weinberg, Co-Producer of Boys and Men Healing, Mark Crawford, survivor and MaleSurvivor Advisory Board member also featured in the film, Founding Board Members of MaleSurvivor and current Advisory Board members, Jim Struve LCSW and Howard Fradkin, Ph.D, and Chris Anderson, survivor and Vice President of MaleSurvivor. MaleSurvivor is a leading organization providing useful information to promote health, discussion and connections for male survivors of sexual abuse and those who support them.

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STOCKTON (CA)
The Record

By Jennie Rodriguez-Moore
Record Staff Writer

March 23, 2012

STOCKTON – A psychiatrist for the defense in the civil trial of a local Catholic priest says sex abuse memories of a former altar boy who accuses Rev. Michael Kelly are false.

The plaintiff, now a 37-year-old man, said Kelly assaulted him over a period of time in the mid-1980s.

Defense attorneys for Kelly and the Diocese of Stockton are challenging the validity of the man’s recovered memories.

Dr. J. Alexander Bodkin, an associate professor of psychology at Harvard University and member of the False Memory Syndrome Foundation, testified Thursday as the defense’s expert witness.

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.

ROME
The Irish Times

PADDY AGNEW in Rome

NOT FOR the first time, 84-year-old Pope Benedict flies out of Rome this morning for an important overseas visit that could yet be troubled by clerical sex abuse polemics.

When details of the six-day pastoral visit to Mexico and Cuba were first released, most Vatican commentators inevitably focused on the political implications of a second papal visit in 14 years to communist Cuba.

Will the pope meet 85-year-old Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro? Will he issue a blanket condemnation of the USA’s 52-year-old economic embargo on the island? Will the Cuban regime led by Raul Castro, brother of Fidel, attempt to exploit the pope’s visit, using it as some sort of government propaganda tool? Or will this visit improve both church-state relations and the status of the island’s seven million Catholics?

Before he gets to Cuba next Monday, however, the pope may be confronted in Mexico with the all-too-familiar problem of clerical sex abuse. At the centre of this polemic is the Catholic order, the Legionaries Of Christ, whose Mexican founder, Fr Marcial Maciel Degollado, was denounced as guilty of “very serious and objectively immoral behaviour” by the Holy See in May 2010.

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.

ROME
7 News

ROME (AFP) – Pope Benedict XVI set off from Rome on an arduous journey to Latin America on Friday where he will address key issues including the Mexico drugs war and the evolution of Cuba’s communist regime.

The pontiff arrived at Rome’s Fiumicino airport by helicopter and was greeted by Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti. The pope waved goodbye on the airplane steps before the Alitalia Boeing 777 took off at 0845 GMT.

He is expected to land in Mexico at 2230 GMT. …

But he is also likely to face criticism over the clerical abuse scandal.

In particular, he will face questions over the Vatican’s management of Mexico’s most famous offender, Marcial Maciel, the founder of the Legion of Christ, who before he died faced accusations that he had molested eight minors.

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

IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

By Eamonn McCann
Friday, 23 March 2012

What emerges most starkly from the report by emissaries of the Holy See into child sex-abuse in Ireland is that there has been no change in the hierarchy of hypocrisy.

The report, released on Tuesday, was compiled from information gathered by seven separate teams of clerics sent by Benedict XVI to study and draw lessons from the Church’s handling of the scandal.

The source and scale of the operation had encouraged expectations that the exercise would go some way towards tracing the problem to its roots – towards the role not just of the Church in Ireland, but of the Holy See, the global governance of the Church.

But the document published at a press conference in Maynooth did the opposite. It is a sustained effort to exculpate the Holy See, while pronouncing on the inadequacies of Irish bishops and religious superiors.

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
National Survivor Advocates Coalition

Editorial

Cardinal Timothy Dolan played his new ring hand this week on his Archdiocese of New York blog.

In a none too subtle posting on his blog on 3/20/12 (here’s the link), the newly minted and over the top feted Eminence confirmed the bishops’ new strategy: playing hardball against victims, and SNAP in particular.

This approach was first revealed by Catholic League president William Donahue in the 3/12/12 New York Times story “Catholic Church Puts Legal Pressure on Abuse victims Group” (here’s the link)

The story played out in a good cop/bad cop routine with Mr. Donahue being quoted as bluntly declaring the “bishops have come together collectively” in this approach while Sister Mary Ann Walsh, spokesperson for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) demurred that Mr. Donahue was incorrect and no such new strategy was in place.

Enter the Cardinal’s column. Tie broken. Winner declared: take no prisoners, new aggressive strategy it is.

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
GetReligion

As I mentioned the other day, the historic Catholic throne in Baltimore has a new archbishop and he also happens to be an emerging leader in America’s increasingly tense debates about religious liberty. Just wait until some of these issues hit the U.S. Supreme Court (and you know that they will).

In addition to the belated coverage in The Baltimore Sun (the newspaper that lands in my front yard), the move to Charm City by Bishop William E. Lori — who leads the U.S. bishops’ new Committee on Religious Liberty — drew the attention of the well-known liberal Catholic blogger David Gibson of Commonweal, who also does news reporting for Religion News Service. His story included a wealth of details that will interest a wide variety of Catholics, including the kinds of details that one expects out of a wire service that focuses on religion news — period. …

OK, so the art up at the top of this post gives this one away. That’s the very conservative Catholic writer Leon J. Podles, author of a fierce, take-no-prisoners tome called “Sacrilege: Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church.”

WHILE Podles is known for his orthodoxy on doctrine and social issues, not that there’s anything wrong with that, he also has been praised by many for taking a hard line on how the church should deal with abusive priests.

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

NETHERLANDS
Time

By Leo Cendrowicz

It not only sounds ludicrous as a medical procedure, but in moral terms it’s downright barbarous: castrating young men to “cure” them of their homosexuality. Yet this was how the Roman Catholic Church in the Netherlands treated gays in the 1950s, according to a Dutch newspaper, which claims at least 10 men were forced to go under the knife at the church’s behest. The extraordinary allegations, which were published last weekend in the NRC Handelsblad newspaper, have prompted Dutch parliamentarians to demand an inquiry into the issue, raising questions about whether the church received political cover to take such extreme measures.

The newspaper said the castrations were regarded both as a treatment for homosexuality as well as a punishment for those who accused clergy of sexual abuse. The newspaper said 20-year-old Henk Heithuis had been surgically castrated on the instructions of Catholic priests in 1956 after he told police he was being abused at the Harreveld boarding school in Gelderland. Although the monks were convicted of the abuse, Heithuis was nonetheless sent to a Catholic psychiatric hospital and then castrated. He died two years later in a car crash. The newspaper adds there are strong indications that at least nine other young men were castrated around the same time, either for whistle-blowing or for supposed homosexuality.

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

CANADA
CBC News

Police have charged an Ottawa youth pastor with six counts of sexual exploitation and one count of luring in relation to allegations involving a 16-year-old girl.

Ottawa police charged the youth pastor, a 28-year-old Gatineau, Que., man, after an investigation into allegations of inappropriate sexual contact over an extended period in 2011 and 2012.

He was to appear in court Thursday.

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NEW YORK
WABC

[with video]

Carolina Leid
Eyewitness News

NEW YORK (WABC) — A pastor in the Bronx who runs a storefront church has been charged with rape and other offenses for having a sexual relationship with a second teenage girl.

Reverend Michael Clare was already charged with having a sexual relationship with a young girl who attends the church.

Clare, 40, runs the Harvest Worship Center International on White Plains Road.

He was free on bail when he was taken into custody again following the new charges after a court appearance in connection with the first case.

Clare was arraigned on these new charges before State Supreme Court Justice Megan Tallmer. The judge set bail on the new case at $350,000 cash or $200,000 bond and also raised the bail on the first case to $350,000 cash or $200,000 bond.

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.

MINNESOTA
Grand Forks Herald

PARK RAPIDS, Minn. — Unconditional bond in the amount of $1 million has been set in the case of a former Lake George, Minn., pastor facing 15 counts of criminal sexual conduct with a teenager.

Darwin Frederick Schauer, 70, former pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church of Lake George, was arraigned March 7 on the charges in Hubbard County District Court. He served in Lake George from 1998, when the church merged with Immanuel in Cass Lake, Minn., until about six years ago.

The conduct, including sexual intercourse, is alleged to have begun in 2009, after he left Trinity, according to the criminal complaint.

Schauer lives in Laporte, Minn.

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CANADA
The Ottawa Citizen

An Ottawa youth pastor faces charges after a police investigation into allegations of inappropriate sexual conduct with a 16-year-old girl over an extended period. The investigation began in early February into events alleged to have occurred in 2011 and 2012. Mark Raymer, 28, of Gatineau faces six counts of sexual exploitation and one count of luring under 18 via a computer. He is scheduled to appear in court today.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Ottawa Police Service Sexual Assault/Child Abuse Section at 613-236-1222, ext. 5944 or Crime Stoppers at 613-233-8477 (TIPS) or toll free 1-800-222-8477.

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NEW YORK
The Journal News

NEW YORK (WTW) — A Bronx minister charged with having a yearslong sexual relationship with a young girl who attended his storefront church is accused of sexually abusing another girl in his congregation.

Michael Clare, who was free on bail, is being held on $700,000 cash bail. A judge on Thursday raised the bail on a new indictment charging him with rape, criminal sex act, sexual abuse and other charges.

Clare also was ordered to stay away from children under the age of 16.

Prosecutors say the Harvest Worship Center pastor sexually abused the 14-year-old girl from 2009 to 2011.

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UNITED STATES
Verdict

Marci A. Hamilton

Legions of victims of child sex abuse will tell you that when they were finally ready to talk to a prosecutor or a lawyer, the criminal and/or civil statutes of limitations (SOLs) had already expired. Across the United States, one victim after another has been surprised by these cruel and arbitrary legal deadlines.

For decades, states have been adjusting their child sex abuse SOLs in response to fresh stories of horror. At one time, states measured the SOL from the date of the abuse, giving victims only a few years in which to sue. Then, they set age 18 as the moment when the clock started ticking. Now, we have a true 50-state experiment, with a wide variety of approaches among the states.

There is one common theme, however: States are constantly working to extend their child sex abuse SOLs, because there is always a new victim with a compelling story that shows lawmakers the folly of having any SOL at all for the heinous crime of child sex abuse.

The Situation in Massachusetts Regarding Child Sex Abuse Statutes of Limitations

That was precisely what was happening in Massachusetts when in 1996, the legislature extended the criminal SOL for child sex abuse to the date that marks 15 years after the victim turns 16. But that SOL still shut down justice for too many victims, and so there was another extension, in 2006. That year, the Massachusetts Legislature voted to extend the criminal SOL to 27 years after a victim turns 16.

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IRELAND
Donegal Democrat

Published on Friday 23 March 2012

A retired garda who has called for an independent inquiry into four decades of child sexual abuse in the Raphoe Dicoese has blasted the Vatican’s long-awaited report into the handling of child sex abuse in the Catholic Church – deeming it “a bluster of words.”

The report acknowledges failures on the part of those who – as it puts it – should have exercised vigilance. It also said lessons have been learned and found that the current guidelines on child protection were being followed. The findings are based on an apostolic visitation to the four archdioceses, religious congregations and seminaries.

Martin Ridge said that the money that was spent on the apostolic visitation would have been better spent on trauma units and support units to help the victims of abuse in areas where it is deemed necessary. He did state that he welcomed the fact that the church acknowledged their shame in relation to the events that had taken place in the past, adding that he felt that it was a shame that this acknowledgement had to be forced upon them by a State Inquiry.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
The Wall Street Journal

By PETER LOFTUS

PHILADELPHIA—A defrocked Roman Catholic priest pleaded guilty Thursday to charges that he sexually abused a Philadelphia boy in the 1990s, just days before a landmark priest-abuse trial is set to start here.

Edward Avery was sentenced to up to five years in prison after his guilty plea to charges of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and conspiracy to endanger the welfare of a child, according to the Philadelphia District Attorney’s office.

Two Catholic clergymen are scheduled to go on trial Monday, including Monsignor William Lynn, a former high-ranking official with the Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia who is accused of endangering children by covering up abuse allegations against priests he supervised.

The trial will be a landmark in the sexual-abuse scandal that has shaken the Catholic Church over the past decade. Msgr. Lynn would be the highest-ranking member of the U.S. Catholic hierarchy whose case reaches trial on charges related to allegations of a coverup. As secretary for clergy in the Philadelphia diocese from 1992 until 2004, his duties included handling allegations of sex abuse by priests.

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

IRELAND
The Cork News

By:
Maria Tracey

Sexual Violence Centre director welcomes investigation into Garda handling of Cloyne sex abuse

An investigation into the Garda handling of a number of complaints of sex abuse as outlined in the Cloyne Report will come as a “relief” to those involved. That is according to director of Cork’s Sexual Violence Centre, Mary Crilly who said that for victims of sexual abuse, “transparency and accountability means everything”. The Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (GSOC) has decided to open an investigation, under section 102(4) of the Garda Síochána Act 2005, into certain matters arising from the Commission of Investigation Report into the Catholic diocese of Cloyne.

The matters to be investigated arise from Chapter 10 of the report and relate to concerns over Garda behaviour. The report outlined a case involving a priest described as Father Corin, stating: “In one case, an investigation was clearly not commenced. The senior Garda involved insists that an investigation did commence but the evidence demonstrates otherwise. There are no investigation files in existence. The Commission has not been able to establish why an investigation did not take place in this case but it has no doubt that there was no investigation even though there was a complaint.”

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MEXICO
MSN (New Zealand)

Victims of pedophile priests hope to present a demand for justice to Pope Benedict XVI when he visits Mexico.

Debate has grown around the Vatican’s handling of the scandal surrounding the influential order of deceased Mexican priest Marcial Maciel ahead of the papal visit to Mexico, which begins on Friday.

Maciel directed the influential Legion of Christ order, which he founded in 1941, to his death.

Benedict XVI has met victims of sexual abuse during foreign visits, but is apparently not planning to do so in Mexico, where many victims are still seeking justice.

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

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
The Legal Intelligencer

Amaris Elliott-Engel
The Legal Intelligencer

March 23, 2012

The landscape of the trial of a Catholic Church official accused of endangering children by exposing them to allegedly abusive priests changed Thursday after one of the official’s co-defendants admitted in court to sexually abusing a 10-year-old.

The former priest pled guilty to the first-degree felony of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse for sexually abusing a 10-year-old boy. The priest also pled guilty to the third-degree felony of conspiracy to endanger the welfare of children for conspiring with church officials to conceal his history of sexual abuse from Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia parishioners.

Defendant Edward Avery was immediately sentenced to serve 30 to 60 months in prison by Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Judge M. Teresa Sarmina as part of a negotiated plea deal with prosecutors. Avery must report to prison 9 a.m. April 2.

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.

MINNESOTA
Grand Forks Herald

By: Stephen J. Lee, Grand Forks Herald

The Catholic Diocese of Crookston, in its first official comment since news of the arrest of the Rev. Joseph Jeyapaul in India last week on Minnesota sexual assault charges, says it hopes he is returned for trial.

Monsignor David Baumgartner, who as vicar general of the diocese serves as the right-hand man to Bishop Michael Hoeppner, told the Herald this week, “The only way for this to be resolved is for him to be here, so we would like a resolution to it.”

Jeyapaul, 57, has been a fugitive for six years from criminal charges first filed in state district court in Roseau in 2006. He is charged with sexually assaulting a parish member in Greenbush, Minn., when she was 14 and 15 in 2004 and 2005. In 2007 the charges were amended to include similar counts involving a second girl who was 16 during the same period.

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

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Daily News

BY JULIE SHAW
Philadelphia Daily News
shawj@phillynews.com 215-854-2592

IN A SHOCKING turn of events, a former priest pleaded guilty to two charges Thursday instead of facing trial in the high-profile clergy-sex-abuse case that is set to begin Monday.

Defrocked priest Edward Avery, 69, pleaded guilty to a count of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse involving a 10-year-old altar boy.

He also pleaded guilty to a count of conspiracy to endanger the welfare of children.

Avery was sentenced to 2 1/2 to 5 years in state prison under a plea deal with prosecutors and was told to surrender on April 2 to begin his sentence.

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

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

By John P. Martin
Inquirer Staff Writer

A defrocked Philadelphia priest pleaded guilty Thursday to conspiracy and sexually assaulting a 10-year-old altar boy, four days before he and two priests were to face the start of a landmark trial about clergy sex-abuse in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

Edward V. Avery, 69, was sentenced to 21/2 to five years in prison under an agreement with the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office.

It was unclear how the sudden plea would affect the trial, scheduled to start Monday, or if Avery would become a witness for the commonwealth. Citing a gag order, prosecutors said they could not comment.

But Avery’s decision could increase pressure on his codefendants, the Rev. James J. Brennan and, in particular, Msgr. William J. Lynn. As the archdiocese’s former secretary for clergy, Lynn is the first church official nationwide to be charged with covering up or enabling child sex abuse by priests.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
City Press

The landmark trial of a Catholic Church official accused of covering up paedophile abuses in the United States is set to start on Monday in Philadelphia.

Monsignor William Lynn, who oversaw the assignment of priests to schools and parishes across the Philadelphia region, faces accusations that he failed to keep priests accused of sexual abuse away from minors.

The role of such a senior official, whose co-defendant Reverend James Brennan is accused of sexually abusing boys in the 1990s, makes the trial the first of its kind in the United States.

In a surprise pretrial twist yesterday another co-defendant, defrocked priest Edward Avery, pleaded guilty to his own sex crimes, thereby avoiding trial. He was immediately sentenced to between two-and-a-half and five years in prison.

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STOCKTON (CA)
Lodi News-Sentinel

Posted: Friday, March 23, 2012

By Ross Farrow/News-Sentinel Staff Writer

A Harvard University psychiatrist testified in the civil clergy sexual abuse trial on Thursday that “repressed” or “recovered” memory hasn’t been scientifically proven.

J. Alexander Bodkin, an associate professor at Harvard’s medical school, said he examined the plaintiff suing Lockeford priest Michael Kelly on sexual abuse allegations and found the plaintiff to have long-term “obsessive-compulsive disorder” that goes back to his childhood, according to defense attorney Thomas Beatty.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder is defined as people having unwanted and repeated thoughts, feelings, ideas, obsessions or behaviors.

The plaintiff is a 37-year-old man suing Kelly on allegations that the Lockeford priest sexually assaulted him when the plaintiff was an altar boy in the 1980s at Cathedral of the Annunciation in Stockton. Kelly has been pastor of St. Joachim’s Catholic Church in Lockeford the past eight years.

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MEXICO
Edmonton Journal

Victims of pedophile priests hope to present a demand for justice to Pope Benedict XVI when he visits Mexico this weekend, particularly in the case of the disgraced Legion of Christ order.

Debate has grown around the Vatican’s handling of the scandal surrounding the influential order of deceased Mexican priest Marcial Maciel and his victims ahead of the papal visit to Mexico, which begins Friday.

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.

NEW YORK
Village Voice

By James KingThu., Mar. 22 2012

​For the second time in just over a year, Bronx pastor Michael Clare has been hit with charges that he had sex with an underage girl, this time for allegedly raping a 14-year-old who was a student at Harvest Preparatory Academy, where Clare had been the principal (breath easy — the school told us this afternoon that Clare is “no longer an employee”).

In what could be perceived as a big “screw you” to the justice system, it’s alleged that some of the abuse of the latest victim happened while Clare was free on bail in his previous case — again, where he’s accused of sexually assaulting a teenage girl.

Bronx District Attorney spokesman Melvin Hernandez tells the Voice that Clare, 40, was arrested this morning after a court hearing related to the previous charges. He was arraigned on the new charges — one count each of second-degree rape, sexual misconduct, third-degree criminal sexual act, endangering the welfare of a child, and three counts of sexual abuse — this afternoon before State Supreme Court Justice Megan Tallmer.

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NEW YORK
New York Daily News

By Kevin Deutsch AND John Doyle / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

The pervy pastor of a Bronx church charged with rape last January for impregnating a teen was indicted Thursday for raping another girl, prosecutors said.

Michael Clare, the 40-year-old married leader of the Harvest Worship Center in Wakefield, had sexual contact with the girl at least three times between June 22, 2009 and June 30, 2011 at the school and inside his home, prosecutors said.

Their two-year relationship began when the girl was 14, police said.

The victim, now 17, reported the allegations earlier this month, cops said.

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NEW YORK
NBC New York

A Bronx pastor has been arrested for a second time on rape charges, accused of having a sexual relationship with a girl who attended the preparatory school where he was principal, authorities said.

Rev. Michael Clare, 40, of West Harrison, N.Y., allegedly began abusing the girl on June 22, 2009, and continued the relationship through June 30, 2011. Clare would meet his victim at the Harvest Preparatory Academy and at Clare’s two homes in the Bronx and in West Harrison, the prosecutor’s office said.

Clare is already facing separate charges for engaging in a sexual relationship with a girl who was a member of his congregation at the Harvest Worship Center International, which is affiliated with the academy where he was principal.

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UNITED STATES
Catholic Culture

By Phil Lawler | March 22, 2012

The first sensational headlines said that Catholic Church officials had castrated young men in the Netherlands a generation ago, allegedly to stop their homosexual activities. If the report is true, this was a brutal, appalling offense. But wait. It seems that at the time, castration was a standard treatment for homosexuality in the Netherlands, thanks to the pernicious influence of eugenics. If that report is true, it doesn’t excuse the involvement of Catholic officials. What’s wrong is wrong, even if everyone else is doing it. Still, if everyone is doing it, it shouldn’t be particularly big news that Church officials are doing it.

In Ireland, an official report released last summer found that both Church leaders and police officers had failed to respond adequately to reports of sexual abuse by priests in the Cloyne diocese. The bishop of Cloyne had already stepped down, other Church leaders were placed under microscopic inspection, and Irish lawmakers suggested draconian new laws to punish clerics who failed to report abuse. Now, a year later, the Irish government is finally stepping up an investigation of the police officials who also failed to report abuse. Again, the failures of the police do not excuse the failures of the clergy. But isn’t it worth noticing that everyone involved failed to act on the abuse charges?

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

IRELAND
Irish Examiner

Thursday, March 22, 2012

There will be unswerving public approval for the decision of the Garda Ombudsman to conduct a full investigation into Garda behaviour relating to child sex abuse cases in the diocese of Cloyne.

So much has been written and broadcast about the scandalous behaviour of clergy there and in other dioceses that people might be forgiven for throwing up their hands and saying “enough”.

However, so outrageous was the cover-up of what went on under the unseeing eyes of Church authorities, not to mention their connivance, that it is vitally important to ensure that if anything was swept under the carpet by gardaí it must be brought out of darkness and into daylight without fear or favour.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Mar. 22, 2012
By Joshua J. McElwee

While the words “Obama administration” and “Catholic” have been used together in recent weeks frequently to only highlight discord between the executive branch and the U.S. bishops over the administration’s mandate requiring coverage of contraceptives in health care plans, federal funding figures may tell a different story. …

The numbers seem to support DuBois’ claims that Obama has increased focus on funding Catholic social justice work. According to a fact sheet provided by the White House, the administration has worked to funnel more than $1.5 billion since 2008 to Catholic agencies, including half a billion dollars to Catholic Relief Services focused towards “global health and international development efforts.”

And according to Catholic Charities USA Annual Survey data, which are available online, annual federal funding to Catholic Charities’ agencies nationwide has increased by over $100 million between 2008 and 2010, with the total allocation in 2010 reported to be $554,212,255.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

by Tom Gallagher on Mar. 22, 2012 NCR Today

Commentary

For weeks now, Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York and Bishop William Lori of Bridgeport, Conn., have been decrying the so-called maltreatment of Catholics and our faith by the Obama administration because of the rollout of a mandate requiring coverage of contraceptives in health care plans. We’ve heard and read incredibly caustic words and letters from many U.S. bishops. …

What makes Dolan look again and again as a not-ready-for-prime-time political amateur is the fact that the Catholic bishops’ conference itself and Catholic, non-hospital and university organizations (separate from Catholic hospitals and universities’ receipt of federal funds) happily accept hundreds of millions of dollars a year from the federal government, including from the Obama administration.

This undeniable fact has been well known to all of the bishops well before January, when the original HHS mandate was announced. And throughout the subsequent period of extraordinary nastiness, unkindness was communicated from the U.S. bishops and their staff towards Obama and his administration.

Let’s take a quick survey of the money flow. In other words, let’s follow the money. Here’s a partial list of the federal government’s money flow to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops itself and other non-Catholic hospital and university organizations (with one reference to one Catholic university grant).

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
AFP

PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania — A former US Catholic priest who was to have been part of a landmark trial on Monday pleaded guilty Thursday to sex crimes.

Edward Avery pleaded guilty to conspiracy to endanger the welfare of a child and also to involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, the court clerk at the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas told AFP.

He avoids trial, but was immediately sentenced to between two-and-a-half and five years in prison.

Avery was one of the three co-defendants in a trial set to start Monday featuring the first Catholic Church official to be prosecuted for covering-up incidents in the raging child molestation scandal.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
WNEP

Dave Warner
Reuters

5:44 p.m. EDT, March 22, 2012

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) – A defrocked priest accused of sex abuse in the pedophilia scandal that has rocked the Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia pleaded guilty on Thursday, just days before he, another priest and a higher-ranking monsignor were due to go to trial.

Edward Avery, 69, admitted to sex abuse involving a 10-year-old boy and was promptly sentenced by Common Pleas Court Judge M. Teresa Sarmina to two-and-a-half to five years in prison for involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and criminal conspiracy to endanger the welfare of children.

Prisons Avery was one of three defendants in the high-profile case at the Archdiocese, the sixth largest in the nation with 1.5 million Catholics.

The trial is due to begin on Monday with Rev. James Brennan, who is charged with child sex abuse, and Monsignor William Lynn, the former secretary of the clergy for the Archdiocese, who is accused of child endangerment and conspiracy.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Boston Globe

By Brock Parker, Town Correspondent

Cambridge playwright Michael Mack will perform his autobiographical play about talking to the priest who molested him as a boy next week in a local Catholic church.

Mack will perform “Conversations with My Molester: A Faith Journey,” at his church, Saint Paul Catholic Church at 29 Mount Auburn St., next Thursday, March 29 at 7:30 p.m.

The play, which premiered in the Boston Playwright’s Theatre at Boston University in January, is being performed with the blessing of the church in the Lenten spirit of reconciliation.

Barbara Thorp, a licensed independent clinical social worker who is the director of pastoral support and children protection for the Boston Archdiocese called the play “a powerful journey of healing and reconciliation,” according to a press release announcing the upcoming performance.

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DEUTSCHLAND
netzwerkB

[mit Video]

ZDF:

Dürfen Pädophile katholische Priester weiter als Seelsorger tätig sein.
Ja sagt das Bistum Trier. Das beschäftigt mindestens sieben Geistliche die durch entsprechende Neigungen aufgefallen sind. Und das sie ausgerechnet in Trier Aufnahme fanden macht die Sache noch ein bischen prisanter, denn Bischof Ackermann ist der Missbrauchsbeauftragte der Deutschen Bischofskonferenz. Wie soll das zusammenpassen hat Barbara Völkel gefragt.

Es ist noch nicht so lange her. Auf einer Pressekonferenz in Trier stellt Bischof Stefan Ackermann Pläne vor, noch offensiver gegen sexuellen Missbrauch vorzugehen, predigt null Toleranz. Doch ausgerechnet der Missbrauchsbeauftragte der Deutschen Bischofskonferenz Stefan Ackermann hat gerade Geistliche eingestellt die trotz Verurteilungen wegen sexuellen Missbrauchs wieder in Gemeinden arbeiten dürfen. Selbst aus den eigenen Reihen ist das Unverständnis darüber groß.

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DEUTSCHLAND
netzwerkB

Bischof Ackermann antwortet Opferanwalt: Kein Verzicht auf die Einrede der Verjährung

Mit Schreiben vom 20.2.2012 hatte Rechtsanwalt Dr. Christian Sailer, der seit Jahren Opfer sexueller Gewalt durch katholische Priester in Deutschland und Österreich berät und vertritt, dem Beauftragten der Bischofskonferenz folgendes geschrieben:

„Ich erlebe gegenwärtig zum Beispiel, dass einer heute 50-jährigen Frau, die als Kind und junges Mädchen von einem katholischen Priester jahrelang sexuelle Gewalt zugefügt wurde, Schadensersatz für den größten Teil ihrer Leidenszeit von vornherein deshalb vorenthalten bleibt, weil sich der Würzburger Bischof auf Verjährung beruft. Wie wollen Sie derartiges mit den wiederholten Beteuerungen Ihrer Kirche, Wiedergutmachung zu leisten, vereinbaren? Wäre es nicht ein Gebot des Anstands und der Ehrlichkeit, auf die Verjährungseinrede grundsätzlich zu verzichten, um die restlose Aufklärung und Entschädigung aller Missbrauchsfälle möglich zu machen?“

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philly.com

Rod Napier

Two iconic Pennsylvania figures, Joe Paterno and Anthony Bevilacqua, passed away this year. Both the longtime Penn State football coach and the former archbishop of Philadelphia had remarkable careers of public service and achievement that ended in scandal – scandals that will forever shadow their legacies. Both men saw themselves as close to God, but both were also treated as gods by those around them. And that may have had more to do with the scandals than has so far been appreciated.

It may be that both men’s lives and reputations were horribly wounded by what I call the seduction of the leader.

As I recently told a group of Philadelphia executives, leaders of every stripe can learn important lessons about the dangers of this seduction from “Joe Pa” and the cardinal.

Court proceedings may show otherwise, but my guess is that neither Paterno nor Bevilacqua intended to deceive. If history is any guide, cultural culpability is far more likely than criminal culpability.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
The Associated Press

By MARYCLAIRE DALE, Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A defrocked Philadelphia priest pleaded guilty Thursday to sexually abusing an altar boy in a church sacristy, days before he was to go on trial with two other priests in a landmark child sex-abuse case.

Edward Avery, 69, pleaded guilty to involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and conspiracy to endanger the welfare of a child. He was immediately sentenced to 2½ to five years in prison and was ordered to surrender within 10 days.

The charges stemmed from Avery’s abuse of an altar boy at St. Jerome’s Parish in northeast Philadelphia during the 1998-99 school year.

Two other church officials are still set to go on trial Monday. They include Monsignor William Lynn, the first U.S. church official ever charged with endangering children for allegedly failing to oust accused predators from the priesthood.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
My Fox Philly

PHILADELPHIA – Fox 29 has learned that one of two priests set to go on trial in the Philadelphia Archdiocese abuse case has taken a guilty plea.

Defrocked priest Edward Avery entered the plea on Thursday afternoon.

He was sentenced to 2 1/2 to 5 years in prison.

He pleaded guilty to abuse of a 10-year-old boy at St Jerome’s Parish.

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CALIFORNIA
EGP

By Elizabeth Hsing-Huei Chou, EGP Staff Writer

Former students who want to file sex abuse lawsuits against the Congregation of Christian Brothers, which staffed Cantwell High School in Montebello from 1948 until 1990, will be barred from doing so after Aug. 1.

The Congregation of Christian Brothers, also known as the Irish Christian Brothers, filed for bankruptcy in New York courts last year, after it was hit with numerous sex-abuse lawsuits in recent years. They subsequently filed for a cut off date that will prevent further claims or lawsuits.

Lea esta nota EN ESPAÑOL: Corto Plazo para las Posibles Víctimas de Abusos en una Escuela Católica de Montebello

The religious order runs several Catholic schools across the country, and for 42 years before the Los Angeles Archdiocese removed them in 1990, its members ran Cantwell High School in Montebello.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
My Fox Phoenix

MARYCLAIRE DALE, Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA (AP) – A defrocked Philadelphia priest pleaded guilty Thursday to a sex-abuse charge, just days before a landmark priest abuse trial is set to start.

Edward Avery, 69, pleaded guilty to involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and conspiracy to endanger the welfare of a child. He was immediately sentenced to 2½ to five years in prison and was ordered to surrender within 10 days.

The charges stemmed from Avery’s abuse of an altar boy at St. Jerome’s Parish in northeast Philadelphia.

Two other church officials will still go on trial. One is Monsignor William Lynn, the first U.S. church official ever charged with endangering children for allegedly failing to oust accused predators from the priesthood.

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.