ABUSE TRACKER

VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 30 May 2012 (VIS) – The “Osservatore Romano” newspaper today published an interview with Archbishop Angelo Becciu, substitute for General Affairs of the Secretariat of State, concerning the question of stolen papal documents.

Archbishop Becciu says that he has seen the Holy Father “suffering because, on the basis of what has thus far emerged, someone very close to him would seem to have acted in a completely unjustifiable manner. Of course, the Pope’s prevailing sentiment is one of pity for the person involved, but the fact remains that he has been the victim of a brutal action. Benedict XVI has had to witness the publication of letters stolen from his own home, not simply private correspondence but information, reflections, expressions of states of mind, and effusive comments which he has received merely by virtue of his ministry. For this reason the Pope is particularly sorrowful, also for the violence suffered by the writers of the letters he has received”.

In the view of the Secretariat of State, the publication of these documents “is an immoral act of unprecedented gravity, especially because it is not just a serious violation of the privacy to which everybody should have the right, but a despicable abuse of the relationship of trust that exists between Benedict XVI and those who turn to him, even if they do so to express some heartfelt protest. The question does not merely involve the theft of some of the Pope’s letters; the consciences of those who address him as the Vicar of Christ have been violated, and the ministry of the Successor of the Apostle Peter has come under attack”.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 30 May 2012 (VIS) – At the end of today’s general audience, the Holy Father made some remarks concerning recent developments in the Vatican.

“The events of recent days involving the Curia and my collaborators have brought sadness to my heart. However, I have never lost my firm certainty that, despite the weakness of man, despite difficulties and trials, the Church is guided by the Holy Spirit and the Lord will ensure she never lacks the help she needs to support her on her journey.

“Nonetheless there has been increasing conjecture, amplified by the communications media, which is entirely gratuitous, goes beyond the facts and presents a completely unrealistic image of the Holy See. Thus, I wish to reiterate my trust and encouragement to my closest collaborators and to all those people who every day, in silent faithlessness and with a spirit of sacrifice, help me carry out my ministry”.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Catholics4Change

BY KATHY KANE

I have been to the trial several times but today was a very difficult day. The courtroom was packed with Lynn supporters on the defense side and victims, family members and supporters on the prosecution side. Although, it was so crowded some late-comers had to mix in where there was an available seat. I looked around at the people who I never knew until this past year: Vicky and Steve, whose bodies were sexually violated as children; Art, whose beloved son is now gone forever; Sr. Maureen, always fighting for children and victims; Joy, who founded a support group for parents of victims; Sharon, Vicky’s rock through the hard times; Irene and her husband, who attend vigils and support Justice4PaKids; Bill and other senior citizens, who do not let age or infirmity keep them from the vigils outside the Archdiocese in the rain, cold or heat; “Had it” Kate, who returned for a second trip from New York for the trial.

Many people have made their way to room 304 over the past 8 weeks. Margaret from Catholic Accountability, who I was with the day they entered the evidence of my former parish priest Fr. Cannon; Jackie and Susan, who I sat in between as we cried the day James and Billy took the stand to speak their truth; Beth, who always extends warmth and comfort to our victims; Rich, who bravely sat and listened to the testimony of James and Billy, their stories so similar to his own; and the family members of the victims who testify. So much painful history has occupied those rows – so much pain.

You wouldn’t know that pain unless you chose to read the Grand Jury reports, met with victims and their family members, and attended on the days the victims testified (rather than only attending when Lynn testified).

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UNITED STATES
KPCC

[with audio]

By Kitty Felde | May 29, 2012

The group that represents most of America’s Roman Catholic nuns meets today in Maryland to discuss what to do next after a Vatican report accused the nuns of promoting “radical feminist themes.” The battle is similar to one half-a-century ago between a group of nuns and a Los Angeles cardinal.

They’re here every Tuesday – singing, praying and waving signs outside the D.C. headquarters of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The two dozen women and men say they came to support the nuns. Jack McCarthy says they have been “at the forefront of the church’s efforts in poverty and justice. I can’t say that for the entire body of bishops.”

They’re reacting to a Vatican report that says nuns don’t spend enough time defending the church’s stand against contraception and same-sex marriage. It accuses the Leadership Conference of Women Religious — which represents most American nuns — of promoting “radical feminist themes incompatible with the Catholic faith.” The clash reminds protester Mary Frances Moriarty of a long-ago fight between L.A.’s Cardinal McIntyre and the Immaculate Heart nuns. “He leaned on them, didn’t he? And they said ‘no’.”

That fight had its roots in the Second Vatican Council, the effort to bring the Catholic Church into the modern world. Sister Karen Kennelly is a church historian and past president of L.A.’s Mount St. Mary’s College. She says Vatican Two told religious congregations to renew themselves. “They were given a kind of a general guideline,” she says, “which was to look back to their original spirit and to their original purposes and to take a good hard look at the signs of the times.”

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
SNAP Wisconsin

Minutes from 2003 confirm: Dolan discussed paying $20,000 each to child molesters to quietly leave the priesthood

Minutes from 2003 meeting confirm: Dolan discussed paying $20,000 each to child molesters to quietly leave the priesthood

Policy appears to have been implemented, as revealed in church disbursements to pedophile clerics

Meeting also shows beginning of Dolan’s “shell game” by moving tens of millions of dollars into newly invented “trusts”

Victims want current Archbishop Listecki to reveal all payouts and costs of sex offenders, release the Milwaukee “Dolan Papers”, including all Finance Council minutes

WHO
Victim/survivors of childhood sexual violence by clergy of the Milwaukee archdiocese, including leaders of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org/SNAPwisconsin.com) will release and discuss newly uncovered minutes from a March 2003 Milwaukee Archdiocese Finance council meeting where former Archbishop Timothy Dolan and Milwaukee auxiliary Bishop Richard Sklba discuss using church funds to:

–pay off known priest pedophiles and child molesters $20,000 each to quietly leave the priesthood,

–set up a “restorative justice” program to prevent victims from receiving compensation for injuries comparable to cases being filed against the archdiocese of Milwaukee in California, and

–move millions of dollars from the archdiocese into a newly invented “trust” to prevent compensating victims, the first of several such “trusts” to be set up before the archdiocese declared bankruptcy in 2011.

Victims will also be emailing a letter Wednesday to current Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome Listecki demanding:

–full financial disclosure of all payouts and “laicization” bonuses to sex offender clerics,

–which charitable funds were used to pay-off clergy sex offenders, and

–the release of the “Dolan Papers”, including all minutes of the monthly Archdiocese Finance Council chaired by Dolan and auxiliary Bishop Richard Sklba

WHEN
Wednesday, May 30, 11:30 a.m.

WHERE
On the front steps of the Federal Courthouse, 517 E. Wisconsin Avenue, Milwaukee

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Washington Post

On final day of testimony, Philadelphia monsignor apologizes for priest’s sex assault

By Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA — A Roman Catholic church official apologized to a priest sex-abuse victim on the final day of testimony in his groundbreaking child-endangerment trial.

Jurors are set to hear closing arguments Thursday after the defense rested Tuesday afternoon for Monsignor William Lynn and a co-defendant.

Lynn, 61, who served as the Philadelphia archdiocese secretary for clergy from 1992 to 2004, is the first U.S. church official charged over his handling of priest-abuse complaints. He and the Rev. James Brennan have been on trial for 10 weeks.

Brennan has pleaded not guilty to sexually assaulting a teen in 1996. Defrocked priest Edward Avery pleaded guilty to a 1999 sexual assault days before trial and is in prison.

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UNITED STATES
Steve Julian

No one fully knows the extent of damage.

In our lifetime, certain people within the Catholic community – priests, members of religious orders, women religious, the lay community – have molested or otherwise abused innumerable boys and girls.

The loss can be measured in dollars, sure, but no one can define the value of each damaged soul. Victims speak of shutting themselves down to the outside world, acting inappropriately themselves, or feeling a civic, cultural or religious disenfranchisement.

Some commit suicide.

The Church’s response has varied from one diocese to the next. A tug of war exists between some bishops and the Vatican, while other church leaders protect abusers through the decimation of records or failure to disclose a priest’s past when shuttling him off to an unsuspecting diocese.

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UNITED STATES
LaCrosse Tribune

Jerome Christenson Winona Daily News | Posted: Wednesday, May 30, 2012

The butler did it.

Bet you never thought you’d see that line in a legitimate news story, did you?

For that matter, I’d almost wager you didn’t know there were still people in this world who still hire butlers.

Well, it seems the pope does have a butler, and from what I read in the papers, it appears his Holiness’ head manservant is in hot water over the heist of some top-secret Vatican documents, the contents of which were leaked to the ink-stained wretches of the Italian Fourth Estate—much to the red-faced chagrin of a number of red-hatted churchmen.

I suspect they’re a bit embarrassed that the purloined papers didn’t reveal a set of sub rosa instructions from the Most High, but the sort of small-‘m’ mysteries more common to supermarket tabloids and Fox News — a variety of very much earth-bound intrigues and shenanigans among those close to the throne of the Vicar of Christ and in the top floor offices of the Vatican bank. It’s the sort of thing that carries a bit of the rancid perfume of the Borgias and of things more suited to the sensibilities of 1512 than 2012.

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UNITED STATES
Daily Mail (United Kingdom)

By Emma Reynolds

Polygamist leader Warren Jeffs has shared an apparent change of heart in his latest ‘revelation’ from prison, writing that women should not be abused.

The Fundamentalist Latter-Day Saints Church leader is serving a 130-year sentence at Powledge Unit near Palestine, Texas, for systematic child sex assault and marrying underage girls.

The 56-year-old’s ‘revelation’, one of a series of religious messages he has addressed to the Utah State Attorney General, is dated 13 May, just days before the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals rejected his appeal.

Jeffs wrote, ‘Let women be free, to be educated, to have full protection from abuse, ye nations’, Fox News reported.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Humanistischer Pressedienst

(hpd) In der Debatte über Kinder, die in kirchlichen Erziehungsanstalten aufwuchsen, steht der sexuelle Missbrauch im Vordergrund. Ein soeben erschienener Sammelband zeigt, dass bereits der Alltag in solchen Einrichtungen tiefe Spuren bei den Kindern hinterließ. Rolf Cantzen hat darin ganz unterschiedliche Geschichten von Schülern, die in katholischen Internaten waren, zusammengestellt.

Die Geschichten gewähren Einblick in eine Welt, in der Gewalt, Willkür und Demütigung vorherrschten. Sie verstören und helfen gleichzeitig zu verstehen, warum die katholische Kirche bis heute nicht in der Lage ist, sich zu ihrer Verantwortung für die physische und psychische Misshandlung der Schüler zu bekennen. hpd sprach mit Herausgeber Rolf Cantzen.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Querdenker

Der Katholizismus und Islamismus und der Missbrauch mit 12jährigen Kindern

Was in Deutschland verboten ist und unter Strafe gestellt, wird dem prominenten Radio-Moderator Marcus Japke vorgeworfen. Er soll ein 12jähriges Mädchen sexuell missbraucht haben. Hätte der Moderator das Kind im Vatikan oder in Saudi-Arabien sexuell missbraucht, würde er vermutlich straffrei bleiben. Es verwundert, warum der Vatikan, gerade wenn die Kirche weltweit schon seit langem von Missbrauchsfällen gegen Kinder geplagt ist, nicht das Schutzalter erhöht hat, wie das Italien auch schon längst gemacht hat. Das wäre zumindest eine symbolische Geste gewesen. Es nicht zu machen, kann auch als eine symbolische Geste verstanden werden. Vermutlich ist das Schutzalter aus Unaufmerksamkeit beibehalten worden, allerdings meint etwa der Wiener Rechtsprofessor Manfred Nowak, der Internationalen Menschenrechtsschutz lehrt und für die Vereinten Nationen als Sonderberichterstatter tätig ist, dass der Vatikan das Schutzalter absichtlich so niedrig gehalten habe. Offenbar sieht er den Katholizismus als dafür verantwortlich. Malta, Spanien und der Vatikan seien, so stellte die Welt seine Aussage dar, seien stärker als andere Länder katholisch geprägt.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Die Rheinpfalz

Berlin (dapd). Tausende Anrufe gingen ein, doch es werden immer weniger: Deutschlands zentrale Anlaufstelle für Opfer sexuellen Missbrauchs hat innerhalb von zwei Jahren rund 27.500 Hilferufe bekommen. Doch der Ansturm habe wegen mangelnder Werbung in den vergangenen Monaten stark abgenommen, sagte eine Sprecherin des Unabhängigen Beauftragten für Fragen des sexuellen Kindesmissbrauchs, Johannes-Wilhelm Rörig. Täglich klingelt etwa zehn Mal das Telefon. Während der Kampagne zum Start des Angebots seien bis zu 200 Anrufe pro Tag eingegangen.

Von den 27.500 Kontaktversuchen seit Eröffnung der Anlaufstelle im Mai 2010 waren alleine 24.000 Anrufe. 3.500 Briefe sendeten Missbrauchsopfer, Angehörige oder Erzieher und Lehrer an Rörig. Therapeuten und Sozialpädagogen nehmen sie entgegen.

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BAKERSFIELD (CA)
KGET

[with video]

A Bakersfield woman who claims she was molested by her youth minister more than 20 years ago has come forward, urging others who may have been molested to do the same.

Jessica Bohman, 29, is suing both her alleged assailant as well as the church she attended, Dayspring Christian Fellowship in central Bakersfield. She says the church didn’t do anything after it was made aware of the alleged molestation.

The International Four Square organization, a Pentecostal Christian group affiliated with Dayspring Church, is also named as a defendant in the lawsuit.

Bohman was only 4 years old when she claims family friend and youth minister Damon Young began sexually abusing her.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

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

The defense in the clergy sex-abuse trial rested Tuesday after Msgr. William J. Lynn ended three days’ contentious testimony the way he began – asserting he had done his best to protect children but had lacked the power to do more.

“I did much more than had been done before I got there,” Lynn said, later adding: “I have many victims that told me I helped them.”

After the former Archdiocese of Philadelphia clergy secretary left the witness stand, the landmark trial moved briskly toward a conclusion.

Lawyers for Lynn and his codefendant, the Rev. James J. Brennan, called their final witnesses – friends, relatives, parishioners, priests, and nuns who praised the defendants as law-abiding citizens.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Priest Abuse Trial Blog

Ralph Cipriano

As the defense rested its case Tuesday in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia sex abuse trial, the momentum in the courtroom appeared to be shifting. The question is whether it had moved enough to matter.

A month ago, the prosecution appeared so far out in the lead, they were paring down witness lists, and playing it safe, as they strove to protect a big fourth-quarter lead. Sure there were problems with the Father James J. Brennan side of the case, but the evidence against Msgr. William J. Lynn seemed stacked so high the only question was when the monsignor went down, would that giant sucking sound take Father Brennan along with him.

But then Judge M. Teresa Sarmina, who had been pro-prosecution all the way, suddenly whacked two conspiracy charges off the prosecution’s case. Next the defense stole the prosecution’s alleged smoking gun — that list of 35 abuser priests drawn up by Lynn and ordered shredded by Cardinal Bevilacqua — and used that same evidence to show that Lynn may have been just a patsy.

Yesterday, the last shoe to drop was Assistant District Attorney Patrick Blessington’s anti-climactic finish to his three-day cross-examination of Msgr. Lynn, a performance that was toned-down from the previous fireworks. By the time Blessington limped to the finish, it sure seemed like the prosecutor had run out of steam. That’s the risk you take when you stretch a cross over three days, but maybe the prosecution is still so far ahead, it won’t matter.

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CALIFORNIA
Bakersfield.com

An alleged case of sexual abuse more than 20 years old has been resurrected by the filing of a lawsuit in Kern County Superior Court.

Plaintiff Jessica Prater Bohman went public Tuesday as she stood outside the courthouse with her attorney and relatives to announce the lawsuit and discuss what she said happened to her when she was 4 years old.

The lawsuit says Bohman, now 29, was molested by a youth minister at Bakersfield Dayspring Foursquare Church from 1987 to 1990. The lawsuit identifies Damon Young, who was 15 when the abuse first began, as the minister who assaulted her.

Investigative reports filed by Bakersfield police and provided by Bohman’s attorney say Young admitted in 2010 to molesting Bohman and two other girls. According to Bohman, the case went to juvenile court but Young could not be held criminally liable because the statute of limitations had expired.

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WASHINGTON
Roman Catholic Diocese of Spokane

May 27, 2012

Pentecost, 2012

Dear Parishioners:

In October, 2010, I informed you that the Diocese of Spokane had entered a period of mediation to address demands resulting from claims of sexual abuse by clergy in past years, but which were made after the 2007 bankruptcy settlement’s Plan of Reorganization. That Plan, in addition to establishing a multi-million fund to compensate victim survivors, also provided for the possibility of claims to be made after the bar date of March 2007, for a period of nine years, or until 2016. At that time, one million dollars were set aside to cover these “future claims.” Twenty-two parishes in Spokane County stepped forward on behalf of all the parishes in the Diocese to offer their parish properties as collateral to assure that awards exceeding this one million dollar amount would be paid. Parishioners were advised that the risk of foreclosure was small, given that the number of future claims in all likelihood would not be significant.

As I noted in my letter to you shortly after I arrived in the fall of 2010, the Trustee, appointed to oversee the bankruptcy plan, informed me that the one million dollar fund would soon be exhausted with the payment of several future claims awards and that we would need to recapitalize the future claims fund immediately or face foreclosure on parish and school properties to satisfy this obligation. The Diocese did not have the funds available, which meant foreclosure action was imminent. The situation was deteriorating even more so at this time, since the high costs of legal efforts beginning in 2009 to challenge some of the future claims awards were draining what little resources we needed to operate and, as reported by the media, these challenges had reached a stalemate. We also were informed that more future claims would in all likelihood be accepted, thus placing the very survivability of the Catholic Church in Eastern Washington as we know it into serious question.

Taking all of this into consideration, I sought the assistance of a new team of competent individuals to take a fresh look at things and to put together a strategy to mediate this impasse and bring some order to the series of events that were cascading out of control. With their advice, I engaged the services of Federal Judge Michael Hogan of the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon to serve as mediator. Once we secured the agreement of all parties, the bankruptcy court approved the mediation arrangement, which included the suspension of all appeals and court actions.

We identified four goals which we needed to achieve, if the mediation were to be successful.

1. Remove the immediate threat of foreclosure on parishes. I was convinced that the seizure of parish properties was not only a matter of losing facilities and material assets, but it also involved the displacement of faith communities and the diminishment of our Catholic school system. Thus, everything should be done to avoid that scenario;
2. Reduce our legal fees, which were averaging nearly a quarter of a million dollars annually in the three years following the bankruptcy settlement;

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WASHINGTON
The Spokesman-Review

John Stucke
The Spokesman-Review

Catholic parishes are contributing $1.5 million toward a broad legal settlement expected to help the church resolve clergy sex abuse claims and avoid the foreclosure of churches and schools.

It’s the second settlement in five years that has been billed as ending the bankruptcy of the Catholic Diocese of Spokane, which has struggled with more than a decade of scandal.

A three-page letter written by Bishop Blase Cupich and distributed to parishioners on Sunday sought to assure churchgoers that the threat of foreclosure had passed. The $1.5 million was far less than initially feared to clear up lingering bankruptcy issues – most notably more than two dozen unresolved claims filed by former Morning Star Boys’ Ranch residents who said they were abused.

Cupich said now that the cases have been settled, he will review the accusations of abuse against Morning Star’s longtime director, the Rev. Joseph Weitensteiner, and at the same time refer the matters to a diocesan board that vets such allegations to determine whether they are credible.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
CBS Philly

By Tony Hanson

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – The defense has rested in the clergy sexual abuse case, and closing arguments are expected tomorrow. The defense rested yesterday after presenting a flurry of character witnesses on behalf of monsignor William Lynn and father James Brennan.

Monsignor William Lynn, charged with endangering children by allowing dangerous priests to remain in ministry, and Father James Brennan, who is charged with sexually assaulting a teen, both have pleaded not guilty.

And yesterday a series of witnesses, family and friends, priests and nuns, parishioners and former students, told the jury Monsignor Lynn and Brennan have excellent reputations. Earlier in the day, Lynn completed his testimony, conceding diagnosed pedophile priests and other priests he had found guilty of sexual abuse of minors remained in ministry. One, Edward Avery, later sexually assaulted another teen.

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AUSTRALIA
Northern District Times

30 May 12 @ 08:15am by Staff Writer

FINIAN James Egan, 77, arrived at Ryde Court last Wednesday in a black BMW with a disability parking permit and was assisted by two young women, AAP reported.

He was charged on May 1 with 17 sexual offences that allegedly occurred between 1972 and 1987 while Egan was serving as a priest in parishes in Sydney and on the NSW Central Coast.

The charges relate to one boy and three girls.

The court was told that Egan is suffering from an unspecified medical condition that will prevent him satisfying one of his bail conditions to report weekly to Ryde police station.

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PENNSYLVANIA
The Mercury

By Frank Otto
fotto@pottsmerc.com
Posted: 05/29/12 06:21 pm

PHOENIXVILLE — After a local priest e-mailed parishioners saying he was informed that Sacred Heart and Holy Trinity parishes would close, a Philadelphia archdiocese spokesman said there is no official word on the parishes’ statuses.

In an e-mail sent to some parishioners around noon Tuesday, the Rev. Michael Rzonca said Sacred Heart would merge with the St. Ann parish and Holy Trinity would merge with St. Mary of the Assumption.

“I received a call from (the Rev. Monsignor) Arthur Rodgers informing me that I will be leaving the pastorate of Sacred Heart and Holy Trinity parishes, effective June 30, 2012,” Rzonca, the pastor of both Sacred Heart and Holy Trinity, wrote. “Holy Trinity will be merged with St. Mary’s and Sacred Heart will be merged with St. Ann’s.”

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SEWICKLEY (PA)
St. James Parish

[with copy of the letter from Bishop Zubik]

A note from the Regional Vicar:

Dear parishioners of Saint James,

It is easy to understand the great emotion you are experiencing at this time. Having known Father Valentine for more than thirty years, I consider him to be one of our finest priests who has many gifts, including being a good leader.

During this interim time I promise my prayers for Father and for the parish. As the temporary administrator my role is to see that parish sacramental life continues uninterrupted. For those who have scheduled weddings, please know these will be celebrated, albeit with a substitute priest. The same is true for baptisms and for any funerals that may take place.

Please be patient and understanding. Given the decreasing numbers of priests available we may have to rely on those who are retired for assistance. Because of my other responsibilities, it is not possible for me to spend many hours at the parish, but I do plan to be present throughout the coming week(s) as necessary.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Times Online

By Jenny Wagner jwagner@timesonline.com

SEWICKLEY — A Sewickley priest has taken a leave of absence from his ministry while the Allegheny County District Attorney’s office investigates an allegation made against him, Pittsburgh Catholic Diocese officials said Tuesday.

The Rev. Daniel A. Valentine, pastor of St. James Catholic Church on Walnut Street, began his leave May 19 after officials received a complaint involving Facebook posts Valentine allegedly made to a minor, according to the Rev. Ron Lengwin, diocese spokesman.

Lengwin said as per church policies, the complaint was turned over to the district attorney’s office.

Bishop David Zubik said in a letter to parishioners posted on the church’s website that he has instructed diocese staff to perform a forensic audit on the church’s computers and Valentine’s personal computer.

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VATICAN CITY
Atlanta Journal-Constitution

By NICOLE WINFIELD
The Associated Press

VATICAN CITY — The Vatican on Tuesday sought to put the widening scandal over leaked documents into a very different light, saying the stolen papers didn’t just concern matters of internal church governance but represented the thoughts of people who in writing to the pope believed they were essentially speaking before God.

As a result, Pope Benedict XVI feels particularly pained over the leaks and wants to get to the bottom of the scandal to heal the breach and re-establish a sense of trust among the faithful, according to the Vatican’s undersecretary of state, Archbishop Angelo Becciu.

“I consider the publication of stolen letters to be an unprecedentedly grave immoral act,” Becciu told the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano. “It’s not just that the pope’s papers were stolen, but that people who turned to him as the vicar of Christ have had their consciences violated.”

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VATICAN CITY
Reuters

By Silvia Aloisi

May 29, 2012

Catholic clerics and pilgrims visiting St Peter’s basilica on Tuesday expressed shock over a scandal that has shaken the Vatican and led to the arrest of the pope’s butler, fearing it would hurt both the pontiff and the Church.

“It’s awful and very sad that something like that can happen right at the heart of the Vatican,” said David Kaberia, a priest from Meru in Kenya, standing under the sun in a queue snaking through half of St Peter’s Square to tour one of the holiest sites of Roman Catholicism.

“This is an inside job by greedy people and I think it will inevitably affect the Church worldwide because this is the centre of the Church’s power,” he told Reuters.

The scandal exploded last week when, within a few days, the head of the Vatican’s own bank was sacked, the pope’s butler was arrested over leaks of sensitive documents and a book was published alleging conspiracies among cardinals and corruption in the Church’s financial dealings with Italian business.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
The Pilot

By Matthew Gambino

PHILADELPHIA (CNS) — Msgr. William J. Lynn took the witness stand in his own defense May 23 and told jurors that “in my heart” he put the interests of children first as he handled allegations of sexual abuse by priests in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

The former secretary for clergy of the Philadelphia Archdiocese faces two counts of endangering the welfare of children by recommending for assignment some priests accused of sexual misconduct with children.

“I did my best to ensure no child got hurt,” he said in testimony at the trial.

The charges are in connection to alleged sexual misconduct by a current priest, Father James J. Brennan, and sexual assault by a former priest, Edward V. Avery.

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PORTLAND (ME)/BUFFALO (NY)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Barbara Dorris on May 29, 2012

Today, the Pope promoted Maine Bishop Richard Malone to head the Buffalo Diocese. As is so often the case, the church hierarchy is trading one callous official for another.

It’s important to remember that Malone worked under the disgraced Cardinal Bernard Law of Boston.

In 2010, it was disclosed that Malone was keeping secret the identity of seven recently accused Maine predator priests. We believe his secrecy violates his promises and the US bishops abuse policy. Even worse, he’s violating basic common sense and needlessly jeopardizing the safety of vulnerable children in Maine.

In 2008, Malone put a Bangor priest (Fr. Paul Coughlin) back into ministry even though that priest let a convicted sex offender live with him in a parish. (Later, Malone reversed himself in response to a public outcry.)On the other hand, in 2007, Malone belatedly and begrudgingly made public a partial list of credibly accused predator priests in Maine. However, he kept that list up only a few years. And in 2009, he removed public tributes on church property to one credibly accused predator priest (Fr. Joseph McGowan).

Bishop Kmiec has repeatedly covered up abuse. Less than three months ago, it was revealed that a priest (Fr. David W. Bialkowski) who Kmiec claimed had been put on medical leave was actually suspended due to credible reports of abuse. Prior to that case, Kmiec had given sanctuary to a priest that had been abusing boys in Pennsylvania. Kmiec has also repeatedly refused requests to make available on his website a list of all credibly accused priests within his diocese.

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FARGO (ND)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by David Clohessy on May 29, 2012

Today, the Vatican has announced that the bishop of the Diocese of Fargo, ND will be promoted to fill the role of archbishop in the Diocese of Denver which has been vacant since Archbishop Charles Chaput moved to the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

For now-Archbishop Samuel Aquila, this is a homecoming in many ways. We hope that, as he returns to Denver and takes over the archdiocese, he works diligently and tirelessly to help end the clergy sex abuse and cover-up crisis. However, in the past Aquila has failed to act responsibly to protect kids.

In 2009, it was revealed that three monsignors, after receiving a credible accusation of abuse, refused to share the information with anyone outside the diocesan hierarchy. The diocese first heard the accusation against Fr. Gregory Patejko in 1994, and paid a settlement to the Patejko’s victim that same year. Yet it wasn’t until 15 years later that the allegation was made public, and even then only because the victim grew tired of the diocese’s silence and went to the media himself.

Aquila’s silence in this matter only served to help the Diocese of Fargo avoid public embarrassment, and actually worked against victims by allowing others who may have been abused by Patejko to continue suffering in silence. We don’t know how many other allegations may have been kept under wraps in the same way, but we suspect that this was not the only case.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Barbara Dorris on May 29, 2012

On Friday, in his diocesan newspaper Kansas City Bishop Robert Finn quietly disclosed his promotion of Fr. Patrick Rush, a priest who is closely connected with a number of proven, admitted and credibly accused child molesting clerics. For years, he was the second-in-command of the diocese. He has been named as a defendant, because of that role, in a number of child sex abuse and cover up lawsuits.

If Finn keeps picking and promoting long-time church insiders and those with close ties church insiders, the chances for change are greatly reduced.

As vicar general, in 2002, Rush publicly defended the decision to keep Fr. Thomas Ward in parish ministry, despite the fact that the diocese paid a settlement to his accuser.

Rush admitted that parishioners had not been officially informed by the diocese of the allegations against Ward.

That same year, Rush refused to identify four priests who had been accused of molesting kids.

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DENVER (CO)
Grand Forks Herald

DENVER – In a homecoming of sorts, Fargo Bishop Samuel J. Aquila has been named the new archbishop of the Denver archdiocese.

Aquila, 61, was ordained in Denver in 1976, and worked in several Colorado parishes there until coming to Fargo 11 years ago. He’s been the bishop of the Diocese of Fargo since 2002.

He’ll remain in Fargo until shortly before he is installed in Denver on July 18.

At a news conference in Denver Tuesday, Aquila said he learned of the appointment last week.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

by Michael Sean Winters on May. 29, 2012 Distinctly Catholic

I do not want to judge the appointment of Bishop Samuel Aquila based on a single, unfortunate statement he made in the past. Nonetheless, regular readers may recall this post of mine when Bishop Aquila rolled out the Nazi analogy.

I was especially pleased to note then, as I note now, that while I do not think the bishops are engaged in a war against Obama, comments like Aquila’s make it hard not to believe that the White House thinks negotiating with people who compare the president’s actions to nazis and communists are not people with whom it is worthwhile to negotiate. Yes, the White House has made a mess of the HHS mandate and nothing anyone else has said excuses that mess.

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BUFFALO (NY)
WKBW

[with video]

By WKBW News

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) – The Diocese of Buffalo announced Tuesday morning that the Most Reverend Richard Malone would be taking over for Bishop Edward Kmiec.

“My profound gratitude to our Holy Father Benedict XVI for his trust in me, in appointing me to oversee this vibrancy of Buffalo,” Most Reverend Richard Malone said.

Malone will be installed as the 14th Bishop of Buffalo at St. Joseph’s Cathedral on August 10th. He comes to Buffalo from Portland, Maine where he served as Bishop since 2004. He said one of the biggest issues he will face is the economic challenge here in Western New York. He said he has experience.

“I come from a state that is also beautiful, but very challenged economically. We have lost a lot of industries there. That is why we put a lot of emphasis on Catholic Charities to reach out to people who need us,” Malone said.

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MAINE
The Forecaster

By Matt Hongoltz-Hetling

PORTLAND — The pope has sent Maine’s highest-ranking Catholic, Bishop Richard J. Malone, to the Diocese of Buffalo.

The move will result in an opening that could last for up to a year, officials of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland said Tuesday.

The decision, made by Pope Benedict XVI a week ago, was announced publicly Tuesday morning. Malone said that, in retrospect, he saw a sign from God that presaged the decision.

“Sometimes, subtle indications of God’s plan for us only become apparent in hindsight,” Malone said during a teleconference from Buffalo. “The day before the archbishop called me, I was up in northern Maine celebrating confirmation liturgies. … One of the folks up there advised us to get off the interstate and take a more rural route. … He said, ‘If you’re really lucky, you’ll see a herd of buffalo.’ And there they were, 10 buffaloes grazing in a field.”

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KENTUCKY
The Courier-Journal

A Roman Catholic priest who had been scheduled for trial on sexual-abuse charges on Tuesday has been granted at least seven more months before his next court appearance.

Jefferson Circuit Court Judge Mitch Perry on Tuesday scheduled a Dec. 17 status review for the Rev. James R. Schook.

Schook, 64, was indicted in 2011 on seven felony counts of sodomy based on allegations that he sexually abused two boys between 1971 and 1975. He has pleaded not guilty to all of the charges.

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IRELAND
Northern Sound

May 29 2012

Former Abbot of Kilnacrott Kevin Smith says he will co-operate with any criminal or international enquiry into cases involving victims of abuse.

It comes as Fr Smith, who was the Abbott of Kilnacrott when paedophile priest Brendan Smith was based there, has issued an apology to abuse victims.

In a statement to Northern Sound News, Fr Smith has promised to be open and give all information to either or both criminal or international bodies who may lead an investigation.

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IRELAND
Northern Sound

STATEMENT FROM ABBOT KEVIN A. SMITH, O.PRAEM

HOLY TRINITY ABBEY, KILNACROTT, BALLYJAMESDUFF, CO. CAVAN

Having had some time in prayer and reflection in Medugorje on the past when I was Abbot and Superior of Holy Trinity Abbey, Kilnacrott, Ballyjamesduff, Co. Cavan, I wish to acknowledge and apologise to all those who were abused in any way, their family, friends and fellow priests for mistakes which happened within the Church and various Institutions from August 1969 – March 1995 (when I retired).

I thank the present Prior and Superior for the counselling help being made available through “Towards Healing” freephone 1800 303 416 (ROI) / 08000 963315 (NI/UK).

However, I believe that the real permanent healing comes from inviting Jesus Christ, (The greatest Healer of all) into our lives and handing over to him all our hurts. There has been a call for a “criminal” investigation and/or “International” enquiry – I promise that I would be open to and give all information to either or both of those bodies – The Truth will set us all free.

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IRELAND
The Anglo-Celt

Paul Neilan

A former abbot at Kilnacrott has finally issued an apology to the victims of sexual abuse perpetrated by paedophile priest Fr Brendan Smyth.

In a statement issued yesterday, Fr Kevin Smith said: “Having had some time in prayer and reflection in Medugorje on the past when I was Abbot and Superior of Holy Trinity Abbey, Kilnacrott, Ballyjamesduff, Co Cavan, I wish to acknowledge and apologise to all those who were abused in any way, their family, friends and fellow priests for mistakes which happened within the Church and various Institutions from August 1969 – March 1995, when I retired.

“I thank the present Prior and Superior for the counselling help being made available through “Towards Healing” (freephone 1800 303 416).

“However, I believe that the real permanent healing comes from inviting Jesus Christ, The greatest Healer of all, into our lives and handing over to him all our hurts. There has been a call for a criminal investigation and or international enquiry – I promise that I would be open to and give all information to either or both of those bodies. The Truth will set us all free.

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VATICAN CITY
CNN

By Richard Allen Greene, CNN

(CNN) – Bad luck comes in threes, even for the pope.

The past week has seen his butler arrested, accused of leaking secret papers from the papal apartment; the head of his bank sacked for incompetence; and a demonstration on his front doorstep by protesters demanding that he reveal what he knows about Italy’s most famous missing-person case.

It’s bad PR for the Vatican, but it may be more than that, experts say. It could affect who becomes the next pope.

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VATICAN CITY
CBS News

(AP) VATICAN CITY – Pope Benedict XVI isn’t afraid about what might emerge in the widening investigation into leaked documents and is encouraging prosecutors and a fact-finding commission to get to the truth over one of the most serious Holy See scandals in recent history, the Vatican spokesman said Tuesday.

Spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi said Benedict was pained by the leaks and that he, Lombardi, felt “personally violated,” even though none of the spokesman’s correspondence had filtered out to Italian media or into a recent book of leaked documents that have laid bare the infighting, intrigue and petty squabbles that have plagued the highest echelons of the Catholic Church’s governance.

The so-called “Vatileaks” scandal has tormented the Vatican for months and represents one of the greatest breaches of trust and security for the pope in recent memory. Benedict’s personal butler has been arrested, accused of theft, after documents he had no business having were found in his Vatican City apartment. Few think the butler acted alone, and the investigation is continuing on three separate tracks.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
CBS Philly

By Tony Hanson

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — Monsignor William Lynn, charged with endangered children by allowing dangerous priests to remain in ministry in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, today told the jury he is sorry for the abuse suffered by one boy during Lynn’s watch as secretary for clergy.

Lynn has conceded there were a number of priests who remained in ministry, working as pastors and assistant pastors — some who had been diagnosed as pedophiles and others whom he had determined were guilty of sexual abuse of minors — including one who has since admitted he sexually assaulted another teen.

That defrocked priest, Edward Avery, pleaded guilty before the start of this trial and is serving a sentence of up to five years (see related story).

Lynn has told the jury he is sorry for the abuse suffered by the teen at the hands of Avery, but he accepted no blame.
Lynn maintains he was powerless to change the church’s practices for dealing with predator priests. As he put it at one point, he was “not the cardinal archbishop of Philadelphia.”

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Newsworks

May 29, 2012
By Elizabeth Fiedler

Today Monsignor William Lynn took the stand in his own defense – for the third day. Lynn, a former high-ranking official in the Philadelphia Catholic Archdiocese, is facing charges for failing to prevent other priests from sexually abusing children. For defendants in criminal cases the impulse to take the stand in their own defense, can be strong. But while they can help themselves on the stand, but they also can do damage.

It’s a common scene in TV courtroom dramas: the defendant defiantly takes the stand to refute the prosecutor’s accusations. Instead the character ends up in a teary mess confessing to the crime or exposing a secret that ID’s the real criminal.

Philadelphia Criminal Defense Lawyer Dennis Cogan represented former State Senator Vince Fumo who was convicted of corruption. Cogan said there’s always a risk in putting a client on the stand.

“You don’t want him to perform, you don’t want the client on the witness stand to be making the arguments that the lawyer should be making later on,” said Cogan. “You have to go over the methods and manner of presentation.”

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

By John P. Martin
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

Msgr. William J. Lynn asserted again Tuesday that he did more than his predecessors at the Archdiocese of Philadelphia to curb or stop sexual abuse by priests, but that he had little choice but to follow directives of his bosses and medical professionals.

“I did much more than had been done before I got there,” Lynn insisted from the witness stand, later adding: “I have many victims that told me I helped them.”

He spoke as Assistant Philadelphia District Attorney Patrick Blessington opened a third-day of cross-examination, pressing Lynn to explain why he didn’t remove priests who had been accused of sexual misconduct. The testimony resumed after Common Pleas Court Judge M. Teresa Sarmina denied a bid by the lawyers for Lynn and his codefendant, the Rev. James J. Brennan, to dismiss a charge against each.

Blessington and Lynn picked up largely where they left off Thursday, with the prosecutor firing questions and accusations at the former clergy secretary and Lynn denying any wrongdoing. Calling Lynn “the eyes and the ears” of Cardinal Anthony J. Bevilacqua on sexual abuse complaints and investigation between 1992 and 2004, Blessington asked Lynn why he allowed the Rev. Robert Brennan to stay at a parish in 1993 after learning that two seventh-grade boys alleged that the priest had groped or caressed them.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

May. 29, 2012
By Joshua J. McElwee

Almost two months later, clarity is still elusive.

Across the country, women religious are still trying to make sense of the Vatican’s latest move — an April order to the organization representing the large majority of their ranks, telling the group to revise and place itself under the control of an archbishop.

For the first time since announcement of the sweeping order, the leadership of that group — known as the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) — meets this week to discuss what to do next.

While the group has not given many details about the expected contents of the meeting — scheduled for Tuesday through Friday — an April release said the national board of the group will meet in an “atmosphere of prayer, contemplation and dialogue” and that it “plans to move slowly, not rushing to judgment.”

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
The Associated Press

By MARYCLAIRE DALE, Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A Roman Catholic official is wrapping up three grueling days of testimony in his Philadelphia clergy-abuse trial.

Monsignor William Lynn says he did everything within his power to get accused priests out of parishes and into treatment.

He admits it wasn’t enough for one victim who was sexually assaulted by the Rev. Edward Avery — years after complaints about Avery had reached the archdiocese. Lynn says he’s sorry for that.

Avery is in prison after pleading guilty to the 1999 assault.

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UNITED STATES
Vatican Insider

He sent two letters to the Pope denouncing corruption

Paolo Mastrolilli
New York correspondent

“He is a man who is not afraid to speak the truth and not afraid to point out areas that need reform in the church.” These were the words of praise of new cardinal Timothy Dolan for the Nuncio to the United States Carlo Maria Viganò, published in the New York Times last February. This may help understand how the crisis in the Vatican is viewed abroad and could perhaps shed light on how the former secretary general of the Governorate is feeling. According to the Americans, Viganò is a reformer who was able to foresee the storm ahead. He can therefore feel redeemed, even if not happy, for the developments of the last few weeks and does not need to say anything more, because events seem to follow his predictions.

At the beginning of last year Viganò, who was mainly in charge of the financial management of the Vatican City State wrote two letters to the Pope, denouncing instances of corruption. In October he was removed and appointed Nuncio to the U.S.. When his letters were published, the Vatican leadership issued a statement dismissing his claims.

In his new home in Massachusetts Avenue, Viganò has chosen to keep to himself. But after being somewhat shy at the beginning, he gained confidence in his new role of managing diplomatic relations between the Holy See and the United States, between the American bishops and Rome and also in his very delicate task of pointing out suitable candidates for Episcopal Sees. The trust he has been shown is the result of the good relations he has built with American bishops, who have urged him on many occasions to become the leader of a worldwide reform of the Church.

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“Gabriele could not have done this alone”

Marco Tosatti
Vatican City

The arrest of Paolo Gabriele, Benedict XVI’s butler, meant that for a brief time all those working in the Pope home (the Vatican Loggias which sport the work of the famous master painter Raphael) could breathe a sigh of relief. This is the place where the Secretariat of State, the Pope’s administrative office, is and where all documents read by Benedict XVI end up. Once a document is ready, Mgr. Georg passes it on to the appropriate office to be archived. So when Italian television program Gli Intoccabili (The Untouchables) presented by journalist, Gianluigi Nuzzi, showed a confidential note that the director of the Vatican Press Office, Fr. Lombardi, had sent to the papal apartments (to Mgr. Georg) summarizing the ‘Orlandi’ case, many in the Vatican thought that it was obviously impossible for the documents to have been leaked from the press office or papal apartments. Therefore the culprit could only be found in the Secretariat of State.

This theory seemed even more convincing when, after the first bouts of investigation, the Vatican Gendarmerie came to a standstill. Sources inside the Vatican surprisingly blamed the slowing down in the investigation on those who should have actually pushed it forward, including the Substitute to the Secretary of State, Giovanni Angelo Becciu. The setback lasted a few weeks, then under pressure from the public opinion and due to further developments, a month ago, a committee of cardinals was formed, led by the energetic cardinal Julian Herranz. The situation then progressed, as we know.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

The Curia is in a state of panic as rumours circulate about camera phones potentially being banned in the Vatican

Andrea Tornielli
Vatican City

“The atmosphere is poisonous, heavy. Some claim that in the future we won’t be able to take mobile phones with inbuilt cameras into the Vatican.” The ban on camera phones is just a rumour that has been circulating around the Secretariat of State in the last few days, which have been the most difficult in the Vatican in recent years. “Somehow this is even worse than the storm caused by the Church paedophilia scandal,” said a priest who entered the great gate of Porta Angelica with brisk fearful steps.

Many outside the Vatican doubt the guilt of Paolo Gabriele, the Pope’s butler and no one seems to think he could have master-minded the leak of documents published in journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi’s book. We do not know the extent of his involvement yet. If the inquiry remains at this level, the doubts will inevitably grow. The net of moles, which allegedly includes a number of people, struck again, giving once more the same motives that had been put forward by the famous investigative reporter in the pages of “Sua santità” (His Holiness). The leak of Benedict XVI’s confidential papers could apparently have been an act to help the Pope. Few believe this to be true, mostly because the Vatileaks scandal has managed to besmirch the Holy See as a whole and its image is now in tatters.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

May. 29, 2012
By Fran Ferder

COMMENTARY

The Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith’s April 18 doctrinal assessment of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious is not about doctrine. It is not primarily about protecting the faith or ensuring an ecclesiology of communion, no matter how many times these terms are woven through the report. It is fundamentally about fear — fear of the loss of power — and the willful use of dominative control to defend that power.

The abundance of religious themes and language do not mask this punitive effort to shore up the crumbling authority of hierarchical leaders. Nor does the document hide the anger that roils beneath the protestations of gratitude and concern. The final report of the LCWR assessment reveals a desperate attempt on the part of some fearful and angry church leaders to protect their turf — to maintain an all-male church leadership, to keep women and laypeople under their authority, and to shield the homophobic-homosexual subculture in the leadership of the Catholic church.

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VATICAN CITY
Catholic News Service

By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Carl A. Anderson, head of the U.S.-based Knights of Columbus and secretary of the Vatican bank’s board of supervisors, said a commitment to promoting transparency led the board to fire Ettore Gotti Tedeschi as bank president.

The board unanimously passed a vote of “no confidence” in Gotti Tedeschi’s leadership May 24 during a meeting in which the Italian banker was allowed to speak “for more than 70 minutes,” according to a memorandum released by Anderson.

The board of the bank, formally known as the Institute for the Works of Religion, issued an unusually blunt statement through the Vatican Press Office May 24, noting that members had repeatedly expressed concern to Gotti Tedeschi about the bank’s “governance,” but that the “situation has deteriorated further.”

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DEUTSCHLAND
Handelsblatt

Berlin. Im vergangenen Jahr sind mehr Kinder sexuell missbraucht worden als noch ein Jahr zuvor. „Über 14.000 Kinder wurden Opfer eines sexuellen Missbrauchs“, sagte der Präsident des Bundeskriminalamts (BKA), Jörg Ziercke, unter Berufung auf die Polizeiliche Kriminalstatistik 2011 am Dienstag in Berlin. Dies entspreche einer Zunahme von knapp vier Prozent im Vergleich zu 2010 und sei der höchste Wert der vergangenen drei Jahre, fügte Ziercke hinzu.

Zudem wurde im vergangenen Jahr 146 Kinder in Deutschland getötet. Dies stellt einen Rückgang um rund 20 Prozent da. Rund 80 Prozent der getöteten Jungen und Mädchen (114) waren jünger als sechs Jahre. 63 Kinder wurden dem BKA-Chef zufolge vorsätzlich und 73 fahrlässig getötet.

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VATIKAN
Die Tagespost

Der Täter war der Butler – Und im Vatikan fragt man sich, warum der Kammerdiener die Papstpapiere missbrauchte. Von Guido Horst

Rom (DT) Ein Pfingstfest und ein Papstgottesdienst auf dem Petersplatz, die ein wenig an das Osterfest in Rom des Jahres 2010 erinnerten: Damals, vor über zwei Jahren, hatten die Enthüllungen von sexuellen Missbräuchen durch Kleriker vor allem in angelsächsischen Medien plötzlich eine scharfe Wende gegen Benedikt XVI. genommen. Opferverbände in den Vereinigten Staaten und ihre Anwälte bauten – mit dem entsprechenden Echo der internationalen Medien – eine gewaltige Druckkulisse auf, die das Osterfest mit dem Papst in Rom zu erdrücken schien.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Humanistischer Pressedienst

STUTTGART. (hpd) Wer gemeint hat, dass der Papstbesuch vorbei sei, der irrt. Das kirchenkritische Geschehen in Freiburg wurde auch vom Verfassungsschutz beobachtet und „Freiburg ohne Papst“ im Verfassungsschutzbericht 2011 genannt. Das ist immerhin wiederum neu, dass Kirchenkritiker als Verfassungsfeinde gelten.

Dazu schreibt Albrecht Ziervogel, der ehemalige Sprecher von FREIBURG OHNE PAPST: „Man reibt sich verwundert die Augen: im neuesten Verfassungsschutzbericht der grün-roten Landesregierung Kretschmann wird das Aktionsbündnis FREIBURG OHNE PAPST (FoP), als „linksextremistisch beeinflußt“ bezeichnet. Das Bündnis hatte sich aus Anlass des letztjährigen Papstbesuchs dessen kritische Begleitung in Freiburg zur Aufgabe gemacht.

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DEUTSCHLAND
KSTA

Seit März ist Stefan Heße Generalvikar des Bischofs von Köln. Mit Joachim Frank und Matthias Pesch sprach er über einen Wandel in den Pfarreien, sprudelnde Kirchensteuer und den Umgang mit dem Missbrauchskandal.

Köln – Herr Generalvikar, zwei Monate stehen Sie auf der Brücke des Tankers „Erzbistum Köln“. Wo könnten wir mit einem empfindlichen Navigationsgerät Kursänderungen wahrnehmen?

STEFAN HESSE: Dafür ist es mir noch zu früh. Bisher war ich nur für ein Segment zuständig. Ich kenne das Generalvikariat ja schon aus meiner früheren Tätigkeit als Personalchef. Jetzt muss ich immer das Ganze im Blick haben. Zurzeit mache ich Antrittsbesuche in meiner neuen Rolle, um die Menschen in den Abteilungen und ihre Aufgaben noch besser kennen zu lernen. Dafür will ich mir bis zum Sommer Zeit lassen, um dann mit den Verantwortlichen zu entscheiden, was wir uns als Schwer-punkte vornehmen. Und ich merke: Die Leute nehmen mich anders wahr – wie ich sie umgekehrt auch.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Miss BiT

Am 19.03.2012 berichtet der „SPIEGEL“ in seinem Artikel „Scham und Bestürzung“ über die gängige Praxis von Bischof Ackermann als Missbrauchsbeauftragter der DBK, Pädophile und wegen sexuellen Missbrauchs vorbestrafte Priester weiterhin einzusetzen und somit weitere Kinder der Gefahr, sexuell missbraucht zu werden, auszusetzen.

Am 16.04.2012 berichtet der „SPIEGEL“, dass Bischof Ackermann zwei Priester entpflichtet habe. Diese dürften fortan keinen priesterlichen Dienst mehr tun.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
dotCommonweal

May 29, 2012

Posted by David Gibson

That would be “Bishop-In-Name-Only.” I ask because NCR’s Joshua McElwee dug into a seemingly boilerplate announcement of “canonical assignments” posted at the newspaper of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph on Friday afternoon and discovered that Bishop Robert Finn had shifted — apparently — some of his authority to a newly-created “Episcopal Vicar with Special Mandate,” who is Fr. Patrick Rush.

The move was made in anticipation of Bishop Finn’s trial this fall in Jackson County on charges of failing to report one of his priests, Fr. Shawn Ratigan, who was suspected of possessing child pornography and perhaps of abusing children.

Finn has already signed away some of his authority in Clay County (another part of the diocese) on sex abuse and personnel policies in order to avoid trial on similar charges there. (See Nicholas Cafardi’s “A Cherished Accommodation” [subscribers only].) Friday’s announcement also transferred another official tainted by the Ratigan case.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

by Alice Popovici on May. 29, 2012 Sisters Under Scrutiny

A reader emailed NCR the following article from the parish bulletin of the Blessed Trinity Catholic Church in Cleveland, Ohio. We’re posting it with the permission of the author, Fr. Doug Koesel:

What the Nuns’ Story is Really About

Many of you have asked me to comment on the recent investigation into the US nuns. Here goes. In short, the Vatican has asked for an investigation into the life of religious women in the United States. There is a concern about orthodoxy, feminism and pastoral practice. The problem with the Vatican approach is that it places the nuns squarely on the side of Jesus and the Vatican on the side of tired old men, making a last gasp to save a crumbling kingdom lost long ago for a variety of reasons.

One might say that this investigation is the direct result of the John Paul II papacy. He was suspicious of the power given to the laity after the Second Vatican Council. He disliked the American Catholic Church. Throughout his papacy he strove to wrest collegial power from episcopal conferences and return it to Rome.

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VATICAN CITY
Reuters

May 29 (Reuters) – Former Bundesbank head Hans Tietmeyer said on Tuesday he was not a candidate to become the next head of the Vatican bank.

“I know absolutely nothing about this,” Tietmeyer, who headed the German central bank from 1993 to 1999, told Reuters. “I have read that but it is completely untrue.”

Italian media reported earlier on Tuesday that Tietmeyer was under consideration to succeed Italian Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, who left the Vatican bank after a vote of no-confidence on Thursday.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
CBS Philly

PHILADELPHIA — A Philadelphia judge is denying a Roman Catholic priest’s bid to have one of two child-endangerment counts dismissed in his clergy-abuse trial.

Meanwhile, Monsignor William Lynn is back on the witness stand for a third day.

Lynn’s lawyers argue the endangerment charge involving the Rev. James Brennan should have been filed by 2001, two years after the victim’s complaint.

Common Pleas Judge M. Teresa Sarmina has rejected the motion, and Lynn is enduring more heated cross-examination.

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VATICAN CITY
Washington Post

Pope taps Fargo bishop Aquila for new US post in Denver archdiocese; names Buffalo bishop

By Associated Press, Updated: Tuesday, May 29

VATICAN CITY — The pope has named Monsignor Samuel Aquila as the new archbishop for Denver, Colorado, filling an important U.S. post left vacant after Archbishop Charles Chaput moved to Philadelphia.

The 61-year-old Aquila, currently bishop of Fargo, North Dakota, is returning home in many ways, having studied at Denver’s St. Thomas Seminary and worked in several Colorado parishes following his ordination in 1976.

Also Tuesday, the Vatican announced that Pope Benedict XVI had named a new bishop for Buffalo, New York, tapping Monsignor Richard Malone to replace the retiring Bishop Edward Kmiec. Malone is currently bishop of Portland, Maine.

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BUFFALO (NY)
The Wall Street Journal

Associated Press

PORTLAND, Maine — The Roman Catholic Bishop of Maine has been named to lead the Diocese of Buffalo.

Pope Benedict XVI on Tuesday announced that Bishop Richard Malone has been appointed Bishop of the upstate New York diocese.

Malone will be officially installed in his new position on Aug. 10 at St. Joseph Cathedral in Buffalo.

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DENVER (CO)
The Denver Post

Posted: 05/29/2012

The Vatican this morning named Fargo, N.D., Bishop Samuel J. Aquila as the fifth archbishop of the Denver Archdiocese.

For Aquila, a conservative bishop cut from the same cloth as his predecessor here, Charles Chaput, it’s a homecoming.

Although the 61-year-old Aquila is a native of Burbank, Calif., he was ordained a priest here in 1976 and served in local parish ministry for 11 years.

Aquila held several positions in the Denver Archdiocese in education and liturgy until 1999, when he became the founding rector of St. John Vianney Seminary.

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CANADA
570 News

Mike McCulloch 570 News
May 29, 2012

A former Catholic priest who served in parishes throughout southern Ontario has been sentenced to 15 months in jail.

James Boudreau served in parishes in Guelph, Kitchener, Hamilton and Burlington.

And has been convicted on one count of sexual assault involving a teenager, dating back to 1984.

Boudreau was also sentenced to six months on a second charge after another person came forward regarding an incident in 1983.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Newsworks

May 29, 2012
By Associated Press

A Roman Catholic church official is due back on the stand for a third day today when his child-endangerment trial resumes in Philadelphia.

Monsignor William Lynn was on the stand last week for two days of grueling cross-examination about how he handled abuse complaints.

Prosecutors say Lynn is responsible for the archdiocese’s failure to remove suspected predators from ministry, and report them to police.

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DENVER (CO)
National Catholic Register

by MARIANNE MEDLIN (CNA/EWTN News)
05/29/2012

DENVER — As Archbishop-designate Samuel Aquila of Fargo, N.D. assumes his role as Denver’s new shepherd, the former Coloradan brings with him a love for the priesthood, a passion for pro-life advocacy and a heart for the youth.

“I never, ever dreamed that I would ever return here,” he said. “And now in the Father’s providential plan and in his love, I’m now the archbishop.”

“It’s amazing,” he said, overcome with emotion.

Archbishop-designate Aquila will be installed as head of the archdiocese on July 18 at Denver’s Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception.

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IRELAND
Justice for Magdalenes

1. The Irish State has accepted that there was abuse in the Magdalene Laundries. The abuse is documented in the report published in 2009 by the Commission established by the State to inquire into child abuse (“the Ryan Report”) – and the abuse is also fully borne out by the survivor testimonies which JFM has collected. Both the Ryan Report and the testimonies recount that the women’s labour in the Magdalene Laundries was forced and wholly unpaid, working conditions were harsh and the women were completely deprived of their liberty and suffered both physical and emotional abuse.

2. However, the State has not yet accepted responsibility for that abuse and nor has it offered any apology or redress to the survivors. The State has repeatedly denied responsibility for the treatment of women and girls in the Magdalene Laundries, distinguishing between the treatment of children in residential homes which were the responsibility of the State (the “Industrial and Reformatory Schools”) and those incarcerated in the Magdalene Laundries, which the State characterizes as private and charitable institutions in which it played no regulatory function.

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PORTLAND (ME)
Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland

Pope Benedict XVI has appointed the Most. Rev. Richard J. Malone, Bishop of Portland as the new Bishop of the Diocese of Buffalo (New York). The Holy Father’s appointment was announced at 6 a.m. (Eastern) today (May 29, 2012) at the Vatican. The date of Bishop Malone’s installation will be August 10, 2012 at St. Joseph Cathedral in downtown Buffalo.

The Diocese of Buffalo has over 633,000 Catholics (more than three times that of Maine). In the city of Buffalo alone, there are 32 Catholic churches. The diocese has seven Catholic colleges and universities, and 15 Catholic High Schools.

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BUFFALO (NY)
Roman Catholic Diocese of Buffalo

by Office of Communications

“It is with great joy and happiness to announce that Pope Benedict XVI has accepted my resignation and has appointed the Most. Rev. Richard J. Malone, bishop of Portland, Maine, as the new ordinary for the Diocese of Buffalo,” said Bishop Edward U. Kmiec. “Bishop Malone is a colleague of mine in the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, and we have been acquainted over the years. He comes to Western New York with tremendous experience and a wonderful reputation for being a caring, pastoral bishop and a true shepherd to his people.”

The Holy Father’s appointment was announced at 6 a.m. (Eastern) today (May 29, 2012) at the Vatican.

Bishop Malone arrived in Buffalo on Monday, May 28. He concelebrated Mass this morning at the bishop’s residence with Bishop Kmiec, diocesan Chancellor Msgr. Paul A. Litwin and Msgr. David G. LiPuma, priest secretary to Bishop Kmiec and diocesan vice chancellor.

Following a 10 a.m. news conference with Bishop Kmiec at the Catholic Center on May 29, Bishop Malone will meet with diocesan staff and then join Bishop Kmiec for visits to St. Joseph Cathedral, Catholic Charities offices on Delaware Ave. and Our Lady of Victory Basilica in Lackawanna. On Wednesday, May 30, Bishop Malone will return to Maine.

Born March 19, 1946, in Salem, Mass., Bishop Malone, 66, has been bishop of Portland since 2004. Prior to his assignment in Maine, he served as auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Boston upon his episcopal ordination in 2000.

“I am most grateful to our Holy Father for his trust in appointing me bishop of the Diocese of Buffalo. While there is sadness in my heart at leaving the Catholic faithful of Maine, especially the priests, deacons, consecrated religious, seminarians and lay leaders, I look forward with enthusiasm to taking up my responsibility as chief shepherd of the Church of Buffalo. I am very grateful to follow in the footsteps of Bishop Kmiec who is a loving, faithful and generous servant of the Gospel.”

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 29 May 2012 (VIS) – The Holy Father:

– Appointed Bishop Richard J. Malone of Portland, U.S.A., as bishop of Buffalo (area 16,511, population 1,621,000, Catholics 716,000, priests 425, permanent deacons 127, religious 1,075), U.S.A. He succeeds Bishop Edward U. Kmiec, whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same diocese the Holy Father accepted, upon having reached the age limit.

– Appointed Bishop Samuel J. Aquila of Fargo, U.S.A., as archbishop of Denver (area 101.279, population 3,328,000, Catholics 549,325, priests 306, permanent deacons 184, religious 203), U.S.A.

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IRELAND
The Irish Times

KITTY HOLLAND

THE GOVERNMENT has failed to implement a key recommendation by the UN Committee Against Torture to set up an inquiry into the “inhuman and degrading” treatment of thousands of women and girls in the Magdalene laundries during the last century, a lobby group for the women has said.

The Justice for Magdalenes group submitted its NGO follow-up report in Geneva yesterday, one year after the UN committee recommended the State “institute prompt, independent and thorough investigations into all complaints of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment that were allegedly committed in the Magdalene laundries”.

In appropriate cases, the committee said, the State should “prosecute and punish the perpetrators with penalties commensurate with the gravity of the offences committed, and ensure all victims obtain redress and have an enforceable right to compensation, including the means for as full a rehabilitation as possible”.

While the Justice for Magdalenes group welcomed the establishment of an interdepartmental committee, chaired by Senator Martin McAleese, to “clarify State interaction with the Magdalene Laundries”, it said this was inadequate and unnecesary.

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IRELAND
The Journal

SURVIVORS OF THE Magdalene Laundries have criticised the government for failing to implement the recommendations of a United Nations Committee Against Torture (UNCAT) almost a year ago.

The Justice for Magdalenes (JFM) group, an advocacy group for survivors of the Catholic-run institutions which operated in Ireland between 1922 and 1996, have said in a submission to UNCAT that it is unacceptable that there has not yet been any apology, redress and reparations for survivors.

The Minister for Justice, Alan Shatter, set up an inter-departmental committee, chaired by Senator Martin McAleese, last year in order to establish the facts of State involvement in the Magdalene Laundries.

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VATICAN CITY
Reuters

May 29 (Reuters) – The Vatican has not begun to consider who may succeed Italian Ettore Gotti Tedeschi as head of the Vatican bank, a person familiar with the situation said on Tuesday after media reports said former Bundesbank head Hans Tietmeyer was in the frame.

The source, who spoke to Reuters on the condition of anonymity, said there was “no short list, no long list, let alone anybody in pole position” to succeed Tedeschi.

Tedeschi fell victim to no-confidence vote by the bank’s board last Thursday.

Italian newspapers reported on Tuesday that Pope Benedict, a German, was was eyeing Tietmeyer, who headed the German central bank from 1993 to 1999, to succeed Tedeschi.

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NEDERLAND
de Stentor

HILVERSUM – Nederlandse priesters zijn sterk verdeeld over het celibaat. Dat blijkt uit een anonieme enquête van het NCRV-programma Altijd Wat onder 135 priesters, meldt de NOS.

Van de priesters die aan het onderzoek meededen, vindt 40 procent dat het celibaat moet worden afgeschaft. En van die groep vindt bijna een kwart dat de regel van de rooms-katholieke kerk seksueel misbruik in de hand werkt.

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VATICAN CITY
Belfast Telegraph

By Michael Day in Italy
Tuesday, 29 May 2012

The Vatican has long been said by those who know it to be a nest of vipers. But recently, the poison has been laid bare for everyone to see as leak after embarrassing leak has revealed an institution at war with itself.

Already this year we’ve read about documents warning of a “death threat” against the Pope, widespread nepotism and corruption, exiled whistle-blowers, gay smear campaigns and embarrassing revelations about the Vatican’s tax affairs. Most of the damaging of the “Vatileaks” were revealed by the reporter Gianluigi Nuzzi in a series of TV programmes and now his new book Sua Santità (Your Holiness).

As ever, lumbering several steps behind, the powers that be at the Holy See last month set out to catch the mole or moles behind the leaks – which they refer to as “criminal acts”. The Pope’s butler has already been nabbed in possession of some of the confidential papers. But few people think he acted alone.

Yesterday, we learnt that an unnamed Italian cardinal is now a suspect. But even if all the leakers are caught, few observers think that there’s an end in sight for the PR disasters that have blighted the reign of 85-year-old Pope Benedict XVI. The stately Vatican Insider website, for its part, blamed an intrusive modern media. “Scandals even graver than this (such as the Calvi case) occurred in the Wotyla papacy, but today the media coverage is multiplied,” it said.

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VATICAN CITY
National Post (Canada)

In this occasional feature, the National Post tells you everything you need to know about a complicated issue. Today: Corruption, cronyism, mismanagement and high-level power plays are exposed at the Vatican. A banker has been ousted and the Pope’s butler arrested.

Q: How did this all start?
A: The Vatileaks scandal broke in January when Italian journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi broadcast letters from the former No. 2 Vatican administrator to the Pope in which he begged not to be transferred for having exposed alleged corruption that cost the Holy See millions of euros in higher contract prices. But the whistleblower, Monsignor Carlo Maria Vigano, was moved and is now the Vatican’s ambassador in Washington.

Q: But it didn’t end there?
A: No. At the weekend, Mr. Nuzzi published a book, Your Holiness: The Secret Papers of Benedict XVI, in which he released dozens of private letters to Pope Benedict, and other confidential Vatican correspondence and reports, including encrypted cables from Vatican embassies around the world.

Q: And what do they show?
A: A host of things. Some documents showed Vatican officials discussing one of the great unsolved mysteries in Italy, the 1983 disappearance of Emanuela Orlandi, the 15-year-old daughter of a Vatican employee. That led to the reopening of a criminal investigation. The book also provides a window into the nexus between Italian banking, media power and the Vatican. In a letter last Christmas, Bruno Vespa, Italy’s most well-known television host, enclosed a cheque for $12,500 to the Pope’s private secretary, Monsignor Georg Gaenswein, describing it as “a small sum at the disposal of the pope’s charity,” and asking for a private audience. The director of Italy’s Intesa San Paolo bank, Giovanni Bazoli, sent a $32,000 cheque, “with my most deferential salutations.” Other letters are written in obsequious baroque language, in which everyone — from Jesuits to government officials and Mercedes-Benz directors — seeks favours, recommendations and, most of all, the Pope’s ear.

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VATICAN CITY
The Chronicle-Herald (Canada)

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

VATICAN CITY — One of the Vatican’s biggest scandals in decades widened Monday with the Pope’s butler — arrested for allegedly having confidential documents in his home — agreeing to co-operate with investigators, his lawyer said Monday.

Paolo Gabriele’s pledge to co-operate with Vatican magistrates raises the spectre that high-ranking prelates may soon be named in the investigation into leaks of confidential Vatican correspondence that have shed a light on power struggles and intrigue inside the highest levels of the Catholic Church.

Italian media reported Monday a cardinal is suspected of playing a major role in the “Vatileaks” scandal. However, the Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, denied the reports. He said many Vatican officials were being questioned in the investigation but insisted “there is no cardinal under suspicion.”

He also dismissed as “pure fantasy” a rash of other unsourced reports about the investigation in the Italian media, which have been on a frenzy ever since reports of Gabriele’s detention emerged Friday.

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VATICAN CITY
The Daily Star (Lebanon)

May 29, 2012

By Ella Ide

VATICAN CITY: The flood of secret Vatican documents leaked to the press, enraging the Holy See, aims to oust the Church’s powerful number two and maybe to replace the pope himself, experts say.

The so-called “Vatileaks” scandal is a plot within the intrigue-filled Vatican City to unseat Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone, seen by some as wielding too much power and not acting in the Church’s interests, they say.

“The documents that have been leaked all concern Bertone in one way or another,” Marco Politi, Vatican expert for Il Fatto Quotidiano daily, told AFP.

“This is all about damaging him to get a new secretary of state,” he added.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Eastbourne Herald

Published on Tuesday 29 May 2012

SUSSEX Police are reviewing a dossier of information into disgraced former Sussex bishop, the Right Reverend Bishop Peter Ball.

The former Bishop of Lewes resigned in 1993 after being cautioned for an act of gross indecency against a teenager.

Now BBC Sussex is reporting that Sussex Police is reviewing files dating back 20 years to consider whether any future prosecution might be made.

Sussex Police confirmed: “Over the past 10 days we have received from Lambeth Palace two reports from a church safeguarding consultant, which contain reviews of church safeguarding files relating to historic issues in the Chichester Diocese. We have also received the files themselves.

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IRELAND
The Irish Times

ANDREW FAGAN

RITE & REASON: The courage of the abused is helping the church put preventative measures in place

MEASURES TAKEN by the church in Ireland to make it a safer place for children are showing their effect. The most recent publication of statistics by its Child Safeguarding and Protection Service show a marked decline in alleged child sexual abuse incidents by priests reported to the Archdiocese of Dublin from a peak in the 1980s.

This does not mean that the story of child abuse by priests can be laid aside as history. We all need constant reminding of the devastation caused by the abuse of hundreds of children by a small but by no means insignificant number of priests in Dublin over many years. Sadly, a number of them were serial child abusers who wreaked havoc and destroyed the lives of children and families – havoc and hurt compounded by the stunning failure to address these crimes.

Over the past two decades, since revelations of child abuse by priests came into the public domain, the archdiocese, together with other dioceses and religious congregations, has persisted in implementing quality programmes of child safeguarding.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
CBS Philly

by Pat Ciarrocchi

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — Tuesday morning, 61 year old Monsignor William Lynn will be back on the witness stand at the Criminal Justice Center testifying in his own defense.

Lynn, a priest for 36 years and the one time Secretary of the Clergy, is the highest ranking Catholic Church administrator to be tried for his handling of clergy sex abuse.

“There are some hard questions he’s got to answer,” says John White of Downingtown. On Thursday, White had traveled to Philadelphia and spent the day in Courtroom 304, praying for his pastor.

“We’re very concerned about how he is being treated. He’s probably the nicest gentleman I’ve ever known and I think that will come out in the end.”

The jury, which begins its tenth week on duty, won’t be judging nice.

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CANADA
Brandon Sun

BRANTFORD, Ont. – A former Catholic priest who served in parishes throughout southern Ontario has been sentenced to 15 months in jail.

James Boudreau was convicted on one count of sexual assault involving a teenager, dating back to 1984.

Boudreau was also sentenced to six months on a second charge after another person came forward regarding an incident in 1983.

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CANADA
Guelph Mercury

GUELPH — Former priest James Boudreau nodded to a handful of supporters as he was led out of a courtroom Monday to begin jail terms for two historic sexual assaults.

One jail term is 15 months in length. The second sentence is for a six-month term. It will run concurrently with the longer one.

“I believe it was on the harsh side,” defense attorney Roger Yachetti said, in a brief interview outside the Ontario Court of Justice room. He’ll seek instruction from Boudreau, but doubted an appeal will be launched.

Crown prosecutor Steve Hamilton termed Justice Gary Hearn’s decision “well reasoned” and “appropriate.”

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UNITED STATES
The Worthy Adversary

Posted by Joelle Casteix on May 28, 2012

Talking to your teen about sexual abuse? Don’t worry. Just take a deep breath and keep reading.

If your kids are younger, start here.

Usually, teen victims will reach out to their peers—friends who have no training, few skills and lack the maturity to properly report the abuse to the cops and get the victim help. Many times, the victim will swear the friend to secrecy. The friend, seeing how the victim has already been hurt and betrayed, will readily keep the secret. If the abuser is a teacher of someone the friend knows, the peer will keep the secret out of fear.

It’s a lose-lose: We have another teen who is suffering from vicarious trauma, fear and stress because they are forced to “keep the secret.” This happened in my own case, and the long-term wounds that many of my high school classmates suffered were just as deep and long-lasting as my own. Teen victims are also more likely to be blamed for the abuse (“Why did you keep going back?” “Why didn’t you just punch the guy?” “You must have wanted it.”), so the lifetime effects of the abuse can be more debilitating and shameful for everyone involved.

You’re a parent of a teenager. What the hell do you do now?

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IRELAND
RTE News

The Justice for Magdalenes campaign group has discovered that women were transferred from State-funded mother and baby homes to Magdalene laundries, where they were held against their will and without their children.

The group said the evidence strengthens the case for an immediate State apology and compensation to former detainees.

Last year the UN Committee Against Torture strongly criticised the Government’s failure to apologise to and compensate former detainees of the State’s 10 Catholic-run Magdalene laundries.

Today some 500 pages of testimony – gathered in recent months from 13 survivors – was given to the McAleese Committee, which was established by the Government in response to the UN’s criticisms.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

By Colin Campbell
BBC South East Home Affairs Correspondent

The Church of England has carried out a investigation into a former Sussex bishop, the BBC has learnt.

The Right Reverend Bishop Peter Ball resigned in 1993 after receiving a police caution for committing an act of gross indecency against a teenager.

Files kept at Lambeth Palace about the former Bishop of Lewes are being scrutinised by police.

A Church of England spokesman said the church had instigated a review of the files and could not comment further.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

Anna Patty
May 29, 2012

“With the accused priest either penniless or deceased, and the church itself not being a legal entity able to be sued in its own right, victims of sexual abused are left with no legal remedy” … Greens MP David Shoebridge. Photo: Nick Moir

VICTIMS of alleged sex abuse at the hands of Catholic priests claim they have been denied adequate compensation because the church has its assets locked up in property trusts.

The NSW Greens released a draft bill yesterday that aims to hold the Catholic Church financially responsible for such abuse.

The Greens MP David Shoebridge said the NSW Court of Appeal held, in a landmark 2007 case, that the church’s assets, controlled by property trusts, could not be accessed by victims of sexual abuse.

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CITTA DEL VATICAN
Il Messaggero

CITTA’ DEL VATICANO – Al di là di Porta Sant’Anna tutto scorre come se apparentemente non stesse capitando niente di speciale. Frotte di turisti che vanno e vengono, le guardie svizzere che si fannofotografare dai giapponesi, il solito traffico di auto targate Scv che entrano ed escono dal confine. Eppure lassù, nell’Appartamento, quello con la A maiuscola, tutti gli sviluppi, anche minimi che stanno emergendo dalla più grave inchiesta che sia mai capitata in tempi recenti vengono seguiti con estrema attenzione.

Per ora in carcere c’è solo Paolo Gabriele, un uomo semplice sul quale pesano sospetti terribili. E’ il bandolo della matassa, il terminale, magari inconsapevole, di una filiera che porta in alto. A questo punto gli inquirenti non escludono nemmeno un cardinale. Per questo gli sforzi investigativi sono concentrati sul maggiordomo, sul suo passato, si passano a setaccio i suoi conti correnti e quelli dei familiari. Si cerca di capire a chi era diretta quella miniera di carte sottratte al Papa, pazientemente riprodotte e meticolosamente catalogate dopo che erano transitate su una delle scrivanie ritenute più sicure al mondo. E pensare che in pochissimi sono ammessi in quella stanza dall’atmosfera rarefatta.

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VATICAN CITY
The Australian

AFP
May 29, 2012

An UNNAMED cardinal is suspected of being a leading mole behind a series of embarrassing leaks of confidential papal documents, the Italian media reported yesterday.

“A cardinal led the crow,” read the headline in Il Messaggero, referring to the Pope’s personal butler Paolo Gabriele, who was arrested last week in the “Vatileaks” scandal after secret papers were found in his home.

“The real brains are the cardinals. Then there are the monsignors, secretaries and smaller fry,” according to one source quoted by La Repubblica.

Gabriele, who has worked at the Vatican since 2006 and was one of a select few with access to the Pope’s private quarters, was arrested a month after the Pope set up a special commission of cardinals to probe the leaks.

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ITALIA
Corriere della Sera

MILANO – «Non c’è nessun cardinale italiano o straniero sospettato, né nessuna donna è indagata». Lo ha affermato il portavoce della Santa Sede, padre Federico Lombardi. «Tutto questo – ha detto padre Lombardi – lo smentisco in modo totale». «Faccio presente – ha spiegato il portavoce – che la Commissione nominata dal Papa sente diverse persone fra cui cardinali, ma questo non significa che siano sospettati». Ed è falso anche, ha assicurato, che «ci sia qualche donna indagata». Insomma, ha scandito, «è pura fantasia quanto afferma una presunta intervista pubblicata su un quotidiano».

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CITTA DEL VATICANO
Corriere della Sera

[con il video]

CITTÀ DEL VATICANO – Che nell’indagine sui corvi si facesse sul serio lo si era capito già il mese scorso, quando Benedetto XVI istituì la commissione cardinalizia con pieni poteri presieduta dal porporato dell’Opus Dei Julián Herranz e con il prefetto emerito di Propaganda Fide Jozef Tomko e Salvatore De Giorgi, già arcivescovo di Palermo. In apparenza poteva sembrare pletorica, da settimane erano già in corso l’indagine penale del Tribunale vaticano e quella amministrativa della Segreteria di Stato. Ma una commissione simile ha due caratteristiche fondamentali: risponde direttamente al Papa e, con piena autorità, può indagare su chiunque. Gia allora si era messo in conto che l’inchiesta sulla fuga di notizie, al di là della manovalanza, potesse toccare livelli più alti, fino al Collegio cardinalizio: «Agirà in forza del mandato pontificio a tutti i livelli».

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VATICAN CITY
Reuters

VATICAN CITY | Mon May 28, 2012

(Reuters) – The faith of Roman Catholics in their Church has been damaged by a scandal over leaked documents in which the pope’s butler has been arrested, the Vatican said on Monday.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

Giacomo Galeazzi
Vatican City

The IOR events divide the cardinals. Thursday the lay governing council of the ‘Vatican bank’ fired its president Ettore Gotti Tedeschi with a series of accusations. But most people know that the ‘pope’s strongbox’ is looked after by a double management. Above the lay-supervisory council is the cardinals’ commssion which met on Friday, but was unable to release a statement.This was an unprecedented event and a sign that an agreement has not yet been reached. the committee includes cardinals Attilio Nicora, Jean-Louis Tauran, Telesphore Placidus Toppo and Odilo Pedro Scherer, led by the Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone . Apparently Nicora and Tauran criticised Bertone over his management of Gotti Tedeschi’s dismissal and the issue of the negotiation which would lead the Holy See to finally join Ocse’s ‘white list’ , a record of financially virtuous countries”.

The experts from Moneyval, the European Council group that deals with rating countries’ measures against money laundering and terror funding are still monitoring the Vatican’s regulations and procedures. Moreover Nicora resents Bertone for taking power away from the Aif, the Vatican internal information authority that he leads, slowing down the journey towards financial transparency. It is hard to tell if the clash within the cardinals’commission involves the evaluation of Gotti Tedeschi’s work. But there are no doubts that this will have repercussions on the nomination of the new president. At the moment the favourite to succeed Gotti Tedeschi is vice-president Ronaldo Hermann Schmitz, a banker from Piacenza. But the there are many theories. The ideal candidate is the former leader of Bundesbank, Hans Tietmeyer, from Germany, who would be a welcome choice for the pope, but he is very old. Now within the cardinals’commission there are two distinct currents. On one side those (Nicora, Tauran) who believe that transparency, the need to comply with international standard to be included in the ‘white list’ is paramount, on the other those who like Bertone believe that this line of action must be followed with moderation, since the Vatican is unqiue and cannot be compared with other sovreign states. Apparently Moneyval concluded, after the first inspection, last November, that the new regulation was ‘too vague’ . It therefore went through quite substantial changes.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

A lay functionary under scrutiny: he could be arrested

Giacomo Galeazzi
Vatican City

Interrogations of the lay officials of the Secretariat of State, a hunt for the possible mastermind behind the infiltrators, internal ‘governance’ in anguish. Scandals even graver than this (such as the Calvi case) occurred in the Wotyla papcy, but today the media coverage is multiplied. Vatican investigators seek evidence, proof, and possible “higher level” accomplices, in fact, Vatican public prosecutor Nicola Picardi’s “initial investigation” has already been closed, and the phase of “formal investigation”, conducted by Judge Piero Antonio Bonnet, has already begun.

Yesterday the Pope mentioned the Gospel: “the wind shakes the House of God, but it does not fall”. No direct reference to the Vatileaks scandal, though the reference does mention clouds that are gathering of the skies of the present. The transition to the formal stage, said spokesman Fr Federico Lombardi, has made it possible to officially release the name of the arrested individual; furthermore, it involves a real arrest to all effects, given that in the Vatican, the practice taking a suspect into “custody” does not exist. The investigation has been proceeding swiftly thanks to the fact that it’s entirely within the Vatican’s jurisdiction: Gabriele is a Vatican citizen, and lives next to the Gendarmerie, and it was in his home were the “confidential documents were discovered.” Full-court investigations, which don’t exclude “other acts”; for this reason, the length of the investigation could even lengthen. Again in the afternoon, Fr. Lombardi intervened to explain that “the judiciary has now charged Paolo Gabriele simply with the crime of aggravated theft: we are at a very early stage of criminal proceedings, therefore the high estimates regarding an eventual prison sentence printed by some newspapers have absolutely no justification”. A clarification with respect to some reports, according to which Gabriele would have been charged with crimes such as a violation of the correspondence of a head of state, and thus an attack on state security, with a penalty of up to 30 years in prison.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

The statement of the director of the Vatican Press Office following developments in the saga of the papal butler’s arrest

Vatican Insider staff
Rome

The director of the Vatican Press Office, Fr. Federico Lombardi has confirmed that “there are no Italian or foreign cardinals being investigated” in light of the arrest of the Pope’s butler, Paolo Gabriele.

“This is a painful situation for many people, because of their acquaintance and closeness to Paolo and because of the negative light in which it may portray the Church and the Holy See,” the Jesuit priest and Vatican spokesman recalled. He then said that “the Pope is informed about and aware of the situation and is maintaining his faith and moral superiority.”

The Pope’s butler, Paolo Gabriele, who was recently arrested on suspicion of leaking confidential Vatican documents, “will collaborate fully” in the investigations, his lawyer, Carlo Fusco confirmed, in a communiqué issued by the Vatican Press Office.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

A source close to the butler “ He has either gone crazy or has been framed”

Andrea Tornielli
Vatican City

“And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock”. Benedict XVI exhausted, grieved, but still smiling yesterday reminded believers of Rinnovamento dello Spirito (Renewal of the Spirit) of Jesus’ words. Even though the Vatican was founded on the rock, its foundations keep shaking after the unexpected turn of events with the arrest of Paolo Gabriele, the pope’s butler, on suspicion of leaking hundred of confidential documents which he would have taken from the pope’s private desk.

In the Sacred palaces, yesterday morning, there was a sense of annoyance for the articles spreading doubts over the accusations and describing the shock of many people in the Vatican at the possibility that someone like ‘little Paolo’ could be a mole. “ the documents that were found in his possession and which he should not have had are incontrovertible evidence of his guilt” said the Secretariat of State.

After the disbelief and shock, faced with the fact that the pope’s butler was illegally in possession of various documents, many in and outside the Vatican pondered about the butler’s motives and the people behind him.

An old priest with a long experience of vatican trials invited people to be cautious “ The arrest took place Wednesday evening, the butler’s home was searched in that occasion and the documents were found. But a serious enquiry, worthy of its name, before labelling him a ‘mole’ would have to find elements proving how those documents exchanged hands”. The cleric added “ we all feel embarassed and sad, Paolo’s family is crushed. Whoever pushed him to do such things is guiltier than him, because he used a naive person…”

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VATICAN CITY
The Irish Times

PADDY AGNEW in Rome

THREE DAYS after the sensational arrest of Pope Benedict’s butler, Paolo Gabriele, and four days after the dismissal of Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, president of Vatican bank IOR, the Holy See remains in crisis.

In a climate that smells of a witch hunt, further arrests are predicted as Vatican police attempt to solve “Vatileaks”, the leaking of private documentation from the papal apartment.

In an audience with the Renewal in the Holy Spirit movement on Saturday, Pope Benedict appeared to make reference to the current difficulty when quoting St Matthew: “And the rain descended and the floods came and the winds blew and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.”

With the ex-butler Mr Gabriele still in detention (in a Vatican gendarmerie holding room, since there is no Vatican prison), those winds continue to blow. Furthermore, as the international clamour makes itself more manifest, there were all the indications powerful figures in the Holy See were busily engaged in a Stalinist-style rewrite of history.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 26 May 2012 (VIS) – Holy See Press Office Director Fr. Federico Lombardi S.J. today made the following declaration concerning investigations taking place in the Vatican on the leaking of reserved documents.

“I can confirm that the individual arrested on Wednesday evening for illegal possession of reserved documents, which were found in his domicile located within Vatican territory, is Mr. Paolo Gabriele, who is still being held in detention.

“The first phase of the ‘summary investigation’ under the direction of Nicola Picardi, promoter of justice, has come to an end and given way to the phase of ‘formal investigation’, which is being conducted by Piero Antonio Bonnet, investigating magistrate.

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IRELAND
The Association of Catholic Priests

For those wishing to be involved in planning a gathering in the West similar to what we had in Dublin a few weeks ago, a meeting is planned for Wednesday next, 30 May. it will be held in the MacWilliam Hotel, Claremorris at 8.00pm on Wednesday, May 30th. Anyone interested — lay, religious or priest — is welcome.

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IRELAND
The Association of Catholic Priests

Why exactly does the Catholic magisterium seek to prevent Catholic priests from questioning magisterial positions, even on merely disciplinary matters?

The only good reason surely must be to strengthen the authority of those positions, to persuade us that those positions are the only correct ones.

However, I have to say that for this particular Irish Catholic the action recently taken against six Irish priests has had precisely the opposite effect. I strongly believe that the authority of the magisterium itself, and of all clergy who expressly support its positions on controversial disciplinary issues, has never been more seriously undermined in Ireland than by this action.

The reason is that in Ireland we tend to give authority to teachers in proportion to their disinterestedness – the degree to which they obviously derive no personal benefit from what they teach. So, the few Catholic clergy who disregarded the Irish penal laws of the period 1691-1750 gained authority from the fact that they had nothing to gain and everything to lose by staying in Ireland and proclaiming what they taught.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Priest Abuse Trial Blog

Ralph Cipriano

It was billed as the prosecution’s smoking gun — a worn gray folder of documents passed out to the jury, just before the prosecution rested its case.

Inside the folder were several typed and handwritten documents compiled by Monsignor William J. Lynn that were ordered shredded by Cardinal Bevilacqua in 1994, but 18 years later, those documents mysteriously reappeared in a locked safe at archdiocese headquarters.

The most famous document in the folder was the list of 35 then-active priests compiled by Lynn who had been either convicted or accused of sexual abuse of minors. The smoking gun was supposed to be proof of a conspiracy to protect the Catholic Church and keep its shameful sexual abuse of children hidden at all costs.

But last week, as the defense presented its case, the smoking gun took on another meaning. The way the defense spun it, that worn gray folder was proof that Msgr. Lynn had done his best to expose sexually abusive priests in the ministry, and put his bosses on notice about all of them. The story of how Lynn’s superiors handled those documents, as well as their author, was proof that the monsignor was out of the real power loop in the archdiocese.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

Giacomo Galeazzi
Vatican City

Interrogations of the lay officials of the Secretariat of State, a hunt for the possible mastermind behind the infiltrators, internal ‘governance’ in anguish. Scandals even graver than this (such as the Calvi case) occurred in the Wotyla papcy, but today the media coverage is multiplied. Vatican investigators seek evidence, proof, and possible “higher level” accomplices, in fact, Vatican public prosecutor Nicola Picardi’s “initial investigation” has already been closed, and the phase of “formal investigation”, conducted by Judge Piero Antonio Bonnet, has already begun.

Yesterday the Pope mentioned the Gospel: “the wind shakes the House of God, but it does not fall”. No direct reference to the Vatileaks scandal, though the reference does mention clouds that are gathering of the skies of the present. The transition to the formal stage, said spokesman Fr Federico Lombardi, has made it possible to officially release the name of the arrested individual; furthermore, it involves a real arrest to all effects, given that in the Vatican, the practice taking a suspect into “custody” does not exist. The investigation has been proceeding swiftly thanks to the fact that it’s entirely within the Vatican’s jurisdiction: Gabriele is a Vatican citizen, and lives next to the Gendarmerie, and it was in his home were the “confidential documents were discovered.” Full-court investigations, which don’t exclude “other acts”; for this reason, the length of the investigation could even lengthen. Again in the afternoon, Fr. Lombardi intervened to explain that “the judiciary has now charged Paolo Gabriele simply with the crime of aggravated theft: we are at a very early stage of criminal proceedings, therefore the high estimates regarding an eventual prison sentence printed by some newspapers have absolutely no justification”. A clarification with respect to some reports, according to which Gabriele would have been charged with crimes such as a violation of the correspondence of a head of state, and thus an attack on state security, with a penalty of up to 30 years in prison.

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